This is a very moving essay from a man and a brother of a man who volunteered to fight for our country because of 911. This is his take on the Iraqi conflict. Who can say it better?

After Pat’s Birthday

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Posted on Oct 19, 2006

Courtesy the Tillman Family

Pat Tillman (left) and his brother Kevin stand in front of a Chinook helicopter in Saudi Arabia before their tour of duty as Army Rangers in Iraq in 2003.

By Kevin Tillman

Editor’s note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after.  It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military.  He spoke about the risks with signing the papers.  How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people.  How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition.  How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we got out. 

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is.  Something like that.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them.  Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.

Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet.  It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes. 

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground. 

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated. 

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense. 

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people.  So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity.  Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites. 

Luckily this country is still a democracy.  People still have a voice.  People still can take action.  It can start after Pat’s birthday. 

Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,

Kevin Tillman

By ED O'KEEFE

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2006 — President Bush said in a one-on-one interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that a newspaper column comparing the current fighting in Iraq to the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam, which was widely seen as the turning point in that war, might be accurate.

Stephanopoulos asked whether the president agreed with the opinion of columnist Tom Friedman, who wrote in The New York Times today that the situation in Iraq may be equivalent to the Tet offensive in Vietnam almost 40 years ago.

"He could be right," the president said, before adding, "There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election."

"George, my gut tells me that they have all along been trying to inflict enough damage that we'd leave," Bush said. "And the leaders of al Qaeda have made that very clear. Look, here's how I view it. First of all, al Qaeda is still very active in Iraq. They are dangerous. They are lethal. They are trying to not only kill American troops, but they're trying to foment sectarian violence. They believe that if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and will cause government to withdraw."

Bush said he could not imagine any circumstances under which all U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Iraq before the end of his presidency.

"You mean every single troop out? No," he told Stephanopoulos.

Bush also had some tough words for Democrats, saying that pulling troops from Iraq would be the equivalent of surrender.

"If we were to leave before the job is done, in my judgment, the al Qaeda would find a safe haven from which to attack. This is exactly what they said," Bush said. The president insisted he was not disparaging his opponents.

"It's not questioning their patriotism. I think it's questioning their judgment," he said.

Tune in to "Nightline", "Good Morning America", "This Week", and check back at www.abcnews.com for more of George Stephanopoulos' exclusive interview with President Bush.

This is an American Hero. May God bless him for his sacrifice. I think it is also important to point out that Michael A. Monsoor is a second generation Marine and his brother also served. Another interesting note is that Mr. Monsoor is an American of possible Arab descent. I say "possible descent" because I am not sure but I looked up surname and it tended to be of either Arab or Pakistani origin. The only reason I bring up his ancestry, is because of the bashing I hear of Arabs and Islam from 10am through 6pm on the radio.
What guts and love for your brother SEALS it took to jump on a grenade knowing of your own possible demise. These guys are the BEST OF THE BEST so I am not at all surprised that Mr Monsoor made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and teammates. My respect to these real men and truly GREAT AMERICANS .
RIP brother.
Click this link for more of the story: Hero Navy SEAL

Now this is a very alarming story! I think the citizenry of America better get ready and get armed! Tony as well as Dave and Jeff, bought up the subject of teachers being armed, I think that we should leave it to the professionals to guard the schools. I have an article on here that addresses the aforementioned more in depth. We are in for some real sh**! This is why I thought it was crazy to go fight a war in Iraq when we should have started with:
Securing our borders and ports: This is a basic thing to do when someone has violated your house and caused mayhem. Why didn't the current Administration do this? We have a guy running for congress that took elephants and a mariachi band across the border for God sakes! What else has been smuggled that we don't know about?
Internal Intelligence and Security: Then we should have done some house keeping internally and searched out these terror cells here in the US and eliminate them!
Eliminating al-Qaida: I think that going to Afghanistan to get Osama was a good action to take. Had we dedicated the same or even one half of the troops that we sent to Iraq, to find and eradicate al-Qaida, we would have been successful.
Containing Saddam: We should have continued containing Saddam like Bill Clinton and George H. Bush did. At most we should have patrolled his borders and ports, now we created a vacuum and are nation building , a nation whose people do not like our blueprint.

In short , I am tired of the neo-con mantra "we are fighting them over there so we don't fight them over here". (Tony, if you are reading this over the air please edit this) When I hear that half baked excuse, I just want to say.... "Hey A-HOLE they are already here, biding their time because of the lack of border control and security policies from the current administration. I pray nothing happens but if it does, the mouthpieces for this party of accountability will find a way to blame it on Bill Clinton and not be real men and take the blame for their own inadequacies.
Here's the article: Terrorist Smuggled Over Border

This is an article from the Macrini's Morning News Team Blog

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Monday it had safely and successfully carried out an underground nuclear test in a gesture of defiance as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in South Korea.

"The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent," North Korea's Korean Central News Agency said.

"It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA (Korean People's Army) and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability."

The report said there was no leak or danger from the test.

The U.N. Security Council last Friday urged North Korea not to carry out a test, warning Pyongyang of unspecified consequences if it did.

The dollar rose to a seven-month high against the yen after the reports but analysts did not expect long-term fallout unless the situation deteriorated further.

My take on it:

I think that they are a sovereign nation and should be allowed to produce what they want. I would give them this caveat: "Mess with us or our allies in any way and WE WILL BLOW YOU OFF OF THE FACE OF THE EARTH LITERALLY". And really mean it when we say it.

We should also let Japan have a nuclear weapon as well..................... One of our submarines stationed off of the coast of Japan.

I have to preface my comments by giving those two gentlemen credit for going before the people with their agenda. It takes a lot of guts to stand before a million or so people and speak publicly. I score the debate a tie. There were a few times where they talked over the time limit and moderator. Senator Allen even answered a prior question instead of the current issue that was at hand. If I had to vote tomorrow it would be a hard choice, but I'd vote for the veteran, Secretary Webb.
Webb did catch Allen with regard to his lack of a border policy here's the article:
Allen's Border Policy
My caveat, the above information is coming from the Webb campaign website. Check those references that are cited there and make your own decision.
In closing, this debate left me wishing for a viable Third Party candidate from the Libertarian or Constitution Party. I am sure there is no chance for the above to happen on this election , maybe next year.
One last question, is why did these guys bring up the "macaca" , the "n word", and "anti-women agenda", when they were supposedly trying to move on?

This is a sad story. This had people in New York City and I am sure the nation on alert for about one hour this afternoon. My condolences to the families or the four people killed in this tragic accident. Thank G-D it wasn't an act of terrorism.

Yankee's pitcher's plane crashes

Welcome to my Blog! This blog is meant to be a non partisan...yes non partisan information exchange and debate on current events and issues. There will be time when I support the Republican and Democrats as well as condemn the aforementioned. I am issue driven. Thank you for reading, stay tuned for my articles!