Friday, December 19, 2014

And So It Begins...Vietnam in Reverse

Flashback: Back in the late 1950's to early 1960's America sent military advisers and trainers to the the Republic of South Vietnam in order to train a fledgling military to fight the onslaught of the communist backed North Vietnamese.

Eventually, no "good" action goes unpunished and as more attacks by the North on the U.S. advisers continued, the only alternative left for the U.S. was send more and better armed troops and thus, the Vietnam War began.

Fast Forward: Just as in the case of Vietnam, the Socialists, Democrats saw that America was coming together on the War on Terror after 9-11 and THIS could not be allowed for their agenda of destruction of America to continue.

So what did the LEFT do, start undermining the war effort, both in Afghanistan and Iraqi till finally Americans became "war weary".

This "war weariness" would eventually lead to the American sheeple to elect Boo Boo Obama as our Clown in Chief with the promise that he would withdraw our troops from the Middle East.

Now, six years later, he is finally doing it and though the generals have advised against it, Boo Boo's socialist agenda ignored them.

As America and our allies withdrew combat troops, ISIS & other radical Muslims began their consolation and march to destroy everything America and our allies proudly fought and died for over the passed years.

As ISIS continued its savage march, Boo Boo finally and reluctantly sent advisers and trainers BACK to Middle East, with the "promise" that there will be "no combat boots" om the ground, although intelligent people KNOW that anytime American combat troops is in a hostile environment, they ARE combat boots on the ground.

American Sheeple never learn, they would rather believe that under Boo Boo and his Socialists, everything will be "lollipops and roses" and didn't listen or believe when many Patriots warned that sending "advisers" and "trainers" is just the beginning for our re-entry into another war in the Middle East.


American Troops Battle ISIS For First Time as Militants Attack Iraqi Base

Ein al-Asad military airbase is located north-west of Baghdad (illustrated) and is a strategically important site for the Iraqi Army

A number of militants have been killed in Islamic State's very first battle with U.S. ground troops after the extremists attempted to overrun an Iraqi military base.

The militants attacked Ein al-Asad military base on Sunday where more than 100 U.S. military support troops are based.

Despite launching the surprise attack just after midnight, ISIS's offensive was swiftly repelled when U.S. troops and F-18 jets joined in the skirmish in support of the Iraqi Army.

Facing both Iraqi and US troops supported by F18 jets, an unknown number of ISIS attackers were killed during the two hour firefight before being forced to retreat.

Ein al-Asad came under repeated attack by ISIS troops in October, however, now bolstered by the U.S. assistance, it poses a much more formidable target.

Sheikh Mahmud Nimrawi, a tribal leader in the region, said 'US forces intervened because ISIS started to come near the base, which they are stationed in, so (it was) out of self-defense,' Shafaq News reported.

He added: 'We have made progress in (the) al-Dolab area, in which ISIS has withdrawn from.'

During the Iraq War, it was the largest airbase located within Iraq's Anbar province.

Although it scaled down in size following the conclusion of the war, it remains in use by the Iraq Army and is located deep within the remote areas on the front line against ISIS.

Meanwhile, Kurdish forces have launched an operation to retake the town of Sinjar in northwest Iraq after coalition planes pounded Islamic State positions overnight, Kurdish officials said.

The peshmerga fighters made gains against ISIS throughout the day, the officials said, driving the militants out of at least eight sub-districts in the Zumar area, east of Sinjar.

If the peshmerga succeeded in recapturing the town, it would open up a corridor to Sinjar mountain, where hundreds of minority Yazidis have been besieged by ISIS militants since August.

It would also be a symbolic victory for the Kurds, whose reputation as fearsome warriors was bruised after Islamic State overpowered the peshmerga in Sinjar and killed or captured hundreds of Yazidis.

'At 8.00 this morning the ground offensive began to liberate Sinjar town,' said one official in the Kurdish region's Security Council, adding that coalition planes had bombed the area for several hours beforehand.

'There's evidence that a lot of ISIS fighters abandoned their weapons and fled the area.'

Several other Kurdish security officials gave similar accounts.

U.S. President Barack Obama cited the duty to prevent an impending massacre of Yazidis by Islamic State militants as one of the main reasons for authorizing the first air strikes in Iraq this summer.

Final note: Air power DOES NOT/WILL NOT win a war, IT will take Warriors on the ground in mud, muck and blood to WIN. I only pray that the American sheeple will soon learn this and America will grow a set, elect TRUE LEADERS, who will unleash the Devil Dogs of hell and allow our military to do what they do best, KILL THE ENEMY, BLOW THINGS UP AND COME HOME!

Friday, December 5, 2014

Government Mismanagement at Pearl Harbor Memorial

Sunday will mark the 73rd anniversary of the "Day that will live in infamy" allegations of mismanagement at one the one of the nation's most hallowed sites, an underwater grave for more than 900 sailors and Marines killed when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and sank their ship in 1941.



Now, it's the scene of alleged rampant mismanagement.

An internal report from the National Park Service, which operates a visitors' center for a memorial at the battleship, said tour companies sold tickets with the knowledge of park officials even though tickets are supposed to be free.

Another pointed to substandard maintenance, including scuffed museum walls that languished un-repaired and bird feces that wasn't cleaned.

The revelations in documents released last month come just before crowds gather at Pearl Harbor on Sunday for an annual ceremony remembering more than 2,400 sailors, Marines and soldiers killed 73 years ago.

"To watch the desecration of a very sacred, very important place was very disheartening," said John Landrysmith, a former park service guide and 41-year-old Iraq war veteran.

He quit his job earlier this year after feeling his supervisor was punishing him for questioning the ticket policy and believing the park service failed to act on his complaints. He intends to file a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against the park service.

Park superintendent Paul DePrey said the park service was trying to accommodate the tour companies, which bring busloads of people each day.

"It was not intended for a huge glut of tickets that were going to just the tour companies," he said "We tried to work that system the best we could. It was not successful."

The practice stopped when they realized it didn't comply with park service policy and wasn't working as intended, he said.

A new ticketing system starting next month, DePrey said, will do a better job laying out the terms and conditions of the permits commercial tour companies operate under. The park service will also start scanning tickets to get data on how they are being used.

The problems outlined in the reports are centered at the visitor's center, which anyone visiting the Arizona and the memorial must pass through. The $56-million complex, rebuilt four years ago, explains events leading up and during the attack with the help of museum exhibits and movie screenings.

Visitors then board boats to the white, open-air memorial that sits atop the Arizona's rusting hull.

There are only 4,350 boat tickets available each day. That amounts to less than 1.6 million tickets a year, even though the park service says 1.8 million people visit Pearl Harbor annually.

A September 2013 park service report said there was "at minimum" no transparency in the way tickets were distributed.

The report, which was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the nonprofit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, outlined how park service employees gave walk-in tickets intended for independent visitors to commercial tour companies who then sold them.

Tickets were also given to Pacific Historic Parks, a nonprofit that runs a gift shop and raises money for the memorial. The organization gave some to people spending $7 to rent an audio tour from the nonprofit, and gave others to companies that would lead clients to the audio tours, the report said.

There were rarely enough tickets for independent visitors while this was going on, the report said.

DePrey said visitors pay the companies for the transportation they provide to Pearl Harbor from Waikiki hotels and other places not for the tickets.

Yet the report said uniformed commercial tour drivers were observed standing about 15 feet in front of the park service information desk - in full view of the park ranger - offering tickets to visitors who were already at Pearl Harbor.

Another anecdote said two visitors reported being sold tickets for $39 each by a tour company even though they drove their own rental car to the visitor's center.

A separate internal report listed a slew of maintenance issues. Photos from the report show peeling paint in the museum and accumulated bird droppings.

Some maintenance problems persist. Visitors to the museum today will see silver duct tape securing a black ribbon with the words "Exhibit Temporarily Unavailable" to an empty glass case that once held model of the Arizona. The exhibit's been down for a year.

Outside, an orange plastic fence surrounds a muddy spot where a water catchment basin isn't working as intended. The fence has been up since last December, the park service said.

The park service is trying to keep the facility in as good condition as it can, DePrey said.

"I'm not happy when I see aspects of the facility that are in poor condition. It's not something that I or my maintenance or the park rangers are proud of," DePrey said. "But we are realistic that these things will happen from time to time."