Flux is everywhere now and the news reflects that.

According to news releases just now being posted on the internet these past few hours it seems that the American people are being faced with national security concerns that will radically alter our perception of reality vis a vis our role in western Asia and the Middle East. 

Where should I start?  There is so much going on right now concerning these swiftly changing political and national defense situations that it is actually a little disconcerting.  Nothing seems solid right now. A lot of our perceptions seem to be mostly mist and fog.  Take a look.

The FBI just caught an American scientist attempting to spy for Israel.  According to the Associated Press story here, Stewart David Nozette who has worked on some of the USA’s most secretive weapons and radar projects for NASA, DoD and the Dept. of Energy  was arrested at his home this afternoon in Chevy Chase, Maryland which is a suburb of Washington D.C.  He thought he was passing top secret information to Israeli agents but in fact was caught in an FBI sting operation.

In this story released by the A.P. the U.N. commission for election monitoring in Afghanistan has found that President Karzai has engaged in outright fraud relative to his election and must stand up for a runoff since he did not recieve a 50% majority.  There is no word yet whether or not he will accept that finding.  For more information on what the U.N. panel found the story is here.

In this odd story by the A.P. wounded American soldiers are returning to Iraq to find closure for their mental anguish as a result of combat wounds.  There was precedent for this with WWII and Viet Nam veterans returning to those countries to find a way to heal their broken minds relative to combat but that was after the wars ended.  These men and women are returning as the war is still going on. Odd.

In this story, also released by the A.P. a wounded Marine and combat veteran of Iraq has been enrolled in a special fly fishing program in Idaho to deal with his mental anguish and his mental and physical disabilities due to his wounds from an IED. He says that the program is the best healing he has had so far.

In this story from Politics Daily a new poll released today offers that a clear majority of Americans see Afghanistan as the new Viet Nam and many of those want our troops out of the country.  The story is here.

In this story released by the A.P. the Pakistani Army has cut a deal with two significant and powerful Taliban leaders to sign a sort of ad hoc non-aggression pact so that other more dangerous Taliban elements can be reached.  This comes only three days into the Pakistani push to reach the Taliban in South Waziristan.  This sure is a strange way to wage a war.

And in this story released by the A.P. Iran is vowing revenge against the U.S., Britain and Pakistan since it considers that the Intelligence Services of these three countries were behind the Sunni suicide attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guards which killed 15 people and many top commanders yesterday inside Iran.  I am sure that American Intelligence agents expected as much.

It has been one of those days where there was so much news of interest to veterans that I could not wait until tomorrow to post it.  Inform yourself.  An informed veteran is a comfort to his fellow veterans and a menace to his adversaries.

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)