Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Attack on Israel's Northern Border Map and Video
Map of attack. The unprovoked attack on IDF Maintenance crew from Lebanon happened on the Israel side of the Blue Line (demarcating the border). The fence is set a few meters inside Israeli territory for tactical and functional reasons.
As you can see in the above map, in some areas, there is a gap between the IDF security fence and the actual border, which is...
More at DoubleTapper
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News.........
Day 26 – August 4th 1940
Missile Defense Obama Style
Geert Wilders ... a man for all seasons ... a man who leads ...
Someone is leaving signs
Doug Hagin Radio Show: If You are Left, You Just ain't Right #9
Illegals Defining Trait
British holidaymakers face travel chaos as Spanish air traffic controllers threaten strike
EPA to Crack Down on Farm Dust
Pakistan floods: Islamic fundamentalists fill state aid void
Viral email discloses 'what women really mean'
Savers to get €100,000 protection
AMERICA'S NEW HEALTH CARE SYSTEM REVEALED
Democrats Disillusioned
The Other Side of Shirley Sherrod
Council houses should no longer be 'for life', Cameron tells PM Direct public meeting
British soldier shot in Afghanistan is saved by his ROSARY... just like his great-grandfather in WWII
NHS waiting lists rise after doctors' hours cut
MoD scientist's death in top-secret blast to be investigated after eight years
Hizbollah threatens to join violence on Lebanese border with Israel
Trident is too important to play politics with
China's Real Estate Bubble Threatens to Burst
Census of Marine Life Reveals Endless Diversity of Sea Creatures
United States Department of Defense takes shape on September 11th
Dawson's Creek Star Marries in Israel
Forgotten Eurotunnel passengers taken back to England
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Tuesday, 3 August 2010
New Zealand combat casualties Afghanistan
We have experienceed our first combat death in Afghanistan and the first since Pte Leonard Manning was killed in East Timor in 2000.
Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack in which a vehicle patrol was attacked with an IED follwed up with RPG's and small arms fire begining at approx 12.30 GMT. As comms with the patrol are intermitent at this stage all the details are unclear.
However the Prime Minister John Key has conformed New Zealands commitment to the deployment and said this death is not a reason to withdraw. The SAS deployment is due to end in September but this is being reconsidered in order to allow the force to complete its mission.
We're one of the smallest countries in the world with a population that would be a suburb of London or New York, we do many things. Running away isn't one of them.
More here.
Afghanistan War a Mistake?
"Another of our country's children, giving his life for our freedom from terrorism. God bless you, soldier, thank you for your ultimate sacrifice. You will never be forgotten." --- From the comments at the Orange County Register.The photo shows U.S. Marine Michael Chang grieving at the memorial for his best friend, Army Sgt. Daniel Lim. The Orange County Register has the front-page story and slideshow, "O.C. soldier's love for family and friends ran deep." A picture of Chang is also on the front-page of the hardcopy edition of today's Wall Street Journal. Looking at the images from the Sgt. Lim ceremonies, can we really believe the war was a mistake? Have the lives of those who've sacrificed been for naught? I don't believe so. But at almost 9 years, the war in Afghanistan may be stretching the limits of America's patience.
The partisan political splits have been longstanding. The Democratic Party used the war for cheap political purposes during the Bush administration. Democrats argued that America was fighting the wrong war in Iraq, that Afghanistan was the "good war" in the post-9/11 era. But as soon as it looked like the U.S. has secured a lasting stability --- if not all-out victory --- in Iraq, the Democrats' political calculus turned to antiwar mobilization against the Afghanistan deployment. Sober analysts are correct to contrast and justify the commitment of U.S. resources with the war aims in Afghanistan. They've suggested that U.S. goals have not always been well-defined and that nation-building seems supported more by U.S. contingents on the ground than the Afghan political officials being propped up by American power. Then you have the neo-communist leftists, who have two political cards against the modern capitalist system: "racism" and "neo-imperialism." Some of these folks have in fact given direct support to our enemies, treasonous behavior that sadly reaches to the Obama administration itself. Not far behind the left are the "realist" paleocons, who for my money are not much better than the neo-communists in their wild conspiracies of alleged U.S. neo-colonial adventures. Such talk ultimately aids and abets our enemies. It places such a narrow desideratum on our interests that basically the U.S. would never intervene abroad unless a couple of our largest cities were incinerated by nuclear mushroom clouds.
In any case, I'm prompted to this discussion by today's front-page report at USA Today, "Poll: Waning Support for Obama On Wars," and more specifically, the Gallup Poll behind it, "In U.S., New High of 43% Call Afghanistan War a 'Mistake'." Ed Morrissey focuses on the political angle, and the likihood the USA Today buried the lede on Obama's collapsing numbers. That's important, although it's the Gallup entry that's more interesting to me, since the poll cites WikiLeaks as a reason for the declining support:
After the Internet publication of tens of thousands of leaked classified documents on the war in Afghanistan, 43% of Americans now say the United States made a mistake in sending troops there, up slightly from just before the release (38%). While Americans are still more likely to support than oppose the war, the percentage who say it was a mistake to get involved is at a new high ....
The 43% of Americans calling the decision to send U.S. military forces into Afghanistan a mistake marks the high point in the nearly nine-year war, although a slight majority continue to support the decision. Public support persists even though for most of the last several years Americans have generally thought the war has been going badly for the United States, and many more currently disapprove than approve of President Obama's handling of the situation.
Thus, the leaking of the documents may not be providing new information to the general public about the progress of the war. And given Americans' subdued attention to the story, it's also not clear that Americans are highly familiar with what information those documents reveal.
But the documents do remind Americans of the challenges the United States is facing in Afghanistan, and they may have caused an increasing number to question whether the efforts there are worth it. Last week, Congress approved President Obama's request for continued funding of the war, though by a narrower margin than last year.
That sounds like a decent assessment. I'd simply add that most MSM outlets are in the tank for WikiLeaks, and this despite the fact that Julian Assange is almost certainly running a criminal enterprise. I think at this point the U.S. is now to a point of winding down the Bush-era wars. President Obama has never embraced them as his own. Of course he campaigned vociferously against Iraq in 2007-08 and is today claiming credit for victory there; and on Afghanistan he's been at most lukewarm in his support, while some of his decision-making has in fact put U.S. troops in greater danger. But there's more to the WikiLeaks story than meets the eye. American interests remain great in Afghanistan. Despite the increasing drumbeats for a precipitous withdrawal, AfPAK will remain a top global security threat for years to come. We'd be foolish to cut and run. On that score, I'll give the last word to Thomas Joscelyn at Weekly Standard. See, "The Taliban's Savagery: The Documents Released by WikiLeaks Say Much About the Evil of Our Enemies":
When WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announced the massive leak of more than 90,000 classified documents, he claimed that he was exposing “thousands” of possible American war crimes. The documents show nothing of the sort. Some of the documents do detail the brutality of war, and the unsurprising fact that mistakes are made. Assange’s anti-American myopia prevented him from seeing what the documents really demonstrate: American-led forces face an especially savage enemy.
Of course, we didn’t need the WikiLeaks cache of documents to tell us this. There is plenty of evidence for the whole world to see. Still, the documents demonstrate just how pervasive the Taliban’s brutality is in this fight. The Taliban and its jihadist allies have an unparalleled lust for blood, beheading their enemies (both real and imagined) on a regular basis. It is difficult to think of a more savage act.
Here are just some examples, chosen from many, found in the documents released by WikiLeaks ....
RTWT.
Cross-posted from American Power.
What happened on Israel's Northern Border
The attack by the Lebanese army against the IDF, took place in Israeli territory along Israeli's Northern border. In some areas, there is a gap between the IDF security fence and the actual border, which is where this attack took place. IDF soldiers were conducting routine maintenance work including clearing bushes from the area...
Watch the video at DoubleTapper
Remembering the Battle of Athens
Virgil Remembers the Battle of Athens. Tennessee.
Also known as The GI Revolt.
A society that destroys "inconveniences" that happen to have faces, and
heartbeats, and that ridicules the old doesn't love. It despises. Remembering
the Script.
Palestinian Panty Police
Whoa!
Call for backup!
The ever risible Strip - same cats who fairly and freely voted in the world's very first suicide regime (rocket rich - natch! ) are battling crime with a new squad of coppers.
Applications online for HAMAS's new school law enforcement can be sent here.
Help keep Palestinian shame and honor betwixt a girl's legs, instead of where it really belongs...
Pic 'Commentary deleted" by the staff at GrEaT sAtAn"s gIrLfRiEnD
Impact: United Airlines Flight 175 September 11, 2001
At Israel Matzav, "Why There Shouldn't Be a Mosque at Ground Zero."
More on Flight 175 here.
RELATED: "'WE HAVE SOME PLANES'."
BREAKING: Dan Senor, at WSJ, "An Open Letter on the Ground Zero Mosque" (via Memeorandum):
Our deeper concern is what effect Cordoba House would have on the families of 9/11 victims, survivors of and first responders to the attacks, New Yorkers in general, and all Americans. As you have seen in the public reaction to the Cordoba House, 9/11 remains a deep wound for Americans—especially those who experienced it directly in some way. They understandably see the area as sacred ground. Nearly all of them also reject the equation of Islam with terrorism and do not blame the attacks on Muslims generally or on the Muslim faith. But many believe that Ground Zero should be reserved for memorials to the event itself and to its victims. They do not understand why of all possible locations in the city, Cordoba House must be sited so near to there.
And the contrary opinion from Wordsmith at Flopping Aces, "Refudiating the Islamophobes." And Jennifer Rubin, "The Left Defends Ground Zero Mosque."
Cross-posted from American Power.
Coming Soon: VBS TV - Oregon Fire Lines - Teaser
Whenever someone at our office bitches about being overworked, our stock response is “Beats digging ditches.” While the express intention of the statement is usually not-so-supportive, we think it’s a healthy reminder that at the end of the day, we are all basically professional emailers and should be thankful for such.
The wildland firefighters who work for Grayback Forestry in Southern Oregon have no such motivational adages because their job is actually digging ditches. Around active forest fires. On the sides of mountains.
You can’t even bitch at these guys for having cushy government pensions to fall back on when they get older, because they’re all private-sector contractors. Which means if they aren’t out fighting forest fires or doing preventative forestry on unburned woods (basically extreme landscaping), they are losing money. They are literally the hardest working men in tree business.
We spent a few days following a crew of Grayback forest-firefighters walk up the sides of what most people would consider a cliff to chop down underbrush in preparation for a controlled burn. This is what they like to call “project work,” aka the light stuff in between fires, and yet it was still some of the hardest most least-rewarding work we have ever tried to do in our lives. Unless you consider 12-hour-plus shifts of backbreaking labor, virtually zero outside recognition, and occasional accusations of being shills for the timber industry rewards. Which we do not.
Attack on Israel's Northern Border
Reports of attack on IDF troops near the South Lebanon border. IDF responding with tank, artillery, attack helicopter and...
More at DoubleTapper
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