A Marine says - 'Ignore the propaganda on the 'news' - here is what it is REALLY like here.....
"This reads so fast you will not know you even read it!
A very interesting MUST read, maybe we need to bring our guys home and leave those crazies to kill each other off.
Origins: This letter purportedly written by a Marine serving in Afghanistan began circulating on the Internet at the end of November 2001. It has since been read over the air by a variety of radio hosts, which has helped to disseminate the piece to an even wider audience.
Darth Cheney Mod Note: Squinty also posted Mr. Cheney's article. When we get multiple submissions, the submission date/time is generally the primary factor.
As the terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) threaten Baghdad, thousands of slaughtered Iraqis in their wake, it is worth recalling a few of President Obama's past statements about ISIS and al Qaeda. "If a J.V. team puts on Lakers' uniforms that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant" (January 2014). "[C]ore al Qaeda is on its heels, has been decimated" (August 2013). "So, let there be no doubt: The tide of war is receding" (September 2011).
Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is "ending" the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan--as though wishing made it so. His rhetoric has now come crashing into reality. Watching the black-clad ISIS jihadists take territory once secured by American blood is final proof, if any were needed, that America's enemies are not "decimated." They are emboldened and on the march.
The United States is still a potentially menacing super power in the eyes of our enemies, however, our enemies see Obama, the head of this nation, as a very weak or even accommodating.
Like a Headless Horseman, a nation that is in danger of an opportunistic attack by an enemy while Obama is President.
#2
If someone attack's the US, it's all good for Obama. The only people who would get hurt fighting back wouldn't have voted for his group anyway, so they picture it a net gain.
He'll just rub that Nobel Prize for luck, and go play golf somewhere.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/18/2014 8:29 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Mr. Cheney acts as if he is surprised by Obama. He shouldn't be, he has had some experience early on with the likes of Baghdad Bob.
#6
Whait.
Didn't Kobe say Obama could play for the Lakers?
He does have to write like this; too many people had no idea what was going on until their meterball tweet showing Mosul's head of police placed onto the back of his knees.
#7
He could play for the Lakers but I hear he's headed for the Senior PGA tour instead, of course will still be eligible for the US Open and in due course The Masters and PGA, look for him to sweep, unless the Nobel Prize is awarded during the same time. My bet is the next one will be for Literature.
[DAWN] IT ought to be inexplicable and inconceivable. But the inconceivable all too often does occur in Pakistain. And the reasons are all too explicable. Whatever the claims of the Punjab government and police, a basic set of facts is already perfectly clear and incontrovertible: the Punjab police used stunningly excessive force against the supporters of Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. 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... in Lahore yesterday and every single one of the deaths and casualties that resulted from the police action was avoidable. So clear is so much of the evidence that while a judicial commission has been hastily created, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... surely has enough grounds for immediate suspensions and possibly even summary dismissals of the coppers involved. The point is so essential that it bears repetition: the police, a force designed and meant to protect all citizens equally, simply must not be allowed to get away with extreme violence against the very citizens it is meant to protect.
If the violence was shocking, perhaps nearly as perplexing is the undefined threat the PML-N senses in Tahirul Qadri and his supporters. Mr Qadri and the Minhajul Koran/Pakistain Awami Tehrik network have tried to destabilise democracy before -- in a much bigger way than anything that they have been able to muster this time so far. But the PPP-led government in Islamabad defused the pre-2013 election crisis Mr Qadri tried to engineer by simply waiting out the preacher and his supporters and allowing the limited support for his cause to be exposed. If only the Punjab government had followed that successful template. In Punjab, the PML-N's political support, electoral base and parliamentary strength is so overwhelming that the party could easily have stood back and allowed a political nonentity with few legitimate or genuine hopes to do his worst. Somehow, though, the PML-N political ethos seems to involve using their crushing advantage to squash would-be rivals. That is as undemocratic at its core as it is illegal when the law-enforcement agencies of the province are used to further party goals.
Yet, astonishing, depressing and even sickening as the Punjab government's approach may have been, neither are the PML-N's opponents behaving in a dignified or appropriate manner. Spurred on partly by certain elements in the media that roared into action, sections of the political class have erupted seemingly less because of principled opposition to the violence in Lahore and more to try and see if they can hurt the PML-N politically. Gone is the talk of the national unity and consensus needed with the country in an undeclared state of war against militancy that just days -- hours -- earlier had been all everyone in the political class wanted to talk about. Since it was the PML-N that started this round of accusations and recriminations, it should be the PML-N that should close it quickly. Shahbaz Sharif should announce quick and appropriate punishments, judicial commission or not.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] IT is hardly a secret that young people in the subcontinent, many of them underage, are regularly forced into marriages they might not desire. Indeed, so regressive is the mindset among some circles that the practice is not seen as impinging on an individual's rights and freedoms. Regrettably, this abusive practice has spread to other countries, too, via the diasporas. In the UK, thousands of cases have been documented where young people, including minors, have been forced into marriage, some on British soil and others brought back to their families' countries of origin to be coerced into matrimony. Thereafter, many are condemned to a life where they can suffer grave physical, sexual and other forms of abuse, and find it difficult to escape their circumstances. The UK has therefore taken a laudable step in criminalising the practice, with the legislation coming into effect across England and Wales on Monday. Most notably, the law applies not just within Britannia but also criminalises a British citizen being forced into marriage abroad. For good reason have campaigners welcomed the laws as a "huge step forward".
Of course, it is not just people from the subcontinent who mete out such treatment to members of their families. The UK's Forced Marriage Unit dealt with some 1,300 cases last year alone. Some 18pc of the victims were male, and the cases related to people from 74 different countries. Shockingly, though, nearly two-thirds of the cases related to the UK's South Asian community. A closer look at these numbers reveals an even more damning indictment: 10pc were linked to Bangladesh, 11pc to India, and a massive 43pc to Pakistain. If the scale of the problem is so large in the UK, we can only guess at what it might be here, where even laws criminalising underage marriage are flouted with impunity. How can this change? For Pakistain, it requires a fundamental shift in society's patriarchal and tribal mindset. Sadly, there are next to no indications of this happening.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
I have worked with a couple of women who had to flee forced marriages because the husband was literally going to murder them. It is really sad. I helped one get a pay raise to a living wage even though she didn't work for me or my company. She had begged for my help with the client. Jeez.
[DAWN] THIS will indeed be the most critical battle in Pakistain's long war against bad boy insurgency. Ending its prolonged dithering, the government has finally ordered a full-scale military operation in North Wazoo rightly described as the centre of gravity of terrorism. Thousands of ground troops backed by air force jets have moved into action after the announcement of the offensive to reclaim control over the strategically placed territory.
No doubt, the decision to eliminate the terrorist den was imminent after the collapse of peace talks with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, but the bloody siege of the international airport in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... last week proved to be the proverbial last straw. The Sharif government was left with no choice but to declare an all-out war against those responsible for the brazen assault on the state. The incident shook the country and the demand for action became ever louder.
There was certainly no other option but to face the challenge head on. A lot of time has already been wasted because of indecisiveness on the part of our national leadership. The endless talk about talks delivering peace had exposed the weakness of the state. Despite the decision, however, the prime minister still appears unwilling to take charge and has left it to the military to run the show.
While immensely critical, the latest campaign is much more complex than any other undertaken by the security forces so far in its decade-long war in this treacherous mountainous territory. Despite the fact that the military is now much more experienced in fighting insurgency and battle-hardened, this asymmetric war was never easy. One thing is certain -- it is going to be a long haul.
This will not be the first time the Pakistain Army is carrying out an operation in North Waziristan. The earlier expedition, launched in 2004, ended in a peace deal with the tribal turbans after two years of fierce fighting. The truce allowed the turbans to not only regroup, but also strengthen their positions. It will be even more difficult to dislodge them now.
The biggest of the seven tribal agencies North Waziristan is a haven for a lethal mix of foreign and local turbans presenting an existential threat to the country. Many of the terrorist attacks in other countries also have roots in the region. The number of imported muscle in the territory is roughly estimated by the intelligence agencies to be around 8,000. More than half of them -- some 4,800 -- are reportedly Uzbek. They have not only been involved in the Karachi airport attack, they have also participated in other high-profile attacks eg, Bannu jail, Mehran and Kamra air bases.
Apart from the Uzbeks there are other foreign bad boy groups such as networks of isolated Chechens, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and Chinese Uighur turbans of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. Reportedly, the majority of Arab turbans have either been killed by US drone strikes or left the region. Thousands of Punjabi turbans also moved to North Waziristan over the years, and established training camps in the restive border region.
The battle for control over this lawless region has assumed much greater gravity with the approach of the endgame in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda-linked groups present a worrying, long-term security threat for Pakistain, in fact, for the entire region.
A major concern for Pak security forces pertains to bully boyz crossing over to Afghanistan as has happened in the past, and the use of the sanctuaries for cross-border attacks. The Pakistain military has requested the Afghan cops to seal the border on their side to facilitate the elimination of bully boyz who attempt to flee across the border. But that may not work given the tension between the two neighbours.
There is certainly a greater need for cooperation and a joint strategy between Kabul and Islamabad to fight militancy. The security of the two countries has never been so intertwined as now. The bad boys' sanctuaries on either side of the border will have serious consequences for the region, particularly, after the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
Surely a major objective of the offensive is to secure the control of the lawless territory. But military action alone does not offer a long-term solution to an extremely complex problem. The government needs to take urgent measures to end the alienation and backwardness of the tribal region as well. The ongoing military operation provides a great opportunity to push for the long-delayed integration of the region with the rest of the country in order to end its ambiguous semi-autonomous status.
The military operation in North Waziristan is only one dimension of the wider battle against militancy and violent extremism in the country. The bad boy groups have strong networks across the country. For a long-term solution, the government needs to develop a coherent and overarching counterterrorism strategy in order to strengthen the capacity of the civilian law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. There is also need for closer coordination among the various intelligence agencies and strict enforcement of rule of law.
What is most positive is the evolution of a wider political consensus on the war against terrorism. Almost all political parties with the exception of some right-wing Islamic groups such as the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... are united in their support of the military campaign. But that unity can only be sustained by developing a strong internal security narrative.
One must learn from past military operations in other tribal regions. A major flaw in the approach was that after clearing the areas, no effort was made to establish a proper administrative system. As a result, the state's control over those areas remained tentative.
Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... and South Waziristan present glaring examples of battles not fully won. The presence of the military does not provide permanent solutions. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a formal civilian system along with the military operation. Without that, the objectives of the operation will never be fully achieved.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#3
He is over the top and losing it. FOX needs to reel him in or cut him like MSNBC did Olberman. I heard Megan out did him in the ratings last week. He's on his way down.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/18/2014 14:36 Comments ||
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#4
Well gosh golly bill, Obama and Company wanted to give these guys air support. I think we will be lucky if we don't give ISIS air support and also try to bomb them at the same time. But say so we make nicey nice with Iran and start bombing...where? Anyone know where the blitzkriegs are at any moment? Gonna be able to tell the difference between bad guys dressed as civilians or when they are dressed/equipped as Iraqi government?
I hear Iran has some fancy new domestic flying machines and a new aircraft carrier - if we are to give a chunk of Iraq to Iran let them fly CAS. IMO the best chance of preventing this came what four weeks ago when Fallugah fell apart. There was some time to come up with a plan of support but for whatever reason that did not happen. Convoys of obvious technicals and cows and food wagons crossing the open would have been chow time for an A-10 but we are above such antiquated platforms right? Second best chance was to catch the spoils sent back to Syria but no airstrikes there eh? Oil exports are being disrupted as we speak, shall we lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for them letting us help them?
h/t Gates of Vienna
...The Middle East is not simply falling apart. It is taking a different shape, along very clear lines far older ones than those the western powers rudely imposed on the region nearly a century ago. Across the whole continent those borders are in the process of cracking and breaking. But while that happens the regions two most ambitious centres of power the house of Saud and the Ayatollahs in Iran find themselves fighting each other not just for influence but even, perhaps, for survival. Whatever happened to "Arab Israeli Peace Process"?
#1
Not all bad, the herds are being thinned. We have to get away from the meddling, do-gooder, attitude of trying to fix the Mideast and trying to bring about peace. We do need to communicate to them in no uncertain terms that if they screw with us again, its all over for them--it will not be nation building next time.
Looks like it. Iraq's location makes a good battle space between the two jockeying powers. And its central geography allows all the regions states to easily be pulled in.
#6
It is taking a different shape, along very clear lines
Iraq has fragmented: The Islamic State of ISIS is born. Kurdistan is all but established. Shiastan seems to have taken shape radiating out from the oil rich port city of Basra.
I could imagine Turkey retaking its former province and city of Mosul especially with its fall to ISIS. Iran may be tempted to reclaim former Persian lands west of Shatt Al-Arab.
ISIS is consolidating its territorial gains from East Syria with its gains in Iraq. It's to be seen IF Assad wins, will he try to re-incoporate parts of Lebanon into a Greater Syria.
How long can Jordan stay out of it? King Abdullah II can't be thrilled to be ISIS's bucket list.
#7
That map is dead wrong. At least int he North. Kurdish state will be larger - it will include Kirkuk, and more of the territory NW of Mosul - right up to the river bank. Thats Kurd/Turcomen area. And they do already have de-facto control of that territory with the Peshmerga in and around there.
And the Shia will not let go of Baghdad and the surrounding area due to religious shrines and Shia majority populations in some of those cities to the N/W of Baghdad.
#8
Oh, and the Kurds claim the capital is Kirkuk - they have traditionally have it as part of their ethnic area, as well as parts of the neighboring provinces. That map must have been drawn by a Turk.
#9
IMO the ISIS/ISIL-led Battle for Iraq has finally caused the West to recognize that Radical Islam's Jihad is a GLOBAL JIHAD AKA GLOBAL MOHAMEDDAN CONQUEST.
#11
OOOOPPPPSSS, my bad, forgot FREEREPUBLIC > [Slate] AL-QAIDA HISTORIAN: ISIS' NEAR-TERM GOAL IS "VAST WAR WIDIN ISLAM".
and
* RUSSIA TODAY > "DEADLY DANGER": UK + GERMANY WARN OF ISLAMIST FIGHTERS' PLAN TO ATTACK IN EUROPE.
[Once again, 1960-70's = 2014 TOM CRUISE'S NEW FLICK "EDGE OF TOMORROW" here].
Ditto as per coming Leaving-the-Earth new movie "INTERSTELLAR", or as I = MADONNA? intrepete it = "IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE GLOBAL/WORDWIDE ISLAMIC CONQUEST, A HANDFUL OF NON-MUSLIMS DECIDE THEY MUST LEAVE A TROUBLED, REPRESSIVE EARTH INTO SPACE IN ORDER TO SAVE HUMANITY + FREEDOM".
[Iran Press TV] As the deteriorating security situation in Iraq once again dominates headlines in the US, America's dirty wars in the Middle East and South Asia continue with no sign of abating.
Last week, the United States carried out one drone strike in Yemen and two in Pakistain, killing an estimated total of between 15 and 22 people, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an organization that tracks drone strikes closely. All of the dead were reported to be murderous Moslems; human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... advocates note, however, that such claims are often discovered to be inaccurate or misleading following further investigation.
The attacks received relatively scant media attention compared to the worsening violence in Iraq. But despite President B.O.'s rhetoric that "this war, like all wars, must end," there seems to be no end in sight in the often-amorphous war on terrorism. Some observers have christened this ongoing conflict the "Forever War." In a recent hearing, a top Pentagon lawyer reiterated that the list of organizations the US considers itself at war with is classified.
The two strikes in Pakistain were the first of 2014, breaking a nearly six-month pause in the CIA's drone campaign there. As Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations noted in a recent blog post, June 17th, 2014 marks 10 years of US drone strikes in Pakistain. "Never before in US history has such a lengthy and lethal military campaign been so inadequately described or justified by the government, which retains the fiction that these strikes are 'covert' and unworthy of public examination," wrote Zenko.
Here are three troubling takeaways from the recent strikes:
1. The US may be targeting enemies of foreign governments, not imminent threats to the US.
The two strikes in Pakistain came after the breakdown of peace talks between the Pak government and the Pak Taliban (TTP), which ended after a brutal attack carried out by Uzbekistan snuffies in coordination with the TTP on the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... airport, resulting in 36 deaths. Pakistain is now waging a major offensive in the tribal region of North Wazoo, aimed at dislodging murderous Moslem groups there.
Reports conflict on who the targets of each strike were, but at least one and possibly both strikes were aimed at members of the Haqqani network, frequent targets of the drone program and the group that until recently held US Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl captive. Some have speculated that following Bergdahl's release, the CIA -- which operates the drone program in Pakistain -- may have had more leeway to strike the group.
But one of the two strikes may have targeted Uzbek fighters, which could raise questions about whether the CIA is targeting threats to the US -- or enemies of the Pak government. "Generally speaking, the drones have targeted people who are perceived to be at war with the US," says Mustafa Qadri, lead author of an Amnesia Amnesty International report released last year on drone strikes in Pakistain. "But in the strike against the Uzbeks, they're targeting people who were claiming responsibility for the attack in Pakistain. It looks like we're going back to a period where there was very direct coordination between the Paks and the Americans."
Rooters quoted two officials in Pakistain's government as saying the US had "express approval" for the strikes, a drastic turnaround from recent years. The nation's Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed the opposite, however, calling the strikes "a violation of Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity."
The drone program in Pakistain began in 2004 with what some have called a "bargain chip killing," in which the US allegedly targeted a Pak murderous Moslem who had been deemed an enemy of the state, but posed no threat to the US. In return, as reported by The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... ' Mark Mazzetti, Pakistain allowed the CIA to use its airspace to attack members of al Qaeda.
A similar dynamic seems to be at play in Yemen. What appears to be a US drone strike killed five alleged members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on Friday. Though the group is generally considered the most dangerous active branch of al Qaeda, some observers are skeptical that every target is a legitimate threat to the US. "The US increasingly appears to be acting as a proxy Air Force for Yemen in its civil war with AQAP," says Letta Tayler, terrorism and counterterrorism researcher at Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... . "It's hard to believe that the hundreds of Yemenis killed in US drone strikes all posed an imminent threat to Americans and we know that in at least some cases these strikes have unlawfully killed civilians."
2. This may be what the near-term future of US military force looks like.
As the US watches sectarian conflict expand in Iraq and Syria, pressure for the B.O. regime to intervene somehow is likely to grow. ISIS, the group behind the recent turmoil in Iraq, is arguably a greater threat to the US than local enemies in Yemen or Pakistain; Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... has said the administration is open to considering drone strikes in Iraq, and the US has secretly been flying a small number of surveillance drones over the country for the last year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Beyond Iraq, Obama has argued that rather than take unilateral military action, the US needs to partner with local governments to address local threats. In a recent speech at West Point, President B.O. said that he was "calling on Congress to support a new Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund of up to $5 billion, which will allow us to train, build capacity, and facilitate partner countries on the front lines" in countries like Mali, Libya and Somalia. This program, combined with the recent drone strikes, suggests that it's unlikely the US will shift from has been termed a "perpetual war-time footing" any time soon.
3. We still have a long way to go on transparency.
The US drone programs that currently exist are shrouded in secrecy, as would almost certainly be the case with any future programs. Human rights attorney and professor Sarah Knuckey recently referred to a "depressing pattern" of how drone strikes are discussed in the media -- from initial media reports, to investigations and calls for transparency, to official denials and anonymous defenses from the US government.
"Did the US resume drone strikes because the Pak talks had failed, or because of the Bergdahl release, or the second round of the Afghan elections, or a mix of the above?" says Rachel Reid, director of the Regional Policy Initiative on Afghanistan and Pakistain at Open Society. "Secrecy and obfuscation by the American and Pak governments means we can only speculate. Greater transparency and accountability is long overdue. The American people deserve to know who their government is killing, and how much longer this will go on."
That's a sentiment Letta Tayler, the Human Rights Watch researcher, echoes. "It is long past time for Obama to reveal who the US is killing in Yemen and why," she says, "and to make amends when strikes go awry."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
we're going back to a period where there was very direct coordination between the Paks and the Americans.
Going back? Please.
An additional fallacy is the notion that there exists terrorist that are not a threat to the US.
This may be what the near-term future of US military force looks like.
Captain obvious.
We still have a long way to go on transparency.
Yes, there is that. But no different from other kinds of strikes. Do you think that a day went by in Clinton's 2nd term that steel wasn't being placed on target somewhere in the world?
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.
Wazoo
