COLONEL ROBERT E BARTOS RET AND HIS DEVIL DOG MANGO--Painted by Andrzej Pinkowski in 2010 in the Caribbean

SHRAPNEL is stacking arms- but reserves the right to pop out the barracks anytime--thank those who followed my thoughts over the years--Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret

CARNAGE=-9/11-USA--Nine years after the Jihadist deadly attack on Twin Towers in NYC and the Pentagon in Washington , DC,, the master mind of the attack, Bin Laden still scampers around, thumbing his nose at the US, taunts saying CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. Both GWB and Obama administration, holding their breath with crossed fingers,, change the the subject to , BUT WE HAVE NOT BEEN ATTACKED SINCE THEN.

You might ask yourself what constitutes an attack--we have had shoe bombers, underwear bombers, Ft hood murders, and Times Square sputtered attack. Except for the FT Hood killer most attacks have failed for technical reasons or the Jihadists lost their nerve at the last minute. The fact that both security and intelligence have been rampted up astronomically since 9//11 does not seem to inhibit the small-fry Jihadists. --THEY KEEP COMING.

All this still cannot explain how the big-fish Bin Laden escapes kill or capture.SECDEF Rumsfeld had a chance to get Bin Laden at TORA BORA early in the Afghan war ,but blew it. Along with Iraq and the Jihad attack on the Pentagon, these are other albatrosses he can wear through history.

The fact Bin Laden has survived the US dedicated attempts to eliminate him is a metaphor for the US for the US inability to snuff out the anti-American terrorist movement. Bin Laden is just one of many; someone else will step into his shoes when he is gone, but his persistent, almost bullet-proof ability to stay alive in the face of the worlds greatest killing machine, inspires other Jihadist to achieve this status.



With the advent of 9/11 this year, it appears Muslims are dancing on or in the head of the American people. Prior to 9/11 about the only Muslims that popped into view were Saudis gamboling in the Rivera, diplomats gilding between receptions in their burnooses in Washington,DC and finally the sweaty Islamic group in Dearborn , Michigan making a living by working. ..

This year we saw whacko Southern minister threatening to burn the Koran and the religious fanatics hysterically sweating an Islamic center near 9/11 ground .Incredibly we witnessed General Petraeus , NATO/US commander in Afghanistan begging the preacher not to burn the Koran, because it would cause turmoil in his area of operations.

Petraeus would make more of an impact if concentrated on limiting civilian casualties in his attacks--10 percent now is the average he kills or wounds in these attacks on Afghan civilians. Further recent stories surfaced of US troops collecting Afghan body parts, so he should focus on his battlefield troop leading problems...

The demented minister did not burn the Koran, but you can bet another pious jackass soon will seek publicity the same way. Since the Jihadists are so wrought over burning Korans, you have to wonder if there is not a deal somewhere --WE DO NOT BURN KORANS, IF THEY DO NOT BURN OUR BUILDINGS AND KILL OUR PEOPLE.

Since 9/11 the US has buried itself in two permanent wars against Islamic people; the Jihadist movement has expanded as more Islamic people are radicalized by US actions. The US has continued to support Israel one-sided, driving more into the Jihadest ranks.

Some senior American military officers are beginning to rethink the idea of piling up Islamic corpses as for everyone killed at least two are replaced. Changes in tactics will come when this futility dawns on the US political leadership.Its seems to me the situation is more dangerous now since 9/11. GWB wars followed by Obama's extensions and wideing of them has embroilled Pakistan.

As far as catching the GHOST THAT WALKS Bin Laden, suggest the search is intensified outside the range of US drones and the Pakistani Army sphere of influence. In 9 years the US has searched under every rock in these areas five times. Suggest a search in an Islamic area of China.

GUESS WE HAVE TO KILL THE SON OF A BITCH, OTHERWISE HE GOES TO ALLAH WITH A BAND OF VIRGINS TO BUG THE WEST FOR ETERNITY..Colonel Robert E BARTOS

PAYOFF FOR IRAQ--The question is what did the US win or lose in the Iraq War so far ? This war is not over,so my calculations remain dynamic.

The way it is to work in colonial wars like Iraq is that the the invader extracts some form of wealth from the weaker country or territory invaded. The Obama Administration has made an official fuss celebrating the withdrawal of US troops down to about 50, 000 remaining forces; these are scheduled to depart sometime next year. There are 4500 special operations troops ready to combat whomever sticks his head up. Additionally, there are still tens of thousands US paid mercenaries.

The fact is historically in the 19th-20th centuries that invaders always get kicked out of their colonies eventually--sometimes with residual rights to the colonies' natural resources. sometimes without them. In the case of Iraq the US has little to show in long term oil exploitation deals with Iraq--about the only other significant resources are fresh water and 350 varieties of Basra dates-
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Iraqis have paid have paid a stiff price for killing Saddam, his two boys and uprooting the Sunni dominated Baathist Party. One hundred thousand Iraqis have died in the GWB invasion; there are over a million Iraqi refugees mainly in Syria and Jordan; over 25 percent of its ancient artifacts have disappeared. there is no effective central Iraqi government; prewar UN sanctions on Iraq still are in effect.

Tens of thousands Iraqi were in US detention on centers and harshly interrogated--these folks are mostly back on the streets and have no goodwill toward the US.--my sense is that they are a festering time bombs
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Iran's influence has expanded throughout the Islamic world. Without Saddam there is no regional force to check Iran's expanding interests.. Iraq today is a wreck as its infrastructure is in worse condition than before the US invasion. Efforts by the US at reconstruction so far as been a farce replete with massive corruption involving US and foreign contractors.

The US price for the invasion and continued occupation has been over 4000 KIA and over 30,000 wounded, many of whom are long term disabled. A trillion dollars spent--over 9 billion unaccounted or stolen. As the US troops are thinned out the enormity of the corruption becomes more apparent--with AP and the ARMY TIMES running stories that were spiked under the GWB administration. Despite regular decollation by US forces Al qaeda now is ensconced in Iraq from where it has taken its lethal operational lessons to Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.

UN observers have noted that the UN sanctions combined with US bombardments have reduced the one proud Arab state to a pre-industrial society This situation plays into Iran's hand and delights the sick pro Israel neocons and American Jewish lobbies who want Israel preeminent in the region.. Israelis also prefer US forces in the area to come to their rescue when their country implodes.

If you wish to die and spend for other countries democracy you are indeed foolish or a demented neocon. No oil for the US or functioning democracy in Iraq so far after 7.5 years. Except for toppling Saddam INC, very few US war aims have been met.

President Obama's recent Oval Office speech turned on a peace light declaring the combat phase of the Iraq war over; this is absurd in view of the US forces remaining in Iraq. At the same time local US commanders are assuring those Iraqis loyal to the occupation that US forces remain to fight terror--you can define terror as you wish:sectarian or Al qaeda or the neighbor who killed your donkey.

Obama declared that he does not expect surrender ceremonies . So now we fight wars without the prospect of victory. ART OF WAR Clausewitz should be spinning in his grave at this news, Relax my friends. Have a delicious Basra date--that is the only tangible payoff from the Iraq War so far. Colonel Robert E Bartos USA ret.