IRAQ-NONE DARE CALL IT VICTORY--As the US troops came marching home from Iraq, President Obama marked the occasion with a gala speech at Ft Bragg, North Carolina; the first lady was on the podium with him. Thanking the assembled cheering soldiers for their service, he characterized their return as one with honor and heads held high. At no time did the word victory cross the president's lips.


Does it follow that if the Iraq fiasco was not a victory, was it a defeat? It certainly was not a stalemate. Unlike the US chaotic departure from Vietnam under fire, however, US troops had an orderly withdrawal. Disorder in Iraq followed immediately after the last uniformed troop crossed out of Iraq into Kuwait.


Blasts rocked the country killing 68 and wounding 200 people to include children. Both Shiites and Sunnis were casualties. The unification government was shattered when Al-Maliki, a Shiite leader of the fragile Iraqi central government, issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni vice president, Tareg Hashemi. These events unfolded only days after the formal end of the US occupation. The reality is that the US force in Iraq appeared to be stop in the bottle--the stopper was now pulled out.


US response was one of aghast. It dispatched General SAVEUS Petraeus to Iraq in the cover of darkness to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. When that did not work, Obama rushed General Ordinero to Iraq in the brightness of day. Whether officially admitted or not, there still are reportedly 17,000 contractors in US pay; two bases remain there; and 4000 troops are still in Iraq. So complete withdrawal of US forces is myth that will blow up in the president's face when the insurgents zero in on this US residual force. Otherwise why would Obama send two four-star US Army generals back into the fray ? Both of these generals have had multiple bites of the apple without serious pacification, so why send them back ?


Except for those Iraqis paid by the US and its mercenaries, the US has little goodwill left in the Sunni and Shiite lands. Abu Gharib atrocities and the smashing of Fallujah finished long term US friendship in Iraq. Any Shiite appreciation for killing Saddam will steamrolled over by el Sadr and his Iranian allies. Kurdistan remains as a place where long term US interests could succeed, but that is a roll of the dice with Syria, Iran and Turkey playing in its backyard. VEEP Biden has always championed an independent Kurdistan, so that truncated state may be the best hope of the US in Iraq.


The US, with its abject support of Israel ,never did have much support on the Arab street even before its invasion and destruction of Iraq. Its invasion just polished off any influence. US bought Arab leaders mainly with military aid ,but that policy is evaporating in the Arab Spring.


Each day US influence in the area ebbs the US foreign policy is dysfunctional as it is in many cases projected through the American military industrial complex. Our trade seems to follow force projection through weapon sales. Ironically, China with loans to the US is the enabler. In this process the US has temporary gains while China permanently commands long term world resource markets and rapidly expands its military forces.


US has left a shattered Iraq with a smashed infrastructure and wrecked economy. A 100,000 Iraqi killed. Its museums looted. Cityscapes are choked with ugly cement blast barriers. Sectarian violence is busting out everywhere. The central government has no mandate with key cabinet security posts of defense and interior unfilled.


If the US left a democratic baby, it was still born. For this disaster the US has spent over a trillion dollars; had 4,487 killed and 32,226 wounded many of which lost limbs. Sixty six percent of our wounded suffer from traumatic brain injuries and post tramatic stress. Most will need costly extended care. In realpolitik ,Iran now has hegemony in the area. Even Obama does not have the temerity to call this mess an American victory.


Obama claims he fulfilled a campaign promise of ending the Iraq war. With a US residual force of around 20,000 still in Iraq, this boast is hollow. That this residual force is not higher was precluded only by Iraq which refused to accept a higher number by denying more under a status of forces agreement.


Despite the fanfare, the Iraq war is not over. US armed personnel still in Iraq will become targets and the US will respond with force---the surge is still not working --It never did, except in GW Bush's brain.-Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret

DRONES, DUDS , ROMNEY & PERRY---Strange things emanate from some Republican presidential hopefuls, especially as they pander to war hawks on their rabid right. During the last debate in Sioux City Iowa both Perry and Romney appeared prepared ready to go to war with Iran over the return of a US drone launched from Kandahar Afghanistan that crashed near Kashmar, Iran 140 miles ac cross the Afghan border.

Ironically, "Kashmar" in the Russian language means "nightmare" and there is a good chance that is what the US would have on its hands if either political opportunists like Perry or Romney were in the Oval Office. At least Ron Paul at the time had the sense to call such saber rattling dangerous and absurd.

Creating war hysteria over Iran is a Republican thing. It panders to the big time supporters of the Republican Party, ie, the military industrial complex the Israeli Lobby and its Christian Evangelical Zionists.. Bachmman, Gingrich and Santorum are all on the same band wagon. It is the same madness, driven by the same interests, that brought the US the disastrous Iraq war..Now 68 percent of Americans agree that war was a mistake.

The drone that crashed in Iran was a RQ-170 Sentinel Drone. It is a state of the art piece of equipment. It is nicknamed "the Beast of Khandahar", and is alleged to have been used in in recent operation against Bin Laden. CIA had operational control of this Iranian mission. It will be interesting to learn why the built-in self destruct mechanism did not function. Was some one asleep at the switch or less likely, did the fail-safe mechanism fail ? Imagine the delay, panic and bureacratic consternation involved to destroy millions of dollars worth of modern equipment.

CIA has a history of clutching on self-destruct when the chips are down--Remember Gary Powers in his U2 spy craft shot down over Russia under President Eisenhower--last time I checked you can see large parts of it in the Red Army Museum in Moscow and Mr Powers is alive and well as he was traded for high-level Soviet spy held in the US. He had the means and orders to destroy the aircraft and himself in the event of capture.

The US claims that the drone was lost because of a malfunction; that it was not shot down, and that no cybernetic technology or electronics were involved in the crash. Iraqis claim that its forces brought it down with electronic warfare. It is known to have an effective Russian AVTOBAZA jammer.

For the US its capture constitutes an inadvertent transfer of valuable technology, especially the sensors. One mystery is why the drone with a 66 ft wing span, flying as high as 50,000 feet, remains in good shape after it crashed. To make it more vexing to the US, the Iranians put the drone on TV and paraded throughout the country for propaganda purposes.

Faced with the dilemma of what to do about the drone once it was lost, the US administration chose to ask diplomatically for its property to be returned. So far the Iranians have refused. Other options by the US were rejected.

These include destroying the drone by US aircraft or special operations assault. Either of these measures could have denied the Iranians the technology, but may have involved US casualties and more equipment loss. Such activities would have escalated the incident as the Iranians would have met the attack as further provocation. US forces in Gulf and interests in Iraq are open to Iranian counter measures. Risk of war was evident as each side would develop military counter strikes. Obama understood this and took a deep breath and politely asked for his lost drone to be returned. Doubt that this will happen.

The US had diplomatic problems over its spy platforms previously. LBJ in 1968 with the USS Pueblo and North Korea, and GW Bush with the Navy reconnaissance aircraft with China in 2001 are examples of incidents when the US backed off use of force to rescue lost intelligence assests. So duds Perry and Rowney attacked without basis when they mocked the president for his cautious actions over the drone in Iran.

Obama has demonstrated serious weakness economically. I do not agree with many of his social policies and it is clear he has mismanaged US policy in the Middle East. He has permitted Israel to make US policy in the peace process. He has fumbled badly in Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Libya. He has opened new war fronts in Somalia and other parts of Africa. His surge in Afghanistan was absurdly pointless. He is at drawn swords with Pakistan over sloppy warfare incidents.

His pullout from Iraq deserves credit. He also killed Bin Laden who was right under GW Bush's nose in Pakistan. He curbed the Somali pirates. At least, at this time, fewer US military people are dying under his administration and that is something you will not get in a Republican administration run by screw balls and interventionist neocons. For the Americans, Republicans and Democrats are equally bad choices--It is nearly a Hobson choice.. Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret

AMERICAN BOOB OF THE YEAR -- 2011--Look no further than the Republican Party presidential candidates.. With the exception of Ron Paul, the other candidates all are nominated for American Boob of the year 2011.

Huntsman could probably do the job well, but as a Mormon you never can predict whether or when he will board a spaceship for an island in the sky. Too bad. His credentials , resume and presence are impressive. He speaks fluent Chinese Mandarin and this for a round-eye is commendable. Especially compared to Perry and Cain who have a tough time with even English. He like Ron Paul and Romney rejected Donald Trump's mawkish invitation to a 27 th Dec. debate


Michele Bachmann is the only lady in the pack. Her strident evangelical beliefs qualify her to be a tent missionary to follow Rev.Huckabee and Rev. Pat Robinson in the successful quest for the Holy Grail of Iowa. But her shallowness has even apparently unnerved the holy rollers there. She is now at the bottom of the polls. Unbelievably Iowan Republicans currently believe Newt Gingrich loves Jesus more than any of candidates and have pushed him to the top of polls. About the only positive thing I can say about the Iowa Republican electorate was that it had the sagacity not to elect Bomb Bomb McCain and its Democrats broke Hillary's heart in their 2008 presidential primary. For better or for worse , the Iowa Democrats voted for Obama .

Gingrich has the reptilian visage of a fat lizard. His record demonstrates that he is cold blooded--dumped two wives that were sick.. While he was cavorting with prospective wife number 3, he was blasting Wild Bill Clinton for flagarento delecto excesses in the Oval Office. The man has character flaws that had him punished by the House Ethics Committee and the House membership.- His Republicans colleagues booted him out of his Speaker of the House leadership for lack of leadership. A tiger does not change its stripes., nor a leopard its spots.


The fact that he knows how to use influence and the capitalist way to enrich himself reassures us he is greedy, but as president could we expect more greed? We know his latest wife has expensive Tiffany tastes. His Pickwickean stature does not enhance his allurement. He is held in contempt by many Republicans and his nomination could lead to a third party run.



If the Republicans were dumb enough to run Bomb Bomb McCain and Drill Baby Drill Palin you can always expect another absurd choice by the party of Lincoln. Newt is their man , if the Party wants another wacky badly damaged candidate. Gringrich believes Donald Trump with four times bankruptcy is an economic genius, and further he wants neocon screwball John Bolton as his Secretary of State.

Why in the world anyone believed Rick Perry was presidential material is unknown. Perhaps some in high places figured if they could sell misfit, spastic GW Bush as a president, What the Hell ,why not Perry . GW Bush's two terms took the US over the edge economically, politically, socially to a point of no return.. His war on terror has led permanent war--he will go down as one the worse presidents in US history.

I was warned by Texans long ago that Perry was dumber than GW Bush. Perry's defenders say he is not dumb,but just uneducated! Enough said. If you watched the debates, you know that jnformaion is true. No more Texas governors or Bushes as president. It now an established profile in ineptitude.


Rick Santorum, reminds voters perpetually he is a family man with several children. He is a one-pony show fixated on anti abortion. When he is on a foreign policy rant, he comes up with knee jerk neocon baloney.;he shovels very fast on imposing democracy where it is not wanted and flies into paroxysms of joy over Israel. He appears qualified to head the local parish rosary society--not much else.


Mitt Romney is the darling of country club Republicans. Over 47 billionaires have contributed to his campaign. He seems to always challenge the conservatives with his moderate positions until he changes his views to suit their whims. And then he is accused of flip flopping. About 30 percent of the Republican s are of the religious right persuasion--they hate him like Huntsman because he is Mormon. Romney wants very bad ly to be be president. He is qualified,.Was a governor ; and has demonstrated his business acumen repeatedly.

When he was running in 2008 for the Republican nomination Huckabee characterized him as a man who takes the skin off his fried chicken before he eats it. His very presence at the debates at the same time would make Bomb Bomb McCain sputter, Romney has the cool sang froid that would suit a well-balanced president. At same time his aloofness inhibits the charisma needed to galvanize voters. Still, I believe he has the best chance when compared to the rest of crowd in the Republican race. Romney bends before the wind blows. His core values remain obscured.

Except for Ron Paul , and this includes Democrat Obama, . no one has signalled serious change in the status quo. Paul's chances are slim as winner . He faces the opposition of military industrial complex, Wall St, the Banks, trade groups, Federal Reserve, MSM and the Jewish Lobby--those are the pillars of power in the US. Too bad. For Paul as a major candidate would force a review of a very sick power structure from which change must eventually evolve. He would fiercely foster reconsideration of the US Constitution as the well spring of US law and conduct.

Herman "Bang Away" Cain has mercifully withdrawn from the presidential campaign. Hissexual peccadilloes competed even with those of Bill Clinton and JFK. He is not Clinton or Kennedy in the other categories by a long shot. He was clumsy, maladroit, uninformed and wearing his fuzzy pimp hat projected a cartoon quality. At least when push came to shove former black presidential candidates Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson could rhyme to brake things up in their farces. Cain's stupefying conduct and aggressive ignorance at a serious political level make him AMERICAN BOOB of 2011. This may be unfair to the extent the the Republican National Committee bore responsibility and permitted him to carry their banner in the spotlight.

Perhaps Hunter Thompson was right when he mused that there was no limit to how low a man would stoop to be president.


There is no question Obama is a failure; he does not deserve a 2nd term. The Republicans will not beat him if they continue to remain goofy or embrace religious fanatics. Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret

Storming Barricades--Street demonstrations, now widespread in the US. make the US right wing cringe and the left wing's heart jump with joy..No one quite knows where these street dramas are headed--there is no self righteous "we shall overcome" fervor, but there is plenty of hot air, anger and sturm and drang--lots of smoke and heat, but no fire--there is no shortage manifestos; there is, however, overwhelmingly almost one for every beef or perceived cause,with lots of bongo drums , signs and distraught young people.

Like gypsy encampments ,these succeed mainly in conveying a mangy desperation and a surreal vagueness without the color of Romani fortune tellers and horse thieves. Living in tents in the center of a city voluntarily takes a special kind of screwball.

If this group wants to be taken serious , get a bath and haircut for starters. Further,tattooed bodies do not either inspire sympathy or confidence. If these masses do not want to be perceived as rabble,at least do not take on its cast. Public sanitation always presents s problem to dense street movements when they try to project civilized conduct. A haze,noise and stench tends to follow their encampments. The public nuisance mounts along with the duration of the camp out. Protesters' First Amendment rights are undermined as public safety becomes an issue to the majority.

There is no shortage of things to get angry over: unemployment, corporate greed, foolish wars, bought politicians, acne, the deficit, and stupid trade and foreign policy. The bromide of electing competent politicians to fix things has demonstrated repeatedly that the newly elected pols are fixed by the elements that donate to their successful election. So manifestations on the street may be the first step for revolutionary change, but few seem in earnest to rip up the foundations of US democracy required to do it. It is doubtful the mob in the end will risk un- employment checks, welfare doles, government backed heath services, retirement, and access to those student loans over angst of Wall Street Greed.

Revolutions are difficult to start. They are almost impossible to sustain. And in those instances when they do succeed, conditions become worse with many killed or dispossessed as society is inverted. The results are seldom more bread or peace. The Russian revolution killed more Russians than the 15 million killed in Hitlers war against the USSR. The average Cuban has not enjoyed a pork sandwich since Castro.s revolution---though you have to admit the Cubans are healthy since meat is scarce and they walk a lot because public and private transportation are problematic..

As far as the NATO sponsored revolution in Libya, Ghadfi is dead; the central government now has disintegrated; weapons are abundant.; law, except for the club and fang is nonexistent. At this stag, the revolution result is too close to call, but one thing for certain, the end will not produce a democratic form of government And now Hamas is believed to have surface-to-air missiles,supplied by revolutionary Libyans to knock Israeli helicopters out of the air. {AH REVOLUTION]

The street demonstrators' obnoxious conduct has forced some communities to quash them; however like a boomerang many sail back--some courts and MSM continue to encourage their absurdly destructive behavior. Police are getting tougher on the dears, so one form of perceived brutality will compel violent over reactive responses--

As Jack Frost pokes his icy finger into their midst, the protest movement should learn to build igloos. One thing for certain in post revolutionary situations, a new gang would take over as the little guy continues to churn water. He just changes bosses. The street demonstrations will amount to little--it has already turned into a mecca for bums,homeless, pan handlers and anarchists; the uniting factor appears they all have dirty pants. Efforts to give this motley bunch a revolutionary aura is misplaced.

It could end either with a whiff of grape shot or massive arrests and incarceration. Hopefully, that will not happen. Like the romantic hippy revolutionaries of the 60s, they will return home spaced out and bug bitten; find a job, raise a family, join the establishment and spin myths about their faux heroic exploits. POWER TO THE PEOPLE-EQUALITY, LIBERTY and A FREE LUNCH--In any case, GET A LIFE--- COLONIAL ROBERT E BARTOS USA Ret

ISRAELI MOUSE ROARS AS US EAGLE SWOONS- When the next Gibbon writes "The Rise and Fall of the American Empire" President Obama's and US Congress's pandering to Israeli in May of 2011 should used as a highlight in the sad tale of America's demise' How a pip-squeak theocratic bloody state like Israel with pretenses of democracy can bend the US to its warped wishes is example how the "land of the free and the home of the brave' accepted a self destructive path.

The most recent theatrical performance staring Obama and Netanyahu was a four-act play staged this May over several days. At this point it is judged a comedy, but its long term implication can be a tragedy for both the USA and Israel.
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American educated Netanyahu comes across as an arrogant fella , corpulent with a double chin; he has the skills of Meyer Lansky, the dash of Bugsy Siegal and the scruples Bad-Eye Zalutsky. With this buzz saw persona, he stands in contrast to the Bambi-like Obama...a man that can deliever a glorious speech to which normally no one pays any attention
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Act I consisted of Obama's speech at the US State Department. Its aim was to articulate a new US policy in the Mid East as the old one was rapidly falling to pieces. Thrust of speech was encourage democracy by bombarding he area with aid and cure the running sore of Israeli/Palestine occupation with new peace talks. In this connection Obama called for negotiations that used the 1967 Israeli Palestine borders as a basis of the new talks with agreed territorial swaps'.

At least the Israelis listened to his speech this time-its powerful lobby in the US erupted in anguish over Obama's proposal especially on the eve of Netanyahu's visit to the US. It stormed the US media. All this outrage, despite Obama's promise to insure Israeli security.

Act II is Natanyahu and Obama;s meeting in the White House. It was a tense meeting in which the Israeli rejected Obama's proposal s publicly, concurrently with Israelis back home announcing more illegal settlements. It was ugly and corrosive meeting. At best I can see , Obama just turned the other cheek and failed to get even a good will gesture from Netanyahu,as the Israeli huffed puffed and bullied in camera.

Act III is when Obama immediately went to speak be the AMERICAN ISRAEL POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, the biggest American Jewish lobby in the US. Apparently Obama went to the meeting waving a white flag-. He backed down on the emphasis on the 1967 borders and emphasized negotiating new borders using agreed territorial swaps.

Obama apparently needs American Jews politically. 73 percent voted for him in the last election and they possess enormous influence in the media and the entertainments They make major contributions to his campaign; hence the surrender. He pays them off by political appointments, a supreme court justice-3 billion plus to Israel in aid. and embarrassing diplomatic and military support to cover Israel's reckless policies.

Netanyahus was scheduled to speak at the same AIPAC meeting, but that was anticlimactic--Natanyahu there expectedly would evoke the same mindless joy that Sarah Palin does when she speaks gibberish to Republican evangelists.

Act IV was to be Netanyahu's moment in the sun; it was to come before a joint session of Congress. There he enraptured the US law makers who honored him with 4 more standing ovations than accorded Obama at his recent state of the union speech. The Arabs took note.

Those congressmen and senators probably did pandering for the same sick reasons that Obama scuttled his own policy at AIPAC. It is obvious to most that blind support of Israel is not in American interests, but certainly in the interests of US politicians
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Israeli news sources reported that Netanyahus polls went up by 14 points in Israel. No reports on Obama's polls in the US for the same period in May.

Change in the Middle East has not been kind to Israel. A big hole in their Gaza blockade was made by opening permanently the Rafah crossing into Egypt.The military junta in Egypt is working closely with the Muslim Brotherhood. Lebanon is now run by Hetzbollah-their rockets resupplied with more with bigger payload and ranges. The UN General Assembly is prepared to recognize a Palestine state in September . Arab birthrate inside current Israeli borders far exceeds the Jewish rate..

Time is not on the Israel side. Even the Turks, long time friends, have severed relations with them over the murder of Turks.

George Mitchel quit as US envoy to the peace process just before Obama's speech at the State Department--he got no support from the Obama administration to stop Israeli settlements. No cooperation in negotiations by Palestine until that happens. US has leverage as it insures the loans on the settlements.

For the US to change its one-sided policy with Israel ,change must come from outside. A time when expediency exceeds ideology will set the change. There is no mutual defense treaty between the US and Israel-so there is no need to abrogate anything legislatively.Just the US needs to get practical and sane and pursue self interest..--Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret

BIN LADEN KILLED-NOW WHAT ? The killing of Bin Laden by US Forces has incredibly caused serious troubles for US policy makers. Not only did they bungle the post operational media coverage immediatly after Bin Laden was killed, but they continue to leak stories about him that focus his sex habits and dream aspirational plans,most of which appear dated a few years ago.

It is as if there is an atempt to hide the truth in a media smoke screen. The secret burial of the terrorist's corpse at sea and the failure to publish the proof of death photos add foolishly to the mystery and hollowness of the US official version of events.


The reason most given for the disposal of the body so quickly and privately was that this conduct would complicte the martydom of Bin laden by his followers.

You do not need a body to create a martyr--the Christians have done a remarkable job without the body of Jesus Christ. As far as those who will make a martyr of Bin laden , they will do it with his body or without it.

By this time after Iraq invasion and Abu Gharib and killing of non combatants with bombs in Afghanistan ,with hellfire missiles from drones in Pakistan, there is not much inluence left over the islamic people by the US.

The only hope the US has is the Jihadist brand of Islam is more onerous than the Yankees. There are also bribes, but the influence they buy is short term as we are learning in Iraq..

About the only thing that we have been told about Bin laden's discovery in Abbottabad is that US intelligence followed the spoor of Bin Laden's trusted courier to his doorstep. This may be true, but it is hard to believe that the US acted on one source only. And risked a complicated raid just on a single courier source.

It is no accident that the Pakistani Taliban or Jihadist turned first to the Pakistan Army to revenge Bin Laden death last Friday killing .over 80 of the Pakistan military forces. They certainly believed the Pakistani Army withdrew its support from Bin Laden. Hopefully CIA got a source in the Pakistan Army who could not resist the big reward money.

If this is true, the Agency deserves the admiration of the American people instead of the usual opprobrium of the "The Gang that cannot shoot straight " Remember SLAM DUNK on WMD in Iraq.? Hanging out Valerie Plame ? GWB's Torture Club and mis targeting of drones in Pakistan.

Pakistan parliement just passed a non-binding resolution which demands the US stop the drone attacks in Pakistan. It had the votes of the ruling party and opposition. Otherwise the US supply routes to Afghanistan throiugh Pakistan will stopped if the drone attacks continue.

There is some sort of Kabuki going on now in Pakistan. Both the US and Pakistan wear masks of bruised feelings--Pakistan over the raid-US over hiding Bin laden. It will settled as too much money involved both in foreign aid and juicy war contracts.Senator Kerry. US Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will not let a deal slip through his fingers--sadly whatever the cost.

Curiously Kerry was sent to negoiate, not Hillary.

One thing the Pakistan Army has to be concerned over is US Special Forces raid on their nuc weapons.The US certainly now demonstrated the capability in the latest raid.

With the demise of Bin Laden the US has a perfect excuse to end the occupation of Afghanistan--at two billion dollars a week in spending on the war. there it is certainly an incentive. It also would allow President Obama to make first payment on his Nobel Peace Prize--just one small step in curbing rampant hipocrasy that has flooded his administration.

The US policy has collapsed in the Middle East. These Arab states are not moving toward democracy, but rather toward Islamic rule or a brand of Baathist socialism.--Obama tossed Egypt Mubarek to the mob; his authoritarian allies Yemen and Baharian are killing their subjects as fast they can--distabilization of Syria cannot help the region. Israel is now facing a united Palestine movement brokered by new Egypt--Israel just killed 15 Palestinians along its different borders. In Libya NATO/US is killing to prevent killing--Gaddafi's response to choke France and Italy with Third World refugees.

With Bin Laden's. death , it appears things are just getting started from the Arab standpoint. Despite a bump in the polls, Osama did not rescue Obama. Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret,

BIN LADEN DEAD DEAD DEAD--After nearly 10 years , three and half wars, trillions of dollar spent, over 100,000 of foreign civilians killed,thousands of US servicemen killed or permanently damaged, the US finally killed bin Laden.

It was a high price to kill the snake, but the US got its pound of flesh. Apart from revenge,justice or retribution, whatever all this is worth, bin Laden managed to hatch his serpent eggs and his organization is now world wide , scattered regionally, multiplied, ope rationing semi-independently.


Failure by GWBush/Rumsfeld to nail bin Laden at Tora Bora early in the Afghan war will go down in history as a big military blunder. GWB and his Israeli fixated Neocons were staging for the invasion of Iraq and could not spare the troops needed to bloc bin Laden's escape--this was despite repeated requests from US forces on the ground at Tora Bora. Since then one can argue the al Qaeda has done more damage since 9/11. and continued develop it's potential. An estimated 500 billion was spent on damages apart from the wars.

Reports indicate the compound where he lived or was hiding for about 6 years in Abbottobad Pakistan had no Internet or hard wire lines. He apparently used couriers-the slowest and most unreliable of communication systems. He may have well used carrier pigeons, semaphore flags or Indian smoke signals. As the US Army Signal Corps slogan goes "If you ain't got communications, you ain't got nothing."


Apparently bin Laden 's house was stashed with computers, disks and telephone numbers that when exploited may provide serious leads. Why the Administration announced that it seized this material is beyond me. It is almost as it provided the terrorist network a heads up.


Curiously, less the $1000.00 was found during the raid.. There were no gold or silver bars or precious gems. You have to wonder how he paid his grocery bills,especially with 22 children and three wive to feed. One thing for certain with all those offspring, his DNA will survive. His house was a breeding center.


There is no question that the Pakistani Army knew the location of bin Laden. By any standard the building was lightly defended. The raid lasted 40 minutes with explosions, helicopters roaring around and the rattle of the battle with small arms fire--very hard to ignore, yet no Pakistani military or constabulary interfered.


Ben Laden was surprised and unarmed, so he felt secure before he was hit. This was despite the fact the Seals practiced for a year on a full scale mock-up of the building on a US base in Afghanistan. Pakistani intelligence would not ignore this. The double dealing comes into play if the Pakistanis dropped a dime on Bin Laden for whatever reason. Maybe bin Laden did not pay his bills or stopped his bribes.


I believe the Pakistanis were involved both in hiding and the raid. We will see how the US diplomatic relationship with Pakistan proceeds now after the raid. If there is a rupture I am wrong; if there are just minor adjustments and business as usual, I am right.


Apart from the intrigue, the raid was a remarkable success.--MISSION REALLY ACCOMPLISHED. The Seals involved should all be promoted and decorated. That there were no leaks in Washington of operation in view of five national security meetings. VEEP Biden, a well documented blow hard, even made a public point of no leaks in the operation.

The Obama administration fell apart on the media/press management of the raid. It changed it story a few times; had officials speaking off different talking points and provided too much detail that could be used by the Jihadists.

It reminded me of giddy school girls with a juicy morsel.. Five days after the raid the administration , announced that it did not want to talk about the operation any longer. Good luck !


There were around 80 personnel involved in the operation,so it is just a matter of time we learn what really happened--there will be leaks and more photos Until then ,without physical proof of death, Hollywood's Oliver Stone will give us his version--like Elvis impersonators ,we may see new Bin Ladens appear while Bin Laden ,a sand Arab , sleeps among the fish in the Arabian Sea.

Reportedly the US has little credibility in Pakistan, so anything it says will be rejected by the Pakistan people.

Another way to get rid of the corpse was to drop his body in front of a Jihad mosque in Pakistan with a sign around his neck--YOU GAVE HIM SANCTUARY--YOU BURY THE SON OF A BITCH.---Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret.