Anchorage Daily News wants only the liberal discussion

Follows is my letter to Patrick Doyle, President and Publisher of the Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com).

Mr. Pat Doyle,
President/Publisher
P.O. Box 149001
Anchorage, Alaska 99514

Re: Shannon Moore’s recent column regarding rape and abortion; banning from making comments

Mr. Doyle:

I became engaged in the commenting process to Ms. Moore’s very recent piece on rape and abortion. I considered her piece very offensive. She made bald faced assertions with her comments that were simply libelous in any other context, were the objects thereof not in the public purview–politicians. She also included conservatives in general, which I am, as subjects of her rage. I also noted that the bent of her opinion piece venting her spleen dealt with the subjects of rape and abortion. She offered nothing constructive as to anything to diminish either rape or abortion. Further, Ms. Moore totally ignored the illegal practices in contravention to State and federal law by Planned Parenthood of not notifying the authorities of the rape of underage girls by adult males.

I noted those commenting and realized that with one or two exceptions, the vast majority of comments arose from the left of the community in support of her rabid fomenting against the Republicans mentioned by name, and conservatives in general, thereby including yours truly in that group. Her attack was simply outrageous, inaccurate, and served no purpose other than to divide the community.

I responded to several of the commenters by noting that the platform of the Democratic Party was at opposition with the philosophy and intent of our Framers and Founding Fathers as expressed in the Constitution. I did use the word traitor as a description of anyone who believed that our rights under the Constitution were other than endowed by a Creator, and, therefore immutable by man. As a result, I was also called a ‘traitor and coward’ for my National Guard and Army Reserve service by commenters using the user Ids Frostyone and FrankieFlynn. They did not appreciate my conservative interpretation of the Democratic initiatives assaulting faith, patriotism, family, the value of our children, and supernatural basis for our rights under the Constitution. However, I did not seek their exclusion from the conversation.

In fact, FrankieFlynn evidently had access to a database that showed my military record, as he made derisive comments regarding the length of time it took me to make E-5. Both Flynn and Frosty then labeled me as a coward and traitor, which, taken in context became inclusive of all NG and Reserve members, past and present.

I believe that Flynn used a computer that was either State or Federal to find the information

regarding my military record, which he then used that information, which is privileged, private, and confidential, as the basis to make derisive comments.

Those inappropriate comments did not really bother me, as anyone who is familiar with the reserve components knows, one has to have a slot to justify the rank, and one is not promoted without having a slot allowing the promotion. The Alaska National Guard, and I have been both Air and Army Guard, is relatively small in comparison to the federal military. The Army Reserve at the time had only one unit in Alaska. Therefore, opportunity for promotion was very limited in the units to which I belonged. Just the way it works.

However, it is the use of information derived from a federal or state database that is the issue, and I will be making a complaint to the FBI, the Army and USAF regarding the situation. FrankieFlynn implied in his comments and by his access to the information that he may have been active duty or a civilian employee of the military or the State of Alaska in a capacity that gave him access to the info. He may have violated the law. Banning me, and not taking any action against FrankieFlynn or Frostyone shows agreement with their conduct by virtue of allowing those comments to remain. No reasonable individual could believe that Date of Rank information is in the public domain and readily accessible. Therefore, whomever made the decision to ban my comments discriminated against me, but allowed the illegal use of confidential information to remain, thereby condoning the conduct.

The fact that I have been banned from making further comments on any article in ADN I find discriminatory, given the outrageous nature of Ms. Moore’s inclusion of every conservative minded person as the object of her rant. My banning demonstrates that the ADN is not interested in fostering any community discussion, but rather promoting only one viewpoint. In which case, you have lost a reader and one who has placed many comments contributing to many discussions. I have even had Compass pieces published in the past.

The liberal at ADN who made the decision to ban any further comments on my part served to ignore what was clearly 1^st Amendment protected political speech on my part with my criticisms of the Democratic Party’s policies. My banning made my points about the inability of the liberal mind to tolerate an opposing viewpoint.

I am a 58 year Alaska who writes and will comment upon this hypocrisy on the part of ADN and its liberal bent elsewhere. Your paper’s liberal bent is out of touch with this community and Alaska.

Maybe, one day, the liberals who comment and the management of ADN will cease to be intolerant and allow a public discourse without restoring to ad hominem attacks or the public dissemination of private information on the ADN’s website?

I truly look forward to the day after the coming election. I am looking forward to the collective howl from the liberal community over their realization that they are not in the mainstream of political and social thought in this country.

Regards,

Lawrence D. Wood (Larry)

Benghazi: The Obama Admin left them without support . . .

On the 11th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack upon the United States by Islamic jihadists, the United States Mission in Libya located in Benghazi was attacked by Islamic militants.  Our Ambassador and three other U.S. personnel were killed.  In the aftermath of the attack, the Obama Administration had placed blame on a little known Youtube video.  Since, the Obama Administration has finally admitted that the attack was a coordinated attack by an armed force conducting a military operation against the U.S. Mission and the nearby CIA Annex. 

Fox News is reporting that the CIA team located approximately two blocks away from the American Mission building were in constant contact with their headquarters from the start of the attack on the American Mission in Benghazi.  They requested help from U.S. military sources three times through the CIA chain of command.   It is alleged that their superiors ordered them to stand down three times and not to go to the assistance of the State Dept. mission personnel.  However, this allegation is denied by General David Petraeus, Director of the CIA.

A statement attributed to CIA Director General David Petraeus reported by the Weekly Standard stated:  "No one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate."  Who then ordered the CIA personnel at the Annex not to go to the assistance of their fellow Americans under attack at the American Mission two blocks away?

Four CIA personnel disobeyed the orders to stand down and proceeded to the Mission building and rescued several personnel and recovered the body of Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith.  Ex-Navy Seals Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were later killed in a mortar attack on the CIA annex two blocks from the State Dept. mission.

The entire attack was streamed live to the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA from security cameras at the U.S. Mission.  There were at least two MQ-1 Predator drones overhead with live video coverage being provided from those sources.  The Predators may have been controlled by British pilots.  The British were given several drone aircraft for reconnaissance during the NATO involvement in indicting Ghadaffi's armed forces operating against the rebels.

The attack upon the Benghazi U.S. Mission and the nearby CIA Annex was conducted by an estimated 120 well armed jihadists.  Within two hours Ansar al-Sharia, the Al Qaeda group operating in Libya, was claiming responsibility for the attack.

The attack upon the U.S. Mission and the CIA Annex raged for 7 hours with reinforcements and tactical air support readily available at NAS Sigonella and elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa.  Elements of the USAF 177th Tactical Air Wing are stationed at Aviano AB in northern Italy, less than 2 hours away from Benghazi on full afterburner for F15s and F16s. 

The Benghazi Mission and CIA Annex were less than 2 hours away from NAS Signonella on Sicily.  NAS Signonella hosts NATO and USAF aircraft such as the AC130U Specter.  The AC130U is a heavily armed variant of the C130 tactical airlift aircraft that is armed with a 105mm cannon, a 40mm cannon and two 20mm gattling guns.  The Specter is used for precision air strikes and direct support of infantry and special forces ground operations.

Woods and Doherty were killed by a mortar strike at the CIA annex.  A battle raged there with CIA personnel calling for air support by a AC130U Specter gunship based at NAS Sigonella on Sicily 480 miles away.  Woods and Doherty were killed when a mortar shell hit their position.  CIA personnel manning a machine gun on the roof top informed their superiors by radio of the exact coordinates of the mortar shelling their position.   They had the mortar and its crew under direct observation the entire time.

Several military options appeared to be available to conduct rescue and security operations for the U.S. Mission and the CIA Annex. including at least three mission specific teams of special forces personnel, including members of Delta Force.  More U.S. Marine infantry resources were available at NAS Sigonella two hours away by C130.

Given the nature of the attacking forces, had American forces shown, the enemy would have departed the area.  The attackers were not military troops, but members of an Al Qaeda militia with poor training and light weapons consisting of AK47s, PPSH 57mm machine guns, RPGs, and at least one mortar.

The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi has been improperly deemed a Consulate.  The facility under attack did not rise to the level of a Consulate and was actually a U.S. Mission.  It has now been disclosed from various sources that Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens mission was to facilitate the delivery of arms to various rebel factions.  Arms that were delivered through the auspices of the Qatar, Saudi Arabian, and Turkish governments.  The attack on the mission occurred just after the departure of a Turkish official who had dinner with Ambassador Stevens.

It has been alleged that Ambassador Stevens was dealing directly with the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical Muslim groups to move arms into the hands of the various hard-line Islamist rebel groups operating in Libya.  Stevens was working with the Muslim Brotherhood to convey arms provided by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey to radical Islamist rebel groups.

The CIA mission that Woods and Doherty were part of was charged with finding missing MANPADS, Russian SA-7 Grail man portable anti-aircraft missiles similar to the U.S. military's Stinger.  There are allegedly 20,000 Russian MANPAD missiles missing from Libyan military stockpiles.  The reason for the search is to account for these weapons to prevent them from being used against the U.S. military elsewhere in Africa, the Middle East and Africa.

Meanwhile, in the White House, Pentagon, and State Department, insulated from the death and destruction they were witnessing, Sec-State Hillary Clinton, President Obama, and SecDef Leon Pannetta began the spin that the attack was not what they were witnessing, but an act of 'spontaneous mob violence' over the Youtube video.  Even U.S. Ambassador to the U. N. Susan Rice was promoting this falsehood.  For whatever reason, the Obama Administration chose to lie about the Benghazi attack.  Perhaps to the hide the gun running mission of Ambassador Stevens in the face of "Fast and Furious"?

Who and at what level denied the American personnel under attack U.S. military assistance?  Who ordered the CIA personnel to 'stand down' three times during the fight, effectively acting to deny the Mission personnel under attack assistance until four brave men obeyed their conscience and oath and acted to go to the aid of their fellow Americans?  These men are true heroes.

Where was the U.S. military response during the attack?  SecDef Leon Panetta is now claiming that there was too little information to formulate a plan.  Instead, the Obama Administration let U.S. Sovereign territory, which the Mission was under international law, be violated with impunity by an Al Qaeda affiliated Islamist militia, resulting in the deaths of U.S. personnel without recourse, other than to say that those "responsible will be brought to justice", as if the attack was a convenience store robbery.

The President of the United States, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense have much to answer for in their failure to act upon Ambassador Stevens multiple requests for increased security, for their failure to act upon the intelligence provided by the Libyan interim government with respect to the potential for an impending attack, for their failure to act during the attack to protect U.S. personnel, and for their outrageous lies in the aftermath.  The lie of the 'spontaneous mob' motivated by a Youtube video was carried forward two weeks post the September 11th attack in Benghazi.
 
Additional security personnel were cheap insurance, why were they denied? 

What was Ambassador Stevens doing running guns to Islamist radical groups?

Once again, accountability is being denied by this administration.  Yet, there are four dead whose deaths demand action.