Well it was just announced this morning that July is the deadliest month in Afghanistan for US forces. This sounds like a deja-vu as we have been hearing this almost every summer month since 2006, but the truth is that each month keeps breaking this terrible record. Every year since 2006 has gotten progressively worse.
It is a sad fact, but it is a fact. War is hell and people die. It sucks and it is painful but that is the point. I mean if it were easy and painless then we would do it all the time without a thought.
We have more people in Afghanistan than any other time in history. That means more targets for the enemy to try and kill. We are also pushing into more enemy safe havens than ever before.
Stay the course America. I know you have the stomach for it. You did in Iraq and we have won there, so I know you can do it for Afghanistan.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Pascua Yaqui Tribe today announced the production of the first ever Enhanced Tribal Card (ETC) - designed as a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI)-compliant document that formally recognizes tribal membership and U.S. citizenship for the purpose of entering the United States through a land or sea port of entry. The Pascua Yaqui are the first tribe in the country to issue an ETC.
By God, if you read no other blog entry today, please go HERE and read about CPL Joe Wrightsman from his old First Sergeant. Semper Fi Corporal, Semper Fi….
My very close friend, fellow blogger and co-host on You Served Radio has taken up a cause to champion and I am proud to say that finally the national media is taking notice. CJ has went after the Nigerian Scammers with a fever and spends a lot of hours researching, tracking and exposing them. CNN has taken notice and now they have interviewed him for a story they are doing on the subject. I am very proud to call him a friend.
The Indonesian president on 16 July signed a decree establishing a new National Counter-Terrorism Agency that answers only to him. It is tasked with “preventing terrorism, protecting civilians, de-radicalizing terrorists, and building national preparedness.” It will be launched later this year, though no specific date has been set. Ansyad Mbai, who heads a counter-terrorism desk under the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, will likely initially serve as its caretaker chief. The agency will have its own budget and staff, including members seconded from the police, State Intelligence Agency, and military.
The new body has been established after the Indonesian government came under criticism following the July 2009 hotel bombings in Jakarta. During this incident, several terrorist suspects were found to be repeat offenders—that is, they had been arrested once before and already underwent rehabilitation classes. Then this past February, more than a dozen terrorists released from detention joined a militant training camp in the jungles of Aceh. The new agency, therefore, will focus on ways of more effectively de-radicalizing captured terrorists. Meantime, Special Detachment 88, part of the Indonesian National Police, will continue to be the country’s primary counter-terrorism strike force.
Some rights groups have criticized the new body because of what they see as vague provisions in the presidential decree, and because they oppose the idea of military officers serving on the board.
• 26 Feb: Mawlid al-Nabi (Birth of the Prophet Muhammad) • 21 Mar: Nowruz (Persian New Year) • 28 Apr: Victory of the Muslim Nation (Withdrawal of Soviet Forces) • 01 May: Labor Day • 19 Aug: National Day (Independent Sovereignty from Britain) • 09 Sep: Masood Day, commemorating the assassination of Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Masood • 10 Sep: Eid al-Fitr (After a month of fasting, Afghans visit and/or entertain their friends and give gifts) • 15 Nov: Eid-al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice — commemorates the Prophet Abraham’s devotion to God) • 16 Dec: Ashura (Shi’a day of mourning commemorating the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Husayn at the Battle of Karbala in 680 C.E.)
Note: The week prior to Eid al-Fitr is an appropriate time to provide performance or other types of bonuses to Afghan national employees such as interpreters/translators; dates for religious holidays are approximated; each year the holidays are adjusted to the lunar calendar
In the wake of the latest embarrassing disclosures about Pakistan's unhelpful role in the Afghan conflict, Flashpoint Global Partners has obtained an unpublished video of retired Pakistani military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officer Colonel Imam Sultan Amir Tarar, who has been held hostage by militants in Pakistan’s tribal region since March 2010, when he arrived in the area alongside another former ISI officer Khalid Khwaja.
Tarar, a veteran of the Soviet-Afghan war and a reputed expert on guerilla warfare, has acknowledged a long relationship with the Afghan Taliban and its leader Mullah Mohammed Omar—but has been far more critical of the Pakistani Taliban movement. During a recent New York Times interview, Tarar admonished the TTP and its leadership as “troublemakers” who should be “neutralized.”
In his latest video-recorded message, Colonel Imam Tarar claims that he has been kidnapped by “Lashkar Jhangvi al-Alami, Abdullah Mansour” faction and insists that the Pakistani government has done nothing to facilitate his release. If the government continues to refuse negotiations for his freedom, Tarar further threatens to disclose highly sensitive information about “the weaknesses of our nation” and the secret “game being played with Afghanistan, India, Russia, and America.”
Still images and an English transcript of the video of Colonel Sultan Amir Tarar are now available via the website of Flashpoint Global Partners - http://www.flashpoint-intel.com.
The NEFA Foundation has released the 26th report in the “Target: America” series; a PowerPoint presentation on a cluster of men originally from the Boston area and their associates. Members of this cluster sought to join al-Qaida forces overseas to kill Americans and also contemplated an attack in a shopping center in the United States. Several participated in jihad by circulating jihadist propaganda to other Americans.
This case study provides insight into how U.S. citizens who sympathize with terrorists make connections with like-minded people on the internet, and through school and community activities. This case also provides insight into how American citizens arrange to access terrorist training camps overseas.
Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today spoke with Iowa Governor Chet Culver following the breach of the Lake Delhi Dam in eastern Iowa on Saturday.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s), myself included, and not intended as a directive or recommendation. Your ability to in turn express your opinions are just one of the rights I defended as a United States Army soldier. I respect and encourage that right. I ask only this; if you disagree with any of the material presented, either by the author or by posters, take a deep breath and think before you post. Be introspective. Be concise. Form a complete, well thought, and above all polite response before posting. The inability to communicate politely and succinctly on emotionally charged issues will do nothing to promote productive sharing of viewpoints. We must speak rationally and intelligently to each other as individuals before we can ever hope to do it as a country. To do anything less is to denigrate each other, hide away the truth, and perpetuate that which we seek to overcome.
