The Political Conundrum!

A Marine jet has crashed near a base in eastern North Carolina, killing the pilot. Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point spokesman Mike Barton says the single-seat plane crashed about 12:15 p.m. in woods near one of the base's two runways. Local authorities say the crash did not affect any of the few homes in the area.

Our cousins up north know how to render honors to their fallen respectfully. You know what is even better? Their Ministry of Defence does not block the media from reporting on these honors and it allows the Canadian citizens to see what great honors the military shows to their fallen brethren.

SecDef Gates needs to reverse the policy of barring the media from covering Ramp Ceremonies. These are the ceremonies that the military shows to fellow servicemembers as they are honored for their ultimate sacrifice and as they leave the country. They are called Ramp Ceremonies because of the proximety to the airplane’s ramp of which they are walked up on.

To see recent coverage of the Canadians honoring their own, check out http://www.timescolonist.com/news/story.html?id=1120453

As incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry favors using hot pursuit against pirates in the waters off Somalia, but urges a cautious approach before U.S officials consider sending American forces to chase them ashore.

The Bush administration called Monday for an end to the new flare up in Mideast violence, saying Hamas has "once again shown its true colors as a terrorist organization" with attacks on Israel.

The U.S. Navy says it and British forces have seized more than 20 tons of drugs smuggled along a "hash highway" through the waters of the western Indian ocean.

With a new GI Bill effective this fall, student veterans say it's critical that campuses understand the needs of veterans who become university students, whether their needs are financial, mental or related to housing and other college-life decisions.

Shortly after he takes office, Barack Obama will have to confront one of his first big decisions about U.S. defense policy. Specifically, Obama and his circle of defense advisers will have to determine whether to continue spending roughly $4 billion a year to buy F-22 Raptor fighter jets.

Here are several items that have appeared in recent days that, to me, show just how much work we have to do in the field of combatting terrorism, and particularly Islamist terrorism. It shows what the true goals of these groups are, no matter how much we try to pretend otherwise.

The first is the reference in this New York Times story on radicalization in Bosnia, where it is stated that Saudi Arabia has spent about $700 million in Bosnia since the end of the war, mostly building mosques.

It is noticed in passing that, before this massive investment in the spreading of wahabbism, the Islam practiced in Bosnia was moderate and tolerant, for more than four centuries. Perhaps some cause and effect?

The same article notes that "Two months ago, men in hoods attacked participants at a gay festival in Sarajevo, dragging some people from vehicles and beating others while they chanted, “Kill the gays!” and “Allahu Akbar!” Eight people were injured.

"Muslim religious leaders complained that the event, which coincided with the holy month of Ramadan, was a provocation."

Well, that explains it. Beat them if you don't like them.

Another bit of Islamist sophism comes from the Shabaab al Mujahadeen in Somalia, courtesy of NEFA Foundation, where the group (in response to a glowing letter from a U.S. "sheikh") justifies the recent stoning of a woman, reported by residents of her town to have been 13 at the time of her murder.

The disbelievers have falsely reported that she was 13 years old, unmarried, and was raped. The reality and truth is that
she was over 20 years old, married, and was practicing adultery. This is just one example of how they twist the news, so we would like to take this opportunity to advise our brothers not to
believe any news reported about us except from our official Media Department. My full blog is here.

The NEFA Foundation has obtained a statement issued by Anwar al-Awlaki, an Al-Qaida-linked U.S. citizen, addressed to the Shabaab al-Mujahideen, as well as a communiqué Shabaab issued in response. On December 21st, al-Awlaki released a message titled "Salutations to al-Shabab of Somalia”, in which he stated, "We are following your recent news and it fills our hearts with immense joy. We would like to congratulate you for your victories and achievements. Al-Shabab not only have succeeded in expanding the areas that fall under their rule but they have succeeded in implementing the sharia and giving us a living example of how we as Muslims should proceed to change our situation. The ballot has failed us but the bullet has not.” However, he also urged Shabaab to "be kind and soft with the masses; to excuse them for centuries of ignorance and false beliefs; to teach first and hold responsible last. I would advise you to go by certainty and to leave doubts; to prefer forgiveness over revenge."

Al-Awlaki served as an imam in Colorado, California, and Washington D.C. and worked as the Muslim Chaplain at George Washington University. He was the “spiritual advisor” to 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar, and the Congressional Joint Inquiry on 9/11 reported that “the FBI agent responsible for the September 11 investigation informed staff that ‘there’s a lot of smoke there’ with regard to…[al-Awlaki’s] connection to the hijackers.” Returning to Yemen, he was arrested in 2006 and held for over a year. He reports being interrogated by FBI agents about a number of subjects, including 9/11. A February 2008 Washington Post article notes that U.S. officials now "believe that al-Awlaki worked with Al-Qaida networks in the Persian Gulf after leaving Northern Virginia” and has been involved in planning attacks on the U.S. and its allies.

Responding to al-Awlaki on December 27, Shabaab blamed the media for purportedly misreporting events in Somalia: "[The media] are continuously throwing accusations at those who want to live by the law of the Creator. For example, we can take the issue of the stoning of the woman in Kismayo. The disbelievers have falsely reported that she was 13 years old, unmarried, and was raped. The reality and truth is that she was over 20 years old, married, and was practicing adultery. This is just one example of how they twist the news, so we would like to take this opportunity to advise our brothers not to believe any news reported about us except from our official Media Department.”

Copies of the two statements can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website.

Bouhammer Note-The following blog is copied  from an email I received thanking me, but more importantly thanking all of you who sent the ETT team stuff after reading this blog from December 2nd.

Just wanted to thank you and all of your readers for the incredible support that you guys have given us. We are literally swimming in care packages, which is great. We had been down to eating MREs for two meals a day due to chow resupply, however with the stuff everyone sent us we put together some ad-hoc meals to get away from MREs.

I know that everyone’s lives are so busy during the holidays and the thought that people took that valuable time to put something together for us showed us the true meaning of Christmas.

We even had enough to share with some of the guys from the 101st (Air Assault Division), which turned out to be pivotal as one of their brothers was killed in a rocket attack on Christmas Eve. We took some of the stuff that your readers had sent us and sent it up to the COP where the attacked happened to hopefully boost the morale of the men up there. So all of you guys helped the ETTs and the CF (Coalition Forces) boys!

Once again thanks so much for everything. You having been here to our particularly crappy neck of the woods, so you can imagine what all of this means to us. It’s the support of extraordinary Americans that make things just a little better here and remind us each day what we’re out here fighting for!

Hope you and everyone had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Thanks from the boys at FOB Bermel and we’ll see you on the high ground!

Vampires