DirkaDirka.RedGriffins.org

GWOT,Terrorism,airline,airport,recon element,terror cell,blogger,blogging,web 2.0

I’m not sure how to feel about this website, a blog with a singular list of ten airports:

Here’s a perfect example of how a target list for action could be taken. You’ve got a single blog entry with headlines from ten different airports. No amplifying text, it just appears as if someone researching airports through news stories decided to bookmark them through the Google BlogThis! button.

So, this close to the sixth anniversary and with all sorts of chatter, I’m uneasy. Sacramento airport is one that I travel through regularly, and I like it…

Guam - The Next Subic Bay / Clark AFB?

I think this concept is a winning idea. Having a superbase on Guam brings forward deployed reaction forces into the Pacific Rim much closer to potential 21st Century conflicts.

Adding deep water port capability and a shipyard to repair damage would bring the Navy into the picture like it hasn’t had since Subic was closed fifteen years ago. Damaged warship repair capability would be critical in a China / US conflict.

Quoted from Guam hosts talks on military buildup:

The U.S. and Japanese governments plan to spend a combined $10 billion moving 8,000 Marines to Guam from the southern Japanese island of Okinawa by 2012.

The Navy and Air Force also plan infrastructure upgrades on Guam that are expected to cost about $5 billion.

The buildup comes as the U.S. military looks to Guam to play a bigger role in U.S. defense strategy, given the isle’s proximity to potential security flashpoints in Taiwan and the Korean peninsula.

Over the past few years, Guam has slowly become more of a center of US military operations. Why not - it’s closer to Korea, the Philippines and China / Taiwan, and the Japanese are probably much happier without US servicemen on their soil.

Get Some

I recall the recent Ted Koppel GWOT / Iraq documentary which mentioned that Guamanian National Guardsmen were involved heavily in the Ethiopian Army training just prior to the Ethiopia / Somalia conflict that kicked the Islamists out of Mogadishu. Get some, Guardsmen.

Additionally, check out this Stars and Stripes article, enhanced by the US Pacific Command’s sidebar:
Details on military’s plan for Guam expansion coming soon:

The Guam Integrated Military Development Plan will set the stage for military buildup, strategies and lifestyle on the island for years to come, according to Air Force Lt. Gen. Daniel P. Leaf, deputy commander of Pacific Command.

Once approved by commander Adm. William J. Fallon, the plan will serve as a blueprint on how U.S. Air Force and Navy forces are to grow to complement the arrival of 8,000 Marines from Okinawa, Leaf said.

…The development plan will include more information about sites for operational units, estimates of military housing and infrastructure needs. Leaf said it also will include an introduction of “joint-basing” on Guam in which different branches of the military will share such support services as health care and family services to save money.

Great supplemental analysis from Military Thoughts:

Consider the scope of this expansion IN ADDITION to the Marine brigade:

* “the Navy might station as many as six additional nuclear submarines at the island, already home to three subs.”
* “the Air Force plans to station some of its F/A-22 fighter jets on the island”
* “three massive Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles”
* [an] “aircraft carrier, which would bring with it roughly 5,000 sailors on the carrier and an associated air wing.”

Bottom line, Guam is going to figure large into our forward strategy.

Navy,China,War at Sea,GWOT,Guam,Pacific Fleet,WestPac,Naval Aircrewman

Watched this abortion that lived of an aerial flood rescue on TV yesterday. Couldn’t help thinking that a simple rope harness would have made life so much easier for everyone…

Quoted from ASRC Seat Harness

This is the webbing seat harness used by the ASRC. If you have a Commercial harness, by all means use it. The harness shown here is the best tied harness that we know of and works very well on all vertical and Semi-technical rescue.

Rescue Swimmer,RSS,SAR,flood,swiftwater rescue,climbing,knots

Quoted from FOXNews.com - Submarine Carrying 5 Tons of Cocaine Seized off Guatemala

A submarine-like vessel filled with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine was seized off the Guatemalan coast, U.S. officials said.

Where’s the S-3 Viking when you need it?

Navy,submarine,ASW,DEA,Cocaine,War on Drugs

You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone who says they know what makes a suicide bomber. Equally split, the theories are that they hate being poor, or they hate Israel, or the United States under some Zionist conspiracy provoked them.

I learned as an investigator that for any crime theory to stick, you have to provide the MMO - Motive, Means, Opportunity. I apply the same basic deductive reasoning to most of my analysis of Current Events, particularly the Global War on Terror.

It broke down into three parts:

1. Trying to analyze what exactly makes people use Terrorism as a tactic.
2. Figuring out why the statistics point to terrorists being overwhelmingly Muslim.
3. Are any other countries going to help us with this, or do they stand against us simply by not participating?

Putin’s Russia - The Other White Meat

Let’s throw more fuel onto the fire with this analysis from RadioFreeEurope Russia: As Middle East Heats Up, Moscow Maintains Balancing Act:

Russia could, however, feasibly benefit from an escalation of hostilities in the Middle East. As a major energy exporter, Russia would benefit from the likely major rise in oil and gas prices. China and the EU, on the other hand, would likely face severe economic difficulties.

Not only would Russia profit financially, but could gain new geopolitical ground, with the EU more dependent on Russia for energy. That could also push China to rely more on Russian energy resources, causing Beijing to invest in building pipelines in Russia’s Far East.

I mean, are we going to win this thing? Clearly, it’s in Russia’s best interest to fan the flames. Oh yes, and they’re the ones with the loosely controlled Chem / Bio / Nuke technology.

I keep having that Bill Paxton / Hudson breakout role in Aliens moment:

We’re in some real pretty s**t right now. That’s it man, game over man, game over!

How Do You Win the GWOT Vs. Jihad When Nobody’s In Charge To Surrender?!?

By ‘win’ I mean that I want my kids to be able to go to a 7-Eleven without having someone strapping a bomb push a plunger. I don’t want to read about Chechen-style school takeovers. I definitely don’t want to have to take my Potassium Iodide because of a dirty bomb, RDD, low-yield nuke, or other nonsense. How do we make all of this go away?

Fighting Terrorism Is A Lot Like Fighting The Living Dead

I was playing my XBox 360 a few months ago. A game called Dead Rising. Self descriptive title but the point I’m trying to make is how do you win this kind of conflict when the enemy is all around and you don’t know who they are until they try to kill you?

What Makes A Suicide Bomber?

There are a plethora of books you could read to get the same information or corroborate this single-source analysis. This is straightforward analysis but as I was reading it, it seemed boilerplate for the typical “I hate Islam” stuff you would expect to see from any Pajamas Media crowd - except that I can’t refute this work.

Quoted from Jihad Watch: Islam 101:

Islam 101

by Gregory M. Davis
author, Religion of Peace? Islam’s War Against the World
producer/director, Islam: What the West Needs to Know — An Examination of Islam, Violence, and the Fate of the Non-Muslim World

Islam 101 is meant to help people become better educated about the fundamentals of Islam and to help the more knowledgeable better convey the facts to others.

Similarly, my book and documentary are meant to serve as concise explanations of the major moving parts of Islam and their implications for Western society. Islam 101 is a condensation of the book and documentary with the aim of lending clarity to the public understanding of Islam and of exposing the inadequacy of prevailing views. All should feel free to distribute and/or reproduce it.

Is the Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty? | With A Suicide Bomber, Are We Better Safe Than Sorry?

So to relieve my initial skepticism about Davis’ studies as a source I cross-referenced most of the data. I won’t bore you with links and bullets but unfortunately it comes down to who you want to believe.

• Muslim scholars say the Davis analysis is not true,
• …however actual linguistic analysis of the Koran similar to what Christian scholars do with the original Greek language of the New Testament reveals not only massive issues with the linguistic roots,
• … it also supports the theories of the intended speech of the Koran pointing towards violence.

Davis answers his critics:

It must be emphasized that all of the analysis provided here derives from the Islamic sources themselves and is not the product of critical Western scholarship. (Indeed, most modern Western scholarship of Islam is hardly “critical” in any meaningful sense.) It is Islam’s self-interpretation that necessitates and glorifies violence, not any foreign interpretation of it.

People are blowing themselves up, crashing planes into buildings, and killing little girls for not wearing headscarves and we’ve been calling them extremists. What if they’re the norm? What if the moderate Muslims are the ones who are not adhering to the Koran?

Whatever. This is grim and depressing news.

What’s it going to take? KGB-style retaliation?

Tell me what it’s going to take to win. After six years of research on the subject I’ve got my theories but I’m always open to new suggestions. You do the research. I’ll be playing my XBox 360. And stocking up on the Potassium Iodide.

islam,GWOT,jihad,wahabbism,suicide bomber,muslim,terrorism

clinton,military,SERE,hillary,army,democrat,democratic party,election 2008,liberal,GWOT,Iraq War,politics,obama,hillary clinton,2008,democrats,president

A lot of people wonder why veterans as a whole and the active duty military regularly votes overwhelmingly in favor of either Bush or the Republican Party.

The simplest explanation I can give is that when you take the oath to protect the country and the Constitution, the CinC who gives you the most latitude to carry out that duty is the better leader. Why? Because when you’ve volunteered to put your derriere on the line in a combat zone you need all the tools and innovation you can muster, period.

I expect the report from General Petraeus next month will be brutally honest, pounced upon ravenously by those who wish for failure in the hopes of increasing their own power base, debated endlessly, and, in history and hindsight, will stand on its own merits.

Given the proper goals and motivation, there’s nothing a US servicemember cannot accomplish.

Given massive constraints, no faith, no fair shake in the press, and no budget, well, they still can get the job done unless you outright outlaw them from doing so.

Hillary Clinton’s Iraq Trip Photo Op With Coerced Military Personnel | Verified - Picture of U.S. Soldier in Iraq Shaking Hands With Senator Hillary Clinton Not Willingly

Of course I checked this pic with truthorfiction.com and snopes.com. From the widely circulated email:

From email titled: Absolutely the best picture EVER!   

Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has already started her 2008 presidential campaign by aligning herself with the military and pretending to be tough on terror. Fortunately, the ultra-liberal Hillary has yet to brainwash all of the voting public into believers that her symbolism is really substance.  

Guess some folks will never forget that she was co-president for eight years in an administration that I QUOTE: “Loath the military”!

Note: The ‘loath the military’ statement is not entirely accurate, here’s the full Congressional record entry online but the context is correct.

The picture shows that this soldier has been thru Survival School and learned his lessons well. He’s giving the sign of “coercion” with his left hand. These hand signs are taught in survival school to be used by POW’s as a method of posing messages back to our intelligence services who may view the photo or video.

This guy was obviously being coerced into shaking hands with Hillary Clinton. It’s ironic how little she knew that he would so inform us about the photo—perhaps because she’s never understood our military to begin with.

Verification from snopes.com with an explanation of the crossed fingers:

Military history includes many instances when soldiers who fell into the hands of the enemy were trotted out before photographers or television cameras by their captors for purposes of propaganda: — to create false images intended to trick audiences into believing that the prisoners were actually well-cared for, sympathized with their captors, or were voluntarily denouncing the political policies of their home countries.

Likewise, military history includes many instances in which such captured soldiers managed to inserted subtle and furtive signs into propagandistic images to express their defiance, to indicate that the information they were relaying was false, or to signal that they were acting under duress.

(One of the most well-known examples of this phenomenon is the infamous middle finger gesture employed by the crew of the USS Pueblo in photographs after their ship was captured by North Korea in 1968.)

Verification from truthorfiction.com adds a follow-up from the subject himself:

The answer is that he did intentionally cross his fingers during the handshake and it did mean that he was not thrilled to shake Senator Clinton’s hand.

After his discharge from the Army, the soldier posted a personal profile on Yahoo Personals as part of looking for introductions to single females.

In his profile, he includes the picture with Hillary and explains:

“The picture of me and Hillary Clinton was taken when she came to visit Iraq. I was actually ordered to shake her hand, and I never figured that my friends would circulate it all over the net. I AM NOT a Hillary fan by any stretch.“

Active Duty Voting In 2008? | Support The Troops

I remember Matt Nalley’s opinion stands out the most with me.

Matt was an undesignated airman when he came into VS-38 in 1992 was working First Lieutenant. You know, one of those guys who emptied trash cans and spent hours waxing the passageways. One of our unsung heroes who stood many a ready room runner watch with me as the ASDO. Mostly because he could do the job right where so many would screw something up.

This change in administration coincided with our return from cruise on the USS Ranger to the NAG and Somalia. Matt actually had to be ordered by then-AW1 Brian Ball, acting LPO of 1st Lt Division to hang up President Clinton’s picture when he was elected into office in January 2003. I was in the hallway of our hangar space when the conversation took place. I didn’t care; I’d voted Independent and for Perot with an absentee ballot while flying over Kuwait earning my logbook’s green ink.

Seeing how things turned out in Somalia with Pres. Clinton’s ROE less than ten months later, Matt had a darned good instinct about our former Commander in Chief. He’s still in and working as a Master At Arms.

I wonder what Matt would say about Hillary? Maybe he’ll post a reply and let us know.

More blogging tips… I’ve been working with plugins but not to the extent ArmyMom has. I only use about half of these. For her, they work. For me, I have to screw around with the .php files after downloading them, etc. etc.

Quoted from http://armymomnj.name/ :

Army Mom:New Jersey » Wordpress Plug-ins

I’ve made a list of Wordpress Plug-ins that I use. The ones with a * next to them are ones I really love.

wordpress themes,wordpress plug-ins,wordpress,blogging,blogging 101,milblog

Disaster Readiness and Backpacking

I remember watching the first prep stages of Hurricane Katrina, oh, about +30 hours before landfall and seeing, among the people carrying small suitcases, a college age girl with a full-on backpack. Right there at the stadium. I was thinking to myself, well, she’s certainly prepared for the stay.

Why Backpacking? | Hiking / Camping Relevance To Disaster Preparedness

After my good friends for nearly 18 years moved to Florida as part of an Aircrew Instructor tour duty station change several large hurricanes (Ivan and Katrina, to mention two) rolled through their area.

Seeing pictures of the devastating effects these storms had on just about everything in sight along with the catastrophic tsunami that hit Indonesia have made me realize that even when everything is simply peachy in the world, bad things can happen at any time.

My friends were always prepared for any emergency, therefore Ivan and Katrina just added to their repetoire of excellent Beer Stories.In fact, Katrina forced the move of a retired Aircrew Marine’s family as they were displaced from their home on the coastline of Mississippi, so my friend took them in for a short time. Yes, we take care of our own.

My philosophy is that most Americans are doing just fine as long as food comes in trucks to restock supermarkets, roads are relatively clear of traffic, and gas stations stay resupplied with no interruptions.

When there are problems, the worst in human nature tends to come to the surface. Luckily in some areas with Hurricane Katrina there were a few who chose to keep watch, in California I’m not so certain that would be an option.

Best bet, have your own food and water, plus the means to keep it.

Earthquake Kits - Not Just For California

Every California native has heard of Northridge and the Bay Area has made it a point that they are expecting a 7.0+ quake at any time. Public awareness in school age kids starts before kindergarten. See |

As part of the ‘Earthquake Kit’ that no Aircrewman has failed to assemble at some point in their lives, I would add some skills and training that would easily fit into the next family camping trip. The standard cupboard fare that we keep at home works quite well to meet the ‘Minimum 3 Day’ rule, but if there’s a mandatory evacuation you might well have to shoulder the load and trek out on foot. If you’re lucky then someone’s secured public transportation.

That means person-portable items to keep ready for an indeterminate period of time, and as the Katrina survivors found out, this meant food, clothing, bedding AND clean water or a means to filter dirty water.

Backup Plan For Carrying Water? Make Everything Else ULTRAlight

Planning on taking the kids and water enough for the entire family means that you’re going to be left with very little room before your own personal Delta-V for walking burns too much energy to carry everything.

From Lightweight Backpacking with Young Children at Backpacking Light: 

Infants can’t walk, and letting them crawl to your destination is neither timely nor hygenic. So that means that Mom’s going to carry the baby in a backpack and Dad’s going to shoulder the rest of the gear. Dad may be shocked at the realization that he’s not going to get to carry the same sub-twenty pound pack that he gets to carry on a summer trip with his buddies, but rules are rules!

The bottom line: you’re both going to be shouldering some weight, so slow down, take it easy, and lower your mileage expectations. A great gear list for cold / snowy trips with kids can be downloaded here.

Clearly the same goes for prepping your lightweight version of your Earthquake Kit / Bugout Bag.

Building Camping and Backpacking Skills | Backpacking with Young Children

Backpacking and lightweight camping is a great way to build important skills, along with building your skills in distributing a family’s load properly with all members shouldering their fair share.

If your kids know how to use their gear, should they ever need to use the mandatory Earthquake Kit at school, it becomes more of a ‘Cool, this is just like camping with Mom and Dad’ experience rather than a traumatizing situation. PMA - positive mental attitude.

As we remember the key to everything is being aware of the tools at hand and survivability programs stressed the value of keeping a level head in a crisis situation. That comes with experience, so get outside and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible while building your family’s knowledge base and confidence.

Camping Safety - No Getting Lost Here!

Kids Hiking Safety - this site has a great philosophy to teach your kids about getting lost/separated. The signal devices every kid should carry while hiking are a whistle and a mirror, add that to a folded up Hefty bag and you’re on it. I recommend putting those three items within the ‘Earthquake Kit’ that most SoCal childcare and preschools have as a mandatory piece of gear.

My son’s preschool asked for specific items within a one gallon Ziploc bag. This had plenty of room for a small flat whistle, non-shatter mirror, and a Hefty bag along with some Neosporin and bandages.

From Hiking With Children:

This is the time to give them a safety whistle, and the beginnings of the essentials in their pack: a snack, some water and a spare layer. Some things that may have been taken for granted now need to be reconsidered: The campsite by the lake, a fire, or the camp spot on the ledge with the great view may now be a safety issue.
In areas where mountain lions and other stalking predators are a concern, simple rules are good. For example, “no running, have a whistle at the ready and always keep in sight of me” might be a good place to start.

Other areas to consider are altitude, sunburns, bee stings. just be aware and prepared. Especially for new parents: the built-in awareness that the baby in your backpack is getting sunburned/cold/ bit by bugs may take time to develop, so you need to be extra aware and diligent.

All in all, it’s best to have a good supply of camping gear that you’re familiar with, and to have your kids adapted to camping and hiking.

Disaster Readiness,earthquake kit,backpacking,lightweight backpacking,camping,bugout bag,hurricane Katrina,hurricane Ivan,hurricane kit,hiking,children,disaster preparedness

Quoted from The NY Times…

New York City Police Report Explores Homegrown Terrorism - New York Times

The report identified four steps in the process of radicalization: pre-radicalization, self-identification, indoctrination and jihadization.

Pre-radicalization, it said, “describes an individual’s world — his or her pedigree, lifestyle, religion, social status, neighborhood and education — just prior to the start of their journey down the path of radicalization.”

Basically, how Johnny Jihadi was a good boy. So quiet and always went to prayers. Had an engineering degree and worked for a construction company.

Self-identification, it said, marks the point where people begin to explore militant Islam “while slowly migrating away from their former identity.”

The hardest part of combatting this is that when radicalized Muslims debate moderate Muslims, they always win their points. The Koran states key passages that support Jihad. And there’s always that First Amendment issue of free speech.

Personal crises — such as losing a job or suffering from racism — can serve as a catalyst for this “religious seeking,” the report said. While people can move gradually through the early phases, over two or three years, they can pivot quickly toward violence, the report said. The Internet, it said, can enable them.

This catalyst can be as easy as frustration in not being able to pursue their goals, and spinning adrift. As we’ve noted in recent posts, in Israel, there are Israelis who have personally known attempted Palestinian suicide bombers for years who then inexplicably strap on a bomb vest and try to go out in a blaze of glory.

Additionally, let’s remember that this is for the operational jihadi. The support jihadis are another picture all together.The recon jihadis are another picture all together. They contribute to the attack, but don’t carry it out. They may just do little errands or some such task that helps.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, chairman of the homeland security committee, said the report’s analyses, while similar to those of other studies, were a “breakthrough” in antiterrorism efforts.

Good God.  really wish that one of the GOP candidates would take him along as a VP now that he’s Independent. He has been the only voice of sanity from the Dems and they tried to annihilate him this last election.

Homeland Security,Terrorism,Domestic Terrorism,NYPD,jihad,GWOT,Homegrown Terrorism

Judge sentences man to clean War Memorial with Tooth Brush!!  
Judge must have been a sailor.

Because I’m a man , when I lock my keys in the car, I will fiddle with a coat hanger long after hypothermia has set in. Calling AAA is not an option. I will win.
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Because I’m a man , when the car isn’t running very well, I will pop the hood and stare at the engine as if I know what I’m looking at. If another man shows up, one of us will say to the other, “I used to be able to fix these things, but now with all these computers and everything, I wouldn’t know where to start.” We will then drink a couple of beers and break wind, as a form of holy communion.
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Because I’m a man, when I catch a cold, I need someone to bring me soup and take care of me while I lie in bed and moan. You’re a woman. You never get as sick as I do, so for you, this is no problem.

__________________________________________________ ________________

Because I’m a man, I can be relied upon to purchase basic groceries at the store, like milk or bread. I cannot be expected to find exotic items like “cumin” or “tofu.” For all I know, these are the same thing.

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Because I’m a man, when one of our appliances stops working, I will insist on taking it apart, despite evidence that this will just cost me twice as much once the repair person gets here and has to put it back together.

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Because I’m a man, I must hold the television remote control in my hand while I watch TV. If the thing has been misplaced, I may miss a whole show looking for it, though one time I was able to survive by holding a calculator instead.

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Because I’m a man, there is no need to ask me what I’m thinking about. The true answer is always either sex, cars, sex, sports or sex. I have to make up something else when you ask, so just don’t ask.

__________________________________________________ ____________ _____

Because I’m a man, you don’t have to ask me if I liked the movie. Chances are, if you’re crying at the end of it, I didn’t . . . and if you are feeling amorous afterwards . . then I will certainly at least remember the name and recommend it to others.

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Because I’m a man, I think what you’re wearing is fine. I thought what you were wearing five minutes ago was fine, too. Either pair of shoes is fine. With the belt or without it, looks fine. It does not make your butt look too big. It was the pasta and potatoes and margaritas that did that. Your hair is fine. You look fine. Can we just go now?

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Because I’m a man, and this is, after all, the year 2007, I will share equally in the housework. You just do the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, the vacuuming, and the dishes, and I’ll do the rest. Like wandering around in the garden with a beer, wondering what to do.

This has been a public service message for women to better understand men. .

Just a couple of sources for clear intelligence.

Detainee talks of terror camp in Hussein-era Iraq (Regime of Terror)

It is not clear when exactly Abed is saying the training took place in Fallujah but this is the city where Baathist/Wahhabist cooperation took place post invasion and a city in which, according to Ray Robison, Wahhabism may have been not only tolerated but assisted by the former regime.

al Qaeda video documents Hussein era training in Northern Iraq

Because of the totalitarian nature of Saddam Hussein’s regime it is difficult to imagine that camps of this nature, involving hundreds of terrorists with more than just small arms weapons, would be allowed to conduct their training on Iraqi soil if they posed a threat to the former regime. Instead, multiple attacks against local Kurdish officials seemed to be the directive of the group and in al Qaeda video terrorists were recorded attacking the Kurdish militia, a bitter enemy of Saddam regime.

Iraq war,GWOT,Al Qaeda,Terrorism,Saddam Hussein