In September, NATO and the ISAF launched a campaign to remove the Taliban from Panjwayi and Zhari districts, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. You never heard about it.
For the ten days from September 2 to September 12, 2006, Afghan and allied forced moved in a pincer movement to reoccupy the region and open Highway 1 to traffic again. You never heard about it.
At least 517 Taliban and other terrorists were killed. You never heard about it.
It was called Operation Medusa. The Canadians ran it, losing 15. You never heard about it.
#1
That's alright, it would have been spun as a defeat and a massacre of perfectly good Canucks anyway.
Every single Taliban in Afghanistan could be killed and it wouldn't matter to the MSM, remember there are no good wars and there is nothing worth dying for.
#2
Its not that bad JerseyMike. I'm sure there are some things the MSM and left consider worthy of other people dying for. Examples abound: Cambodians, South Vietmanese, and Chinese/Russian/Cuban/North Korean 'enemies of the state', Black muslims (of Dafur), etc...
Why there are literally millions and millions of people the MSM and left consider to have died for the 'greater good' [of the state]...
Publication time: 12 November 2006, 19:57 Possibly Abu Havs' last interview, assuming he's really dancing with worms...
Interviewer: Why you have joined the Chechen resistance, and how did you come to this decision?
Abu Hafs: I heard and observed that the Chechen Muslim people wished to liberate their land from the Russians and desired to live in accordance with the laws of Islam. Russians occupied this territory; they kill Muslims, both old, and young, as well as women and they seized all Muslim public institutes. Seeing all of this I asked myself one question "How can the true Muslim not assist the Muslim brothers? As the result, I made the decision to go for Jihad in Chechnya.
Interviewer: What is situation with Resistance now? Can you tell us about last events?
Abu Hafs: I have good news for you. The struggle in Chechnya has strengthened. The Russians are not accomplishing more success; success has turned to us. Shortly we shall show to Ummah the real force and power of Resistance also we shall apply a new strategy. All Commanders are now in obedience to Dokka Umarov. This has allowed us to develop the new strategy. Now we cause significant losses to the Russians every day. We have sent a lot of Russian soldiers to Hell and will be sending many more during our large operations under our new strategy that will soon be applied.
Interviewer: All these years the struggle in the Chechen Republic has been associated with the name of Shamil Basayev. What influence has his death had?
Abu Hafs: I ask Allah to accept Shamil Basayev as a Shaheed; to let him enter Paradise and grant to us an opportunity to meet there. During history, the demise of the commander was represented as this or that influence on movement. It is possible to say in relation to such hero as Commander Shamil Basayev that the essence of Islamic Resistance should gain strength with death of the commander. This is because true resistance is helped by Allah the Supreme and the battles are for His just cause. And in this case, the purpose of this struggle is to help the oppressed, to return that which was taken away from them and to bring the Muslim world to humility to their Lord. He was the greatest Shaheed in the history. The Chechen Jihad, under leadership of Dokka Umarov is strong; the same as during Shamil Basayev's leadership because every Mujahid is some kind Shamil.
Interviewer: During the years, you battled shoulder to shoulder near Shamil Basayev against Russians. What was Basayev, the person, like?
Abu Hafs: When Commander Shamil Basayev became Shaheed, it was known all over the Islamic world for he was one of the leaders of Jihad in last century. This brave commander was not afraid anybody. He has heroically entered history. I was a personal friend of our Commander Shamil and I can tell you that his courage, wisdom and fighting experience was repeated by fighters very often. Seldom does a commander receive such acclaim. He thought only about Muslims, that they having found freedom should live under Laws of Allah, and also about liberation of native Chechen people, about a peaceful and safe life on the land. This was his main agenda although he was still strongly interested in the struggle of Palestinians. He often communicated with those who came from Palestine to Chechnya. He often reflected on the destiny Islamic Resistance in comparative analysis and trusted in the achievement of victory under condition of observance of the Laws of Allah. Shamil developed great vision wider than others and he was not afraid of anybody, except Allah. May Allah be kind to him.
Interviewer: Many experienced commanders achieve martyrdom. Now on command posts are often appointed 28-29 year old commanders. Do you not think this is a drawback?
Abu Hafs: Martyrdom of great commanders will not break force and power of Resistance. Young commanders are not an attribute of weakness; on the contrary, youth come to Jihad to aspire to be similar to such commanders as Shamil, Jowhar, Maskhadov and Sadulaev that are symbols of Jihad. These young commanders are full of advantages and honor; Jihad in the way of Allah has raised Chechnya. We should not forget that a cub of lion is a lion also.
Interviewer: On American's list of "terrorists", your name is near the top. Have you actually had any communications with Al-Qaeda?
Abu Hafs: When has America ever told the truth about us? Or given truthful information about Iraq? What did they speak truthfully about the Iraqi and Afghani people? When the Palestinian fighters won fairly in a democratic election did they honor the rights of the Palestinians? Unless the purpose is to capture Muslim land, murder Muslims and lure the people, when did they not sneer at the Islam and Muslims? The Abu Ghraib prison serves as the greatest proof of the fallacy of the American agenda. How shall we trust America after all this? As for me personally, I have gone out for Jihad in the Way of Allah. Also I am the person obedient to His religion. Would it be fair to those who protect honor, religion and the oppressed Muslim brothers to name members of Al-Qaeda?
Interviewer: There are many concerns about Al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden. What do you think of this?
Abu Hafs: Conversation and more conversations will remain. It is impossible to trust these. My opinion is that they are group of Muslim Mujahideen, similarly to other groups. They help Islam and the oppressed Muslim and Osama bin Laden is one of the leaders of Jihad. I ask Allah to help everybody who shows diligence on His Way.
Interviewer: There has been talk that Turkish people are providing financial help to the Chechen resistance, ostensibly that Turkish money is being sent to the front. Is this true?
Abu Hafs: This is not a clear statement or a question. I can tell the following; the help collected for us completely reaches its purpose. We watch it carefully. So, our Turkish Muslim brothers helped us to spend iftars in Ramadan. The help in Sacred Month of Ramadan is especially blessed. I thank all Muslims for helping.
Interviewer: Putin has declared amnesty to fighters that have surrendered. Are their some that have taken advantage of this for the sake of financial gain?
Abu Hafs: Amnesty has been declared but how can one grasp that oppressors forgives the oppressed. On the contrary, it is the oppressors that should ask for a pardon. The mere fact that the Russian authority has taken such an action testifies to the strength of the Chechen Resistance, and weakness and feebleness of Russian army. None among the Mujahideen has accepted this offer. On the contrary, all Chechen fighters have responded on amnesty by intensifying the struggle.
Interviewer: What do you think about victory gained by Hezbollah over Israel in Lebanon?
Abu Hafs: Hezbollah won in Lebanon because it battled for a just cause. This victory testifies that the beginning of the end of the criminal Zionist domination in Palestine.
Interviewer: The Pope is expected to visit Turkey. Attacks on Islam and on our Prophet have recently become frequent. How do you perceive this situation?
Abu Hafs: Zionists and radical Christians do not cease to attack Islam and to offend our Prophet, peace be upon him. First of all this public opinion is prepared. The purpose of these dirty insinuations is to sow discord to strengthen animosity between the Muslims and Christians, to proliferate Christianity in the Muslim East. And for the American leaders to prepare the groundwork for their next aggression.
Interviewer: Do you want to say anything to Turkish people through our newspaper?
Abu Hafs: The prophet of Allah said: "there is no gratitude to people without gratitude to Allah". I wish to express gratitude to Turkish Muslim people that have acted sensitively to the call for help from oppressed Muslims and who help the Mujahideen. One scientist has said "Continuation of a just case with persistence is a reason for acceptance by Allah of this deed." So, everybody helping for Chechen Jihad will find the award at Allah, Insha'Allah.
About Commander Abu Hafs
Abu Hafs was born in 1973 in Jordan. After studying at university, he arrived in Chechnya in 1995 to wage war against the Russians. He joined the well-known Mujahideen group under the leadership of Emir Ibn Khattab. Due to his outstanding military capabilities and strategic thinking, he held the post of instructor for that group. After Khattab's martyrdom, Abu Hafs became the assistant of the new commander, Emir Abu Walid. When was also martyred, Abu Hafs became the commander of this group. At the moment he is the assistant of the Chief Emir, Dokka Umarov.
Adem Ozkese
Source: 'Vakit'' newspaper
Translated from Turkish by Ali Bekhan
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
I see Fred shares my skepticism that Hafs is 'dancing with worms.' If I was running a ruthless totalitarian organization (or even a somewhat ruthless intelligence organization of a representative democratic republic) and I captured an enemy big wig, I think I would deny it and either say he got away or was killed. Then I could use whatever means were necessary to extract information of value and then either 'disappear' him or sit him on an IED and then return a bag of parts to his next of kin.
#2
If I didn't remember the deftness of Carter's foreign and domestic policies during his presidency, I would say he is in the early phases of dementia. Unfortunately, he's always been this way.
#4
Nah, CrazyFool, he's been that way for a while. He's just a slut who was giving it away for free who finally got some cash for it and decided to turn pro.
At the Minneapolis airport prior to the Thanksgiving holiday on Tuesday, Nov. 21, six imams who had been attending a conference of the North American Imams Federation were handcuffed and removed from U.S. Airways Flight 300 bound for Phoenix. The clerics were escorted off the plane at the request of the pilot after passengers expressed concern about the imams actions in the Minneapolis-St. Paul terminal and on the plane.
According to airport spokesman Paul Hogan, the imams gathered in the boarding gate area and were praying loudly and spouting some kind of anti-U.S. rhetoric regarding the war in Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Three of the imams had one-way tickets and no checked luggage.
After boarding the plane, the imams sat alone in different sections of the plane, reminiscent of 9-11 hijacker tactics. Once on board, all six men requested seatbelt extensions that they clearly did not need. Upon their removal from the aircraft, the clerics were questioned by police and the FBI, but no charges were filed. When released from custody, the six Muslims denounced the action as discriminatory and called for a thorough investigation of the incident and a U.S. Airways boycott.
Further, in an attempt to publicize the injustice of what was probably simply good policing and intelligence practice, an interfaith pray-in was scheduled for Monday, Nov. 27 at Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C. Omar Shahin, the Imam of the Islamic Center of Tucson (ICT) and one of the six clerics removed form the plane, was to be joined by Imam Mahdi Bray, the Executive Director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. Other participants were to include Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center of Philadelphia; Rev. Graylan Hagler of the United Church of Christ; Hillary Shelton, director of the NAACP, and other interfaith members for a press statement, public prayer and flight departure on U.S. Airways.
Yet, as the expected chastisement of over-zealous police and close-minded Americans begins, a more critical examination of those involved in the U.S. Airways incident might provide a different perspective. Indeed, it could lead to an understanding of why the imams and their behavior were a credible cause for alarm. Further, there may be other purposes at work here as well, namely, a campaign to undermine our focus on viable and possibly dangerous groups and populations by dismissing it as nothing more than prejudice, small-mindedness and stereotyping. In this way, our very vigilance as a nation is under attack from a form of cultural jihad, that seeks to use our own values against us.
In examining the Nov. 21 incident more closely, we find that among those removed, Shahin, heads a particularly intriguing organization. Founded in 1971, the ICTs $1.5 million mosque was funded largely by the Saudi government through the North American Islamist Trust, a Saudi-backed Wahhabist group that controls a majority of the most radical mosques in North America.
According to Washington-based terrorist expert Rita Katz, the Islamic Center of Tucson included what was basically the first cell of Al Qaeda in the United States. The connections between Al Qaeda and the ICT include Wael Hamza Jalaidan, a former ICT president, believed to be an Al Qaeda founder, and Hani Hanjour, who attended the mosque while a student at the University of Arizona and who later flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on 9/11. Wadih El-Hage, a personal assistant to terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, was active with the ICT in the late 1980s where he is alleged to have established an Al Qaeda support network, according to the FBI. In 2001, El Hage was convicted by a federal judge in New York of planning the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Besides nurturing ICT activists who have gone on to become bone fide terrorists, the Islamic Center of Tucson has played a prominent role in raising money for terrorist front groups. The ICT raised money for the Holy Land Foundation, whose assets were frozen by the U.S. Treasury in 2001 for alleged ties to terrorist groups. Following the treasury action, ICT Imam Omar Shahin continued to defend the organization and its charitable intent. Further, Shahin had been a representative of KindHearts, an organization that made contributions to Hamas-related groups and was also shut down by the U.S. government for alleged connections to terrorist causes.
The response to the U.S. Airways incident from the imams and Muslim organizations nationwide was intensely dramatic, reeking of political grandstanding. They denounced the actions taken by the authorities, labeling it an example of pervasive discrimination now faced by Muslims in America. Muslim spokesmen dubbed the response a police action and claimed the imams were singled out for religious and ethnic reasons as part of a pervasive flying while Muslim mindset. ICT imam Shahin ignored the loud, anti-U.S. rhetoric expressed by the imams and insisted they were simply praying. He criticized America, saying, If up to now they dont know about prayers, this is a real problem.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also blamed American attitudes, when he said, We are concerned that crew members, passengers and security personnel may have succumbed to fear and prejudice based on stereotyping of Muslims and Islam.
This, from the head of an organization which is a terrorist-supporting front group for Hamas that has raised money for the Holy Land Foundation, which was designated a terrorist organization by both the European Union and the United States before it was shut down.
This level of outrage and outcry from the Muslim community raises serious questions about the U.S. Airways incident itself. Could this have been a staged event to call attention to unfair profiling of Muslim passengers?
Surely, Americans are conscious of the fact that not all Muslims are terrorists...but most terrorists are Muslims. The Nov. 21 incident appears to be uniquely crafted to criticize American attitudes and security policies, arising from and created in response to everyday realities.
The six imams who were removed from U.S. Airways Flight 300 just happened to be among those attending a conference for the newly elected first Muslim Congressman in America, Keith (Hakim Mohammed) Ellison of Minnesota. Ellison, who recently spoke at a CAIR fundraiser, has vowed to criminalize Muslim profiling and has demanded to talk with U.S. Airways officials. CAIR has called for congressional hearings to investigate incidents of flying while Muslim and has worked with incoming Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-MI, to draft a resolution that gives Muslims special civil rights protections. Conyers is co-sponsoring the End Racial Profiling Act with incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They have vowed to end racial profiling, limit the reach of the Patriot Act and facilitate the immigration process.
Since September 11th, many Muslim Americans have been subjected to searches at airports and other locations based upon their religion and national origin, without any credible information linking individuals to criminal conduct, Pelosi has said. Racial and religious profiling is fundamentally un-American and we must make it illegal.
Democrats who are demanding changes to legislation that was enacted to protect our country from a repeat of 9/11 must be asked what is illegal about profiling individuals from groups of interest in order to protect the public and prevent terrorist attacks. What is fundamentally un-American about exercising vigilance with people of the same racial and religious background as the 9/11 hijackers? What could be more protective of the civil rights of Americans than shielding them from those pledged to kill them? Since when are the rights of terrorists more important than the safety and security of the American public?
In the interest of pursuing stated goals to Islamicize America, Muslims feel free to demand special accommodations for their religious beliefs and cultural practices. They enjoy First Amendment protections and freely criticize American society on our university campuses and in mosques and madrassas. They invoke hate speech against opponents and classify them as religious infidels.
Americans, however, are not free to scrutinize Muslims. Those who do are immediately suspect and censured when they question, criticize or monitor Muslim actions, no matter how insidious and suspicious. Muslims in America have conveniently reset the bar of tolerance to be defined as the unquestioned acceptance of Islam, its prophet, and its practices. If we fail to continue to question, scrutinize and speak out, then they will have succeeded in their campaign of cultural jihad and rendered homeland security unable to deal with real jihad.
#1
They should all be arrested (including the Congressmen) for terrorism. Everything they did was designed to push security and although the intent might not have been actual terror it is fair to say their actions caused fear amung the bulk of the passengers in exactly that way.
Airlines should start putting cameras on the bulkheads so they can have tape of idiots like this for the inevitable trials.
Excellent find. Required reading. Thanks for posting same.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
11/28/2006 13:07 Comments ||
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#3
Another winner from A5089. Keep up the good work, man. Your contributions are always top-notch.
Founded in 1971, the ICTs $1.5 million mosque was funded largely by the Saudi government through the North American Islamist Trust, a Saudi-backed Wahhabist group that controls a majority of the most radical mosques in North America.
Time to shutter and bulldoze every single mosque and office built by this bunch of terrorists. This one organization represents the very heart of Islam's threat to America. They must be erased from the national landscape.
#5
Hey Conyers and Pelosi! Dumbfucks! "End Racial Profiling" will not stop Americans from knowing that most terrorists are muslims, and the rest are Democrat lawmakers. BTW - what "race" are Islamics?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2006 16:40 Comments ||
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#6
Good info. Got one them moskkks going up in our neighborhood and would be very nice to know where the $$ are coming from.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
11/28/2006 17:00 Comments ||
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#7
I have a hunch something's up in Muzzieville.
The weekend before Thanksgiving I went out to Pittsburgh to visit my son, and on the way back along the Pennsylvania Turnpike I stopped at one of the rest stops to get some eats. When I returned to my car, there was a vanload of headbangers getting out of their vehicle parked right next to mine, and putting down prayer rugs-- right smack-dab in the middle of the parking lot.
I thought it odd at the time; I've never seen them do that before. Now, with this Minneapolis Six business, I'm wondering if there isn't some movement afoot to get in non-Muslims' faces, en masse.
Odd doin's...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/28/2006 18:20 Comments ||
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#8
Rex: you should be able to get the building permit info at the construction site and then visit the county permit office. that should give you some leads regarding the general contractor and owner; that may lead to some interesting data. happy digging. ( all that info is public records so you have a legit right to request it.)
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
11/28/2006 19:49 Comments ||
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#10
That is odd, Dave D.
Posted by: BA ||
11/28/2006 19:55 Comments ||
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#11
Hit return before finishing. Anyways, I still wonder (my original thought when I heard about this "incident" a week ago) about all of this, the timing, etc. Wasn't Moussaui (sp?) taking flight lessons in Tuscon at one point (seems like the FBI office there was suspicious of him) pre-9/11?
This just ruffles my conspiracy feathers. We failed to "connect the dots" prior to 9/11, so now, I see things that sometimes aren't there, but make me go hummmm? With these guys (6 imams) heading to Tuscon, as well as the guy busted in Detroit the week prior to last week, heading to Phoenix, is something afoot in AZ? With this past summer's warning on Adnan al-Shukrijumah (thought to be the next "ringleader" for another attack) trying to get into the US via Mexico, could they be using Tuscon/Phoenix as the next "staging ground"? Could Shukrijumah be plotting to meet up with these goons? And what exactly did these headbangers say on the airplane (someone here posted that a lady aboard understood Arabic and said they weren't praying but spouting off about taking down America, etc.)? Mebets it wasn't exactly "love thy neighbor" type prayers. The passengers, crew and airline did the right thing. Forget this "profiling" BS, this is war!
Posted by: BA ||
11/28/2006 20:01 Comments ||
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#12
I hope anyone who researches documents as suggested to Rex posts everything on the internet, this will help researchers all over the world once search engines make contact. The documents are public information and deserve the widest dissemination possible.
#13
Dave D - I've seen Muslims praying in the parking lot of a rest stop on a western interstate as far back as 1978, didn't think it particularly unusual based on what I knew about Muslims at the time. Nowadays ostentatious displays like that look suspicious to any sensible person.
Is it possible that you saw some of the people going to this "conference" in the Twin Cities that preceded the USA Flight 300 brouhaha? The timing seems roughly right. If I'd been there, I would have thought about photographing the group (and their license plates) just before driving away.
#14
Public praying is an act of jihad. Aimed at desensitizing Americans to the Islamic presence here, they both hope to lull Americans into apathetic "submission" and to gain converts/American operatives who will prove useful information providers and spokespeople. The final goal is to install, as it were, Islam as a mainstay of American culture, become "accepted," then work their way into positions of government/power/education, etc.
" . . . there may be other purposes at work here as well, namely, a campaign to undermine our focus on viable and possibly dangerous groups and populations by dismissing it as nothing more than prejudice, small-mindedness and stereotyping. In this way, our very vigilance as a nation is under attack from a form of cultural jihad, that seeks to use our own values against us"
So true. The Muzzies are calling any and all dissent, "Islamophobia" which plays against the pragmatic American sense of fairness and acceptance.
These actions are all PLANNED and CALCULATED by the leaders, then are experiemented with to gauge public reaction, so they can plan better next time.
Not many understand that jihad has many facets--outright fighting, contributing money, and social engineering.
#15
Even though it would be quite distasteful in so many ways to do so, it would behoove Americans to learn Arabic, so we can understand what the bastards are saying (especially when they don't know we understand what they're saying). Amazon has some good stuff that direction, and so does Rosetta Stone.
By Josh Manchester
A super-secret group of military officers studying Iraq found its conclusions leaked to the press last week. The Washington Post reported that the group has developed three options, "Go big," "Go long," or "Go home." The group is said to be recommending "going long."
"The group has devised a hybrid plan that combines part of the first option with the second one -- 'Go Long' -- and calls for cutting the U.S. combat presence in favor of a long-term expansion of the training and advisory efforts. Under this mixture of options, which is gaining favor inside the military, the U.S. presence in Iraq, currently about 140,000 troops, would be boosted by 20,000 to 30,000 for a short period, the officials said.
"The purpose of the temporary but notable increase, they said, would be twofold: To do as much as possible to curtail sectarian violence, and also to signal to the Iraqi government and public that the shift to a 'Go Long' option that aims to eventually cut the U.S. presence is not a disguised form of withdrawal."
Here's my own contribution to these discussions. Why not go native? The constituent parts to this plan are:
1. Dramatically expand the training and advisory efforts. Expand their numbers, funding, and facilities. This doesn't differ much from "Go long," but wait there's more...
2. Create a crash program to develop a massive Arabic linguistic capability within the US military. This is the United States. We put men on the moon. Why don't we train 20,000 or more American military personnel proficient in Arabic in the next 12 months? Sure, it's a difficult language. But nobody has to be able to translate the Koran in order to lead an attack, plan a patrol, or otherwise advise an Iraqi force. Have the president sign an executive order temporarily federalizing the Arabic departments of every US university that has them. The professors will keep the same pay, but it'll be on Uncle Sam's tab and all of their students for the next two years will be military personnel. If our captains, lieutenants, sergeants and corporals have 30 days of Arabic for 12 hours a day with native speaking instructors before deploying, it will get us where we need to be.
3. Give Maliki 60 days to remove the Shi'ite militias from positions of influence in the government. If he asks for help of some kind in doing so, provide it. Give him one last chance to prove that stopping the sectarian killing is more important than satisfying those who hunger for it.
4. If he can't do it, then declare Iraq's security forces to be in receivership. What does this mean? It means that the security forces of Iraq no longer answer to the Iraqi government, they answer to the US military. The government will still exist. It will still be a democracy. But it will temporarily lose control of its military. After doing this, purge the Iraqi forces of those loyal to Shi'ite militias.
5. Create combined US-Iraqi forces. Here's where the go native part really kicks in. Forget about standing our forces down as the Iraqi forces stand up. It seems to actually be working in Anbar province, but the American public and political class don't believe it. Instead, create a situation such that the American forces and the Iraqi forces are one and the same. American forces in small numbers live, eat, sleep, fight and die with their Iraqi counterparts. It will keep the Iraqis honest about not killing each other in wanton bloodshed. And it will earn incredible benefits for the Americans in terms of intelligence gained and cultural lessons learned. This doesn't just apply to the military. It applies to the police, the border patrol, heck, even the Iraqi boy scouts if there's a local chapter.
6. Redeploy as many FOBBITS as possible. What's a Fobbit? A FOB is a forward operating base, and a fobbit is the derogatory term used by combat arms troops to refer to the support personnel who inhabit such gargantuan bases. This is not to look down upon the accomplishments of support personnel. But as much as possible, integrate the logistics of the forces that have gone native with the Iraqis with the Iraqi logistics. This should allow at least a portion of the massive numbers of support troops to come home, reducing our overall presence in the country, and showing a metric of progress to the American people.
And so, there you have it. These changes would be dramatic. It takes guts to tell a sovereign government that we're relieving it of its military. But by going native, the US can destroy or neutralize the Shi'ite militias; restore confidence in the Iraqi armed forces; increase our language and cultural proficiency, which is a huge force multiplier; and over time we can gradually cede the military back to the Iraqi government. Just for good measure, it would probably be a good idea to surge a large number of troops in to tamp down violence in Baghdad while the go native plan gets ramped up. But within 6 to 12 months, the US presence would be smaller, and more effective, violence in Baghdad will be much lower, and the insurgency will be even more beleaguered than it is now.
Iraq is too important to just leave in pieces for its neighbors to do what they will with it. The US political class is currently misreading the US election, thinking that it provides a mandate for withdrawal. Instead, it was a message of general discontent. It's time for dramatic changes. Why not go native?
Josh Manchester is an officer in the US Marine reserves and a TCSDaily Contributing Writer. His blog is www.theadventuresofchester.com.
Posted by: ed ||
11/28/2006 13:17 Comments ||
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#2
If he can't do it, then declare Iraq's security forces to be in receivership. What does this mean? It means that the security forces of Iraq no longer answer to the Iraqi government, they answer to the US military. The government will still exist. It will still be a democracy.
Think it would be democratic if we did the same thing here. Separate the military from civilian control, just send the bill to Congress to pay every year, like it or not. Heh, right. /sarcasm off.
#3
--- "Create a crash program to develop a massive Arabic linguistic capability within the US military."? Our fearless leaders have had FIVE F-N YEARS to do this, which is about half the time it takes to train an expert Arabic translator, and more than enough time to train a fairly competent one. Programs for language competence could also have been started at the secondary and collegiate levels, which I recall was done with the Russian language after Sputnik was launched in 1957. A large mass of captured and otherwise acquired intelligence in Arabic continues to go untranslated.
--- The US leadership has never been serious about dealing with the jihad.
#4
The government has posted facsimiles of a great many captured Iraqi documents on some website or other so that we common folk can see and translate if we have the ability, Anguper Hupomosing9418. FoxNews has done several reports -- that I posted on Rantburg in the past year -- of analyses of translations done by a retired intelligence analyst. I believe that the West Point kids are also sinking their teeth into the mass of documents, 'though I've no idea what they're coming up with. And do remember that a goodly proportion of the native translators on the government payroll don't actually have America's best interests at heart, for whatever that's worth. Increasing numbers of college kids are studying the languages of the Muslim world with an eye toward helping the war effort when they get out -- I posted an article on that here within the past month. Is the government as serious as it could be? Of course not, but then I haven't picked up Mr. Wife's 20-year old Arabic textbooks for self-study, so I s'pose I'm part of the problem.
#5
No surprises here, but I do agree in principle within the gener context of securing Iraq. I believe he US mainstream still suppors "Dubya's War" - the US Voter wants to see victory, not retreat or "re-deployment". They know enemy armies will appear on CONUS-NORAMS shore. WOT > WAR FOR THE WORLD + WAR TO THE DEATH, which America MUST WIN NO MATTER HOW MANY NEW 9-11's/AMER HIROSHIMAS TAKE PLACE ON US SOIL. WON'T HAPPEN OVER-NITE, BUT IT IS A WAR TO THE DEATH.
There were more 'past wars' than just WWII. How about the hundred years war from 1790-1880s when we built a nation, constantly dealing with aboriginal population? Let's repeat again from Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian 1866-1891 by Robert M. Utley. -
Chapter 3: The Problem of Doctrine. "Three special conditions set this mission apart from more orthodox military assignments. First, it pitted the army against an enemy who usually could not be clearly identified and differentiated from kinsmen not disposed at the moment to be enemies. Indians could change with bewildering rapidity from friend to foe to neutral, and rarely could one be confidently distinguished from another...Second, Indian service placed the army in opposition to a people that aroused conflicting emotions... And third, the Indians mission gave the army a foe unconventional both in the techniques and aims of warfare... He fought on his own terms and, except when cornered or when his family was endangered, declined to fight at all unless he enjoyed overwhelming odds...These special conditions of the Indian mission made the U.S. Army not so much a little army as a big police force...for a century the army tried to perform its unconventional mission with conventional organization and methods. The result was an Indian record that contained more failures than successes and a lack of preparedness for conventional war that became painfully evident in 1812, 1846, 1861, and 1898."
Chapter 4. The Army, Congress, and the People. "Shermans frontier regulars endured not only the physical isolation of service at remote border posts; increasingly in the postwar years they found themselves isolated in attitudes, interests, and spirit from other institutions of government and society and, indeed from the American people themselves...Reconstruction plunged the army into tempestuous partisan politics. The frontier service removed it largely from physical proximity to population and, except for an occasional Indian conflict, from public awareness and interest. Besides public and congressional indifference and even hostility, the army found its Indian attitudes and policies condemned and opposed by the civilian officials concerned with Indian affairs and by the nations humanitarian community."
Gee, sounds so familiar. The process took generations. It employed a small overtaxed overextended professional Army. One of the key features that allowed the Army to be successful was to co-opt locals to participate in operations, so you had Crow allied against the Sioux and employed Apache Scouts against those who'd operate on both sides of the Mexican border. So how about dropping the WWII comparisons. It is not Vietnam and its not the Great Crusade in Europe.
#1
Doesn't "Prelude" imply that there isn't a war in progress already? Israel's Arab "neighbors" have been at war with her continuously since '48. The only issue at any given moment is the level of intensity and the identity of the state and non-state actors in the field.
Posted by: just sayin ||
11/28/2006 12:19 Comments ||
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Pope Benedict XVI is set to arrive in Turkey on Tuesday, and tensions are running high. Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, wrote to Benedict: Your life is in danger. You absolutely must not come to Turkey. And several weeks ago, a Turk named Ibrahim Ak stood outside Italys consulate in Istanbul and fired a gun while proclaiming his desire to strangle the pope. As he was arrested, Ak shouted: I am happy to be a Muslim! He said that he hoped the Pope would decide not to come to Turkey, and that his actions would inspire other Turks to violence: God willing, this will be a spark, a starter for Muslims ... God willing, he will not come. If he comes, he will see what will happen to him.
Turkish officials are trying to make sure nothing does. According to the Associated Press, they have mobilized an army of snipers, bomb disposal experts and riot police, as well as navy commandos to patrol the Bosporus Straits flowing through Istanbul. However, Meliha Benli Altunisik, a professor at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, questioned whether such precautions were necessary at all: Will there be protests? Yes, of course. But I cannot take seriously the notion that he is in physical danger. He will rather be ignored.
Certainly Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan originally planned to ignore him. Erdogan will be attending a NATO summit in Latvia on the first two days of the Popes visit and at first announced that he would not meet with him during the last two days, either. You can't expect me to arrange my timetable according to the pope, Erdogan huffed, and of course hes right: how could anyone expect him to rearrange his busy schedule to meet with someone so unimportant as the Pope? (However, on Monday he did finally change his plans and agreed to meet with Benedict.)
The real reason why Erdogan did not want to meet the Pope, of course, is the same reason why security is so tight: Turks are enraged over the Popes speech at the University of Regensburg on September 12, 2006, in which he quoted the fourteenth century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologos: Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached. There were riots all over the Islamic world over these remarks in September, and several Christians were murdered in Iraq and Somalia. In Turkey, tempers havent cooled. Turkish politician Salih Kapusuz said: The owner of those unfortunate and arrogant comments, Benedict XVI, has gone down in history, but in the same category as Hitler and Mussolini....It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades. The Crusades were on Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahris mind also: he likened Benedict to Pope Urban II, who called the First Crusade in 1095.
Unfortunately, the danger of and anger over the Popes visit to Turkey has overshadowed both the real focus of the visit, and what should be its major preoccupation. The main purpose of the Popes trip is to meet with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the Orthodox Church. One may hope also that the Pope will take an opportunity to shed some light upon the woeful condition of religious minorities, principally Christians, in what is nominally a secular state that allows for religious freedom. Two converts from Islam to Christianity, Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal, are currently on trial on charges of insulting Turkishness and inciting hatred of Islam. What seems to be behind the charges is that Tastan and Topal were proselytizing which, while not officially illegal, is frowned upon and has sometimes resulted in beatings of Christians trying to hand out religious literature. On November 4, a Protestant church in western Turkey was firebombed, after months of harassment that was ignored by Turkish authorities. The murderer of a Catholic priest, Fr. Andrea Santoro, last February in the Turkish city of Trabzon was recently sentenced to only eighteen years in prison. (The killer shouted Allahu akbar! as he fired shots at the priest.)
All this bespeaks a Turkish officialdom that is hostile at best to non-Muslim forms of religious expression, Turkeys guarantees of religious freedom be damned. The institutionalized subjugation and second-class status of religious minorities under the Ottoman Empire was bad enough, but Turkish secularism has been, if anything, even worse. Constantinople was 50% Christian as recently as 1914 (its name was changed to Istanbul in 1930); today, it is less than one percent Christian. The Catholic Church has no legal recognition; Catholic churches, like other churches, remain inconspicuous so as not to draw the angry attention of mujahedin. Even the recognized Churches are not allowed to operated seminaries or build new houses of worship in accord with ancient Islamic Sharia restrictions on non-Muslims in an Islamic state, which restrictions paradoxically enough still have at least some force in secular Turkey.
The righteous fury with which the Pope will likely be greeted in Turkey will shift attention from the shame Turkish authorities should feel over the mistreatment of Christians in their land that nominally allows for religious freedom. The mainstream media will focus on protests against the Pope, and pay scant attention to anything he may say, if he says anything at all, about the oppression of Christians in Turkey. And that, in the final analysis, may lead the Turkish government for all its security precautions -- to hope that the protestors will turn out in force.
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.
By Robert Spencer
