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. 

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: Mumbai

Radical Islam has once again reared its ugly head, this time in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, the financial and entertainment capital of the largest Democracy on the face of the earth in India.

This attack marks yet another major strike by Islamic forces against the free world in their efforts to spread the rule of Islam around the globe - which is their ultimate goal.

Their aim in attacks such as this is not only to kill, injure, and generally terrorize those in the free world, but it is much larger.

Their aim in Mumbai was the same as in New York, in Madrid, in London, in Paris. It is nothing less than creating enough fear and damage, both physical and psychological, to effect political and societal changes in those nations that will make it easier and easier over time to effectuate the ultimate control of these nations by Islam.

Their ultimate goal is to unite the world in a new Caliphate, the rule by Muslims of every nation under Islamic Sharia law.

They will play governments such as those in Pakistan and India, Russia and the United States, China and Tibet off against one another anywhere that they can to use existing differences to undermine these governments.

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.