They're Coming For Us

Plus, College World Series

Howdy,

I hope you had a relaxing and reflective Juneteenth, a fine new federal holiday. I reflected on my brothers, like A1C Leebernard Chavis and CPT Jesse Melton III, who gave the last full measure of devotion to a country with a horrible racial history.

Now to the darkness.

I wrote a little something over at The Bulwark about the looming threat of terrorism.

FROM THE SLUMS OF BAGHDAD to the deserts of Kandahar, I’ve hunted Islamist terrorists my entire adult life. I lived among them, studied their languages, and immersed myself in their cultures.

I’ve also seen the carnage that these jihadists leave in their wake. In Baghdad, a Shia group, Jaysh al-Mahdi, would rape children in front of their parents. In Afghanistan, the Taliban executed my brother-in-arms, Gen. Surab Azimi, after his men surrendered—and filmed the entire thing. That wasn’t new for me. Jubha, the Islamic Army of Iraq’s deadliest sniper, killed my turret gunner, and filmed the kill shot, releasing it along with others in propaganda videos.

As a strategic-level terrorism analyst, I read vast amounts of intelligence from tens of thousands of sources. At United States Central Command, I led teams of analysts who were experts on hundreds of insurgent groups, each with its own ideological nuances, modi operandi, leadership, structures, and style.

With all that experience, my mental warning lights have been blinking red recently: There is increasing reason to believe that there could be a terrorist attack on the United States in the months ahead.

Do me a favor. Give it a read and spread it as far as you can. It’s important.

I know opinions differ about our mistakes in Afghanistan. I’m sympathetic to those who wanted to leave. The US military and successive administrations completely mishandled the wars fought in your name. We did a lot of horrible things during our twenty years in Afghanistan, none worse than abandoning our Afghan allies on the battlefield.

Sirajuddin Haqqani reviews recently graduated Afghan police officer (Associated Press)

Next week, expect to read more about betrayal, specifically regarding some info I’m learning about how the Taliban murdered Surab Azimi. I need to do a little more digging, but I will tell you this: the level of betrayal in this story is staggering.

We will always tell you the truth no matter if it hurts Biden, Trump, or RFK Jr. I’ve been pulling my punches for twenty years—and very soon, there will be nothing but haymakers.

Until then, please understand that I don’t like writing about this subject. I hate it, actually. It hurts every time I see these guys making inroads. It hurts me to learn about all the ways that my country betrayed men and women who repeatedly saved my life.

But I will not dishonor men like General Surab Azimi by not telling the truth about their killers and what we did to enable them.

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LTG Alizai

We enjoyed chatting with LTG Haibituallah Alizai over Stories From My Brother, Tales of the Afghan Security Forces. Give it a listen. You’ll learn something.

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College World Series

Texas A&M will be playing in a national championship game this weekend.

I’ve never written those words.

Yes, I know they’ve won championships in other sports, but forgive me, in Texas, it’s Football, Baseball, and then Basketball. Regardless, the closest in football was either the 2020 Orange Bowl team or the 2012 Johnny Fucking Football team.

(Fun fact - I was in Afghanistan in 2012 and 2020! LOL)

That’s it, people. How about football conference championships? A few when I was eight or ten — the golden age of college sports for this guy—and then we won the Big 12 in 1998.

LOL.

Basketball. Uh, I think one year we went to the Sweet 16. We won a game in the tournament this year!

Look, I take second to no man in sport’s misery. The amount of bad beats, horrible coaching hires, and pure pain I’ve endured throughout the last thirty years is cruel and unusual punishment.

Now, however, we’re in the championship series versus the University of Tennessee. I think they’re probably favored, and they should be. They’re really good.

At this point, I don’t really care. I’m just going to enjoy the moment.

Happy for those kids. Nobody can ever take this from them, regardless of the outcome.

Gig ‘Em

Until Next Time