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

Category: Terror War

  • Russia to deliver anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran

    Russia to deliver anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran

    S300

    The Associated Press reports that Russia has signed a contract to deliver a number of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. The S-300 is also known by it’s NATO nomenclature SA-10 Grumble and it’s the Russian equivalent to the Patriot missile system. Independent tests of the missile shows that it has a 90% accuracy rate with a range of 120 kilometers;

    Moscow in April lifted a ban on selling the missile systems to Iran, ahead of Tehran sealing a final historic deal with world powers in July to curb its nuclear programme.

    The decision sparked condemnation from Israel and concern from Washington, as it came before the lifting of the sanctions by the UN Security Council.

    Russia argues that the missile system is exclusively defensive and does not even fall under the sanctions.

    Moscow blocked deliveries of the surface-to-air missiles to Tehran in 2010 after the UN Security Council imposed the curbs on Iran over its nuclear programme barring hi-tech weapons sales.

    Of course, we can fully expect that Iran will use the system to protect it’s nuclear facilities from an air attack when (not “if”) they bail on their agreement to abandon development of nuclear weapons. So are the missiles actually “defensive” if they are guarding against an interruption of their intent to wage nuclear war?

  • Jordanian cop shoots two US trainers

    Jordanian cop shoots two US trainers

    According to Reuters, a Jordanian police officer opened fire upon and killed two US troops who were training Jordanian forces in that country. The murderer then killed himself;

    Another security source said there were unconfirmed reports that at least three other US service personnel were injured,

    Jordan is a staunch US ally and part of the Washington-led coalition that is trying to defeat Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, both of which border Jordan.

    The country hosts several hundred US trainers who are part of a military program to bolster the kingdom’s defenses, including the stationing of F16 fighter jets that use Jordanian airfields to hit Islamic State positions in Syria.

    Of course, this highlights a problem with US forces training forces in the region during this war against the Islamic State. Green-on-blue attacks committed against US forces killed scores of US troops in Afghanistan and they are particularly difficult to defend against because of US troops being outnumbered by their supposed allies. Jordan has been a friend to the US in our wars in the region, so this is particularly difficult.

    Stars & Stripes reports that a South African contractor was also killed in the same incident.

  • Hasan’s victims struggle with benefits

    Fort Hood shooting victim Staff Sergeant Shawn Manning tells Fox News of his trials and tribulations with the military healthcare system to get treatment for his injuries resulting from the six bullet wounds that happened when Nidal Hasan blasted away at Fort Hood, six years ago;

    “I think part of the pushback is there’s still people that are reluctant to label the shooting as a terrorist attack,” Manning added. “Both within the Department of the Army, Defense Department and the government itself.”

    Meanwhile, Hasan, waiting for his fate on the Army’s death row has penned a 100-page Bernathian-style treatise on his crime, “justifying his extreme religious views and claiming his faith is inconsistent with American democracy”. I guess the significance of his oath to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” escapes the jihadist. But, I guess the point of the article is to juxtapose the irony of the victims trying to get recognition from a government for the wounds they endured in the war against terror while Hasan is making their case for them.

    Still using the acronym SOA, or soldier of Allah, Hasan wrote: “My Jihad on November 5, 2009 was in the defense of the Taliban in Afghanistan, who I viewed as imperfect Muslims trying to establish the perfect religion of All-Might God as supreme on the land against Americas attempt to impose a western type of democracy.”

    […]

    In his writings, Hasan has left no doubt that the first American targeted for death by the CIA in 2011, Anwar al-Awlaki, was a mentor and spiritual guide.

    In August, Hasan pledged his loyalty to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi while asking to be “made a citizen of the Islamic State.”

    I guess the Obama Administration is loath to admit that the war followed our soldiers home from the war in the middle east because the BDS crowd was so staunchly opposed to a war waged by a Republican president. For that reason, the war continues and the troops are the ones who suffer, because a Nobel Prize winning President can’t unilaterally declare the end to a war and simply ignore it’s continuing effects.

    Thanks to Hondo for the link.

  • Spanish police foil ISIS attack

    Spanish police foil ISIS attack

    Spain terrorists

    The UK’s Express reports that Spanish authorities arrested three Moroccans with links to ISIS who were planning a “Charlie Hebdo” style attack there;

    Interior Ministry officials said in a statement released early today…“According to sources in the investigation, they were prepared to carry out, at any moment, terrorist acts like those that have taken place recently in neighbouring countries.

    “The operation is ongoing.”

    From NBC News;

    “The terrorists were extremely radicalized and had assumed terrorist discipline and ideology completely,” national police said in a statement released by Spain’s interior ministry. “They were perfectly organized and [worked within a] hierarchy and each one of the components had a determined role.”

    From NDTV;

    Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said that, unlike in other cases of suspected terrorists arrested in recent months in the country, the suspects were “not devoted to attracting, indoctrinating, radicalising, recruiting” people to travel to Syria or Iraq to join the ISIS.

    “Their goal was to act in Spain,” he said on Cadena Ser radio.

    I thought the war against terror was over. I thought the philosophy that fighting them over there so they don’t come here was proven wrong. I thought Spain was immune from terrorist attacks because they pulled out of Iraq the last time terrorists struck there. I guess everything I thought was wrong. The Spanish remember what happened the last time they were ruled by the Islamists.

  • Afghanistan’s $43 million gas station

    Afghanistan’s $43 million gas station

    Donkey

    Thomas sends us a link to the story about the US-funded natural gas station in Sheberghan, Afghanistan which was built as an experiment to see if Afghans will switch fuels from donkey to natural gas propulsion for their vehicles.

    The station was constructed at the behest of a US military task force originally created to help spur economic development in Iraq after the US invasion that was later replicated in Afghanistan in 2009.

    The cost of $43m is far larger than the estimated cost of building natural gas stations in other countries – which ranges from $200,000 to $500,000.

    By comparison, a similar project in Pakistan was estimated to cost only $306,000.

    Sounds about right.

  • Operators headed to Syria

    Operators headed to Syria

    last convoy out of Iraq

    Chief Tango sends us a link from the Associated Press which reports that unnamed senior DoD officials have told them that special operators are headed to northern Syria to help rebels against the Assad Administration there.

    The deployment marks the first time U.S. troops will be working openly on the ground in Syria.

    U.S. officials say President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of fewer than 50 commandos to help coalition forces coordinate with the local troops.

    One official also says the U.S. will be sending additional aircraft, including F-15 fighters and A-10s to the Incirlik air base in Turkey.

    If I’m not mistaken, those are the Syrian rebel folks that the Russian airstrikes seem to be targeting.

  • Inherent Resolve wounded

    Inherent Resolve wounded

    Inherent Resolve Casualties

    The Daily Beast points out that there are 5 wounded military personnel who were involved in Inherent Resolve, the war against ISIS.

    According to U.S. Central Command, which oversees military action in the region, the details of the wounded are not available, despite repeated requests for such basic information. The only specifics available are from a Washington Post story, which reported the first service member was wounded in March, just south of Baghdad, while in a guard tower. He was struck in the face by bullet fragments, according to the report, while coming under enemy fire.

    I’m not surprised. This administration hasn’t been able to tell the public the truth about anything, but, you know, if this was the McCain Administration or the Romney Administration, Code Pink and VoteVets would be tearing down the fence around the White House.

    The administration is a little bit careful what they call the mission in Iraq. From the Washington Post;

    Briefing reporters hours after the raid took place, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said that “U.S. forces are not in a combat role in Iraq.” He said a team of elite U.S. soldiers had provided transport and support for the Iraqi Kurdish commandos. But the Americans were not intending to take part in the raid itself, he said. That changed when a firefight erupted and Wheeler jumped in to help. Later that day, Cook said that Wheeler’s death was the first combat casualty there since 2011.

    On Monday, asked about operations in Iraq, White House press secretary Josh Earnest declined to characterize the operations there as combat. He said the “train, advise and assist” mission differed from “the long-term, sustained ground combat operations” that took place after the 2003 invasion. Over 160,000 U.S. troops were stationed in Iraq at the peak of that war.

    The folks in Baghdad are little more blunt about their mission;

    …Wednesday, Col. Steve Warren, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, described the mission in blunt terms. “We’re in combat,” he said, speaking via video feed to reporters at the Pentagon. “That’s why we all carry guns. That’s why we all get combat patches when we leave here. That’s why we all receive imminent danger pay. So, of course it’s combat.”

    Maybe Media Benjamin and Jon Soltz could get a straight answer.

    Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.

  • Carter: US begins direct action in Iraq and Syria

    Carter: US begins direct action in Iraq and Syria

    last convoy out of Iraq

    I know you’re shocked, shocked I tell you that Ashton Carter announced yesterday that US forces will begin to take direct action against ISIS in Syria and Iraq according to NBC News. Of course, the action last week by Delta troops was a toe dipped into the waters of public opinion;

    Carter and Pentagon officials initially refused to characterize the rescue operation as U.S. boots on the ground. However, Carter said last week that the military expects “more raids of this kind” and that the rescue mission “represents a continuation of our advise and assist mission.”

    This may mean some American soldiers “will be in harm’s way, no question about it,” Carter said last week.

    I suspect that this is in reaction to the Russians who have plans to engage their own ground forces with anti-Assad rebels. This change in policy has not been entirely unexpected. This President is more worried about the legacy of his administration, so it stands to reason that he doesn’t want historians to blame the Nobel Prize winner for losing Iraq. Besides, he knows that the military, despite the fact that he’s screwed the living shit out of them in regards to pay and benefits, has been dependable when he needs his fat dragged from the fire, unlike his other agencies.

    “This is combat and things are complicated,” Carter said.

    Yeah, which is why you shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep. I expect that soon we’ll see another infantry brigade or two headed out for a deployment to Iraq.

    Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.