The Political Conundrum!

The NEFA Foundation has released the first installment of a three part report by NEFA Senior Investigator Claudio Franco titled "The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan: The Bajaur Case." The NEFA Foundation has closely followed the evolution of the Taliban insurgency in Pakistan’s west and recent developments in the region, and the result is a series of reports aimed at covering the situation in the field. The first part of this comprehensive effort to put into context the Bajaur case covers the origins of the Islamist insurgency in the agency and the emergence of a Taliban-inspired movement strongly influenced by the TNSM experience in the Malakand Division. Part one of this series also provides an analytical outline of the weight of the tribal factor among Taliban insurgents and discusses the peculiarity of the Bajaur case in the context of the wider Taliban insurgency in the FATAs. Finally, this report focuses on the change of approach by the Pakistani Army in Bajaur, a shift which prepared the ground for the Swat offensive and for the ongoing advance towards Baitullah Mehsud's heartlands in Waziristan. This report is based on primary research carried out by the NEFA Foundation team between April 2008 and April 2009. The series will continue with reports on Swat and Waziristan, following closely the advance of the Pakistani Army towards the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan bastions in South Waziristan.

The first installment of Claudio's series is now available on the NEFA Foundation website.

Military police are investigating a double-shooting today at Fort Lewis after a man fatally shot a woman and then shot himself inside the base's main post exchange. An Army official was uncertain whether the man, described as a retired soldier, had ever been stationed at Fort Lewis.

Military members and their families are using more food stamps than in previous years – redeeming them last year at nearly twice the civilian rate, according to Defense Commissary Agency figures.

An Army helicopter pilot in South Korea who used fake business documents to bilk fellow soldiers out of thousands of dollars in an investment scam was sentenced to nine months in jail and dismissal from the military, Army officials said.

An Airman lost parts of both legs and was in critical condition after routine gallbladder surgery at Travis Air Force Base went terribly wrong, his family said. During the procedure surgeons nicked or punctured his aorta, an artery that carries blood throughout the body, according to his wife.

Pakistani officials have told the Obama administration that U.S. forces fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan will force militants across the border into Pakistan.

Two cracks have been discovered on the hull of the USS Toledo, a potentially fatal flaw that could have led to water leaks and, ultimately, hull failure if the submarine submerged, the Navy confirmed Tuesday.

Three Navy ships visiting Hawaii with sailors quarantined with flu-like symptoms will leave for San Diego today after 69 sailors and Marines were confirmed to have had H1N1 swine flu.

Later this month, the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Canada will host a conference in Mississauga to discuss the establishment of a Caliphate. The conference announcement acknowledges the presence of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Canada for the first time publicly; indicating that, like Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA), it may have recently transitioned into the second stage of its three-stage strategy. (For more on the method of Hizb ut-Tahrir, please see my previous article, linked here).

Branches of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) worldwide are hosting Khilafah conferences this month as part its "Rajab Campaign." Rajab, on the Islamic calendar, is the month of the fall of the Ottoman Empire; or, as HT views it, the anniversary month of the destruction of the Khilafah.

The announcement for the Mississauga conference refers to the hosts as "the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Canada" rather than as "Hizb ut-Tahrir Canada," a moniker that would be consistent with the names of the other HT branches around the world. Also, the venue for the conference is smaller than HTA's Chicago-area conference. HTA conference-goers filled the Grand Ballroom at the Oak Lawn Hilton for the full-day affair. The Canadian conference is booked in a lounge at the Mississauga Community Center for only two hours in the evening of July 31st. According to the center's web site, the Frank Bean Lounge (the room booked for the meeting) seats only 40 people. The HT conference organizers have described the meeting as an "open question session on issues of importance to the Ummah, including the re-establishment of Islam as a way of life, the role of the Khilafah Rashida, and the role of the Muslim community in Canada."

That the Canadian branch refers to itself as "Hizb ut-Tahrir in Canada" may signify that there are too few adherents to warrant the official title "Hizb ut-Tahrir Canada." Certainly, the scale of the Canada event shows that the group is far smaller and perhaps more loosely organized than the US-based branch. It may also mean that the Canadian branch may fall under the authority of a larger branch elsewhere; possibly even HTA.

Mohammad Malkawi, a resident of the US who acted as HTA's spokesperson to the media at Sunday's conference in Oak Lawn, and who delivered the keynote address, has traveled to Canada to deliver speeches at universities and at mosques in the province of Ontario. For example, in March 2007, Malkawi gave a speech titled "Islam & Contemporary World Affairs" at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. Also in 2007, Malkawi delivered a lecture at a mosque in Hamilton. The content of these lectures were based entirely on the ideology of HT, although Malkawi did not openly acknowledge his affiliation with HTA at that time. These events, and others, likely indicate that Malkawi has an established relationship with the members of HT in Canada.

For more information about HTA, please see my article from the Jamestown Foundation.

For further background on HT, please see Zeyno Baran's research, linked here.

www.theledger.com/article/20090716/news/907169949

 

UPDATE- NEW PICTURE of SFC Fabrizi from Afghanistan

Did Sergeant First Class Jason Fabrizi push the odds? Did he do more than his part?

Jason Fabrizi was killed in Afghanistan last week on his fourth combat tour of duty. Four times this man, this soldier, this father, this husband, this son, this leader has walked into the gates of hell and even though he has walked out of it three times before, this time he didn’t.

This time the son of a retired Marine Master Sergeant and a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant was not so lucky. He had three tours in Iraq and was on this fourth tour this time in Afghanistan when his patrol was ambushed.

I look at soldiers who have never done a combat tour, but whom are eligible for one and those that only have one tour and then I look at a soldier like Jason who was on a fourth tour. Did he push it too far? Did he do more than his part? Either way I think he is a hell of a man and an American for serving and doing one combat tour, much less four.

Last week the SecDef stated that the thinks America is tired of war and the soldiers are tired and can’t keep going. I ask the SecDef to look at men like Jason Fabrizi and tell me if he was tired? I don’t think so, I think he was an American, an American that knew freedom has a price and that price is being away from family and home a lot. Sometimes it has the ultimate price, which Jason has now paid.

The next time you see or hear of a conscious objector or see a code pinko or some other person who has never walked in the boots of a soldier and says we have no reason to be in Afghanistan, don’t just remind them of the images of 9/11/01, but show them the image of this man and those like him and tell them he was there because they were too much of a chicken*** to raise their hand and be there themselves.

The bottom line is that he is making up for the many that refuse to serve in the military or worse yet, refuse to deploy.

God Speed Jason, I hope your family and your kids know that your service and your sacrifice is not lost on deaf ears. We are a better place and our country is a leader in the world because of great men like you.