Theo Spark

Sunday, 30 November 2008

The Sunday Best....

Marine rugby-tackles suicide bomber. Stick him in the English Rugby Squad.

Game beware: it's the return of the poacher. Shoot them, 'cos the police won't get out of bed to help.

Porn bill for couple who can't download. Dodgy lawyers with a dodgy scam.

Why are The British Creating So Many Muslim Terrorists? from The Elephant Bar.

Police accused of using phone calls from Home Office mole in bid to entrap Shadow Minister. A dirty trick from a corrupt and power crazy government.

How Ministers on £138,000 a year dodge Darling's new 45 per cent top tax rate. As I predicted. These socialist scum are beneath contempt.

As Labour fears a spy in the Treasury, outraged MPs threaten to hijack the Queen’s Speech. Boot the pig out.

Mumbai attacks: India raises security footing to 'war level'. Pakistan should tread very carefully.

Mugabe regime arrests soldiers amid fears of pay revolt. His days are numbered if he loses the support of the army. Is a coup imminent?

Britain tries to block France from 'U-turn' on farm subsidies deal. Farm subsides should go. Politicians have no business telling farmers what they can do.

In pictures: 20 of the world's most dangerous places. Includes all the 'usual suspects'.

Met left reeling after raid on MP branded 'Mugabe-style overkill'. The Met have become too beholden to their political masters. The need to re-establish their independence or lose what little public support they have left.

Quangos spend £10m seeking more money. All quangos should be shut down. They are a waste of taxpayers money and are used as a political 'jobs for the boys' scheme.

Pakistan threatens West over India standoff. Pakistan's nukes need to be neutralised. The country is too unstable to be allowed to have them.

Bin Laden-inspired group wants Asian caliphate. More Islamoloonies. They are getting everywhere.

‘In with a bang’ Obama dismays the faithful. All spin and no substance. The liberal media continue to give Obama a free ride.

President-elect Barack Obama proposes economic suicide for US. He hasn't a clue.

Let Bombay remind us: they haven't gone away. And there are thousands of them in our midst. It is not if but when we get hit again.

Chasm between the two Britains is laid bare. Labour has destroyed Britain. We may never recover.

Clarkypoos road test...

Ford Fiesta Titanium 1.6

May's law of accidents. Can mathematics stop you bumping into things?

and finally a couple of articles by Alan Caruba.

The UN Celebrates "Palestinians", Hates Jews.

The Religion of Peace Strikes Again.

I parked in a disabled space today and a traffic warden shouted to me....

'Oi, what's your disability?'

I said 'Tourettes! Now f**k off!'

H/T Old Dude

Stormbringer on the Mumbai Attacks......

'I caution our brethren in the community not to underestimate these forces and whoever is behind them. Despite the fact that their plan contained many moving parts it was brilliant in it's simplicity and the ability of the assault elements to successfully engage several specific targets simultaeneously.

In analyzing the terrorist operation; it is significant that they first hit the Colaba police station - possibly as a single unit - and killed the Chief of Mumbai's anti-terrorist squad plus two other senior officials. These actions served as diversions to delay the police response.

Ultimately, a platoon-sized terrorist force was able to overcome the crews of two ships at sea and hijack them, land, then break up into dedicated teams and move toward and attack 10 separate objectives (including the police station). Their targets were places where foreigners are known to congregate: the Taj Mahal and Trident hotels, the orthodox Jewish center, the Cama hospital, the CSP train station, a cinema, and a cafe. They were able to hit all targets practically simultaneously. In addition two taxis were blown up near the airport in the north and the docks in the southern part of the city.

What is particularly disturbing is the striking military theme of the terrorist attacks - the overall plan was completely in accordance with the philosophy behind our own conventional military doctrine i.e. "MOOSEMUSS" - Mass / Objective / Offensive / Simplicity / Economy of Effort / Maneuver / Unity of Command / Surprise / Security. The only aspect of this operation that differentiates it from our own is the fact that it was a one-way suicide mission - there was no apparent intent to withdraw and exfiltrate.

Two other aspects of this incident are disturbing; if indeed al Qaeda or a sympathetic movement is behind this operation it is the first time they have engaged multiple targets with seperate elements outside of a full-on combat zone (i.e. Iraq or Afghanistan) and it is also the first time in the course of the Kashmir-related violence that mass groups of Westerners were sought and singled out as targets.
The terrorist leadership has no doubt taken notice of the effectiveness of this low-tech approach. Such a mission could easily be carried out on any continent, to include North America. Short of a "backpack nuke" scenario, we will probably never again see an operation as sophisticated as the 9/11 plot. On the other hand, we now have every reason to expect terrorist attacks on our own soil, inspired by what happened this week in Mumbai.

That the Mumbai attacks were significant on several different levels is the armchair tactician's take . . . but on a more sinister level there is agreement within my community that this particular raid (the Mumbai attacks) were not what they appear to be, i.e. ". . . an operation in disguise as another . . ."

This is BRILLIANT of course. . . the concept that the entire operation was either some kind of capabilities exercise / rehearsal a la the Dieppe Raid . . . or it was a diversion in itself; " . . . a practice run for a larger attack planned for elsewhere . . ."

WHATEVER it was at this time we MUST assume that ". . . in some cave they're doing AARs (After Action Reviews) on it all, viewing film clips and tweaking the model . . ."

One lesson my fellow Veterans & I must take from this incident: from this point on, we go nowhere unarmed.'