Frontpage Interview's guest today is Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterrorism consultant. He frequently appears as an analyst on ABC, the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, al-Jazeera, and talk radio, and writes for publications that include Reader's Digest, Commentary, The Weekly Standard, and The Wall Street Journal Europe. Gartenstein-Ross's rise in the field has been aided by a very unusual background: born into a Jewish family, Daveed converted to Islam while in college, and his first job after college was with the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, an international Wahhabi charity that proved to be an al-Qaeda financier. Daveed's new book, My Year Inside Radical Islam, documents his time working at Al Haramain.
A good interview, if brief. Go read the whole thing. Interesting how he ended up turning his back on the radical Islam he'd adopted and converted to Christianity... also how a number of those who'd similarly become radicalized ended up outgrowing it.
#1
I read this story in Reader's Digest. Couldn't figure out why a Jewish kid would want to convert to islam. Thought he was the same kind of person who was looking for something and might end up at Jonestown or at Waco.
#2
Guess it's like an Orange County kid ending up in Afghanistan against our own troops. People searching for something, but not lookin' in the right places.
Posted by: BA ||
01/31/2007 22:26 Comments ||
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I suppose that's one way to stop the diddling...
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The first all-female U.N. peacekeeping unit, made up of 103 women from India, arrived in Liberia on Tuesday to help the West African nation recover from 14 years of on-and-off civil war. The contingent, led by Commandant Seema Dhundia, is composed of three platoons of 30 women each plus 13 officers.
Working with a logistics unit of 22 men, it will be based at a camp in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, but be available for deployment anywhere in the country, the United Nations said.
#1
I would have sent the Swedish Bikini Team. I'd put them up against the Indian Sari Team any time. I am also available to referee the mud wrestling war games.
#3
They're CRPF police - under the Indian Federal home ministry. The CRPF has taken over counterinsurgency duties from the army and the BSF in Srinagar and other urban areas in Kashmir.
The Indian Gov't wants the CRPF to handle majority of COIN ops, leaving the army free for regular duties.
The team, which has been training since September, leaves for Liberia on Sunday, said Abhishek Dayal, a spokesman for India's Central Reserve Police Force, which contributed the officers.
India has been a major contributor to U.N. peacekeeping missions for decades, and has sent women as part of earlier contingents, too.
However, this is the first all-female peacekeeping team, and participants have said it would have unique advantages in conflict zones.
"Women police are seen to be much less threatening, although they can be just as tough as men. But in a conflict situation, they are more approachable and it makes women and children feel safer," Seema Dhundia, a unit commander, said recently.
All peacekeepers have battled insurgencies in India's own trouble spots: Islamic militants in Kashmir, separatist guerrillas in the tropical jungles of the northeast and Maoist rebels in central India.
Posted by: john ||
01/31/2007 14:48 Comments ||
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#4
The specialised formed police unit, comprising 125 female officers of the paramilitary force, has received training in crowd control, handling of weapons, teargas and unarmed combat.
The team, led by Commandant Seema Dhondiya, will be armed with pistols, Insas and AK-47 rifles and light machine guns.
The force is expected to undertake joint patrolling and general area domination besides riot control, training of officers of the Liberian National Police and other related jobs during its stay in the crisis-hit West African nation.
The contingent will be equipped with bulletproof vehicles, riot control vehicles, night vision devices and GPS systems.
Posted by: john ||
01/31/2007 14:51 Comments ||
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#5
"they are more approachable and it makes women and children feel safer"
Hell, compared to the usual child rapists UN piece-keepers, a rabid dog would make women and children feel safer.
Good-lookin' ladies, and undoubtedly tough as nails.
Let's hope some of the Liberian hard boyz find that out the hard way. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/31/2007 16:26 Comments ||
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#6
Barb: They don't appear to be in the best of moods...
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/31/2007 20:26 Comments ||
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#8
Way Kool John... but I do hope they have ready access to more weapons and armor than AKs and light machine guns.
re Liberian warlords and drug-crazed killer bandits:
"peacekeeping in Liberia" They'll need first rate logistics, an intel unit, heavy weapons or 911 back up, and the full range of liaison/locals including translators.
Surely the Indian gubmint won't be relying on the Turtle Bay Posers to back up these gals in any meaningful way??
The mercy petitions filed by six kingpins of banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh are likely to be sent to the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, on Wednesday or Thursday.
Who will think about it for a day or two and then authorize their hanging ...
The prison directorate has already submitted the petitions of all six militants to the ministry of home affairs seeking presidential clemency against the death sentences handed to them for killing two judges in Jhalakati. Prison authorities submitted three petitions, one on Thursday, two on Sunday and the rest three on Monday to the home secretary, Abdul Karim. The ministry will send the petitions to the president after scrutiny which may take a couple of days, a home ministry official told New Age.
Execution of the militants will not be possible on the primary date (February 17) fixed by the prison authorities. Fixing a primary date is a practice, said brigadier general Zakir Hasan, inspector general of prison, adding, There is no chance of hanging them on the date fixed primarily. He said another date will be fixed when we will receive the decision of the president on the mercy petitions.
A fresh 28-day countdown will start from the day the documents are returned to us, Zakir said.
"We just sorta wing it."
According to procedure, the documents, with the presidents decision, will come back to the ministry of home affairs which will send the files to the prison authorities.
In their petitions, they did not follow the normal procedure and used jihadi language and spirit. Although their families are desperate to save their lives, the top militants seem somewhat defiant as they have declared in the petitions that on one but Allah can grant mercy.
And I wouldn't count on him. I sure hope these boys go the gallows with jihaid words on their lips ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Wait when it comes to actually doing something to Iran and the EU will turn on US like they did with Iraq.
All the way EU was talking strutting but when it came to actually walkin the walk they did the EU way and b*tched up and attacked US for having a set a balls and therefore showing them for what they have become. WW2 pernamentley nuetered the EU. EU of course being short E Europe and Britian which are at least still one hangin low.
GERMAN prosecutors have ordered arrest warrants for 13 people working for the CIA in connection with the alleged kidnapping of a Lebanese-born German man, public broadcaster NDR reported today.
Authorities in the southern city of Munich are probing allegations by Khaled el-Masri that he was abducted by US agents in the Macedonian capital Skopje on New Year's Eve 2003 and flown to a prison in Afghanistan for interrogation before he was released five months later in Albania. Masri has claimed without substantiating evidence said he was tortured while imprisoned.
The Munich prosecutor's office declined to confirm the report.
NDR said that the 13 suspects were facing charges of abduction and grievous bodily harm. The broadcaster said most of the CIA employees sought lived in the US state of North Carolina. NDR noted that the German arrest warrants were not valid in the US and that US authorities had refused to cooperate with the investigation. If the suspects were to travel to the EU, however, they could be arrested.
NDR said that German investigators had identified the 13 suspects with the help of the Spanish police because several so-called CIA rendition operations started from the airport in Palma de Mallorca. The report quoted Spain's Civil Guard as saying that Masri was seized by 13 CIA agents and flown on a Boeing 737 to Afghanistan.
The Spanish authorities learned the identities of all 13 agents on board and had copies of some of their passports. Although all of the names given were believed to be aliases, NDR said it was possible, using other data, to learn their real names.
Great tradecraft there, CIA. That'll teach you to think that the Europeans are our friends and that you can relax your standards when over there.
The report said three of the suspects worked for Aero Contractors, believed to be the CIA's secret airline.
Beyond the criminal investigation, the German parliament has launched a probe into Masri's case that has heard witnesses including Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his predecessor Joschka Fischer.
Count on Joschka to be at any anti-American proceeding.
Masri is also pursuing a compensation claim against the CIA in US courts. He is one of the best-known cases of the "extraordinary renditions" undertaken by the CIA as part of US anti-terror efforts.
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/31/2007 8:46 Comments ||
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#3
This should result in a change of policy for the US government.
Unless there is a probability that the target individual knows specific information, the operatives should perform a hasty field interrogation, at the conclusion of which they should terminate their interviewee.
If they during their inquiries, they determine that they do indeed have specific knowledge, then they shall be transported to a final destination to ascertain the breadth of that knowledge, after which the interviewee will again be terminated.
But in future, there will be no more "catch and release". If an operational supervisor in the rear or in the field determines that an individual is important enough to detain, then they are also important enough to eliminate.
#4
I think another policy change that needs to happen is the immediate withdrawal of troops from Germany (it has been 60+ years, QUAGMIRE!!!) and the expulsion of all German diplomats with the understanding that if Germany continues to issue warrants against Americans, it will be considered a act of war.
#5
DV, it disgusts me too. But Landstuhl Med Ctr and Ramstein AB are huge, expensive, and critically located for quickly getting wounded soldiers from the battlefield to top-notch treatment. Pretty much everything else in Germany will soon be drawn down and/or moved to Italy.
It surprises me that this comes out of Bavaria, but besides Germany, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Fwance, Spain, etc. have all been adversarial and obstructionist at one point or another, to impress their EU masters and prove that they're still relevant on the world stage.
These showy little antics rarely go anywhere, and they're not really intended to. Milosevic died in the middle of his trial, still ongoing after 5 full years in European custody. I doubt this will amount to anything either.
#6
Maybe we could work a sorta swap-out program with Germany, We get folks they can"t do anything to, and they come here and get the folks we can"t seem to do anything about.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/31/2007 10:21 Comments ||
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#7
Wasn't it the German police that released the Munich bombers?
#1
Dammit, I thought he was better than that, Well he just lost my vote/sarc
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/31/2007 9:06 Comments ||
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#2
With all his years of military service, his total understanding of what this would do to the US on the political stage, and how it would allow an insurgent driven civil war to turn into wholesale slaughter I can only say he is either a total moron or a subversive traitor. You decide.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/31/2007 9:33 Comments ||
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#6
It's too bad because a politician in his position could have really pushed for the "vietnamization" of Iraq in a way that the left might have listened to.
It puts Hilary very much on the spot. To the Dem left, this says "Obama is a man of conviction, who stands up for what he beleives, while Hilary evades the question" The Dem center, which isnt particularly drawn to this, is not likely to react hard, having largely lost heart on Iraq. The few residual Dem Iraq-Hawks werent gonna go for Obama anyway. So its all gain, and little loss.
al-Ellison is our fault. Don't blame us for this guy too.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/31/2007 15:37 Comments ||
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#11
This is the realm Obama, Osama, Come on pretty mama. All the "moderate" crap is simply campaign fluff. His voting record is that of an ultraliberal.
#13
I can understand your confusion. This guy is a ringer for a Minnesota liberal.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/31/2007 22:45 Comments ||
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#14
#2 49 Pan - I think you may have Obamaslammajamma mixed up with somebody else. To the best of my knowledge he has no military experience. OTOH, fellow cut & runner Chuck Hagel (RINO-5th Column) is a Vietnam veteran.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
01/31/2007 22:47 Comments ||
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#15
Sorry to confuse you Abu, the rant was a cynical gesture.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/31/2007 23:36 Comments ||
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Stabilizing Iraq will require "new and different actions" to improve security and promote political reconciliation, the Navy admiral poised to lead American forces in the Middle East said Tuesday. Adm. William Fallon, at his confirmation hearing, also told the Senate Armed Services Committee that it may be time to "redefine the goals" in Iraq. And he said he believes Iran would like to limit America's influence in the region. "I believe the situation in Iraq can be turned around, but time is short," he said.
Fallon, 62, who currently is commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said he saw a need for a comprehensive approach to Iraq, including economic and political actions to resolve a problem that requires more than military force. "What we have been doing has not been working," he said. "We have got to be doing, it seems to me, something different."
Fallon said that "we probably erred in our assessment" of the Iraqi government's ability to rebuild its society and establish a peaceful order after the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago. "One of the things in the back of my mind that I'd like to get answered is to meet with the people that have been working this issue particularly our ambassadors, our diplomats to get an assessment of what's realistic and what's practical," Fallon said. "And maybe we ought to redefine the goals here a bit and do something that's more realistic in terms of getting some progress and then maybe take on the other things later," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"One of the things in the back of my mind that I'd like to get answered is to meet with the people that have been fuc*ing working this issue up particularly our ambassadors, our diplomats to get an assessment of what's realistic and what's practical,"
Here, Dr. Khalilzad, pass the admiral more gold fish crackers and Kool Aid. Don't mind the sirens and loud booms outside admiral, just some nasty controlled detonations. Gold fish crackers are just the ticket for settling a stomach after a dizzying spiral from 40,000 feet over BIOP. It's a noise abatement thing, loud, nasty, mean old airplanes... waking up the locals. You know the deal.
#2
..Someone PLEASE bring me up to speed on something: since WHEN does Congress have the right to confirm military commanders?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/31/2007 8:48 Comments ||
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#3
They've always had the right. The armed forces are the creation of the Congress, says so in the Constitution. The Congress approves all commissions of officers and they've routinely reviewed all major appointments and commands.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2007 11:35 Comments ||
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#4
Steve-
Okay, understood now - I didn't phrase my question properly. I was wondering why Congress had to approve a theatre commander for a specific slot, I knew they approve the members of the JCS and all GO nominations.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/31/2007 15:20 Comments ||
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An immigration judge ordered the federal government Tuesday to halt its 20-year effort to deport two Palestinian men accused of terrorist ties.
Judge Bruce J. Einhorn ruled the government had denied Khader Hamide and Michel Shehadeh, members of the so-called "L.A. Eight," due process by keeping them in legal limbo for so many years and being unprepared to prosecute the case.
In his 11-page opinion, Einhorn described the proceedings as "a festering wound on the body of respondents and an embarrassment to the rule of law." He scolded the government for failing to release evidence favorable to the men after he had ordered it.
The two men, five other Palestinians and a Kenyan faced deportation since 1987. They were arrested on suspicion of association with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which has opposed peace negotiations between the PLO and Israel. The U.S. government considers it a terrorist organization.
The eight have denied being members, and immigrant rights groups have called the case politically motivated.
Attorney Marc Van Der Hout, who represents the "L.A. Eight," said the judge's order will make it safer for immigrants to express political views.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "finds the judge's decision troubling as a matter of fact and law, and the agency is considering its legal options," according to an agency statement.
Four of the eight, including Hamide and Shehadeh, have legal residency, according to immigration officials. Two remain in immigration proceedings, while the status of the final two was not immediately known.
MIAMI - A federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated a key terrorism charge, the only one carrying a potential life sentence, against suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with federal prosecutors in Miami that the charge that the U.S. citizen and his two co-defendants conspired to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas did not duplicate other counts in the indictment. The Atlanta-based court reversed a decision last summer by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, who said the three charges in the indictment contained nearly identical elements and could subject the defendants to extra punishment for the same act, violating protections against double jeopardy.
Although defense attorneys may file a challenge, Tuesday's ruling brings the case a step closer to trial as scheduled April 16. The appeals court had agreed to hear the case on an expedited basis after Cooke said she would not begin jury selection until the issue was settled. "We are gratified by the 11th Circuit's swift decision and look forward to presenting the evidence at trial," U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said in a statement.
Defense attorneys have 21 days to ask the panel to rehear the case or request that the full appeals court take it up. Lawyers for Padilla and his co-defendants did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2007 00:00 ||
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The red in that keffiya is sooo not his colour.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon said Tuesday it had stopped selling surplus F-14 parts, announcing the step after congressional criticism of security weaknesses that had given buyers for countries including Iran access to the aircraft parts and other valuable gear. Sales of parts from the recently retired fleet were halted last Friday, Defense Logistics Agency spokesman Jack Hooper said, adding that marketing of the parts will remain suspended until a ``comprehensive review'' is completed. He did not immediately elaborate.
The decision comes as a Democratic senator moves to cut off all Pentagon sales of surplus F-14 parts, saying the military's marketing of the spares ``defies common sense'' in light of their importance to Iran. Sen. Ron Wyden's bill came in response to an investigation by The Associated Press that found weaknesses in surplus-sale security that allowed buyers for countries including Iran and China to surreptitiously obtain sensitive U.S. military equipment including Tomcat parts.
The Oregon Democrat's legislation would ban the Defense Department from selling surplus F-14 parts and prohibit buyers who have already acquired surplus Tomcat parts from exporting them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2007 00:00 ||
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Whoa! What's wrong with this picture? I thought the Dems were for giving the stuff away for free?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/31/2007 6:24 Comments ||
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#3
...This is without question one of the dumbest moves anybody has made in a long, long time, and I have no sympathy for anyone involved.
The fact of the matter is that only one other nation on the planet flies the Tomcat, and they are our sworn enemies. We have no intention of bringing the 'Cat back into service (NOTE: When a US military aircraft leaves the inventory, every operational trace of it is literally erased from the inventory. In the case of the 'Cat, it was even more thorough, because the USN has a strong interest in NEVER seeing it come back, but that's another story)and every last one of those parts should have been de-mil'ed or destroyed, and THEN sold for their scrap value.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/31/2007 8:59 Comments ||
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#8
the USN has a strong interest in NEVER seeing it come back, but that's another story
Why's that?
Posted by: Mike ||
01/31/2007 15:29 Comments ||
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#9
What is really interesting is that it took a Dem senator to do something, when all the Trunks didn't.
Mike: can you elaborate on the comment about the USN not ever wanting the Tomcat to come back? I know they destroyed all tooling for the P-6M and the USAF did the same to the B-35/-49 and various Blackbird version tooling, but not aware of anything like that for the -14.
The late model Tomcats - especially the Bombcats -gave incredible service during the initial stages of the GWOT. Although their bombload wasn't quite what the F-18 can carry, it could do it a heck of a lot farther, faster, and more reliably - plus it still had the ability to be a world class dogfighter and carry the AIM-54 Phoenix. However, the USN had decreed that the Sewer Horror Super Hornet is the wave of the future - lousy range, iffy warload and all. (That's also the reason the A-6s were summarily excecuted instead of being rebuilt in the mid-90s, which lost the Navy what would have been the world's most capable all-weather strike ship) The word went out that the Tomcat would NOT recieve its next planned upgrades (my understanding is that it would have gotten a radar upgrade that would have made it an all-round killer)and the AIM-54C was sent to the graveyard as well. With a deckload of Hornets, the USN not only has all its eggs in one basket (fixed-wing ASW is almost gone too)but is tied to an airplane whose range with a serious warload is way too short, and has to devote (IIRC)1/3rd of the Hornets on any given deployment to aerial refueling. (We lost the KA-6s, too).
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/31/2007 16:57 Comments ||
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#11
...Almost forgot - the jigs were ordered destroyed a long while back, IIRC early 90s.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/31/2007 17:01 Comments ||
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#12
It's almost as if someone really planned in advance to downgrade our seaborne airstrike capabilities, which had been built up steadfastly over many years. Let's see, just who was it who was in charge during the mid-90s, I seem to forget...
#13
Mike K: where have you been? I thought I was the only one standing on the Grumman bandstand (notice the conspicuous absence of the Northrop part of the name).
I got to work on the Bombcats @ PAX RVR and was hip deep in all the Skypig upgrades (plastic wing, SWIP Block 1A, etc).
Agree 100% about the Lawn Dart being a political airplane and no legs. Go read "Pentagon Paradox."
In my heart of hearts I believe that the Lawn Dart Mafia had a say in (then) SecDef Cheney's decision to pull the plug on the Dorito, also.
Look at the bright side: lost the KA-6 gained the (K)S-3A ( buddy store on one side) "snort"
Another plus: all the Florida scuba dudes have a neat new artifical reef, called " Intruder Reef." (guess what it is made from)
The ruins of the Soldiers of Heaven compound in Najaf yielded new evidence yesterday that the Shia religious cult had amassed huge wealth and weapons arsenals virtually under the noses of the Iraqi and US military forces. The airconditioned compound had the rare luxury of a large swimming pool, a fleet of new cars and trucks, a beauty parlour, and held a storehouse of weapons.
US soldiers confiscated as much as $10 million in US currency from the compound, where the bodies of dead cultists littered the ground.
The fanatical sect was largely wiped out on Sunday in a fierce battle on its land a few kilometres north of Najaf after military authorities said they had learned its members planned to attack worshippers and Iraq's leading Shia Muslim clerics during religious celebrations on Tuesday. Security forces and provincial authorities said 150 to 400 fighters had been killed, including the cult's leader, Ahmed Bin al-Hassani, who claimed to his followers to be the messenger of the "Hidden Imam" of Shia theology.
The cult had no known connections to Iraq's many militias and insurgent groups. And an Iraqi police colonel said the authorities had not attacked the cult earlier because they thought it was affiliated with the anti-US rebel Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Many contradictions remain unexplained. A neighbour of the cult compound, Mohan Hameed, said the religious group began moving into the small farming area 8km north of Najaf 16 or 17 years ago. On Monday, the provincial governor said the group bought the farmland only months ago.
Mr Hameed said that when the cult first moved in, its members told him they were fleeing tribal disputes in Babil province. Aside from the occasional brush with criminal authorities, "they were always on good terms with the residents of the area. They never bothered anyone".
Corpses yesterday lay everywhere, contorted in death. The remains of three children and six women were visible among the heaps of uncollected dead. Ali Nomas, a spokesman for the security forces in Najaf, said 350 bodies had been collected in area hospitals. So far, he said, no one had claimed any of them. Cell phones in the pockets of the dead continue to ring.
BAGHDAD More than 30 Iraqi Police officers were formally recognized for their dedication and personal sacrifice during a ceremony held in their honor at the 1st Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd National Police Division Headquarters in Baghdad recently. This first-ever ceremony made the honorees a member of a new order known as the Knights of Iraq. Anybody else see the irony, here?
I feel great on this great day because Im recognizing my great soldiers, my best guys who were wounded, and the guys who sacrificed their lives in action, said Iraqi Police Col. Ali Mohammed, who is the assistant commander. These [policemen] work hard and put everything, even their lives in danger, for fighting the terrorist and even the bad people. According to Lt. Col. Ronald P. Reyna, the 1/6/2 National Police Transition Team chief, who is also a police officer in Louisville, Ky., wanted to honor the 12 Iraqi Police officers killed and the more than 100 wounded during the past year.
In the United States Army, we have a tradition of recognizing outstanding performance. These police officers have gone above and beyond the call of duty and set a fine example for other police officers to follow, he said to the ceremony attendants. I think its a great day to recognize some great efforts by some heroic police officers who have done an outstanding job throughout the year.
Reyna said the name, Knights of Iraq, is similar to the U.S. Armys Purple Heart Medal which is in the Order of George Washington in that it will one day have the same symbolism of bravery and sacrifice given to become a member of that order. We stand together and fight the cause and fight the enemy, he said of his Iraqi brethren. It really is a day of recognition for those who made those sacrifices, and I think it recognizes some great police officers sharing in some common bonds of being on the road together and fighting the enemy.
One of the police officers who was honored came to the ceremony on crutches, as a result of some small-arms fire a few months ago. He said it was great that he and his comrades were honored. I feel great today, said Shihab Akmed Hussein, an Iraqi Police officer. Now, I want just want to come back to work so I can help protect my country from the terrorists and kick them out of the country.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/31/2007 06:17 ||
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I feel great today, said Shihab Akmed Hussein, an Iraqi Police officer. Now, I want just want to come back to work so I can help protect my country from the terrorists and kick them out of the country.
#3
I don't see the irony. Arabs had/have a tradition of chivalry that goes back at least as far as that of European chivalry. The poet Dante put Muhammad in Hell, but put the Kurdish general Saladin in the ranks of the virtuous pagans, related to Saladin's performance in the Crusades against the Crusaders.. Linking notions of Arabic chivalry to the modern task of bringing law'n order to Iraq seems a very good idea indeed.
#4
Maybe I am picking a nit, AH... but Saladin was a Kurd, so that would be Kurdish chivalry. If you got an Arab representative of "Arabic" chivalry, please present, by all means. I mean an Arab, not a Berber, Moor, or any other ethnic group that has been Islamized.
#5
Look, if it gets them thinking in the right way, then who cares if historically Saladin was a Kurd? Here in America we're all Irish on March 17th. Most of the rest of the world would benefit from letting go of the back breaking weight of historical exactness in favour. Anguper Hupomosing9418 could more accurately have said the Muslim world has a history of idealized knighthood just as does Christendom, contemporanous to it, and equally honoured mostly in the breach.
BAGHDAD - Iraq has launched a search for a select group of motivated, apolitical volunteers to help rebuild its once powerful but shattered air force. The defence ministry this week sent out a call for air force recruits with strong scientific backgrounds ready to volunteer for 15 years as pilots.
Applicants should be of Iraqi parents or an Iraqi father and an Arab mother, a ministry statement said. They must not belong to a political party and should be loyal only to Iraq.
Under the rule of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq had one of the most advanced air forces in the Middle East, with hundreds of warplanes including Russian Mig and Sukhoi fighter jets and French Mirage aircraft. When a US-led coalition attacked Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War, the air force was annihilated, with those planes not destroyed either hidden or flown to neighbouring Iran, where they were impounded to pay for damages from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
Those hidden in Iraq were discovered following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and sliced up to prevent subsequent use. Air force pilots also allegedly became the target of Shia militias who sought to punish them for bombing Iran, and many officers were shot dead.
Iraq now has some helicopters provided by friendly countries and coalition forces, but their number is not known.
The air force headquarters is located in the southern city of Nasiriyah, according to a former pilot, but volunteers were told to submit applications in Baghdad and the northern Kurdish cities of Sulaimaniyah and Arbil. Applicants should have good conduct and no criminal record, the ministry said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2007 00:00 ||
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...Rumor has it they're going to get a couple squadrons of early model F-16s. The Falcon - while a supremely capable aircraft - is seen as less threatening than anything else. With reasonably well trained pilots, they could give any air force in the area a bloody nose or worse.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/31/2007 5:49 Comments ||
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#2
Except for one, Mike.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/31/2007 10:23 Comments ||
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#3
Interesting. And by tying the Iraqi Air Force to American aircraft, they get tied to American spare parts -- no parts = no flying airplanes.
And they get tied to American advisors who perhaps will, over time, persaude Iraqis of the value of something better than insh'allan maintenance.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2007 11:38 Comments ||
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#4
Steve- the F-16 has been exported to many countries. If you want to have a monopoly of parts / support work, then may I suggest the F-111 (Britian and Australia), the F-4 (Israel) or the A-6? For land based work the Intruder would do just fine and could carry a double sh!tpot full of bombs. Maybe in the future we could make a deal on some F-14s.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said in remarks published on Tuesday that he hopes sectarian militias will be dissolved and the Sunni insurgency ended within six months. Al Maliki made the optimistic prediction in an interview with the Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat as US and Iraqi forces prepare for a major security crackdown in Baghdad - the third attempt within a year to curb sectarian violence.
The militias have to end and be transferred to political organizations and any competition with the state in its attempt to bring about security must end, said Al Maliki, who owes his job in part to the backing of radical Shia cleric Muqtada Al Sadr, leader of the biggest Shia militia, the Mahdi Army.
Asked how long it will take to dissolve militias, Al Maliki said I dont want to tie myself to deadlines but my intention is to end this matter. I have two matters that I want to finish as soon as possible and they are terrorism and militias from one side and then national reconciliation and outlaws.
I have hope that those two matters will be done in less than six months since militias have started complying and the government is imposing itself. Our success in ending the militias will lead to a success in national reconciliation, Al Maliki said.
Just as long as you can keep a lid on the worst of it in Baghdad ...
The prime minister acknowledged that infiltration by Sunni and Shia extremists was a problem in both the army and police. He said the problem was worse in the army because armed group sympathizers hold high ranks. He mentioned an army officer who was involved in Sunni insurgent activities in Baghdads Haifa street that witnessed clashes last week between US and Iraqi troops against insurgents. We have sacked thousands of members of the police and armed forces, he said. Al-Maliki added that authorities were screening all Iraqi officers expected to take part in the upcoming crackdown to identify militia and insurgent infiltrators.
He said he understood that the United States would not continue its support indefinitely unless the government showed progress in addressing sectarian and other problems.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2007 00:00 ||
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I have hope that those two matters will be done in less than six months or it could be sixty years inshallah, since militias have started complying and the government is imposing itself.
Yep, peace is litterally breaking out all over. "Hope" is not a method.
#2
I have hope that those two matters will be done in less than six months since militias have started complying and the government is imposing itself. Our success in ending the militias will lead to a success in national reconciliation, Al Maliki said.
Hmmmm, funny how that just happens to coincide with the 6-month window for tangible results from the surge that have been bandied about in the press.
President Pervez Musharraf and his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, have pledged to host an international convention of Muslim scholars charged with plotting a course towards Middle East peace. Muslim scholars. Peaceful, intellectual, reflective types, no doubt. Able to resolve what countless others before them have not.
General Musharraf, on a whirlwind visit to Jakarta and neighbouring Malaysia, yesterday called on "like-minded, strong and credible" Muslim nations to join forces in an attempt to resolve crises of violence and leadership across the Islamic world. I'd start from scratch if I was them. Get rid of arabs, replace with monkeys, wait for evolution to occur.
He said he and Dr Yudhoyono would put the proposal to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah - like the two Asian leaders, a key US ally in its war on terror - "in order to consult on how to get this group together".
King Abdullah this week offered to broker peace talks between the warring Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas, whose attacks have left 30 dead in recent days.
Walking a fine line between accusing outside forces of responsibility for the Middle East's troubles and acknowledging the viciousness of power contests and civil wars wrenching apart various polities, General Musharraf warned that time was running out "to bring harmony" to the worst-affected areas.
"The time has come for action - there is no room for complacency," he urged, calling for "resolution to the disputes which are festering within the Muslim world".
Indonesia, whose roughly 200million Muslims largely follow the faith's Sunni stream, remains largely untroubled by the Sunni-Shia violence that plagues large parts of the Islamic world, including Iraq and Pakistan.
General Musharraf has in recent days been forced to urge calm in his own country as sectarian violence - peaking with the Shia festival of Ashura, marking the martyrdom of the prophet Mohammad's grandson at the hands of Sunni forces - left several dead.
However, Dr Yudhoyono emphasised yesterday that the international conference proposed during a 90-minute meeting at his Jakarta palace would include leaders from both of Islam's two main streams.
"We hope they would be able to produce a positive fatwah expressing the best ways to end conflict in the nations of the Middle East," the Indonesian President said. Fatwa:
1. Push Joooos into sea
2. Create Islamic Paradise
3. Blame Joooos for subsequent killing
Indonesia, whose place as a breeding ground for violent Islamist groups has led to special attention from Washington, recently hosted a visit from US President George W. Bush, with talks focusing specifically on the US military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Analysts said yesterday General Musharraf would have discussed some of the same issues with his host, with the latter capitalising on Indonesia's recent elevation to the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member.
"Indonesia's true capacity here is at the level of lobbying," said Hamdan Basyar, a Middle East analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. "And because we're a member of the Security Council, we have an international role to play.
"I think Pakistan sees that Indonesia and America have a good relationship, so there is an opportunity for mediation with the powerful country - America - via Indonesian lobbying.
"The Iraq problem cannot be resolved by war. So I think this meeting is a form of persuading Indonesia to persuade America of that."
Political scientist Ikrar Nusa Bhakti said Pakistan and Indonesia could bring particular weight to bear on emergencies such as the expanding Palestinian internal conflict "because neither country has a close connection with the problem, so the players there may be more willing to accept assistance".
Thirdly, if allow the term "scholars" they are probably about as effective as our hollyweird and academic elite in bringing about peace.
Fourth, a Muslim scholar most likely interprets peace in terms of some version of the Koran. That is troubling since some interpretations include creating a "Muslim State" where non-believers are considered infidels and destined for being killed or for servitude if useful.
(Xinhua) -- A leader of the governing Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza warned on Tuesday that Hamas respects the ceasefire but will resume attacks against the Jewish state. "When we resume our operations, the world will know that Hamas is the principal part to confront the Zionist enemy," Hamas lawmaker Mushier al-Masri told reporters in Gaza.
Al-Masri said that the Hamas-led government "was still adopting the resistance choice and that this why the entire world stood against Hamas. If the government gave up this choice, things will become easy for the government." The Hamas-led government faces mounting international pressures and sanctions for refusing to recognize Israel and respect peace deals.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2007 00:00 ||
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Sounds like time for Fatah, or Israelis dressed as Hamas, to whack a bunch of Hamas moles, to re-focus Hamas.
Cotabato City, 31 Jan. (AKI) - In the Philippines's southern province of Maguindanao, where al-Qaeda affiliated militants and Muslim rebels are active, American soldiers are making use of a soft approach in order to win the hearts of local Muslims and gain their support in the global war on terror, a Filipino military official told Adnkronos International (AKI). However, an influential think-tank in the Philippines released a report saying otherwise. "Oh, yeah? Well, I know someone who sez otherwise!"
[Man wearing silk hat appears]
"Otherwise!"
[Man wearing silk hat exits, stage left]
Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando, regional military spokesperson, said that members of United States Joint Special Operation Task Force, in the Philippines to train Filipino soldiers, are focusing on various humanitarian missions to show that Washington's policy on war on terror is not anti-Muslim. "They [the Americans] focus more on humanitarian assistance and peace advocacy and for the people to support the government not the terrorists. They are not directly involved in military operations," Ando said. According to Ando, Washington's humanitarian missions in Mindanao serve as an important component of their shared commitment to uplift the lives of Filipino Muslims. Everybody who sits up nights worrying about the plight of Filipino Moose limbs, raise your hand...
The military official said the US wide range of programmes, funded by the US Agency for International Development, included medical, dental, minor surgery, and engineering civic action plans. The US is also building hospitals, roads, schoolrooms, and water supply systems in Maguindanao, about over 900 kilometres southeast of Manila where the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country's largest Muslim rebel organization, is operating. "This month alone, they distributed school supplies among Muslim students. To date, over 7,000 individuals have been served since their mission began late last year," Ando said. At the risk of sounding less than supportive of our troops, allow me to observe: Whoopdy doo. I can recall lots of similar projects 40 years ago. I even used to have pictures of a younger, more slender version of myself, doing good works among Our Friends, the South Vietnamese. Had we spent more resources killing and maiming North Vietnamese, things might have gone differently there. It did feel good, helping the poor and the downtrodden, but it wasn't the job of infantry or artillery or even of military intel.
However, the US-soft power approach has been dismissed by influential think-tank, Focus on Global South, with a recently released report that claims of a US direct involvement in the offensive against terror groups in the country. "America in Mindanao: Exploiter or Despoiler?"
In the report, the author, Herbert Docena, cited US military publications stating that the deployment is considered by the US military as part of its global war against terror, a war with actual enemies as targets. He also quoted local people who have seen US marines engaged in combat. "The military's pronouncement goes against what US troops themselves said in military publications, about their mission in the Philippines. They contradict the words of eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen them join Filipino troops in military offensives," Docena said in a telephone interview with AKI. "I seen it! I seen it wid me own eyes! Y'gotta belieeeeeve me!"
"In order to get to the bottom of this - and once and for all determine who's telling the truth - we call for an independent investigation into the issue. We can't just take their word for it," he added. "You know what they're like, the bastards!"
Also, Docena said it is understandable that many residents are supportive of their presence because the US government has been showering them with millions of dollars worth of projects and donations. "They're bribing the, y'know..."
Since the early 1970s, Washington has provided more than four billion dollars in assistance to the Philippines as part of their programme to reduce conflict in Mindanao and other areas vulnerable to violence and access to quality education and livelihood skills increased in selected areas most affected by poverty and conflict. US military experts are currently deployed in the Sulu Archipelago to advice and train Filipino troops who are conducting an offensive against Abu Sayyaf, a home-grown terror group. The Philippines Constitution does not allow foreign troops to engage in combat in the archipelago-country.
Posted by: bk ||
01/31/2007 14:36 ||
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The US is also building hospitals, roads, schoolrooms, and water supply systems in Maguindanao, about over 900 kilometres southeast of Manila...
#2
What about the daycare centers? Muslim Filipina Moms need daycare centers so they can go off to their 9 to 5 jobs at the ad agencies and brokerage houses, dontchaknow.
#3
However, the US-soft power approach has been dismissed by influential think-tank,
Think tanks, idiots who have NEVER been there or done that, one step worse than philosophers. These asses have no idea except that Starbucks is across the street. Stupid f@*ks need to go away and think about just in time logistics, six sigma, and union busting!!!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/31/2007 20:06 Comments ||
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Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Monday that his party will "not be dragged" into a civil war in Lebanon, which he accused the United States and Israel of provoking by "targeting" resistance movements in the region. "Why is it that only the countries with resistance movements, like Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, are now threatened by civil wars?" Nasrallah asked during a speech on the occasion of Ashoura attended by tens of thousands of Hizbullah supporters.
A heavily guarded Nasrallah made his comments from a balcony of a building that had been barricaded by several layers of Hizbullah security men, overlooking a massive sea of black-clothed mourners who had arrived from various corners of Beirut's southern suburbs. "Your presence in Lebanon is a threat to the enemies of Lebanon," Nasrallah said during the holiest Shiite rite, which commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein in 680 by armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in Iraq.
The commemoration turned political as Hizbullah's leader launched into a speech attacking the US and Israel. "They are the ones plotting a new conspiracy for a civil war in Lebanon ... but we will not be dragged into internal strife and fighting," he vowed, as echoes of boos reverberated through the crowd at the mention of "Bush" and "Israel."
US President George W. Bush accused Iran, Syria and Hizbullah on Monday of fomenting the latest violence in Lebanon in a bid to topple its government and said that "those responsible for creating chaos must be called to account."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2007 00:00 ||
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Summary: If it's bad, it must be Bush. And the Jooos. We only do good stuff.
P.S. Wanna buy some prime real estate? Howbout a nice Rolex?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/31/2007 6:22 Comments ||
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"Why is it that only the countries with resistance movements, like Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, are now threatened by civil wars?"
Yeah, why is that, Naz?
Who's the idiot here, you or the folks you're giving the speech to?
#3
We are fighting people who think like they did hundred's of years ago, but with a knowledge of more modern weapons. These are the same people who thought that balloons for a opening were weapons from Isreal. They were poisioned by the gas. They must of become afraid when they sounded like Walter Brennan after sucking on the balloons.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on Tuesday welcomed a call from opposition Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah not to allow Lebanon's political crisis to slide into armed conflict. "These comments are a positive gesture," said Siniora.
Nasrallah, head of the Shiite group which is backed by Syria and Iran, has "over the past two days been rejecting any recourse to violence or arms" to resolve the political crisis, he said, according to the premier's office. "We encourage and support these efforts." In a speech to thousands of supporters gathered in the southern suburbs of Beirut for the Shiite festival of Ashura, Nasrallah said: "The only solution for us Lebanese is through political dialogue. We refuse a recourse to arms... The demands of the Lebanese opposition are political, a settlement can only be political and we encourage any mediation efforts to reach such a solution."
Contacts have been under way with Saudi Arabia and Iran, as well as the Arab League, since six pro-Syrian ministers walked out of the Siniora Cabinet in mid-November. Hizbollah has since been spearheading a protest to demand a new government of national unity that last week resulted in deadly violence. Four people were killed and 152 injured Thursday in clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims apparently triggered by a row in a cafeteria at Beirut's Arab University between government supporters and opponents.
As a precaution, two Lebanese universities due to reopen on Wednesday will stay closed until next Monday, authorities of the Arab and the Lebanese University said. Hizbollah has been calling for the resignation of Siniora and the installation of a new unity government so that the opposition, which also includes Christian and other Shiite factions, would gain a veto.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2007 00:00 ||
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Siniora attacked Israel for its counter-terror intervention last Summer. And he did it from non-combat territory. That makes him pro-Hizbollah.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The mercy petitions filed by six kingpins of banned Islamist outfit 
GERMAN prosecutors have ordered arrest warrants for 13 people working for the CIA in connection with the alleged kidnapping of a Lebanese-born German man, public broadcaster NDR reported today.
MIAMI - A federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated a key terrorism charge, the only one carrying a potential life sentence, against suspected al-Qaida operative 
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister 
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Monday that his party will "not be dragged" into a civil war in Lebanon, which he accused the United States and Israel of provoking by "targeting" resistance movements in the region. "Why is it that only the countries with resistance movements, like Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, are now threatened by civil wars?" Nasrallah asked during a speech on the occasion of Ashoura attended by tens of thousands of Hizbullah supporters.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on Tuesday welcomed a call from opposition Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah not to allow Lebanon's political crisis to slide into armed conflict. "These comments are a positive gesture," said Siniora.
