Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

Wednesday Hero - Sgt. Roy A. Wood

Sgt. Roy A. Wood 47 years old from Alva, Florida ODA 2092, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) January 26, 2005

Sgt. Roy A. Wood, a Special Forces medical sergeant, was fatally injured when the vehicle he was riding in was involved in a traffic accident near Kabul, Afghanistan, during a return convoy from Qalat to Bagram Air Base.

His 24-year military career with the Army Reserve and Army National Guard was distinguished and unique. After receiving a commission as a second lieutenant in 1979, he was first assigned to the Army Reserve’s 421st Quartermaster Company (Light Airdrop Supply).

While assigned to the 421st, he received training as a quartermaster officer, a parachute rigger, and participated in both basic airborne and jumpmaster courses.

In January 1982, he left the 421st to begin an association with U.S. Army Special Forces that would last until, and beyond, his death. His first SF assignment was to the Army Reserve's 11th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Meade, Md., where he served in the 3rd Battalion’s Company A as the detachment executive officer for Operational Detachment-A 1175.

In May 1983, he became Detachment Commander for ODA 1175 after returning from the Special Forces Detachment Officer Qualification Course.

In October 1984, he left ODA 1175 to become the Company Logistics Officer.

He served in a variety of positions at the 11th SFG over the next 11 years, including operations officer and support company commander.

After four years at USSOCOM, he served a year with the Army Reserve’s 73rd Field Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., before switching from the Reserve to the Army National Guard and renewing his association with Special Forces.

He was assigned to 3rd Bn., 20th SFG in December 2001, where he served for a year as the Battalion Surgeon, supervising medical coverage of three Special Forces companies and one support company.

In December 2002, he resigned his commission to become a Special Forces medical sergeant on Operational Detachment-A 2092, Co. C, 3rd Bn., 20th SFG.

He, with ODA 2092, was mobilized in July 2003 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

At the time of his death, he was pending appointment as a Special Forces warrant officer, a position in which he would have served his team as an assistant detachment commander.

During his service, he received the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Reserve Achievement Medal with Silver Hourglass device, the National Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Basic Parachutist badge, the Parachute Rigger badge, the Ranger tab and the Special Forces tab.

Sgt. Roy Wood leaves behind a wife and two children.

These brave men and women have given their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero. We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by clicking here.

Hamas-Fatah truce?

Hamas and Fatah have declared a truce (again). The more I read about this, the worse it looks. Apparently the fighting has escalated since Abbas called for early elections. This truce looks like a chance for two terrorist organizations to remove a distraction in their common cause: the destruction of Israel. Haaretz has details.

Abbas and Haniyeh called Tuesday afternoon on the warring factions to stop fighting in the Gaza Strip, after a day of violence in which six people were killed.

"I call on all to show restraint and calm, not to resort to arms and to end tensions," Haniyeh said in a speech broadcast live on television, in which he also urged the warring factions to unite in the struggle against Israel.

"This nation, this people, will be united in front of the occupation and aggression and will not be engaged, despite the wounds of the past few days, in internal fighting," Haniyeh said in a televised speech.

Abbas said in a statement, "I call on ... all, without exception, to adhere to a cease-fire and to end the killings and all other operations in order to maintain our national unity."

What national unity? There doesn't seem to be any, except on one point: both sides want to see Israel wiped off of the map, and they can't work toward that aim when they're killing each other.

Amid calls for a truce, Haniyeh also slammed Abbas' call for early Palestinian elections "illegal" and accused the United States of spearheading efforts to bring down his democratically-elected government.

"I want to clarify that we consider the issue of the early elections for the presidency and parliament unconstitutional," Haniyeh said. "If you [Abbas] consider the people the source of power, why are you working against the will of the people."

I've always wondered about terrorists and their comprehension of certain Western concepts like Democracy. I don't know enough about the Palestinian constitution to say, but holding elections seems to be a good way to determine what the will of the people is. I wonder what the parliamentary procedure for calling for elections is in Palestine anyway?

What is it that Fatah has to fear from a new election anyway?

"There is an undeclared decision to bring down the government... and the Americans are leading this effort," Haniyeh added.

...

The internal Palestinian fighting, the worst in a decade, has escalated since Abbas called Saturday for early elections in an attempt to break a political deadlock with the Hamas government. Hamas has accused Abbas of launching a "coup."

Which is it I wonder? Is the United States trying to bring down the Palestinian government or is Abbas trying to launch a coup? And how does a "coup" come from democratically held elections?

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, is expected to make a major speech in Gaza at 6 P.M. (1600 GMT) to respond to Abbas's election call. Hamas has said it would boycott any polls.

That seems like a sure way to lose in the polls. I know that some say that Hamas would rig the election, but not voting is a sure way to not get what you want.

Trackposted to Rightwing Guy, Wake Up America, Perri Nelson's Website, third world county, The Random Yak, The HILL Chronicles, Adam's Blog, Pirate's Cove, Planck's Constant, and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Is Jimmy Carter's Persistent Anti-Semitism Funded by Arabs?

That's the question being asked, or rather answered, by Frontpage Magazine and Yid with LID...

Often the Peanut President tells us that among the reasons for writing his new book of anti semitic lies is that a true debate about the middle east is impossible because of the " Jewish Lobby," as if the Jews in America were some sort of secret society that controlled foreign policy (guys if its true will someone teach me the secret handshake). Apparently Carter is not interested in a debate as he turned down the opportunity to discuss Israel with Alan Dershowitz in a public forum at Brandies University.

He goes on to quote extensiviely from this FrontPage Magazine Article.

Bluster aside, Carter’s chief complaint seems to be that anyone who identifies with Israel, whether in the form of individual support or in a more organized capacity, is incapable of grappling honestly with the issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict. But Carter is poorly placed to make this claim. If such connections alone are sufficient to discredit his critics, then by his own logic Carter is undeserving of a hearing. After all, the Carter Center, the combination research and activist project he founded at Emory University in 1982, has for years prospered from the largesse of assorted Arab financiers.

Especially lucrative have been Carter’s ties to Saudi Arabia. Before his death in 2005, King Fahd was a longtime contributor to the Carter Center and on more than one occasion contributed million-dollar donations. In 1993 alone, the king presented Carter with a gift of $7.6 million. And the king was not the only Saudi royal to commit funds to Carter’s cause. As of 2005, the king’s high-living nephew, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, has donated at least $5 million to the Carter Center.

Meanwhile the Saudi Fund for Development, the kingdom’s leading loan organization, turns up repeatedly on the center’s list of supporters. Carter has also found moneyed allies in the Bin Laden family, and in 2000 he secured a promise from ten of Osama bin Laden's brothers for a $1 million contribution to his center. To be sure, there is no evidence that the Bin Ladens maintain any contact with their terrorist relation. But applying Carter’s own standard, his extensive contacts with the Saudi elite must make his views on the Middle East suspect.

High praise for Carter’s work -- and not inconsiderable financial support -- also comes from the United Arab Emirates. In 2001, Carter even traveled to the country to accept the Zayed International Prize for the Environment, named for Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the late UAE potentate and former president-for-life. Having claimed his $500,000 purse, Carter enthused that the “award has special significance for me because it is named for my personal friend, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan al-Nahyan.” Carter also hailed the UAE as an “almost completely open and free society” -- a surreal depiction of a rigidly authoritarian country where the government handpicks a select group of citizens to vote and strictly controls the editorial content of the newspapers and where Islamic Shari’a courts judge “sodomy” punishable by death. (To appreciate the depth of Carter’s cynicism, one need only compare his gushing encomia to the emirates with his likening of Israel, the most modern and democratic country in the entire Middle East, with the racist “apartheid” of South Africa.)

On top of these official honors, Carter was offered a forum at the Abu Dhabi-based Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow Up, the country’s official “think-tank.” For his part, Carter declared his intention to forge a “partnership” with the center; in a 2002 letter, Carter praised its efforts to “promote peace, health, and human rights around the world.” Inconveniently for Carter, the center has since become famous for a different reason: It has repeatedly played host to anti-Semitic speakers who have denied the Holocaust, supported terrorism, and alleged an international conspiracy of Jews and Zionists to dominate the world. (Harvard University, in contrast to Carter’s enthusiasm for Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, rejected a $2.5 million from the ruler in 2004 due to his ties to the Zayed Center.)

Nor does this exhaust the list of Carter’s backers in the Arab world. Still other supporters include Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who sits atop Oman’s absolute monarchy. An occasional host to Carter, the sultan has also made generous contributions to his center. Prior to inviting Carter for a “personal visit” in 1998, the sultan pledged $1 million to the Carter Center, promising additional support in the future. Similarly, Morocco’s Prince Moulay Hicham Ben Abdallah, the second in line to the kingdom’s throne, has in the past partnered with Carter on the center’s initiatives.

...

With its relentless disparagement of Israel and its reckless abuse of the historical record, Carter’s latest book may fairly be seen as the logical culmination of his many years of anti-Israel incitement. There was of course no shortage of clues about Carter’s sympathies in his earlier books. In his 2004 memoir Sharing Good Times, for instance, Carter recalled the trips he has taken over the years to Arab dictatorships in Syria and Saudi Arabia and noted with evident satisfaction that he was “always greeted with smiles and friendship.”

Readers may be forgiven for finding nothing shocking in this admission. Carter may still harbor illusions of grandeur, seeing himself as an instrument of peace in the Middle East. But an altogether different element explains his enduring popularity in Arab capitals: Not for all the millions they have sunk into the Carter Center over the years could Arab elites have hoped to purchase such a prominent and willing propaganda tool.

Yes indeed. Jimmy Carter's apparent hatred of Israel certainly seems to be funded by Arab money. The only question that remains for me is which came first, the anti-Semitism or the money.

Trackposted to Rightwing Guy, Perri Nelson's Website, third world county, The HILL Chronicles, Adam's Blog, Pirate's Cove, Planck's Constant, and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Also linked at Basil's Blog.

Terrorists still killing terrorists in Gaza

Fatah gunmen killed a member of the Hamas executive force and gunmen killed a Fatah activist in Jabalya. From Haaretz:

Fierce gunfire erupted early Tuesday within the compound of Shifa hospital in Gaza City between the security personnel of Hamas and Fatah, killing one member of the Hamas executive force and wounding six, witnesses and members of the rival forces said.

Witnesses said the gunbattle occurred at the entrance and inside the compound of the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, but could not say how the fighting had broken out.

...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Monday to press on with early elections. It was Abbas' weekend call for elections that touched off the latest spiral of escalation between the rival factions in the Strip

What does Fatah have to fear from free and open elections? Earlier they said that elections would throw the region into chaos. What do they call this latest bout of terrorists killing terrorists?

Fatah sources said earlier Monday evening that gunmen had killed a Fatah activist in the Jabalya refugee camp northern Gaza Strip and wounded three others, as factional violence continued in the Strip despite the truce declared the night before. The sources blamed the attack on Hamas.

Earlier in the day, gunmen from Hamas and Fatah faced off in a gunbattle in the middle of Gaza City, wounding one teenager in the neck, hours after officials from the feuding Hamas and Fatah factions announced that a cease-fire agreement had been reached.

I guess that even when the terrorists are fighting with one another a cease-fire has the same meaning to them as it does when they are fighting Israel. It's simply a time to re-arm and continue shooting.

Hey! NBC! Can we call this a civil war yet?

This is another open trackbacks post, please go to the blogger's oasis and use the linkfest chooser to choose the posts you'd like to hook up with.

Trackposted to third world county, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.