[NY Post] A Marine who survived the deadly bombing at Kabul’s airport during the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan told lawmakers Wednesday he was told not to kill a suspected ISIS terrorist who he believes was responsible for later killing 13 of his fellow service members and countless Afghans.
Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews recounted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee how his team deployed to Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, and were tracking a man who intelligence officers believed was a suicide bomber "throughout the entirety" of the day leading up to the explosion.
"Intel guys confirmed the suicide bomber ... described as clean-shaven, brown-dressed, black vest and traveling with an older companion," he said. "I asked intel guys why he wasn’t apprehended sooner since we had a full description. I was told the asset could not be compromised."
Vargas-Andrews recounted his experience during his opening remarks at the committee’s hearing examining the Biden administration’s handling of the final weeks of the 20-year US war in Afghanistan. The chaotic effort brought massive crowds to the airport with fewer than 6,000 US troops deployed to assist.
#8
If I need specific people killed, someone with a self destruct vest seems iffy.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/10/2023 15:27 Comments ||
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#9
Yes and no. Plenty of VIPs have been hit by dedicated boomers, like that CIA gal and General Massoud. That scene at the beginning of 13 Hours when they were pulling security for the mayor (I think) and a flash mob of reporters show up. "Any one of these guys could have a bomb." was the line or something like it.
In this case, they argued, and I'm not sure to what ends, a boom needed to happen. It's still in my They Wouldn't do That, but then I have transferred a number of stories from that file to my WTF file. "They'd never kick a bunch of refugees off a plane and into certain death to bring home a technical as a trophy."
#13
Sucks for these troopers and all those civvies stacked like cord. Clusterfuck. Decision to shoot took more guts than the decision makers had.
Devilish really. Bad Guys have to figure everyone trying to catch a plane is at some level a hostile. Send in a boomer and A) stack bodies or B) get video of US Troops shooting civilians replayed for eternity
Local elder veteran: "Why would you evacuate the troops, and then think you could just evacuate everyone else at your pleasure?"
#14
^ The I talk / write like Dale entry of the day.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/10/2023 16:38 Comments ||
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#15
Nah, he writes better. But its 5 o'clock -somewhere- and Friday, so I guess I have time to check in here after work on how that statement is wrong.
[An Nahar] Inflation in Egypt again hit a new high for this year in February, the government said Thursday, with prices rising most steeply for food. The country is in the midst of an economic crisis and a currency depreciation.
Annual inflation rose to 32.9% in February, the government statistics agency said, up from 26.5% in January. Grains, meat, poultry, fish and fruit were among the products with the biggest price spikes.
The statement added that food prices have increased 61.5% since the same time last year.
Egyptians, a nearly a third of whom live in poverty according to official figures, have been striving to keep up with increasing prices since last year, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparked worldwide inflation. The country is the world's largest wheat importer, with most of its imports having traditionally come from eastern Europe.
The war in Ukraine came after years of government austerity in Egypt, the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... pandemic and more than a decade of disruptions to the Mideast nation's economy. In 2016, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi's government launched a reform program aimed at reversing longstanding distortions in the economy in return for loans from the International Monetary Fund.
To try to curb the economic turmoil, Egypt secured the latest financial help, a $3 billion bailout loan from the IMF, last December. In return, el-Sissi's government committed to various IMF-guided economic reforms, including a free-floating exchange rate for the Egyptian pound and a reduction in fuel subsidies.
The country's currency is now trading at more than 30 Egyptian pounds to the dollar, a more than 50% loss of value since this time last year.
Earlier this month, the government raised the price of some types of gasoline in a move that will likely further push up the prices of other goods and services.
To try to alleviate the burdens on normal Egyptians, the government has set up markets selling basic goods for cheaper prices and increased public servants' pay. On March 3, el-Sissi announced that babus government employees would receive pay increases of 1,000 Egyptian pounds a month (roughly $32).
SourceAssociated
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2023 01:29 ||
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[YouTube] Hundreds of students fly home from Tunisia after the attacks.
Almost 300 people returned from Tunisia to Mali and Ivory Coast on Saturday after boarding repatriation flights, fearful of a wave of violence since the president launched a tirade against migrants.
[IsraelTimes] Middle East official stresses deal remains ‘far off,’ amid Congressional opposition to boosting defense ties with Riyadh and intensifying Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/10/2023 04:47 ||
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#2
For two decades Saudi Arabia has been working at the margin of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes: In December 2006 the Gulf Cooperation Council – Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman – announced that the Council was commissioning a study on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. France agreed to work with them on this, and Iran pledged assistance with nuclear technology.
The result: zilch
#6
Dron: the deal was reportedly brokered by China. You can see the announcement and the associated propaganda stuff over at Twitter; I noticed it this morning but didn't have time to read it.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] A Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... i activist muppet and researcher specialised in tracing looted and stolen Yemeni antiquities, Abdullah Mohsen, has revealed that a rare Yemeni artifact will be offered for sale in an international auction abroad.
King Gudea of Lagassh, 2200-2100 BC.
At a glance, I'd say it looks Sumerian. Almond eyes, lack of a beard, the offeratory stance. But what do I know? His head's not shaved, so I'm probably off by a couple thousand years and and about same number of miles.
Abdullah Mohsen said that the piece is a bronze statue of a leading man from Saba, Yemen, which is set to be sold at public auction on March 9.
He pointed out that the statue from the Fayez Barakat collection failed to be sold in an earlier auction on September 26, 2019 AD due to the exaggeration in the opening price, and will be displayed again on March 9 at the Artemis auction in the United States.
Mohsen indicated that the piece is "a charming statue of cast bronze from the sixth century BC, of a standing man with broad shoulders with his arms bent at the elbows as if carrying an offering, and he looks forward with a rather serious look, with large almond-shaped eyes, and a sharp forehead line, a natural nose, upturned lips, and a carefully trimmed beard crowned with a curly hairdo."
"He wears a huge robe, from which a dagger (janbiya) protrudes, with drapery folds hanging over his athletic body. This type of clothing is known in Greece as hemation and resembles the Ihram clothing (...) With his stern attitude and demeanor, he is associated with ancient Greek and Cypriot figures, which indicates that in addition to trade between Yemen and southern Europe, there was an exchange of aesthetic ideas between these cultures," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2023 00:44 ||
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#1
Yemen was famous for metal working until about 1950.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/10/2023 12:51 Comments ||
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[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Sana’a government, Hussein al-Ezzi, said that the international community has become exposed to the extent of the scandal in front of the experience of suffering that the Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... i people is going through. Picked right up on that, didn't they?
"The Secretary-General of the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... can no longer brag about talking about values, rights, or laws, he said on Twitter," while we see him silent in front of the thousands of patients who flock daily to get a waiting seat on a plane and a single destination."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2023 00:34 ||
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[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Member of the political bureau of Ansarullah Mohammed al-Bukhaiti warned the Saudi-led coalition that if the ceasefire talks fail, a decisive battle will begin to end the aggression and blockade on Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... "Negotiations may not succeed and we will inevitably enter into a decisive battle to end the aggression," al-Bukhaiti said.
Al-Bukhaiti advised the Yemenis who are fighting for the Saudi coalition to join Ansarullah’s forces so that they can finalize the battle as soon as possible.
He also pointed to the presence of American and British forces in some Yemeni provinces and said that the US troops presence is to support the Saudi-led coalition’s fight while the reality of the coalition’s aggression of is evident to everyone.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2023 00:32 ||
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[LegalInsurrection] The Mexican drug cartel allegedly responsible for ambushing and kidnapping four Americans supposedly wrote a letter apologizing for the incident.
The attack killed two of the kidnapped Americans:
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press through a Tamaulipas state law enforcement source, the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel apologized to the residents of Matamoros where the Americans were kidnapped, the Mexican woman who died in the cartel shootout, and the four Americans and their families.
“We have decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline,” the letter reads, adding that those individuals had gone against the cartel’s rules, which include “respecting the life and well-being of the innocent.”
Drug cartels have been known to issue communiques to intimidate rivals and authorities, but also at times like these to do some public relations work to try to smooth over situations that could affect their business. And last Friday’s violence in Matamoros was bad for cartel business.
Matamoros is right across the border from Brownsville, TX.
Mexican security analyst David Saucedo explained the cartels often perform “public relations work” because incidents like the Americans’ murders are bad for their business:
The Americans’ killings brought National Guard troops and an Army special forces outfit running patrols that “heat up the plaza” in narco terminology, Mexican security analyst David Saucedo said.
“It is very difficult right now for them to continue working in terms of street-level drug sales and transferring drugs to the United States; they are the first ones interested in closing this chapter as soon as possible,” Saucedo said.
The men kidnapped the Americans “after being caught in the crossfire of rival cartels shortly after crossing the U.S. border with Mexico.”
Authorities figured it was mistaken identity:
The video of the violent incident shows armed men in body armor dragging one person across the pavement and pushing a woman into the bed of a white truck, then dragging two more men who appear to be wounded across the pavement and loading them into the bed of the same truck.
Photos from the scene show a white minivan with North Carolina plates riddled with bullet holes shortly after the kidnappings, with a woman who reportedly witnessed the attack telling the Associated Press she saw the minivan collide with another vehicle before hearing gunfire and seeing armed men approach the van.
“All of a sudden they (the gunmen) were in front of us,” said the woman, who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation. “I entered a state of shock, nobody honked their horn, nobody moved. Everybody must have been thinking the same thing, ‘If we move they will see us, or they might shoot us.’”
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Mexican officials, who say they are pursuing various lines of inquiry, drew up a brief document summarizing the abduction of the Americans and biographical information on them. The metadata of the digital document suggested it was created on Wednesday.
It included their names, birthdays and addresses, and details of criminal records. Among them were convictions for drug-related offenses against Brown and Woodard.
In view of the prior convictions, 'it cannot be ruled out that the attack against (the Americans) could be directly linked to drug trafficking operations,' which their assailants believed the Americans could be carrying out, the document said.
Reuters left voicemails and sent messages on social media to people identified by public records as relatives of the four, as well as at a number for Williams, but without response.
A Reuters review of South Carolina state records found that Woodard was convicted five times between 2007 and 2016 of drug crimes. Nearly all were minor offenses, but they included one of manufacturing banned narcotics with the intent to distribute.
Brown was convicted twice in 2015 for possessing small amounts of marijuana or concentrated cannabis, records show.
The records also showed that Williams was in 2017 convicted for the manufacture and distribution of cocaine, though this was not mentioned in the Mexican document seen by Reuters."
#6
“Manufacture” is a meaningless word cops use to upcharge dopers and make them seem more sinister. Same with “intent to distribute.” Manufacture makes it sound like they were running a Breaking Bad style meth lab. In reality it’s usually putting dope into a baggie or simply rolling a joint. Intent to distribute is even worse. Anything larger than some arbitrary amount is intent. Amounts separated into smaller quantities (better justification here) is intent. I take umbrage with the government assuming intent to commit a crime that has not taken place. The only crime committed is possession of contraband. Not defending dopers, but governments have far more power to abuse than a junkie. Hell it’s the government that protects junkies from regular people.
#8
Lowspark, the private sector in the Probation departments make them alot of money also. If you can keep locking people up and giving them probation for "minor offenses" it's another cash stream for the government.
Posted by: Chris ||
03/10/2023 9:30 Comments ||
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#9
The Mexicans originally said the four were mistaken for Haitian drug smugglers, i.e. competition for Mexicans cartels. Many of us were also thinking the same thing. Why the hell would any American born ever cross the Mexican border, except for drug deals? It would be easy to verify if the woman came for a discount surgery. Have a doctor's appointment for a tummy tuck?
Too much is read into into these guys rap sheets. The Mexicans need them to be bad guys to deflect from the truth that Mexico is a drug smuggling super cartel with a flag and anthem and control our southern border.
Most black men have misdemeanor drug offenses on their records, esp minor marijuana convictions. When I was younger, 1/3 of all all black men were, at any given time, in the parole system, again mostly minor drug offenses. The truth will eventually come out.
#10
Matamoros is no medical tourism destination and hasn't been for decades. What is left of the town is a cartel staging center and prison (essentially the same thing).
#11
Even addicts are sometimes motivated by other stuff- the tummy tuck is feasible. Drug addicts, drug traffickers and alcoholics often multitask, but one of the tasks is always their number one priority. Kind of like Jefferey Toobin in a Zoom Meeting. The number one priority always takes precedence. No matter where they were going, they were buying some drugs too.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/10/2023 15:45 Comments ||
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#12
If I had to place money on the better odds, I'd go Sam and Frodo before Haitians smuggling drugs into Matamoros.
[ToloNews] Active-service members and veterans provided firsthand testimony Wednesday about the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, describing in harrowing detail the carnage and death they witnessed on the ground while imploring Congress to help the allies left behind.
Former Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews testified to Congress about the stench of human flesh under a large plume of smoke as the screams of children, women and men filled the space around Kabul’s airport after two jacket wallahs attacked crowds of Afghans.
"The withdrawal was a catastrophe in my opinion. And there was an inexcusable lack of accountability," said Vargas-Andrews, who wore a prosthetic arm and scars of his own grave wounds from the bombing.
"I see the faces of all of those we could not save, those we left behind," Aidan Gunderson, an Army medic who was stationed at Abbey Gate, testified. "I wonder if our Afghan allies fled to safety or they were killed by the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... The initial hearing of a long-promised investigation by House Republicans displayed the open wounds from the end of America’s longest war in August 2021, with witnesses recalling how they saw mothers carrying dead babies and the Taliban shooting and brutally beating people.
It was the first of what is expected to be a series of Republican-led hearings examining the Biden administration (aka the Wilmington comorra) ...knaves, footpads, and adjusters employed by the Biden Crime Family. They leave a trail of havoc everywhere they turn their attention, be it the nation's borders, the Keystone XL Pipeline, or epidemics, sometimes on purpose, most times through sheer arrogant ineptitude. They learnt this stuff in college, you know... ’s handling of the withdrawal. Taliban forces seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, far more rapidly than U.S. intelligence had foreseen as American forces pulled out. Kabul’s fall turned the West’s withdrawal into a rout, with Kabul’s airport the center of a desperate air evacuation guarded by U.S. forces temporarily deployed for the task.
The majority of witnesses argued to Congress that the fall of Kabul was an American failure with blame touching every presidential administration from George W. Bush to Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier. Of course Corn Pop is a real person.... . Testimony focused not on the decision to withdraw, but on what witnesses depicted as a desperate attempt to rescue American citizens and Afghan allies with little U.S. planning and inadequate U.S. support.
"America is building a nasty reputation for multi-generational systemic abandonment of our allies where we leave a smoldering human refuse from the Montagnards of Vietnam to the Kurds in Syria," retired Lt. Col. Scott Mann testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
He added, "Our veterans know something else that this committee might do well to consider: We might be done with Afghanistan, but it’s not done with us."
Vargas-Andrews sobbed as he told politicians of being thwarted in an attempt to stop the single deadliest moment in the U.S. evacuation — a suicide kaboom that killed 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. servicemen and women.
Vargas-Andrews said Marines and others aiding in the evacuation operation were given descriptions of men believed to be plotting an attack before it occurred. He said he and others spotted two men matching the descriptions and behaving suspiciously, and eventually had them in their rifle scopes, but never received a response about whether to take action.
"No one was held accountable," Vargas-Andrews told Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the committee. "No one was, and no one is, to this day."
U.S. Central Command’s investigation concluded in October 2021 that given the worsening security situation at Abbey Gate as Afghans became increasingly desperate to flee, "the attack was not preventable at the tactical level without degrading the mission to maximize the number of evacuees." However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... that investigation did not look into whether the bomber could have been stopped or whether Marines on the ground had the appropriate authorities to engage.
Defense Department front man Lt. Col. Rob Lodewick said Wednesday that the Pentagon’s earlier review of the suicide kaboom had turned up neither any advance identification of a possible attacker nor any requests for "an escalation to existing rules of engagement" governing use of force by U.S. troops.
McCaul has been deeply critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal. "What happened in Afghanistan was a systemic breakdown of the federal government at every level, and a stunning failure of leadership by the Biden administration," he said.
Last month, U.S. Inspector-General for Afghanistan John Sopko concluded again that actions taken by both the Trump and Biden administrations were key to the sudden collapse of the Afghan government and military, even before U.S. forces completed their withdrawal in August 2021.
That includes President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... ’s one-sided withdrawal deal with the Taliban, and the abruptness of Biden’s withdrawal of both U.S. contractors and troops from Afghanistan, stranding an Afghan air force that previous administrations had failed to make self-supporting.
The report blamed each U.S. administration since American forces invaded in 2001 for constantly changing, inconsistent policies that strived for quick fixes and withdrawal from Afghanistan rather than a steady effort to build a capable, sustainable Afghan military.'
The witnesses testifying Wednesday urged action to help the hundreds of thousands of Afghan allies who worked alongside U.S. soldiers and who are now in limbo in the U.S. and back in Afghanistan.
"If I leave this committee with only one thought it’s this: It’s not too late," said Peter Lucier, a Marine veteran who now works at Team America Relief, which has assisted thousands of Afghans in relocating. "We’re going to talk a lot today about all the mistakes that were made, leading up to that day, but urgent action right now will save so many lives."
One of those solutions discussed Wednesday would be creating a pathway to citizenship for the nearly 76,000 Afghans who worked with American soldiers since 2001 as translators, interpreters and partners. Those people arrived in the U.S. on military planes after the withdrawal and the government admitted the refugees on a temporary parole status as part of Operation Allies Welcome, the largest resettlement effort in the country in decades, with the promise of a path to a life in the U.S. for their service.
Congress began a bipartisan effort to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would have prevented Afghans from becoming stranded without legal residency status when their two years of humanitarian parole expire in August. The proposal would have enabled qualified Afghans to apply for U.S. citizenship, as was done for refugees in the past, including those from Cuba, Vietnam and Iraq.
But that effort stalled in the Senate late last year due to opposition from Republicans.
"If we don’t set politics aside and pursue accountability and lessons learned to address this grievous moral injury on our military community and right the wrongs that have been inflicted on our most at-risk Afghan allies, this colossal foreign policy will follow us home and ultimately draw us right back into the graveyard of empires where it all started," Mann, the retired green beret, said to politicians.
#1
"America is building a nasty reputation for multi-generational systemic abandonment of our allies where we leave a smoldering human refuse from the Montagnards of Vietnam to the Kurds in Syria," retired Lt. Col. Scott Mann testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
#3
Feb 2023: "Despite significant bipartisan support, a proposal to make evacuated Afghans eligible for permanent U.S. residency, known as the Afghan Adjustment Act, has failed to make its way through Congress, mainly due to concerns from some Republican lawmakers over how the evacuees were vetted.
The evacuees who lack permanent status were initially granted "parole," a special immigration classification that allows foreign citizens to enter the U.S. without a visa and to stay in the country temporarily on humanitarian or public interest grounds — two years, in the case of the Afghans."
#4
"America is building a nasty reputation for multi-generational systemic abandonment of our allies.."
..."Is building?" Welcome to the party, pal.
America has been doing it since our first overseas expedition in 1805 against the Barbary Pirates. The Karamalani Bey, the South Vietnamese, the Kurds, and now the Afghans can testify to history as to the wisdom of letting the United States try and keep your country for you.
#5
Why can’t the Afghans be vetted now? Anyone who worked with us will be easy to vet.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/10/2023 10:00 Comments ||
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#6
Curious that the pattern of "betrayal" has begun to emerge INSIDE the actual United States, and increasingly can be recognized by those who vote a certain way, have a pale complexion or possess a DD-214!
#8
#1
I would suggest to you that the quality of our Allie’s (damn spell check) has a lot to do with the US abandonment. In all cases mentioned above they were too corrupt to deal with.
Our allies must feel what we feel
And infallibly squeal when we squeal.
Always ready to deal,
Allies never will steal,
Just play face to Red heel
With a mercantile zeal
Till they roar when shit finally gets real!
Which reminds me... fell asleep halfway through Mouse last night. Dying to see how it turns out!
[NPASyria] As the enduring defeat of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) is yet to be reached, US House of Representatives voted down on Wednesday a legislation to withdraw some of 900 US troops from northeast Syria.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. proposed the resolution to withdraw the troops from northeast Syria within 180 days for voting, but opponents of the resolution warned that the withdrawal may grant ISIS a chance to reorganize itself and put the US and its allies at risk.
The resolution, which was introduced after four service members were maimed in a raid in northeast Syria on Feb. 17, failed in a 103-321 vote that split both parties.
Republicans opposed it in a 47-171 vote, and Democrats rejected it in 56-150.
Then the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a blurb, in a partnered helicopter raid with the Syrian Democratic Forcers (SDF) a senior ISIS leader "Hamza al-Homsi" was killed and "a kaboom on target resulted in four U.S. service members and one working dog maimed."
Gaetz argued that he did not believe that the 900 US troops deployed in "this hellscape" [Syria] is "what stands between a caliphate and not a caliphate."
Mike McCaul of R-Texas, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, said, "If we withdraw our troops from Syria now, we could see a resurgence of ISIS or another legal successor in short time."
McCaul added that withdrawing the US troops from Syria "must be based on the total defeat of ISIS."
Gregory Meeks of New York, the ranking Democratic member of the committee, said that though he is against keeping an indefinite US military presence in Syria, "this measure forces a premature end to our mission at a critical time for our efforts."
Rep. Joe Wilson agreed with Meeks, saying that the withdrawal means a "much larger, more complex problem... we don’t need to repeat 9/11."
In 2019, following a call with Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important... with the US then President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... on October 6, trump stunned the US Congressmen, national security aides and his allies alike, by announcing the withdrawal of the 2000 US troops from Syria.
The first US military convoy left northeastern Syria to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) on October 21, prompting Kurdish officials to accuse the US administration of failing to keep its promises regarding the security mechanism in protecting northern Syria from any Ottoman Turkish invasion.
While in February 2020, Trump had retracted his decision and agreed to keep a small US military presence in Syria to maintain the pressure on ISIS.
"Either we fight and defeat them [ISIS] in Syria, or we’ll fight them in the streets of our nation," said Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont.
On March 4, Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen, paid a surprise visit to evaluate the mission against the ISIS and review protection measures for US troops.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/10/2023 01:32 ||
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[7 views]
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#1
I guess I would most like to hear a strategy where we win. It seems like we are sort of in the outpost stage of the Korean conflict with one outpost, no goal and no constituents. Seems preferable to Iraq and Afghanistan but less than optimal.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/10/2023 12:37 Comments ||
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#2
Heck, I'd just like to know whose side we're fighting on.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/10/2023 14:39 Comments ||
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#3
Sides? We ain't got no sides. I don't gotta show you no stinking sides...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/10/2023 15:04 Comments ||
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[Shafaq News] United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on 39 entities it said were facilitating Iran’s access to the international financial system, describing them as a "shadow banking" network that generates tens of billions of dollars annually.
The sanctions, announced by the U.S. Treasury Department, target entities that helped Iranian petrochemical companies access the global banking system, the department said in a statement.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/10/2023 01:05 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Satellite images reveal runway targeted at two locations, preventing large planes — such as Iranian cargo flights ferrying weapons to Hezbollah — from landing
Nearly three days after Aleppo International Airport was shuttered after its runway was damaged in an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... attributed to Israel, Syria’s Transportation Ministry announced it would reopen Friday morning.
In a statement carried by the state-run SANA news agency on Thursday, the ministry said repair works had been completed after the early Tuesday morning strike, and the airport would begin flights on Friday at 8 a.m. local.
On Wednesday, an Israeli intelligence and imagery firm published satellite images showing the damage caused to the runway, as well as the repair works.
According to ImageSat International (ISI), the damage caused to two locations near the middle of the runway was aimed at preventing large planes from landing, such as Iranian cargo flights ferrying weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years. It produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. That's three statements. Only the first is subjective.... Syria and Iran ...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979... accused Israel of criminal behavior after Israeli Air Force jets allegedly carried out an airstrike at the airport.
There was no comment from the Israel Defense Forces, in line with its policy of not generally commenting on air raids in Syria. Israel is believed to have carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including attacks on the Damascus and Aleppo airports, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.
Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... ’s forces. Israel views Iran’s expansion throughout Syria as a continued threat to its national security, and has conducted strikes across a broad range of targets in an effort to curb Iran’s forces in the region.
Aleppo, which suffered widespread destruction in Syria’s civil war, was heavily damaged in the deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... and Syria last month. A number of countries have since sent aid shipments to the city’s airport, including Iran.
Last August, Syria accused Israel of being behind two consecutive airstrikes at Aleppo International Airport and a site near the Damascus Airport, as Israel was said to be ramping up its efforts to target airports to counter Tehran’s growing use of commercial flights to bring military supplies into the country.
[NPASyria] The United States (US) and the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... (UN) raised on Wednesday concern over the recent Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s that targeted Aleppo International Airport that may prolong disrupting humanitarian aid to people affected by the earthquake that hit Syria on Feb. 6.
Rooters reported, citing US State Department spokesperson Ned Price as saying, that the US would worry about any lengthy halt to the flow of humanitarian aid.
On March 7, Israel airstrike targeted Aleppo’s International Airport and put it out of service.
The airport was being used to deliver aid to the victims of the earthquake.
The closure of the airport could have "severe humanitarian implications for people in Aleppo ... and could also affect the wider vulnerable population who need humanitarian assistance," according to Rooters, quoting Deputy UN front man Farhan Haq as saying.
Life-saving supplies must resume without delay, Haq added.
The deputy called on all parties to the conflict in Syria to "abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law," and take all feasible precautions to spare civilians and their objects in the conduct of hostilities.
In turn, the Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim, El-Mostafa Benlamlih, expressed, in a statement, deep concerns over the implications of the closure of the airport and called on all parties to abide by their obligations.
In addition, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kan’ani condemned the new "Zionist regime’s airstrike" saying, "While the Syrian earthquake victims in Aleppo are experiencing difficult conditions, the Zionist regime is attacking the Aleppo airport ... and this is a clear example of a crime against humanity."
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes inside Syria over the past few years targeting what it says Iranian-backed militia’s strongholds.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/10/2023 04:51 ||
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[NPASyria] The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) handed over on Thursday women and kiddies of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) of Sudanese nationals to their government.
A delegation from Sudan visited the headquarters of the AANES Department of Foreign Relations in the city of Qamishli, northeast Syria, to repatriate two women and three children who were in a camp for ISIS families in NE Syria.
In February, the AANES handed over 59 women and kiddies of the ISIS families of Kyrgyz nationals to the delegation of their country.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/10/2023 01:32 ||
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With all the other sanctions that have been on Syria for years, will they even notice?
[NPASyria] The Official Journal of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... has published a list of entities that would be subjected to restrictive measures against the background of committing violations of human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... , especially those of women’s rights. Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... and senior officers took part in the list.
The EU sanctioned nine persons and three entities in six countries: Afghanistan, Russia, South Sudan, Burma, Iran ...The nation is noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence... and Syria.
The sanctions included Syrian President Bashir al-Assad and five officers in the Syrian Elite Republican Guard, for their involvement in committing violations of women’s rights.
The punished officers are Major General Shoaeb Suleiman, head of the Syrian Elite Republican Guard, Brigadier General Muhammad Qasem, General Malik Aliaa, supreme commander at the guard, Major General Issam Zahreddine, Major General Muhammad Nayouf, and Muhammed Kaddor.
"The Syrian Elite Republican Guard is an entity responsible for the security of officials and part of the Syrian security forces," the EU statement said.
It added, "In its ranks, sexual and gender-based violence against women is widespread, particularly during the ongoing Syrian conflict. Victims have reported violent mostly peaceful rapes and torture after arbitrary arrests and during arbitrary detention."
The guard is a part "of a systematic approach by the Syrian regime to use sexual and gender-based violence to repress and intimidate the Syrian people, particularly women and girls."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/10/2023 01:29 ||
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[An Nahar] Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... 's open nomination to Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh is not a challenge, Berri said, but is supposed to break the presidential deadlock.
In remarks published Thursday in al-Joumhouria, Berri said that his nomination to Franjieh is supposed to urge the other parties to announce their candidates, in order to seriously elect a president.
"I would call for a presidential election session when there is a democratic competition," Berri told the daily, adding that he definitely won't call for a session before he senses that there is a serious competition and until nominations are announced. Leb would be a laughingstock if it wasn't so sad.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2023 01:26 ||
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Ignore reality. Ideology's the important thing.
[An Nahar] Hezbollah chief Sayyed His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... on Thursday lashed out at the United States and called on the Lebanese to "seek solutions instead of bowing to international conditions."
"In the face of the economic and political crisis, I tell the Lebanese not to despair and surrender," Nasrallah added in a televised address.
Acknowledging that "those behind corruption in Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...a formerly French, now an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. ... are Lebanese," Hezbollah’s leader said "America is a partner in corruption" in the country.
"America is preventing deposits, loans and investments from coming to Lebanon," Nasrallah decried.
"Do not expect us to surrender and bow," he stressed.
"We will not surrender and we believe that there are solutions (but) a spirit of cooperation and bravery is needed," Nasrallah went on to say.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2023 01:18 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
...knaves, footpads, and 
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...
Hezbollah
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...
...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...The nation is noted for 
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
...a formerly French, now an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. ...
