Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says it was a mistake to call the Afghanistan war a "War on Terror. Details HERE on CNN's Piers Morgan interview show (sorry the embed code is disabled on You Tube, but at least that saves you from looking at the ads).
I agree with Rummy; we're NOT fighting terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic. What we're at war with is Fundamentalist Islam; which has nothing to do with the religion of Islam, by the way - no more so than Roman Catholicism had anything to do with the troubles in Northern Ireland.
The news this week was the Congressional hearings into Radical Islam. That's a great start; it's only been ten and a half years since the Twin Towers came down. Speaking of the Twin Towers, the Golden Gate Bridge went up in four years, $1.3 million under budget. We had a booming economy for almost ten years after the buildings came down - how come they're not back up again? What? What's that you say? Oh, the GOVERNMENT's in charge of putting them back up again, you say? Never mind . . . sigh . . .
Please excuse, the A.D.D. is in double-extra mode today; must be the change of seasons. Focus: our country is in a state of war and the enemy is Radical Islam. Investigating Islam in this country is a good place to start, because the extremist forces (i.e. terrorists) use mosques as recruiting stations, and outlets for their hate-filled propaganda. It is correct and proper for our security and intelligence organizations to infiltrate mosques in America and to monitor the activities of radical preachers.
Radical Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki Awlaki, pictured here in 2008 in Yemen, is linked to al-Qaida and the alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.
BTW I like this latest media development; the introduction of British Commonwealth broadcast journalists into the American media scene - what I don't like is that the ones they dredge up are all bleeding heart liberals.
What they need to do is to find the Australian Rush Limbaugh
CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW OUT OF CONTROL THAT WOULD BE ? ? ?
Hmmm . . . I've got a deep, baritone, radio-worthy voice, maybe I should put in for the job . . . ? ? ?
. . . on the other hand . . . N-A-A-A-H . . . journalism doesn't pay squat - just ask my brother - and we've already GOT a Rush Limbaugh . . . I'd be crazy to give up my career as a security professional to try to tag onto the coattails of the Great Maha Rushie . . .
Here's a couple more non-Arab terrorists I overlooked the other day:
Cliff Kincaid Confronts Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers
That's Medea Benjamin speaking with Bernadine Dohrn at the start of the clip.
What you are looking at here are American terrorists - no different than Timothy McVeigh or Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the U.S. Army psychiatrist who perpetrated the Ft. Hood shootings. The only difference is that they were not as effective, and they got off on a technicality. These murderous terrorist scum are seen here with their supporters - terrorist sympathizers.
This is kind of dated but hey, this isn't a news service it's a blog, a large part of which is dedicated to national security . . . read down to the bottom partWHO ARE THE SUSPECTS?- kind of puts a kink in my theme about the "moderate" Muslims . . . interested in hearing your thoughts - S.L.
TERRORIST SUSPECT WAS EMPLOYED AT ISOTOPE-STOCKED HOSPITAL
Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 - Agence France-Presse One of several Canadian men suspected of plotting a terrorist bombing campaign worked at a hospital that houses medical isotopes that could be used in a radiological ‘dirty bomb.’
Misbahuddin Ahmed's work as an X-ray technician would not have brought him into contact with radioactive material used at the Ottawa Hospital's radiology center, hospital administrators said.
Ahmed, 26, was arrested with Hiva Alizadeh, 30, also of Ottawa, and Khuram Sher, 28, of London, Ontario.
"Investigators have grounds to believe that Alizadeh, Ahmed and Sher are part of a domestic terrorist group operating in Canada," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Serge Therriault told reporters.
"We also believe that Alizadeh is a member of, and remains in contact with, a terrorist group with links to the conflict in Afghanistan," he said.
Authorities searched the three men's homes, confiscating what they said were dozens of electronic circuit boards that could be used to detonate a bomb from a distance, along with books, drawings and other items that could help in preparing explosives. One of the suspects was believed to have undergone explosives training in another nation.
The "large amount of terrorist documentation and manuals" indicates the men "intended to construct an explosive device or explosive devices for terrorist purposes," Therriault said.
Misbahuddin Ahmed: X-ray technician was ‘reliable,’ his boss says. By most accounts, Misbahuddin Ahmed lived a traditional Muslim life. His colleagues at the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital praised his work ethic and his demeanour — by all accounts, an all-around good guy.
Dr. Khurram Syed Sher, 28, once auditioned for Canadian Idol; he's a father of three, a doctor, and recently moved to London, Ontario to work as a pathologist at the St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital.
Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, faces the most serious charges. Hiva is a Sunni Muslim whose parents live in Iran, a former employer says. He lived in Manitoba for years and once attended college to study English and electrical engineering.
“It’s not good news. I’m really sad because as far as I know of Hiva, he was a good guy, he was very good,” Yusuf Abdulrehman told the CBC. Mr. Abdulrehman said Mr. Alizadeh worked at his store, Halal Meats Centre in Winnipeg, for several years.
On on the early hours of this day in 1977, members of the Grenshutzgruppe 9 (GSG-9) storm Lufthansa 737 jetliner Flight 181 Landshut in the Somali capital of Mogadishu and freed 86 hostages. Three of the hijackers were killed during the assault; the fourth, a woman, was wounded. The hijackers murdered the aircraft pilot Jürgen Schumann (age 37) three days prior.
At 11:00 am on Thursday October 13, 1977, Lufthansa Flight LH181 "Landshut", a Boeing 737, took off from Palma de Mallorca en route to Frankfurt with 86 passengers and 5 crew, piloted by Jürgen Schumann, with co-pilot Jürgen Vietor at the controls. About 30 minutes later as it passed over Marseilles, the aircraft was hijacked by four militants calling themselves "Commando Martyr Halime".
The terrorists were leader Zohair Youssif Akache (23), a Palestinian who adopted the alias "Captain Martyr Mahmud"; Suhaila Sayeh (22) a Palestinian; Wabil Harb (23) and Hind Alameh (22), both Lebanese. Akache (Mahmud) burst into the cockpit with a loaded pistol in his hand and ordered Vietor to join the passengers, leaving Schumann to take over the flight controls. Mahmud ordered Schumann to fly to Larnaca in Cyprus but was told that they had insufficient fuel and would have to first land in Rome, Italy.
The hijackers, acting in concert with the Red Army Faction group Siegfried Hausner Commando, who had kidnapped West German industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer 5 weeks earlier, demanded the release of ten Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorists detained at the Stuttgart-Stammheim prison plus two Palestinian compatriots held in Turkey and US$15 million.
Lufthansa Flight 181 changed course and landed in Rome for refueling. After the aircraft was refuelled, Mahmud instructed Vietor (who had been allowed back into the cockpit on the ground) to take off for Larnaca at 5.45pm without even obtaining clearance from Rome air traffic control.
After landing in Larnaca, Cyprus, a local PLO representative arrived at the airport and tried to persuade Mahmud via radio communication to release the hostages. This provoked a furious response from Mahmud who started screaming at him over the intercom in Arabic until the PLO representative gave up and left. The aircraft was then refueled and Schumann asked flight control for a routing to Beirut. Being informed that Beirut airport was blocked and closed to them, Mahmud said they would go to Damascus instead. Flight 181 took off at 10:50 pm; after also being denied landing permission in Damascus, Baghdad and Kuwait they headed for Bahrain.
Schumann was told by a passing Qantas airliner that Bahrain airport was closed. He radioed flight control and told them they had insufficient fuel to go elsewhere and despite being told again that the airport was closed he was suddenly given an automatic landing frequency by the flight controller. They finally landed in Bahrain at 1:52 am the following morning. On arrival the aircraft was immediately surrounded by armed troops; Mahmud radioed the tower that unless they were withdrawn he would shoot the co-pilot. After a standoff with the tower, with Mahmud setting a 5 minute deadline and holding a pistol to Vietors head, the troops were subsequently withdrawn. The aircraft was then refuelled and they took off for Dubai.
Approaching Dubai they were once again refused landing permission. Overflying the airport in the early light of dawn they could see that the runway was blocked with trucks and fire engines. Running short of fuel Schumann told the tower that they would have to land anyway and as they made a low pass over the airport they saw that the obstacles were being removed. At 5:40 am Vietor was able to make a normal landing on the main runway.
In Dubai the terrorists asked the tower to supply water, food, medicine and newspapers, and to take away the garbage. Captain Jürgen Schumann was able to communicate the number of hijackers onboard via a note placed in the garbage. In an interview with journalists, this information was revealed by Dubai's Sheijk Mohammed, then Minister of Defense. The hijackers learned about this - possibly from the radio, causing Mahmud to threaten to kill Schumann. The aircraft remained on the ground at Dubai all through the day and night and the following morning. Mahmud threatened to start shooting hostages if the aircraft was not refueled, and the Dubai authorities finally agreed.
In the meantime both Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski, the German minister responsible for handling the hijacking, and Colonel Ulrich Wegener, commander of the elite German anti-terrorist squad GSG 9, arrived in Dubai to try to get the government to agree to let GSG 9 commandos into Dubai to storm the aircraft. This was refused, with Sheijk Mohammed stating that any military action would have to be undertaken by his troops. While Wegener was examining that option, the Landshut was being refueled and at 12:20 pm it took off, heading for Salalah, Oman, where landing permission was once again denied. A course to Aden, Yemen, at the limit of their fuel range, was established.
In Aden, Yemen they were denied landing permission and the two main runways were blocked by vehicles. The plane was running low on fuel so the pilot Vietor had no choice but to make an emergency landing on a sand strip almost parallel to both runways. The Aden authorities told the hijackers that they would have to leave but the two pilots were skeptical over the condition of the aircraft after an emergency landing on sandy ground. Mahmud consequently gave Schumann permission to leave the aircraft in order to check the condition of the landing gear following the rough landing, and the engines. However, Schumann did not immediately return to the plane after the inspection, even after numerous attempts to recall him or even a threat to blow up the aircraft on the ground. The reasons for his prolonged absence remain unclear and some reports suggest that Schumann asked the Yemeni authorities to prevent the continuation of the flight and to accede to the terrorists' demands.
After this Schumann voluntarily returned to the aircraft to face the wrath of Mahmud, who forced him to kneel on the floor in the passenger cabin and then shot him in the head without giving him a chance to explain himself.
The plane was refuelled at 2:00 a.m. on October 17 and, coaxed by co-pilot Jürgen Vietor, it slowly and laboriously took off from Aden on course for the Somali capital of Mogadishu.
At around 6:22 am local time, Lufthansa Flight 181 made an unannounced and perfect landing in Mogadishu, Somalia. The leader Mahmud (Akache) told Vietor that he had provided a super-human performance and that he was consequently free to leave the aircraft since they were not planning to fly elsewhere. However Vietor opted to remain with the onboard passengers and crew. Schumann's body was thrown on the tarmac and an ultimatum was set for the RAF prisoners to be released by 4:00 pm or the aircraft would be blown up. After pouring the duty free spirits over the hostages in preparation for the destruction of the aircraft, the hijackers were told that the German government had agreed to release the RAF prisoners but that their transfer to Mogadishu would take several more hours, so they agreed to extend the deadline to 2:30 am the next morning (October 18).
The Landshut at Mogadishu Airport, on October 18, 1977.
Meantime, while German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt attempted to negotiate an agreement with Somali President Siad Barre, special envoy Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski and GSG 9 commander Ulrich Wegener arrived at Mogadishu airport from Jeddah in a Lufthansa aircraft.
In Germany, a team of 30 GSG 9 commandos under their deputy commander Major Klaus Blatte, had assembled at Hangelaar awaiting instructions. There is some controversy over whether members of the British SAS were directly involved in the operation. The commandos had already taken off from Cologne-Bonn Airport on a Boeing 707 on Monday morning (October 17) planning to fly to nearby Djibouti while Schmidt negotiated with the Somalis. Finally, whilst still in the air over Ethiopia, agreement was reached and permission was given to land at Mogadishu. The Boeing 707 landed at 8:00 pm local time with all lights out to avoid detection by the hijackers.
After four hours to unload all of their equipment and to undertake the necessary reconnaissance, Wegener and Blatte finalised the assault plan, scheduled to start at 2:00 am local time. They decided to approach from the rear of the aircraft in its blind spot in six teams using black-painted aluminium ladders to gain access to the aircraft through the escape hatches under the fuselage and via the doors over the wings. In the meantime a fictitious progress report on the journey being taken by the released prisoners was being fed to Mahmud by the German representatives in the airport tower.
Just after 2:00 am Mahmud was told that the plane carrying the prisoners had just departed Cairo after refuelling and he was asked to provide the conditions of the prisoner/hostage exchange over the radio.
At 2:07 am local time, GSG 9 commandos blew open the emergency doors, Wegener, at the head of one group, opened the forward door, and two other groups, led by Sergeant-Major Dieter Fox and Sergeant Joachim Huemmer stormed the aircraft over the wings. Shouting in German for the passengers and crew to hit the floor, the commandos shot and killed three of the terrorists (Zohair Akache, Wabil Harb and Hind Alameh), and wounded the fourth (Suhaila Sayeh), who was hiding in the toilet. Three passengers and a flight attendant were slightly wounded. An American passenger aboard the plane described the rescue: "I saw the door open and a man appears. His face was painted black and he starts shouting in German 'We're here to rescue you, get down!' and they started shooting."
The GSG 9 did not use SAS-supplied flash/stun grenades inside of the cabin, as often reported, because after a test in Dubai they were ruled out due to a high phosphor portion.
The emergency escape chutes were deployed and passengers and crew were ordered to quickly evacuate the aircraft. At 2:12 am local time, just 5 minutes after the assault had commenced, the commandos radioed "Springtime, Springtime," which was the code word for the successful completion of the operation. A few moments later a radio signal was sent to Chancellor Schmidt in Bonn: Four opponents down - hostages free - four hostages slightly wounded - one commando slightly wounded.
The rescuers escorted all 86 passengers to safety, and a few hours later they were all flown to Cologne-Bonn Airport, where they landed in the early afternoon of Tuesday October 18, and were given a hero's welcome.
Freed hostages and their GSG-9 rescuers disembarking Lufthansa jetliner “Stuttgart” at Cologne Bonn Airport, October 18th, 1977.
Aftermath
News of the rescue of the hostages was followed by the deaths of RAF members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe in an apparent suicide pact at JVA Stuttgart-Stammheim. RAF member Irmgard Möller survived her injuries. On Wednesday October 19, the body of Hanns-Martin Schleyer, who had been kidnapped by the RAF 5 weeks prior to the hijacking, was found in the boot of a car in a Mulhouse side street after the RAF heard of the deaths of their comrades and contacted the Paris newspaper Liberation. A post-mortem indicated that he had been killed the previous day.
After the Mogadishu crisis, the German government stated that it would never again negotiate with terrorists. German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was widely praised for his decision to have the plane stormed. While the hijackers had control of the plane it traveled over 6,000 miles.
The song '122 Hours of Fear' - inspired by the hijacking - was recorded by The Screamers in 1978.
A lifetime membership to Team STORMBRINGER to anybody who can come up with a copy of that song - S.L.
An old buddy of mine from Okinawa Uncle Jimbo carried this story on his blogBlackfive. I became aware of this last night, as I sat at the bar scrolling through my Blackberry, so of course I did the modern thing and texted this sad news throughout my contacts in the Brotherhood. Then I had one in honor of our fallen heroes - S.L.
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Oct. 1, 2009) – Two U.S. Special Forces Soldiers died when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device Sept. 29 on Jolo Island, Philippines.
The following Soldiers, both assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) headquartered at Fort Lewis, Wash. They were in the Philippines supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. 1st Class Christopher D. Shaw, 37, a native of Natchez, Miss., was on his second deployment in support of OEF-P.For Sgt. 1st Class Shaw's bio, click here. For the Shaw's Family statement, click here.
Staff Sgt. Jack M. Martin III, 26, was a native of Bethany, Okla. This was Martin’s first deployment in support of OEF-P; he was a veteran of Operation Iraq Freedom. For Staff Sgt. Martin's bio, click here.
Honor them.
Jimbo mentions how, during his first deployment to the Philippines 20 years ago, terrorists killed SF icon COL Nick Rowe. I was there also, in a different part of the P.I. - needless to say it was a bad time for the home team. In the years that followed that event - right up until very recently - I had the honor to be involved the US Army SERE program, at the US Army Special Warfare Center and School, Camp MacKall NC. SERE - Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape - was COL Nick Rowe's creation based on his experience in Communist Vietnamese prison camps in the U Minh Forest, south of Saigon. - S.L.
According to Venezuelan ambassador to Iran David Velasquez, Chavez's September tour is in line with unity and commitment to world peace. Chavez will also tour Syria, Libya, Iran and Russia to discuss Iran-Venezuela projects and the adverse military situation in Latin America "created by the US".
"Chavez does not want nefarious forces to rule a society, whereas today West with its imperialist forces and Washington is a threat to the world."
In the meantime Hugo Chavez has gone on the record stating he'd welcome Russian troops in Venezuela "because the North American empire has plans to invade Venezuela, to disarm Venezuela."
You can judge a man's character by the people he hangs out with; birds of a feather flock together:
The strategic alliance between Chavez and Fidel Castro, initiated in December 1994 when Chavez visited Havana for the first time and formally constituted in 2000, Chavez’s second year as president of Venezuela, facilitated the entry of the People’s Republic of China, Iran, and more recently Russia into Latin America.
North Korea, aka the hermit kingdom, also has expanded its presence in Latin America quietly through a strategic alliance with the Chavez regime which has been deepening since Pyongyang established an embassy in Caracas in 2006.
During the decade Chavez has been in power, non-state actors like the FARC and ELN of Colombia, European militant groups like the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and ETA (the Basque seperatist movement), and Islamic militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, among others, also have established a presence in Venezuela.
IRA and ETA, which also have longtime links with the Cuban regime in Havana, travel in/out of Venezuela via Cuba. Islamic militants – like Hezbollah, Hamas, etc. – use commercial air routes between Caracas, Tehran and Damascus.
Some local independent intelligence analysts also believe that radical Islamic activists loosely associated with militant groups possibly tied to al Qaeda have established a presence in Venezuelan territory over the past six or seven years.
International ethnic organized crime groups also known to be operating in Venezuelan include several Chinese triads, Russian mafiya, Neapolitan ‘camorristas,’ and Spanish, Brazilian, Mexican and several West African crime groups. Their core “business” in Venezuela is narcotics smuggling, the illegal arms trade, and money laundering.
Presidente Chavez routinely reaffirms that the United States is the greatest enemy of Venezuela, and the greatest evil in the world. He is on record, literally hundreds of times in the past decade, as saying that he wants to destroy the US Empire, destroy US capitalism, bring the US to its knees, etc. Sounds like a nice enough guy, the kind of guy I'd like to kick back and have a beer with sometime. NOT.
"Since 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency developed plans to dispatch small teams overseas to kill senior Qaeda terrorists, according to current and former government officials"
. . . for some incredible reason we're told the plan was never carried out!
The concept seems to have gotten mired down in organizational CYA overkill: "Officials at the spy agency over the years ran into myriad logistical, legal and diplomatic obstacles. How could the role of the United States be masked? Should allies be informed and might they block the access of the C.I.A. teams to their targets? What if American officers or their foreign surrogates were caught in the midst of an operation? Would such activities violate international law or American restrictions on assassinations overseas?"
HEY! Earth to Langley, VA: SINCE WHEN DID WE START GIVING A RAT's *SS ABOUT BUNCH OF INTERNATIONAL LAWYERS ? ! ? ! ? ! We're at WAR here, RIGHT? US targeted killings of Al Qaeda terrorists is a legal act of self defense, point blank and simple - I mean, if it's OK to launch Hellfire missiles off Predator drones into multi-family dwellings in remote corners of Pakistan, what on Earth is wrong with taking out your targets with surgical precision?
OK - Problem identified; allow me to suggest a solution:
You throw enough money out there to hire a dedicated group of pissed-off ex-Green Berets like myself, and finance our operations. We know how to plan long-term operations, we speak foreign languages, we know how to live incognito overseas, and we have a certain motto when it comes to this sort of thing: "If it bleeds, you can kill it." We'll get the job done.
Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams and a crusty old Army Special Forces Team Sergeant were captured by terrorists in Iraq. The leader of the terrorists told them he'd grant each of them one last request before they were beheaded and dragged through the streets.
Katie Couric said, "Well, I'm a Southerner, so I'd like one last plate of fried chicken." The leader nodded to an underling who left and returned with the chicken. Couric ate it all and said, "Now I can die content."
Charlie Gibson said, "I live in New York, so I'd like to hear the song 'The Moon and Me' one last time." The terrorists' leader nodded to another terrorist who had studied the Western world and knew the music. He returned with some rag-tag musicians and played the song. Gibson was satisfied.
Brian Williams said, "I'm a reporter to the end. I want a tape recorder so I can describe the scene here and what's about to happen. Maybe, someday, someone will hear it and know that I was on the job till the end." The leader directed an aide to hand over the tape recorder and Williams dictated his comments. He then said, "Now I can die happy."
The leader turned and said, "And now, Mr. American War Criminal, what is your final wish?"
"Kick me in the ass," said the Green Beret.
"What?" asked the leader, "Will you mock us in your last hour?"
"No, I'm NOT kidding. I want YOU to kick ME in the ASS!!!" insisted the Green Beret.
So the leader shoved him into the yard and kicked him in the behind. The Green Beret went sprawling, but rolled to his knees, pulled his 9 mm pistol from inside his waistband and shot the leader dead. In the resulting confusion, he emptied his sidearm into six terrorists, with his knife he slashed the throat of one with an AK-47, which he took, and sprayed the rest of the terrorists killing another eleven!
In a flash, all of them were either dead or fleeing for their lives. As the Green Beret was untying Couric, Gibson and Williams, they asked him, "Why didn't you just shoot them all in the first place? Why did you ask him to kick you in the behind?"
"What!?!" replied the Green Beret, "and have you three report that I was the aggressor....?"
Sean Linnane is the pseudonym of a retired Special Forces career NCO (1st SFG, 3d SFG, 10th SFG). I served with honor on five continents; I continue to serve in other capacities.
