ARAB STORM

Of course I'd rather discuss the possible roster configurations of my beloved NY Rangers, however the NHL has locked out the players and there may not be a season at all. What a shame.

The exact dates are not within my reach at the moment but everyone world wide is aware of what's commonly referred to as the Arab Spring. Countries who had been led by dictators went through sometimes violent changes and a form of democracy has set in. The situation is so fluid that anything said about it today could become irrelevant tomorrow.

I am confused by the surprise expressed by some in the American press as these countries seem to be unstable with the possible spiraling out of control look and feel to the images and stories from Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and others. Why would anyone be surprised by this? Our own history suggests that this type of change is difficult at best. The blood shed in our own "Civil" war is forgotten on these commentators.

No, the unrest.....the violence should have been expected.

Which brings me to today's topic. If I knew this, if our Intel community knew this then why have there been breaches at our embassies? And on September 11th no less. Who was caught off guard here? Why wasn't there a beefed up security presence in ALL of the embassies and consulates?

Because there was the death of four Americans, that makes this an easy target for the "I told you so" crowd. Since I never opened my mouth I can't say that. But I do think we deserve some answers on why advanced knowledge was misread or ignored. One does not have to be a rocket surgeon to figure out that based on PUBLIC information, something bad was about to go down. For those with access to our private Intel, I'm confused by the inaction of this government to protect our people abroad.

I have a friend who as a U.S. Marine, guards one of our embassies in Africa. I also have some insight into security at a U.S. facility. Based on what I think I know it appears to me that an increase in our alertness, an increase in security and perhaps even a public display of power was in order. Yet, none of these things happened.

In the coming weeks we'll be watching this so called reaction to a film produced here in the U.S. that insults those who follow Islam. This is a lie. Yes, the film is supposedly very insulting (I would not even watch such a video) but the reaction we're seeing has been manipulated by people who do not like Americans. They hate us. It's not the film they hate, it's our way of life. I'm concerned about what happens next.

There was a time where I believed that no matter which political party won this November, we were going to have excellent security. As of September 11th, 2012 I'm not so sure any more.

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