Category: Terror War

ABC News reports that a group calling themselves the “Islamic State Hacking Division” have released a hit list of 100 military personnel for their supporters in the US to target. As with our own terrorists who like to brag about their nonexistent hacking skills, the purported ISIS hackers say that they’ve breached government computers, but that doesn’t seem to be the case;

The information about the U.S. military personnel appears to be derived from information found in public records, basic online searches, news reports, and on social media…Officials have not indicated the information was hacked from government servers.

The New York Times quotes the internet posting;

“With the huge amount of data we have from various different servers and databases, we have decided to leak 100 addresses so that our brothers in America can deal with you,” the Islamic State’s so-called Hacking Division said in the web posting.

It added: “And now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you waiting for?”

Reuters says that the military authorities are taking the threat seriously;

The Pentagon said after the information was posted on the Internet that it was investigating the matter. “I can’t confirm the validity of the information, but we are looking into it,” a U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday.

“We always encourage our personnel to exercise appropriate OPSEC (operations security) and force protection procedures,” the official added.

The cyber terrorists ask what their acolytes are waiting for…well, they’re probably waiting for a gun ban or an ammo ban from this administration. Notice the only place that military personnel have been targeted on this side of The Big Water is in Canada where gun control is real. US military personnel have more and easier access to firearms in their homes than they do on military bases.

But, it’s pretty common for terrorists to try and create fear with empty threats as we’ve been accustomed to our own domestic terrorists who can’t seem to stay away from this blog.

Breitbart reports that the president jumped back on the “Blame Bush” bus the other day, his contention is that if we hadn’t invaded Iraq, removed Hussein from his throne, there would be no ISIS;

“ISIL is a direct outgrowth of Al Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion, which is an example of unintended consequences which is why we should generally aim before we shoot,” Obama said in an interview with VICE News, referring to the Iraq war launched by Bush.

Obama pointed out that his fight against ISIS had a 60 country coalition, which would “slowly push” the terrorist group out of Iraq.

Simply defeating ISIS, however, would not be enough, Obama explained, because of “disaffected Sunnis around the world.”

It’s all so easy isn’t it? Leave Hussein in power and Iraq would be a peaceful place. Well, except that, for one reason Hussein would be 78 years old now and his two blood thirsty sons would probably be running the country, which was teetering on bankruptcy because of their war with Iran and their invasion of Kuwait. Remember that Hussein invaded Kuwait for their oil so he could pay off his country’s debts after the war with Iran.

While he was trying to kill his own people (Shiites) the US and it’s partners were flying protection for them over the so-called no-fly zone and Hussein’s air defenses were taking pot shots at them. We had a stockpile of equipment lagered in Kuwait in order to prevent a repeat of 1990. Every time Hussein farted, Clinton had to send US troops to operate the war machines. that happened no less than three times during Clinton’s tenure.

And, oh, yeah, there was Operation Viking Hammer in which the US sent special forces troops to help the Kurds battle against Ansar al-Islam, an al Qaeda-affiliated group of Salafists who had been fighting the Kurds for two years before the US took Baghdad. Ansar al-Islam became the Iraqi insurgency after conventional troops arrived. Experts also claim that Ansar al-Islam were working on chemical weapons in the town of Sargat.

So tell me again why leaving Hussein in his throne was a good thing?

When Bush left office, the insurgency was broken. It was this administration that fostered the environment in which ISIS gained strength. The US let everyone else take the lead in Syria and Libya instead of standing firm against the Iranians and Russians who supported both Assad in Syria. That fueled the rebellion and became the new training ground for ISIS warriors. It gave them a taste for blood.

Then when no one did anything when ISIS took Fallujah more than a year ago, it gave them the confidence to march on Baghdad – and voila! Here we are.

The only thing I’d complain about is the fact that Bush the Senior didn’t let us boot Hussein out of Baghdad in 1991 before there was an al Qaeda, when we were at the gates of Baghdad and had the trained and equipped force to do it with in the theater of operations. We also had the justification. But the pointy-headed hand-wringers wanted something they could call a clean victory.

And this shit about an economic solution to terrorism is just naive. You just have to make life as an ISIS warrior more difficult than returning home to the goat farm.

Fox News reports that a US airstrike destroyed an unarmed ISIS drone, but it wasn’t as exciting as you might think;

Pentagon sources told Fox News that the “remotely piloted aircraft” was a commercial drone being used to monitor battlefield movements.

A CJTF spokesman told Fox News that the drone was seen being operated from a car, and when the drone was put back in the car, it was destroyed.

The time of observance to destruction was 20 minutes, the spokesman said.

There were no immediate answers to how the drone was acquired.

So, there was no spectacular shoot down of the aircraft or a dog fight, but they probably got the operator, too, so there’s feather for our cap. Syrian government forces claim they shot down a US drone which was flying over Syrian troops and there was no ISIS force in the neighborhood, according to AFP;

A military source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the drone was not immediately identified as being American but was shot down as a hostile aircraft.

“As soon as it entered Syrian air space, we considered it to be gathering security and military information on Syria’s territory,” the source in Damascus said.

[…]

The US military confirmed losing communication with a Predator drone over Syria on Tuesday and said it was looking into claims the aircraft was shot down.

A few days ago, a US drone reportedly took out one of the planners of the 2013 Nigerian mall attack according to UPI;

A U.S. drone strike Thursday in Somalia killed Adan Garar, an al-Shabaab militant suspected of planning a deadly attack on the Westgate shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2013, the Department of Defense confirmed Wednesday.

The drone struck a vehicle carrying Garar near the town of Diinsoor, Somalia, early Thursday.

[…]

“Garar was a key operative responsible for coordinating al-Shabaab’s external operations, which target U.S. persons and other Western interests in order to further al-Qaida’s goals and objectives,” a statement from the Pentagon said. “He posed a major threat to the region and the international community and was connected to the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya. His death has dealt another significant blow to the al-Shabaab terrorist organization in Somalia.”

I’d much rather that they see it coming, but whatever works.

The Washington Post reports that the Pentagon has lost track of about five hundred million bucks worth of weapons and equipment that they supplied to the Yemeni government in their fight against al Qaeda and Iran-backed rebels.

With Yemen in turmoil and its government splintering, the Defense Department has lost its ability to monitor the whereabouts of small arms, ammunition, night-vision goggles, patrol boats, vehicles and other supplies donated by the United States. The situation has grown worse since the United States closed its embassy in Sanaa, the capital, last month and withdrew many of its military advisers.

[…]

“We have to assume it’s completely compromised and gone,” said a legislative aide on Capitol Hill who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The Post provides this helpful inventory;

The Pentagon is on top of it, though. They claim that they’ve halted shipments and aid to the nonexistent Yemeni government. The article says that the lost hardware won’t shift the balance of power in the country since everyone there has guns and there is a pretty extensive weapons bazaar system. If it won’t help, then why were we providing it in the first place? That’s a stupid conclusion.

“The administration really wanted to stick with this narrative that Yemen was different from Iraq, that we were going to do it with fewer people, that we were going to do it on the cheap,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “They were trying to do with a minimalist approach because it needed to fit with this narrative .?.?. that we’re not going to have a repeat of Iraq.”

Yeah, well, Iraq is a repeat of Iraq at this point. I guess we know now where our $770 million Tricare surplus went.

The Associated Press reports that folks in Syria say that the Syrian government used chlorine gas against rebels in Syria yesterday;

Two activist groups – the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees – said the attack late on Monday night targeted the town of Sarmin in northwestern Idlib province.

They said that apart from killing six, dozens of people suffered from breathing difficulties in the gas attack. The two groups collect their data from a network of activists on the ground.

A military official in the capital, Damascus, denied the claim and blamed rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad for the attack.

Meanwhile, Kurds are also accusing ISIS of two other chemical attacks on their forces, according to another Associated Press report;

Kurdish officials have offered footage of the aftermath of the Dec. 26 attack, which shows fighters coughing and pouring water over their heads after another suicide truck bombing that authorities say wounded some 60 men.

“I put a wet scarf on my face because when I saw the gas, I felt it,” said Capt. Mohammad Sewdin, who leads the Kurdish special forces unit targeted in the December attack. “I was afraid it might be something like (chemical weapons). So I told my men to do the same.”

Sewdin told The Associated Press he was temporarily blinded for six hours after the attack and coughed up blood. He and others were hospitalized.

On Saturday, the Kurdistan Region Security Council offered video and lab results it said proved the Islamic State group used chlorine in the Jan. 23 suicide truck bomb.

There is so much false information coming out of that war, I don’t know whether either of the stories are true, but folks in that region seem to place no value on human lives, even their own, and since chemical warfare is the most barbaric and cowardly form of warfare, I wouldn’t doubt it. But the US should really focus on verifying or disproving these allegations before they send more troops into that type of indiscriminate warfare.

Channel News Asia reports that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for the creation of a regional response to the threat of the Islamic State Caliphate. Of course, he wants US support;

“It is very important for the United States to understand that our need for the weapons and for the equipment is dire, especially at the time when the Egyptians feel they are fighting terrorism and they would like to feel the United States is standing by them in that fight against terrorism,” said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Sisi after he arrives in Egypt on Thursday for the Egypt Economic Development Conference, the State Department said on Monday.

Kerry will also meet with other senior Egyptian leaders to discuss “a range of bilateral and global issues,” including efforts against Islamic State militants, Libya and Syria’s crisis, according to the department.

This comes just weeks after the Egyptians started an air campaign against ISIS elements on it’s borders with Libya.

I’m convinced that ISIS won’t be defeated without a full-on effort by the Arabs and North Africans simply because the US politicians won’t allow American forces to wage the unrestricted warfare that needs to be fought against the Caliphate in order to defeat ISIS. The Arabs and the North Africans understand the warfare that will lead to the complete defeat of the extremists. The swift and bloody response of the Jordanians a few weeks back, in response to the murder of their pilot is a perfect example.

The Egyptians are a reliable ally in this war, as are the Jordanians. We should give them the means to fight and let them figure out how to best employ that equipment.

Back in January, we talked about this Christopher Lee Cornell fellow who was arrested by federal authorities for plotting a terrorist attack against the US Capitol. The judge did Mr Cornell a favor by forbidding anyone outside of his lawyers to talk to him, anticipating that the defendant is a motormouth. According to the local Fox8 News, Cornell’s lawyer smuggled a cell phone to him and the first thing he did with it was to call the local news.

This week, Cornell made a collect call to CNN affiliate WXIX, said news director Kevin Roach. That phone call initiated what ended up being an hourlong interview, Roach said.

Cornell’s attorney, Richard Smith-Monahan, argued that WXIX was in contempt of court for violating a January order “directing the detention facility holding the Defendant not to permit outside contact by anyone with the Defendant without [defense counsel’s] express approval.”

Yeah, well, Monahan has an idiot for a client. So the lawyer tried to get a restraining order issued against the news station to prevent them from broadcasting his client’s admission to terrorist intents. That didn’t work.

In the interview, Cornell tells the reporter he was planning what would have been a “major attack” to take place in Washington on September 20. Cornell repeatedly refers to himself as a member of ISIS, and tells Macke he is very serious about jihad. The interview was taped in three 20-minute segments and was recorded by the jail and WXIX.

Good job there, Cornell. But it’s not like his lawyer didn’t hold the nails while Cornell drove them into his own coffin;

During the hearing, which lasted five hours, a lieutenant at the Boone County facility testified that one of Cornell’s attorneys had given [Cornell] a phone. In that testimony the lieutenant stated that he reminded the attorney that giving Cornell a phone meant he would be able to call anyone he wanted to, which seemed at odds with the spirit of the January court order.

Well, Cornell’s lawyer lost at the hearing and the news station broadcast part of their interview Friday.

Cincinnati News, FOX19-WXIX TV

Needless to say, Cornell gave away the store in the interview and admitted that he had planned to blow up the Capitol Building and that he aspired to kill the President. I’m guessing the lawyer will try to change the venue for the trial now to outside of the TV station’s broadcast area.

Christopher Cornell said if he had not been arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents outside the Point Blank Range and Gun shop on Harrison Avenue in Colerain Township after buying firearms and 600 rounds of ammunition on Jan. 14, he would have followed through with an alleged terror plot to plant pipe bombs on the U.S. Capitol and Israeli embassy that Cornell said was organized by the Islamic State.

During the exclusive phone interview with FOX19 NOW’s Tricia Macke from the Boone County, Ky. jail on Thursday, Cornell, 20, referred to himself as Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah.

“I’m with the Islamic State,” Cornell said. “I’m very dedicated to establish the Sharia in America, to wage war on the kafr (an Islamic term for ‘unbeliever’) and raise the word of Allah above all.”

“I’m so dedicated that I risked my whole life,” Cornell said.

By the way, Cornell warns that his buddies, ISIS, are in every state plotting against our peace and security. Like he’d know. His dad continues to defend his son saying poor little Lee was framed. Yep, sounds like it.

The Associated Press reports that Sergeant Andrew Joseph Doiron, a Canadian Special Forces soldier was killed mistakenly by peshmerga forces when the Canadians showed up unexpectedly near the front of the fighting near the village of Bashiq where the previous day the Kurds had experienced heavy fighting. The Canadians were there to help direct supporting fires;

Peshmerga spokesman Halgurd Hekmat said Sunday a group of Canadian soldiers showed up unannounced Friday to the village of Bashiq, in Iraq’s Nineveh province near the militant-held city of Mosul. The area had seen heavy fighting against Islamic State militants the previous day.

“When they returned, the peshmerga asked them to identify themselves,” Hekmat told the AP. “They answered in Arabic, that’s when peshmerga started shooting. It was their fault.”

Canada has 69 special forces soldiers with Kurdish peshmerga fighters in what the government calls an advising and assisting role.

[…]

Canadian Defense Minister Jason Kenney responded to allegations Sunday that Canadian soldiers were on the front line in an interview with CTV, saying that Canadian soldiers were well behind the lines when the soldier was killed.

[…]

“They weren’t on the front line,” Kenney said. “It was 200 meters from the front.”

Yeah, 200 meters from the front is the front when the maximum effective range of an AK 47 is about 350 meters. Some of his mates were also wounded in the incident but they’re recovering from their wounds. And, yeah, it was the Canadians’ fault that they answered the challenge in Arabic, you know, in that region of the world, with a number of coalition forces that do speak Arabic. That was sarcasm, by the way.