THAT TIME...AGAIN

It's been two full years since I last chimed in. A lot has transpired in that time. But now, looking forward to what is going to be one of the most pivotal elections in American history, I find the need to jump back in. I was also motivated to begin writing once again by the recent passing of Andrew Breitbart, a journalist who sought substantative, intelligent reporting and exposed media bias from mainstream outlets.

I'm going to come back with what I feel is the most urgent matter of the day.

On Feb. 20, a NATO-led Afghan security team at Parwan Detention Center near the Bagram Air Field outside of Kabul began destroying documents, books and files from the detention facility's library. The papers were being burned because they contained handwritten, coded messages that were being passed back and forth among Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners. The following day, after Afghan security personnel retrieved charred pages from several copies of the Quran and other Islamic holy texts, angry crowds rioted in Kabul and other locations in Afghanistan.

Three days later, White House spokesman Jay Carney announced that President Obama had written a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai in which Obama vowed to "take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible." Karzai responded by insisting that the American soldiers responsible for burning the "holy" texts be put on public trial and punished. Got that? The blatantly corrupt and erratic President of Afghanistan, a guy who has openly said he might switch sides and support the Taliban and a suspected heroin addict, just told the President of the United States of America what to do.

Within just a few hours of the presidential apology, two U.S. soldiers were killed by their Afghan counterparts. Naturally the White House leapt to quickly justify Obama's expression of remorse, with Carney claiming the apology was "wholly appropriate" given the "sensitivities" regarding Islam's sacred book. Of course he left out the fact that writing in a Quran is strictly forbidden by Islamic law. The individual pages that were destroyed had already been defaced by Muslims. This doesn't seem to bother the rioters and murderers in Afghanistan.

Further statements issued by the White House in order to "calm things down" did nothing to defuse the ensuing violence. Two more Americans were killed, execution style, on February 25th at the Interior Ministry; one of the most secure facilities in Kabul.

On February 27 a suicide bomber attacked the International Security Assistance Force base at Jalalabad killing nine and wounding more than a dozen Afghans. After this attack Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went full tilt politik on CNN International and foolishly went after Republicans for their criticism of Obama's handling of the situation, saying; "I find it somewhat troubling that our politics would enflame such a dangerous situation in Afghanistan." She then repeated the message that the president was really REALLY sorry and that "...this was not intentional...It is deeply regrettable, but now it is out of hand, and it needs to stop." Was it our politics that set this off? This is patently absurd.

Thank you for that Mrs. Secretary of State. Again, when people are crazy enough to go out and kill and maim and blow themselves up because you burned a few pages of a book, THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE SORRY. Instead, Clinton should have said: "If there's one more attack on American interests or NATO forces we're going to turn your country into a parking lot. Now, KNOCK IT OFF!!"

Obama still insists his apology has "calmed things down" (yes, that's really what he said in an ABC News interview February 29th). On March 1st, two more American soldiers were killed by their own Afghan national security force counterparts in Kandahar.

You get the point. (I hope.)

Obama's approach to American power and diplomacy has never proved fruitful. He's an apologizer and when you are the world's superpower, responsible for holding in the balance the fragile state of humanity, you don't apologize for taking measures to prevent violence because it offended the sensibilities of a group of neanderthal, woman-hating, child raping, bloodthirsty lunatics who are just looking for any excuse to riot and kill.

As expected, the feckless United Nations added its criticism of the US led coalition. On March 1, right after the murders in Kandahar, the UN's representative in Afghanistan, Jan Kubis, told reporters in the region: "We were very hurt that the international military allowed the desecration of the Quran. We rejected and condemned this act. It doesn't matter that it was a mistake."

It doesn't matter that it was a mistake? The UN was very hurt? People burn our flag all the time. They destroy bibles if and when they get their hands on them. (Granted, owning or transporting a bible can get you killed or worse in many places in the Middle East.) The United Nations is out there wagging a self righteous finger at the US for stopping militant detainees from planning who-knows-what evil and "It doesn't matter that it was a mistake"?

Kubis went even further saying: "After the first step of a profound apology, there must be a second step, of disciplinary action. Only after this, after disciplinary action, can the international forces say, 'Yes, we're sincere in our apology.'"

Do you, the reader, understand how insane all of this is? This monkeying around: the avoidance of the real issues? Swallowing criticism from the UN? The apologizing and re-apologizing and then re-apologizing again?

Where is our leader saying: "Hey, we know it's not respectful to destroy sacred text, but for one; it was already destroyed because it had been written on, by Muslims. Two; it was being used by prisoners of war to plan something against our forces. And three; if you think we're going to tolerate you attacking our men and women and innocent civilians in Afghanistan for ANY reason, you really are crazy because you will experience the swift response of the United States Marines and it won't be pretty. End of story. Next question."

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I'll be following up in the coming days and weeks with the energy subsidies scandal, Obama's blocking of oil & gas development, Israel and the Iran situation and developments on Obama's eligibility: the courts, states and Sheriff Joe from Arizona.