Allied Airpower 30/08

Airpower: F-16s stay close overhead
Agence France-Presse Aug 30, 2007

SOUTHWEST ASIA: Coalition airpower supported coalition ground forces in Iraq and International Security Assistance Force troops in Afghanistan during operations Aug. 28, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.

In Afghanistan, Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles dropped guided bomb unit-38s on Afghanistan National Army vehicles that were being looted by insurgents in Tarin Kowt. The aircrews also hit an enemy compound with GBU-38s. The aircrews then targeted the insurgents with a GBU-31 and GBU-12s. Later, one of the F-15Es dropped a GBU-12 on an enemy camp. The engagements were reported as successful.

Also in Tarin Kowt, other F-15Es dropped GBU-38s on an enemy vehicle and a machine gun position. The aircrews also attacked with GBU-31s and GBU-12s a sniper position and enemies fleeing previous attacks. Theses engagements were reported as successful as well.

Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs dropped general-purpose 500-pound bombs and GBU-12s on an enemy firing position in Orgun-E. The pilots also strafed the position with cannon rounds.

An Air Force B-1B Lancer provided successful shows of force and presence to ward off enemy attacks in areas near Ganjabad.

A-10s strafed enemies in Asadabad with cannon rounds. The on-scene joint terminal attack controller reported the rounds hit their intended targets.

F-15Es dropped GBU-38s and a GBU-31 on enemy firing positions around Gardez and Asadabad. The weapon drops were considered successful by the JTAC.

Other F-15Es also hit targets with GBU-38s and GBU-12s in Asadabad and Asmar.

F-15Es and an A-10 provided successful shows of force with flares over enemy positions in Gereshk, Garmsir and Kajaki Dam.

In total, 47 close-air-support missions were flown in support of ISAF and Afghan security forces, reconstruction activities and route patrols.

Nine Air Force and Royal Air Force intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft flew missions in support of operations in Afghanistan. Additionally, two RAF aircraft performed tactical reconnaissance.

In Iraq, Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons used GBU-38s to destroy a weapons cache in Salman Pak. The pilots also watched over a coalition raid.

Also in Salman Pak, an F-16 destroyed a weapons crate using a Maverick missile. The pilots observed insurgents digging up the weapons crate and loading it onto a truck. Once the crate was unloaded, one of the pilots destroyed it with the missile. Then, the F-16s strafed the truck that had moved the crate with cannon rounds until it stopped. One of the F-16s also provided a show of force for convoy freedom of movement. The convoy moved through smoothly after the show of force.

Continuing the engagement in Salman Pak, another group of F-16s fired cannon rounds at the truck that had moved the weapons crate. The F-16s also hit a weapons storage area with GBU-38s as well.

An Air Force MQ-1Predator fired a Hellfire missile at a mortar team in Balad. The Predator followed the group that was carrying a tube. Eventually the team launched a projectile, confirming the tube was a weapon. Then the Predator engaged the team.

F-16s provided shows of force over locations around Karbala.

Other F-16s patrolled other areas of Samarra and Tikrit looking for suspicious activities and improvised explosive devices.

In total, coalition aircraft flew 50 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom. These missions supported coalition ground forces, protected key infrastructure, provided over watch for reconstruction activities and helped to deter and disrupt terrorist activities.

Seventeen Air Force, Navy and RAF ISR aircraft flew missions in support of operations in Iraq.
Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft and C-17 Globemaster IIIs provided intra-theater heavy airlift support, helping to sustain operations throughout Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa.

Approximately 160 airlift sorties were flown, 400 tons of cargo were delivered and approximately 3,400 passengers were transported. Airlift included approximately 44,000 pounds of troop re-supply air-dropped in Afghanistan.

Coalition C-130 crews from Australia, Iraq and Japan flew in support of operations in Afghanistan or Iraq.

On Aug. 27, Air Force and RAF tankers flew 55 sorties and off-loaded approximately 3.1 million pounds of fuel to 285 receiving aircraft.

http://www.defencetalk.com

U.S. - True Freedom & Security

US is world's most armed country
Article from: Reuters
By Laura Macinnis in Geneva
August 29, 2007 03:57am

THE United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released today said.

US citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.

About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said.

“There is roughly one firearm for every seven people worldwide. Without the United States, though, this drops to about one firearm per 10 people,” it said.

India had the world's second-largest civilian gun arsenal, with an estimated 46 million firearms outside law enforcement and the military, though this represented just four guns per 100 people there. China, ranked third with 40 million privately held guns, had 3 firearms per 100 people.

Germany, France, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil and Russia were next in the ranking of country's overall civilian gun arsenals.

On a per-capita basis, Yemen had the second most heavily armed citizenry behind the United States, with 61 guns per 100 people, followed by Finland with 56, Switzerland with 46, Iraq with 39 and Serbia with 38.

MahdiWatch

Welcome to MahdiWatch.org!

al-Mahdi is "the rightly-guided one" who, according to Islamic Hadiths (traditions), will come before the end of time to make the entire world Muslim.

Over the last 1400 years numerous claimants to the mantle of the Mahdi have arisen, and belief in the coming of the Mahdi is increasing today, as evidenced by the such overt examples as January 2007's Mahdist violence in Iraq and the frequently-expressed public pronouncements of Iran's leader Ahmadinezhad, as well as more covert examples such as the whispered claims that Usamah bin Ladin might be the Mahdi.

This site will track such Mahdi-related claims, aspirations, propaganda and beliefs in the both the Sunni and Shi`i parts of the Islamic world, as well as other eschatological yearnings in a Muslim context.

www.MahdiWatch.org

M1A3

Spaceship Abrams by James Dunnigan
August 25, 2007

Crews of the latest model (M1A2) Abrams tank can't help but notice that, while their workspace is well protected, air conditioned and a smooth ride, it also resembles the inside of a space ship.

The current generation of recruits grew up with video games and spectacular science fiction films.

The number of gadgets inside a tank has just kept increasing over the last decade. And all the new computers, and their software, have been redesigned to make them faster and easier to use. That's handy when you are under a lot of stress, or tired from being awake all night just watching somewhere the bad guys were expected to show up.

Consider, for example, the array of electronics that come into play when the gunner sees a target, through his thermal sight (that senses differences in temperature, so works day or night and in any weather). The gunner presses a button to have the computer calculate exactly where to point the 120mm gun, so that it will hit a truck size target several kilometers away. Within a second or so, the computer draws data from a laser rangefinder, a crosswind sensor, a pendulum static cant sensor, data on the ammunition type, ammunition temperature, and a muzzle reference sensor (MRS) that determines barrel drop due to gravity and temperature, and moves the gun minute distances, and lets the gunner know that he can push the fire button.

The tank commander also has a separate thermal site, in the mini-turret atop the turret, the better to look for new targets. The tank has GPS, and maps of the area. So, like many automobile owners, the driver can glance at a computer display to see where they are, in relation to all sorts of things.

The radio system, for internal and external communication, is now enhanced by a phone handset affixed to the side rear of the tank, so that infantry can pick up and discuss the situation. Infantry like to have M1A2s around, because the tank now has an auxiliary power supply, which enables the main (fuel guzzling gas turbine) engine to be shut down, while the tank sits in one place all night, using its thermal sights to watch out for whatever.

And whatever is out there, nothing has yet come along that can kill the M-1 in combat. Only nine have been knocked out in combat. Seven were lost to friendly fire, and two were disabled on the battlefield, and destroyed by their crews because the tanks could not move, and their unit had to move on.

M-1A3 Forever
August 17, 2007:

The impressive performance of the U.S. M-1 tank in Iraq has prompted to U.S. Army to scrap plans to retire the M-1, and replace it with a radical new FCS (Future Combat System) design.

None of the proposed FCS designs showed much potential, especially compared to how well the M-1 was doing. So now there's an M1A3 version of the M1 in the works. This would be a radical upgrade, compared to previous ones. It would even be possible to make the 62 ton M-1A2 a few tons lighter. This would involve a lightweight 120mm gun, which would allow for the installation of an autoloader, new fiber optic wiring, and new (and lighter) armor. A new engine and running gear would also save weight. The M-1A3 might get down to 55 tons, or less.

But the most important changes would be the new computers, communication, sensors and navigation gear intended for the unrealized FCS tank. The FCS vehicle was to use new heavy weapons, that fire guided projectiles to a range of 12 kilometers. These can also be mounted in the M-1A3.

There would be no new tanks built, just upgrades of existing ones. Nearly 9,000 M-1s were manufactured during the 1980s and 90s. The U.S. Army and Marines only use about 1,600 now, with foreign operators accounting for another 1,500. So there are plenty of older M-1s in storage, ready for upgrading. The M-1A3 could remain in service for another forty years or more.

from:

http://www.strategypage.com

Death from Above

Apache Nighttime Rocket Strike

Christian Persecution

Christianity’s Greatest Menace

By Gary Lane

CBN News

CBNNews.com - Christians around the world suffer daily because of their faith, and it seems the persecution is intensifying.

CBN News looks at the top two offenders– North Korea and Saudi Arabia.

Countries that persecute Christians usually fall into two camps: those with communist governments and those where Islam as the dominant religion.

In North Korea, the treatment of Christians has reached new lows in brutality.

“There’s one particular account consisting of the shooting deaths of two people caught with Bibles in 1997,” Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia said.

Others are thrown into some of the most brutal prison camps the world has ever seen. Often, two and three generations of Christians are sent to the camps, so that, when the family dies, their faith dies with them.

But communism as a worldwide threat to Christianity has been replaced by a greater menace — Islam.

“The good side of that story is the church is growing in those countries,” Todd Nettleton said.

“That’s why there is persecution because people are coming to Christ and if your power is built on the mosque, built on Islam, when you see Muslims coming to Jesus, that’s a threat.”

Read the rest of this post »

h/t: http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/

Pro -West Propaganda War

Link

Iranian Revolutionary Guards

Fighting Back in the Propaganda War


The fifth-column Left has waged a relentless propaganda war aimed at securing an American defeat to Islamic terrorists in Iraq. But the moonbats are taking some return fire.


Freedom's Watch has launched a $15 million ad campaign explaining why surrender is not an option. The ads are quite a bit more compelling than Michael Moore movies and the MSM's defeatist sniveling. Check them out here.


from
http://www.moonbattery.com/

War Wrecks

NATURE War Wrecks of the Coral Seas Lease on Life PBS

Blood Red Moon

Disco

ARMAGEDDON DISCO PARTY

World's Funniest Joke

Banned in U.S.

Led Z

Led Zeppelin - Kashmir

stairway to heaven

The Red Affair

Red Dusk

It's time Hollywood gave up its love affair with communism.
BY BRIDGET JOHNSON
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST

HOLLYWOOD--Considering how steeped in elitism last month's Academy Awards were--with "lesser" winners forced to stay back in their aisles or dutifully line up on stage, thus robbing them of a once-in-a-lifetime trip down the aisle--Hollywood sure has embraced communism with open arms.

In a town where antiwar activism is hot, a militant icon is even hotter: "The Motorcycle Diaries," a saintly portrayal of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in his early days, executive produced by Robert Redford and the toast of the Sundance Film Festival, won the Oscar for best song. "Al Otro Lado del Rio" was sung onstage by Antonio Banderas, accompanied by Carlos Santana--clad in the ubiquitous Che T-shirt that has become the brand of wannabe suburban revolutionaries.

Now that "Motorcycle" has ridden into the awards sunset--ironically, considering the nature of communism, also picking up two Independent Spirit Awards--the sequel to Che canonization is on the horizon. Filming is scheduled to start later this year on "Che," a Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic") vehicle starring Benicio del Toro as the famed Marxist. The plot line as listed on the Internet Movie Database: "An epic about Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, who fought for the people."

Wait, there's more. IMDb lists another movie titled "Che" currently filming, written and directed by Josh Evans, son of Ali McGraw. If one can assume that Sonia Braga's "Celia" character is Guevara's mother, are we in store for another innocent, youthful portrayal of the guerrilla in "The Tricycle Diaries"?

Annoying as the Che adulation is, a recent comment by a 14-year-old on an online movie message board was truly disturbing: "I just saw The Motorcycle Diaries, which further made me question: Why is communism bad? . . . Young people are told how bad communism is, but we are not told why. . . . The Motorcycle Diaries showed me how Ernesto Guevara wanted to help people. . . . But this did not explain why he was such a 'bad' person and apparently deserved to be murdered by the U.S."

Is this a legacy of dangerous ignorance that the makers of "Che" wish to continue? Might this teen be taught that the product of Guevara and Castro's "revolution" is a nation whose inhabitants still risk their lives to escape--and an estimated one-third die trying? A nation where neighbor spies on neighbor, where dissent lands one in the clink--or worse--and persecution is punishment for everything from religion to homosexuality?

What feature films have showed the true nature of communism? There was "The Killing Fields," showing families torn apart, cities emptied, forced labor, bones littering the Cambodian landscape. Adding to the authenticity was its star, Oscar-winner and real-life survivor Haing S. Ngor, who would have been summarily executed had his intellectual background been discovered by the Khmer Rouge.

As a cinematic achievement, it ranks as one of the best films of all time. As a historical testament, it shows that communism had nothing to do with betterment of the masses but stripped away everything that comprised the individual. Though this film should be required high-school viewing, not much else springs to mind that could counter the effects of pro-Marxist cinema.

I'll bet the big studio execs have never thought--or cared--to do a big-screen adaptation of "The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression," by Stephane Courtois, et al. The book's 1997 publishing in France touched off a firestorm of controversy--mostly from offended French commies--and it stands as an astonishing comprehensive account of what this political ideology has wreaked on mankind in less than a century.

The film version of this 800-plus-page account would be excruciatingly long and painful--too long for a 32-ounce soda and too nauseating for popcorn. So since Hollywood is all about franchises now anyway, the book could be adapted into several movies, each covering a corner of the globe and that region's own unique suffering under communism.

How about a film on the Soviet Union, beginning with Lenin and the 1917 revolution, droning on to Stalin's purges with hundreds of thousands executed by firing squad, and millions forced from their homes or carted off to labor camps? We'd see Soviet bloc countries strangled under communist rule, Berlin divided with concrete and snipers, Nicolae Ceausescu destroying historic Bucharest. We'd see Soviet terror exported with the scorched-earth policy in Afghanistan.

Red China would make a stellar film that lacks a happy ending--for now. Viewers would see Mao Tse-tung turn the colorful Chinese culture into a gray, bleak "worker's paradise" steeped in hunger and executions. We'd see the Great Leap Forward to devastating famine, murder and destruction in Tibet, women forced to abort their children, and the blood of student demonstrators spilled on Tiananmen Square. Complete the Asian film series with the "re-education" by terror in North Vietnam, the Maoist insurgency in Nepal that has killed thousands, and the hellish nightmare that is North Korea.

Some brilliant young director would have to tackle Africa's woes under communism, such as the starvation in Ethiopia under Mengistu Haile Mariam. And we can't forget the Latin American films, highlighting Peru's Maoist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) terrorists. And, of course, add a stark motion picture on the fall of Cuba--to be directed by anyone but Oliver Stone--that, though bloody and tragic, can end on a slightly lighter note (and an ovation) with Fidel Castro's fall down the stairs last October.

It seems in all of these dark films there would be no room for heroes, but there are more than could fill the Kodak Theatre and its exclusive stage: the boat people who have courted death to flee from Cuba and Vietnam, Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement, Vaclav Havel and his cohorts in the Velvet Revolution, the Hungarian resistance fighters who valiantly tried to keep the Soviets at bay in 1956, those who tried to find any way across the Berlin Wall, a lone man who blocked a column of advancing tanks in Tiananmen Square during 1989's democracy protests.

Villains would include--you guessed it--Che Guevara, whose legacy includes both ordering and conducting executions and founding forced labor camps. "Guevara . . . quickly gain[ed] a reputation for ruthlessness; a child in his guerrilla unit who had stolen a little food was immediately shot without trial," writes Pascal Fontaine in "The Black Book."

Guevara also wrote in his diary about executing peasant Eutimio Guerra, a suspected informant, with a single .32-caliber shot to the head. Guevara, in his will, praised the "extremely useful hatred that turns men into effective, violent, merciless, and cold killing machines." He tried to spread the havoc caused by the Cuban revolution in other countries from Africa to South America, rallying for "two, three, many Vietnams!"

Guevara oversaw executions at La Cabana prison; some of those executed were his former comrades who wouldn't relinquish their democratic beliefs. "To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary," he said. He didn't assuage his barbarity by being a brilliant statesman, either, helping drive the economy to ruin as head of Cuba's central bank and minister of industries. "Though claiming to despise money," writes Fontaine, "he lived in one of the rich, private areas of Havana." Guevara told a British reporter after the Cuban Missile Crisis that the nukes would have been fired if they were under Cuban control--which would have wasted all of those future American suburban revolutionary wannabes.

Since "The Motorcycle Diaries" got an "R" rating for language, many teens missed out on the rosy, heroic portrayal of young Che saving a leper colony. But don't expect the MPAA judgment to get lighter for any of these proposed movies about the real toll of communism. The death count will surpass that of all "Rambo" flicks--nearly 100 million dead through the 20th century.

Yes, it would stretch the boundaries of Hollywood's tidy "R" rating. But being impaled by a Bolshevik isn't pretty.

Ms. Johnson is a columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News. Her blog is gopvixen.blogs.com.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110006484

h/t: j tex

Shape of things to come

World War 3 -Israel, Iran and Russia


Iran

Next Front

Mr John Bolton on Iran

AQ Hub

Damascus airport called Al Qaida hub

WASHINGTON — Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, has been recruiting support for legislation that would sanction Damascus International Airport.

Lieberman said the airport has become the major conduit for Al Qaida fighters to Iraq as well as Iranian weapons shipments to Lebanon. He based his assertion on briefings from the U.S. military.

On Thursday, the Bush administration released an unclassified version of a national intelligence estimate that supported Lieberman's allegations against Syria. But the report said Damascus, despite its increase in support for militias in Iraq, has cracked down on Al Qaida in wake of a determination that the Islamic movement threatens Syrian national security.

Lieberman said U.S. intelligence has determined that the lion's share of Sunni volunteers fly into Damascus International Airport and then proceed overland to Iraq. He said this makes Damascus the hub of Al Qaida travel in the Middle East.

Congressional sources said House and Senate members were discussing sanctions against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The sources said Congress has been briefed by U.S. military commanders who said Syria continues to serve as the main conduit for volunteers for the Sunni insurgency in neighboring Iraq.

"There is a feeling that something has to be done," a senior congressional staffer said.

Officials said about 80 volunteers per month have been processed and trained in Syria before being sent to strike Shi'ite and U.S.-led coalition targets in Iraq. They said most of the volunteers, who meet their handlers in Syria, were assigned suicide bombing missions in Iraq.

"Syria refuses to tighten its visa regime for individuals transiting its territory," Lieberman said.
"Syrian President Bashar Al Assad cannot seriously claim that he is incapable of exercising effective control over the main airport in his capital city," Lieberman wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

"Syria is a police state, with sprawling domestic intelligence and security services. The notion that Al Qaida recruits are slipping into and through the Damascus airport unbeknownst to the local Mukhabarat [intelligence agency] is totally unbelievable."

The proposed legislation, expected to be introduced in Congress in September, would ban Damascus International Airport to international carriers. The sources said the sanctions could affect the U.S. activities of airlines that violate the proposed sanctions.

Alitalia, Air France and British Airways conduct regular flights to Damascus. U.S. carriers do not fly to Syria.

http://www.worldtribune.com/

War in Afghanistan

Air Refueling Over Afghanistan
One for the pilots. (You know who you are.)"KC-10 in support of OEF"


"Bagram Airfield Operations B-Roll"
raw video from AFN in Afghanistan


US Marines in Afghanistan
compilation vid


----

Latest links:

Bill Roggio reports on the major offensive in eastern Afghanistan, with much more detail than you’ll get from the wire services:

The eastern Afghanistan offensive.

H/T:http://littlegreenfootballs.com/

O/T but a must read!

From The American Thinker, one of the very best sites on the net, Dr. Stephen Rittenberg's, Courage, Cowardice and the Wordsmiths.

I'll take it

Russian offers $600m for 'cool' B-52 bomber
From correspondents in Moscow
August 25, 2007 12:39am
Article from: Reuters

A WEALTHY Russian tried to buy a US B-52 bomber from a group of shocked American pilots at an airshow near Moscow, a Russian newspaper reported yesterday.

The unidentified Russian, wearing sunglasses and surrounded by bodyguards, approached the US delegation and asked to buy the bomber, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper said.

An astounded member of the US delegation said the bomber was not for sale but that it would cost at least $US500 million ($610.54 million) if it were to be sold on the spot.

“That is no problem. It is such a cool machine,” the Russian was quoted as saying by the newspaper, which said its reporter overheard the conversation. The bomber was not sold.

Russia's new rich, who built fantastic fortunes trading commodities and contacts after the fall of the Soviet Union, have made a name for themselves as ostentatious purchasers of everything from British football clubs to Faberge eggs.

Hearts & Minds

Win hearts and minds in terrorism fight: Nixon
Nick McKenzie, Daniel Flitton and Sarah Smiles

August 25, 2007

THE domestic struggle against terrorism should focus on winning the hearts and minds of alienated Islamic communities and avoid the phrase "war on terror", says one of the nation's top law enforcement officers, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

In the strongest comments by any senior policing figure, Ms Nixon rejected the phrase coined after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States and used extensively by the Howard Government to justify the war in Iraq.

"It has very much a ring of what used to be the 'war on drugs' and I think that it was not necessarily a good term to use," Ms Nixon told The Age.

"It is not about a war on that issue (terrorism). It is about policing in many ways, it is about working with local communities and so I think it exaggerates the issue."

Ms Nixon's comments come amid a growing international debate about how much the Iraq war is contributing to the threat of terrorism.

An opinion poll to be released by the Lowy Institute for International Policy next week will show twice as many Australians see the deployment of troops in Iraq as a contribution to the US alliance as do those who see it as a fight against terrorism.

Ms Nixon said the conflicts in Iraq and other global hot spots were monitored locally because of their potential to motivate Australians with radical views.

Asked if the turmoil in Iraq was one of the biggest motivators for groups in Australia, Ms Nixon said: "I think it is probably one, I think there is probably a set of different conflicts that we watch, given just the complexity of our communities … we have ranges of people here who get offended." Ms Nixon nominated India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as among countries of interest to local authorities.

Former and serving counter-terrorism officials in Victoria and NSW have told The Age the potential terrorist threat is greatest in minority pockets of the Sunni Muslim community in south-west Sydney, but that concern also surrounds small numbers of individuals in Melbourne and in other states. They said the local threat was influenced by traditional criminal elements, especially in Sydney. There was also the potential for infiltration by overseas-based radicals.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has banned government use of the "War on Terror" slogan after attempted car bombings in June, stressing the need for a "hearts and minds" campaign to prevent the radicalisation of young Muslims. But Prime Minister John Howard has continued to use the term.

"The war on terrorism is taxing the patience of many in the Western world, but we have to maintain our commitment," he said in June.

Ms Nixon stressed the importance of good relations with Muslim groups.

She said it was important to assure Australians that authorities were working to prevent an attack, but said the response needed to be measured.

"When you look at the number of people who have been killed from terrorist incidents within Western countries, yes, it is an appalling tragedy and a loss of life, but we are losing a lot more people in a lot of other ways," she said.

from:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/nixon-call-to-win-hearts-and-minds/2007/08/24/1187462524568.html

HD Guns

Australian Forces Tribute

Australian Special Forces Tribute Video

Camp Blessing

Photo - Army 1st Lt. William Cromie, Alpha Company, Special Troops Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, watches his Soldiers, Aug. 15, from an overwatch position as they clear an ambush point previously used by Taliban extremists in Chowkay Valley, Afghanistan. Photo by Sgt. Brandon Aird.

RCP Clears Roads Around Blessing

23 Aug 07By Sgt. Brandon Aird

173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team

PAOKUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - The first U.S. casualty from an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan was Army Sgt. Jay Blessing, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Nov. 14, 2003.

Blessing was in a convoy that was attacked just seven miles from camp in Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

United States and Afghan national security forces of the camp Blessing failed to reach that day started calling their camp, Camp Blessing to remember and honor the fallen Ranger.“

He gave his life helping the Afghan people,” Collin Johnson, who served with Blessing, said at the time, “This will remind every Soldier that comes here of his sacrifice.”

Four years later, Soldiers from 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based at the camp that bears his name now carry on Blessing’s hopes for a free Afghanistan. The once small outpost has expanded dramatically to become the base of operations for Task Force Bayonet.

One constant, despite the changes, is that military personnel still drive the same road to Camp Blessing that was used four years ago. Keeping the road safe is even harder now than when Blessing’s convoy traveled it.

Al-Qaida has influenced Taliban and other extremists in Afghanistan to use IED attacks against forces supporting the legitimate government of Afghanistan in more frequent numbers. Blessing was the only service member killed by an IED in 2003.

In 2004, 12 members died from IED attacks. Eight months into 2007 IEDs have killed 45 military personnel, according to www.icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks these statistics closely.The numbers would be even higher if it wasn’t for a special group of people travelling the roads ahead of convoys to help reduce the threat and number of IEDs.

The Route Clearance Package for Task Force Rock is from Alpha Company, Special Troops Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.The RCP patrols the roads seven days a week searching for IEDs.

The RCP is Task Force Rock’s first line of defense against IED attacks. The RCP clears roads to all of Task Force Rock’s forward operating bases and fire bases. On Aug. 15, the RCP cleared the road into Chowkay Valley, which has been a site of fighting for several years. Task Force Rock recently lost Army 1st Lt. Benjamin Hall, a platoon leader in Destined Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), during a fire fight in the valley July 31.

“There is one spot where three separate attacks were carried out,” said Army 1st Lt. William Cromie, a RCP Platoon leader in Alpha Company, who is from New Jersey.The spot Cromie spoke of is a bend in the road a few miles into the valley.

Destined Co., 2-503rd, Afghan Security Guard and an element from Cromie’s platoon have been attacked by Taliban extremists at the bend.A few weeks prior to the patrol, the RCP found an IED a few hundred feet in front of the ambush point.

Cromie’s platoon has found two IED’s since arriving in country three months ago.“I love what I do,” said Cromie. “It’s a very unforgiving job, but the job is extremely rewarding when we find something.”

More from Centcom:

Americans, Iraqis interact at historical monument.aspx
Posted: 24 Aug 2007 05:53 AM CDT
ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Approximately 80 Iraqis from the city of An Nasiriyah interacted for the first time with Airmen and Soldiers at the Ziggurat historical monument Aug. 21 at Ali Base.
International armed forces engineers work together in Afghanistan.aspx
Posted: 24 Aug 2007 05:30 AM CDT
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan- Afghans and Multi-national forces are currently working hand-in-hand on a variety of expansion construction projects here.
BAQOUBA BANK RECEIVES CASH DELIVERY, PAYS SALARIES AND PENSIONS
Posted: 23 Aug 2007 10:59 AM CDT

OPERATION LIGHTNING HAMMER DISRUPTS AL-QAEDA IN DIYALA
Posted: 23 Aug 2007 10:25 AM CDT

AL QAEDA ATTACKS COALITION OUTPOST IN NORTHERN BAGDAD
Posted: 23 Aug 2007 08:07 AM CDT

INSURGENTS TARGET COALITION, BUT KILL CIVILIANS
Posted: 23 Aug 2007 08:01 AM CDT

IRAQI SECURITY FORCES, U.S. SPECIAL FORCES CAPTURE HIGH-LEVEL TERRORIST IN MOSUL
Posted: 23 Aug 2007 08:08 AM CDT

Barwanah becomes safer with Marine, Iraqi Security Force presence.aspx
Posted: 23 Aug 2007 05:45 AM CDT
BARWANAH, Iraq-- Progress continues to be made in Al Anbar Province. A city once threatened by small arms fire, populace intimidation, improvised explosive devices and snipers is experiencing a renaissance.

Power, Influence Dictate Patterns of Violence in Central Iraq.aspx
Posted: 23 Aug 2007 05:35 AM CDT
BAGHDAD - Rather than clearly drawn lines in a Sunni vs. Shiia sectarian battle, the driver of much of Iraq's current violence is the murkier struggle for "power and influence," a coalition commander said Aug. 19.

Beautiful Ladies from IDF

FFS

CHEER UP AUSTRALIA - From England

It is reported that 50% of people in London are worried about security and sleep with some form of self-defence to hand, for use against intruders.

The ‘Safe Bedside Table’ has a removable leg that acts as a club and a top that doubles as a shield for self-defence. This is for people who are willing to take on an intruder, providing an extra sense of security whilst in bed.
Fuck! I feel safer already. -NOT

UAV Assault

UAV Assault On Insurgents

Beaches part 2

From Halal to Hell

Halal’ bacon a big porkie

By Marnie O’NeillAugust

19, 2007 - Daily Telegraph AU

A CATERING company has apologised to Muslim university students after trying to sell them “halal bacon and egg rolls”.

University of Western Sydney students had been suspicious for months about the authenticity of food labelled “halal” at campus canteens.

Their concerns were unexpectedly proved correct when in-house catering company UWSConnect offered “halal bacon and egg rolls” at the Bankstown campus.

Muslims are forbidden to eat any pig products.

“It’s just the most awful mistake,” UWSConnect general manager Tony Geange told The Sunday Telegraph.

“We are deeply embarrassed and ashamed, and we’ve apologised profusely for causing offence, both verbally and in writing.

“I mean, of all products, it had to be the bacon and egg roll.

“At the end of the day, it’s our fault and it’s an appalling mistake both verbally and in writing. It’s unforgivable.”

Mr Geange attributed the gaffe to to a “human labelling error” at UWSConnect’s Bankstown premises.

He insisted all products marked halal came from suppliers who claimed to be halal-friendly.
But according to the university’s Muslim Students Association (MSA), students had long suspected the products were being falsely labelled halal.

“UWSConnect seems tobelieve it can label food halal, without first obtaining halal certification from an accredited Muslim halal certifier,” it said in an online statement.

“UWS MSA presidents have patiently insisted that Muslims can accept halal labelling only after accreditation from a recognised Muslim halal certifier. The recent halal egg and bacon rolls fiasco is proof of this.”

On August 9, the company held talks with UWS executives and the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC).

AFIC supplied UWSConnect with an “application form for halal accreditation”.

AFIC halal services general manager Mohammed Rahman said the false labelling of food as halal was “much more widespread than people might think”.

The MSA has warned its members to be cautious about eating any UWSConnect products.

Anime HD

Militaria

This must be one world's most beautiful and famous Military Decorations.

The original Purple Heart, designated as the Badge of Military Merit, was established by General George Washington by order from his headquarters at Newburgh, New York, August 7, 1782.

The Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the President of the United States to any member of an Armed Forces who, while serving with the U.S. Armed Services after 5 April 1917, has been Wounded or Killed, or who has Died or may hereafter die after being wounded, to be award to the next of Kin. After 28 March 1973, wounded or killed as a result of an international Terrorism attack.

This beautiful PURPLE HEART is made by a U.S. Government maker to U.S. Regulations Specs., Makers Marked ( Hallmarked ) G27 behind the pin, which stands for authorised U.S. Government maker code 27 and is the very highest quality made Purple Heart, no case it is loose.

These U.S. Purple Heart Medals are getting to be a very rare collectable as the sale of this medal and private ownership was banned in the USA, please read below.

WHY RARE: This U.S. medal has become a very rare collectable for the following reasons, as under the new law ( Stolen Valor Act Section 740) passed in the USA, this medal in the USA only I must stress, is illegal to to be sold or owned, this new law only applies to the citizens of the United States not citizens from the rest of the world, as buying new stock of this medal will be impossible, this * US PURPLE HEART * like all the other medals banned, will sky rocket in collector's value in years to come,. so don't miss out.

RE: ABOVE PARAGRAPH from a seller at ebay, PLEASE SEE COMMENTS !!

TALIBAN QUARTER USA TALIBAN PROPAGANDA COIN

issued at commencement of Afghan War- SCARCE

This coin was issued by USA, at the commencement of the Afghanistan War, in mockery of the Taliban.It was a propaganda coin aimed at creating adverse public opinion about the Taliban.
The coin measures 2.5cm (1 1/8 inches) diameter, and features a camel-mounted tank turret (in mockery of the Taliban's comparatively "backward" war equipment); and the obverse features the regular George Washington head (found on regular quarters), with an interesting play on words, with the notation of "head quarters" at the base.

Established in 1926, awarded to * U.S. PILOTS FOR GALLANTRY ( BRAVERY) IN AIR COMBAT * it is the 3rd highest Bravery decoration in the air, and is equivelant to the Silver Star.

From ebay Aust

JW - links

"Radical Islam’s war with the West is not finite and limited to political grievances — real or imagined — but is existential, transcending time and space and deeply rooted in faith"

Here is a review of an essential new book that lays bare the jihadists' motivations and goals in their own words: Raymond Ibrahim's The Al-Qaeda Reader. There is no way we can resist and contain the jihadists, and stave...
Full article: <http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017872.php>

Jihad and dhimmitude

Andrew Bostom reviews Diana West's superb new book in The Washington Times. ...The author's witty, evocative phrasemaking — "hair-trigger moderate [Muslims]," "mash of civilizations," "far from realpolitik, this is dreampolitik," "in denial there is defeat" — elucidates an infantilized...
Full article: <http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017871.php>

Taliban tapping British troops' mobiles to taunt soldiers' families

"Keep up the dawah and the psychological warfare," an Islamic jihadist in the U.S. Navy was told by one of his handlers a few years back. The jihadists know well the value of psychological warfare -- they know this is...
Full article: <http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017875.php>

Belgium: Muslims want ban on Easter eggs

Not that there is a dominant culture that has a right to express itself. Oh, no. "Muslims want ban on Easter eggs," from Expatica (thanks to Diana West): ANTWERP – "If headscarves are banned for employees who work at the...
Full article: <http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/017874.php>

i-time fun

i-rack


h/t:http://www.fatwhiteman.com/

Ghost Wallpaper

Mr Spencer's new book interview

religion of peace?

Gamers are Persistent

Why gamers are better at handling life

08/15/2007 by Frank Ling, GN Senior Editor

With video games, sometimes you enter levels that are rather easy to navigate and play through, but as time passes, the levels get harder, and the bosses become more formidable. And in some cases, the solutions to various traps and puzzles seem to elude you until you are certain that you will never be able to figure things out.

Life is like that sometimes.

Maybe that's why gamers are so resilient in times of trouble. With my gaming pals, when they are going though tough times, it's like, "FTW, I hate it, but I'm going to beat it somehow." Either that or they just laugh and play a few games. Some people say that's just ignoring the problem, but I think it's much deeper than just escapism.

We're conditioned to face challenges in every game we play - whether it's a causal game of Wii Sports or an intense title like Gears of War, games all seem to teach us a subliminal message - that there's always a solution to a problem or challenge.

Another thing that gamers excel in, (most of the time anyway), is their ability to stick with objectives. I know the typical stereotype of a gamer is usually someone who is a slacker. But in real life, this is far from the truth.

Gamers are persistent to a fault when it comes to completing missions or goals in games. There is a mindset that things have to get done no matter what and this translates to someone who understands what it means to take up a diificult task and stick to it until it is completed. Pretty good qualities for an individual when facing life's curve balls, wouldn't you say?

Ok, I didn't get my degree in psychology, but this sort of makes sense to me. Of course, life, some would say, is a game. You have to play games with your boss because he's always hounding you to do more work for less money. Your teachers play the game of "pass this course or you're just a failure." Parents play the guilt game and say, "If you'd stop playing so many games, you'd do better in school," and so on.

But the bottom line to all of this is that gamers know how to have fun and also realize something about life that most people don't know...you can always beat the game if you don't give up.

from:
http://www.gamernode.com/Columns/13-Frank-Ling/3699-Why-gamers-are-better-at-handling-life/index.html

Wafa Sultan in Australia

Fury over talks with anti-Islam thinker
Richard Kerbaj August 22, 2007

MODERATE Islamic leaders have attacked Howard Government ministers for meeting anti-Muslim thinker Wafa Sultan, accusing Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer of endorsing her view that Islam is evil.

The nation's most senior spiritual Muslim woman, Aziza Abdel-Halim, yesterday also accused the Government of double standards for barring radical Islamic clerics while allowing an equally "dangerous" thinker such as Dr Sultan to stage a secret visit.

"It's very disappointing and very shocking, really," Sister Abdel-Halim told The Australian. "Because on the one hand they claim to be trying to give a chance to the Muslim community to overcome any negative ideas or thoughts among people, and on the other hand, they are promoting people who are agitating and accomplishing division and igniting hatred."

She criticised Julia Gillard for meeting the US-based Dr Sultan, saying the private discussion -- which the Deputy Opposition Leader refused to comment on yesterday -- would reflect negatively on the ALP, which is trying to build bridges with Australia's Islamic community.

This comes after The Australian yesterday revealed that Dr Sultan -- who believes the West has been duped into believing there is a difference between radical and moderate Islam -- had met senior politicians during her two-week secret visit to the country.

It was also revealed that Dr Sultan -- a Muslim Syrian psychiatrist who shot to recognition last year after attacking Islam and Mohammed on al-Jazeera television -- were brainwashed from an early age to believe thatWestern values were evil.

A former member of John Howard's Muslim advisory committee, Mustapha Kara-Ali, who is openly hostile towards extremism, yesterday attacked Dr Sultan and compared her to former One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

"She's the Middle East's version of Pauline Hanson," he said.

"Her message is one of hate, racism and discrimination and she has no place in Australia. No wonder she had to remain underground while in Australia ... because the Australian public would refuse her message," said Mr Kara-Ali.

But last night the Attorney-General and Foreign Minister defended their meeting with Dr Sultan. Mr Ruddock said she was entitled to express her views.

"Australia is a pluralist society," Mr Ruddock said.

"People are entitled to express their views. I have defended Muslims' rights to do do this and would defend others."

A spokesman for Mr Downer said the minster's views on Islam had not changed following his meeting with Dr Sultan. "He still holds the same views that he's articulated for the last five or six years," the spokesman said.

Shia Muslims pushed ideological differences aside and joined Sunnis in attacking Dr Sultan.

The president of the Sydney-based al-Sajjad Association, Salah Qurnawy, said Dr Sultan should not have been admitted into the country because her views would only create more "disharmony" between Muslims and the mainstream.

"She shouldn't be allowed here," he said.

Sister Abdel-Halim, president of the Muslim Womens National Network of Australia, said there was no difference between "promoting fundamentalist Islam and promoting anti-Islamic movements or thinking".

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,22286266-2702,00.html?from=public_rss

Links:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

<http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017843.php>

OOPS Wrong Button

Carrier training for our pilots

Mark Dodd August 21, 2007

AUSTRALIAN fighter pilots will be taught to land on aircraft carriers for the first time in 25 years.

A select handful of Royal Australian Air Force instructors will be chosen for lessons on how to land on US aircraft carriers flying the new F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter.

The plan, which could eventually lead to participation in US carrier-based operations, marks the first time Australian pilots have flown off aircraft carriers since the retirement of the navy's flagship carrier HMAS Melbourne in 1982.

The carrier training underscores the rapidly evolving military partnership between the US and Australian military.

Senior US navy sources said the relationship was likely to involve an increasing convergence in training and tactics between the RAAF's fast jets and their US equivalent.

RAAF Flight Lieutenant John Haly will become the first Australian air force pilot to become carrier-qualified when he attempts his toughest flying skills test later this year.

Asked to clarify RAAF Super Hornet training, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said yesterday:

"There is no plan for RAAF pilots to undertake training in aircraft carrier landings."

The official government line contradicts briefings provided to The Australian by senior US military officials at Lemoore Naval Air Station in California that other RAAF "Top Gun" instructor pilots are expected to follow Flight Lieutenant Haly and be provided with carrier training.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22279837-31477,00.html

Underestimating Islam

Warning to West on 'evil of Islam'
Richard Kerbaj August 21, 2007

THE West was still underestimating the evil of Islam, an influential Muslim thinker has warned.

On a two-week "under the radar" visit to Australia, Syrian-born Wafa Sultan secretly met both sides of federal politics and Jewish community leaders, warning them that all Muslims needed to be closely monitored in the West.

He insisted that Australia and the US have been duped into believing there is a difference between the religion's moderate and radical interpretations. In an interview with The Australian, Dr Sultan -- who shot to recognition last year following an interview on al-Jazeera television in which she attacked Islam and the prophet Mohammed -- said Muslims were "brainwashed" from an early age to believe Western values were evil and that the world would one day come under the control of Sharia law.

The US-based psychiatrist -- who has two fatwas (religious rulings) issued against her to be killed -

- warned that Muslims would continue to exploit freedom of speech in the West to spread their "hate" and attack their adopted countries, until the Western mind grasped the magnitude of the Islamic threat.

"You're fighting someone who is willing to die," "Dr Sultan told The Australian in an Arabic and English interview.

"So you have to understand this mentality and find ways to face it. (As a Muslim) your mission on this earth is to fight for Islam and to kill or to be killed. You're here for only a short life and once you kill a kafir, or a non-believer, soon you're going to be united with your God."

Dr Sultan, who was brought to Australia by a group called Multi-Net comprised of Jews and Christians, met senior politicians, including Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Labor deputy leader Julia Gillard.
Private security was hired for Dr Sultan, who left Australia yesterday, and state police authorities were also made aware of her movements in the country.

The organisers of her visit asked the media to not publish anything about her stay until she had left the country because of security-related concerns. Dr Sultan said Islam was a "political ideology" that was wrongly perceived to have a moderate and hardline following.

"That's why the West has to monitor the majority of Muslims because you don't know when they're ready to be activated. Because they share the same basic belief, that's the problem," said the 50-year-old, who was last year featured in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Dr Sultan, who was raised on Alawite Islamic beliefs before she renounced her religion, began to question Islam after she witnessed her university teacher get gunned down by Muslim hardliners in Syria in 1979.

The mother of three, who migrated to the US in 1989, said the West needed to hold Muslims and their leaders more accountable for the atrocities performed in the name of Islam if they wanted to win the war on terror.

But while she considered the prophet Mohammed "evil" and said the Koran needed to be destroyed because it advocated violence against non-believers, Dr Sultan struggled to articulate her vision for Muslims, whom she said she was trying to liberate from the shackles of their beliefs.

"I believe the only way is to expose the Muslims to different cultures, different thoughts, different belief systems," said Dr Sultan, who is completing her first book, The Escaped Prisoner: When Allah is a Monster.

"Muslims have been hostages of their own belief systems for 1400 years. There is no way we can keep the Koran."

from:http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

Link to JW:
Full article: <http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017843.php>