Liberal Lion

Edward Kennedy died today. He was a Liberal Icon and the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy. He was also rabidly pro-Abortion, opposed the Church on many of Her Social Teachings and politicized the judiciary like no other legislator before or since.

His actions along with those of Fr. Robert Drinan (the pro-Abortion Catholic Priest and Representative) encouraged Catholics to turn away from Church teaching and embrace the heresy of "I am personally opposed to Abortion, but . . ." St. Thomas More he was not.

Yet, he professed to be a loyal member of the Church and one truly hopes and prays that He Rests in Peace and that the Lord's Mercy surrounded him as he confessed his sins and passed into Eternal Life.

Requiescat in Pace

Faded Glory

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

So speaks Gotham's Attorney General Harvey Dent on Batman and the nature of Heroism. It is similar with Sports Stars. They either step down at a moment of glory and success and the height of their career, or force the fan to watch a former great wallow in mediocrity. John Elway walked away from the game of Football a champion (though he broke my heart in stopping the Packers march to a Super Bowl Repeat). Michael Jordan forced us to endure the Washington Wizards (though, his greatness has transcended even that). But there are others who are just painful to watch. Those players who did not know when it was time to hang up the cleats or gloves (Think George Foreman).

Brett Favre has now joined the pantheon of athletes who have allowed petty self-interest and grudges to mar an otherwise splendid career. Brett Favre has a grudge against the Green Bay Packers and has sought revenge. Last season it appeared he was the Favre of old, until he proved himself to be merely Old. Now Favre is un-retired again and a Minnesota Viking. It's all about his petty immature attitude. He's forever marred his image and has shown himself to be yet another selfish prima donna. Maybe he always was, but his image was something else. He no longer has that.

"You either retire a Superstar or live long enough to see your glory fade."

Laughing at Progressive Catholics

Sometimes humor is the best way to deal with the absurd. One of my good friends forwarded me to the Blog kept by Acts of the Apostasy: An Orthodox Commentary on Heterodox Hooligans.

The most entertaining post is the Illustrated Progressive Catholic's Alphabet. Which features such gems as "M is for Music" and the battle cry of "Less organ, more Haugen". Another good one is "F is for Fundamentalists", i.e. Real Catholics.

I really encourage everyone (who is Catholic and interested in the topic) to visit the four-part series. It will not disappoint.

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV

I truly do appreciate the clever humor, however, at the same time, it is incredibly depressing as one recognizes just how many deeply lost souls there are out there in the Church (and the fact that I likely know more than a few).

I guess that's why the Vatican is conducting a visitation of Women Religious in the United States, since they stand at the forefront of this debacle.

In the end Orthodoxy will triumph, it will just be a long difficult struggle. In the meantime, laugh, live, and enjoy.

To Those Left Behind (To the Wives)

One of the under-appreciated heroes of any Deployment are the wives (and husbands) left behind.

I know I have missed a number of momentous events so far (births of friends first kids, a number of weddings, and ordinary married life).

There are certainly a lot of sacrifices with being over here, but as my Commander and I discussed one morning, those same sacrifices (and sometimes greater) are made on the home-front. Besides the obvious that those moments are celebrated, enjoyed, lived without one's wife or husband; the absence of that spouse is keenly felt.

My Commander said (what follows is a paraphrase): “I think in some ways the deployment is harder ON me (missing the kids and those moments), but I think it is harder FOR her (referring to his wife having to handle the home-front herself without that assistance)”.

I found that a really wise distinction and probably quite true. All those brave women (and men) on the home-front, THANK YOU.

Putting the MeK in perspective

By now most people have seen the videos and read the stories about the recent ISF Operation at Camp Ashraf. What is too often missed is the truth about the residents of Ashraf and the organization they represent.

Their current goal to remove the Islamic Regime in Iran is laudable.

Their goal to replace it with a Marxist-Leninist State is most certainly not.

What is so often ignored is that the MeK is not just another revolutionary group seeking the overthrow of a government. They have a long and bloody history of Terrorist Activities. This is not to justify any humans rights violations against them, but perspective is in order.

Wikipedia lists a few of their terrorist activities in Iran prior to the 1979 revolution:

* The PMOI failed in an attempt to kidnap the U.S. Ambassador to Iran, Douglas MacArthur II, on 1971-11-30.

* USAF Brig. Gen. Harold Price was wounded in a May 1972 assassination attempt.

* The first success in the assassination campaign was the murder of Lt. Col. Louis Lee Hawkins, a U.S. Army comptroller. He was shot to death in front of his home in Tehran by two terrorists on a motorcycle on 1973-06-02.

* A car carrying U.S. Air Force officers Col. Paul Shaffer and Lt. Col. Jack Turner was trapped between two cars carrying terrorists. They told the Iranian driver to lie down and then shot and killed the Americans. Six hours later a woman called reporters to claim the PMOI carried out the attack as retaliation for the recent death of prisoners at the hands of Iranian authorities.

* A car carrying three American employees of Rockwell International was attacked in May 1976. William Cottrell, Donald Smith, and Robert Krongard were killed. They had been working on the Ibex system for gathering intelligence on the neighboring USSR.[37][38][39]

Most famously, in 1979, they participated in the capture of the US Embassy in Tehran.

The MeK have a long and bloody history that continued long after 1979, including their role in the suppression of the Kurdish and Shi'a Arab rebellions against Saddam Hussein in the aftermath of the First Gulf War.

So before we embrace the MeK as Freedom Fighters and rail against the Iraqi Government, it is important to look back on their violent, bloody terrorist path both against the United States and against the People of Iraq.

P.S. Camp Ashraf is an Iraqi version of Jonestown.

Military Working Dogs

Military Working Dogs (MWD) play an important role in Full-Spectrum Stability Operations. In Iraq the US Military utilizes these dogs for a variety of roles; though they are primarily used in the role of Bomb Detection. Dogs have been used by militaries for hundreds of years. The Imperial War Museum in London has a memorial to the MWDs who died during the Great War (World War I). Military Working Dogs served the US in both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and now in the Global War on Terror. These brave and trained dogs have paid a price, with many being maimed or killed in action. My own Brigade suffered a loss this fall when Jock was killed by a road-side bomb. These dogs save countless lives by their actions and are a true force multiplier and enabler.

As we stand down, so do our Dogs. Yet, the expertise they bring to the fight remains important. NPR recently featured a story on All Things Considered about the Iraqi Military's efforts to utilize Military Working Dogs.

Quil Lawrence is the author of the story which I will briefly quote here, though for the rest, please check out the story:

"As U.S. combat troops begin a gradual withdrawal from Iraq, they continue to train and advise Iraqi forces, which are increasingly responsible for maintaining security. But one of the most useful security tools is a hard one for Iraqis to accept — not because of technical difficulty, but because of a cultural taboo.

Sniffer dogs are universally recognized as the most effective means of detecting explosives. But in Iraq, as in much of the Arab world, dogs are considered unclean.

"We must help people understand about dogs, and showing that they can prevent bombings is a great way to change their image," says Iraqi police dog handler Salim Saeed Ahmed."

For the rest again, click this link.

Television: A Universal Medium

Television is a universal medium. The reach of television has dramatically increased over the last decade and it has truly become a universal language. True, the spoken language of the programming may change from country to country, but the content is the same.

The Iraqis love their satellite television. I think to a degree it is a status symbol, even though it is truly everywhere with electricity. The TV is always on in any office or home; that is something that is quite common in the United States as well. What I have noticed is that the Iraqis we are meeting with always leave the television on during the meeting. They may make the extra effort to pick-up the remote and mute the TV, but the TV remains on. The TV certainly draws one in and it is somewhat entertaining to watch during a meeting - the eyes being drawn (even quickly) to the TV for a quick peek.

Iraqi News Programming resembles its American counterparts. On nearly every Iraqi News Program one can see an Iraqi Flag flying in a corner, just like Fox News. Many of the reporters wear Iraqi Flag Pins, and on 30JUN, often wore Iraqi Flags, something that is also found on FOX News (sans the flag wearing). There is a news ticker at the bottom of the screen, fancy graphics, guest panels, etc. All the hallmarks of an American television news show on a reputable network (we have hereby excluded MSNBC) are there on the Iraqi news programming. Al Jazeera was the first Arab news station to attempt to mimic the western model and they even went a step further, creating an English language news station. While the content might be slanted to the Arabs, the theatrics and production is a hallmark of the West and America.

Stupid Gameshows. Let’s be honest, it is one of the keys in the American television empire and it’s a format we can easily be sucked into. The Iraqis have it too. There is one program that features reformed terrorists confessing to their crimes and asking for forgiveness (I’ve never seen it, so I don’t know if it then turns into the “Running Man” with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I wouldn’t put it past them). The weirdest foreign game-show I’ve seen was in Italy, Casa Parola. To this day, I don’t have an idea what was going on, but there is now a close second. The Iraqis have a game-show about backgammon. It has the lights and theatrics of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, a host, and a giant backgammon board that uses black and white Frisbees for the chips. I had no idea what either the host or the contestants were saying, but it had to say something. But backgammon has been turned into a TV program, much as EPSN has turned Poker into prime-time Television on ESPN 2.

When I see that, one realizes that perhaps the Iraqis are closer to being us than we would like. Yet at the same time, there are those moments that they seemed “Culturally Doomed to Fail”. But if they are, we have given them the gift of American television and they will at least be entertained by bad TV.