Global War On Terror (GWOT) Updates

Oh wait. We aren't supposed to use that term- "Global War On Terror." What is it the present Administration wants us to use? Oh yes, "A Man Made Disaster."

Not a fan of the renaming of the GWOT but, well, that's what it was wasn't it? 14 dead. A man made disaster- yup that pretty much sums it up. Caused by a man that was perhaps a bit unstable, who believed ardently that others should be converted, who was frustrated terribly when others failed to see his way and agree with him. But the man of whom I speak was not at Ft Hood last week. At least not in the flesh. The man of whom I speak is Mohamed himself. With apologies to those Muslims who reject Islam's violent beginnings/teachings, Mohamed would have been proud of what happened at Ft Hood as surely as he lopped off the heads of the tribal leaders who opposed him in Medina. ( I wonder how many nasty comments/death threats I'll get from offended Jihadists? Maybe I'll make the list of websites deemed dangerous by the Jihadists. Probably not but its an interesting list. I've added many of the sites under the GWOT heading.)


He would have been proud for two reasons. First, Hasan was earning his way into heaven. You see, unlike Christianity, which says one cannot get to heaven through good works alone but only by the grace of God, Islam lets you earn your way in. As long as you have more marks in the good column than the bad, you are good to go. If you fall behind you can double up on prayers and the like and get extra points to close the gap. If you are really bad and go to strip clubs and fail to marry and have kids like a good Muslim should, like Mr Hasan. (Or if you are homosexual which could explain the fact he was 39 and unmarried as well as the HIV meds found in his apartment) Then you need something BIG to catch up on the good marks. Now doubling up on prayers isn't going to help you much here so what do you do? You call in the big point makers like Jihad and killing infidels. And lo and behold only a short time after al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Nasir al-Wahayshi wrote an article in the Jihadi magazine that called for jihadists to conduct simple attacks against a variety of targets, Mr Hasan decides to get a morning coffee and start squeezing off rounds.


Which brings us to the second reason Mohamed would have been proud. Since Muslims see Mohamed as the perfect man and pious Muslims are called to emulate him, then it stands to reason that even his violent ways are to be copied. When Mohamed consolidated power in Medina (read- killed off the competition) he marched back to Mecca, from whence he had been in effect, exiled, and made his request again. Will you convert? This time, however he had an army to back him up, so his request had two choices: convert or be killed. Which is why Jihad and killing infidels scores such big points. It is true that not all Muslims accept the violent ways of Mohamed as behavior to be followed but to ignore the fact that so many do is to invite the type of carnage that we have seen all these years, most recently at Ft Hood.

Still there are those who will say that this is simply the machinations of a mad man, that he acted on his own. That he was mad, I will agree. That he worked alone is a lie.

Daniel Pipes has a really good article contrasting those who would say that Hasan was but an "over-stressed victim" crowd with those who see it as a symptom of the Jihadist disease which infects society. Here is a list and some of the colorful descriptions from the killer as victim crowd.

1990: "A prescription drug for … depression" (to explain the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane)
1991: "A robbery gone wrong" (the murder of Makin Morcos in Sydney)
1994: "Road rage" (the killing of a random Jew on the Brooklyn Bridge)
1997: "Many, many enemies in his mind" (the shooting murder atop the Empire State Building) 2000: A traffic incident (the attack on a bus of Jewish schoolchildren near Paris)
2002: "A work dispute" (the double murder at LAX)
2002: A "stormy [family] relationship" (the Beltway snipers)
2003: An "attitude problem" (Hasan Karim Akbar's attack on fellow soldiers, killing two)
2003: Mental illness (the mutilation murder of Sebastian Sellam)
2004: "Loneliness and depression" (an explosion in Brescia, Italy outside a McDonald's restaurant)
2005: "A disagreement between the suspect and another staff member" (a rampage at a retirement center in Virginia)
2006: "An animus toward women" (a murderous rampage at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle)
2006: "His recent, arranged marriage may have made him stressed" (killing with an SUV in northern California)

Perhaps this shooting has woke us up. Mosques and buildings are being seized because of ties to Iran. Although it is clear these investigation have been ongoing. The time has come to take off the gloves.

Still, the call has gone out. More of these types of attacks will occur. The Jihadists are chomping at the bit. Sleeping too much? Follow the link and read the comments that have been reproduced on this blog. Keep you up better than a case of energy drinks.

In addition, Baitullah Mehsud, the most feared and dangerous militant commander in Pakistan’s tribal region has promised an attack on Washington

And Iran may be behind the insurgency in Afghanistan (Shocker!) while it continues unabated toward its goal of making a nuclear weapon and the poor state of military readiness of Russian forces has lowered the nuclear threshold.

Thankfully we have a decisive, strong leader in place to keep us safe at night.
Sleep tight and sweet dreams.

Baghdad: Cell involved in Wednesday's attacks captured

Some good news from Iraq and their security apparatus. Though a day late and a dollar short (and a few hundred lives unfortunately) it is good to see the response and its effectiveness.
H/T Iraq The Model

State owned al-Sabah reports that a special force of the ministry of interior captured 14 suspects believed to have been involved in the August 19 attacks in Baghdad that killed more than a hundred people. The confessions of the captured cell members lead to the bomb factory where the trucks used in the attacks were made. Inside the factory, which was in the Ghazaliyah district in northwestern Baghdad, another truck-bomb was found and disposed of. ...(more)

Iraqi officials say al-Qaida-linked chief Abu Omar al-Baghdadi arrested

From NY Daily News:

BAGHDAD - The suspected leader of an al-Qaida-linked militant network was captured Thursday by Iraqi military forces, security officials said, in what could mark a significant blow against Sunni insurgents as they step up attacks.

Two separate suicide bombings, meanwhile, killed at least 42 people.Abu Omar al-Baghdadi has been a key target for U.S. and Iraqi forces for years as the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Sunni militant factions that is believed dominated by al-Qaida in Iraq.

But little is known about his origins or real influence over insurgent groups, which have staged a series of high-profile attacks in recent weeks, including, apparently, the two suicide blasts Thursday in Baghdad and north of the capital in Diyala province.

The U.S. military has even said al-Baghdadi could be a fictitious character used to give an Iraqi face to an organization dominated by foreign al-Qaida fighters.

But Iraqi security forces said he was in custody. (more)

Dramatic advances in public attitudes are sweeping Iraq

I thought Senator Reid said we had lost this one? Oh yeah, that was before the election..


Dramatic advances in public attitudes are sweeping Iraq, with declining violence, rising economic well-being and improved services lifting optimism, fueling confidence in public institutions and bolstering support for democracy. ...

...While deep difficulties remain, the advances are remarkable. Eighty-four percent of Iraqis now rate security in their own area positively, nearly double its August 2007 level. Seventy-eight percent say their protection from crime is good, more than double its low. Three-quarters say they can go where they want safely – triple what it's been. ...

...Optimism and confidence have followed. Sixty-five percent of Iraqis say things are going well in their own lives, up from 39 percent in 2007 (albeit still a bit below its 2005 peak). Fifty-eight percent say things are going well for Iraq – a new high, up from only 22 percent in 2007. Expectations for the year ahead, at the national and personal levels, also have soared, after crashing in 2007. And the sharpest advances have come among Sunni Arabs, the favored group under Saddam Hussein, deeply alienated by his overthrow, now re-engaging in Iraq's national life. (more)