September 11th Memorial Bookends Attacks with Exhibit Featuring Part of Navy SEAL's Uniform From Bin Laden Raid

The uniform shirt a US Navy SEAL wore during the 2011 raid on the compound in Abbotabad, Pakistan where Osama Bin Laden was hiding went on display this week at New York's September 11th museum earlier this week.

The shirt joins a specially made coin awarded to a CIA operative after the mission and a brick from Bin Laden's compound that go on display at the National September 11th Memorial and Museum this week. The coin was struck after the successful completion of the Abbotabad raid and was reportedly issued to the participating SEALs and an agent known as Maya, who was the basis of the main character portrayed in the 2012 movie Zero Dark Thirty.

"The death of Osama bin Laden is a huge part of the history, and we have an absolute obligation to tell it," National Sept. 11 Memorial Museum President Joe Daniels said Saturday. The display, he said, "allows millions of visitors the chance to recognize the extraordinary bravery of the men and women who sacrifice so much for this country at home and abroad."

The uniform shirt, tan with camouflage sleeves and an American flag patch on the right shoulder — stars forward to invoke the historical role of a flag-bearer leading a charge into battle — belonged to a now-retired member of SEAL Team Six, which put an end to the long manhunt for the world's most wanted terrorist. The garment "connects us in a powerful and immediate way to that operation," Museum Director Alice Greenwald said.

The red, white and blue coin was made to commemorate its conclusion. The coin bears the date — May 1, 2011, in U.S. time — on one side and a red "X'' on the other.

Opened to the public in May, this would mark the first time that the September 11th Museum is open on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. A memorial for the people killed in the September 11th attacks was opened in 2012.

Even before the museum opened, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) petitioned the museum to edit a video presentation on Al Qaeda, urging them to remove phrases like 'jihad' and 'radical islam' from the presentation. The museum's board reportedly declined any such edit.

Happy Armed Forces Day From Not Another New England Sports Blog

Sgt. Javier Amador/ US Army Photo

May 17th marks Armed Forces Day, which was created 65 years ago under the Truman administration Prior to 1949, the Army, Navy and Air Force had their own seperate days honoring each branch.

While not as widely observed as Veteran's Day or Memorial Day, some municipalities do mark the occasion with parades- one of the longest running in the USA in in the western Washington Navy town of Bremerton. According to the Bremerton Chamber of Commerce, 2014 is the 65th year the the town has had an Armed Forces day parade

At Least 12 Killed After Gunman Opens Fire in Washington DC Naval Facility

A former Naval reservist who was recently working as a defense contractor shot and killed 12 people after using his pass to gain entry to the Washington Naval yard on Monday.

The gunman was identified by authorities as 34 year old Aaron Alexis after numerous conflicting reports about the weapons used, number of shooters and identity of the shooters from the media, the Department of Defense and the Washington DC Metropolitan Police. Alexis reportedly had a history of misconduct and mental health problems, although neither apparently prevented him from legally purchasing a Remington 870 shotgun in Virginia or obtaining top secret clearance at a sensitive Naval facility. Originally from Brooklyn, Alexis served in the US Navy reserves from 2004 to 2011.

While in the Navy, Alexis had a number of incidents including unauthorized absences, insubordination and disorderly conduct on his record. After a 2008 incident in which he was thrown out of an Atlanta nightclub after damaging some of the furnishings, the Navy reportedly sought a general discharge against Alexis. While not carrying the same stigma as a dishonorable discharge, it still would've made it more difficult for Alexis to find work as a civilian. Instead, Alexis received an honorable discharge from the Navy and eventually found work as a civilian contractor.

Alexis was allegedly involved in two prior incidents involving guns- while living in Seattle, he allegedly shot out the tires of a construction worker's car in 2004. In 2010, he fired a shot into the apartment above his while living in Ft Worth, TX in what he claimed was an accident.

More disturbingly, Alexis told Newport, RI police six weeks prior to Monday's shooting that he was hearing voices while he had checked into a hotel in town and claimed that three people were following him and using some sort of microwave machine to keep him awake by sending vibrations into his body. The Newport police officer contacted Naval police who assured him that they would follow up on it.

Alexis reportedly had his security credentials renewed over the summer and is believed to have used them to gain access to the building on Monday where he shot and killed a security guard before taking the guard's sidearm and continuing his rampage, firing on a cafeteria area where some workers were having breakfast. Police and security took anywhere from five to seven minutes to respond, with some eyewitnesses reportedly directing them to a different building. Numerous media outlets erroneously reported that Alexis had used an AR-15 in his rampage, with the New York Daily News proclaiming 'Same Gun, Different Slay' on their front page. There were also reports from a police spokesman of additional gunmen which later turned out to be erroneous. Alexis was reportedly shot and killed by Washington DC police officers from the SWAT team.

Authorities are retracing Alexis' steps and searching for a motive. Alexis reportedly told some friends that he felt cheated out of some benefits he felt the Navy still owed him after his discharge.

Fort Hood Shooter Sentenced To Death

A military jury in Texas has sentenced former US Army Major Nidal Hasan to death for his role in the November 2009 Ft Hood shootings after a three week trial.

Hasan, who sat motionless as the jury president read the verdict, has said he acted to protect Islamic insurgents abroad from American aggression, never denied being the gunman. In opening statements, he acknowledged to the jury that he pulled the trigger in a crowded waiting room where troops were getting final medical checkups before deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hasan had one final chance Wednesday to give a closing argument before his case went to the jury, but he declined -- continuing an absent defense that he has used since his trial began three weeks ago.

The Army psychiatrist's behavior has only stoked suspicion that his ultimate goal is martyrdom, in the form of a death sentence that would allow him to fulfill what prosecutors have described as a "jihad duty" under his Islamic faith.

The lead prosecutor, Col. Mike Mulligan, told jurors Wednesday morning that history was full of instances of death in the name of religion. But he said it would be "wrong and unsupportive" to tie Hasan's actions to a wider cause

Hasan acted as his own defense counsel throughout the trial, and his strategy consisted solely of admitting that he was the shooter and not challenging the prosecution's claims. The Virginia-born Muslim claimed the shooting was in retaliation for what he claims is an ongoing American war against Islamic nations.

To add insult to injury, the government has classified the terrorist sympathizer Hasan's religiously motivated killing spree as "workplace violence" instead of terrorism- denying survivors and family members certain benefits and awards.

Even worse, the FBI had reportedly intercepted communications between Hasan and radical cleric Anwar Al-Alwaki in Yemen nearly a year before the attack.

Hasan first appeared on the bureau's radar in December of 2008—nearly a year before the Fort Hood massacre—when he emailed Awlaki to ask him whether serving in the US military was compatible with the Muslim faith. He also asked whether Awlaki considered those who died attacking their fellow soldiers "shaheeds," or martyrs.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego, which was tracking Awlaki, intercepted Hasan's December email, along with another sent in January. A search of the Pentagon's personnel database turned up a man named Nidal Hasan who was on active military duty and was listed as a "Comm Officer" at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Normally, when the FBI unearths this kind of raw intelligence, it issues an Intelligence Information Report (IIR), which is shared with law enforcement agencies and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (This system was designed to prevent the kind of information bottlenecks that allowed the 9/11 plot to go undetected.) But the San Diego agents misinterpreted the "Comm Officer" label in Hasan's file to mean "communications officer" (in fact, it meant "commissioned officer") and believed that a person in this role might have access to IIRs. To avoid tipping him off, they skipped the report and sent a detailed memo requesting an investigation directly to the Washington, DC, Joint Terrorism Task Force, a multiagency team overseen by the FBI that investigates terrorism cases in the capital. The message noted that Hasan's "contact with [Awlaki] would be of concern if the writer is actually the individual identified above."

The file languished for nearly two months before it was assigned to an agent for the Defense Criminal Investigative Services, who was on the task force. According to a 2011 report on the Fort Hood shootings by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, DCIS—a law enforcement agency within the Pentagon, which normally deals with fraud and cybercrime among military personnel and contractors—was ill-equipped to tackle a counterterrorism investigation.

Meanwhile, Hasan kept writing Awlaki. Between January and May 2009, he sent the radical cleric more than a dozen emails, and received two relatively benign responses. In one message, ostensibly about Palestinians firing unguided rockets into Israel, Hasan asked Awlaki whether "indiscriminately killing civilians" was acceptable. Two days later, he sent another message answering his own question: "Hamas and the Muslims hate to hurt the innocent but they have no choice if their going to have a chance to survive, flourish, and deter the zionist enemy. The recompense for an evil is an evil." (Hasan's emails contained a number of typos.)

The San Diego field office intercepted these missives, too. But the database where the FBI stored intercepted emails didn't automatically link messages from the same sender, so the staff didn't realize that Hasan's early 2009 emails were from the person who had set off alarms the previous December. Meanwhile, the Washington-based DCIS agent assigned to investigate Hasan put off his inquiry for another 90 days, the maximum allowed under joint task force rules, before conducting a cursory investigation. Over the course of four hours on May 27, 2009, he ran Hasan's name through several databases to see if the psychiatrist had been targeted in previous counterterrorism probes. He also reviewed Hasan's Pentagon personnel file. Hasan's officer evaluations were mostly positive, and the chair of psychiatry at Walter Reed had written that Hasan's research on Islamic beliefs regarding military service had "extraordinary potential to inform national policy and military strategy."


The Senate investigation later found these reports "bore no resemblance to the real Hasan, a barely competent psychiatrist whose radicalization toward violent Islamist extremism alarmed his colleagues and his superiors." Nevertheless, the DCIS investigator concluded, based on Hasan's file, that the Army psychiatrist had contacted Awlaki in connection with his academic research and "was not involved in terrorist activity." The DCIS investigator and a supervisory agent in the Washington field office debated interviewing Hasan or his superiors. They ultimately decided doing so could jeopardize the Awlaki investigation or harm Hasan's career.

Advocates for Fort Hood victims find this decision puzzling. "A US Army major is writing to this imam and essentially asking for religious sanction to kill American soldiers," said attorney Reed Rubinstein, who represents a group of victims who are suing the federal government. "And the FBI's Washington field office doesn't even interview the man or make a phone call to his superiors. It's utterly incomprehensible."

Hasan's superiors reportedly missed or ignored a number of red flags regarding Hasan's performance as an officer, including being overweight and stridently supporting Islamic law during his residency at Walter Reed Army hospital.

Should the Army follow through, this will be the first military execution since 1961.

Report: CIA Operatives Denied Help During Attack on US Consulate in Benghazi

In the latest development regarding the September 11, 2012 attacks on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, reports are circulating that multiple requests for military aid during the consulate attack were rejected by the chain of command.

Former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods was part of a small team who was at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When he and others heard the shots fired, they informed their higher-ups at the annex to tell them what they were hearing and requested permission to go to the consulate and help out. They were told to "stand down," according to sources familiar with the exchange. Soon after, they were again told to "stand down."

Woods and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The rescue team from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight.

At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house, or annex. The request was denied. There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters. In fact, at least one member of the team was on the roof of the annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired at the CIA compound. The security officer had a laser on the target that was firing and repeatedly requested back-up support from a Spectre gunship, which is commonly used by U.S. Special Operations forces to provide support to Special Operations teams on the ground involved in intense firefights.

Particularly damning is a report that appeared on milblogger Blackfive's page indicating that CIA and Special Operations forces had a GLD (Ground Laser Designator) on site in Benghazi during the attack, a device used to 'paint' targets on the ground for air support. Only during the Benghazi attack, both the CIA and Special Operations operatives were given orders to stand down.

An unarmed surveillance drone over Benghazi had reportedly relayed real-time footage of the attack to the chain of command. The attack went on for hours, meaning there was more than enough time for commanders to dispatch AC130U Spectre gunships from Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily- some 480 miles away from Benghazi. The AC130U was designed for ground support and is capable of saturating a fairly compact are with precision fire from a 25mm gatling gun as well as precision 40mm and 105mm cannons. Such weapons systems also can operate with even greater precision with a GLD like what was reportedly on site at the CIA annex in Benghazi.

If true, this basically means that the chain of command in the CIA, State Department and White House left Ambassador Stevens, Information Management Officer Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods to die while the US Consulate was under a well planned and coordinated attack with heavy weaponry from Islamist militants- reportedly including Ansar al Sharia.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has denied that any of the C-130s had even left Sigonella during the attack while a CIA spokeswoman denies that requests for military aid from Benghazi during the attack were turned down. However, since both the State Department and White House continued blaming a short anti-Islamic YouTube video for weeks after the September 11th attacks, the denials are significantly lacking in credibility.

Meanwhile, Turkish authorities detained a Tunisian man identified on surveillance video of the attack but so far, US interrogators have been denied the opportunity to interview him.

UPDATE 11/1- Foreign Policy magazine and Dubai's Al Aan television reported the discovery of more sensetive documents in the wreckage of the Benghazi consulate after the September 11th attacks, including a travel itinterary for Information Officer Sean Smith and e-mails from Ambassador Stevens to Libya's foreign minstry requesting additional security and reporting 'troubling surveillance' from a local police officer who was reportedly taking pictures inside the compound. Stevens even identified the car number the Libyan policeman arrived and departed in.

The Ambassador's report of the policeman taking pictures is consistent with Information Officer Smith's online message just hours before the attack that read "Assuming we don’t die tonight. We saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures".

Department of Energy Audit Finds 'Troubling Ineptitude' At Site Billed "Fort Knox of Uranium"

A report from the DOE's inspector general criticized multiple levels of security breaches at a Tennessee facility that stores weapons-grade uranium after three activists broke into the grounds and vandalized a building earlier this year.

Three anti-nuclear activists, including an 82-year-old nun, were not initially spotted or detained as they cut through three perimeter fences on July 28.

They painted slogans and threw what they said was human blood on the outer wall of a building where highly enriched uranium, a key component of nuclear bombs, is stored.

[DOE Inspector General] Friedman's report said the government had budgeted about $150 million in taxpayer funds for security at the plant for fiscal 2012, yet the officer responding to the alarm did not notice the trespassers until they walked up to his car and "surrendered."

The officer did not draw his weapon nor secure the area, instead letting the trespassers "roam about and retrieve various items from backpacks," the report said.

Another officer hearing alarms did not look outside the building as he was supposed to, and also missed an image of the trespassers on a camera. A third officer turned off the alarm.

Others heard the activists hammering on the building's outside wall, but assumed the sound was from maintenance workers.

The Oak Ridge facility is managed by Babcock & Wilcox [NYSE- BWC] while security is managed by UK-based G4S Security.

Earlier this summer, G4S was embroiled in a controversy over a staffing shortfall and allegations of rushing unqualified personnel onsite ahead of the 2012 London Summer Olympics. The Olympics debacle reportedly cost the company £50 million and prompted the UK's Ministry of Defense to deploy more troops to London.

Obama Announces Drastic Cuts in US Defense Spending

I'm not the least bit surprised by this, yet I'm still angry.

With his vapid, fawning, brain dead followers in the media and punditocracy class more than willing to give President Obama sole credit for the heavy lifting done by the United States military (particularly the May 2011 raid where Osama Bin Laden was killed in his Pakistani hideout), you'd think that Obama would be reluctant to make any significant cuts to the armed forces or at least hold off until after the 2012 campaign.

You would be wrong.

At a press conference at the Pentagon on Thursday, President Obama unveiled an austere and 'more realistic' vision for the Military that would purportedly develop air and sea power while cutting back tens of thousands of ground troops.

Though specific budget cut and troop reduction figures are not set to be announced on Thursday, officials confirmed to Reuters they would amount to a 10-15 percent decline in Army and Marine Corps numbers over the next decade, translating to tens of thousands of troops.

"As Libya showed, you don't necessarily have to have boots on the ground all the time," an official said, explaining the White House view.

"We are refining our strategy to something that is more realistic," the official added.

Unsurprisingly, Administration officials touted the recent 'success' of Ghdaffi's ouster in Libya as a template for 'winning' a conflict without extensive ground forces even though other NATO nations and the Libyan rebels did the lion's share of the work [apparently this 'victory' includes replacing a dictator with lawless roving bands of gunmen who arbitrarily detain black men and promise to chase the few remaining Jews out of the country- NANESB!].

Obama has moved to curtail U.S. ground commitments overseas, ending the war in Iraq, drawing down troops in Afghanistan and ruling out anything but air power and intelligence support for rebels who overthrew Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.

So with China's ongoing military buildup, the ascendancy of Kim Jong Un in a belligerent North Korea and Iran's nuclear program and recent saber rattling, the Obama Administration decided the FIRST place they needed to make cuts was with the Defense budget. The subsidies, loans and grants to all sorts of dubious 'Green Jobs' and Solar ventures were apparently too important to the future of this great Republic.

Unsurprisingly, since this Administration took office, the United States military has become an unwitting test bed for all sorts of social engineering and 'green energy' boondoggles at the behest of the ruling Democrats.

That's when this Administration isn't contemplating releasing top-ranking Taliban detainees from custody or referring to Major Hasan's jihad-inspired Fort Hood killing spree as 'workplace violence'.

I vividly remember Obama's flip "You guys make a pretty good photo-op" comment while addressing servicemen at an air base in South Korea. It will be interesting to see if his campaign will try and incorporate any imagery of Obama meeting with uniformed military personnel, since it looks as though he no longer sees the need even have them around as a photo op.

Counterfeit Parts From China Showing Up In US Military Aircraft

Sikorski SH 60-B Sea Hawk lifting off from carrier. A Defense Department audit found that the infared imaging systems in some of the Navy's fleet were using counterfeit components

Earlier this year, I came across a website called havocscope which supposedly tracks the value of black market, smuggled and contraband goods as though they were legitimate commodities traded on the open market. Instead of listing Counterfeit goods under one single category, they subdivided it into categories ranging from Counterfeit Aircraft Parts to Counterfeit Zippos. According to havocscope, the counterfeit aircraft parts trade is worth an estimated US$2 billion annually. And it seems as though some of that money, however unwittingly, comes from the Department of Defense and the US taxpayers.

The Senate Armed Services Committee announced earlier this month that it had learned counterfeit electronics which had made their way into the Department of Defense supply chain and into at least eight aircraft, some of which were deployed to Afghanistan.

The Senate Armed Services Committee found counterfeit parts -- usually from China -- on at least seven aircraft, including the Lockheed Martin Corp. [NYSE: LMT] C-130J transport plane, Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and L-3 27J Spartan transport.

“Suspect electronic parts from China were installed on military systems and subsystems that were manufactured by Raytheon Co., L-3 Communications and Boeing,” said a memo from the committee’s staff, released yesterday before a hearing today.

“There is a flood of counterfeits and it is putting our military men and risk and costing us a fortune,” committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said. None of the examples found by the committee were connected to lives lost or dramatic failures causing an aircraft crash, and the companies involved cooperated with the investigation, he said.

A seperate Pentagon audit has shown that cockpit displays on two new US Air Force C-27J Spartans from L-3 Electronics [NYSE: LLL] that were deployed to Afghanistan were found to be utilizing suspect parts.

L3’s Integrated Systems unit notified the Air Force on Sept. 19 that 38 suspect video memory chips were installed in the display units on eight of the first 11 aircraft delivered.

The L-3 unit that made the displays learned of the suspect memory chips in November 2010, the memo said. The committee traced the chips to Hong Dark Electronic Trade in Shenzhen, China, which also delivered an earlier counterfeit part L-3 discovered in October 2009, it said. The display units are made by L-3 Communications Display Systems and provide pilots with diagnostic data including engine status, fuel usage, location and warning messages.

The C-27J displays were among more than 500 containing suspect Chinese parts sold to the Air Force, Navy and defense contractors for installation also on C-130J and C-17 transport and Marine Corps CH-46 helicopters, the memo said.

“Failure of the memory chip could cause a display unit to show a degraded image, lose data or even go blank,” the memo said

The Senate Armed Services committee's investigative staff reportedly compiled a database with nearly 1800 cases of counterfeiting and suspect parts. Out of 100 cases given closer scrutiny, nearly 70% were traced back to Chinese firms. The origins of some of these parts are concealed by having them pass through three or four shell companies before finding their way into the Department of Defense supply chain.

Libyan Evacuation: Ferry Bring Americans to Malta, USAF Flying Egyptian Nationals Home.

While some 200 Americans being evacuated from Libya had to wait for a ferry to Malta last week, President Obama dispatched US Air Force C130s to Tunisia in order to aid in the evacuation of Egyptian workers trapped in Libya since an uprising against the Gahdaffi regime and ensuing crackdown

President Obama announced today that he had approved the use of military planes to transport Egyptian refugees from the Tunisian border back to Egypt.

Defense officials says the operation will be run by Africa Command (Africom) which is based in Stuttgart, Germany. One of the officials says Africom will use between two and four C-130 aircraft based in Germany to carry out the flights between Tunisia and Egypt. C-130’s are smaller aircraft compared to C-17’s so it looks like they could be making a lot of trips.

The flights will operate between Tunisia and Egypt. A Department of Defense official said that USAID would charter additional civilian aircraft to evacuate foreign nationals who are fleeing strife-torn Libya via the Tunisian border. Spain and German are sending aircraft and warships to aid in the evacuation of foreigners (mostly Egyptians) while India and South Korea have dispatched Naval vessels to evacuate their citizens.

You know what? I hope I don't come off like I'm against using US Air Force aircraft and personnel to evacuate foreign nationals from the escalating and increasingly bloody clusterfuck in Libya, because I'm not....

Simply put, It's the right thing to do......

I'm sure there were some logistical concerns as well. But with that said, how come these assets weren't made available to the American citizens who needed them first?

Food for thought.

Fort Hood- 1 Year Later

Today marks the 1-year anniversary of the massacre at Fort Hood, TX where Maj. Nidal Hasan shot and killed 12 unarmed soldiers preparing for deployment to Afghanistan and a civilian Department of Defense worker and wounded 32 others.

Hassan was cut down after exchanging fire with civilian police officer Mark Todd [I had incorrectly identified officer Kimberly Munley as the one who stopped Hassan's rampage- NANESB!]. Hasan survived, but was paralyzed from the waist down and has been in custody ever since.

At first blush, the background behind the Major's shooting spree isn't that dissimilar to other, infamous workplace shootings that have taken place. And this has allowed many so-called journalists and writers to circumvent the obvious by overlooking significant details like Hasan's e-mail correspondence with fugitive Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Anwar al-Awlaki or shouting 'Allahu Akhbar' while embarking his killing spree.

And that denial seems to be one of the more disturbing legacies of the shooting on this somber 1 year anniversary. Esquire tells us about the granular earthen materiel they're seeing in amazing detail with jaw-dropping, head-in-the-sand statements such as:

But the real story at Fort Hood was never terrorism

Really? How does one respond to an almost proud display of ignorance on that author's part?

I guess one could flail around desperately trying to find other possible motivations behind the shooting aside from the most glaringly obvious and self-explanatory one. In the immediate wake of the shooting, the media had no idea how many shooters there were, whether or not they were soldiers and where they came from. But in those same vague, urgent reports they let us know that despite the lack of information available from Ft. Hood at the moment, they could reassure us it wasn't terrorism.

Then the spin-meisters went to work with a cornucopia of excuses- it was post traumatic stress disorder; despite Hasan never serving in a combat area. It was a victim of racial/religious discrimination lashing out; despite the ethnic plurality of the victims he gunned down and the fact that his time at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington D.C. was marked with more red flags than a Chinese military parade.

Hasan's Article 32 Hearing began last month and Army prosecutors rested their case against Hasan two weeks ago. The defense had been considering an attempt to use the insanity defense, but experts say that's easily undermined by the weeks of preparation Hasan underwent prior to the shooting spree.

Since the shooting, Al-Alwaki and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula are thought to have been behind the failed Christmas day underpants bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and last week's attempt to send explosive parcels through airfreight- both of which used PETN explosives.

Meanwhile, the soldiers from the 20th Engineer Battalion and 467th Medical Detachment (the units being outprocessed to Afghanistan) are now coming home from their rotation in Afghanistan.

Obama Speechifies Some More, Hopes You Don't Notice Even More Private Military Contractors In Iraq or Opposition to 2007 Troop Surge

Observe how the photographer superimposed concertina wire over the armoured vehicles to emphasise that these are US combat units leaving Iraq!

President Obama gave a speech from the Oval Office tonight, which in and of itself is pretty noteworthy considering that he wasn't campaigning or vacationing. The occasion of the speech was to mark the 'official' end of US combat operations in Iraq today, as well as re-writing recent history to suit his own ends. Particularly rich was his throwaway line about "there were patriots who supported this war and patriots who opposed it"- weasel words from a man who's hoping that most Americans have short-term memory that doesn't go back further than 2 years.

All in all, it was a mercifully brief speech- at least by Obama's standards. Chances are he had to switch the topic back to the economy and vacuous, halfhearted platitudes about how wonderful our servicemen and women are (despite protestations to the contrary from his base and own political party) to avoid any mention of the fact that the 2007 Iraq troop surge proposed by Gen Petraeus was vehemently opposed by himself and then Delaware senator Joe Biden- who went on to propose that Iraq be partitioned into three sectors.

Washington Examiner

Since Obama brought up the economy in his speech, it was rather reminiscent of his 'Gee you Army guys are swell, but your silly wars are so gosh-darn expensive' speech from the enemy camp US Military Academy at West Point late last year. As it turns out, the 7+ years of the Iraq war may not have been as big a drain on the Treasury as Obama's failed stimulus plans in his first 18 months in office.

Also, does anybody else remember the frothy, sanctimonious indignation over the use of private military contractors over in Iraq during the Bush era? [I for one think that accusations levelled against contractors were in large part trial balloons for charges the anti-war left was getting ready to level against American troops- NANESB!] Turns out Obama Administration is hiring an unprecedented number of them to fill the void left by departing US forces, according to a New York Times article rather ambiguously titled 'Civilians to Take US Lead as Military Leaves Iraq'. I have yet to hear the same voices critical of the Bush Administration opine on this development, even though it's the worst-kept secret this side of the Tigris River.

Feds: Computer Evidence Ties Jailed Anylist to Wikieaks

The Army Private thought to have provided more than 70,000 classified documents to left a series of angry, brooding messages on his Facebook page earlier this year, lashing out at the Army, his ex-boyfriend and 'society at large'. [Yes....the article reads 'ex-boyfriend'. How long before 'Dont Ask Don't Tell' is to blame for the Wikileaks fiasco?- NANESB!]

Manning, who is half British and went to school in Wales, appeared to sink into depression after a relationship breakup, the Daily Telegraph said. It quoted Manning as posting he didn't "have anything left" and was "beyond frustrated."
In an apparent swipe at the Army, Manning also wrote: "Bradley Manning is not a piece of equipment," and quoted a joke about "military intelligence" being an oxymoron, the Telegraph said.
Manning began his gloomy postings on Jan. 12, saying: "Bradley Manning didn't want this fight. Too much to lose, too fast," the Telegraph said.
At the beginning of May, when he was serving at a military base near Baghdad, the Telegraph said, he changed his status to: "Bradley Manning is now left with the sinking feeling that he doesn't have anything left."
Five days later he said he was "livid" after being "lectured by ex-boyfriend", then later the same day said he was "not a piece of equipment" and was "beyond frustrated with people and society at large," the paper said.
The Telegraph said Manning's personal page tagline reads: "Take me for who I am, or face the consequences!"

And despite assurances from sanctimonious anti-war radical leftist and WikiLeaks founder Julius Assange that all sensitive information was redacted prior to the document dump, leaked information in the documents includes the names and addresses of Afghans who had been cooperating with US and NATO forces and intelligence-gathering methods.

A somber-faced Julian Assange, editor of WikiLeaks, said he was "disappointed in what was left out" of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' comment. Gates "spoke about hypothetical blood," Assange said, reading from a statement, "but the grounds of Iraq and Afghanistan are covered with real blood."
Assange went on to accuse the Pentagon chief of overseeing "the killing of thousands of children and adults" in Iraq and Afghanistan, and criticized him personally for not announcing a criminal investigation based on the the leaked document.

[Which would be like Assange bitching about the RAF not investigating the firebombing of Dresden after he just leaked detailed plans that include the names of Allied spies in Germany or how the Allies plan on crossing the Rhine- NANESB]
Assange changed his story at least once to say that he tried contacting the White House to get their input on any information they'd want withheld, but went ahead with the document dump when he never heard back from them.
And as for 'Hypothetical blood', I highly doubt it will be 'hypothetical' that much longer given the overall history of that part of the world.....that's if the leaked information hasn't already been acted upon by the Taliban.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) Says "Debt Is A National Security Threat", Proposes Defense Cuts To Bolster National Security

And no, I'm not making this up.

Democrats have long been hobbled by a public image of being weak on terror and wobbly on national defense.

Image? IMAGE?

Try 'reality'. Or are silly little things like taking at least 48 hours to acknowledge the shooting of a US soldier in Arkansas by a Yemeni-trained terrorist, warning us not to jump to any hasty conclusions regarding Major Hasan's murder spree at Ft. Hood and a full page newspaper ad by the Dems biggest fundraisers calling the US Commander in Iraq a traitor being taken out of context and misinterpreted by yours truly? Any assertion that the current Democrat majority is inept and indifferent or outright hostile towards the military or national security is poppycock and fear-mongering by that cruel mistress known as 'reality' vast right-wing conspiracy.

But fear not! After passing the stimulus, Obama's pet healthcare project and cap and trade, Steny Hoyer has rallied the troops and is going the lead the fiscally conservative Calvary charge to responsible budgetary practices.....by cutting defense spending.

This echoes similar comments made by President Obama at the close of the G20 summit yesterday.

"When I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country, I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficits and debt step up, because I'm calling their bluff," the president said at a press conference

I suspect some of those 'difficult choices' will revolve more around the Department of Defense and military contractors instead of inept Minerals Management Services bureaucrats and regulators who showed up for work drunk or high, were looking at online porn on the taxpayers dime and accepted gifts from the companies they were supposed to inspect and regulate. But don't worry! President Obama's blue-ribbon debt-reduction panel, which includes former SEIU head Andy Stern, will save the day and make recommendations for the most transparent and ethical Congress EVAH!

I'm sure the 'difficult choices' won't be limited to the Department of Defense, too, since Department of Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano thinks that securing the Southwestern border is just too much gosh-darned work.

“It’s a big border,” she said. “It’s 1,960 miles across that Southwest border. It’s some of the roughest, toughest geographical terrain in the world across that border. And so, the notion that you’re going to seal that border somehow is something that anybody who’s been involved in the actual doing of law enforcement--the front office work or the front line work of the law enforcement--would say, ‘You’re never going to totally seal that border.’” [Snip]
“The notion that you’re gonna’ somehow seal the border, and only at that point will you discuss immigration reform, that is not an answer to the problem,” she said

This from the dame who more or less saw Phoenix become the kidnap capital of the USA on her watch as governor.

Here's a thought, you jaw-droppingly incompetent dolt: How about we have enough personnel patrolling along the border along with strategically placed barriers so that drug and human traffickers sneaking into the USA unobstructed isn't a sure bet like it is now?

'Tough choices ahead' indeed....Nearly 10% of Americans are still unemployed (the 'unofficial numbers are still higher) yet Andy Stern, Steny Hoyer and Janet Napolitano still manage to draw a salary.

Go figure.

Happy Armed Forces Day From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

(Image: US DOD)

Today, May 15th, marks the 61st Armed Forces Day. Prior to 1949, each branch had their own day but shortly after World War II, the Department of Defense decided to consolidate the observance for all 5 branches on one day at President Truman's insistence. However, it should be noted that the US Marine Corps 'Birthday' (November 10) nearly overlaps with Veteran's day and is still widely observed within the USMC. The US Army's 'Birthday' also nearly overlaps with another holiday- Flag Day.

Billy DeVorss

Of course, 1949 was also the heyday of pin-ups, which presents me with another opportunity (however gratuitous) to showcase some pin-up artwork of the era. This 1942 piece by the late Billy DeVorss featuring an almost angelic nurse draped in Old Glory is titled Patriot Girl appropriately enough. Not much is known about Mr. DeVorss' early life, only that he worked as a bank teller in St. Joseph, MO until the early 1930s and was reportedly self-taught as an artist. His works caught the eye of Bigelow & Brown- the Minneapolis-based agency that retained talent like Gil Elvgren- and DeVorss would would wind up working out of their Kansas City offices. Besides the patriotic artwork that was used in recruitment and War Bonds drives, DeVorss also would be commissioned to do artwork for movie posters, Broadway plays and magazine covers.

(Image- Army.mil)

Oh....and while everybody was looking elsewhere last week, the US Army moved in and occupied Red Square without firing a shot.

[Hat tip: Eat it or Wear it]