Secret Drone Memo on Treasonous Murder of Awlaki Released

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the release of the memo and it was produced yesterday.  The court's opinion and the memo can both be viewed on the ACLU website here.

More commentary on this historical low point, shortly.

Iraq - What a Sinful Waste of American Blood & Treasure

I remember more than a decade ago, while deployed in a middle eastern country and flying missions into Afghanistan, getting the early news that we would be going into Iraq.  My initial reaction was, "You have got to be fucking kidding me!"

It was such a blatantly stupid thing to do, based on obvious lies.  Three different reasons were peddled out for why we would invade.  Iraq was part of the attacks of 911.  When that got laughed down, it was to spread democracy and freedom in a nation ruled by a bad man.  When that didn't hold water, it was because Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and attacking them was a matter of preventive self defense.

I couldn't believe that we were going to split our forces when we hadn't even found Osama Bin Laden yet, for some asinine military action in Iraq that would only serve to make America less safe.  It would dilute the war on terror by moving resources to this new distraction and would destabilize a region by removing a secular tyrant who provided a check on both religious extremists and Iran.

It was as stupid a decision as could be made.  Yet Congress rubber stamped it and went right on along with it, and Senators Hillary Clinton and John Kerry among others voted to authorize this debacle, only to "change their mind" later on the decision when they would run for President.  The colossally unfit for office George W. Bush along with his anti-American vice President, Dick Cheney, pushed full steam ahead rolling over any obstacles presented, to include the now-deceased integrity of Colin Powell.  As usual, when our government wants to screw over the People in favor of powerful monied interests, it does so in spectacular bipartisan fashion.

Meanwhile, more than 4,000 Americans lost their lives in Iraq and many more lost their limbs and livelihoods and had marriages stressed and torn apart.

I deployed seven times to Iraq, including on the opening night.  I did the job because it was constitutional, even though it was horribly stupid and only served to make America less safe, and because the investment the American people made in me was to do their bidding so long as their bidding was legal.  I serve the American people, even when they are inexcusably wrong.

Now Iran is tightening its grip in Iraq and Al Qaeda is fighting for more control.  Both Iran and Al Qaeda would have been repelled by the secular Saddam Hussein, but we decided to take him out.  It honestly seems that those who pull the power levers of our government, are dead set on creating more threats to America than they are defeating them.  It's almost as if war is a business, and peace does not sell nor have the lobbying power to get government to do its bidding.

More than a trillion in American treasure later, and thousands of American corpses later, we now have created a threat to America in Iraq where none existed prior.  And certain people and corporations have gotten much richer in the process.

And there is no accountability to be had because Americans don't care and senators can simply say, "oops, I made a mistake" and get a mulligan on a catastrophically stupid decision.  And then we are told we must give up our freedoms and liberties, because some of our freedom must be exchanged for security.

Now Al Qaida is taking over more of Iraq while the government we helped install is seeking aid from Iran.  Figuring out the identity of the enemy is tough in Iraq these days.

It's also not completely straight forward here at home either.

Letter from Home

Patriotism, Moral Courage & Loyalty - Edward Snowden

I think Daniel Ellsberg got it exactly right when he said recently of Edward Snowden:

Either way, nothing excuses Kerry's slanderous and despicable characterizations of a young man who, in my opinion, has done more than anyone in or out of government in this century to demonstrate his patriotism, moral courage and loyalty to the oath of office the three of us swore: to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The truth becomes treason in an empire of lies, it is said.  And such an empire does not like those who speak the truth, in order to expose the lies.

Fortunately, many Americans are not buying the peddled nonsense.

Edward Snowden is a hero and a great American.

JQP is Right - It's an AFPC Bait & Switch

I've seen it in the trenches.  It's a little too common a story.  VSP applicants, encouraged to "take one for the team" and get out of service early for a little bit of money, have been (in my experience) getting orders to deploy not long after their applications.

Despite my very serious reservations about John Q. Public, when he is right, he is right.

Politicians

Finally, a One on One Debate with Tony Carr

It started with a post over on the Martial Matters facebook page about Tony's choice to use a picture of Colonel John Boyd as his facebook avatar.  Tony responded and with some serious vigor.

I want to thank Tony Carr for the John Q. Public discussion, which he chose not to engage in previously after promising we would have such a public debate.  The insults and the barbs are not a problem, I am quite secure in my position and in my character, and what matters to me is a dialogue.

Having a thick skin is actually very important in my book, and not simply by claiming you have one.  Much like supporting and defending the Constitution is not achieved simply by mumbling some words.

It was interesting to be called a traitor to my nation by retired Lt Col Carr, even if his definition of traitor resembled nothing of the actual meaning of treason and was simply an insult in a rubber-gluck-stick-to-you kind of way.  He knows better than to the lob that description at me.  He knows better than most, but he doesn't let that stop his attempts to insult.

It was an interesting conversation where Tony said he did not know whether or not it would be illegal for Congress to pass a law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, a theme he has championed previously as he remarked that our Constitution contains no rights that are "inviolate."  Still, he seems to be either coming around in an awkward clunky kind of way, or he's just throwing out differing and inconsistent opinions.

At any rate, communication and dialogue (rather than censoring and banning and avoiding conversation) is the most important part of the discussion of ideas.  It does require a thick skin.  Just like in a crew aircraft, the important thing is that crewmembers get the message out.  It doesn't have to be polished, or polite although that is a useful skill.  It has to get out and in a timely fashion.  It's up to the aircraft commander, the decision maker, to evaluate the comments for truth while allowing the venom not to sting (saving it for the debrief), to find and utilize what truth might be there for the sake of mission accomplishment while above terra firma.  That takes security and an openness for disagreement.

I'm glad to see Tony Carr engage on my public Facebook page.

The Air Power Dam Has Burst

Good for the many aviators wanting to get out, but a bad day for air power projection.  News of Voluntary Separation Pay (VSP) approvals is sweeping across squadrons as a great many pilots are being paid to leave the Air Force early.  I'm happy for these guys, but this is going to take a very real toll on our service as hundreds of millions of dollars in training floods out of our Air Force.

I feel bad for the commanders who will have to try to pick up the pieces.  Interesting times we live in.

United States of Secrets

The new PBS Frontline documentary, United States of Secrets, is available in two parts for free online.  It should be required viewing for every military officer.  It is an excellent look at the unconstitutional law breaking that a military officer may very well be ordered to engage in.  General Michael Hayden provides a perfect example of a politician who wears a uniform but is the antithesis of a military officer or public servant, who is more than willing to violate his oath of office and hurt the American people solely to please his boss and serve his own ambitions.

This documentary provides an excellent look into what oath breaking politicians masquerading as military officers look like.  Every military officer should watch this outstanding documentary.

POTUS Nominates Traitor to the First Circuit

Senator Rand Paul wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times yesterday, where he expressed concerns over "David J. Barron, a Harvard law professor and a former acting assistant attorney general," who apparently wrote legal memos while working for the DOJ in support of assassinating Americans without charge or trial away from a battlefield.

Senator Paul brings up the most important topic in American history, and yet a topic that nobody really wants to discuss.

I think it is important to note that David J. Barron is, quite literally, a traitor to the United States if he did in fact support the assassination of American citizens using drones.

Our Constitution in Article III defines treason as:

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."

 
What are American citizens, but those who created the States, the people of those States.  Levying war against the States means levying war against the People.  Is it war on the People when you target and kill just one?  How about a couple?  What about just Americans in one town, or State?  Or just Americans of a certain viewpoint?

Signing a legal memo to justify using a weapon of warfare...let me repeat that, a weapon of war employing air to ground missiles and laser guided bombs, against the People, one or many, is a textbook definition of treason.

David J. Barron is an enemy of the American people.

It is amazing how far this nation has fallen, where the most paradigmatic anti-American act of treason is shrugged off by the populace.  But it is what it is.  I read the other day that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, while those who do are doomed to watch those around them repeat it.  And so it goes.

And we will most certainly repeat it.  We are 1930s Germany at this very moment in time, and once our judiciary gets filled with the likes of Ernest Janning, and our benches are populated with traitors the likes of Barron, who cheerlead for unchecked and unconstitutional government power at every turn (including the most frightening fascist example, as in the case of assassination), then there will be no hope left for the American people.

The experiment will have run its course.  This isn't hyperbole.  This is our reality.