Target Centermass

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  • Iraq Coalition Vows No More Kidnap Concessions

    In a late response to the Philippines’ move to join the Coalition of the Wilting, the U.S. is now saying that the nations remaining in the Iraqi theater of operations have sworn off further concessions to kidnappers.

    In an effort to present a united front against a wave of kidnappings, the United States issued a policy statement that it said was supported by the coalition hoping to send a message to hostage-takers they would not win their demands.

    “We understand that conceding to terrorists will only endanger all members of the multinational force, as well as other countries who are contributing to Iraqi reconstruction and humanitarian assistance,” the statement said.

    The United States has faced an erosion in its coalition this year and insurgents have tested the will of governments to keep troops in Iraq by targeting their citizens with kidnappings and beheadings.

    The article goes on to include the obligatory doubts about the actual strength of the message and to detail some of the terrorists’ criminal successes and current threats.

    I had to sign a waiver to play lacrosse. Maybe all foreign workers should have to sign off on a waiver acknowledging that their native country will not pull a Philippines or a Spain and fold up like an origami boulder.

  • Truckers Coordinate to Guard US Highways

    Okay, being stuck behind them on the highway can be suck, but I understand the importance of truck drivers to the economic vitality of our nation. Heck, my dad spent about two decades in a rig. However, I did not know the role truckers are filling in the homeland defense efforts.

    U.S. anti-terrorism officials recently alerted the public that al-Qaeda terrorists may be planning a truck bomb attack in the northeastern United States. The nation’s trucking industry has been on alert for some time, in large part, due to a federally-funded, $20 million program called Highway Watch.

    “We have a pledge. It’s a person pledge. It’s an industry pledge and that’s to do our level best to see that one of our trucks is never used as a weapon,” says Mike Russell, a spokesman for the American Trucking Association (ATA), the trade group that represents more than three million truck drivers nationwide.

    If anyone wants to see how dangerous a trucker’s life can be or how tough these people really are, I suggest this movie.

  • Army Conducts Lightning Raid to Nab Four

    The Army released the news today of a July 30 raid that utilized speed, efficiency and professionalism to net four probable bad guys.

    U.S. soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment and an attached platoon from 8th Engineer Battalion conducted a successful four-target-simultaneous cordon and knock raid July 30, detaining four suspected terrorists in four different homes in Al Doura.

    Four of the intended six targets were allegedly involved in the killing of four Russians who worked at the Al Doura power plant in May, according to Capt. Jeff Mersiowsky, Company B commander.

    “All four houses we hit contained personnel we were looking for, so we didn’t have any dry holes,” Mersiowsky said. “It’s always a concern to go into a house and have to disrupt someone’s life and realize you’re in the wrong house.”

    An added success to the mission was the speed in which it was executed.

    “We took about 30 minutes to search the house,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Clay, 8th Engineer Battalion team leader. “From the time we left to the time we came back was about 40 minutes.”

    Just as I pointed out earlier today about the Pakistanis’ recent string of success, this raid is another example of a crack in a terror cell leading to greater opportunities.

    The objectives and locations were developed when the company found information about a possible terrorist cell during a farm raid in Al Doura.

    “In that cache the farmer was detained and he was the first person in the cell we found. After we got him, pieces of the cell started to unravel with information,” Mersiowsky said. “We didn’t realize how big the cell was until we got an informant.”

    With four more terrorists off the streets and one of them a possible leader to the cell, Company B has taken a big step forward to taking anti-Iraq force insurgents off the streets of Al Doura.

    “Every time we pull someone out of there it makes a big difference here. The area has a lot of people who finance the activity,” Mersiowsky said. “Whenever we can take out the leader, then it’s difficult for the rest of the people to operate.”

  • Sharon Stone: Bush a Problem for Lesbian Kissing

    From “The Headline Writes Itself” Department, we get this interesting political statement:

    Sharon Stone blames US President George W Bush for the absence of a lesbian kissing scene in Catwoman – because of the current conservative climate in America.

    Basic Instinct star Stone, 46, was keen to enjoy an intimate moment with Oscar-winning co-star Halle Berry, but believes a puritanical streak running through the country put an end to any potential girl-on-girl action.

    Stone says: “Halle’s so beautiful and I wanted to kiss her. I said, ‘How can you have us in the movie and not have us kiss? That’s such a waste.’

    “That’s what you get for having George Bush as president.”

  • Pakistanis on a Roll in Terror Arrests

    Pakistan continued its hot streak as they nabbed two more with suspected ties to al Queda.

    Pakistan arrested a suspected member of al Qaeda with a multi-million dollar price on his head and several others, government officials said Tuesday.

    Arrests over the last three days in Pakistan follow on from an earlier sweep for militants which led to information of a possible attack in the United States and a subsequent rise in the U.S. state of alert.

    “We have arrested in the past 24 hours from Punjab another two people of African origin who in our view have links to al Qaeda,” Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told Reuters.

    “Before that another person was arrested who has a multi-billion dollar bounty on his head,” the minister added, but he declined to give any further details on the big catch.

    The crackdown on militants in Pakistan has apparently gathered pace since the capture of a computer engineer who acted as an e-mail postman for the groups by distributing coded messages. The New York Times said he was arrested in mid-July.

    This is the nature of the fight against a cell-based, loosely-organized outfit like al Queda, as any break in information can open up a few threads in the terror web.

  • PA Fails to Protect Prisoners in Jail, Hospital

    Demonstrating their inability to control (or maybe their ability to direct) their own terrorists, the Palestinian Authority repeatedly failed to protect prisoners from terror, as alleged Israeli collaborators were attacked in a PA jail and two of the injured were later capped while in hospital care.

    In dramatic, daytime raids on Gaza City’s largest hospital, Palestinian vigilantes killed two men convicted of collaborating with Israeli intelligence, shooting them at close range hours after they were admitted for wounds suffered when a grenade exploded in their jail cell Monday.

    The two had confessed during their trials to helping Israeli forces kill two top Islamic militants. While killing of suspected collaborators are common, the audacious military-style operations in broad daylight with hundreds of witnesses illustrated a progressive breakdown of law and order in the Palestinian territories.

    Paging Michael Corleone. Mr. Corleone, please pick up the white phone. Your hospital security ingenuity is needed in the land of the lawless.

  • Kerry Claims Bush Policies Encourage Terrorism

    Sorry, but I’m utterly aghast at this stupidity.

    John Kerry is now claiming that, by taking the fight to the terrorists sans the approval of Saddam’s French and German bankrollers, the policies of President Bush are feeding terrorism.

    Kerry repeated his argument that the Bush administration is encouraging the recruitment of terrorists. He said Bush hasn’t reached out to other countries and the Muslim community.

    “The policies of this administration, I believe and others believe very deeply, have resulted in an increase of animosity and anger focused on the United States of America,” Kerry told reporters after a campaign meeting with first responders. “The people who are training terror are using our actions as a means of recruitment.”

    Bush said, “It is a ridiculous notion to assert that, because the more the United States is on the offense, more people want to hurt us.”

    One simple response is all that is needed for this tripe: were the current Bush policies in place while the 9/11 attack was planned? No, we were operating at the time under the Clintonian policy of tit-for-tat. That is, tit means “you hit us” and tat equals “we chuck a cruise missile somewhere.”

  • US to Send Armed Troops to Olympics

    This tidbit is almost two week old, but I’m just now finding out about it. It seems that, contrary to their own laws, the Greeks have decided to allow armed American, British and Israeli soldiers to accompany their respective athletes and VIPs.

    Greece is reported to have agreed to permit 400 U.S. special forces troops to be present at next month’s Summer Olympic games in Athens.

    The New York Times cites Greek and U.S. officials as saying the American soldiers, along with Israeli and British security officers will be allowed to carry weapons. The agreement appears to run counter to a Greek law barring foreign personnel from carrying weapons.

    A NATO official is quoted as saying the Bush administration persuaded Greece to ask for NATO sponsorship for the U.S. contingent to avoid controversy.

    The Times says Greece also will permit 100 armed U.S. agents to serve as bodyguards for American athletes and dignitaries. The FBI reportedly plans to send armed hostage-rescue and evidence-gathering personnel.

    Is this not an outright admission that the Greeks themselves have doubts about the security at the Olympics? While viewing, I’ll be understanding of anyone I see who hits the deck when a starter’s pistol is fired.

  • Latest USS Texas Christened

    The fourth ship of the U.S. Navy to carry the name of the Lone Star state was christened this weekend by First Lady Laura Bush.

    The USS Texas (SSN 775) is the second member of the Virginia class of submarines and the fourth vessel in the Navy to carry the name of Texas. The most famous to date would be the battleship that saw duty in WWII, including action off North Africa and Iwo Jima. The ship can be visited at the San Jacinto Battleground near Houston.

  • How Not to Fight Terror

    Today’s lesson is in two parts, both involving the U.S.’s staunch allies, the Aussies.

    Part 1: Philippines object to criticism

    The Philippines are whining about being called out on weak anti-terror policy by Australia. The Aussies had rightly said that the Philippines’ policy of running away while emptying their pockets is reckless and could only send the wrong message.

    Meanwhile, Philippine weakness continues.

    Earlier, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news – web sites) said she would not apologize for her decision to withdraw the troops and explained that her move was meant to protect the 1.5 million Filipino workers in the Middle East, including more than 4,000 in Iraq.

    “The Philippines has no policy that demands sacrifice of human lives,” Arroyo said in her state-of-the-nation address Monday.

    Part 2: Australia ID’s trained terrorists, does nothing

    Meanwhile, the Aussies have issues of their own after identifyinng ten indivuals in Sydney who attended terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan but cannot legally be touched.

    The Sunday Telegraph said Sunday it had learned Australia’s domestic intelligence agency ASIO had established the 10 trained with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan (news – web sites) and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan between 1999 and 2001.

    But authorities had been unable to prosecute them because they did their training before Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba were outlawed in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

    Australia’s counter-terrorism offensive was stepped up further in the aftermath of the Bali bombings which claimed 202 lives in October, 2002.

    Australia would also have been unable to prosecute two Australian terrorist suspects now held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. But David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib are being prosecuted under US laws.