Or so it seems anyway. Now Zawahiri throws out another softball:

CAIRO, Egypt — Al Qaeda's No. 2 said the terror network's branch in Iraq had "broken the back" of the U.S. military with hundreds of homicide bombings, in a video posted Saturday that was the latest in a string of new messages by al Qaeda's leaders.

Well, forget the "it seems." In the grand tradition of organizations that seem not to realize we're already aware of the causes they ram down our throats in the name of "awareness," I am officially declaring April "Jihadi Awareness Month."

To be followed by "Illegal Immigrant Awareness Day" on May 1st. Which runs concurrent to "Vinnies Daughter Awareness Day." She turns five.

And remember, don't use your curling irons whilst sleeping.

thatisall.

Posted by: Vinnie at 09:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 139 words, total size 1 kb.

The State Department has released it’s summary report on terrorism in the year 2005. The vast majority of all terror attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda and other “radical” Islamist groups. Iraq remains the focus of terrorist activity. Iran remains the most active state sponsor of Islamic terrorist groups.

Bloomberg :Terrorists killed more than 14,500 people in 11,000 attacks across the globe last year, the U.S. State Department said in its annual report on terrorism.

Al-Qaeda Threat

The al-Qaeda terrorist network remains a threat, with plans to attack the U.S. in a manner to match ``or even surpass the terror of 9/11,'' Henry Crumpton, the U.S. State Department's anti-terrorism chief said.

``Al-Qaeda is not the organization it was four years ago,'' the report said. The group's leaders are scattered and on the run, while its Afghan safe haven is gone. Its relationship with the Taliban has diminished, and its finances and logistics have been disrupted, Crumpton said.

For these reasons, ``al-Qaeda and its affiliates are desperate to claim Iraq as their own,'' Crumpton said. ``We and our allies, along with the emerging Iraqi government, must deny Iraq to al-Qaeda.''

Yahoo News : "Al-Qaida is not the organization it was four years ago," the report said.

However, "overall, we are in the first phase of a potentially long war," it said. "The enemy's proven ability to adapt means we will go through several more cycles of action/reaction before the war's outcome is no longer in doubt. It is likely we will have a resilient enemy for years to come."

A new generation of extremists, some of them getting training through the Internet, is emerging in cells that are likely to be more local and less meticulously planned, the report said. These small groups, empowered by technology, are very difficult to detect or counter, it said.

"We must maintain unrelenting pressure against al-Qaida," Henry Crumpton, the U.S. ambassador in charge of counterterrorism, said Friday at a briefing at the State Department. "We know they aim to attack the U.S. homeland."

Zarqawi to Sunnis : Be extremely aware, those who join these apostate forces have nothing with us except the sharp swords, and between them and us will be nothing except grave days and nights.

Posted by: Howie at 12:40 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 646 words, total size 4 kb.

I say, I say trailer trash that is. What is an uneducated hillbilly like me doing linking a Yale grad? Is that not unusual, for the classes to mix like that? Well not when you have as much class as Clinton does. Plus IÂ’m a reading addict and he provides just the fix for that.

Clinton W Taylor Via The Spectator : Flash back to February 5, 2003, when Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the U.N. General Assembly about Iraq's WMD program. He played audio of an intercepted phone call between an Iraqi Brigadier General and a Colonel, dated November 26, 2002, and showed slides of their transcribed conversation:

COL: About this committee that is coming...
GEN: Yeah, yeah...
COL: ...with Mohamed El Baradei [Director, International Atomic Energy Agency]
GEN: Yeah, yeah.
COL: Yeah.
GEN: Yeah?
COL: We have this modified vehicle.
GEN: Yeah.
COL: What do we say if one of them sees it?
GEN: You didn't get a modified...You don't have a modified...
COL: By God, I have one.
GEN: Which? From the workshop...?
COL: From the al-Kindi Company
GEN: What?
COL: From al-Kindi.
GEN: Yeah, yeah. I'll come to you in the morning. I have some comments. I'm worried you all have something left.
COL: We evacuated everything. We don't have anything left.
GEN: I will come to you tomorrow.
COL: Okay.

That sure got the General's attention, didn't it? There was something about the mention of a "modified vehicle" from the "al-Kindi Company" that made him want to visit this colonel's site, wherever it was, "in the morning." That would be November 27, the first day that IAEA and UNSCOM inspections resumed. And on the very first day of the inspections, this general was rushing out to tend to this particular vehicle.

Probably because of those darned hydrogen generators. Yeah? Yeah.

Posted by: Howie at 11:32 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 320 words, total size 2 kb.

Donald H. Rumsfeld talks about what we have gained in the last three years. HeÂ’s not been fired yet so what the hell.

Secretary Rumsfeld Via Centcom :Some have described the situation in Iraq as a tightening noose, noting that "time is not on our side" and that "morale is down." Others have described a "very dangerous" turn of events and are "extremely concerned."

Who are they that have expressed these concerns? In fact, these are the exact words of terrorists discussing Iraq -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his associates -- who are describing their own situation and must be watching with fear the progress that Iraq has made over the past three years.

The terrorists seem to recognize that they are losing in Iraq. I believe that history will show that to be the case.

Donald H. Rumsfeld

Posted by: Howie at 06:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 150 words, total size 1 kb.

In a cheap attempt to break our will the enemy in Iraq has attempted to copycat the Somalia incident that broke Bill ClintonÂ’s will. The US military has called the video despicable. Our thoughts and prayers go to our fine pilot and his family.

CNN : "We are outraged that anyone would create and publish such a despicable video for public exposure," military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington said in a statement. "The terrorists continue to demonstrate their immoral disregard for human dignity and life."
The U.S. military reported Sunday that an Army AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter went down, likely from enemy fire, west of Yousifiah on Saturday evening while conducting a combat air patrol.
The video shows what appears to be a helicopter ablaze -- and later with no flames -- and insurgents dragging what appears to be "part of" a burning body away from the wreckage.

Update : Al emails to question the last part of clip that shows the body. It's not very clear exactly what it is. Possibly a dummy? Right above the belt where the hips meet the waist it does not look quite right to me either.

Update II : Darcey also is hosting the Video here and a Hat Tip too for the frame grabs below the fold.

Update III 04/07/06 Hat Tip Infovlad: I saw this over at MSNBC today .

Military analysts have authenticated the terrorist videotape released this week that militants said showed the burning wreckage of an Apache helicopter and the body of a U.S. Army pilot being dragged, U.S. military officials have told NBC News.

Vlad : Recipe of flammable liquid? Whose logo is this? The video looks bit old though.

Posted by: Howie at 10:27 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 559 words, total size 5 kb.

(Buenos Aires, Argentina) As I recall, it was only a little over two decades ago that the Argentine government, ostensibly in a wag-the-dog move by the military leadership, invaded the British Falkland Islands. They were unsuccessful. Nonetheless, memories are short in the political realm and Argentina is again making noise about its sovereignty over the South Atlantic islands of Falkland (called Malvinas in Argentina), South Georgia, and South Sandwich.

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner said the Argentine government chose to solve the dispute through dialogue and diplomacy and by peaceful means. He also said that the British government must "show willingness to negotiate the sovereignty of the islands" because the "claim for the islands is a permanent objective and undeniable right of the Argentine people."

Just what the world needs -- another hot spot preparing to flare.

From Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 09:18 AM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
Post contains 148 words, total size 1 kb.

Fox News was showing video earlier today of the "new" Iranian Hut high-speed torpedo, which travels in excess of 220 miles per hour underwater, and is said to be undetectable by sonar. It seems likely that it could, however, be heard by passive means from some distance underwater.

From Bloomberg:

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Iran's navy said it successfully test-fired its fastest torpedo capable of reaching a maximum speed of 360 kilometers (223 miles) an hour, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.

Neither the Hut, nor the Shval offers protection against incoming B-1 bombers, something that Iran might want to take into consideration.

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto and Vince Aut Morire.

Posted by: Bluto at 11:13 PM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
Post contains 171 words, total size 1 kb.

"Our troop's time is better spent doing this or that rather than rescuing him/her."

Oh, STFU.

Our military, which you statistically never bothered to join, takes pride you will never have, rescuing civilians from harm, no matter their ideology.

Idiot commenters like that fail to grasp the basic concept that our military is designed to protect us. All of us.

Not just here, but there as well.

That's what they do. We do (er, I did heh). Kill people, break things, and protect Americans. Not leftist Americans, not conservative Americans, not American Indian African Irish Indo-Chinese Jamaican Arabian Pashtu Tobrukian Americans.

Just Americans.

And, truth be told, they like doing it.

Here, or there.

So give us a goddamned break on the You-Think-You-Know-Best-What-The-Military-Should-Spend-It's-Time-Doing-Thing.

Unless you have 4 stars on your epaulettes. Then I might listen. But probably not, I have an issue with authority figures.

Updated with revised and extended remarks. more...

Posted by: Vinnie at 03:34 AM | Comments (32) | Add Comment
Post contains 528 words, total size 3 kb.