"Never Say Never..."

Every day that passes we just hear more and more references to how we have not yet found WMD in Iraq... people are getting so bombarded with comments such as "it is now known that Iraq in fact had NO WMD", that they are taking that thought-line at face-value and just believe it to be true. What we don't see (and when we do, it's such small blips on the radar that it hardly registers) are the stories that indicate that indeed Iraq DID have WMD... as I have said before, I don't think that the question is *IF* Iraq had WMD, but rather what they DID with their WMD. For political reasons, some of the facts are getting drowned out in the media and brushed under the rug and made to look unimportant. But these lesser-known facts are NOT unimportant... in fact, the fact that we hardly hear about them, in my mind, enhances their degree of importance. Here are just a few of the recent issues that have come up but been quashed and really haven't recieved the amount of press that they should:


Lt. General DeLong (USMC, Ret.) has stated that much of Iraq's WMD was smuggled out of Iraq and into neighboring countries. Read the whole article at Crosswalk.com:

"I do know for a fact that some of those weapons went into Syria, Lebanon, and Iran.
"Two days before the war, on March 17th, we saw through multiple intelligence channels - both human intelligence and techinical (satellite,eavesdrop) intelligence - large caravans of people and things, including some of the top 55 Iraqis, going to Syria."

A former scientist of the Iraqi regime came forward a while back claiming that he had been directed to bury several key elements of Iraq's nuclear development program in the garden at his home. His claims were just confirmed within the last few days. Read the story at ABCNews.com.


To close, I have to use another's words because he worded it perfectly and I cannot outdo his efforts. He summed up my feelings on this issue precisely:

"This isn't as easy as some make it out to be. Everything having to do with Iraq is going to be a long, arduous process, from building a stable government to finding WMD. Adding to the pressure are people who can't understand that. What the Iraqi people really need now is the patience of the American public, and a willingness to quiet their screams of a totalitarian Bush regime until enough time has passed to get the job done." -- Jeffrey Utech.

We can't just close the book on the Iraqi WMD story... it is far too early for that. There are plenty of Iraqi's who fled Iraq with a lot of money and a lot of equipment and took that into other countries. Until enough time has passed for us to get a clear and accurate picture of WHO fled and of WHAT they took with them, to cry 'foul' is just premature; to position oneself on the side of calling for Pres. Bush's head on a platter is to show how truly un-wise, mis-guided and ill-informed oneself is. On the other hand, to 'stay the course', to 'hold the torch of liberty and justice' and to support the military and the Commander-In-Chief through these dark days is a demonstration of ones' own wisdom, stability, and dependability. A strong person is one who has the personal fortitude to do what is necessary regardless of how personally painful it might be. Stay the course. Be an example of wisdom. Do not align yourself with unstable wishy-washy people, but rather with those who are wise, patient and dependable.

Use Linux to help your kids gain an edge over their counterparts!

This is a great article to read if you are seriously interested in finding good ways to give your kids an edge in life. This particular article gives me additional inspiration to fuel my wish to see my children (when I have them!) to be tech-geeky... even if that isn't their chosen profession or passionate-hobby, just being tech-geeky is ultra-important in today's environment... and what a better opportunity than using Linux to teach your 8-year-old all about computers!

"Have you ever thought about turning your kid into a computer geek? While we might not want to go quite that far, as savvy future professionals, they'll no doubt need wide ranging computer skills. Linux offers youngsters a richly featured, comprehensive, hands-on environment that they can use to learn about applications, networks, servers, and how to make it all work together. If you work with them, you can even start to instill some of your hard-earned business acumen, as well."

There is another article here about a family that created a log-in for their 4-year-old so that she can "color" pictures, go to SesameStreet.com, and play her kid-CD's. What a great idea!

"We praise her on jobs done well... and print many of her TuxPaint pictures... [and] we brag about her to our friends just loud enough that she knows we are proud of her. The next time you hear someone say that using Linux is hard, tell them that you know of one four-year-old who has been handling it daily for more than a year. Linux is not hard unless you convince yourself that it is."

Why going to war in Iraq was required...

Lately things in Iraq aren't going too well. The war itself went better than any war we've ever fought. Our overwhelming technology and superbly-trained personnel swept through Iraq with lightning speed and unparalleled accuracy. Unfortunately, keeping the country stable and getting them on their own feet with their own government and military has proven to be a bit tougher; I believe that it is becoming more and more obvious that the main reason that we are currently bogged down in Iraq is due to the work of worldwide terrorist organizations working in conjunction with governments like Iran in an attempt to destabilize us in Iraq and make coming after them elsewhere much harder to do. The good news is that if we can hang on to Iraq and ultimately come out on top in Iraq, fighting these groups on their home turf should prove to be MUCH easier mainly because we will have severely cut down their numbers in the conflicts in Iraq. That, coupled with the fact that we can't afford a destabilized Iraq are the main reasons that we MUST stay in Iraq and we MUST finish our job there.

But a lot of people have questioned our need to have ever gone to Iraq in the first place. Many people that I know, in and out of the military, have asked me this question. They argue that we should have tried diplomacy first. For starters, we DID try diplomacy. Not only did we try diplomacy for 10 years during the Clinton administration, and everything we tried FAILED, but we also tried immediate diplomatic actions just prior to engaging Iraq in 2003. We went to the U.N. and requested a final resolution demanding that Iraq allow inspectors inside and to prove to them that Iraq had destroyed their WMD. Iraq did not do that. WHY??? It "appears" that Iraq did not indeed have any WMD... so I ask again: If they had nothing to hide, WHY didn't they allow the inspectors in and prove to them that they were clean??? I still think that they DID have some WMD and they figured out in those months before the war what to do with the evidence. After their non-compliance with the U.N.'s resolution, the U.S. Congress gave full support for the war, and the U.S. then went to the U.N. to make the case for war. At that point the U.N. issued several resolutions calling for Saddam to step down from power or he would be forced to. When he did not step down, the U.S. was simply following the next step of the diplomatic process.

You see, it seems that in today's world people tend to think that diplomacy consists only of striking deals and that everyone just complies with them. That is, of course, nonsense. And just like with everything else, when you say 'do this, or I'll do this'... YOU MUST BACK UP WHAT YOU SAID or else you are all bark and no bite.

In the book "Plan of Attack" by Bob Woodward, we read his explanation of why we HAD to go to war in Iraq once we had tried to solve things diplomatically and failed. He quotes Secretary Powell and makes reference to National Security Adviser Rice's policy on diplomacy. The text reads:

... Secretary Powell testified before the House International Relations Committee in support of the resolution. "I've been known as a reluctant warrior. It doesn't bother me. BUT THE THREAT OF WAR HAS TO BE THERE," he said. It was an argument that would be adopted by many democrats who might have been inclined to vote against a congressional resolution. Deterrence and containment of the Soviet Union during the Cold War had been built around the threat of massive conventional and nuclear retaliation. It was a policy that had succeeded and MODEL FOR AVOIDING WAR. Bush was not necessarily asking for war on Iraq. He was merely asking for congressional support as he THREATENED FOR WAR on Iraq. It was Rice's version of coercive diplomacy. [Emphasis are mine]

I think that this is important to understand. Prior to the war the U.S. (President Bush included) has what appeared to us as CREDIBLE intelligence that suggested that Iraq was in collusion with International Terrorism and that they possessed WMD. With this information and also the outlook (I believe) that the easiest of the 3 "Axis of Evil" countries to attack and terminate their terrorist ties was Iraq, the President acted. I believe the outlook was that the Iraq situation could POSSIBLY be solved diplomatically but that if it could not we would be fully justified in acting quickly because we had already been trying to work with Iraq for 10 years to no avail; and if forced to act, winning would be quick and easy compared to war with Iran or North Korea. Iraq was, for those reasons, the next best target in the War on Terrorism.

And to NOT ACT after all the diplomacy, after all the threats of war in trying to urge Iraq to act... well, that would have cheapened the authority of the U.S. and completely declawed us; and surely worlwide terrorism and the countries that support it would have been encouraged attack us again.

The fact is that war in Iraq sent a STRONG message to the other shady governments out there, and took the war with the terrorists to their turf instead of in our homeland. War with Iraq, no matter how ugly it gets, was the best solution at the time and ultimately we had little choice in the matter.

Remembering 9-11-2001...

Today marks 3 years since the horrible events of 9-11-2001. Here at school I have gotten in the habit of leaving my TV tuned in to CNN or Fox News whenever I am in my room, including while I am sleeping... this morning as I was waking I saw horrible images of a downtown city under attack, and for a few seconds thought we were reliving 9-11 all over again three years later. As I strained to open my bleary eyes, horror filled my heart as I was trying to understand what city had apparently just been struck. And then, as the recollection that today was 9-11-2004 and that this was just footage remembering those grievous events, I also remembered the relief that built across the country with every new sunrise that we enjoyed terror-free after that day. Sweet, albeit bitter, RELIEF! That relief that that we feel, today nearly drowns out the fear that we felt on that day... , however, may we never forget the sacrifices of those involved that day, nor the losses of their loved ones.

I don't want to cheapen the memories of that day with some long political entry... so I will close this post with a request that we all take a moment of silence and say a little prayer for the survivors of 9-11 and for the men and women in and out of uniform who serve overseas in the heart of the danger struggling to secure a continued peace for us here at home...

Chicago Pics

Ok. Here are the pics you've all been waiting for...








Heather across the street from a group of Ahmish people at Sears Tower


Brandon and Heather in front of the Buckingham Fountain


Brandon in front of a piece of the SLC Mormon Temple that is just sticking out of the side of a building that has a bunch of stones from all over the world in it.


Heather in front of the famous Pizzeria Uno.


Brandon in front of Pizzeria Due.


Bloomingdales that used to be a Masonic Lodge.


Brandon trying not to look tired while waiting for our pizza at Pizzeria Uno.


Heather in front of the entrance to the Navy Pier


Heather in the heart of downtown Chicago.
Isn't it awesome?!?

Pres. Bush on Immigration

A few days ago a friend of mine asked me "yeah, but what will Pres. Bush do for us Hispanics"??? Her main concerns seemed to focus on her concern for family members of hers that aren't U.S. Citizens and seem to have such poor opportunities ahead of them in life. In particular, she voiced concern that it is too hard and takes too long for a hard-working Hispanic to be able to come to the U.S. to work and to earn their citizenship. And the whole time they are waiting in Mexico, their children grow up with a very low quality of education. The U.S. has always been a pro-immigrant country, founded on immigrants. In an effort to curb out-of-control immigration, especially illegal immigration, measures were put in place to control the flow into the U.S. Today's politicians face a hefty dillemma: fostering good pro-immigration policies in order to both fill the gaps in our economy and also give a helping hand to outsiders that want to work and be a contributing member of our society, and at the same point developing workable structures to fight the problems associated with illegal immigration. Pres. Bush doesn't have all the answers to this problem, no one does. But his historical stance on the issue should earn support from every honest hard working immigrant. Here are a few of his points on the issue, taken from both policies that he has implemented and Congressional measures that he has supported. You can read more about this issue as well as a wide gamut of his agenda here.

* Supports the temporary worker program(even for illegal aliens), but opposes actual amnesty of illegal aliens meaning that while they won't be prosecuted and kicked out of the U.S. if they perform needed labor, they can't just be 'given' the rights of a Citizen either.
* $500M to cut INS application time from 3-5 years to just 6 months. No more insanely long waiting times to enter the U.S.
* Reforms to make INS more "immigrant friendly"; the aim, obviously, is to treat immigrants more humanely.
* Expand the number of worker visas for both farming jobs and high-tech jobs.

Notice that Pres. Bush's policies don't focus on "hand-outs", but rather on streamlining bloated systems and expanding opportunities for the hard-worker to get ahead. The common phrase is "a hand up not a hand out". Many liberals try to earn the "quick vote" by introducing all sorts of "hand out" types of programs, similar to the issue in CA where all illegal immigrants were going to just be "given" legal drivers licenses. That didn't help anyone except the politicians promoting such nonsense. It didn't address the real problem: Archaic bloated INS procedures. Such solutions are shallow and superficial. Pres. Bush's solutions are much longer-reaching and address the real problems with a long-term vision. His solutions also respect the long-standing tradition of 'earning' one's citizenship and do not minimize the struggles of all of the other millions of immigrants who had to EARN their rights. And yet, his measures aim to remember that most immigrants are honest, family-oriented, hard-working people that deserve our respect and our help and that deserve to be treated humanely.

The French created the War, the World Demands U.S. be held accountable!

Over the weekend Italy accused France of INTENTIONALLY drumming up false paperwork that documented the existence of WMD in Iraq. This same paperwork was the major basis for the ultimate decision to invade Iraq and oust Saddam. According to the Italians, the French intended "... to circulate a mixture of genuine and bogus documents to 'trap' the two leading proponents of war with Saddam into making insupportable claims... their aim was to make the allies look ridiculous... [the French government] was driven by a cold desire to protect their priviledged, dominant trading relationship with Saddam..."

Boy, if that doesn't say it all...

Ok, as it turns out, it doesn't... there will undoubtedly be a lot more to this over time; plan on the French government coming out with all sorts of talking points on this one... most likely they will say it was an 'individual' act and that it was neither known nor condoned by the French Government. But let's just put it out on the table in plain sight: The French are weenies! I mean, we've always been there for them and when have they really ever been there for us??? Not only are they now being accused as the biggest culprits of the Iraq War ("la grande trappola, the great trap"), but they haven't really stood by our side in the War on Terrorism since Day One anyways!

And here's an interesting side-point:

SENATOR KERRY LOVES THE FRENCH AND THE FRENCH LOVE SENATOR KERRY!!!

Quick, off to the ballot boxes to cast your Presidential Votes!

[The entire article can be found here]

If the World Treated WWII like the War on Terrorism...

This is a GREAT analogy! Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite... if you want to read the whole thing, just click on this post's title:

If the world treated WW2 the same way we treat the "War on Terrorism" and the "Conflict in the Middle East" this is what it would of been like...

March 15/16, 1939: Nazis take Czechoslovakia. (Other nations give mild condemnation of Nazi attack but urge Czechoslovakia to be restrained in their response.)

May 22, 1939: Nazis sign 'Pact of Steel' with Italy. (Other nations declare that Italy and Germany signing pact to help each other take over the world "not helpful to the peace process.")

Aug 23, 1939: Nazis and Soviets sign Pact. (The world heralds signing of treaty as a sign of Hitler's good intentions. He wouldn't be signing a peace treaty if he wanted war would he?)

Investigate the Voting Record!

John Kerry said it best when he said to judge his voting record... obviously he figures that most people won't take the time to research his record... admittedly, it seems too overwhelmingly hard... until now! Now you can see the voting record on any issue by any politician... just click here!

... Heeeyyyy, wait a minute...

My buddy Aaron had this to say on his blog... thought it was worth duplicating:

"This amounts to one big duh from me:

Study Links TV to Teen Sexual Activity

Teenagers who watch a lot of television with sexual content are twice as likely to engage in intercourse than those who watch few such programs, according to a study published on Tuesday.

"I can’t believe this isn’t taken for granted. I suppose some people would still have us believe that you can watch or read anything and remain unaffected by it."

Wow... I can't believe how unobvious this issue is to some people... sad...

Anyways, his site has some great reading, so check it out sometime!

Chicago

I just got back today from Chicago to visit Brandon. It was wonderful!!! I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I have tons of pictures to add to the website but I've gotta get to bed so I'll add them tomorrow.

My view of Chicago has changed greatly. I was in the Chicago area about 4 years ago for Brandon's boot camp graduation. We both didn't like the weather, the area, the mall was dumpy, the service was poor everywhere, people were really rude on the roads and and pretty much everywhere we went.

This time was completely different. We went to Chicago's downtown which was SO cool. It's huge. I have never seen such tall buildings and so many. We saw the Sears tower, the Buckingham Fountain which is on the beginning of Married with Children, the Navy Pier, we rode on the subway and the L-Train which is above the road train. We ate Chicago Dogs which we ended up not really liking, the best pizza every Chicago style pizza from Uno's and we ate at White Castle which is a really weird little fast food restaraunt that all of their burgers and chicken sandwiches are mini and square. When you get a combo meal you get 4 burgers. It's an alright place. I don't know why people make such a big deal about it. Maybe the one we went to was not the best. We also watched some movies and just relaxed.
It was a great weekend other than my plane home was delayed an hour because the toilet broke on the first one so they had to get us another plane. Other than that it was an incredible weekend!!!

P.S. I should have the pictures up by tomorrow evening.

We didn't get Italy...

Well, we didn't get orders for Italy. We now have to resubmit orders now for San Diego. We are disappointed about not getting orders to Italy but then also relieved. It would have been really stressful to plan the move in just a couple of months and we would have missed our friends and family. Brandon will have to go back to a ship and in a couple of years our plan is to try again for Italy.