Veterans Administration Really Needs to Get It Together and Start Taking Better Care of Our Returning Veterans Who Are Suffering from PTSD and Other Mental Issues

There’s a report out that eighteen veterans a day are committing suicide.

And the VA continues to make veterans who are already feeling suicidal wait a minimum of eight weeks for someone to see them.   They can’t continue doing that!  Nor can they just hand a suffering veteran a pamphlet and a bag full of sleeping pills and anti-depressants to deal with their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Delaying disability paperwork for months is irresponsible, too.  It’s gotten to a point that lawsuits are underway, and one judge called the VA’s handling of veterans as “unchecked incompetence.”

Would the veterans do better seeing civilian medical experts, rather than government ones?   I think the answer is “yes.”  SOMETHING’S got to change, because the current system is failing those who need it the most.

We can do much better than this.

The Way That the U.S. Government is Releasing Bin Laden Information, They Have BECOME WikiLeaks: We Don’t Need to Know Everything

The government has released much more information than they should have concerning materials seized during the raid on Bin Laden. 

Particularly troubling is the release of information contained in Bin Laden’s diary, which describes new specific terror plans to disrupt the U.S. and the West.

Anyone in counterintelligence will tell you that you don’t tip off the enemy that you know about their plans.  You allow it to continue, while turning some of the operatives involved, so that the entire operation can be taken down in one stroke, instead of having them disappear into the shadows, only to have them reappear months later with plans we don’t know about.

Our government should keep al-Qaeda guessing as to what we actually do know, while chasing down every lead.

The government needs to control the information much more than they have.

Double Standard Hypocrisy: It’s OK for the Muslim World to Celebrate America’s Failures, But When Our Citizens Do The Same to Celebrate Bin Laden’s Downfall, the US Gets Criticized for Offending Muslim Sensibilities?

I’ve got a bone to pick with the double standard that we’re seeing in international relationships between America and the Muslim world.

It involves the take down of Osama bin Laden and the subsequent spontaneous outburst of celebration of Americans around the country, that was widely reported in the media, both here and abroad.

Before continuing, I need to say that I was not one of the ones who was out there who was celebrating the death of a mortal enemy.   I was relieved that the SEALs got him, that’s for sure.  And I was glad that our enemy had been delivered into American hands, thanks to the tireless efforts of the military and our intelligence community.  

But I do NOT celebrate death, even to a misguided soul like bin Laden’s.  I would have preferred taking him alive, in spite of the dubious state of our legal system when it comes to habeas corpus and military commissions.

But now, four days after bin Laden’s death,  those who were out at all hours of late Sunday night and early Monday morning who chose to celebrate bin Laden’s downfall are being criticized for being insensitive to Muslim sensibilities.  HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!

It occurs to me that the ones who are criticizing the outpouring of emotion over here show NO such awareness or sensitivity to AMERICAN sensibilities in recent years when Muslim governments organized anti-American demonstrations over OUR misfortunes. 

The hypocrisy in the media and the Muslim world is ASTOUNDING!

After ten years of sacrifices, I think our fellow Americans have earned the right to observe the passing of bin Laden HOWEVER THEY CHOOSE TO.  And the rest of the world should GET OVER IT! 

Pakistan is No Ally of Ours: They’ve Been Playing Both Sides From the Get-Go, Got Caught Red-Handed, and Has Egg in Their Faces

Is there anyone out there who REALLY believes that Pakistan had no idea that Osama bin-Laden was living less than eight hundred yards from a Pakistani Army base? 

I don’t.

It appears our government doesn’t buy that idea at all. 

They launched the operation to get bin-Laden without Pakistani involvement, penetrated Pakistani airspace, mounted a major attack within eyesight and earshot of thousands of Pakistani troops, killed bin-Laden, blew up one of their own choppers after it suffered engine problems, loaded bin-Laden’s body and the booty from his hideout and withdrew from Pakistani airspace in a back-up chopper.  Our leaders then notified the Pakistani leadership that the attack had taken place, but not while the U.S. task force was still within Pakistani airspace.

The reason why is they couldn’t trust the Pakistanis. 

They might well have notified bin-Laden to head for the hills as the choppers were inbound.   Or had their troops fire on the SEALs.

There are elements of the Pakistani military and intelligence service who have been actively aiding the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and there was no guarantee who the Pakistani President might have notified in the Pakistani military hierarchy, or if foreknowledge of the attack would reach those bin-Laden supporters.

Pakistan doesn’t know what they’re doing with their internal security.   I think Pakistan is a bigger risk than Iran is right now, as Pakistan already has nuclear weapons, has a major Taliban presence, and is protecting them.

I do not believe that the Pakistani President knew that bin-Laden was where he was.  But I think that ObL had to have the help of elements of the Pakistani military to camp out half a mile from a major Pakistani military base.  And I don’t think that the Pakistani President looked hard enough, or asked the right people the right questions.

And the fact that bin-Laden’s been there SIX YEARS?

Pakistan can’t be trusted.  They were never really on our side to begin with; they were the ones who STARTED the Taliban in the first place.  

The mujahedeen that we supported in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 1980s ended up fighting Pakistani-backed Taliban forces in the 1990s Afghan civil war, and lost.   Surviving mujahedeen formed the Northern Alliance, which the U.S. supported against the Taliban in 2001.

Pakistan is a state sponsor of terrorism.   The aid needs to be cut immediately; they aren’t doing what they pledged to do with the funding and fight terrorism…they’re aiding people like bin-Laden.  Why are we giving them billions of dollars?

Congratulations to the U.S. Military on Getting bin-Laden

After nearly a decade of war and covert operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the U.S. military went after bin-Laden, after intelligence confirmed his location.   And they got him.

Congratulations and THANK YOU to the U.S. military for closing the book on bin-Laden.   Hopefully it’s a step closer to bringing the Afghan war to a close.