Family Security Matters Briefings - Week of 8/4/08

Obama Unfit to Hold Supreme Command of the American Military
By W. Thomas Smith, Jr.
During a recent conversation with a friend - who also is an active supporter of Barack Hussein Obama - the subject came up of Obama's lack of any substantive leadership-experience - executive or otherwise. As expected, the supporter defended Obama's lack of experience by pointing to "experienced world leaders" whom she believed had failed so miserably as heads-of-state that they had come to serve as examples of why experience and longevity don't really matter, and why freshness and ambition should. Perhaps, if the fresh, ambitious one is selling life insurance: But not if he is vying for a position as important as commander-in-chief (CIC) of the armed forces of the United States: And especially not during time of war. If we were to follow my friend's line of thinking, a colonel commanding a Marine regimental combat team in battle would - if his units failed to achieve their objectives - be better replaced by an eager albeit inexperienced boot lieutenant fresh from Quantico rather than another colonel or an experienced lieutenant colonel. Let's boil it down even simpler: If you were flying with an experienced commercial-airline pilot who poorly flew the aircraft in which you were traveling, would you next time hope to fly in the same type of aircraft with a pilot whose experience was limited to a flight-simulator? Of course not. But that is exactly the kind of thinking the O-crowd wants us to buy into. [more...]
Emboldening Terrorists: 'Moderates' Kowtow to Hezbollah
By Joel Himelfarb
Make no mistake about it: the recent prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah is a victory for Iran and its allies. The crux of the deal is this: Hezbollah gained the release of five imprisoned Lebanese terrorists in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah in a July 12, 2006, cross-border raid that triggered the 2006 war with the Jewish State. The most immediate impact will be to embolden another Iranian-backed terror group: Hamas, which says it will drive a harder bargain for the return of Israel Defense Force Corporal Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Hamas in a June 25, 2006, cross-border raid into southern Israel. As a Hamas source told the Israeli Ynet.com news service: "The deal proves that patience and fortitude will lead to us seeing celebrations here [in Gaza] similar to those in Lebanon." [more...]

Hezbollah Solidifying Its Already-Strong Position in Lebanon
By W. Thomas Smith, Jr.

Hezbollah - as I've said before, the most-dangerous Talibanesque terrorist-army on the planet - is wrangling its way into becoming a legal part of the Lebanese Defense establishment: Positioning itself in such a way as to make it nearly impossible to ever outlaw and disarm Hezbollah in Lebanon. This despite the fact that Iranian-Syrian-supported Hezbollah - which fancies itself a legitimate arm of resistance - launched multiple deadly attacks against the Lebanese government and citizenry in May and numerous isolated attacks nationwide since. In the wake of the attacks - through force and intimidation - Hezbollah has achieved unprecedented political power in Lebanon (which we have written about extensively, and analysis may be accessed here). [more...]