“I, _____ do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.”
The oath of office I recite above is the same oath of office required to be taken by military officers and members of the US Congress at the start of each January of every odd-numbered year. I reaffirm my allegiance to that inspired document before you again today. When I left the military, one of my wonderful mentors told me, “Notice there is no end date associated with this Oath, it is always in effect.”
The documents which brought our country to fruition were studied from the time I was in grade school. During my career I noticed it had been a long time since I had read these documents. I had been watching the HBO Special on John Adams last week. I went and downloaded a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence, principally written by Thomas Jefferson, is one of the most inspired writings this earth has known in my opinion. Jefferson believed the British Parliament was a “foreign legislature” that was unconstitutionally trying to extend its sovereignty into the colonies.
As I read through the Declaration’s points, I began to notice trends. The trend was a few of the points could apply to American citizen’s plight in our day. American citizens are suffering under similar legislative intrusions by laws enacted without representation or overturned by legislating from the bench.
We have enacted laws for some of the most mundane things that should be common sense. Those that are common sense have been overturned by liberal courts legislating from the bench. There are many recent examples of propositions being overwhelming voted on, only to be overturned by the court.
Thoughts came to me of what would the Founding Fathers think of our current state of government. Congress approval ratings are at all time lows. Their approval rating went into single digit territory last week.
It must give President Bush some satisfaction that his approval ratings are three times higher than a Democratic controlled congress. I would love to talk to him about that.
All of us agree with Jefferson when he states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Here are items on my list I would submit to you:
Forbidden to enact laws for the education of my children. One special interest group continues its fight in the legislature and courts allowing me to home school my children if I so feel. My confidence in public schools continues to dwindle. When my kids are subject to political and social agendas that should be discussed only with parents, or have those agendas forced on them, then our government has failed our children.
A review of where the US ranks in the world in subjects of current events, mathematics and science are low. I fear we have lost our ability to think and reason, but more importantly compete. Get over it National Education Association, competition is what the world is made of.
Refused to enact laws for America’s energy needs. When you actually look at the amount of oil imported into the US, you will see we have sold our nation’s security to potential enemies. When I talked to a good friend of mine working for Shell Oil, he told me we have enough oil and shale to last us 400-500 years with current growth.
The problem he said was we have 1000’s of pages of regulations and restrictions on finding the product, drilling the product out of the ground, processing the product and the refining capacity to make what we need. Environmental special interest groups have taken over government agencies and restricted our ability to give us the energy we need.
We could be selling it to our allies, adding to our economy and theirs. I say again… DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, and PAY LESS!
We need to build more nuclear power plants in the US. Europe has electrical power to sustain them based on clean, efficient nuclear power. We have the technology to build nuclear power plants but political agendas and special interest groups have bought their influence in the only body which can give us the electricity we need.
If you have any doubts, take a look at what the nuclear power plants create for our NIMITZ class aircraft carriers. These floating cities rely on their nuclear power plants.
Refused to enact laws to protect our citizens from foreign intrusion and illegal immigration. I continue to read intelligence reports of how Islamic terrorist groups have been able to come across our southern border with the help of Latin American countries. When you see Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Amadinejad embracing each other in Tehran and Caracas, that should tell you they are cooperating on our demise.
Review their speeches before the UN and what they believe is the number one problem with the world today. We should be learning from Benjamin Netanyahu as the Israelis are about ten to twelve years ahead of us when it comes to fighting Islamic fundamentalist groups bent on destroying our values and way of life.
Refused to give our Commander in Chief the tools required to fight a religious ideological war the likes this world has never seen. The FISA laws should have been a no-brainer. Joint Publication 3.0 teaches you must identify your enemy’s centers of gravity which comprises the source of power that provides freedom of action, physical strength, and will to fight. What are al-Qaeda’s strategic centers of gravity?
They are their religious ideology, ability to recruit and communicate, and their financing. All of our efforts should focus on these items. President Bush and the government agencies fighting the war on terror must be given the freedom to go after any thing giving our enemies sources of power, freedom of action, strength, and will to fight. Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah should be the most demoralized groups on the face of the earth.
Instead, our enemies have been embolden by our weakness in bringing all our elements of national power (Diplomatic, Informational, Military, and Economic) to bear.
Enacted taxation without representation for the redistribution of wealth. Much of this money is spent on social programs given to those refusing to contribute to our society. We have taken away individual capacity to work. We give them no incentive to work and contribute to our society. The one thing my father taught me was the importance of work.
I found it fascinating the Senate would bring in the CEOs of big oil to hound them about their profits. Look at the amount of taxes they pay to our government. What would be the outcome if those big oil companies were to use that money for exploration or innovative ways to process oil taken out of the ground? How many of you are angered by the programs our tax dollars are spent on which you do not support for religious or other reasons?
Refusal to be influenced by special interest groups whose agendas would harm or damage the social fabric or security of the United States. Billions of dollars are spent by these groups for one thing, influence. The ability to influence the discussion or worse yet, never allows the discussion to take place, should anger all of us. This continues to corrupt the form of government our Founding Fathers envisioned. I remember a great Sunday school teacher telling me all temptations fall into three categories; power, passions, and appetites. That pretty well sums up our nation’s capitol.
I have found myself in turmoil this election season. I do not see a candidate emulating my sense of values. I feel I will vote for the lesser of evils, not for someone who I think would represent me and what I believe. I urge all of you to make your own list, a personal declaration of independence, and do it prior to going into the voting booth this November.
Before you walk into the booth, take the time to read these great documents our nation was built on, the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and our Constitution. They will guide you when making the decisions on who you send to Washington and represent you. They will have an effect on so many things in this century we are living in.
I’m a dot!
Mark Hasara
Burdensome Stone: Israel’s long range strike rehearsals to Iranian Nuclear Facilities
“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
Zachariah 12:3
I have read this passage from the Old Testament a number of times this past week. My father, sister and I have discussed events in Israel with respect to this passage in Zachariah and the burdensome stone of Israel. We all have been reading articles and headline news releases discussing Israel’s air strike rehearsals.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) flew long range rehearsal sorties over the Mediterranean Ocean toward Greece some where this past week. The distances approximate flight times to Iranian nuclear facilities. I hope all of you understand the implications of these events. The IAF normally doesn’t expend this kind of energy and resources unless they are serious about the consequences of a perceived threat.
The TOPGUN motto applies here; “Train like you fight and fight like you train!” The IAF has been at war for decades against their enemies, who constantly beat the drum of “Israel will cease to exist.” They say the same about the US by the way… if you are not paying attention.
The UN Charter states explicitly all countries have a right to exist (I guess with the only exception of Israel… more on that later). The right of self-defense has a long-standing history in international relations and international law and continues to be recognized under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
Article 51 relevantly provides: Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.
This is called in political dialogue “anticipatory self-defense” and the term “preemption” can also be used. Many of you have heard the term preemption as our National Security Strategy made headlines around the world when published in September of 2002 stating the US would use preemption as a means of defending our citizens and allies. What is the definition of preemption?
Statements by the current Bush administration and its September 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States of America reflects containment and deterrence are not considered reliable strategic options for United States security. They fail to counter the use of weapons of mass destruction by rogue states and terrorist groups.
In place of containment and deterrence, the Bush administration identified a strategic alternative of preemption for responding to and countering such threats. This strategy of preemption has remained in our current 2006 National Security Strategy.
Preemption is not a new concept, particularly in Israel case. This is a big IF… but IF the Israeli Air Force executes a strategic attack on the Iranian Nuclear Facilities at Arak, Bushehr, Isfahan, or Natanz, it will be the fourth time during my life they have had the courage and fortitude to attack their enemies preemptively.
The opening of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war began with Operation Moked, the preemptive strike on all Egyptian airfields, the operational center of gravity for the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian armed forces. In 1981, the IAF sent F-16s fighter bombers covered by F-15s for concurrent air superiority to Baghdad and the Osirik Nuclear Reactor in Operation Babylon.
Read the book Bullseye One Reactor for a good description of how this was accomplished. One of the IAF F-16 pilots who went to Baghdad during Operation Babylon later lost his life in the Columbia accident returning from orbit, Colonel Ilan Ramon.
We performed a similar strike on the same reactor during Desert Storm. A team of F-117 stealth fighters “serviced” as we say in air campaign planning the Osirik complex on night one and two of the air campaign. It must have been humiliating to Saddam Hussein to have his reactor taken out twice in a decade by his most ardent enemies, the US and Israel.
Last September 2007 the IAF went after a suspected nuclear facility in Syria during Operation Orchard. Within days of this strike, the area of this suspected site was being bulldozed from the prying eyes of the world’s satellite reconnaissance systems. There is no need to wonder why the Israeli government reacted as an IDF commando team brought some material out of the site… that was slightly North Korean by origin. Imagine that.
By the way, the US intercepted a North Korean ship carrying SCUD and No-Dong missile parts to the Middle East just prior to the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom so seeing the North Korean element in the Middle East is nothing new.
I have also seen the world’s leadership continue condemning the Israeli’s military operations and rehearsals. “It would turn the region into a fireball,” Mohamed ElBaradei told Al Arabiya television and this quote has fascinated me. He speaks as if the Middle East has been a peaceful Garden of Eden for the past 40 years. The UN has stiff-armed the Jewish state since they will not let the IAEA peek under their nuclear program tent, and I believe for good reason.
The condemnations coming from the UN and the world over how Israel defends itself never ceases to amaze. No one condemns the continued rocket attacks into Israel from southern Lebanon or Gaza by the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard continues to support a proxy war against Israel and the US through Hezbollah.
“If enemies, especially Israelis and their supporters in the United States, would want to use a language of force, they would rest assured that they will receive a strong blow in the mouth,” Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said in a sermon broadcast live on state radio. I don’t know who he is kidding because the only folks with a bloody nose after fighting the US or Israel has been the forces of Arab countries.
These nations and groups do not play by the same rules we do in a fight as the carnage of al Qaeda in Iraq and Baghdad a year and a half ago shows. But if the Israeli Air Force strikes a blind wheel-chair bound Hamas Cleric teaching death and destruction toward the Jews, our media and world leadership rise up in a cacophony of UN Security Council condemnations, strong words about how the Middle East will boil over and Israel’s use of excessive force.
Clausewitz and Ralph Peters agree war IS an act of force, and there is no logical limit to the use of that force in war on your enemies. Pay close attention to Peter’s “25 Super Power Do’s and Don’ts” at the end of his article.
This burden of Israel on the world is why I find the passage in Zachariah so interesting. The US has sent Secretaries of State to numerous to count over to the region and it seems the only running mantra is a Palestinian state, as if that will end the nightmare and peace will break out.
The US is out of Saudi Arabia which has not stopped al Qaeda from threatening us. Land for peace in Israel has only emboldened their enemies as it has ours. All of us must understand what we would be feeling and saying if the US government were to allow Al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah some part of Missouri or Illinois be given them for a place which they can call home.
What would happen to the neighborhood once we let our most rabid hate-filled enemies own a portion of the US to live in? Yet this is what the world wants the Israeli government to do. And the Olmert Government seems bent on allowing just that, a place for their enemies to live… which should be read a place for their enemies to supply, train, and equip for Jihad from. In the eyes of many nations and organizations, the Israelis have become the burden to peace in the Middle East.
What or who are the real burdens here? Please take the time to google and read the Hamas Charter or for a real shiver down your spine, the 1998 Fatwa against Jews and Crusaders issued by Usama bin Laden. We should all be reading these pieces every week to remind us of what we and Israel are up against. These groups want nothing more than the destruction of our values, way of life, cultural, and civilization.
Let the portion of bin Laden’s fatwa stating; “On that basis, and in compliance with God’s order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies–civilians and military–is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it…”
Our ally in the Middle East region is Israel, the only democratically elected government in the region so far. Could any of us have wondered that Iraq would be the next democracy in the Middle east a year ago? Senator Harry Reid sure didn’t.
Israel’s reactions to these fatwas and events surrounding them also have restrictions and strings attached. Often they must come to the US government for permission to use force. After all, they are flying our Lockheed-Martin F-16s, Boeing F-15Es and AH-64 Apache helicopters. What would your reaction be if we had to go to Israel and ask their permission to strike the very cave Usama bin Laden is living in with our B-1s or B-2’s before we executed the mission?
Usama would probably be gone by the time a parliamentary group came to a general consensus on should force be used and/or heaven forbid, ask the question; “What is the right use of force in this situation?”
Continued reading of the chapters of Zachariah does not bode well for Israel burdens in the region though. Chapter 14 talks of all nations being gathered against Jerusalem, the city will be captured, houses rifled, women ravished, and half the city going into captivity. This appears to be the final burden of Jerusalem.
I can picture reports in the media now with scenes of people dancing in the streets as burned Jewish bodies hang from street posts. They did the same to our security forces in Fallujah… which should be a real good reminder to all of what will happen if Hamas and the Iranian backed terror group Hezbollah obtain control of the city of Jerusalem.
Our burden should be to support any democracy allowing its citizens the same freedoms we enjoy here in the United States. John F. Kennedy stated it best when he said bear any burden and make any sacrifice to protect us, our allies, and our way of life.
I’m a dot…
Mark Hasara