And Then There Were None

December 18th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

The lines extended down the aisle and near the door in the first store. Came the second, the story the same, doubled lines, clerks on the phones working computer searches as quickly as the computer system would allow. The price was not an object. The seller could command whatever he would choose, the seller held no compunction at meeting the demand. In part, it was the season; a time for gifts and giving for a splurge on items not normally bought in such quantity. But that was not the driving force behind the exchanges. The purpose was to be found upon the morning news programs and from the bellicose discourses of those in places of power in Washington. In anticipation of a knee-jerk reaction from Washington over the Connecticut school shooting, citizens were buying up firearms as fast as the stores could sell them.

Tragedy had swept down upon the nation once again and the faces of the victims would strike at the soul of every person with a heart. The innocence of children had been decimated in a few short minutes by a single deranged lunatic who had somehow put his hands upon a .223 rifle and a Glock semi-automatic pistol. It would take only a couple of hours after the shootings before those full of anti-gun rhetoric would fill the halls of Washington. The forces behind the U.N. Small Arms Treaty, so touted by Secretary of State Clinton, and lackeys of both anti-gun groups and the rogue nations of the United Nations will be quick to be heralded by the current president. Their desire is to move this country backward to a state of restrictive laws infringing upon the rights of the law abiding citizens. They would take aim at the Constitution of the United States, specifically the 2^nd Amendment, namely the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms.

Already a Huffington Post column by an attorney titled, “Supreme Interference: The Justices’ Improper and Dangerous Reading of the Second Amendment” decries the stance that the 2^nd Amendment allows citizens to own guns for hunting and self-defense and is not what the Founders declared when arguing for a ‘well-regulated militia’ obfuscating the point that militias by their nature are citizen responders to an emergency who are armed, not by the state, but with their personal firearms. Yet, he invokes the appearance of a weeping president calling for something to be done for these horrific killings. Whether it was a tear that the president touched from his eye with a light sweep of the finger or pathetic melodrama; apparently it was enough for this attorney, who places himself above the Supreme Court, to declare the president to be “tearfully confessing” a need for action.  Such will be the diatribes of those who battle against the 2^nd Amendment.

It is upon the backs of the gun holders, sportsman, law abiding citizens, officers of the public peace and those who would secure the blessings of liberty to citizens today and their progeny to stand strong against the public pressure that is bound to come. Often it is said in a whimsical tone that ‘when guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns’ yet it is not beyond the realm of possibility that there are those who seek to permanently withdraw the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms regardless of the criminal elements of society. The enemies of America, of the American way of life, would not hesitate to fully back the cacophony of voices of those who seek to remove citizens’ firearms and their right to self-defense.

In a free society it is almost impossible to completely prevent such tragedies, as this most recent mass shooting, from happening. Had there been a police officer or a legally armed civilian in the school that day, the tragedy may have been diverted.  The country will never know. Americans who value their freedom must take a stand for the law. It is not true that proposed severe restrictions on individual rights for gun ownership will eliminate such catastrophes as these horrific shootings. Sadly, no matter the legal ownership rights of citizens, such events may well continue to be part of the American landscape. Such restrictions would not stop the deranged killer from having a weapon with which to attack the unarmed populace. It would only severely limit the number of persons who may be able to intervene and stop such tragedies from happening.

That does not mean that Americans are hopeless or helpless. As the argument was made in part 1 of this series The U.S. Citizen, the Second Amendment, and the U.N. Small Arms Treaty, for preventing crime, “Suffice it to say, the responsibility does not lie with the local gendarme, a father, a brother, or even the generous soul performing Neighborhood Watch down the street. It can, and must, only reside with the individual.”

World-Wide Turmoil Sets the Stage

December 7th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

A MESSAGE FOR NGO’s – MISSIONARIES and their SENDING CHURCHES- WORLDWIDE 
from Security Consulting Investigations, LLC (SCI) your first choice in protection, planning, and training…     

Obama Policies in Middle East Face Uphill Battle

Military progress, according to senior US military commanders, is measurable but fragile.  Financial assistance has done little to develop a sustained commitment on the part of Pakistan’s security forces to confronting extremist elements at home.

Former commercial center of Aleppo Syria Dec 2^nd  (Courtesy LIGNET)

Confronted with these realities, the administration is pinning its hopes for a peaceful outcome on those most resistant to US objectives, the ISI and extremist elements.  Pressing various regional powers to set aside their own and often competing strategic interests to assist in developing a more stable Afghanistan adds another layer of unreality to the strategy.  That approach appears doomed from the start although the administration seems locked into this path at least through the Chicago meeting.
 

Reports of Weaponized Chemical Warheads in Syria May be Ruse to Get Asylum for Assad

According to the Langley Intelligence Gathering Network New reports yesterday that the Syrian military has weaponized chemical weapons could indicate an effort by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to increase his leverage for the terms of his departure from power, possibly to convince Western states to facilitate an asylum deal.

The movement of chemical weapons has prepared them for either aerosol dispersal from aircraft or in bombs. Sources however are skeptical that Syria is actually weaponizing chemical weapons these same sources believe Washington may be fabricating the reports in order to move international opinion toward allowing asylum by Assad to Venezuela, Cuba or Ecuador.

Exiled-Palestinian leader Meshaal Returns to Gaza as Hero

The former target of Mossad’s assassination attempt in the late 1990’s has returned to a hero’s welcome. After gaining international attention with Egypt’s President (of the Muslim Brotherhood) and having brokered a cease fire to the Israeli – Pillars of Defense I November, his return sets the stage for the Palestinian statehood as being pushed by the U.N. This also sets the stage for further trouble with Israel.

Muslim Brotherhood’s  Power Grab Angers Egyptian Crowds

Egyptian protesters demonstrate outside of the presidential palace in Cairo on December 4, 2012 against President Mohammed Morsi’s decree widening his powers and a draft constitution approved by his Islamist supporters. About 100,000 encircled the presidential palace after riot police failed to keep them at bay with tear gas.

China Aims to Dominate Asia with New Aircraft Carrier

December 4, 2012
Many Western analysts have been quick to dismiss China’s new aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, saying it will never match U.S. naval capabilities. Many of those same analysts, however, were taken by surprise last week when the Chinese Navy landed and launched an indigenously produced J-15 fighter jet on the ship’s flight deck. It was a major breakthrough for the Chinese, and a big step forward in China’s drive to become a naval power. For the rest of Asia, it was a chilling sign of China’s growing aggression.

Iran: Military Experts Stationed in North Korea

Japan’s Kyodo News agency reported yesterday that four experts from Iran’s Ministry of Defense have been in North Korea since late October . . . the Iranians are working with North Korean counterparts at a military base near the Chinese border . . . the nature of that collaboration is unknown but North Korea has been the source of most Iranian missile technology...there have been such reports in the past... the Iranian missile experts may be in the country in connection with North Korea’s plan to test a long-range missile this month.

N. Korea Ignores Warnings, Prepares Rocket Launch                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

North Korea appears to be moving ahead with preparations to launch a long-range rocket, despite international condemnation.

South Korean media quoted government officials saying Tuesday that North Korea is preparing the second and third stages of its launch vehicle at the Tongchang-ri facility.

Pyongyang says it plans to launch the three-stage rocket between December 10 and 22. It says the launch is aimed at placing a satellite into orbit.

Its neighbors and much of the rest of the world have warned against the launch, saying it is really a disguised missile test banned under U.N. sanctions.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he is “seriously concerned” about the launch, saying it would raise tension in the region. Ban called on Pyongyang to reconsider its decision and halt all activities related to its ballistic missile program.

North Korea’s main ally China also added increasing diplomatic pressure, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei warning Pyongyang to “act prudently” and not take steps to escalate the situation.
Seoul’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Cho Tai-young said he hopes China will keep the pressure on North Korea.

“Especially with regard to the Korean peninsula issue, China is a nation that is very closely involved,” he noted. “In that matter we look forward to China playing an active role in maintaining and improving the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula.”

Diplomats from South Korea, Japan and the United States are preparing to meet in Washington this week to discuss the launch, which is scheduled to take place roughly around the one-year anniversary of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Ramifications for world-wide NGO’s, mission and faith ministries

The worlds that have faced missionaries from the first century to now have never been ones waiting with open arms to receive Christ’s emissaries. Paul and the other Apostles faced great hardship and all but one faced execution. John, the only one to die of old-age lived for many years in exile on the Isle of Patmos. British missionaries endured deadly encounters with African tribes and tribal groups across India and Pakistan; Spanish missionaries sought to bring the message to South American tribes and faced death even as hundreds of years later the same was true for, North American missionaries venturing south of the Equator. In our own United States’ wilderness areas missionaries faced death in areas which were home to groups we called ‘Red Men” and even the hardened civilizations of America’s  ‘old West’ of the United States were often extremely harsh on westward moving missionaries seeking to build churches. Missionaries in Asia, even before Lottie Moon’s trek into China, fought disease and hardship as well as severe treatment by locals.

The news accounts described here seek to express the idea of the vast difficulties modern day NGO workers and missionaries face even when not having to deal with issues of widespread violence and hatred. Today’s NGOs and  missionaries face issues not unlike those from centuries before. They go into areas that can be relatively calm and modern or face some of the same dangers as those from before that are relatively unchanged. SCI has continued to develop training for security consciousness and developed methods for contingency planning and risk assessment to help team members be as prepared as possible for all events. For those ‘nay-sayers’ out there that believe that everything is in God’s providence; we point to Nehemiah who took stock of the threats around him then took steps to keep the security level high so as not to impede his God-given mission.

Conclusion: The world has begun its spiral toward Christ bringing time to His own conclusion. These are exciting times to be serving in ministry. We stand at the doorstep of the Rapture, the Tribulation and Christ’s Millennial Kingdom. Is there a better time to be sharing God’s Word and when a people are so and we have so many tools with which to share it! 

If your mission group, agency, or NGO is working in a high risk area, talk to the specialists at SCI. Let us help you help. 

Call and ask for Dr. Ross L. Riggs, Director

SECURITY CONSULTING INVESTIGATIONS, LLC / GLOBAL SECURITY CONSULTING INVESTIGATIONS
WWW.SECURITY-CONSULTING.US   WWW.GLOBALSECURITYCONSULTING.US
director@security-consulting.us  330-956-9561

 

25 x 4.5 or 333(1689.64) x?

November 23rd, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

TRUE NORTH MINISTRY & SECURITY CONSULTING INVESTIGATIONS, LLC combine to bring you this fresh insight into the background of Operation Pillar of Defense and Casting Lead; the continuing efforts of Israel to stop the firestorm of rocket attacks against their civilian population by HAMAS:

Courtesy CIA Factbook www.cia.gov

Much has been made about the physical size of the Gaza Strip. Sometimes it is in comparison to the size of the Nation of Israel, more often it is not. It is pictured as the tiny aggrieved strip of nothing land attacked by the big bad neighbor that surrounds the majority of her land border. A comparison then in distinguishable terms is appropriate. The facts are that the Gaza Strip is approximately 25 miles long (north to south) and averages about 4.5 miles wide (east to west) and is 137 square miles, (about equal to the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA). The Gaza Strip has 1.7 million people (Philadelphia County in 2011 had approximately 1.5 million). (www.cia.gov)(www.netstate.com)

The Nation of Israel, on the other hand, is the land of giant Nephilim and other evil doers – according to the litany of anti-Semitic; anti-Zionist blog posts that show up constantly with hundreds, sometimes thousands of hits. However, the Security Consulting Investigations, LLC and the Riggs Ministry Minute (a ministry of True North Ministry), blogs on this issue will not only not go viral; it will be considered fortunate if two more young people even read it than read the last one. Still, it is here for those who want to learn.

Israel has a population in 2012 of 7,933,200 whereas the State of Pennsylvania in the United States has a population of 12,742,886. Israel is 8,000 square miles, or 263 miles north to south and between 9 and 71 miles wide at the narrowest and widest points. (Courtesy www.lookIsrael.com) Pennsylvania, for  comparing and contrasting purposes is 46,058 square miles or nearly six times as large as Israel. New Hampshire and New Jersey are close to the 8,000 square miles of Israel. (Courtesy www.netstate.com)

Perhaps one of the most interesting facts that the western media, or the world media for that matter, never seem to broach is that only 75.4% of Israel’s population is Jewish. 20.6% of Israel’s population is Arab (Muslim/Druze). That equals 1,636,600 Arabs living and working peacefully in Israel as citizens of Israel. Remember that the Gaza Strip has just 1,657,155 million Arabs. Israel has as many Arab citizens as the Gaza Strip does. Although 100 percent of Gaza Strip’s population is Arab (mostly Sunni Muslim) and according to Wikipedia, nearly all are born in Gaza, still many claim to be Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war. The Gaza Strip has the 7^th highest birth rate in the world according to the CIA World Factbook. A side-note here regarding the inequality in population demographics; one of the primary targets in past years for HAMAS rockets out of the Gaza Strip is the Ashkelon power plant in Southern Israel, just a few miles North of Gaza. The Gaza Strip receives 100% of their electrical power from the Ashkelon site, which employs both Jews and Arabs.

That fairly well debunks the continual outcry of the Gaza Strip’s frailty of being just 25 x 4.5 miles in size against its overwhelming nemesis. Consider the second half of the question posed in the title. What is {333(1689.64) x ?} ? As Operation Pillar of Defense began, reports circulated that one of the key issues that brought the Israeli response was the firing toward Tel Aviv of at least two Fajr-5 rockets that had the range capability and that range includes Jerusalem. The following illustration better explains the issue involving the Fajr -5 rockets, products of Iran and China, also found in Russia’s arsenal.

         Q1      Q2    Q3  GRAD WS-1E  FADJR-5

The details outlined in the illustration are in metric figures. To provide a few simple points to drive home the critical issues: the 333 mm shells are four times larger than the 88mm guns made famous in WWII. “The Fajr-5 rocket is manufactured by Shahid Bagheri Industries of Tehran and marketed by Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization, the 6.5-meter-long (21-foot) Fajr-5 rockets are used by the Iranian army” and can be fired from the back of a 6x6 truck. The warhead alone weights 198 lbs. Its range is 46.5 miles.

Jerusalem is 48 miles from Gaza City which is approximately 6 miles south of the Northern border of the Gaza Strip. Tel Aviv is 44 miles from Gaza City, definitely within range of the Fajr-5.  One more basic mathematical question to consider: the Fajr-5 rocket travels at a velocity of 1689.64 feet per second. That means that the Fajr-5 rocket carrying a 198lb warhead can go from being fired inside the Gaza Strip to exploding on its target at full range of 46.5 miles in 2.42 minutes. The almost 200 pounds of explosive detonate on impact and the rocket has no guidance system on it, so where it falls, it falls. How long, if you were walking in the bazaar of Old Jerusalem, along the crowded, chaotic streets of the marketplace, would it take you to find shelter if you knew a rocket was incoming? (Remember the noise of the market place.) Probably longer than 2.42 minutes. What if everyone started to panic? How long for school bus, or city bus, to pull over and off-load everyone and get to safety? How long for school children to get the alarm and exit to shelters outside on the playground? What if every Fajr-5 rocket can fire four rounds in 4 to 8 seconds each? They can, according to their specifications. Some reports extend their range to 50 miles, as well. (www.http://factualworld.com/article/Fajr-5)

Shiraz Maher of The Spectator, a UK blog claims that Israel has been weakened and HAMAS emboldened, the Muslim Brotherhood given credence and the IDF and Israeli citizens suffering psychological defeat by the encroachment on Tel Aviv by rocket-fire. He claimed: “Israel secured none of its strategic objectives. In fact, in many cases it actually strengthened Hamas and diminished Israel’s security.” (http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/shiraz-maher/2012/11/operation-pillar-of-defence-leads-israel-to-strategic-failure/) However, what Maher sees as more than failure, Haaretz News points out that the actual points made by Maher indicate strategic success. “Operation Pillar of Defense had two strategic goals - one, to reinstate the Gaza cease-fire with Hamas, which had unraveled in recent months amid increasing hostilities, and two, to stabilize the peace with Egypt after the Muslim Brotherhood came to power.”
(www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-s-pillar-of-defense-achieved-its-goals.premium-1.479674)

 It is also important to recall that not only did the IDF (or other state sponsored groups) see to the directed killing of the HAMAS leader, Ahmed al-Jabarim, the IAF also took out a weapons facility in Sudan where the Fajr-5 rockets were at least housed after being smuggled through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula; (a point the Brotherhood would prefer not to have to explain on the world stage.)

Another issue that may count as a strategic success for the IDF is the weakening of the Palestinian Authority’s hold on governance in the settlements. “The Palestinian security services are having a difficult time handling the wave of disturbances that broke out over the last week during Operation Pillar of Defense, said a senior officer in the Israel Defense Forces' Central Command Wednesday.” That does not come as a surprise to many on-lookers. It is believed that Iran and their puppet army, Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood kept a distance from HAMAS during Operation Pillar of Defense for several reasons. First is the perceived declining capability of HAMAS to control the security and population of the Gaza Strip. Iran failing to authorize Hezbollah to open a second front against the IDF in the north in case HAMAS did fall to the IDF. The Brotherhood initially stated they would keep the Philadelphia Road open from the south and not block it, as was done by Egypt in Operation Casting Lead. Within 24 hours, however, the regime in Cairo changed course and did block it for fear of the number of refugees streaming into the south from Gaza if hostilities erupted into a full ground war. Rather than strengthening the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, it also became clear that in part due to the large economic aid that Egypt receives from the United States, the Brotherhood was quick to come alongside the U.S. Secretary of State to broker a cease-fire.
 
Opinions will come and go as the cease-fire either holds for some time or collapses within the weeks ahead. The main point will remain, however, that as long as Israeli civilians are within 2.42 minutes of a direct hit from a 333mm warhead, the IDF and the people of Israel stand ready to defend their homeland. Freedom loving people across the world should stand in full support of them. The folks at Security Consulting Investigations, LLC and True North Ministry certainly do. (Genesis 12:3; Psalm 122:6)

Dr. Ross L. Riggs   www.docriggs.com www.security-consulting.us
 

Urban and Suburban Warfare in America

October 27th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

     

Between 6,000 and 10,000 terrorists, capable of running drugs, extortion, child sex rings, rape, assault and vicious murder; some in ‘uniform’ others conspicuously inconspicuous in their attempt to ‘fit-in’ to their communities – will that give you a reason to sit up and listen? (In this case, read the rest of this post?) To continue, experts believe that these terrorists have entrenched themselves in Washington D.C. and in Los Angeles but have cells operating in Virginia, Maryland and almost coast to coast.

The risk has recently magnified itself nearly one-hundred fold. This vast army of terrorist cells, without a single leadership per se, but each cell acting autonomously to create as much havoc and uncontrolled violence in order to control through fear their local communities has a new ally. Take the group already described and attach to it an international drug cartel that is the singularly most violent cartel in Mexico, the most heavily armed and the one most capable of coming through on a promise of training these terrorist allies how to do suburban/urban warfare.

Now, do you really want that second doughnut before you go out on the street or would you prefer to double check your weapon, your shotgun, get your vest out of the bottom of the closet and ask your wife if she renewed that gym membership you got last Christmas? It only takes a minute to scan the vast majority of police forces in the U.S. and see that to battle this type of terrorist on our own turf, we are out equipped, physically we are beaten in a heart-attack inducing sort of way, out gunned and pretty soon, perhaps out trained if the urban guerrilla warfare training that was promised by the Mexican cartel comes through. Add to the mix that officers are operating under the most restrictive judicial environment in decades while these terrorists are reaching ultimate heights of heinously violent acts and recruiting actively in our schools for more soldiers.

26 MS-13 gang members indicted for racketeering in 2010

Who are the terrorists? None other than Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 is the El Salvadoran gang that reaches numbers nearing 10,000. The Mexican drug cartel that has linked with MS-13 is Los Zetas led by former Mexican Special Forces soldiers. There could not be a deadlier mix. The U.S. Treasury Department has listed both MS 13 and Los Zetas as Transnational Criminal Organizations which allows the U.S. to freeze their accounts and to block any financial or business institution in the U.S. from doing business with them.
The drug wars of Mexico that have harangued our police and enforcement officials along the border for years is now fully operational in dozens of America’s cities and towns. Presidential candidate Romney wants to complete building the structural and electronic wall between us and Mexico, a great idea that needs to be done but it is also  too little too late. As police officers¸ you need to do a risk assessment of your own communities and learn what connections your students have to MS 13, where your drugs are coming from and then brace yourself for a full scale war for the hearts and minds of our youth and for the safety of our towns.

Additional information on this report can be found through: The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point and through the Langley Intelligence Group Network LIGNET www.lignet.com

 Dr. Ross L. Riggs, Director SCI www.security-consulting.us

The U.S. Israel and Iran on the Verge…

September 30th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

Senator Rick Santorum “charges that president Obama’s refusal to take effective action against Iran allows the Islamic Republic to ignore the U.S. and pursue its nuclear weapons agenda. In an exclusive interview with NewsmaxTV, Santorum clearly argued that Obama’s disastrous foreign policy of ‘negotiating with radical Islam’”[i] leaves the United States and Israel dangerously close to a hot war with Iran. In both Israel and Iran a multiplicity of civilian communities are within range of missiles. It is believed that Iran may have purposely placed their weapons-making facilities within populated areas to prevent a full scale missile or air assault. Regardless, it appears that Israel has drawn their own red line as a timeline for a preemptive strike against their nemesis in Tehran.  

President Netanyahu proclaimed, “We (the Jewish people) will never be uprooted again.”[ii] A statement that is also made in the Old Testament book of prophecy of Amos when the Lord declares that He would never allow the Israelites to be uprooted again; this coming, however, on the latter end of a time of great distress for the people and the destruction of Jerusalem. In Amos 9 is: “I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God.”[iii]

The Israeli president also declared that: “We want to see the three great religions that sprang forth from our region – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – coexist in peace and in mutual respect. Yet the medieval forces of radical Islam, whom you just saw storming the American embassies throughout the Middle East, they oppose this. They seek supremacy over all Muslims. They are bent on world conquest. They want to destroy Israel, Europe, America. They want to extinguish freedom. They want to end the modern world. Militant Islam has many branches – from the rulers of Iran with their Revolutionary Guards to Al Qaeda terrorists to the radical cells lurking in every part of the globe.”[iv]


The Israeli President gave not only a brief reminder of world history but with it a warning that the time spent patronizing Hitler is as dangerous or more as the placating of Ahmadinejad.
                                                                    

1941 meeting between Amin al-Husseini and Adolf Hitler.

“Some 70 years ago, the world saw another fanatic ideology bent on world conquest. It went down in flames. But not before it took millions of people with it. Those who opposed that fanaticism waited too long to act. In the end they triumphed, but at an (sic) horrific cost. My friends, we cannot let that happen again. At stake is not merely the future of my own country. At stake is the future of the world. Nothing could imperil our common future more than the arming of Iran with nuclear weapons. To understand what the world would be like with a nuclear-armed Iran, just imagine the world with a nuclear-armed Al-Qaeda. It makes no difference whether these lethal weapons are in the hands of the world’s most dangerous terrorist regime or the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization. They’re both fired by the same hatred; they’re both driven by the same lust for violence. Just look at what the Iranian regime has done up till now, without nuclear weapons. In 2009, they brutally put down mass protests for democracy in their own country. Today, their henchmen are participating in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Syrian civilians, including thousands of children, directly participating in this murder. They abetted the killing of American soldiers in Iraq and continue to do so in Afghanistan. Before that, Iranian proxies killed hundreds of American troops in Beirut and in Saudi Arabia. They’ve turned Lebanon and Gaza into terror strongholds, embedding nearly 100,000 missiles and rockets in civilian areas. Thousands of these rockets and missiles have already been fired at Israeli communities by their terrorist proxies. In the last year, they’ve spread their international terror networks to two dozen countries across five continents – from India and Thailand to Kenya and Bulgaria. They’ve even plotted to blow up a restaurant a few blocks from the White House in order to kill a diplomat. And of course, Iran’s rulers repeatedly deny the Holocaust and call for Israel’s destruction almost on a daily basis, as they did again this week from the United Nations.” [iv]                                                 

According to internationally syndicated political commentator, Glenn Beck, America is facing its biggest threat in Islamic extremism. With the recent attacks in Egypt and Libya by the Muslim Brotherhood, there appears to be a sustaining action of the ‘Brotherhood’ of their plan to infiltrate the United States at all levels of government. As proof, Beck refers to a treatise recovered in 2001. “In 2001, an inconspicuous manifesto now known as The Project  was recovered during a raid in Switzerland: A manifesto that turned out to be a Muslim road map for infiltrating and defeating the West. Today, files containing evidence from the largest terror financing trial in U.S. history, which include details about The Project, are being withheld by the Department of Justice.”[v]

Beck is not the first to accuse the Department of Justice and the Department of State of collusion with the enemies of the United States to forward some innocuous diplomatic or political goal. Such games, in these times, are extremely dangerous; such as the ill-fated Fast and Furious debacle with Attorney General Eric Holder and the sale of guns to drug gangs in Mexico that resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Agent, Brian Terry. Taking one’s focus off of the war in which the U.S. is engaged is also part of the blame being centered on U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, for the Benghazi Consulate attack that resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. Representative Peter King, (R-NY) Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee contends that a “failure of foreign policy message and leadership” were integral to the failure in security that exacerbated the damage caused by the Benghazi attack, as well as, not preventing the attack completely.

Where does all of this leave the U.S., Israel and Iran? It leaves the three seemingly hopelessly locked in a showdown reminiscent of Gary Cooper, American movie icon in his role as a Kane, resigned sheriff, in the classic High Noon[vi]. The plot centers on the tedious wait Kane must endure as the clock in the saloon mercilessly and slowly climbs toward 12:00 when he must go into the street to face a gun fight against four armed men, one of whom he had sent to prison. Kane was unable to get anyone in the town to help him and without help; he against four, his fate was set. In this case, it seems that Israel is former Sheriff Kane and Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, HAMAS, and Hezbollah the four gun-slingers. The United States is in the part played by Lucien Prival – Joe the bartender at the Ramirez Saloon where Kane (Cooper) must wait and listen as the clock ticks the minutes so deliberately. Joe does very little from the sidelines. Other than to offer a drink to Kane as he waits and then watch Kane agonize until he must walk out the door alone. It is almost prophetic that Joe the bartender never received a name-credit in the movie. The most dramatic difference between this 1952 movie classic and the 2012 reality is that Israel’s fate is not set like Cooper’s. Israel will have help, particularly if no one comes to her aid. The U.S., Israel and Iran are on the verge of a hot war. When and where this will begin is anybody’s guess (and there are many) but the truth is that only perhaps the President of Israel himself knows when that red line will be crossed. Let’s hope that in this real-life drama, “Joe” comes out from behind the bar, takes a shotgun and stands tall in the street next to “Kane” facing down the evil coming their way.

Dr. Ross L. Riggs, Director   Security Consulting Investigations, LLC
www.docriggs.com    www.security-consulting.us         www.globalsecurityconsulting.us    SCI

---

[i] Israel Diplomatic Network, The Embassy of Israel to the United States, President Netanyahu’s Speech to the United Nations, September 2012

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] www.Biblegateway.com Amos 9:15 NIV

[iv] Ibid.
[v] http://us.mg206.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.partner=sbc&.rand=32oe5tm7qab61

[vi] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044706/combined

A Clash of Cultures

September 29th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

Most of us might be surprised at the vast number of sub-cultures within our own culture. Some would consider the point so off-handedly that, even if these subcultures exist, all that is necessary is to be aware of them, nothing more. We certainly do not need another genre for which we must be politically correct. Already the current lists have made it to the far edges of ad-nauseum. Why belabor yet another category that seeks to be recognized, romanticized, eulogized, and deified?

This, however, is a culture that has been with us since the beginning of our great country, indeed throughout the history of civilization. Yet, the American version of this culture is one that does not seek recognition. Most of the time, this culture prefers to be unnoticed. A simple tip of the hat in recognition of their sacrifice is enough because there is little our supra-culture can do. Perhaps the only way to benefit this culture is to keep the virtue of our American culture at its very best.

Regrettably, I have been as little mindful of this sub-culture as most others, at least until recently. Recent events have driven home to me their existence. It was not in some grandiose presentation that I was pricked at my conscience, nor was it at some hall of heritage that I was alerted to their presence. It was, of all things, a small sign in the parking lot of a grocery store. I had never seen such a sign before and unless any American has a chance to go shopping at a PX or BX (post or base exchange) on a military installation, you will probably never see one yourself. A small metal sign that drove home to me the hundreds of years of sacrifice, grief, pain and pride, (yes, pride) that the sign represents.

The sign simply read: “Reserved Parking Gold Star Families” and reading it I was struck with such a sense of astonishment. I was astounded that I had never given so much as a passing thought to the thousands of families that carry on in day to day life, after the ceremonies, after the condolences, after the cards and visits have stopped. The ‘Gold Star’ families, those who have lost someone in combat, keep on with life, with shopping at the PX, with bills and car repairs and every day with a hole in their heart where a loved one, a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine lives now as a memory.

Praise God for Gold Star Families and may we be reminded of them every day. When we are, may we ask God to bless them as they carry on, living a life Reserved for Gold Star Families. 

(For more information about the history behind the Gold Star, follow the link to Gold Star Mothers)

Our family proudly displays a ‘Blue Star’ emblem in our front window and a similar decal on my wife’s car. Praise God that it is now a Blue Star and if God should ordain that it ever be Gold, may we honor the work of these proud families with our own.

THE BEAT – Will Never Be The Same

September 13th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

             

Wanis al-Sharef, eastern Libya’s deputy interior minister told reporters following the deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy there which coincided with a military style raid on a ‘safe house’ utilized by the American government that the militants used civilians protesting an anti-Islam film as cover for their action.[i] It is most likely that what agitation there may have been because of the flap over the movie and its depiction of Mohammad was much more orchestrated than it was an incendiary reaction. Quasi-professional rabble rousers aided the militarily trained rebels to score a hit against the U.S.

Locally, the hue and cry of protectionism and isolationism has been raised. Many are decrying why we should send aid of any kind to nations that openly attack our people and rebuke our way of life. The hypocrisy of despising capitalism and then taking the financial and other types of aid that capitalism has made possible is getting a bit too hard to swallow. There is much anger in the midst of both sides of the chasm that is widening between protestant, Catholic, and even non-religious folks and those of the Muslim faith.

What does this mean for the police officer on the beat? Not only are the neighborhoods and cities under their watch integrated with persons of all races, creeds, faiths and genealogies, the department within which the officers work are a microcosm of that same environment (or it should be). So in what way can these officers work together, even as they may have to enter a hostile neighborhood? It is especially difficult if that neighborhood is seething with the issue of distrust between two people, families or groups that mirror the make-up of the pair of officers standing in the middle.

The Iran hostage crisis 1981

A generation before mine said that when the English invaded, America lost its innocence and a downward spiral began that took with it America’s youth, spiritual foundations and our character. The reference was not to Concord and Lexington, nor was it along the shores of Lake Erie with Commodore Perry standing strong. It took place on a sound stage in front of a “live studio audience.” The ‘captain’ on deck was the one and only, Ed Sullivan and the British attack forces were made up of four young men named Paul, Ringo, John and George. Perhaps something was lost but it wasn’t innocence. The loss of innocence for my generation came in Southeast Asia and later in a Marine Barracks in Beirut and then for 444 days in the U.S. Embassy in Iran. A similar loss came for the next generation at the Pentagon, in a field in Pennsylvania and at the Twin Towers in NYC. Does every generation have to face their own crucible that rips innocence from them?

The society which then is left smoldering and with a distant kind of gurgling sound coming from its waning life, must find a way to keep going. Very often the people take their cue from the cop on the beat. They cannot receive that cue or trace their example from a political leader, though some have been great inspiration, such as the Gipper. But, politicians  are too far removed from the neighborhoods where society really exists. That sometimes grizzled old cop, who has seen more than he could ever recount, is teamed up with the often starry-eyed ‘do gooder’ fresh from the academy setting out to save the world. Together they hash out what will work to keep their neighborhood, their beat, from coming apart at the seams. By the time they get it re-stitched a bit, the starry-eyed rookie is a little less so and the old grizzly bear of a cop has a renewed sense of purpose, hope and even amazement at the way people really can get along if you keep it simple.

That dynamic duo will never fix the crises in the Middle East, though over coffee with other cops they’ll debate it until the Sinai Peninsula is ready to slide off into the ocean. They can’t reign in government or establish defense protocol… but their own little corner of the world will make it through another day.
It is true that once innocence is lost a beat can never be the same. Sometimes, just sometimes, it can be better.

Dr. Ross L. Riggs, Director Security Consulting Investigations, LLC

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[i] Consulate attack planned as 2-part militant assault, Libyan official says

SCI to OFFER ARBITRATION – INTERVENTION SERVICES FOR ABDUCTED CHILDREN

September 12th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

PARENTALLY ABDUCTED CHILDREN – FAMILY MEDIATION SERVICES

Dr. Ross L. Riggs

SECURITY CONSULTING INVESTIGATIONS, LLC

www.security-consulting.us             www.globalsecurityconsulting.us

 330-956-9561        director@security-consulting.us        fax: 330-875-0009

CERTIFIED COUNSELOR for CHILDREN in TRAUMA

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION of CHRISTIAN COUNSELORS

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With law enforcement experience of over three decades – SCI has been in licensed since 2006 as a Class ‘A’ Private Investigations company in the State of Ohio with international experience in security consulting dating back to 2002. Security Consulting Investigations, LLC is offering its experience, education and staff to provide mediation services between parents of abducted children. SCI will also provide first hand observation reports of abducted children upon their being located to reassure family and friends as to the child’s health and welfare.

FOR REFERENCES: Contact James Allen at: jamall586@aol.com

www.forgottenchild.us

Unsung Heroes: The Other Silent Service

August 24th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

A vague report about a possible attack somewhere in a remote part a country most folks cannot find on a map may be the only word from the other silent service. For most of its WWII years and beyond, the U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet was known as the silent service for their ability to seemingly glide right past enemy defenses and deliver tactical units or observers behind enemy lines. There always seems to be, in the movies at least, a sub somewhere within responding distance to help out a stranded James Bond, agent 007 of the MI-5. Perhaps there-in lay the link between the submarine service and the clandestine world of field agents, operatives and, our imagination’s favorite, spies. 

There is neither glamor nor glitz, as the Ian Fleming portrayals make us believe (or at least hope for). The work of an undercover operative whether it is in a local police department sorting out the drug dealers from the thieves or in the clandestine section of the CIA in some exotic part of the world, such as a back alley, near the dumpster, just past the sanitation station in Tabriz has little need of spare tuxedos with two-way radio cuff links. The most seductive beauty that has passed information to the agent in the last six months is a too soon aged crack addict who has recently contracted head-lice. This is the stuff of which Hollywood blockbusters are made!

Throughout the Iraq wars and continuing in Afghanistan, Iran has aided and abetted our enemies with weapons, training, and personnel and is responsible for the deaths of far too many Americans. But there is an amazing side to this story and that is the taking it back to them and sticking it in their face that our CIA, under General D.H. Petraeus, is accomplishing. Without fanfare and even in the midst of leaks from the Administration that border on treason, the CIA and other U.S. military groups continue to function effectively. Actions, reported to have occurred, include cyber-attacks which sabotaged Iran’s nuclear program and the virus Stuxnet; which according to sources, set Tehran’s nuclear hopes back two years. Sabotage and unclaimed explosions in different parts of the country contiguous to the nuclear research, 17 top Iranian military officials killed, destroyed gas and oil facilities and a plant that makes a special kind of steel used in the centrifuges all have come under special scrutiny by the U.S. and her allies.  I have no direct knowledge as to what group, groups, nation or nations orchestrated this on-going special warfare. One Israeli general is quoted as responding, when asked about the source of these complex operations and the damage that has been inflicted, that sometimes there are “things that happen unnaturally.”[i]

We want the silent services to be permitted to remain silent, and wouldn’t now shed light on it except that the light has already been turned on and it is the nay-sayers, the detractors that control the light switch; so it is time some positive light shows through. I, for one, am very thankful for everything that General Petraeus has meant for this country. We are a better people because of him and those he has commanded and now commands. We are a safer people because of him and the men he commanded and now commands. Our gratitude and prayers go with him and with those persons carrying out whatever directives they have received.

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[i] Dowd, Alan W. “Shadow War” The American Legion Magazine, July 2012.

SECURITY UPDATE: Middle East

August 5th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

The following is for information purposes only to aid in decision making and situational analysis.

(Note: certain providers request we do not utilize their information. LIGNET is a primary source of the following clips of intelligence information and is for internal use only by ABWE CEEMED and is not to be re-printed without permission.)

Iranian Ships Using False Flags to Evade UN and U.S. Sanctions
Although some progress is being made to stop Iranian ships from transporting WMDs, a new U.S. report details the cat-and-mouse game that Tehran is playing to evade sanctions. Iran is doing this not just through deception, but by exploiting the weakness of UN resolutions, as LIGNET explains.

Syrian Chemical Weapons Admission Could Be Turning Point
The Syrian government’s statement yesterday that it has stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons but will only use them in the face of “external aggression” was most likely made in response to the sudden surge in rebel attacks that appear to be loosening President Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power. The announcement could lead the international community to reconsider its approach to the crisis in Syria given the possibility that the Assad regime could use these weapons on its own people if sufficiently threatened.

Iran: Fears Over Nuclear Program Grow After U.S. Arrests
Last week’s stunning U.S. indictments over a plot to export U.S. technology for Iran’s nuclear program and new threats to close the Strait of Hormuz suggest that stepped-up efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear program have failed to reduce the possibility of a military conflict. The size of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile – which could be converted into nuclear weapons fuel – will continue to grow, along with the near-term chances of an Israeli airstrike.

Syria: Conflicting Accounts of Alleged Massacre Hurt All Sides
The UN and the United States roundly condemned a massacre of Syrian civilians by the Syrian army in the town of Tremseh on July 12, but new reports suggest the attack may have been a battle between the Syrian army and armed rebel forces. The death toll also may be lower than previously reported. If these new reports are accurate, it would be another instance of the difficulty of determining the facts on the ground in what now appears to be a Syrian civil war

Iran Won’t be Cowed by New U.S. Bunker Buster Bomb
U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley’s July 25 disclosure that the long-delayed 30,000-pound GBU-57B bunker-buster bomb known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) could be used in action immediately if needed is probably an attempt by the Obama administration to signal to Iran that U.S. military action is on the table in the event that diplomacy and economic sanctions fail to convince Tehran to give up its nuclear program.

Netanyahu Says Israel Still Considering Iran Attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he’s still debating with government advisers whether to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

The premier spoke in an interview with Channel 2 television as Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was flying from Cairo to Israel to meet him, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and other officials tomorrow.

“I haven’t decided yet whether to attack,” Netanyahu said. “However, I see the commitment of this regime of ayatollahs to develop nuclear bombs that are meant to destroy us and I won’t let that happen.”

Netanyahu said media reports that a decision on Iran has been made are wrong and irresponsible. While describing the process as one that involves conferring with a wide range of advisers, the prime minister noted that Israel’s 1981 air raid on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor was carried out over the objections of the Mossad and military-intelligence agencies.

In Cairo, Panetta told reporters he’ll discuss the Iranian nuclear threat with Israel’s leaders and a “number of options” on how to respond. Iran says its uranium enrichment program will be used only for peaceful purposes.

In Syria’s Turmoil, Al-Qaeda Sees Opportunity
Believed by many to have entered a period of decline, al-Qaeda has reemerged with a series of dramatic bombings in Iraq and probably Syria, putting the region on notice that it cannot be ignored. The latest violence, which killed more than 100 Iraqi civilians, is part of a new strategy to link the insurgency in Iraq with the Sunni jihad against the Assad regime in Syria, a plan that is creating a new regional security threat, as LIGNET explains.

COULD ISRAEL STRIKE IRAN IN SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER? Netanyahu warns U.S. time is running out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta yesterday that time is running out for the international community to neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat. Yes, economic sanctions are seriously harming Iran’s economy — driving up prices, creating scarcity of certain products, etc — but Netanyahu is making clear that he doesn’t see the sanctions actually having any effect on change Tehran’s feverish bid to build nuclear weapons. ”However forceful our statements, they have not convinced Iran that we are serious about stopping them,” Netanyahu told reporters. “Right now the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear programme.” What’s more, Netanyahu said, sanctions have “yet to move its nuclear programme even a millimetre backwards.” Joel Rosenberg [Dr. Ross L. Riggs, Security Consulting Investigations, LLC   www.security-consulting.us GLOBAL SECURITY CONSULTING  GSC21  www.globalsecurityconsulting.us]

A Churchillian Premonition

June 24th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

  
Dateline: Pre-war Britain 1936

                “Two things, I confess, have staggered me, after a long Parliamentary experience, in these Debates. The first has been the dangers that have so swiftly come upon us in a few years, and have been transforming our position and the whole outlook of the world. Secondly, I have been staggered by the failure of the House of Commons to react effectively against these dangers. That, I am bound to say, I never expected. I would never have believed that we should have been allowed to go on getting into this plight, month by month and year by year, and that even the Government’s own confessions of error would have produced no concentration of Parliamentary opinion and force capable of lifting our efforts to the level of emergency.”[i]

If one can imagine standing on a rooftop on the outskirts of London after the Battle of Britain during the summer and fall of 1940, it may be possible to envision the devastation left by German Luftwaffe. It would take a much closer view to see the real devastation left in the lives of thousands of Britons. How did the politicians who failed to act in 1935, 36, 37, 38, and 39 console themselves when they looked at the carnage they could have, perhaps, prevented? Let us trust that it was more than a ‘shift the blame game.’ If politicians in the United States cannot learn from Mr. Churchill’s remarks in 1935, perhaps they can find the key to self-consolation used by latter British Parliamentarians who heeded not his warnings then; for the day, now, when Iran unleashes its nuclear wrath on civilian Israel or perhaps, the United States.

Air Observer over London

A distasteful medicine, no doubt; but Americans must not be too quick to prescribe such a tonic to their Congressmen if they are not ready to indulge in a spoonful of the nasty elixir themselves.  Every person who does not raise the alarm nor prevail upon their elected representatives to do so must share in the blame of what shall come. It is no longer a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ the madman of Iran will get his destructive tool completed and will seek with the greatest of evil desires to annihilate Israel and, in turn, the Great Satan of America.  When the attack comes, Americans will rise up and proclaim, “Something must be done!” I would say, ‘Sit down; you have already done less than enough.’

I applaud with great enthusiasm those who have raised the banner of alarm and have declared the urgency of these days. I overwhelmingly support our military men and women.
Look back to the world in 1936 when Winston Churchill understood the nature of the time. Here is a brief timeline provided by Holocaust Encyclopedia[ii]:

September 18, 1931
Japan invades Manchuria.

October 2, 1935–May 1936
Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and annexes Ethiopia.

October 25–November 1, 1936
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25; on November 1, the Rome-Berlin Axis is announced.

November 25, 1936
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
Only two ‘shooting wars’ had erupted briefly; one in Manchuria the other in Ethiopia. Fast forward to 2012 and compare it to the timeline NPR provides of the “Arab Spring”[iii]

December 2010 January 2011
Tunisian President toppled after violent demonstrations.
Dissent begins in Egypt (January 2011)

February 2011
Mass protests in Yemen – President promised to step down at the end of his term
Mubarak steps down as Egyptian President
Violence in Bahrain quelled by military intervention from Saudi Arabia
Libya ignites in violence

March 2011
Libya rebels in control –
Syrians rise up against violent Assad regime – Assad begins program of mass murder against civilian dissidents and innocents
NATO and US authorize airstrikes in Libya in attempt to force Gadhafi out

June 2011
Yemeni President Saleh is badly injured in explosion at presidential compound – leaves the country

August 2011
Mubarak on trial
Rebels in Libya enter Tripoli

October 2011
Gadhafi killed
Tunisian elections – Islamic party Ennahda wins

November 2011
Bahrain report shows government tortured dissidents
Muslim Brotherhood – extreme Islamic party takes lead in Egyptian elections

December 2011
5000 Syrians believed murdered by Assad regime since ‘Spring’ began.

June 2012
Mohamed Morsy, of the Egyptian Brotherhood declared the next president of Egypt after receiving 51% of the vote.[iv]

21,435 Syrians believed murdered by Assad regime since ‘Spring’ began.[v]

Currently, Russia is providing tanks and military helicopters to Assad in Syria for “self-defense” according to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.[vi]  Henry Kissinger (Secretary of State under Richard Nixon) described the Syrian civil war as an unfortunate event, a human catastrophe. Russia and Iran have ensconced themselves in the Syrian Civil War backing Assad and leveraging Hamas and the Palestinians to increase their strangle hold on the region, particularly isolating Israel.

Thomas Donnelly writes,

 “Obama has insisted that the ‘tide of war’ in the Middle East is ‘receding.’ It’s not just that American troops have been withdrawn from Iraq, are being more rapidly withdrawn from Afghanistan, or were not employed on the ground in Libya. It’s the President’s belief that they need not – should not – be used again. This is an unrealistic belief.”[vii](Emphasis added)

June 23, 2012 Syrian forces shot down a Turkish jet that was in international air space and some NATO countries are meeting at the request of Turkey to prepare a response to the unprovoked attack. Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi declared the attack to be “unacceptable” and announced that Italy would be part of the NATO meeting with Turkey.[viii]

Twenty-three Hamas rockets were fired into Israel just yesterday (June 23, 2012) bringing the total since Monday to 150 not including the armed incursions and the fire fights between IDF and Hamas forces.

The Russian proffered ‘talks’ for nuclear weapon pull-back with Iran have had no success and Tehran remains recalcitrant about their desire to ‘wipe Israel off the map’ as well as attack and destroy ‘the big Satan’ the United States.

What will it take? A Blitzkrieg across Poland and the opening of camps like Chelmno (Kulmhof) and Auschwitz? A public commitment to “the Final Solution”? (No, wait, we have that already!) Another 9/11?

“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.“[ix] 

Oh, but to find in our leaders both in Washington, the states and in each home and family good leaders. There are some. They must associate or they will, as Edmund Burke warns, ‘fall one by one.’ Who will hear Mr. Churchill’s admonition? Who will answer the call? My prayer is that when the events of history record this time, I will be known to have taken my stand together with other good citizens and drawn that line against which evil must not be allowed to cross.

 [Dr. Ross L. Riggs Global Security Consulting a subsidiary of Security Consulting Investigations, LLC www.homelandsecuritynet.com/HSN/   www.globalsecurityconsulting.us]

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[i] Churchill, Winston remarks to the House of Commons, November 1936 as recorded by William Kristol and Jamie Fly in “No Iranian Nukes” The Weekly Standard June 25, 2012

[ii] http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007306

[iii] http://www.npr.org/2012/01/02/144489844/timeline-the-major-events-of-the-arab-spring

[iv] Jerusalem Post on-line June 26, 2012 jpost.com/headlines

[v] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Civil_War_%282011%E2%80%93present%29

[vi] Donnelly, Thomas “Obama Fiddles” The Weekly Standard June 25, 2012

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Jerusalem Post on-line June 26, 2012 jpost.com/headlines

[ix] Burke, Edmond Thoughts on the Cause of the Current Discontents (1770)

The New ‘Old Home Guard’

July 16th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

    

Defending one’s own home and one’s own family is a principle that leaders, military tacticians, contingency planners and soldiers have understood for millennia. Confronted with an indefensible city wall, an enemy taking up offensive positions on the hills not far from the broken gates, Nehemiah assigned men to work refortifying the walls immediately in front of their own homes first. Jerusalem in the sixth century B.C. was under the command of a wise leader. Hundreds of years later, Jesus taught a corollary. The hireling takes off when trouble comes, but the owners of the sheep stay to fight and protect what is theirs. Mercenaries find it much more palatable to concede today in hope of a better tomorrow than stand firm no matter the end. 

Those who guard their own know that without victory today, there may be no hope for tomorrow.
Americans enjoy the fruits of wisdom of our forefathers who understood the need for a strong national defense. A strong presence with a global reach protects our homeland keeping those who want to strike us leery of that awesome power. Our nation’s planners knew, however, that there were other risks that required a local presence with an equal ability, known today as the National Guard; augmenting the federal military. As well trained yet, ‘locally owned and operated’ and available to each state’s governor.

But, they did not stop there. Wise leaders in the Constitutional Convention of the 18^th century, even before the formal establishment of the divisions of the armed services; enumerated ten amendments to the new Constitution to assure its ratification. Of course, these  amendments are the Bill of Rights. Second only to the right of free speech was, and is, the right of states to have a “well regulated militia” and for each citizen the right to “keep and bear arms.”

Two quick points of logic are necessary here. First, there is a clear distinction by the common reading that there are two groups, or entities, here whose rights are affirmed. One is each state of the union; the second is each individual citizen. The former has the right to keep a militia. The latter has two inter-dependent rights described.They are two specific and individual rights. The first is “To keep… arms.” It is the right of ownership.

It doesn’t say ‘keep registered’ or ‘keep and register…’ it reads “keep.” The second right within this Amendment for the citizen reads, “bear arms.” The clear and common reading in 1787 and today did not mean that the owner of arms had the limited right of carrying it around his property only, or in some cities today, only allowed to carry it inside his home. To bear it simply meant, and means, to carry it wherever one chooses to go. This was clearly understood then as both open and  concealed carry. There was no distinction.

A caveat is necessary. The old adage, my right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins is in play here.  A citizen, who owns private property, has the right to regulate if, when, and how another may carry a firearm onto it.

Any U.S. citizen who attempts to undermine or weaken the security of this country by depriving citizens of their Constitutional rights, in this case without a legally ratified new amendment, but rather by malfeasance and color of law should be charged with treason. This is particularly true of those who would conspire with our enemies to promulgate such an act as in the U.N. Small Arms Treaty.

To permit the open meeting of co-conspirators within the boundaries of the U.S., particularly within blocks of 9-11 Ground Zero, is a slap in the face of all Americans. At what point will we cordially invite the U.N. and every other group or individual here in the country who can only denigrate the nation and seek to find ways to hurt and disrespect it to go elsewhere? It is ludicrous for the American taxpayer to host the U(nfriendly) N(ations) at a cost of $20 million annually, over $2 billion for the new office, 22% of the entire annual budget and the costs keep adding up…[i]  The Small Arms Treaty should be the final straw. That building would make a nice Holocaust museum and a Hebrew University campus for international studies as well as an American University center for Constitutional law.

 “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and cause me to tremble for safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in High Places will follow, and the Money Power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic destroyed.”[ii]

[Dr. Ross L. Riggs ~ Security Consulting Investigations & Global Security Consulting

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[i] http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,553720,00.html

[ii] Lincoln, Abraham, letter to Col. William F. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864