Colonel Davis speaks frankly about President Obama and Gitmo

MoonHowler

Disclaimer:  The content of the guest contribution is the opinion of the guest and does not necessarily represent the opinion of the management of Moonhowlings.com.

Some things just have to explain themselves.

Colonel Morris Davis speaks with RT.com:

“The slogan “Close Guantanamo” sounds fairly simple. Actually following through and doing it is a much more difficult process,” he said.“Guantanamo is still open, the military commissions have resumed and in my view the president just didn’t have the balls to follow through with doing the right thing.”


 

Interview on RT about Guantanamo, indefinite detention, and the drone program.

So, is Colonel Davis spot on?  Did President Obama learn more information or does he simply lack the …nads?  I want to think he learned things were harder once one became president than  during a campaign when the decisions aren’t real. 

Are issues of war always that cut and dry?  My guess is that things look easier from the outside than from inside, when you know all the facts and what you have to work with.  Take Harry Truman for example.  How would you have liked to have been that poor bastard?  He knew nothing about the atomic bomb.  Here he was FDR’s vice president.  He knew NOTHING about this weapon that he had to make the final decision to drop. 

Harry Truman always seemed like the practical sort from what I have read. But can you imagine he didn’t know about the atomic bomb?  Churchill knew there was such a thing but our own vice president did not.  What was FDR thinking?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/truman/player/

 

 

The Iraq War: Shock and Awe to a quiet…its over

MoonHowler

The Iraq War is over.  President Obama announced the end of the war at Fort Bragg yesterday.  The official date of the end of the war is today, December 15.  The colors have been cased.  Secretary Panetta addressed Iraq and remaining troops.  Iraq is a fully sovereign nation without military occupation.

 The Iraq War is one of our longest wars.  It started off as the shock and awe bombing of Baghdad and Americans were glued to their TVs, watching the spectacle.  We watched our troops enter Iraq and begin their long trek across the desert.  We honored our dead, those early victims of the war like Hopi warrior Lori Piestewa and captive Jessica Lynch who was rescued.  We donned our Support the Troops attire  and we saw anti-war icons like Code Pink and Cindy Sheehan on TV nightly.  But something detached.

Us.  We, the civilians, never really were a part of this war.  Unless we were a military family, we didn’t participate.  We didn’t sacrifice.  We didn’t alter our every day lives.  The war was 8 years, 8 months and 25 days long.  We didn’t engage our souls or follow the troops.  It was ‘their’ war, not ours.  

So it is over.  The players have all changed.  Very few great ‘stars’ came out of this war.  There were no Ikes, Pattons,   ‘Chestys’ or Westmorelands.  To my knowledge, former President Bush has not commented or spoken of the end of the war.  I saw no headlines, no nurses being kissed in Times Square and no ticker tape parades. 

How many lives were lost?  Over 4,000?  How many of our troops suffered life- altering injuries during that war?  Over 30,000?  How many mothers and fathers  missed seeing their children grow up because of a war that refused to be over?  How many kids felt the absence of a parent?  Unless we were a military family, we didn’t feel those things.  We barely feel them as a nation.  These are things that are out of our sight, sanitized, barely trotted out on Veterans Day.

There is just something quietly still and quietly dead wrong.  Our military deserves more recognition, more of our thanks.  More notice, more fanfare, more SOMETHING.  Are all those people who served in the Iraq  War going to just merge back in to society without missing a beat?  Will there be jobs for them?  Will the VA be there for them with full support for their injuries, both psychological and physical at a time when our politics are fighting every penny spent and the national debt is on everyone’s tongue? 

We, as a nation, need a National Day of Recognition for those who have given so much.  We who barely gave at all need a special day to say thank you and to honor those who gave given 8 years, 8 months and 25 days so that we didn’t have to give at all.  We need to do it sooner rather than later. 

 

A Date that Will Live in Infamy-70th Anniversary

MoonHowler

 

The destroyer USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs.

  Most of the people who lived, first hand,  through the attack on Pearl harbor  are nearly 90 years old.  That’s very hard to believe.  The surprise attack left young men, barely more than boys, running for guns, weapons, anything to fight back with.  Many heroes arose that day.  Not all of the heroes lived to bask in the glory.  Some died and some were sealed in a watery tomb at Pearl Harbor. 

About 100 of the survivors will attend the ceremony at Pearl Harbor.  The ashes of one of the sailors will join the rest of his crewmen who never made it back from December 7, 1941. Approximately  2,390 Americans were killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

 

 

According to Voice of America:

Memorial events marking the December 7,1941 attack are being held throughout the country, the largest being on the Pacific island of Oahu, Hawaii, where the attack took place.

A dwindling number of Pearl Harbor survivors and World War Two veterans are among the 3,000 attendees expected at the event overlooking the USS Arizona Memorial, where the submerged remains of the fallen battleship rest. A moment of silence will be held at 7:55 in the morning , the exact moment Japan’s Imperial Navy began the surprise attack.

If you know someone who was at Pearl Harbor, run, don’t walk to talk to them and ask them to tell you of their experience.  Even if you know someone who was an adult on December 7, 1941, talk to them.  Find out what they were doing when they first heard the news.  Where  were they?  What did they think?  Did they ever think how much the news would alter their lives and the lives of their family and friends?  There is so much I now want to ask my parents and grandparents.  Opportunity knocked and I didn’t go to the door.  They are no longer living so I can’t ask them. 

From what I could gather from my relatives, they really were innocents who had no idea what the impact a world war would have on them, the family,  and America.   Pearl Harbor Day is much more than the 9-11- like attack on an unprepared nation.  Pearl Harbor marks the change of an isolationist, fairly agrarian country into a world super power.  The change was  almost instant, and we were never to return again to those times before Pearl Harbor. 

What memories do you have of your family members telling you about that day?  Did you have family members who served?  Did they all make it home? 

Let’s not forget Pearl Harbor and those who who were wounded or died.  Let’s not forget those who altered their lives and threw themselves in to a war movement unequal to anything this country has ever seen before or since.  There is a reason that the ‘greatest generation’ got its name.

The Horse Soldiers of 9/11

MoonHowler

The Daily Caller:

It was the news the world breathlessly waited for immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks: a report of the first American troops on the ground in Afghanistan.

All at once the world’s attention focused on an iconic photo of those Special Operations Forces doing something no American military had done in nearly a century: They rode horses into combat.

Their secret mission: secure northern Afghanistan by advising the warring tribal factions that formed the Northern Alliance. During the 2011 Veterans Day Parade on November 11, a new monument to these men — and to all Americans in uniform — will make its way down New York City’s famed Fifth Avenue on the way to its final home, a stone’s throw from Ground Zero.

Military men and women, along with New York City firefighters, policemen, emergency responders and other marchers, 50,000 in all, will escort the monument on its televised journey. The spectacle will feature members of the three original Special Operations teams — some on horseback, others walking alongside surviving spouses of fallen heroes.

Retired Army general and current CIA director David Petraeus will be among the parade marshals. Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer is producing a future movie about America’s “Horse Soldiers.”

Read more: httpdailycaller.com/2011/10/14/secret://-mission-the-horse-soldiers-of-911/#ixzz1bYl8J2Qi

Veterans Day Reflections

MoonHowler

Lyrics | Dire Straits lyrics – Brothers In Arms lyrics

At what point do we get tired of burying our dead and having to prop up our mangled and wounded?

When do we stop all the chest thumping  and mission accomplished bravado while hiding our tears?

How many thousands have come home with life altering injuries, never to be whole again?

Half of those men and women would have died even 40 years ago.  Modern medicine has kept them alive and has  chased off the grim reaper. 

If we can land a man on the moon, we can find other ways to resolve conflict rather than blowing each other to kingdom come as we have done since the beginning of time. 

To all our veterans, we are glad you are here.  Thank you for your service–

I am a  proud daughter and niece of veterans.  My father and uncle  came home in one piece.  Not everyone did. I was one of the lucky ones. 

*******************************************************************************************************

Alternate version of  Brothers in Arms  featuring Mark Knopfler, one of my favorite artists.  Knopfler, from Dire Straits, is one of the gods of guitar, like Clapton. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb_Jzgnrpv8&feature=related

 

 

The Killing of Gaddafi

MoonHowler

I really haven’t minded killing terrorists.  I think that is why we have spent about 10 years at war, ringing up billions of tax dollars belonging to the American people–to rid of  world of terrorists.  Gaddafi was  a terrorist.  He has been a terrorist my entire adult life.  Just because the United States eased up on him a little makes him no less a terrorist and I truly believe he had a paw print on the Lockabie terrorist attack.

Now, having said all that, no, I don’t mind that he was killed and no I don’t mind that he met the business end of one of our drones.  I don’t believe that  us being involved made droning him  a political assassination. 

 I do believe what I saw on TV was wrong.   I know when I first started watching the video clip, he was alive.  Words were coming out of his mouth.  I don’t know what they meant but they were his words.  Then I saw his assassination and his body desecrated.  I saw him kicked and spat on in death.  That is taking it too far.  Is that was all this war was about?  It appears to me that we have gone from bad to worse.  Those killers were animals.  Have we turned over an entire country to people who behave like this and defile others in death?  Might as well have kept Gaddafi.  At least he pretended to have a modicum of civility.   The Libyans we saw on TV finishing off their leader for decades represent an evil side of mankind.  If that is sharia law, let’s just stick with anarchy or dictators.

Lt. Heather Lucky Penney

MoonHowler

 

From the Washington Post

by Steve Hendrix

Late in the morning of the Tuesday that changed everything,  Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney  was on a runway at Andrews Air Force Base and ready to fly. She had her hand on the throttle of an F-16 and she had her orders: Bring down United Airlines Flight 93. The day’s fourth hijacked airliner seemed to be hurtling toward Washington. Penney, one of the first two combat pilots in the air that morning, was told to stop it.

The one thing she didn’t have as she roared into the crystalline sky was live ammunition. Or missiles. Or anything at all to throw at a hostile aircraft.

Read More

NatGeo: Inside 9/11

MoonHowler

National Geographic has done a great job with its series, Inside 9/11.  It tells the story of 9/11 for 2 hours a night, and then a repeat for those who might not want their kids exposed.  The series has very little politics in it and looks at what happened from an American point of view. 

It’s been good to get angry all over again.  There is something cleansing about remembering it all and bringing it to the forefront once again.   To me, the part I enjoyed the most, if one can use the word ‘enjoyed’ is the section on George Bush.  He gives a candid interview of what he felt that day.  It was very touching as we watch the president of the United States vacillate between being the president and just being an American.  He sure got more than he bargained for.  Perhaps his  9/11 Address to the Nation will go down in the annals of history as one of the greats.  It is simply too soon to tell. 

Did anyone else see the series and if so, what were your impressions?

National Geographic:  Remembering 9/11

McDonnell declares Friday a day of mourning in Virginia

MoonHowler
Chinook

Washington Post:

Virginia to hold day of mourning for Navy SEALs, others killed in Afghanistan

By

Gov. Bob McDonnell said that Friday will be a day of mourning for the 30 Americans — including Navy SEALs with ties to Virginia — who died in Afghanistan after Taliban forces shot down their helicopter last weekend.

All state flags will be flown at half-staff from dawn to dusk Friday.

McDonnell (R) asked Virginians to donate money to organizations, such as the Navy SEAL Foundation, that provide support and financial assistance beyond that provided by the Defense Department. Other organizations that residents are encouraged to assist include the Armed Forces Relief Trust, Special Operations Warrior Foundation and Wounded EOD Warrior Foundation.

“The human impact of the loss of these servicemen upon their families, their units, and the Virginia military community are profound,” McDonnell said. “It is with a heavy heart that I ask all Virginians to join me in a day of mourning and remembrance for those who lost their lives defending our country and to offer their support and thanks to the families and military community they left behind.”

Hopefully this day of mourning will include all Virginians who have lost their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan.  Perhaps it is time.  To not include them somehow minimizes the ultimate price other Virginia troops have paid since the post 9-11 wars have been waged.  That sure isn’t the message we want to send from Virginia.

Virginia has a long military history that includes all 4 branches of the service. 

Hiroshima, 66 years ago

MoonHowler

If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.

Harry Truman

August 6, 2011 marks the 66th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan and the above words were spoken by President Harry Truman.  Over 100,000 Japanese were killed by that first atomic blast.  Unfortunately, there was no surrender and 3 days later another atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki.  On August 15, 1945, the Japanese surrendered.

There has been much debate since the Enola Gay slipped into sky above Hiroshima and unleashed the atomic age.  Most folks of that era felt that using atomic weapons was the only way to go.  Some historians have justified the use of the bomb by talking about the number of lives, both American and Japanese, that were saved by using atomic weapons rather than a land invasion.  Others have talked about how debilitated the Japanese navy was and how surrender was immenent anyway.  The ethics question will probably go on for centuries. 

My dad was on the west coast awaiting orders for Japan.  I know where I stand.  Had things gone another way, I might not be posting this thread.  That fact, however, doesn’t make me immune to the ethics of the question of using atomic weapons on other human beings.  Where do you stand?

 

When the troops leave town and the flags are take down…

MoonHowler

As the first part of the Sesquicentennial weekend comes to a close, many folks got to learn about the Civil War and partake of the fun, interesting parts.  Let us not forget Robert E. Lee’s words regarding war:

It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.

 

When all the battle regalia has been cleaned and put away, when the visitors have moved on, we should all stop and think what that war has cost this country and will continue to cost this nation, indivisible.  We mustn’t lose sight of  the dead and the horrible killing and maiming;  the property destroyed; the children who would never know a father, or a wife who  never saw her husband again; or mothers and fathers who lost not one son but many; of the friends and neighbors who would never come home. 

 The Civil War was perhaps our nation’s darkest hour.  We should not forget it.

Civil War Battle of the Bands

MoonHowler

 

You would think that after all that they would have just all gone home. What a horrible war. We soon get to relive it. The Sesquicentennial is almost upon us and I feel a strong wave of depression coming over me.

This month’s  issue  (actually it might say August 2011) of Smithsonian Magazine   features  The Battle of Bull Run: The End of Illusions on the cover.  The article, written by Ernest B. Furguson,  begins:

Both North and South expected victory to be glorious and quick, but the first major battle signaled the long and deadly war to come.

To those of us who are local, the article was not particularly revealing but the fact that it was about our area and about an event we have been anticipating for several years makes the article a must-read.   It provided an excellent in-depth coverage for a nation that also commemorates the most dreadful period in our nation’s history. 

The longer I live the more horrible that war becomes to me. I fear too many people will celebrate. There is nothing to celebrate other than death and destruction of property, stock and human beings. So I will be a grouch and stay home.

Will anyone be going to most of the events? Will the county and City make profits on the events? Will we be overrun with visitors? 

Further reading:  The Battle of Bull Run:  The End of Illusions

D-Day: 67th anniversary of Operation Overlord

MoonHowler

June 6, 2011 marks the 67 anniversary since Allied Forces crossed the English Channel and invaded occupied Europe via the French coast.  250 thousand were involved in the invasion and any vessel that wouldn’t sink was deployed in the  effort  to get allied troops, mainly from the Great Britain, Canada and the United States into France to begin the invasion that would ultimately win the war.

 

The D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia is a non-profit museum dedicated to preserving the history of D-Day.  More men from Bedord lost their lives during that invasion than any other locality in the United States, per capita. 

The D-Day Memorial has struggled since the crash of 2008.  Additionally, WWII vets are dying at a rate of over 1000 per day.  Let’s not let this memorial go to the ages along with those who fought and those who died for our country.

Contributions can be made at the D-Day Memorial website.

Memorial Day mini lesson

MoonHowler

Virginia has a long Memorial Day past and lots of war dead.  Arlington National Cemetery is in Arlington, Virginia.  The site of the Lee Mansion has been used as a national cemetery since the Civil War.  Mrs. Lee left her plantation for obvious safety reasons, even though she was horribly crippled with arthrits and lived the life of a vagabond until the end of the war. 

In the past decade, 233 Virginians have been killed in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq.  25 of those were killed just in the past year.  On Thursday, Governor McDonnell and members of his administration gathered on the steps of the State Capital to pay tribute.

“This is the story of America,” McDonnell said. “When I think of what defines our country, it is sacrifice and it is freedom…Throughout our history, the price of liberty has always been American blood.”
Marlene Blackburn, left, who lost her son, U.S. Army Cpl. William Kyle Middleton, in Afghanistan, is comforted by her uncle Bob Galaspie at the service. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (Steve Helber – AP)

 

The names of all 233 were read aloud by members of different branches of the armed services. A Coast Guard helicopter performed a ceremonial fly-by in the capital city’s sky, and a bagpiper with the Virginia Department of Corrections played “Amazing Grace.”