Is this outrageous stupidity or do I just not get it? I do not care what one Muslim does to or against another Muslim. That is a Muslim problem. Capiche?
Spec. Erich S. SmallwoodHometown: Trumann, Arkansas, U.S.
Age: 23 years old
Died: May 26, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Unit: Army, A Company, 875th Engineer Battalion of the Arkansas Army National Guard in Marked Tree, Ark.
Incident: Killed when a makeshift bomb exploded near his vehicle in Balad.
___________________________________________________
Sgt. Clayton G. Dunn IIHometown: Moreno Valley, California, U.S.
Age: 22 years old
Died: May 26, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Unit: Army, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Incident: Killed when a makeshift bomb exploded near his vehicle in Salahuddin Province.
__________________________________________________
Spec. Michael J. JaurigueHometown: Texas City, Texas, U.S.
Age: 20 years old
Died: May 26, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Unit: Army, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Incident: Killed when a makeshift bomb exploded near his vehicle in Slahuddin Province.
______________________________________________________
Spec. Gregory N. MillardHometown: San Diego, California, U.S.
Age: 22 years old
Died: May 26, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Unit: Army, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Incident: Killed when a makeshift bomb exploded near their vehicle in Salahuddin Province.
_____________________________________________________
Sgt. Nicholas R. WalshHometown: Millstadt, Illinois, U.S.
Age: 27 years old
Died: May 26, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Unit: Marines, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Incident: Killed while conducting combat operations in Anbar Province
____________________________________________________________
Spec. Clinton C. BlodgettHometown: Pekin, Indiana, U.S.
Age: 19 years old
Died: May 26, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Unit: Army, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany
Incident: Killed when the vehicle he was in struck a makeshift bomb in Baghdad.
______________________________________________
Spec. Francis M. Trussel Jr.Hometown: Lincoln, Illinois, U.S.
Age: 21 years old
Died: May 26, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Unit: Army, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Tex.
Incident: Killed in Tahrir when a makeshift bomb exploded near his position.
__________________________________________
Pfc. Charles B. Hester
Hometown: Cataldo, Idaho, U.S.
Age: 23 years old
Died: May 26, 2007 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Unit: Army, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
Incident: Killed when the vehicle he was in struck a makeshift bomb in Baghdad.
It seems the elite are much more concerned about whether they are seen to be compassionate by other elites in the Beltway and MSM than they are about protecting the troops.
ReplyDeleteMadness, Pure PC Gutless Madness.
I don't know how someone controlled you
ReplyDeleteThey bought and sold you.
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know how you were diverted
You were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted
No one alerted you.
---
The JFK Plot: Sunni-Shi'a Cooperation
Steve @ Threatswatch
Earlier, Kyle Dabruzzi noted the more troubling stated operation of “to smuggle individuals, including mujahideen, from Asia into Guyana and then into the United States.”
One other interesting and noteworthy item is that the development of the JFK plot included interconnection and cooperation between Shi’a and Sunni terrorist groups.
Abdul Kadir, the former Minister of Parliament (2001-2006) in Guyana, is Shi’a Imam in Guyana. The named among his network (see the formal complaint - Pdf ) included Abdel Nur, a Shi’a also from Guyana, and Kareem Ibrahim, a Shi’a imam of “one of the two leading Shia mosques in Trinidad,” according to a report in the Trinidad and Tobago Express .
Interestingly, Kadir was arrested trying to make his way to Venezuela, presumably enroute to Iran.
IED CARNAGE
ReplyDeleteIraqi Bombers Thwart Efforts to Shield G.I.’s
Even as the Pentagon has made a major effort to defend against makeshift explosives, the proportion of American deaths caused by them has sharply risen.
---
The Club and one of the Pundits used to Jimmy Graphs around to show that despite reports, things really were always getting better.
Something to be said about an optimistic outlook.
Something else to be said about denial and mindless cheerleading.
Are we to believe that if Bush's daughters were in harms way by the remote mining cultists that W would take no action against the mine manufacturers?
ReplyDeleteWho knows.
If it was HIS cowardly ass on the line, I'd bet the farm.
Remember, if you will, when the Bush kids were in Argentina.
ReplyDeleteThe one girl's purse was stolen while at lunch.
So, to be truthful doug, Mr Bush did not send the "A" team with his children. The kids were virtually defenseless, in a country where HB had operated openly in during the past few years.
On Memeorial Day, while trish, ash and the rest talked patriotism, 10 more GIs were added to the list of those to be memorialized.
Why, to what end, to achieve what Goal? We have abandoned the Goals we set under the Bremmer era, the installation of a secular democracy, the end of tribalism btinging Iraq into the era of modern political practice.
All abandoned, now. The Tribes are now US allies, after killing thousands of US soldiers and Marines. No price to be paid by these tribes, just cash and thanks from a grateful President.
Amnesty, amigos, the new US way forward, across the board.
Amnesty by any other name, it smells as sweet, amen.
Good for the soul, though.
Wasting those young GIs lives, will it save Mr Bush's soul, or cost US ours?
But in this war, the moment of sahel has been elusive. No faction — not the Shiite Arabs or Sunni Arabs or Kurds — has been able to secure absolute power, and that has only sharpened the hunger for it.
ReplyDeleteListen to Iraqis engaged in the fight, and you realize they are far from exhausted by the war. Many say this is only the beginning.
President Bush, on the other hand, has escalated the American military involvement here on the assumption that the Iraqi factions have tired of armed conflict and are ready to reach a grand accord. Certainly there are Iraqis who have grown weary. But they are not the ones at the country’s helm; many are among some two million who have fled, helping leave the way open for extremists to take control of their homeland.
“We’ve changed nothing,” said Fakhri al-Qaisi, a Sunni Arab dentist turned hard-line politician who has three bullets lodged in his torso from a recent assassination attempt. “It’s dark. There will be more blood.”
...
Caught in the middle of the civil war are the Americans. To Iraq’s factions, they are the weakest of all the armed groups in one crucial respect: their will is ebbing and their time here is limited. That leaves Iraqis more motivated than ever to cling to their weapons, preparing for what many see as an inevitable plunge into the abyss.
“Everyone — the Sunni, the Shia — is playing the waiting game,” an Iraqi leader told me over dinner at his home in the Green Zone. “They’re waiting out the Americans. Everyone is using time against you.”
Much seemed different in April 2003, when the Americans pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square and allowed Iraqis to drag it through the streets. It looked like an act of sahel at the time, but the Americans failed to establish total control, as Iraqi history says a conqueror must.
Four years on, Sunni and Shiite attacks against the Americans are expanding. There is little love among Iraqi civilians for the troops, though many fear the anarchy that could follow an American withdrawal.
“I’m still sticking by my principle, which is against the occupation,” Mr. Qaisi said in an interview here while visiting from his new home in Tikrit. “I’m Iraqi, and I think the Iraqi people should have this principle. We have the right to defend our country as George Washington did.”
...
“No country in the world is fighting such terrorism,” said Adel Abdul Mehdi, an Iraqi vice president and leader in the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a powerful Shiite party, on the day he made his pilgrimage. “Every time we give more martyrs, we are more determined. This is a big battle, there is no such battle in the world.”
The Shiites have waited centuries for their moment on the throne, and the war is something they are willing to tolerate as the price for taking power, said the Iraqi leader who had invited me to dinner in the Green Zone. “The Shia say this is not exceptional for them, this is normal,” he said.
The belief of the Shiites that they must consolidate power through force of arms is tethered to ever-present suspicions of an impending betrayal by the Americans. Though the Americans have helped institute the representative system of government that the Shiites now dominate, they have failed to eliminate memories of how the first President Bush allowed Saddam Hussein to slaughter rebelling Shiites in 1991.
...
“One day we’ll find that we’ve returned back to 1917,” said Sheik Muhammad Bakr Khamis al-Suhail, a respected Shiite neighborhood leader in Baghdad, referring to the installation here of a Sunni Arab monarchy by the British after World War I. “The pressure of the Arab countries on the American administration might push the Americans to choose the Sunni Arabs.”
Sitting in the cool recesses of his home, the white-robed sheik said he was a moderate, a supporter of democracy. It is for people like him that the Americans have fought this war. But the solution he proposes is not one the Americans would easily embrace.
“In the history of Iraq, more than 7,000 years, there have always been strong leaders,” he said. “We need strong rulers or dictators like Franco, Hitler, even Mubarak. We need a strong dictator, and a fair one at the same time, to kill all extremists, Sunni and Shiite.”
I was surprised to hear those words. But perhaps I was being naïve. Looking back on all I have seen of this war, it now seems that the Iraqis have been driving all along for the decisive victory, the act of sahel, the day the bodies will be dragged through the streets.
The VP of Iraq says: “The Shia say this is not exceptional for them, this is normal,”
Normal, amigos, normal.
The deaths, to be celebrated, not mourned.
Iraq for Iraqis, that's the ticket, always has been.
"Why would they speak so insultingly, with such hostility, of opponents who are concerned citizens? And often, though not exclusively, concerned conservatives?" asks Noonan.
ReplyDeleteBecause, Peggy, down deep where they live, they don't like the right, never did and have always sought to be seen by the Big Media as the progressive children of a dysfunctional and retarded family.
Bush's attack on the motives and character of conservatives tell us it is Goldwater-Rockefeller time again -- time to split the blanket. Conservatives need to declare their independence of Bush and to repudiate Bushism as the philosophy of their movement and party.
While Bush's court appointments, setting aside the Harriet Miers mess, have been superb, while his tax cuts have been Reaganite, while his stand on traditional values is courageous, beyond is a vast wasteland as far as the eye can see.
His free-trade zealotry has led to five straight record trade deficits. While America's economy is now growing at under 1 percent, China's is booming at 10 percent. His refusal to defend and secure the borders is well-nigh impeachable. His compromises with Teddy Kennedy on No Child Left Behind have doubled the size of the Department of Education without any appreciable gain in test scores. His "Big Government Conservatism" marks him as his father's son, not Reagan's heir. In Ward Connerly's courageous battle against reverse discrimination, the Bushes have all been on the other side.
His bungled war of choice on Iraq has left us with 3,400 dead, 25,000 wounded, hundreds of billions deeper in debt and an Army on the point of breaking. Relations with Europe, Russia, and the Arab and Muslim world are worse than they were when he took office.
His clandestine drive to merge Mexico, America and Canada in a "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America" -- a North American Union modeled on the European Union -- entails the loss of sovereignty and end of the republic as we know it.
The damage Bush has done to his party is beginning to rival that of Herbert Hoover. If the Clintons were doing this, would conservatives be mute? Time to lock and load.
Patrick Buchanan, "lock and load", he is speaking metaphorically, don't you think
Obviously, the problem is we really don't know what the consequences of leaving will be. Much as we would like to get out, the fear is our withdrawal will destabilize the entire region resulting in devastating oil shortages. There it is again. The "O" word. That freaking middle eastern oil. Our addiction which the Arabs use against us while the reactionary left prevent us from kicking. Even now, more and more one reads that the world's tropical forests are imperiled by ethanol production. Is there any hope?
ReplyDeleteIf we need the oil, all we have to do is buy it. If they ever try and withhold it, we give them a reality check. We take it.
ReplyDeleteWe talk about the blood letting to come in Iraq without seeing the coming carnage in American politics. As Panama Ed just pointed out, metaphorically or not so metaphorically, there is a civil war to be fought right here in the good ol USA. First within the party, then on a broader scale against the insurgent, unthinking, irrational and sometimes violent left. The forces are converging.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFalse flag argument, whit, the "OIL"
ReplyDeleteUnder the sanctions regieme Saddam pumped and dispersed the same quantity of oil that is produced today.
US overwatch has not increased production by a single barrel.
Each barrel produced under Saddam found it's way to market, at lower prices than today.
Our enemies in Iran, their oil reaches the marketplace, at ever increasing prices, due to US intervention in the Region. The "War" premium.
If the US were to begin to leave Iraq, the oil would still flow, it is the life blood of Iraq, which the various Iraqi factions will defend, reegardless of US presence.
We have armed over 250,000 Iraqi, whom Bing West says operate well at Bn levels and below.
They can defend their Government and it's oil, against 2,500 aQ operatives, better than the US troops, if we'd allow them to.
This quote of Linda Chavez really rankled me:
ReplyDelete"Some people just don't like Mexicans -- or anyone else from south of the border. They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English. They think Latinos have too many babies and that Latino kids will dumb down our schools. They think Latinos are dirty, diseased, indolent and more prone to criminal behavior. They think Latinos are just too different from us ever to become real Americans. ...
"Unfortunately, among this group is a fair number of Republican members of Congress, almost all influential conservative talk radio hosts, some cable news anchors -- most prominently, Lou Dobbs -- and a handful of public policy 'experts' at organizations such as the Center for Immigration Studies, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, in addition to fringe groups like the Minuteman Project."
This is a stinking tactic of the left. If you can't win the debate with facts resort to smear. Unforgivable.
Rat:
ReplyDeleteIt's the Sunni/Shia divide and a fall of our Saudi friends to the Wahhabists that I was referring to. I don't think anyone knows what the future holds but the worst case scenarios are bad for the world. As far as the idiots going at each other, my "neo-con dreams" have vanished and now I think more like the lefties, "Iraqi who?"
The thing is, the Bush family consists of Mexican citizens. They are from the elite of Mexican society as the Bush family is from the elite in America. Bush snaps towels with his field hands. They call him "don jorge" and Bush melts and thinks that is all there is to it. He just doen't get it. He is doing it for them, not us.
ReplyDeleteThe Republican Party is a neo-liberal party, whit.
ReplyDeleteThose on the "right" always calling the neos "RINOs", when the truth was it was the conservatives that were the RINOs.
Master marketing, to get you to believe the reverse was true, while the Skull & Boners ruled the roost, for election cycles on end. Since RR left office, fer sure. Before that, if Party infrastructure at a National level is taken into the equation.
It is disheartening, that is for sure. I go around about it in my mind, and the best I seem to be able to come up with is, I don't know what is best for sure, which isn't much of a position to hold. These IED's, how are they triggered? By cell phones, I quess. If they are ever brough here, they sure would raise hell on the L.A. freeway.
ReplyDeleteThe Wahabbists already control Saudi Arabia.
ReplyDeleteThe "worst case" is always bad.
As I've said before, there are alternative courses, other than Occupation or total withdrawal.
Mr Bush should to do the "hard thing" and admit his Policy failures. Then we could move forward on a new course. Instead we have his cheering section appaulding US failures, as if they were successes.
Then I wake up and find more Bad News What is going on here, I wonder.
ReplyDeleteI argued with Bob over at Wilsonizer, that is was stupid to allow the creation of a cellular phone system in Iraq before they established civility. Can you imagine if all the Viet Cong were given a cell phone?
ReplyDeleteSome by cell phone, some by infra red, some hard wired.
ReplyDeleteThat's part of the challenge, bob.
The only way to stop the placing of land mines, or command detonated mines, which is all these IEDs are, is to control the ground.
The only way.
Instead the US spend millions USD to "study" the problem.
Control the battlespace, not manage it.
Concepts to grand for US Generals to understand.
All liberated peoples deserve cell phones and cars, duece.
ReplyDeleteBack to basics, we have liberated Iraqis, they are not our enemy. We are not at war with them, or Iraq. They deserve the fruits of freedom, we're going to supply it for them.
The Iraqi deserve freedoms similar to those you enjoy, Mr Bush said so. Must be true.
That link, bob, truly great news, aye.
ReplyDelete1.5 Billion USD to repair, that the Russians won't spend.
The same amount that the US spends every day, day in, day out, in Iraq.
Which is the greater threat to a stable world?
Does this or does it not represent the RoP?
ReplyDeleteduece,
ReplyDeleteYour missive at the BC, not in step with the trends, there.
It is Dan Rather's fault that Latin America is tinder dry.
Not the result of US actions or inactions.
Really, that's the storyline.
The reporters are to blame, not who they are reporting about.
Killin' the messenger.
Ever since the Greeks.
Bend over.
So to take the cell phone system down wouldn't do much good. And we don't have enough troops there to control all the ground, all the time. So we continue to get the headlines we get, day after day.
ReplyDeleteThat is not Islam, whit, that's Pakistan.
ReplyDeleteThe two are seperate, don't you know.
The General President, he make things right.
McCain warns that US barrios could resemble France's banlieus.
ReplyDeleteI thought they were peace loving, hard working, and family-oriented. I had no idea there was such a simmering caldera ready to erupt.
It is not the headlines, bob, but dead GIs, day after day that matter.
ReplyDeleteLet's get the realities squared away. The headlines only represent dead Americans, they are nothing in and of themselves.
As General P stated so truthfully, his Army cannot win the war.
Rat:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder, I was beginning to think Pakistan was their "point of the spear." I need correction every now and then.
The Soviet Union was just absolutely awfull on most environmental issues. I doubt Puty is doing much better. But the Soviet Union, I have read so often, vast tracts of territory, just ruined. I know that our environmentalists can kind of go to extremes--with the spotted owl and all--but we should try to have a healthy regard for our living space, and not just lay it waste.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree about that, bob.
ReplyDeleteThe US, though, is a model of enviormental improvement.
Reforestation, cleaner air in the LA basin. Cars so clean, compared to the 70s, they're spotless. The Chicago River, once a fire flashpoint, now clean.
The cause of the enviorment has fared better here, in the US, than anywhere.
The brown cloud over India and China give testament to that.
But we should tell the truth too. The no-growthers, the enviros, in our little Moscow, Idaho here, use the issue of water to try to control things. They say we are running out of water. They lie. I know this issue really well. Our deepest artesian well is on my property. Water that is 20,000 years old, going back to the last ice age. I know the city engineer, and the head of the water department. We are not 'running out of water'--we have hardly tapped in, we haven't even tried yet. But the no growthers say we are, lying through their teeth. We need to tell the truth about things, not twist things around to suit a political argument.
ReplyDeleteYes, I too think we have made a lot of improvements, on many fronts. Have a ways to go though, I quess.
ReplyDeleteAgreed again.
ReplyDeleteThe same is true here. Water becomes the control point.
The town of Payson, here in AZ, faces water shortages. There is an aquifier in the National Forest that could supply the town all the water required for further growth.
Cannot tap it, though. Oh no. Seems that would have an adverse impact on the local Forest Ranger.
Bob:
ReplyDeleteIf what you are saying about the state of Russia's environment be true, how could the great Russian humanitarian, Mikhail Gorbachev possibly have been installed as the founder and leader of one of the most preminent environmental organizations in the world?
Surely, Russia must be a model for the world. Don't you think?
We actually have three layers of water here. A couple of our wells tap just a few hudred feet down, not very far. Its the basic water from the recent rains, and snow melts. Then we have a couple, one on my place, that goes way way way down, tapping into water from centuries past. This one hardly evem feels our sucking off it. Comes from the mountains to the east. There is a third aquafer too they say, a little north of here, that we have even tapped. And twenty five miles from here. we have the Clearwater, and Snake, that could be used, if we ever needed it, which we don't.
ReplyDelete:)I am not touching that one, Whit.
DR,
ReplyDeleteYour memory must be fading ole boy,
"On Memorial Day, while trish, ash and the rest talked patriotism"
It was a situation where Trish-the-Trash-Bitch, and Ash the Asshole dinigrated Memorial Day. Metaphorically pissed all over the graves of our fallen soldiers. "Talked". actually they wrote vitriol and pissed all over memorial Day to their eternal damnation.
Just thought I'd give you a bit of a reminder...and oh yes, I rose to your bait for what they did that day deserves pressure, constant unrelenting pressure from those of us who honor that day.
"Talked", with regard to those two is like saying the lava is just a bit warm.
'have not even tapped yet'--and the other mistakes--I'm not awake yet--but you get the point
ReplyDeleteOld Smokey the Bear, Rat, is hard to argue with, like trying to talk to Ronald McDonald, I quess.
ReplyDeleteThe point, habu, was that on Memorial Day itself, we added ten more names to the list of those memorialized.
ReplyDeleteThe question remains, why?
How did the death of Spec. Erich S. Smallwood, of Arkansas, move US closer to victory in Iraq. Closer to a secular democratic government in Iraq?
That is the question, not whether or not he deserves to be memorialized. Because he, and the other thousands of US casualties do deserve our thoughts and memorials.
They also deserve to be deployeed in military efforts their General believes can be won.
Not in an attempt to influence the internal politics in foreign lands.
My point was that your characterzation of two shit ass posters wasn't accurate. And if you're so concerned with the dead of Iraq and Afghanizstan you would have castigated those two instead of running cover for them.
ReplyDeleteTime will tell whether any of those who died in Iraq died for nothing or for something.
You can't make that call right now, no one can.
Did the dead of battles the US lost in other wars mean the lives lost in those engagements were wasted? Or is it that we persevered in our battles and the battles added up to a victory ...because we persevered.
When we, as a nation, finally developed a cynical anti-war crowd and Congress started a tradition of cut and run is when we ran into difficulty. Just ask the dead of Vietnam, or better yet walk up to a Vietnam Vet and say, "Hey you guys sure were fools and tools and allowed alot of your buddies to get killed"...go ahead , give it a try.
I for one am sick to death of a tactic that repeats the same result day in and day out. Every time an IED blows up young Americans, we make some Islamic shit look better than us. I do not want to be in support of a strategy that does not include grievous consequences to setting an IED or failing to immediately report it the authorities. I once did hear these words: "you are with us or against us." I assume that applies to men on patrol. What are they patrolling for? Who are they doing it for? Iraqi Muslims are not worth dying for. They may be worth killing.
ReplyDeleteThe Iraqis are cursed, like all Muslims, by being Muslim. Islam is the problem. It is a human flaw. It is an incoherent incomprehensible sewer of a religion. Islam will never be democratic, because it will have to then not be Islamic. Turkey faces the dilemma again. Democracy is worth fighting and dying for if forces intent on destroying our freedom threaten us and they have the credible means to do so. That should be accomplished with a long arm and an iron fist. Immediate deadly and devastating retribution meted out in disparate doses on a consistent basis would be a sensible and sustainable strategy. The retribution could be as wide as is thought necessary. Beyond that, let them fix their own societies and we leave them alone.
The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. May 5, 1866
ReplyDeleteHere DR, compile of list of all those who died on Memorial day during these engagements, and tell me that AT THAT TIME we knew whether they had died for nothing and what the outcome of there battles was going to be
1866 -- Mexico. To protect American residents, General Sedgwick and 100 men in November obtained surrender of Matamoros, on the border State of Tamaulipas. After three days he was ordered by US Government to withdraw. His act was repudiated by the President.[RL30172]
1866 -- China. From June 20 to July 7, US forces punished an assault on the American consul at Newchwang.[RL30172]
1867 -- Nicaragua. Marines occupied Managua and Leon.1865-77 -- Post Civil War Reconstruction
1867 -- Formosa (island of Taiwan) - June 13. A naval force landed and burned a number of huts to punish the murder of the crew of a wrecked American vessel.1865-77 -- Post Civil War Reconstruction
1868 -- Japan (Osaka, Hiolo, Nagasaki, Yokohama, and Negata). - February 4 to 8, April 4 to May 12, June 12 and 13. US forces were landed to protect American interests during the civil war in Japan.[RL30172]
1868 -- Uruguay. - February 7 and 8, 19 to 26. US forces protected foreign residents and the customhouse during an insurrection at Montevideo.[RL30172]
1868 -- Colombia. - April. US forces protected passengers and treasure in transit at Aspinwall during the absence of local police or troops on the occasion of the death of the President of Colombia.[RL30172]
[edit] 1870-1879
1870 -- Mexico. - June 17 and 18. US forces destroyed the pirate ship Forward, which had been run aground about 40 miles up the Rio Tecapan.[RL30172]
1870 -- Hawaiian Islands. - September 21. US forces placed the American flag at half mast upon the death of Queen Kalama, when the American consul at Honolulu would not assume responsibility for so doing.[RL30172]
1871 -- Korea. Shinmiyangyo Battle in Korea - June 10 to 12. A US naval force attacked and captured five forts to punish natives for depredations on Americans, particularly for murdering the crew of the General Sherman and burning the schooner, and for later firing on other American small boats taking soundings up the Salee River.[RL30172]
1873 -- Colombia (Bay of Panama). - May 7 to 22, September 23 to October 9. U.S. forces protected American interests during hostilities between local groups over control of the government of the State of Panama.[RL30172]
1873-96 -- Mexico. United States troops crossed the Mexican border repeatedly in pursuit of cattle and other thieves and other brigands.[RL30172]
1874 -- Hawaiian Islands. - February 12 to 20. Detachments from American vessels were landed to preserve order and protect American lives and interests during the coronation of a new king.[RL30172]
1876 -- Mexico. - May 18. An American force was landed to police the town of Matamoros, Tamaulipas State, temporarily while it was without other government.[RL30172]
[edit] 1880-1889
1882 -- Egypt. - July 14 to 18. American forces landed to protect American interests during warfare between British and Egyptians and looting of the city of Alexandria by Arabs.[RL30172]
1885 -- Panama (Colon). - January 18 and 19. US forces were used to guard the valuables in transit over the Panama Railroad, and the safes and vaults of the company during revolutionary activity. In March, April, and May in the cities of Colon and Panama, the forces helped reestablish freedom of transit during revolutionary activity.[RL30172]
1888 -- Korea. - June. A naval force was sent ashore to protect American residents in Seoul during unsettled political conditions, when an outbreak of the populace was expected.[RL30172]
1888 -- Haiti. - December 20. A display of force persuaded the Haitian Government to give up an American steamer which had been seized on the charge of breach of blockade.[RL30172]
1888-89 -- Samoa. - November 14, 1888, to March 20, 1889. US forces were landed to protect American citizens and the consulate during a native civil war.[RL30172]
1889 -- Hawaiian Islands. - July 30 and 31. US forces protected American interests at Honolulu during a revolution.[RL30172]
[edit] 1890-1899
1890 -- Argentina. A naval party landed to protect US consulate and legation in Buenos Aires.[RL30172]
1891 -- Haiti. US forces sought to protect American lives and property on Navassa Island.[RL30172]
1891 -- Bering Strait. - July 2 to October 5. Naval forces sought to stop seal poaching.[RL30172]
1891 -- Chile. - August 28 to 30. US forces protected the American consulate and the women and children who had taken refuge in it during a revolution in Valparaiso.[RL30172]
1893 -- Hawaii. - January 16 to April 1. Marines were landed ostensibly to protect American lives and property, but many believed actually to promote a provisional government under Sanford B. Dole. This action was disavowed by the United States.[RL30172]
1894 -- Brazil. - January. A display of naval force sought to protect American commerce and shipping at Rio de Janeiro during a Brazilian civil war.[RL30172]
1894 -- Nicaragua. - July 6 to August 7. US forces sought to protect American interests at Bluefields following a revolution.[RL30172]
1894-95 -- China. Marines were stationed at Tientsin and penetrated to Peking for protection purposes during the First Sino-Japanese War.[RL30172]
1894-95 -- China. A naval vessel was beached and used as a fort at Newchwang for protection of American nationals.[RL30172]
1894-96 -- Korea. - July 24, 1894 to April 3, 1896. A guard of marines was sent to protect the American legation and American lives and interests at Seoul during and following the Sino-Japanese War.[RL30172]
1895 -- Colombia. - March 8 to 9. US forces protected American interests during an attack on the town of Bocas del Toro by a bandit chieftain.[RL30172]
1895-96 -- Venezuela. - Settlement of boundary dispute.[citation needed]
1896 -- Nicaragua. - May 2 to 4. US forces protected American interests in Corinto during political unrest.[RL30172]
1898 -- Nicaragua. - February 7 and 8. US forces protected American lives and property at San Juan del Sur.[RL30172]
1898 -- Spanish-American War On April 25, 1898, the United States declared war with Spain. The war followed a Cuban insurrection, the Cuban War of Independence against Spanish rule and the sinking of the USS Maine in the harbor at Havana.[RL30172]
1898-99 -- Samoa. Second Samoan Civil War a conflict that reached a head in 1898 when Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States were locked in dispute over who should have control over the Samoan island chain.
1898-99 -- China. - November 5, 1898 to March 15, 1899. US forces provided a guard for the legation at Peking and the consulate at Tientsin during contest between the Dowager Empress and her son.[RL30172]
1899 -- Nicaragua. American and British naval forces were landed to protect national interests at San Juan del Norte, February 22 to March 5, and at Bluefields a few weeks later in connection with the insurrection of Gen. Juan P. Reyes.[RL30172]
1899-1913 -- Philippine Islands. Philippine-American War US forces protected American interests following the war with Spain, defeating rebellious Filipinos seeking immediate national independence.[RL30172] The U.S. government declared the “insurgency” officially over in 1902, when the Filipino leadership generally accepted American rule. Skirmishes between government troops and armed groups lasted until 1913, and some historians consider these unofficial extensions of the war.[2]
[edit] 1900-1909
1900 -- China. - May 24 to September 28. Boxer Rebellion American troops participated in operations to protect foreign lives during the Boxer rising, particularly at Peking. For many years after this experience a permanent legation guard was maintained in Peking, and was strengthened at times as trouble threatened.[RL30172]
1901 -- Colombia (State of Panama). - November 20 to December 4. Panamanian Revolution US forces protected American property on the Isthmus and kept transit lines open during serious revolutionary disturbances.[RL30172]
1902 -- Colombia. - April 16 to 23. US forces protected American lives and property at Bocas del Toro during a civil war.[RL30172]
1902 -- Colombia (State of Panama). - September 17 to November 18. The United States placed armed guards on all trains crossing the Isthmus to keep the railroad line open, and stationed ships on both sides of Panama to prevent the landing of Colombian troops.[RL30172]
1903 -- Honduras. - March 23 to 30 or 31. US forces protected the American consulate and the steamship wharf at Puerto Cortes during a period of revolutionary activity.[RL30172]
1903 -- Dominican Republic. - March 30 to April 21. A detachment of marines was landed to protect American interests in the city of Santo Domingo during a revolutionary outbreak.[RL30172]
1903 -- Syria. - September 7 to 12. US forces protected the American consulate in Beirut when a local Moslem uprising was feared.[RL30172]
1903-04 -- Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Twenty-five marines were sent to Abyssinia to protect the US Consul General while he negotiated a treaty.[RL30172]
1903-14 -- Panama. US forces sought to protect American interests and lives during and following the revolution for independence from Colombia over construction of the Isthmian Canal. With brief intermissions, United States Marines were stationed on the Isthmus from November 4, 1903, to January 21, 1914 to guard American interests.[RL30172]
1904 -- Dominican Republic. - January 2 to February 11. American and British naval forces established an area in which no fighting would be allowed and protected American interests in Puerto Plata and Sosua and Santo Domingo City during revolutionary fighting.[RL30172]
1904 -- Tangier, Morocco. "We want either Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead." A squadron demonstrated to force release of a kidnapped American. Marines were landed to protect the consul general.[RL30172]
1904 -- Panama. - November 17 to 24. US forces protected American lives and property at Ancon at the time of a threatened insurrection.[RL30172]
1904-05 -- Korea. - January 5, 1904, to November 11, 1905. A guard of Marines was sent to protect the American legation in Seoul during the Russo-Japanese War.[RL30172]
1906-09 -- Cuba. - September 1906 to January 23, 1909. US forces sought to protect interests and re-establish a government after revolutionary activity.[RL30172]
1907 -- Honduras. - March 18 to June 8. To protect American interests during a war between Honduras and Nicaragua, troops were stationed in Trujillo, Ceiba, Puerto Cortes, San Pedro Sula, Laguna and Choloma.[RL30172]
1910 -- Nicaragua. - May 19 to September 4, 1910. Occupation of Nicaragua US forces protected American interests at Bluefields.[RL30172]
[edit] 1910-1919
1911 -- Honduras. - January 26. American naval detachments were landed to protect American lives and interests during a civil war in Honduras.[RL30172]
1911 -- China. As the nationalist revolution approached, in October an ensign and 10 men tried to enter Wuchang to rescue missionaries but retired on being warned away, and a small landing force guarded American private property and consulate at Hankow. Marines were deployed in November to guard the cable stations at Shanghai; landing forces were sent for protection in Nanking, Chinkiang, Taku and elsewhere.[RL30172]
1912 -- Honduras. A small force landed to prevent seizure by the government of an American-owned railroad at Puerto Cortes. The forces were withdrawn after the United States disapproved the action.[RL30172]
1912 -- Panama. Troops, on request of both political parties, supervised elections outside the Canal Zone.[RL30172]
1912 -- Cuba. - June 5 to August 5. US forces protected American interests on the Province of Oriente, and in Havana.[RL30172]
1912 -- China. - August 24 to 26, on Kentucky Island, and August 26 to 30 at Camp Nicholson. US forces protected Americans and American interests during revolutionary activity.[RL30172]
1912 -- Turkey. - November 18 to December 3. US forces guarded the American legation at Constantinople during a Balkan War.[RL30172]
1912-25 -- Nicaragua. - August to November 1912. US forces protected American interests during an attempted revolution. A small force, serving as a legation guard and seeking to promote peace and stability, remained until August 5, 1925.[RL30172]
1912-41 -- China. The disorders which began with the overthrow of the dynasty during Kuomintang rebellion in 1912, which were redirected by the invasion of China by Japan, led to demonstrations and landing parties for the protection of US interests in China continuously and at many points from 1912 on to 1941. The guard at Peking and along the route to the sea was maintained until 1941. In 1927, the United States had 5,670 troops ashore in China and 44 naval vessels in its waters. In 1933 the United States had 3,027 armed men ashore. The protective action was generally based on treaties with China concluded from 1858 to 1901.[RL30172]
1913 -- Mexico. - September 5 to 7. A few marines landed at Ciaris Estero to aid in evacuating American citizens and others from the Yaqui Valley, made dangerous for foreigners by civil strife.[RL30172]
1914 -- Haiti.- January 29 to February 9, February 20 to 21, October 19. Intermittently US naval forces protected American nationals in a time of rioting and revolution.[RL30172]
1914 -- Dominican Republic. - June and July. During a revolutionary movement, United States naval forces by gunfire stopped the bombardment of Puerto Plata, and by threat of force maintained Santo Domingo City as a neutral zone.[RL30172]
1914-17 -- Mexico. Tampico Affair led to Occupation of Veracruz, Mexico. Undeclared Mexican--American hostilities followed the Dolphin affair and Villa's raids . Also Pancho Villa Expedition) -- an abortive military operation conducted by the United States Army against the military forces of Francisco "Pancho" Villa from 1916 to 1917. and included capture of Vera Cruz. On March 19, on orders from President Woodrow Wilson, General John J. Pershing led an invasion force of 10,000 men into Mexico to capture Villa.
1915-34 -- Haiti. - July 28, 1915, to August 15, 1934. United States occupation of Haiti 1915-1934 US forces maintained order during a period of chronic political instability.[RL30172]
1913 -- Mexico. - September 5 to 7. A few marines landed at Ciaris Estero to aid in evacuating American citizens and others from the Yaqui Valley, made dangerous for foreigners by civil strife.[RL30172]
1914 -- Haiti.- January 29 to February 9, February 20 to 21, October 19. Intermittently US naval forces protected American nationals in a time of rioting and revolution.[RL30172]
1914 -- Dominican Republic. - June and July. During a revolutionary movement, United States naval forces by gunfire stopped the bombardment of Puerto Plata, and by threat of force maintained Santo Domingo City as a neutral zone.[RL30172]
1914-17 -- Mexico. Undeclared Mexican--American hostilities followed the Dolphin affair and Villa's raids and included capture of Vera Cruz and later Pershing's expedition into northern Mexico.[RL30172]
1915-34 -- Haiti. - July 28, 1915, to August 15, 1934. US forces maintained order during a period of chronic political instability.[RL30172]
1916 -- China. American forces landed to quell a riot taking place on American property in Nanking.[RL30172]
1916-24 -- Dominican Republic. - May 1916 to September 1924. Occupation of the Dominican Republic American naval forces maintained order during a period of chronic and threatened insurrection.[RL30172]
1917 -- China. American troops were landed at Chungking to protect American lives during a political crisis.[RL30172]
1917-18 -- World War I. On April 6, 1917, the United States declared war with Germany and on December 7, 1917, with Austria-Hungary. Entrance of the United States into the war was precipitated by Germany's submarine warfare against neutral shipping.[RL30172]
1917-22 -- Cuba. US forces protected American interests during insurrection and subsequent unsettled conditions. Most of the United States armed forces left Cuba by August 1919, but two companies remained at Camaguey until February 1922.[RL30172]
1918-19 -- Mexico. After withdrawal of the Pershing expedition, US troops entered Mexico in pursuit of bandits at least three times in 1918 and six times in 1919. In August 1918 American and Mexican troops fought at Nogales.[RL30172]
1918-20 -- Panama. US forces were used for police duty according to treaty stipulations, at Chiriqui, during election disturbances and subsequent unrest.[RL30172]
1918-20 -- Soviet Union. Marines were landed at and near Vladivostok in June and July to protect the American consulate and other points in the fighting between the Bolshevik troops and the Czech Army which had traversed Siberia from the western front. A joint proclamation of emergency government and neutrality was issued by the American, Japanese, British, French, and Czech commanders in July. In August 7,000 men were landed in Vladivostok and remained until January 1920, as part of an allied occupation force. In September 1918, 5,000 American troops joined the allied intervention force at Archangel and remained until June 1919. These operations were in response to the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and were partly supported by Czarist or Kerensky elements. [RL30172] For details, see Polar Bear Expedition.
1919 -- Dalmatia (Croatia). US forces were landed at Trau at the request of Italian authorities to police order between the Italians and Serbs.[RL30172]
1919 -- Turkey. Marines from the USS Arizona were landed to guard the US Consulate during the Greek occupation of Constantinople.[RL30172]
1919 -- Honduras. - September 8 to 12. A landing force was sent ashore to maintain order in a neutral zone during an attempted revolution.[RL30172]
[edit] 1920-1929
1920 -- China. - March 14. A landing force was sent ashore for a few hours to protect lives during a disturbance at Kiukiang.[RL30172]
1920 -- Guatemala. - April 9 to 27. US forces protected the American Legation and other American interests, such as the cable station, during a period of fighting between Unionists and the Government of Guatemala.[RL30172]
1920-22 -- Russia (Siberia). - February 16, 1920, to November 19, 1922. A Marine guard was sent to protect the United States radio station and property on Russian Island, Bay of Vladivostok.[RL30172]
1921 -- Panama - Costa Rica. American naval squadrons demonstrated in April on both sides of the Isthmus to prevent war between the two countries over a boundary dispute.[RL30172]
1922 -- Turkey. - September and October. A landing force was sent ashore with consent of both Greek and Turkish authorities, to protect American lives and property when the Turkish Nationalists entered Smyrna.[RL30172]
1922-23 -- China. Between April 1922 and November 1923, marines were landed five times to protect Americans during periods of unrest.[RL30172]
1924 -- Honduras. - February 28 to March 31, September 10 to 15. US forces protected American lives and interests during election hostilities.[RL30172]
1924 -- China. - September. Marines were landed to protect Americans and other foreigners in Shanghai during Chinese factional hostilities.[RL30172]
1925 -- China. - January 15 to August 29. Fighting of Chinese factions accompanied by riots and demonstrations in Shanghai brought the landing of American forces to protect lives and property in the International Settlement.[RL30172]
1925 -- Honduras. - April 19 to 21. US forces protected foreigners at La Ceiba during a political upheaval.[RL30172]
1925 -- Panama. - October 12 to 23. Strikes and rent riots led to the landing of about 600 American troops to keep order and protect American interests. [RL30172]
1926-33 -- Nicaragua. - May 7 to June 5, 1926; August 27, 1926, to January 3, 1933. The coup d'etat of General Chamorro aroused revolutionary activities leading to the landing of American marines to protect the interests of the United States. United States forces came and went intermittently until January 3, 1933.[RL30172]
1926 -- China. - August and September. The Nationalist attack on Hankow brought the landing of American naval forces to protect American citizens. A small guard was maintained at the consulate general even after September 16, when the rest of the forces were withdrawn. Likewise, when Nationalist forces captured Kiukiang, naval forces were landed for the protection of foreigners November 4 to 6.[RL30172]
1927 -- China. - February. Fighting at Shanghai caused American naval forces and marines to be increased. In March a naval guard was stationed at American consulate at Nanking after Nationalist forces captured the city. American and British destroyers later used shell fire to protect Americans and other foreigners. Subsequently additional forces of marines and naval forces were stationed in the vicinity of Shanghai and Tientsin.[RL30172]
[edit] 1930-1939
1932 -- China. American forces were landed to protect American interests during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai.[RL30172]
1933 -- Cuba. During a revolution against President Gerardo Machado naval forces demonstrated but no landing was made.[RL30172]
1934 -- China. Marines landed at Foochow to protect the American Consulate.[RL30172]
[edit] 1940-1945
1940 -- Newfoundland, Bermuda, St. Lucia, - Bahamas, Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad, and British Guiana. Troops were sent to guard air and naval bases obtained by negotiation with Great Britain. These were sometimes called lend-lease bases.[RL30172]
1941 -- Greenland. Greenland was taken under protection of the United States in April.[RL30172]
1941 -- Netherlands (Dutch Guiana). In November the President ordered American troops to occupy Dutch Guiana, but by agreement with the Netherlands government in exile, Brazil cooperated to protect aluminum ore supply from the bauxite mines in Surinam.[RL30172]
1941 -- Iceland. Iceland was taken under the protection of the United States, with consent of its government, for strategic reasons.[RL30172]
1941 -- Germany. Sometime in the spring the President ordered the Navy to patrol ship lanes to Europe. By July US warships were convoying and by September were attacking German submarines. In November, the Neutrality Act was partly repealed to protect US military aid to Britain.[RL30172]
1941-45 -- World War II . On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war with Japan, on December 11 with Germany and Italy, and on June 5, 1942, with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. The United States declared war against Japan after the surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor, and against Germany and Italy after those nations, under the dictators Hitler and Mussolini, declared war against the United States. The US declared war against Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania in response to the declarations of war by those nations against the United States.[RL30172]
1945 -- China. In October 50,000 US Marines were sent to North China to assist Chinese Nationalist authorities in disarming and repatriating the Japanese in China and in controlling ports, railroads, and airfields. This was in addition to approximately 60,000 US forces remaining in China at the end of World War II.[RL30172]
[edit] 1945-1949
1945-49 Occupation of part of Germany.
1945-55 Occupation of part of Austria.
1945-46 Occupation of part of Italy.[citation needed]
1945-52 Occupation of Japan.
1945-46 Temporary reoccupation of the Philippines in preparation for independence.[citation needed]
1945-49 Occupation of South Korea and defeat of a leftist insurgency.[citation needed]
1946 -- Trieste (Italy). President Truman ordered the increase of US troops along the zonal occupation line and the reinforcement of air forces in northern Italy after Yugoslav forces shot down an unarmed US Army transport plane flying over Venezia Giulia..[citation needed] Earlier US naval units had been sent to the scene.[RL30172] Later the Free Territory of Trieste, Zone A.
1945-47 US Marines garrisoned in Mainland China to oversee the removal of Soviet and Japanese forces after World War II.[citation needed]
1948 -- Palestine. A marine consular guard was sent to Jerusalem to protect the US Consul General.[RL30172]
1948 -- Berlin. Berlin Airlift After the Soviet Union established a land blockade of the US, British, and French sectors of Berlin on June 24, 1948, the United States and its allies airlifted supplies to Berlin until after the blockade was lifted in May 1949.[RL30172]
1948-49 -- China. Marines were dispatched to Nanking to protect the American Embassy when the city fell to Communist troops, and to Shanghai to aid in the protection and evacuation of Americans.[RL30172]
[edit] 1950-1959
1950-53 -- Korean War. The United States responded to North Korean invasion of South Korea by going to its assistance, pursuant to United Nations Security Council resolutions. US forces deployed in Korea exceeded 300,000 during the last year of the conflict. Over 36,600 US military were killed in action.[RL30172]
1950-55 -- Formosa (Taiwan). In June 1950 at the beginning of the Korean War, President Truman ordered the US Seventh Fleet to prevent Chinese Communist attacks upon Formosa and Chinese Nationalist operations against mainland China.[RL30172]
1954-55 -- China. Naval units evacuated US civilians and military personnel from the Tachen Islands.[RL30172]
1955-64 -- Vietnam. First military advisors sent to Vietnam on 12 Feb 1955. By 1964, US troop levels had grown to 21,000. On 7 August 1964. On 7 August 1964, US Congress approved Gulf of Tonkin resolution affirming "All necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States. . .to prevent further aggression. . . (and) assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asian Collective Defense Treaty (SEATO) requesting assistance. . ."[Vietnam timeline]
1956 -- Egypt. A marine battalion evacuated US nationals and other persons from Alexandria during the Suez crisis.[RL30172]
1958 -- Lebanon. Lebanon crisis of 1958 Marines were landed in Lebanon at the invitation of President Camille Chamoun to help protect against threatened insurrection supported from the outside. The President's action was supported by a Congressional resolution passed in 1957 that authorized such actions in that area of the world.[RL30172]
[edit] 1960-1969
1959-60 -- The Caribbean. Second Marine Ground Task Force was deployed to protect US nationals following the Cuban revolution.[RL30172]
1962 -- Thailand. The Third Marine Expeditionary Unit landed on May 17, 1962 to support that country during the threat of Communist pressure from outside; by July 30, the 5,000 marines had been withdrawn.[RL30172]
1962 -- Cuba. Cuban Missile Crisis On October 22, President Kennedy instituted a "quarantine" on the shipment of offensive missiles to Cuba from the Soviet Union. He also warned Soviet Union that the launching of any missile from Cuba against nations in the Western Hemisphere would bring about US nuclear retaliation on the Soviet Union. A negotiated settlement was achieved in a few days.[RL30172]
1962-75 -- Laos. From October 1962 until 1975, the United States played an important role in military support of anti-Communist forces in Laos.[RL30172]
1964 -- Congo (Zaire). The United States sent four transport planes to provide airlift for Congolese troops during a rebellion and to transport Belgian paratroopers to rescue foreigners.[RL30172]
1959-75 -- Vietnam War. US military advisers had been in South Vietnam for a decade, and their numbers had been increased as the military position of the Saigon government became weaker. After citing what he termed were attacks on US destroyers in the Tonkin Gulf, President Johnson asked in August 1964 for a resolution expressing US determination to support freedom and protect peace in Southeast Asia. Congress responded with the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, expressing support for "all necessary measures" the President might take to repel armed attacks against US forces and prevent further aggression. Following this resolution, and following a Communist attack on a US installation in central Vietnam, the United States escalated its participation in the war to a peak of 543,000 military personnel by April 1969.[RL30172]
1965 -- Dominican Republic. Invasion of Dominican Republic The United States intervened to protect lives and property during a Dominican revolt and sent 20,000 US troops as fears grew that the revolutionary forces were coming increasingly under Communist control.[RL30172]
1967 -- Congo (Zaire). The United States sent three military transport aircraft with crews to provide the Congo central government with logistical support during a revolt.[RL30172]
1968 -- Laos & Cambodia. U.S. starts secret bombing campaign against targets along the Ho Chi Minh trail in the sovereign nations of Cambodia and Laos. The bombings last at least two years. (See Operation Commando Hunt)
[edit] 1970-1979
1970 -- Cambodia. US troops were ordered into Cambodia to clean out Communist sanctuaries from which Viet Cong and North Vietnamese attacked US and South Vietnamese forces in Vietnam. The object of this attack, which lasted from April 30 to June 30, was to ensure the continuing safe withdrawal of American forces from South Vietnam and to assist the program of Vietnamization.[RL30172]
1971 -- Indian Subcontinent. USA sends its nuclear aircraft carrier USS Enterprise to the Indian Ocean to try and threaten the Indian Military to back down from the Bangladesh Liberation War. The move backfires as India intensifies its attempt to liberate East Pakistan ending in the swift defeat of Pakistan, an ally of USA.[citation needed]
1974 -- Evacuation from Cyprus. United States naval forces evacuated US civilians during hostilities between Turkish and Greek Cypriot forces.[RL30172]
1975 -- Evacuation from Vietnam. On April 3, 1975, President Ford reported US naval vessels, helicopters, and Marines had been sent to assist in evacuation of refugees and US nationals from Vietnam.[RL30172]
1975 -- Evacuation from Cambodia. On April 12, 1975, President Ford reported that he had ordered US military forces to proceed with the planned evacuation of US citizens from Cambodia.[RL30172]
1975 -- South Vietnam. On April 30 1975, President Ford reported that a force of 70 evacuation helicopters and 865 Marines had evacuated about 1,400 US citizens and 5,500 third country nationals and South Vietnamese from landing zones near the US Embassy in Saigon and the Tan Son Nhut Airfield.[RL30172]
1975 -- Cambodia. Mayagüez Incident. On May 15, 1975, President Ford reported he had ordered military forces to retake the SS Mayaguez, a merchant vessel which was seized from Cambodian naval patrol boats in international waters and forced to proceed to a nearby island.[RL30172]
1976 -- Lebanon. On July 22 and 23, 1974, helicopters from five US naval vessels evacuated approximately 250 Americans and Europeans from Lebanon during fighting between Lebanese factions after an overland convoy evacuation had been blocked by hostilities.[RL30172]
1976 -- Korea. Additional forces were sent to Korea after two American soldiers were killed by North Korean soldiers in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea while cutting down a tree.[RL30172]
1978 -- Zaire (Congo). From May 19 through June 1978, the United States utilized military transport aircraft to provide logistical support to Belgian and French rescue operations in Zaire.[RL30172]
[edit] 1980-1990
1980 -- Iran. Operation Eagle Claw On April 26, 1980, President Carter reported the use of six US transport planes and eight helicopters in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue American hostages being held in Iran.[RL30172]
1981 -- El Salvador. After a guerrilla offensive against the government of El Salvador, additional US military advisers were sent to El Salvador, bringing the total to approximately 55, to assist in training government forces in counterinsurgency.[RL30172]
1981 --Libya. First Gulf of Sidra Incident On August 19, 1981, US planes based on the carrier USS Nimitz shot down two Libyan jets over the Gulf of Sidra after one of the Libyan jets had fired a heat-seeking missile. The United States periodically held freedom of navigation exercises in the Gulf of Sidra, claimed by Libya as territorial waters but considered international waters by the United States.[RL30172]
1982 -- Sinai. On March 19, 1982, President Reagan reported the deployment of military personnel and equipment to participate in the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai. Participation had been authorized by the Multinational Force and Observers Resolution, Public Law 97-132.[RL30172]
1982 -- Lebanon. Multinational Force in Lebanon On August 21, 1982, President Reagan reported the dispatch of 80 marines to serve in the multinational force to assist in the withdrawal of members of the Palestine Liberation force from Beirut. The Marines left September 20, 1982.[RL30172]
1982-1983 -- Lebanon. On September 29, 1982, President Reagan reported the deployment of 1200 marines to serve in a temporary multinational force to facilitate the restoration of Lebanese government sovereignty. On Sept. 29, 1983, Congress passed the Multinational Force in Lebanon Resolution (P.L. 98-119) authorizing the continued participation for eighteen months.[RL30172]
1983 -- Egypt. After a Libyan plane bombed a city in Sudan on March 18, 1983, and Sudan and Egypt appealed for assistance, the United States dispatched an AWACS electronic surveillance plane to Egypt.[RL30172]
1983 -- Grenada. Citing the increased threat of Soviet and Cuban influence and noting the development of an international airport following a bloodless Grenada coup d'etat and alignment with the Soviets and Cuba, the U.S. launches Operation Urgent Fury to invade the sovereign island nation of Grenada.[RL30172]
1983-89 -- Honduras. In July 1983 the United States undertook a series of exercises in Honduras that some believed might lead to conflict with Nicaragua. On March 25, 1986, unarmed US military helicopters and crewmen ferried Honduran troops to the Nicaraguan border to repel Nicaraguan troops.[RL30172]
1983 -- Chad. On August 8, 1983, President Reagan reported the deployment of two AWACS electronic surveillance planes and eight F-15 fighter planes and ground logistical support forces to assist Chad against Libyan and rebel forces.[RL30172]
1984 -- Persian Gulf. On June 5, 1984, Saudi Arabian jet fighter planes, aided by intelligence from a US AWACS electronic surveillance aircraft and fueled by a U.S. KC-10 tanker, shot down two Iranian fighter planes over an area of the Persian Gulf proclaimed as a protected zone for shipping.[RL30172]
1985 -- Italy. On October 10, 1985, US Navy pilots intercepted an Egyptian airliner and forced it to land in Sicily. The airliner was carrying the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro who had killed an American citizen during the hijacking.[RL30172]
1986 -- Libya. Libyan Patrol Boats On March 26, 1986, President Reagan reported on March 24 and 25, US forces, while engaged in freedom of navigation exercises around the Gulf of Sidra, had been attacked by Libyan missiles and the United States had responded with missiles.[RL30172]
1986 -- Libya. Operation El Dorado Canyon On April 16, 1986, President Reagan reported that U.S. air and naval forces had conducted bombing strikes on terrorist facilities and military installations in the Libyan capitol of Tripoli, claiming that Colonel Qadhafi, who had ousted oil-friendly King Idris, was responsible for a bomb attack at a German disco that killed two U.S. soldiers.[RL30172]
1986 -- Bolivia. U.S. Army personnel and aircraft assisted Bolivia in anti-drug operations.[RL30172]
1987-88 -- Persian Gulf. After the Iran-Iraq War resulted in several military incidents in the Persian Gulf, the United States increased US joint military forces operations in the Persian Gulf and adopted a policy of reflagging and escorting Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Gulf, called Operation Earnest Will. President Reagan reported that US ships had been fired upon or struck mines or taken other military action on September 21 (Iran Ajr), October 8, and October 19, 1987 and April 18 (Operation Praying Mantis), July 3, and July 14, 1988. The United States gradually reduced its forces after a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq on August 20, 1988.[RL30172]
1987-88 -- Operation Earnest Will was the U.S. military protection of Kuwaiti oil tankers from Iraqi and Iranian attacks in 1987 and 1988 during the Tanker War phase of the Iran-Iraq War. It was the largest naval convoy operation since World War II.
1987-88 -- Operation Prime Chance was a United States Special Operations Command operation intended to protect U.S.-flagged oil tankers from Iranian attack during the Iran-Iraq War. The operation took place roughly at the same time as Operation Earnest Will.
1988 -- Operation Praying Mantis was was the April 18, 1988 action waged by U.S. naval forces in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf and the subsequent damage to an American warship.
1988 -- Operation Golden Pheasant was an emergency deployment of U.S. troops to Honduras in 1988, as a result of threatening actions by the forces of the (then socialist) Nicaraguans.
1988 -- USS Vincennes shoot down of Iran Air Flight 655
1988 -- Panama. Operation Just Cause In mid-March and April 1988, during a period of instability in Panama and as the United States increased pressure on Panamanian head of state General Manuel Noriega to resign, the United States sent 1,000 troops to Panama, to "further safeguard the canal, US lives, property and interests in the area." The forces supplemented 10,000 US military personnel already in the Panama Canal Zone.[RL30172]
1989 -- Libya. Second Gulf of Sidra Incident On January 4, 1989, two US Navy F-14 aircraft based on the USS John F. Kennedy shot down two Libyan jet fighters over the Mediterranean Sea about 70 miles north of Libya. The US pilots said the Libyan planes had demonstrated hostile intentions.[RL30172]
1989 -- Panama. On May 11, 1989, in response to General Noriega's disregard of the results of the Panamanian election, President Bush ordered a brigade-sized force of approximately 1,900 troops to augment the estimated 11,000 U.S. forces already in the area.[RL30172]
1989 -- Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru. Andean Initiative in War on Drugs. On September 15, 1989, President Bush announced that military and law enforcement assistance would be sent to help the Andean nations of Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru combat illicit drug producers and traffickers. By mid-September there were 50-100 US military advisers in Colombia in connection with transport and training in the use of military equipment, plus seven Special Forces teams of 2-12 persons to train troops in the three countries.[RL30172]
1989 -- Philippines. On December 2, 1989, President Bush reported that on December 1 US fighter planes from Clark Air Base in the Philippines had assisted the Aquino government to repel a coup attempt. In addition, 100 marines were sent from the US Navy base at Subic Bay to protect the US Embassy in Manila.[RL30172]
1989-90 -- Panama. Operation Just Cause On December 21, 1989, the U.S. invades the sovereign nation of Panama to "further safeguard the canal, US lives, property and interests in the area." Several thousand Panamanian civilians are killed. The Panamanian head of state, General Manuel Noriega, is captured and brought to the U.S. By February 13, 1990, all the invasion forces had been withdrawn.[RL30172]
1990 -- Liberia. On August 6, 1990, President Bush reported that a reinforced rifle company had been sent to provide additional security to the US Embassy in Monrovia, and that helicopter teams had evacuated US citizens from Liberia.[RL30172]
1990 -- Saudi Arabia. On August 9, 1990, President Bush reported that he had ordered the forward deployment of substantial elements of the US armed forces into the Persian Gulf region to help defend Saudi Arabia after the August 2 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. On November 16, 1990, he reported the continued buildup of the forces to ensure an adequate offensive military option.[RL30172]
[edit] 1991-1999
1991 -- Iraq. Persian Gulf War On January 16 America attacked Iraqi forces and military targets in Iraq and Kuwait, in conjunction with a coalition of allies and UN Security Council resolutions. Combat operations ended on February 28, 1991. (See Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm)[RL30172]
1991 -- Iraq. On May 17, 1991, President Bush stated that the Iraqi repression of the Kurdish people had necessitated a limited introduction of US forces into northern Iraq for emergency relief purposes.[RL30172]
1991 -- Zaire. On September 25-27, 1991, after widespread looting and rioting broke out in Kinshasa, US Air Force C-141s transported 100 Belgian troops and equipment into Kinshasa. US planes also carried 300 French troops into the Central African Republic and hauled evacuated American citizens.[RL30172]
1991-96 -- Operation Provide Comfort. Delivery of humanitarian relief and military protection for Kurds fleeing their homes in northern Iraq, by a small Allied ground force based in Turkey.
1992 -- Sierra Leone. On May 3, 1992, US military planes evacuated Americans from Sierra Leone, where military leaders had overthrown the government.[RL30172]
1992 -- Kuwait. On August 3, 1992, the United States began a series of military exercises in Kuwait, following Iraqi refusal to recognize a new border drawn up by the United Nations and refusal to cooperate with UN inspection teams.[RL30172]
1992-2003 -- Iraq. Iraqi No-Fly Zones The U.S. together with the United Kingdom declares and enforces "no fly zones" over the majority of sovereign Iraqi airspace, prohibiting Iraqi flights in zones in southern Iraq and northern Iraq, and conducting aerial reconnaissance and bombings.[RL30172]
1992-95 -- Somalia. "Operation Restore Hope" Somali Civil War On December 10, 1992, President Bush reported that he had deployed US armed forces to Somalia in response to a humanitarian crisis and a UN Security Council Resolution. The operation came to an end on May 4, 1993. US forces continued to participate in the successor United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II). (See also Battle of Mogadishu)[RL30172]
1993-Present -- Bosnia-Herzegovina.
1993 -- Macedonia. On July 9, 1993, President Clinton reported the deployment of 350 US soldiers to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to participate in the UN Protection Force to help maintain stability in the area of former Yugoslavia.[RL30172]
1993-95 -- Haiti. Operation Uphold Democracy US ships had begun embargo against Haiti. Up to 20,000 US military troops were later deployed to Haiti.[RL30172][RL30172]
1994 -- Macedonia. On April 19, 1994, President Clinton reported that the US contingent in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had been increased by a reinforced company of 200 personnel.[RL30172]
1995 -- Bosnia. NATO bombing of Bosnian Serbs.[RL30172] (See Operation Deliberate Force)
1996 -- Liberia. On April 11, 1996, President Clinton reported that on April 9, 1996 due to the "deterioration of the security situation and the resulting threat to American citizens" in Liberia he had ordered US military forces to evacuate from that country "private US citizens and certain third-country nationals who had taken refuge in the US Embassy compound...."[RL30172]
1996 -- Central African Republic. On May 23, 1996, President Clinton reported the deployment of US military personnel to Bangui, Central African Republic, to conduct the evacuation from that country of "private US citizens and certain U.S. Government employees," and to provide "enhanced security for the American Embassy in Bangui."[RL30172]
1997 -- Albania. On March 13, 1997, US military forces were used to evacuate certain U.S. Government employees and private US citizens from Tirana, Albania.[RL30172]
1997 -- Congo and Gabon. On March 27, 1997, President Clinton reported on March 25, 1997, a standby evacuation force of US military personnel had been deployed to Congo and Gabon to provide enhanced security and to be available for any necessary evacuation operation.[RL30172]
1997 -- Sierra Leone. On May 29 and May 30, 1997, US military personnel were deployed to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to prepare for and undertake the evacuation of certain US government employees and private US citizens.[RL30172]
1997 -- Cambodia. On July 11, 1997, In an effort to ensure the security of American citizens in Cambodia during a period of domestic conflict there, a Task Force of about 550 US military personnel were deployed at Utapao Air Base in Thailand for possible evacuations. [RL30172]
1998 -- Iraq. US-led bombing campaign against Iraq.[RL30172] (See Operation Desert Fox)
1998 -- Guinea-Bissau. On June 10, 1998, in response to an army mutiny in Guinea-Bissau endangering the US Embassy, President Clinton deployed a standby evacuation force of US military personnel to Dakar, Senegal, to evacuate from the city of Bissau.[RL30172]
1998 - 1999 Kenya and Tanzania. US military personnel were deployed to Nairobi, Kenya, to coordinate the medical and disaster assistance related to the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. [RL30172]
1998 -- Afghanistan and Sudan. Operation Infinite Reach On August 20th, air strikes were used against two suspected terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical factory in Sudan.[RL30172]
1998 -- Liberia. On September 27, 1998 America deployed a stand-by response and evacuation force of 30 US military personnel to increase the security force at the US Embassy in Monrovia.[RL30172]
1999 - 2001 East Timor. East Timor Independence Limited number of US military forces deployed with UN to restore peace to East Timor.[RL30172]
1999 -- NATO's bombing of Serbia in the Kosovo Conflict.[RL30172] (See Operation Allied Force)
[edit] 2000- present
2000 -- Sierra Leone. On May 12, 2000, President Clinton reported that he had ordered a US Navy patrol craft to deploy to Sierra Leone to be ready to support evacuation operations from that country if needed.[RL30172]
2000 -- Yemen. On October 14, 2000, President Clinton reported that on October 12, 2000, in the wake of an attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, he had authorized deployment of military personnel to Aden.[RL30172]
2001 -- Afghanistan. US invasion of Afghanistan. The War on Terrorism begins with Operation Enduring Freedom. On October 7, 2001, US Armed Forces "began combat action in Afghanistan against Al Qaida terrorists and their Taliban supporters."[RL30172]
2002 -- Yemen. On November 3, 2002, an American RQ-1 Predator fired a Hellfire missile at a car in Yemen killing Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, an al-Qaeda leader thought to be responsible for the USS Cole bombing.[RL30172]
2002 -- Philippines. At the Philippine Government's invitation, the President had ordered deployed "combat-equipped and combat support forces to train with, advise, and assist" the Philippines' Armed Forces in enhancing their "existing counterterrorist capabilities."[RL30172]
2002 -- Cote d'Ivoire. On September 25, 2002, in response to a rebellion in Cote d'Ivoire, US military personnel went into Cote d'Ivoire to assist in the evacuation of American citizens from Bouake.[3] [RL30172]
2003 -- 2003 invasion of Iraq Second Persian Gulf War. March 20, 2003. The United States leads a coalition that includes Britain, to invade Iraq with the stated goal of eliminating Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.[RL30172]
2003 -- Liberia. Second Liberian Civil War On June 9, 2003, President Bush reported that on June 8 he had sent about 35 combat-equipped US military personnel into Monrovia, Liberia, to help secure the US Embassy in Nouakchott, Mauritania, and to aid in any necessary evacuation from either Liberia or Mauritania.[RL30172]
2003 -- Georgia and Djibouti "US combat equipped and support forces" had been deployed to Georgia and Djibouti to help in enhancing their "counterterrorist capabilities."[4]
2004 -- 2004 Haïti rebellion occurs. US-backed rebel leaders gain control of Haiti, ousting the government of democratically-elected, populist priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide.[RL30172]
2004 -- "War on Terrorism": US "anti-terror" related activities were underway in Georgia, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Eritrea.[5]
2006 -- Pakistan. 17 people including known Al Qaeda bomb maker and chemical weapons expert Midhat Mursi, were killed in an American RQ-1 Predator airstrike on Damadola (Pakistan), near the Afghan border.[citation needed]
2006 -- Lebanon. US Marine Detachment begins evacuation of US citizens willing to the leave the country in the face of a likely ground invasion by Israel and continued fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, see 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict[not in citation given]
2007 -- Somalia. Battle of Ras Kamboni. On January 8, 2007, while the conflict between the Islamic Courts Union and the Transitional Federal Government continues, an AC-130 gunship conducts an aerial strike on a suspected Al-Qaeda operative, along with other Islamist fighters, on Badmadow Island near Ras Kamboni in southern Somalia
2164,
ReplyDeleteThen you may want to help DR compile the war dead who died on memorial day in the aforementioned engagements.
I am not sure how you came to that conclusion based on what I wrote. I don't like the mission regarless of the calendar. I am sorry we got there. Sorry it was so mishandled and not sure how we leave. We should not be using the US Army as a police force.
ReplyDeleteWhat interests does the US have in common with Iraq? Who is Iraq? What is Iraq?
ReplyDeleteBeen there, done that.
ReplyDeleteChuck Hagel, Vietnam vet, does not agree with you.
JFKerry, Vietnam vet, not on your team.
Many, many Viet vets are against the current US efforts in Iraq. All the ones I know, to tell the truth.
A sour pudding you advise tasting
We surely can tell if we've been successful in Iraq, up to today. It is not an unknown or an unkowwable.
We've not been. Ask Mr Bush or General P. Niether are happy with the results of our past efforts.
The General tells US we cannot win, militarily, in Iraq.
He cannot deliver victory. Cannot deliver a democratic Iraq that is an ally in the War on Terror, with the US Army or Marines.
Could we succeed, can we change US objectives, can we find a course that does not lead to defeat?
Perhaps, but not while on the current course. That merely leads to more of the same.
The idea that losses in past wars excuse current ones is infantile. Soldiers killed on offense or defense in existential battles are not comparable to those lost on police patrol, in Iraq.
They just are not.
They are not lost in some greater war, not lost in a clash of civilizations, they are lost in an attempt to empower both Mr al-Sadr and Mr al-Hakim's supporters in Iraq.
Why should another US citizen die for Mr Maliki's Government?
How dos the death of Spec. Erich S. Smallwood advance the US cause?
How did it advance the US cause?
You, habu, are great at insults, great at changing the subject, but perform poorly at answering the serious questions.
Much like Ms Chavez.
Cut from similar cloth.
All those lost in Mexico, were lost for nothing, or the Mexicans would not be invading the US, today.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete2164,
ReplyDeleteIt may not have occurred to you so allow me to point some things out regarding your questions.
What are they patrolling for? Who are they doing it for? Iraqi Muslims are not worth dying for. They may be worth killing.
The United States makes it's foreign policy based on it's perceived best needs at the time and with whatever foresight intelligence can provide.
We do not make it because it would be better for XYZ country although we may use some dastardly act toward XYZ country s a pretext for our actions. But never confuse the fact that we make foreign policy with OUR interests as PRIMARY..no one elses.
And just as it seemed precipitious for Ronald Reagan to place missiles in Europe over the objections of a great many here and abroad, and for Ronald Reagan to pursue the Strategic Defense Initiative it turned out in the end to spell the downfall of the most heinous country in history.
The point is perspective is not possible during the event, nor is it possible to gauge the eventual outcome of an event during the event.
Certainly one can be outraged that men die but even as we speak measure are being taken, adjustments are being made, and new equipment is being deployed to mitigate those losses.
I think we should be killing al-Qaeda everywhere, Germany, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. I think belonging to al-Qaeda should be a lethal mistake. I think meeting al-Qaeda in a mosque should be a deadly risk for the imam. I do not want al-Qaeda to see tithe light, I want darkness and a violent ending to their existence. I want their web hosts terminated. I want their pamphleteers dead. I want no part of a mission that believes Islam is a hijacked religion.
ReplyDeleteHabu, I hope you are right.
ReplyDeleteGentleman, I regret I must be gone for a few hours. Be nice and disagree agreeably. Drinks on me.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing, habu, most all the Viet vets I know, they think the GI of today is being hung out to dry, much like they were.
ReplyDeleteThey see the similarities.
Lordy be.
Why DR with the retirement of Cindy Sheehan I do believe you're ready to move inot the Code Pink ranks.
ReplyDelete"The idea that losses in past wars excuse current ones is infantile."
Infantile? This nation must have been built on the infantile losses of millions of men then cause we didn't get to 2007 without all those "infantile losses"
DR, that is a scurrilous remark, worthy of a Chuck Hegal or John Murtha. And since birds of a feather flock together it would appear you are flocking with the dodo's in gaining your head nodding agreement that Iraq is not important to US interest.
"Infantile Losses" ... wow you are one confused young man.
Guadalcanal ..the Navy landed the marines and then totally left the area ..they felt "hung out to dry"
ReplyDeleteChosin Reservoir
Batongne
Little Big Horn
Bataan
Makin Island
Khe Shah
Con Thein
Dong Ha
Saigon
Heartbreak Ridge
Pork Chop Hill
Cold Harbor
Gettysburg (many situations)
I could go on and on ...
DR,
One rule in combat ... you never feel you have enough support.
DR, One of the reasons you're getting the feedback from the Viet Vets that you're getting is because the country was full of people with your attitude and they were backed up by a cut and run Congress..Democratic Congress..
ReplyDeleteSo just keep pounding that anti war anvil and soon you too can be a latter day anti war hippie.
But when should I expect the list of all those "infantile deaths" that have taken place on Memorial Day from the list of engagements I graciously supplied you?
I too have obligations ...so DR you can work on that "infantile death" list with few interruptions.
ReplyDeleteAfter you compile it maybe it would be a good idea , since you are a publisher , that you dedicate a page in your magazine to listing all those names...you know so the families of those fallen will finally understand how infantile it was for their sons and daughters to have died in the service of there country.
I mean you have a real megaphone there to transmit your opinions.
My daughter wondered aloud last week why and how it is that some people who quite genuinely believe, on the one hand, that we are the most powerful nation on the earth, a people without peer, confident in our place atop and astride the world, on the other hand feel so weak, besieged, imperiled, on the verge of collapse within and overrun without.
ReplyDeleteWhen, rhetorically at least, you link the very survival of The Greatest Republic and Power on Earth to the outcome of so small and sorry an affair as the war in Iraq, something has gone terribly, darkly awry.
I think it was Teddy Roosevelt who referred to war as a moral tonic. And yet for all the wars we've occasioned since that time, we seem none the more morally invigorated or improved - we seem to many, who've never met a war they didn't like and believe absolutely necessary, to be in a sad collective state of decline and decay. More insecure than ever; more rotting and decrepit than yesterday.
Were we truly fortunate we would have another Reagan to remind us that it is morning, not twilight, in America. I was fortunate to be a teenager when Ronnie came to town. I was fortunate to absorb that mood of national confidence. What mood is being absorbed now by America's young people?
Trish, all good questions. It is more like the Carter and Johnson era.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am supremely confident that you were wholly ill equipped to answer her questions.
ReplyDeleteYou felt the need to threaten her, you piece of shit. What kind of answer is that?
ReplyDeleteTrish,
ReplyDeleteIf we can't win in Iraq, where can we win? Our Islamic enemies have called us to fight them in Iraq. They may not be fighting us the way we want to fight them, all arrayed on a battlefield of our choosing. But there they are. Yet we can't muster the will to fight and win.
I'm an electrical engineer well versed in physics. The notion of superpower is potential energy i.e. the potential to do work. Yet that potential energy is worthless unless it is harnessed for a purpose.
Sure the US has the potential to do work, such as war. Yet our purpose is unclear. One worker turns the motor on, another turns it off. One worker connects the motor to a belt while another wants gear reduction because the motor spins too fast. No clear purpose, no work done.
We were challenged by an enemy then attacked by an enemy but our response has been half-hearted, irregular and ineffective. We are losing the battle and given time, on this course we will lose the war.
We don't create children, we abort them far too often. We import children from a very different culture through open borders that we choose not to control. We don't raise our children, we let them raise themselves, often uneducated barbarians. They won't work, so we bring in another culture that will work. We send our work overseas, draining capital (another potential energy) thus pissing away our future.
We are not Reagan's generation. We have little national identity, nor national vision and most importantly national will to survive. In arrogance, narcissism and sloth we feel beautiful, thinking we can go on forever without making hard decisions and doing hard work. The primitives elsewhere have purpose and will work.
All of those carrier battle groups, high tech aircraft, ballistic missiles and fine infantry are useless potential energy if you don't know what to do with them. Or worse yet won't use them.
We're simply burning up the jury-rigged motor.
The ummah has purpose and will. We aren't even a cohesive culture anymore. We have no idea what we want to do about anything. History is clear on the matter. The one with purpose and will..will be the victor.
We are screwed.
Fuck off, lugh.
ReplyDeleteTrish,
ReplyDeleteAye-aye sailor.
Special Operations: High Profile, but in Shadow
ReplyDelete---
Petraeus Faces 'Complex' Demands in Iraq
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Petraeus / Inskeep
This blogger says the General is right, Inskeep, MSM jerk, is wrong.
But I can't resolve the General's statement with the causualties in my NY Times link near the top of the thread.
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Lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party, left, and lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People's Party exchange punches
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ReplyDeleteIn his recent speeches, at least, Mr. Bush has said Al Qaeda remains “public enemy No. 1.”
But academic experts who analyze the Special Operations missions in Iraq say the battle against any of those threats — Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Sunni insurgents or Shiite militias — requires far better intelligence on the inner workings of those adversaries than the American military is able to gather today.
“My own view is that they still have to solve the intelligence problem,” said Richard Shultz, who specializes in issues of special operations and terrorism at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
“And the way that they are going to do that is not through ‘the surge,’ but by building up local, indigenous intelligence units. That is really the key, and not enough has been done to reach this level of intelligence dominance.”
14 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq Over Weekend
ReplyDeleteAll but one of the deaths were the result of makeshift bombs, which insurgents have been employing with greater lethality.
xyz
ReplyDelete