Robert Opyd (baghdad-bob)

March 27, 2009

This just keep getting better all the time… UPDATE from the “mercenary”/contractor frontlines!

Filed under: Counterterrorism/War on Terror,My Life — baghdad-bob @ 00:09

Where to start?

The past week was pretty uneventful with Darko and I and the local national “mercenaries”  taking some sensitive materials to FOB Shank and Gardez PRT.  Nice run right through hard core Pashtun country.  What that means is the looks and how the locals react to you as you drive by, in Sorobi on the way to Jalalabad pretty much the same there.  And given the news, NATO and US military actions there confirms it.  

Getting to Shank and Gardez is not an issue with traffic just possible actions with the bad guys.  You have to climb another pass at about 3000 meters to get to Gardez city and that could be an issue if these piece of crap trucks the locals use break down.  Also they have a lot of IED’s (Improvised explosive device) planted there.  On one of our runs out there last Thursday we ran across the US Army mine clearing team, these guys just go up the road with specialized vehicles that dig up/explode/search for mines/IEDs… And go figure, I talked with them so we can scoot past them on the way back from Gardez, in the pass by the way, and no sooner did we pass and they found one and it exploded!  No one hurt because of the vehicles and equipment but thank god we were past or we would have been there for hours!  

Now this week we did the Jalalabad run, Monday we hit J-Bad and Asadabad or A-Bad, uneventful thank god…  Traffic through the pass was light even with the rain.  And those guys at Asadabad work their butts off when the stuff arrives to get us outta there.  That is what senior NCOs do for you!  Actually that day we got back early and that is always a good thing-(note: still a 14-15 hour day, leaving at 0230 hours or 2:30 am for us civilians… We leave for Gardez at 0400 hours just an FYI for you guys).

Now yesterday and the fun stuff!

This day we heading out to Jalalabad then further up the road from A-Bad to FOB Blessing.  That whole route is just gorgeous, beautiful valley with mountain run off river the whole way.  When I get my camera or use others will post photos of this area it is pretty spectacular.

The start and most of the mission was uneventful and moving along great, meaning we would be back at out compound around 5-6 pm.  But damn if that wrench was thrown at us!  That wrench being the NDS!  Again the NDS are a paramilitary/police service that works with the Ministry of the Interior.  These shiite heads are a piece of work!  Now we just stopped at our hand off location, this is where we gather the RPGs, RPKs, and AKs and ammo from out local guards and secure in our vehicles.  This is because of licensing, WHICH IS ALL GOOD WITH THE MOI!  Ok, why I shout it out is that just the prior night we got our “final” license from the Ministry of the Interior-MOI for the next year.  And all the “appropriate” fees and charges that were paid to get it.  Bottom line is that we are legal and one of the few security companies that have gone through the whole process to work in this country.

Now back to the NDS “shakedown”…  The difference this time is that they did not draw down on us.  They also picked a good spot without Sat phone coverage and cell phone coverage was very weak!  Now why do I go into that?  Well I know and most everyone that I work with knows this was a set-up and they were waiting for us.  Yes they stopped a couple of cars before us and while they will talking to us but is was all Bravo Sierra, (Bull Shiite for us civilians).  Another difference I noticed not Dashukas, or Russian version of the 50 cal.  These guys along with the Police and Army roll in extended cab Ford Ranger pick ups with the heavy weapons mounted on the back.  Very similar to the “radicals” you have seen in the movie “Blackhawk Down”.  But this time none, now the guy positioned in the back had RPGs and other weapons but did not have them at the ready.  The area were we were pulled over had one vehicle and the other was 200-250 meters further down the road with the same set up, no Dashuska!  I counted 12 guys, and by the way one of the Shiite heads noticed that I was looking around and told his “commander”.  I noticed that all the weapons they carried were on safe and from prior experience NO ROUND in the chamber!  And the guy in the back of the truck was just lounging around no heavy weapon at the ready…  They did position one guy at the top of a hill overlooking us, but he had no heavy/crew served weapon thus would be ineffective.  So yes I was “REALLY” thinking of how to take these guys down!

Ok, back to the shakedown, NDS used this excuse – “we had too many magazines” for our weapons!  WHAT!  What the hell is too many and NOTHING in the licensing process or rules states how many magazines you can have!  Like I said this was a shakedown and we have a good idea who is behind this and will deal with them.  

It go real interesting soon.  The commander was in contact with the MOI and we called our office and they called the US Embassy and US Military.  Now a quick note on the Army… It is there stuff we guard and transport you would think they would send out the ORF-(quick reaction force), to sort it out, WELL NO!  They left us hanging….  The calls to the Embassy went unanswered, again it was Thursday afternoon and Friday is the holiday here similar to our Sunday.  Which blends into later on this “shakedown tale”…

So we talk and deal with these shiite heads for a couple of hours.  Then all of a sudden they started to take all of our weapons and vehicles!  They stated that we are going to there compound off of Bagram Road.  They even took our personal weapons and body armor.  Now this is fun…  By SOFA – (As a US citizen and contractor to NATO/Army) they cannot touch or search us.  So this commander who was giving me the serious “hard ass” looks came towards me to grab my pistol.  Well first it is loaded and the safety is off-(Christ way carry if not ready to use it?), I first of all will not let him touch me and also the dumb ass would probably grab the trigger and shoot me in the leg!  So I turn put my arm out to block him and take pistol out by the handle, muzzle pointed towards me and “SHOVED IT” at his mid section.  Well go figure, he got pissed and came at me like “back on the block”!   I did not move and he did not touch me… Now, I am not being some tough guy or something similar, but I will be damned that some dirty paramilitary/Cop is going to screw with me.  It was on if he touched me!  I said it in English-obviously that I know for sure he was going to die right there…  But he backed off just like the girly men that they are!  So, they take all of our stuff and we head down to there HQ.  When we get there they go inside with our vehicles and weapons and leave us outside the gate with our two trucks we were escorting.  Now this is funny… After 20 minutes or so, the gate guard comes out and says the commander of the base is gone and we have to come back tomorrow, (remember it is Thursday night).  We did get the trucks to our secure motor pool, escorted by Darko and our Ghurka.  I stayed behind to try and sort this out.  I called the office a few times and they told me that our local national attorney who sorts out our licensing and other local government issues was coming here.  Well he did arrive and nothing changed.  But since we were there and my temper was rising, the Officer of the Day came out!  Now why in the hell could he not sort this mess out?  WHY?  Because it is a set up to steal our weapons and vehicles.  My guess is these guys sell what they do not keep to the warlords or directly to the Taliban/Al Qaeda…  My opinion only but if I know a lot of others who think the same.

Now I am very hungry at this point and patience is very thin…  So I call Rene and ask them to send food and adult beverages…  I was just blowing off steam, but when I saw Rene later at the compound he and a few others were saying that they come here to “HELP”… Yes it means that!  

As I write this-(10:30 am Local) our attorney should be at the MOI and then that compound to get our stuff.  I and others here will do very bad things to him if he fails!  It is so tiring to do everything by the book and still pull this crap, that I think is the bottom line reason why I am so mad…   And this is interesting, I felt kinda of naked without my stuff and still do now!  

I will update this when I know more…



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March 22, 2009

Why are not the feminists behind stopping crimes against women???

Filed under: Counterterrorism/War on Terror,Politics and Opinions — baghdad-bob @ 23:53

I find it amazing that the feminist movement who condemned Bush at every turn… But that same President “freed” more women from the yoke of Islamic subjugation than any other leader!  I can say this because outside my window as I write this in District 4 Shar-in-now in Kabul I am watching girls with school books heading to class…  Was this happening before our invasion?  The same is true when I was in Iraq!  I have seen it and experienced it…  The following is a nice write up from the Pajamas Media.

Also note, within the article are these “incidents” happening here in the US!  Honor Killings, Beheadings, etc…

And I am the white middle age male, conservative, Reagan Republican and I AM OUTRAGED by this… Where is the Feminist Movement here in the US?

Phyllis Schesler and Marcia Pappas on Gender Apartheid and the US feminist movements reaction…

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“Is this the end of America?” From the Financial Post commentary page…

Filed under: Politics and Opinions — baghdad-bob @ 00:00

I do not know about the rest of you but these times scare me!  As the article points out we have overcome administrations that have and attempted to unravel what made America great, but this time I am not so sure…  See my posts regarding the Manchurian Candidate!

The Terence Cocoran article is here.

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March 14, 2009

Soldier’s Angels sent me some packages… A Thank You note from me…

Filed under: Personal business areas — baghdad-bob @ 11:02

I got a ton of stuff from Soldier’s Angels and put it immediately to good use.  I gave most to the local nationals who work for us.  We employ about 500 local nationals all over the country to assist us with securing the goods needed by the US and NATO military personnel to perform the mission here.

I want to thank the following:

Curry Sampson – Lebanon TN

Dean Maitlen – Muncie IN

SFC (Ret) John Boehm – Jacksonville AL

Larry Lesh – Maywood NJ

LTC (Ret) Ben and Maxine Blake – Warrior AL

Lois Reynolds – Paris TN

Anne Mansfield – Marbury AL

Donna Hilbert – Corwith IA

Marilyn Harthum – Menommee Falls WI

Mitchell Rosenfeld MD – Hollywood FL

Bev Van Der Weide – Orange City IA

Patricia Reed – Freeport IL

Ann

Evelyn Reints – Parkersburg IA

Elizabeth Kaleriq – Evansdale IA

Linda Jensen – Oelwein IA

Dorothea Phipps – Springfield VA

Karin Dawley – Ozark AL

Col (Ret) & Mrs. C.R. Chuck Norris – Wellington FL

Manvela and Family – Delray Beach FL

Edith Broussard – Lafayette LA

Sheri Mitchell – Taylors SC

Melissa Seay – Greer SC

MSG (Ret) Lawrence Beckley – Taylors SC

Frances Steinacker – Greenwood SC

Jeanette Blizzard – Elgin SC

Frank & Judy Schulthis – Newburg IN

Joe & Janet Lrinick – Fairview PA

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Cherrington – Reading PA

Dora Munro – Columbus OH

Doris Fuller

Mr. and Mrs. Gary Whoric – Zeliwnople PA

Leroy and Eleanor Cole – Port Matilda PA

Phyllis Weems – Sioux City IA

Frances Carver – Galt MO

Barbara Leary – Roseburg OR

Thank you very much, it was a great gift and appreciated by all…

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March 11, 2009

You have to be here to understand this shiite! Another update from the front lines as a security operator—(mercenary)…

Filed under: Counterterrorism/War on Terror,My Life,Personal business areas — baghdad-bob @ 12:49

Well since the last update myself and other members of the team did the runs to Jalalabad and Asadabad/Fob Blessing.   The first couple we uneventful except for the ridiculous traffic in the pass on the first run.  This pass from Kabul to Jalalabad then onward to the Khyber pass is a two lane road, barely a two lane road and heavily used as you would expect.  Now put a narrow road with tight curves and elevation changes from 6500 feet to 3000 feet and Afghan drivers and you get horrendous traffic!  For example the first run we did from my last update there was on break down and traffic was backed up for miles.  If it were not for our team of expats and local national security this mess would take many many hours to untangle.  We did it in about one hour, and yes there are police around but they do not get involved with traffic issues on the pass or for that matter anywhere in Afghanistan.  So this mess was on the way to Jalalabad and after clearing that it was clear all the way there and onto Asadabad.

The country here is something else, I mean if this country EVER gets it SHIITE together it is an adventure sports paradise!  The river that runs through the pass has many areas that you whitewater guys would love.  Rock climbing is excellent, fly fishing, trekking, and of course hunting.  It is hard to concentrate with the beautiful scenary, but when you see a blackhawk helicopter or ANA/ANP outpost brings you back to reality.  

Back to the first run, everything was uneventful until we re-entered the pass on the way back.  We hit EVEN worse traffic which included the French military and US military.  And again we helped untangle the traffic.  But this time it took us walking just about all the way from the bottom of the pass to the top, about a 3,000 foot elevation increase.  But funny thing is that if we did not do it the US and French Military would probably still be stuck there!  A side note, after today’s mission we hit Camp Phoenix for dinner and I was stopped by a couple of US military who thanked me for getting them out of the pass in a reasonable time.  

So another 18+ hour day…

The second run of this story started out well, the pass was empty of traffic we blew through and got to Jalalabad at 0530 hours local.  Then left with an uneventful trip to Asadabad getting there a couple of hours later and unloaded/loaded in a snap and headed back.  No worries all the way to Kabul gate, which is at the end of the pass and near Pol-i-Charki.  We took the weapons we give to the local nationals security team and headed to the FHI motor pool.  All was good until we hit the same police checkpoint near the airport.  We were stopped AGAIN, and I said we were US contractors and the told my driver to move out.  Well one of the policeman pulled up his AK, put it off safe, and locked and loaded a round and pointed it at me.  Well as you would guess, I stopped the truck and another policeman asked for my ID, which I showed to him.  He TRIED to grab it out of my hand which I did not allow and he seemed a little upset, tried again and I did not let him take it.  I told my driver to tell him that the paperwork/licenses were in the other truck with my partner, Darko.  Darko’s driver showed the paperwork and the policeman let us pass.  Now a side note, while this policeman was doing the lock and load drill he did not realize that I had my AK pointed at him through the car, already off safe with a round in the chamber.  Which is how I carry my weapons here, which is kind of funny that a cop standing on the streets does not have a weapon ready to fire!  Thus ending another fun day here in “disneyland”…

Now the real fun day, TODAY!  We left at our usual time of 0230 hours local and traffic in the pass was light and we had a great day.  Getting to Blessing, (a FOB about one plus hours further down the road from Asadabad), we had a good breakfast and waited for the upload/download of the mail.  Heading out to Jalalabad and pick up the truck we left there.  In Jalalabad the army wanted to brief us on the inspection of the local trucks we use for delivery of the mail.  A good excuse to see some the people at the post office and others on Jalalabad.  We departed for a good trip to the Kabul gate and FHI motor pool.  Well this is where it gets interesting, we got a call from our operations guy at our house that the police raided our place and are going to impound our weapons and close us down.  As a matter of fact there are still here as of this writing arguing on what they are going to do.  One Afghan police General said we have a 5 day reprieve and we can use all our gear and continue operations.  But another is saying that they are impounding all our gear, thus shutting us down.  They are right next to me arguing with our local attorney who handles these situations.  All of us, “semi-kidding” are saying we should fight!  That I am willing to do after the last couple of days with the NDS and Afghan Police stopping us.  I must note that WE ARE a legal entity here in Afghanistan and have all the appropriate paperwork to do business here!

Rene, Darko, and I are still talking about going to this cemetary that is on a hill overlooking our compound and take out these shiite heads!  RPGs and Draganov’s sniper rifles would do the trick!  Is it a fantasy thinking, to a point but we are in Kabul…

Well Dave has talked with one of the owners of the company who is in the US and has contacts with prominent US Congressman and the US Embassy here in Kabul.  The reason they are involved now is that we handle the US mail and other very sensitive item movements of gear for the US military and NATO partners.  For the record the current time here is 2325 hours local and I have been up since 0030 hours, so almost 24 hours and still going…

This story will continue…


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March 10, 2009

I need to post my thoughts and ideas faster!

Filed under: Politics and Opinions — baghdad-bob @ 01:39

I could just kick myself!  I have been using the term “Manchurian Candidate” for President Obama for over 6 months now!  Telling all who listen to watch both versions of that classic movie and compare them to President Obama!  But again I am too late as Bloomberg.com has a commentary by Kevin Hassett, although more financially focused, it still hits home with the premise of a “Manchurian Candidate” scenario.

Read the story here…

 


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March 7, 2009

Is this the first “legislative” shot?

Filed under: Politics and Opinions — baghdad-bob @ 09:04

I got this from a friend… WOW!  It makes me want to study the law…  

The New Hampshire state legislature took an unbelievably bold step Monday by introducing a resolution to declare certain actions by the federal government to completely totally void and warning that certain future acts will be viewed as a “breach of peace” with the states themselves that risks “nullifying the Constitution.”

This act by New Hampshire is a clear warning to the federal government that they could face being stripped of their power by the States (presumably through civil war!

The remarkable document outlines with perfect clarity, some basics long forgotten. For instance, it reminds Congress “That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever;. . . . . therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force;”

Federal gun crime laws? Void. Federal drug crime laws? Void. The gazzillion other federal criminal laws that deal with anything other than the specific enumerated crimes? ALL VOID.

One would think that if any lawyer anywhere in the entire country was worth his salt, all federal criminal trials would have ended years ago. This seems to prove that most lawyers are dullards.

New Hampshire deals a complete death blow to the pending federal hate crimes legislation by pointing out “That, therefore, all acts of Congress of the United States which do abridge the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, are not law, but are altogether void, and of no force; . . . . .”

Later in the Resolution, New Hampshire makes clear what the feds are now risking if they proceed further: The removal of all powers from the federal government by the States!

Quoting directly from the Resolution: “That any Act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States of America or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of United States of America by the Constitution for the United States of America and which serves to diminish the liberty of the any of the several States or their citizens shall constitute a nullification of the Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the United States of America. Acts which would cause such a nullification include, but are not limited to:
I. Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within one of the States comprising the United States of America without the consent of the legislature of that State.

II. Requiring involuntary servitude, or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

III. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

IV. Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government.

V. Any act regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press.

VI. Further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition; and

That should any such act of Congress become law or Executive Order or Judicial Order be put into force, all powers previously delegated to the United States of America by the Constitution for the United States shall revert to the several States individually.”

I have reported on this blog for quite some time that we here in the United States are heading toward Civil War. Many of you told me I was a nut for thinking that.

The simple fact is that we are long overdue for another Rebellion in this nation and I heartily endorse the idea of having one again very soon; preferably starting THIS year!

We must stop our federal government dead in its tracks because it is out of control and very dangerous. If stopping them means attacking them and destroying them by force, then so be it.

The full New Hampshire resolution is printed below, or you can to the Government’s website and read it there.

HCR 6 – AS INTRODUCED

2009 SESSION

09-0274

09/01

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 6

A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles.

SPONSORS: Rep. Itse, Rock 9; Rep. Ingbretson, Graf 5; Rep. Comerford, Rock 9; Sen. Denley, Dist 3

COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs

ANALYSIS

This house concurrent resolution affirms States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles.

09-0274

09/01

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine

A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles.

Whereas the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 7 declares that the people of this State have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress assembled; and

Whereas the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 2, Article 1 declares that the people inhabiting the territory formerly called the province of New Hampshire, do hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other, to form themselves into a free, sovereign and independent body-politic, or State, by the name of The State of New Hampshire; and

Whereas the State of New Hampshire when ratifying the Constitution for the United States of America recommended as a change, “First That it be Explicitly declared that all Powers not expressly & particularly Delegated by the aforesaid are reserved to the several States to be, by them Exercised;” and

Whereas the other States that included recommendations, to wit Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia, included an identical or similar recommended change; and

Whereas these recommended changes were incorporated as the ninth amendment, the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people, and the tenth amendment, the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people, to the Constitution for the United States of America; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress; and

That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever; and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,” therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory; and

That it is true as a general principle, and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitution, that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people;” and that no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, all lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain, and were reserved to the States or the people: that thus was manifested their determination to retain to themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be separated from their use should be tolerated, rather than the use be destroyed. And thus also they guarded against all abridgment by the United States of the freedom of religious opinions and exercises, and retained to themselves the right of protecting the same. And that in addition to this general principle and express declaration, another and more special provision has been made by one of the amendments to the Constitution, which expressly declares, that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press:” thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press: insomuch, that whatever violated either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the others, and that libels, falsehood, and defamation, equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the cognizance of federal tribunals. That, therefore, all acts of Congress of the United States which do abridge the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, are not law, but are altogether void, and of no force; and

That the construction applied by the General Government (as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate to Congress a power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States,” and “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof,” goes to the destruction of all limits prescribed to their power by the Constitution: that words meant by the instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument: that the proceedings of the General Government under color of these articles, will be a fit and necessary subject of revisal and correction; and

That a committee of conference and correspondence be appointed, which shall have as its charge to communicate the preceding resolutions to the Legislatures of the several States; to assure them that this State continues in the same esteem of their friendship and union which it has manifested from that moment at which a common danger first suggested a common union: that it considers union, for specified national purposes, and particularly to those specified in their federal compact, to be friendly to the peace, happiness and prosperity of all the States: that faithful to that compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation: that it does also believe, that to take from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness or prosperity of these States; and that therefore this State is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are, to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on earth: that in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the General Government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, (casus non foederis), to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them: that nevertheless, this State, from motives of regard and respect for its co-States, has wished to communicate with them on the subject: that with them alone it is proper to communicate, they alone being parties to the compact, and solely authorized to judge in the last resort of the powers exercised under it, Congress being not a party, but merely the creature of the compact, and subject as to its assumptions of power to the final judgment of those by whom, and for whose use itself and its powers were all created and modified: that if the acts before specified should stand, these conclusions would flow from them: that it would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights: that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism — free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power: that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go. In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. That this State does therefore call on its co-States for an expression of their sentiments on acts not authorized by the federal compact. And it doubts not that their sense will be so announced as to prove their attachment unaltered to limited government, whether general or particular. And that the rights and liberties of their co-States will be exposed to no dangers by remaining embarked in a common bottom with their own. That they will concur with this State in considering acts as so palpably against the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration that that compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the General Government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these States, of all powers whatsoever: that they will view this as seizing the rights of the States, and consolidating them in the hands of the General Government, with a power assumed to bind the States, not merely as the cases made federal, (casus foederis,) but in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with their consent, but by others against their consent: that this would be to surrender the form of government we have chosen, and live under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority; and that the co-States, recurring to their natural right in cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these acts void, and of no force, and will each take measures of its own for providing that neither these acts, nor any others of the General Government not plainly and intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be exercised within their respective territories; and

That the said committee be authorized to communicate by writing or personal conferences, at any times or places whatever, with any person or person who may be appointed by any one or more co-States to correspond or confer with them; and that they lay their proceedings before the next session of the General Court; and

That any Act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States of America or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of United States of America by the Constitution for the United States of America and which serves to diminish the liberty of the any of the several States or their citizens shall constitute a nullification of the Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the United States of America. Acts which would cause such a nullification include, but are not limited to:

I. Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within one of the States comprising the United States of America without the consent of the legislature of that State.

II. Requiring involuntary servitude, or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

III. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

IV. Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government.

V. Any act regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press.

VI. Further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition; and

That should any such act of Congress become law or Executive Order or Judicial Order be put into force, all powers previously delegated to the United States of America by the Constitution for the United States shall revert to the several States individually. Any future government of the United States of America shall require ratification of three quarters of the States seeking to form a government of the United States of America and shall not be binding upon any State not seeking to form such a government; and

That copies of this resolution be transmitted by the house clerk to the President of the United States, each member of the United States Congress, and the presiding officers of each State’s legislature.

Here is the link…

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March 5, 2009

From one of the best blogs out there… “The People’s Cube”

Filed under: Politics and Opinions — baghdad-bob @ 08:17

Taken from Pajamas Media…

Oleg Atbashian, a writer and graphic artist from Ukraine, currently lives in New York. He is the creator of ThePeoplesCube.com, a satirical website where he writes under the name of Red Square.

The wit and satire are the best…  Do visit the site:  ThePeoplesCube.com   


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This is was never a stimulus plan but a TAX and SPEND plan!

Filed under: Politics and Opinions — baghdad-bob @ 01:56

I hope everyone out there understands that this was never about stimulating the economy but an excuse to expand government control of the private sector.  Remember Rahm Emanuel stating that a “crisis”  like this is too good to waste!  Nothing and I mean nothing in all these bills passed including the bank bailout passed during the last months of the Bush administration have anything to do with fixing the economy.

From the Illinois Review blog:

Americans for Tax Reform breaks down Obama’s 1 Trillion Dollar tax hike!

From Michelle Malkin’s blog:

Letter to the Los Angeles Times…

Here is the letter:

I have employed about 50 people during the last 20 years, and my family’s taxable income is about $300,000. In order to avoid paying a higher percentage of taxes on all of my income, I will decrease output, lay off some staff and still end up keeping the same amount.

I have no incentive to hire people or expand my business, because the more I make, the more President Obama will take to expand government. This discourages expansion of the private sector. It will backfire with disastrous consequences for all.

It is repulsive that Obama is being allowed to take this country backward by pickpocketing the very people who run the private sector through their energy, money and creativity.

Kay Santos
Diamond Bar

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March 3, 2009

If it was not for Contractors, the war would grind to a halt! Also an update as to my personal comings and goings…

Filed under: My Life,Personal business areas — baghdad-bob @ 06:02

I think everyone in the US and the rest of the world would be amazed that everything and I mean everything needed by the US military and NATO forces is moved by local trucks and contractors.  US mail, high value items such as multi-million dollar MRAPS are moved by local national trucks with ex-pats providing security.  I have to laugh looking at these high value items sitting on a truck that should have been scrapped 10 years ago!  And the security while riding the roads here is by ex-pats, i.e., US and other non-Afghan personnel.  These trucking concerns also move food, mail, fuel, and other essential items to keep the military running.  

To give a more personal view of these movements I rode along and provided security too on a few of these missions.  The first was with a fellow american and Nepalese national.  We escorted about 25+ trucks with fuel, food, US mail, and other items to Ghanzi PRT-(Provisional Reconstruction Teams) and FOB Sharana, both in the heart of Taliban country.  Oh, almost forgot to mention that we also employ local “commanders”, (i.e., warlords) as added security and depending upon the number of trucks could number anywhere between 15 to 30 local nationals.  Our company provides weapons for them, and yes we are loaded to meet most threats.  This includes, the usual AK47, PKMs, RPKs, hand grenades, and thermite grenades-(these are used primarily to destroy the US mail trucks to prevent them from falling into enemy hands), and a couple of RPGs.  Sounds impressive but heck the bad guys come at us with that and more!

Now back to the mission…  We left the FHI compound around 10pm to head to the motor pool to pick up the mail trucks, then the 2 hour drive to Maidan Shah gate to meet up with the local national security teams.  This is where we unload all the weapons and give them to the local commanders for distribution to there guys.  We also get the other supply trucks lined up and ready for movement down the road, (i.e., check paperwork to see that they are in fact our trucks and not tag along trucks for free security).  An important fact and one that most of you out there will call me “NUTS” our vehicles are all soft skin or NOT ARMORED!  But really we move materials not there to fight.  If and usually we are hit by the bad guys we return fire and get out of the kill zone.  When lining up the trucks the local security guys ride up front and lead, then the non-essential supplies and last is the US mail which we, FHI and ex-pats ride right behind and have “eyes on” the whole trip.  The run from Maidan Shah to Ghanzi PRT is about 2 hours with no break downs.  We arrived at Ghanzi about 430am and escorted the mail truck inside and left it by the post office there for unloading.  By the way all mail is loaded onto 20 foot containers and then dropped on those aforementioned “crappy” local trucks for movement.  We leave the truck there and move on to Sharana with the rest of the trucks and there mail truck.  Arriving at FOB Sharana around 730am and luckily we get a hold of the NCOIC of the post office and he gets that crane to unload there container which arrives in about 30 minutes.  During this time we hit breakfast and Green Bean for some Latte’s, yep Latte’s, you cannot fight a war without our fancy coffee!  

My partner in crime on these runs has been with the company for about (FHI) 3 months and stated that the road between Sharana and Ghanzi is rather rugged to say the least.  When the weather breaks, i.e., snow melts in the mountain passes it will heat up considerably.  This particular run is uneventful and we move back to Ghanzi PRT to pick up the mail truck we left there earlier.  We then head to Ghanzi gate to re-fuel the trucks and security vehicles.  Our only trucks heading back with us is the outgoing US mail.  We make pretty good time and pass some more “hot” areas that we should expect some activity this coming spring.  We have a couple of breakdowns and that slows us up but reach Maidan Shah all intact.  Pay the local security personnel and collect our weapons from them and move out to the FHI motor pool to secure the US mail trucks until the next day when we off load them at Bagram for shipment to the US and collect incoming mail for the FOBs.  I have to mention, being shot at is sometimes better than driving on these roads.  For instance, I am from Chicago, and after the winter the streets there are pretty bad with pot holes.  But here in Kabul and outlying areas, they are Off-Road paradise!  You could get sea sick with the bouncing and turning.  Since we leave Maidan Shah about 230pm it takes us about 2 hours to get to the motor pool and another hour to get “home”.  We also have to dodge, intimidate, and sweet talk just about every police check point en-route.  They all want to stop us, usually for a bribe and just wonder what the heck we are doing there.   Now for the record we FHI is a registered company with the US and Afghanistan governments, one of the few security companies in country that can say that, and have a good reputation with the Ministry of Interior.  Even so, the cop and army guy on the street still has to look at our “paperwork”.  Just one of the many nuances of the job.

My next run is just US mail, with 4 fuel trucks added at the last minute for Torkham Gate and Jalalabad.  Kind of a homecoming for me heading to Jalalabad and looking forward to seeing the city rather than just the base.  We head out to the FHI motor pool at 230am to meet our local security and pick up the two mail trucks for Jalalabad and FOB Blessing.  The route we take is the historical Kabul – Jalalabad Road which leads to the Khyber pass and Pakistan, now we are not going that far but interesting to be on a road that was used by Alexander the great to the Mongols and British Army.  We push through the pass and another hot area, Sorobi which is where one of these fuel trucks has a flat and takes about one hour to fix it.  Did I mention how crappy trucks they are?  Well the tires are usually bald if that good!  We hit Jalalabad about 830am, and I must say compared to Kabul, Jalalabad is a nice town pretty valley, trees and farm land surrounding it.  When I can secure a camera or borrow my partners pictures I will post them here.  This area of Afghanistan is beautiful.  We get the mail truck onto Jalalabad and leave our Nepalese national to watch it while it is being unloaded/loaded for the return trip.  We push on to FOB Blessing.  Now I must say this drive, yep a long one 3+ hours round trip, is nice.  Beautiful valley with river formed with the mountain snow run-off, heck this could be Montana or anywhere in the Rockies if not that it is hard core, Pashtun/Taliban country.  We pass some small villages and lots of ANP check points-(Afghan National Police) and FOB Asadabad.  We hit Blessing around noon, have lunch there while the army unloads the mail and up loads the outgoing mail.  I meet the KBR security guy for the Jalalabad area which covers Blessing, Asadabad, and others, Rich, whom I met while working as a CI Screener with KBR/WWLR.  We cover old times and I introduce him to my co-workers and give him update as to my travels.  We exchange e-mails and phone numbers and I will keep in touch his access to intel and the area bases will be valuable to us.  We finally push out of Blessing to Jalalabad around 230pm.  But go figure the mail truck breaks down just before Asadabad.  We dismount to provide security and give the village some entertainment for about an hour.  While messing around with the kids, I see this kid with a baseball cap on backwards, I ask him to turn it around to see what it said.  And now we are in the middle of now where and this Pashtun kid has on a “Chicago” hat!  It is not a sports hat with Chicago sports teams but a kind of hat that you would buy at O’Hare airport, orange color with Chicago spelled out in different colors.  I got a picture with my partner’s camera and will post soon.  That made my day…  The local security guys where pushing the kids away, but I told them it was fine they were here, I would be worried if they left or where not there!  The driver gets it running for our push to Jalalabad, which we make at around 530-6 pm where it breaks down again.  We dismount again and pull security for it while the driver runs out to get part welded.  We have some fun with the locals as they are “staring” at us with all our guns and gear out.  At around 730 pm we head out for the return home.  Now this time the pass between Jalalabad and Kabul is BUSY!  We get jammed more than once and have to “assist” with traffic control.  Because lane control is a non issue with Afghans, i.e., they will cross lanes into on-coming traffic to get by and making a bad situation worse.  The ex-pats and our local security take control of the situation and get traffic moving, at least moving…  This last about 20 kilometers until we meet up with a NATO road block run by the French, luckily they lets us by with a little sweet talk them and I will be damned we get an Afghan National Police escort to boot!  It being Thursday night-(Islam’s Friday/Saturday night), traffic in both directions on the pass was heavy.  We start to move and the trucks hold together until Kabul Gate where we do the weapon turn in etc, similar to Maidan Shah on the Ghanzi run.  Then onto the FHI motor pool to secure the mail trucks arriving at our “home” around 1130pm, or a 20+ hour day!

Leon and I, one of my partners on the Jalalabad run do the mail truck escort mission to Bagram for downloading and uploading of the mail trucks.  We do this a couple of times a week to get the outgoing mail and incoming mail sorted.   We also make sure the trucks are fueled for the that night/next day’s missions.  I find out from Kircho, our operations guy for FHI that I will be doing the run to Ghanzi with Rene’.  He is the team lead for the Ghanzi run, and Kamal our Nepalese Ghurka.

We left that same night at 10pm and boy was this ever the smooth run!  We hit Maidan Shan gate, do the weapon distribution, count the trucks, examine paperwork, and fuel the vehicles and are on the road by 130am.  We hit Ghanzi around 4am, dropped off the truck, get some coffee and fruit and hit the road for Sharana.  Now this was interesting, we get all the trucks lined up in proper order but most of the drivers are sacked out.  Having to bang on the doors, yell, etc… to get them up.   While I getting the mail truck driver up, damn he sleeps like a rock, I hear a loud BANG, it is Rene who threw his unopened coke can at another truck because that driver was not sleeping but almost dead!   Well the can thing worked and he finally got up and started his truck.  We move out and we are way ahead of schedule and should hit Sharana around 530am.  But all of a sudden we come to a stop, we drive up to the front of the convoy finding one of our trucks flipped over.  Later finding this was the same driver I had a hard time getting awake, and it looks like he fell asleep and rolled over trying to recover before he hit the ditch.  The other drivers got him out and he was hurt but nothing serious thank god.  We drag the vehicle out of the way, call the trucking outfit for a wrecker and crane.  We head out to Sharana without incident arriving around 6 am.  Again, no issues, the crane arrives within minutes unloads and loads our outgoing mail, we have breakfast and coffee and head out.  On the way back, we test fire the PKMs at the old Russian dam and find out one of them is defective, thank god no incidents with bad guys during this trip.  

We meet up with the wrecker at the crash site and find that they are almost done loading the wrecked vehicle onto a wrecker and have a replacement truck loaded with the container.  We are told to send that container onto Sharana and dispatch a couple of local security vehicles to escort it.  Again so far we are moving right along… we get to Ghanzi PRT and as soon as we hit the front gate to enter to get our mail truck, that same truck is leaving, our luck is running good!  We head out to Ghanzi gate to meet the others there who are refueling.  We arrive there at 955 am and we are thinking we could be home before 3 pm a record for this Ghanzi run.  But the luck is running out, we are told to send Kamal back to Ghanzi to pick up some trucks for escort back to Kabul.  Well, Kamal gets there and there are no trucks!  We find out that they are not even done downloading, so Kamal heads back to Ghanzi Gate, and while en-route the local security vehicle breaks down.  Also, operations tells us to wait for the local security we sent with the rolled over vehicle to Sharana.  All in all with this FUBAR stuff, we stay at Ghanzi Gate for almost 2 1/2 hours, finally leaving around 1230 – 1 pm for Maidan Shah.  That was uneventful thank god and we get there about 2 pm and take back the local security’s weapons and load them onto our vehicles for the final leg back to FHI motor pool then home.

NOW the interesting shiite happens!  We get just past FOB Airborne and we are pulled over by NDS, a special police unit of the Ministry of Interior.  I would have pulled away from them except for the Russian 12.7mm machine gun (there version of the US 50 cal) and the AK47 that were pointed at me.  I pleaded with them as they let our mail trucks drove off unsecured.  Now the NDS has an interesting reputation of “screwing” with security companies here, taking weapons, body armor, radios, etc… Stating that the paperwork is not right or wrong.  They lock and cock us, that is pulled all of us out of our vehicles and search our trucks, taking all weapons, and other gear out and putting it on the ground for them to confiscate.   Rene’ at this time is showing them our paperwork and licenses, which are in order and up to date!  Rene’ then calls our office who has our local national attorney on the phone and send him running to the Ministry of Interior and from what I am told they were messing with him there, stating our licenses were out of order, etc…  But back at the farm, Rene’ and I were the told that our licenses had to be ORIGINALS!  WHAT? Which of course if B** S****, the NDS were going to take our weapons and we would never see them again.  So they started counting our guns and stuff, not separating types, i.e., PKM v. RPK v. AK47, they just called all of them AK47s, which Rene and I knew the deal.  They even said our GPS and Thuraya Sat phone were illegal which again was wrong because there in our book was copies of licenses for those too.  But there come back again was we needed originals!  While this was going on, the NDS commander was on the phone with MOI constantly, and which we did not know at the time, the US Embassy was getting involved.  Now interesting law here, since we are US citizens with DOD cards, we cannot be searched, our person that is.  These guys did search me and were committing a felony by international law and SOFA agreement by TELLING our mail trucks to move along effectively stealing US Government property.  And thus if this happens in the future we-FHI- have the “obligation” under our contract to defend said mail.  This incident goes on for about 2-3 hours, during which Rene’ and I are saying take the damn weapons, we are tired and want to head home and get a shower and go to bed!  We also we tired of this BS and were in no mood for this, so I told Rene’ that we should write all the serial numbers down and photograph the gear.  Funny, the guy that drew down on me had a cell phone camera and he was shooting a video of the area including us and the gear.  I told him, “what are you going to do with that put it on YouTube?  And I want a copy.  He did not find the humor in that at all, but did I give a rip, NO!  Side note here, the guy taking inventory, NDS guy named Ismael, who by the way looked more Russian than typical Afghan, was telling me not to be nervous.  I was shaking, not from fear but from fighting the urge to snap his neck, which I told him in English and smiled while telling him.  He laughed as I did while telling him but damn was I in the mood… but it passed.  

 Kircho also was going to call Airborne FOB for there ORF-(Quick Reaction Force) to assist.  Which was funny, since about 20 minutes into this incident about 5 army vehicles roll by us, while we are waving our arms and DOD cards to get them to help us.  NDS guys got a little nervous but got cocky again after they blew by us.  I laughing to myself now remembering the hard ass looks from a couple of the NDS personnel I got, especially the one that pulled his weapon on me and the one that I should have ran over at the beginning of this mess.  I always heard how “tough” these guys were, sure two heavy machine guns, 10 of them to 3 of us-(ex-pats that is).  But when the MOI finally got the message that they F***** up and had to give us our stuff back, BOY did they get friendly all of a sudden.  And for effect, Rene’ loads his shot gun and locks and cocks a round in the chamber!  Nothing in this world gets someone’s attention like the slamming of a round in a shot gun!  I mean while give “stink eye” to my two buddies, slam the magazine into my Baretta and hit the slide to slam home a round into the chamber.  I honestly think these NDS guys thought we were going to do something!  We just drove off and found the mail trucks and drove to the FHI motor pool then home arriving around 730 pm.  Almost forgot, on the way home after dropping off our mail trucks at the motor pool, the ANP attempted to stop us, I just yelled US military and almost ran him over.  After today, unless he pulled is weapon and shot at me I was in no mood to be stopped again!    A day that we thought was going to end really early… Just goes to show you this is Afghanistan and a war zone.  

Stay tuned, more to come…

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