[Feral Jundi] Over 100 combat missions, 24 years as a Green Beret‐Full Battle Rattle tells the legend of a soldier who served America in every war since Vietnam.
Master Sergeant Changiz Lahidji served on Special Forces A teams longer than anyone in history, completing over a hundred combat missions in Afghanistan. Changiz is a Special Forces legend. He also happens to be the first Muslim Green Beret.
Changiz served this country starting with Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, when he entered Tehran on a one-man mission to spy on Iranian soldiers guarding the US Embassy where 52 US diplomats were being held hostage. Three years later, he was in Beirut, Lebanon when a suicide car bomb exploded in front of the US Embassy killing 83 people. Weeks after that, he was shot by Hezbollah terrorists on a night mission.
In Operation Iraqi Freedom, he led a convoy that was ambushed on its way to Fallujah. He was clearing houses in Mogadishu, Somalia on October, 1993 when a US Black Hawk helicopter was shot down 50 feet away from him in the incident that inspired Black Hawk Down. In 2002, he dressed as a farmer and snuck into Eastern Afghanistan and located Osama Bin Laden for the CIA.
Along the way, Changiz earned numerous commendations, including the Special Forces Legion of Merit, Purple Hearts, and many others. Last year he was nominated for induction in Military Intelligence Hall of Fame and cited as "the finest noncommissioned officer to ever serve in Special Forces."
His story is an amazing tale of perseverance and courage, of combat and one man’s love of his adopted country.
#1
LinkedIn profile in his name
Interesting that he lists himself as fluent in both Dari and Farsi - as if they are 2 different languages. Most comment I have found on the internet conflates the 2 languages into a single language - Farsi.
#2
An interesting question, Anguper! They both seem to be dialects of Persian - Farsi in Iran and Dari in Afghanistan. Likely minor linquistic differences become important when trying to fit in with the locals. "You boys ain't from around here, is ya?"
h/t Gates of Vienna
[TheRebel] I was in London for most of last week, attending the legal appeal made by Tommy Robinson’s lawyers. (See all my reports at TommyTrial.com)
Before the trial go underway, I asked a clerk to check with a judge whether or not I could use my laptop in the court, and to "tweet" my comments live. And he said yes ‐ and so I set up my laptop, I sat right beside Tommy’s solicitor Jon Carson, and I typed as fast as I could for the appeal.
According to Twitter analytics, I wrote more than 150 tweets from court, that were seen 5.7 million times in 12 hours!
There were about half a dozen other media in the court. But their hatred for Tommy eclipses their love of the facts and the news.
They just plain lied about him.
For example, the political correspondent for the Guardian newspaper tweeted that Tommy is "only appealing against the sentence."
That was the original plan. But as Tommy’s lawyers learned that his treatment in court in Leeds violated many rules of criminal procedure, and that the judge had made many mistakes ‐ they decided to appeal the conviction totally.
And this was evident within the first five minutes of the appeal. It was 80 to 90 per cent of what was discussed throughout the day.
When all of these working class Tommy supporters pointed out to his highness at the Guardian that he was wrong about this central fact of the whole appeal, he grudgingly admitted it, but he couldn't stop being insulting:
...So this Guardian political editor, who was writing about the appeal, wasn’t actually in court for the appeal? Was it hard to find the court? I came all the way from Canada, not from across town.
Imagine what else the Guardian is lying about. But The Rebel is the "unsavoury" media outlet?
I'll show you more examples tonight, from Channel 4, a major broadcaster, and of course, on the BBC.
My friends, do you see why I went to London last week?
You just can’t trust a word the mainstream media says ‐ not here in Canada, and not there in the UK...
[DAWN] The District Bar Association of Rawalpindi on Monday distanced itself from Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui's speech in which he accused a security agency of meddling in judicial affairs.
Separately, the Office of the Chief Justice of Pakistain sought answers from the IHC chief justice on the allegations raised by Justice Siddiqui, and directed him to collect all evidence available for review.
While addressing the Rawalpindi bar on Saturday, the IHC judge had claimed that personnel of the Inter-Services Intelligence ...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir... (ISI) were manipulating judicial proceedings.
Amidst chants of "shame!" from members of the bar and other attendees, he had claimed that the spy agency had approached IHC Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi and said: "'We do not want to let 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, then by the courts... and his daughter come out [of the prison] until elections; do not include Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui on the bench [hearing the Sharifs' appeals]'."
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07/24/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Shangla police on Monday arrested three suspects, including an official of Pakistan Post, over charges of stealing postal ballots, DawnNewsTV reported.
Police recovered the ballots from a vehicle and arrested the local PML-N leader and his relative who were allegedly trying to steal the postal ballots from the post office in Alpuri, said SHO Sadiq Khan.
“Case has been registered against the accused under Section 169 and 170 of the Election Act, 2017,” the police official said.
A sack containing postal ballots was recovered from the possession of PML-N leader Muhammad Afzal and his cousin Bakht Sher, police said. Moreover, police also arrested Pakistan Post official Bashirullah who was a resident of the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2018 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Days after TIPH worker expelled from Israel for slapping Jewish child, another member of group flees country as police investigate his alleged actions
A member of the TIPH West Bank observer group is suspected of slashing the tires of an Israeli settler in Hebron, then fleeing the country when police sought to question him.
The monitor group was also in hot water recently after video showed a member slapping a child from the city’s community of Jewish settlers.
Hadashot TV news reported Monday that the latest incident began with a local resident filing a complaint with police after the tires of his car were slashed. An investigation was launched and police obtained security camera footage in which a uniformed member of TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron) was seen passing by the car several times and crouching by its tires.
Police contacted TIPH, which said it would conduct an internal probe. When after several days police again contacted TIPH to say they wished to question the man, they were told he had left the country after the first call, the report said.
TIPH is an international civilian observer group tasked with "monitoring and reporting efforts to maintain normal life in the city of Hebron, thus creating a sense of security among the Paleostinians in Hebron." It also reports alleged human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... abuses and violations of accords in the city between Israel and Paleostinians. Observers for the group come from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , Italia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... Earlier this month another TIPH member, a Swiss man, was expelled from the country after video emerged of him slapping a young Jewish boy across the face, sending his skullcap flying.
Following the airing of the footage, Switzerland’s ambassador to Israel apologized to leaders of the settlement community in Hebron.
[IsraelTimes] Russia agreed to keep Iranian forces in Syria 100 kilometers (62 miles) away from Israel’s northern border, a senior Israeli official says, moments after a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded in Jerusalem.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... Israel rejected that compromise and continues to demand that Iran not be allowed any military foothold in Syria, the official says. Israel furthermore demands that all long-range missiles be removed from the war-torn country and that any missile factories there be shut, the officials said.
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian leader says 'prisoners and deaders are stars in the skies of the Paleostinian struggle, and they have priority in everything'.
#5
How much do we give them through how many agencies?
Congress is trying to redefine Palestinian refugees to include only those who actually fled, not their friends, relations, and several generations of descendants. The State Department worked up those numbers a few years ago, but has steadfastly refused to divulge them ever since. And I seem to recall that Ambassador Nicki Haley is working to get the Palestinian refugees reassigned from the dedicated United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to the UN High Commision for Refugees (UNHCR), which has responsibility for all the other refugees in the world.
[IsraelTimes] Hundreds of Syrian refugees are leaving Leb for their neighboring home country, an AFP news hound says, the latest such return coordinated between Beirut and Damascus.
In Leb’s eastern border town of Arsal, men, women and kiddies of all ages pile into cars, minivans and tractors. Security forces check the identity papers of those about to make the journey back to Syria with suitcases, boxes of food and even live poultry, an AFP photographer says.
"The voluntary repatriation of around 850 Syrian refugees started" on Monday morning, Leb’s state news agency NNA reports.
Seven years into Syria’s war, Leb hosts around 1.5 million Syrian refugees, compared with a local population of 4.5 million. Over the past few months, more than 800 Syrians have left Leb in similar operations organized by the governments of Beirut and Damascus.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/24/2018 00:07 ||
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[IsraelTimes] A further nearly 400 people did not make it through, unable pass roads that were blocked by advancing Syrian forces on one side and 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.... gunnies on the other
The call came on Saturday night. In the raging war zone that is southwestern Syria, with enemy forces on the march, the 98 White Helmets volunteers brought their spouses, children and a personal bag each. A total of 421 people massed at two collection points where they were to make their crossing to safety.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is preparing to launch a new offensive in northwest Syria after a successful campaign in the southern provinces of al-Quneitra and Daraa, a military source told al-Masdar News this evening.
According to the military source, the elite Tiger Forces will head towards the Idlib Governorate axis in the next few weeks, claiming that they will concentrate on retaking the al-Ghaab Plain and Jisr al-Shughour District.
The source added that the Tiger Forces will move towards the Idlib Governorate once they have fully defeated 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.... (ISIS) in the Yarmouk Basin region of southwest Daraa.
At the same time, the Syrian Elite Republican Guard and 4th Armored Division will be heading to the Jabal Turkmen and Jabal al-Akrad regions in northern Latakia.
The Elite Republican Guard and 4th Division will be tasked with retaking these aforementioned regions in northern Latakia, while also securing the Ottoman Turkish border.
These offensives will arguably be the most difficult battles this year for the Syrian Army, as the jihadist rebels in this region of Idlib and Latakia are well-armed and well-trained.
Furthermore, the jihadist rebels in southwest Idlib and northern Latakia have a large number of foreign combatants, which will make these battles all the more important for the Russian and Syrian forces.
Perhaps the Syrian Army’s largest obstacle during this offensive will be the Ottoman Turkish military, who has setup observation posts in this region of northwest Syria.
The Ottoman Turkish military’s observation posts have often blocked the Syrian Army from advancing towards the jihadist-held areas, while also proving to be launching points for hard-line groups like Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and the Turkestan Islamic Party.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] During the Syrian conflict, the activists of the White Helmets non-governmental organization have been involved in "the most odious provocations" and their evacuation from the Middle Eastern country has revealed their true nature and hypocrisy, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday.
"It is well known that the White Helmets has been involved in the most odious provocations during the Syrian conflict. It was carrying out activities only on the territories controlled by Islamic radicals. It was preparing blatant fakes, which were then used as a pretext for making accusations against the Syrian authorities," the ministry said in a commentary.
"It is symbolic that the White Helmets activists have opted to flee Syria with foreign support thus revealing their true nature and exposing their hypocrisy to the whole world," it added.
The foreign ministry also stressed that the United States had done nothing to separate Syria’s so-called moderate opposition forces from terrorist groups. "Presently, Syrian forces with support of Russia are restoring law and order in southwestern Syria creating conditions for restoring a peaceful life," the ministry added.
On Sunday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced that the Israeli authorities had evacuated the White Helmets activists along with their families from Syria to a "neighboring country" at the request of Canada, European countries and the United States. According to local media, about 800 NGO members have been transported through Israel to Jordan.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry has condemned the evacuation of the White Helmets’ personnel from the country, slamming it as a "criminal operation" conducted by Israel, whereas Washington has welcomed the transfer of the NGO’s members, calling them "brave volunteers, who have saved thousands of lives."
The White Helmets, also called the Syrian Civil Defense, declares the rescue of civilians in war zones as its fundamental aim. However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... the non-governmental organization has been repeatedly accused of establishing links to jihadists as well as disseminating Western-sponsored propaganda.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] President Donald Trump on Sunday warned Iran of consequences “the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered,” if it threatens the United States (US).
“NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE,” he said on Twitter, writing the entire message in capital letters.
“WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” Trump said, in a direct message to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
The response came after Rouhani earlier Sunday issued his own warning to the US leader not to “play with the lion's tail,” saying that conflict with Iran would be the “mother of all wars”.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
It will be interesting to see what happens the next time an Iranian ship screws with the US Navy.
[Independent] John Bolton has bolstered Donald Trump’s threat to Iran, saying the president would inflict a price "few countries have ever paid", if Tehran does anything negative.
In the latest piece of sabre-rattling as the US carries out a sustained propaganda campaign against Iran, Mr Trump’s national security adviser issued a statement saying he had spoken to the president in recent days.
"President Trump told me that if Iran does anything at all to the negative, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid before," he said.
The words on Monday from Mr Bolton, who has long been a supporter of regime change in Iran, even though the US State Department denies that is official US policy, came after Mr Trump posted a late night tweet ‐ all in capital letters ‐ in which he warned Iran it would "suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before".
"We are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death," he added. "Be cautious!"
[Small Wars Journal] How the US Could Lose the Next War - And How the Migrant Crisis Demonstrates This
Dash Radosti
The episode on the southern border highlights the vulnerability of US policy to public relation disasters that involve children. In future conflicts, it is likely that our adversaries will combine the use of human shields (especially children) with a strong disinformation campaign to galvanize US public opinion against intervention. US military and political leaders need to take active steps to both fight disinformation, as well as to educate the public about the use of human shields before a public relations tragedy occurs.
Continued on Page 49
#3
So Khalil Cavil hasn't been fired nor banned for life from the Saltlick? I'll never eat at any Saltlick again. There is no reason to put up with this kind of racism. There are too many other good BBQ joints in TX.
#4
I take the above comment back. The article I read made mno mention of Cail's firing. A newer article says: Officials told the paper that Kavil is no longer employed at the steakhouse.
Kudos to the Saltlick. I apologize to them and guess I will partake of their establishment again. BTW, they have excellent and meaty ribs.
#5
Bright Pebbles - there are lots of folk with journalism degrees who can't get jobs. Esp alpha males. Perhaps retractions for poor research in reporting should include termination of the writer and the editor?
It's not like there is nobody out there to replace them.
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.
[Feral Jundi] Over 100 combat missions, 24 years as a Green Beret‐Full Battle Rattle tells the legend of a soldier who served America in every war since Vietnam.
... 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, then by the courts...
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
[DAWN] President Donald Trump on Sunday warned Iran of consequences “the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered,” if it threatens the United States (US).
[Independent] John Bolton has bolstered Donald Trump’s threat to Iran, saying the president would inflict a price "few countries have ever paid", if Tehran does anything negative.
