Gut Check for the "Close Guantanamo" Crowd

Such innocent bastards. Just kill them all as spys and terrorists and get it over. Either that or let them go to live in Hollywood or Berkeley. With their good friends.

Counterterrorism Blog: Gut Check for the "Close Guantanamo" Crowd: "Part of the public campaign to close Guantanamo involves the claim that it houses many innocent people who were swept up from the battlefields where the U.S. military is operating. Now Reuters is reporting that someone released from Guantanamo has died in a suicide attack in Iraq. Abdullah Saleh al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti national, reportedly killed himself in an attack in Mosul. He had been held in Guantanamo until his 2005 release and repatriation.

Fortunately, we have not recently suffered the spectacle of prominent Americans traveling to enemy territory to announce their hope that they will succeed in defeating the United States, like Jane Fonda’s notorious trip to Hanoi. This suggests that even Americans who are critical of our foreign policy are careful to stop short of expressing their hope that Iraqi insurgents kill their fellow Americans. Even to them, al-Ajmi should be a villain.

The news of this incident, if true, shows this: we had the right guy. Could it be that he was innocent when arrested but became radicalized as a result of our invasion of Iraq? Perhaps, but this would be a strange thing for someone from Kuwait, which Iraq invaded in 1990."

Command and control center of armed militias in Sadr city bombed, destroyed

Jawa found this great story about getting rid of the Sadr command and control. Hurray! About time they are gone.

كونا : Command and control center of armed militias in Sadr city bombed, destroyed - الدفاع والأمن - 03/05/2008: "Command and control center of armed militias in Sadr city bombed, destroyed
Military and Security 5/3/2008 3:27:00 PM

BAGHDAD, May 3 (KUNA) -- The U.S. army in Iraq reported on Saturday that its troops and Iraqi forces bombed and destroyed today a centre for the leadership of the armed militias in Sadr City, north-east of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
A statement by the US army said that the joint forces shelled at 10:00 a.m. this morning the headquarters for command and control of the militias using precision-guided munitions.
The statement disclosed that intelligence reports indicated that the target was the headquarters center for command and control and was used by armed elements for planning and coordinating attacks against Iraqi and coalition security forces and Iraqi citizens.
The statement did not reveal whether gunmen were inside the building during the shelling or whether there were casualties."

Embedded Patriotism

Thanks to IMAO for finding this excellent article. About time someone found a way to put an embedded ID chip in the terrorists.

Crunch Time: Embedded Patriotism: "The Patriot Micro-chip is a small implant designed to be placed in the head of the terrorist & allows 100% accuracy in determining the location of the target. There are various methods of delivery & modern technology allows for selective implantation (with low occurrence of rejection) regardless of location.

Since not all applications are identical, the Patriot comes in various sizes and may include precious metals to avoid an allergic reaction to the implant.
(Note: size choices may not be available to all implantees)"

Science-Fiction Writers Help Government Prepare for Attacks of the Future

Way cool! I would love to watch a brain session with these guys.

FOXNews.com - Science-Fiction Writers Help Government Prepare for Attacks of the Future - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News: "SIGMA — it takes its name from the Greek letter used as a summation symbol in mathematics — is similar in concept to the JASON group, a team of physicists, biologists and chemists that has advised the country since World War II.

Originally a group of 10, SIGMA has swelled to include 35 members. Most have Ph.D.s and all are popular writers and designers in their own right.

These sci-fi writers are particularly adept at envisioning new technologies and planning against “disruptive technology,” according to Andrews. He said he would pit his group “against any other in the world.”

Those in the know in government clearly agree, since SIGMA members have long consulted with agencies like the Homeland Security and Defense Departments, DARPA, Sandia Labs, NASA and the CIA. Some current members are employed by NASA and the Navy; one is a director at Los Alamos National Laboratory."

Changes to the DIA

Print Article: "Just 13 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, the heavily guarded Army fort, once the home of the Buffalo Soldiers, is noted today for training some of the U.S. military's most-talented intelligence operatives and interrogation personnel.

Many buildings at the fort have no windows to protect the classified information and the training that takes place inside. Their central focus is combating the country's latest threat: terrorism.

'The threat changed. We went from communism to terrorism,' said Steve Norton, chief of the Defense Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Management Office within the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). 'So we're not looking at nation states; we're not looking at armies; we're not looking at equipment — submarines and ships. We're dealing with a very diabolical enemy, but within the human dimension kind of threat.'

Mr. Norton and John Antonitis, an intelligence professional and a staff member of the now-defunct Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, said preparing military personnel to go 'outside the wire' is essential to winning the war on terror.

In an interview with The Washington Times at the Pentagon, Mr. Norton and Mr. Antonitis explained how the war on terror is like no other in the history of the U.S. military and"

False morality handicaps IDF Planning for Gaza

I read the answer given in the story and like it. Who wants to guess what the answer is before you read it in the link?

IMRA - Thursday, May 1, 2008 Weekly Commentary: False morality handicaps IDF Planning for Gaza: "This is how Abu Rajah, a resident of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip,
described how Hamas gunmen take over apartment buildings when Israeli forces
approach the area::

'Scores of masked men rushed to the area. Most of them carried large bags full of weapons. They invaded our apartment buildings and demanded that the resident leave. In response the women asked the gunmen to distance themselves from the buildings and children. The atmosphere became tense and some of the residents were beaten by the gunmen, who were mostly from Hamas. In the end most of the residents left the buildings. We left the buildings in their hands. They brought sandbags into our bedrooms and living room. They set up heavy machine guns in the windows and planted large explosive devices in the sidewalks. '
Fatah website as quoted by Maariv correspondent Amit Cohen - 1 May 2008.

What is the operative message for Israeli policy makers from this report?"

Ten North Koreans possibly killed in Syria air strike

Good, I hope this slows down the Iranians and North Koreans with their programs. Or maybe someone will get the hint and blow up the Iranian and North Korean plants.

DEBKAfile - Ten North Koreans possibly killed in Syria air strike - Tokyo: "Ten North Koreans may have been killed in an Israeli air strike on Syria in September, NHK-the Japanese Broadcasting Corp. reported on its Web site, citing unidentified South Korean intelligence officials.

The 10 people, whose remains were cremated and returned to North Korea in October, had been helping with the construction of a nuclear reactor in Syria, the Japanese broadcaster said. Some North Koreans probably survived the air attack.

The US last week released undated photos showing the head of the North Korean reactor fuel plant with the head of the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission in Syria and the same official attending the Six-Party Talks.

Thursday night, the White House in Washington broke its silence on Israel’s Sept. 6, 2007 attack on a nuclear site in northern Syria. Spokeswoman Dana Perino stated its conviction that North Korea helped Syria build a secret nuclear reactor. She spoke after intelligence officials briefed US lawmakers about the Syrian nuclear facility that was destroyed by Israel last year

Perino's statement did not mention Israel. It said Syria was building a 'covert nuclear reactor' in its eastern desert that was capable of producing plutonium.

That development underscored the international community was right to be concerned about the nuclear activities of Iran and 'must take further steps" to confront that challenge, she said. "

Israel: Why Hamas Is Certain Of Success

I still think the best idea is to just work through Gaza and shoot anyone with Hamas ID, flags, clothing, or weapons. No one can get them all, but we can get enough to destroy the organization. Get all the destruction done in one sweep and that should finish this.

Israel: Why Hamas Is Certain Of Success: "Why Hamas Is Certain Of Success
April 30, 2008: Hamas has expressed interest in a ceasefire, of six months or more. Hamas explained this by referring to the Koran, where early in the history of Islam, it was common to use such truces to build up your military strength, before resuming the war, and winning. In Gaza, Hamas has imposed restrictions on indoor public gatherings, in an effort to prevent rival Fatah from undertaking political action of any sort.



Rocket and mortar attacks into southern Israel continue, with one or two dozen rockets or shells a day being fired. Hamas apparently has no interest in making peace with Israel. Hamas internal propaganda continues to call for the destruction of Israel, and points out that the support from Iran would make that possible once Hamas was able to find a way to import large quantities of weapons and other material from Iran. Hizbollah in Lebanon is the model Hamas uses for this. Hamas believes it cannot lose and that time, and God, are on its side."

An Anatomy of Surrender

Excellent article with excellent insights and research in it. I want to read it again to see if the things that did not click the first time will click in the next read. And then again and again. I need to look up some of the points to get the full stories, even though I know most of the points Mr. Bawer has made. I love articles that tie loose threats into a string, but this is almost a rope strong enough to hang with.

An Anatomy of Surrender by Bruce Bawer, City Journal Spring 2008: "We need to recognize that the cultural jihadists hate our freedoms because those freedoms defy sharia, which they’re determined to impose on us. So far, they have been far less successful at rolling back freedom of speech and other liberties in the U.S. than in Europe, thanks in no small part to the First Amendment. Yet America is proving increasingly susceptible to their pressures.

The key question for Westerners is: Do we love our freedoms as much as they hate them? Many free people, alas, have become so accustomed to freedom, and to the comfortable position of not having to stand up for it, that they’re incapable of defending it when it’s imperiled—or even, in many cases, of recognizing that it is imperiled. As for Muslims living in the West, surveys suggest that many of them, though not actively involved in jihad, are prepared to look on passively—and some, approvingly—while their coreligionists drag the Western world into the House of Submission.

But we certainly can’t expect them to take a stand for liberty if we don’t stand up for it ourselves."

CBS' Butler says he isn't sure who kidnapped him in Iraq

What a piece of crap this guy is. Let him go back to his captors and stay out of the US. Put him in a regular US military prison for a month to let him see how horrible it really is compared to the starvation he faced with his good friends the terrorists. I would spit on him except I don't want to waste good saliva on jerks like this.

My Way News - CBS' Butler says he isn't sure who kidnapped him in Iraq: "Men wearing police fatigue uniforms and armed with AK-47's hustled him out of the room and into a car. He was first taken to a police station in Basra and then was held in different places - including three nights where he was sealed into a small room between two walls, he said.

He said he tried not to be belligerent and make a human connection with his captors.

"Straight away you assess the situation," he said. "I am standing there, in front of these eight guys with AK-47s, and I am in a pair of underpants and a T-shirt. The odds are not in my favor. so there is no point in trying to do anything heroic or stupid."

While he was held, he heard a lot of Hezbollah propaganda video and Hezbollah ringtones on mobile phones, but he can't be sure his captors were affiliated with the organization.

As time went on, his captors treated him better, but he was still held with a sack over his head and arm restraints. He eventually got the sense that his captors didn't intend to kill him, and had backed themselves into a corner.

There were points that he thought he was going to die, the first when he was taken from the police station, Butler said.

"I was aware that we were driving out into a quieter area," he said. "I couldn't tell exactly where we were going, but I was aware that there were no more streetlights, for instance, and there were no more dogs barking. You didn't hear any cars. So I thought we were being taken out into the desert and, you know, we were just being shot in the desert."

Butler said he felt it was better to be kidnapped in Iraq then taken into custody by Americans in Afghanistan.

"I was pleased I wasn't being mortarboarded in Guantanamo or being held for six and a half years like an Al-Jazeera cameraman, for instance," he said.

Butler said he lost about 42 pounds and during the last 12 days of his captivity, ate one tangerine and four boiled eggs.

On the day he was found, he heard voices outside where he was staying that escalated into a gunfight. The door to his room was kicked in. A soldier aimed a gun at his head, but when the Iraqi army realized Butler was a Westerner he was taken away to a superior officer."

Consequences: A Rapid US Military Withdrawal From Iraq

Something good to see.

Consequences: A Rapid US Military Withdrawal From Iraq: "Consequences: A Rapid US Military Withdrawal From Iraq

by Austin Bay
April 25, 2008

In February 2007, the ArenaUSA (headquartered in Hollywood, California) asked me to speculate on the possible outcomes of 'a rapid US and coalition military withdrawal from Iraq.' My analysis produced seven potential outcomes, seven 'scenarios' to use the military lingo. The scenarios, which are not mutually exclusive, are 'future histories' describing Iraq, the Middle East, and to an extent, the global political consequences of a rapid coalition military withdrawal from Iraq in mid to late 2007."

Islamic Hackers Score

The Religion of Peace and Tolerance is moving into the modern age. Too bad they can't find a way to use modern technology for something besides death and destruction. They need to find a way to get to real peace. That is just not a easy thing to find for them. Anyone have any suggestions?

Information Warfare: Islamic Hackers Score: "Islamic Hackers attacked the web site of the Bank of Israel on Passover weekend (April 19-20), and shut it down for two days. The hackers identified themselves as 'The Moorish,' indicating that they belonged to a known Algerian hacking organization. But Israel suspects Hizbollah, which has been trying to build a Cyber War capability. The bank insisted that the damage was minimal, but they would say that in order to deny the hackers any inside information on how successful they were. Moslem hackers have been attacking Israeli commercial and government web sites for years. Of late, they have had little success, as the Israelis have been constantly improving their defenses. Just how good 'The Moorish' crew is remains something known only to the Israelis. It is obvious that this bunch was better than any of the other Islamic hackers that have been going after Israeli web sites in the last year or so."

Mahdi Army Fades Away

I thought that Sadr was going to win or had won? That is what all the Media told us. Do you think they might have had an agenda in their "non-biased" reporting?

Iraq: Mahdi Army Fades Away: "After a month of fighting, the Mahdi Army has disappeared from the streets of Basra, the largest city in the south. The army and police are everywhere, and people are providing information on where Mahdi Army personnel are hiding out, and the locations of their weapons caches. Up north, in the Sadr City section of east Baghdad, the Mahdi Army is still fighting hard. But the army and police have the upper hand, and are pushing the Shia militiamen back block by block. Mahdi Army leader Muqtada al Sadr has responded by threatening to order his men to go after American troops if the government does not back off. That's won't work, because the Mahdi Army is not particularly skillful, and not very united either. He recently ordered his troops to stop fighting Iraqi soldiers and police, and concentrate on the Americans. The Iraqi security forces have not reciprocated, and continue coming after the Mahdi Army."

US Marines expand NATO's presence in southern Afghanistan

Semper Fi! Welcome back to the Hot War. I know that I posted about the Marines wanting to get to someplace with real fighting so that you can get more CARs, so enjoy it. While you are there, can you napalm a few poppy fields?

US Marines expand NATO's presence in southern Afghanistan: "Marines stormed into a Taliban-held town before daybreak Tuesday, trading gunfire with insurgents on the ground and using helicopter gunships to destroy a militant compound in one of Afghanistan's most violent regions.

Several hundred Marines, many of whom have fought in Iraq, reportedly met light resistance in the assault, which is the farthest south in years that American troops have operated in Helmand province.

The goal is to stretch NATO's presence into an area where illegal opium poppy fields are plentiful and the Taliban is strong. British troops man a small base on Garmser's northern edge but insurgents rule the countryside south of the outpost all the way to the Pakistan border.

No Marines suffered injuries, said their commander, Maj. Tom Clinton Jr. There was no immediate word on whether any insurgents were killed or wounded.

An 11-year-old Afghan boy suffered a chest wound from the explosion of a rocket that insurgents apparently fired at Marines, Clinton said. The boy was flown to a British base for surgery. His condition wasn't immediately known."

Her crime was to fall in love. She paid with her life

Stomping ones daughter to death in the street for admitting to a crush on a guy seems a little extreme, but hey, it IS the Religion of Peace and Tolerance. They do not allow violence! Only an Islamophobe would bother to see a connection like that.

Her crime was to fall in love. She paid with her life | World news | The Observer: "When 17-year old Rand Abdel-Qader met a British soldier in Basra, she dreamt of romance. But five months later she was murdered in a savage attack by her father. But there will be no trial: this was an 'honour killing'."

Managers, customer all draw guns in West Palm Beach grocery

Good! I am glad that the managers were able to keep things under control while they kept this aged thug from getting away.

Managers, customer all draw guns in West Palm Beach grocery: "It could've been a typical spat between grocery store customer and manager, with the customer announcing he planned to take his business elsewhere. But then the customer drew his gun. The store manager drew his and so did the assistant manager.

It all happened at 5 p.m. Monday at the IGA Supermarket at 1000 36th St. in West Palm Beach. And in the end, West Palm Beach police arrested customer Marshall Hugo Grant for attempted first degree murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling, aggravated assault with a firearm and carrying a concealed firearm.

Police reported Tuesday morning that Grant, 73, entered the store through the exit despite manager Marino Hernandez's warning not to enter that way. The confrontation escalated, Grant drew a handgun, assistant manager Roberto Espinal drew his handgun. Hernandez also pulled a gun. Grant backed out of the store firing three times as he went, the arrest report states.

The managers, who witnesses said never returned fire, ended up surrounding Grant, who hid behind a vehicle while continuing to fire, police report. Grant eventually surrendered his weapon to the managers once they told him police were on their way."

Trident shadowing boat-load of bombs

Interesting use of the Trident! These guys usually sit at the bottom of the sea and hide, I know they are loving their new jobs. Still a little boring, but better than hiding all the time.

Trident shadowing boat-load of bombs: "A floating arsenal of weapons and bombs dispatched by China in a rust-stained tramp freighter to the pariah state of President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe now is being shadowed by Britain's most powerful submarine, a nuclear Trident, says a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Freighter officers are desperate to be allowed to unload their cargo of 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades, 2,500 mortar rounds and three million rounds of ammunition for Mugabe's army, intended to be used to further cow the country's starving population.

But it has been turned away by dockers in the South African port who branded it 'a ship of shame,' as well as ports in Angola and Mozambique."

Phone Rape

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Too many funny things about this story: How did the family find out? How can this be rape? How ...?

Rantings of a Sandmonkey » Phone Rape: "A Tunisian family is suing a 30 year old man for 'raping their 20 year old daughter through phone sex'. It seems that while they were having phone sex, the girl kinda punctured her hymen. The argument is that the two of them had sexual relations, even through the phone, that led to the girl's loss of hymen. How that is rape, given that the girl did it to herself, I have no idea. But what do I know? But if it works and they convict the guy, await paternity suits for children conceived through cyber sex."

Britons kidnapped in Iraq are ‘held by Iran’

Is anyone surprised by this? Iran just keeps turning up behind most of the bad things happening in Iraq. I wonder why?

Britons kidnapped in Iraq are ‘held by Iran’ - Times Online: "Five British hostages who were kidnapped in Iraq almost a year ago are being held inside Iran by Revolutionary Guards, according to two separate sources in the Middle East and London.

The hostages were handed over to the Revolutionary Guards by their Iraqi kidnappers last November, the sources believe. One of the sources said they were being held in the western Iranian city of Hamadan.

If confirmed, the involvement of Revolutionary Guards would be seen as evidence that senior figures in the Iranian government had backed the decision to hold them in the country.

However, British officials said that while there had been rumours that the five were in Iran, they had seen no evidence to support the idea."