MISSILES OF DEATH

MISSILES OF DEATH - According to an MSNBC report Iran's little Hilter Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again thumbed his nose at Israel and the US and test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles in a war exercise conducted at the mouth of the Strait of Homuz on July 2, 2008.

Gen. Hossein Salami, air force commander of the Revolutionary Guards, said the missile firing was in response to enemies who have have threatened Iran with "harsh language." Really. Has Salami forgotten Ahmadinejad's threats to "wipe Israel off the map.''

"Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch," said Salami. Sounds like saber rattling to me.

The barrage included a new Shahab-3 missile which has a range of 1,250 miles and can carry a nuclear warhead which puts Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan within striking distance. Iraq would also be in the crosshairs.

The Pelosi/Reid Democrats are in a state of shock over the missile firing and fears that Israel with the backing of the Bush administration won't wait until Bush leaves office to strike nuclear reactor sites in Iran.

Israel has already demonstrated its resolve to protect itself from such threats in the past. In 1981 Israel destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq shortly before it was to have begun operating. On September 6, 2007 Israeli jets knocked out a nuclear reactor site under construction in Syria. North Korea was assisting Syria in constructing the site and has long provided Syria assistance on a ballistic missle program.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the missile firing shows that Iran is a threat. Gates stopped short of commenting on possible pre-emptive strikes on Iran nuclear sites.

According to "leaked" Pentagon top secret documents US Special Ops troops have been on the ground inside Iran. There likely mission, although not disclosed, would be to conduct surveillance on possible military targets. You can bet the nuclear sites would be a top priority target.

US or Israeli air strikes in Iran would be strictly against military targets avoiding civilian population areas. It would not be, as the Democrats say, an all out war with Iran.

The Iranian people are being held hostage by Ahmadinejad and his thugs and many would be relieved to see his ouster and the removal of nuclear sites even if it meant by US or Israeli air strikes.

If I were Ahmadinejad I would be seeking immediate shelter in a deep underground bunker in an undisclosed location.

EL-KIKHIA STRIKES AGAIN - Mansour O. El-Kikhia's poison pen articles continue to grace the editorial pages of the Express-News. El-Kikhia, who has never met a terrorist he can't support, in his latest diatribe blames the United States and Bush I and Bush II for "opening the doors" for human rights abuses across the the globe. "Establishing a new global rudder needs to be the next president's primary task," extolls El-Kikhia.

According to El-Kikhia because of GITMO and Abu Ghraib Prison, America has no right to "scold" dictators for torture or human rights abuses. Really now, how can you compare conditions at GITMO and Abu Ghraib to terrorists who torture and behead innocent civilians and strap bombs on women and kids to kill and maim. Who have tortured and murdered captured US troops and mutilated their bodies. The videoed beheading of Nicolas Berg, a US citizen, at the hands of terrorists stand as a stark example of what the war on terror is all about.

There is one hell of a big difference between humiliating prisoners, as was the case at Abu Ghraib or waterboarding a few at GITMO, and the horrible atrocities committed by terrorists, al-Qaida in particular.

El-Kikhia has also blasted President Bush's recent Mideast trip as failure. And attacked Bush for calling Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations while supporting Israel. He said most Arabs and Muslims don't agree with Bush. No kidding, that's really a big surprise. Who would have quessed that Arabs and Muslims, who refuse to recognize Israel, would disagree with Bush. Amazing.

In the meantime Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel killing, wounding and terrorizing innocent civilians and refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist. And Hezbollah continues its efforts to takeover Lebanon and conduct additional missile attacks on Israel with the help of Iran and Syria.

El-Kikhia is further upset with Bush for calling Barack Hussein Obama an appeaser and comparing him with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin who appeased Hitler in WWII. Obama has said he would meet, unconditionally, with dictators and tyrants worldwide. Sure sounds like appeasement to me.

El-Kikhia says "it is imperative for the next American leader (he prays to Allah that it will be Obama) to talk to Hamas and Hezbollah." Obama is his man and willing and ready to meet with these thugs.

Continuing his attack on Bush El-Kikihia says, "The administration cannot claim the high ground when talking to dictators when its policies are in the mud." And blames these policies for human rights abuses in Chad, Dafur, Myanmar (Burma) and Somalia on the US. Dictators, he says, take their cues from "bad (like America) hegemonies."

He continues his drivel by saying he "feels sorry" for the next president because he will have to convince the world that the Bush administration is the exception, not the rule. That nasty old Bush. How sad.

What Bush I and Bush II did is show the world that America is willing and able to take on and defeat the armed thugs and dictators of the world who want to kill us and destroy our way of life. What really irks El-Kikhia and the Pelosi/Reid Democrats is that we are winning in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Following WWII America had not won a conflict until President Reagan sent US Marines and the 82nd Abn Division into Grenada in 1983 to rescue US students and oust Fidel Castro's armed Cuban thugs. And we have been winning ever since, except for Clinton's fiasco's in Mogadishu and Bosnia.

Korea was our first no-win war where, as Reagan once said, "It was okay to fight and die but not win because it might start a bigger war." Today a communist dictator in North Korea is threatening to nuke everyone. Then we cut and run in Vietnam after winning all the battles and a bunch of armed communist thugs are now running the place. Now the Democrats are doing their damnest to have us lose in Iraq.

Mansour O. El-Kikhia, besides being a Bush basher, is a hater of Jews and American policies of the Jewish State and a pal of Iranian President Ahmadinejad who wants to "wipe Israel off the map." His Express-News articles substantiate the charge. It's beyond me why EN editors continue to publish his anti-Jewish, anti-America garbage.

Most of us who still believe in America have a pretty good idea what El-Kikhia can do with his "new global rudder."

MEXICAN WAR - San Antonians are taking a long, hard look at all the ongoing violence across the border in Mexico. Most of the violence is the result of drug trafficking and has contributed to the rising crime rate in the Alamo City, especially murder.

Since 2006 over 4,000 people, including US citizens, have been killed in the Mexican Drug War and several times that number wounded. This doesn't take into account the number of casualties prior to 2006. Hundreds more have been driven from their homes and villages. Outgunned and outmanned police officers have thrown down their guns and badges and fled across the border into the US seeking refuge. Others have joined the drug cartels.

In two years of war Mexico has lost about the same number killed as the US has lost in over five years of fighting in the Iraq/Afghanistan War.

According to the Express-News Congress must help Mexico win their war against the drug cartel. And Congress agrees and has passed the Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion measure to help Mexico win the war. What? Win the war? The Express-News and Congress want Mexico to win their war but they don't want us to win in Iraq. What kind of talk is that. Besides Sen. Harry Reid has said the war in Iraq is already lost.

How is it that Mexico can win their war with our tax dollars but we can't win the Iraq War. Where was Mexico when America went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Vicente Fox heavily criticized the war when it started.

I haven't heard any support on the Iraq/Afghanistan War coming from Mexican President Felipe Calderon. The Express-News says Calderon cannot do it alone that the US must help train their police officers, enhance their intelligence capabilities and monitor their financial institutions to keep the criminals from laundering money.

I haven't seen any improvement in Mexico's government if anything it has only become more corrupt regardless of how much tax money we give them. What has Mexico done to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the US. Nothing, nada, zip, zero.

There are increasing reports that the Mexican military is involved with the drug cartels supplying them with weapons and providing security for their operations. In some instances the Mexican military has fired on US Border Patrols and even crossed the border into the US.

The Express-News says if US politicians are sincere about border security they must realize that the real threat comes from drug smugglers, not undocumented workers. It is time, they say, to help our neighbor help itself.

Baloney. If US politicians were sincere about border security they would have already secured the border with fences backed up by the US military and started rounding up illegal immigrants and kicking their butts back into Mexico where they belong. As far as drug smugglers and their Mexican Army pals are concerned let them run into a few M1 Abrams main battle tanks and see how far they get.

If the US government was really serious about cracking down on drug smugglers Bush would have already pardoned Border Patrol officers Ramos and Compean for shooting a fleeing mexican drug runner in the butt and fired Johnny Sutton for prosecuting them in the first place.

It's time for our "neighbor" to help itself and quit looking for handouts from US taxpayers. Instead of shelling out another $1.4 billion to "help" the corrupt Mexican government let's use that money to secure the border and deport illegal immigrants.

My choice for a man to put in charge of border security would be Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Bet that would send the right message to President Calderon and the Mexican drug cartel.

Col. Jim Miles, TXSG (Ret)