Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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Yup, I'm nekkid under my clothes too.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/11/2010 0:21 Comments ||
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Strictly speaking, naked means without clothes. Nekkid means without clothes and up to no good. And being up to no good can be very, very good, if you know what I mean.
KABUL -- Six foreign soldiers -- three of them American and at least one French -- were killed Monday in a wave of violence in Afghanistan, NATO and French defence officials said.
The NATO-led alliance said that in addition to the Americans and the French soldier, two others had died of their wounds. An official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP one of the two was also French. One of those whose nationality was not officially identified was killed by an improvised bomb in southern Afghanistan, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
Monday's deaths take to 15 the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on that kept by the independent website icasualties.org.
In the attack on French troops, insurgents raided a convoy of French and Afghan forces in the Alasay valley northeast of Kabul, according to President Nicolas Sarkozy's office.
"A non-commissioned officer paid with his life for the commitment of France to the peace and security of the Afghan people, and an officer was very gravely wounded," Mr. Sarkozy's statement said.
About half of the 3,750 French soldiers serving in Afghanistan with NATO forces fighting a Taliban insurgency are based in Kapisa province and the neighbouring region of Sarobi, outside Kabul.
The Americans were killed "in an engagement with enemy forces in southern Afghanistan," ISAF said without giving further details, including the exact location of the incident.
Of the 2009 casualties, 317 were US nationals while the rest were from more than 40 other nations in the coalition fighting the Taliban under U.S. and NATO command.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2010 12:21 ||
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[Quqnoos] Afghan officials have agreed to take over the running of the US military prison at Bagram. A so-called Memorandum of Understanding signed on Saturday could see the controversial facility handed over to Afghan control by within months, officials said.
Currently the US-run prison houses about 750 inmates, including around 30 foreign nationals.
"The Afghan defence ministry will begin in a few days to train a unit which will take responsibility for the prison," it said in a statement.
The prison facility, set up to hold enemy suspects in the wake of the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, has faced heavy criticism due to the treatment of detainees. The Afghan government has long-sought to have prisoners transferred from foreign military control saying that Afghans should not be held by foreign powers within their own territory.
"President Karzai himself has said detention and prosecution of suspects should be the responsibility of the Afghan government. So that's where this is heading," Colonel Stephen Clutter, spokesman for US military detainee operations in Afghanistan, said. "This will eventually help Afghanistan strengthen its own security."
General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, said that the handover could take place within six months.
"This is a very good and important step for the Afghan government so it will have responsibility for the Afghan prisoners," he said.
Afghan authorities decided that the ministry of defence would initially assume responsibility for the transition, but will eventually transfer its role as custodian and manager of the facility to the ministry of justice,a US statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
This is a nice way to get out from under the weenie enemy combatant, accused criminal connundrum that is Bambi's approach to terrorism. We don't have to worry about who authorized what when the Afghani's interrogate a captured Talibunny...Will AG Holder say it is a civil rights violation for the CIA to "observe" the Afghani's interrogating the daylights out of one of these cretins?
Posted by: Karl Rove ||
01/11/2010 13:18 Comments ||
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#2
Eric Holder needs to be water-boarded.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/11/2010 13:33 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Egyptian authorities have arrested 42 Christian and Muslim "troublemakers" after arsonists set fire to Christian-owned property in southern Egypt, police said on Sunday.
Twenty-eight Coptic Christians and 14 Muslims were arrested after Friday's sectarian unrest in the village of Bahgura, provincial police chief Mahmud Gohar told state-run MENA news agency.
"These people were troublemakers," a security official said, adding the authorities did not differentiate between Christians and Muslims.
Eleven ships and eights houses owned by Copts were burnt in Bahgura on Friday, in the wake of a deadly drive-by shooting in the nearby town of Nagaa Hammadi on Coptic Christmas Eve.
Egyptian police on Saturday charged three men with "premeditated murder" over the killing of six Coptic Christians on Wednesday night when gunmen raked worshippers emerging from Christmas mass in Nagaa Hammadi.
Police arrested the three after the shooting outside a church in which a Muslim policeman was also killed. All three suspects are Muslims and had previous run-ins with police.
The Nagaa Hammadi attack was the deadliest since 20 Copts were killed in sectarian clashes in 2000, also in southern Egypt.
Copts, who account for up to 10 percent of Egypt's population of 80 million, complain of routine harassment and systematic discrimination.
On Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the murders in Nagaa Hammadi.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Yup that's the way to Quell unrest, arrest he victims and call them troublemakers for complaining and not allowing themselves to be slaughtered quietly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/11/2010 0:20 Comments ||
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Muslims soon released---with apologies. Christians never heard from again.
Ten years ago, I was in Egypt interviewing Coptic Christians who described how persecution by Muslims had become a way of life for them. The situation is worse now because of increased abductions of Coptic girls, who are forced into a sham marriage with a Muslim, raped, forced to convert to Islam and separated for good from their families.
These are girls as young as 12 who are being grabbed off Egyptian streets. Photos are taken while the girl is being raped to blackmail her into converting, says Mary Abdelmassih, a Coptic activist.
"She's told the pictures will go to her family," she told me. "They'd rather die than have that happen."
Today (Jan. 7) being the Coptic Christmas, this as good a time as any to describe how these kidnappings are at epidemic levels in Egypt and how the plight of these poor women has become Christian sex slavery.
Because local police are more often than not in collusion with the kidnappers, the families have to come up with enormous sums to get their daughters back. If the family is poor, their daughter is gone forever. The Assyrian National News Agency says very few of the girls who have been kidnapped since the 1970s ever get returned to their families and none of the kidnappers have been brought to justice.
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Algerian security forces killed at least 10 armed Islamists southeast of the capital Algiers, APS news agency quoted security officials as saying.
Security forces intercepted the suspected extremists as they were driving near the village of Slim, west of the town of M'sila 250 kilometres (160 miles) from the capital after a tip-off and seized a "large quantity" of weapons.
Four armed extremists were killed in the same area in mid-December. According to security officials and press reports, more than 30 Islamists have been killed by security forces over the last weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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(For those of you who don't get the reference, "Slim Pickens" is the actor who rode an A bomb in to target, whipping his Cowboy hat like a cowboy whipping a horse)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/11/2010 15:14 Comments ||
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A passenger has been charged with making a bomb threat which grounded a plane at London's Heathrow Airport on Friday night. Robert Fowles, 58, from Dover, Kent, was also charged with being drunk on an aircraft, the Metropolitan Police said. Alexander McGinn, 48, who is also from Dover, was also charged with being drunk on an aircraft. Armed police boarded the Dubai-bound Emirates flight after remarks were made to cabin crew.
Mr Fowles, who lives in Edred Road, Dover, will appear from custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Sunday. Mr McGinn, of Lowther Road, has been bailed and will appear at the same court on 22 January. A third passenger who was arrested, a man aged 36, was released without charge, police said.
The incident came amid heightened tension at airports across the world following an unsuccessful attempt to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day. The incident happened as the plane, which had 331 passengers on board, was taxiing for take-off. The other passengers were eventually taken off the aircraft and driven to a hotel for the night. Their flight was rescheduled and departed on Saturday afternoon.
Now if only SO19 would impart the same force on Muslims who flaunt and aggravate security on a daily basis but alas , I guess they will still be told to treat issues sensitively.
Posted by: Oscar ||
01/11/2010 3:43 Comments ||
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US AUTHORITIES plan to indict a New Zealand company allegedly involved in selling North Korean arms to Iran, sources linked to the investigation say. They are trying to track down shadowy figures using a labyrinth of thousands of Auckland companies registered to an office on Queen Street, Auckland's main street.
International organisations fear New Zealand's casual company registration system makes laundering money and financing terrorism easy.
Most of the companies in question were set up by the Vanuatu-based GT Group, controlled by the New Zealand accountant Geoffrey Taylor and sons, Ian and Michael. None have obvious purpose, and none of their directors can be traced. It is not suggested that the Taylors had any knowledge of the subsequent operations of the companies they set up.
"Indictments are coming and they will be big," a source said.
All sorts of things we could indict them for, too; arm-trading, money-laundering, deceptive practices, violating sanctions ...
New Zealand's Serious Fraud Office, police and Reserve Bank are also investigating but, in an embarrassment to the country's authorities, the US Justice Department is preparing indictments a week before the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, visits New Zealand.
The issue surfaced when one of GT's creations, SP Trading, chartered a Georgia-registered cargo plane that was seized by Thai police on December 12. It was carrying 35 tonnes of explosives and anti-aircraft missiles from North Korea bound, sources say, for Iran.
Sources say international inquiries suggest SP was set up as a "one-time use" company solely to charter the plane; that Iran used SP to pay North Korea; and that SP's New Zealand address allowed it to use a prominent US bank, unaware of the true purpose, to launder the money to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
GT Group will only say SP was set up "at the request of one of our professional clients based in the United Kingdom". Sources say the client is the target of US interest.
If the Taylors do not reveal the identity of the people they sold SP's registration to, they are liable to indictment.
A US Justice Department spokesman in Manhattan yesterday would not confirm the department's interest, other than to say it was aware of the issue and a statement would be made later.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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If the Taylors do not reveal the identity of the people they sold SP's registration to, they are liable to indictment.
Idiot, they will have used false names anyway.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/11/2010 0:24 Comments ||
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has admitted he failed to accomplish his late father Kim Il-sung's promise to feed the people with "rice and meat soup," the official Rodong Shinmun daily reported Saturday.
Wow. Things are getting bad in Nork-land ...
Since 1946, Kim Il-sung talked about "rice and meat soup" every year, but 60 years later the North is still dependent on international food aid.
Socialism worked in Nork-land, so let's try it in the US!
The daily quoted Kim as making the remarks during an "arduous march despite a snowstorm" last year, apparently one of his so-called on-the-spot guidance tours. "Now, our country has become a powerful nation in political, ideological and military terms, but we feel many things are still wanting in people's lives."
Such as food, clothing, heat and clean water ...
"In the past, the leader [Kim Il-sung] always said he wished to feed our people with rice and meat soup, clothe them in silk, and let them live in tile-roofed houses. But we haven't yet fulfilled his wishes. I will do everything to let our people live a content life by improving their lives in the shortest period possible," the daily quoted him as adding.
Perhaps you could sell off a yacht or two ...
A senior South Korean government official said it was unprecedented for Kim Jong-il to openly admit economic difficulties.
Is it possible that we could have a Ceauşescu moment in Pyongyang?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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"I will do everything to let our people live a content life by improving their lives in the shortest period possible"
Senior White House advisers are frustrated by what they say is the Pentagon's slow pace in deploying 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and its inability to live up to an initial promise to have all of the forces in the country by next summer, senior administration officials said Friday. of course the dithering between the functional completion of the McChrystal report in July or Aug and the Obama proclamation in Nov isn't a problem nor is that fact that 70% of the McC report is based on info gathered at the end of the Bush admin
Last month in Kabul, Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, the deputy commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, did not back away from that schedule, but he told reporters of the difficulties he faced even in getting all the forces in by fall. He said that bad weather, limited capacity to send supplies by air and attacks on ground convoys carrying equipment for troops from Pakistan and other countries presented substantial hurdles.
"There's a lot of risks in here, but we're going to try to get them in as fast as we can," he said at the time. "There's a lot of things that have to line up perfectly."
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/11/2010 07:25 ||
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You mean it doesn't all magically appear as soon as The One commands it?
#2
On a visit to Afghanistan last month, Admiral Mullen pressed military logisticians on how they would be able to meet the schedule. But even Admiral Mullen, who said he was reasonably confident that the logistics would work out, acknowledged the tall order before the military, saying, I want a plan B because life doesnt always work out.em>
Translation: I don't care how cold it is or how many MRE's they must eat, or how short the transport and secure bases are! I've got POTUS and his screaming cadre up my arss, and I'll never get that post-retirement civilian appointment unless I can make this HAPPEN!
#3
Especially considering that the months eaten up by command dithering were logistically valuable months - late summer and early fall, whereas by the time they made up their minds, it was Dreaded Afghan Winter, and a particularly nasty one too, if it's matching the weather patterns of the rest of the northern hemisphere.
There are reasons we used to choose presidents based partially on military service, even if it was something so non-glamorous as a logistics officer in the south Pacific (Nixon), or an actor in the propaganda arm (Reagan). Hell, even Johnson pretended to be a reserve officer long enough to take a joyride into the combat zone, although you'll note that he turned out to be a pretty piss-poor president, and I'd be willing to argue that it had a lot to do with the way in which his wartime service was playacting, not the thing itself.
Even Reagan wasn't great shakes on the military end of things, to be honest. He was brilliant in comparison with Carter (sub officer - what do they care about the weather?), but on the other hand, Lebanon, Iran-Contra, and the not-exactly-sterling Grenada operation.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/11/2010 9:12 Comments ||
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#4
I wonder if this will turn out like Caligula's abortive conquest of northern Britannia, which while a complete flop, Caligula pretended was a great victory, returning to Rome with Gauls dressed as Germanic tribesmen, and treasure chests full of seashells collected by Roman soldiers, as "Tribute from Neptune."
#6
So a guy gets elected as POTUS who never did anything before; never had any kind of real job; never served in the military. He'd better quit being arrogant and listen to some military advisors. He should look to people who have actually done such a military buildup in the past. Two months of dithering didn't help the time schedule.
#13
Considering the weather at US ports, I am not surprised it is taking longer to get those forces over there. I also have to wonder how much equipment is still not back from Iraq even if the soldiers and marines themselves are returned.
#14
So why don't we just drive the stuff from Iraq to Afghanistan?
Oh. That. (Iran is in between; I checked.)
Well, can't The One finesse that little detail?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/11/2010 12:11 Comments ||
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#15
Just remember Bambi,
While you may want all this stuff accomplished quicker, the only one that could everything done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
#16
I am constantly amazed not only with "President" Obumble's cluelessness, but also with the cluelessness of those around him. A clueless president can redeem himself by appointing good advisors. Unfortunately, that's not Obumble's style. The stress level in his administration must be through the roof, and climbing. I doubt either he or Biden will last the four years until 2012. Cardiac arrest is just one of many threats to Obumble's survival. If he goes, so does Biden - not even the Dummycritters would want to have Biden as president.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/11/2010 13:48 Comments ||
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#19
I was just reading Tuchman's biography of Stilwell. She mentioned the problem of flying Chinese troops in C-47s over The Hump so they could be trained and equipped by Americans in Burma. This was dangerous and expensive, and flying over those mountains was at the limits of the C-47's performance. To save on weight, and to save expenses at their end, the Chinese generals packed in their soldiers naked. Now if we could just...
Say you have a unit - call it a Marine Expeditionary Unit or MEU. There's some 2000+ troops including some support units units that maybe haven't worked together before. They have to be trained: somewhat acclimated or re-acclimated to dealing with each other and the Afghanistan terrain and environment (physical and sociological), exercise C4, do facilities set-up, get personnel medically qualified, etc.
That means transport in-CONUS, generally to places across the country from their base. They might be able to borrow or use some equipment stationed at the training sites, but they have to bring a lot of it with them.
All of that costs money. I haven't heard where it's coming from.
Hasan advanced in spite of worries from multiple sources over his competence
No one in his chain of command challenged his eligibility to hold a secret security clearance even given his statements that raised doubt about his loyalty to the US
While in medical school at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences from 1997 to 2003, Hasan received a string of below average and failing grades, was put on academic probation and showed little motivation to learn
He took six years to graduate from medical school instead of the customary four
During his four-year psychiatry residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he was counseled frequently for deficiencies in performance
Academic probation and bad grades were not included in his military personnel file
Between 2003 and 2007, Hasan's supervisors expressed their concerns with him in memos, meeting notes and counseling sessions
At Walter Reed, Hasan's conflict with his Islamic faith and his military service became more apparent to superiors and colleagues
Made a pilgrimage to Mecca
Residency program director reprimanded him, yet later wrote a positive letter for Hasan's entry into a psychiatry fellowship program
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2010 12:29 ||
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#1
Personal note to MAJ Hasan's Officer Efficiency Report (OER) Raters and Senior Raters:
How are you sleeping at night you spineless, gutless, complicit wonders?
#2
Let me note that the notion of just passing someone along from student to resident to fellow to practice isn't just a problem in the military.
Full disclosure: until recently I was a fellowship program director. I've been on the inside on dealing with these sorts of issues.
I can tell you that there is enormous pressure to move people along once they pass through the magic gateway of entry into medical school. The attitude of many, many of my colleagues is, if you were smart enough to be admitted to medical school, you should be allowed to graduate from each level of training and eventually end up in practice.
In the U.S., only a relative handful of people at each level of training (medical student, resident, fellow) fail to graduate to the next level. This is completely unlike Canada, for example, were ~15% of medical students flunk out in the first two years. Canada apparently has no problem admitting that the medical school admissions committees are imperfect.
So I very well understand what happened to Hasan, and that's why I posted this article: once he got into the Uniformed Services University, he pretty much had a pass all the way through to practice (Fort Hood) regardless of how big a screw-up he was. The only things that would stop him would be a felony conviction of some kind, abject moral turpitude (yeah, and define that these days) or a drug problem (and even students/docs with drug problems get 3rd and 4th chances).
Hasan made it to Fort Hood because NO ONE was willing to stand up, put out a hand and say, "Halt!"
I don't like it. It led to the loss of good people. But I understand what happened. I've seen this movie before.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2010 14:30 Comments ||
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#3
Who'd dare to "discriminate" against a member of "Most oppressed group of people in the World"? Any superior who'd give him a bad report would have to prove absence of Juice taint.
#4
"Personal note to MAJ Hasan's Officer Efficiency Report (OER) Raters and Senior Raters: How are you sleeping at night you spineless, gutless, complicit wonders?"
A thousand times yes, how are they sleeping? Sleeping when this guy skated by, meanwhile, young, learning, and striving American Soldiers are being disciplined, screamed at, rank and pay getting taken away, extra duties, etc, for tiny, small, and medium, and large infractions all within the auspices of UCMJ all because they can be punished. Punished for being white, black, hispanic and making a small f-up.
#5
oops, and you can be Asian too and be on the acceptable to punish list. The military is B.S. nowdays. Okay I am done, any more hypocrisy and I am going to burst a blood vessel.
#6
The worst f-ups in all three of my units were members of the Officer side of the house, and were mostly "immune" to punishment. The whole Military systmem is in question if you ask me. And if I piss off Officers who read this, all to the better, because you people don't always EARN YOUR PAY. As a matter of fact, most enlisted are ten times better than most officers, as people, as teammates and as leaders. Sad but true. Chew on that.
#8
Consider this for a moment: if Hassan was enlisted not officer, pulling the kind of stunts he was, he would have been relegated to some crap detail like trash pick up or something. He would have been neutralized to some degree by being micromanaged by an angry Sergeant who would have none of his crap!! Next thing you know, he'd be chaptered out.
#9
There's enuf mud for everybody's boots. I give you SGT Hasan Akbar of the 101st Abn Div, now living in the DB at Leavenworth. Akbar murdered two US Army officers and wounded 14 others officers and soldiers in Kuwait in 2003.
#11
Check out this Wikipedia entry on Michael J. Swango He probably killed more people than Hasan, and the pattern of misfeasance on the part of medical authorities who put him into positions of responsibility was similar. I was able to follow his case for years just from reading the papers, yet those who accepted his applications were blissfully unaware.
#12
Girl thursday, your lumping all officers into the fucked up/no good catagory is a bit offensive, I can only assume you had a bad experience. With that said, while
I usually enjoy your comments your just wrong here. I spent seven years elisted in the 1/17 CAV at Bragg and with the exception of one Captain, I would have followed my command group to the ends of the world. This was back in the early 80's and to this day I feel the same way about them. The next 20 more years of active duty I spent as, yes, an officer, 11 years in USASOC. When we came across a weak officer we isolated them so they could not make deisions that could endanger the troops. Poor OER's gave commanders opportunity to get the weak out of the system. Even if the Ft Hood Command felt him weak enough to remove, it takes time, a long time. Putting an officer out for political or relig beliefs are imopssible. Soldiers, and officers do not have to agree with policy, but they do have to follow it. If disagreeing with current policy or operations was grounds for dismissal the Army would have been emptied during the Clinton years. We have many organizations in DOD that are not always supportive of the leadership. Your contempt for officers is one of them. The Black Masons are another more vigilant one.
Finding officers and NCO's that hate our president or the war is easy. You can find more than I want to admit on every post. Finding the ones that are going to frag their peers, officers, or subordinants is another story all together. Finding them before they act out is almost impossible.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/11/2010 20:01 Comments ||
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#13
As a matter of fact, most enlisted are ten times better than most officers, as people, as teammates and as leaders. Sad but true. Chew on that.
Perhaps. Most of my senior enlisted were great leaders. Most of them were probably better educated than me. Many have multiple degrees; normally a Master's. My last Command Master Chief had his PhD.
But I'll wager your observation is limited by your experience (I'm not going to get parochial).
Not all E-8s or E9s can command a destroyer, a Seabee battalion, or an F-18 squadron. One , it's not their job - nor would 99% of them want to.
There's a lot more involved to command than leading troops or playing team-mate. One, you kinda stop being a 'person'. You're the CO. It's scary and it's lonely, and you're never really ready for, even though you spend a significant part of your life getting ready for it. Sometimes it gets dumped on you by circumstance. Even if it's planned, so few make it and a significant percentage of them get booted even when they do.
It's an understatement to say we can't do it all. That's why we have enlisted leadership to fall back on.
#14
One more thing - in the Fleet, part of the Chief's job is to guide the junior officer that's (technically) in charge of the division so that the kid learns. Sometimes that means keeping them out of trouble, sometimes it means correcting them. If the J.O. doesn't want to, well... there's ways to resolve that too.
Apparently that's something that doesn't happen in your branch
#15
Pap, where I was in the Army, all through my ranks I had some of the greatest NCO's one could ask for. Always mentoring me, always adding common sense and always reminding me of who actually get the work done. Even if my decision was not the best one, they still made it a success. Sometimes it cost me beer. Almost seven years in command it can be very lonely, your right. Decisions may not be popular, or make sense, but they must be folowed.
If I had one NCO in my office it was usually an admin issue, if two were there they were bickering and I needed to play ref. If the lot of my senior NCO's were waiting for me it was a big clue I had done something wrong or they needed me to explain a decision. Sometimes a decision is not fair or does not make sense, after the mission is over they deserved an explaination, and ocasionally a good ripping, and we always ended it with a cold beer. Beer is good for a bruised ego, I drank a lot. At the end of the day command means leading, honesty, winning, completing the mission and seeing that the soldiers have the very best when they go to fight. That is what taking care of them is all about. Nothing about coddling or being their friend or team mate. Otherwise its just daycamp.
But then, like you Pap, The NCO's in my commands were educated, strong, all were better educated and smarter than I. They were humbling to be around and an honor to lead.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/11/2010 22:09 Comments ||
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#16
Whether you enjoy, respect, or agree with my opinions doesn't change the overriding failure of those Officers to think outside the box and get Hasan booted. Heres this free thinking Muslim zealot, shitting outside the proverbial litter box and not one of those Officers put an end to it. Hasan's superiors need the hurt put on them for being dense.
My experience tells me, IMHO, Enlisted could spot and neutralize a Hasan quicker. Its because enlisted have to make all the crappy little cogs in the wheel turn, all the little vertabrae in the backbone stay aligned. One is popped out? It better get popped back in place.
For example, if Hasan had been enlisted, he would surely lose some rank becuase the following would never be allowed to continue:
(PVT HASAN, why weren't you at your assigned place of duty, the Prayer Breakfast, the formation, the bed check, etc? This is the fifth time? Oh, I see, you were busy at a strip club instead and bowing to Mecca over a Pina Colada?)
Different in not a good way stands out PDQ. Officers are "above" a lot of the good, bad, and the ugly, or at least "separated" ie: better and more diffuse living quarters cloisters them away from dealing closely with other soldiers. Trust me, if you live full time in a barracks year after year, you know Everything about people. Officers are less likely to have to know. For this reason, it is my humble opinion, Officers can ignore the good bad and ugly (for a time) much more easily. And they are paid way more than Enlisted, making the Hasan case even more negligent.
#17
"The dead of Fort Hood paid for the liberal agenda of diversity and political correctness foisted on America".
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
01/11/2010 22:51 Comments ||
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#18
Whether you enjoy, respect, or agree with my opinions doesn't change the overriding failure of those Officers to think outside the box and get Hasan booted.
Also based on experience - Medical is different from Line. Especially mental health professionals.
Sometimes I think being mentally 'off' is part of the requirement.
[Dawn] Four more people died in sporadic incidents of violence in various parts of Karachi on Sunday, DawnNews reported.
Nine people were killed in target killings in Karachi on Saturday, raising tensions between coalition partners Pakistan People's Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
Tensions were high, with the MQM threatening to quit the ruling coalition both at the centre and in Sindh.
A total of 31 people have lost their lives since Thursday as gun battles and aerial fire shook large swathes of the city's old quarter. Security personnel also came under fire.
The situation in Lyari, Pak Colony, Ranchore Line, Garden and Kharadar was being described as tense by law enforcement agencies.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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Saab : Continue : Efforts : Find A : Buyer !GM : Selected : Restructing : Group : AlixPartners ! Hyndai : KIA : Get : North South : Currency : Won : Bolivar : Chavez Country : Chinese Carmaker : Buy : Into : Toyota : Venezuela : And : Go Forth : Buy : Into : Saab : Keep : Swedish Carmaker : Factory : Co-Production : Hyundai Or : KIA : With : Spyker ! 600 Million Loan : Revived : 600 Million Loan Bolivar currency : Venezuela : And : Korea's Won 600 Million Loan : Currency : Swedish : Kronor 600 Million : As : Well : E/U Investment Bank : E/U 600 Million Matching : TOO : DOH & DUH !
[Dawn] A remote-controlled bomb detonated in the Pawaka area of Peshawar targeting ANP MPA Alamgir Khan.
According to police, Khan's vehicle was partially damaged in the incident; however, no casualties have been reported so far.
Police official Bashir Khan says nobody was harmed in the blast, which damaged a wall outside a building where lawmaker Aalimgir Khan often meets with guests.
Peshawar has experienced a wave of attacks since mid-October, when the army launched a major ground offensive against the Pakistani Taliban's main stronghold in the South Waziristan tribal area.
Many of the militants fled the offensive and have been launching attacks throughout the country. More than 600 people have been killed in the past three months.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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The Iraqi government has integrated over 40,000 Sahwa militiamen into the civil services, 30,000 of them directly into ministries.
As part of national reconciliation efforts, Iraq has been integrating members of the Sahwa (Awakening) movement, who fought Al-Qaeda and its supporters alongside US and Iraqi forces in 2006 and 2007, which led to a drastic decline in violence across the country.
Over 118,000 Sahwa members came under the direct control of the Iraqi government last October, US Major General Joseph Reynes told reporters on Sunday.
Of them, around 10,000 have been integrated into the Iraqi security forces, he added.
The US military began recruiting Sunni Arab tribesmen and former insurgents for the Sahwa militias in 2006, a move which some analysts say turned the tide in the war against Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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This is an encouraging sign of integrating & nationalizing Iraq's various sects.
Just think, if Joe Biden had had his way years ago, Iraq would have been partitioned along sectarian lines, and instead of integrating Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds under one flag in examples like this, there would be three separate nations with territorial/border disputes and proxy wars by neighboring powers to control the new mini-states.
Posted by: American Delight ||
01/11/2010 11:25 Comments ||
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There are many complaints about the pace of integration. Part of the issue is that most of these guys have no skills that can be used in governing, can't read or write, farmed or herded for a living before joining up.
Three Islamic Jihad terrorists militants were killed yesterday in an Israel Air Force strike on the northern Gaza Strip while attempting to fire rockets into Israel, and another Palestinian terrorists= was seriously injured in the strike. Ten Palestinians terrorists have been killed in Israeli strikes in the past two weeks, which have seen dozens of rockets and mortar shells launched at Israel.
Israeli aircraft struck the terrorist militant cell around 7 P.M. last night. IDF officials told Haaretz the terrorists Jihad operatives were spotted while setting up rocket launchers east of the city of Dir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
One of the men killed was Awad Nasir, a 29-year-old resident of the city who was a senior terrorist commander of the Al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad's armed wing.
Now he's cranberry jam ...
It is possible the cell Nasir headed was operating independently, without direct orders from the terrorist organization's leadership. Hassan al-Qatarawi, 22, of Bureij refugee camp, and Hudhaifa al-Hams, 23, of Nuseirat refugee camp, both aides of Nasir, were also killed in the strike.
Several high-ranking IDF officers said they do not think Hamas is behind the recent rocket and mortar fire, although last week the Islamist group did downgrade efforts to prevent smaller, more radical terrorists factions from launching projectiles into Israel.
Typical, typical ...
The IDF officers said it was difficult to predict the next phase of Israel's conflict with Hamas.
"We've seen in the past how confrontations have developed even if the major power holders have no interest in them," said one. "Hamas must know that Israel will respond to any aggression against it, and that if necessary, will know how to exact a price from the terrorists landlords in the Strip - the terrorist group's leadership."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting yesterday that the IDF is striking rocket manufacturing facilities in Gaza, as well as the smuggling tunnels by which Iranian weapons are reaching the territory. "The government's policy is clear: Every rocket on our soil will be met with force," he said.
Hamas sought to play down yesterday's air strike, giving it minimal space on its official Web site. However, a terrorist Hamas parliamentarian, Mushir al-Masri, said the strike showed Israel was seeking an escalation with the group, and that a Palestinian response was only a matter of time.
"The terrorists resistance will choose the time and place" for such a response, Masri said. "The Palestinian terrorists people will protect itself with all means and methods at its disposal."
"We shall have Dire Revenge!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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Let's hope islam embraces annihilation as strongly as it embraces stupidity.
Gunmen shot dead two villagers in Thailand's troubled south, police said on Monday, the latest victims in a bloody six-year jihad insurgency plaguing the Muslim-majority region.
A district chief and a former village official, both Muslims, were killed by four men on motorcycles late Sunday as they sat at a tea shop with friends in Narathiwat province, said police. Also in Narathiwat, terrorists militants hiding by the roadside opened fire on a policeman as he rode his motorcycle home from praying at a mosque, seriously injuring him, they said.
YANGON A court in Myanmar has sentenced two officials to death for leaking confidential information, sources said Friday, in a case reportedly involving secret trips by junta leaders to North Korea and Russia.
The men were arrested last year after details and photos were passed to exiled media about the visits by senior regime officials and about military tunnels built in Myanmar by nuclear-armed North Korea, reports said. A third man was jailed for 15 years, official sources said.
"Two officials got the death sentence and another one was jailed for 15 years for leaking information. They were sentenced at the special court in Insein Prison on Thursday," an official source said on condition of anonymity.
The two condemned men were retired army major Win Naing Kyaw and foreign ministry official Thura Kyaw, while the jailed man was Pyan Sein, also a foreign ministry employee, the sources said.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma and ruled by the army since 1962, has the death penalty but sentences are almost always commuted to life imprisonment.
Details about possible links between North Korea and military-ruled Myanmar prompted the United States to express concerns about regional security, even as Washington pursued a new policy of engagement with the junta.
Thursday's sentences were passed under the state emergency act for leaking military secrets, the website of Thailand-based Irrawaddy magazine said, citing sources at the notorious jail in Yangon where hundreds of dissidents are held. It said Win Naing Kyaw also received a 20-year sentence for violation of the Electronic Act and holding illegal foreign currency. The act prohibits sending information, photos or video damaging to the regime abroad via the Internet.
The leaks by the three men included details of a 2008 trip to communist North Korea by junta number three General Shwe Mann, who is also the joint chief of staff of Myanmar's armed forces, exile-run media said. Shwe Mann's visit involved procuring arms and discussing tunnel-building and other matters, Irrawaddy reported.
The men were also accused of leaking pictures of the alleged secret network of tunnels built by North Korean experts inside Myanmar, which were published in June by the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), based in Oslo, Norway. The documents the men released further showed that junta number two Maung Aye visited Russia in 2006 to discuss the procurement of a guided missile system with Moscow officials, the DVB said on its website Friday.
The Myanmar government has not commented on the allegations.
The death sentences imposed Thursday were part of a wave of harsh punishments handed down by Myanmar's courts as the regime cracks down on dissent ahead of elections promised by the generals some time in 2010. Dozens of other officials in the defence and foreign ministries were arrested after the leaks but the status of their cases is not known, Irrawaddy said.
A video journalist who had worked with the DVB was last week jailed for 20 years for violating the electronics act, rights groups said Wednesday, although they did not mention any link with the Myanmar-North Korea case.
Myanmar severed ties with Pyongyang in 1983 following a failed assassination attempt by North Korean agents on then-South Korean president Chun Doo-Hwan as he visited the Southeast Asian nation. The attempt left 21 people dead. But with both countries branded "outposts of tyranny" by the United States in recent years they later sought to rebuild relations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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I think the intell on the Nork ties to the BURMESE junta and potential nuclear machinations struck a nerve.
I put BURMA on my list of dictatorships due for a fall right below Iran and right above Venezuela
Posted by: Karl Rove ||
01/11/2010 13:36 Comments ||
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[Straits Times] ABOUT 50,000 Philippine policemen began enforcing a five-month ban on carrying guns in public on Sunday in hopes of avoiding bloodshed in the buildup to May elections, arresting 18 violators at checkpoints across the country.
The Philippines is a lively democracy and elections are often marred by violence and fraud. In the 2007 local and congressional elections, 108 people were killed in election-related violence, including 15 candidates, national police spokesman Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina said Sunday.
Last week National Police Chief Jesus Verzosa said 558 of the country's 1,634 cities and municipalities have been identified as areas of concern and will get added attention from security forces ahead of the national and local polls, which include a vote for president.
In the country's worst political violence 57 people on the way to register a candidate for the May 10 election were massacred last November in the country's volatile south, allegedly by a rival clan of the one registering the candidate. Gun bans are common practice before elections, but this year police will not issue any exemptions to gun owners due to security concerns sparked by that massacre.
Three policemen, a navy enlisted man, and a jail warden were among those arrested on Sunday. They carried their firearms outside their homes and stations without permits, or while they were off-duty and in civilian clothes, Supt. Espina said.
'The main tool in committing crimes during elections are guns,' Supt. Espina said. 'Take it out and you minimise the violence.' Under the ban ordered by the Commission on Elections, carrying firearms, explosives and other weapons in public will be prohibited from Sunday until June 9. Only policemen and soldiers, who are on duty and in uniform, can bear arms during the ban.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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Dammit, don't give Obumble any ideas.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/11/2010 0:28 Comments ||
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If attempted in the States, this is where it all goes very, very bad.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Tehran's prosecutor said in an interview on Sunday that a Swedish diplomat arrested in connection with the recent riots in the capital has been released after his identity was established.
"Iran's police arrested the charge d'affaires of the Swedish Embassy during the recent riots in Tehran on Ashura Day," Fars News quoted Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi as saying.
"The consular official was later released after his identity was revealed," he added.
Jafari-Dolatabadi also pointed to the arrest of a Syrian reporter working for Dubai TV in Iran and said, "He was released from prison Sunday."
Reza al-Basha, a 27-year-old Syrian journalist was detained in Tehran on December 27.
Protesters took to the streets in Tehran on December 27, vandalizing public property, setting trash cans alight and clashing with the police.
They hijacked the Ashura ceremonies to chant slogans against top government officials.
Police used tear gas to disperse the rioters, and arrested a number of instigators. Deputy Police Chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said the force had not used violence against protesters.
In response, millions of Iranians took to the streets on December 30, 2009, condemning the desecration of the Ashura mourning ceremonies and demanding that the rioters be brought to justice.
Iran blames Western countries of masterminding and supporting the riots that erupted after the June 12, 2009, presidential election in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2010 00:00 ||
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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.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Algerian security forces killed at least 10 armed Islamists southeast of the capital Algiers, APS news agency quoted security officials as saying.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has admitted he failed to accomplish his late father Kim Il-sung's promise to feed the people with "rice and meat soup," the official Rodong Shinmun daily reported Saturday. 
[Dawn] Four more people died in sporadic incidents of violence in various parts of Karachi on Sunday, DawnNews reported. 
Three Islamic Jihad 
