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POPS Combat Wounded, Combat Dead
defense such as we’re already seeing explored on his behalf … rather than as a committed jihadi, an unlawful combatant, a terrorist, a deserter who aided and abetted the enemy, and a traitor who took up arms against his nation. It’s a push Republican lawmakers and those Democrats who agree could take up, that would command a lot of public support. Politicization of justice? Tell me that hasn’t happened already in this country. I’d call it a simple demand for justice. We owe it to the dead and the wounded to acknowledge why and under what circumstances they died and bled. Here’s an American hero who deserves the highest honors we can bestow on her. NY Daily News. Sgt. Kimberly Munley, cop, gunfighting woman. Went into a hot situation without regard for her own safety, gave better than she got, wounded in action, got the job done. I’d call that gallantry and valor in the face of the enemy, plus war wounds. Maybe even above and beyond. She’s reportedly an Army vet.
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POPSTexas military shooter a Muslim convert As a group of soldiers were preparing to be deployed to Iraq from Fort Hood in a special commissioning ceremony today, the officer opened fire killing 12 follow soldiers and injuring 32 others. A local police officer who was on contract with the military to provide law enforcement at the base shot and killed the suspect. At least 2 others involved in the shooting have been apprehended. It is unclear as to the level of involvement of the 2 or whether or not other suspects are at large.
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POPS Hunt For 9.11 Killers Finds Trail In Pakistan where his trail was just picked up by the Pakistan forces clearing out the hornet’s nest that is South Waziristan Agency: The suspected 9/11 plotter whose German passport was found in a mud hut in western Pakistan this week has not been in touch with his family for two years, his mother, Anneliese Bahaji, said in an telephone interview Friday. The Pakistani military said it found his German passport five days ago in a mud hut in the village of Sherwangai in South Waziristan, during a search operation. To me this is a good sign that Pakistan, US, NATO, Afghan forces are circling the last remnants of the al Qaeda brain trust and that we may finally get our hands on some long sought targets. Since being pushed out of Afghanistan, it has been my contention al Qaeda has been holed up in the tribal areas of Pakistan. This evidence, however, is a clear indication we may be marching to the big nest of bad guys. The violent responses in Pakistan to the military actions indicate we
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POPSThe terrorists at Club Gitmo don't want to leave Obvious. What else more could they want? They have personal chefs, TVs, remote controls, beach volleyball, a library overlooking the ocean, scenic views, free laundry service, new prayer rugs to pray to Allah.....and they're getting the H1N1 vaccine before you. The libs want them out of Cuban Clown College as long as they're nowhere near their Manhattan penthouses or vacation spots in the Vineyard. As if splashing water on their damn faces is going to scare them off.....PUH-LEASE. Gitmo should be rebranded so that liberals wouldn’t reflexively scream “TORTURE!” every time they heard it’s name. How about "Misfired Martyrs Motel" or "Viva la Incarceracion!"?
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POPSMurderous US drones condemned by UN. Americans who are confused by the grotesque transformation of the modest aim of capturing a few bad men into a conflagration that has destroyed the lives of millions echo the Guardian of the 1920s, which asked why the British government had to send "all this machinery, all these forces...if we were establishing a political system on the basis of popular consent?" Without distinguishing between drones that protect our troops and those that drop bombs and hover menacingly over an occupied people, The Economist taunts, "like them or not, drones are here to stay." Now, who are the terrorists here and which is the rogue state ?
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POPSZinnie to Obama: Time's Up on Afghanistan Decision If Zinni is calling for more troops Now then things are more serious than we're hearing. And I bet he didn't use the word "dillydallying". I just read that 8 US soldiers were killed today by roadside bombs. Either support our people there or throw our integrity to the wind and leave.
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POPSU.S. Had Covert Ties to Paki-based Terrorist in Iran Bombing The terrorist behind the Iran bombing recently was a former covert operative per Robert Baer, former CIA agent of Syriana fame. This is not unlike the former ties with Al Qaeda and bin Laden as covert operatives and "CIA brainchilds". Of course, this was done for provocatory purposes to spark Iran-British-U.S. conflict....and it appears to be working for this design. See Telegraph UK article: Iran vows revenge after claiming bomb attack was carried out by Britain A bomb attack on Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard that killed over 40 people including top generals was carried out by terrorists trained by America and Britain in nearby Pakistan , a senior commander said on Monday. See, "state-sponsored terrorism" can be alleged both ways.
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POPSNATO Agrees - Someone Else Needs To Send More Troops To Afghanistan That counterterrorism strategy is identified with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. In contrast, General McChrystal’s review calls for implementing a full-scale counterinsurgency strategy that focuses on protecting population centers and accelerating the training of Afghan army and police units, both requiring significant numbers of fresh troops. NATO diplomats noted that it was difficult to see how an acceptance of this broad strategy could be viewed as anything but an endorsement of the need to increase both military and civilian contributions. Great! The Little Red Hen has convinced everyone that planting seeds to make bread would be a great idea! Let's see where the Coalition of the Free-Riding takes this. Posted by Tom Maguire on October 23
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POPSOct. 23,1983 Lebanese Terrorists Bomb the Marine Barracks in Beirut . . with Syria. Although the United States had mounted two previous successful peacekeeping operations in Lebanon in 1958 and earlier in 1982 (to facilitate the evacuation of P.L.O. forces from Beirut that had been defeated by Israel), the ignominious end of the MNF intervention brought disastrous consequences. The failure of the peacekeeping mission led to renewed fighting between Lebanese factions and the ascendancy of Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria. Moreover, the Marine barracks bombing, which was the deadliest terrorist attack against Americans before the 9/11 attacks, later inspired Osama bin Laden, who viewed the United States as a “paper tiger” because of its rapid withdrawal of peacekeeping forces from Lebanon and Somalia after suffering casualties. Al Qaeda members were later dispatched to Hezbollah training camps in Lebanon, according to the 9/11 Commission Report (p. 68). Posted October 23rd, 2009 in American Leadership.
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POPSThe Long Road to Indecision (we need a "Decider") selecting Gen. Stanley McChrystal to implement it, the administration began to get very cold feet about the war it had described as a strategic necessity. Consider this quick timeline: March 27 . Accompanied by Gen. David Petraeus, author of the Iraq “surge” and head of U.S. Central Command, President Obama announces the conclusion of the “Af-Pak” review: a “comprehensive strategy” to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda” and “combat insurgents”"i.e., the Taliban. May 11 . McKiernan is fired and replaced by Gen. Stanley McChrystal. “We have a new strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador. Late June . Traveling in Afghanistan with Bob Woodward"who has by now simply opened an office in the West Wing"National Security Adviser (and ex-Marine general) Jim Jones tells on-the-ground commanders “that the Obama administration wants to hold troop levels here flat for now, . . .
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POPSThe Other Thing Obama Inherited But rapidly deteriorating conditions and a widely disputed and unresolved election in Afghanistan gave the Obama administration pause and led to the current policy review. “Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission,” (Cheney) said, calling on Obama to fulfill a promise he made in August to armed forces in a speech at the VFW to give them the support and resources need to get the job done. “It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise,” he said. “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.” “Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries,” he added. “Waffling, while our troops on the ground face an emboldened enemy, endangers them and hurts our cause.”
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POPSHow robot drones revolutionized the face of warfare U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Major Morgan Andrews is one such combatant. He kisses his wife goodbye, drives to Creech, a tiny desert air force base in Nevada, and within minutes could be killing insurgents on the other side of the world.
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POPSAHIP Declares War On the U.S. Read the article and then DO SOMETHING! Following are a couple more paragraphs to whet your curiosity. "For many years America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) have been fighting an undeclared war on US citizens. According to the Harvard Study cited recently by Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), lack of health insurance and denials of legitimate claims kill more Americans each month than died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. When Al-Qaeda or Nazi Germany declared war on the United States, their intent was to kill US citizens and to cause economic collapse in the United States. That’s how a modern war works. The study released by PWC and commissioned by AHIP reveals the arsenal the Health Insurance companies plan to use in the coming war. They are going to kill Americans by putting the price of health care out of reach. They are planning to kill their paying customers by finding new ways to deny care."
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POPSLast-Man-Mistake-Death Opportunity Knocks who said in a separate interview from Kabul, “I don’t see how President Obama can make a decision about the committing of our additional forces, or even the further fulfillment of our mission that’s here today, without an adequate government in place.” His interview was broadcast on “Face the Nation.” The signals come as Republican critics already are complaining that the president is taking too long to decide They argue that Mr. Obama has left the impression of indecisiveness that has only emboldened the Taliban, making the task of the 68,000 American troops already there that much harder. Well, sometimes not making a decision is a decision. Not making a choice when you really have no choice is pretty much a forfeit, though. With every last one of our allies looking on, doing the mental calculus on which way to go now that the United States has shown itself to be utterly gutless and unreliable. With no vote of US confidence in any elected outcome whatsoever,
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POPSSeeing the Afghan Forest Not the Trees William Pfaff wrote on September 17, 2001: "Clearly, the United States needs to deal with Mr. bin Laden's terrorist organization, but that is essentially a police and intelligence problem. Long-term United States interests cannot afford a "war" that risks toppling Saudi Arabia and other conservative Islamic regimes into alliance with the radical movements already powerful in Iran, Sudan, Algeria, and influential in Egypt, Pakistan, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. That, though, is the risk." Now, Pakistan threatens to come unglued and the President is being advised to send in 40,000 troops. What he needs to do is read this article below.
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POPS Afghanistan Syndrome Asad and Tahir would be the first ones to die. As the months dragged on, I grew to detest our captors. I saw the Haqqanis as a criminal gang masquerading as a pious religious movement. They described themselves as the true followers of Islam but displayed an astounding capacity for dishonesty and greed. Whole thing. I hope Obama, Emanuel, Axelrod, Biden, Reid, Levin, Pelosi, etal, are paying attention. You know, between Filkins and Rohde, I’m starting to warm up to the Times a little. At least until the next al-Qaeda early warning system alert goes up. What’s going on … when even the AP’s Kabul bureau seems to be starting to get it? * Though maybe not as far from Stockholm, New York, your town as some people would like to think. Yes, we’re still having this conversation in 2009.
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POPSAl-Qaeda Want Our Oxfam Shops "Without this education, many are committing suicide because they see no future for themselves", he sighed. "I'm sure you'll all agree this is a global tragedy and your money will help bring it to an end", he concluded. Many thanks...
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POPS Hammer Wants An Anvil Fawning “Inconvenient Truth Teller” article inside paints him as a sort of goof savant … a bit like Chauncey Gardiner of “Being There,” he’s been in Washington DC his entire life, everyone likes him, and suddenly they think he’s a genius. The three-decade gaffe-and-reverse record requires some acrobatics, though. The Newsweek scribblers clearly like his go-lite, wack-a-mole strategy though they are big enough to admit at the end that people who actually know what they are talking about say it won’t work. It’s not exactly the Joe Biden embed that I wished out loud NYT’s Dexter Filkins would do as a counterbalance to his McChyrstal piece earlier this week,* but close. Some administration officials, led by Biden, appear to hope that American forces can rely more on counterterrorism operations"attacks by Predator drones and small elite units on terrorist hiding places"to hold Afghanistan together and defeat Al Qaeda. But critics call this “splitting the baby" and say . . .
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POPSSen. Byrd Challenges Obama's Afghanistan Surge, the Forgotten Bin Laden "The reason for the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan has become lost, consumed in some broader scheme of nation-building" Then point blank: "I am compelled to ask: Does it really take 100,000 U.S. troops to find Osama bin Laden? If al-Qaida has moved to Pakistan, what will these troops sent to Afghanistan add to the effort to 'defeat' al-Qaida?" Can anyone answer that, straight up? In other words, it's contrary to their own propaganda. Will Obama listen to him? : Do recall Sen. Byrd's famous "The Truth Will Emerge" speech opposing war with Iraq --which is now entirely vindicated. mark my words, the calculated intimidation that we see so often of late by the "powers that be" will only keep the loyal opposition quiet for just so long. Because eventually, like it always does, the truth will emerge. And when it does, this house of cards, built of deceit, will fall.
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POPSSearching For Consensus on Afghanistan share the same strategic interests and that the return to power of the Taliban would automatically mean a new sanctuary for al-Qaeda. Is that a myth? Here is Barack Obama on March 27, 2009, announcing his first new strategy for Afghanistan: "And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban - or allows al Qaeda to go unchallenged - that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can." He added: The return in force of al Qaeda terrorists who would accompany the core Taliban leadership would cast Afghanistan under the shadow of perpetual violence. Later in the Post article, the reporters quote a "senior Obama official" comparing Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Eight months ago, if you had asked people which was worse, everybody would have said Pakistan is worse and Afghanistan is in good shape." Afghanistan was in good shape? 2008 was the deadliest year for American troops there. Nobody paying any attention
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