Tag: nuclear

Reflecting Further

For me, the line in the sand of the Arabian deserts is drawn with two sticks. One stick is the expansion… of Iran’s nuclear capability…The second stick is… in the hands of a young American soldier in the desert with a wife and child back home in the States.

Recently I posted a blog about a Bully… In it I wrote:

 If there are any U.S. veterans or current military personnel out there not completely livid with the actions of this Congress to limit our military’s right to defend itself and our Commander in Chief’s right to exercise that military to protect others and America’s interests,  I have got to hear from you… I look across the Middle East and I have to ask myself, who has allowed this 3rd world upstart of a country to gain such bully status? Although it is the second largest country in the Middle East, it is barely larger in square miles than our single state of Alaska!…

Iran has permitted the likes of the Taliban, ISIS, and al Qaeda while building a nuclear capability allied with North Korea, Russia and China.  

Here is where we find ourselves on 10 January 2020… Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that ballistic missile attacks targeting U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq Wednesday morning were “a slap in the face” to the United States.

IRAN – the BULLY in the neighborhood… Why? Because we are allowing it. The ruling Ayatollah and those loyal to him are killing their own people, jailing those who object and it is morally wrong for those in Congress to hamper the legitimate efforts of our military and its Commander in Chief to do everything it can to protect the lives of American soldiers who are in harm’s way, American citizens and private individuals in Iraq and those in Iran who choose to stand against the ruling regime. The Ayatollah has vowed to pursue nuclear weapons with the only goal of striking against America and Israel. At what point will our Congress wake up rather than be ‘woke’?

And I put in this plea:  Remember the name of each and every Representative and Senator who has voted to keep our military from being able to defend themselves when you go next to the ballot box.

I’ve been giving a great bit of thought to things even as the circus of impeachment continues and members of Congress are so far out of touch with America and its people, it is scary. There is another side of the Iran issue I think needs to be considered. Here are my ruminations on that subject.

So far I have considered the American side of the coin. We, (the royal we including most Western nations), own a good piece of the blame for allowing Iran to be the bully, to have the military, to threaten with nuclear weaponry… Certainly, other western countries can point their finger at America and say it is our fault, and they are partially correct. We have had the most capability to put a stop to it during past administrations and we haven’t. Still, there is enough blame to go around.

HOWEVER, a very large part of the blame (for lack of a better term) lies with the Iranian people. How long are they going to put up with these bullies in black robes? There is a point that lies vaguely out in the cosmos somewhere. It is the place where people either fix what is wrong or they refuse to right the wrongs of the government over them choosing to ignore the abuses of that government. Their non-action, or ineffective action, becomes collusion. No longer can they maintain innocent bystander status, if there even is such a thing in today’s world.

The Christian who is also a patriot to his country walks a fine line. His first allegiance is to Christ, everything else is second. Some Christians take the words of Jesus, “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s” to mark the dichotomy between the two and it is an appropriate line. Others turn to Paul’s remarks in Romans, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same…” They then declare that any action taken against even an evil or oppressive government is wrong and we are to bide our time and let God deal with it.

How do we follow that thinking when faced with demonic rulers such as Adolph Hitler and the bullies we see currently in Iran? To be very open, I don’t know. Remember, when Paul wrote, Romans were killing Christians for sport. The Roman lions were the unbeatable opponent. Allow me to take a line from the United States’ Declaration of Independence.

“…all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.”

The point is made here that people are more likely to continue to permit suffering rather than get rid of the familiar as long as the suffering is tolerable, (more likely that it is on someone else’s front porch and not my own). How much stronger is the desire to not go against the authorities when the authorities claim divine position and to go against them is to assure oneself of hell? This is particularly true when the religion being so used has been inculcated into their very DNA since they were born.

I must choose how to correctly interpret what Paul’s words meant to the people of his day and how that applies to people today. After much soul-searching and prayerful consideration, I determined that if I must err, if it is an error, I choose to stand on the side of protecting those who are unable to protect themselves. When any person, organization, political body, government or military does evil against any person, particularly those most vulnerable, the weak, infirm, the widows and orphans, the children, then I must stand between them and that evil. I believe the weight of the biblical evidence supports such action. I pray and thank God that He continues to have mercy upon me when such decisions must be rendered. I encourage anyone who might read this to determine for yourself where you stand. There will be no time to contemplate it when the time comes. The following poem by Martin Niemoller says it best. It’s titled, First They Came for the Jews.

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Martin Niemöller

The Nazis imposed identification of the Jews

Will there be a time when the people of Iran have heard enough lies and seen enough abuse, felt the crush of unbridled power to that undefinable point and take a stand to demand there be revolution? In a bold move recently, rather than face a possible showdown with the IRGC, (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), Ayatollah Khamenei played a slick card trick. He has moved to declare those who were killed by Iranian forces in the street riots over the past few weeks as martyrs. What does that mean? It means the families of those killed are set financially for life. They have an honored status now in Iran. What better way to quell a rebellion than buying off those responsible for it.

Israel apparently has decided to allow the U.S. to take the lead in actions against Iran. Strategists suggest that as long as the U.S. is pushing back against Iran, Israel will be able to allow the U.S. to take the lead and perhaps ease the threat against itself for a short time. Still others believe it is only a matter of time until Tehran acts against Israel again.

Courtesy STRATFOR

SUMMARY

“So, now what?” In the movie, Big Jake, (you knew it was coming, right?), John Wayne is an absentee father now reconnected with two of his sons to retrieve a kidnapped grandson. Events make the sons believe their father stole the $1M meant as ransom and when they challenge him, he towers over them, hands on his hips and defiantly says, “So, now what?” The sons had a choice to make. Do they challenge or cower?

Does the United States wait for Israel to act? Do we wait and encourage the Iranian people to act? To think that U.S. resources are not currently in place creating incentives for insurrection is to be going about with one’s head in the sand. Will government changes at the top in Moscow make a difference?

Iran has threatened just this week that if the Western countries open the Iranian nuclear file before the U.N. Security Council, they will leave the non-proliferation agreement… Whoopi! As if anyone believed they were following it anyway!

For me, the line in the sand of the Arabian deserts is drawn with two sticks. One stick is the expansion and development of Iran’s nuclear capability. If they approach weaponization, all deals are off and the Iranian people need to know they are in a time crunch for acting in their own best interests. When that line is crossed, there is no doubt there will be collateral damage. Notice, I did not say of innocent bystanders because, at some point, inaction becomes collusion. If nothing else, they should remove themselves from harm’s way for their children’s sake if not their own. The children, sadly, will be at risk because of their parents’ choices.

The second stick is best visualized in the hands of a young American soldier in the desert with a wife and child back home in the States. When he and his brothers are fired upon, the green flag is down, the gate is up and America responds for as many furlongs as it takes.

In every smallest detail, we pray. We pray for peace in the region. We pray for the safety of our troops. We pray for the salvation of every individual in Iran and beyond and we pray for divine guidance for our leaders, particularly for wisdom for our Commander in Chief.

I thank God that He has allowed me to be a citizen of this great nation which I have sworn to defend. I thank Him all the more that He sought me out to be a citizen of His heavenly kingdom and may I never do, say or write anything to tarnish His Name.

“I solemnly swear… I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States… against all enemies foreign and domestic…that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same…so help me God.“

OBVIOUS: adjective So Very Clear

Our nation’s leaders and large portions of its people pretend to be blind to what is surely ahead for the nation of Israel under the shadow of a nuclear Iran. Can they also ignore the warning God gives to those who curse Israel?

Obvious: adjective So Very Clear

The famed detective, Sherlock Holmes, brought to life by the pen and from the mind of Sir Arthur Conon Doyle, is quoted as having instructed Dr. Watson that, “There is nothing more elusive than an obvious fact.” (1) The quote was effective enough that it was used in the 2009 film version of the great detective’s stories; Sherlock Holmes. What is so very clear is that the obvious facts are being ignored.

"There's nothing so elusive as an obvious fact."
The currently cascading reams of information coming forth regarding President Obama’s “negotiations” with Iran are coming from every sector of the world community; business, finance, the military, commercial, and private sources, yet nothing has been honestly communicated from the West Wing. The Obama Administration has refused to come clean on how it has overwhelmingly allowed Iran to design its own nuclear future. Even many members of Congress have been slow to take a resolute stand on the issue. Many of them seem to be deafeningly quiet as an election year comes upon us. Democrats are beginning to line up in support, just when they need the Democratic campaign coffers the most.
A recent article stated that even if Congress disapproves the treaty that has been created in the sleazy backrooms of the White House, the palace in Tehran and side streets of Istanbul, Kabul, Islamabad, Riyadh, Moscow, Baghdad, and Damascus, there are still mechanisms in place that will permit the Conspirator in Chief to push forward the treaty as if it were U.S. law. Perhaps not since the wholesale abandonment of Sarajevo and the Muslims of Bosnia-Herzegovina to the slaughter of the Serbians has the west, particularly the United States government, been so egregiously guilty of abandoning an ally, Israel. Our nation’s leaders and large portions of its people pretend to be blind to what is surely ahead for the nation of Israel under the shadow of a nuclear Iran. Can they also ignore the warning God gives to those who curse Israel?
The Jerusalem Post ran a portion of a letter President Obama sent to NY Congressman Jerrold Nadler regarding Obama’s alleged support for the Israeli government in a move to garner support for the upcoming vote on the treaty. The excerpt reads, “Our governments should identify ways to accelerate the ongoing collaborative research and development for tunnel detection and mapping technologies to provide Israel new capabilities to detect and destroy tunnels because they could be used to threaten Israeli civilians” (2)  I personally have never surveyed a plot of land nor measured in micro millimeters the length of an inch worm but, common sense tells me that there is a very long distance between ‘Our governments will’ and “Our governments should”

The obvious fact is that the Iranian government has done nothing in the last two plus decades to cause us to put any credence into anything they might say, Secondly, the treaty (and I despise even using that term) ends in fifteen years and then Iran is free to use industrial amounts of weapons grade whatever they choose and their break-out time to a weapon is reduced to a couple of days. But… the administration assures us that our intelligence capabilities will be so much better then, etc., etc., etc. Just as this administration’s and Congress’ fix for the economy is to punt it down the generational path and let our kids and grandkids fix the problem; they are punting a nuclear Iran down the generational yellow-brick road to let the next generation of Israelis and Americans deal with it. Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore!
The key issue is that a sinister, evil group of people are strangle holding a country and they are bullying the world into cowing down to their brazen acts of international aggravated menacing; threatening to wipe an entire nation “off of the map.” If that were not abhorrent enough, the most powerful nation in the world is aiding and abetting their criminal acts by not stopping the terrorists’ threats and eliminating the malefactors that are the cause of the issue. Had someone taken out Adolf Hitler in 1937, think of how different history would be. Instead, Obama ignores the obvious facts and sends my grandchildren to the next world war.

1) Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

2) http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Obama-unveils-compensation-package-for-Israel-after-of-Iran-deal-412914

Photo) https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_(2009_film)#/media/File:Tower_bridge_works_1892.jpg

1954 ~ Quite a Year!

…concerning the brutal murder of Syrian civilians, including children and infants by Sarin gas, President Obama said, “I’m ready to act in the face of this outrage.” According to sources, immediately he and VP Joe Biden headed directly to Fort Belvoir…

For the very first time, January 1st 1954 the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl were broadcast in color and two more television stations signed on the air with the CBS call sign. On January 20th the NNN grew to 40 – that is the National Negro Network now had 40 radio stations and, in the category of some things never change, President Eisenhower announced on February 2nd the detonation of the first H-bomb. (The detonation had occurred in 1952, two years earlier!) That same month President Eisenhower warned the U.S. people against getting involved in trouble in a small nation named Vietnam.

And the list goes on, all through the year… new happenings in the world of invention and particularly electronics, steps backward at times particularly in areas of humanity. A bloody revolution in Syria and a ‘peaceful’ change of government in Egypt where 36-year-old Abdul Nasser appointed Egyptian Premier. (He was assassinated twenty-six years later). Ruth Thompson, a Congressman from Michigan, authored a bill against the lewd, lasciviousness of Rock and Roll music. Yes, she was a Republican and Elvis Presley paid $4.00 to get the rights to two of his songs back from a producer in Nashville.

An active shooter incident in the Capital – 4 Puerto Ricans open fire injuring four Congressmen. Eisenhower warned of the ‘Domino-Effect’ in SE Asia. A rookie playing in an Exhibition Game hit a home run, his first as a professional baseball player – none other than Henry (Hank) Aaron, later that month would come his first of the 755. In April, the USAF flew a French battalion of soldiers to Vietnam… later that month the very first American injured in Vietnam, a civilian pilot.

While Disneyland is being built and the MLB sports franchise was born, on July 20th an Armistice officially separated Vietnam into North and South… one year and one week exactly from when an Armistice ended the Korean War leaving it divided North and South. Russia was denied entry into NATO – the Cold War begins to heat up, Senator McCarthy on full boil. The Tasmanian Devil debuts in a Warner Brothers cartoon!

In October, after the last French pull out of Vietnam, a Communist Revolutionary enters Hanoi by the name of Ho Chi Minh. The leader of the Muslim ‘brothership’, Hassan el Hodieby arrested in Egypt. The Giants sweep the Cleveland Indians taking the World Series in four games. Texas Instruments announced the first “Transistor Radio.” Dr. Albert Schweitzer and Ernest Hemingway received Nobel prizes in Peace and in Literature. In entertainment, the television show ‘Disneyland’ began as did ‘Father Knows Best’ – on the silver screen ‘A Star is Born’ with Judy Garland and Steve Allen begins the Tonight Show. In crime and entertainment – Dr. Sam Shepherd’s wife murdered in Cleveland Ohio – it became the back story for the iconic story of ‘The Fugitive’ and his relentless pursuit of the ‘one-armed man.’

Yes, 1954 was quite a year. An amendment to allow 18 year olds the right to vote was defeated. The population of the United States was 2,723,726,367. President Eisenhower signed a bill adding “Under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.

Almost sixty years later the population is more than two and a half times that at 7,207,459,699.

But, with all of the amazing memories listed here for 1954 there is one record that is more important to us now in 2013 than perhaps any of these others…

Under the watch of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Secretary of State John Kerry and his predecessor Hilary Clinton and the Commander-in-Chief Barrack Hussein Obama, through sequestration and the President’s own promises to the Russian Vladimir Putin, the U.S. nuclear arsenal will be as low or lower than our arsenal in 1954; our troop strength will be as low or lower than our troop strength than at any time since 1954; our ability to have a nuclear umbrella protecting CONUS will be lost.

Dr. Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy warns that the Syria debacle is “but a harbinger of what is to come as reckless U.S. national security policies and postures meet the hard reality of determined adversaries emboldened by our perceived weakness.”[i]

The U.S. Army could drop from 535,000 soldiers to as few as 380,000; Marines 182,000 to 150,000, and the Navy from 11 Carrier Task Forces to just 8. Already from the 11, one is in long-term dry dock for repairs, another is also in the Navy Yard for repairs, two are on the West Coast, one in the Sea of Japan and only one is anywhere near the Mediterranean – does that sounds like combat readiness?!

On September 4, 2013 the Undersecretary for the Department of Defense, Frank Kendall spoke before the National Press Club. “This is a bizarre situation for the United States…We are seeing growing national security threats but we are unilaterally disarming because of concerns about the deficit and the national debt. This is a very unusual situation for us.”[ii]

Beyond the loss of military capability, there also comes the loss of credibility. In September 2013 during a Rose Garden press conference concerning the brutal murder of Syrian civilians, including children and infants by Sarin gas, President Obama said, “I’m ready to act in the face of this outrage.” According to sources, immediately he and VP Joe Biden headed directly to Fort Belvoir, a U.S. Army installation in Fairfax County Virginia. Upon arrival at the fort, they went straight to 18 holes of golf; while, well, you know…

Ft Belvoir CC

… in Damascus Syria  

SYRIA-DAMASCUS_2673500b   

 

 

       

[i] “Shrinking U.S. Nuclear Arsenal Worries Experts too” US NEWS, October 2013

[ii] Can We Trim $1 Trillion in Defense Spending and Still Draw Red Lines?” US NEWS, October 2013

   Facts for 1954 courtesy of HistoryOrb.com

Failed Safe

dmz DE-MILITARIZED ZONE: JULY 27, 1953 – the ceasefire began…

Battling since June 25, 1950 soldiers from both North Korea and China had relentlessly sought to over power the armies of the democratically free South Korea and their international allies including the United States. That CEASEFIRE may be cancelled – March 2013 – four months shy of 60 years that it has held.  The Korean War never ended. There was no victor. There was no treaty. Only a cease-fire brought relative normalcy back to the peninsula. Now… it could all erupt into war. This time a threat of nuclear war looms large.  North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, has threatened to begin hostilities anew after international action has been taken in the form of sanctions following the nation’s third nuclear test in February. According to ‘The Blaze’ “Without elaborating, the Korean People’s Army Supreme Command warned of “surgical strikes” meant to unify the divided Korean Peninsula and of an indigenous, “precision nuclear striking tool.”   The threats fall upon those guarding the De-militarized Zone (DMZ) particularly U.S. forces there with a heavy hand. Reports have indicated that present at the last North Korean nuclear test was Iran’s nuclear scientists, validating a suspicion that the two countries have been working together to build some form of immediate nuclear strikes capability against both South Korea and Israel.  It is not certain what might take place over the next several days. The 1963 film, Fail Safe, showed a calm and collected President (Henry Fonda) sitting in a nuclear bunker far underground beneath the White House negotiating with a calm and strikingly rational Russian leader analyzing the options with Fonda as the clock ticks down to when the nuclear bombs would fall on Moscow.  Fonda, to prevent a massive counter strike by Moscow sends his own U.S. planes to drop a nuclear bomb directly on New York City as a show of good faith that the bombing of Moscow was unintentional. It was part of the drama that the President’s wife happened to be where the bomb would go off when he dropped it. The key difference between the film and today’s drama is that both sides in the movie were acting calmly and wisely. That is not something we can expect out of either Kim or Ahmadinejad. Maybe it is time someone with some better sense picked up the phone.

1964 Movie - Nuclear War -last chance dmz fonda

Celebration of Light in a Dark World

This past Wednesday, (Dec. 21st) was the beginning of Hanukkah, the celebration of lights in the Jewish faith. I find it interesting that the 21st and the 22nd are also the two shortest days, thus longest nights of the year. The Winter Solstice was Thursday Dec. 22nd, when the longest night ushers in the beginning of the lengthening of days that will lead us to spring. Having worked as a street police officer on midnight shift for well over a decade before I became a Chief of Police, I saw many dawns. Night time is truly darkest just before dawn and the Winter Solstice, the darkest of the winter nights in the Northern Hemisphere, begins the ushering in of new light. Just as Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of light, it reflects our celebration in the Christian faith of the Light which is Christ born into an extremely dark world.
The darkness that enshrouds Israel today in the threats of nuclear attack by Iran has spurred the Jerusalem Post to title an article, “Tis the Season for the Church to Support Israel”. In his blog, Joel Rosenberg writes, “… despite this rapidly growing threat, Panetta – and, more importantly, President Obama – are refusing to take decisive measures to neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat and help the Iranian people overthrow the evil regime in Tehran.”
We must follow biblical mandate that the nations who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. If the President’s heart remains hardened to the work of the Holy Spirit, may God remove him from power and allow leaders that will support Israel and will aid in removing the threat of a nuclear Iran to take his position. Joel quoted Solomon, Psalm 29:2; “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.” Pray for the peace of Israel and I commend to you Joel’s blog to learn more about the work of the Joshua Fund.

http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com

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