This blog is no longer active as of October 31, 2011
Just a reminder, these guys need your help.
This comes via From My Position….On the Way!
Normally I take what I read over at WorldNetDaily with a grain of salt; but once and a while, they stumble over something big.
I believe they have done it again:
Already under increased scrutiny after revelations in a new book, the Council on American-Islamic Relations now is defending itself against documented links to a federal case that drew national attention this week when an indicted Detroit imam was killed in an FBI raid.
Internal documents from an undercover investigation by the authors of “Muslim Mafia” show CAIR helped finance the legal appeal of Muslim cop-killer Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, who is named in the Detroit criminal complaint as the spiritual leader of a radical group that calls for violent action to establish a sovereign Islamic state within the U.S.
The federal complaint also states one of the 11 indicted followers of the imam who was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the FBI Wednesday, Luqman Ameen Abdullah, attended a mosque “affiliated with CAIR” in Windsor, Ontario, just across the Canadian border from Detroit.
via ‘Muslim Mafia’ linked to Detroit FBI shootout.- WND.com
I highly suggest that you go read the rest of this as it is quite interesting. Looks like CAIR is involved as well. This is big and could have lasting impact.
Like I wrote before; the idea of “Fight them there, so we don’t have to fight them here” is a bit lame now; because quite frankly, they are already here and this proves that!
A sad bit of news: (H/T Gateway Pundit)
KABUL (AP) – A series of helicopter crashes killed 14 Americans in insurgent-wracked Afghanistan on Monday, the U.S. military said. It was one of the deadliest days of the war for U.S. troops.
In the first crash, a chopper went down in the west of the country after leaving the scene of a firefight with insurgents, killing 10 Americans—seven troops and three civilians working for the government. Eleven American troops, one U.S. civilian and 14 Afghans were also injured.
In a separate incident in the south, two other U.S. choppers collided while in flight, killing four American troops and wounding two more, the military said.
U.S. authorities have ruled out hostile fire in the collision but have not given a cause for the other fatal crash in the west. Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmedi claimed Taliban fighters shot down a helicopter in northwest Badghis province’s Darabam district. It was impossible to verify the claim and unclear if he was referring to the same incident.
via BreitBart: US: 14 Americans killed in 2 helicopter crashes.
I think it would be a good thing to remember all of our service men in our Prayers this day.
I just hope this is all worth it.
I do not always agree with Jack Hunter; however I do on this video here. Especially on his views of the Main Stream Media in the lead up to the Iraq War. Whether it is his anti-Military bias or an honest disgust with the Bush Administration; that Jack can only answer. But he is right, and very sadly so. The media was laying down on the job during that time period.
Having said all that, let me be absolutely clear; while I am quite happy that Bush’s surge worked and that Iraq, outside of the occasional car bomb, is much more stable than it was in 2006. But that does not take away from the fact that Bush’s invasion of Iraq and occupation of it was not justified. I believe that this will be a black mark on America for a long time to come.
Enjoy the Video:
First CNN Video:
and from the AP:
The Story via CNN:
At least 132 people were killed and 520 wounded in twin suicide car bombings in central Baghdad Sunday, officials said — the deadliest attack on civilians in Iraq this year.
Two car bombs detonated in quick succession near Iraqi government buildings about 10:30 a.m. Sunday, as the Iraqi work week began, an Interior Ministry official said.
Among the wounded were three American security contractors, the U.S. Embassy told CNN. The embassy would not give any more details.
One of the bombs exploded outside Baghdad’s governorate building. The second was outside the Justice Ministry, about 500 meters (1,600 feet) away. The Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works, which is about 50 meters from the Justice Ministry, also sustained severe damage.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki surveyed the carnage shortly after the explosions.
“The cowardly attack that took place today should not affect the determination of the Iraqi people from continuing their battle against the deposed regime and the gangs of criminal Baath party and the terrorist al Qaeda organization, who have committed the most heinous crimes against the civilians,'” al-Maliki said in a statement.
Countdown to the Liberal Democrats and Lefty Blogs saying “See? We need to leave, right now!” in 5…4…3..2…
This is what will happen, if we leave, before Iraq is ready to stand on its own. But multiply that by 1000%.
These are the people that Obama refuses to help….
(H/T Apache Clips)
Oh, this is too rich…..
Seems that socialist Liberal Blogger Arianna Huffington; the marble mouthed, little miss “unicorns and rainbows” of the progressive Blogosphere, thinks that Gaffe Master Joe Biden should resign as Vice President if President Obama decides to escalate the war in Afghanistan.
From the Article:
I have no doubt that Joe Biden is a loyal guy — the question is who deserves his loyalty most? His “team” isn’t the White House, but the whole country. And if it becomes clear in the coming days that his loyalty to these two teams is in conflict, he should do the right thing. And quit.
Obama may be no drama, but Biden loves drama. And what could more dramatic than resigning the vice presidency on principle? And what principle could be more honorable than refusing to go along with a policy of unnecessarily risking American blood and treasure — and America’s national security? Now that would be a Whisky Tango Foxtrot moment for the McChrystal crowd — one that would be a lot more significant than some lame, after-the-fact apology delivered in a too-late-to-matter book.
I have a better idea; although it involves stuffing a sock in that feckless bitch’s mouth and duct tape. I mean, is not this is same group of people that declared the Iraq War to the unjust war and the Afghanistan war the good war? But yet now, they want to stop fighting in Afghanistan too? What more living proof that we need that Progressive Blogosphere is siding with the terrorist? I mean, Republicans and Conservatives said that about them during the Iraq War and they were Poo-Poo’ed by the media and the Progressive Blogosphere for saying it. Well, guess what kids? It looks like that it is absolutely true.
However, I will give here one little once of credit for writing this:
This is indeed very tragic, and I share her concern. But missing from the discussion was the fact that “Sharia law with all of its violence” has just been made the law of the land by President Karzai — you know, our man in Kabul. The Sharia Personal Status Law, signed by Karzai, became operational in July. Among its provisions: custody rights are granted to fathers and grandfathers, women can work only with the permission of their husbands, and husbands can withhold food from wives who don’t want to have sex with them. On the plus side, if a man rapes a mentally ill woman or child, he must pay a fine.
Of course, even with America standing guard, only 4 percent of girls in Afghanistan make it to the 10th grade, and up to 80 percent of Afghani women are subjected to domestic violence. As one of the Afghan women interviewed in Rethink Afghanistan sums up the current situation: “The cases of violence against women are more now than in the Taliban time.”
So can we please put to rest the nonsensical rationalization that we’re there for women’s rights? And don’t be surprised if that reason is soon replaced by another — those pushing for escalation in Afghanistan seem to have learned the Bush administration’s old tactic of constantly moving the goal posts.
Now this here, I do share her feelings on this. This is where the Bush Administration screwed up. One of the worst things that George W. Bush did was allow that sitting Government in Afghanistan to stay there. What we should have done in Afghanistan was put in someone that was not going to enact the same Islamic sharia law in that country, after the defeat of the Taliban. However, her reasoning on our presence in that Country is flawed; we are supposed to be —- emphasis on the word “supposed” — to catch or kill Osama Bin Ladin and defeat Al-Qaeda. What happened was this; the Bush Administration thought that they could fight two wars, at the same time; with an all voluntary force. This was because the people that planned this war out; were under the impression that Iraq was going to be a cake-walk. Well, needless to say about that little thought, they were horribly wrong.
The same goes for Afghanistan; I believe those who originally planned to go into Afghanistan thought that the conflict was going to be an easy one. That the Taliban was just going to hand over Osama Bin Laden and it would be over. Well, that also proved to be false. So, now, we are stuck in this position that we have to do a little dance over there; because if we move the wrong way, the U.N. would be all over our backs.
Of course, I think Miss. Huffington might not have been informed of this, But there about to be a huge eslation in forces from Pakistan in that tribal region. Pakistan’s Military is planning a major military operation in that tribal region over there. So, we might not have to do anything major at all; except wait for Osama’s body to show up. Which would be a good thing for us, seeing that have already lost a good number of troops already in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
So, while I think Miss. Huffington is noble for trying to challenge her party. I think her reasoning is quite flawed. She has a obvious lack of understand of how Military operations work. Which is quite common amongst the Progressive Community.
I have said it a thousand times on this blog. Pumping excessive currency into the money supply results in a devalued currency.
Well, this is the fall out from our President pumping currency into the money supply. Now those who trade oil want to stop using the dollar as their currency.
The Story Via the U.K. Independent:
In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.
Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.
The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years.
The Americans, who are aware the meetings have taken place – although they have not discovered the details – are sure to fight this international cabal which will include hitherto loyal allies Japan and the Gulf Arabs. Against the background to these currency meetings, Sun Bigan, China’s former special envoy to the Middle East, has warned there is a risk of deepening divisions between China and the US over influence and oil in the Middle East. “Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable,” he told the Asia and Africa Review. “We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security.”
Ron Paul, of whom I have some disagreements on Foreign policy, has said since he was running for President and even prior to that; that what we are doing to our Economy is the moral equivalent of economic Jones-town massacre mass suicide —- and it turns out that the man was and still is absolutely correct.
Of course, the oil traders are denying that this is taking place; but of course! The last thing that they want is a mass panic by market investors!
Via Fox News:
The world’s oil producers will continue using the U.S. dollar as the currency for buying and selling crude, high-ranking oil and finance officials in the Gulf said on Tuesday, denying a report in a British newspaper.
Earlier, The Independent reported that Gulf Arab states, as well as China, Russia, Japan and France, are in secret talks to end the use of the U.S. dollar to trade oil, causing the American currency to fall in overseas trading Tuesday.
Qatar’s oil minister, Kuwait’s finance minister and sources in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi central banks all denied the report.
The Independent report is “absolutely incorrect” and there has been “absolutely nothing” of that nature discussed between Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and other countries, Saudi Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser told reporters in Istanbul.
We did not discuss this at all,” Russia’s deputy finance minister Dmitry Pankin said on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund meeting.
The newspaper report said, “Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.”
Lew Rockwell‘s Reaction to the story was not entirely surprising at all:
Though conservatives call this important story “Arabs Plot to Drop the Dollar,” it’s simply self-defense. Or are other peoples just supposed to be kicked in the teeth by the Fed and like it? China, Russia, Japan, France, and Gulf Arab states seek to substitute for the dollar in oil transactions a basket of currencies including the yen, the yuan, the euro, and gold. Heroic. I’d like to use that myself. In fact, why isn’t the Fed’s crazed monetary expansion called a plot to harm others and regular Americans, to the benefit of the US state and its bankster and corporate allies? And if it does indicate another step in “The Demise of the Dollar,” all the fault is in Washington, DC–as usual.
UPDATE From Ryan Cowles:
In light of this, see Ron Paul’s 2006 article on Dollar Hegemony
I could not have said it better myself. 🙂
A funny reaction from Vinnie over at the Jawa Report:
Oh well, I’m good. It takes me 3 minutes to drive to work in traffic. If they go off the dollar in the Scotch industry though, I’m taking up arms.
Heh. In my case, if they go off the dollar in steaks or in coffee; it’s on baby. You can ream my butt for Gas… Hell, I usually just put in five or so bucks to get me around town. Considering the fact, that I drive a piece of crap clunker. But we start fiddling around with my caffeine jolt, or my monthly or so splurge on a good steak; there will be war.
Sammy over at Yid with A Lid quips:
But wait a second this cant happen, don’t they know that Barack Obama is our president, they love him.
Yeah, They love him alright; with that knife behind their backs. If ol’ Big “O” thinks because he’s black and got a funny middle name, is going to stop the Arab Nations from royally screwing America. The President has another thing coming. The Arab nations have hated us; for taking their resources for decades, that goes back to before the President; and myself for that matter, were even born. So, the socialist liberals cannot scream BOOOOSH on this one. This even predates him too.
William Jacobson over at Legal Insurrection writes:
I would like to think someone in the Obama administration would be concerned, but honest reflection leads only to the conclusion that the lowering of U.S. international power will be music to Obama’s ears. He never misses an opportunity to lecture the world about the evils of domination by any one country, by which he means the United States.
A fiddler who is not oblivious to the fire, by any means.
So true, I mean, I have followed politics with some sort of interest since I started voting when I was 18 and I never, ever heard a President apologize for America, Ever. In another time period, President Obama would have been impeached for treason for saying something like that in another Country. But in this day of socialistic rule; nothing happens at all.
I guess time will tell on this one; if it happens, the results will be devastating to our economy. Let us home, for the sake of America, that this is nothing more than poorly sourced rumor story.
The Round Up: Fox News, The Moderate Voice, Guardian, Left Coast Rebel, Credit Writedowns, naked capitalism, Another Black Conservative, ParaPundit, Mish’s Global Economic …, YID With LID, RedState, Townhall.com, The Jawa Report, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and LewRockwell.com Blog (via Memeorandum)
As I have written on my blog a good number of times, my blog is not at all about me. My Blog is, however, about my take on the current political events of the day. As it is written in my “About Me” section on my Blog, that I am a former so-called “Reagan Democrat,” or a “Blue Dog Democrat” or more simply, a “left of center” type person. However, during my tenure of being a Blogger and Political writer and seeing how I watched how this past election went down; my political philosophy changed. This is still allowed last time I checked. I just felt that the Democratic Party had succumbed to the teachings of identity politics, not to mention all the socialism that is poisoned that party beyond repair. For Clarity’s sake, I essentially came to the same conclusions that Former President Ronald Reagan came to long ago, albeit much later in my life. Thus, one could call me a Conservative. Although, I will be the first to tell you, I am just not quite ready to don my elephant button and become a sworn Republican just yet. For what it is worth; I tend to lean more libertarian on social issues; however when it comes to defense and foreign policy I am quite the “Neo-Con” as those who are isolationist or Anti-Semitic would call me.
Having said all of this, I feel the need to make something very clear. For those of you who read this blog on a daily basis or happen to stop from a reference link or what have you, you know that I am someone who is keenly aware that the War on Terror is a very real issue. I am also aware of the fact that the Islamic-Fascists want to impose a strict form of Islamic law in this Country. Having said all that, I feel the need to make a clarification on where I stand on this issue. The Anti-Islamic-Fascism crowd is divided into two camps —– The first, is quite a noble and intelligent crowd, who know that the Religion of Islam has been hijacked by a group of bloodthirsty killers, who hate America and our way of life; and want to see this Nation destroyed. The second crowd is such that I hate to even waste my time even writing about them. The second crowd area group of people, who personal intellect is that of a primate; they are those who believe that all of those, who practice the religion of Islam and those who are of middle eastern descent , are, in fact, those who want to engage in acts of terrorism.
Let me be clear; I stand with the first noble crowd and not with the second crowd. The second crowd is nothing more than racist bigots, who employ the tactics of the far left in this Country and engage in the practice of collectivism; or as it is commonly known as “Guilt by Association.” This is the same sort of tactic, which was used by the racist bigot Democrats in the south back in the days before the Civil rights act of 1964. Their reasoning was that the entire Negro race was evil and that it must be contained. This was, and still is a flawed mindset. What saddens me greatly is that there are those, who refer to themselves as conservatives that cling to this idiotic mindset. Peradventure that I should say that, these people are no more “Conservative” than I am a damned sworn Marxist.
The reason why I am even writing about this is that I happen to be a user of the social network Twitter, which is quite the marvel of the twenty first century. For those who happen to follow my “tweets” as they are called; know that last night and early this morning, I was engaged in a “Tit for tat” with a group of so-called Conservatives whom, I felt, were engaged in this sort of idiotic mindset. In subsequent conversation with the lot of them, I discovered that I perhaps was a bit early in my judgment of them. For this a greatly apologize. Although, I did block one of them, as she did hurl an undeserved salvo at me and call me a “Liberal.” In some respects, I might just be a liberal, albeit a “Classic Liberal”—- the different there is as wide and deep as the span and depth of the Grand Canyon. I say this because I feel that Religion’s involvement in the Government is quite wrong, however, I do believe that the Government’s involvement is private industry is quite wrong also, not to mention it goes against the strain of what this Nation’s principles were founded upon.
I will end this rather long rambling piece with a dire warning to those who follow me on Twitter. If you follow me and I follow you; and you happen to post something on twitter that I happen to think is racist or bigoted, I will call you on it. I make no apologies for my feelings on this subject. Just to be clear; there is nothing at all wrong with being concerned with the Islamic-Fascism movement, and being one who stands up against the terrorists who want to destroy our country. However, we must not allow ourselves to be overcome with feelings of hate towards the race of people or toward those who practice a form of religion that was simply hijacked by those who are on a political mission to destroy our Country. If we do this, we are no better than those, who wish to destroy us.
I did not think that I would be posting anymore about the Iran situation; but it appears that our feckless fearless leader is talking out of both sides, of his rather large bazoo about Iran.
First up, here’s this “Dear Leader’s” weakly weekly address; skip to the 3:05 point to the part about Iran: (H/T to AllahPundit for posting the video and giving me something to work with here!)
Something to note here; the audio on this video is very low; looks like someone’s a bit too drunk on Hope and Change to check the stupid mic level. Does not matter any damned way; nobody can understand the guy anyhow. 🙄
..and now for the other side of his rather large bazoo….: (H/T Jim)
Transcript: (Via HotAirPundit)
Reid: Thank you Mr. President, you just mentioned sanctions that have bite, what kinds of sanction, and I know you can’t get into details but what kind of sanctions at all would have bite with Iran, do you really think that any kind of sanctions would have any effect on somebody like Ahmadinejad, secondly some of your advisers today said that this announcement was a victory, do you consider it a victory and if so why didn’t you announce it earlier since you have known since you were President elect?..
Obama: “I’m not interested in victory, I’m interested in solving the problem”
Of course, I do not expect the main stream media to question this little double talk; because anyone who dares to question “The One” is smeared as a RAAAACIST!
But you pretty much get the picture here. It is going to be a long four to eight years with this idiot. Wow. Just….WOW. That is if the G.O.P does not dust the Democrat’s britches in the 2010 election; which I high suspect is going to happen.
Let’s face it: most Americans live in a world of false security. This is somewhat understandable, given the fact that the majority of the U.S. population was born after 1945. Few remember the dangers and hardships of World War II; fewer still remember the Great Depression. Few Americans know what it’s like to not have some sort of “supercenter” nearby with shelves stocked with every kind of food imaginable, twenty-four hours a day. Few know what life was like before there were restaurants of all sizes and types on virtually every street corner in America. And only a handful remembers when most roads were unpaved, or when sports were truly a pastime and not a megabuck obsession.
Modern living within the world’s only “superpower” has created a giant unsuspecting, soft, lackadaisical, and lethargic society. We expect the government to keep our streets safe, our roads paved, our stores stocked, our jobs secure, and our enemies at bay. However, in the desire to make government the panacea for all our problems, we have sold not only our independence, but also our virtue.
Where the federal government was contracted (via the U.S. Constitution) to accept limited power for the overall good of both states and people, it has become a monster of gargantuan proportions, claiming authority over virtually every liberty and right known to man. And in the process, it decided it didn’t need God, either.
It is no hyperbole to say that the U.S. federal government has been on a “Ban God” bandwagon for the past 50 years. Whether it kicks prayer and Bible reading out of school, bars military chaplains from praying in Jesus’ name, burns Bibles in Iraq, removes state supreme court chief justices from their positions for posting the Ten Commandments, or threatens high school principals with jail for asking the blessing, the federal government has invoked the judgment of Heaven upon our country as surely as did Old Testament Israel.
Although the comfortable, sports-crazed, TV addicts probably aren’t paying attention, this country is on the verge of an implosion like you cannot believe. For anyone who cares to notice, the signs are everywhere.
First of all, Israel and Iran are on the verge of war. And right now, I’m not concentrating on the “why” or “who’s right or wrong” of the equation. I’m simply telling you, war between Israel and Iran could break out at any time. And when it does, the chances that it will not become nuclear and not become global are miniscule. Yes, I am saying it: the prospects for nuclear war have never been greater. The CBS-canceled TV show, JERICHO, could become a reality in these United States in the very near future. (I strongly urge readers to purchase both seasons of JERICHO and watch them, because this could be our future.)
Secondly, America is on the verge of total financial collapse. By the end of this year, America’s budget deficit will stand at around $2 trillion. The debt gap is many trillions more than that. But the nail in the coffin for America’s fiscal health will be the decision by China to dump the U.S. dollar. Ladies and gentlemen, this will be the death knell for our financial stability (and a painful lesson in sowing and reaping).
It is estimated that China owns around one-third of all U.S. debt. If and when China dumps the U.S. dollar, there would be nothing left to stabilize it, and Weimar Republic/Zimbabwe-style inflation will ensue. America will be thrust into financial chaos. (If one doubts that China is planning to dump the dollar, consider that China is currently purchasing and stockpiling gold at an unprecedented level. This is why gold has suddenly surged to over $1,000 per ounce and why it will continue to rise.)
Third, the paranoia regarding the Swine Flu being demonstrated by both government and media spokesmen begs a giant push for some type of “government solution.” If they keep hyping this “pandemic,” mass hysteria and fear (created by the government and its lackeys in the media) will result. This would, no doubt, necessitate some form of forced vaccination, quarantine (maybe this is what all those internment camps will be used for), and martial law.
Exactly how and when all of the above will actually materialize is yet to be seen. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that within the next few months, the world that we know today is going to vanish. And most Americans are totally unprepared for what’s coming.
If you are able to get out of debt, do it. If you need to scale down your lifestyle in order to be better prepared for difficult days, do it. If you don’t have guns and ammo, buy them. If you have not prepared some sort of preserved food pantry, do it. If you don’t have some kind of survival plan in place for you and your family, get one. If you are not physically fit, get in shape. If you are able to move to a more secure, out-of-harm’s-way location, do it. (During any kind of financial or societal meltdown, urban areas will quickly turn into war zones. Can anyone say, “New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina”?) In other words, get your nose out of the boob tube, get your bottom off the easy chair, and get busy.
Am I worried or discouraged? Absolutely not! (But I am preparing.) The potential good that may result from all of the above is that perhaps God will protect and raise up a remnant of people who would be willing to rebuild a place where Natural Law is respected, constitutional government is revered, and where a ubiquitous, loathsome, overbearing federal government is far, far away. You know, like America’s Founding Fathers did 233 years ago.
In the meantime, get ready. It’s going to be a rocky road.
(Source)
No matter how you slice this; this report does not look good at all.
Now before I quote this; let’s be really clear here. Bob Woodward is not known for telling the truth. Some of the tall tales told in his books, even made the harshest Bush critics wonder, if he was not making stuff up.
Anyhow, Quoting the Washington Post:
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict “will likely result in failure,” according to a copy of the 66-page document obtained by The Washington Post.
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal says emphatically: “Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.”
His assessment was sent to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Aug. 30 and is now being reviewed by President Obama and his national security team.
McChrystal concludes the document’s five-page Commander’s Summary on a note of muted optimism: “While the situation is serious, success is still achievable.”
But he repeatedly warns that without more forces and the rapid implementation of a genuine counterinsurgency strategy, defeat is likely. McChrystal describes an Afghan government riddled with corruption and an international force undermined by tactics that alienate civilians.
However, there are some problems in that region and they are:
The assessment offers an unsparing critique of the failings of the Afghan government, contending that official corruption is as much of a threat as the insurgency to the mission of the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, as the U.S.-led NATO coalition is widely known.
“The weakness of state institutions, malign actions of power-brokers, widespread corruption and abuse of power by various officials, and ISAF’s own errors, have given Afghans little reason to support their government,” McChrystal says.
The result has been a “crisis of confidence among Afghans,” he writes. “Further, a perception that our resolve is uncertain makes Afghans reluctant to align with us against the insurgents.”
McChrystal is equally critical of the command he has led since June 15. The key weakness of ISAF, he says, is that it is not aggressively defending the Afghan population. “Pre-occupied with protection of our own forces, we have operated in a manner that distances us — physically and psychologically — from the people we seek to protect. . . . The insurgents cannot defeat us militarily; but we can defeat ourselves.”
McChrystal continues: “Afghan social, political, economic, and cultural affairs are complex and poorly understood. ISAF does not sufficiently appreciate the dynamics in local communities, nor how the insurgency, corruption, incompetent officials, power-brokers, and criminality all combine to affect the Afghan population.”
Coalition intelligence-gathering has focused on how to attack insurgents, hindering “ISAF’s comprehension of the critical aspects of Afghan society.”
In a four-page annex on detainee operations, McChrystal warns that the Afghan prison system has become “a sanctuary and base to conduct lethal operations” against the government and coalition forces. He cites as examples an apparent prison connection to the 2008 bombing of the Serena Hotel in Kabul and other attacks. “Unchecked, Taliban/Al Qaeda leaders patiently coordinate and plan, unconcerned with interference from prison personnel or the military.”
The assessment says that Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents “represent more than 2,500 of the 14,500 inmates in the increasingly overcrowded Afghan Corrections System,” in which “[h]ardened, committed Islamists are indiscriminately mixed with petty criminals and sex offenders, and they are using the opportunity to radicalize and indoctrinate them.”
and….:
McChrystal identifies three main insurgent groups “in order of their threat to the mission” and provides significant details about their command structures and objectives.
The first is the Quetta Shura Taliban (QST) headed by Mullah Omar, who fled Afghanistan after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and operates from the Pakistani city of Quetta.
“At the operational level, the Quetta Shura conducts a formal campaign review each winter, after which Mullah Omar announces his guidance and intent for the coming year,” according to the assessment.
Mullah Omar’s insurgency has established an elaborate alternative government known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, McChrystal writes, which is capitalizing on the Afghan government’s weaknesses. “They appoint shadow governors for most provinces, review their performance, and replace them periodically. They established a body to receive complaints against their own ‘officials’ and to act on them. They install ‘shari’a’ [Islamic law] courts to deliver swift and enforced justice in contested and controlled areas. They levy taxes and conscript fighters and laborers. They claim to provide security against a corrupt government, ISAF forces, criminality, and local power brokers. They also claim to protect Afghan and Muslim identity against foreign encroachment.”
“The QST has been working to control Kandahar and its approaches for several years and there are indications that their influence over the city and neighboring districts is significant and growing,” McChrystal writes.
The second main insurgency group is the Haqqani network (HQN), which is active in southeastern Afghanistan and draws money and manpower “principally from Pakistan, Gulf Arab networks, and from its close association with al Qaeda and other Pakistan-based insurgent groups.” At another point in the assessment, McChrystal says, “Al Qaeda’s links with HQN have grown, suggesting that expanded HQN control could create a favorable environment” for associated extremist movements “to re-establish safe-havens in Afghanistan.”
The third is the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin insurgency, which maintains bases in three Afghan provinces “as well as Pakistan,” the assessment says. This network, led by the former mujaheddin commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, “aims to negotiate a major role in a future Taliban government. He does not currently have geographical objectives as is the case with the other groups,” though he “seeks control of mineral wealth and smuggling routes in the east.”
Overall, McChrystal provides this conclusion about the enemy: “The insurgents control or contest a significant portion of the country, although it is difficult to assess precisely how much due to a lack of ISAF presence. . . . “
The insurgents make money from the production and sale of opium and other narcotics, but the assessment says that “eliminating insurgent access to narco-profits — even if possible, and while disruptive — would not destroy their ability to operate so long as other funding sources remained intact.”
While the insurgency is predominantly Afghan, McChrystal writes that it “is clearly supported from Pakistan. Senior leaders of the major Afghan insurgent groups are based in Pakistan, are linked with al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups, and are reportedly aided by some elements of Pakistan’s ISI,” which is its intelligence service. Al-Qaeda and other extremist movements “based in Pakistan channel foreign fighters, suicide bombers, and technical assistance into Afghanistan, and offer ideological motivation, training, and financial support.”
McCrystal’s Plan is:
The general says his command is “not adequately executing the basics” of counterinsurgency by putting the Afghan people first. “ISAF personnel must be seen as guests of the Afghan people and their government, not an occupying army,” he writes. “Key personnel in ISAF must receive training in local languages.”
He also says that coalition forces will change their operational culture, in part by spending “as little time as possible in armored vehicles or behind the walls of forward operating bases.” Strengthening Afghans’ sense of security will require troops to take greater risks, but the coalition “cannot succeed if it is unwilling to share risk, at least equally, with the people.”
McChrystal warns that in the short run, it “is realistic to expect that Afghan and coalition casualties will increase.”
He proposes speeding the growth of Afghan security forces. The existing goal is to expand the army from 92,000 to 134,000 by December 2011. McChrystal seeks to move that deadline to October 2010.
Overall, McChrystal wants the Afghan army to grow to 240,000 and the police to 160,000 for a total security force of 400,000, but he does not specify when those numbers could be reached.
He also calls for “radically more integrated and partnered” work with Afghan units.
McChrystal says the military must play an active role in reconciliation, winning over less committed insurgent fighters. The coalition “requires a credible program to offer eligible insurgents reasonable incentives to stop fighting and return to normalcy, possibly including the provision of employment and protection,” he writes.
Coalition forces will have to learn that “there are now three outcomes instead of two” for enemy fighters: not only capture or death, but also “reintegration.”
Again and again, McChrystal makes the case that his command must be bolstered if failure is to be averted. “ISAF requires more forces,” he states, citing “previously validated, yet un-sourced, requirements” — an apparent reference to a request for 10,000 more troops originally made by McChrystal’s predecessor, Gen. David D. McKiernan.
The most sobering part is this:
Toward the end of his report, McChrystal revisits his central theme: “Failure to provide adequate resources also risks a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs, and ultimately, a critical loss of political support. Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure.”
There is doubt about it; this war is not going to be a cakewalk, just like Iraq was not. The question on everyone’s mind is this, will President Obama have the political nerve to keep fighting this war? To defeat all of these groups and the ultimate goal —– Al Qeada.
Peter Feaver over at Foreign Policy’s Blog Shadow Government offers the following assessment:
1. It is not good to have a document like this leaked into the public debate before the President has made his decision. Whether you favor ramping up or ramping down or ramping laterally, as a process matter, the Commander-in-Chief ought to be able to conduct internal deliberations on sensitive matters without it appearing concurrently on the front pages of the Post. I assume the Obama team is very angry about this, and I think they have every right to be.
2. A case could be made that the Obama team tempted fate by authorizing Bob Woodward to travel with General Jones (cf. “whisky, tango, foxtrot”) in the first place and then sitting on this report for nearly a month without a White House response. You cannot swing a dead cat in Washington without meeting someone who was briefed on at least part of the McChrystal assessment, and virtually every one of those folks is mystified as to why the White House has not responded as of yet. The White House will have to respond now, but I stand by my first point: leaks like this make it harder to for the Commander-in-Chief to do deliberate national security planning.
3. Without knowing the provenance of the leak, it is impossible to state with confidence what the motives were. For my part, I would guess that this leak is an indication that some on the Obama team are dismayed at the White House’s slow response and fear that this is an indication that President Obama is leaning towards rejecting the inevitable requests for additional U.S. forces that this report tees up. By this logic, the leak is designed to force his hand and perhaps even to tie his hands.
4. The leak makes it harder for President Obama to reject a McChrystal request for additional troops because the assessment so clearly argues for them. The formal request is in a separate document, apparently, but it is foreshadowed on every page of the Initial Assessment. Presumably, the McChrystal assessment and request is shared by Petraeus and, I am told, also by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That does not make it irrefutably correct, but it does make this issue now the defining moment in civil-military relations under President Obama’s watch. Obama has the authority and the responsibility to make a decision that runs counter to what his military leaders are requesting, but it is a very difficult thing for him to do.
5. The toughest part in the report from the point of view of the Obama White House is the twin claim that (i) under-resourcing the war could cause the war to be lost, and (ii) the resources need to show up in the next year. The former puts the responsibility for success/failure squarely on the desk of the President and the latter, because of the long lead times needed to send additional resources into the theater, says that failure could result from choices made or not made in the next few weeks. And it said that a few weeks ago.
6. Paradoxically, however, the report does not make it impossible for President Obama to reject the likely military request for additional forces. Because the report is so candid about all of the challenges we face in Afghanistan, many of the arguments against additional forces are substantiated somewhere in the report: the myriad failures of the Afghan government, the self-defeating restrictions imposed on NATO forces, etc. The only anti-surge argument that I have not seen substantiated (though I read this quickly, so I may have missed something) is the extraordinarily seductive one that suggests we can afford to simply walk away from Afghanistan and conduct “off-shore-counter-terrorism-operations” indefinitely.
7. This document will remind anyone who worked on the issue of the internal debate over the surge strategy in Iraq circa Fall 2006. While the Bush administration Iraq Strategy Review did not produce a 66-page report that leaked, we covered much this same terrain and wrestled with many of the same thorny trade-offs and uncertain bets. The report is basically calling for an Iraq-type surge gambit, asking President Obama to do more or less what President Bush did in 2007: (i) change the strategy, (ii) adequately resource the new strategy, and (iii) overcome the strong domestic political opposition to doing (i) and (ii). If successful, the McChrystal assessment claims that this will buy time to allow for a safer eventual shift back to a train and transition strategy. It will not win the war in the short-run, but it will shift the trajectory of the war and allow for the possibility that our side can prevail in the long run. This is eerily similar to how the pro-surge group within the Bush team thought of the Iraq surge.
The question that one must ask. Is this all really worth it? The normal reflexive answer would be yes. Because we must acknowledge that those people that died in those Trade Centers, The Pentagon, and in PA; died because our Government’s attitude towards Terrorism and National Security had become lax. —– In other words, we were caught with our proverbial pants down.
My question to the President is this; are you sir, going to allow a group of far left wing, socialists dictate your foreign policy? Are you going to allow the Nation to drift back into a September 10’th mentality? I mean, because the FBI has already nabbed a group of people in New York; that had intentions to make another strike. Because I can tell you right now, Mr. President; If you abandon this fight, they will strike again, and next time, it will not be with planes. It will be much worse. That is not Neo-Conservative hype; that is, my friends, reality of the situation at hand.
What needs to happen is this; President Obama needs to wrap up in Iraq; as soon as possible. Once this is complete, President Obama needs to refocus his strategy on this war. It is not going to be easy. Some say this could be President Obama’s Vietnam. Which I happen to think is a line of balderdash. Vietnam failed; for one, because the media outright LIED about our progress in the Tet offensive and because President Johnson did not have the gonads to stand up to the left wing of the Democratic Party and inform them, that they did not run the White House and that he did! Instead he folded and said he would not run for reelection. This gave way to embarrassing defeat of the South in Vietnam and caused us to have to leave in shame.
President Obama must stand up and lead. He must shrug off the left wing of his Party and fight this war, until these issues are resolved. Yes, there will be casualties; this happens in war, get used to it people. We must stand and fight; other wise, the 2,996 people who perished, will have perished in vain.
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I realize that this Blog entry is not going to do much for my Conservative Credentials; not that I honestly give two flips about that. But I happened to notice this little entry over at the White House Blog.
President Barack Obama stands with Paul and Janet Monti as he posthumously awards their son, Army Sgt. 1st. Class Jared C. Monti from Raynham, Mass., the Medal of Honor for his service in Afghanistan during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009.
Quote:
Today the President awarded Sergeant First Class Jared C. Monti, U.S. Army, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in the East Room of the White House. Sergeant First Class Monti received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions in combat in Afghanistan, which the President recounted alongside his parents Paul and Janet Monti.
Here is a portion of the President’s comments, of which you can read the full thing here.
That’s when Jared Monti did what he was trained to do. With the enemy advancing — so close they could hear their voices — he got on his radio and started calling in artillery. When the enemy tried to flank them, he grabbed a gun and drove them back. And when they came back again, he tossed a grenade and drove them back again. And when these American soldiers saw one of their own — wounded, lying in the open, some 20 yards away, exposed to the approaching enemy — Jared Monti did something no amount of training can instill. His patrol leader said he’d go, but Jared said, “No, he is my soldier, I’m going to get him.”
It was written long ago that “the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet, notwithstanding, go out to meet it.” Jared Monti saw the danger before him. And he went out to meet it.
He handed off his radio. He tightened his chin strap. And with his men providing cover, Jared rose and started to run. Into all those incoming bullets. Into all those rockets. Upon seeing Jared, the enemy in the woods unleashed a firestorm. He moved low and fast, yard after yard, then dove behind a stone wall.
A moment later, he rose again. And again they fired everything they had at him, forcing him back. Faced with overwhelming enemy fire, Jared could have stayed where he was, behind that wall. But that was not the kind of soldier Jared Monti was. He embodied that creed all soldiers strive to meet: “I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.” And so, for a third time, he rose. For a third time, he ran toward his fallen comrade. Said his patrol leader, it “was the bravest thing I had ever seen a soldier do.”
They say it was a rocket-propelled grenade; that Jared made it within a few yards of his wounded soldier. They say that his final words, there on that ridge far from home, were of his faith and his family: “I’ve made peace with God. Tell my family that I love them.”
And then, as the artillery that Jared had called in came down, the enemy fire slowed, then stopped. The patrol had defeated the attack. They had held on — but not without a price. By the end of the night, Jared and three others, including the soldier he died trying to save, had given their lives.
I’m told that Jared was a very humble guy; that he would have been uncomfortable with all this attention; that he’d say he was just doing his job; and that he’d want to share this moment with others who were there that day. And so, as Jared would have wanted, we also pay tribute to those who fell alongside him: Staff Sergeant Patrick Lybert. Private First Class Brian Bradbury. Staff Sergeant Heathe Craig.
And we honor all the soldiers he loved and who loved him back — among them noncommissioned officers who remind us why the Army has designated this “The Year of the NCO” in honor of all those sergeants who are the backbone of America’s Army. They are Jared’s friends and fellow soldiers watching this ceremony today in Afghanistan. They are the soldiers who this morning held their own ceremony on an Afghan mountain at the post that now bears his name — Combat Outpost Monti. And they are his “boys” — surviving members of Jared’s patrol, from the 10th Mountain Division — who are here with us today. And I would ask them all to please stand. (Applause.)
Like Jared, these soldiers know the meaning of duty, and of honor, of country. Like Jared, they remind us all that the price of freedom is great. And by their deeds they challenge every American to ask this question: What we can do to be better citizens? What can we do to be worthy of such service and such sacrifice?
Sergeant First Class Jared C. Monti. In his proud hometown of Raynham, his name graces streets and scholarships. Across a grateful nation, it graces parks and military posts. From this day forward, it will grace the memorials to our Medal of Honor heroes. And this week, when Jared Monti would have celebrated his 34th birthday, we know that his name and legacy will live forever, and shine brightest, in the hearts of his family and friends who will love him always.
May God bless Jared Monti, and may He comfort the entire Monti family. And may God bless the United States of America.
For all of the criticisms that I level at President Obama; this is not one of them. I truly believe that President Obama “Gets it”; when it comes to loss of life in the Military. More so, than even President Bush. I believe sometimes, that Bush used the Military as a photo prop or even to boost his ratings. To me, as a writer who was and still is, far way from the beltway, it always seemed like Bush was posing, when appearing with Military personnel. I could be wrong on this, but I highly doubt it. Obama does genuinely care. I can tell this. He respects the men and woman who risk and ultimately give their lives for the Military and more broadly for their Country. To me, that strikes me as Obama being a “Truman Democrat”. I truly believe that Obama dislikes the notion of war. But he also understands that War is necessary for the preservation of the Republic. I also notice that Obama has stepped up to the plate in the Afghanistan war. The President knows that the situation in that country is extremely complex; even more so now, that it was when Bush ordered the invasion.
It has also been observed that President Obama has shrugged off the far left’s insistence that President should pull our ground troops out of Afghanistan and solve the Afghanistan war though diplomacy. Something that this writer highly disagrees with. There is only one way to deal with terrorists and Al-Qeada and that is with the end of gun or a missile. President Obama knows this and has; so far, stepped up the plate and made it quite clear that he intends to carry that fight on. As a Conservative and someone who believes that the war on terror is a reality, this is a welcome quality as a President and I personally commend him for that.
This is not to say that I do not have issues with his domestic polices. I do. I disagree with a good portion of it. But his policy when it comes to the war on terror and his respect for our Nation’s Military is not something you will find me criticizing at all.
So, on the behalf of this Conservative writer and supporter of our Nation’s Military; Thank you Mr. President and please, Keep it up.
Oh Wonderful….. 🙄 You will see why I say this in a minute here.
First, the video:
The Story via the Wall Street Journal:
WASHINGTON — The White House is scrapping a Bush-era plan for an Eastern European missile-defense shield, saying a redesigned defensive system would be cheaper, quicker and more effective against the threat from Iranian missiles.
“After an extensive process, I have approved the unanimous recommendations of my secretary of defense and my joint chiefs of staff to strengthen America’s defenses against ballistic-missile attack,” President Barack Obama said in an announcement Thursday morning.
The previous administration’s plans will be changed, moving away from the installation of a missile-defense shield in the Czech Republic and Poland in the near future. A second phase to begin in 2015 could result in missiles being placed on land in Eastern Europe.
“Our new missile defense architecture in Europe will provide stronger, smarter and swifter defenses of American forces and America’s allies,” Mr. Obama said. “It is more comprehensive than the previous program, it deploys capabilities that are proven and cost effective, and it sustains and builds upon our commitment to protect the U.S. homeland.”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the decision to abandon the Bush administration’s plans came about because of a change in the U.S. perception of the threat posed by Iran.
Mr. Gates said intelligence experts concluded the short- and medium-range missiles were “developing more rapidly than previously projected” in Iran. The findings are a major reversal from the Bush administration, which pushed aggressively to begin construction of the Eastern European system before leaving office in January.
The Bush administration proposed the European-based system to counter the perceived threat of Iran’s developing a nuclear weapon that could be placed atop its increasingly sophisticated missiles. There is widespread disagreement over the progress of Iran’s nuclear program toward developing such a weapon, but miniaturizing nuclear weapons for use on long-range missiles is one of the most difficult technological hurdles for an aspiring nuclear nation.
The White house confirmed that it will ditch Bush plans to erect a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, a move likely to mean greater cooperation with Russia. WSJ’s National Security Correspondent Peter Spiegel reports.
The Bush plan infuriated the Kremlin, which argued the system was a potential threat to its own intercontinental ballistic missiles. U.S. officials repeatedly insisted the location and limited scale of the system — a radar site in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland — posed no threat to Russian strategic arms.
The Obama administration’s assessment concludes that U.S. allies in Europe, including NATO members, face a more immediate threat from Iran’s short- and medium-range missiles and is ordering a shift toward the development of regional missile defenses for the Continent, according to people familiar with the matter. Such systems would be far less controversial.
Russia on Thursday welcomed the news but said it saw no reason to offer concessions in return. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called the plan a “responsible move.” He threatened last year to station tactical Iskander missiles on Poland’s border if the U.S. system was deployed.
“We appreciate this responsible move by the U.S. president toward realizing our agreement,” Mr. Medvedev said Thursday. “I am prepared to continue the dialogue.”
Okay now, here’s why I say, “Oh Wonderful….” 🙄
Via The A.P.:
VIENNA (AP) – Experts at the world’s top atomic watchdog are in agreement that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead, according to a secret report seen by The Associated Press.
The document drafted by senior officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency is the clearest indication yet that the agency’s leaders share Washington’s views on Iran’s weapon-making capabilities.
It appears to be the so-called “secret annex” on Iran’s nuclear program that Washington says is being withheld by the IAEA’s chief.
The document says Iran has “sufficient information” to build a bomb. It says Iran is likely to “overcome problems” on developing a delivery system.
Nothing like yanking your shields down —– Just in time to find out that Iran has the ability to make a Nuke and is hiding it from the rest of the World.
If I were President Obama, I would be in the fetal position crying my eyes out right about now. I mean, This guy just has a horrible sense of timing or something.
I hate to be the guy to say it; but this President has royally screwed up and screwed us, the American people…..again.
Good Job Barry! 🙄
Others: Pajamas Media, Jules Crittenden, Don Surber, Power Line, Moonbattery, Fausta’s Blog, , The Foundry, Below The Beltway, Moderate in the Middle, Neptunus Lex, A Blog For All, Dr. Sanity, , Michelle Malkin,
I notice in the Blogosphere today that the Liberals are accusing Conservatives of lying about the turn out in Washington D.C.
How ironic that the Socialists are crying foul about lying; seeing that their own dear leader is quite the liar himself.
Let’s review, shall we?
My that’s quite a bit of lying.
I think his nose should be growing…
Remember this little whopper of a big lie?
…and the Kool-Aid Drinkers bought it; hook, line and sinker.
So, perhaps…. Joe Wilson; was right?
Of course, the bill was changed, after Joe Wilson called the President on it. But still, are not these other lies legit? I think they are.
Exit Question: If a Republican lied like this man has, would not he be held to a higher scrutiny? But because he is a black liberal, he skates for free? Isn’t that the honest truth?
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape or form intend this posting to be considered to be any sort of disrespect towards our Nation’s Military. Those guys are out there on the battlefield so that people, like Eric Burdon; can be free to express his opinions and write songs like this one. Having said all that; I do wish this to be considered a political commentary towards our Nation’s leaders, former and current; on sending our Nation’s finest into wars that cannot be won. I also intend it to be a commentary on unjustified war. I make zero apologies for this.
This story is one of the one’s burning up the Meme charts. Problem is; it’s not the same guy.
Mere Rhetoric has the update:
ORIGINAL: Thanks to everyone who’s emailing about this in the context of the Marc Garlasco controversy, but I intentionally passed up mentioning the “Flak88” who posts regularly on Stormfront.org. I’m sure it’s not the Marc Garlasco Flak88 who posts on the medals forums.
The Stormfront Flak88 is the top hit for a bunch of searches on that handle, not least of which is “flak88 israel.” But the Stormfront Flak88 is a vulgar racist who complains about unclean Turks and then complains even more that they’re the only ones in Germany who sing nationalistic songs. He has challenges spelling, writing sentences, and conveying thoughts. He lists himself in Europe while the Marc Garlasco Flak88 puts New York in all his profiles. Same handle, different guys.
If it was proven that the Marc Garlasco Flak88 was the same as the Stormfront Flak88, I’d consider that strong evidence against my previous post. For all his faults real or imagined, the HRW Marc Garlasco is neither crude nor stupid. I would guess that he clings very, very tightly to the belief that he’s a history buff who happens, for purely familial reasons, to be utterly fascinated by the Nazis.
I think that’s one convenient bridge too far, and that his obsession colors the rest of what he does. I think he has very strong but tangled beliefs about Jews and the Jewish state that spring from a place that has nothing to do with level-headed analysis. But nothing I’ve read and no one I’ve spoken to leads me to believe he’s an unsophisticated racist like Stormfront Flak88.
It’s easy to get over-excited about these things, and collector Garlasco’s medals are insanely creepy. But we shouldn’t get distracted from the real scandal. This guy has spent the last few years producing untenable anti-Israel boilerplate for human rights organizations, UN committees, and international tribunals. Every time pro-Israel groups suggested that no one could make this many mistakes innocently they were told to stop “stifling legitimate criticism of Israel with implicit accusations of antisemitism.” Hmmmmmm.
UPDATE: Also: while it’s normally a good guess to associate “88” with the well-known hate symbol, in this case its a relatively innocuous reference to the 88mm caliber Flak gun.
Again: Garlasco’s not a vulgar racist. He’s simply not. He’s someone torn by sensibilities that make him wildly inappropriate as a choice for a Middle East investigator. How he got to that position and stayed in that position despite error after debunked error goes to the heart of HRW’s inappropriate obsession with and bias towards Israel. They couldn’t notice anything wrong with the way he approached the conflict because, well, that’s how they all approach the conflict. That’s the scandal – that despite having ideological inclinations and personal tics, he fit right in.
So, let’s draw back the cannons a bit. This fellow might be many things; but what he is accused of being here is just not true. This is why it pays to do very good research before firing off libels. Keeps your credibility in check and can also keep you out of court as well.
How come a high school dropout has to educate people; with degrees and such, to this fact? What Oddball times we live in! 🙄
Update: After having people pester the hell out of me for a week. I will give this update. Here is Garlasco’s response to the accusations:
NEW YORK – I’m used to taking heat for my job as a military analyst for Human Rights Watch, because our findings that this government or that armed group has violated the laws of war frequently provoke accusations that we’re biased or siding with the enemy.
Now I’ve achieved some blogosphere fame, not for the hours I’ve spent sifting through the detritus of war, visiting hospitals, interviewing victims and witnesses and soldiers, but for my hobby (unusual and disturbing to some, I realize) of collecting Second World War memorabilia associated with my German grandfather and my American great-uncle. I’m a military geek, with an abiding interest not only in the medals I collect but in the weapons that I study and the shrapnel I analyze. I think this makes me a better investigator and analyst. And to suggest it shows Nazi tendencies is defamatory nonsense, spread maliciously by people with an interest in trying to undermine Human Rights Watch’s reporting.
I work to expose war crimes and the Nazis were the worst war criminals of all time. But I’m now in the bizarre and painful situation of having to deny accusations that I’m a Nazi.
The Second World War turned my grandfather, who was conscripted and served on an anti-aircraft battery, into a staunch pacifist. He couldn’t understand why I went to work at the Pentagon, where I was on 9/11, of learning from his experiences – the horrific stories he told me late in life of seeing the bodies he shot down fall out of the sky. It wasn’t until he died that I really took his lessons to heart, and decided to use my military expertise to try to lessen the horrors of war.
So I left my government career and joined Human Rights Watch to use my expertise in weapons systems and targeting to push soldiers to protect civilians, to uphold the laws born in the ashes of the Second World War. My first investigation took me to the bomb craters in Iraq and brought me face-to-face with the survivors and other victims of the strikes I helped plan. It was a traumatic experience and provoked much soul-searching. I thought often of my grandfather.
As an American child, I learned that Germans were the bad guys; as I got to know my grandfather, I realized that not all Germans were Nazis. Because of him, and my great-uncle, a gunner on an American B-17 bomber, I developed an interest in German and American war memorabilia, and I wrote a long monograph, published last year, on German Second World War Air Force and anti-aircraft medals.
I’ve never hidden my hobby, because there’s nothing shameful in it, however weird it might seem to those who aren’t fascinated by military history. Precisely because it’s so obvious that the Nazis were evil, I never realized that other people, including friends and colleagues, might wonder why I care about these things. Thousands of military history buffs collect war paraphernalia because we want to learn from the past. But I should have realized that images of the Second World War German military are hurtful to many.
I deeply regret causing pain and offense with a handful of juvenile and tasteless postings I made on two websites that study Second World War artifacts (including American, British, German, Japanese and Russian items). Other comments there might seem strange and even distasteful, but they reflect the enthusiasm of the collector, such as gloating about getting my hands on an American pilot’s uniform.
I told my daughters, as I wrote in my book, that “the war was horrible and cruel, that Germany lost and for that we should be thankful.” I meant what I wrote. And because of the intense suffering during the Second World War and the genocidal campaign against the Jewish people, I spend my days doing what I can to ensure that such horrors are never allowed to happen again.
I am not playing any of the fucking idiotic games of “Why would you believe him, he’s a lefty!” Okay? You wanna play that bullshit, fine; do it elsewhere. Because I do not play that shit here. 😡 I am more the willing to take this man’s word for it. He’s a collector and that’s it. Subject fucking closed.
I just find it quite interesting, that the same group of people on the right; that condemn identity politics on the left; partake in the same sort of behavior themselves — when it comes to the Jews and the fucking Holocaust. Yes, it happened, Yes, it was horrible. Does this mean that I have to kiss the fucking ass of every fucking Jew alive? I think not.
My point is, get off this guys ass, okay? We’ve got more important battles to fight. This is not one we should be bothered with.
Yes, They were.
That is all.
However, Villainous Company makes a very valid point:
When you decided to allow journalists to photograph the coffins of returning service members at Dover, you broke down a barrier that should have been left intact.
Since the dawn of time, human societies have had taboos. They exist for a reason. They exist because some things simply ought to be unthinkable, and nothing short of a total ban will prevent some people from pushing the envelope.
The media have contended, over and over, that the photographing of coffins and dead bodies and wounded soldiers or Marines thrashing about in agony are necessary to help the American people understand the cost of war. Evidently, the availability of graphic war movies depicting fountains of blood and oozing gore are insufficient visual aids.
The Associated Press took all of one hour to balance the newsworthiness of graphic photos of a fellow human being’s last moments against the wishes of Lance Corporal Joshua M. Bernard’s grieving family. In the end, compassion and human decency gave way to the profit incentive. Of course, the AP will claim they were motivated by elevated concerns that the American public, despite being exposed to violent and graphic footage on TV, cable, and at the movie theater on a daily basis, are too stupid to comprehend that explosions often result in shredded body parts, blood, agonizing pain, and death.
If that makes no sense to you, you’re not alone.
So if we buy into the notion that we need to see the results of violent episodes to truly understand their consequences, does this mean the media will now begin showing graphic footage of rape victims who have been beaten or tortured or cut to shreds by their attackers?
I tend to believe that Obama and the head of the Military are regretting their decision to allow photos of the war dead. Then again, maybe not. As we all know, liberals do hate our Military. Did not always used to be like that. There was a time when Democrats were the hawks and the Conservatives were the peace lovers. That all changed after 1964; with the rise of the “New Conservative” movement or Neo-Con as it sometimes badly called.
Somewhere, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and possibly Dick Cheney are smiling.
Although, many people do not know this or do not want to hear it. But much of the financing for 9/11 came out of the UAE.
Anyhow, there’s this:
The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship carrying North Korean-manufactured munitions, detonators, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades bound for Iran in violation of United Nations sanctions, diplomats said.
The UAE two weeks ago notified the UN Security Council of the seizure, according to the diplomats, who spoke on condition they aren’t named because the communication hasn’t been made public. They said the ship, owned by an Australian subsidiary of a French company and sailing under a Bahamian flag, was carrying 10 containers of arms disguised as oil equipment.
The council committee that monitors enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea wrote letters to Iran and the government in Pyongyang asking for explanations of the violation, and one to the UAE expressing appreciation for the cooperation, the envoys said. No response has been received and the UAE has unloaded the cargo, they said.
The UAE and Iranian missions to the UN didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The Financial Times reported the weapons seizure earlier today.
via UAE Seizes North Korean Weapons Shipment to Iran (Update2) – Bloomberg.com.
This is what happens when you do the whole “Carrot and Stick” approach to countries like North Korea and Iran. They simply find ways to go around you. I really believe that the United Nations really needs to rethink their strategy with Iran. Because it is obvious to this Conservative writer, that Iran has no intention of abiding by the rules. I am not saying that it is time for war with Iran; not at all. At least not with our Country leading the charge. Because, in case anyone has not noticed, We are a bit occupied ourselves. I believe some of the other countries in that region need to step up and put a stop to this nonsense, once and for all.
Blackfive asks some very important questions:
Now this brings up all kinds of questions. How did the UAE find out? Did we know? Did we tell them? Inquiring minds want to know. Also how does this affect our global tyrant outreach project? Clenched? Unclenched? Hmmm
Those are some good questions. I would also like to know, who tipped off the Financial Times people? I also wonder, what will our feckless fearless leader’s next move will be? Because you know good and well that the Liberal base is not going to approve of him going into Iran or North Korea; even if Obama ordered a small support group to go in and assist any other countries that wanted to invade either Country, the base would totally turn on him. I mean, hell, the left is desperately wanting to pull us out of Afghanistan and Iraq; before the job is even done. They have been trying to do that for years. Do you think they would just sit idly by and allow President Obama to take us into another Military conflict? I do not think so. I mean, “Hope and Change” can only get a man so far. Especially when it comes to the very far left. I mean, they’re already calling Obama a fascist in some quarters of the left as it is already.
Either way this is going to be a very interesting development and it will be interesting to see how Obama handles the situation and it will be interesting to see how the far socialist/liberal Left reacts to Obama’s actions. I also would like to see what the Liberal Media’s reaction will be to this story and to how Obama reacts to it as well; will they be just as critical to Obama as they were Bush? or will they continue to give Obama the “free ride” that they have given him so far? It should be very interesting.
The Synopsis of this video:
This is a video of David Wood and Nabeel Qureshi asking questions at Arabfest, Dearborn. The date is June 21st, 2009. There was a booth at the festival which had a banner titled “Islam: Got Questions? Get Answers.” From their table, we picked up a pamphlet claiming that Islam promotes peace. We noticed that it was full of poor logic and errors, so we decided to make a video refuting it. We went to the booth that gave us the pamphlet to give them the opportunity to defend their claims. Security, however, stepped in and forced us to turn off our camera.
We left the booth, received advice from police, and found out that the actions of the security guards were illegal. We went back to the booth to record a potential answer again. Realizing that the Muslims present had no answer, we left.
When we came outside, we were asked some questions by two young men, who had been sent by security to entrap us. While we responded to them, festival security started assaulting us, as you will see in this video. The conclusion of this video is a mob of festival security attacking our cameras, pushing us back, kicking our legs, and lying to the police.
We ask you, is it a coincidence that the city with the highest percentage of Muslims in the United States is the city where Christianity is not allowed to be represented (let alone preached) on a public sidewalk? Is it coincidence that in this city, people will say “No way!” when we say “This is the United States of America”?
Is this what will happen when Islam takes over the United States?
You see Ladies and Gents, THIS is what celebrating diversity does to you. It gets you attacked by Islamic terrorist THUGS! Rick Warren and his purpose driven life, “Let’s love everyone and not judge”, kind of Christianity is just that; it celebrates diversity. Islam, a religion of peace….. What a lie! 😡 This is why, if I ever was going to film, I would go armed. Any security person who approached me and tried to hurt me, would be killed.
Enjoy this video! (Via Gateway Pundit)
WAKE UP AMERICA to the LIE OF ISLAM!
When the situation erupted in Iran, I like many other Americans, who root for true freedom and democracy, began to rally behind the people protesting the election in Iran. That is until today. Yes, that is correct; I have changed my mind about the events in Iran. I figure if I am going to be a Paleo-Conservative; I should try acting and thinking like one.
My feeling on the uprising in Iran is this; the protests are pointless and waste of time, human lives, and a needless destruction of Iran. Why? Because of the following, Iran is not, and has not been since 1979, a true free Country. It is an Islamic Republic; it operates under Islamic rule or Sharia law. In other words, Religion is the main factor in the creation of that country’s laws. The Iranian people must abide by those laws, or they can face imprisonment or worse death.
This entire uprising in Iran is not just about Ahmadinejad against Mousavi or at least it should not be. These people want to be free, unshackled from the chains of Islamic rule. However, the cold sobering fact of the reality is that the Iranian people will most likely not succeed in freeing themselves from the Islamic regime. Their grip is just too strong on that Nation and the truth of reality is that nothing in that Country will change. Even if Mousavi is placed into power the Islamic authorities, which really run that Country will still be in power.
I have noticed that some of my Neo-Conservative counterparts have been goading the President of the United States for not taking a more vocal stance against the Iranian Government and by proxy, the Islamic leaders of that Country. In case that sounds a bit familiar, these people are the same people played cheerleader to President Bush’s decision to go into Iraq. Hence my reasoning for disliking the Neo-Conservative wing of the Republican Party; Not because of some idiotic Hatred of the Jews; but because of the Wilsonian, warmongering stance of those types of Conservatives.
As a Paleo-Conservative, my feelings about Iran are this that the United States of America should stay out of the affairs of the Iranian Government. If the Iranian people want to overthrow that Government, let them do it. If the Iranian people want to topple that Islamic regime, let them do it. The less the United States becomes involved in that situation, the better. The same kind of meddling with the affairs of other Governments has gotten us into other situations in the past. The list is quite long — Korea, Vietnam, Both Iraq Wars, World War I, and so on.
If I ever had a chance to have an audience with the President of the United States, I would simply tell him what to do with Iran as well as North Korea, and that is stay out of that situation. If the United Nations wants to send Japan and South Korea, as well as a few other Countries in to topple that leader, let them do so. However, please, do not involve our Country. The same should be done with Iran. The United States should not be pursuing an agenda of interventionalism in that region at all.
It is because of our interventionalist foreign policy of the past; that the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred in New York City. We just cannot afford to make that same mistake twice. God Help us if we do.
Looks like this situation is a bit worse than we thought. The American Freedomist Blog Reports:
The Freedomist has learned from our sources that what is happening in Iran may indeed be the beginnings of a COUP attempt within the ruling Mullah elites themselves and that Khameni’s allegiance to Ahmadinejad is causing a good number of them to consider REMOVING the Supreme Leader himself!
This possible revolution is NOT directed at Ahmadinejad, it is directed at THE SUPREME LEADER! US News is off base and inaccurate, the People are demanding an END to the rule of the Mulllahs, they want Democracy and seem willing to FIGHT!
Local sources are reporting via Twitter and opposition websites violence that is being resisted actively by young people who are IN THE THOUSANDS on roof tops singing the old Iranian national anthem, some are reporting from inside buildings that Hezbollah troops, NOT the Iranian police, are conducting clearing operations using civilian vehicles to plow into protestors and randomly shoot anyone on the street.
It is becoming more apparent that elements of the ruling class and the police and military are not deemed to be reliable, hence the use of foreign Hezbollah fighters to help enforce the edicts of the regime.
[…]
Meanwhile, we have at least three reports from different sources that Rafsanjani called for an emergency meeting of the Majles Khobregan, the Assembly of Experts which could result in an open rift between himself and the present Supreme Leader. Rafsanjani is questioning the certification of the election, according to these reports.
I do believe that this situation is going to a bit more hairier before it gets any better.
Update: Seen on Twitter, a retweet of a retweet….:
RT @ProgrssvWitness: RT @Radlein: Hey, Ahmadinejad, Khamenei? Congratulations. As of now, you ARE the Shah. #iran #iranelections
Update #2: Michael J. Totten does another one of his great dispatches from Iran. One it this gem pops up:
According to our private phone conversations with people in Tehran, hundreds of parents have gathered by a police station in Yousef Abad, now known as Seyyed Jamal Aldin Asad Abadi, with their hands raised to the sky saying “Obama, please help us, they are killing our young children.”
Oh boy…. This should quite interesting.
Consider this a somewhat live Blog, update to come as new info arrives.
Iranian Twitter users, inside and outside of Iran: (Via I Like Patterns)
Bushehr:
Rasht:
Shiraz:
Tehran:
Kamyar
madyar
Amin Abbaspour
Abdul-Azim Mohammed
Farhad
Parham Doustdar
Mohammad Ramezanpour
crash
Sajjad A. Mohammed
Yashar Khazdouzian
Mohamadreza
S T
Iran Election 2009
TehranBureau.com
MirHossein Mousavi
jim sciutto
Raymond Jahan
Parastoo
Thomas Erdbrink
Bahador Nooraei B.
William Yong
Bahram K
Alireza
persiankiwi
HamedUnknown:
mary moto
Alavi
duckdaotsu
Farnam B. (not Tehran)
Gita (not Tehran)
Iran
Shahrzad
Pouyan
mehdi assadi
VahidOutside Iran:
Muhammad Ghaffari
TwitPersia
Vote for Iran
Naseem Faqihi
RK
Elizabeth Tsurkov
Nasser Weddady
fustat
Neysan Schaefer
Neysan Zolzer
Update #2: Christopher Hitchens on the Election in Iran and he does not mince words!
Update #3: U.K. Times Reports:
Chanting Allahu akbar” — God is greatest — and “Ahmadi, we love you” the army of hardliners poured into central Tehran in a massive show of strength for President Ahmadinejad.
After a weekend of violence by supporters of his relatively moderate challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, this was an exercise designed to reclaim the capital’s streets in the name of the establishment.
“The protesters are lying. There was no cheating,” declared Farang Kamalwand, 39, a woman in a chador who had travelled 450 miles by bus from Lorestan.
“We came to prove to people outside this country that we love and support our President,” said Karamollah Rahimi, a builder who had spent nine hours travelling from Lordegan
[…]
The exuberance of last week, when Mr Mousavi appeared to be heading for a spectacular victory, turned to terror in the space of a few hours on Friday night as the regime unleashed its forces on the opposition.
All weekend, late into the night, squads of 30 or 40 riot police tore round the capital on motorbikes, roaring along pavements when the roads were blocked, and waded into crowds of chanting Mousavi supporters with their batons. Others charged up streets on foot, or rode around in black Toyota Land Cruisers. They used teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades, and by Saturday night they had been joined by marauding bands of basiji — volunteer paramilitaries — waving the national flag and chanting Ahmadinejad slogans.
Nobody was spared. The Times witnessed an old woman in a long black chador being beaten in a doorway after she hurled insults at the police, a teacher clubbed to the ground by a basij as he tried to protect his demonstrating students and countless protesters carried away with blood streaming from their wounds.
One human rights activist called it a “Tehran Tiananmen”, referring to China’s brutal suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators in 1989.
Mousavi aides accused the regime of mounting a “coup détat”. His supporters retaliated by throwing stones, smashing windows, setting fire to buses and rubbish skips, and making barricades of burning tyres. “Mousavi is our President,” they chanted, and “What happened to our vote?” It was the worst unrest in the capital since the student riots of 1999.
There were reports of demonstrations in Tabriz, Siraz and other Iranian cities, but they were impossible to confirm because the regime all but shut down the telephone system. It blocked text messages, Facebook and several opposition websites to prevent Mousavi supporters from mobilising en masse.
The BBC and other news websites were jammed. Foreign journalists were denied extensions to their visas, ensuring that most would have to leave today or tomorrow.
Opposition newspapers were ordered to carry positive headlines dwelling on Friday’s massive turnout, but some refused. One that supports Mousavi ran a story about Mother’s Day on its front page by way of protest. Another, which supported Mehdi Karoubi, another of the four candidates, mocked the election with a headline proclaiming: “Karoubi comes fifth”. IRIB, the monopoly state broadcaster, has scarcely mentioned the riots.
Mousavi supporters are torn between fury, fear and despair. The green ribbons, headbands, shirts and bandanas with which so many were festooned last week have vanished — to wear them now would invite a beating.
Such nice people those Iranian Government thugs, no? 🙄
Update #4: ABC News International Reports:
A spokesman for Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi says his camp will keep pushing to change the results of Friday’s election that gave incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad a landslide win.
“We are going to stay in the streets and ask the mullahs to give fatwas that Ahmedinejad is not our president. We are going to ask the Leader, through the will of the people, to change his mind,” said Mostafa Makhmalbaf, who is speaking to the foreign press on Mousavi’s behalf from his home in Paris.
“I don’t think we can do a total Revolution in Iran but we can make some change,” he told ABC News, describing what would be an unprecedented reversal for the Islamic Republic.
Mousavi’s campaign claims the announced outcome, which gave Ahmedinejad 63 percent of the vote, was fraudulent.
Ahmedinejad and state election officials, some of them his appointees, have said the election was fair and accurate, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed Ahmedinejad’s landslide win on Saturday morning. “The most magnificent contemporary election took place on Friday in Iran … to us this [complaint] lacks any legal base, and to our nation as well it is without any legal value,” Ahmedinejad said today at a victory press conference. International observers have pointed to irregularities; the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, noted a handful of concerns including a lack of data made available to support the overall count.
Makhmalbaf said the campaign urged governments around the world not to accept Ahmedinejad’s election as president.
“He is a coup d’etat man,” said Makhmalbaf, referring to the election results as “a state of fascism.”
Mousavi has called for the results to be dismissed and a new vote taken. His camp has planned a rally for Monday, marching from Tehran’s Engelab to Azadi Squares. Mousavi himself and former President Mohamed Khatami, his political backer, plan to attend the event.
Over the weekend, protests were met with a harsh response from riot police, who attacked demonstrators with batons and tear gas.
“People are like fire nowadays. Whatever Ahmedinejad does it will be worse. Saturday morning the city was in shock. Now in the coming days you’ll see a change,” Makhmalbaf said.
Makhmalbaf clarified rumors that Mousavi was under house arrest, saying there was no official detention but that police were keeping watch on his home, exerting enough pressure to keep him indoors.
Read the rest of that one, it is quite interesting.
Closing this Live Blog and will post more, as it comes in.
Update #5: Part III of this Blog is here
It seems that the situation in Iran is worse than the MSM is letting on…
Video via Andrew Sullivan, whom I have had issues with in the past, is following closely, as is AllahPundit:
What they are shouting is “Allah Akbar!” or “God is great!”; which happens to be what most terrorists shout, just before they blow themselves up. Which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Islamic terrorists hijacked a Religion. The irony is that this is same chant that was used during the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The neat thing about this is that this was all organized via twitter.
I’ll be posting things, that I see via the twitter feed and via twitterfall. Hash tags to use on twitter are #Iranelections, #iran, #Iranelection, #Ahmadinejad and possibly more, which I will add as I see them.
Update: BBC Report on the Situation in Iran, with reaction from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and someone from the Canadian Government:
Update #2 : Just received two reports via twitter user named persiankiwi:
fires burning. heard some gunshots about 10 mins ago. sounded like coming from north east tehran where fires are. #Iranelection
and…
I am hearing that Tehran Uni has been raided by Baseej. Have not been able to make a call since being told. #Iranelection
Update #3: Footage of the protests and the Iranian police’s lame attempt to break it up and the protesters attacking the police:
Update #4: Video here of evidence of beatings of Iranian college students. Via Andrew Sullivan, this:
Grand Ayatollah Sanei in Iran has declared Ahmadinejad’s presidency illegitimate and cooperating with his government against Islam. There are strong rumors that his house and office are surrounded by the police and his website is filtered. He had previously issued a fatwa, against rigging of the elections in any form or shape, calling it a mortal sin.
Update #5: via twitter:
persiankiwi: tehran is like war zone. it is unbelievable. fires everywhere. shooting, people shouting. #Iranelection
Update #6: Via Twitter:
@IranRiggedElect sources: “tear gas in the dorm. It’s un-uniformed police and riot guards. at least 100 students arrested.” #iranelection
Update #7: Via Twitter:
@persiankiwi students being killed in tehran uni dorm in amirabad right now. this must stop, ahmadinejad must stop. #Iranelection
Closing this live Blog and will open another…. Update: Click here to go to new live Blog.
