An Amazing Display of Iranian Heart

Honestly, what a beautiful move!!

An Iranian woman blinded and disfigured by a man who threw acid into her face stood above her attacker Sunday in a hospital operating room as a doctor was about to put several drops of acid in one of his eyes in court-ordered retribution.

Click Here for the full story.
I have nothing but admiration for this young lady and her dignity. She was in position of power and she had the life of the person who ruined her life in her hand, yet she chose to take the high road and pardon this stupid young man. I am calling him stupid not in a sense to justify his action, rather I believe he should spend the rest of his life in jail. This whole acid-throwing thing that has developed is a very barbaric act. Unfortunately, it is increasing in Iran as a way of forcing girls into marriage. This practice is not an act that has developed in Iran. This has been imported to Iran from foreign nations. There is actually a huge NY Supreme Court Case about such a practice. Ultimately the victim actually ended up marrying the guy. However, at the end, I have nothing but respect and admiration for this young lady from Iran. She is showing a truly heart of an Iranian where unfortunately lately this sort of hearts have diminished due to Iranian government’s evil acts, lies, and interference in the region. It is good to see that Iran still have people like her and they are the symbols of Iranian rich culture. Her courageous act got a well-deserved global media’s attention and it justifiably gave her world popularity. I would like to personally salute her strength and wisdom. 

Protest in Egypt for “Islamic” Government

Today, there was a “unity” rally in Egypt. Of course, this rally was more like Islamisation and invitation to convert Egyptian Government into an Islamic government. Seriously: IS ANYBODY SURPRISED? Oh yeah, Obama, good job on forcing Mubarak to leave. Except one issue, you forgot to ask the same thing and apply the same pressure to other Arab countries such as Yemen and Syria. Arab Spring is ready to turn into a hot Islamic Summer. Of course, there is nothing wrong with an Islamic style government except take a good look at Iran, Saudi Arab, or Gaza Strip and the level of democracy that is being implemented by these Islamic Rules. The question is whether the military will turn back the clock into Mubarak times and start clamping down or allow democracy to take roots and allow these groups to come to power. Either way, the story is not going too well. Oh yeah, ElBaradei, enjoy your achievements because it smells like 1979 in Iran where the Mullahs highjacked the Revolution and turned it into an Islamic Revolution and you said it would not happen. Well, the quote "I told you so" comes to mind. Here is an article from NY Times with regards to the “Unity Protest”.

Obama is a Loser

In 2008 when Obama was elected, I was not too thrilled. Obama has alienated a lot of this country’s allies. I saw right through his rhetoric from day one and realized that this guy is all talk. Oh well, two years into his presidency and our country is facing a crisis. This article summons it in the best way possible. Obama is a “loser” and that is why Americans do not like him.

The past few weeks I've asked Democrats who supported him how they feel about him. I got back nothing that showed personal investment. Here are the words of a hard-line progressive and wise veteran of the political wars: "I never loved Barack Obama. That said, among my crowd who did 'love' him, I can't think of anyone who still does." Why is Mr. Obama different from Messrs. Clinton and Bush? "Clinton radiated personality. As angry as folks got with him about Nafta or Monica, there was always a sense of genuine, generous caring." With Bush, "if folks were upset with him, he still had this goofy kind of personality that folks could relate to. You might think he was totally misguided but he seemed genuinely so. . . . Maybe the most important word that described Clinton and Bush but not Obama is 'genuine.'" He "doesn't exude any feeling that what he says and does is genuine."

Here is the link to the rest of the article. I believe this article explains Obama’s popularity in an honest fashion where Mainstream Media has failed to do due to their love affection with Obama. Remember, this is what happens when Media elects a president instead of the people.

Tough Times for Hezbollah -Part 2

It is Lebanon War Anniversary. And Nasrallah of course has to give a speech about it. However, Hezbollah is not doing too well as we have previously discussed in length on this blog. Syria is in deep trouble, Hezbollah agents might get indicted for murdering Lebanon’s Leader Rafig Harriri, and Iran’s isolation and internal problem is not getting any better. That is exactly why we see speeches like this (Click Here for the link). Nasrallah said,

I confidently say to all the countries, governments and companies that will submit tenders in order to start oil excavation that Lebanon is capable of protecting these companies and oil and gas installations. I tell the friends and the foes that Lebanon will rely on all the elements of strength in order to regain its natural resources, and the most important element is the army-people-Resistance formula,” the Hezbollah leader added.

I love their mentality. For these guys, every where is considered to be disputed areas. They have claim to water, air, land, and anything and everything. The U.N. has approved of Israeli Plan but Nasrallah is saying these are disputed areas. Of course he would say such thing. So, basically what this terrorist is saying, he’ll solve the Lebanon problems through force. Of course, he would say such thing. He is going through Terrorist Group handbook line by line. Groups like Hezbollah are not political forces; rather their whole existence is only dependent on violence or threat of violence. They rule through terrorism. They are trying to solve these international problems not through negotiation or proper channels, but rather through guns. However, the important issue to point out is that he is not here to solve the problem or protect Lebanese sovereignty. He is simply trying to legitimize Hezbollah existence in Lebanon. Hezbollah is in serious trouble in coming days. They are desperately trying to keep the current Syrian regime in power. Therefore, they need to act like barbarians from 7th century who solved their entire problem with their swords in order to justify their existence.
Hezbollah needs support and they are desperately trying to get it by any means necessary. They look incredibly stupid by supporting Egyptian overthrow of Mubarak, yet they are supporting the murderous Regime of Assad in Syria whose crimes are far worse than Mubarak. This sort of behavior will lead to nothing but destruction of Lebanon. In his speech, he comments about how they created confusion in IDF during Second Lebanon War. Granted! However, what happened to Lebanon? Do you honestly thing that the next war that you’d be fighting for Gas will simply stop Israel? The objective between the two wars will be very different. The only end result will be destruction of Lebanese lives and infrastructure. Of course, like always, he would dig into Iranian stolen money. However, the question is whether Lebanese would fall for that or not. Who knows, it might work. For the time being, these speeches are nothing but act of desperation for legitimization.

Amazing Victory for Israel on the Sea

Congratulation to Israel, Israeli intelligence, and Israeli defense forces!! From all political spectrums in Israel, people are congratulating these guys. They handled it very professionally. Keep in mind, last year 10 terrorist ended up dying, couple of Israeli elite commandos ended up injured (I was fortunate enough to meet them) and it was followed by massive amount of condemnations from around the globe. Erdogan and his Islamist gang took advantage of the situation to destroy friendly ties the two nations of Israel and Turkey. This year, the organizers thought they could pull of the same thing, except this time it would be much bigger. They were trying to delegitimize Israel’s existence and its sovereignty. From intelligence front, to diplomatic front, to military front, everybody started working around the clock to tackle this issue. The results: from hundreds of people (including very popular Leftist Wack-jobs) and around 20 ships that were prepared to sail to Israel, only ONE STUPID FRENCH YAT was able come near Gaza and it was taken care of in a very peaceful fashion. This is amazing.
One thing that the dumb Lefties had forgotten: in this case, Israel is defending its homeland. Those Lefties are not defending their homelands; they are simply taking a summer vacation and trying to make their miserable lives important. For Israel, it is the question of existence and it will fight it with everything at its disposal. It wasn’t the issue Gaza or helping Gazans for either side. It was the issue of defying Israel and its sovereignty and its right to defend itself against terrorist and Israel established in a perfect fashion.
Here is an editorial from Haaretz who always love to bash Israel, but had only pleasant things to say to describe Israel’s handling of the situation. It is a very interesting article that explains the situation and how the whole process started falling apart for the Pro-terrorist movement.

“Gay Orthodox Shabaton was like ‘heaven’”: WHAAAT!!!!

When I read this story, I could not stop laughing. I am a strong advocate of Gay/Lesbian Rights. The reason is very simple: nobody should be treated any different based on their sexual preferences. I am advocating for legal rights and equal rights in work places. People have the freedom to choose to do whatever they want. There should not be a discriminatory system that interferes with your sexuality. However, I am also very critical of Gay/Lesbian groups based on the fact that I believe they have abandoned the important fight which is equal rights in the society and they have decided to force feed the society and picking the “in your face” fight. For example, one is gay marriage. They are not fighting for equal rights for the gays. Instead, they have decided to change the definition of marriage. They could have easily fought for the same exact rights under the civil union.
However, this story blew me away. As I said, I could not stop laughing. I have very mixed feeling about this. I do not know whether to support it or not, but I know that it is very interesting. The only question that I have is this: how could these people who consider themselves “Orthodox Jews”, who are supposed to follow the strict rules of the Bible, justify the fact that the Bible clearly states its stance against Homosexuality and although affirm its existence in the society, it states that “G-d Deplores it.” I mean I would understand the acceptance of Reform Judaism for Homosexuality. However, under strict “Orthodox” rules, how could they justify it? I am just wondering. Here is the story:

Gay Orthodox Shabbaton Was Like ‘Heaven’
Usually, when Adam goes to shul, he feels like part of him is just not there. In the black-hat synagogue he attends with his children, he feels that he’s always guarding the secret that he’s gay. Although he grew up in the haredi community and attended its institutions, he no longer feels comfortable in that world, even as his children are very much integrated into the community. While he has come out to his ex-wife, his children still don’t know. Last month, he walked into Kabbalat Shabbat services at the Isabella Friedman Retreat Center and felt exhilarated, as the first-ever Orthodox gay lesbian transgender community Shabbaton was beginning. Gone were his fears of not being accepted.

Adam, who is in his 30s, said the minyan, with its mechitza, was in the Orthodox tradition, a “service that my own black-hat father would feel right at home in. There were literally people with black hats. There’s something so powerful about not having to withhold part of me. I hadn’t connected to a Friday-night tefilla, prayer, like that in many years.” That high continued through the weekend.

Others among the 140 attendees echoed Michael’s words. Participants included 40 women and 100 men of all ages, among them couples with children, people like Michael who grew up Orthodox and were struggling to somehow fit in, ba’alei teshuvah, converts, and those who left the Orthodox world and were now on its margins.

Some were very much in the closet, others were out, and some came out after the weekend. One male couple has a civil marriage and is now planning a religious ceremony, and invited fellow participants to join them. One haredi young man came from England, with the encouragement of a Reform rabbi in whom he confided.

The Shabbaton was organized by Eshel, a collaborative program established by individuals and organizations involved in the Orthodox gay Jewish world, including JQY (Jewish Queer Youth), GLYDSA (Gay and Lesbian Yeshiva Day School Alumni), Tirtzah, Orthodykes and Neharim. Rabbi Steven Greenberg, director of Orthodox programming for Neharim and a member of the seven-person steering commission of Eshel, describes the Shabbaton as an “unmitigated success of the Orthodox gay community.”

Eshel was formed last summer, just around the same time, coincidentally, as a group of Orthodox rabbis issued the “Statement of Principles on the Place of Jews with a Homosexual Orientation in Our Community,” which affirmed that all human beings are to be treated with respect and urged that those Jews with gay orientation be welcomed as full members of the community.

The Shabbaton, meant to be a safe space for attendees to express themselves, was decidedly closed to the press. But shortly after the Jan. 21-23 event, organizers felt that “this was too important a moment not to share,” and invited a reporter to speak with participants. Like Adam, many of the people quoted here are referred to by pseudonyms to protect their privacy. The details of their lives are true.

Adam, whose marriage broke up years ago, is very protective of his children, and understands that the ramifications for them in the haredi community would be huge, if he were to come out. He’s now in a relationship with another man, who’s from a Conservative background and is accommodating to his religious needs. But he remains Orthodox, feeling “foremost a father. This is their world.”

As much of a high as the Shabbaton was, Adam says it’s just not the reality of his life. But the experience has motivated him to move more quickly toward finding a more integrated life. He’s begun the process of trying to figure out how to tell those closest to him, to change this “bizarre half-life that has eclipsed me.

“I feel strongly based on my personal experiences that the continuing push for non-openness — people say, ‘This is your issue, we’ll accept your struggle, but don’t talk about it’ — is so damaging,” he says. That’s what led me to make a very bad choice. At the end of the day I stood under the chupah.”

Sarah, who is in her late 20s and lives outside of Philadelphia, feels very isolated in her Orthodox community but believes there is room for “compassionate acceptance.” Being at the Shabbaton made her realize for the first time that a relationship with a Jewish woman who shared her religious commitment was actually possible.

For Hayley, 33, who is transgender, the entire weekend was “heaven, like walking through a dream. You didn’t feel like you were being analyzed or judged, no need to look around worrying about what other people were thinking.” She attended along with her wife Lena and 7-year-old son.

Hayley grew up as an Orthodox man in the Sephardic world, where he was taunted, not supported by the rabbis, and never felt like he fit in; he later served in the U.S. Navy and married. After five years of marriage, he told Lena about the cross-gender feelings that were making him feel miserable in his life. Lena supported his efforts to change sexes, and they have remained a couple.

Their son used to go to a yeshiva, but after Haley’s transition, they sent him to a public school out of concerns for his comfort and hope someday to switch him back. The couple prefers Sephardic-type services but rarely go to synagogue in their Brooklyn neighborhood, as Haley knows that some people in the community know about her, including some relatives, and “people in this community can be violent.” She adds, “I feel that rabbis and other should reserve their judgment until they’ve been in my shoes.”

Hayley, who punctuates her conversation with “Baruch Hashem,” thanking God, says that they would like to find a close-knit community where she and Lena could feel at home. She laughs and says that they have many more friends now that she’s a woman, and most are Orthodox.

Some participants cried on the telephone as they recalled experiences with rabbis who told them they were unwelcome to study in their yeshivas or that “suicide wasn’t such a bad outcome if therapy didn’t work,” or relatives who sent condolences as though they had cancer. Several spoke of being sent by family members and rabbis to reparative therapy — with the intention that they would be “fixed” or changed — and how painful and damaging that was.

For Yoshi, who grew up with emotional and physical abuse, the very rabbis who brought him deeper into a committed Orthodox lifestyle were the ones who rejected him once they learned of his sexuality, tore his belief away from him and fractured his relationship with God. He attended with his partner, and both are thinking of becoming rabbis.

Several participants said that they made their own peace with halacha, or were at least at peace with themselves, citing that very few people can strictly follow all of the laws, and that they try to live with integrity, according to Torah values. Some spoke of possibilities of different interpretations. One man admitted he had no good answers, and has both respect for the halacha and a strong feeling that “this is the way that God made me.”

Moshe, 45, who lives in the South and feels triply ostracized as Jewish, Orthodox and gay, says, “Orthodoxy needs to evolve, to embrace gays and lesbians in their midst. They are in their midst. Nobody here is trying to change halacha; we’re not trying to negate the Torah. We’re trying to ask, Will people please make room for us?”

A member of the group that built the gay and lesbian synagogue in Greenwich Village, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, Barry, 64, found that Orthodox liturgy speaks to him most and now belongs to an Orthodox shul on the Upper West Side. He has come out with his rabbi, and feels that many in the synagogue know about his status, even if they don’t talk about it, and have long been welcoming toward him.

Joe, a graduate student in psychology in his mid-20s from the New York area who identifies as Modern Orthodox down to the core, says that he gained a historical perspective on the issues by attending the Shabbaton. He now has great admiration for those who are generations older who had remarkable courage.

“I have the Internet — I would still be in the closet without it,” he adds.

Yehuda Greenberg, project director for Eshel, said that the Shabbaton exceeded expectations. While they had initially thought of it as an annual event, they will probably hold them more frequently.

“There has been a watershed change in the last 10 years in how this challenge is being addressed in the Orthodox community,” says Naomi S. Mark, a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in New York City who sees a lot of Orthodox LGBT clients as well as their families.

“The Shabbaton was a milestone in showing how the Orthodox gay community is getting organized, supporting each other’s efforts to stay connected to their religious roots even as they explore their identity in new ways.”

Mark sees the conventional Orthodox community as much more open than a decade ago, and encourages gay people to keep telling their stories to promote understanding. “It makes one hopeful for what can happen in another 10 years.

Click Here for the link to the story.

Unknown Heroes Behind the Mission that Located Osama Bin Laden

This is an amazing story about a man who was behind the mission who captured the arch terrorist of our decade or possibly this century. Heroes like these never receive public acknowledgment of their success nor will they ever be publicly thanked by the main-stream Media. It has to do with these agents safety and security. However, some of it has to do with the fact that our society has lost touch with who are the true heroes of our society. They are more concerned about consumerist and pop-culture heroes or some dumb singers, actors, and/or activist doing something for publicity stunt and they hold them up as to be the icon of our society. However, heroes like these don’t need public recognition of their good work. I believe they get the true satisfaction when they can see the title “mission accomplish” and that would be more than enough for them. From bottom of my heart, I salute heroes like “John” and I thank them for their hard work. Here is the story from MSNBC.com:

WASHINGTON — After Navy SEALs killed Osama Bin Laden, the White House released a photo of President Barack Obama and his Cabinet inside the Situation Room, watching the daring raid unfold.
Hidden from view, standing just outside the frame of that now-famous photograph was a career CIA analyst. In the hunt for the world's most-wanted terrorist, there may have been no one more important. His job for nearly a decade was finding the al-Qaida leader. The analyst was the first to put in writing last summer that the CIA might have a legitimate lead on finding Bin Laden. He oversaw the collection of clues that led the agency to a fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. His was among the most confident voices telling Obama that Bin Laden was probably behind those walls.
The CIA will not permit him to speak with reporters. But interviews with former and current U.S. intelligence officials reveal a story of quiet persistence and continuity that led to the greatest counterterrorism success in the history of the CIA.
Nearly all the officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters or because they did not want their names linked to the Bin Laden operation.
The Associated Press has agreed to the CIA's request not to publish his full name and withhold certain biographical details so that he would not become a target for retribution.
Call him John, his middle name. John was among the hundreds of people who poured into the CIA's Counterterrorism Center after the Sept. 11 attacks, bringing fresh eyes and energy to the fight.
Disparate strands
He had been a standout in the agency's Russian and Balkan departments. When Vladimir Putin was coming to power in Russia, for instance, John pulled together details overlooked by others and wrote what some colleagues considered the definitive profile of Putin. He challenged some of the agency's conventional wisdom about Putin's KGB background and painted a much fuller portrait of the man who would come to dominate Russian politics.
That ability to spot the importance of seemingly insignificant details, to weave disparate strands of information into a meaningful story, gave him a particular knack for hunting terrorists. "He could always give you the broader implications of all these details we were amassing," said John McLaughlin, who as CIA deputy director was briefed regularly by John in the mornings after the 2001 attacks.
From 2003, when he joined the Counterterrorism Center, through 2005, John was one of the driving forces behind the most successful string of counterterrorism captures in the fight against terrorism: Abu Zubaydah, Abd al-Nashiri, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Ramzi Bin Alshib, Hambali and Faraj al-Libi. But there was no greater prize than finding Bin Laden. Bin Laden had slipped away from U.S. forces in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora in 2001, and the CIA believed he had taken shelter in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan.
In 2006, the agency mounted Operation Cannonball, an effort to establish bases in the tribal regions and find Bin Laden. Even with all its money and resources, the CIA could not locate its prime target.
By then, the agency was on its third director since Sept. 11, 2001. John had outlasted many of his direct supervisors who retired or went on to other jobs. The CIA doesn't like to keep its people in one spot for too long. They become jaded. They start missing things. John didn't want to leave. He'd always been persistent. In college, he walked on to a Division I basketball team and hustled his way into a rotation full of scholarship players.
The CIA offered to promote him and move him somewhere else. John wanted to keep the Bin Laden file. Champagne was uncorked at the CIA's headquarters after it was confirmed that Navy SEALs had killed Osama Bin Laden.
He examined and re-examined every aspect of Bin Laden's life. How did he live while hiding in Sudan? With whom did he surround himself while living in Kandahar, Afghanistan? What would a Bin Laden hideout look like today?
'We'll get there'
The CIA had a list of potential leads, associates and family members who might have access to Bin Laden. "Just keep working that list bit by bit," one senior intelligence official recalls John telling his team. "He's there somewhere. We'll get there." John rose through the ranks of the counterterrorism center, but because of his nearly unrivaled experience, he always had influence beyond his title. One former boss confessed that he didn't know exactly what John's position was. "I knew he was the guy in the room I always listened to," the official said. While he was shepherding the hunt for Bin Laden, John also was pushing to expand the Predator program, the agency's use of unmanned airplanes to launch missiles at terrorists.
The CIA largely confined those strikes to targets along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. But in late 2007 and early 2008, John said the CIA needed to carry out those attacks deeper inside Pakistan. It was a risky move. Pakistan was an important but shaky ally. John's analysts saw an increase in the number of Westerners training in Pakistani terrorist camps. John worried that those men would soon start showing up on U.S. soil. "We've got to act," John said, a former senior intelligence official recalls. "There's no explaining inaction." John took the analysis to then CIA Director Michael Hayden, who agreed and took the recommendation to President George W. Bush.
In the last months of the Bush administration, the CIA began striking deeper inside Pakistan. Obama immediately adopted the same strategy and stepped up the pace. Recent attacks have killed al-Qaida's No. 3 official, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, and Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. All the while, John's team was working the list of Bin Laden leads. In 2007, a female colleague whom the AP has also agreed not to identify decided to zero in on a man known as Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, a nom de guerre.
Other terrorists had identified al-Kuwaiti as an important courier for al-Qaida's upper echelon, and she believed that finding him might help lead to Bin Laden. "They had their teeth clenched on this and they weren't going to let go," McLaughlin said of John and his team. "This was an obsession." It took three years, but in August 2010, al-Kuwaiti turned up on a National Security Agency wiretap. The female analyst, who had studied journalism at a Big Ten university, tapped out a memo for John, "Closing in on Bin Laden Courier," saying her team believed al-Kuwaiti was somewhere on the outskirts of Islamabad.
Bigger picture
As the CIA homed in on al-Kuwaiti, John's team continually updated the memo with fresh information. Everyone knew that anything with Bin Laden's name on it would shoot right to the director's desk and invite scrutiny, so the early drafts played down hopes that the courier would lead to Bin Laden. But John saw the bigger picture. The hunt for al-Kuwaiti was effectively the hunt for Bin Laden, and he was not afraid to say so. The revised memo was finished in September 2010. John, by then deputy chief of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Department, emailed it to those who needed to know. The title was "Anatomy of a Lead."
As expected, the memo immediately became a hot topic inside CIA headquarters and Director Leon Panetta wanted to know more. John never overpromised, colleagues recall, but he was unafraid to say there was a good chance this might be the break the agency was looking for.
The CIA tracked al-Kuwaiti to a walled compound in Abbottabad. If Bin Laden was hiding there, in a busy suburb not far from Pakistan's military academy, it challenged much of what the agency had assumed about his hideout.
But John said it wasn't that far-fetched. Drawing on what he knew about Bin Laden's earlier hideouts, he said it made sense that Bin Laden had surrounded himself only with his couriers and family and did not use phones or the Internet. The CIA knew that top al-Qaida operatives had lived in urban areas before. A cautious Panetta took the information to Obama, but there was much more work to be done. The government tried everything to figure out who was in that compound.
In a small house nearby, the CIA put people who would fit in and not draw any attention. They watched and waited but turned up nothing definitive. Satellites captured images of a tall man walking the grounds of the compound, but never got a look at his face.
Again and again, John and his team asked themselves who else might be living in that compound. They came up with five or six alternatives; Bin Laden was always the best explanation.
This went on for months. By about February, John told his bosses, including Panetta, that the CIA could keep trying, but the information was unlikely to get any better. He told Panetta this might be their best chance to find Bin Laden and it would not last forever. Panetta made that same point to the president.
Panetta held regular meetings on the hunt, often concluding with an around-the-table poll: How sure are you that this is Bin Laden? John was always bullish, rating his confidence as high as 80 percent. Others weren't so sure, especially those who had been in the room for operations that went bad. Not two years earlier, the CIA thought it had an informant who could lead him to Bin Laden's deputy. That man blew himself up at a base in Khost, Afghanistan, killing seven CIA employees and injuring six others.
That didn't come up in the meetings with Panetta, a senior intelligence official said. But everyone knew the risk the CIA was taking if it told the president that Bin Laden was in Abbottabad and was wrong. "We all knew that if he wasn't there and this was a disaster, certainly there would be consequences," the official recalled.
Reassuring confidence
John was among several CIA officials who repeatedly briefed Obama and others at the White House. Current and former officials involved in the discussions said John had a coolness and a reassuring confidence.
By April, the president had decided to send the Navy SEALs to assault the compound. Though the plan was in motion, John went back to his team, a senior intelligence official said. "Right up to the last hour," he told them, "if we get any piece of information that suggests it's not him, somebody has to raise their hand before we risk American lives."
Nobody did. Inside the Situation Room, the analyst who was barely known outside the close-knit intelligence world took his place alongside the nation's top security officials, the household names and well-known faces of Washington.
An agonizing 40 minutes after Navy SEALs stormed the compound, the report came back: Bin Laden was dead. John and his team had guessed correctly, taking an intellectual risk based on incomplete information. It was a gamble that ended a decade of disappointment. Later, Champagne was uncorked back at the CIA, where those in the Counterterrorism Center who had targeted Bin Laden for so long celebrated. John's team reveled in the moment.
Two days after Bin Laden's death, John accompanied Panetta to Capitol Hill. The Senate Intelligence Committee wanted a full briefing on the successful mission. At one point in the private session, Panetta turned to the man whose counterterrorism resume spanned four CIA directors.
He began to speak, about the operation and about the years of intelligence it was based on. And as he spoke about the mission that had become his career, the calm, collected analyst paused, and he choked up.

Click here for the link to the story on MSNBC.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

Today is 4th of July. I have a lot of respect for this country and the opportunities it has provided me. I can honestly say that this is the best country in the world. As much as we like to whine and complaint about this country and politics involved here, it is still the best country in the world. Many of the Leftist wack-jobs love to bash this country and try to change it into something they think is the best for the world that resembles a lot like the Soviet Union, China, and other communist or socialist countries, however these idiots do not know the value of this country and how lucky we are to live in this country. Another funny part is, a lot of Leftist-Wack-Jobs who happen to be Middle Eastern, tends to bash this country in every opportunity they get and instead praise other countries such as Cuba and/or one of those Arab countries. I know some of these terrorist-apologists, and yet they never ever want to move out this country and/or go live in one of those countries that they uphold to be better than this country. They call this country imperialistic and the reason for Muslim Sufferings around the globe, yet they have been educating in its universities for free or via Federal Loans and taking advantage of its opportunities without even saying thanks once. Well, these people are only simply torturing themselves with their political bickering and condemnations of this great country. This country hasn’t been perfect and it won’t be perfect either, however it is the closest thing we have to perfection. Happy 4th of July and Happy Birthday to the United States of America. Thank you for everything