Osama Bin Laden is Dead

According to The news, Osama Bin Laden is dead. Good. He hasn’t been a factor for years, but I’m glad he’s at room temperature. Looks like it was a CIA operation. That kind of explains why General Petreus went to the CIA. I hope that nobody thinks that this means that our war against terrorism is over.

Bush Rides with Wounded Warriors

Very cool.

This week I had the incredible opportunity to spend a few days mountain biking in west Texas with some of the most important people of my generation.  One of these people was the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.  President Bush was hosting the Warrior 100k Mountain Bike ride at Lajitas Golf Resort near Big Bend State Park.  The other VIPs were wounded warriors from OIF and OEF.

The event was held in honor of the warriors that suffered severe injuries during the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.  14 Wounded Warriors, myself included, were treated like kings, and one queen, while we dined on fantastic food, chatted it up with the former President, joked with Lance Armstrong, and were entertained by the mystic tricks of David Blaine.

The days were not so glorious, however.  President Bush is a monster on the mountain bike and proved it by leading us through dry, rocky, hilly, desert at a breakneck speed.  62 miles over the course of three days is easy on a road bike, but on a mountain bike through that terrain it is enough to make the strongest feel like his heart is just little smaller.  I did ride the whole thing, escaping with only some minor scrapes and bruises, inspired the entire ride by watching my fellow Woounded Warrior comrades.   Some missing limbs or inflicted with Terminal Brain Injury from an IED, we all overcame injury to complete the Warrior 100K, one of the most excruciating, yet exhilerating and well put together events I have had the opportunity to be a part of in the years since my injury.

Leadership Shakeup

Wow, this is a huge change.

Administration sources say President Barack Obama plans this week to name CIA Director Leon Panetta to replace Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Gen. David Petraeus, now running the war in Afghanistan, would take the CIA chief’s job.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because the changes are not final.

The changes would probably take effect this summer. Gates has already said he will leave this year.

Command Influence

Let’s hope that Obama didn’t blow this.

President Barack Obama has unwittingly waded into a military legal tangle by declaring that WikiLeaks suspect Pfc. Bradley Manning “broke the law.”  Manning’s supporters claim the president’s statement amounts to “unlawful command influence” and has jeopardized Manning’s chance for a fair trial.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice prohibits “Command Influence,” in which a superior officer up the chain of command says or does something that could influence any decisions by a military judge or jury in a criminal case. As commander in chief, there’s no one higher up that chain than the president. 

The tangle started last week after a political fundraiser in San Francisco. Logan Price, a supporter of Manning, got close enough to the president to shake his hand and then plead Manning’s case. In an exchange that was caught on a cell phone video,  Price claimed that Manning, charged with leaking hundreds of thousands of military and State Department documents to WikiLeaks, is a whistle-blower not a criminal. Price asked, “Why is he being prosecuted?”

Obama responded that what Manning allegedly did was “irresponsible, risked the lives of service members and did a lot of damage.”  But when Price persisted Obama shot back, “He broke the law.”

A military legal expert says the president himself crossed a legal line with that statement.

Railgun

7km from a flat trajectory?  After punching through a steel plate?  Dayum.

NATO Forces Kill Libyan Rebels

What the heck?

NATO acknowledged Friday that its airstrikes had hit rebels using tanks to fight government forces in eastern Libya, saying no one told them the rebels used tanks.

British Rear Adm. Russell Harding, the deputy commander of the NATO operation, said in the past, only forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi had used heavy armored vehicles.

Harding says the rebels and government troops are engaged in a series of advances and retreats between the eastern coastal towns of Brega and Ajdabiya, making it difficult for pilots to distinguish between them.

NATO jets attacked a rebel convoy between these two towns Thursday, killing at least five fighters and destroying or damaging a number of armored vehicles.

“It would appear that two of our strikes yesterday may have resulted in (rebel) deaths,” Harding told reporters in Naples, where the alliance’s operational center is located.

“I am not apologizing,” he said. “The situation on the ground was and remains extremely fluid, and until yesterday we did not have information that (rebel) forces are using tanks.”

Terrorists to Be Tried By Military Tribunals

Kudos to the Obama administration for getting this right… finally.

Yielding to political opposition, the Obama administration has decided to refer avowed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged henchmen to the system of military commissions for trial rather than to a civilian federal court in New York, a federal law enforcement official said Monday.

After months of delay, the administration finally backed off Attorney General Eric Holder’s November 2009 announcement that the five would be tried in a courthouse just blocks from the World Trade Center site in downtown Manhattan that was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. That announcement created intense political opposition among Republicans and ultimately even among some Democrats, particularly in New York.

The official said it will be up to the U.S. military to decide whether the island prison at Guantanamo Bay, where the five are held, will be the site for trial or whether the five will be tried together or separately.

Will he admit that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were right all along on this?

And Now, Representing the Taliban in the 400m

Language warning.

F15 Down in Libya - Americans Safe

Thank goodness they’re safe.

A U.S. fighter jet crashed in Libya after an apparent equipment malfunction but both crewmembers were able to eject and are back safely in American hands, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The plane crashed Monday at 2130 GMT (5:30 p.m. EDT), said Vince Crawley, a spokesman for U.S. Africa Command. The U.S. Air Force F-15E came down in field of winter wheat and thistles outside the town of Bu Mariem, about 24 miles (38 kilometers) east of the rebel capital of Benghazi.

A Marine Corps Osprey search and rescue aircraft retrieved the pilot, while the second crew member, a weapon’s officer, was recovered by rebel forces and is now in American hands, another U.S. official said in Washington. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The two were separated after ejecting from the jet at high altitude and drifting down to different locations, Crawley said, adding they sustained minor injuries.

Commander in Chief?

Obama sends our soldiers to fight and die in Libya while he vacations in Brazil. Nice.

Irrespective of your opinion as to whether or not we should be intervening in Libya, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for our CIC to tell us what’s going on and show some interest in the issue.

Libya on Fire

And the French are leading the way.

[11:04 a.m. ET, 6:04 p.m. in Libya] The French air force is opposing any aggression by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi against the population of rebel-held Benghazi, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Saturday. “As of now, our aircraft are preventing planes from attacking the town,” Sarkozy said. “Other French aircraft are ready to intervene against tanks.”

Stunning images from CNN…

175 Years Ago Today

To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World

Fellow citizens and compatriots;

   I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual Bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country. Victory or Death.

        William Barret Travis
        Lt. Col. Comdt.

P.S. The Lord is on our side. When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn. We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

        Travis

Remember the Maine!

On this day...

The Spanish-American War (21 April to 13 August 1898) was a turning point in the history of the United States, signalling the country’s emergence as a world power. The blowing up of the battleship USS Maine in Havana harbor on the evening of 15 February was a critical event on the road to that war. In order to understand the role the ship’s destruction played in the start of the war, one must know the context in which the event took place.

Egypt’s Military Dismantles Government

This is worrisome.

Egypt’s military leaders dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution Sunday, meeting two key demands of protesters who have been keeping up pressure for immediate steps to transition to democratic, civilian rule after forcing Hosni Mubarak out of power.

The military rulers that took over when Mubarak stepped down Friday and the caretaker government also set as a top priority the restoration of security, which collapsed during the 18 days of protests that toppled the regime.

Generally speaking, militaries have not been quick to cede power back to civilian authorities once they have it.

Unbroken

Here’s a PSA for my fellow history buffs.  If you haven’t read this book, go get it.  One of the most amazing stories you’ll ever read.