Monday, October 17, 2016

An attempt to bring clarity for the disarray in the Middle East today

I received a link to a two hour video. It was made by Frontline called Confronting ISIS. I took the time to watch. It does not refer to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Libya or Israel. It only covers the area from Turkey to Saudi Arabia. After finishing I came away convinced that our government under Bush and Obama has to a very great extent caused the chaos. We continue to pour billions in armament to almost every country over there thinking they will do our bidding, how sad, as it not true. Whenever I decide to write something like this I am quick to exclude Israel. We can never do enough to provide support to these courageous people who have carved out a special enclave surrounded by Muslim countries who collectively hope to destroy them. Our mistake is that we continue to think of each place as countries that should be made whole. Most historians will agree that when the West after WWI carved up the Ottoman Empire, that they made a tragic mistake by not understanding the hatred between the three factions; Kurds, Sunni, Shia. There was no attempt to reconcile one to the other. Take Iraq as an example, Saddam as a Sunni was in control of his mostly Shia citizens. He fought a long war with Iran which is Shia, somehow getting his soldiers to fight. Bush conquered Iraq eliminating any concern by the Iranian Ayatollah clerics. We invested $25 billion over the last eight years in training and arming the Iraqi Army. Mosel, a city with over a million people was conquered by 1,500 ISIS fighters. Two Iraqi divisions dropped their weapons and fled leaving billions of brand new military hardware which became the tools by which ISIS could expand. When ISIS moved toward Bagdad they could have been wiped out on the road. They weren’t as Obama would not act until Maliki was removed. When they finally tried to take back Fallujah, it was Shia militia who led the way. Finally Obama was able to get the government involved. Once the city was in their hands they rooted out Sunni citizens for revenge including beatings, killing and destroying their homes. What it amounts to is that the arms and training we continue to provide are actually beneficial to IRAN since both countries are now aligned as believers in Shia. Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Yemen are Shia while ISIS, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are Sunni. I learned that Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia is very much like ISIS. In fact ISIS uses their educational system to teach young boys. They both are Sharia. Saudi still has their women wearing full length burkas, cut off hands, flog and stone women for various offences. We still provide them with weapons. Their spokesmen state clearly they no longer feel they need to accede to our wishes. They kill Shia in Yemen not Sunni ISIS. For a long period of time Turkey would not allow us to use our air base in Turkey to attack ISIS. When they finally got into the fight it was to kill Kurds, the only ones who had proved able to stand and fight. When Russia got involved it was to destroy the Syrian Sunni rebels not ISIS. By the way Obama spent $500,000,000 to train locals to fight ISIS. Only four remained when it was all over. Obama has supposedly been supporting Syrian rebels in their fight against Assad. Now he does nothing while Russia destroys those who we were supporting in Aleppo. I am confused about Jordan, a Sunni nation that did send bombers against ISIS. When their downed pilot was burned alive they did retaliate for a short period of time but then stopped. What this all amounts to is that Americans are being played for the fools are leaders are. We are all alone trying to eradicate ISIS while the other countries promote their religious beliefs with Sunnis and Shia trying for dominance. ISIS is a natural ally of any Sunni Nation. I believe that continuing to give military equipment and place our Americans in harm’s way accomplishes nothing except weaken us as we drown in debt. Until and unless our government finally figures out the problem we will continue to pour our soldiers and wealth into a lost cause. The video ends with pictures of the thousands of Syrians fleeing their country for Europe and the devastation that is and will continue to bring to those countries which have opened their doors for millions. If you care and are willing to spend two hours I believe you will conclude as I do. Jack B. Walters October 17, 2016

Thursday, October 13, 2016

In Trump We Trust by Ann Coulter

I found this today on the new book rack at the Public Library. I finished reading four hours later. I did it so I could return it quickly hoping others would read before voting. It is almost too late, as my absentee ballot arrived in today’s mail, but if only one other reads, it might make the difference. I have never liked Ms. Coulter. She always annoyed me with her sharp tongue and disparaging remarks. What she wrote in this book is little different from the many articles I have written in the last year or so. While I was an ardent admirer of FDR, the Democratic Party of today is not the party that backed him, oh so long ago. The Republican Party is criminal in continually telling us what we want to hear while having absolutely no intention of following thru. We gave them the House and then the Senate. They accomplished nothing of value. Let me tell you directly as plain as I can. I intend to vote for Trump and against McCain in the Senate and McSally in the House. If Trump wins, it will make little difference to him whether the Congress is Republican or Democrat. He will force thru the ideas that us deplorables have supported him thru thick or thin. If he loses then it is all over as far as patriots like me are concerned. Let Hillary have all the rope she wants to carry out her nefarious schemes. Those of you who are offended by Trump and believe that a woman as evil as Hillary should be President should have all the support she needs. As an aging warrior, I probably won’t be around to see the end of America under her leadership but with Trump I might live long enough to see my country bounce back from the cliff. This is really not a book report as much as it is a convenient way for me to express myself. One thing she stressed in her book was the continuous negative reporting from the establishment including Fox. Megyn Kelly just yesterday took the time to show the entire bus girl talk conversation. She is doing her best to thwart him as does Krauthammer and Wills. It is astonishing to me that the “leaders “ like McCain an Ryan are running for the hills as if to show how pure they are, what a joke. The Media tells us it is all over except for the shouting. I am not so sure, Democrats, independents, African Americans who want a chance to succeed will join with Republicans like me. Stay tuned and pay attention. Jack B. Walters October 13, 2016

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Trump is Crude- Hillary is a Liar

Trump was taped by a “friend” 12 years ago on a bus, making crude comments about a woman. You can say shame on him, but more shame on the person who taped the conversation in the first place, and also the media who pounced on it so quickly, hoping to deliver the coup-de-tat on his hopes to become President. Let’s clear the air. Sex is the driving force that continues to provide off spring to all species including fish, birds, animals and humans. Anyone like me who spent time in the military can be labeled sexist. That includes millions of men who far from home dreamed of the fairer sex. Bob Hope would parade a beautiful movie star on his USO shows telling them he wanted to show them what they were fighting for. Many former Presidents and Congressman have been found to have affairs while in office. For me, I accept that the attraction between men and women is a natural force. Most resist but others succumb. I don’t judge them on this issue alone. I judge them on whether they made the world a better place while in office. Don’t forget Bill Clinton and his many sexual encounters with women other than Hillary. I wrote before that he could have been one of our greatest Presidents but his sex drive was exposed for all to see. Why is it that so many Democrats adore him but despise Trump? Even Jimmy Carter admitted that at times he had lust in his heart. Give me a break. The issue in this election is about the future of America and if it can continue as a viable nation. Hillary will continue the policies of Obama. In the case of immigration she plans to open the door even further than him totally without regard to Americans who are willing to work for a fair wage. Those Americans who are doing well today and the many who are satisfied to live off the largess of generous welfare programs and who love low prices at Walmart do not have empathy for former factory workers whose jobs have been exported to distant shores. These are the people Hillary described as deplorable. That includes me. At 88 I am not looking for employment but my working life was spent in factories and I well remember the working men and women. In my experience they were well paid and could support their families. That is not true today. We force industry to pay the highest taxes in the world and wonder why a company would re-locate to a lower cost country. Trump intends to correct this imbalance. Clinton would increase forcing more factories to close. Again, those I mentioned above just do not care. Trump would renegotiate NAFTA and the other trade agreements which were so beneficial to other countries but not America. In today’s newspaper was an article about Chinese manufacturers selling Carfentanil, a hugely powerful narcotic worldwide. A single drop is deadly. I believe Trump would immediately order that it not be allowed into America. How is the only question? All Obama can do is complain. The deteriorating crisis in Syria has Russia calling all the shots. We are powerless to defy them. Russia is now in control not America. This is true all over the world on any subject you might want to mention. Hillary is as much to blame as Obama. Together they destroyed Khadafy’s military who were trying to keep the ISIS types under control. Libya is a basket place today as a direct result of their decisions. I will never forgive the falsehoods they both put forth about a video causing the attack on our Benghazi Embassy when it was known at the beginning it was a terrorist attack. No attempt was ever made to send aid when the attack continued for 13 hours. This was a total disgrace, in my opinion. Hillary has shown on many occasions her dislike of the Secret Service, military or law enforcement. She, together with Obama continue to favor the “black lives matter” hooligans who destroy cities whenever than can find an excuse. Trump would restore order; Hillary will just meet with them and spend more billions providing sensitivity training to police. She and Obama have greatly weakened our military by forcing them to concentrate on females, transgender, etc. which has nothing to do with assuring a viable fighting force. Iran brags about making drones capable of flying over our carriers. Trump would tell them they will be shot down if they threaten our carriers, Hillary won’t. I could go on and on but you get the idea. I do not expect anyone reading this to change their vote from Hillary but perhaps you will understand better why deplorable people like me will vote for Trump. Jack B. Walters October 8, 2016