Another 9-11-01 anniversary rolls around. There will be solemn ceremonies today. Bells will toll. The names of the dead will be read on national television, which won't stick around for all of them but will cut back now and then. As a nation we've expended a dozen years of time, effort, money, and soldiers. This is an appropriate day to look at the state of the nation as a participant in the war against terror.
Just a reminder: We're not supposed to call it the war on terror anymore. I forget what its official name is now. Something like "irritating disturbance of international proportions having nothing to do with religion."
The enemy is a cancerous growth. Al-Qaeda makes no silly pretense about fighting for the rights of the people; the intent is to impose Salafism on the world. Period. My opinion on the subject or yours wasn't requested. It's a top down system, with no room for disagreement, no variations allowed. It's a system where human life has no value, its avatar the suicide bomber. In the end, radiation therapy could very well be necessary. And by that time the metastasis may have gone far enough to to kill us with them.
The post-cold war legacy of political correctness continues its self-destructive growth long after the Soviet Union is dead. What would the Lord High Executioner make of an entire generation of children who've jumped directly onto his little list:
The idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone,
All centuries but this, and every country but his own;
They're the same (useful) idiots who can see no danger from a murderous culture inimical to their own, who're perfectly happy to ally themselves with it because they've been taught that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism." In the morning they'll take part in a "slut walk" for feminine equality, in the afternoon they'll rally for the rights of gay-lesbian-polysexual-transgendered-cross dressing-species neutral rights, and in the evening they'll turn out in their diverse numbers in support of the Religion of Peace, which calls for burying all those categories under either burkas or piles of rocks.
We've built a society in which people feel so secure they literally can't imagine not being safe. Our parents and grandparents, in the wake of the Great Depression and World War II, raised their children in a cocoon of safety. Wally and the Beave existed, and we were them.
They did the job too well. Today, most of us are at bedrock convinced there is no way the underlying certainties of the lives we lead could change. Therefore it's perfectly alright to batter continuously at the foundations of that society: Mom has her own life to lead, so the kids have to look after themselves while she pursues a lesbian relationship with her true soulmate. Apple pie is laced with alar and dripping with cholesterol; best to stay as far away from it as you can get. The Boy Scouts are on the national poop list for not making homosexuality mandatory. We are doing away with the very concept of "citizen." Because the relationship between cause and effect has been informally declared non-existent, there will be no consequences to these attitudes. Will there?
We're a squeamish lot. When we go to war we try not to hurt anyone, which would seem to our fathers and grandfathers an odd notion. Kabul doesn't look like Berlin used to look, Kandahar doesn't resemble what Hamburg used to look like, and Nangahar doesn't look like Dresden. Being a member of al-Qaeda or the Taliban isn't a frightening thing, bringing with it a certainty of death. When bad guys surround themselves with women and kiddies, and those women and kiddies get killed or maimed, we assume it's our fault, not the fault of the guys with the turbans they're surrounding.
We go for the low-hanging fruit. We don't do this all the time, but when we do, it shows. Kunar and Paktia become interchangeable with Tay Ninh and Quang Tri.
Rather than stacking up the bodies of the leadership of international terror organizations, we bump off the occasional cannon fodder, tout the equivalent of a company commander or a platoon leader as a "major Taliban commander," and leave the actual leadership intact in a sanctuary maintained by our supposed ally.
We didn't do that in Iraq. There we won (yes, we won a military victory) by concentrating on the leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the displaced Iraqi Baathists. The strategy was to kill or capture the 52 "playing cards," of which a bunch, though not all, were killed or captured. Zarqawi was a separate problem, actually a second war, but once he was stuffed and mounted there was dancing in the streets, the organization started to crumble, and the problem had been whittled down to a size the Iraqis could handle.
The fact that they're screwing up that handling has nothing to do with the way the Americans handled the war. It's a political problem and it's their country, to screw up as they will. They'd have been better off from the first if we'd imposed a constitution on them and forced adherence, but that wasn't the question, was it?
As a people, we're not good for the long haul. We'd have lost the Hundred Years War. Shucks, we'd have walked away from the Thirty Years War. We'd have quit the Indian Wars if there hadn't been so many Indians. The national attention span isn't doing well at all with the Dozen Years War.
Iraq was won militarily and President Obama walked away from it to concentrate, he said, on the "Good War" in Afghanistan. He assigned the architect of the Iraq victory to do the same in Afghanistan, and put his foot in a bucket by telling him how to do it. Hamid Karzai put his other foot in another bucket when he began thinking about joining the Taliban. After a while General Petraeus was kicked upstairs, eventually to be character assassinated. We're walking away from the "Good War" next year. Mullah Omar's where he was in December, 2001. Al-Qaeda is still in existence. Bin Laden is dead but Zawahiri's still kicking and it's entirely possible he'll die in bed of old age.
We have (maybe had) a competent, well-trained military. Great or even really good generals are a matter of individual genius. It's hard to pick the Grants from the McClellans. But producing good soldiers and Marines is what decent NCOs do well. Developing and testing good doctrine is something that staffs do well. Both were characteristic of our military.
Don't believe it? In nine years (2003-2012) we had around 4800 killed in Iraq, or an average of 533 per year. It was a war of intense combat operations, of roadside bombs, fanatics who exploded without warning, tough guys who arrived from all over the world, raring to kill some infidels. They were able to kill an average of roughly 1.5 allied troops per day.
Compare those casualty figures with Vietnam. There were approximately 58,000 dead. The first KIA were reported in 1956, but the festivities didn't really get going until 1965, with 1,928 dead. In 1967, the year I got there, there were 11,363 fatalities. The next year was worse.
When I retired from the Army in 1985 it was an entirely different organization from the one that had been in Vietnam. That was the result of good doctrine and good training. That's why the casualty levels are so markedly different. That's why the press was flabbergasted at the Gulf War.
We've yet to see what the long-term effects of tinkering and fiddling with the internals of the military will do to it. I don't think the women in combat thing will last past the first few women shredded from the waist down. Men are designed at the instinct level to prevent that sort of thing. Nor am I convinced that overt swish will instill confidence in combat leadership.
Competence isn't allowed to flourish in a decadent society. Both Stilicho and Aëtius were murdered at the behest of incompetent emperors: Honorius the former, his son Valentinian III the latter. Nowadays we don't send them to a better world physically--our politicians are squeamish about that in an age where every phone is a video recorder. Instead, their characters are assassinated. The list of generals is getting so long now it's hard to remember all the names, much less all the circumstances. Once Stilicho was out of the way Alaric was free to waltz into Rome and sack it, making off with all the gold and jewels and fair maidens he could lay hands on. Once Aëtius had been murdered Valentinian's own death warrant was sealed, and the Western Roman Empire itself had only another 22 years to live.
Our own society is rapidly changing in an unpleasant direction because of terrorism. We're seeing rule by decree from the White House, the proliferation of SWAT teams to even small towns, and shocking levels of intrusion into our private lives. Actual dissent ("the highest form of patriotism", recall) is ruthlessly suppressed, using the mighty arms of the IRS, TSA, DEA, and who knows what other agencies. This is merely the beginning. In that respect, al-Qaeda has won.
Pakistain is an evil place. It's there that Osama bin Laden lived a quiet, unobtrusive existence, right down the road from the national military academy. The Haqqani network is headquartered in North Waziristan, carrying on a war against NATO forces without the least interference by the "sovereign" government in Islamabad. Mullah Omar is headquartered in Quetta, doing the same. Ayman al-Zawahiri and al-Qaeda's international command center are probably in Miranshah. Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba are protected within Pakistain. He's got a police guard at his house. The organization is sending fighters to Afghanistan to be blooded. Their actual target is in the other direction, to harass India in Kashmir, maintaining intel networks and front organizations throughout much of India.
Pakistain is a place where people are murdered routinely, where explosions are part of the daily background noise. It has such a proliferation of religiously-themed terrorist organizations that you can't remember all their names. There are few arrests, far fewer convictions, and virtually no executions. It's also the only effective path to supply troops in Afghanistan.
We're really good at entertaining each other. We must be the most entertaining folk who've ever lived. We're intensely interested in the doings of the many-headed Kardashians. We're a nation that teems with Honey Boo-boos and Family Guys. We've all (nearly all, then) seen what Paris Hilton's and Britney Spears' genitalia look like. We have seen Miley Cyrus and we now know what "twerking" is.
There is a form of insanity that consists of doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. All the peace processors that have ever been fired up have ended only a small number of conflicts. I'm not sure they've ever ended one permanently. Literally thousands of prisoners have been released and to date not a single peace treaty has resulted. The same applies to land for peace. Confidence building measures have been proven time and again not to work if one of the parties is made up of duplicitous bastards in whom no sane person would ever have any confidence.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Well done, Fred..... words that needed verbalization.... may this go viral... in the latest ways we are so good at entertaining ourselves -- I'll start by posting to Facebook... alto --- I have doubts the many-headed Kardashians and their fans, would understand the meaning of even one of the 12.
#5
back then I thought I had a decent enough knowledge of Islam
I didn't
I found out the Koran is far more into violence terror and triumph than I thought and the Haddith and Sunna more so and the revered commentaries more yet and that several attempts within Islam to contain or reverse these things have been pretty well obliterated or thwarted
after finding that out I was was pretty depressed
I still get that way
the popular movement against the brotherhood in Egypt and similar movements elsewhere in north africa may finally be a way to defang Islam but history is against them
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/11/2013 8:08 Comments ||
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#6
Great post Fred!
Might I just suggest a small historical correction?
"Once Aëtius had been murdered Valentinian's own death warrant was sealed, Attila the Hun was free to plunder where he pleased, and the Western Roman Empire itself had only another 22 years to live."
Actually when Valentinian personally murdered Aetius in September 454, Attila had already died (in 453) and his empire was falling apart.
But of course the death of Aetius had most serious implications for the integrity of the Roman Empire. Dalmatia seceded immediately and control of Gallia was gradually lost.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/11/2013 9:43 Comments ||
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#7
Fred is a colonel?
Very good piece Fred... May I suggest a field promotion is in order ---> General Fredrick P.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
09/11/2013 9:48 Comments ||
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#8
Meb! I was working from memory. I'll edit.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 9:50 Comments ||
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#9
There is another thing that seems to hard to understand. Despite 9/11 most victims of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have actually been Muslims.
Yet we are the only people who seriously fight them. And get all the blame for it.
The majority of Muslims is actually scared of Al Qaeda. Few would actually want to live under their rules.
But it's up to the West to free Tomboctou etc.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/11/2013 10:03 Comments ||
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#10
Who funds AlQ and the Taliban and what we doing to target those countries?
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/11/2013 10:19 Comments ||
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#11
And, no, I was never a colonel.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 10:20 Comments ||
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#13
As a people, we're not good for the long haul. We'd have lost the Hundred Years War. Shucks, we'd have walked away from the Thirty Years War. We'd have quit the Indian Wars if there hadn't been so many Indians. The national attention span isn't doing well at all with the Dozen Years War.
I suspect if we had the television networks then that we have now, we'd have given up on WW2.
And a minor footnote you might like:
We've built a society in which people feel so secure they literally can't imagine not being safe. Our parents and grandparents, in the wake of the Great Depression and World War II, raised their children in a cocoon of safety. Wally and the Beave existed, and we were them.
The actor who played Eddie Haskell, Ken Osmond, became a helicopter pilot in one of the services between Korea and Vietnam and eventually wound up in the LAPD, where he was injured in the line of duty.
#15
Commodore is as high as I ever got - according to Al-Aska Paul
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/11/2013 14:30 Comments ||
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#16
#9 There is another thing that seems to hard to understand. Despite 9/11 most victims of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have actually been Muslims.
Yet we are the only people who seriously fight them. And get all the blame for it.
The majority of Muslims is actually scared of Al Qaeda. Few would actually want to live under their rules.
European Conservative
Sounds a bit like race relations and the police in the USA.
[An Nahar] A roadside kaboomdestroyed a passenger bus, killing seven civilians and wounding more than a dozen others in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials said.
Three children and one woman were among the dead, police said.
The bus was driving from the main southern city of Kandahar to the Afghan capital Kabul when it hit the bomb in Muqur district of Ghazni province, a flashpoint in a 12-year Taliban insurgency.
"Seven civilians, including three children and one woman, were killed and 17 maimed," Assadullah Safi, deputy provincial police chief, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Baz Mohammad Emat, the director of Ghazni central hospital, said that some of the maimed people were in a critical condition.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Somalia's Al Shabaab militants reportedly targeted Somali Federal Government forces positioned at Yaqshid and Huriwa bases on Monday night, Garowe Online reports. Following the hit-and-run attacks on the bases in Mogadishu, local reports say that both sides exchanged heavy artillery fire but no casualties were reported.
They can't shoot straight with either rifles or artillery...
Residents confirmed to GO that Al Shabaab militiamen simultaneously fired shells at a building housing the commissioner of Mogadishu's Huriwa district Omar Abdulle Jacfan and former Mogadishu spaghetti factory in Yaqshid district.
"I could heard volleys of gunfire from an area close to my home and the fighting lasted for nearly 30 minutes," a resident said by telephone from Yaqshid district.
Government forces backed by AMISOM liberated former spaghetti factory from Al Shabaab in Oct 2011.
Spaghetti factory? Must have been left over from the Italian mandate...
Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group increased their presence in Mogadishu as it is capable of carrying out massive attacks mainly targeting important structures and government buildings. This month alone, Al Shabaab claimed the responsibility for terror attacks including string of explosions that rocked Mogadishu last Wednesday and car bomb explosion and suicide bombing in broad daylight.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[NYDailyNews] A year after al-Qaeda-linked forces of Evil attacked the U.S. Consulate in Libya, the country's Foreign Ministry building sustained serious damage when a massive car kaboom went off in Benghazi.
Somebody is expressing an opinion the hard way.
Ten dead according to the latest (1215 CT) from Fox.
[MAGHAREBIA] A roadside kaboomkaboom near blood-stained Tizi Ouzou left two Algerian soldiers dead and five inured, El Watan reported on Monday (September 9th).
Terrorists set off the remote-controlled device as the ANP convoy passed.
In related news Monday, Algerian troops eliminated two armed Islamists in separate operations, the defence ministry said.
The men were killed in Tadmait and Baghlia. Kalashnikov assault rifles and ammunition were also seized, AFP reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[MAGHAREBIA] Gunmen ambushed a military vehicle on the coastal road east of Sirte, killing two soldiers and injuring one, Libya Herald reported on Monday (September 9th). The soldiers were returning to Benghazi from a military mission in Tripoli when they came under fire, Sirte Military Commander Salah Abu Hligha said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisian security forces on Monday (September 9th) killed two Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Tunisia and Yemen, with the Tunisian version currently most active... bully boyz and tossed in the calaboose Book 'im, Mahmoud! two others during a raid in a western suburb of the capital.
The jihadists died after a heavy exchange of gunfire, the interior ministry said. '
Mohamed Aouadi, the salafist movement's military leader, and fellow high-ranking official Mohamed Khiari are now in jug, a ministry source told AFP.
The "dangerous terrorists" were "involved" in getting weapons from Libya to Tunisia, the interior ministry said.
Two days before the operation outside Tunis, security forces thwarted a plot by a jihadist recruiting network with Libya ties.
"The national guards' counterterrorism units have recently dismantled a network engaged in arranging the travel of Tunisian young men to Libya to join training camps supervised by radical religious groups," the ministry said on Saturday.
"Twenty-one elements, including a foreigner, were arrested," the ministry said.
Some of the suspects in the liquidation of opposition politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, as well as the Jebel Chaambi soldiers' slayings, received training in jihadist camps in Libya, the ministry confirmed last week.
The weapons used in the liquidations were also muggled from Libya, the ministry added.
"Armed networks in Libya, Tunisia and Algeria have had ties for a long time," international relations professor Mohamed Ben Zekri said. "These ties were even strengthened following the Arab Spring revolutions."
"After these jihadist groups succeeded in recruiting a group of Maghreb youths to train them to fight in Syria, they are now trying to attract more youths to prepare them for their next terrorist operations," he added.
The Tunisian government has recently received warnings on al-Qaeda.
The country is no longer a "land of preaching" for al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the National Union of Tunisian Security Forces Syndicates (UNSFST) confirmed Friday, based on recent intelligence.
AQIM is expected to declare Tunisia a "land of jihad" and encourage snuffies to settle in the country, the security union said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella grabbed the cocoanut cream... Algerian security services gave their Tunisian counterparts a list of terror suspects without criminal records who may attempt to enter the country as Eid al-Adha tourists, Tunisie Numerique reported on Monday.
Security services are reportedly concerned about possible attacks in Tunisia on September 11th.
The alert followed the recent discovery of a letter from AQIM chief Abdelmalik Droukdel ... aka Abdel Wadoud, was a regional leader of the GSPC for several years before becoming the group's supremo in 2004 following the death of then-leader Nabil Sahraoui. Under Abdel Wadoud's leadership the GSPC has sought to develop itself from a largely domestic entity into a larger player on the international terror stage. In September 2006 it was announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al-Qaeda and in January 2007 the group officially changed its name to the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb.... , who called for attacks on Tunisian cities to reduce pressure on the jihadists holed up in Jebel Chaambi.
Based on intelligence from the Droukdel letter, Algerian security authorities reportedly asked their Tunisian counterparts to tighten control on rents of flats and houses in cities.
Silent cells have acted by renting flats and houses using fake names and identities, a source told Mosaique FM on condition of anonymity.
Tunisian citizens are bracing for the new threat.
"Real jihad today is to struggle against the snuffies and to fight and kill them because they are bloody criminals and bandidos," retiree Karim Mokrani said. "Their only goal is to destabilise countries and destroy their young people."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[CA.NEWS.YAHOO] Egyptian authorities will bar 55,000 unlicensed holy mans from preaching in mosques in the latest move against sympathisers of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, the minister of religious endowments said on Tuesday.
Egyptian authorities have been cracking down on Mursi's Moslem Brüderbund since the army toppled him on July 3 following mass protests against his rule.
Minister of Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said the holy mans lack licenses to preach and were considered to be fundamentalist and a threat to the Egypt's security.
The ban will mainly target small unlicensed mosques or random praying areas. The idea is to spread a moderate message of Islam and keep Egyptians away from radical ideas.
"The decision is only meant to legalise the preaching process during Fridays' mass prayers and make only those authorised to do it, do it, Gomaa told Rooters.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Two faceless myrmidons belonging to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain attacked on Monday the offices of the Kohat District Police Officer situated in the premises of district courts.
The assailants used hand grenades and automatic weapons and killed one policeman and injured 13. Both hard boys, however, were killed in an exchange of fire which lasted about half an hour.
The TTP grabbed credit for the attack. The policeman killed in the attack was identified as Sajidullah.
According to police, two faceless myrmidons first lobbed a hand grenade at a place about 50 metres from the district courts' building in the heavily-guarded Cantonment area, clearing the way to the courts' main gate.
They hurled another hand grenade on the gate from the car parking area and entered the 'red zone' controlled by the army.
The main target of the faceless myrmidons was District Police Officer Saleem Marwat, who remained unhurt.
The faceless myrmidons then reached the DPO office where they were challenged by police and the ensuing exchange of fire left one policeman and two faceless myrmidons dead. The attackers were said to be wearing suicide jackets.
After the incident, the area was cordoned off and six unwent kaboom! hand grenades found there were defused. Bomb disposal squad personnel checked all 26 offices of judges and cleared them.--Abdul Sami Paracha
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] In a major development that has gone almost unnoticed, police tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! a relative of senior Kashmiri leader Aasiya Andarabi from Indian-held part of the Valley on terrorism-related charges over the weekend.
But Ms Andarabi's another relative is reported to have escaped a raid carried out by the federal capital police on Saturday on a house in Khayaban-e-Kashmire on the outskirts of the city.
Police arrested a man identified as Mohammad Shoaib and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition. Police also claimed to have seized four remote-controlled spy planes.
The man, who ran escaped, is said to be one Syed Irtiqaz Nabi Gilani.
Both Shoaib and Gilani, police sources said, were from Indian-held Kashmire.
A source claimed that Gilani was nephew of Ms Andarabi, the chief of Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) or Daughters of the Nation.
This all-women Islamic group is part of the freedom-seeking All Parties Hurriyat Conference and its agenda includes imposition of Islamic law in Kashmire.
The DeM has not been involved in militancy so far in Occupied Kashmire but is known for its vigilantism.
The link of Shoaib and Gilani with Ms Andarabi, a diplomatic source said, was exposed when Indian intelligence intercepted Hurriyat leaders' calls after the raid.
Shoaib, police sources said, had come recently from Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... . Gilani was in Pakistain over the past few months and he had been moving around.
Initially, he had stayed in Muzzafarabad and then went to Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... before coming to Islamabad.
Police are looking into "their international linkages and bank accounts", according to a source.
If proven, the arrest is the first in Pakistain of someone linked to senior Kashmiri leadership from the Indian occupied region.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[BBC.CO.UK] Pakistain is to release senior Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in a bid to help the Afghan grinding of the peace processor, reports say.
The timing of his release is not yet clear, but "should be within a month", a senior adviser to the Pak prime minister told Rooters.
Mullah Baradar was captured in the Pak city of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... in 2010.
It was seen as a significant coup for the American CIA and the Pak intelligence service.
"In principle, we have agreed to release him. The timing is being discussed. It should be very soon... I think within this month," Sartaj Aziz, Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... 's adviser on foreign affairs, told Rooters news agency.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Aziz said that Mullah Baradar's release "was still being discussed with various government agencies".
Asked whether the senior Taliban leader would be handed over to Afghanistan or another country, he said it would be up to the prisoner to decide where he wanted to go.
Mullah Baradar is one of the four men who founded the Taliban movement in Afghanistan in 1994.
He went on to become a linchpin of the insurgency after the Taliban were toppled by the US-led invasion in 2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] A new wave of bombings in Iraq killed at least 14 civilians and maimed dozens on Tuesday, as forces of Evil try to exploit the country's political instability and undermine government efforts to maintain security.
The deadliest took place near the eastern city of Baqouba when three boom-mobiles targeted outdoor markets, killing at least 10 civilians and wounding 34, a police officer said. Baqouba, a former al-Qaeda stronghold, is 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate....
Two soldiers were killed and another injured when a bomb exploded behind a guard booth in front of a school in Yala province yesterday morning. The bombing took place while five soldiers attached to Yala Task Force 11 were on security duty at the school.
Security forces rushed to the scene following the blast. Investigators said the bomb was in a compressed gas cylinder which sent shrapnel flying in all directions when the blast occurred.
Russia's Moskva missile cruiser, dubbed a "carrier-killer" by NATO,
...dubbed 'dinner' by Lawn Dart pilots...
has passed through the Straits of Gibraltar and is now heading toward the eastern Mediterranean to assume command of the Russian naval force there. The Russian Navy said in a statement that the Moskva cruiser passed through the Straits of Gibraltar on September 10.
Interfax news agency added that the Moskva cruiser, "commanded by Sergey Tronev, Captain 1st Rank of the Guards... has enough room for maneuver now."
"The Black Sea flagship entered the Russian Navy's area of responsibility in the Mediterranean at 11:00 pm Moscow time yesterday," the agency reported a military source as saying.
The missile-carrying cruiser is expected to join its final destination in eastern Mediterranean on September 15 or 16. Upon arrival, the command of the Russian Navy unit in the Mediterranean, currently stationed onboard the Admiral Panteleyev anti-submarine ship, will be relocated to the Moskva.
The missile cruiser, initially known to Western naval intelligence as "Slava" (Glory), was launched in 1979 and entered service in 1983. It was later renamed the "Moskva" in 1995. Designed to be carrier-killers, the cruisers of Class 1164 are equipped with 16 anti-ship launchers P-1000 Vulkan, or Volcano (SS-N-12 Sandbox anti-ship missiles, according to NATO classification).
1979? She's getting a little old...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/11/2013 12:20 ||
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#1
It's a carrier-killer when there's more than one ship attacking. It still packs a punch but things have changed a bit since the Soviet naval warfare doctrine was one of "massive initial strike".
There's no at-sea reload capability for missiles; what is there, is all there is.
#2
Correct me iff I'm wrong, but iff memory serves the original "MOSKVA" was the namesake of a SovNav Helo Carrier-class built by the Vietnam War-era USSR in response to the USN's
"GUADACANAL" class LPHS.
This "MOSKVA" is an upgraded KIROV-class heavy battlecruiser from the 1980's, which I believe the post-USSR Russians are using functionally as "Sea Control" vessels while their Navy modernizes???
#3
Correct me iff I'm wrong, but iff memory serves the original "MOSKVA" was the namesake of a SovNav Helo Carrier-class built by the Vietnam War-era USSR in response to the USN's
"GUADACANAL" class LPHS.
You're correct, Joe.
This"MOSKVA" is an upgraded KIROV-class heavy battlecruiser from the 1980's, which I believe the post-USSR Russians are using functionally as "Sea Control" vessels while their Navy modernizes???
Ex-'Slava'. And it's a combination sea-control and command ship. Upgraded comms and sensors, plus improved 'Sandbox' missiles.
#4
1979? She's getting a little old...
USS Nimitz's keel laying was 1968, June I believe.
age is relative, it's maintenance and upkeep that matter.
(wanna say something about upkeep costs of Spousal Unit, but discretion keeps getting in the way)
U.N. rights investigators have established that Syrian government forces were almost certainly responsible for two massacres last May in which up to 450 civilians were killed, a report published on Wednesday said.
It only took five months for the U.N. to figure that out. But don't worry, they'll get to the bottom of the whole chemical weapons kerfluffle as quick as they always do...
The report documented eight mass killings in all, attributing all but one to government forces, but said both government and rebel fighters had committed war crimes including murder, hostage-taking and shelling of civilians in their battle for territory.
The killings in Baida and Ras al-Nabaa, two pockets of rebel sympathizers surrounded by villages loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on the outskirts of the coastal town of Banias, sent a chilling message of the price to be paid for backing the rebels.
The U.N. commission of inquiry has not been allowed into Syria, but its 20 investigators carried out 258 interviews with refugees, defectors and others, in the region and in Geneva, including via Skype, for their 11th report in two years.
In Baida, it said between 150 and 250 civilians had allegedly been killed, including 30 women, apparently executed, who were found in one house. It said armed rebels were not active in the area at the time.
"Testimonies were consistent that members of the National Defence Forces were actively involved in the raids and in many cases leading them," the report said.
"Accordingly, there are reasonable grounds to believe that government forces and affiliated militias including the National Defence Forces are the perpetrators of the al-Bayda (Baida) massacre."
The next day, as word spread that militia fighters were advancing with army support, hundreds of civilians tried to flee the neighboring village of Ras al-Nabaa, but were pushed back at checkpoints. Government forces proceeded to shell the village and then militia fighters moved in.
"As they raided the village, civilians were captured and executed," the report said, adding: "The operation did not occur in the context of a military confrontation. Government forces were in full control of the area."
It gave a figure of 150-200 dead in Ras al-Nabaa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/11/2013 11:02 ||
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The United States has begun distributing some weapons to the Syrian rebels, a spokesman for the Syrian Coalition of groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday, after months of reported delays.
White House officials suggested in June that President Barack Obama had decided to provide military aid to the Syrian rebels, but in the months since, rebel leaders and U.S. lawmakers have said no lethal assistance has arrived.
"The U.S. is distributing non-lethal aid and ... some lethal assistance as well to the SMC (Supreme Military Council)," Saleh told a news conference, referring to the council that oversees operations of rebels loyal to General Salim Idriss.
The United States is providing lethal assistance "because they are sure that the mechanisms that the SMC has established are well tested and they will be sure that the weapons are not falling into the wrong hands," Saleh said.
He apparently referred to Washington's concerns that U.S. arms could end up benefiting radical Islamist groups, such as the al Nusra Front, active in northern Syria.
Saleh's comments at a Washington news conference may be the first public indication that U.S.-provided military goods such as arms or ammunition are actually moving to anti-Assad forces.
One U.S. government source said it was "unlikely" that any U.S.-supplied arms were on the ground in the hands of Syrian rebels at this time, while not dismissing the possibility that such aid was in the works.
Separately, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that Washington was trying to upgrade its support for the Syrian opposition.
"It is ramping up, but I can tell you that many of the items that people have complained were not getting (to) them are now getting to them," Kerry said in a Google+ Hangout interview. He declined to say what military items were arriving.
[An Nahar] Syrian rebel fighters announced on Tuesday their withdrawal from the historic Christian town of Maalula near Damascus, two days after they took control of it.
"To ensure no blood is spilled and that the properties of the people of Maalula are kept safe, the Free Syrian Army announces that the town of Maalula will be kept out of the struggle between the FSA and the regime army," a rebel front man said in a video posted online.
The front man for the Qalamun Liberation Front, which groups together a collection of anti-regime forces in the Qalamun area near Damascus, also said the withdrawal was "conditional."
"The army and its shabiha (militias) must not enter into the town," said the front man, whose name was not given in the video.
The town, home to about 5,000 people, is strategically important for rebels, who are trying to tighten their grip around Damascus and already have bases all around the capital.
On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and residents said rebel forces, including jihadists linked to al-Qaeda, had overrun Maalula.
The Britannia-based Observatory said al-Nusra Front, which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... , was among the forces that had taken control of the town.
Battalions affiliated with the Western-backed FSA had also entered Maalula, he said.
Civilians started fleeing the town nearly a week ago, fearing an imminent escalation.
The exodus has left Maalula virtually empty, residents say.
Picturesque Maalula is nestled under a large cliff and is considered a symbol of the Christian presence in Syria.
Many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ that only small, scattered communities around the world still use.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Its disgraceful that the peaceniks and Iran-fans have forced Obama to abandon support for our allies in the region.
[An Nahar] Sniper activities were recorded on Tuesday night in the northern city of Akkar as gunshots fired from the Syrian side of the border targeted the Abboudieh-Menjez highway in the region.
Al-Jadeed television said that the Syrian gunshots hit a car on the Abboudieh highway.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck reached for the green sauce... the state-run National News Agency said heavy gunfire shot from the Syrian side of the border targeted houses situated in Bani Sakhr town in Wadi Khaled.
The NNA noted that the village is located on the Lebanese bank of the Grand River.
"The residents of the town were forced to flee their houses as a result of the gunshots."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/11/2013 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.
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Somalia's Al Shabaab militants reportedly targeted Somali Federal Government forces positioned at Yaqshid and Huriwa bases on Monday night, Garowe Online reports. Following the hit-and-run attacks on the bases in Mogadishu, local reports say that both sides exchanged heavy artillery fire but no casualties were reported. 
[Dawn] In a major development that has gone almost unnoticed, police 
Nawaz Sharif
Two soldiers were killed and another injured when a bomb exploded behind a guard booth in front of a school in Yala province yesterday morning. The bombing took place while five soldiers attached to Yala Task Force 11 were on security duty at the school.
U.N. rights investigators have established that Syrian government forces were almost certainly responsible for two massacres last May in which up to 450 civilians were killed, a report published on Wednesday said.
Zawahiri
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