Politically correcting our military

The United States military is second to none, but there are two looming threats to that superiority. first there is defense cuts, which could leave our military impotent, then there is the threat of P. C. Here are some very bad signs

Military orders crosses removed from forward operating base after atheists complain

Via Fox News:

The U.S. military reportedly ordered soldiers to remove a cross and a steeple from atop a chapel and to board up cross-shaped windows at a remote American forward operating base in Afghanistan.

The removal of Christian symbols from the chapel at Forward Operating Base Orgun-E came after a solider complained — leading American Atheists president David Silverman to send a letter to the Pentagon.

“Soldiers with minority religious beliefs and atheists often feel like second-class citizens when Christianity is seemingly officially endorsed by their own base,” Silverman told Fox News. “We are very happy the Pentagon and the Army decided to do the right thing.”

Silverman said a Christian chapel on an Army base in Afghanistan could have put American troops in danger.

“It enflames this Muslim versus Christian mentality,” he said. “This is not a Muslim versus Christian war — but if the Army base has a large chapel on it that has been converted to Christian-only, it sends a message that could be interpreted as hostile to Islam.

The Army released a statement to NBC acknowledging board had also been placed over the cross-shaped windows while the base ordered new doors.

Here we go, better not risk offending an Atheist or an Islamist. I wonder what George Patton would have to say about this inanity. But there is more. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta seems to be obsessed with a gender neutral military

(CNSNews.com) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that whether they are male or female “everyone is entitled to a chance” to become a combat soldier in a military that will now adopt “gender neutral” standards.

“If members of our military can meet the qualifications for a job–and let me be clear, we’re not talking about reducing the qualifications for a job–if they can meet the qualifications for the job then they should have the right to serve,” Panetta said at a Pentagon press conference.

The Defense Department announced today that it would rescind its 1994 policy restricting women from serving in combat-focused positions such as infantry units, potentially opening up 230,000 positions to female service members.

Sure, IF the standards are not lowered or altered fine. Problem is, I do not trust a Liberal like Panetta, or a Leftist like his boss, to NOT change he standards. Then there is always the threat of our government caving in to UN pressure and surrendering part or all of our right to protect ourselves

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has launched an investigation into drone strikes and will review resultant civilian casualties to determine whether the attacks constitute a war crime.

Ben Emmerson, a UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, formally launched the inquiry on Thursday, in response to requests from Russia, China and Pakistan.

A statement released by the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights states that the inquiry will provide a “critical examination of the factual evidence concerning civilian casualties”. [...]

At a press conference on Thursday in London, Emmerson said that the British government had already agreed to co-operate with the investigation and that he was “optimistic” that the US would do the same.

He also requested the US to release “before and after” videos of the drone strikes and internal reports of those killed, including civilians.

Of course our only statement to the UN should be short, very short. I am think two words long, care to guess which two words? Here is a hint the first words starts with a big fat “F”. Again, let this serve as a reminder that Leftists are a threat to everything that makes America free and strong. You might be feeling like you were kicked in the groin ever since election day. Well shake it off. Politics are cyclical, and do not even think of packing it is, we have too much to lose, including our opportunity to retake and rebuild our republic that the Founders gave us.

 

 

City Councilman Freaks Out Shows His Ass Over Veteran Packing Heat With Concealed Carry Permit

Via Donald Douglas This shows clearly that some people do not belong in a y position of authority

Candy ass, he should keep walking if he does not believe in the right of self-defense. And let me, and Michelle Malkin remind you all how much the Left hates your guns, and YES, they are definitely looking to confiscate your guns

More Murders In Chicago In 2012 Than Allied Losses In Afghanistan

It’s A War Zone! More Murders In Chicago In 2012 Than Allied Losses In Afghanistan – Gateway Pundit

There were 405 Coalition deaths in Afghanistan in 2012. 310 of the 405 deaths were Americans.

Meanwhile in Chicago…

There were 532 homicides in 2012.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel 72% of U.S. Casualties in Afghan War Under Obama’s Watchx, in part, to the broader problem of illegal guns.

A police officer leaves Noah Foods December 28, 2012 in Chicago, Ill. Nathaniel Jackson, believed to be the 500th murder victim of the year in Chicago, was shot in the head and killed outside the store on December 27. (NY Daily News)

More… 72% of U.S. Casualties in Afghan War Under Obama’s Watch

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Girl, 15, Beheaded In Afghanistan After Her Family Turned Down Marriage Proposal

Girl, 15, Beheaded In Afghanistan After Her Family Turned Down Marriage Proposal – Daily Mail

A teenage girl was beheaded by a relative in northern Afghanistan after she turned down his marriage proposals, according to reports.

The victim, named as Gisa, was decapitated with a knife in the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province on Tuesday, local police said. She is believed to be around 15-years-old.

A police spokesman said two men, named as Sadeq and Massoud, had been arrested following the teenage girl’s murder.

The two men are understood to be close relatives of the victim that live in the same village.

Local police sources have said the men behind the attack wanted to marry the girl, but their advances had been turned down by victim’s father.

Gisa is understood to have been attacked as she returned to her home in Kulkul village after going out to collect water from a nearby well.

Her father told a local news agency he had not wanted his daughter to get married because she was too young.

Afghanistan’s Taliban regime – notorious for its oppression of women in the country – was ousted in 2001, but extreme violence against women is still rife.

In 2009 the Elimination of Violence Against Woman law was introduced in Afghanistan, criminalising child marriage, forced marriage, ‘giving away’ a girl or woman to settle a dispute, among other acts of violence against the female population of the ultra-conservative Islamic nation.

But the UN has said there is a ‘long way to go’ before the rights of Afghan women are fully protected.

Comprehensive official statistics on the number of incidents of violence against women in the country are difficult to establish, with the majority of cases going unreported. However in the year to March 2011, Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission registered over 2,000 acts of violence against women.

The NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force has given high priority to re-establishing women’s rights that were eradicated under the Taliban as part of its efforts to create a security strategy for Afghanistan.

But with the deadline for international troops to pull out of the country – scheduled for the end of 2014 – looming, activists have warned that the outlook for the female population remains bleak.

Human Rights Watch has said women’s rights are increasingly at risk in the run up to the scheduled draw-down of NATO forces, with early and forced marriage, impunity for violence against women and lack of access of justice among the long list of challenges they still face.

While Afghan women have won back some basic rights since the Taliban was toppled 11 years ago, so-called honour killings remain relatively commonplace in the war-torn Islamic nation.

This year the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission recorded 16 incidents of honour killings in March and April alone, the first two months of the Afghan new year.

During the month of July a spate of brutal killings in the country – which left four women and two children dead – attracted international attention.

The Independent Human Rights Commission warned last month that Afghanistan has seen a sharp rise in cases of both honour killings and rape, adding that many incidents of murder and sexual assault go unreported to authorities.

The ever-present threat of violence at the hands of men in a patriarchal society has also led to an increase in cases of Afghan women taking their own lives.

Dozens of women commit suicide in the country each year, often to escape failed or abusive marriages.

Divorce is still taboo in Afghanistan, and women who flee their marriages, if caught, face stringent prison sentences.

A family court established in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, in 2003 offered a semblance of hope for women in the country that are trapped in forced marriages or subject to domestic violence – but it still adheres to Afghanistan’s version of Islamic sharia law.

Traditional Afghan culture places no onus on a man who wants to leave his spouse to go through legal proceedings – he can divorce his wife without any approval of the justice system. In the court in Kabul, a woman must plead her case before judges and lawyers, and she must have five male witnesses willing to attend in support.

A recent case saw a 17-year-old girl forced to accept a marriage proposal from a man she despised successfully argued for her engagement to be scrapped by the court, according to The Washington Post.

Tragically for Farima, who dreamed of becoming a doctor, the decision did not mark a return to the life of relative freedom she enjoyed before her engagement. Before taking her battle to the court, the desperate teenager had thrown herself from the roof of her Kabul home.

Farima broke her back in the fall, but survived. Her fiance insisted that their planned marriage must still go ahead, leading the now disabled teenager to take her battle to the family court.

Following the case, the 17-year-old is back in her childhood home. Her family did not allow her to return to school, and the injuries she sustained in her failed suicide bid mean relatives fear she will be unlikely to marry in the future. While she managed, against the odds, to free herself from a fate she dreaded, the future for this defiant Afghan girl still looks bleak.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Lara Logan is one gutsy lady!

And she is pulling no punches in regards to Islamists, Nice Deb has the story

Via Dan Riehl, who thinks “the suits” at CBS will be none too thrilled with  correspondent, Lara Logan’s Keynote speech at the Better Government Association annual luncheon in Chicago, last week, after the call they’ll likely get from the Obama White House….

Laura Washington of the Chicago Sun-Times described her speech to the roughly 1,100 influentials from government, politics, media, and the legal and corporate arenas as “provocative”, “ominous and frightening”:

She arrived in Chicago on the heels of her Sept. 30 report, “The Longest War.” It examined the Afghanistan conflict and exposed the perils that still confront America, 11 years after 9/11.

Eleven years later, “they” still hate us, now more than ever, Logan told the crowd. The Taliban and al-Qaida have not been vanquished, she added. They’re coming back.

“I chose this subject because, one, I can’t stand, that there is a major lie being propagated . . .” Logan declared in her native South African accent.

The lie is that America’s military might has tamed the Taliban.

“There is this narrative coming out of Washington for the last two years,” Logan said. It is driven in part by “Taliban apologists,” who claim “they are just the poor moderate, gentler, kinder Taliban,” she added sarcastically. “It’s such nonsense!”

Logan stepped way out of the “objective,” journalistic role. The audience was riveted as she told of plowing through reams of documents, and interviewing John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and a Taliban commander trained by al-Qaida. The Taliban and al-Qaida are teaming up and recruiting new terrorists to do us deadly harm, she reports.

Lots more at the link. This is an enemy that must be exterminated, you cannot eliminate them by waging a PC war. You must be brutal, and take every opportunity to strike them. And yes, you must be willing to use every weapon at your disposal.

Is Barack Obama related to Neville Chamberlain?

William Teach wants to know, because it does seem that Obama is setting up a “peace in our time” moment!

The man is desperate to get some sort of political win in Afghanistan. Either that or he simply doesn’t understand, or care, that the Taliban is a hard core Islamist group bent on killing the infidel.

(Washington Post) The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence but one that U.S. officials acknowledge poses substantial risks.

No, the Obama admin has been releasing these people who are pretty anti-women.

But the releases are an inherent gamble: The freed detainees are often notorious fighters who would not be released under the traditional legal system for military prisoners in Afghanistan. They must promise to give up violence —and U.S. officials warn them that if they are caught attacking American troops, they will be detained once again.

Egads! How can he be this naive? And what type of warning is that? Teach gives us a great analogy

That reminds me of an old Robin Williams joke about British police carrying no guns, just nightsticks “Stop! Or I’ll yell stop again.” But, I’m sure the little Taliban darlings will simply give up there life of violence in the name of Allah and Mohammed and play with pretty unicorns they were given on release.

Oh but of course they will. Obama will just fill them up with Hope and Change………Good Freaking Grief!

Pork Eating Crusaders unite!

Via Blazing Cat Fur comes the newest in military fashion

With tensions at an all time high in Afghanistan following the Koran burnings, the urination video, and the killing of 16 civilians attention is now falling on a long line of “Infidel” apparel and gear.

Exhausted from how they feel they’re being perceived, troops have taken to wearing patches and carrying items that label themselves infidels and offer translation in local dialect.

In the Muslim world an infidel means literally “one without faith” who rejects the central teachings of Islam.

Military.com tracked down Clayton Montgomery at Mil-Spec Monkey, a large online seller of infidel gear, who says his most popular item by far is the “Pork Eating Crusader Patch.”

The patch includes an image of a knight in a Crusade’s tunic, eating what appears to be a large ham hock, and lest there be any confusion — a translation in Arabic.

One very simple truth, you cannot apologize to mad men

Or to their “leaders”. our nation, through our president, has apologized for the burning of a few Korans in Afghanistan. Yet, Hamid Karzai still has the unmitigated gall to demand that we punish the soldiers who burnt them.

(CNSNews.com) — Three days after President Barack Obama dispatched his ambassador to Afghanistan to hand deliver a personal letter from the president of the United States to Afghan President Hamid Karzai apologizing because U.S. forces at Bagram Air Force Base had mistakenly burnt some Korans, Karzai has responded to the gesture in a statement broadcast live on Afghan television.

Karzai, according to a BBC translation of his remarks made Sunday, told the Afghan people he was speaking to them after discussing the matter with “jihadi leaders,” “prominent scholars,” and Afghan elected officials, and that he spoke for the “pure sentiments” of the “Afghan nation” and the “Islamic world,” when he said: “We call on the US government to bring the perpetrators of the act to justice and put them on trial and punish them.”

At the same time Karzai was demanding the prosecution and punishment of U.S. troops involved in the Koran-burning incident, he conceded that the U.S. government had indicated that the Koran burning “was not deliberate.”

“We all know that regrettably some days ago an American soldier burnt our Holy Koran,” Karzai said, according to the BBC translation. “We condemn this vicious act in the strongest terms. The government and the people, scholars, tribal dignitaries, spiritual figures of Afghanistan, the educated people of our country all share the people’s feelings. . . Our people’s sensitiveness is right and is laudable.” [...]

“Today,” Karzai said, “we had a detailed session attended by jihadi leaders, prominent scholars, speakers of both houses — the lower house and the senate — the esteemed chief justice, vice presidents and other dignitaries and our government. We discussed the matter of the burning of the Holy Koran. Representing the Afghan nation and their pure sentiments, in fact the Islamic world, once again we call on the US government to bring the perpetrators of the act to justice and put them on trial and punish them.”

Unbelievable! This man, if you can call a weasel like Karzai a man with a straight face, has absolutely no gratitude to our military. We sacrifice, we bleed, we try to drag this assbackwards nation out of the stone age, and this is how we are repaid? Frankly, we ought to tell Karzai to kiss our ass, and leave. Let Karzai run his country,and let him face the damned consequences if we ever have to go back. As I wrote Friday, the problem here is that too many Muslims have allowed themselves to be indoctrinated to be radicals. Silverfiddle hits upon the same point in this post

Our bowing and scraping is not cooling the feral, instinctual anger sparked by us burning some books that the holy jihadis had desecrated first by scribbling in them.  Instead, the flames climb higher at each western apology.

When has apologizing to ignorant, intolerant, bigoted haters ever worked? When? When in the entire history of Islam has an apology to it or its practitioners ever quelled the bonfires of fury and murder?

First we apologized, some of our troops were killed, we apologized again, Afghans “on our side” killed two more of our military officers working at an Afghan ministry. Now our government has announce that within the next 10 days, every one of our soldiers in Afghanistan will be “intensively trained” in “the proper handling of religious materials.” Sure.  Those 100,000+ troops have nothing better to do over there…

Just as you can never appease tyrants,you cannot expect a reasonable apology to fanatics who are living in some far gone century. Silverfiddle hits upon another tremendously crucial point here

This is being stoked by a small number of misanthropic manipulators that do not represent all Afghanis or all Muslims.  Sadly, the vast majority are far worse than that.  They are ignorant and manipulable; a willing crowd dancing to the macabre tune when Explody the Fire-Breathing Clown and his Rampaging Circus comes to town.

Aussie Brendan O’Neill sees striking similarities between the east and west’s professional victims who manipulate their enemies with perpetual outrage and offense-taking:

Ironically, these pretty craven apologies from NATO and the Obama administration for an innocent mistake made by two NATO personnel are likely only to have inflamed the protests.

Because, as is the case over here, in our ever more touchy and sensitive societies, when you tiptoe around a certain group of people, when you buy into the idea that offending cultural sensibilities is the greatest sin of our age, you actually give people a licence to feel offended.

When you apologise for causing offence and promise never, ever to do it again, you give succour to the idea that offensiveness is a unique and terrible evil, and you flatter the ostentatious offence-taking of groups who wish to be protected by a moral force-field from public debate or ridicule.

[...] NATO has made itself a hostage to fortune, giving Afghan radicals a licence to go mental at the next whiff of any slight, whether intentional or accidental, against Islam. (Buying into the Myth)

Go read all of Silverfiddle’s post, it is excellent. He has come to the same conclusion that I have. In short, it would seem that Afghanistan is just not ready for Western values like religious freedom, or tolerance. Leave them to fix their mess, if they can.  And, if we ever have a reason to take military action there again, well,then we need to use that famed Big Stick to its fullest. No worrying about rebuilding, or Democratizing,or any of that. As Randy says, leave, AFTER we send a very clear message

It is time to show the rest of the world enough is enough.

Gen Jacobson said: “We have seen an emotional week, we have seen a busy week – but it would be too early to say this incident was linked to what we have seen over the last days.

Huh? Turn that piece of shit country into a parking lot and bring our troops home. Not one more American life.

And if you are wondering, that message would put the fear of God into Pakistan as well. And yes Iran, you too.

Also read this post at American and Proud. Robert makes the case that the form of Islam practiced in the Middle East is simply not compatible civilized societies

The truth being, Islam as an entity in the world has been hijacked to some degree. While I DO SERIOUSLY believe that Islam is a cult. All Cults are not dangerous. And I also know there are some fine Americans who happen to believe the Quran is the truth. While I disagree with them on philosophical and spiritual lines, they have that right as Americans.

Islam as it is practiced in the Middle East is NOT compatible with the 21st Century. It will never be compatible. Afghanistan for all of our effort will NEVER be anything more than a 7th century country and the population of those nations do not wish to evolve.

Let’s understand a couple things. Islam is at war within the religion and without. Sunni’s Shiite’s all kinds of different factions within them and all kinds of fragmentations along tribal lines in the very rural areas like Somalia, Afghanistan etc.. The only thing that binds them together is the enemy. We are the enemy. Any nation which doesn’t bow to the Islamic teachings without question is the enemy. To which extent the enemy is hated varies. We Americans have sided with Israel so we are the sworn enemy of Islamic Radicals across the globe.

Robert goes on to make the point, and it is a good one, that getting the Hell off of Middle Eastern oil should be a big priority, and he is right. Go read the whole post, it is quite good, and Robert makes some great observations.

Dear Muslims,the 21st Century is GREAT,feel free to join us

Not to be insensitive, or disrespectful. But, as I have said before, Islam has a LOT of problems in its house. And those good Muslims, really need to drag their religion into the modern-day. Yes, I know, some Liberal apologist will comment and say “what about the Spanish Inquisition?” Yes, but that was how many centuries ago? Christianity ADVANCED! Islam must do the same. And, if that fact offends you, then tough! Sometimes the truth hurts. Yes, I accept that most Muslims do not practice or approve of such barbarities, but far too many DO!

Sorry, but Islam has to undergo a major reformation and join the modern-day. it has to respect equality and human rights, as the other religions do.

Take what is going on in Afghanistan right now. People rioting, people dying over what? Some Qurans were burnt, by accident by the way. Can you imagine what Christians would do if an equal number of Bibles were, let me say it again,accidentally burnt? You think they would be killing people over that? Hell no they wouldn’t. Want to consider some other things you will never see from Christians? Or from Jews? Or Buddhists?

Honor Killings!

Beheading Gay people!

Anything as horrid as Sharia Law

Women forced to cover up everything except their eyes

Women treated as cattle are, or worse

Stonings.

Terrorist attacks. Yes, I know, I know, most Muslims are not terrorists, but, most terrorists are Muslims.

Another thing that has to be said is that the West HAS to stop appeasing and excusing radical Islam. I referenced the violence over Qurans being accidentally burnt. The proper response is to say,it was an accident, and that we are sorry. But, the Obama administration is doing what the West seems to do every time Muslims over react, it is bending over with shame and grovelling. Chris at Wyblog notes Team Obama’s response

Another day, another affront to “Muslim sensibilities.” This time it’s Barry apologizing for NATO troops burning some books.

President Barack Obama apologized to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the burning of Qurans by NATO troops, calling the act an inadvertent error, Karzai’s office and National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Thursday.

“We will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, including holding accountable those responsible,” Obama said in the letter.

I suppose “appropriate steps” include giving them Bibles to immerse in urine, at which point Obama’s NEA will call it “art” and hand out whopping checks to pay for it.

Predicatably, The Religion Of Peace™ reacted peacefully.

At least six people have been killed and dozens injured in Afghanistan after protests spread over the burning of copies of the Quran at a US airbase.

One person was killed in Kabul, one in the eastern city of Jalalabad and at least four in Parwan province.

Protesters in Kabul shouted, “Death to America!” and threw stones at Camp Phoenix, the main US base in the city.

Perhaps Obama did not sufficiently grovel in the direction of Mecca. Or maybe, and I’m just guessing here, these people are simply nuts. There seems to be a lot of that going around in Islamville.

The fact is this a bunch of books were burnt, BOOKS! Civilized people do not riot and kill over this! And the West must cease these inane attempts to placate uncivilized people. If Muslims want tolerance then they must learn to PRACTICE it! Many already do, and that is wonderful, but there is a long way to go.

Again,the 21st Century is great, come on in Muslims.

Further evidence that some people are in desperate need of an ass-whipping

Defacing a military monument? Really? Richard G. Williams shares the troubling news that the forces of extremism are out and about

There have been several incidents of vandalism of Confederate monuments here in Virginia in recent months. 

There are just some things that get my temper going, and this is one of them. I am well past fed up with these fools that trash Confederate soldiers as racists, are saying they fought over slavery. That is, frankly, a load of doctored history. Sadly many well-educated folks buy into it, yes, even a good many Conservatives.

Those defacing public monuments are, in my opinion, intolerant extremists. I can’t help but be reminded of what the Taliban did to the ancient Buddhist sculptures in Afghanistan. To be consistent, those who favor this kind of base, uncivilized conduct would have no problem with others doing the same thing to a statue of Lincoln or FDR, or placing their own “interpretative plaques” in order to make a political statement. If the monuments of Lee and other Confederate heroes should be “moved to a museum” (how utterly stupid), then the exact same argument could be made for ALL monuments to ALL our Founding Fathers. Hmmm . . . now just where are we going to put the Washington monument? What about any future monuments to President Obama? Will it be acceptable for his political opponents to paint “Marxist” on some future monument?

So, what is an appropriate punishment for the bigots that commit these acts? Fines? Jail? How about  we take a page from Singapore? Cane them! Yes, I am serious. In my experience, miscreants that do such things are spoiled brats that are, as the post title suggests are in desperate need of an ass-whipping!

 

Islamic swine reap the whirlwind

As Wizbang says, it is a start

ISAF forces conduct airstrike against insurgents responsible for downing CH-47

KABUL, Afghanistan (Aug. 10) – Coalition forces killed the Taliban insurgents involved with the recent downing of the CH-47 helicopter, with a precision airstrike in Chak district, Wardak province, yesterday.

The strike killed Taliban leader Mullah Mohibullah and the insurgent who fired the shot associated with the Aug. 6 downing of the CH-47 helicopter, which resulted in the deaths of 38 Afghan and coalition service members. Mullah Mohibullah was a key facilitator in an insurgent attack cell led by Din Mohammad, a Taliban leader killed in a previous Special Operations mission. As a leader in Mohammad’s network in Tangi valley, Mohibullah had as many as 12 Taliban fighters under his command, including potential suicide bombers.

U.S. Troop Deaths In Afghanistan Under Obama Surpass 1,000: Two-Thirds Of US Casualties In War

U.S. Troop Deaths In Afghanistan Under Obama Surpass 1,000: Two-Thirds Of US Casualties In War – The Blaze

Last August, the number of U.S. troop casualties in Afghanistan under President Barack Obama became equal to the number of Afghanistan casualties under former President George W. Bush, at 575.

This past week, the number of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan under Obama surpassed 1,000, bringing the total to 1,657. As the planned troop drawdown nears, the number of American deaths has escalated under Obama’s command.

Nonprofit advocacy group Just Foreign Policy noted:

That means that nearly two-thirds of the U.S. fatalities in the war in Afghanistan have occurred during the Obama administration, which has managed the war for a mere quarter of its duration.

Newly installed Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was in Afghanistan this weekend before heading to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

It is time to help our troops

For the third straight year, The DaleyGator is part of the Valour IT fundraiser Please check out the site, the cause, and the great work it helps. The DaleyGator is proud to be a part of Team Marine, please give and help our wounded heroes

General Reveals That Obama Ignored Military’s Advice On Afghanistan

General Reveals That Obama Ignored Military’s Advice On Afghanistan – Weekly Standard

Lieutenant General John Allen told the Senate Armed Services Committee today that the Afghanistan decision President Obama announced last week was not among the range of options the military provided to the commander in chief. Allen’s testimony directly contradicts claims from senior Obama administration officials from a background briefing before the president’s announcement.

In response to questioning from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Allen testified that Obama’s decision on the pace and size of Afghanistan withdrawals was “a more aggressive option than that which was presented.”

Graham pressed him. “My question is: Was that a option?”

Allen: “It was not.”

Allen’s claim, which came under oath, contradicts the line the White House had been providing reporters over the past week—that Obama simply chose one option among several presented by General David Petraeus. In a conference call last Wednesday, June 22, a reporter asked senior Obama administration officials about those options. “Did General Petraeus specifically endorse this plan, or was it one of the options that General Petraeus gave to the president?”

The senior administration official twice claimed that the Obama decision was within the range of options the military presented to Obama. “In terms of General Petraeus, I think that, consistent with our approach to this, General Petraeus presented the president with a range of options for pursuing this drawdown. There were certainly options that went beyond what the president settled on in terms of the length of time that it would take to recover the surge and the pace that troops would come out – so there were options that would have kept troops in Afghanistan longer at a higher number. That said, the president’s decision was fully within the range of options that were presented to him and he has the full support of his national security team.”

The official later came back to the question and reiterated his claim. “So to your first question I would certainly – I would certainly characterize it that way. There were a range. Some of those options would not have removed troops as fast as the president chose to do, but the president’s decision was fully in the range of options the president considered.”

(The full transcript of the exchange is below; the full transcript of the call is at the link.)

So the new top commander in Afghanistan says Obama went outside the military’s range of options to devise his policy, and the White House says the president’s policy was within that range of options. Who is right?

We know that Petraeus and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have both testified that the administration’s decision was “more aggressive” than their preferred option. And there has been considerable grumbling privately from senior military leaders about the policy. Among their greatest concerns: the White House’s insistence that the 2012 drawdown of the remaining 23,000 surge troops be completed by September. That means that drawdown will have to begin in late spring or early summer—a timeline for which there exists no serious military rationale. Afghanistan’s “fighting season” typically lasts from April through November. (Last year, it continued into December because of warmer than usual temperatures.) So if the White House were to go forward with its policy as presented, the largest contingent of surge troops would be withdrawn during the heart of next year’s fighting season.

Would Petraeus have made such a recommendation? No. He wants to win the war. When he was pressed last week to explain the peculiar timeframe, Petraeus said that it wasn’t military considerations that produced such a timeline but “risks having to do with other considerations.”

Which ones? Petraeus declined to say. But in a happy coincidence for the White house, the troops will be home in time for the presidential debates of 2012 and the November election.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Under Obama, U.S. Casualty Rate In Afghanistan Increased 5-Fold

Under Obama, U.S. Casualty Rate In Afghanistan Increased 5-Fold – CNS

The average monthly casualty rate for U.S. military forces serving in Afghanistan has increased 5-fold since President Barack Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009.

1,540 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Oct. 7,2001, when U.S. forces began action in that country to oust the Taliban regime that had been harboring al Qaeda and to track down and capture or kill al Qaeda terrorists.

During the Bush presidency, which ended on Jan. 20, 2009 with the inauguration of President Obama, U.S. troops were present in Afghanistan for 87.4 months and suffered 570 casualties – a rate of 6.5 deaths per month.

During the Obama presidency, through today, U.S. troops have been present in Afghanistan for 29.1 months and have suffered 970 casualties – a rate of 33.3 deaths per month.

This evening President Obama is expected to announce the scope of U.S. troop withdrawals set to begin next month.

Of the 1,540 U.S. casualties in Afghanistan, according to CNSNews.com’s database of all casualties in the war, 1,340 have resulted from enemy action and the other 200 have resulted from non-combat accidents, illnesses and other non-combat causes.

The 970 U.S. casualties that have occurred while President Obama has been commander in chief equal 63 percent – or almost two-thirds – of all U.S. casualties that have taken place in the nearly-ten-year-long war.

889 of the 970 U.S. casualties in Afghanistan that have occurred during the Obama presidency – or about 92 percent – have been combat-related casualties.

During Obama’s presidency, U.S. troops have given their lives in the service of their country in Afghanistan at an average rate of more than one per day.

CNSNews.com’s database of U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan is derived from official casualty reports issued by the Department of Defense (DOD) augmented by information taken from media accounts.

The database includes all U.S. troops who died in and around Afghanistan while supporting military efforts against terrorism under Operation Enduring Freedom. It also includes some Americans who died in Pakistan and others who died in the Arabian Sea while supporting operations in Afghanistan.

In December 2009, President Obama announced that he was increasing the U.S. presence in Afghanistan by 30,000 troops. Currently, the U.S. has a force of 100,000 in the country. Tonight, the president is expected to outline his plan for beginning the withdrawal of some of those forces.

U.S. military officials have indicated that despite the expected reduction in forces, the U.S. will maintain a military presence in Afganistan beyond 2014. Gen. David Petraeus, the top-commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan has also told Congress that he would be open to maintaining a jointly-operated military base in Afghanistan.

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Your Marxist Moron of the Day is

A NY Times columnist that clearly has no grasp about what Conservatism, the Tea Party, our out Founding Fathers were about

With Tea Party conservatives and many Republicans balking at raising the debt ceiling, let me offer them an example of a nation that lives up to their ideals.

It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: fewer than 2 percent of the people pay any taxes. Government is limited, so that burdensome regulations never kill jobs.

This society embraces traditional religious values and a conservative sensibility. Nobody minds school prayer, same-sex marriage isn’t imaginable, and criminals are never coddled.

The budget priority is a strong military, the nation’s most respected institution. When generals decide on a policy for, say, Afghanistan, politicians defer to them. Citizens are deeply patriotic, and nobody burns flags.

So what is this Republican Eden, this Utopia? Why, it’s Pakistan.

Now obviously Sarah Palin and John Boehner don’t intend to turn Washington into Islamabad-on-the-Potomac. And they are right that long-term budget issues do need to be addressed. But when many Republicans insist on “starving the beast” of government, cutting taxes, regulations and social services — slashing everything but the military — well, those are steps toward Pakistan.

What an ignorant ass! Talk about going off on a tangent, good grief!

Second Most Wanted Terrorist In Afghanistan Killed By Air Strike

Second Most Wanted Terrorist In Afghanistan Killed By Air Strike – The Telegraph

A senior al-Qaeda leader and the second most wanted terrorist in Afghanistan has been killed in an air strike, according to Nato, ending a four-year manhunt.

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Abu Hafs al-Najdi, also known as Abdul Ghani, a Saudi Arabian, was killed 12 days ago in Dangam district, on April 13, as he met other senior terrorist and al Qaeda members, an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) statement said.

“Abdul Ghani was responsible for the co-ordination of numerous high-profile attacks. On the morning of his death, he reportedly directed the suicide attack that killed tribal elder Malik Zarin and nine other Afghan civilians,” ISAF said.

Abu Hafs al-Najdi was al-Qaida’s operations chief for Kunar and was responsible for establishing terrorist camps and training sites throughout the volatile mountain province.

ISAF said he was one of more than 25 al Qaeda operatives killed in Afghanistan during operations over the past month in the lead-up to Afghanistan’s summer fighting months.

Najdi, whose real name was Saleh Naiv Almakhlvi Day, controlled and armed a network of terrorist that targeted Afghan and ISAF security force outposts throughout Kunar, including two in February, ISAF said.

He was also No. 23 on Saudi Arabia’s list of 85 most wanted terrorist issued in 2009, which said he was active in either Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran. ISAF began hunting him in Afghanistan in 2007.

ISAF said Najdi was with a Pakistani Qaeda operative named Waqas when the air strike took place, killing both, as well as an unspecified number of other terrorist.

“Abdul Ghani commonly instructed subordinate leaders to conduct kidnapping operations against foreigners… and he was responsible for directing suicide bomb attacks targeting U.S. government officials,” ISAF said.

Terrorist in the country are under stepped-up pressure from Nato-led troops and a growing Afghan army ahead of the start this summer of a transfer of security responsibilities from foreign to Afghan forces.

An ISAF spokesman would not name the coalition’s top terrorist target for fear of hampering their search, but alliance commanders have previously claimed there are only 50 to 100 Qaeda fighters still active in Afghanistan.

The withdrawal of US forces from the Korengal and Pech river valleys in Kunar in late 2009 has created more space for al Qaeda and the Taliban to expand their operations in the region, security website The Long War Journal said.

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Taliban Pulls Off Massive Prison Break In Afghanistan: Over 450 Inmates Freed

Taliban Pulls Off Massive Prison Break In Afghanistan: Over 450 Inmates Freed – The Blaze

Taliban militants dug a lengthy tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out more than 450 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters, officials and insurgents said Monday.

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The massive overnight jailbreak in Afghanistan’s second-largest city underscores the Afghan government’s continuing weakness in the south despite an influx of international troops, funding and advisers. Kandahar city, in particular, has been a focus of the international effort to establish a strong Afghan government presence in former Taliban strongholds.

The 1,200-inmate Sarposa Prison has been part of that plan. The facility has undergone security upgrades and tightened procedures following a brazen 2008 Taliban attack that freed 900 prisoners. Afghan government officials and their NATO backers have regularly said that the prison has vastly improved security since that attack.

But on Sunday night, about 475 prisoners streamed out of a tunnel that had been dug into the facility and disappeared into Kandahar city, prison supervisor Ghulam Dastagir Mayar said. He said the majority of the missing were Taliban militants.

“This is a blow,” presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said. “A prison break of this magnitude of course points to a vulnerability.” He did not provide details on the incident, saying that the investigation had just started.

The prison break also weakens the argument that the international troops are making good progress in handing over more responsibility for security to Afghan forces, which will eventually enable the coalition to leave. President Barack Obama plans to start drawing down forces in July.

The Kandahar escape is the latest in a series of high-profile Taliban operations that show the insurgency is fighting back strongly against the surge of U.S. and NATO forces. Over the past year, tens of thousands of U.S. and NATO reinforcements routed the Taliban from many of their southern strongholds, captured leading figures and destroyed weapons caches.

The militants have responded with major attacks across the nation as the spring fighting season has kicked off. In the past two weeks, Taliban agents have launched attacks from inside the Defense Ministry, a Kandahar city police station and a shared Afghan-U.S. military base in the east. In neighboring Helmand province on Saturday, a gunman assassinated the former top civilian chief of Marjah district, where U.S. Marines started the renewed push into the south. The victim, Abdul Zahir, was also deputy of the provincial peace council.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said insurgents dug the 1,050-foot (320-meter) tunnel to Sarposa Prison over five months, bypassing government checkpoints and major roads. The diggers finally poked through to the prison cells Sunday night, and the inmates were ushered through the tunnel to freedom by three prisoners who had been informed of the plan, Mujahid said in a statement.

He said more than 500 inmates were freed, and that about 100 of them were Taliban commanders. The prisoners were led through the tunnel over four and a half hours, with the final inmates exiting around 3:30 a.m., all without drawing the attention of prison guards, Mujahid said. The insurgents said they then used a number of vehicles to shuttle the escaped convicts to secure locations.

Four of those who escaped were provincial-level Taliban commanders, said Qari Yousef Ahmadi, another Taliban spokesman

The highest-profile Taliban inmates would likely not be held at Sarposa. The U.S. keeps detainees it considers a threat at a facility outside of Bagram Air Base in eastern Afghanistan. Other key Taliban prisoners are held by the Afghan government in a high-security wing of the main prison in Kabul.

A man who Taliban spokesmen said was one of the inmates who helped organize the escape from the inside said a group of inmates obtained copies of the keys to the cells ahead of time.

“There were four or five of us who knew that our friends were digging a tunnel from the outside,” said Mohammad Abdullah, who said he had been in Sarposa prison for two years after being captured in nearby Zhari district with a stockpile of weapons. “Some of our friends helped us by providing copies of the keys. When the time came at night, we managed to open the doors for friends who were in other rooms.”

He said they woke the inmates up four or five at a time to get them out quietly. Abdullah spoke by phone on a number supplied by a Taliban spokesman. His account could not be immediately verified.

There are guard towers at each corner of the prison compound, which is illuminated at night and protected by a ring of concrete barriers topped with razor wire. The entrance can only be reached by passing through multiple checkpoints and gates.

An Afghan government official who is familiar with Sarposa Prison said that while the external security has been greatly improved, the internal controls were not as strong. He said the Taliban prisoners in Sarposa were very united and would rally together to make demands from their jailers for better treatment or more privileges. He spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The area outside the prison was swarming with security forces – both Afghan and American – after the prison break. Many of the international troops were focused on a house nearby the prison – perhaps an indicator that it was the starting point for the tunnel. Police mounted a search operation Monday to recapture the prisoners and Omar said 13 had been caught by midday.

Asked how the tunnel was dug without anyone noticing, Wesa said only that the incident was still under investigation.

In the 2008 attack, dozens of militants on motorbikes and two suicide bombers assaulted the prison. One suicide bomber set off an explosives-laden tanker truck at the prison gate while a second bomber blew up an escape route through a back wall. About 900 inmates escaped, including 400 Taliban fighters.

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Is the Rolling Stone story “Kill Team” just BS?

Via The Blaze According to Michael Yon, it is absolute BS!

Yesterday, independent, experienced journalist Michael Yon wrote a scathing critique of Rolling Stone‘s recent story on the Afghan “Kill Team” and how members of that group were caught posing with corpses. According to Yon, it’s “BULLSHIT.”

Yon would know, he was embedded with the 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) in Afghanistan — the same brigade that housed the soldiers now in question. Yon explains that in his entire time with the brigade, he never witnessed anything remotely suspect:

The brigade gave me open access.  I could go anywhere, anytime, so long as I could find a ride, which never was a problem beyond normal combat problems.  If they had something to hide, it was limited and I didn’t find it.  I was not with the Soldiers accused of murder and had no knowledge of this.  It is important to note that the murder allegations were not discovered by media vigilance, but by, for instance, at least one Soldier in that tiny unit who was appalled by the behavior.  A brigade is a big place with thousands of Soldiers, and in Afghanistan they were spread thinly across several provinces because we decided to wage war with too few troops.  Those Soldiers accused of being involved in (or who should have been knowledgeable of) the murders could fit into a minivan.  You would need ten 747s for the rest of the Brigade who did their duty.  I was with many other Soldiers from 5/2 SBCT.  My overall impression was very positive.  After scratching my memory for negative impressions from 5/2 Soldiers, I can’t think of any, actually, other than the tiny Kill Team who, to my knowledge, I never set eyes upon.

Much more at The Blaze link, and at Michael Yon’s piece as well

Rebel Commander In Libya Fought Against U.S. In Afghanistan

Rebel Commander In Libya Fought Against U.S. In Afghanistan – Pajamas Media

Shortly after unrest broke out in eastern Libya in mid-February, reports emerged that an “Islamic Emirate” had been declared in the eastern Libyan town of Darnah and that, furthermore, the alleged head of that Emirate, Abdul-Hakim al-Hasadi, was a former detainee at the American prison camp in Guantánamo. The reports, which originated from Libyan government sources, were largely ignored or dismissed in the Western media.

Now, however, al-Hasadi has admitted in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore that he fought against American forces in Afghanistan. (Hat-tip: Thomas Joscelyn at the Weekly Standard.) Al-Hasadi says that he is the person responsible for the defense of Darnah – not the town’s “Emir.” In a previous interview with Canada’s Globe and Mail, he claimed to have a force of about 1,000 men and to have commanded rebel units in battles around the town of Bin Jawad.

“I have never been at Guantánamo,” al-Hasadi explained to Il Sole 24 Ore. “I was captured in 2002 in Peshawar in Pakistan, while I was returning from Afghanistan where I fought against the foreign invasion. I was turned over to the Americans, detained for a few months in Islamabad, then turned over to Libya and released from prison in 2008.”

Al-Hasadi’s account is largely confirmed by investigations conducted by Praveen Swami, the diplomatic editor of the British daily The Telegraph. Swami originally wrote about al-Hasadi’s background in the Afghan jihad in a March 21 column. In response to a query from the present author, Swami was able to obtain confirmation of al-Hasadi’s arrest and transfer to Libya from what he describes as a “senior source” in the Afghan government.

According to a separate UK intelligence source contacted by Swami, al-Hasadi was released by the Libyan government as part of a deal that was struck with the al-Qaeda-affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIGF). The LIGF has long opposed the rule of Muammar al-Gaddafi in Libya.

On February 25, al-Hasadi had issued an ambiguous statement claiming that he had been a “political prisoner” and accusing the “Dictator Gaddafi” of spreading “lies.” Al-Jazeera provides an English translation of the statement here. (Scroll down to “12:46pm”.) A video of al-Hasadi reading his statement is available here.

In his more recent remarks to Il Sole 24 Ore, al-Hasadi admits not only to fighting against U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but also to recruiting Libyans to fight against American forces in Iraq. As noted in my earlier PJM report here, captured al-Qaeda personnel records show that al-Hasadi’s hometown of Darnah sent more foreign fighters to fight with al-Qaeda in Iraq than any other foreign city or town and “far and away the largest per capita number of fighters.” Al-Hasadi told Il Sole 24 Ore that he personally recruited “around 25” Libyans to fight in Iraq. “Some have come back and today are on the front at Ajdabiya,” al-Hasadi explained, “They are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists.” “The members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader,” al-Hasadi added.

The revelations about al-Hasadi’s involvement in the anti-American jihad are particularly troubling in light of clear evidence that Western forces are coordinating their attacks on Libyan government targets with rebel forces.

Reporting from the outskirts of Ajdabiya on Wednesday, Antoine Estève of the French news channel i-Télé noted that just “minutes” after rebel positions had been hit by artillery fire from Libyan government forces, the Libyan government positions were then bombarded by coalition aircraft. (Estève’s report can be viewed here.) In a March 19 dispatch from Benghazi for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, correspondent Lorenzo Cremonesi cites rebel leaders as saying that they were given the opportunity to provide NATO with a map indicating enemy targets that they wanted bombed.

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