[Daily Caller] California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told The Daily Caller Tuesday that he is supportive of a plan to privatize much of the war in Afghanistan.
Blackwater founder Erik Prince is lobbying the White House to use former special operations troops and a private air force to conduct America’s nearly 16-year long war in Afghanistan. Prince told USA Today Tuesday that this would require 5,500 private military contractors that would be embedded with combat units, unlike American mentors who are currently more distant from the battlefield, as well as a 90-plane strong private air force.
Rep. Rohrabacher called this "exactly the right approach," and told TheDC that Prince’s plan is being considered seriously within the White House. A source familiar with the situation previously told TheDC that the plan was well received by White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, but that national security adviser H.R. McMaster would rather incorporate conventional military forces to solve the conflict.
"A big problem of course is that the military hates anybody that is not under their command going into a combat area and involving themselves in combat activities," Rohrabacher, a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said.
#1
"A big problem of course is that the military hates anybody that is not under their command going into a combat area and involving themselves in combat activities,"
Well yes! Since the military is (at least for now) ultimately in charge of outcomes on the ground, it's not at all difficult to understand their reluctance.
The greater schism is not btwn the military and contractor world, it's btwn the big green Army and Special Operations Forces (SOF) who are budged separately from the Army take their 'stick and rudder' from Foggy Bottom and Other Gov't Agencies (OGA).
SOF is stretched painfully thin and needs sustained augmentation. SOF and their masters would rather take the funding and purchase their own augmentation than involve the Department of Defense (DOD).
#2
Prince said the plan will cost less than $10 billion a year, significantly lower than the more than $40 billion the Pentagon has budgeted this year....would require 5,500 private military contractors that would be embedded with combat units, unlike American mentors who are currently more distant from the battlefield, as well as a 90-plane strong private air force.
Would Prince's outlined effort do the job? There have been successful mercenary efforts in the past.
#5
A big problem has to do with the current culture.
War fighting tends to be a very messy, bloody, nasty undertaking. One of the key questions is "Whom is accountable?"
Never wore the suit but know people that have and when things goes pear shaped there is a clear line of responsibility / authority. Perfect no but pretty clear. Who will get shot when the first atrocity is alleged? How many lawyers will be required for the forces deployed?
#10
Hmmmm...Gius Marius to the courtesy phone. A legion that owes its allegiance to it paymaster not the state (particularly one that treats its soldiers and veterans with little practical respect).
#11
The mercenary captains are either capable men or they are not; if they are, you cannot trust them, because they always aspire to their own greatness, either by oppressing you, who are their master, or others contrary to your intentions; but if the captain is not skilful, you are ruined in the usual way.
[RADIOSHABELLE] Reporting reaching us from Hargeisa indicate that Somaliland authorities have nabbed Please don't kill me! several members of the state’s house of representative on Tuesday morning.
Sources said, the MPs, among them Saleban Ali Koor were detained by the security forces after disrupting the session chaired by the newly elected speaker of Somaliland Parliament Bashe Mohammed Farah.
Some reports suggest that heavy gunfire was heard inside the hall of the Parliament, before the arrest of the politicians. However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... Somaliland did not comment on the arrest of the politicians.
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[AnNahar] More than 6,000 guns have been surrendered in Australia's most populous state in just one month, police said Tuesday, after fears of terrorism and an influx of illegal firearms sparked a national amnesty.
The government said in June it believed there were as many as 260,000 illicit weapons on the streets, and with the threat of bully boy attacks and a spate of gangland shootings, it wanted to minimise the danger.
Australia has six states and two mainland territories, so that averages 36,667 illegal weapons in each.
Among the weapons handed over in New South Wales were four SKS assault rifles, a 9mm homemade sub-machine gun, a Colt AR-15 rifle, M1 carbine and a .44 calibre magnum revolver, state police said.
In total, some 1,700 rifles, 460 shotguns and nearly 200 handguns were surrendered to police and dealers, while thousands of others were handed in for registration.
So really, 2,360 guns were turned in, while somewhat more than 3,640 were registered.
"We've also received more than 110 prohibited weapons including samurai swords, knives, and other edged weapons," Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Hoffman said.
...plus 110 other weapons not included in the count, unless we're really going for total illegal weapons, in which case it's 2,470, or 6.7% of what's out there. And of course, they were turned in by the law-abiding, who won't be committing acts of terror.
No official figures have been announced yet for other states and territories.
The amnesty runs from July 1 until September 30, allowing people to hand in unregistered or unwanted firearms with no questions asked. Outside that period people face fines of up to Aus$280,000 (US$222,000) or 14 years' jail.
Gun control measures continue to have strong public support in Australia.
The national firearms amnesty is the first since the 1996 Port Arthur mass shooting that claimed 35 lives. More than 600,000 weapons were destroyed in the aftermath of that attack, during a gun buy-back in which compensation was offered.
Best case scenario is that 18,800 guns will be turned in for destruction this time, or 7.2% of what is believed to be out there, while the crime syndicates will happily and illegally import more.
Then-prime minister John Howard also enacted tougher gun laws, including bans on certain weapons such as rapid-fire rifles and shotguns, a minimum ownership age and licences.
All guns in Australia must be registered, but many arrive illegally from overseas through organised syndicates.
Australian officials have grown increasingly concerned over the threat of bully boy attacks and have prevented 13 on home soil since September 2014.
Several terror attacks have taken place in Australia in recent years, including a Sydney cafe siege in 2014 which saw two hostages killed.
[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has agreed to let German politicians visit troops stationed at a Ottoman Turkish base next month, the German foreign minister said in a letter seen Tuesday, after NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... stepped in to reduce tensions over the hot-button issue.
Up to seven MPs will be allowed to visit Konya airfield in central Turkey on September 8 as part of a NATO trip, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel wrote in a letter to the German parliamentary defence committee Monday.
Ankara blocked a planned July visit by German MPs to Konya, where some 30 German soldiers are stationed, citing the deteriorating relationship with Berlin.
The long-simmering row over MPs' access to German troops on Ottoman Turkish soil boiled over in June when Berlin pulled out 260 troops from Turkey's Incirlik base and relocated them to Jordan, after Ankara repeatedly thwarted politicians' efforts to visit.
Approval for the Konya visit came after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg offered to arrange the trip for the German politicians within the defence alliance's framework, to which Ankara agreed, according to Gabriel.
German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen told DPA news agency it was "a good solution".
"We should focus on fighting Islamist terrorism, which is also in Turkey's interest," she said.
Germany is part of a multinational coalition fighting the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group, flying surveillance missions and refuelling flights.
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08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Construction begins on planned 144-kilometer concrete barrier to block movement of outlawed Kurdish separatists
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has begun building a "security wall" along part of its border with Iran, regional officials said Tuesday, in a move aimed at stopping Kurdish separatists.
Pictures showing huge concrete blocks being moved into place were published on the governor’s website for the eastern Agri province.
Ottoman Turkish authorities announced construction of a 144-kilometer (80-mile) long barrier in May as a means of blocking cross-border movements by members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The entire Ottoman Turkish-Iranian frontier is around 500 kilometers long.
The PKK, which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since the 1980s, is considered by Ankara and its Western allies as a "terrorist" group.
On the diplomatic front, Turkey has been involved in co-sponsoring talks on a Syria peace deal held in Kazakhstan’s capital with Iran and Russia.
To beef up security on its Syrian border, Turkey began constructing a similar wall two years ago to prevent Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group fighters moving easily between the two countries and to clamp down on illegal crossings.
In June, Ottoman Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said 690 kilometers out of a planned 828 kilometers of the wall had been completed along the frontier with Syria.
He added that further border security measures would be put in place once the construction had been completed.
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[IsraelTimes] US president’s assistant claims there has never been ’serious’ terrorism unconnected from Islamic State or al-Qaeda
Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to the US president, said Tuesday that there is no such thing as a "lone-wolf" terror attack, and that the phrase was invented by the previous administration to "make Americans stupid."
This. This is why Donald Trump was elected.
Speaking with MSNBC, Gorka claimed that "there has never been a serious attack or a serious plot that was unconnected from ISIS," referring to the Islamic State terror group, "or al-Qaeda."
Watch the news media melt down over this tomorrow as they point out that Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Lashkar e-Taiba aren't either one, at which point people who actually know something about the subject will point out that they trade personnel and otherwise offer support to one another.
Gorka was asked how US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... plans to prevent "lone-wolf lunatics" from carrying out attacks around the world even if the main IS organization is destroyed.
"There’s no such thing as a lone wolf," he replied. "That was a phrase invented by the last administration to make Americans stupid."
Gorka further claimed that every single terror attack was in some way connected to IS or al-Qaeda. "At least through the ideology and the... tactics, the training, the techniques and the procedures that they supply through the internet," he said.
When pressed on how the administration plans to stop individuals from carrying out attacks, he said that the use of language was important.
"You cannot solve a problem unless you’re allowed to talk truthfully about it," he said. "So we will call it radical Islamic terrorism, we will target the ideology and we will call them out for being evil and we will work with our Moslem partners."
He also said that the way to defeat terror was to "delegitimize" its ideology, so that nobody would want to be associated with it, just like Nazism today.
"What we have to do now is not only destroy organizations like ISIS, which we are doing -- they will be annihilated -- but also delegitimize the ideology," he said. "So it will become as heinous and as rejected as fascism ...a political system developed in Italy symbolized by the Roman fasces -- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about... and Nazism is today."
The show’s hosts also asked Gorka why the president had not yet condemned Saturday’s bombing of a Minneapolis mosque. Gorka said it was too early to apportion blame, and the administration was taking a "wait and see" approach.
But, he said, "when we have some kind of finalized investigation, absolutely," the president will condemn it.
The FBI has said that the kaboom at the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington was caused by an "improvised bomb."
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... Gorka claimed that many alleged right-wing hate crimes turned out to have been carried out by left-wing activists, and that nobody should rush to judgment.
When challenged that Trump had been quick to condemn a London terror attack in June before police had declared it to be a terrorist attack, Gorka replied that sometimes it is obvious.
"Sometimes an attack is unequivocally clear for what it is," he said. "When somebody shouts Allahu Akbar as they’re stabbing a police officer, it’s pretty clear it’s not a case of the mafia robbing a bank, wouldn’t you say so?"
#1
A pack's on the prowl, praying pronely;
Lost lambs, irreligious and lonely,
Though all seem to crack
The same book, then attack,
As, "Lone wolves!" howl the sheeple. If only.
#3
The globalist Illuminati will make sure this doesn't get reported and Gorka becomes suddenly suicidal or suddenly kiddy pr0n shows up on his computer.
[DAWN] Prominent holy man and head of Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... , on his return to Pakistain on Tuesday, said that he had come back to seek justice for the victims of the 2014 Model Town incident and their families.
In June 2014, seven people, including members of the PAT, were killed during a clash between PAT protesters and coppers in Lahore.
At least 80 others were maimed in the festivities that had broken out when police went to the party's headquarters in Model Town and PAT activists resisted their operations.
Addressing the media at Lahore airport, Qadri said that he had not expected the Supreme Court's verdict in the Panamagate case that disqualified former 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... under Article 62 of the Constitution.
He said that Nawaz had been disqualified for "lying and looting" and in order to rid the nation of corruption Articles 62 and 63 will have to be enforced.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Tariq Asad, president of the Shuhada Foundation Trust associated with the notorious Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... , petitioned the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on August 7 seeking a court order against the airing of the Miss Veet Pakistain beauty pageant as well as various other entertainment-based TV programmes.
On the matter of the beauty pageant, the petition -- a copy of which is available with DawnNews -- reads: "This product [a hair-removal cream manufactured by the sponsor] aims and advertised asking women to remove body hair to make themselves more sexually appealing to [the] opposite gender, which is fundamentally shameful and against the injunction of shariah."
Apart from the beauty pageant, the petitioner has also called for a "ban [on] the exhibition of programmes titled Pakistain Idol, Voice of Pakistain and Ottoman Turkish films dubbed in Urdu on Geo News, Capital News, Geo Kahani TV channels and the advertisement trailers of obscene Indian films on news channels."
Asad has further asked that the IHC direct the Pakistain Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to, "stop the exhibition of programs of competition of singing, dancing, fashion show and obscene advertisement being in violation of Articles 2-A, 14, 19 and 20 of the Constitution of Islamic Theocratic Republic of Pakistain, 1973."
According to the petition, PEMRA has, "become entirely ineffective and unvigilant [sic] to control the behayai [shamelessness] of television channels."
"The electronic media has become a red light screen," the petitioner complained, adding that television channels are "exercising and misusing their right to freedom of speech and expression and press [by] freely ignoring any moral values and limitations beyond the scope laid down in Article 19 of the Constitution of Islamic Theocratic Republic of Pakistain, 1973."
The petition also moved that the Ministry of Information "be directed to appoint the chairmen, the members of the Censor Board and the members of [its various] committees from intellectuals, journalists, lawyers, doctors, engineers and Learned Elders of Islam-e-deen/religious scholars."
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[DAWN] Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday said that Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution may be scrapped with the consultation of all parties.
Article 62(1)(f), sets the precondition for the head of government to be "sadiq and ameen" (truthful and honest), had provided the grounds of the disqualification of 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... , Abbasi's predecessor, from holding public office in the July 28 judgement on the Panama Papers case handed down by the Supreme Court of Pakistain.
The Supreme Court had ruled that because Sharif failed to declare a salary accruing to him as an asset in his nomination papers for the 2013 election, he could not be considered 'truthful' and hence was unfit to continue in office.
While talking to Geo News on Tuesday, the prime minister hinted that his government would take the initiative of removing Article 62 (1)(f), which has been criticised heavily following the verdict, by contacting all political parties and politicians of all hues.
"The PML-N leadership has shown resilience despite all odds and continued the democratic process in the face of conspiracies," he continued, adding that "conspiracies were being hatched to derail the system."
He explained that whatever caused harm to a democratically elected government could be construed as a "conspiracy" against Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[IsraelTimes] Defense Ministry says move aimed at improving economic and humanitarian conditions in the Strip
East Jerusalemites in a position to improve the economic or humanitarian conditions in the Gazoo Strip are now eligible to apply for Israeli permits to enter the Paleostinian enclave.
The new policy, which went into effect Monday, was announced on the Facebook page of Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, who runs COGAT, the Defense Ministry agency that liaises with the Paleostinians on civil affairs.
Continued on Page 49
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#2
In July, Robert Piper, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the West Bank and Gazoo Strip, warned that Gazoo had already become "unlivable" in some senses.
"Oh, the humanity! The Wi-Fi is spotty"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2017 11:32 Comments ||
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#3
In July, Robert Piper, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the West Bank and Gazoo Strip, warned that Gazoo had already become "unlivable" in some senses.
[IsraelTimes] A high-level delegation from the terror group is in Iran to open a ’new page’ with old ally
Senior members of the Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, terror group met on Monday in Iran with representatives of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard, according to Arabic media reports.
A high-level Hamas delegation arrived in Tehran on Friday in order to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and to "turn a new page in bilateral relations" between the two sides, according to a statement by Hamas.
This is the first Hamas visit to Iran since the group elected new leadership earlier in 2017. The rapprochement between Hamas and Iran is reportedly being facilitated by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, which is supported by Tehran.
The delegation consisted of Hamas political bureau members Ezzat al-Resheq, Saleh Arouri, Zaher Jabarin, and Osama Hamdan.
During its stay in Iran, the group met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday, as well as a number of other senior Iranian officials.
The Pan-Arab daily As-Sharq al-Awsat, which is Saudi-influenced, reported that members of the Hamas delegation representing the terror group’s military wing also met with members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard ‐ (IRGC) -- a paramilitary force that answers directly to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- and discussed "common issues."
Relations between Hamas and Iran soured after the Sunni Paleostinian group, whose ex-leader Khaled Mashaal was once based in Damascus, refused to back the non-Sunni axis led by Syrian president Bashir al-Assad in the ongoing civil war, which started in 2011. Iran is backing Assad in the war.
But, according to the report, Iran is keen to restore ties with Hamas after Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... was elected as head of Hamas’s political bureau and Yahya Sinwar as the group’s Gazoo chief. Both are considered to be more open to reconciliation with Iran than Mashaal was.
A-Sharq al-Awsat reported in May that Hamas and Iran conducted intensive talks in Leb, in which members of the Iranian revolutionary guard participated. According to the report, an agreement was struck between the two sides that would see diplomatic relations return to what they were prior to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. The agreement was reportedly supported by commander of the IRGC’s al-Quds Brigades Qassam Soleimani, Haniyeh, and Sinwar.
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Netanyahu is a realist: Egypt and Jordan will never be friends, just allies of convenience, because that is as far as they are willing to go.
[IsraelTimes] Citing sources familiar with a Knesset defense meeting, Haaretz says army, foreign and economy ministry officials all lament diminished relations in other areas, absence of embassy.
Officials from the foreign and economy ministries have raised concerns over the continued closure of the Israeli embassy in Cairo but were apparently brushed off by the Prime Minister’s Office, which is said to be satisfied with close security cooperation with Egypt.
The issue of the months-long shuttering of the embassy in Cairo was discussed at a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting last month, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.
Israel pulled out Ambassador David Govrin and all of the embassy staff at the end of last year amid security concerns.
Sources familiar with the proceedings told Haaretz that Foreign Ministry representatives told politicians that without an embassy in place, contacts between the two countries were reduced to talks with the Egyptian ambassador in Tel Aviv, making the upkeep of relations difficult. As a result, there has been a significant drop in relations, outside of security cooperation, impacting economic, civilian, and political ties.
According to Haaretz, the embassy has not been reopened in part due to "Egyptian foot-dragging on adequate security measures."
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... representatives from the NSC, which is under the Prime Minister’s Office, told the meeting that while civilian and political relations with Egypt do need to be rehabilitated, Netanyahu puts a higher premium on maintaining security cooperation.
"They said that the Egyptian army and security mechanisms manage most of Egypt’s foreign affairs anyway," a source who was familiar with the discussion at the meeting said. "So reopening the embassy is important, but the relations with the Egyptian army are more important."
Economy Ministry representatives noted that from the Egyptian point of view, not having the embassy there is easier as it is in line with local public opinion.
All of the sources spoke to Haaretz on condition of anonymity.
According to Haaretz, the embassy has not been reopened in part due to "Egyptian foot-dragging on adequate security measures."
According to the report there have been talks in recent months on arranging for the embassy staff to return, but there has not been any progress.
A model for how Jordan will handle things, only they will keep demanding more concessions from Israel around Al Aqsa and peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
On September 9, 2011, several thousand protesters forcibly entered the Israeli embassy in Giza, Cairo, after breaking down a perimeter wall to the compound. The protests began in response to the inadvertent killing of five Egyptian security guards by IDF soldiers during an attempt to catch bandidosforces of Evil who had ambushed and killed eight Israelis along the Israel-Egypt border.
The embassy closed, and was reopened in September 2015 before being shut again after staff were returned to Israel last year.
As linked by Pappy in the comments here yesterday.
[NBC] Two defense officials said that the Pentagon is considering a plan that allows the US military to conduct airstrikes on ISIS in the Philippines. The authority to strike ISIS targets as part of collective self-defense could be granted as part of an official military operation that may be named as early as Tuesday, the two officials. The strikes would likely be conducted by armed drones.
If approved, the US military would be able to conduct strikes against ISIS targets in the Philippines that could be a threat to allies in the region, which would include the Philippine forces battling ISIS on the ground in the country's southern islands.
The US military has been sharing intelligence with the Philippines for years, according to Pentagon spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis, who said, "We have had a consistent CT [counterterror] presence in the Philippines for fifteen years now."
There is a small U.S. military presence on the ground supporting the counter-ISIS fight, called Joint Special Operations Task Force Trident.
In Manila on Monday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US was providing the Philippines government with "intelligence capabilities," including "some recent transfers of a couple of Cessnas and a couple of UAVs (drones) to allow to them to have better information with which to conduct the fight down there."
"We're providing them some training and some guidance in terms of how to deal with an enemy that fights in ways that are not like most people have ever had to deal with. I see no conflict at all in our helping them with that situation and our views of other human rights concerns we have with respect to how they carry out their counternarcotics activities."
Last month, the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs endorsed the idea of naming the mission in the Philippines, saying that naming it would provide more funding.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Paul Selva said, "In every case where we see the resurgence of terror networks, particularly in the fragile areas of the southern Philippines, I think it's worth considering whether or not we reinstate a named operation, not only to provide for the resources that are required, but to give the Pacific Command commander and the field commanders in the Philippines the kinds of authorities they need to work with indigenous Philippine forces to actually help them be successful in that battle space."
Posted by: ryuge ||
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[AlAhram] Al-Qaeda's leader has claimed in an online message that a German man believed to have provided logistical support to the Hamburg-based Sept. 11 hijackers has died.
The announcement by Ayman al-Zawahri came in an Aug. 2 audio message in which he says a man he identifies as Zuhair al-Maghribi who worked for As-Sahab, the terror network's media arm, is a "martyr."
He didn't provide details or say when and how al-Maghribi died.
Al-Maghribi is a known alias of Said Bahaji who is believed to have helped suicide hijackers Mohamad Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah when they were in Hamburg, and to have fled shortly before the 2001 attacks.
The authenticity of the recording could not be independently confirmed but it resembled previous messages released by the al-Qaeda leader.
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.
[Daily Caller] California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told The Daily Caller Tuesday that he is supportive of a plan to privatize much of the war in Afghanistan.
