Bill Roggio does an excellent job of reporting the finer details of al-Qaeda’s demise. I say that with confidence because al-Qaeda is having a difficult time right now. They’re getting their collective butts kicked by former “friends” or “alliances” in Diyala Province and the Taliban aren’t up for it in Afghanistan - it’s back to Tora Bora.
Speaking of Diyala province, Roggio quotes the MNF in his post:
In an unprecedented combined action in Diyala Province, Iraqi police and citizen volunteers defeated a coordinated attack of approximately 40-60 al-Qaeda terrorists in the southern Burhitz area of Baqubah, Wednesday, and killed an estimated 21 insurgents, wounding more.
As the terrorists entered the city of Burhitz, a group of concerned local citizens, called ‘Baqubah Guardians,’ and IPs stationed in Burhitz engaged the first wave of attackers, killing seven. At least two suicide bombers were killed before they reached their intended targets, with the bomb vests detonating prematurely.
The IP notified the Provincial Joint Coordination Center and requested Coalition Force attack helicopter support after the first engagement. Attack helicopters arrived and engaged another large group of heavily armed fighters staging near the first attack site, killing or wounding an estimated 14 terrorists.
In another post, Roggio notes that the Taliban, always expounding on fear and intimidation, are taking it on the chin in Tora Bora - though we have lost three soldiers.
US-led troops in eastern Afghanistan kicked off a major offensive Sunday designed to root out Taliban, al Qaeda, and Hizb-i-Islami-Gulbadin fighters hiding in southeastern Nangahar province. So far, the fighting has killed at least three American GIs, two of whom were Green Berets. Local government officials say up to 50 militants are dead with another 40 “under siege.” The fighting has forced as many as 100 families in the area to flee. Early reports say at least seven civilians have been killed. The US troops, augmented by the Afghan National Army and close air support, are targeting “hundreds of foreign fighters” who are well-entrenched.
August 17th, 2007
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Badger 6 over at Badgers Forward wrote what I thought was a great post yesterday. It’s worth repeating so go there and read the rest:
At home people are demanding we leave; that some sort of timetable be set; that we announce to the world when we will leave Iraq. How can people who make those demands honestly say they want what is best for Iraq and Iraqis? The idea that our presence here makes Sunni kill Shia, Shia kill Sunni, or Arabs kill Kurds, is utterly preposterous. That’s like saying that if the Saint Louis Police Department were to quit patroling North Saint Louis drug gangs would cease killing each other.
I am tired; I am tired when I need to be most on too. I need to get my Soldiers out of theater safely and I need to continue to help bring the word about how successful we have been out here home. The other day one of our platoons did “go kinetic” along with the local land owner and killed between three and ten AQIZ. Why does it feel so much harder to fight my fellow citizens who seek to prevent us from being successful than to do a Route Clearance mission?
Why indeed?
August 17th, 2007
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COBdanny at Crotchety Old Bastard has an excellent slap down of O’Bama’s latest John Kerry act-alike performance.
Obama:
“Now you have narco drug lords who are helping to finance the Taliban, so we’ve got to get the job done there, and that requires us to have enough troops that we are not just air raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there.”
COBdanny:
Talk about your Winter Soldier. Barack Obama is a disgrace and a very small man playing on a big field. Honestly, without the pigmentation of his skin, would this buffoon have raised a single dollar?What logical policy does he support other than being an attractive black man?
What foreign policy does he endorse other than bombing allies?The total contempt of American fighting forces is just buttressed by this completely useless black man.
Of course he is in good company among Democrats:
Durbin- Our soldiers run gulags like “Nazi death camps, the Soviet gulag and the “Killing Fields” of Pol Pot…”
Murtha- Our Marines killed civilians “in cold blood”
Kerry- Our soldiers “personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals…”
Kerry- Our soldiers are stupid and lazy.
etc.
Well said.
August 14th, 2007
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Grim has a great post at Blackfive on this week’s blogger roundtable discussion (.pdf file) and the evidence in Iraq of a grassroot’s movement that may lead to reconcilitation - i.e., a stable Iraq. The roundtable guest was Brigadier General Kevin Bergner, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Effects in Iraq.
I liked this part of Grim’s summary:
Things are changing in Iraq. We’re seeing the first waves of the gravity well we’re building there, a well whose pull extends far beyond the borders of Iraq itself. It’s already strong enough to begin to exert its pull on the United Nations, which is suddenly willing to hedge its bets on success; and Sens. Durbin and Levin, who want to hedge theirs. I’ll say they are all welcome to do so. If we can ask political reconciliation of the Iraqis, we can ask it of ourselves. Anyone who wants to join us now in trying to help build success in Iraq, and stand against those who fight by murder and war crimes, is welcome aboard. I don’t care why they come, what their motives are, so long as they are willing to join the fight.
What we are seeing out of the Surge is a hint that success is possible — including the least likely form of success, the kind many even on the right wrote off: a democratic sea change in Iraqi society. Watching the local communities and tribes start to bring about the reality they want, leading rather than following the central government, is inspiring.
Like all of us, Grim acknowledges that we still have to wait. But the signs are encouraging nearly two months after Arrowhead Ripper started. Read Grim’s post here.
August 9th, 2007
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You gotta read this. Michael Totten interviews an Iraq interpreter - code named “Hammer”.
MJT: How did you feel when the U.S. invaded Iraq?
Hammer: Happy. It was like I was living in a jail and somebody set me free. I don’t want Saddam ruling me. Never. I was just waiting and waiting for this moment.
MJT: What do you think about the possibility of Americans leaving?
Hammer: It is like bad dream. Very bad dream. A nightmare. Worse than that. Like sending me back to jail. Like they set me free for four years then sent me back to jail or gave me a death sentence.
MJT: Tell us about living under Saddam Hussein.
Hammer: It was crazy life, like feeling safe inside a jail. If they sent you to an actual jail nothing changed. They arrested everyone, literally everyone, for no reason and sent them to jail for two weeks just so they could see the jail.
I went there three times. The first time because I worked for a movie company. They sent all of us to jail. It had nothing to do with me.
I was given a three year sentence. My family has money, so I paid the judge 50,000 dollars. I gave it directly to the judge, plus four new tires for his car and a satellite TV. He gave me a three month sentence instead of a three year sentence. He scratched “3 years” off my sentence and wrote “3 months” in by hand.
They sent me to Abu Ghraib. I saw so many things. If you want me to talk about that I would need a whole newspaper.
Read the whole thing - this guy is the real deal.
And if you can help support Michael Totten, please do so.
August 9th, 2007
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On a post at Little Green Footballs comes this report of all the things you can and cannot bring into Saudi - as a visitor. Like, of all the places I could go on vacation, Saudi doesn’t make it to the top 10,000.
Despite a series of initiatives aimed at generating foreign tourism, the Saudi Arabian government continues to bar Jews and Christians from bringing items such as Bibles, crucifixes and Stars of David into the country and is threatening to confiscate them on sight, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
“A number of items are not allowed to be brought into the kingdom due to religious reasons and local regulations,” declares the Web site of Saudi Arabian Airlines, the country’s national carrier.
After informing would-be visitors that items such as narcotics, firearms and pornography may not be transported into the country, the Web site adds: “Items and articles belonging to religions other than Islam are also prohibited. These may include Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols such as the Star of David, and others.”
Contacted by the Post, an employee of Saudi Arabian Airlines in New York, who would only give her name as Gladys, confirmed this rule was in force. “Yes, sir,” she said, “that is what we have heard, that it is a problem to bring these things into Saudi Arabia, so you cannot do it.”
An official at the Saudi Consulate in New York, who declined to give her name, told the Post that anyone bringing a Bible into the country or wearing a crucifix or Star of David around their neck would run into trouble with Saudi authorities.
“You are not allowed to bring that stuff into the kingdom,” the consular official said. “If you do, they will take it away,” she warned, adding, “If it is really important to you, then you can try to bring it and just see what happens, but I don’t recommend that you do so.”
Asked to explain the policy, the official said, “Every country has rules about what can or cannot enter.”
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that usually “what can and cannot enter” is connected to something hazardous.
I guess it has something to do with all those diseases you can get with a crucifix.
Oh, by the way, just to indicate the interest in Saudi’s toleration of other cultures there were well over 1700 comments to this post.
UPDATE:
Of course, the Dutch banning the Koran would be considered “racist”.
August 9th, 2007
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You’ll never be as good as Hank. You got that steriod thing hanging over you and it’s never gonna go away. Cause you did it.
“This record is not tainted at all. At all. Period,” Bonds said.
Liar, Liar, pants on fire.
UPDATE:
A friend sends this link with the note “Nevermind the chemical advantage - What about the mechanical advantage?”
“…by my estimate, Bonds’ front arm “armor” may have contributed no fewer than 75 to 100 home runs to his already steroid-questionable total.
As a student of baseball – and currently a mechanics consultant to a major league baseball team — I believe I have insight into the Bonds “achievement.” I have studied his swing countless times on video and examined the mechanical gear closely through photographs.
For years, sportswriters remarked that his massive “protective” gear – unequaled in all of baseball — permits Bonds to lean over the plate without fear of being hit by a pitch. Thus situated, Bonds can handle the outside pitch (where most pitchers live) unusually well. This is unfair advantage enough, but no longer controversial. However, it is only one of at least seven (largely unexplored) advantages conferred by the apparatus.”
Interesting article. Read the other six advantages he lists.
August 8th, 2007
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Sheesh. Imagine. How does a firefighter somehow feel “proud” of this?
In 28 years of responding to fires and saving lives, Fire Capt. John Ghiotto of the San Diego Fire Department never thought his job would require him to attend a Gay Pride parade.
“I’ve dealt with finding bodies in burning buildings, traffic accidents with kids, but I’ve never been so stressed out before until this incident,” Ghiotto told FOXNews.com in an exclusive interview.
Ghiotto and three other firefighters filed a sexual harassment complaint against the city’s fire department last week after being forced to attend the parade in uniform despite objections they made to superiors.
“Sexual Harassment?” This is more like forcing somebody to agree with a lifestyle most of us want no part of. The next thing Sandy Eggo will do is force folks to stand side by side with La Raza as they raise the American Flag upside down and sing the National Anthem in Spanish.
Oh - now it makes sense -
San Diego fire chief Tracy Jarman, an open lesbian, said she apologized to the men, according to a statement. Jarman said any kind of sexual harassment is “unacceptable, and is never tolerated” in the department.
I suspect that she’ll try to spin this like it wasn’t “really” sexual harassment. That’s be good. It’s “really” more like complete and utter stupidity.
These guys attended, in spite of their absolute disagreement with it, just so they could keep their jobs. That’s harassment alright - though attaching the word “sexual” to it kinda makes me think it’s just a process they can use. There’s no substitute for “sexual” - like obnoxious, moronic, insulting harassment. It’s just “sexual”. Can’t sue the “lesbian” Fire Chief for being stupid.
I was a firefighter for nearly 15 years. A volunteer. So was nearly all of the rest of our small town department. I can see the mayor or a fire chief saying we “have” to do something we find completely immoral and repugnant. There would be no fire department after that. All because an “in-your-face” Gay Pride parade crap that wants to force its own perverted morality on people who have no desire to take part.
In hindsight, I see no difference in being forced to participate in this and being intimidated by CAIR to not report suspected terrorist type behavior. This multicultural acceptance has bubbled up for what it is - a complete crock of bullshit.
August 8th, 2007
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Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch has an excellent dissection of what part of the problem is with so-called “advisors” to the White House administration and what they are trying to do - that is, re-align the semantic argument over “jihadists” to more “appropriately” call them what they think they are - “hiraba” or unlawful warfare. Spencer takes an otherwise helpful advisor, James Guirard, to task for trying to redefine the concepts of jihad and its resultant negative aspects by calling it something else. Something Guirard believes “more accurately” describes the al-Qaeda activities that would seem separate and distinct from Islam itself. Spencer notes that Walid Phares (and Spencer himself) is called into question by Guirard and a few others for limiting the framework of current jihadist activity and al-Qaeda type of terrorist behavior.
That angry writer’s complaint was that the four of us are refusing to follow his (and so many other’s) current addiction to Osama bin Laden’s self-sanctifying language of so-called “Jihadi Martyrdom” — namely, the five-word al Qaeda narrative of so-called Jihad (holy war) by purported mujahideen (holy warriors) and alleged shuhada (martyrs) who are supposedly destined for Jennah (Paradise) as a reward for killing all of us kuffr (infidels) and in due course disposing of al-Shaitan al-Kabir (the Great Satan). Dr. Phares insists that this is the one and only valid framework within which to properly and sufficiently attack al Qaeda-style Terrorism.
If you can follow the above attempt by Guirard to change the lexicon of how we are to perceive terrorists threats by al-Qaeda, then you will find Spencer’s post quite interesting. As Robert points out:
See, Guirard’s fundamental assumption, behind the cutesy language (”‘Jihadi’ (Holy Guys)” indeed), is that jihad is a good thing, a holy thing, and that the jihadists have appropriated it in defiance of Islamic theology and law. And that therefore, if we start using the terms that actually apply to them and their activities — criminals, unlawful warfare, rather than jihadists and jihad — the moderate Muslim majority will feel empowered to rise up against them, and take back Islam.
It would be great if it were true. But unfortunately it’s just a fantasy. The imperative to wage war against unbelievers in order to establish over them the hegemony of Islamic law wasn’t invented by Al-Qaeda; it is taught by all the Sunni schools of jurisprudence, and by the Shi’ites also. This doesn’t mean that every Muslim takes it seriously. But it does mean that it’s just whistling in the dark to think that Al-Qaeda’s claim to represent Islamic purity can’t draw on genuine elements of Islamic theology that encourage bellicosity. Fantasy-based policymaking is never wise.
It’s a little long of a report but very worthwhile reading. The narrative that Guirard’s jihadists apologists want to impress you with is that al-Qaeda types are not really jihadists, but murderers - and should be called as such. Some of the comments quite appropriately ask - “What’s the difference?”
And to bring the point into even clearer focus, Michael Yon had this to say about al-Qaeda in a New York Daily News article Sunday:
Clearly, not every terrorist in Iraq is Al Qaeda, but it is Al Qaeda that has been intentionally, openly, brazenly trying to stoke a civil war. As Al Qaeda is now being chased out of regions it once held without serious challenge, their tactics are tinged with desperation.
This may be the greatest miscalculation they’ve made in their otherwise sophisticated battle for the hearts and minds of locals, and it is one we must exploit.
…….
Anyone who says Al Qaeda is not one of the primary problems in Iraq is simply ignorant of the facts.
I, like everyone else, will have to wait for September’s report from Gen. Petraeus before making more definitive judgments. But I know for certain that three things are different in Iraq now from any other time I’ve seen it.
1. Iraqis are uniting across sectarian lines to drive Al Qaeda in all its disguises out of Iraq, and they are empowered by the success they are having, each one creating a ripple effect of active citizenship.
2. The Iraqi Army is much more capable now than it was in 2005. It is not ready to go it alone, but if we keep working, that day will come.
3. Gen. Petraeus is running the show. Petraeus may well prove to be to counterinsurgency warfare what Patton was to tank battles with Rommel, or what Churchill was to the Nazis.
And yes, in case there is any room for question, Al Qaeda still is a serious problem in Iraq, one that can be defeated. Until we do, real and lasting security will elude both the Iraqis and us.
Both articles well worth a read.
August 7th, 2007
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Amir Taheri has an article in WSJ.com’s Opinion Journal which supports the White House claims that Iran’s mullahs are losing support from the common folk.
It is early dawn as seven young men are led to the gallows amid shouts of “Allah Akbar” (Allah is the greatest) from a crowd of bearded men as a handful of women, all in hijab, ululate to a high pitch. A few minutes later, the seven are hanged as a mullah shouts: “Alhamd li-Allah” (Praise be to Allah).
The scene was Wednesday in Mashad, Iran’s second most populous city, where a crackdown against “anti-Islam hooligans” has been under way for weeks.
The Mashad hangings, broadcast live on local television, are among a series of public executions ordered by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last month as part of a campaign to terrorize an increasingly restive population. Over the past six weeks, at least 118 people have been executed, including four who were stoned to death. According to Saeed Mortazavi, the chief Islamic prosecutor, at least 150 more people, including five women, are scheduled to be hanged or stoned to death in the coming weeks.
The latest wave of executions is the biggest Iran has suffered in the same time span since 1984, when thousands of opposition prisoners were shot on orders from Ayatollah Khomeini.
Ahmanutjob’s effort at “controlling” the population’s hearts and minds isn’t going well. Free trade unions and universities have been targeted specifically. And Taheri notes that Ahmanut’s effort at putting up walls is obvious, even to the casual observer:
The nationwide crackdown is accompanied with efforts to cut Iranians off from sources of information outside the Islamic Republic. More than 4,000 Internet sites have been blocked, and more are added each day. The Ministry of Islamic Orientation has established a new blacklist of authors and book titles twice longer than what it was a year ago. Since April, some 30 newspapers and magazines have been shut and their offices raided. At least 17 journalists are in prison, two already sentenced to death by hanging.
Nothing like good tyranny to get the masses on your side.
August 6th, 2007
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Caught this story on Opfor, a great milblog with almost no political bias. The link is to another milblog, the Torch, with a story that is incredible in its own right - but you’ll never see it on any of our Antique Media showcases. The title, as Opfor notes, is the best part -
Will we edit out the last scene?
A Canadian serving with the KPRT recently sent back some photos from halfway around the world, and an interesting story along with them:
The recent rains and flooding took a toll on a by-pass road to the East of Kandahar City and caused severe damage. The dyke that protects the road failed and allowed fast flowing water to erode the road itself and many places along the side of the road as well. In total, a 15 metre gap was made when the water washed away a culvert and the road on top of it, and 300-400 metres of the road and its shoulders were also damaged.
The Mayor and city engineers went to inspect the site and then asked the KPRT for some help, but not with repairing the road itself. The help they were looking for is with the dyke system and the KPRT is currently assessing what it can do to help.
Not long ago, the Mayor would have come to the KPRT and asked for help fixing everything. As the City will repair the road on its own, this is a good sign of progress. The Mayor and City engineers feel confident enough in their abilities and that of their staff and equipment to take on these significant road repairs by themselves.
It’s progress, slowly, but in a huge way. The KPRT, by the way, is the Provincial Reconstruction Team. There’s one in every province of Afghanistan.
August 5th, 2007
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Dafydd over at Big Lizards has an excellent take on the FISA legislation the dumocrats caved to - finally - for the next six months. After which the White House will have to do it all over again.
At last, Democrats in both chambers of Congress arrived at the same conclusion, which they enacted and sent on to the president for signature: They caved to the Bush plan to reform the nearly three decade old FISA, thus betraying the MoveOn, George Soros, Daily Kos wing of the Democratic Party (they’ve been flying on one wing for seven years now).
But then, in an agony of cleverness, they set things up so their surrender to the Bush plan will only last six months… at which point they’ll have to go through the entire nightmare all over again, navigating the narrow passage between the six-headed snake and the greedy whirlpool, to finally arrive right back to the same bill they just approved six months down the road (with or without yet another sunset clause).
Memo to self - dumocrats have no idea what National Security is. All this so that our government can monitor calls from a foreigner likely to be a terrorist to another foreigner (who may also be a terrorist).
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Sheesh.
August 5th, 2007
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