Posts Tagged ‘War on Terror’

Allies like these: Italy serves up more than spagetti

December 16, 2010

It wasn’t all that long ago that Italy was being pounded on a regular basis by various terrorist organizations. The United States of America stood by Italy in it’s fight with the blood thirsty enemies of freedom and liberty. Often at our own peoples peril. This is how we are repaid for that loyalty.

ROME (AFP) – An Italian court upped the sentences for 23 CIA agents convicted in absentia of abducting an Egyptian imam in one of the biggest cases against the US “extraordinary rendition” programme.

The 23 CIA agents, originally sentenced in November 2009 to five to eight years in prison, had their sentences increased to seven to nine years on appeal in what one of the defence lawyers described as a “shocking blow” for the US.

SOURCE

Now, in all honesty I wouldn’t have bought into the Nuremberg style defense that was presented either. However, we are in a war, and have been for quite some time. Italy, is supposed to be a major ally, fellow member of the N.A.T.O. alliance and all that. So what do they do? Set their own people free based upon national security concerns that were just as involved as our own C.I.A. personnel but sentence our people to prison… Perhaps, in a juvenile sense it might be a bit fun to just let Italy sit and take it on the chin the next few times they get hit with terrorism. But “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Indeed, The United States of America should take the high road and maintain as cordial a relationship as possible.

That said there is a huge Italian demographic here, and those that still have ties to the old country should be talking to the officials in Italy about this issue, and do it like Americans. Loud and proud!

Epic Fail obama throws a temper tantrum

January 30, 2010

The impostor in chief acted like a two year old when he showed up at a GOP retreat. Just what we need in a POTUS right?

WASHINGTON – President Obama dove headfirst into the belly of the GOP beast Friday – and left the not-so-loyal opposition bleeding on a Baltimore ballroom floor.

He skewered Republicans for obstructionist tactics, dubious facts and a lack of civility in opposing his domestic agenda, especially health care reform.

Let’s see Mister President. You can’t seemtofigure it out, so I will address just a few of the issues that have the people of America not just angry, but thoroughly ticked off at you, and your gang of thugs!
  • Health care is for us to decide about not you, or any of your czars!
  • Cap and trade is nothing but a money making scheme that will cripple our economy even further.
  • Man made climate change is a farce. Call it what it is and get on with business…
  • Your closet attempts at gun control will only lead to a full blown revolution. Molan Labe!
  • The American people are against illegal immigration as well as any sort of amnesty for those that broke our laws. Figure it out bright boy!
  • Taking over private business’s should be done through our quasi free market system, not by politicians.
  • We really are in a war on terrorism, and as of late most terrorist’s are muslims. Admit it, and do your job as CIC.
  • Americans do not bow to foreign leaders, ever!
  • The stealth approach to gun control via the U.N. isn’t so stealthy, read above.
  • You hired a pervert to be “safe schools czar?”
  • The economy will not be helped by more Keynesian socialism. Stop spending our grandchildren’s  heritage.
  • Lastly, stop blaming Bush, it’s your agenda now.

No Mister obama, it’s not the Republicans. It is the American People that are against you, your programs, and the thugs that you have working on your team…

Al Qaeda Massacred By Ferocious Leathernecks

January 9, 2009

I think that maybe, just maybe, this account will put to rest the “Old Corp” verses the “New Corp” debate that has been going on for as long as I can remember.

Semper Fi Devil Dogs!

Iraq battle yields Navy Cross, 4 Silver Stars

By Gidget Fuentes – Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 8, 2009 20:59:38 EST

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The Marine Corps will present the Navy Cross on Thursday to a junior grenadier credited with saving the lives of 10 fellow infantrymen and decimating a force of insurgents during a deadly 2005 firefight inside an Iraqi home.

Three other members of his infantry squad with 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, will receive Silver Stars during the ceremony at Camp Pendleton, Calif., according to 1st Lt. Curtis Williamson, a 1st Marine Division spokesman. A fourth Silver Star will be presented to the family of their former platoon commander, who died in the battle against 21 heavily armed insurgents in western Anbar province.

Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter recently approved the Navy Cross for Lance Cpl. Joshua A. Mooi, a grenadier assigned to Fox Company’s 2nd Platoon. The Navy Cross is the nation’s second-highest award for combat valor, after the Medal of Honor.

On Nov. 16, 2005, Mooi’s battalion was targeting al-Qaida operatives in New Ubaydi, along the Euphrates River. The missions were part of operation “Steel Curtain.”

Mooi’s platoon came under attack from insurgents firing automatic weapons and lobbing grenades from several fortified homes, officials said. Mooi fought back and helped recover four Marines hit by enemy fire.

Six times, he “willingly entered an ambush site to pursue the enemy and extricate injured Marines,” his award citation states. “Often alone in his efforts, he continued to destroy the enemy and rescue wounded Marines until his rifle was destroyed by enemy fire and he was ordered to withdraw.”

His “relentless and courageous actions eliminated at least four insurgents while permitting the immediate care and evacuation of more than a dozen Marines who lay critically or mortally wounded,” it states.

To date. 16 Marines and one Navy corpsman have been awarded the Navy Cross for their combat actions in Iraq.

Winter also approved Silver Stars for:

• 2nd Lt. Donald R. McGlothlin, the platoon commander who was killed as he laid suppressive fire against insurgents in an effort to shield the evacuation of wounded Marines from the house, his citation states.

• Staff Sgt. Robert W. Homer, 2nd Platoon’s sergeant, who fended off enemy grenades, small-arms fire and serious shrapnel wounds to lob suppressive fire and help treat and evacuate wounded Marines before he was ordered aboard a medevac helicopter, according to the citation.

• Cpl. Javier Alvarez, a squad leader who directed several magazines of suppressive fire as Marines tried to aid and evacuate the wounded and who himself was seriously wounded after he grabbed an enemy grenade before it detonated, the citation states.

• Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Jesse P. Hickey, the platoon corpsman who saved several Marines’ lives, at times running into the kill zone through enemy automatic fire to treat severely wounded members despite suffering injuries to one of his arms, according to his citation.

SOURCE

Profiles of valor: US Army Sgt. Ruske

November 7, 2008

United States Army Sgt. Gregory Ruske, a reservist from Colorado Springs, was on tour in Afghanistan in April when he proved to be a hero. Ruske was assigned to Combined Joint Task Force 101, operating in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province. His platoon was on patrol in a remote area not accessible by vehicle when Taliban fighters attacked. Ruske supplied cover fire as most of the platoon moved to protective cover. He took a bullet to the hip but kept fighting. Ruske noticed that two Afghan National Police officers were pinned down in the open, under heavy fire. One officer was able to run for cover, but the other had been wounded and was attempting to crawl to safety. Ruske then ordered his squad automatic weapon gunner to spray the enemy with a Z-shaped pattern of fire giving him enough cover to run to the aid of the Afghan officer. He and Spc. Eric Seagraves grabbed the officer’s arms and dragged him toward a wall for cover before realizing the officer’s leg was shattered.

After the ambush was defeated, Ruske received treatment for his wound and then visited the Afghan whose life he had saved. The Afghan made a full recovery. For his bravery and selfless actions under fire, Sgt. Ruske became just the fourth Army reservist to receive the Silver Star for heroism in the War on Terror. “I don’t consider myself a hero,” he said. “I was just an ordinary guy put in an extraordinary situation. I reacted based on my upbringing, training and compassion, and thankfully, it worked out in the end.”

source: Patriot Post

Canadian terror suspect …

May 18, 2008

This story is a bit stale, but i thought that it still might be of interest to many. This citizen of an allied nation has been linked to international terrorism, and a bounty was offered for his capture. Allegedly, he was tortured by a secondary nation. Seems a lot of people are upset at that possible turn of events. At the same time, by implication, they are not upset with his apparent activities. I also would want to know just what they are calling “torture.” A mind trick, like water boarding perhaps? Burning bamboo shoots beneath the fingernails? Or perhaps the Che Guevara special, a twelve volt battery applied to various parts of the anatomy of a person hanging by the wrists that has been doused in saline solution? What about the people that he harmed. Is this some sort of justice for them? Then, the story perpetuates the myth that aggressive interrogation methods are not trustworthy in spite of recent discoveries. All intelligence gained from any methodology needs to be vetted no matter the source, and no system or method is one hundred percent perfect.

All that is moot in my mind though if this guy is a terrorist. For those on the left that love these types of people, like Osama bin Laden  and Che Guevara I say too bad. I have seen terrorism first hand, from the Viet Cong disemboweling village headmen and their wives before their families and villagers, to the PFLP gaining Allah’s blessing by killing children they all have one thing in common. That being that the only thing that they truly respect is brutal, and blunt force. If that is what it takes to achieve victory in this war with “The religion of peace” then so be it.

OTTAWA (AFP) — A US intelligence agency paid a 500,000-dollar bounty to Pakistan’s military for the arrest of the Canadian son of a suspected Al-Qaeda financier, said court documents.

According to an October 2004 memo to the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) ordered released by Canada’s federal court, Abdullah Khadr was wanted for “supporting insurgent activity in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

Thus, Khadr “is deemed to be a national security threat and has a 500,000 US dollar outstanding bounty for his capture,” said the memo published on the website of the daily Globe and Mail, which fought for its disclosure.

Khadr is the eldest son of Egyptian-born

Canadian national Ahmed Said Khadr, and the brother of Omar Khadr, the only Canadian held at the US naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

He was held in Pakistan for almost a year before returning in 2005 to Canada, where he was arrested and jailed, and is now fighting extradition to the United States.

Justice officials inadvertantly disclosed the top secret memo in court filings last year and fought the Globe and Mail not to publish it, but lost.

Federal Court Judge Richard said in his decision: “The fact that a foreign state paid a bounty for the apprehension of a Canadian citizen abroad and that Canadian officials were aware of it … is a matter in which the public would have a legitimate interest.”

“The evidence heard in camera supports the conclusion that the bounty was offered and paid by the United States,” he added.

Khadr’s lawyers maintain that their client was tortured while in Pakistan and his statements to US, Canadian and Pakistani agents are therefore tainted. Khadr attorney Nathan Whitling told the Globe and Mail that Washington was guilty of “outsourcing torture.”

“Rather than getting its own hands dirty, the US simply paid the Musharraf regime 500,000 dollars to arrest Mr Khadr, knowing full well what Pakistan would do to him.

“The US then did all it could to hide this secret arrangement from the Canadian judge hearing Mr Khadr’s case,” Whitling charged.

The RMCP memo says Khadr was also a “primary target” of Canada’s anti-terrorism squad “for his role with (Al-Qaeda) training camps.”

As well, it says Khadr “is deemed to be a great intelligence asset due to his close relationship” with Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and other members of the terror network.

Khadr’s brother Abdurahman Khadr has admitted on Canadian television that the family knew bin Laden, and that Al-Qaeda operatives trained him and some of his siblings in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, his brother Omar Khadr faces an upcoming US military tribunal on charges that he murdered a US army medic in Afghanistan in 2002 when he was 15 years old.

Omar Khadr was arrested the same year and has since been held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The court documents also include a transcript of an RCMP interview in which Khadr says he is not a member of Al-Qaeda, but adds, “I only buy and sell weapons for Al-Qaeda.”

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gHl0Yqlz12qs_FlYT2mYRO8heC-w


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