SCARY THINGS

• The New York Times reports:

The Obama administration plans to bolster the American military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats. That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran...... "Back to the future" is how Maj. Gen. Karl R. Horst, Central Command’s chief of staff, described planning for a new posture in the Gulf. He said the command was focusing on smaller but highly capable deployments and training partnerships with regional militaries. "We are kind of thinking of going back to the way it was before we had a 'big boots on the ground' presence," General Horst said. "I think it is healthy. I think it is efficient. I think it is practical."

• The Epoch Times also reports, "There will be some U.S. troops staying behind, however, including 150 at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad who will serve as military liaisons, Navy Capt. John Kirby told the military’s American Forces Press Service (AFPS). The majority of the work will likely fall on an estimated 17,000 civilian contractors. “After our troops are gone, the diplomatic mission that remains will be of unprecedented size and complexity,” said U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, during a Feb. 1 hearing, according to a transcript. Kerry stated the 17,000 contractors will be spread across 15 different sites, which “will include three air hubs, three police training centers, two consulates, two embassy branch offices, and five Office of Security Cooperation sites.”



• This big storm that hit the Northeast this weekend has left one-half million people without power as of Sunday. It is easy for me to view this storm, coming so early in the year, as being linked to the reality of Climate Change. Weather patterns worldwide have been thrown topsy turvey by the combination of military weather modification experimentation and the massive footprint of human fossil fuel use. The top user of fossil fuels, in fact the world's largest polluter and contributor to greenhouse gases, is the U.S. war machine. One has to wonder why most environmental groups say virtually nothing about the Pentagon's ecological footprint? Why is that? Why would environmental organizations not take on the planet's largest polluter?