This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Terror War

  • John Kerry criticizes media coverage of terror

    John Kerry criticizes media coverage of terror

    kerrypinkbike01

    Katie Pavlich at Townhall reports that John Kerry suggested that the media should stop reporting on terrorist attacks because it highlghts the Obama Administration’s failures in that regard;

    “If you decide one day you’re going to be a terrorist and you’re willing to kill yourself, you can go out and kill some people. You can make some noise…perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much. People wouldn’t know what’s going on,” Kerry said.

    […]

    Here’s the reality: Kerry doesn’t want the press giving attention to the issue of terrorism because it further exposes the failure of the Obama administration’s foreign policy over the past eight years. Terrorism doesn’t go away if you simply ignore it but instead, expands.

    It’s that pesky Bill of Rights again. Who needs an informed public which votes given the best and most reliable information available? Certainly not John Kerry – the guy who says that air conditioners are a bigger threat to civilization than ISIS.

  • Medal of Honor for John Chapman?

    Medal of Honor for John Chapman?

    John Chapman

    The New York Times recounts the story of Air Force Tech Sergeant John Chapman on top of the mountain, Takur Ghar, during Operation Anaconda, March 4, 2002, while Chapman was supporting SEAL Team 6 during the battle for the summit of the mountain. Navy Chief Britt Slabinski saw Chapman get wounded and when he checked the body under intense fire, he determined the airman was dead and he moved his team from mountain.

    Now according to an examination of the drone footage using new video technology of the battle after the team withdrew, it appears that Chapman was merely unconscious when Slabiniski checked his body and that Chapman fought alone for an hour killing at least two other Taliban fighters, one in hand-to-hand combat until he was ultimately killed as he fought to cover for the reinforcements who arrived on the scene.

    Chapman was awarded the Air Force Cross initially.

    The Air Force secretary is pushing for a Medal of Honor, the military’s highest award, after new technology used in an examination of videos from aircraft flying overhead helped officials conclude that the sergeant had killed two fighters with Al Qaeda — one in hand-to-hand combat — before dying in an attempt to protect arriving reinforcements.

    The Times article seems to make Chief Slabiniski the bad guy, but I don’t blame him – I wasn’t there. He crawled on top of Chapman’s body and got no response – I don’t what else he could have done with the battle raging all around him. He had team mates who he knew were alive to think about. Tough men in tough situations have to make tough decisions and then they have to live with those decisions.

  • Iranians feel froggy

    Iranians feel froggy

    Iran navy

    On Tuesday, according to Fox News, four boats of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps harassed two US Navy ships.

    The USS Nitze was accompanied by the guided missile destroyer USS Mason on what the official described as a “routine transit” in international waters at the time of the incident.

    As the Iranian ships closed in, the official said the Nitze attempted to make radio contact 12 times with no response. As the Iranian ships continued their approach, the destroyer sounded five short blasts on its whistle, an international danger signal.

    The official said the Nitze was ultimately forced to change its course to avoid the Iranian ships, despite coming close to offshore oil rigs.

    Reuters reports that Wednesday, three more boats from Iran approached a US Navy ship, prompting the US Navy to fire warning shots;

    The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said three warning shots were fired from a .50 caliber gun after warning flares did not work.

    The incident started with three Iranian vessels, but there was only one Iranian vessel around by the time the warning shots were fired, the official said.

    The official added that at one point an Iranian vessel came within 200 yards (193 meters) of a U.S. ship.

    Business Insider says that it was USS Squall, a coastal patrol ship, which fired on the Iranians.

    Feeling froggy, the Iranians released a statement today, according to Townhall;

    Iran is standing strong in its defense of the Persian Gulf, declaring on Thursday that “if any foreign vessel enters our waters, we warn them, and if it’s an invasion, we confront.”

    Nothing that can’t be handled by a James Taylor concert, I’m sure.

    Thanks to AW1Ed for the Reuters link.

  • The new normal

    Yesterday, we talked about 20-year-old Wasil Farooqui in Roanoke, Virginia who attacked two folks with a knife while shouting “Allah Akbar”. Police say that it appears that he was trying to behead the man involved in the attack.

    Today we read that in Sydney, Australia a woman and a dog were killed and another man was injured by “a French national visiting Australia” in the same manner. He, too, was reportedly shouting that cryptic phrase “Allah Akbar”;

    The 29-year-old suspect did not have any known links to the Islamic State group and appeared to have acted alone, Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said. Police were trying to determine whether the man had been motivated by extremism, or something else.

    “While this information will be factored into the investigation, we are not ruling out any motivations at this early stage, whether they be political or criminal,” Gollschewski told reporters in the Queensland state capital of Brisbane. “Investigators will also consider whether mental health or drug misuse factors are involved in this incident.”

    There have been a number of similar attacks in Europe. So many, in fact, that Germans are having a discussion about loosening gun control measures for the law abiding public. France reports that terrorist attacks there have directly caused a seven percent drop in tourism this year.

    “Tourist arrivals since the start of the year have fallen by seven percent across the country,” with Paris worst- hit, said [Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault], who is also tourism minister.

    France is the world’s top tourist destination. The sector accounts for around nine percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

    The industry has been struck a severe blow from attacks by Islamic State jihadists, shuttering festivals and other public events and prompting jittery visitors to stay away.

    I guess we weren’t willing to fight them in their own countries, so now we have to fight them at home.

  • Roanoke, Virginia ISIS attack?

    Roanoke, Virginia ISIS attack?

    wasil-farooqui-roanoke-stabbing-150x150

    Roanoke, Virginia County Police say that 20-year-old Wasil Farooqui was yelling “Allah Akbar” Saturday when he attacked a random couple in an apartment complex with a knife. Police think that he was trying to behead the male victim. WBDJ says that the FBI has become involved in the investigation and that the victims were seriously injured in the attack.

    ABC News reports that the Feds “have been aware” of the Farooqui clown;

    Federal authorities have been aware of the alleged attacker, 20-year-old Wasil Farooqui, of the Roanoke area, for some time, sources familiar with the case told ABC News. In the past year, he traveled to Turkey and may have tried to sneak into Syria, where ISIS is recruiting and inspiring sympathizers from across the world, sources said.

  • German Party wants the right to arm themselves

    Last month, a man of Iranian heritage killed nine people in Munich with guns that he had bought illegally on the “darknet” – where most of the terrorists in Europe get their guns. In response to that attack on Germans, like many Leftist governments, German legislators have largely supported tightening firearm ownership on legal gun owners.

    The German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD), however, is asking for looser regulations so that Germans are able to protect themselves, according to Russia Today;

    “Many people are increasingly feeling unsafe. Every law-abiding citizen should be in a position to defend themselves, their family and their friends,” [Frauke Petry, who is the head of the anti-immigrant party] said. “We all know how long it takes until the police can get to the scene, especially in sparsely populated places,” she added.

    According to the politician, her party is currently the only force opposing tougher gun laws in Germany.

    “This would affect the law-abiding citizens – and not those who get their weapons from the darknet,” Petry said. She also slammed the current gun law debate as essentially portraying “legal gun possession as something more scandalous than those illegally having weapons.”

    Petry is equally worried about the fact that the German police have witnessed massive budget and personnel cuts over the past years, while cross-border crime has skyrocketed.

    It seems to me that any rational person would admit that taking more guns from the law-abiding citizenry would be playing into the hands of terrorists, but then legislators aren’t rational people.

  • Yeah, It Was Ransom. The State Department Now Admits It.

    Something curious happened last week, on Thursday.

    Asked by a reporter if the U.S. wouldn’t have paid the money until the prisoners were released, State Department spokesman John Kirby replied, “That’s correct.”

    Hmm.  From Merriam-Webster

    ransom:  a consideration paid or demanded for the release of someone or something from captivity

    Seems pretty clear to me that the US State Department has now contradicted the POTUS’s (and its own) prior public statements regarding the Iran payment.  Above, State now plainly admits that the USA paid ransom to Iran for the return of some of our citizens.  Previously, the “party line” was that the timing was “a coincidence”.

    “Coincidence?”  Yeah, right.  The payment was ransom, plain and simple.  Anyone with half a functional brain could see that.

    The media’s reaction to this admission has also been interesting.  While in a rare display of responsible journalism the New York Times apparently gave this story the Page 1 treatment it deserves, some       pernicious “Progressive” propaganda purveyors      mainstream media outlets did not.  The Washington Post and USA Today each chose to bury the story deep inside their respective Friday editions.

    But the fact that at least some of the media would try to bury this isn’t surprising, either.  Most of the US media has been de facto cheerleaders for the political left for virtually my entire life.

    The only surprising parts of this disgusting incident are that this “most transparent administration in history” actually admitted the sordid truth here – and that at least some of the media didn’t try to hide that fact.

  • Benghazi Redux? Maybe.

    “I know the U.S. Embassy was working on a plan, but it’s a shell of what they need. There appears to be a lack of coordinated effort between the U.S. Embassy and the American companies and personnel here . . . .”

    So, the above was written about Benghazi, right?  Um, that would be a, “No.”

    The above is a statement by Mike Warren, a security director for the USAID-backed Mining Investment and Development for Afghanistan Sustainability Project.  He’s referring to the current state of US emergency evacuation planning for Afghanistan should things go bad there.

    As Santayana said:  “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

    Circa.com has a detailed article discussing the above today.  IMO it’s worth reading.

    Sheesh.  If the linked article is anywhere near accurate, nothing has changed.  DoS appears to be just as institutionally clueless and inept as it was 4 years ago.

    But for the current      gang of fools and tools calling the shots in DC       Administration, being institutionally clueless and inept is nothing new.  Besides:  “What difference does it make?”