Comments for Semi-random Thoughts--UPDATED

Semi-random Thoughts--UPDATED

2009-06-09T14:13:19Z

Newly-minted soldier Private William Long was laid to rest yesterday, in a veterans' cemetery as certainly is appropriate considering how he died. He just didn't know he was in combat...

Those of us whose hearts are with Patriot Guard Riders even though we don't even own a motorcycle will find comfort in the knowledge that they were in strong attendance along with Rolling Thunder.

I don't know about the other services (I live in an Army/Navy town), but It wasn't too long ago that the Marine Corps changed its policy regarding traveling and uniforms. After 9-11 the new Marines who come to town for their secondary training were ordered to travel in civilian clothes and then change into uniform after arrival. Not too many months ago the policy switched to an overt encouragement that they wear their uniforms; I guess the threat level was considered low enough and the PR/visibility benefit high enough. I wonder if that has changed, now...

My heart breaks, but not just for the cavernous loss PVT Long's family is experiencing and for our collective loss of a young man who appears to have already been a credit to the service. I rage over a media environment that ensures I have encountered not a single person who didn't know about the abortion doctor shooting, but few civilians who know about the Arkansas recruiting center shooting (even among military supporters). I cry over a president who took two days to issue a response (print only, in passive and weak words) to the shooting of two soldiers he leads, and then made it exclusive to the Associated Press and didn't even post it on the White House website.

For many years I have wondered why we haven't had suicide bombings at malls, "random acts of Jihad," etc, as other targeted countries do. I still don't know why, but I grieve because I suspect that question will no longer be relevant...

[I apologize if that's dark. It's where my head is right now.]

UPDATE: This the most detailed and touching report of PVT Long's funeral that I've read.

Comment from AW1 Tim on 2009-06-09

2009-06-09T18:10:59Z

Alpha Male

Beta Male

Not hard at all to see which one is which.

Comment from AFSister on 2009-06-09

2009-06-09T17:25:37Z

Absolutely.
GWB was a feared man; Obama is a mouse.... which makes me fear him.

Comment from FbL on 2009-06-09

2009-06-09T15:20:40Z

And I fully expect random acts of jihad, as you called them, to be more prevalent under this new president of ours.

Part of the reason we've been safe is because we have some devoted protectors (intelligence agencies, law enforcement, etc), who have been doing absolutely heroic work that isn't making the front page. But they are human and there have surely been things they missed, and how ot you protect against every lone Jihadist who wants to just shoot up a mall with a handgun? Yet we had nothing until this last week...

As we marveled at how safe we'd been on American shores over the years, I came to the conclusion that the biggest factor in the lack of small-scale attacks in America was psychological--that the people who would attack us were frankly scared of GWB. Seriously--the Madman Theory. I think they believed that if they conducted an attack on US soil it would be traced back to their homeand Bush would level the country. Either that, or he'd bomb Mecca. He wouldn't have, but that's what they thought. And he was relentless in his support of anti-terrorism efforts. They knew that at best he had serious balls and was completely devoted to doing what it took to protect America, and at worst he was insane.

It worked. Who knows exactly what's going on behind the scenes today, but Obama is projecting as much weakness as Bush projected strength. And that scares the hell out of me in a very non-metaphorical way--I feel much less safe than I did six months ago.

Comment from AFSister on 2009-06-09

2009-06-09T15:10:16Z

It really pisses me off the our so-called CiC took such a weak stance on this shooting, but was all up in arms about the abortion doctor killing. If it wasn't for the milblog community outrage over his lack of interest in the shooting, I doubt he ever would have said anything- written or spoken.

There's no need to apologize about being "darK'. It's a dark time. And I fully expect random acts of jihad, as you called them, to be more prevalent under this new president of ours.

Why is it that our country isn't taking a harder look at islamic organizations within our own country?? Just yesterday I was reading a story about an American Islamic recruit who was apparently murdered by Al Shabaab in Somalia. The teen was a member of the Abubakar As-Saddique Mosque in Minneapolis. Another member of this mosque became a suicide bomber and killed 29 people in Somalia last year. Nearly 40 young islamic men from Minneapolis have "disappeared" recently- and are suspected of being Al Shabaab recruits being trained as terrorists in Somalia.
WHY ISN'T OUR GOVERNMENT DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS????

It boggles my mind.