2011 American of the Year: Seal Team 6

The United States Navy 'SEAL' teams are the Navy's principal special operations force. The 'SEAL' acronym stands for Sea, Air, and Land, and each of these factors was on display on May 2nd, 2011. 

On that day, the Navy's "SEAL Team 6", it's Special Warfare Development Group, got revenge for America and exorcised a ghost that had haunted the nation for two decades, particularly in orchestrating the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. On that day, they killed Osama bin Laden.

"Operation Neptune Spear" was led by the C.I.A. and included their own agents, U.S. Army Airborne Rangers, and Seal Team 6. Their target was a compound in the Bilal Town section of the city of Abbottabad, Pakistan where intelligence gathered over the previous 9 months had led to the conclusion that Osama bin Laden, the murderous leader of the al Qaeda Islamofascist terrorist group, was living.

The mission was to be a "kill or capture" one in theory, but information developed from the intel had led most to feel that those inside the compound would not allow themselves to simply be captured. The American team was ready for a fire-fight. 

9/11: Are We Expected to Forgive?

Father Mychal Judge lost his life ministering at the Twin Towers on 9/11

One of the most basic foundations for any person of faith is the notion put forth by 18th century English poet Alexander Pope in that "to err is human, to forgive divine", and that we should love even our enemies. But how far does that go?

Are the families and friends of those killed in the Islamofascist terror attacks against America on September 11th, 2011 expected to forgive the terrorists who carried out the attacks and those who helped plan it, including people like the now-deceased Osama bin Laden?

Are the families of Holocaust victims to be expected to forgive their Nazi captors and murderers, including Adolf Hitler? The families of Sharon Tate, the Labiancas, and their other victims expected to forgive Charles Manson and his followers? The families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman expected to forgive O.J.?

Would the widow of murdered Philly cop Danny Faulkner, Maureen, and his fellow Philadelphia police officers be expected to forgive Mumia Abu-Jamal? Would all of the jPhilly police officers' families who had their husbands, wives, sons, daughters, parents, friends and co-workers taken from them in recent years, even over the department's history, be expected to forgive those who murdered or were otherwise responsible for the deaths?

There is an easy answer to what is basically one question: should we be expected to forgive people for the very worst things that they could possibly due to us and our loved ones. That answer is an unequivocal, resounding, empowering "Yes".

Predictions for 2010

I don't own a crystal ball, nor do I have any special psychic powers or connections to the Almighty that would grant me privileged insight.

But I do understand a little bit about what is going on in the world, and it's a challenge to look ahead and try to figure out what a new year may bring.

The following are 10 predictions that I am willing to make for the new year that we just began. Every year brings with it major news developments, exciting sporting accomplishments, political intrigue, public scandals, celebrity gaffes, natural disasters, and other headlines.

We can take a look back at the end of 2010 and see how I faired with these:

1) Israel-Iran War: There is just no way that Israel can allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. If the mullahs are not overthrown and Ahmadinejad kicked out on his apocalpyse-desirous butt within the first few months of the year, Israel cannot wait much longer. It's a bit of an upset that the Israelis have waited this long. This will be huge.

2) American Congress: The Republican Party will make major inroads in both Houses of Congress in the 2010 mid-term elections. Probably not enough to take over either House, unless of course the Obama administration continues to bury the U.S. in debt and continues to take over private industry. My bet is the Dems up for election will paint themselves moderately enough to salvage a slight Dem majority.

9/11

"The British are Coming!" "Remember the Alamo!" "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy" "9/11"

All of these phrases are now burned by history into the collective American consciousness, automatically bringing us back to times when our nation was under attack right here on our own soil.

However, the first three are actually a bit misleading in that regard. Neither the British attacks in the Revolutionary War, the Mexican attack in Texas, or the Japanese attack in Hawaii happened in an official state of the Union.

In the first, the United States was not a fully formed, world recognized, independent nation, but instead was fighting for some type of independence from the British empire. It shouted a warning among the American colonists that British troops were approaching, and is usually specifically related to the midnight ride of Paul Revere.

It also hearkens us back to a time when British 'red coats' were firing on Americans, burning homes and businesses, and marching across the land that we now know as the United States of America.

The battle at the Alamo mission also was not fought on what was then technically United States soil, but was fought between the Republics of Mexico and Texas in the aftermath of the Mexican revolution. It was a decade before Texas would officially become a U.S. state.

The Texan forces fighting for their independence from the Mexican government where vastly outnumbered, yet fought off the Mexican troops valiantly before finally being overrun and massacred. The incident rallied Texans to eventual victory, and ultimately to statehood.

Islamism Series: Back to Afghanistan

For a land-locked nation that is basically a pile of rock and sand, Afghanistan holds some serious sway in the international community. The reasons are many, but they are sometimes difficult to grasp until you look more closely.

Afghanistan is bordered on the west by an Islamic nuclear-power wannabe ruled by a mad President in Iran, and on the east by the already nuclear-powered and increasingly fractious Pakistan.

There is even a small slice of northeastern Afghanistan that borders up against a Communist behemoth known as China. Along its northern borders lie a trio of former Soviet states in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Its land-locked status means that it has virtually no natural water supplies. There are no seas against which it borders, no rivers running through it, no lakes in which water has gathered. In short, there is very little of the life-sustaining, not to mention economy-sustaining water that is necessary for a country and people to survive, let alone thrive.

The median age is less than 18 years, which might make you wonder where are all the adults? Many of them are simply dead, as the average life expectancy is only a little over 44 years.

Because of the poor economic conditions there is a high risk of infectious diseases and wide-scale problems with other illnesses such as malaria, typhoid fever, hepatitis A, and 'bird flu' influenza strains.

So why does everyone care so much about a country that is so desolate and so inhospitable? Simply because of its strategic location as a 'buffer zone'.

Islamism Series: Fort Dix and Beyond

Two headlines blared across the tops of the front pages of Philadelphia's two major newspapers within the past four days.

The Bulletin was first when last Thursday their front page headline read "Islamic Terrorists Forming Cells in US", and the Inquirer followed suit on Sunday when in reference to the Fort Dix case the headline read "They were going to do it".

Here are the cold, hard facts for everyone who has not yet caught on to what this 'Islamism Series' is all about: organized Islamic forces with the full backing of some Arab nations and with the tacit support of others are at war with the West. They see the United States, Great Britain, and Israel as their main enemies in this war.

The war did not end with the election of Barack Obama, just as it did not begin with the election of George W. Bush. It will not end with the closing of Guantanamo Bay. It will not end with the withdrawal of American troops from the Middle East. It will not end with the death or capture of Osama bin Laden.

The leadership and forces of Islam have made it abundantly clear how this will end: with the end of our civilization, or theirs. Their dream is to reestablish what they call the Islamic Caliphate under Sharia Law, that Islamic rule by Muslim religious, legal, and cultural laws.

Islamism Series: Challenging Obama

Welcome to the real world, President-elect Obama. It was one thing to use speaking eloquence and the Chicago political machine to rise to power.

It was one thing to win a U.S. Senate seat, and then use dissatisfaction with the status quo to rise to the Presidency. But that inexperience is about to catch up to you.

A few years in the Senate, most of it spent running for President, is simply not enough experience to be the leader of the free world. We in America and the entire Western world have to hope that the man is a fast learner.

Just a day after Barack Obama received his first official security briefing from the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, the New York Sun reports that Obama and the American public will soon receive a video address from none other than Osama bin Laden himself.

Fanatical hate preacher Omar Bakri has led chats in extremist Arabic chat rooms announcing that the new video will likely come when Obama names his cabinet, and will warn Obama that "We will fight him if he fights against Islam."

A key Iraqi al Qaeda propagandist, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, made an Internet speech in which he told Obama that "it's better for you and us to withdraw your forces and return to your homes."

Islamism Series: The Mujahideen and the Taliban

One of the most difficult hurdles for someone to overcome in understanding the meaning behind the many stories that they hear bandied about the airwaves and internet is basic definitions.

Who are we talking about, what exactly are they doing, why are they doing it, and how does it affect me?

The stories, people, cultures, and issues are usually not easily definable in the few short sentences or paragraphs that a blog or column allows in order to really educate someone.

When discussing the issues of radical Islam here, I usually try to be as simplistic as possible, because that is all that space allows, and it is enough to paint a picture that gives someone a basic education on the issue.

Anyone who has paid attention to the news over the past decade or more has heard of both the terms 'mujahideen' and 'taliban', but few know who or what these terms represent.

The most that many know is that they might have something to do with Afghanistan, and something to do with the war. Let's try to give you a basic primer.

First, in our modern terminology a 'mujahideen' is generally one who struggles as a fighter for a radical Islamic cause and is inspired by religion and idealogy.

Picture yourself in the Afghanistan of the late 1970's. The government of your country is aligned with the Soviet Union, and you don't like that, so you join a group which actively fights your own government to free itself from that influence.

Your government asks the Soviets to come in and directly join the fight against your group. Your group is then joined by other anti-Soviet and anti-government groups in this struggle, which you perceive to be largely about defending your Muslim faith.

The groups joined in this struggle are the beginning of what we know today as the 'Mujahideen' forces. They will fight in and around Afghanistan throughout the 1980's against the Soviet troops and their influence.

Islamism Series: Infiltration of America

Steven Emerson, one of the nation's leading terrorism experts, states it appropriately when he says that "only by knowing how the terrorists' networks operate...can we be vigilant in detecting any new activity."

There are at least three significant foreign Islamic terror groups operating in America today: Hamas, al Qaeda, and PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad.)

These groups receive support from, and give it to, countries such as Sudan, Egypt, and Afghanistan. They are here for the sole purpose of attacking America and Americans right here in our homeland, and they were getting more successful at it until the increased efforts of the Bush administration in the post-9/11 world slowed them.

But they have not stopped, they continue to plot and plan and make attempts, and without continued strong security and intelligence on our part they will succeed again, probably on an even larger scale than 9/11.

Emerson has divided the terrorists activities into four categories: recruitment, fund-raising/money-laundering, networking, and direct organization.

In recruiting, the Islamofascists love to find willing participants in Jihad who already hold American passports, at times finding these people among naturalized U.S. citizens of Middle Eastern descent. People who can generally travel freely into and out of the country, and within the country, with little suspicion.

Other recruitment, orientation, and indoctrination can come from websites and newspapers, and the terrorists actively use our freedoms against us. We cannot stop anyone from preaching violence unless a standard of "clear and present danger" is met. As Emerson states, "We cannot stop groups from gathering to share their political views, even if one of those views is that the U.S. must be destroyed."

Islamism Series: Introduction

This is the first part in what will be an ongoing series of postings relating to the serious problems posed to American society, and indeed to free peoples all around the world, by what I am going to term 'Islamism', and what has been given other names such as 'Islamofascism' and as taught this year in Pennsylvania MPO (municipal police officer) classes as 'Radical Islam'. At the bottom of each posting is a series of 'labels', and you click on the one named 'Islamism Series' in order to view all postings that come in this continuing series.

Since the beginning of 2008, I have been teaching a class at the Advanced Training Unit of the Philadelphia (PA) Police Department titled "Radical Islam", and it has been an eye-opening educational experience.

I have learned a great deal in the teaching of this class, as well as during a course that I took a few years back at the Community College of Philadelphia on the topic of terrorism with its text "Terrorism and Homeland Security" by Jonathan R. White.

In addition, my own personal reading done since 9/11 of books such as "American Jihad" by Steven Emerson, "The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East" by Martin Sieff, and "Holy War on the Homefront" by Harvey Kushner (all of which I highly recommend), the fact that Islamism is perhaps the overall biggest threat to American society in today's world has been driven home to me.

Just as eye-opening has been what I perceive to be an incredible lack of recognition of this fact by the American public, lulled back to sleep by the American media's political agenda, in the wake of the historically outrageous and devastating attacks that occurred just seven short years ago.

Islamism is defined as a set of ideologies that holds Islam, the Muslim faith, is not only a religion but also should be considered as a political system. Islamists would say that to call it a political system is to trivialize it, that the truth is that Islam should be a "complete way of life."

However you want to slice it, and by whatever words you want to associate it, Islamists believe that Islamic law (Sharia) must be the primary source of law and cultural identity within a state. Islamists believe that there can indeed by peace on earth: when Islam dominates and controls the world, and anyone who refuses to accept Islam is either subjugated under it or is killed.

Bush League Bush Administration

The administration of President George W. Bush has been disappointing to me and many others who got them elected. 

Major changes need to occur quickly and extensively. Otherwise, the bush league actions and inaction of the President, his team, and many elected Republicans threaten to make his Presidency one of the least respected in recent memory.

Now don’t take that commentary to mean that I am turning into some liberal Democrat on you folks. Far from it. 

LibDems such as John Kerry, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Fritz Schumer would certainly have many criticisms for the President and the Republicans. But their criticisms would certainly be nearly the opposite of mine. 

The Democrats would advocate that we should get out of Iraq as quickly as possible, reverse the tax cuts, and turn our attention to redistributing wealth from the wealthy and middle class to the poor.
Theirs is a recipe for failure. But sadly, so is the President’s.

President Bush was elected by his base to aggressively protect our nation, reduce taxes, reform the tax system, reinvent social security, and if given the opportunity appoint conservative, originalist jurists to the Supreme Court. Thus far, on almost all of those mandates, he and his administration have failed us.

Islamofascism

Well, it's about damned time. 

In early October, President Bush finally came clean to the public as to who we are at war with in the War on Terror. 

What had been a generic battle against terrorists and those who make their activities possible wherever we find them was finally crystallized, and those whom we are battling were definitively named. 

President Bush named our actual enemies as the "Islamofascists", and later referred to them as "radical, militant Islam". 

This is something that pundits, researchers, and just plain straight-thinkers like Daniel Pipes have been doing for years. 

Kudos to the President for putting that face on the enemy, for it is vitally important to make the distinction. 

In World War II, it was the Adolf Hitler and the Nazis of Germany, and Hirohito and the Japanese Imperialists that we fought in order to preserve democracy. 

In the Cold War, it was Communism and Socialism, highlighted by the tensions with men like Nikita Kruschev and the Soviet Union. 

Now we can put a definitive face, that of Osama bin Laden and Islamofascism, on this current struggle. This will allow us to focus on enemies, enemy states, future directions, and better judge outcomes. 

Anyone espousing a radical Islamic message is our enemy, and that must include those within that belief system who choose to not stand up and fight themselves, if not physically then at least with public refutations. God bless America.

Michael Scheuer Calls a Spade a Spade

This morning on his local radio broadcast, Philadelphia talk radio icon Michael Smerconish had on as his main guest Michael Scheuer, former head of the “bin Laden” desk for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Scheuer has just released a book titled “Imperial Hubris”, which he wrote under the pseudonym of “anonymous”.

One thing that I found refreshing about Scheuer’s opinion is that he was and is able and willing to look beyond the usual labels that all political and ideological sides of the terrorist issue like to hang on bin Laden, and to simply call a spade a spade.

What I mean by this is that far too often those on the far end of the political Right want to label bin Laden as a terrorist, a madman, a demon, a devil, a deranged killer, a murderer. Those on the far end of the political Left have called him an Islamic freedom fighter, a rebel, an insurgent leader. And of course, many have found far more colorful labels to hang on the man.

Scheuer points out that bin Laden is neither a demon nor a freedom fighter. He is a mainstream Muslim, a devout believer in Islam, a sincerely spiritual man.

Osama bin Laden says what he means, and he means what he says, and in this way he is a man of integrity. You don’t have to wonder what bin Laden thinks about any issue, he tells you how he feels, over and over.

In fact, more than we Americans, Osama bin Laden is willing to call a spade a spade.

For this reason, bin Laden is more dangerous to the United States and the future of our nation than most any other single man has ever been.

Radical Islam as an entity is a bigger threat to freedom, democracy and capitalism than any other ideology that has ever come down the pike. This includes everything from Nazism to Communism.