May 14, 2005
This story comes to us from Armies of Liberation, who asks that we have a link fest on this one, gather support for getting the word out on this story, and watch it unfold over the next few days.
ThereÂ’s an al-Qaeda jihad against the Zaidis in Yemen, and many of the al-Qaeda jihadists are leaders in the Yemeni government and security forces. They've bombed civilians, closed schools, trashed libraries, had mass arrests, prohibited Zaidi sermons, dragged charred bodies through the streets, and more.
Nabil al-Wazer is prominent in the Popular Forces Union, a Zaidi party with a secular basis. HeÂ’s also related to the partyÂ’s leader. Just like they bombed the Zaidi region (Saada), now its the turn of the Zaidi party to be attacked. Its part of the jihad against the Yemeni Zaidis (shia). Otherwise the government would return him safely to his family.
Nabil al-Wazer is being held by Houssain Abo Dunya in Hajja since Tuesday. Kidnapped. HeÂ’s kidnapped. His location is known. Since Tuesday. Not a police in sight. Nothing.
The kidnapper is asking for approximately $50,000 US dollars.
So the Yemeni government can do mass arrests and arbitrary arrests, but not legitimate arrests. It can target its citizens but not protect them. It can arrest women, and boys, and old men, but not criminals. One would think that if a citizen is kidnapped, the law enforcement would go recover him. So is the Yemeni government a state, or is it a mafia if they donÂ’t perform even the most basic functions like hostage recovery?
Unless theyÂ’re in on it. LetÂ’s all watch and see what happens next.
Related reading - Why Al-qaeda survives in Yemen.
Cross posted at Hyscience
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May 13, 2005
These Marines fought and died while motormouths at Columbia University spit on the lives that these men sacrificed. To me, these people are anathema. Some academics in America's universities are running their mouths about freedom this and freedom that, but are not willing to lift their little finger in behalf of their own way of life, they just complain. They are against much, and for little. This, while other men, instead, walk the walk, they stand for much and complain little, they fight, they die, and we live on. God bless our Marines and their families, and God bless these men!
"In 96 hours of fighting and ambushes in far western Iraq, the squad had ceased to be. Every member of the squad -- one of three that make up the 1st Platoon of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment -- had been killed or wounded, Marines here said. All told, the 1st Platoon -- which Hurley commands -- had sustained 60 percent casualties, demolishing it as a fighting force." - Villainous Company via BlackFive
In a foreign country far from their home, a company of United States Marine Reservists from Ohio,
citizen soldiers all, paid the ultimate price for the freedoms
that academics in the U.S., and especially Columbia University's professors, take for granted. They were very likely,
like most Marines, plain-spoken men. They were men of deeds, not words. The went to war for their country, their loved ones, and our way of life; they fought, they died, they ceased to exist.
[...]
The explosion enveloped the armored vehicle in
flames, sending orange balls of fire bubbling above the trees along the
Euphrates River near the Syrian border.
Marines in surrounding vehicles threw open
their hatches and took off running across the plowed fields, toward the
already blackening metal of the destroyed vehicle. Shouting, they
pulled to safety those they could, as the flames ignited the bullets,
mortar rounds, flares and grenades inside, rocketing them into the sky
and across pastures.
Gunnery Sgt. Chuck
Hurley emerged from the smoke and turmoil around the vehicle, circling
toward the spot where helicopters would later land to pick up
casualties. As he passed one group of Marines, he uttered one sentence:
"That was the same squad."
Meanwhile, what was going on at Columbia University?
On Friday, the university senate voted by a 53-10 margin, with five
abstentions, against a resolution to re-establish an ROTC program on
campus. Prominent in this roll call of dishonor was President Lee
Bollinger, who voted against, and Provost Alan Brinkley, who gave an
impassioned speech comparing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
policy to a campus organization that allowed "African-Americans to join
. . . only if they pass for white." Oddly, Mr. Brinkley abstained from
voting, suggesting he lacked even the courage of these convictions.
BlackFive writes that "the university's decision was
remarkable for two reasons. The first is that, though it has obviously
escaped their notice, we are at war. Moreover, Columbia's student body
had previously voted 2-to-1 to bring back ROTC. The second is a
federal law called the Solomon Amendment, which prohibits schools from discriminating against military recruiters. If they refuse, they must forfeit federal funding." But breaking the law doesn't seem to concern America's left that infests her academic institutions. The academic left's traitorous acts in a time of war is kindly addressed by BlackFive in saying that, "America's elite universities
have cloaked their hostility to our armed forces in the language of
civil rights. They portray this as a principled stand against the
military's legal policy of discharging homosexuals ("don't ask, don't
tell"
. It's an interesting stance, since these colleges booted ROTC
off campus long before "don't ask, don't tell" became official policy." I, on the other hand, would consider it appropriate to simply say that they are self-centered, egotistical, bubble-minded, cowards that will use almost any excuse to not stand-up for the very country that provides them the bubbles that they live in.
But inasmuch as BlackFive is far more politically correct(and appropriately so) then I can be on this issue right now, I recommend that you go read his perspective ....
Semper Fi, (1960-1965)
Hat tip - Villainous Company via BlackFive
Cross posted at Hyscience
Posted by: Richard@hyscience at
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I'm guest-blogging at B5 this week.
Thanks for the link, but even more for being angry about this. It infuriates me.
- A Marine wife of 26 yearsMay 12, 2005
Here's a quick roundup of events in Iraq with a focus on Operation Matador, and a few other news events of interest:
"The Adventures Of Chester" offers a "significant events log" of Operation Matador, with a map image for perspective. Numbers on the map correspond to the listed event, listed in rough chronological order.
(...) 1. Sunday, early morning: The bridge crossing(s) that began the
operation were supposedly slower in progress than planned. Did this
give a tip-off to the enemy? Mortar fire hit the bridging sites from
Ubaydi and on the south side of the Euphrates at another site.
(...) 3. One squad of Lima Co, 3/25, spent the better part of Sunday clearing
a particular house in Ubaydi. The enemy had hidden in the basement and
fired armor-piercing bullets through the floor at the Marines. Most of
the day was spent destroying them, by this one squad, reinforced with
heavy machine guns, a tank, and F-18 airstrikes.
(...) 7. Monday night - A US convoy, 7km east of Al Q'aim and Camp Gannon,
was hit with a significant combined arms counterattack, including
multiple dismounted insurgents in buildings along the road with AK-47s,
RPGs, roadside bombs, and two suicide vehicle bombs. The convoy was
sent to retrieve a tank that had been diabled by an AT mine. A suicide
bomber hit one Humvee of Marines and the wounded were retrieved and put
in a tank for transport to an evac site. Shortly after leaving the kill
zone, an M88 tank retriever hit another AT mine. The Abrams towed the
M88 to a safe zone, and after the wounded were evac'ed, both the
original Abrams and the damaged M88 were towed to Camp Gannon. Catch the rest at Chester's ... (update - apparently Chester is having some bandwidth problems and may have inadvertantly moved the post/will fix if and when available).
Posted by: Richard@hyscience at
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Remember the picture? That little girl had a name:
Her name was Farah, and she died in the arms of Major Mark Bieger who found her after the car bomb that attacked our guys while Farah and other kids were crowding around.
The name of the guy who snapped the picture is Michael Yon and he has a blog:
"The soldiers here have been angry and sad for two days. They are angry
because the terrorists could just as easily have waited a block or two
and attacked the patrol away from the kids. Instead, the suicide bomber
drove his car and hit the Stryker when about twenty children were
jumping up and down and waving at the soldiers. Major Bieger, I had
seen him help rescue some of our guys a week earlier during another big
attack, took some of our soldiers and rushed this little girl to our
hospital. He wanted her to have American surgeons and not to go to the
Iraqi hospital. She didn't make it. I snapped this picture when Major
Bieger ran to take her away. He kept stopping to talk with her and hug
her."
Michael Yon's blog also gives us some details on rounding up suicide bombers.
Go read it ...
Hat tip - Speed of Thought and Mudville Gazette
Cross posted at Hyscience
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May 05, 2005
This post will be updated throughout the day. Developing.......
Another UPDATE: Our man on the streets is at the scene and reports this:
Walked over to see the "bomb" damage. What a crock. A couple windows
popped. Whoopdidoooooo. All the news pimps are there with Grim faces.
There is a guy from fox news who must be, a midget. He was standing on
a video crate. Ran into Ellis Hennigan from the daily news. Guy looks
like he weighs 50 pounds. What a pussy.
This was no terrorist. This was some idiot slob from the UN.
I would disagree with our crack reporter only on one count. A terrorist does not necessarily have to belong to a terrorist organization. Probably the work of a lone nutjob, but a lone nutjob inspired by jihadi ideology and using terror to attempt to affect the outcome of the British election is a terrorist nontetheless.
UPDATE: If we're looking for suspects I'd suggest starting to look at The Islamic Thinkers Society of New York, which seems to be connected to the global al Muhajiroun movement. Not coincidentally, al Muhajiroun is led by Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammad who makes London his home base for calling for global jihad--even against the U.K. The group also is suspected of having loose ties to al Qaeda.
These people have the balls to set up protest in New York and their members have been recorded as saying, "Next time we will get all of New York City."
Their members are just crazy enough to believe the bullshit spouted by their salafist leaders and just dumb enough to think these bombs might send some sort of scary message to the British people.
Ed Moltzen and He Who Will Not Be Named remind us that the IRA are also suspects in this thing. The latter notes that today marks the 20th anniversary of the hunger-strike death of Bobby Sands. Nothing is impossible....but, come on.....has the IRA ever attacked on U.S. soil?? UPDATE within and UPDATE: T.C. Leather Penguin also suspects the Irish. I can't argue with that logic.....
UPDATE: Can I just remind everyone that a bomb is a bomb is a bomb, so the fact that whoever did this used toy grenades for the bomb-casing is sort of irrelevant. It may be relevant that the bombs were small, but not that they were 'toys'.
Two small pre-dawn blasts shattered windows at the British consulate Thursday as voters in Britain went to the polls in a general election, police said. There were no injuries reported.One reader, who I will not name, just e-mailed me with this.The explosions occurred shortly before 4 a.m./0800 GMT and were caused by two primitive metal "novelty grenades," one in the shape of a pineapple, the other a lemon, both packed with gunpowder, police on the scene said.
"There were some shattered windows and there are no injuries. We are investigating it," a New York Police Department spokesman said in an interview.
The incident, which briefly upset British financial markets, occurred as polls in Britain were opening but police said it was not known whether the blasts was connected to the consulate. Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking a third term in office after a short campaign where he battled public anger against his support of the war in Iraq.
Detective Noel Waters said the explosion was caused by "two small improvised explosive devices" in or near a large concrete flower box -- typically used in New York to prevent vehicles from driving into buildings.
"It sounded like thunder -- two loud bangs," one witness told WINS radio.
There was minimal damage to the building, with only a door, window and a nearby car damaged, police said.
New York has remained on high alert since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers.
Asked whether the police had ruled out terrorism in Thursday's incident, Waters said only, "We have not ruled out anything at this point."
Police at the scene said no arrests had been made.
Authorities blocked off the area, just a few blocks from the United Nations. The building is located at 845 Third Avenue, between 51st and 52nd streets.
British voters have been warned that Britain and its interests could be targeted by terrorists during the election campaign.
Dude, those toy grenades went off 3 blocks from my office. Holy Crap!
I love this headline from The Scotsman: No Motive for New York Explosions. Right.
Dr. James Joyner seems to think the amateurish nature of the grenades points away from professionals. I concur.
John Little posts this link to the British Consulate, New York. No official word yet.
Michelle Malkin points us to USS Neverdock who links to this Telegraph article about al Qaeda sleeper cells in the U.S. I would simply point out that this bombing bears none of the classic al Qaeda markers.
Ok, now Michelle Malkin and GOP and the City are putting forth the notion that this might be a 'test run' for something larger. While we can't rule anything out, I hightly doubt it.
Idiotarian quote of the day from U.K. Today (via Scared Monkey's): "How convenient for Tony Blair that there should be a potential bomb explosion on election day."
Others: Interested Participant, Command Post, check out the fatwas issued below for others.....
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