-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
January 30, 2002 Soldiers For The Truth (SFTT) Weekly Newsletter When we assumed the Soldier, We did not lay aside the Citizen. General George Washington, to the New York Legislature, 1775 In this week’s Issue of DefenseWatch: The War Goes On ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Editorial and Administrative Staff ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Ed Offley Editor, DefenseWatch Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] J. David Galland Deputy Editor, DefenseWatch Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] David H. Hackworth Senior Military Columnist Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chris Humphrey SFTT Webmaster Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Table of Contents Editor's Comment: Changes at SFTT Aim at Greater Reader Participation Hack's Target for the Week: Club Fed and Our Invisible Troops Article 01 - Moral Courage in Peace Is As Important As in War, by Gary R. Stalhut Article 02 - Why Are Elite Counter-Terror Units Missing From the War? by Jon Barrett Article 03 - European Currency Hints of Political, Military Shift, by J. David Galland Article 04 - Israel Should Rethink Its 'Patience of Job,' by Patrick Hayes Article 05 - Trident Missiles Safe From Unauthorized Launch, by Robert G. Williscroft Article 06 - The First Transformation Task: Define the Term, by Matthew Dodd Article 07 - It's Time to Consider Ending the No-Fly Zone Patrols, by Paul Connors Article 08 - Joint Strike Fighter Program Requires a Dose of Reality, by John Szelog Article 09 - Some Simple Rules for Success in Dealing with the VA, by Andrea West Article 10 - Guest Column: An Army of Paupers, by Melana Zyla Vickers Medal of Honor: Article 11 - MITCHELL, FRANK N., 1st Lt. USMC FEEDBACK: SFTT and DefenseWatch readers respond EDITOR'S NOTE: Your Support is Important! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- FROM THE EDITOR: Changes at SFTT Aim at Greater Reader Participation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- By Ed Offley One of the greatest satisfactions I have enjoyed in serving as Editor of DefenseWatch for the past five months has been the steady gain both in readers and reader responses to the newsletter and other SFTT items at this website. After all, it is a fundamental goal of ours not only to bring facts and informed opinions concerning defense and veterans issues to you, our readers, but to create a vibrant venue for discussion, debate and information. With that in mind, we are inaugurating several new features at SFTT and DefenseWatch this week that are designed to improve the two-way exchange of ideas and commentary and to promote an even more active participation by readers in this endeavor. First, with the decision to terminate the SFTT bulletin board, we are expanding the reader Feedback section of DefenseWatch to a separate web page accessible through SFTT.org. The new section is designed to provide readers who want to add their contribution to an issue to submit letters or commentary articles. You can find the SFTT Feedback window on the right-hand column of the SFTT home page. Our guidelines are simple and few: Feedback articles can be as brief as several paragraphs or as long as 1,000 words. When submitting a response to a particular article or commentary, please mention the article by headline and date. We allow pen names but require the sender's actual name and contact telephone number for verification purposes. SFTT reserves the right to edit articles, or refuse publication of any submission for libel or inappropriate language. Send your comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Second, we are pleased to announce the creation of the SFTT Intel Center, a dedicated site where DefenseWatch editors and writers will post specific requests for information that it is hoped our readership can help track down. Our purpose in creating this site is to provide a reader-friendly venue where we can draw upon the knowledge and expertise of our readers to bring significant issues to bear concerning the U.S. military and veterans' communities, particularly significant policy issues or incidents of wrongdoing that warrant investigation and publicizing. Third, after many reader requests, we are proud to announce that SFTT.org now features the PayPal online payment processing center on our home page by which you can make your tax-deductible contributions using major credit cards. The ultimate success in reviving and expanding SFTT depends on everyone. We need your financial contributions to continue our operation. While any amount is welcome, we suggest a $30 annual contribution from each member will enable us to succeed. The IRS recognizes SFTT as a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Educational Foundation (IRS EIN 31-1592564). Donations are tax deductible. Send us some moral support and encouragement to help in the struggle to improve combat readiness. You can also still Mail your checks to: Soldiers For The Truth Foundation P.O. Box 11179 Greenwich CT 06831 Finally, we are pleased in this issue to introduce Andrew West as a new Contributing Editor of DefenseWatch, specializing in veterans subjects. A U.S. Air Force veteran, Ms. West lives in Helena, Montana, and is active in various veterans organizations. We look forward to her contributions to SFTT and DefenseWatch. Offley is Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Hack's Target For The Week: Club Fed and Our Invisible Troops ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- By David H. Hackworth The brouhaha created by breast-beating human-rights groups over our military's treatment of the terrorist scuzz now vacationing at the Pentagon's recently opened Cuban Club Fed - eagerly aided and abetted by a press too prone to the sensational - is something else. These bleeding hearts claim we're brutalizing the captives by forcing them to wear orange jumpsuits, sleep on mats, exercise daily, shower frequently and eat special food. My buddy, a Connecticut cop, finds the protests fascinating. He says, "I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating on my job because of the prisoners at Guantanamo." Then, with a twinkle in his eyes, he adds: "Are they getting enough sleep, the right diet, enough prayer time? We have to keep them happy and healthy. They only want to murder all of us the first chance they get." Amen. Their perp pal responsible for the first World Trade Center attack jabbed a sharpened comb into a guard's eye while he was in the pokey. This time around, they've already bitten one of the soldiers guarding them and threatened to kill anybody else who gets too close. After all, these are the folks who spent their leisure time back in Afghanistan skinning captives alive - when they weren't playing soccer with their heads. Think of them as kamikaze killers looking for an edge. However you want to categorize these creeps - who are living a lot better at Club Fed than they ever did in the caves of Tora Bora - Geneva Convention rules are for uniformed soldiers, not for skyjackers who fly commercial planes filled with moms and dads into office buildings manned by civilians operating computers, or for zealots who kill Arab women because they drive a car or don't cover their faces. Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization, not a state, and its crazies wear street gear and operate disguised as civilians. Terrorists dressed to pass like these were often shot right on the spot during World War II and the Korean War. I'm personally offended that none of the whistle-blowers seems to give a damn about the welfare or safety of our sons and daughters guarding these thugs. Have you read any stories about the dangers they face? Have any of our politicians bothered to inspect our kids' living conditions when they've jetted into Gitmo to check out the terrorists' treatment and pick up some tube time? Had anyone checked, they would have discovered that our U.S. Army Military Police guarding the terrorists think the prisoners are being treated a lot better than they are. They're not pleased that the brass, the lawmakers and the press are more interested in the well-being of the detainees than the soldiers guarding them, and that they might as well be invisible. Here's what our soldiers from the Army's 401st MP Company out of Fort Hood, Texas, who are the main monster-watchers, are saying: "We live like crap down here with no extra pay or tax break, and we feel that no one up above gives a rat's ass about us," a sergeant says. "Our officers are more concerned with doing Pentagon damage control concerning the detainees than looking after the troops." "The detainees sleep on soft mats on a nice surfaced floor while we sleep on cots inside tents with dirt floors. They get four hot meals a day, fresh fruit, regular issues of snacks such as sunflower seeds, regular clean clothes laundered by the Marine supply system," says another soldier. "We get canned food and MREs, canned fruit. We buy our own snacks and do our own laundry." "The Marine general here says we can have a beer when off duty, but our Army leadership is running so scared that it set a no-drinking policy," says another troop. "We are responsible enough to secure the prisoners, but not enough to have a beer." "The Red Cross put us in a very dangerous situation with their demands, and sadly our leadership went along with it," a soldier said. "We've been told to lie to Marine inspectors over standards and requirements. The Marines are right, the Army's wrong, and we're stuck in the middle." Maybe someday, do-gooders, editors, lawmakers and senior Army leaders will remember our soldiers are human beings with human rights, too, and get their side of the story. Charity should begin at home. http://www.hackworth.com is the address of David Hackworth's home page. Sign in for the free weekly Defending America column at his Web site. Send mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! Write to same address to be off lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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