Bergdahl Expected to Plead Guilty, Avoid Trial. If this is correct it’s going to be a travesty. Men died and were maimed searching for this jerkoff.
Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive by the Taliban for half a decade after abandoning his Afghanistan post, is expected to plead guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, two individuals with knowledge of the case said.
Let this be a warning. If you value your life, do not piss off a Gurkha soldier. Corporal Dipprasad Pun single-handedly opened a can of whoop ass on 30 Taliban soldiers and has been awarded Britain’s second highest honor, the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, for his heroics.
Let this be a warning. If you value your life, do not piss off a Gurkha soldier. Corporal Dipprasad Pun single-handedly opened a can of whoop ass on 30 Taliban soldiers and has been awarded Britain’s second highest honor, the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, for his heroics.
The Daily Mail UK tells the remarkable story:
… The soldier fired more than 400 rounds, launched 17 grenades and detonated a mine to thwart the Taliban assault on his checkpoint near Babaji in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, last September.
… Defending the base from the roof, the Gurkha remained under continuous attack from rocket-propelled grenades and AK47s for more than a quarter of an hour.
Most of the militants were about 50ft away from him, but at one point he turned around to see a ‘huge’ Taliban fighter looming over him.
The soldier picked up his machine gun and fired a long burst at the man until he fell off the roof.
When another insurgent tried to climb up to his position, the Gurkha attempted to shoot him with his SA80 rifle. But it did not work, either because it had jammed or because the magazine was empty.
He first grabbed a sandbag but it had not been tied up and the contents fell to the floor.
Then he seized the metal tripod of his machine gun and threw it at the approaching Taliban militant, shouting in Nepali ‘Marchu talai’ (‘I will kill you’) and knocking him down.
Two insurgents were still attacking by the time the heroic Gurkha had used up all his ammunition, but he set off a Claymore mine to repel them.
Remarkable. And we love the name of the award. The Conspicuous Gallentry Cross. Sounds so very, very British, doesn’t it?
“Pip, pip, cheerio. I’ve just killed 30 of those pesky Taliban chaps. Care for a spot of tea?”
Source: Daily Mail UK
The Defense Department has come up with a new policy that’s sure to amuse and amaze our enemies and kill our troops. They’re treating the Taliban like trout, catching them and then releasing them.
The kinder, gentler Defense Department has come up with a new policy that’s sure to amuse and amaze our enemies and kill our troops. They’re treating the Taliban like trout, catching them and then releasing them.
The Washington Examiner has the stunning story:
Several Taliban detainees who had been captured in February after being observed placing bombs in the culverts of roads used by civilians and military convoys near Kandahar were fed, given medical treatment, then released by American troops frustrated by a policy they say is forcing them to kick loose enemies who are trying to kill them.
Despite what American soldiers say was a mountain of evidence, which included a video of the men planting the bomb and chemical traces found on their hands, there was nothing the soldiers who had captured them could do but feed and care for them for 96 hours and then set them free.
Surely these were isolated incidents. It’s too insane to be policy, isn’t it? Unfortunately, no.
In another incident, members of a unit attached to 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment survived an attack by a suicide bomber on their convoy when his device failed to detonate. Soldiers managed to capture the would-be martyr, but he too was released after being held for four days.
“We put our lives on the line to capture the enemy,” a soldier with the Stryker regiment told The Washington Examiner. “Since my deployment, every insurgent we’ve captured has been released.”
International Security Assistance Forces officials contacted by The Examiner admitted that releases like these were common. The officials said ISAF forces can hold detainees for up to 96 hours, during which time detainees are “screened and a decision is made whether to release the individual, transfer them to appropriate Afghan authorities, or to the detention facility in Parwan [at Bagram Air Base].”
…American troops say the policy is a morale killer. They say the inability to hold suspected insurgents is one of the reasons why the U.S. has been unable to suppress the Taliban.
Morale killer? Our troops should consider themselves damn lucky if morale is all that gets killed as a result of this insane policy.
Just when you think this administration can’t get any crazier…
Source: Washington Examiner
Barack Obama is alarmed – alarmed, we tell you – that Pakistan is treating Taliban prisoners harshly instead of giving them all the rights they’re guaranteed under the American constitution.
Hello. Knock, knock, knock. Earth to President Obama. Apparently the Commander In Chief’s experience with Gitmo prisoners was not enough to teach him any real world lessons.
Now he is alarmed – alarmed, we tell you – that Pakistan is treating Taliban prisoners harshly instead of giving them all the rights they’re guaranteed under the American constitution.
The New York Times has the news of the constitutional scholar’s dismay:
The Obama administration is expressing alarm over reports that thousands of political separatists and captured Taliban insurgents have disappeared into the hands of Pakistan’s police and security forces, and that some may have been tortured or killed.
The issue came up in a State Department report to Congress last month that urged Pakistan to address this and other human rights abuses. It threatens to become the latest source of friction in the often tense relationship between the wartime allies.
The concern is over a steady stream of accounts from human rights groups that Pakistan’s security services have rounded up thousands of people over the past decade, mainly in Baluchistan, a vast and restive province far from the fight with the Taliban, and are holding them incommunicado without charges. Some American officials think that the Pakistanis have used the pretext of war to imprison members of the Baluch nationalist opposition that has fought for generations to separate from Pakistan. Some of the so-called disappeared are guerrillas; others are civilians.
“Hundreds of cases are pending in the courts and remain unresolved,” said the Congressionally mandated report that the State Department sent to Capitol Hill on Nov. 23. A Congressional official provided a copy of the eight-page, unclassified document to The New York Times.
Separately, the report also described concerns that the Pakistani military had killed unarmed members of the Taliban, rather than put them on trial.
They killed members of the Taliban rather than put them on trial? Quick. Some alert Eric Holder.
Source: New York Times
It’s fair to say that the Taliban employ the world’s worst suicide bombers: one in two manages to kill only himself.
The Atlantic points out that the Taliban may be the Keystone Kops of terrorists:
To be sure, some terrorists are steely and skilled—people like Mohamed Atta, the careful and well-trained head of the 9/11 hijackers. Their leaders and recruiters can be lethally subtle and manipulative, but the quiet truth is that many of the deluded foot soldiers are foolish and untrained, perhaps even untrainable…
Nowhere is the gap between sinister stereotype and ridiculous reality more apparent than in Afghanistan, where it’s fair to say that the Taliban employ the world’s worst suicide bombers: one in two manages to kill only himself. And this success rate hasn’t improved at all in the five years they’ve been using suicide bombers, despite the experience of hundreds of attacks—or attempted attacks. In Afghanistan, as in many cultures, a manly embrace is a time-honored tradition for warriors before they go off to face death. Thus, many suicide bombers never even make it out of their training camp or safe house, as the pressure from these group hugs triggers the explosives in suicide vests. According to several sources at the United Nations, as many as six would-be suicide bombers died last July after one such embrace in Paktika.
Way to go, Taliban. Keep up the good work.
H/T: Andrew Bolt
So as we understand Crair’s reasoning, it was wrong for a liberal like Moulitsas to compare conservatives to the Taliban because only conservatives are vile enough to make such an invalid comparison about their opponents.
Yeah, we realize that that headline may sound a bit convoluted, but it really is accurate reflection of one liberal critic’s response to another liberal’s new book.
Markos Moulitsas, the head wacko over at the Daily Kos, has written an inflammatory new book called American Taliban in which he compares the conservative movement to, you guessed it, the Taliban. And he does it in all seriousness. Earnestness, one might even say.
According to the book’s dust cover description, “America’s primary international enemy–Islamic radicalism–insists on government by theocracy, curtails civil liberties, embraces torture, represses women, wants to eradicate homosexuals from society, and insists on the use of force over diplomacy. Remind you of a certain American political party? In American Taliban, Markos Moulitsas pulls no punches as he compares how the Republican Party and Islamic radicals maintain similar worldviews and tactics. Moulitsas also challenges the media, fellow progressives, and our elected officials to call the radical right on their jihadist tactics more forcefully for the good of our nation and safety of all citizens.”
Well, Moulitsas book is so far over the top that even many liberals are ripping it to shreds. The Atlantic offers up a number of those reviews, but this is our favorite:
The Daily Beast’s Ben Crair says American Taliban “might have just as easily been written by Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. This is a liberal’s attempt at a conservative bestseller. … Moulitsas made it his mission to create a movement on the left similar to the one that Limbaugh and Coulter helped to build on the right. … If the Democrats run the country for the next 50 years because Moulitsas has taught them to fight fire with fire, then I guess I won’t complain. I just wish reading American Taliban didn’t make me feel like a member of the Conservative Book Club.”
So as we understand Crair’s reasoning, it was wrong for a liberal like Moulitsas to compare conservatives to the Taliban because only conservatives are vile enough to make such an invalid comparison about their opponents.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what you call circular reasoning. And we don’t mind admitting that we got a bit dizzy going around in that circle.
Oh, and one other thing: If Limbaugh or Coulter had written the book, it would (a) sell a lot more copies, and (b) be a lot funnier.
Source: Atlantic Wire
Once a quitter, always a quitter. Once a hypocrite, always a hypocrite. Once a putz, always a putz.
“They have personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscint of Genghis Kahn, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside….”
That’s how John Kerry described American troops in testimony before Congress after he returned from Vietnam, but it he could just as easily use the same words today to describe the Taliban, the cruel, vicious enemy with whom he now wants to negotiate.
The Hill has the story of Kerry’s hypocrisy:
Sen. John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Friday that there is a “very active” effort under way to reach a negotiated political settlement with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Kerry (D-Mass.) acknowledged that “efforts” have begun after visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan this week, meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other officials.
“I can report without being specific that there are efforts under way. They are serious and I completely agree with that fundamental premise — and so does General [David] Petraeus and so does President Obama — there is no military solution,” he told NPR. “And there are very active efforts now to seek an appropriate kind of political settlement.”
…Kerry said that any “appropriate” settlement would have to include “a renunciation of al-Qaeda,” a “reduction of violence,” a “recognition of the constitutional rights of both Pakistan and Afghanistan and greater efforts to reduce sanctuaries for insurgency.”
Once a quitter, always a quitter. Once a hypocrite, always a hypocrite. Once a putz, always a putz.
Source: The Hill
A brave British soldier, Luke Reeson, who was shot in the face by the Taliban spat out the bullet – then walked nearly two miles for treatment before being rushed home for an emergency operation.
As we sit here in our underwear every morning with a mug of hot joe in one hand and Obama the office cat purring at our feet, it’s absolutely impossible for us to comprehend what it takes to be a soldier in Afghanistan.
The Daily Mail UK tells a tale of incredible toughness:
A brave British soldier who was shot in the face by the Taliban spat out the bullet – then walked nearly two miles for treatment before being rushed home for an emergency operation.
Lance Corporal Luke Reeson, 22, was on patrol in Nad-e-Ali in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan when the insurgent’s bullet hit his Osprey body armour.
But the bullet ricocheted off , smashing into his lower cheek and back out through his mouth.
Despite the bullet shattering his jaw, Lance Corporal Reeson from Torquay in Devon, managed to walk three kilometres with his injury to get medical aid.
The soldier, who was shot in May while serving with the 1 Duke of Lancashire Regiment, Somme Company, has now returned to active duty in Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Reeson, we salute you, you tough son of a bitch.
Source: Daily Mail UK
Adam Gadahn, the so-called American Taliban, has released a terrifying new video warning to his former homeland. And by terrifying, we mean strangely effeminate. Glenn Beck pokes him in the eye with a sharp stick.
Adam Gadahn, the so-called American Taliban, has released a terrifying new video warning to his former homeland. And by terrifying, we mean strangely effeminate. Glenn Beck pokes him in the eye with a sharp stick.
H/T: The Big Feed
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal government Tuesday to learn the use of unmanned drones for targeted killings by the military and CIA.
Is there nothing the ACLU won’t do harm the United States? Now they think our unmanned drone strikes are illegal and immoral. They’re just not fair.
Politico reports the details:
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal government Tuesday to learn the use of unmanned drones for targeted killings by the military and CIA.
“In particular, the lawsuit asks for information on when, where and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, the number and rate of civilian casualties and other basic information essential for assessing the wisdom and legality of using armed drones to conduct targeted killings,” the ACLU said in a statement, announcing its action.
The nonprofit civil liberties group filed initial Freedom of Information Act requests with the Defense, Justice and State departments and with the Central Intelligence Agency on Jan. 13. Only the CIA responded, and the ACLU is pursuing that request with an appeal to the agency.
“The government’s use of drones to conduct targeted killings raises complicated questions – not only legal questions, but policy and moral questions as well,” said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project. “These kinds of questions ought to be discussed and debated publicly, not resolved secretly behind closed doors. While the Obama administration may legitimately withhold intelligence information as well as sensitive information about military strategy, it should disclose basic information about the scope of the drone program, the legal basis for the program and the civilian casualties that have resulted from the program.”
We’re not quite sure what the ACLU wants on this one. A return, maybe, to hand-to-hand combat?
Since the Taliban want to return the world to the Middle Ages, we say bring back jousting. Two men, two horses, two lances.
Either that or skip a step just bomb the miserable little sons of bitches back to the Middle Ages.
Source: Politico
It’s either 13 Taliban fighters up to no good or the weekly meeting of the Helmand, Afghanistan Rotary Club. Let’s go with the former. While a UK Harrier lines up a shot on the first six terrorists, seven more stumble onto the scene. Boom. Thirteen Taliban go to meet their virgins.
It’s either 13 Taliban fighters up to no good or the weekly meeting of the Helmand, Afghanistan Rotary Club. Let’s go with the former.
While a UK Harrier lines up a shot on the first six terrorists, seven more stumble onto the scene.
Boom. Thirteen Taliban go to meet their virgins.
Source: LiveLeak.com via Conservative Grapevine
While we’re not sure that fomenting a civil war in Pakistan was part of the change that President Obama campaigned for, it certainly appears to be the result of his “changed” foreign policy in AfPak.
While we’re not sure that fomenting a civil war in Pakistan was part of the change that President Obama campaigned for, it certainly appears to be the result of his “changed” foreign policy in AfPak.
Pakistani Taliban militants vowed to fight a tough, protracted guerrilla war against the army on Tuesday as a suicide car-bomber killed up to 20 people in a northwestern town, police said.
Yup, insisting that the Pakistani Army go on the offensive in Wazirastan is having the opposite of the hoped for effect:
The militants have responded with intensified attacks in towns and cities since the offensive was launched, killing several hundred people.
In the latest attack, a suicide bomber in a car set off explosives… in the center of Charsadda, 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the city of Peshawar, killing up to 20 people and wounding at least 30, town police chief Riaz Khan said.”
Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq speaking of the offensive:
“They are capturing roads while our people are still operating in the forests and mountains.”
“We have started guerrilla war against the Pakistani army. We’ve carried out several actions against the army and inflicted heavy losses on them,” he said.
Way to go, Team O. Picking up where Team Cheney left off? Escalating it to further destabilize a nuclear-armed nation? Brilliant!
Source: Reuters
Italy’s bribery strategy proved more creative than the typical French strategy of retreat and surrender, but considerably more deadly.
Italy’s bribery strategy proved more creative than the typical French strategy of retreat and surrender, but considerably more deadly.
The Australian reports via Andrew Bolt:
TEN French soldiers killed in Afghanistan failed to realise the risks in the area because Italian officials had secretly paid the Taliban to desist from violence.
The Italian secret service had been paying tens of thousands of dollars to Taliban commanders and local warlords to keep the Sarobi area near Kabul quiet in the months before French forces moved in.
The French had been in charge of the area for just a month when the 10 soldiers were killed in an insurgent ambush in August 2008, in one of the biggest single losses of life for NATO forces in Afghanistan.
“Sacre bleu, Henri, pour me another glass of that insouciant ’93 chardonnay. This Afghanistan duty is a lot easier than I…(BANG)…”
Source: Andrew Bolt
Barack Obama is turning into Washington, DC’s version of Rodney Dangerfield. He’s apologized to nearly everyone and still can’t get any respect.
Angela Merkel is appalled by his economic program. Hugo Chavez insults him. Mahmoud Achmadinejad fixes an election with inpugnity. Kim Jong-Il ignores him. Fidel Castro taunts him. And now, in the ultimate sign of disrespect, a Taliban spokesman is comparing him to George Bush.
Mullah Nazeer Ahmad, Emir of the Taliban Mujahideen in Pakistan’s South Waziristan, insists the Taliban’s jihad will not end when the U.S. pulls out of Afghanistan. Nope. He says the Taliban jihad is going global.
“One white ass has gone. A black ass has taken over in his place. To have any expectations will corrode our belief. We put our trust only in Allah…We cannot expect from Bush or Obama that they will be relief for us. Instead, our difficulties are soothed by jihad.”
Yeah, we’ve always found that there’s nothing more soothing than slicing off an infidel’s head to sooth us at the end of a long, stressful week. Either that or an apple cocktail.
How’s that apology tour working out for you, Mr. President?
Source: Religion of Peace via Gateway Pundit
This story isn’t from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, but we wouldn’t blame you for thinking it might be: The Voice of America in Pakistan is giving air time to the Taliban.
Rep. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, went nuts when he learned that the American taxpayer-funded service has been interviewing Pakistani Taliban leaders.
“The U.S. taxpayer should not be subsidizing free air-time for al-Qaeda terrorists and Taliban leaders,” Kirk said. “These broadcasts put the lives of American soldiers in danger and undermine the policies of the United States in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
“Pshaw,” said VOA Director Danforth Austin. He said the VOA was simply seeking to increase it’s credibility.
That’s all well and good, but it turns out that the Taliban used the VOA interviews as part of its military strategy. They gave out false information in an attempt to lure the Pakistani army into a trap.
There’s one very valuable lesson to be learned from this story: Never expect brilliance from a guy named Danforth.
Source: Washington Times via HotAir.com
This one’s too bizarre for words. Just too damn bizarre for words.
A Dutch journalist named Joanie de Rijke went looking for the Taliban in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, she found them.
We’ll let the Brussels Journal take it from here:
“In November 2008 a Dutch journalist, Joanie de Rijke, was abducted by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. She was held captive, raped repeatedly, and released after six days for a ransom of 100,000 euros ($137,000). After her ordeal, she acknowledged that her captors ‘did horrible things to me,’ but added in several media interviews ‘They also respected me,’ and emphasized ‘They are not monsters.’”
Bizarrely, de Rijke said this ordeal didn’t make her angry. de Rijke said, “They also respected me.” How did she say they demonstrate this immense respect? Believe it or not, by giving her tea and biscuits between rape sessions.
There’s no explaining this case. Maybe it’s Stockholm Syndrome. Maybe it’s lunacy. Maybe it’s the left’s complete inability to confront evil. Take your choice.
Source: Brussels Journal via Gateway Pundit
Or as they say at the Democratic National Committee, “The Fairness Doctrine comes to Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Source: Wall Street Journal
Another story the media just conveniently overlooks in its efforts to be politically correct:
Those darn moderate Taliban factions with whom President Obama wants to negotiate are already causing problems in Pakistan.
Here’s how the ANI news agency reports the story:
Pakistani’s Taliban will not lay down heir arms in a northwestern valley as part of a deal that included the introduction of Sharia law but will take their struggle’ to new areas, a militant spokesman said today.
“Sharia doesn’t permit us to lay down arms,” Muslim Khan said by telephone. “If a government, either in Pakistan or Afghanistan, continues anti-Muslim policies, it’s out of the question that Taliban lay down their arms.”
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, under pressure from conservatives, signed a regulation on Monday imposing sharia law in the Swat valley to end Taliban violence.
The strategy of appeasement has alarmed US officials, while critics say the government has demonstrated a lack of capacity nd will to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda.
According to Dawn, details of the deal have not been made public but government officials backing the pact have said part of it as that militants would give up their arms.
But a Pakistani Taliban spokesman in the scenic valley, a one-time tourist destination 125 km northwest of Islamabad, said they would be keeping their guns.
He said “When we achieve our goal at one place, there are other areas where we need to struggle for it.”
Based on this, we can foresee the day when American Muslims can have guns for religious reasons, but other Americans can’t have them for legal reasons.
That, of course, will allow the IslamoFascists to help Homeland Security hunt down rightwing extremists.
Source: Yuvaz.com
You may have noticed the “Muslim Matrimonials” ad that pops up every once in a while in the upper left-hand corner of IHateTheMedia.com. We assume it’s legit.
But where can a jilted jihadist find the woman of his dreams? Where does a socially inept IslamoFascist find true love? And since alcohol is forbidden, what is an unmarried Muslim extremist’s alternative to a single’s bar?
Taliban Singles might be a good idea. Maybe even Osama Bin-laden would relax a bit if we could just get the guy laid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PcXTUH9Kb0Whew, what a relief! A whopping 95% of the Taliban we are fighting in Afghanistan are not “incorrigible.” In an update to our story Tuesday, Obama may reach out to “moderate” Taliban, we have a clip of Joe Biden clarifiying what Obama meant by “moderate Taliban.” We think his boss is, once again, not thanking ol’ Joe for his help.
Here’s the formula: Conservative gives an interview and the media picks every answer to pieces. Liberal gives an interview and even the most ludicrous statement goes unquestioned.
Take, for example, last weekend’s interview with President Obama in the New York Times. Here’s how Reuter’s adoringly reported it:
“U.S. President Barack Obama is open to the idea of reaching out to moderate elements of the Taliban.”
“Obama said that some of the U.S. success in Iraq involved reaching out to Islamic fundamentalists who had been alienated by the tactics of al Qaeda in Iraq.”
We’re still trying to figure out what a moderate Taliban is and wonder why neither the Times nor Reuters asked the question.
Are the moderates the ones in the General Department for the Preservation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Amr-bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkar) who search houses and destroy television sets, radios, cassettes, and photographs?
Or the ones who roam the streets beating those they deem to be violators of Sharia law? The ones behind gender apartheid who force women to wear burqas and ban girls from attending school? The ones who control the opium trade? The ones who perform mass executions in Kabul’s soccer stadium? The ones who destroyed ancient Buddhist statues because they were “blasphemous?”
Moderate Taliban. That’s what’s known as an oxymoron. Like “jumbo shrimp” and “Senate Intelligence Committee.”
Why isn’t this story the headline on every newspaper? Why isn’t it leading off every newscast? Why is it not even considered newsworthy?
According to local Pakistani police, Taliban militants beheaded an Afghan citizen after accusing him of spying for the United States. The man was kidnapped a week ago and his body was discovered Thursday in North Waziristan.
“He was slaughtered overnight. His headless body was put on the roadside,” police official Munir Khan said.
A note found on the man’s body said “Whoever spies for the US will face the same fate. This is a gift to (US President Barack) Obama.”
“See how much the world loves us,” an Obama spokesman somewhere likely said. “They’re already giving us gifts.”
Source: AFP
