Trump Pulls Troops Out of Syria and Afghanistan

Mattis, a superb combat warrior, disagrees with a  superb strategist
They're both right! 

We may take a bit of flack from pseudo-hawks and NeoCons, but we support Trump's decision 100%.

Old Military and Intelligence guys have wondered at the rationale of keeping our troops in the Middle East.
Saddam is dead,
Osama bin Laden is still dead.

We have no stake in the Middle East other than to assist governments to stabilize, which does not include the massive presence of Central Command Forces. Nor does it require keeping massive US Military forces in Europe under the European Command -- a relic of the Cold War. Let the Europeans fund and populate NATO; we're tired of taking their lip and funding their exquisite tastes.

As necessary, we have the capability of transporting a fully equipped combat division, with combat support aircraft from the US to a crisis site within hours via our Transportation Command's  C-5 and
C-17 cargo planes.  We can deploy supersonic bombers and fighters from the US to arrive over the Middle East with minimal flight time with maximized combat effectiveness.

We should learn from history [an odd idea, now, isn't it?]

We've been involved in these faux wars for decades, the purpose of which always remains vague - other than to support the Military-Industrial Complex -- as detailed by General/POTUS Eisenhower.

As the Soviet Empire was crumbling, we sat with Bill Clark, then the Assistant Secretary of the Army [General Mark Clark's son] as he bemoaned the future/demise of the Military without a defined enemy.

Specifically, without a definable enemy, we would have no reason to maintain a large, standing Military; and if a new global crisis arose, how could we mobilize in time to meet that crisis?

We've spent a few years in combat in a variety of countries, supposedly to "defend our country", only to learn the enemies we fought were once our friends, and our current friends were once our enemies.

Worse, we learned our "leaders" [e.g., Kissinger, Bush-1, W, Robert Gates, Obama, Billary] were the actual enemy we've come to know as the Deep State, all leading us into senseless wars.

After we [personally] were able to defeat the insurgency in Northeast Thailand, we gloated until we learned the insurgency had been sponsored by the Chinese who coopted the anti-government movement protesting the government's confiscation of farmlands in order to build a hydro-electric dam, funded by our very own Agency for International Development [USAID].  The dam construction devastated famers by claiming their fertile land and relegating this once prosperous group to generations of poverty and government subsidies.

But, the "greater good" prevailed as the region received electricity -- although few could use it.

That revelation in 1974, got us to thinking about our major Military commitments.

China and Vietnam [Ho Chi Minh] were some of our greatest supporters in WW2, establishing OSS spy networks (which we inherited during the Vietnam War) and recovering our downed pilots; but now, that enemy, Japan - the invading force, is our close ally in the Pacific, and China is now our enemy.

Ho Chi Minh worked in England and in France, and on the docks in Baltimore, so he was fluent in English as well as the US culture.

He led the movement for independence from France and formed the Indochinese Communist Party, and following WW2, sought Eisenhower's support for Vietnam's independence - which Ike declined.

LBJ initiated the war with North Vietnam by sending our warships into their territorial waters, drawing fire, thus convincing Congressional hawks to declare war.

As it turns out, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was drafted a full six months before the attacks on US vessels occurred.

While we valiantly fought that war until 1975, Henry Kissinger, without the knowledge of Nixon, was selling us out to the Chinese in 1972, in exchange for a trade agreement.

But, throughout that war, we were often reminded of the heroin trade, via the Golden Triangle, through US Military transport, to the US.  Some folks are convinced that trade was sponsored or conducted by the CIA.

Iraq, for decades before we invaded to depose Saddam, was our closest Middle East Arab Ally [see our colleague, #Rick Francona's book "Ally to Adversary"], as well as our principal oil supplier.

Dick Cheney's Defense Contractors made a fortune exploiting the war -- and our soldiers, and we then had a generation of soldiers succumb to the Gulf War Syndrome [attributed to the oil vapor from burning wells, or, depleted uranium munitions, but in fact, derived from the Anthrax vaccine immunizations in 1990 by order of the Department of Defense on all Army troops who "might" be deployed to Iraq -- Bush's friends in the Pharmaceutical Industry profited mightily from that requirement -- even though it had not been through more than one (incomplete) trial.

Theoretically, the US would use oil sales from Iraq to pay for that war, but, in the end, the oil fields went under the control of other countries, and the US got not a cent!  On the other hand, US Defense contractors made fortunes.

Estimates by Reuters put the estimated total cost of the Iraq War at more than $5.6 Trillion.  
The war killed an estimated 150,000 Iraqi civilians, with unconfirmed estimates ranging up to 600,000, including security forces, insurgents, journalists, and humanitarian workers!  Bush demonstrated US power by publicly executing Saddam by hanging him, by the neck, until dead.
[Rumor has it that W faced that same sentence in Gitmo in December, 2018]

The social impact in Iraq included the reinvigoration of Islamic militants, reversal of women's rights, and a weakened an already precarious healthcare system.  The multi-billion reconstruction effort was regarded a failure as most of the monies spent on security was lost to waste or fraud.

Keep in mind that the basis of George W Bush's invasion of Iraq was based on his announcement that Saddam Hussein held "Weapons of Mass Destruction" [WMD] a claim discounted by Rick Francona who was/is an expert on the region and acted as General Schwartzkopf's personal Arabic interpreter and Intelligence Advisor.

Schwartzkopf, opposed by Dick Cheney later became critical of the rationale behind the war once he learned the "WMD" claim was fraudulent and handed in his retirement papers rather than remain on Active Duty.  No evidence was ever substantiated of WMDs in Iraq.

Our legacy in Iraq was, perhaps, to create the subsequent regional terrorist factions which represent our current global threat.

The Afghans were our closest allies in their battles against the Soviets, as we helped create and aided the Mujahiden; but, there were even allegations that the CIA created Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, via Operation Cyclone, -- and then, once the Soviets were defeated, we abandoned our Afghan colleagues, allowing religious zealots to control the Taliban who were then dubbed terrorists; they're now our enemy because bin Laden was reportedly hiding out in Afghanistan.

In spite of the Special Operations assault on bin Laden's Pakistan hideout and his assassination, he has been repeatedly reported in sightings vacationing in the Caribbean with his family.

The faux assassination of bin Laden was conducted by Admiral McRaven's Special Operations units under the guise of Operation Neptune Spear as a public relations event for then-POTUS Obama.  McRaven reportedly was one of the flag rank officers who signed on to Obama's requirement that they agreed to fire on US Civilians if so ordered.

Contrary to all Intelligence protocols, bin Laden was killed and his [supposedly his] mutilated body was dumped in the ocean, sparking Muslim outrage throughout the world, and leaving professional Intelligence officers bewildered that he was not taken captive [he was unarmed] and interrogated to obtain his knowledge of regional and global terrorist groups.

Notably, SEAL Team Six, the lead on the bin Laden assault, later suffered 38 casualties, to include 15 participants of the bin Laden raid when their Chinook helicopter was shot down on August 6, 2011IN [Extortion 17] -- not long after members of the Team lampooned Obama as in Clint Eastwood's Empty Chair soliloquy.

Loading 38 SEALs aboard a chopper in a combat zone strains credulity, but, apparently, the orders came down from McRaven -- an officer we all respected until too many of these incidents surfaced, and he has recently become a highly vocal critic of President Trump.

The chopper was allegedly shot down by a Surface to Air [SAM/MANPAD]


But, why are we in Afghanistan now?

Most experts remain bewildered, other than the US now tacitly protects the poppy/heroin trade.

And, we learned that ISIS, our Enemy-du-Jour, has been led and funded by senior officers of our closest Mid-East Allies, apparently so we would have an officially recognized enemy.

Later, we learned that Benghazi was all about covering up Hillary's arms deals with ISIS and al Qaeda by overthrowing Qadafi and transferring the contents of Libyan armories to al Qaeda -- who just might be tempted use those weapons against US forces.


Of late, we received from an anonymous donor, the complete [unclassified] war-plan designed by [former General] Wesley Clark [Clinton's protege and commander of the Military raid on Waco] in which Clark planned a war between Ukraine and Russia, into which US forces would be inserted and engaged.
[It was difficult to determine who would have been the enemy in that war, but US engagement would guarantee profits for our Defense Contractors.]

In Central America, a grouping of 'banana republics" and a hotbed of corruption, the US built up the Southern Command [SouthCom] headquarters from a Military retirement vacationland to a highly energized and blossoming combat command, focused on defeating the communist threat to Nicaragua, which Jimmy Carter had turned over to the Sandinistas by pulling support from the "evil despot", Somoza - [a West Point graduate] and allowing communist Daniel Ortega to come to power and who then ushered in the Cubans and Soviets -- who presented The Threat.

We were assigned as the Special Intelligence Advisor to SouthCom, a thinly staffed regional headquarters which could respond to any regional crisis, and watched it mushroom into a bloated, top heavy bureaucracy which justified its existence by toppling our host and ally, Noriega with a massive invasion, built a huge Military force in Honduras and El Salvador, created a war zone in El Salvador, and essentially destabilized an entire sub-continent by becoming the common enemy of all, and a seeming ally of the Drug Cartels, thanks to Bush-1, Clinton, Bush-2, and Obama.

The US militarized El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica, and headquartered Army and Air Force bases in each country, and supported Panama's Noriega as a "benevolent despot", who profited by accepting payments from the KGB, the CIA, Army Intelligence, -- and the Chinese.

[We managed HUMINT programs in CentAm following a by-name request by the CIA DDO-LA [D Clarridge] and the former DCI [V Walters] to restructure both the CIA and the Military Intelligence HUMINT operations in Latin America]

Noriega was also a drug runner and arms dealer; but, then we created an intelligence program that revealed that Noriega was not just a tin-horn dictator, but masterminded a global network of hundreds of front companies through which he moved drugs, arms, and laundered money -- a sophisticated network CIA/Deep State coveted, so Noriega was declared evil, and the US invaded Panama, and the CIA took control of all the Noriega Front Companies to carry on their global, Black enterprises.

But, all that is hidden in the background, and Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria are sort of enemy strongholds, but, we're not sure who are the good guys, or the bad guys.

So, now, who will the US have to identify and combat "The "Threat"?
Afghanistan for another 10 or 15 years? or Syria, for another 10 years!

We have the highly skilled and specialized Special Forces [the Special Operations Commmand (SOCOM) designed for insertion into hostile zones to address "Terrorists".

We have a Cyber Command which theoretically can combat hacking by all our Cyber enemies, and even the Russians, if we can admit that the US targets the successor to the USSR
[the Cyber Command apparently includes Spookdblog as an enemy since they have bombarded our residences with impulse waves, hacked our cell-phones and texted Clapper's threats to us, along with excerpts of our highly classified Officer Evaluation Reports (OER)-- just to let us know they could do it.]

Notably, there are several other Unified Commands [AfriCom, SouthCom, Strategic Command, etc.,] which serve no purpose other than to create command slots for unnecessary generals and bureaucrats, and to fund NATO.

But, let's not forget the Defense contractors who provide that expensive support for our Military forces deployed in those regions. The massive expansion of our Military and Intelligence organizations under Bush and Obama have created a huge financial burden, and a bloated Military hierarchy unseen in the history of the US -- even at the peak of World War 2.

These Commands waste manpower and equipment, and create the scenarios for regional wars - usually backing the wrong elements; they augment their forces by deploying National Guard units from the US at great expense. It's time to rethink our Military from top to bottom.

Do we need to remain in Afghanistan or Syria?

Lots of senior Military officers will state adamantly that the US must live up to its commitments in both areas of operation [AO].  But, precisely what commitment is there?

1) Afghanistan: 
After 17 years, our accomplishments consist of:
   a) Trillions of dollars spent,
   b) Deployment of countless National Guard units in six month deployments barely long enough
        to familiarize them with the environment before coming under attack,
    c) Countless suicides during, and after deployments, abominable leadership, massive
        post-deployment illnesses,
    d) Assassination of US personnel by Afghan allies, and
    e) Absolutely no positive results other than protecting Poppy fields for local drug lords,
    f) Bad guys control most of the country and the Afghan Government [our Ally] controls
        a few acres
    g) Most Afghans regard us as their enemy

2) Syria:
We've only been engaged in Syria for seven years, since 2011, and here's a list of accomplishments:
   a) Roughly 500,00 people are dead
   b) Dozens of countries are involved
   c)  Many [exact number unknown] terrorist groups are involved -- on both sides
   d)  Syrian President Assad is backed by Iran and Russia [our current "enemies"] and Pakistan
   c)  Opposition to Assad includes
        (1) hundreds of "militias" from an estimated 85 countries,
        (2) Syrian Democratic Forces [Kurdish-led coalition of Arab and Kurdish Militias],
              (a) led by the Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK)
              (b) regarded by the US and the UK as a Terrorist group although the US provides
                   them air support against ISIS]
              (c) BUT, Turkey fights the Kurds fearing they will use a victory to declare an independent
                    state along the border
        (3) Miscellaneous Arabs, Sunnis, Christians, Druze, and Kurds],
        (4) Islamic extremists -- some of which have been declared terrorists,
              including the Syrian version of al Qaeda [armed by Hillary from Libyan
              military warehouses]
        (5) ISIS- supposedly local Islamic extremists, although manpower derives from a variety
              of countries including Canada, the US, Australia, Israel, the UK, Iraq, etc.
        (6) Official backing by outside nations includes the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey
       

Mr Trump has stated he will pull out of Syria, but, given the complexities listed above, he faces a great deal of opposition from Allies, the Democrats, the Pentagon, the GOP, and all those who anticipate profiting from the continuation of this conflict.

Essentially, Trump is removing his "Boots-On-The-Ground" units and still maintaining a protective shield by creating a "No-Fly-Zone" in the Northeast of Syria which is rich in Agriculture, Water, and Energy resources - the target of all the Bad Guys.

The US can remove its primary units deployed by Obama, but tactically, can still respond, as needed from other Middle East areas, or,  from the US with Special Operations units and A-10 Warthogs, the close-air support aircraft Obama was intent on eliminating.

Assuming the reports of satellite enabled weaponry [Star Wars], bad guys [if accurately identified] could be targeted and blasted into oblivion in seconds using the Directed Energy Weapons developed back in the 1970s, or lasers developed during the 1960s, now significantly enhanced, with targeting via sophisticated technology developed since then.

In the ancient words of Walt Kelly's POGO,

"We have met the enemy, and he is US!"

Trump has an uphill battle to fix this.

USSA - Almost!

The following is an interview by G. Edward Griffin, an ultra-Conservative

 and researcher of issues which have undermined the US.  His credibility 

has been questioned on a number of topics he has covered, and, 

oddly enough, in retrospect over recent decades and revelations 

by a number of very credible sources, Mr Griffin has been 

spot-on in his analyses in virtually every topic he's covered.

In this interview in 1984, he asks Yuri Bezmenov, a former 

KGB propagandist, to explain the Soviet methodology for 

subverting the US population and conversion to Communism.  

At the time of this interview, the Soviet Union was 

still strong and had not shown any indiction that it would 

collapse six years later, following President Reagan's 

encouragement of Soviet Premier Gorbachev to 

shut down the USSR war machine, and 

essentially defect to the West.

Little did he know then that The Establishment

would inflict a series of Presidents from

GHW Bush, to Clinton, to W, to Obama

on the US to complete the transformation

of the US to a Socialist/Communist society.

ED GRIFFIN: 

Well, you spoke before about "ideological subversion" and that's a phrase that I'm afraid some Americans don't understand. 

When the Soviets use the phrase "ideological subversion" what do they mean by it? 

YURI BEZMENOV: 

 Ideological subversion is the process which is legitimate and open. You can see it with your own eyes.... It has nothing to do with espionage.

Yuri Bezmenov - KGB

I know that intelligence gathering looks more romantic.... That's probably why your Hollywood producers are so crazy about James Bond types of films. 

But in reality the main emphasis of the KGB is NOT in the area of intelligence at all. According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such.

The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare. 

What it basically means is: 

to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. 

It's a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages. 

The first one being "demoralization". It takes from 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years required to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy exposed to the ideology of [their] enemy. 

In other words, Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generations of American students without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism....

The result? 

The result you can see ... the people who graduated in the 1960's, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can't get through to them. They are contaminated. 

They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [e.g., Pavlov]. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still can not change the basic perception and the logic of behavior.

In other words, for these people the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. To rid society of these people you need another 15 or 20 years to educate a new generation of patriotically minded and common sense people who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society.

ED: And yet these people who have been programmed and as you say are in place and who are favorable to an opening with the Soviet concept - these are the very people who would be marked for extermination in this country?

YURI: Most of them, yes. Simply because the psychological shock when they will see in the future what the beautiful society of EQUALITY and social justice means in practice, obviously they will revolt. 

They will be very unhappy and frustrated people, and the Marxist-Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. Obviously they will join the ranks of dissenters; dissidents. Unlike the present United States, there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America. 

Now, you can get popular like Daniel Ellsburg and filthy rich like Jane Fonda for being a dissident and for criticizing your Pentagon. In the future these people will simply be squashed like cockroaches for criticizing the government. Nobody is going to pay them nothing for their beautiful and noble ideas of EQUALITY. 

This they don't understand and it will be the greatest shock for them, of course.

The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already for the last 25 years. Actually, it's over fulfilled because demoralization now reaches such areas where not even Comrade Andropov and all his experts would even dream of such tremendous success. 

Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards. As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him, even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. ...he will refuse to believe it.... That's the tragedy of the situation of demoralization.

The next stage is destabilization.... It only takes two to five years to destabilize a nation. 

This time what matters is essentials; economy, foreign relations, [and] defense systems. And you can see it quite clearly that in some... sensitive areas such as defense and [the] economy, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideas in the United States is absolutely fantastic. 

I could never believe it 14 years ago when I landed in this part of the world that the process will go that fast.

Most of the American politicians, media, and educational system train another generation of people who think they are living at the peacetime. False!  The United States is in a state of war; undeclared, total war against the basic principles and foundations of this system. And the initiator of this war is not Comrade Andropov of course - it's the system. 

However, ridiculous it may sound, it is the world Communist system, or the world Communist conspiracy. Whether I scare some people or not, I don't give a hoot. If you're not scared by now, nothing can scare you.

ED: Okay, so what do we do? What is your recommendation to the American people?

YURI: Well, the immediate thing that comes to mind is, of course, there must be a very strong national effort to educate people in the spirit of REAL patriotism, number one. 

Number two, to explain to them the real danger of a socialist, communist, welfare state, Big Brother government.... The moment at least part of the United States population is convinced that the danger is real, they have to FORCE their government... to stop aiding Communism. 

-----------------------------------------

EDITORIAL NOTE:

We have added links to such terms as KGB and Soviet, Big Brother as well as the names of world leaders such as Reagan, Andropov, and Gorbachev simply because the majority of young people who read this attended our depleted education system and have no recollection or awareness of the historical significance of these key, historical figures.  

This may surprise you, but ask the average 40-something [or younger] Liberal about any of these references, and you'll likely get a blank stare in response.

References to George Orwell and his predictive novel: 1984, will receive the refrain that it is about President Trump -- who has succeeded in derailing the Obama Administration goal of implementing 1984,

CIA Interrogations - Enhanced, or Torture

Enhanced Interrogation:  AKA - TORTURE

We've noted the circulation of what purports to be a CIA public service announcement regarding the value of "Enhanced Interrogation" of "Terrorist Prisoners" which allegedly produced extraordinary and actionable Intelligence.
[We've attached an extract of this report at the bottom of this blog post.]

Much of the published information is true, but it was definitely not produced from enhanced interrogation, but rather via different sourcing, much of it from unclassified, open-source newspaper accounts.  So, you may discount the origin of the data.

We are very familiar with all forms of interrogation and have conducted hundreds of interrogations, both tactical and strategic in war zones and  special facilities, as well as CounterIntelligence interrogations to determine espionage threats..  

We never had a prisoner who couldn't be broken -- and turned, to include NVA Political Officers and hardened guerrilla fighters.  And they were tougher than Taliban. At no time did we ever have to use other than normal interrogation techniques, and at no time, did we ever have to use torture to obtain results.  Essentially, torture routinely gives false results and misleading information -- and bad intelligence.

Successful interrogations come from sophisticated conversations, rather than beating information out of a prisoner.  Most prisoners willingly provide as much information as is requested or demanded, and a professional interrogator is prepared with background and confirmed data to determine how truthful the subject is.  

Essentially, there are three forms of interrogation:

1)  Simple debriefing is for prisoners who have no resistance training.  They'll be happy to chatter away and disclose everything they know, and often, information they were unaware they have/had.  Handled properly, they can be enormously helpful.  In one case, a teenager, illiterate and fairly simple, provided the location of the master logistics center for the Spring Offensive - allowing us to capture it, and essentially ending that war, at least for a while.

2)  Professional interrogations, which require the interrogator to be  trained in psychology and who looks for nuances in the subject's eyes, facial movements, body moisture, voice rhythms, etc., to determine attempts to mislead the interrogator.  The interrogator begins with a number of folders on his/her desk, and accepts the prisoner who, through psychological manipulation, assumes and fears torture.  The folders contain parameters of verified information to answer key questions which can lead to new questions and sophisticated [though non-violent] techniques.  For the most part, the subject is unaware of the true objectives of the interrogation.

3)  Hostile interrogations are used to break down the  subject through disorientation, fear of the unknown, various forms of psychological techniques, and special manipulation techniques, augmented by input from HUMINT, IMINT, SIGINT, COMINT, ELINT, etc.  

Again, opening folders with information the subject believes was provided by other prisoners weakens his/her resistance.   Add in fear of being caught lying, and the fear of the unknown becomes far more effective than actual torture.  

[See Room 101 in the Orwell's book, 1984].  This process requires a great deal of sophistication and education on the part of the Interrogator, but, again, includes absolutely NO TORTURE.]

FITD [Forscom Intelligence Training Detachment] - the unit we formed at Ft Bragg [1976] trained all USFORSCOM [Forces Command] tactical units and strategic Reserve units in proper interrogation methods; we created SOPs and manuals, most of which were incorporated years later in TRADOC [Training & Doctrine Command]. 

FITD was later converted to the 111th MI Brigade which took over the mission.

[Notably, Enhanced Interrogation techniques were legalized, and added to the Army's Field Manual, though still regarded as extreme, and unnecessary for the most part]

Unfortunately, as we learned from many years of association with, and assignments to the CIA, their approach to interrogations was unique.  

Since they lacked professional interrogators, they would draw on the Military for both SpecOps and mundane things like interrogations.  Unfortunately, the CIA would secretly coordinate with the Pentagon for untrained Warm Bodies to conduct these ops, and they would frequently end up with unskilled Marines or Army Infantry troops unskilled in interrogation, but who learned their trade by watching TV programs like Jack Bauer's skill sets in 24, in which torture was routinely used -- with very poor results.  Although the Military had trained, linguistically skilled professional interrogators, the CIA would ignore them and frequently depend on local nationals who had knowledge of either psychology or interrogation skills.

The greatest issue we have with the CIA's "enhanced interrogation" technique is that other countries [hostile and friendly] follow our lead.  If the US does it, it must be OK.  Worse, our adversaries/enemies look at us as the penultimate bad guys reflected in their propaganda themes, and use those techniques when interrogating US soldiers.  We were briefly captive of the Pathet Lao in southern Laos near the end of the war and were not amused by these techniques, which included fairly crude attempts at torture, before we found a way to exit the situation.  Later, we were interrogating an NVA captain at one point and asked him why the NVA treated our soldiers so viciously when they were captured.  He was astonished at the question and admonished me, saying, 

"We simply imitate your atrocities. Why, your troops mutilate our troops!  Your newspaper - Stars & Stripes herald such actions of one of your colonels."

Hatchet Hank Emerson

We were astonished, but placed a secure call to Saigon to a trusted friend at MACSOG who verified the torture and mutilation, and even shipped a copy of the Stars & Stripes which headlined this local hero, Lt Col Henry Emerson, thus affirming that we were, in fact, bad guys, leading to the torture of our own soldiers.  Such incidents continue today where we have fought.

We have enough enemies around the world now; we don't need more but we create enemies with the concept of torture.

In short, we do not support "enhanced" interrogation, a technique of negative value falsely touted by the CIA as a productive tool. We guarantee Enhanced Interrogation techniques will be/has been used against US PWs as a retaliatory measure.  

Ultimately, we are not labeling the US as the BAD GUY; but, we very much wish to see the CIA removed from such operations, particularly from controlling our Special Operations forces and Military Intelligence operations -- the actual trained Professionals in Military Operations and Human Intelligence programs!  

Below is an extract of the CIA's claim to intelligence production gained through, and which they claim justifies "Enhanced Interrogation".  

Keep in mind that virtually all of this information was 

published in the US News Media or on the Internet.

Trump's Growing Cabinet of Powerful Congressmen

With the variety of Cabinet and Agency appointments, President Trump can now partially reshape the Congressional Conservative complexion.

Interior Secretary Zinke

1)  Ryan K Zinke leaves his slot as Congressman from Montana to serve as Secretary of the Interior, bringing new lifeblood and considerable experience to the office.

    a)  An outdoorsman and career US Navy SEAL, he will likely reorganize his department and depoliticize it.  For one, he gains the immediate respect of the national Park Police, who were mortified facing off with angry Veterans who found their Military monuments closed or cordoned off by Obama.

   b)  Zinke will likely reshape the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a cesspool of political appointees who have gouged the Indian tribes and violated countless US government treaties.
   

LaVoy Finicum

c)  The Bureau of Land Management will likely go through a major overhaul, with that swamp drained of faceless bureaucrats tormenting and destroying private property rights of land-owners in the West.  We expect an internal investigation of the execution of Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, a rancher, foster parent, and spokesman for a property rights group in Oregon.



     b)  His replacement will be appointed by Governor Bullock [D], a Conservative Democrat who will likely appoint a Conservative to replace Zinke.

OMB Director Mulvaney

2)   Mick Mulvaney, formerly Congressman from South Carolina, has been appointed Director of the OMB [Office of Management of the Budget, a position critical to President Trump in managing funds for the Administration's operations.  

      a)  He has monitored crypto currencies [e.g., Bitcoin] and block chain technologies which will become increasingly important in financial operations of the future; notably, President Obama fought the emergence of BitCoin as he could not control this alternate currency.

      b) Mulvaney's replacement will now be appointed by SC's Governor Henry McMaster [R], who will likely appoint a staunch Pro-Trump Conservative to Congress to replace Mulvaney.

c)  Trump apparently appointed Left leaning Nikki Haley to the United Nations, perhaps to remove her from any semblance of power in the South; she had become an embarrassment in pandering to the Political Correct crowd, to include acquiescing to demands to remove the Confederate Flag.  Without the basis of the Governor's position, her political career may be over.

HHS Director Tom Price

3)  Tom Price, formerly Congressman [R]  from Georgia, a physician appointed as the Secretary of Health and Human Services [HHS], which houses 80,000 employees with a budget of over $1 Trillion.

      a), will be responsible for reforming and replacing ObamaCare, and has the full support of Speaker Ryan.

       b)  Equally important, Price will likely pull together the disparate elements of HHS which are known for their infighting and inefficiencies, not to speak of their vast oversight and mismanagement of the Welfare system.

      c)  Also important is Price's oversight of the Food & Drug Administration [FDA] which reportedly sold out long ago to the Pharmaceuticals [Big Pharma]

           (1) It has blocked research and development of countless cures for cancers and other diseases.  Oncology has become one of the most profitable ventures in the medical industry, and Big Pharma earns hundreds of billions of dollars each year by charging huge amounts for oncology medications.   

          (2)  It has also blocked identification of country of origin for food and health products entering the US.  Price will be expected to reverse this p olicy and once again demand "country of origin" labels on these products.

4)  Xavier Becerra [D], son of Mexican immigrants, resigned from the House to accept his appointment as Attorney General of California.  He had been Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

CIA Director Pompeio

5)  Mike Pompeo,  a  Tea Party Republican from Kansas and West Point graduate, served on the House Intelligence Committee [HPSCI] which is now headed by Devin Nunes [who declined to investigate Trump's ties to Russia labeling the charges "nonsense"].  Governor Brownback [R] of Kansas, with the support of Bob Dole, will replace Pompeo with a worth Conservative. 

[Brownback turned down an HHS ObamaCare grant of $31 million]

    a) Pompeo also served on the Energy and Commerce Committees where he gained considerable insight into two of the primary issues involving Intelligence gathering [in previous administrations] which have led to international confrontations.  

    b) He also served on the Benghazi Committee where he slammed Hillary during her testimony.  His close cooperation with Trey Gowdy on that Committee will likely open new levels of investigation into Benghazi and Hillary's connection to illicit activities leading to the deaths of Americans coming to the rescue of the Consulate there.

c)  He has stated that he will not resume the use of torture as a method of interrogation and we suspect he will come to terms with President Trump on this issue.  Common sense will prevail.

[NOTE: During the Vietnam War, we conducted hundreds of successful interrogations, receiving the highest recognition from CIA and DIA for the reports.  None of these interrogations involved torture]

d)  Expect the CIA hierarchy to attack Pompeo in the same ad hominem methods which forced the removal of his W-appointed predecessor, Porter Goss, who attempted to reform the CIA.  This will be an exceptionally difficult task for Pompeo and we wish him well.

[NOTE:  Given the history of CIA, particularly under Obama, we would recommend that the Covert Mission be turned over to DOD, returning CIA to solely Clandestine missions, or, perhaps, eliminating  CIA operations altogether - leaving Clandestine Operations to the Defense Clandestine Service and making the CIA an analysis organization.]

These are critical changes in the House.

The results mean that, in addition to Cabinet Members who have made their personal fortunes based on hard work and enterprise and who have considerable levels of expertise in their new positions, the Congressmen appointed all have superb backgrounds and can be expected to perform effectively and reduce the size of their Departments and Agencies, trimming them to workable organizations rather then massive, faceless bureaucracies.  Think of HHS with 80,000 employees and a budget of over a trillion dollars; there's plenty of room for reform there.

Each of these Congressmen left critical positions in Congress and each will be replaced by Conservative governors.  The replacements will likely not be neophytes, but will challenge the incumbent GOP leadership under President Trump.

It's a new dawn in Congress, and The [corrupt] Establishment is losing its grip.  

Great American Ally Dies

King Bhumibol Adulyadej
Personified Thailand as The Land of the Free

We are saddened by the passing of one of history's great monarchs, an average guy, born in America, who was reluctant to take the crown following his brother's assassination many decades ago.

He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts while his father was enrolled in the Public Health Program at Harvard University. His name translates to Strength of the LandIncomparable Power, and was in self-imposed exile to distance himself from the political turmoil in Thailand.  He had studied -- and partied in Europe, and was attending Harvard University as a music major, and played saxophone in a local band when he was notified he was the new King of Thailand.

King Ananda 

He was completely Americanized, spoke little of the Thai language, and was upset when four Thai Military officers showed up at his door to escort him back to Bangkok -- against his protests; his brother, King Ananda Mahidol, had been assassinated, and Thailand needed a King.



Once in Bangkok, newly-crowned King Bhumidol underwent an intense tutorial to learn to speak Thai and to adopt Thai cultural customs so he could play the royal role.

Thai Longboat   [Photo by Adrian Evans]

Once installed, he gradually became the leader the country needed, and, in the midst of another coup attempt, was smuggled out of the country by his American advisor and protector at the bottom of a long-boat.







He reestablished his position as national leader and developed rapport with a faction of patriotic Army officers who managed the affairs of the country and brought it stability; they overcame a series of coup attempts throughout the King's reign with the assistance of a unique intelligence system created by the King's OSS advisor to monitor his advisors - actual, and potential.

Over the decades, King Bhumibol became an astute student and knowledgeable of world affairs, and maintained a close alliance with the US, recognizing the threat that Communism posed.  He was especially concerned when the US abandoned Southeast Asia in 1975 at the direction of Henry Kissinger, leaving the region open to the fulfillment of the Domino Theory in which Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fell to the Communists; Thailand remained the sole survivor as its Military was able to sustain its strength in spite of the withdrawal of US forces.

[Thailand's post-1975 survival resulted from a highly effective counter-insurgency effort by US Intelligence; Kissinger discounted the Domino Theory because Thailand did not fall -- although he had done his best to ensure that it would fall to the Communist Insurgency based in Laos and Cambodia.]

The King's closest advisor -- and guardian, during his reign was a former OSS officer who had earlier smuggled him out of the country during the coup attempt.  With that support, the King became a powerful arbiter of the political factions, and the country has been at relative peace for decades.

His son, the probably new King,
Maha Vajiralongkorn,
has his work cut out for him as he assumes the role of leader of a nation steeped in political turmoil, in the midst of Communist effort to assume power.

 We wish him well.

Gresham - In Memory of an Intellectual Giant [8 August 1957 - 2 July 2016]

John D Gresham Expert on Spec Ops and Intel Ops

This is another of our Guest Posts, 

i.e., 

reprints of articles which are important enough to 

rebroadcast to our unique audience in six continents.  

The obituary below is particularly significant since John Gresham authored a series of books which were exceptionally accurate, and in some cases, included material from Top Secret/Codeword reports which we assume had been released/declassified for his use by key Pentagon/Intelligence/White House officials.  

Since we spent a bit of time with John Gresham in his final years, during which a "mysterious illness" systematically destroyed his health, and finally, his ability to resist infection and his pulmonary functions -- a condition which destroyed his research and writing ability, we wanted to include some ancillary information in this tribute to him by Chuck Oldham.

Tom Clancy

His association and research support for the Maryland insurance salesman - Tom Clancy - comes to mind as we recall Tom Clancy's first and most famous novel The Hunt For Red October [1984], which recounted in exceptional detail the defection of a Soviet Navy captain commanding a submarine with the most advanced propulsion system of any Navy.  

We found this detail entrancing since we had been on the Pentagon's Current Intelligence [Soviet] Desk as this true story unfolded only a few years earlier, and we briefed a very small, select group of flag rank officers and Pentagon executives each day of the event.  The total number of personnel cleared for those briefs was perhaps 40, and neither Clancy nor Gresham were among them.  

But, as we had first hand experience, both analytical and operational in other noteworthy intelligence operations, we were once again surprised to see them recounted, in some noteworthy detail, by Clancy via Gresham's "research"; among those "novels" were Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, which were completely accurate with the exception of the juxtaposition of key characters.

Heart Stoppage Victim

Notably, both John Gresham and Tom Clancy died of "undisclosed illnesses", common among highly visible authors who have discovered, or have been made privy to most sensitive secrets.  

Clancy died of the Breitbart syndrome known as "heart stoppage", which also took the life of William Colby, former Director of Central Intelligence - who, coincidentally, lived not far from Tom Clancy on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Reagan & Walters - Strategists

President Reagan was perhaps Clancy's most visible and enthusiastic fan, and we suspect coordinated with former DCI Vernon Walters [for whom we worked (1981-83)] to ensure Clancy and Gresham were provided all the sensitive information necessary for full disclosure of these scenarios.  

Walters and Reagan were masters at the use of such information to expand the focus of intelligent observers and actionable people on actual events which posed a threat to national security.  [Walters, by the way, was the real Deep Throat in Watergate]



In reality, both John Gresham and Tom Clancy fall into the national hero category, so, this blog post today pays tribute to two fallen warriors, whose 
"pen was mightier than the sword." 

-------------------

Click here for original story
[Chuck Oldham (Editor, DefenseMediaNetwork]

Our friend and colleague John D. Gresham died July 2, 2016, after fighting serious health issues for the past several years.

An author, researcher, game designer, commentator and historian, John was well known for his interviews, commentary, research, screenwriting, and production assistance for various documentary series produced for TLC and the History, Military, New York Times, Discovery, and National Geographic channels.

He was the primary researcher and partner to Tom Clancy on his best-selling series of non-fiction “guided tour” books about military units.

These included Submarine (1993), Armored Cav (1994), Fighter Wing (1995), Marine (1996), Airborne (1997), Carrier (1999), and Special Forces (2001), all published by Berkley Books.

He also was the award-winning co-designer of Supermarina I and Supermarina II (Clash of Arms Games, 1996 and 1997), naval wargames based upon Larry Bond’s award-winning Command at Sea game system.

His book DEFCON-2 (with Norman Polmar) was a single-volume history of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Beyond Hell and Back (2007, with Dwight Jon Zimmerman), describes seven key U.S. special operations missions.

His last book was Uncommon Valor, covering six Medal of Honor recipients and their deeds in Iraq and Afghanistan, also co-authored with Zimmerman.

He was the consulting editor of The Year in Special Operations for more than a decade, and was an integral part of its growth and success over the years.

John had big ambitions for the publication from the beginning and achieved most of them. He also wrote many stories for other Faircount publications, and was a regular contributor to the Defense Media Network website.

John was a proud and passionate man, and wore his heart on his sleeve with respect to his avocations, his politics, his heroes, and his country. He was an expert on most things military or security-related, but read widely and well, and could discuss a wide range of subjects with authority. He felt privileged to be able to work with and write about the military, and held strong opinions about what shape it should take, as well as about various weapons, strategies, communities, programs, and people.

Chuck, About That Deadline

Most of his friends have a “John story” that demonstrates his personality or character. As one of his editors, over the years I collected a lot of John stories of a different sort, since I cannot recall him having ever made a deadline.

 While this often caused enormous stress, I can look back on it now with a smile, because John’s excuses became increasingly creative as the years went by. Equipment failures became old hat, although the old “Didn’t you get my email? I sent that to you” remained a favorite.

Hard drives died, laptops expired, email was hacked. My personal favorites were the acts of God and Mother Nature.

At deadline time, John’s home became the focus of strange and inexplicable phenomena, an uncanny vortex attracting the extremes of weather and chance, where pop-up tornadoes, mini-blizzards, neighborhood flash floods, sudden, violent downpours, and localized windstorms showering tree limbs from the skies could knock out power and communications for days at a time.

I won’t miss tearing my hair out over missing stories when the next deadline comes, but I’ll miss our long conversations about military history, technology, and publishing, our debates over strategy and tactics, and our arguments over politics. John was an outsized personality – fiercely proud, brimming with enthusiasm, a big kid at heart – the world will be a little less colorful without him.

-------

Editorial Note: 
John Gresham's final years were filled with pain and agony as he was reduced from a dynamic, healthy guy with an athletic physique, frequently visiting and engaging with Special Operations units, to a faltering, wavering frail body barely able to stand without a cane. 

Frequent visits to doctors resulted in their failure to determine the cause of his ailments, the combination of which destroyed him, slowly, shutting down his bodily functions, one by one.  No one could figure out his condition, and so all gave up trying.

In retrospect, we presume he had been targeted by the CIA since his research revealed extraordinarily accurate details of actual events of the Intelligence Community, the source of which was likely Bill Colby and Vernon Walters [we worked for both of these men].  His apartment was pillaged after his death, apparently to determine what other secrets he'd gathered and might publish; then again, it was probably "terrorists" and not CIA flunkies.

Until the revelations of Wikileaks, we would not have believed the horror stories about the CIA and DNI since we had been an executive in the Intelligence Community prior to its corruption 
[actually, we later learned its corruption dated back to the 1960s, though were were blissfully patriotic and never imagined just how corrupt the IC leadership was (perhaps that was why Colby offered up the Family Jewels to the Church Committee] 

Given the Wikileaks revelations, plus the details surrounding Colby's murder, plus the murder of Breitbart, plus the health details of Gresham leading up to his death, we naturally assume CIA murdered him, most likely with their frozen dart gun inflicting multiple viruses into his system.