Hamas, Intelligence Failures, and Iran

I suppose we can safely say that Israel experienced an intelligence failure of massive proportions when the nation was caught by complete surprise early Saturday morning. Ironically and sadly, the attack came on the holy day of Simchat Torah, which means “joy of Torah.” It is the day Jews celebrate the completion of the annual reading of the Torah as it begins anew. This year there was certainly no sense of joy. And I suspect the absence of joy is especially present among those actively involved in the Israeli intelligence community. How could they have missed the signs? Are Hamas and its Iranian allies and funders that good at hiding their preparations? Apparently, they are.

A year or so ago I read a report on the efficacy of Israeli technology used to protect it from attacks by its enemies. The report addressed the high quality of this technology, how it could ensure Israel would be safe from any attempts to invade. Judging from what happened Saturday morning the technology was grossly deficient. Of course, another possibility is that the Israelis were so confident in their technology that they ignored the need for human eyes and ears. I wouldn't be surprised if this were a problem within most intelligence agencies, where human intelligence resources have largely been replaced by technology. The problem with technology is that it has limitations, and these limitations can be tested, so the technology can be overcome or simply avoided. Of course, technology is probably cheaper than human agents and far more reliable, at least from the perspective of the geeks who have the ear of their bosses.  

It would seem the Hamas terrorists took advantage of this. Their brutal early morning attack on the Sabbath was amazingly low-tech. Smashing through border walls and rushing into southern Israel in Toyota pick-ups and flying in via paragliders, they took out the police stations and small military installations along the border, killing everyone they encountered. They crashed through the doors of civilian homes and brutally killed men, women, and children. Pregnant women were slaughtered, and their unborn infants torn from their bodies and thrown down beside them. Many of the women were raped in front of their families and then paraded through the streets. Infants were decapitated. Elderly Israelis, even Holocaust survivors, were also murdered or taken hostage. Indeed, Hamas terrorists intentionally targeted a music festival and killed nearly 300 mostly young people. Many others attending the festival were taken hostage. What has happened to them is unknown, but we can be certain they are not being treated well. Pray for them.

The brutality and sadism of the terrorists wasn’t isolated; it was intentional and carried out wherever Hamas attacked. They took videos of these barbarous atrocities and then posted them on social media for the world to see. Hamas terrorists are obviously proud of their savagery and enjoyed every moment of it. This tells us a lot about Islamist terrorists in general and specifically about organizations such as Hamas, Isis, Hezbollah, and the nations that support them. To assume Iran had no role in the planning, arming, and training of the terrorists who attacked Israel is the height of naïveté. At the very least the United States should reinstate full sanctions against Iran and refreeze the six billion dollars being held in Qatar. Most Iranians do not support their government. It would be wise for us to encourage and actively support those Iranians who hope to overthrow this brutal, theocratic regime. After all, our nation had its genesis in a revolution, a war of independence in which we claimed God had endowed us “with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” As the world’s primary supporter of terrorism, Iran is a serious threat. We should do all in our power to ensure a change in that hateful regime.

In case you don’t realize it, we are in a war. It is a war between good and evil, a war between civilization and barbarism, a war between those who cherish life and those who celebrate death. I have absolutely no problem waging and winning a just war.

End of the Year - Just News

So much of what I read or view or hear in the news I simply ignore. Very little affects me directly, and even when it does, I find I can't do much about it. But then I encounter that which either gladdens or saddens and decide it's worth repeating. What follows are just a couple of news items that struck me in these final days of 2021. 

Richard Marcinko, R.I.P.  A truly remarkable man, Dick Marcinko left this world on Christmas Day at the age of 81. I am certain that a lot of people in present-day America did not like Dick Marcinko. In fact, I suspect he was (and still is) quietly hated by many of our military's senior leadership, much of the media, politicians of both sides, and certainly by the "woke" crowd that hates everything American. Dick, you see, was a full-blown, 100%, all-American, warrior. He despised those who despised America and devoted much of his life to protecting this country from the very worst of these. If he had one major fault, he was perhaps too much of a warrior, the kind of man who tended to ignore politically inspired "rules of engagement" when it came to both training and real warfare.

A Pennsylvania native, Dick enlisted in the Navy at 18 and eventually earned a commission. He held a B.A. in international relations from Auburn and a M.A. in political science from the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. In fact, that's where I met Dick, as I made my own way through the school's postgraduate degree program. As I recall, we first met at the bar in the Officers Club. When he heard I was a helicopter pilot, he spent a half-hour questioning and instructing me on how helicopters could be best used to support special operators. Of course, he was a Navy SEAL and had spent some serious, heroic, almost legendary time in Vietnam. Anyway, that bar-stool meeting was the first of two rather brief encounters with this man. I never ran into him again, although I did exchange a couple of emails with him maybe ten years ago. 

The above photos show Dick as I knew him (center) as rogue warrior (left) and as long retired hero (right).

Perhaps Dick's greatest accomplishment was the establishment of SEAL Team Six. At the time the Navy had only two SEAL teams, but Dick thought it would confuse the Soviets, causing them to invest time and effort looking for non-existent teams three, four, and five. SEAL Team Six was designed to be the Navy's top counterterrorism unit and Dick commanded the unit during its first three years, from 1980 to 1983. 

Later he was given the task of testing the Navy's ability to detect and withstand terrorist infiltration at its most secure bases. His unit, called Red Cell, was composed of a handful of SEALS and a Recon Marine, but they were remarkably successful penetrating target bases and commands. This work and Red Cell's somewhat questionable tactics (not unlike the tactics terrorists would use) identified serious weaknesses in many commands. It also made Dick some powerful enemies within the Department of Defense, among them my first Commanding Officer, by then a Vice Admiral. He has since died, so I won't mention his name, but will say he always seemed to care more about his own career than the welfare of those under his command. After Dick retired as a Commander in 1989, he was charged with defrauding the federal government, eventually convicted, and served 15 months in federal prison. I've always believed Dick was railroaded because he made so many senior officers look absolutely foolish and incompetent. Here's a link to a request for a presidential pardon. It's worth reading: Petition: Presidential Pardon for Commander Richard Marcinko

None of this slowed Dick down, and as a civilian he wrote many best sellers, including his autobiography and several novels. He was also CEO of a private security firm, Red Cell International. In 2011, just a few weeks after Osama bin Laden was killed by SEAL Team Six, Dick was honored at an Alabama Sports Festival in Birmingham and answered a few questions. He gave some interesting responses: Marcinko Answers Questions

Despite Dick's faults, I salute him and thank him for all he did for this country.

The Perils of Nationalized Healthcare. Here's a horrible story that clearly depicts what a nation can expect once it turns its healthcare over to government bureaucrats and fiscal freaks whose primary concern has little to do with actual healthcare. It offers us a clear example of the culture of death in action. 

During the pandemic, the National Health Service (NHS) of the United Kingdom attempted to give special needs children, including those with learning disabilities, do not resuscitate notices (DNRs). Adults with learning disabilities and mental illnesses had also received such notices. DNRs tell healthcare workers to withhold special treatment that would keep an ill patient alive. Most often it's the elderly or those suffering from terminal diseases who will sign a DNR. But in the UK, the NHS policy states: "You must be told that a DNR-CPR form will be/has been completed for you, but a doctor does not need your consent." 

Isn't that wonderfully, bureaucratically deadly. Of course, applying DNRs to children with learning disabilities during a pandemic would make things a lot easier (and less costly) for the NHS. If they get COVID, forget the therapeutics and simply let them die. And as several parents discovered, when their children with learning disabilities were asked if they wanted a DNR, most children had no idea what it meant and accepted it. The lesson for us all: If we ultimately opt for government-run healthcare, this is what we can expect to encounter.

Archaeologists Stunned: Ancients Were Smarter Than They thought. I've always been amazed by archaeologists, historians, theologians, and other certifiably intelligent folks who seem to believe that today's human beings are much more intelligent than those who came before. It's really a form of temporal bias or prejudice resulting, I suppose, from scientific and technological advances that result from the advance of knowledge. They seem to think these advances somehow appeared spontaneously in modern times and did not result from the dedicated efforts of many very bright people of the past who built on the work of their predecessors over the centuries.

Yesterday I read an article describing the surprise of archaeologists who finally realized the meaning of a Babylonian artifact, known as Plimpton 322. First unearthed in 1894, it was sold to a collector, and later (in the 1930s) given to Columbia University. In 1945 researchers realized it contained what are called Pythagorean Triples, but then everyone simply forgot about it. This year, when an Australian scholar, Dr. Daniel Mansfield, was given access he quickly realized the importance of the artifact. In his words it provided "Evidence ancient Babylonians were far more advanced than we thought." He went on to describe it as the "most interesting, most sophisticated mathematical document from the ancient world."

Yes, indeed, those ancients were actually pretty bright, and it seems the Mesopotamians had a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of Pythagorean Triples. The Babylonians, then, understood the geometry of right triangles and rectangles a thousand years before the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras came up with his theorem in the 5th-century B.C. The artifact, probably used as a device to assist in the art of surveying, shows that the ancients were avid appliers of science and mathematics. It makes us wonder how many similar advances were made by the ancients, but will never be known.

I've heard architects denigrate the architectural wonders of the ancient world, calling them primitive constructions. Such comments always lead me to question how many modern buildings, like the pyramids of ancient Egypt, will still be standing after 4,000 years. In the same way I find the plays of Shakespeare, the poetry of the Psalms, or the novels of Jane Austen far better than today's imitators. Too often today so-called educators excise the past from the education of the young, depriving them of the knowledge and wisdom of those who came before us.  As Isaac Newton wisely stated, "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Happy New Year.

Beyond Incompetence

There is so much wrong with the implementation of President Biden’s "plan" for the exit of our military forces from Afghanistan that one suspects it was a plan devoid of any planning. His so-called plan ignored or contradicted the very basics of conducting military operations and diplomacy. Indeed it is hard to believe the leadership of our defense and state departments could sign on to such an utterly incompetent plan.The only other possibility is one no American wants to believe: that the results we have all witnessed were actually desired. In other words, all was done with intent not through incompetence. Sadly I’ve come to believe this might well be true.

It’s highly unlikely the president actually crafted this plan. First of all he’s not smart enough to put together even such a disastrous strategy. Perhaps his remarkably artistic son, Hunter, devised the plan. After all, Hunter and the Biden family have reaped the benefits of his extensive global connections. And did his dad not call him “the smartest man I know?” The truth is, a growing number of Americans are asking whether Joe Biden, unlike his son, is simply stupid or well on his way to complete senility. Then again maybe he actually is the supreme planner, and his handlers have been unable to take control. But when we see the fruits of the president’s actions, from a geopolitical perspective it would seem he’s focused on aiding our enemies, specifically Communist China with whom, coincidentally, many of his most senior advisors also have long-standing personal and financial relationships. It’s all a mess.

To make matters worse, the rest of the president’s team are mostly hacks, a collection of fawning toadies who don’t have the courage to tell him his ideas are sheer idiocy. If the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs actually advised the president to maintain a significant troop presence or disaster would follow, and if he rejected their counsel, they should have resigned immediately. But like far too many senior officers today, they are mere politicians who care far more for their own careers than they do for their country. I know, harsh words. But in all those years I spent as an officer in the U. S. Navy, I got to know many flag officers. Most were true warriors, men of honor, unlike today’s batch of woke “leaders” who deserve no respect.

There are just so many things wrong with all that’s happened…

Was our intelligence so bad that we not only underestimated the strength and tactical capabilities of the Taliban but also overestimated that of the Afghan government forces? Did it completely overlook the effect of our military’s precipitous departure on the morale of Afghan troops? Was the anticipated timeline of the subsequent chaos completely wrong? Or was our intelligence solid but simply ignored by the Commander in Chief? I suspect a sad combination of all.

Why on earth did we not prioritize the extraction of American citizens, Afghan special visa people, and their families? There appears to have been no plan to handle this rather large task prior to pulling our troops out of the country. And now the entire process is bogged down by the red tape of State Department bureaucracy and the scarcity of competent personnel to process the folks trying to leave. Yesterday both the Department of Defense and the State Department admitted they “had no idea” how many American citizens are in Afghanistan trying to get out. In other words, they did absolutely no planning once the decision was made to leave the country. 

The British and French are sending their special ops folks into Kabul to extract their citizens, but yesterday our Secretary of Defense stated we are not able to do this same. Are we unable, or have our forces been prohibited by their incompetent, cowardly senior commanders and commander in chief from doing so?  I can guarantee that our special ops troops would be happy to accept this mission. It’s what they do. They simply need the complete support of a Commander in Chief who would be willing to explain the consequences of interference to the Taliban.  

We’ve also been told that F18s from the USS Ronald Reagan have been overflying Kabul. I suppose the big question is, why? General Taylor of the JCS stated they are there to provide air support for the ground commander. How can they do so in an urban environment in which the Taliban are completely enmeshed in the civilian population? Do we think the Taliban fighters are afraid of these aircraft? It would seem the F-18s are flying simply because we have them and we might as well show everyone we can get them to Kabul. ”…a prudent and responsible thing to do,” according to Admiral Kirby. They might have been useful if we had not abandoned the airbase at Bagram; but since our only presence now is within the small perimeter at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai Airport, it would seem their purpose is largely psychological.

And then there’s the billions of dollars worth of U.S. military equipment now in the blood-soaked hands of terrorists. Recent reports indicate they now possess over 40 aircraft, including Black Hawk attack helicopters, upwards of 2,000 armored vehicles, high-tech drones, night-vision equipment, over a half-million infantry weapons, and so much more. Tomorrow’s Al Qaeda will be one of the best equipped and armed pack of terrorists we’ve ever had to face, thanks to President Biden’s feckless plan.

I could go on…the shameful way the President treats American citizens, as well as our allied partners; the constant lies about Taliban brutality toward those trying to leave; the President’s avoidance of the media and the American people as he hides out at Camp David and in Delaware…and so much more, but It just makes me ill to relate it. 

Of course, if the pressure within his own party forces him to leave office we’ll be left with Kamala who rushed off to Saigon, probably watching videos of our shameful departure in 1975. So many ironies, but so very, very sad.