War On Terror News

Mullen: Public, Private Efforts Must Help Failed States

“For those of us in leadership positions, we just can’t keep talking about this,” Mullen said. “We have to generate actions on the ground.”

By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2011 – Nations and organizations of all kinds must join together to take on the challenges posed by a growing number of weak and failing states, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said today.

Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke at a launch event for the 2011 Failed States Index, hosted by The Fund for Peace and Business Executives for National Security. The fund has published the index since 2005.

“[For] every single entity that exists on this globe, whether it’s public or private [or] nongovernmental,” Mullen said. “ … It’s imperative that we all figure out how we’re going to address these challenges together because … they are coming at us at a speed that is accelerating.”

ISAF joins Karzai condemnation of IC terrorist attack

KABUL, Afghanistan (June 29, 2011) – The International Security Assistance Force joins President Karzai and the Ministry of the Interior in condemning the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul last night. ISAF also commends the rapid response by Afghan security forces who cleared the building and secured the situation.

“We join President Karzai in condemning this cowardly attack on Afghan civilians,” said Rear Admiral Vic Beck, ISAF Director of Public Affairs. “Even though insurgents have declared their intention to avoid civilian casualties, this attack put Afghan lives at risk and demonstrates their complete disregard for the Afghan people.”

In Islam, ALL children are Suhana

Nine-year-old Pakistani girl Suhana was on her way to school when the militants allegedly seized her and drugged her, she said in a news conference broadcast by CNN affiliate GEO TV.

Did you miss this story?

Monday, June 20, 2011

9-year old Girl Caught Wearing Suicide Vest

20 June 2011 VOA News In the Lower Dir tribal area, police Monday said they have detained a 9-year-old girl who was wearing a suicide vest and told to blow up a security checkpoint.

Hamas Refuses Red Cross Access to Gilad Shalit

Red Cross: Hamas' Behavior Totally Unacceptable

by Gavriel Queenann

The International Commitee of the Red Cross, whose demand Hamas provide proof of life for abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit was shot down Thursday, told reporters Hamas' conduct in the matter is "totally unacceptable."

Schalit was kidnapped from the Israeli side of the Gaza security fence in June 2006 by Hamas terrorists after they tunneled into an IDF post. Two Israeli soldiers were killed during the abduction. Schalit has since been held incommunicado by Hamas in Gaza.

 

Syria: Troops and Tanks Move into Maaret al-Numaan and Khan Sheikhun

VOA News June 17 2011

Syrian security forces have mounted new assaults in the country's restive northwest, sending tanks and troops into two more cities.

Rights activists and witnesses said Friday the Syrian military sent large numbers of soldiers into Maaret al-Numaan, a city of 100,000 on the highway linking the capital Damascus and the country's largest city, Aleppo.

Many of Maaret-al-Numaan's residents fled in recent days as the Syrian troops have sought to crack down on protests in the region against the authoritarian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

In addition, the security forces moved into the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Zawahri: Surgeon by training, Now a Hunted Terrorist

VOA News June 16, 2011

 

Ayman al-Zawahri was born into a life of comfort in Egypt but shaped by life experiences into a feared radical Islamic terrorist.

The new leader of the al-Qaida terror network is a surgeon by training but an ideological firebrand by choice. Now he is replacing Osama bin Laden, who was killed last month by U.S. commandos in a raid on his Pakistani hideout.

Syrian Security Forces extend their violence into Northwest

VOA News June 16, 2011

Syria's security forces are expanding their assault in the northwest region that for days has been under a military crackdown, according to rights activists.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday that the Syrian military used dozens of tanks, armored cars, personnel carriers and army trucks to begin an assault on Khan Sheikhun in Idlib province.

The Khan Sheikhun military operation is the latest in the weeks-long campaign by President Bashar al-Assad to suppress the anti-government protests that are threatening his 11-year rule.

Western leaders have widely condemned the Syrian crackdown.

Iraq: Al-Qaida Gunmen Sentenced to Death

VOA News June 16, 2011

 

Fifteen suspected al-Qaida members have been sentenced to death for their roles in the 2006 massacre of 70 wedding party members.

The criminal court issued its sentence on Thursday for the militants, who were convicted of planning and carrying out the attack.

Chinese Mark 22nd Anniversary of Tiananmen Square

Thousands Mark Anniversary of China’ s Tiananmen Square Crackdown

VoA News: The Chinese cities of Beijing and Hong Kong were the scenes Saturday of demonstrations to mark the 22nd anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown during which hundreds, perhaps thousands, died.

It was on June 4, 1989, when the Chinese government sent tanks and soldiers into the square in central Beijing, the Chinese capital, to crush weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations.

The anniversary is being marked in the midst of another Chinese government crackdown, this one against activists, lawyers, writers and bloggers.

US Terrorist Elmer Pratt, Dead in Tanzania

Elmer Pratt, aka Geronimo ji-Jaga a high ranking member of the Black Panther terrorist organization, died June 2, 2011, of a heart attack, in Tanzania.

Pratt was arrested in 1970 for murder and kidnapping.

Pratt was convicted in 1972 of the murder of the 1968 murder of elementary school teacher, Caroline Olsen, and not even Johnnie Cochran could get him off.  In 1997, under the Clinton Administration, the sentence was vacated.  Its "Justice" Department later paid him $1.75 million along with the $2.75 million paid by the LAPD on the premise that he was identified as the murderer, by an FBI informant.

Pratt used his two tours in Viet Nam to attain the title of "Minister of Defense" in an organization, after he used his GI Bill at UCLA, that actively used violence against the American Government.  His pregnant wife was murdered in a turf war for control of the organization in 1971.

Pratt was a vocal advocate for fellow Black Panther, Wesley Cook, aka Abu-Jamal, a convicted murderer(12/8/81) of a Philadelphia Police Officer, featured on "Democracy Now" and German Marxist publication, "Junge Welt," and a regular contributor to NPR.  Cook's criminal career began as young as 14.  Cook is a popular figure in the Black Panther, Communist, and muslim convert circles.  Cook and Pratt met in the Black Panthers terrorist organization.  While in prison, Pratt has been given an Honorary Law Degree from the New College of California School of Law, recorded the keynote address to graduating class of Evergreen State College and the commencement speech at Antioch College.

Pratt was the godfather of Tupac Shakur.

Syria: Nationwide protests continue as 27 killed

VOA News June 3, 2011

Syrian rights groups say security forces have opened fire on anti-government protesters in the city of Hama, killing at least 27 people.

The activists say the incident took place after thousands of protesters spilled onto the streets after Friday prayers in the city, which is located about 300 kilometers north of Damascus.

Demonstrations erupted across Syria on Friday in response to opposition groups' call for protests against casualties among children during recent weeks of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Earlier Friday, the Reuters news agency reported Syrian troops were firing on protesters in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor.

Iraq: Death toll rising from bomb blast at mosque

VOA News June 3, 2011

At least 16 people were killed and more than 50 wounded Friday morning when a bomb exploded at a Sunni mosque in the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Investigators say the blast took place as worshippers were leaving the mosque in Tikrit, a city about 130 kilometers north of Baghdad.

The mosque is part of a series of palace grounds built during the Hussein era.

 

Iraq Bombings Kill Nine

VOA News June 2, 2011

A series of explosions has rocked the western city of Ramadi and left at least nine people dead, according to Iraqi government officials.

Investigators say more than a dozen people were wounded. At least two of Thursday's blasts occurred in a market that is near government offices.

 

Really?! Iraqi Reformers 'unjustly detained'

VOA News June 2, 2011

Iraq's central government and northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish administration have been unjustly detaining protesters calling for reforms, according to the US-based Human Rights Watch.

Iraq's central government and northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish administration have been unjustly detaining protesters calling for reforms.

Israel Arrests Senior Hamas PA Parliament Speaker

by Chana Ya'ar

Israel has arrested the Speaker of the Palestinian Authority's parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council, who is also a senior member of the Hamas terrorist organization.

Aziz al-Dweik was detained Tuesday with two other PA legislators, according to the Chinese Xinhua news agency.

Somalian pro-government forces kill 17 in capital

VOA News June 2, 2011

Seventeen more people have been reported killed in Mogadishu,  as pro-government troops continue to battle militants for control of a popular commercial site.

Somali government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers are trying to take Mogadishu's Bakara market from al-Shabab insurgents.

Medical officials say heavy fighting between the two sides Thursday has also wounded at least 40 people.

In recent days, pro-government troops have advanced to the market's perimeter and set up positions there. The al-Qaida-linked insurgents remain entrenched inside.

Uglier than War

"...War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. " John Stuart Mill

Our Nation, or rather Our Military, has been at war for nearly a decade.  In reality, we have been fighting for nearly a decade, though we have been at war for far longer.  For decades, we ignored the attacks of the enemy, we ignored the declarations of war of the enemy.  They were far off and easily forgotten, by all but the families of the affected.  We ignored the senseless murder of far off civilians oppressed by the same enemy.

Those that desire to oppress, to expand their own power and ideology, are not of the same mind, but often their greed brings them to ally themselves of fellow oppressors, even of diabolically opposing ideologies.  The ideologies of similarity often finds itself in opposition to would be allies, as did the national Socialism of the Nazi Empire to the Communistic Socialism of the Soviet Empire.  Democratically elected politicians find value in distorting the realities of "allies" and "enemies" to rally the people to a cause or away from an action.

"When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice--is often the means of their regeneration." John Stuart Mill

Continue reading "Uglier Than War" »

Dan Choi Arrested at Gay Pride Moscow Protest

Dozens Detained at Gay Rally in Moscow

Jessica Golloher VoA News Moscow: For the sixth year in a row, gay-rights activists have tried to stage a parade in Moscow.  But dozens of people were arrested after the activists clashed with counter-protesters.

Russian officials have detained three global gay rights leaders, and dozens of others, after they tried to stage an unsanctioned rally near the Kremlin.

Police say a small crowd of marchers, some waving rainbow flags and others carrying signs that read, “Russia is not Iran,” was attacked by an ultra-Orthodox group who had successfully lobbied the Moscow city government to ban the event.

File photo courtesy of This Ain't Hell.

The leader of Russia’s Orthodox Union, Leonid Simonovich, said people should not be allowed to hold a gay pride parade.

Italian "Peacekeepers" Attacked in Hezbollah Controlled Lebanon

Blast Wounds 6 Italian UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon

VOA News: Security officials in Lebanon say an explosion hit a United Nations vehicle in the southern part of the country Friday, wounding six Italian U.N. peacekeepers.

Officials said the blast apparently targeted the U.N. convoy as it was moving near the city of Sidon.  The Italian government confirmed the casualties and retracted an initial report that one of the men had died.

No one has claimed responsibility for the incident.

The explosion happened on the U.N.'s International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, a day where peacekeepers commemorate their colleagues killed at U.N. missions around the world.

A U.N. peacekeeping force of about 12,000 soldiers and 1,000 civilians is deployed in southern Lebanon to monitor the border with Israel following the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.  There are about 120,000 peacekeepers worldwide from 115 countries.

[UNIMIL is one of the oldest peacekeeping missions in the world, with a continuous presence in Lebanon since the 1980's.  It has proven completely inept at preventing multiple wars and has ceded control to Hezbollah, an illegal military organization and terrorist organization, in the South.]

New Al Qaeda Leader Linked to Daniel Pearl's Murder

05/23/11

by Chana Ya'ar

The Egyptian chosen to become the interim chief of the international Al Qaeda terrorist organization has been linked to the murder of Jewish Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

U.S. investigators from the Pearl Project reported that Saif al-Adel had discussed the abduction of the journalist with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Mohammed, whom the investigators' report refers to by the initials "KSM," was the alleged mastermind behind four simultaneous Al Qaeda terror attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 – against the two World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon and a failed attempt on the White House that ended with an airline crash in an open field in Pennsylvania instead.

NATO: "Taliban laying down arms"

 

 

May 25, 2011 

More than eighty Taliban have given up the fight in Laghman province and joined the peace process.

Pakistan: 22 killed in attack in NW

VOA News

May 26, 2011

A suicide car bomber has struck near a police station in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 22 people, in the second such attack in as many days.

Initial police reports say at least 20 others were wounded in Thursday's attack that took place in the town of Hangu in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

On Wednesday, a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle full of explosives into a police building in the provincial capital, Peshawar, killing at least eight people — mostly police officers. The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack and said it was avenging the death of Osama bin Laden.

 

PA to Pay Terrorists in Israeli Prisons Salaries

by Gavriel Queenann

The Palestinian Authority passed a law last month granting all PA residents and Israeli Arabs imprisoned by Israel for terror crimes a monthly salary, Palestinian Media Watch reports.

According to PMW, the PA has defined by law which residents and Israeli Arabs would be deemed "prisoners" as "Anyone imprisoned in the occupation's [Israel's] prisons as a result of his participation in the struggle against the occupation."

Two Reporters Hurt in Arab Rock Attack

by Hillel Fendel

Two reporters – including one from Arutz-7 – were injured by rock-throwing Arabs today while accompanying a tour of Knesset Members.

The incident occurred at the Kalandia checkpoint, just north of Jerusalem.

OBL from beyond his watery grave: "Winds of change will spread across ME"

VOA News May 19, 2011

Osama bin Laden praises the protest movements that have swept across the Middle East, according to an audio released by Al-Qaida.

In the 12-minute message posted on Islamist websites, bin Laden purportedly singles out the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, predicting the "winds of change" will spread across the entire Muslim world. 

Afghan militants kill 35 construction workers

VOA News May 19, 2011

Militants have attacked a road construction site in eastern Afghanistan, killing 35 workers and guards, Afghan officials report.

The attack took place overnight in Paktia province. At least 20 people were wounded when dozens of militants launched their assault in the Waza-e Zadran district, near Pakistan's border.

Reports say eight militants  were also killed in the ensuing gunbattle with security guards, which lasted at least two hours.

Al Qaeda vows to continue attacks; Confirm Bin Laden's Death

VOA News May 6, 2011

Al-Qaida has confirmed the death of its leader, Osama bin Laden.

The U.S. monitoring group SITE Intelligence quoted on Friday a statement attributed to the terrorist network, which had appeared on militant websites.

In the statement, al-Qaida vowed to continue its attacks on Americans and U.S. allies both inside and outside the United States. It also promised to release soon an audio message that it said bin Laden recorded the week before his death.

Hamas condemns bin Laden killing

US and Britain Furious at Hamas for Mourning Bin Laden

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

Hamas has managed to infuriate the United States and Britain for mourning Bin Laden – while at the same time Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas ties the knot with the terrorist organization and tries to gain Western support for declaring a PA a state.

As Hamas and Fatah leaders arrived in Cairo Monday to sign a unity agreement, Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh said, responding to Bin Laden's elimination, "We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood.

“We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and  martyrs. If these [sic] news are true, then this makes it  part of the American policy based on oppression and bloodshed in the Muslim and Arab world,” the official Hamas website stated in Haniyeh's name.

PA Wipes Israel Off Map

PA Carries out Ahmadinejad’s Threat and Wipes Israel Off Map

 by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

The Palestinian Authority has carried out Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s threat to “wipe Israel off the map” and literally has done so by displaying maps of “Palestine” covering all of Israel at the same time its leaders talk about “two states for two people.”

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Fatah movement that controls the PA in Judea and Samaria, has in effect established a “one-state” solution in Fatah offices and in Palestinian Authority schools and offices.

(Map courtesy of CIA World Fact Book)

SecDef Gates DoubleTalks on US Foreign Military Policy

Gates: US Help for Mideast Activists Tempered by Security Interests

Al Pessin VoA News Pentagon: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has sounded a cautious tone on the United States’ ability to help democracy advocates in the Middle East.  Gates used what was expected to be a routine speech at a library opening Thursday to send a message about the difference between moral support for the activists and what the United States can and should do based on its national security interests.  

It is a thin line many U.S. officials have been trying to walk for months now, since people in several Middle Eastern countries began marching for freedom.

As US Relations Sour, Karzai Looks Toward Taliban Talks

Karzai: Afghanistan, Pakistan to Boost Taliban Peace Efforts

VoA News: Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani have agreed to boost joint efforts to make peace with the Taliban.

Mr. Gilani flew Saturday to the Afghan capital, Kabul, to hold talks with President Karzai.

At a news conference after their meeting, Mr. Karzai said Pakistan has upgraded a joint Afghan-Pakistan peace commission to the highest government level. He said the Pakistani prime minister is now leading the Pakistani side of the commission along with Pakistan's chief of army staff and the nation's intelligence chief. President Karzai indicated Afghanistan would enact a similar upgrade.

Carter Returning to North Korea, on Private Mission

Carter Headed to North Korea

VoA News: The U.S. State Department says former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is planning to visit North Korea.

A department spokesman said Thursday that the U.S. government has been “made aware of the trip.” But he said Mr. Carter will be traveling in a private capacity.

He said Mr. Carter is not traveling with an official U.S. delegation and is not carrying an official message. He gave no date for the trip.

Palestinian Protests Call for Unity Against Israel

Palestinian Demonstrators Launch Peaceful Call for Unity

Luis Ramirez VoA News Ramallah: The wave of protests sweeping much of the Arab world has now reached the Palestinian territories.  But in the West Bank town of Ramallah, some protesters are choosing a different, nonviolent approach.

These protests are similar to those elsewhere in the Arab world.  Except these protesters are not out to topple their leaders.

"I want to achieve freedom, justice for Palestinian people," said Najwan Berekdar, who is among the young activists organizing the demonstrations in Ramallah.  

The protesters want an end to the division between the Fatah faction that runs the West Bank and the militant Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip.

America's Jews Divided by Party on Rise of Islamist Parties in MidEast

US Jews Watch Arab Uprisings With Mix of Hope, Concern

Jerome Socolovsky VoA News: America's six-million Jews have long been politically divided over what's best for Israel's security.  Now, those on the left are putting their faith in an Arab democratic awakening, while those on the right are warily watching the developments sweeping the region.

The developments were high on the agenda at two major Jewish gatherings this week - and at a meeting of presidents of Jewish organizations with President Barack Obama.

The first gathering was the annual meeting of J-Street, a Jewish group on the political left, which drew thousands of participants.

Defund the Despicable Acts of Columbia University

"Peace by persuasion has a pleasant sound, but I think we should not be able to work it. We should have to tame the human race first, and history seems to show that that cannot be done."  Mark Twain in a Letter to William T. Stead, 1/9/1899

While Columbia University has not had a ROTC Office in 4 decades, it does not shy away from weighing in on Military Debates.  Contrary to the Geneva Conventions, one of its professors claimed that the US Constitution, not the Geneva Conventions and International Law were the basis for holding trials and giving unearned rights to terrorists captured on the Battlefield.

Yeah, the same University that invited Ahdimijihadist to speak there bans ROTC from its campus and its students heckle Wounded Warriors that are members of its student body.  The leader of the terrorist world was cheered mere miles from the site of the 9/11 attacks, a place he tried to visit, and was denied by NYC.

Obama to Convene AfPak Panel of Politicians

Obama to Hold First Afghanistan-Pakistan Meeting of 2011

Dan Robinson VoA News White House: On Thursday, President Barack Obama is scheduled to hold the first meeting of the new year with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The session follows the president's strong reiteration in his State of the Union Address of U.S. objectives in the region, and the goal of beginning a U.S. troop draw down in July.

The so-called AF/PAK meeting will be the first in 2011, and the second since the death late last year of veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke, who served as President Obama's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

When is Violence the Answer?

The pacifist crowd is quite curious.  While they would have us believe that "violence is never the answer," a great deal of violence is committed in the name of pacifism.  The unreported attacks on Miltary Recruiting Offices, University Laboratories, and even home construction by groups espousing pacifism or animal rights is a prime example not only of the violence of pacifists, but the MSM cover-up of their less savory cousins.  More often, the pacifist elitists attempt to incite violence through aggressive rhetoric.  This is demonstrated in a recent post at This Ain't Hell.

Does anybody remember the outrage about Muslims being murdered in Bosnia?  Does anyone remember the outrage that the world stood by and watched the slaughter of Darfur?  Who stood up when Iran was raping and murdering Persians in the streets and in college dorms?  Tyrants do not care that foreign citizens are outraged or that diplomats publicly protest their atrocities.  They notice a bit more when their ports are blocked or sanctions are enforced, but as Saddam and Castro proved, the sanctions may effect their people, but not the largesse of the tyrant.  And if a tyrant is willing to abuse his own people, why would he care that they suffer a bit more so he can thumb his nose at the butting in of the world body?

US Pays $7,142 per Light to Illuminate Kabul Streets

New solar-powered street lights are on in Kabul
by: Staff Sgt. Jordan Jones USAF-Central

KABUL, Afghanistan – Solar-powered lights went on in the streets of Kabul Wednesday during a ribbon-cutting ceremony inaugurating the completion of 28 new street lights.

[The 28 solar-powered lights, poles, solar panels, and batteries were part of a pilot project costing U.S. $200,000. Lessons learned from similar construction projects in Iraq were applied to the program here, including keeping the batteries and solar panels elevated to prevent theft and vandalism. Two more proposed projects are expected to cost more than $1 million each and are scheduled to be completed by 2012. (Photo by: Staff Sgt. Jordan Jones)]

VoA: Turkey Leadership Mired in Islamism

WikiLeak Documents Question Turkey's Relationship with US

Istanbul, VoA News:  U.S. diplomats have cast doubts on the reliability of NATO ally Turkey, portraying its leadership as divided and permeated by Islamists. 

Washington describes Ankara as a trusted ally publicly.  But hundreds of thousands of State Department documents leaked Sunday paint a different picture.

U.S. Embassy officials in Ankara describe the Islamist tendencies in the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and say it is unlikely to become a member of the 27-bloc European Union in the future.

Futures of Afghanistan?

There's growing momentum in the "anti-war" crowd to retreat from Afghanistan.  While, the War In Afghanistan was not an issue in the 2010 elections, indications are that it'll get growing attention over the next two years.  The current administration has already announced a 4 year plan to abandon an ally led by an elected leader it has been at odds with for 3 years.  Fed by the MSM, few milbloggers will even defend Karzai.  He's under constant attack across the media spectrum.  It is all-out character assassination.

Admiral Mullen has echoed the White House in saying withdrawal will begin in July 2011, that that is set in stone, and will occur based on recommendations by ground commanders and conditions.  I read this as him ordering General Petraeus to recommend withdrawal.

The party in power in Washington has long espoused standoff wars, fought with the fewest possible Troops on the ground and hence political liability for the loss of US lives.  It has preferred US Humanitarian Aid be given through the America bashing United Nations, than to be stamped with a US Flag.  It has ramped up drone attacks in Pakistan while announcing the July 2011 retreat will begin "based on conditions on the ground" even while conditions on the ground grew more heated.