What’s It Worth to US?

Tags

al-Qaeda, Christian Church, compromise, contamination, deception, Expectations, If My people, morality, repentance, truth

This post is addressed to believers in Jesus Christ. The best of us have been contaminated by the sinfulness in our society. This is not a condemnation of others, but a gentle rebuke of myself and any who have ears to hear. If we want God to heal our land, quiet the hatred and violence, heal our families, we must repent of our sinfulness, our compromise, our choice to look the other way when our children do wrong. If we want God to heal our land … we must decide how badly we want … or need him to heal us, and we must decide what it is worth to us. We must also decide if we, as the American people, are able to heal and restore our land on our own. If not, the price is clear. Are we willing to pay it? Are we willing to clean up our act, our mouths, our attitudes for the sake of a restored America? Or have we become addicted to our stuff, our loose ways, our bad mouths, and our loneliness, the fear that rules our lives?

Perhaps the single most frustrating thing to me about this entire election season is the moral compromise within the Christian Church. First, I want to define for my purposes here, the Christian Church to be every faith, protestant, Catholic, or other, that believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ as the way to a victorious, contented life here and a heavenly life after. This includes, also, those who believe this way but are not involved with any particular denomination of local assembly.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God says, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Not too many Americans would deny that our land is in great need of “healing.” But what price must be exacted to obtain the longed for healing? Is it turning back the clock to the “dark ages?”

They knew, yet they let the battle rage for hours while Marines awaited the green light. They knew, and they let Americans die … WHY? So YOU might think al-Qaeda wasn’t involved, so the President would look good. So, how’s that workin’ for you, Mr President?

I hear many Americans complain about the lying in DC, but is there TRUTH in our lives? I read about sex scandals because, of course, sex sells, but is our sex life pure? Celebrities are famous not only for their entertainment but for their common misuse and abuse of “recreational” drugs and alcohol. They make the news with their carousing, but what about you and me? Are our lives so pure and without “sin” that we are qualified to cast the first stone?

The horrific incident in Benghazi fills the blogosphere, and is beginning to appear in the mainstream media. Outrage over this affair is seen on Twitter and Facebook as more information filters out to us. As I read through one of the articles today, tears overwhelmed me. Righteous indignation over the administration’s apparent (perhaps deliberate) withholding of help from those under fire burned within me, and I wept.

My tears turned to prayers for the families of those lost, but quickly evolved into prayers for us … You and me sitting comfortably and allowing the character of people in this nation to waste away, expecting nothing above animal behavior. Oh, our expectations have been slowly eroded over decades even as we once were outraged by smoking or women in slacks. We have grown accustomed to immorality. Every TV programs flouts sexual exploits with multiple, rotating partners. While cigarette smoking has been minimized, language has devolved.

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chron 7; 14

We have a decision to make November 6, that involves so much more than who will set up housekeeping in the White house. Our behavior will cost us, one way or another. I used to teach my kids that “Righteousness brings blessing, but disobedience to God requires a price.” No! It doesn’t require that every American believe in God, or submit to His ways! No! It doesn’t require us to “give up” that secret vice we want no one to know about. It simply requires us to be honest with ourselves. How can we expect our leaders to govern in integrity if we don’t require it in ourselves? How can we ask our leaders to represent us in Truth, if we cannot discern the truth from fiction?

• We must decide if we want our society to be a caring and compassionate society that respects one another even when we disagree, or if we will forego our individual freedoms for some illusion of communal security.
• We must decide if we are ready to toss the Golden Rule and insist on the lowest Common Denominator in morality,as well as education.
• We must decide if the development of a woman’s brain is more important than the availability of free contraception and abortion.
• We must decide if mankind is no different than animals, or can we learn from our mistakes and pursue a virtuous life that bears its own rewards? Do we stay where we’re comfortable, even though it’s killing us, or strive to improve our lot for ourselves and our progeny?

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you,
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing;
therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice,
and that you may cling to Him,
for He is your life and the length of your days;
and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers,
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Really? What’s American Freedom worth to you?

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A Deadly Anniversary & Reminder, Lest We Forget

Tags

al-Qaeda, Gulf War, Iran–Iraq War, Middle East Task Force, Saddam Hussein, USS Cole, USS Stark, USS The Sullivans

The USS Stark incident occurred during the Iran–Iraq War on May 17, 1987, when an Iraqi jet aircraft fired missiles at the American frigate USS Stark. Thirty-seven United States Navy personnel were killed and twenty-one others were wounded. The Iraqi government later apologized for the attack.

Many Americans are at least vaguely aware of the fact that Islam has a long and violent history. Even when we focus just on attacks against the US, the events are numerous. But there are a few I’d like to take this occasion on the 10th Anniversary of the USS Cole, to remind us that this is a cruel and violent foe. Islam is not a religion of peace, as the politically correct crowd would have us all believe. The evidence of this is the lack of repercussion or accountability of the “radical element” by the “peaceful Muslims.”

USS Stark, a Perry class guided missile frigate, was under the command of Captain Glenn R. Brindel and was part of the Middle East Task Force. She was sailing off the Saudi Arabian coast near the Iran–Iraq War exclusion boundary, the area of sea off Iran and Iraq. The Iraqis attacked with a Dassault Mirage F1 armed with 1,500 pound Exocet missiles. It took off from the airbase of Shaibah at 20:00 and headed south into the Persian Gulf also along the coast. The aircraft was flying 5,000 feet above the water at 550 miles per hour. An AWACS plane on patrol nearby, with an American and Saudi Arabian crew, first detected the incoming Iraqi jet and informed the Stark which picked up the aircraft on radar, 200 miles out. When it came within view just before 10:00 pm, it was off the Stark’s port side beam.

The Iraqis attacked with a Dassault Mirage F1 armed with 1,500 pound Exocet missiles. On June 21, 2011, agreement was reached between the governments of the United States and Iraq regarding claims of United States citizens against the regime of Saddam Hussein. A fund of $400 million has been established by the Iraqi government to compensate prisoners of war and hostages in the first Gulf War, and those killed or injured in the 1987 attack on the USS Stark. The US State Department was establishing a mechanism to process applications for compensation.

According to reports, Captain Brindel was not alarmed according to witnesses, and he ordered his radioman to send a message at 10:09, “Unknown aircraft, this is U.S. Navy warship on your 078 for twelve miles. Request you identify yourself.” When the message was not responded to, a second was sent but still there was no reply. At 10:10 Captain Brindel was informed that the Iraqi aircraft had locked his Cyrano-IV fire-control radar onto the ship, then the F-1 fired a missile from twenty-two miles away and a second at fifteen miles. Suddenly the jet banked left and began to withdraw. Stark’s search radar and ESM systems failed to detect the incoming missiles and it was not until seconds before the first hit that the Americans realized they were under fire. The first Exocet came in at just over ten feet above the sea and struck the port side hull near the bridge. It failed to detonate but rocket fuel ignited and caused a large fire which spread throughout the post office, the store room and the combat operations center.

The second Exocet struck the port side as well and exploded, leaving a ten by fifteen foot hole in the frigate’s side. Electronics for the Stark’s Standard missile defense went out and Captain Brindel did not order his men to return fire. The AWACS plane was still in the area and just after witnessing the attack, it radioed a nearby Saudi airbase to send aircraft for an interception but the ground controllers did not have the authority to order a sortie so the Iraqi jet escaped unharmed. The USN rules of engagement applicable at the time allowed the STARK to defend herself after sufficiently warning the hostile aircraft. Twenty-nine men were killed in the explosion and fire, and eight sailors died later of wounds. Twenty-one others were wounded. Of the thirty-seven dead, two Americans were lost at sea.

Throughout the remainder of the night and the following day, the Americans fought the fire which burned for almost twenty-four hours. Captain Brindel also ordered the starboard side flooded so as to keep the hole on the port side above water, this helped keep the frigate from sinking. A distress call was sent out after the first missile hit, it was received by USS Waddell, which was in the area. The Waddell arrived after the fire was under control and provided an escort for the Stark as she slowly made her way to Bahrain. The incident became the first and last successful anti-ship missile attack on a United States Navy warship.

The USS Cole will be placed aboard the Norwegian heavy transport ship M/V Blue Marlin and transported back to the United States for repair. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer was the target of a suspected terrorist attack in the port of Aden on Oct. 12, 2000, during a scheduled refueling. The attack killed 17 crew members and injured 39 others.

Oct. 12, 2000: USS Cole Attacked in Yemen [VIDEO link]

Ten years ago today, the US was struck by yet another “terrorist” hit as the USS COLE On the morning of Thursday, October 12, 2000, USS Cole, under the command of Commander Kirk Lippold, docked in Aden harbor for a routine fuel stop. Cole completed mooring at 09:30. Refueling started at 10:30. Around 11:18 local time (08:18 UTC), a small craft, seen routinely around the ships, approached the port side of the destroyer. Two men stood and seemed to salute and immediately, an explosion occurred, creating a 40-by-40-foot gash in the ship’s port side.

Prior to the attack on the USS Cole, members of al-Qaeda attempted an attack on USS The Sullivans while in port at Aden, Yemen on 3 January 2000 as a part of the 2000 millennium attack plots. The plan was to load a boat full of explosives and explode near The Sullivans. However the boat was so overladen that it sank, forcing the attack to be abandoned. Later, al-Qaeda repeated this type of attack successfully bombing the USS Cole on 12 October 2000.

The USS Cole is towed away from the port city of Aden, Yemen, into open sea by the Military Sealift Command ocean-going tug USNS Catawba on Oct. 29, 2000. Cole will be placed aboard the Norwegian heavy transport ship M/V Blue Marlin and transported back to the United States for repair.

According to former CIA intelligence officer, Robert Finke, the blast appeared to be caused by explosives molded into a shaped charge against the hull of the boat. Around 400 to 700 pounds (200–300 kg) of explosive are said to have been used. The blast hit just below the ship’s galley, where crew were lining up for lunch, blowing it up through the deck above it. The crew fought flooding in the engineering spaces and had the damage under control after 3 days.

17 sailors were killed and 39 were injured in the blast. The injured sailors were taken to the United States Army’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near Ramstein, Germany, and later, back to the United States. The attack was the deadliest against a U.S. Naval vessel since the Iraqi attack on the USS Stark on May 17, 1987.

*NOTE: Much of this information is from Wikipedia under the links to the 3 US ships: USS Stark, USS The Sullivans, USS Cole.

Lest we forget …
In honor of the lives sacrificed in these incidents for FREEDOM’s sake.

Morning Bell: The Middle Eastern Time Bomb

Tags

al-Qaeda, ballistic missiles, Gaza, iran, Israel

The Ticking Nuclear Time-Bomb of the Middle East

Four years of President Obama’s foreign policy are having their full effect. After squandering time in sham “negotiations” with Iran and Palestine and abandoning Iraq to al-Qaeda, the President has made many situations more difficult—and urgent.

During the course of the Sabbath (Aug 2012), 10 Quassam rockets were fired into Israel from the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip.

Iran is testing its ballistic missiles. We cannot afford to waste any more time. After the President downplayed a military option for more than three years, recent pressures—both practical and political—have caused the Obama Administration to become more hawkish on the Iran nuclear issue in recent weeks.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, in Israel on a Middle East tour last week, called for international leaders to keep “maximum pressure” on Iran and warned that the United States “will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, period.” As Heritage’s James Phillips notes:

The Administration’s tougher rhetoric is in part a reflection of the fact that Iran has shrugged off international sanctions, refused to negotiate an acceptable resolution of the nuclear impasse, and continues to stockpile enriched uranium at an accelerating rate.

…Although the Administration has been quick to take credit for stronger sanctions on Iran, much of the impetus for sanctions has come from Congress, which has passed sanctions legislation by huge bipartisan majorities, sometimes over the objections of the Administration.

Congress, and slowly the Administration, is recognizing that the U.S. should broaden and deepen its cooperation with Israel on missile defense. We must share the costs of trying to make up the lost time when missile defenses were not pursued as a matter of policy.

In a new Heritage paper, Baker Spring lays out specifics for this cooperation and its funding. He notes that there is “strong bipartisan congressional support in favor of providing significantly more money for U.S.–Israeli missile defense cooperation than the Obama Administration originally proposed.” > > > READ MORE

NOTE: When will the American people begin to realize we are at war, and we must recognize our adversary if we harbor any hopes of victory – of peace! Islam is NOT a religion of peace. In fact, it is NOT a RELIGION at all. It is little more than license to kill all who oppose their way of life.

Getting the Facts Straight on the Taliban

Tags

al-Qaeda, islam, Taliban

James Carafano January 17, 2012 at 9:26 pm

The relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaeda was one of the hot topics of Monday night’s (1/16/2012) presidential debate. Candidate Ron Paul downplayed the dangers of the Taliban, declaring the “Taliban used to be our allies when we were fighting the Russians… The al-Qaeda wants to come here to kill us. The Taliban just says we don’t want foreigners.”

The Taliban came on the scene in Afghanistan in 1994, several years after the Soviets departed. Taliban (which translates to “students”) were made up mainly of Afghan refugees who had grown up in Pakistan during Soviet rule in Afghanistan and attended Deobandi religious schools, where they learned a strict, puritanical form of Islam. While some of the current Taliban may have previously fought on the same side of the U.S. during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, it is inaccurate to say the Taliban as a movement was ever an ally of the United States.

Osama bin Laden’s arrival in Afghanistan in 1996, after he was expelled from Sudan, allowed the terrorist leader to forge a relationship with the like-minded Afghan Islamist movement. The bond that developed between Taliban leader Mullah Omar and bin Laden became so powerful that the Taliban refused to break ties to al-Qaeda and hand over bin Laden shortly after the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban leadership refused to give up support for bin Laden, even though they were undoubtedly aware that their refusal to cooperate with the U.S. would lead to the invasion of Afghanistan.

Not only did the Taliban provide physical protection to the world’s most wanted terrorist, the organization repressed Afghan women and terrorized the country’s minority communities during their rule (1996 – 2001).

Though Paul says the Taliban’s top priority is to expel “foreigners” from Afghanistan, it is more accurate that they seek to expel those who do not share their radical brand of Islamist terrorism and hatred of America. And it remains that the real issue is whether the Taliban has severed ties to al-Qaeda and other terrorists seeking to harm the United States. Without a clear sign that the Taliban have broken their links with international terrorists and are ready to participate in a normal political process, a Taliban return to power in Afghanistan would not only bring despair to the Afghan people, it would herald the revival of al-Qaeda … READ MORE

THIS man is spot on through 60-65% of the issues but the other stuff (cited above) is downright SCARY! What about his leadership skills? What about his “political career” that has endured DECADES – I thought we were looking for a NON-politician … ? I thought we were looking for FRESH, innovative but practical ideas … What about all the racist, anti-Semitic thoughts in his newsletters published over decades with HIS name. Somethings can be overlooked as insignificant, but I don’t think this is one of those things. Just sayin …