WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House spokesman says President Barack Obama has not yet seen a new assessment of the Afghan war.
Robert Gibbs said Monday that the report is making it's way "up the chain of command." Gen. Stanley McChrystal's report was delivered to NATO allies and the Pentagon earlier Monday.
Gibbs said the president had asked for the assessment of the 8-year-old war, realizing that the effort had been "under-resourced" for "the better part of a decade." Gibbs said that McChrystal's report was separate from any possible request for more troops that could come later. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Obama: Humanist ~ Utopian Commander in Chief http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.c08ced83-30b0-47e0-8506-abd86f55322a
Fall of Capitalism Rise of Islam http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.ed370757-b2ac-4657-8bee-f70e84259ec4
18 Page Third Jihad Source Document: North American Strategy http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.edaae264-8e4e-4b20-88e1-f3878f11c995&hl=en
Military Oaths General Orders, Jerry Stokes 2009–08–26 http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B0jE9taMWseFZGY1MGIyNzQtYjAwNy00OTVhLTk5ZTMtMDg0MDQzMjc5YjA4&hl=en
Author's Google docs: all who witnessed the election of Obama and his treatment by the media would almost call it a media crowning. They saw FOX news as the only one standing out protecting truth as a bunch of lies. Now it is time for what is left of America to acknowledge and begin to fight Obama's Alynsky War Room “Media Malpractice.”
MILITARY TIMES By Lara Jakes - The Associated Press
“You can’t shoot back because you don’t know if there are civilians there.”
NOW ZAD, Afghanistan — After three tours in Iraq, U.S. Marine Sgt. Andre Leon was used to brutal shootouts with enemy fighters and expected more of the same in Afghanistan.
Instead, what he’s seen so far are anonymous attacks in the form of mines and roadside bombings — the mark of what he calls a cowardly adversary.
“I’m not impressed with them,” Leon, 25, of Herndon, Va., said this past week from a Marines camp deep in the southern province of Helmand, where U.S. forces are challenging Taliban insurgents and their devastating use of IEDs, or homemade bombs. “I expected more of a stand-and-fight. All these guys do is IEDs.”
Marines on the front lines in southern Afghanistan say there’s no question that the militants are just as deadly as the Iraqi insurgents they once fought in Iraq’s Anbar Province. The Afghan enemy is proving to be a smaller, but smarter opponent, taking full advantage of the country’s craggy and enveloping terrain in eluding and then striking at U.S troops.
In interviews, Marines across Helmand said their new foes are not as religiously fanatic as the Syrian and Chechen militants they fought in Iraq and often tend to be hired for battle. U.S. commanders call them the “$10 Taliban.”
Taking advantage of the Afghanistan’s mountainous rural landscape, the fighters often spread out their numbers, hiding in fields and planting bombs on roads, rather than taking aim at U.S. forces from snipers’ nests in urban settings, as often was the case in Iraq. And they are not as bent on suicide, often retreating to fight another day.
“One thing about Afghanistan, they’re not trying to go to paradise,” said Sgt. Robert Warren, 26, of Peshtigo, Wis. He served a tour in both Iraq and Afghanistan before his current assignment at Combat Outpost Sharp, a Marines camp hidden in cornfields and dirt piles.
“They want to live to see tomorrow,” Warren said. “They engage with us, but when they know we’ll call in air support, they’ll break contact with us. ... They’re just as fierce, but they’re smarter.”
Marine commanders believe they face between 7,000 and 11,000 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, although it is unclear how many are low-level militants hired for battle as opposed to extremist leaders.
By comparison, officials still are unsure how many members of al-Qaida in Iraq remain. Earlier estimates ranged between 850 to several thousand full-time fighters, although commanders believe that number has been reduced significantly as a result of counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq.
There are some similarities between the fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan. Officers and enlisted troops said both foes have no qualms about using civilians as human shields.
Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, commander of the Marine brigade leading the current fight in Helmand, said the Taliban’s use of IEDs shows the extremists’ disregard for Afghan civilians — much as in Iraq.
“Enemy here is equally brutal and cowardly in conducting despicable acts of intimidation and cruelty directed against (the) local population,” said Nicholson, who was severely wounded in a rocket attack in Fallujah in 2004 during the first of his two commands in Iraq.
Both foes are also sometimes known to use drugs — troops have reported finding syringes and needles in enemy camps.
Training does not seem to be an issue for Marines who have been making the transition from Iraq to Afghanistan. Their skills appear to have held up in both war zones.
But new U.S. battle guidelines that limit shooting into or otherwise attacking buildings without ensuring there are no civilians inside have at times made the fighting more difficult.
The rules were put into place this summer after dozens of Afghans were killed in a May battle in Farah province that ended when U.S. forces bombed a building where Taliban fighters were believed to be hiding.
“It’s frustrating to be attacked from a building,” said Lt. Joe Hamilton of Baltimore as he scrutinized two-story village structures on the other side of dirt-and-barbed wire walls at Combat Outpost Fiddler’s Green. “You can’t shoot back because you don’t know if there are civilians there.”
He added: “They’re more disciplined. They wait longer until we get in their kill zones, then they attack us.”
Once in Iraq, now in Afghanistan, the Marines say they relish the battle in either place, preferring the action to staying home, out of the fight.
Asked where he felt the threat was most dire, Sgt. Warren shrugged his shoulders.
“Camp Lejeune,” he said wryly. The North Carolina base is where Marines train and live between deployments.
Author's Google docs: a good conservative film from 2000 deals with this historic problem any time we face an Islamic foe. It's called Rules of Engagement.
Rules of Engagement (2000): IMDB Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Colonel Terry Childers is a 30 year career Marine. When he is ordered to go the American Embassy in Yemen, when it's learned that things there are starting to unravel. After evacuating the Ambassador and his family, Childers orders his men to fire at the crowd cause he believes that they are armed. Jones, now a Marine lawyer, must defend Jackson in a court martial case after he's accused of instructing his troops to fire on supposedly unarmed protesters outside the U.S. embassy in Yemen. Back in the U.S., certain officials fear that there'll be a backlash against other embassies and Americans, if Childers claim is proven to be true. So they have decided to make Childers a scapegoat. Childers asks Colonel Hayes Hodges, a man whom he knew and saved in Vietnam to defend him. And while there is no evidence or witness that can back Childers' claim, Hodges feels that he owes it to Childers to do what he can. Wiki on these real rules as found in the Ref: U.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_engagement The DOD Dictionary and the NATO Only Terms master data bases are managed by the Joint Doctrine Division, J-7, Joint Staff. All approved joint definitions are contained in Joint Publication 1-02, "DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms." As amended through 17 October 2008. Ref:http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/natoterm_index.html Get Stoked Notes: every time we capture documents, or source messages from Jihad energized Islam we see horrible behavior from them. This war is being lost by us in our media. These forces have one face in private and the opposite face when a camera is pointed at them. They train groups to hide behind women and children and attack from the inside of mosques. Ref: http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.edaae264-8e4e-4b20-88e1-f3878f11c995&hl=en
The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new video recording produced by Al-Qaida's As-Sahab Media Foundation featuring Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri and titled, "The Path of Doom." During his sermon, Dr. al-Zawahiri sharply condemned the Pakistani military campaign to restore control over restive regions in the northwest near the Afghan border -- particularly in Waziristan and Swat. According to al-Zawahiri, "the war in the tribal areas and Swat is an inseparable part of the Crusaders’ assault on the Muslims the length and breadth of the Islamic world." As a result, "the Pakistan Army is acting as a fundamental element of the Crusade against Islam and Muslims, and has become a tool in the hands of the global Crusade." Dr. al-Zawahiri suggested that there is only one means available "to get out of this predicament which Pakistan has gotten itself into: it is through Jihad, and there is no way other than Jihad."
“In the name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah and upon his family, companions and allies. Muslim brothers everywhere: peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. As for what comes after:”
“The Pakistan-Afghanistan border regions are witnessing at this time a Crusade led by the Pakistan Army and supervised and participated in by the neo-Crusaders.”
“The agents of the Crusaders in the Pakistan Army’s high command have called this operation ‘The Path of Salvation,’ but it is in fact the path to their doom, Allah willing.”
“This operation aims to eliminate Jihadi forces in the tribal regions in Pakistan, at the same time as the forces of the NATO Alliance along with the traitors in the Afghan Army and units from the Pakistan Army dam the Pakistan-Afghan border.”
“However, this plan was born dead, by the Grace of Allah, as attacks, raids and ambushes against the Army’s convoys, bases and forts came in quick succession, and were accompanied by consecutive losses of supplies and equipment, and consequently the Army was unable to achieve any of its goals, by the Grace of Allah.”
“This plan was agreed to in Washington, and the commander of the Pakistan Army – Kayani – carried it with him to the headquarters of the NATO Alliance in Brussels for it to be approved, and it aims at its core to help American forces and their allies in Afghanistan and protect them from the expected defeat towards which the forces of the Islamic Emirate are pushing them through resolve, persistence and reliance on Allah.”
“That is, the plan aims to stab the Jihadi resolve in Afghanistan from behind, in order for the Crusader forces in Afghanistan to be safe from losses and be able to continue to impose direct American Crusader military influence on South Asia.”
“That’s why the designers of this plan called it ‘The Path of Salvation,’ because they wanted it to be a way to save the Americans from their anticipated defeat – with Allah’s permission – in Afghanistan. However, it is turning – through Allah’s guidance and then the strikes of the Mujahideen – into ‘The Path of Doom’ for the apostates in Pakistan and the Crusaders in Afghanistan.”
“Thus, the Pakistan Army is acting as a fundamental element of the Crusade against Islam and Muslims, and has become a tool in the hands of the global Crusade which is being used against its people and neighbors and the rest of the Muslim Ummah.”
“That’s why the Muslim Ummah in Pakistan must seriously ask itself: what is it that has brought it to this wretched situation? And what is the way out of it?” “What has brought the Muslims in Pakistan to this wretched situation in which thieves have become rulers and mercenaries taking the Crusaders’ money have become leaders, are numerous factors which have accumulated over the years since the creation of Pakistan.”
“Among these factors is the lie which has been promoted which says that Pakistan is an Islamic government whose constitution and laws are in accordance with Islam. It is a colossal lie with no factual basis, and I have refuted it in a book entitled ‘The Morning and The Candle.’”
“The Pakistani government, which falsely claims to be an Islamic government which arose to defend the rights of the Muslims in the subcontinent, has never applied Islam in the more than 60 years since its establishment.
And when Shari’ah was partially applied in the Swat Valley’s district courts, neither the Americans nor their agents in Islamabad could stand it, and they immediately waged a bloody war on Islam and Muslims in Swat to satisfy America, which wants an Islam which sings its praises and seeks its bribes: an Islam without Shari’ah, without enjoining of good and forbidding of evil, and without Jihad in Allah’s path.”
“And among these factors is the inclining of many Muslims towards the worldly life, and the punishment for that is the unbelievers’ domination of the Muslims, as the Messenger of Allah, peace and prayers of Allah be upon him, said: ‘The nations will soon call to each other over you like diners call to each other over their dish.’
Someone said, ‘Is that because of our scarcity in those days?’ He replied, ‘On the contrary, you will be numerous in those days, but you will be scum like the scum of the floodwater, and Allah will remove fear of you from the chests of your enemy, and will place in your hearts al-Wahn [the weakness].’ It was asked, ‘What is the weakness, O Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘Love of this life and a dislike for death.’ (Abu Dawood)”
“And because of their love of this world and dislike of death, many Muslims have abandoned the obligation of enjoining good and forbidding evil when it comes to the Crusaders’ agents among Pakistan’s politicians and the mercenary leaders of its army. Consequently, they have been afflicted by the punishment which the Prophet (peace and prayers of Allah be upon him) warned of when he, peace and prayers of Allah be upon him, said, ‘By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, you must enjoin good and forbid evil or Allah will soon send upon you a punishment from Him, then you will pray to Him but your prayers will not be answered.’ (at-Tirmidhi)”
“And he, peace and prayers of Allah be upon him, also said, ‘When the people see the wrongdoer and don’t [stop him from wrongdoing], Allah will soon afflict them all with a punishment.’ (Abu Dawood)”
“And from these factors is the abandonment by many Muslims of the creed of allegiance to the Muslims and disowning of the unbelievers. The Truth (Blessed and Most High is He) says, ‘O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them [for friendship] is of them.
Verily Allah guides not a people unjust. You see how those in whose hearts is a disease run about among them, saying, ‘We fear lest a change of fortune bring us disaster.’ But it may be that Allah will give you victory, or a decision from Him, then they will regret the thoughts which they secretly harbored in their hearts. And those who believe will say, ‘Are these the men who swore their strongest oaths by Allah that they were with you?’
All that they do will be in vain, and they will become losers. O you who believe! If any from among you turn back from his faith, Allah will soon produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him; humble with the believers, mighty against the unbelievers, fighting in the way of Allah, and never fearing the blame of a blamer.
That is the grace of Allah, which He bestows on whom He pleases. Allah is All Embracing, All Knowing. Your allies are Allah, His Messenger, and the believers, those who establish regular prayers and pay Zakat and bow [in worship]. As to those who ally themselves to Allah, His Messenger and the believers, then it is the party of Allah that is triumphant.
O you who believe! Take not for friends and protectors those who take your religion for a mockery or sport, whether among those who received the Scripture before you, or among the unbelievers; and fear Allah, if you are [truly] believers.’ (5:51-57)”
“Abandonment of loyalty to the believers and animosity to the unbelievers is the religion which America is seeking to spread among the Muslims, so that their religion turns into rituals with no impact on society which are practiced in the mosque and have no effect outside it.”
“So the Muslim Ummah in Pakistan must appreciate that America is waging against the Muslims a Crusade the likes of which the Muslim Ummah has never before seen, and that this campaign seeks to take control of Pakistan and divide it and transform it into statelets orbiting around American Crusader influence.
The battle under way today in Swat and the tribal areas isn’t an internal Pakistani problem: no, it is one of the battlefields of the contemporary Crusade in which the Pakistan Army is fighting in order to help the Crusade and the Crusaders. And were the problem in Pakistan an internal one, neither America nor NATO would have bothered to spend one dollar on it or fire a single bullet in it. Here is Kashmir groaning under Indian repression and tyranny for more than 60 years, but the Crusader West hasn’t given it anything: in fact, it collaborates with India and strengthens and supports it with the latest weapons and technology.”
“The war in the tribal areas and Swat is an inseparable part of the Crusaders’ assault on the Muslims the length and breadth of the Islamic world. They want to eliminate the Mujahideen in the tribal areas so they can seek to smother the Jihad in Afghanistan, and they want to smother the Jihad in Afghanistan so that there doesn’t emerge in Central Asia a determined Muslim power which challenges global Crusader will and defends the rights of Muslims.
This is the battle, briefly and plainly; and this is why anyone who supports the Americans and Pakistan Army – under any pretext, ploy or lie – is in fact standing with, backing and supporting the Crusaders against Islam and Muslims.
This is the fact which every dedicated Muslim eager to see the victory of Islam and Muslims must disseminate. The Truth (Blessed and Most High is He) says, ‘Haven’t you seen those who take for friends a people with whom Allah is angry? They are neither of you nor of them, and they swear to falsehood knowingly.
Allah has prepared for them a severe punishment. Evil is that which they used to do. They have made their oaths a shield for their falsehoods, and thereby they seek to turn men away from the path of Allah; for them therefore, will be a humiliating punishment.
Neither their wealth nor their children will avail them at all against Allah. They are the inmates of the Fire wherein they will abide. On the day when Allah will raise them all together, they will swear to Him even as they now swear to you, and they will think that they have something to stand upon.
Truly, it is they who are the liars. Satan has got the better of them, so he has made them forget the remembrance of Allah. They are the party of Satan. Truly, it is the party of Satan that will lose. Those who oppose Allah and His Messenger will be among those most humiliated.
Allah has decreed: ‘It is I and My Messengers who must prevail,’ for Allah is Strong, Mighty. You shall not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day loving those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even if they be their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or their clan.
For such He has written faith in their hearts and strengthened them with a spirit from Himself. And He will admit them to Gardens beneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein for eternity. Allah will be well pleased with them, and they with Him. They are the party of Allah. Truly, it is the party of Allah that will achieve success.’ (58:14-22)”
“And every soldier and officer participating in the assault on Waziristan must remember the severe threat the Quran contains for anyone who helps the unbelievers against the Muslims. The Truth (Blessed and Most High is He) says, “Verily, those whom the angels cause to die while they are wronging their own souls, [the angels] said [to them], ‘Where were you [i.e., with Muslims or Kuffaar]?’
They said, ‘We were weak and helpless in the land.’ [The angels] said, ‘Was not Allah's earth spacious enough for you to emigrate therein?’ It is these whose abode is Hell, and an evil destination it is.’ (4:97) This verse came down concerning the oppressed Muslims of Makkah whom the unbelievers forced to go out with them to fight the Muslims in the Badr expedition.”
“As for how to get out of this predicament which Pakistan has gotten itself into, it is through Jihad, and there is no way other than Jihad.”
“The Messenger of Allah (peace and prayers of Allah be upon him) says, ‘If you buy and sell with al-‘Eenah [a form of usury] and grab the tails of the cows, and are satisfied with farming and abandon Jihad, Allah will inflict on you disgrace which He will not remove from you until you return to your religion.’ (Abu Dawood)” “Dear people of Pakistan: there is no honor for us except through Jihad.”
“People of Pakistan: beware of Allah’s threat to the one who stays behind during obligatory Jihad. The Truth (Blessed and Most High is He) says, ‘O you who believe! What is the matter with you, that, when you are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, you cling heavily to the earth? Do you prefer the life of this world to the hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life as compared with the hereafter. Unless you go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment, and put others in your place. But Him you would not harm in the least, for Allah has power over all things.’ (9:38-39).”
“And He (the Most Honorable) says, ‘And those who believe say, Why is not a Surah revealed?’ But when a decisive Surah is revealed and fighting is mentioned therein, you see those in whose hearts is a disease, looking towards you with the look of one who is fainting on account of approaching death. So woe to them! [Their attitude should have been one of] obedience and calling people to good. And when the matter was resolved, it would have been better for them if they were true to Allah. Would you not then, if you are placed in authority, create disorder in the land and sever your ties of kinship?’ (47:20-22)”
“And the Prophet, peace and prayers of Allah be upon him, says, ‘No people abandons Jihad without Allah giving them a general punishment.’ (al-Tabarani)”
“People of Pakistan: back the Jihad and Mujahideen with your persons, wealth, opinion, expertise, information and prayers and by exhorting others to help them and preach their message.”
“O Allah, approve for this Ummah a righteous rule in which those who obey You are honored and those who disobey You are disgraced, and in which good is enjoined and evil forbidden.”
“O Allah, help Your slaves the Mujahideen, steady their feet, direct their fire, and grant them victory over Your enemy and theirs. O Allah, guide them to what You love and are pleased with, accept their righteous deeds, bring their hearts together, unite their ranks, lift their banner, set up their state and Caliphate, and give victory through them to Your religion, Your Book, the Sunnah of Your Prophet and Your believing slaves.”
“O Allah, annihilate the Americans and Jews and the hypocrites and apostates who help them. O Allah, we shield ourselves from them with You, and we seek refuge in You from their evil.”
“O Allah, give us dominance over them and make them, their wealth, their soldiers, and their materiel booty for the Muslims.”
“O Allah, whoever wants to do good to us and Islam and Muslims, then guide him to every good thing, and whoever wants to do evil to us and Islam and Muslims, then make his plotting his ruin, shove his evil cunning back in his face, disperse his power, destroy his unity, defeat his army, topple his banner and tear him apart in the worst way and make him a lesson for others.”
“O Allah, O Lord of the worlds, O Swiftest of Reckoners, O Rescuer of the weak and Aider of those who pray for aid and Helper of those who pray for help and Answerer of those who ask, O You who give victory to your allies and defeat your enemies, O Strong, O Almighty, O Avenger: these Americans, Jews and their aides, the army of Pakistan and Pakistan’s security organs, have harmed the Mujahideen and emigrants in their persons, families, children, wealth, honor, dignity and liberty.
O Allah, take revenge on our behalf from them. O Allah, show us in them a day which heals the chests of your allies and lowers the heads of your enemies. O Allah, retaliate on behalf of us and the Muslims from them. O Allah, make their end one of loss and destruction. O Allah, destroy their riches and harden their hearts so that they don’t believe until they see the painful punishment.”
“O Allah, annihilate anyone who has hurt the Muslims, Mujahideen and emigrants or has helped anyone against them with his actions or words or has refrained from helping them although he is able to help them.
O Allah, annihilate those ‘Ulema who have sold their religion to the Americans and their agents for the crumbs of this world.
O Allah, annihilate the secularist politicians of hypocrisy who rush madly to earn the Crusaders’ pleasure.
O Allah, annihilate the press and media of lies, fakery and deception, those who make their living by helping the Crusaders and slandering the Mujahideen.
O Allah, annihilate the evil judges who contradict Your Shari’ah and oppose Your rules. O Allah, annihilate the organs of Crusader security and their aides who pursue the Muslims and Mujahideen, reveal their whereabouts, torture them and hand them over to their enemies.
O Allah, we seek help in You against them, so help us, and we seek victory in You over them, so grant us victory, and we seek strength in You against them, so grant us strength, and we seek protection with You from them, so protect us, and we seek succor in You against them, so aid us. O Living, O Eternal, in Your mercy we seek succor: ready for us a swift conquest, a strong victory and a speedy liberation.”
“O Allah, we ask You by virtue of every good deed You have accepted from us, and we ask You by virtue of the blood of our martyrs, the suffering of our emigrants and the endurance of our kinfolk, our women and our children, and we ask You by virtue of that You are the One Who said in Your Book, and Your statement is truth: ‘And your Lord says, ‘Pray to Me; I will answer your prayer.’ (40:60) O Lord, we have prayed to You as You ordered us to do, so answer us as You promised.”
“He (Glorious is He) said, ‘How many large bands of godly men fought alongside [their] Prophet, but they never lost heart at what befell them in Allah's way, nor did they weaken nor give in. And Allah loves those who persevere. All that they said was, ‘Our Lord, forgive us our sins and our transgression; establish our feet firmly; and help us against the unbelieving people.’ And Allah gave them a reward in this world, and the excellent reward of the hereafter, for Allah loves those who do good.’ (3:146-148)”
“And He (the Most Honorable) said, ‘Those who answered the call of Allah and the Messenger after they had received an injury - such of them as do good and act righteously shall have a great reward;
Those to whom the people said, ‘The people are gathering against you, so fear them,’ but it [only] increased their faith, and they said, ‘For us Allah suffices, and He is the Best Guardian.’ So they returned with grace and favor from Allah, and no harm touched them. They followed the good pleasure of Allah, and Allah is of infinite bounty. That was only Satan frightening his friends, so fear them not but fear Me, if you are believers.’ (3:172-175)”
“And our final prayer is that all praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Master Muhammad and upon his family and all his companions. And may peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.”
Gordon Brown has said he was "angry and repulsed" by the welcome in Libya for Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Megrahi.
It is the Prime Minister's first comments on the controversy since Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison last week.
But he still declined to say if he agreed with the decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to free him on compassionate grounds.
Megrahi received a hero's welcome in the Libyan capital Tripoli after being released from the jail where he was serving life for the 1988 attack on a Pan Am jet that killed 270 people.
Mr Brown said the British Government "had no role" in the decision to free Megrahi and insisted its "resolve to fight terror is absolute".
Speaking in Downing Street, the PM said: "When I met (Libyan leader) Colonel Gaddafi over the summer, I made it absolutely clear to him that we had no role in making the decision about Megrahi's future."
He also dismissed suggestions the decision by Mr MacAskill would undermine Britain's relationship with the US and its other allies against terrorism.
Asked whether he thought it was the right or wrong decision to release Megrahi, Mr Brown said his first thoughts had been with the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing.
The PM went on: "I was both angry and I was repulsed by the reception that a convicted bomber guilty of a huge terrorist crime received on his return to Libya."
But he added the decision to release the Libyan was up to Scottish officials.
After Mr Brown made his comments, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News: "The country is astonished that it has taken the Prime Minister five days to say anything on Lockerbie."
Megrahi, who has always protested his innocence, has terminal cancer and reportedly only has a few months to live.
The 57-year-old's release sparked a bitter diplomatic row with America, where people have been urged to boycott British goods in protest.
Despite the row, Mr Brown had not said a word publicly - despite breaking off his holiday to congratulate the England cricketers on their Ashes victory.
Mr Brown broke his silence over Megrahi during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The British PM had been described as "cowardly" by the Tories for failing to comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, more documents relating to the return of the Lockerbie bomber to Libya will be published within days, the Scottish Government has promised.
It said "all relevant information" on the two applications for Megrahi to be freed will be published before a Scottish Parliament debate next Wednesday.
The authorities were asked to transfer him to a Libyan jail or grant him an early release on compassionate grounds. They eventually decided on the latter.
Authors Google docs: how many new deaths globally will be energized by this single celebration right at the time of Ramadan
18 Page Third Jihad Source Document: North American Strategy
By Caleb Groos on August 25, 2009 9:59 AM | No TrackBacks
Details from a report by the C.I.A.'s Inspector General in 2004 into detention and interrogation practices in the War on Terror are finally seeing the light of day. What's inside appears to have factored into Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether violations of U.S. law occurred.
First, if this report is from 2004, why is it just being acted upon now? As described by Human Rights Watch attorney Joanne Mariner, who wrote a breakdown of the report's contents and importance, the report was classified "Top Secret" in 2004. In 2008, the ACLU got a very heavily redacted version released through a Freedom of Information Act request. More litigation finally resulted in the release of this lesser redacted version (with still 35+ pages blacked out).
But the report is not new to the Department of Justice (DOJ) or Congress. As the Wall Street Journal reports, in 2004, the C.I.A. gave the full report to the Bush administration's DOJ, and both Senate and House Intelligence Committees. At that point, DOJ prosecuted (and won conviction of) only one person -- a C.I.A. contractor who reportedly beat a detainee to death.
Yesterday, Attorney General Holder appointed special prosecutor John Durham to conduct a preliminary investigation into other potential federal crimes connected to detainee interrogations overseas.
Double Talk Issues: 'It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department." –Attorney General Eric Holder, April 2009
Then in Actual Practice: "Justice Department Names Prosecutor to Reopen CIA Abuse Cases" –Wall Street Journal, yesterday Mr. Holder had it right the first time. His about-face yesterday, compounded by his release of a 2004 internal CIA report on that agency's handling of terrorists, opens a political war that President Obama, the CIA and above all the country will live to regret.
Are you looking for information about Ramadan? According to Hilal Committee chairman Mufti Muneebur Rehman, the holy month of Ramadan or Ramzan has begun. See below for information regarding Ramadan including the Ramadan calendar, Ramadan prayer times, Ramadan celebrations, and a Ramadan video message from Barack Obama.
The beginning of Ramadan is based upon the Islamic calendar and observing the first waxing crescent moon. Ramadan is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, sex, and indulging in anything that is in excess or “ill-natured”; from dawn until dusk. This year, according to the Ramadan calendar, it will begin on August 23rd and end with the feast of Eid on September 20, 2009. Even Barack Obama is getting in on Ramadan by pandering by sending a welcome message to all Muslims worldwide.
For those participating in Ramadan, the practice of “Fasting” is meant to teach the Muslim patience, modesty and spirituality. Ramaḍan is a time to fast “for the sake of Allah”, and to offer more prayers then usual. Some muslims may need more prayer then others I suppose - especially those who cut off heads of infidels. The Ramadan prayer times are quite organized worldwide. You can go here, log in your zip code, and find your Ramadan prayer time so I am assuming this is a Mullah-approved site. You can go here to find a Hijri and Gregorian calendar for Ramadan.
During Ramaḍan, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, read the entire Qur’an or Koran, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds. As compared to solar calendar, the date for the Ramadan calendar does vary, moving forward about ten days each year.
The Islamic holiday of “Eid ul-Fitr” marks the end of the fasting period of the Ramadan holiday. Eid ul-Fitr means the Festival of Breaking the Fast; a special celebration is a good muslim’s reward for participating in Ramadan. Food is donated to the poor, everyone puts on their best - usually new - clothes, and communal Ramadan prayer time is held in the early morning, followed by feasting and visiting relatives and friends. The “Eid” falls after 29 or 30 days on the Ramadan calendar and signals the end of Ramadan.
Author's Google docs: again we see evidence of the danger associated with electing a Utopian Commander in Chief. When terrorists declared war at 9/11 it was part of their celebration of Ramadan. Participating vigorously in this holiday is part of the 5 basic Pillars of Islam.
1. The Confession of Faith or Shahada: It is the declaration that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. Sincerity in the voicing of the confession is necessary for it to be valid. It must be held until death and repudiation of the Shahada nullifies hope for salvation.
2. Prayer or Salat: Five times a day, preceded by ceremonial washing, the Muslim is required to pray facing Mecca. Specific formulas, recited from the Qur'an (in Arabic), along with prostrations are included. Prayer is, in this sense, an expression of submission to the will of Allah. While most of Islam has no hierarchical priesthood, prayers are led in mosques by respected lay leaders. The five times of prayer are before sunrise, noon, midafternoon, sunset, and prior to sleep.
3. Almsgiving or Zakat: The Qur'an teaches the giving of two and one-half percent of one's capital wealth to the poor and/or for the propagation of Islam. By doing so, the Muslims' remaining wealth is purified.
4. The Fast or Sawm: During the course of the lunar month of Ramadan, a fast is to be observed by every Muslim from sunrise to sunset. Nothing is to pass over the lips during this time, and they should refrain from sexual relations. After sunset, feasting and other celebrations often occur. The daylight hours are set aside for self-purification. The month is used to remember the giving of the Qur'an to Muhammad.
5. Pilgrimage or Hajj: All Muslims who are economically and physically able are required to journey as a pilgrim to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. The pilgrim's required simple dress stresses the notion of equality before God. Another element of the Hajj is the mandatory walk of each pilgrim seven times around the Kaabah-the shrine of the black rock, the holiest site of Islam. Muhammad taught that the Kaabah was the original place of worship for Adam and later for Abraham. The Kaabah is thus venerated as the site of true religion, the absolute monotheism of Islam.
today in jacksonville, florida, thousands of people lined the funeral processional route to honor captain scott speicher’s service and ultimate sacrifice to this country. the funeral procession passed places important in scott’s life, including the church where he taught sunday school and the high school where he was a star swimming and tennis player.
his body arrived yesterday from dover. his flag draped coffin was flanked by honor guards overnight, in a chapel at the navel air station in jacksonville, florida. after a public memorial service at the jacksonville municipal stadium, scott speicher will, after 18 long years, be laid to rest today in a private ceremony at the jacksonville memory gardens.
There has been a dramatic upswing in violence in the Caucasus region of northern Russia recently. It is being reported today that seven women were killed in a Russian sauna in Dagestan on Thursday evening, August 13, 2009. The women were not particularly targeted, but were killed as a result of the recent Russian muslim violence rising in the region.
There has been growing violence and lawlessness in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia. The violence is attributed to muslim separatists waging a low-level war against high level officals. They have targeted civilians and officials with ties to the Kremlin. The pro-Kremlin officials are perceived as cracking down on corruption in the predominantly muslim regions.
About the same time the seven women were murdered, islamic separatists attacked and killed four policemen manning a nearby checkpoint in Buinaksk, a town about 25 miles from local capital Makhachkala. In a separate incident, four policemen and one separatist were killed in a shootout in Chechnya.
Earlier this week Ingushetia Construction Minister Ruslan Amerkhanov was shot dead in his well fortified office. His nephew and assistant was also injured in the attack. Last month, Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, was left in a coma when he was injured in a car bomb attack. In June, Aza Gazgireyeva, the deputy head of Ingushetia’s supreme court, was shot and killed in her car.
Earlier this week in Chechnya, Zarema Sadulayeva, the chief of Russian NGO Let’s Save the Generation, and her husband were shot and killed. They had been abducted. Their bodies were found stuffed in the trunk of a car. Chechen human rights activist Natalya Estemirova was killed in the same way. In all, three human rights activists have been murdered in Chechnya in the past month.
Also earlier this week in Dagestan, journalist Malik Akhmedilov was found dead on the outskirts of the capital city of Makhachkala. Dagestan’s interior minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, was shot dead while attending the wedding of a colleague’s daughter.
There has been increasing international, Russian and local outrage with the Russian muslim violence rising and this most recent incident of seven women killed in a Russian sauna.
Date: Last updated at 12:26 AM on 20th August 2009
By Mail Foreign Service
A series of blasts in Baghdad killed 95 and wounded 536 yesterday.
In Iraq's bloodiest day this year, home forces accepted blame for the security breach after U.S. troops withdrew from urban centres in June.
At least six blasts struck near government ministries and other targets at the heart of Iraq's Shi'ite-led administration.
Analysts said the co-ordinated attacks were a message 'to show the world the insurgents are still there'.
Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad's security spokesman, told Iraqi TV: 'This operation shows negligence, and is considered a security breach for which Iraqi forces must take most of the blame.'
The Iraqi government said this month that most of the city's blast walls would be removed within 40 days, a sign of confidence in its security forces before elections in January.
The blasts were a rare example of a co-ordinated attack on heavily guarded targets.
One blast, a massive truck bomb close to a security checkpoint leading to the heavily-fortified Green Zone, blew out the windows of the foreign ministry, sending shards of glass through offices, killing dozens.
'The windows of the foreign ministry shattered, slaughtering the people inside. 'I could see ministry workers, journalists and security guards among the dead,' said a distraught ministry employee known as Asia.
'Suddenly a powerful blast shook the building and glass flew ... Most employees were wounded by the flying glass and others, including myself, suffered concussion ... I awoke with blood all over my face,' said ministry worker Batoul al-Amri.
Another truck bomb in Baghdad's Waziriya district near the finance ministry killed at least 28 and caused widespread destruction. The Baghdad provincial government building also came under mortar attack, as did the Salhiya district in central Baghdad, home to army bases and a television station police said.
Another explosion was close enough to Reuters' offices in central Baghdad's Karrada district to burst open windows and doors. In south Baghdad's Bayaa district, a blast killed two people and wounded five. It was not yet immediately clear where the other deaths among the 25 people killed occurred.
The attacks could undermine confidence in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki before the parliamentary election. In a statement, Mr Maliki called for a review of security plans, but added the attacks were aimed at 'raising doubts about our armed forces, which have proven themselves very capable of confronting terrorists'. However, analysts and members of the public disagreed.
'They are meant to convey a message to Iraqis and the world that insurgents are still there and can block the political process,' said analyst Hameed Fadhel of Baghdad University. 'Today's attacks reveal a major deficiency and weakness of the security forces. 'They were organised and huge,' he added. No group has claimed responsibility for the onslaught, but Mr Moussawi said two members of Al Qaeda were arrested when another bomb was intercepted. Iraqi television later showed a truck loaded with water tankers stuffed with explosives that had been disarmed.
It was unclear if it was the same vehicle as in the arrest.
Sunni Islamist groups like Al Qaeda have been blamed for a series of blasts in the last two months at mostly Shi'ite venues such as mosques in both the capital and the north of Iraq.
Iraqi security forces collaborated with bombers: FM Aug 22 06:59 AM US/Eastern
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Saturday alleged there had been collaboration between Iraqi security forces and the insurgents whose massive truck bombings killed 95 people three days ago.
Zebari, whose ministry lost 32 workers in the blast at its headquarters, admitted the attacks were a serious security setback and that the government had failed to protect its citizens.
Wednesday's bombings at the ministeries of foreign affairs and finance culminated in the worst day of violence seen in the conflict-hit country in 18 months, with around 600 people also wounded.
"How could this truck pass unless there is collaboration?" Zebari told reporters in Baghdad.
"There was collaboration between security forces and the terrorist group to facilitate the passing of this truck through such a sensitive area."
Zebari said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had ordered the arrest of 11 senior security officers on Thursday so they could be questioned on how a four-tonne truck had entered an area where even two-tonne vehicles were barred.
He also made the first official admission that the blasts signalled that security gains made in the past year were under serious strain following a series of deadly attacks in recent months.
"They have been moving their attacks... now they have focused on their main concern, their main attention, on Baghdad and this is a dangerous and a serious development and a security setback," said Zebari.
"This has been going on for the last two months. Every week, every two weeks we see a wave of these bombings and killings of innocent people."
Premier Maliki said after Wednesday's bombings that the attacks were "a desperate attempt to derail the political process and affect the parliamentary elections," planned for January 2010.
But Zebari went further and called for a re-appraisal of the country's entire security apparatus as it was not, he said, obtaining sufficient intelligence to counter the enemy threat.
"The Iraqi government and security forces are doing their best but our enemy is mobile so we know how hard it is," he said.
"Sometimes you can't fight these people with checkpoints. You should be mobile. You should go after them you, disrupt and penetrate their network to get human information. This is the key," he added.
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Date: Aug 18 09:11 PM US/Eastern By The Associated Press
OBAMA WAR ROOM PRESS PROTECTING HIM FROM RISING DEATHS
As of Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009, at least 708 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.
Of those, the military reports 536 were killed by hostile action.
Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 69 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, three were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen.
There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.
Insiders say Atty. Gen. Eric Holder is close to naming a prosecutor to look into reports of excessive waterboarding and other unauthorized methods. Convictions could be hard to get.
By Greg Miller and Josh Meyer August 9, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. is poised to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA abuses committed during the interrogation of terrorism suspects, current and former U.S. government officials said.
A senior Justice Department official said that Holder envisioned an inquiry that would be narrow in scope, focusing on "whether people went beyond the techniques that were authorized" in Bush administration memos that liberally interpreted anti-torture laws.
Current and former CIA and Justice Department officials who have firsthand knowledge of the interrogation files contend that criminal convictions will be difficult to obtain because the quality of evidence is poor and the legal underpinnings have never been tested.
Some cases have not previously been disclosed, including an instance in which a CIA operative brought a gun into an interrogation booth to force a detainee to talk, officials said.
Other potentially criminal abuses have already come to light, including the waterboarding of prisoners in excess of Justice Department guidelines, and the deaths of detainees in CIA custody in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002 and 2003.
Opening a criminal investigation is something Holder "has come reluctantly to consider," the Justice Department official said, emphasizing that Holder had not reached a final decision but noting that, "as attorney general, he has the obligation to follow the law."
Others familiar with Holder's thinking say that such an investigation seems all but certain, and that a prosecutor will probably be selected from a short list that Holder asked subordinates to assemble.
Such a prosecutor would examine cases that are generally at least five years old, and probably some that were previously reviewed by career prosecutors who concluded that they could not be pursued.
"I don't blame them for wanting to look into it," said a former high-ranking Justice Department official familiar with the details of the program. "But if they appoint a special prosecutor, it would ultimately be unsuccessful, and it would go on forever and cause enormous collateral damage on the way to getting that unsuccessful result."
Bracing for the worst, a small number of CIA officials have put off plans to retire or leave the agency so that they can maintain their access to classified files and be in a better position to defend against a Justice investigation.
"Once you're out, it gets a lot harder," said a retired CIA official who said he had spoken recently with former colleagues. The inquiry would probably also target private contractors who worked for the CIA during the interrogations. Current and former U.S. officials interviewed for this article spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy that still surrounds Holder's deliberations and the details of the interrogation files.
President Obama has repeatedly expressed reluctance to launch a criminal investigation of the interrogation program, but has left room for the prosecution of individuals who may have broken the law.
Obama and Holder have both said that they believe waterboarding constitutes torture. But an investigation would pose thorny political problems for the administration, and probably draw criticism over questions of fairness.
"An investigation that focuses only on low-ranking operators would be, I think, worse than doing nothing at all," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.
An inquiry also would probably drive a new wedge between the CIA and the Justice Department, agencies with a fractious history that have struggled to work more closely together since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Holder's interest in appointing a prosecutor to mount an investigation reportedly surged after he recently read a still-classified 2004 report by the CIA's inspector general citing extensive problems and abuses in the agency's interrogation program. The bulk of the report is expected to be released this month.
Former CIA officials said the most disturbing section deals with waterboarding, a technique in which prisoners are made to feel they are drowning.
The Justice Department authorized waterboarding in an August 2002 memo that contained a caveat that could prove crucial to any criminal investigation. Although it allowed the approved methods to be "used more than once," the memo stipulated that "repetition will not be substantial because the techniques generally lose their effectiveness after several repetitions."
One passage of the CIA report declassified this year said that the method had been used "at least 83 times during August 2002" on Abu Zubaydah, the first senior Al Qaeda figure captured by the agency. Waterboarding was then employed "183 times during March 2003" on Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
I have good news, according to the White House, the War on Terror is over. The U.S. is no longer “officially” engaged in the “war against terror” nor are we fighting “jihadists” or a “global war”. Phew, glad that’s over, did we win? Actually, the administration is banning the use of these three phrases from the official government lexicon (man, sounds almost Orwellian).
The President does not describe this as a ‘war on terrorism,’” said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, who outlined a “new way of seeing” the fight against terrorism.
The only terminology that Mr. Brennan said the administration is using is that the U.S. is “at war with al Qaeda.”
“We are at war with al Qaeda,” he said. “We are at war with its violent extremist allies who seek to carry on al Qaeda’s murderous agenda.”
Obama and his administration are still living in a 9/10 universe where they think they can treat these people like criminals or they can negotiate with them. The fact is, whatever you call it, we are in a global war against terrorists and jihadists. Specifically against jihadists as they are the one’s who have declared a jihad against us. They want to wipe us and Israel off the face of the earth. Obama says we are “at war with al Qaeda” but not in a war against terror. Well, what exactly is al Qaeda, where are they, who are they? There are tons of affiliated groups that don’t call themselves al Qaeda but they want to accomplish the same things, should we just leave them alone? What if bin Laden changes the name of his terror network to something else, are we no longer at war with al Qaeda and do we just give up our efforts? Why do we care if a bunch of people who hate us, want to see us and our way of life end, are offended by the phraseology we use to describe the biggest fight against evil since Nazism?
Hey Obama, here is some free advice. Why don’t you spend less time labeling us right-wing extremists as dangerous and more time worrying about where and when the next attack against this country is coming. Changing the words you use to non-nonsensical, feel good phrases means nothing to them. You cannot win more support by trying to make nice. Welcome to the real world and the post-9/11 universe, now grow up and face our enemies, you will be held responsible. The war on terror will continue, whatever you call it, just fight it and protect this country.
Here is Beck discussing the danger and stupidness of political correctness. When you control the language you control the argument:
The Director of National Intelligence argued that Wall Street, rather than Islamic jihad, has produced our most dangerous terrorists.
The new director of national intelligence, retired Adm. Dennis Blair, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He warned that the deepening economic crisis posed perhaps our gravest threat to stability and national security. It could trigger, he said, a return to the "violent extremism" of the 1920s and 1930s.
We will see accelerated plant and retail closures, inflation, an epidemic of bankruptcies, new rounds of foreclosures, bread lines, unemployment surpassing the levels of the Great Depression and, as Blair fears, social upheaval.
The United Nations' International Labor Organization estimates that some 50 million workers will lose their jobs worldwide this year. The collapse has already seen 3.6 million lost jobs in the United States.
20,000 major global banks collapsed, were sold or were nationalized in 2008. There are an estimated 62,000 U.S. companies expected to shut down this year.
And we have few tools left to dig our way out. The manufacturing sector in the United States has been destroyed by globalization.
$14 trillion in debt the government has pledged trillions toward the crisis, most of it borrowed or printed in the form of new money. It is borrowing trillions more to fund our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
We are supposed to somehow spend our way out of the crisis and maintain our imperial project on credit. Let our kids worry about it. There is no coherent and realistic plan, one built around our severe limitations, to stanch the bleeding or ameliorate the mounting deprivations we will suffer as citizens.
"The primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications," Blair told the Senate. "The crisis has been ongoing for over a year, and economists are divided over whether and when we could hit bottom.
Some even fear that the recession could further deepen and reach the level of the Great Depression. Of course, all of us recall the dramatic political consequences wrought by the economic turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s in Europe, the instability, and high levels of violent extremism."
The military must be prepared, the document warned, for a "violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States," which could be provoked by "unforeseen economic collapse," "purposeful domestic resistance," "pervasive public health emergencies" or "loss of functioning political and legal order.
"An American government and defense establishment lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at home," it went on.
