More than 500 suspected Taliban fighters detained by U.S. forces have been released from custody at the urging of Afghan government officials, angering both American troops and some Afghans who oppose the policy on the grounds that many of those released return to the battlefield to kill NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/world/2010/12/catch-and-release-taliban-fighters-afghanistan-angers-troops#ixzz17RXOdRqN
Showing posts with label afghanistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label afghanistan. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
the Taliban's worst nightmare.
US deploys 'game-changer' weapon to Afghanistan
The Pentagon has rolled out prototypes of its first-ever programmable "smart" grenade launcher, a shoulder-fired weapon that uses microchipped ammunition to target and kill the enemy, even when the enemy is hidden behind walls or other cover.... More
Thursday, November 12, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
'Obama's war'
From Politico:
President Barack Obama plans to commit to sending 4,200 more troops and hundreds more civilians to Afghanistan in a speech at the White House on Friday morning, and also to embrace a new system of benchmarks to measure progress. “He’s gone all in,” said an official briefed on the plan. “This is Obama’s war. He’s pushed all the chips to the center of the table.” ...
Here are the elements Obama plans to announce:
President Barack Obama plans to commit to sending 4,200 more troops and hundreds more civilians to Afghanistan in a speech at the White House on Friday morning, and also to embrace a new system of benchmarks to measure progress. “He’s gone all in,” said an official briefed on the plan. “This is Obama’s war. He’s pushed all the chips to the center of the table.” ...
Here are the elements Obama plans to announce:
- Military: The additional troops will help “provide capability for the Afghan government and military until they’re able to do it themselves,” an official said.
- Benchmarks: The president will embrace the notion of measuring progress. “We’re not going to pursue a policy indefinitely if it’s not working,” an official said. “We need to be able to judge it.”
- Accountability: With all this new money going into the war, the administration will fund more inspector-general-type accountability programs to ensure the money is efficiently and effectively spent.
- Civilian side: A significant increase in civilian capacity — “civic engagement” — is planned. Afghanistan may need more experts on rule of law to enhance the judicial system. The country needs more police trainers, agriculture experts, veterinarians and experts on water systems. “You have to have a bigger and better and less corrupt police force,” an official said. “We will apply more help and resources to the bottom-up government effort — provincial and district governments. We want more of a connection between governance and the people, so they can see the results of the governance and an alternative to the Taliban.”
- Pakistan: The U.S. will continue to work with Pakistan and help them realize that the terrorist threat to the U.S. is as much a threat to them. “We’ve got to help them develop the capacity to deal with it, which is difficult because they have issues with us being there and on the ground,” an official said. “That’s how you really develop their capacity.”
- Financial: The president will endorse an amendment by Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) that calls for additional foreign aid money for Pakistan, with strings attached with the goal of reducing terrorism.
- “Hearts and minds”: The administration recognizes the need to win the support of the people of Afghanistan. (more)
(more)
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