If you read only one thing today, let it be this

If you read only one thing today, let it be this.

re: "Lt. Col. Ralph Peters Goes Off On Media And Government’s ‘Rush To Condemn Troops’ Over Photos"

Noah Rothman at MEDIAite provided great coverage of a Ralph Peters detonation.

Money quote(s):

"After White House condemnation of the L.A. Times for publishing photos of uniformed military posing with the bodies of suicide bombers, Fox News contributor and retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters described himself as “furious” at the L.A. Times and the civilian military leadership for their handling of the nascent scandal. Peters told Megyn Kelly this controversy was an example of the “moral cowardice of military leaders who never stick up for our troops but protect their own careers.” " (Emphasis in original post. - CAA.)

That's not all he said, but that was the cherry at the top.

"Kelly asked Lt. Col. Peters what his take on the controversy was, and Peter’s said that he believed the L.A. Times was complicit in a “terrible scandal here,” but that scandal has “nothing to do with our troops in combat.”

“No terrorists were harmed in the taking of those snap shots,” said Peters. “The real scandal is that the L.A. Times, desperate to survive, creates a scandal, publishes those pictures over the Pentagon’s objections. The real scandal is that the establishment media leaps on another chance to trash our troops. The worst of the scandal is that our leaders, in and out of uniform, rush to condemn our troops – no explanation, no context.”

“I suggest the White House spokesman Jay Carney join the military and see what it’s like himself before he condemns our troops,” Peters continued. “I’m especially appalled that those in uniform, General [John R.] Allen, our commander in Afghanistan, just jumped to trash our troops.”

“The Greatest Generation sent Japanese skulls home to their girlfriends,” said Peters. “I’m not condoning it, but I’m trying to make the point that our soldiers out on the front line and our marines are under tremendous stresses. War is not a ladies auxiliary tea party, and it’s all too easy for people comfortable in Los Angeles, or New York or the White House to condemn the troops without context.”

Peters said that there should have been a formal reprimand for the soldiers in question but little else. He went on to criticize the impact that this budding scandal has already had on the civilian leaders of the military as a sign that the mission in Afghanistan is poorly defined.

“If our strategy and doctrine is so pathetically weak that it can be derailed, destroyed, shattered, by a few burning Koreans or a few photographs – the dead body parts of terrorists – well that’s not much of a strategy or doctrine,” said Peters. He became visibly agitated and said that he was “furious” at the “moral cowardice of military leaders who never stick up for our troops but protect their own careers.” "

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if we didn't have Ralph Peters out there, safely in retirement, saying the outrageous and offensive (but true!) things that needed to be said, we'd have to invent him. He's just too useful in keeping things from getting too comfortably (and stupidly) politically correct.

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Hat tip to KG at Crusader Rabbit ("For Liberty").

4/18

re: "This Is A Parody--Right?"

MikeM at Confederate Yankee ("Because liberalism is a persistent vegetative state.") shared a good appreciation of our Iranian adversaries.

Money quote(s):

"One might be tempted to think that this situation—whatever it is and whoever it involves—is a very serious matter and that our government will respond with the kind of righteous rage demonstrated after 9-11. It is a very serious matter indeed, but that's where reality breaks down.

As reported at Fox News, we've intercepted an Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to America, with explosives, on American soil. Iranian members of the Quds Force," a paramilitary spy/internal security force pursued a hit on the Ambassador by trying to hire what they thought was a Mexican drug cartel to make the attack. Two Iranian agents were captured and others remain at large."

Shocked? Nah, me neither. Neither was Mr. McDaniel, who shared a nice 11 point list to justify his non-surprise.

"What must the Iranians think of our response thus far? We're imposing sanctions on individual Iranian spies? American firms won't be able to do business with them? Just how many Americans firms, pray tell, do a considerable portion of their business with Iranian operatives such that these sanctions will have any effect—other than provoking uproarious Iranian laughter—on Iran? Will the threat of treating their spies as common criminals accorded the full protections of the Constitution the Iranians not only refuse to recognize but see as a sign of weakness strike fear into the hearts of the hardened terrorist murderers running that despotic nation? Will it cause them to abandon their nuclear designs? Beg for mercy and forgiveness from Israel?"

&

"America—and the world—will be very fortunate indeed if our many enemies do not take advantage of what they must surely believe to be a historic opportunity between now and November of 2012. On the other hand, with leadership that bows to despots, reflexively supports Marxist and Islamist despots and which actually delivers arms to our deadly enemies as a cynical and incredibly stupid means of imposing anti-freedom domestic policies, do we really need enemies?"

10/11

re: "Quiet in Cairo"

Dr. Jerry Pournelle at Chaos Manor ("The Original Blog *") comments on a recent Wikileaks disclosure.

Money quote(s):

"WikiLeaks continue to show the consequences of empire by bureaucracy. They also have a consequence: it is always difficult to get ones foreign service to be candid with their bosses, and the senior State department career officials to be candid with their political masters. Now that everyone can see there is a real danger that anything they write or say can be part of a Washington Post -- or Fox News -- article for all the world to see, that becomes even more difficult. Few in Washington actually know what is going on overseas, because few in Washington and even fewer of those we send out as diplomatic officers know any history of either the world or the region to which they are sent; now they'll all learn and say less about what they find when they report. Welcome to the candid world. Open diplomacy openly arrived at."

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Agree with it, disagree with it; the point is still valid even if some of the criticism seems off-target. Outside of academia itself, it's hard to find a group of people so interested in the world and its history as my FSO colleagues.

FN - Bomb Suspect's Citizenship Raises Questions About Naturalization Process

From my archive of press clippings:

Fox News

Bomb Suspect's Citizenship Raises Questions About Naturalization Process


FOXNews.com

Updated May 04, 2010

In this photo from the social networking site Orkut.com, a man who was identified by neighbors in Connecticut as Faisal Shahzad, is shown. (AP/Orkut.com)

The suspect in the Times Square car bombing attempt is the latest in a series of U.S. citizens and green card holders to be implicated in a terror plot inside the United States, raising questions about the naturalization process that turns foreigners into Americans.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Several hurdles are in place for immigrants to attain U.S. citizenship and, in turn, its platinum-status passport. Pakistani-born suspect Faisal Shahzad, according to reports, passed clean through his security checks and became a U.S. citizen in April 2009. He first entered the United States on a student visa in the late 1990s.

An official with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said "it's too early" to say whether any signs were missed in Shahzad's naturalization process. But the official acknowledged that any screening is just "a snapshot in time" and can't catch everything."

&

"For those who come from outside the United States, the naturalization process is complicated and lengthy.

Applicants generally need a sponsor -- a relative, spouse or employer -- to get the green card. Then they have to wait between three and five years to qualify for citizenship.


The citizenship process includes not just background checks, but a citizenship test and final interview. The interview officer has the authority to reject the applicant at the end of the process or send him or her back for further review.


Click here to review the questions on the citizenship application form."

FN - 8th State Department Employee Pleads Guilty to Passport Snooping

From my archive of press clippings:

Fox News


8th State Department Employee Pleads Guilty to Passport Snooping

Updated November 09, 2009

AP

Four of seven defendants to cop a plea so far for violating the Privacy Act were sentenced to a year's probation, while the others have not yet been sentenced.

WASHINGTON -- A veteran State Department worker pleaded guilty Monday to illegally viewing passport files of celebrities, the eighth current or former employee of the agency to admit to snooping.

Read the whole article here.

FN - U.S. Navy Arrives at Scene of Hijacked American Ship

Fox News



U.S. Navy Arrives at Scene of Hijacked American Ship

Thursday, April 09, 2009


File: A Maersk cargo ship like the one hijacked off Somalia carrying 20 Americans.

The U.S. is gearing up for a standoff with the band of pirates who hijacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia as a Navy warship reportedly arrived at the scene early Thursday.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The crew of the Maersk Alabama were able to regain control of the vessel Wednesday, but the pirates escaped with the captain as a captive."

"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Wednesday for world action to "end the scourge of piracy" as U.S. warships raced to confront the pirates."

"Wednesday's incident was the first such hostage-taking involving U.S. citizens in 200 years. In December 2008, Somali pirates chased and shot at a U.S. cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel.

The top two commanders of the ship graduated from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, the Cape Cod Times reported Wednesday."

&

"Robert A. Wood, Deputy State Department Spokesman, told reporters the ship was carrying "vegetable oil, corn soy blend and other basic food commodities bound for Africa.""

_____
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Fox - Maryland Father Still Hopeful He'll See His Kidnapped Sons Again

From my archive of press clippings:

FoxNews.Com

Maryland Father Still Hopeful He'll See His Kidnapped Sons Again

Monday, June 16, 2008

By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

This weekend marks the seventh Father's Day since the last time Michael Shannon saw his sons Adam and Jason, let alone celebrated with them.

The boys, now 11 and 7, were kidnapped in August 2001 by their mother and Egyptian grandmother, who fled to Cairo after what was supposed to be a brief unsupervised visit.

They've remained there ever since, despite substantial U.S. criminal and civil court victories for Shannon, who has full custody of both children.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Shannon's lawyer, Stephen Cullen, is trying to arrange a meeting for father and sons in Cyprus, which is both Muslim and Christian and has signed the Hague Convention treaty designed to prevent the wrongful abduction of children."

"Part of the problem is that no Muslim country, including Egypt, recognizes the Hague treaty.

And Egypt has not honored any of the court decisions handed down in the Shannon case in the United States.

In April, the Maryland Court of Appeals upheld a decision by a trial judge and jury to make interference with custody and visitation, including child abduction, a civil offense in addition to a criminal offense.

Previously, it only fell into the criminal category."

&

"Shannon was awarded $3 million in damages to be paid by his ex-wife, Nermeen Khalifa, 39, and the children's maternal grandmother, Afaf Khalifa, 65."

Fox - U.S. Consulate Mistakenly Sells Secret Files in Jerusalem

Fox News


U.S. Consulate Mistakenly Sells Secret Files in Jerusalem

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 By Reena Ninan

FOX News obtained hundreds of sensitive files mistakenly sold by the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem at a public auction.

EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of files — with social security numbers, bank account numbers and other sensitive U.S. government information — were found in a filing cabinet purchased from the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem through a local auction.

Read the whole article here.

FOX - FBI: Cruise Ship Death Does Not Suggest a Crime

From my archive of press clippings:

Fox News

FBI: Cruise Ship Death Does Not Suggest a Crime

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The FBI said its initial investigation into a cruise ship passenger's death points to an accident.

Read the whole article here.