Author: COB6

I love Dick Cheney. But then I love anyone who makes the lefties piss all over themselves every time he decides he wants some entertainment. Remember when he was caught on mic telling Patrick Leahy to “go f**k yourself”? That was classic Cheney and made me admire him even more.

His speech today was a homerun but I have to clarify a small issue.

Cheney said:

Being the first vice president who had also served as secretary of defense, naturally my duties tended toward national security.

That’s true but not without a caveat.

A former Vice President did in fact later serve as Secretary of War which of course was the precursor to the modern Secretary of Defense.

He was Vice President from March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861 in what could only be characterized as the only administration in history that was more disastrous than that of Jimmy Carter.

Later he was the 5th Secretary of War for the Confederacy under Jefferson Davis from February 6, 1865 – May 10, 1865; not exactly a high water mark for the Confederacy.

He was a disastrous Vice President and total failure as a Secretary of War. (Although somewhat more successful as a field General; see Battle of New Market)

He was John C. Breckenridge and he was a Democrat.

I cannot verify if this vacation is real; it’s just too good to check.

But with testimonials like these, I’m rolling my change right now.

“I got three confirmed kills on my last trip. I’ll never hunt big game in Africa again. I felt like the Komandant in Schindlers list!” — Lars , Hamburg Germany

“Six attacks in 4 days was more than I expected. I bagged three pirates and my 12yr old son sank two rowboats with the minigun. PIRATES: 0 – PASSENGERS: 32! Well worth the trip. Just make sure your spotter speaks English” — Donald, Salt Lake city Utah USA

“I haven’t had this much fun since flying choppers in NAM . Don’t worry about getting shot by pirates as they never even got close to the ship with those weapons they use and their shitty aim–reminds me of a drunken’juicer’ door gunner we picked up from the motor pool back in Nam” — ‘chopper’ Dan, Toledo USA.

“Like ducks in a barrel. They turned the ship around and we saw them cry in the water like little girls. Saw one wounded pirate eaten by sharks–what a laugh riot! This is a must do.” — Zeke, Springs Kentucky USA

Now it’s official, this woman is a pathological liar.

“We all share great respect for the dedicated men and women of the intelligence community who are deeply committed to the safety and security of the American people. My criticism of the manner in which the Bush Administration did not appropriately inform Congress is separate from my respect for those in the intelligence community who work to keep our country safe. What is important now is to be united in our commitment to ensuring the security of our country; that, and how Congress exercises its oversight responsibilities, will continue to be my focus as we move forward.”

That’s a nice statement but that is not what she said.

She did not say that the Bush Administration lied to her; she said the CIA lied to her.

This train wreck is far from over.

Want to watch Hitler rant about Pelosi in this scandal?

This is not safe for work but it is hilarious!

The short answer is probably not.

Being a clear intellectual light weight and in a full blown political panic, Nancy has decided to take on the CIA.

When I was still on active duty, I recall there were three things you never wanted to hear:

A Captain saying, screw it, I’m making a decision.
A Lieutenant saying, based on my experience.
A pilot saying, hang on I think this will work.

If you are a career politician with a closet likely bulging with skeletons challenging the frigging CIA is almost certainly a terrible idea.

This is probably not going to work out well for Nancy.

She had better hope that more detailed briefing notes never get made public. Pelosi just dared the CIA to leak again, and I don’t think they’re likely to get intimidated by her at this point. Pelosi has a lot more to lose in this game than does Langley, especially the careerists most at risk in a witch hunt. Pelosi had better hope that the CIA has lost all the detailed briefing notes, because if they haven’t, they’ll be hitting a newstand within a few days.

It’s actually worse than that. Given there’s a Democrat in the White House, one would expect the power of 1600 Pennsylvania to give her considerable cover. One would be wrong.

As Old Trooper commented in the earlier post:

Well, here’s the rundown: Bella Pelosi backed Murtha over Hoyer. Hoyer is a good friend of Rahm “dead fish” Emmanuel, so he has ties to the top of the food chain. Hoyer wants to go ahead with the hearings, since Bella’s name is all over the attendance list provided by the CIA. That way, she will be toast and he can move into the Speaker’s job. She picked the wrong group to piss off, because they will shine the light on anyone that threatens them and with Emmanuel serving up the dirty tricks for Hoyer, it’s a 1-2 punch she won’t get up from.

That makes for a pretty grim situation for Pelosi. She could easily discover some real Chicago Style politics any day now.

But it is actually worse than that. There is one person who could give her immediate cover or nail her to the cross in a 5 minute presser.

Enter Representative Jane Harmon(D-Ca.).

She was on the Intel Committee at the time and one would assume actually went to the meetings. Harmon could come to Pelosi’s rescue and at least give her a little breathing room. Or, Harmon could come out and say (as former Rep. and CIA Director Porter Goss has already) Pelosi is a screaming liar, we were all briefed.

Oh yeah, and Jane Harmon hates Nancy Pelosi.

When you find yourself ten feet deep in a hole; drop the shovel.

San Fran Nan apparently never heard that sage wisdom.

Pelosi: Bush briefers lied to me

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Bush administration told her explicitly they weren’t using waterboarding on terror detainees during a Sept. 2002 briefing on interrogation tactics — months after they had begun waterboarding Abu Zabaydah.

Pelosi also called on CIA director Leon Panetta to release full details on her briefing — and shook her head in the affirmative when asked if the administration had actually “lied” to her.

“The only mention of waterboarding in the briefing was that it was not being employed,” she told reporters, reading from a prepared statement — twice for emphasis.

The intelligence briefers gave Pelosi, she said, “inaccurate and incomplete information.”

This is going to get real ugly.

No doubt Penetta is pounding out some Power Point presentations showing Dick Cheney personally waterboarding small children and unicorns but this is not going to make this issue go away.

There will be a ton of mud tossed about and Langley will start leaking all over the place. Frankly, I don’t think Pelosi has the intelligence or political savvy to survive the coming storm.

Apparently her number two in the House doesn’t think so either.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday that investgations into the Bush Administration’s use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques should look at what congressional leaders, including Speaker Pelosi, knew about the use of the methods that have been criticized as torture. […]
“Frankly, information about what was said, when it was said, who said it, that ought to be on the record so the American public knows.”

Making Hoyer your number two is like hiring Tony Soprano to guard the bank.

That’s a nice Speakership you got there Ms. Pelosi; wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.

Serious congrats to all of these young men.

Notice anything about the top five teams?

24 teams completed the 2009 David E. Grange Best Ranger Competition.
Final team standings are –

1st – Team 21 – 2483 points – Sgt 1st Class Blake A. Simms and Sgt 1st Class Chad E.W. Stackpole, 4th Ranger Training Battalion, Ranger Training Brigade, Fort Benning, GA

2nd – Team 22- 2396 points – Master Sgt Walter J. Zajkowski and Master Sgt Daniel E. Jenkins, US Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, NC

3rd – Team 7 – 2165 points – Sgt Michael A. Malchow and Sgt Jesse A. Collins, 75th Ranger Regiment

4th – Team 8 – 2151 points – Staff Sgt Brandon K. Farmer and Staff Sgt Luke R. McDowell, 75th Ranger Regiment

5th – Team 31 – 2138 points – Staff Sgt Michael C. Mutchie and Staff Sgt Miguel A. Antia, 4th Ranger Training Battalion, Ranger Training Brigade, Fort Benning, GA

Couple of interesting points:

The Simms/Stackpole team won by almost 100 points. This was a big reason for that.

Team 21, Sgt 1st Class Blake A. Simms and Sgt 1st Class Chad E.W. Stackpole, are the winners of the Capt. Russell B. Rippetoe Trophy for their first place finish in the road march Friday night.

Simms and Stackpole also won the Richard A. Leandri Award for winning the night orienteering course on Saturday night.

The third place team was made up of two E-5s. I realize that an E5 is in fact an NCO but these two young bucks were like tadpoles in a sea of sharks and showed very well. I imagine we’ll be seeing them again.

Oh yeah, about the first thing I noticed?

No officers.

The best thing about writing on this blog is the readership. I mean some of you guys are clowns but a great deal of you are very well informed.

In the comments on my recent post regarding Operation Dumbass a discussion began about the different variants of the F16. A couple of guys noticed the bright red tail on at least one of the F16s in the NYC fly-over.

This is where it gets interesting.

The distinctive red tail goes back to World War II and the P51-C’s made famous by the Tuskegee Airmen (Image above). The “Red Tails” are still alive in the Alabama Air National Guard and their F16s are in fact painted with the distinctive red tail (the only organization with the red tail paint job that I’m aware of).

If that is true, that means that the administration launched an F16 all the way from Alabama for a photo op.

But what could possibly be the purpose of going to such lengths the film a “Red Tail” escorting Air Force One?

How about a Hollywood movie!?

George Lucas is shooting an epic film about the Tuskegee Airmen as we speak.

Producer Rick McCallum said both elements are addressed in a script by John Ridley that “balances difficult and painful issues with what is, at its heart, the story of men with a dream to fly and serve their country.”

Lucas hopes to begin shooting by year’s end or early 2009, McCallum said. The movie’s title refers to the color of their fighter planes’ tails, which were distinctive and allowed U.S. bomber crews to know they were being escorted by the aggressive Tuskegee Airmen.

“It is a story of incredible adventure and enormous courage,” said the producer, who’s scouting locations for “Red Tails” in Prague, Czech Republic, and Italy. “I think the story will speak to anyone who has ever wanted to succeed at something others told them was impossible.”

Why would the White House go to such extremes to help Lucas shoot a movie?

Because Lucas was a huge supporter of Obama over Hillary in the primaries and apparently thinks Obama has the “Force” in him.

“We have a hero in the making back in the United States today because we have a new candidate for president of the United States, Barack Obama,” Lucas said when asked who his childhood heroes were.
Obama, “for all of us that have dreams and hope, is a hero,” Lucas said.

Can you imagine a more compelling way to end a movie about the trials and discrimination that these airmen faced and through courage and determination overcame in the end?

Okay, you can now take off the tin foil hats and go back to work.

During today’s presser at the White House, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the Obama administration has decided that it will release the Air Force One photos from Operation Dumb Ass after all.

Not good enough Sparky.

As I suspected in an earlier post, the White House will release the photos and the MSM will dutifully accept that as being open and honest all the while ignoring the real questions.

This is a people issue, not a photo issue. Here is what I’d like to know specifically:

Who was onboard the 747?

Every single person and their specific reason for being there?

A list of every person that visited the 89th Airlift at Andrews AFB during the 72 hours prior to the launch of Operation Dumbass?

If this was a photo op to update photos of Air Force One over NYC or the Statue of Liberty or whatever, then there is a real question about the F16 escort.

Most F16s are single seater aircraft but the F16D (Block 52) and a couple of other very small production variants are two-seaters.

I would like to know who was riding back seat on this trail aircraft (presumably taking these photos). Also, I would like to know if this F16 model is stationed at Andrews AFB and if not, where did it come from?