Category: Terror War

Good Morning America says that a large truck driving into a shopping mall in Stockholm, Sweden is a terrorist attack.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven also said one person had been arrested in what he described as “a terror attack.”

Fox News says that there are three dead, but there are unconfirmed reports of as many as five dead.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who called the crash a terror attack, said one person had been arrested. Police have not confirmed the information.

“Sweden has been attacked,” Lofven said. “This indicates that it is an act of terror.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday’s attack, but vehicles have been common weapons in recent extremist attacks.

A photo circulated on social media of a man being arrested at the scene. Police have not confirmed if it was the truck driver.

The Swedish beer maker Spendrups says their truck was used in the attack – it was hijacked earlier on Friday.

“It’s one of our distribution vehicles which runs deliveries. During a delivery to the restaurant Caliente someone jumped into the driver’s cabin and drove off with the car, while the driver unloads,” communication director Mårten Lyth told TT news agency.

Terrorism on the cheap.

Last night the President authorized a missile attack on a Syrian airbase where those stocks of sarin nerve gas which weren’t surrendered to the Russians as the agreement that the Kerry/Obama team required were stored. From the Washington Post’s Dan LaMothe;

The U.S. Navy launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles early Friday in Syria at a military airfield in response to a chemical-weapons attack this week on civilians, U.S. military officials said, relying on a mainstay weapon when the Pentagon wants to attack from a safe distance.

The missiles were launched about 4:40 a.m. local time from the USS Ross and USS Porter, Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, defense officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the operation. The strikes targeted al-Shayrat air base in Homs province, from which the Syrian military allegedly launched chemical weapons attacks against civilians Tuesday…Russian forces also use the base, but U.S. military officials said they “deconflicted” with them ahead of time to minimize the possibility of them being caught in the strikes.

The Syrians are complaining that seven people were killed in the attack, including four children. I don’t what four kids were doing on an airbase at 4 o’clock in the morning, but those people aren’t very good about telling the truth. From Stars & Stripes;

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian opposition monitor, said the U.S. missile attack killed at least four Syrian soldiers, including a general, and caused extensive damage, according to AP.

The attack was designed to avoid the actual chemical weapons to prevent the accidental spread of the deadly nerve agent, but the question should be; “why hasn’t Russia taken possession of these weapons?”

Ron Paul claims that the attack on civilians was a “false flag” attack designed to make it appear as if the Syrian government used the weapons, but I’m guessing that no one else in Syria has sarin gas or the means to deliver it to the battlefield, besides the Russians.

His son, Rand Paul, wants to take part in the decision;

But Sen. Rand Paul called on Trump to consult on Congress.

“While we all condemn the atrocities in Syria, the United States was not attacked,” Paul said. “The President needs congressional authorization for military action as required by the Constitution, and I call on him to come to Congress for a proper debate.”

Trump’s opponents are wringing their hands about world war. From CNN;

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the US airstrikes on Syria as “an act of aggression against a sovereign state” that “dealt a serious blow to Russia-US relations,” according to a Kremlin statement. Russia said it believed Syria had destroyed all of its chemical weapons and the US strikes were based on a “far-fetched pretext.”

Yeah, well, the Syrian government shouldn’t have access to the weapons, Vlad. Straighten that problem out first.

According to Reuters, Hillary Clinton was calling for strikes on Syrian government airfields in the hours before the attack.

Asked whether she now believes that failing to take a tougher stand against Syria was her worst foreign policy mistake as secretary of state under President Barack Obama, Clinton said she favored more aggressive action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“I think we should have been more willing to confront Assad,” Clinton said in the interview, conducted by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof.

“I really believe we should have and still should take out his air fields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them.”

The New York Times reports that another chemical weapon has been deployed against Syrian civilians, they call it “Worst Chemical Attack in Years in Syria“- you know – the worst since the last one. The New York Times says that the US blames Assad’s government for the attack;

Dozens of people, including children, died — some writhing, choking, gasping or foaming at the mouth — after breathing in poison that possibly contained a nerve agent or other banned chemicals, according to witnesses, doctors and rescue workers. They said the toxic substance spread after warplanes dropped bombs in the early morning hours. Some rescue workers grew ill and collapsed from proximity to the dead.

The opposition-run Health Department in Idlib Province, where the attack took place, said 69 people had died, providing a list of their names. The dead were still being identified, and some humanitarian groups said as many as 100 had died.

[…]

But only the Syrian military had the ability and the motive to carry out an aerial attack like the one that struck the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun.

Russia offered another explanation. A spokesman for its Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said Syrian warplanes had struck an insurgent storehouse containing toxic substances to be used in chemical weapons.

I guess who ever is responsible wasn’t impressed by “the red line” established years ago by the Obama Administration. That maverick, John McCain blames President Trump, though;

McCain, a longtime advocate of arming Syrian rebels and removing Assad from power, also barbed Tillerson, who recently said whether Assad will stay in power “will be decided by the Syrian people.” McCain called that remark “one of the more incredible statements I’ve ever heard,” echoing a fiery statement he released previously.

“Syrian people cannot decide the fate of Assad or the future of their country when they are being slaughtered by Assad’s barrel bombs, Putin’s aircraft and Iran’s terrorist proxies,” McCain said Thursday. “U.S. policy must reflect such basic facts.”

Yeah, it the fault of the 2 1/2 month-old Trump Administration. Instead of running to the cameras and getting his face time in, McCain should be working with the Administration to work through this difficult problem, but then he couldn’t be a maverick could he?

Another Al Qaeda leader has begun the eternal dirtnap.

DoD has confirmed that Qari Yasin, a senior Al Qaeda leader and terrorist bastard, was killed in a US airstrike in Paktika province, Afghanistan, on 19 March. Yasin is believed to have organized numerous terrorist attacks which claimed dozens of lives.

Among Yasin’s confirmed victims were two US military personnel – Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez, USAF, and CT3 Matthew J. O’Bryant, USN. They were among those killed in the 20 September 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad which Yasin organized.

Burn in hell, Yasin. May Iblis give you his “personal attention” for all eternity.

The Associated Press reports that Belgian law enforcement was able to stop a fellow they’ve identified as Mohamed R., a 39-year-old from France, when he tried to “kill people or create a dramatic event” by driving carelessly in an Antwerp shopping district;

In the car, authorities found knives, a shotgun and a gas can with an unknown liquid. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

An official at the prosecutor’s office, who asked not to be identified because the investigation was still ongoing, said the suspect “was under the influence” but refused to elaborate whether it was drugs or alcohol.

Authorities immediately raised security in the center of Antwerp.

Of course, there’s not much about it in the news because he was unsuccessful in hurting anyone.

The high-speed event happened a day after Belgium held anniversary remembrance services for the Brussels airport and subway attacks, which killed 32 people on March 22, 2016.

The Guardian says that he’s being charged with terrorist crimes.

A man has been charged with terror offences including attempted murder after he was arrested driving at high speed into a crowded shopping area in the Belgian port city of Antwerp.

However, a source close to the investigation told AFP that investigators could not confirm if it was a terrorist attack and said the driver made little sense during interrogation.

Other sources said the charges could be interpreted as a “precautionary measure” to keep the suspect in detention.

The New York Times reports that the US airlifted at least 500 Syrians and Kurds into the fight at Raqqa, Syria under the cover of US artillery and US airpower;

It was the first time that the United States had carried out an air assault with Syrian fighters in its campaign against the Islamic State, and the mission, which began Tuesday, reflected the leeway the Trump administration has given its commanders to carry out operations without prolonged review in Washington.

In a significant commitment of American forces, American helicopters ferried fighters across enemy lines while Marine Corps howitzers, Army Apache attack helicopters and American warplanes provided firepower for the operation. Army surface-to-surface Himars rockets, which are based in northern Syria, are also part of the mission. American Special Operations forces were advising the Syrian fighters on the ground, although a military spokesman said they were not involved in direct, front-line combat.

The mission represented a new stage in the broader offensive to cut off and seize Raqqa. Its objective was to take control of the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates River near Lake Assad, the nearby town of Tabqa and a local airfield.

The Trump Administration has taken a hands-off approach to the war against ISIS, allowing the commanders on the ground to make decisions;

But the Trump White House has dispensed with the detailed and often prolonged review of operations and tactics that were conducted under the Obama administration. The change has allowed American commanders to step up the pace of their operations.

Pentagon officials said that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was informed of the Tabqa operation, as was the White House, but the assault was being carried out within the authority that has been delegated to American military commanders.

More flexibility for American commanders appears to be coming.

You know, the way wars are supposed to be fought, if you are to believe Sun Tzu or Clausewitz. But, what do those guys know?