Why Grandpa Carries A Gun

Why Grandpa carries a gun
                                                       Why Carry a Gun?
My old grandpa said to me 'Son, there  comes a time in
every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles   and
starts bustin' caps and usually it's when he becomes too old            
to take an ass whoopin.'
I don't carry a gun to kill   people. I carry a gun to
keep from being killed.
I  don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun
because sometimes this world can be a scary place.
I  don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid. I carry a
gun because there are real threats in the world.
I don't carry a gun because I'm evil. I carry a gun 
because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the
world.
I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I
carry a gun because I understand the limitations of
government.
I  don't carry a gun because I'm angry. I carry a gun so
that I  don't have to spend the rest of my life hating
myself for failing to be prepared.
I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone.
I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age
in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow
afternoon.
I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy. I carry a gun
because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a 
cowboy.
I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry
a gun because men know how to take care of themselves
and the ones they love.
I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry
a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am               
inadequate.
I don't carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun
because I love life and the people who make it                
meaningful to me.
                *                 * * * * * * * * *
Police protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must
protect  themselves.
Police do not protect you from crime, they  usually just
investigate the crime after it happens and then  call
someone in to clean up the mess.

Personally,  I carry a gun because I'm too young to die
and too old to take  an ass whoopin'.....author unknown
(but obviously brilliant)
**********************************************
A LITTLE                 GUN HISTORY
In 1929, the Soviet Union established
gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million                
dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and           
     exterminated.
  ------------------------------
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to
1917, 1.5 million  Armenians, unable to defend
themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
  ------------------------------
Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939
to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were
unable to defend themselves were rounded up and
exterminated.
                  ------------------------------
China  established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to
1952, 20 million  political dissidents, unable to defend
themselves, were rounded  up and exterminated.
  ------------------------------
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to
1981, 100,000  Mayan Indians, unable to defend
themselves, were rounded up and  exterminated.
  ---- ------------- -------------
Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to
1979, 300,000  Christians, unable to defend themselves,
were rounded up and exterminated.
  ------------------------------
Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to
1977, one million  educated people, unable to defend
themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
  -----------------------------
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the                
20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.  
------------------------------
You won't see this data on the US evening              
   news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.            
Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and                
property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the          
      law-abiding citizens.
Take note my fellow Americans,  before it's too late!
The next time someone talks in  favor of gun control,
please remind them of this history lesson.
With guns, we are 'citizens'.  Without them, we are                
'subjects'.
During WWII the Japanese decided not to  invade America
because they knew most Americans were ARMED!
If you value your freedom, please spread this anti
gun-control message to all of  your friends.
The purpose of fighting is to  win.
There is no possible victory in defense.
The sword is more important than the shield, and skill
is more important than either.
The final weapon is the brain.
All else is  supplemental. 
SWITZERLAND ISSUES EVERY HOUSEHOLD A GUN!
SWITZERLAND'S GOVERNMENT TRAINS EVERY ADULT THEY ISSUE
A RIFLE.
SWITZERLAND HAS THE  LOWEST GUN RELATED CRIME RATE OF
ANY CIVILIZED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!
IT'S A NO BRAINER! DON'T LET OUR GOVERNMENT WASTE
MILLIONS OF OUR TAX DOLLARS IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE ALL LAW               
ABIDING CITIZENS EASY TARGETS.
I'm a firm  believer in the 2nd Amendment!
If you are too, please forward.

DO YOU KNOW WHO YOUR CZAR IS?

Do you know who YOUR CZAR is?

OBAMA'S "CZARS"-- Read who they are and

realize what they want to do.

Richard Holbrooke

AfghanistanCzar

Ultra liberal anti gun former Gov. Of New Mexico. Pro Abortion and legal drug use. Dissolve the 2nd Amendment

Ed Montgomery

Auto recovery Czar

Black radical anti business activist.  Affirmative Action and Job Preference for blacks.  Univ of Maryland Business School Dean teaches U.S. Business has caused world poverty.  ACORN board member.  Communist DuBois Club member.

Jeffrey Crowley

AIDS Czar

Radical Homosexual.. A Gay Rights activist. Believes in Gay Marriage and especially, a Special Status for homosexuals only, including complete free health care for gays.

Alan Bersin

Border Czar

The former failed superintendent of San Diego . Ultra Liberal friend of Hilary Clinton. Served as Border Czar under Janet Reno - to keep borders open to illegals without interference from U.S.

David J. Hayes

California Water Czar

Sr. Fellow of radical environmentalist group, "Progress Policy".  No training or experience in water management whatsoever.

Ron Bloom 

Car Czar

Auto Union worker. Anti business & anti nuclear. Has worked hard to force U.S. Auto makers out of business. Sits on the Board of Chrysler which is now Auto Union owned.   How did this happen?

Dennis Ross 

Central Region Czar

Believes U.S. Policy has caused Mid East wars.  Obama apologist to the world.  Anti gun and completely pro abortion.

Lynn Rosenthal

Domestic Violence Czar

Director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence.  Vicious anti-male feminist. Supported male castration.Imagine?

Gil Kerlikowske 

Drug Czar

Devoted lobbyist for every restrictive gun law proposal,  Former Chief of Police in Liberal Seattle.  Believes no American should own a  firearm.  Supports legalization of all drugs

Paul Volcker   

E conomicCzar

Head of Fed. Reserve under Jimmy Carter when U.S. Economy nearly failed. Obama appointed head of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board which engineered the Obama economic disaster to U.S. Economy.  Member of anti-business "Progressive Policy" organization

Carol Brower

Energy and Environment Czar

Political Radical Former head of EPA - known for anti-business activism.  Strong anti-gun ownership.

Joshua DuBois

Faith Based Czar

Political Black activist-Degree in Black Nationalism.  Anti gun ownership lobbyist. WHAT THE HELL DOES A FAITH BASED CZAR DO???????????

Cameron Davis 

Great LakesCzar

Chicago radical anti-business environmentalist.  Blames George  Bush for "Poisoning the water that minorities have to drink." No experience or training in water management.  Former ACORN Board member (what does that tell us?)

Van Jones

Green Jobs Czar

(since resigned)..  Black activist Member of American Communist Party and San Francisco Communist Party  who said Geo. Bush caused the 911 attack and wanted Bush investigated by the World Court for war crimes.  Black activist with strong anti-white views.

Daniel Fried

Guantanamo Closure Czar

Human Rights Activist for Foreign Terrorists.  Believes America has caused the war on terrorism. Believes terrorists have rights above and beyond Americans.

Nancy-Ann DeParle.   

Health Czar

Former head of Medicare / Medicaid.   Strong Health Care Rationing proponent.  She is married to a reporter for The New York Times.

Vivek Kundra 

Information Czar

Born in New Delhi , India .  Controls all public information, including labels and news releases.  Monitors all private Internet emails. (hello?)

Todd Stern   

International Climate Czar

Anti-business former White House chief of Staff- Strong supportrer of the Kyoto Accord. Pushing hard for Cap and Trade. Blames U.S. Business for Global warming. Anti- U.S. Business prosperity. 

Dennis Blair

Intelligence Czar

Ret. Navy.  Stopped U.S. Guided missile program as "provocative".  Chair of ultra liberal "Council on Foreign Relations" which blames American organizations for regional wars.

George Mitchell

Mideast Peace Czar

Fmr. Sen from Maine Left wing radical.  Has said Israel should be split up into "2 or 3 " smaller more manageable plots". (God forbid) A true Anti-nuclear anti-gun & pro homosexual "special rights" advocate

Kenneth Feinberg 

Pay Czar

Chief of Staff to TED KENNEDY.   Lawyer who got rich off the 911 victims payoffs. (horribly true)

Cass Sunstein 

Regulatory Czar

Liberal activist judge believes free speech needs to be limited for the "common good".  Essentially against 1st amendment. Rules against personal freedoms many times -like private gun ownership and right to free speech. This guy has to be run out of Washington !!

John Holdren 

Science Czar

Fierce ideological environmentalist, Sierra Club, Anti-business activist. Claims U.S. business has caused world poverty.  No Science training.

Earl Devaney 

Stimulus Accountability Czar

Spent career trying to take guns away from American citizens. Believes in Open Borders to Mexico .  Author of  statement blaming U.S. gun stores for drug war in Mexico .

J. Scott Gration   

Sudan Czar

Native of Democratic Republic of Congo . Believes U.S. does little to help Third World countries.  Council of foreign relations, asking for higher U.S. taxes to support United Nations

Herb Allison 

TARP Czar

Fannie Mae CEO responsible for the U.S. Recession by using real estate mortgages to back up the U.S. stock market. Caused millions of  people to lose their life savings.

John Brennan

Terrorism Czar

Anti CIA activist.  No training in diplomatic or gov. affairs. Believes Open Borders to Mexico and a dialog with terrorists and has suggested Obama disband U.S. military   A TOTAL MORON !!!!!

Aneesh Chopra   

Technology Czar

No Technology training.   Worked for the Advisory Board Company, a health care think tank for hospitals. Anti doctor activist.  Supports Obama Health care Rationing and salaried doctors working exclusively for the Gov. health care plan

Adolfo Carrion Jr..

Urban Affairs Czar

Puerto Rican born Anti American activist and leftist group member in Latin America . Millionaire "slum lord" of the Bronx , NY.  Owns many lavish homes and condos which he got from "sweetheart" deals with labor unions.  Wants higher taxes on middle class to pay for minority housing and health care

Ashton Carter 

Weapons Czar

Leftist.  Wants all private weapons in U.S. destroyed.  Supports UN ban on firearms ownership in America ..  No Other "policy"

Gary Samore

WMD Policy Czar

Former U.S. Communist.   Wants U.S. to destroy all WMD unilaterally as a show of good faith.  Has no other "policy".

How lucky are we that these are the people who are helping President Obama in the RUNNING of our country and the White House?

ARE YOU MAD YET?  Please pass this on and EDUCATE your family, friends and neighbors!

1% Tax on all financial transactions proposed

One writer wrote that this was a standard tax in Australia whenheI lived there.  He imagines it still is on the books.  Socialism at its best.  Tax everything you can!

Another writer said he checked this out on Truth or Fiction and it is true.  The bill is HR-4646 introduced by US Rep Peter deFazio D-Oregon and US Senator Tom Harkin D-Iowa.  It is now in committee and will probably not be brought out until after the Nov. elections.Suggest that you pass this along and also to your state senator and representative and US Congressman and Senators.                                                          

One percent transaction tax is proposed
President Obama's finance team is recommending a transaction tax. His plan is  to sneak it in after the November election to keep it under the radar. This is a 1% tax on all transactions at any financial institution i. e. Banks, Credit Unions, etc.. Any deposit you make, or move around within your account, i. e. transfer to, will have a 1% tax charged. If your pay check or your social Security or whatever is direct deposit, 1% tax charged. If you hand carry a check in to deposit, 1% tax charged, If you take cash in to deposit, 1% tax charged.This is from the man who promised that if you make under $250,000 per year, you will not see one penny of new tax. Keep your eyes and ears open, you will be amazed at what you learn.

Some will say aw it's just 1%... remember once the tax is there they can raise it at will.

http://www.standard.net/node/44797

THE LAWYERS PARTY

The Lawyers Party

This is very interesting!  I never thought about it this way.  
The Democratic Party has become the Lawyers' Party.  
Barack Obama is a lawyer. 
Michelle Obama is a lawyer. 
Hillary Clinton is a lawyer.  
Bill Clinton is a lawyer. 
John Edwards is a lawyer.  
Elizabeth Edwards is a lawyer. 
Every Democrat nominee since 1984 went to law school (although Gore did not graduate).
Every Democrat vice presidential nominee since 1976, except for Lloyd Bentsen, went to law school. 
Look at leaders of the Democrat Party in Congress:  
Harry Reid is a lawyer.  
Nancy Pelosi is a lawyer.    
The Republican Party is different.

President Bush was a businessman.  
Vice President Cheney was a businessman. 
The leaders of the Republican Revolution:  Newt Gingrich was a history professor.  Tom Delay was an exterminator. Dick Armey was an economist.  House Minority Leader Boehner was a plastic manufacturer.   The former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is a heart surgeon. 
Who was the last Republican president who was a lawyer?  Gerald Ford, who left office 31 years ago.  Bear in mind that Ford was appointed, not elected.

The Republican Party is made up of real people doing real work, who are often the targets of lawyers. 
The Democrat Party is made up of lawyers and bankrolled by lawyers.  Democrats mock and scorn men who create wealth, like Bush and Cheney, or who heal the sick, like Frist, or who immerse themselves in history, like Gingrich. 
The Lawyers' Party sees these sorts of people, who provide goods and services that people want, as the enemies of America .  And, so we have seen the procession of official enemies, in the eyes of the Lawyers' Party, grow. 
Against whom do Hillary and Obama rail?  Pharmaceutical companies, oil companies, hospitals, manufacturers, fast food restaurant chains, large retail businesses, bankers, and anyone producing anything of value in our nation (and creating jobs). 
This is the natural consequence of viewing everything through the eyes of lawyers.  Lawyers solve problems by successfully representing their clients, in this case the American people.  Lawyers seek to have new laws passed, they seek to win lawsuits, they press appellate courts to overturn precedent, and lawyers always parse language to favor their side. 
Confined to the narrow practice of law, that is fine.  But it is an awful way to govern a great nation.  When politicians as lawyers begin to view some Americans as clients and other Americans as opposing parties, then the role of the legal system in our life becomes all-consuming.  Some Americans become "adverse parties" of our very government.  We are not all litigants in some vast social class-action suit.  We are citizens of a republic that promises us a great deal of freedom from laws, from courts, and from lawyers. 
Today, we are drowning in laws; we are contorted by judicial decisions; we are driven to distraction by omnipresent lawyers in all parts of our once private lives.
America has a place for laws and lawyers, but that place is modest and reasonable, not vast and unchecked.  When the most important decision for our next president is whom he will appoint to the Supreme Court, the role of lawyers and the law in America is too big.  When lawyers use criminal prosecution as a continuation of politics by other means, as happened in the lynching of Scooter Libby and Tom Delay, then the power of lawyers in America is too great.  When House Democrats sue America in order to hamstring our efforts to learn what our enemies are planning to do to us, then the role of litigation in America has become crushing. 
We cannot expect the Lawyers' Party to provide real change, real reform or real hope in America    Most Americans know that a republic in which every major government action must be blessed by nine unelected judges is not what Washington intended in 1789.  Most Americans grasp that we cannot fight a war when ACLU lawsuits snap at the heels of our defenders.  Most Americans intuit that more lawyers and judges will not restore declining moral values or spark the spirit of enterprise in our economy.

Perhaps Americans will understand that change cannot be brought to our nation by those lawyers who already largely dictate American society and business.  Perhaps Americans will see that hope does not come from the mouths of lawyers but from personal dreams nourished by hard work.  Perhaps Americans will embrace the truth that more lawyers with more power will only make our problems worse. 
The United States has 5% of the world's population and 66% of the world's lawyers! Tort (Legal) reform legislation has been introduced in congress several times in the last several years to limit punitive damages in ridiculous lawsuits such as "spilling hot coffee on yourself and suing the establishment that sold it to you" and also to limit punitive damages in huge medical malpractice lawsuits. This legislation has continually been blocked from even being voted on by the Democrat Party. When you see that 97% of the political contributions from the American Trial Lawyers Association goes to the Democrat Party, then you realize who is responsible for our medical and product costs being so high! 
Please -- DO  PASS  THIS  ON!

BE CAREFUL IN ACCEPTING THAT WHICH IS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE

This is a 9 minute cartoon that every American needs to watch.  If you don't have time now, save it and come back another time to watch it.

After you watch it there are two things that need to be done.

First, you must get out and vote.

Second, you must pass this on to everyone.

If you don't nothing serious will happen, we will only loose our freedom!

t

Click here: National Juggernaut: This Cartoon Seemed Far-Fetched In 1948

http://nationaljuggernaut.blogspot.com/2009/09/this-cartoon-seemed-far-fetched-in-1948.html

What can a cartoon, produced in 1948, teach us today, that's of any value?  You'd be very surprised!  Pay close attention!  Keep in mind as you watch this that it was done in '1948'.  Keep telling yourself that as you view it.

YOU MUSLIMS WORRY ME!

You Worry Me

This pilot 'hit the nail' right on the head in his open letter.
The paper stated that some Muslim doctor is saying we are profiling him because he has been checked three times while getting on an airplane.
The following is a letter from a pilot. This well spoken man, who is a pilot with American Airlines, says what is in his heart, beautifully.....
Read, absorb and pass this on.
'YOU WORRY ME!'  By American Airlines Pilot - Captain John Maniscalco
I've been trying to say this since 9/11, but you worry me.  I wish you didn't.  I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country.  But you don't blend in anymore.  I notice you, and it worries me.  
I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now.  I don't fully understand their grievances and hate, but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.  
On September 11, ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country.  They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers.

The Palestinians celebrated, the Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of the Arab world.  So, I notice you now. I don't want to be worried.  I don't want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists  But I need your help.  As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist. 
How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim Americans and the Arab/Muslim terrorists in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter these same good neighbors and children? 
The events of September 11th changed the answer.  It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults.  It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me.

I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know, whether or not you love America .  Do you pledge allegiance to its flag?  Do you proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car?  Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it?  Or do you pray that Allah with destroy it in one of your Jihad's? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords?  A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country?  Are you willing to preserve this freedom by also paying the ultimate sacrifice?  Do you love America ?  If this is your commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it. 
Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States of America.  Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent. No more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks because I worry about what is unprovoked to you.  I am not interested in any more sympathy.  I am only interested in action.  What will you do for America - our great country - at this time of crisis, at this time of war? 
I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets.  I want to hear you chanting 'Allah Bless America ' I want to see young Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole.  
The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize right now in Muslim communities.  You know them.  You know where they are.  Hand them over to us, now!  But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action.  Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter.  You have disappeared from the streets.  You have posted armed security guards at your facilities.  You have threatened lawsuits.  You have screamed for protection from reprisals. 
The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the media were defensive and equivocating.  They seemed more concerned with making sure that the United States proves who was responsible before taking action.  They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and denouncing 'leaders' like Khadafi, Hussein, Farrakhan, and Arafat.   
If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people, then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up.  What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good, and pure, and true, when your 'leaders' are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance?  It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if huge numbers of the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion.  A form that has been demonstrated to us over and over again.  A form whose structure is built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide.  A form whose members are recruited from the prisons around the world.  A form whose members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air.  A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United States of America, the country of their birth.  A form whose rules are so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam. 
We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us:  Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world.  I want to know where every Arab Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it.  A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and your family.

I am pleading with you to let me know.  I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance, and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand. Until then.
'YOU WORRY  ME!'
CANADIAN COMMENTS:
I totally agree with this sentiment.  I hope you will forget all about the 'political correctness' mandate we've had rammed down our throats, and see if this doesn't ring true in your heart and mind.  For Canada , with all the multiculturism we've been told is so important....why should we not, as Canadians, expect that the millions of new people immigrating to our country will show their love for our country, their allegiance to our country, their willingness to obey the laws of our country, and acceptance that we are a Christian country?  Just because they are able to enjoy exercising their own religion, they should not expect us to be ashamed of ours. They knew Canada was a Christian country when they came here. Why are we erasing Christianity because immigrants who are unwilling to adopt our way of life expect us to?  There is just too much insanity in the world, and we have to start taking a stand.
I hope you will forward, so others will feel they are not alone if they are starting to feel the same.
THIS IS TOO GOOD TO JUST READ AND DELETE.... LET'S SATURATE  NEW ZEALAND , AUSTRALIA , THE USA AND  CANADA WITH THIS ONE!

McChrystal - His Action Took Guts

Subject: McChrystal


McChrystal was talking to you..........
Peter Heck - Guest Columnist -

The ink had not yet dried on my last column that discussed the fact

that Barack Obama was woefully unprepared for the presidency and as a

result is making deadly missteps in the execution of that role, when

news broke of General Stanley McChrystal in essence saying the exact

same thing to Rolling Stone magazine. This isn't just a story to be

brushed off. This is a bombshell.

Don't be distracted by the media comically chastising the General for

daring to speak out against "The One" (yes, the same media that hailed

military officers who were willing to "speak truth to power" in

criticizing George Bush). That isn't the story.



The true meaning of the McChrystal episode is titanic, because it is

quite apparent the General was sending a stern message directly to the

American people.



For more reasons than I can count, it is beyond obvious that

McChrystal's public criticism of Obama was not a lapse in judgment or

a mistake. It was unquestionably intentional. First, four-star

generals have not achieved that rank without knowing the chain of

command and the expectation of subordination to superiors. Second,

all of McChrystal's advisers were touting the same message,

demonstrating this was no fluke, nor an offhand comment taken out of

context. Third, McChrystal spoke the inflammatory words to Rolling

Stone, a well known anti-war, anti-military magazine. Fourth, reports

are that McChrystal actually saw the piece before it went to print and

offered up no objections to its content.



If all that is true, then it naturally begs the question: Why did he do it?



McChrystal is one of the lead authors of the "counterinsurgency"

strategy that, despite the nay saying of liberals like then-Senators

Obama and Biden, transformed Iraq from a quagmire into a success. He

knows the strategy works. But as its architect, he also knows this

new military policy requires two vital elements: lots of troops, and

as much time as necessary for them to do their job.



While other factors are important (cultural bonds, regional

partnerships, financial investment, troop morale, etc.), the two most

crucial ingredients to making counterinsurgency work (in Afghanistan

or anywhere) is a massive amount of troops on the ground to overwhelm

the enemy and live among the people, and a commitment to stay as long

as necessary to break the will of the enemy.



This is precisely why counterinsurgency worked in Iraq. Over the

ignorant objections of both Obama and Biden, then-President Bush

listened to his military commanders and ordered the troop surge. And

while being pummeled by the media and Democrat political opportunists

for not setting a hard deadline for withdrawal, Bush committed to stay

in Iraq until the job was finished. The result speaks for itself.



As the Afghan war began to deteriorate, Stanley McChrystal was put in

charge to implement that effective strategy there. But he quickly

found that Barack Obama is no George W. Bush. First, Obama – having

championed himself as the anti-war candidate – cut the number of

troops McChrystal requested. And then, in what has to be one of the

most foolish wartime moves in history, he announced an arbitrary date

for the beginning of American troop withdrawal.



This may please the ex-hippies in the anti-war crowd that Obama

courted during the 2008 campaign, but it has emboldened our enemy,

imperiled our troops, and created a giant mess of our

counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan.



Having pressed his case privately with Obama's war team in Washington,

McChrystal certainly saw the handwriting on the wall, and as a final

recourse, pled his case to the American people.



Were his actions a breach of protocol? Yes. Did they rise to the

level of insubordination? Probably. Was Obama justified in removing

him from command? I think so. But after we're done hammering

McChrystal for going over the President's head, we better give some

serious thought as to why he was so willing to put his career on the

line like that.



The reason is as clear as it is frightening: our political leadership

in Washington is clueless. And their incompetence is costing us not

only resources and money, but most importantly the precious lives of

brave American soldiers.



General Stanley McChrystal was willing to lose his job to send that

message to the only people who can do something about it. He was

talking to you.