Thread: Mitt Romney's Red Dawn?

Twilight Language

The twilight language explores hidden meanings and synchromystic connections via onomatology (study of names) and toponomy (study of place names). This blog further investigates "name games" and "number coincidences" found in news and history. Examinations are also found in my book The Copycat Effect (NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004)


Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Romney's Red Dawn?

Has Romney pulled a red dawn on us?

Is the man who insisted on changing the name of the Iraqi deployment to "Operation New Dawn" going to be running for a spot in line for the presidency? Is the current head of the CIA about ready to be the vice presidential candidate under Romney? Do you feel like you are in a psy-ops movie? Well, hold on to your hat.

The soldier behind coming up with the name "New Dawn" during the ending phases of the Iraqi War may be helping to move the entire landscape of Campaign 2012 in a new direction.


Do you know that Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed to General David Petraeus' request to change "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to "Operation New Dawn," a couple years ago? The change went into effect on September 1, 2010.

There was also a more focussed "Operation Red Dawn" earlier. Operation Red Dawn was the U.S. military operation conducted on 13 December 2003 in the town of ad-Dawr, Iraq, near Tikrit, that captured Iraq President Saddam Hussein. The operation was named after the 1984 film Red Dawn. The mission was assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division, commanded by Major. Gen Raymond Odierno and led by Col. James Hickey of the 4th Infantry Division, with joint operations Task Force 121 - an elite and covert joint special operations team. Who do you think came up with that name?

The military operation searched two sites, "Wolverine 1" and "Wolverine 2," outside the town of ad-Dawr, but did not find Saddam Hussein. A continued search between the two sites discovered him in a "spider hole" hide out at 20:30 hrs local Iraqi time. Despite being armed with a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle, and provisioned with US$750,000 in cash, Saddam did not resist capture.

It has been a strange month already, now this. The news has been filled with an alleged former university neuroscience student shooting 70 people in a movie audience in Colorado's Aurora (red dawn) on July 20th. One fourth of the 12 killed in Aurora are said to have been linked to the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. Tenth Fleet at Buckley Air Force. According to their Navy site (which they admit is "subject to monitoring"), the "mission of Fleet Cyber Command is to serve as central operational authority for networks, cryptologic/signals intelligence, information operations, cyber, electronic warfare, and space capabilities."

Fast forward to the Sikh Temple shooting of August 4th. The shooter in that incident has been identified as a former psychological operations specialist out of the U.S. Army, at Ft. Bragg, Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Now, the news breaks today that former Governor Willard Mitt Romney may be interested in "New Dawn" General David Howell Petraeus to be his running mate. Who could have seen this new dawn (or is it a storm) coming?

What does Petraeus mean?
Petraeus has its origins in Petreus, which means Πετρεύς (ancient Greek)> πέτρα (both modern and ancient Greek) = stone, rock.

In Greece, the name Petreus in no longer in use, but what is still employed is Petros (which would mean stone if the word petra had a male equivelent, since it is a female word).

To the English-speaking ear, what is most familiar is to think of the origins of the first name Peter.

Peter was derived from the Greek Πετρος (Petros) meaning stone. This is a translation used in most versions of the New Testament of the name Cephas, meaning stone in Aramaic, which was given to the apostle Simon by Jesus.

Compare Matthew 16:18 and John 1:42.

Matthew 16:18: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church."

John 1:42: "And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas' (which, when translated, is Peter)."
Simon Peter was the most prominent of the apostles during Jesus' ministry and is often considered the first pope.

Briefly, who is David Petraeus:

General David Howell Petraeus (born November 7, 1952) is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from July 4, 2010 to July 18, 2011. His other four-star assignments include serving as the 10th Commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) from October 13, 2008, to June 30, 2010, and as Commanding General, Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I) from February 10, 2007, to September 16, 2008. As commander of MNF-I, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq.

Petraeus has a B.S. degree from the United States Military Academy from which he graduated in 1974 as a distinguished cadet (top 5% of his class). He was the General George C. Marshall Award winner as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College class of 1983. He subsequently earned an M.P.A. in 1985 and a Ph.D. degree in International Relations in 1987 from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He later served as Assistant Professor of International Relations at the United States Military Academy and also completed a fellowship at Georgetown University.

Some news reports have speculated that Petraeus may have interest in running for the presidency, especially after he visited a school known for hosting the presidential debates, New Hampshire's Saint Anselm College. Petraeus lives in New Hampshire. Despite these accounts, Petraeus has categorically asserted that he has no political ambitions.

On June 23, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Petraeus to succeed General Stanley McChrystal as commanding general of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, technically a step down from his position as Commander of United States Central Command, which oversees the military efforts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Egypt.

On June 30, 2011, Petraeus was unanimously confirmed as the next Director of the CIA by the US Senate 94-0. Petraeus relinquished command of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan on July 18, and retired from the U.S. Army on August 31.

(More on Petraeus's personal life and more, see here.)

Petraeus denied any interest in joining the Romney ticket, by day's end.

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For the links to other recent postings about
Colorado's Aurora's red dawn symbolism, please see also:


Red Dawn 2012


Red Dawn Again


Red Dawn

Twilight Language: Romney's Red Dawn?




Recent interviews, about the Aurora shootings:
WGN - Mike McConnell: Loren Coleman
The Corbett Report: The Copycat Effect with Loren Coleman
Binnall of America: Loren Coleman and Bruce Rux
Talk Shoe - 42 Minutes: Loren Coleman
Red Ice Creations: Loren Coleman

ELECTION 2012

What you don't know about David Petraeus

Conservatives may think twice before championing CIA director for Romney VP

Published: 10 hours ago by Chelsea Schilling

(This is the third part of a series profiling the potential running mates of GOP candidate Mitt Romney this election. Read Part I to learn about the possibility of rumored favorite Ohio Sen. Rob Portman filling the role and his positions on the most pressing issues of the day. Read Part II to learn about prospective VP picks Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.)

The political world is abuzz with speculation about whether Mitt Romney plans to choose CIA Director David Petraeus to be his vice-presidential running mate on the GOP ticket – but Petraeus’ positions on a variety of issues could upset conservatives if he is indeed selected for the slot.

The retired Army four-star general, who has been lionized by many Republicans, led the charge to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military – more than a year before the Obama administration repealed the armed forces’ “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

In March 2010, Petraeus declared “the time has come” for the military to reconsider the rule. In the same month, Petraeus told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria he served with homosexuals in the CIA and didn’t believe troops would have difficulty adjusting to working with openly homosexual service members.

He has expressed support for Obama’s calls for shutting down Guantanamo Bay prison and condemned American use of interrogation strategies such as waterboarding.
Also, Petraeus testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, saying the perception of U.S. favoritism toward Israel has fomented anti-Americanism. He told the committee, “enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the area of responsibility.

“Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples [in the region].”

Petraeus’ remarks came in March 2010, after a week of stressed U.S.-Israel relations following Israel’s announcement of plans to build 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem.
His critics have blasted him for being soft on crime, reconciling with the Taliban and supporting Sunni militias in Iraq’s Sunni Awakening.

“I think that you have to have at least an open mind about this because this is historically the way counterinsurgency efforts ultimately have been concluded,” he told CBS News’ Katie Couric.

Asked what the U.S. and Afghanistan have to offer the Taliban, he replied, “They can live is No. 1. No. 2, perhaps they could return to their country of origin. A lot of them are tired of, again, living their life on the run, of being pursued, of living outside the country and so forth. And so I think that those are all fairly powerful incentives for them.”

On the issue of Iran going nuclear, Petraeus told “Meet the Press” on Feb. 21, 2010, that he believes Iran is “a ways” away from obtaining a nuclear weapon and agrees with continuing the “pressure track” the Obama administration is now on.

Petraeus’ name is also on the membership roster of the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. foreign-policy think tank that promotes world government.

Many of Petraeus’ views on fiscal policy and social issues are unknown. Several pundits have questioned his political positions. Much like retired four-star Army Gen. Colin Powell, who served under President W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, Petraeus is often seen as a moderate who sometimes supports centrist or Democrat-backed causes.

A 2008 report in the New Yorker stated, “Petraeus is registered to vote as a Republican in New Hampshire – he once described himself to a friend as a northeastern Republican, in the tradition of Nelson Rockefeller – but he said that around 2002, after he became a two-star general, he stopped voting.”



President Obama and Gen. David Petraeus at the White House on April 28, 2011. Also visible are Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates (official White House Photo by Pete Souza).

But Max Fisher, associate editor at The Atlantic, argued in 2010 that Petraeus has “big-government” views.

Worst of all, he’s a big-government liberal: His strategy in Iraq relied on numerous population-centric strategies that are called counterinsurgency when deployed inside a war zone but, if implemented in the U.S., would be called social welfare programs on the scale of FDR’s Works Progress Administration or Johnson’s Great Society. Petraeus uses government resources to put unemployed locals to work on massive infrastructure projects, he works hard to secure fair political representation for aggrieved minorities, and he builds strong, public social services like hospitals and schools. President Reagan’s edict, “government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem,” doesn’t seem to hold for Petraeus in Iraq. Would it hold for Petraeus in Washington?

Petraeus’ wife, Holly, works in the Obama administration as the assistant director for servicemember affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency founded as a part of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Speculation about Petraeus as a possible choice for Romney’s VP running mate was first reported Aug. 7 on the Drudge Report.

“President Obama whispered to a top fundraiser this week that he believes GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney wants to name Gen. David Petraeus to the VP slot!” Matt Drudge wrote. “… Romney is believed to have secretly met with the four-star general in New Hampshire.

“The pick could be a shrewd Romney choice. A cross-party pull. The Obama administration hailed Petraeus as one of history’s greatest military strategists.”

However, during the White House Press Briefing, Press Secretary Jay Carney denied that President Obama privately told a top fundraiser that Romney was considering the retired Army general.

“I can say with absolute confidence, such an assertion has never been uttered by the president,” Carney said.

Petraeus has repeatedly insisted he has no political ambitions.

Today, CIA spokesman Preston Golson said, “Director Petraeus feels very privileged to be able to continue to serve our country in his current position, and as he has stated clearly numerous times before, he will not seek elected office.”

Meanwhile, Romney has remained silent on the subject of his VP choice.

“I’m a week closer than I was a week ago,” he told Fox News. “I am not going to give you anything on the VP front.”

(This is the third part of a series profiling the potential running mates of GOP candidate Mitt Romney this election. Read Part I to learn about the possibility of rumored favorite Ohio Sen. Rob Portman filling the role and his positions on the most pressing issues of the day. Read Part II to learn about prospective VP picks Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.)

What you don’t know about David Petraeus