Tucson Rifle Club, Inc.
HC 2 Box 7128
Tucson, AZ 85735-9729
MONTHLY MATCH SCHEDULES:
1st Saturday - Blackpowder Cartridge Rifle Silhouette 9AM and Tucson Action Shooters
1st Sunday – NRA Hi-Power Rifle Silhouette 9:30 AM; NRA 1000 yd prone 7AM; and The Old Pueblo Cowboy Single Action 9AM
2nd Saturday – 1000yd.NBRSA (Light & Heavy) 7AM; BPCR Midrange Bullseye; Pima Pistoleros Cowboy Action; and Tactical Multi-gun Night Shoot (1600 hrs)
2nd Sunday - 1000yd Saguaro Benchrest 7AM; Southern Arizona Wildlife Callers (SAWC) Prairie Dog Silhouette (*) or balloon shoot, 9AM.
3rd Saturday - TASC
3rd Sunday – JC Garand Match 0700; NRA Small-Bore Rifle Silhouette (10AM); The Altar Valley Pistoleros Cowboy Single Action (9AM)
4th Saturday - Roy Dunlap Match HP Rifle-NMC (80 round); The President's Practical Tactical Multi-Gun Action Match (afternoon ~12:30)
IHMSA Small-Bore Pistol Silhouette; Big-Bore w/Field Pistol AND NRA Cowboy Lever Action Rifle Silhouette on the same day at 9AM.
(*) “Even” months only e.g. February, April, June, August, October, etc.
4th Sunday – OPML Muzzle Loaders.
5th Sunday – 600 Yard Practice (see in this NL) and
Pima Pistoleros Cowboy Action Shoot (Night)
Anything on a 5th Weekend are usually special events so do the smart thing CALL THE RANGE to find out what is going on if you THINK you are going to have a certain range ALL to yourself.
· RANGE HOURS 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Call the Range 822-5189 for information & conformation of match dates and times.
Note: Monthly meetings are held in TWO different locations.
On the Odd Months the meeting will be held at Diamondback Police Supplies, 170 S Kolb Rd (meeting room) beginning at 6 PM (1800 hrs) on the Third Wednesday’s.
On the Even Months the meetings will be held at The TIA Executive Terminal 3rd Wednesday’s also beginning at 6 PM.
§ I urge you to join the NRA, GOA and FACT and stay alert to (and help influence) the politics that surround us.
1. Always handle firearms as if they are loaded and ready to fire.
2. Always point the muzzle in a safe direction.
(“Safe” means at something you are willing to destroy OR at something that can effectively stop the round)
3. Always keep your finger straight along the frame until you are on target and ready to fire.
4. Always be sure your target and what's behind it are safe to shoot. (know where your bullets are going to stop)
(Rules for handling guns in the presence of other persons)
1. Never accept OR hand a weapon to anyone unless the action is open.
2. Never place a weapon anywhere unless the action is open & unloaded.
3. Never let the muzzle of any weapon that you control cross anyone's body.
4. Whenever you handle a weapon that has been out of your control, verify the condition of the weapon immediately—action is open & unloaded.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
J C Garand Match from 21 Dec 03
Rifles Used: M1 Rifle – 16; M1903 – 1;M14/M1A – 3;Mauser – 2;AR-15 - 5
Number of Competitors: 27 (4 Juniors)
1. Greg Fallon 483-16X (NM M14)
2. Rick Smart 468-11X (AR-15)
3. Kim Wood 466-13X (AR-15)
4. Ron Mendez 459-7X (.308 Garand)
5. Randy Dwornik 457-2X MW - Garand High Score
6. Maury Krupp 452-2X (Garand)
7. Pete Wolf 446-6X (Garand)
8. Don Travers 443-2X (M1A)
9. Jim Denovchek 442-4X (Mauser)
10. Mark Decker 435-3X (Garand)
11. Bob Pirisky 430-2X (Garand)
12. Doug Weems 423-4X (Garand)
13. Brian Lukow 422-3X (Garand)
14. John Kuhns 417-1X (Garand)
15. Brad Metcalf 414-3X (Garand)
16. Kaj Christianson 412-2X (AR-15) (Junior)
17. Andy Hinsdale 412-1X (Garand)
18. Bill Davies 407-2X (M1A)
19. Andy Davies 402-1X (Garand) (Junior)
20. Mark Trombley 388-1X (Garand)
21. James Killian 386-3X (Garand)
22. Rick Randolph 318-0X (Springfield)
23. Tom Monahan 317-4X (Garand)
24. James Hinsdale 294-0X (Garand) (Junior)
25. Steve Hoogasian273-2X (Mauser)
26. Koll Christianson 266-0X (AR-15) (Junior)
27. Julia Hoogasian 163-0X (AR-15)
Roy Dunlap 800-Aggregate High Power Rifle
27 Dec 03
Match Course: 80-shot Regional Course, Service Rifle and NRA Match Rifle. SR target at 200yd, SR-3 at 300yd, MR-1 at 600yd.
1. Phil Hayes 777-20X* NRA Service Rifle Master Winner
2. Roy Bane 755-8X* NRA Match Rifle Master Winner
3. Lee McKinney 753-8X Non-NRA High Score
4. John Kuhns 751-14X*
5. Tim Hibbs 744-12X* NRA Service Rifle Expert Winner
6. Ike Smith 743-14X
7. Dan Rodriguez 743-6X*
8. Wally Tang 738-13X*
9. Bill Gibson 737-7X*
10. Jim Denovchek 734-16X
11. Pete Wolf 725-14X*
12. Robert Suomala 722-10X*
13. Randy Dwornik 722-4X
14. Jeff Calhoon 715-10X* NRA Service Rifle Marksman Winner
15. Ryan Calhoon 708-16X*
16. Bob Pirisky 706-5X* NRA Service Rifle Sharpshooter Winner
17. Chris Yerhart 689-3X*
18. Emil Yerhart 680-1X*
19. Maury Krupp 669-2X*
20. Ron Mendez 667-4X*
21. Troy Clark 601-3X
Janurary 2004 Sahuaro 1000 yds. Match
Shooter Group Score
Chris Meyers 14 ¾”* 79
Gordon Winkelman 32 5/8” 60
Don Bennett 20 ¾” 58
Gene Hudspeth 31 ¼” 81**
Jim Musegades 18 13/16* 64
Small Group Shoot-Off
Chris Meyers 20 11/16”
Jim Musegades 15 9/16”
High Score Gene Hudspeth 81
John C Garand Match 18 Jan 04
Roy Dunlap 800-Aggregate High Power Rifle
Match 24 Jan 04
80-shot Regional Course, Service Rifle and NRA Match Rifle. SR target at 200yd, SR-3 at 300yd, MR-1 at 600yd.
1. Ron Fuchs 777-17X Non-NRA High Score
2. Justin Skaret 773-23X
3. Kenneth Walston 764-16X* NRA Service Rifle Master Winner
4. Lee McKinney 759-16X
5. Dan Rodrigeuz 754-23X* NRA Service Rifle Expert Winner
6. Pete Wolf 752-15X*
7. Ike Smith 740-13X*
8. Bill Gibson 736-16X
9. Bob Pirisky 735-15X*
10. Samuel Garee 731-10X*
11. Jim Denovchek 725-14X*
12. Walter Tang 721-15X*
13. Don Ellis 719-9X*
14. Jeff Calhoon 711-6X* NRA Service Rifle Sharpshooter Winner
Sahuaro 1000 yds. B/R Feb 2004
Shooter Group Score
Jim Musegades 33 ½” 75
Steve Cass 18 ½” 86
Chris Hudspeth 16” ** 82
Jim Ratchford 16 ¾” ^ 67
Gene Hudspeth 23 ¼” 71
Clyde Weckworth 11 9/16”** 92*
Mike Chapdelain 0 0
**Denotes Small Group Relay winner
^New Shooter
*High Score winner
Clyde and Chris continue to dominate the 1000 yds! Nice shooting friends.
Tucson Rifle Club Highpower Rifle Clinic
And John C. Garand Match 15 Feb 2004
Rifles Used: M1 Rifle – 13; M14 – 1; M1 Carbine – 3; AR-15 – 8; SKS – 1; Unknown - 8
Number of Competitors: 34
1. Shawn Hermann 388-7X (AR-15)
2. Ron Mendez 369-8X (.308 Garand)
3. James Hoff 363-3X (unknown)
4. Jeff Schneider 362-3X (AR-15)
5. David Savage 358-2X (AR-15)
6. Mark Trombley 356-7X (AR-15)
7. Bill Orzechowski 352-5X (Garand)
8. Gerald Haggerty 352-1X (Garand)
9. Robert Hedin 351-2X (AR-15)
10. Fritz Ficke 350-2X (Garand)
11. Carlos Heckel 332-4X (AR-15)
12. Juli Nerison 329-1X (AR-15)
13. Craig Shott 328-3X (Garand)
14. Kevin Duncan 326-3X (unknown)
15. Christopher Kaufmann 325-1X (Garand)
16. Blayne Anderson 322-0X (unknown)
17. Brad Metcalf 321-4X (Garand)
18. David Kay 320-2X (M1 Carbine)
19. James Killian 313-2X (unknown)
20. Brian Lukow 312-0X (Garand)
21. Randy Blount 298-1X (unknown)
22. Michael Owen 296-2X (Garand)
23. Alex Hoogasian 291-1X (Garand)
24. Rick Randolph 285-0X (Garand)
25. Lawrence Wegeman 258-3X (unknown)
26. Tammy Luu 258-0X (AR-15)
27. Steve Hoogasian 254-4X (M14 NM)
28. Gordon Groves 243-1X (Garand)
29. Richard Kneip 203-1X (Garand)
30. John Rigsby 201-0X (SKS)
31. Alison Reeves 193-0X (M1 Carbine)
32. Julia Hoogasian 151-0X (M1 Carbine)
33. Anthony DeGrazia 0-0X (no scorecard)
34. Dan Rodriguez 0-0X (no scorecard)
HIGH POWER RIFLE SILHOUETTE Feburary 1,2004
MASTER
Jeff Boyer ??
AAA Class
Ron A Calderone 24 MW
Joe Duchene 12
Mike Pfander 16 1st
AA Class
Mike Aiello 19 1st
May Warren 16
Andres Wirichaga 13
A Class
Bob Stapleton 15
Tom Porter 08
David Esquivel 18 1st
B Class
Marlys Duchene 8
Another nice day in Tucson. Sunny skies and brisk chilly winter winds made this all-offhand match a challenge ! Good shooting by David Esquivel and Mike Pfander she posted high scores of 18 and 16 behind match winner Ron A Calderone. Thanks to all who helped with the match especially David Tetrault who helped but did not compete.
SMALLBORE RIFLE SILHOUETTE
FEBRUARY 15, 2004
Master Class
CLASS AAA
Mike Aiello 56
MW May Warren 59
Andres Wirichaga ?? David Tetrault 35/40 ( Dave left early, but fired a Master Score !)
David Esquivel 42
1st Flavio Ruiz 48
CLASS AA
Carl Bower 55
Tom Porter 18
Kyle Tetrault 20
Tim Faras 42
2nd Jenn McNeil 45
1st Rene Menard 47
Bob Stapleton 28
Juan Rubio 39
CLASS A
Ed Hertfelder 20
Joan Salgado 32
1st Ray Salgado 35
CLASS B
Steve Janesch 24
Sage Janesch 27
1st Arturo Menard 31
Jim Jones 06
Nice weather makes for good shooting conditions and allowed for some surprises and upsets ! Match winner was club treasurer, May Warren, who bested the’ boys’ with her high score. Shooting team Tim Faras and niece Jennifer McNeil, showed their stuff when Jenn beat her Uncle and took 2nd place in AA. Also, father and son team Steve and Sage Janesch, had a similar overturn when Sage bested Dad’s score in B class. Exploding Pig money went to Rene Menard.
HIGH POWER RIFLE SILHOUETTE March 7, 2004
MASTER
Jeff Boyer 32 MW
AAA Class
Ron A Calderone 19 1st
Joe Duchene 07
AA Class
Mike Aiello 19
May Warren 20 1st
Nic Moreno 18
Bob Stapleton 11
A Class
Luis Vazquez 12
Tom Porter 18 1st
David Esquivel 14
Mike Chapdelain 09
Alberto Moreno 11
Milt Hood 10
B Class
Marlys Duchene 8
Good attendance on this beautiful sunny Sunday. Congratulations to Jeff Boyer from Globe,. who shot an impressive 32x40 with his Hunter rifle ! Jeff also hit 10 rams in a row for his first slam in Hunter rifle for this 500 meter distant target ! He now needs to hit 10 Turkeys to complete his Grand Slam in Hunter rifle, good luck, Jeff. May Warren battled the boys again to take a first in AA class followed closely by Nic Moreno of Nogales, Az. Good luck to all competitors who will shoot the State Championships next month in Phoenix
Sahuaro 1000 yds. Benchrest March 14
Shooter Group Score
Clyde Weckworth 11 ½”** 83
Art Smith 29 ½” 52
Gordon Winkelman 24 ½” 64
Steve Cass 12 3/8” 77
Don Bennett 15 11/16” 85*
Mike Chapdelain 20 7/8” 31
**Denotes Small Group relay winner
*High Score winner
Small Group Shoot-off:
Clyde Weckworth 15 ½”
Steve Cass 18”
Tucson Rifle Club John C. Garand Match
21 March 2004
Number of competitors 26 (3 Juniors)
Roy Dunlap 800-Aggregate High Power Rifle
Match Bulletin 27 March 2004
Awards: NRA Service Rifle Expert - Bob Pirisky
NRA Service Rifle Marksman - Emil Yerhart
Non-NRA High Score - Justin Skaret
John C. Garand Match 18 Apr 04
SMALLBORE SILHOUETTE APRIL 2004
Master Class
Ron A Calderone 61 1st
AAA Class
David Tetrault 61 MW
Flavio Ruiz 41
Andres Wirichaga 49
AA Class
May Warren 50 1st
Mike Aiello 49 2nd
David Esquivel 38
Joe Duchene 28
AA Class
Carl Bower 51 1st
Tim Faras 47
Jaime Bujanda 36
Juan Rubio 44
Jenn McNeil 34
A Class
Bob Stapleton 42 1st
Ed Hertfelder 27
Class B:
Ron Singleton 14
Steve Janesch 26 1st
Sage Janesch 16
Marlys Duchene 16
Erica Rubio 07
Roy Dunlap 800-Aggregate High Power Rifle
Match 24 April 2004
a. Service Rifle Master
b. Match Rifle Master
c. Service Rifle Expert
d. Service Rifle Sharpshooter
e. Service Rifle Marksman
Practice Match Results:
1. Justin Skaret 777-15X
2. Phil Hayes 767-18X
3. Wally Tang 762-18X
4. Tom Albanito 756-16X
5. Pete Wolf 740-8X
6. Bill Gibson 730-8X
7. Lee McKinney 728-14X
8. Bernice McKinney 704-5X
9. Emil Yerhart 630-2X
10. Dan Kellun 493-0X
April Sahuaro 1000 yds. B/R
Shooter Score Group
Gene Hudspeth 76 24 ¾”
Chris Meyers 79 16 3/16”
John Morrison 52 22”
Clyde Weckworth 76 17 3/8”
Don Bennett 50 24”
Shoot Off Small Group
Chris Myers 13”
John Morrison 28 ¼”
Chris wins both High Score and Small Group.
Nice job in that nasty Easter day wind !
Thanks to Gene Hudspeth and Chris for
running the match while I was hunting turkeys in New Mexico.
HIGH POWER RIFLE SILHOUETTE
MATCH May 2, 2004
AAA Class Ron A Calderone 22 1st
AA Class
Mike Aiello 20
Nic Moreno 07
Andres Wirichaga 09
A Class
David Esquivel 15
Mike Chapdelain 05
David Reyes 11
Milt Hood 10
B Class Ruben Reyes 09
Thank you all for helping with this match and attending !
It was windy Folks ! However everyone was up to the challenge.
Congratulations to Mike Aiello and David Esquivel who won their classes today.
The Nationals will be held at the Whittington Center this year in July !
This is good practice for the Big One.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Washington's Birthday Match has been hosted by the Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association's Highpower Rifle Division every year since 1892. In other words, the match was already twenty years old when Arizona became a state!
On Sunday, 8 February of this year the firing line at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility was filled to capacity by 46 teams totaling 184 shooters from clubs all over the state. For the first time in recent memory, teams from Tucson Rifle Club were there:
TRC M14 - Jim Denovchek, Don Travers, Kim Wood, and Greg Fallon (captain), Beth Fallon (target puller)
TRC BlackMagic - Shawn Hermann, Rick Smart, Bud Geymer, Bob Pirisky (captain), Rick Pirisky (target puller)
TRC EnblocHeads - Pete Wolf, Brian Lukow, Ron Mendez, and Maury Krupp (captain), Brett Pirisky (target puller)
For all practical purposes these were "pick-up" teams. No grand strategy was planned. No real thought was given to who should be on which team. Experience varied from Distinguished Riflemen to new shooters with only a handful of matches under their belt. Most had never shot in any sort of a team match. They had never practiced together and, in some cases, hadn't even met each other until match day. Just a dozen guys out for a fun day at the range.
The course of fire is the 50-shot National Match Course. With four shooters per team the highest possible team score is 2000 points.
All firing was done from 200 yards with reduced size targets to simulate 300 and 600 yards for the last thirty shots. At only 200 yards the wind and other conditions have less impact, but the smaller scoring rings on the reduced targets make the ability to hold critical. For example, a shot that would score a 9 on the normal 200-yard target might only get you a 7 or even a 6 on the 600-yard reduced target.
Considering all of the above, the results are pretty amazing:
In the Club Team category TRC swept two of the top four awards. TRC M14 took 2nd with a total score of 1792-30X and TRC BlackMagic took 4th with a 1777-29X.
In the individual categories TRC shooters came away with nearly one-third of the total awards:
-Jim Denovchek 1st Place Civilian 478-8X
-Greg Fallon 1st Place Individual 477-12X
-Shawn Hermann 5th Place Civilian 468-7X
-Rick Smart 12th Place Civilian 463-7X
-Pete Wolf 14th Place Civilian 460-5X
In addition two regular TRC highpower shooters, Ike Smith and Dan Rodriguez, shot for the 162nd Fighter Wing (AZ ANG) which took 1st Place in the Service Team category.
All in all, not a bad showing for a bunch of guys just out for fun.
= = = = = =
*** Dirt work on the Range property has been partially accomplished. You’ll notice the inter-range safety walls and the berm and target setter bunkers/walkway rebuilding on the High Power Rifle Silhouette (Range #1). Thank you for your patients. When we get financially stronger we will continue with the safety enhancement and range improvements.
NOTICE: TRC has established a protocol for shooting .50 BMG cartridge rifles. Due to the noise and range capabilities of the cartridge they are to be shot ONLY on the western most portions of the Range property. The rules governing their use is established by way of an agreement with the TRC Executive Board and local representatives of the Fifty Caliber Shooting Association. Go to the TRC website for information about this process.
"The centralization of power in Washington, which nearly all members of Congress deplore in their speech and then support by their votes, steadily increases." --Calvin Coolidge
"The point to remember is that what the government gives it must first take away." --John Strider Coleman
"The locusts I saw swarming in the Argentine are houseflies compared to the destruction by a presidential election." --Will Rogers
Now that were warmed up …
Any seasoned reporter covering the Tet offensive in Vietnam 36 years ago is well over 60 and presumably retired or teaching journalism is one of America’s 4,200 colleges and universities. Before plunging into an orgy of erroneous and invidious historical parallels between Iraq and Vietnam, a reminder about what led to the U.S. defeat in Southeast Asia is timely.
Iraq will only be another Vietnam if the home front collapses, as it did following the Tet offensive, which began on the eve of the Chinese New Year, Jan. 31, 1968. The surprise attack was designed to overwhelm some 70 cities and towns, and 30 other strategic objectives simultaneously. By breaking a previously agreed truce for Tet festivities, master strategist Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap in Hanoi calculated that South Vietnamese troops would be caught with defenses down.
After the first few hours of panic, the South Vietnamese troops reacted fiercely. They did the bulk of the fighting and took some 6,000 casualties. Vietcong units not only did not reach a single one of their objectives—except when they arrived by taxi at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, blew their way through the wall into the compound and guns blazing made it into the lobby before they were wiped out by U.S. Marines—but they lost some 50,000 killed and at least that many wounded. Giap had thrown some 70,000 troops into a strategic gamble that was also designed to overwhelm 13 of the 16 provincial capitals and trigger a popular uprising. But Tet was an unmitigated military disaster for Hanoi and its Vietcong troops in South Vietnam. Yet that was not the way it was reported in U.S. and other media around the world. It was television’s first war. And some 50 million Americans at home saw the carnage of dead bodies in the rubble, and dazed Americans running around.
As the late veteran war reporter Peter Braestrup documented in “Big Story”—a massive, two-volume study of how Tet was covered by American reporters—the Vietcong offensive was depicted as a military disaster for the United States. By the time the facts emerged a week or two later from RAND Corp. interrogations of prisoners and defectors, the damage had been done. Conventional media wisdom had been set in concrete. Public opinion perceptions in the United States changed accordingly RAND made copies of these POW interrogations available. But few reporters seemed interested. In fact, the room where they were on display was almost always empty. Many Vietnamese civilians who were fence sitters or leaning toward the Vietcong, especially in the region around Hue City, joined government ranks after they witnessed Vietcong atrocities. Several mass graves were found with some 4,000 unarmed civil servants and other civilians, stabbed or with skulls smashed by clubs. The number of communist defectors, known as “chieu hoi,” increased fourfold. And the “popular uprising” anticipated by Giap, failed to materialize. The Tet offensive also neutralized much of the clandestine communist infrastructure.
As South Vietnamese troops fought Vietcong remnants in Cholon, the predominantly Chinese twin city of Saigon, reporters, sipping drinks in the rooftop bar of the Caravelle Hotel, watched the fireworks 2 miles away. America’s most trusted newsman, CBS’ Walter Cronkite, appeared for a standup piece with distant fires as a backdrop. Donning helmet, Cronkite declared the war lost. It was this now famous television news piece that persuaded President Johnson six weeks later, on March 31, not to run. His ratings had plummeted from 80 percent when he assumed the presidency upon Kennedy’s death to 30 percent after Tet. His handling of the war dropped to 20 percent, his credibility shot to pieces.
Until Tet, a majority of Americans agreed with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson that failure was not an option. It was Kennedy who changed the status of U.S. military personnel from advisers to South Vietnamese troops to full-fledged fighting men. By the time of Kennedy’s assassination in Nov. 22, 1963, 16,500 U.S. troops had been committed to the war. Johnson escalated all the way to 542,000. But defeat became an option when Johnson decided the war was unwinnable and that he would lose his bid for the presidency in November 1968. Hanoi thus turned military defeat into a priceless geopolitical victory
With the Vietcong wiped out in the Tet offensive, North Vietnamese regulars moved south down the Ho Chi Minh trails through Laos and Cambodia to continue the war. Even Giap admitted in his memoirs that news media reporting of the war and the anti-war demonstrations that ensued in America surprised him. Instead of negotiating what he called a conditional surrender, Giap said they would now go the limit because America’s resolve was weakening and the possibility of complete victory was within Hanoi’s grasp.
Hanoi’s Easter offensive in March 1972 was another disaster for the communists. Some 70,000 North Vietnamese troops were wiped out—by the South Vietnamese who did all the fighting. The last American soldier left Vietnam in March 1973. And the chances of the South Vietnamese army being able to hack it on its own were reasonably good. With one proviso: Continued U.S. military assistance with weapons and hardware, including helicopters. But Congress balked, first by cutting off military assistance to Cambodia, which enabled Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge communists to take over, which, in turn, was followed by a similar Congressional rug pulling from under the South Vietnamese that led to rapid collapse of morale in Saigon.
The unraveling, with Congress pulling the string, was so rapid that even Giap was caught by surprise. As he recounts in his memoirs, Hanoi had to improvise a general offensive—and then rolled into Saigon two years before they had reckoned it might become possible.
That is the real lesson for the U.S. commitment to Iraq. Whatever one thought about the advisability of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the United States is there with 100,000 troops and a solid commitment to endow Iraq with a democratic system of government. While failure is not an option for Bush, it clearly is for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who called Iraq the president’s Vietnam. It is, of course, no such animal. But it could become so if Congressional resolve dissolves.
Bui Tin, who served on the general staff of the North Vietnamese army, received South Vietnam’s unconditional surrender on April 30, 1975. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal after his retirement, he made clear the anti-war movement in the United States, which led to the collapse of political will in Washington, was “essential to our strategy.”
Visits to Hanoi by Jane Fonda and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and various church ministers “gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses.”
America lost the war, concluded Bui Tin, “because of its democracy. Through dissent and protest it lost the ability to mobilize a will to win.” Kennedy should remember that Vietnam was the war of his brother who saw the conflict in the larger framework of the Cold War and Nikita Khrushchev’s threats against West Berlin. It would behoove Kennedy to see Iraq in the larger context of the struggle to bring democracy, not only to Iraq, but the entire Middle East.
= = = = =
We don't need a "commission" to find out how 9-11 happened. The truth is in the timeline:
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter allowed the Shah of Iran to be deposed by a mob of Islamic fanatics. A few months later, Muslims stormed the U.S. Embassy in Iran and took American Embassy staff hostage.
Carter retaliated by canceling Iranian visas. He eventually ordered a disastrous and humiliating rescue attempt, crashing helicopters in the desert.
The day of Reagan’s inauguration, the hostages were released.
In 1982, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was bombed by Muslim extremists.
President Reagan sent U.S. Marines to Beirut.
In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut were blown up by Muslim extremists.
Reagan said the U.S. would not surrender, but Democrats threw a hissy fit, introducing a resolution demanding that our troops be withdrawn. Reagan caved in to Democrat caterwauling in an election year and withdrew our troops – bombing Syrian-controlled areas on the way out. Democrats complained about that, too.
In 1985, an Italian cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, was seized and a 69-year-old American was shot and thrown overboard by Muslim extremists.
Reagan ordered a heart-stopping mission to capture the hijackers after “the allies” promised them safe passage. In a daring operation, American fighter pilots captured the hijackers and turned them over to the Italians – who then released them to safe harbor in Iraq.
On April 5, 1986, a West Berlin discotheque frequented by U.S. servicemen was bombed by Muslim extremists from the Libyan Embassy in East Berlin, killing an American.
Ten days later, Reagan bombed Libya, despite our dear ally France refusing the use of their airspace. Americans bombed Gadhafi’s residence, killing his daughter, and dropped a bomb on the French Embassy “by mistake.”
Reagan also stoked a long, bloody war between heinous regimes in Iran and Iraq. All this was while winning a final victory over Soviet totalitarianism.
· PRESIDENT BUSH I, MODERATE REPUBLICAN
In December 1988, a passenger jet, Pan Am Flight 103, was bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland, by Muslim extremists.
President-elect George Bush claimed he would continue Reagan’s policy of retaliating against terrorism, but did not. Without Reagan to gin her up, even Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher went wobbly, saying there would be no revenge for the bombing.
In 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.
In early 1991, Bush went to war with Iraq. A majority of Democrats opposed the war, and later complained that Bush didn’t “finish off the job” with Saddam.
In February 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed by Muslim fanatics, killing five people and injuring hundreds.
Clinton, advised by Dick Clarke, did nothing.
In October 1993, 18 American troops were killed in a savage firefight in Somalia. The body of one American was dragged through the streets of Mogadishu as the Somalian hordes cheered.
Clinton responded by calling off the hunt for Mohammed Farrah Aidid and ordering our troops home. Osama bin Laden later told ABC News: “The youth ... realized more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat.”
In November 1995, five Americans were killed and 30 wounded by a car bomb in Saudi Arabia set by Muslim extremists.
Clinton, advised by Dick Clarke, did nothing.
In June 1996, a U.S. Air Force housing complex in Saudi Arabia was bombed by Muslim extremists.
Clinton, advised by Dick Clarke, did nothing.
Months later, Saddam attacked the Kurdish-controlled city of Erbil.
Clinton, advised by Dick Clarke, lobbed some bombs into Iraq hundreds of miles from Saddam’s forces.
In November 1997, Iraq refused to allow U.N. weapons inspections to do their jobs and threatened to shoot down a U.S. U-2 spy plane.
Clinton, advised by Dick Clarke, did nothing.
In February 1998, Clinton threatened to bomb Iraq, but called it off when the United Nations said no.
On Aug. 7, 1998, U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by Muslim extremists.
Clinton, advised by Dick Clarke, did nothing.
On Aug. 20, Monica Lewinsky appeared for the second time to testify before the grand jury.
Clinton responded by bombing Afghanistan and Sudan, severely damaging a camel and an aspirin factory.
On Dec. 16, the House of Representatives prepared to impeach Clinton the next day.
Clinton retaliated by ordering major air strikes against Iraq, described by the New York Times as “by far the largest military action in Iraq since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.”
The only time Clinton decided to go to war with anyone in the vicinity of Muslim fanatics was in 1999 – when Clinton attacked Serbians who were fighting Islamic fanatics.
In October 2000, our warship, the USS Cole, was attacked by Muslim extremists.
Clinton, advised by Dick Clarke, did nothing.
· PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH, REPUBLICAN
Bush came into office telling his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, he was “tired of swatting flies” – he wanted to eliminate al-Qaida.
On Sept. 11, 2001, when Bush had been in office for barely seven months, 3,000 Americans were murdered in a savage terrorist attack on U.S. soil by Muslim extremists.
Since then, Bush has won two wars against countries that harbored Muslim fanatics, captured Saddam Hussein, immobilized Osama bin Laden, destroyed al-Qaida’s base, and begun to create the only functioning democracy in the Middle East other than Israel. Democrats opposed it all – except their phony support for war with Afghanistan, which they immediately complained about and said would be a Vietnam quagmire. And now they claim to be outraged that in the months before 9-11, Bush did not do everything Democrats opposed doing after 9-11.
What a surprise.
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With the air gushing out of John Kerry's balloon, it may be only a matter of time until political insiders in Washington face the dread reality that the junior senator from Massachusetts doesn't have what it takes to win and has got to go. As arrogant and out of it as the Democratic political establishment is, even these pols know the party's got to have someone to run against George Bush. They can't exactly expect the president to self-destruct into thin air.
With growing issues over his wealth (which makes fellow plutocrat Bush seem a charity case by comparison), the miasma over his medals and ribbons (or ribbons and medals), his uninspiring record in the Senate (yes war, no war), and wishy-washy efforts to mimic Bill Clinton's triangulation gimmickry (the protractor factor), Kerry sinks day by day. The pros all know that the candidate who starts each morning by having to explain himself is a goner.
What to do? Look for the Dem biggies, whoever they are these days, to sit down with the rich and arrogant presumptive nominee and try to persuade him to take a hike. Then they can return to business as usual—resurrecting John Edwards, who is still hanging around, or staging an open convention in Boston, or both.
If things proceed as they are, the dim-bulb Dem leaders are going to be very sorry they screwed Howard Dean.
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Speculation regarding the military records of George Bush and John Kerry 30 years ago is still front-and-center. Kerry's traveling Vietnam "dog and pony show" now includes former Sen. Max Cleland, who has teamed up with DNC Chairman and former Clinton bagman Terry McAuliffe accusing President Bush of being AWOL from his service as an F-102 fighter pilot with the Texas Air National Guard in 1972-3. Cleland demanded to see Mr. Bush's pay stubs for May 1972 to May 1973.
The White House produced those pay stubs, which establish, in the words of Ann Coulter, "Bush reported for duty nine times between Nov. 29, 1972, and May 24, 1973 -- more than enough times to fulfill his Guard duties. (And nine times more than Bill Clinton, Barney Frank or Chuck Schumer did during the same period.) ... Bush's National Guard service is the most thoroughly investigated event since the Kennedy assassination. But the Democrats will accept only two possible conclusions to their baseless accusations: (1) Bush was 'AWOL,' or (2) the matter needs further investigation."
Cleland is also outraged that Mr. Bush left the National Guard nine months early in 1973 to attend Harvard Business School. "I just know a whole lot of veterans who would have loved to have worked things out with the military and adjusted their tour of duty." Albert Arnold Gore And John Forbes Kerry come to mind, though unlike Gore and Kerry, when Mr. Bush left military service, the war in Vietnam was over.
As for Cleland's war record, Terry McAuliffe claims he's a "war hero -- a triple amputee who left three limbs on the battlefield of Vietnam." Unfortunately, Cleland suffered his injuries when he picked up a grenade while drinking beer with some friends. As for McAuliffe's military record -- oh...he doesn't have one, which is why he and other Demos who have never raised their hand to take a military oath of allegiance to our constitution have no idea what a "hero" is. Cleland's service, like that of Mr. Kerry and Mr. Bush and most others who have served in the military, may qualify them as patriots, but not necessarily "heroes." (If you aren't sure what a hero really is, read a few of the 3,400 Medal of Honor recipient citations. Link to http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/moh1.htm )
As for George Bush's military service, he served honorably and we submit that flying F-102s is dangerous business regardless of what hard-deck you're over. McAuliffe, Cleland and his opportunistic Leftist cadre should take note that every time they denigrate the service of Guardsmen and Reservists, they spit in the faces of hundreds of thousands of citizen-soldiers -- and their families -- who make enormous sacrifices whether serving on the front lines in Iraq or the home front. Indeed, McAuliffe et al., have been mentored well by John Kerry and his comrade, "Hanoi Jane" Fonda.
Let us reiterate: The military records that are most important now are John Kerry's record as a U.S. Senator and George Bush's record as Commander-in-Chief. As a Senator, Mr. Kerry has consistently endeavored to undermine our national security defense capabilities -- and consequently, he has made life more dangerous for our military personnel. On the other hand, the President gets the highest marks for his resolute performance as CiC.
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The Socialist International claims to be the largest political organization in the world, with more than 150 organizations participating in this recent gathering. Their avowed goal is to create world government under the authority of the United Nations -- which, of course, is controlled by socialists. When the Berlin Wall fell, and America celebrated the cold war victory over Communism, few people realized that our enemy had not lost the war. They did not realize that the enemy had simply changed tactics, and had already seduced many Americans into supporting its new, kinder, gentler war plan, disguised as 'sustainable development,' defined by Agenda 21, and sold as the answer to their manufactured image of global environmental degradation -- all to be administered by a 'reformed' UN. Bad news from Iraq must never be misinterpreted as anything less than another critical battle to defend this great nation, and the principles of freedom written in the blood of America's youth from Bunker Hill to the Battle of the Bulge, and now in the streets of Baghdad. We can no more turn over Iraq to the UN than to the terrorists. The principles of freedom are at stake. If America is to retain its brand of freedom, endowed by God, then it cannot acquiesce to the UN's brand of freedom, which is granted by an omnipotent socialist global government. For America to keep its God-given freedom, we must defend it to the death, from all threats, whether from terrorists, or from global socialism, or from a bunch of Bush-bashing buzzards.
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"I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' interests, I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can." --Barry Goldwater
AUSTRALIANS are a dangerous lot. Weapons that would hardly cause a second thought in the hands of a citizen in another country generate concern when held by an Australian.
Fortunately, some Australian state governments have understood the dangers of letting ordinary Australians get access to weapons such as laser pointers, a popular device for making business and academic presentations in countries such as the US.
Americans may feel safe when an academic addresses a conference using a laser pointer. In the hands of an Australian, however, there is understandable fear that these devices could do untold harm. An Australian academic with a laser pointer would cause real panic.
Now the Victorian Government is achieving international recognition for protecting Australians from a danger that has been around for far too long: swords. After July 1, swords will be banned and violators will face penalties that previously have been reserved for laser pointers - six months in jail and a $12,000 fine.
Swords are broadly defined as a cutting or thrusting weapon with a long blade, a hilt and one or two sharp edges. Although this unfortunately exempts knives with either no sharp or three or more sharp edges, or knives without handles, not specifying a blade length in the legislation hopefully ensures many knives will be banned.
A licensing process will be set up so that a select few will be granted an exemption and pay a $135 fee, but they will have to lock their weapons in sturdy safes and put in burglar alarms. If properly enforced, the law could produce other benefits, such as ensuring that dishes are promptly washed after dinner so that any offending steak knives can be placed back in their safe. On the downside, the knives would still be available during dinner when many family arguments might get out of hand. It is also not clear if the family will be able to use the knives if the license holder is not present.
And if Australians can’t be trusted with laser pointers or swords, they surely can’t be trusted with guns. Citizens in other countries are obviously much more trustworthy. Americans, for example, can own all these items. Indeed, 46 states in the US even trust millions of law-abiding Americans to carry concealed handguns when walking on the street or eating in restaurants.
And, yes, in most states an academic addressing a conference or a class can carry a gun along with a laser pointer. Over the decades, concealed handgun permit holders in the US have proven to be extremely law-abiding, losing their permits at only hundredths of thousandths of one percentage point for any type of firearms related violation.
If dangerous weapons made citizens in other countries dangerous, no one would visit Switzerland. There, all able-bodied men between the ages of 20 and 42 are trusted to keep a machinegun in their homes as part of their military service. (Not the wimpy centre-fire semi-automatic rifles everyone is afraid to trust Australians with.) Yet the trust in the Swiss is well placed. Switzerland has one of the lowest murder rates in Europe.
Letting law-abiding citizens in the US and Switzerland own guns lowers crime because would-be victims are able to deter criminals or, if confronted, protect themselves. Australians are clearly quite different. They understand the risks of letting Australians own guns. The International Crime Victimisation Survey shows that Australia’s violent crime rate is already twice that of the US or Switzerland. Australia’s violent crime rate is about as high as England’s, a country that bans handguns.
It would be simple enough just to blame Australia’s high crime rates on its largely English heritage or its convict history, but for much of the past century Australia had lower crime rates than the US or the UK. Violent crime rates have gone up dramatically in Australia since the 1996 Port Arthur gun control measures. And violent crime rates averaged 20 per cent higher in the six years after the law was passed (from 1997 to 2002) than they did in 1996, 32 per cent higher than the violent crime rates in 1995. The same comparisons for armed robbery rates showed increases of 67 per cent and 74 per cent, respectively; for aggravated assault, 20 per cent and 32 per cent; for rape, 11 per cent and 12 per cent; murder, attempted murder and manslaughter rose by 5 per cent in both cases.
Perhaps six years of crime data is just not enough to evaluate the experience. Yet Australian governments seem to believe that if gun controls don’t work at first, more and stricter regulations (like getting rid of swords) are surely the solution. Remember, never second-guess government regulations.
While the ban on swords is modeled on the gun control measures, the Victorian Government obviously hopes that its new measure is more successful in reducing crime. Australian gun laws also require people to lock their guns in safes and ban many types of guns. But requiring an alarm for storing any swords, unlike the 15 or more rule for guns in Victoria, is a nice touch and may make the crucial difference.
Metal swords have been around since the Bronze Age, 4600 years ago. Yet citizens in few countries have so clearly posed dangers to themselves and it is fortunate that Victoria recognizes this.
Possibly, Australians can turn now to solving some really important problems. One suggestion: 240-volt electrical currents can kill you. Is it really true that Australians have these overpowering urges to try sticking metal in electrical sockets?
Intelligence can never tell us everything. Leaders must understand the minds of their enemies, and the nature of the world they live in. Furtive, dictatorial, aggressive regimes with powerful grudges against the United States deserve our suspicion. When they are patrons of terror, they deserve our hostility. September 11 -- which was accomplished not by WMD, but by box cutters -- has raised the stakes immeasurably. Such countries as North Korea, Iran, Libya, and Saddam's Iraq must understand that they live on borrowed time. In many situations we will use diplomacy, as we have with North Korea and Libya. In others, we will wait on domestic developments, as in Iran. In still others, we will try isolation, as we did for many years with Iraq. But when the best intelligence we have, plus the nature of the beast, counsels force, then we must use it. We cannot wait, as Condi Rice once put it, until our smoking gun is Chicago. The administration must not think, however, that everyone understands and accepts preemption in an age of terror. These are new presumptions for a world that we now understand to be dangerous. The case for them must be made, and defended. It must also be accompanied by an assurance to the public that the intelligence gathering that assists our leaders in analyzing the threats against us will be done in the most intelligent way possible.
Our out-of-control budget also erodes personal freedom. When government grows, as Thomas Jefferson once famously put it, 'liberty yields.' Dollar by trillion dollar, we are voluntarily giving up our liberties for a government that promises us, in return, a blanket of protection from cradle to coffin. Republicans are steering us in the direction of the 'workers' paradise' of a European socialist welfare state. The reply from the Democrats is faster, faster
Regarding Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-Mexico):
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." --Aesop
If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. - Thomas Paine
I’m done, thanks for your indulgence – I’ll see you at the Range. JamesBertrand@msn.com