Thomas Wictor

I’ve had to rewrite an old post. Currently my new computer and scanner don’t allow me to download and edit photos. American tech corporations are run by incompetent megalomaniacs who always ruin their products. So tonight I have to use material from a previous post. Hopefully I’ll be able to regain my previous ability to use photos. In the meantime, angels.

In other words, Arab League strategic special forces.

Angels of death and mercy

I’ve had a lifelong fascination with the Angel of Death. Also, I’ve always loved Saint Michael the Archangel.

I’m not religious, so it might seem strange that one of my heroes is a figure who might be simply a myth. However, I’ve had many experiences over the past three years that convince me that Saint Michael the Archangel is real. And if he isn’t real, so what? Is this real?

Or this?

This?

Saint Michael the Archangel is more real to me than most human beings. After my father went into hospice on February 20, 2013, the chaplain told me that Saint Michael was also the Angel of Death. He doesn’t visit death upon you; he protects you against demons when you make your journey from this side over to the other. That’s why he’s a ferocious warrior. He kills without mercy, but only because it’s necessary. If there were no evil, we wouldn’t need Saint Michael to fight it.

So it turns out that my hero and my obsession were the same.

Angels can’t be defeated

Years ago, there was an American TV show called Highway to Heaven, about an angel sent to earth to help people. I didn’t like the show; Americans tend to have a view of angels that I find too saccharine. In Catholicism—the only religion I ever practiced—Saint Michael the Archangel is often presented as a girlish, expressionless symbol of piety, not the warrior he is.

About a year before she died, my mother gave me a laminated card with The Raccolta 447, “Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel.” Pope Leo XIII wrote it as an invocation of exorcism in 1888.

Saint Michael the Archangel,
Defend us in battle;
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray:
And do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
By the power of God,
Thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits
Who wander throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

The ruin of souls. That’s what so many groups have sought in the Middle East. And now invincible angels are making them stop.

Angels are smart

Yesterday’s distraction served its purpose.

After saying that US forces routinely wear the insignia of those with whom they work, the Pentagon reversed course.

U.S. military commanders have ordered special operations troops in Syria to stop wearing uniform patches bearing the insignia of a controversial Kurdish rebel group known as the YPG, highlighting tension within the American-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants there.

“Wearing those YPG patches was unauthorized, and it was inappropriate and corrective action has been taken,” Army Col. Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman, told reporters Friday. “And we have communicated as much to our military partners and our military allies in the region.”

Now that I see the video of the incident, I’m more convinced than ever that the wearing of Kurdish badges was deliberate. The Americans are accompanied by what are supposed to be men of the Kurdish YPG’s Anti Terror Units (YAT).

Do you notice anything unusual about the ones marked with red arrows below?

They’re all black. Ever seen a black Kurd?

What about the guy below (red arrow)?

Does he look like a Kurd or a Syrian Arab?

Of course not. He’s an Eritrean.

Hey, look at this: Kurds.

Syrian Arab Army.

Can you figure out what’s going on? I can.

Yesterday I wrote that this soldier is Saudi, the commander of the distraction.

Today we see that he wears a soft cap under his FAST helmet.

I’ve never seen an American special-operations soldier with such headgear.

But I’ve seen that identical cap on Saudi soldiers.

Angels from everywhere

Finally, I don’t think this man is American.

He simply doesn’t come across as an American in his movements and expressions, and he’s armed with an FN SCAR-H, Mk 17 Mod 0, a relatively rare weapon for US troops.

I stand by my conclusion that the US soldiers wore Kurdish badges as a deliberate distraction. The presence of so many black non-Kurdish troops indicates that this was not what it seems. I can’t tell you the real story, but I can say that the only thing we know for sure is that Americans did not make a foolish mistake by donning Kurdish insignia without thinking.

No American Green Beret would wear a badge from the Women’s Protective Units.

That man would be mercilessly mocked for the rest of his career. As a group, US special-operations forces have an incredibly rough, male-oriented sense of humor. An American Green Beret would not voluntarily put on the badge of an all-female unit. Also, the footage shows no women present, so there’s no rationale for him to have a YPJ badge.

Unless the purpose was to create a well-publicized distraction.

Angels do the hard work

This is a photo from my collection of World War I images.

He’s a private of the American 30th Engineer Regiment (Gas and Flame), known as the “Hellfire Boys.” An angel of death.

Death. Flames. Hell. They were always in the back of my mind.

For almost my entire life, I saw demons everywhere.

This is the best one. There are two perfect skulls on the center board, one above the other.

It looks exactly like the work of my favorite artist, Otto Dix.

It took war to rekindle my faith in humanity. Specifically, it was Arab League strategic special operators who made me optimistic for humankind. Their skill, courage, and honor are my greatest inspiration.

Several months ago, I got a letter from a member of an Arab special-operations group that I’ve written about. The operator thanked me for giving his unit the credit they deserve. I can’t tell you how much that letter means to me.

It was like getting a letter from Saint Michael the Archangel.

بارك الله فيك

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