Sunday, September 30, 2012

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

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

Saturday, September 29, 2012

A Clash of Cultures


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.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

THE BEAT – Will Never Be The Same


             


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

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

SCI to OFFER ARBITRATION – INTERVENTION SERVICES FOR ABDUCTED CHILDREN

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
True North Ministries
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