Islamists Seize Control Of Northern Iraq, Move to Within 100km of Baghdad

Disturbing reports out of Iraq this week as fighters from the Islamic group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) swept through multiple cities in northern Iraq as security forces fled, in many cases leaving behind weapons, uniforms and vehicles for the battle-hardened terrorist group to use when further pressing their attack.

Iraqi forces were reportedly engaging ISIS fighters in Samarra while thousands of men in Baghdad turned up to volunteer to join the Army and halt the ISIS advance on the capital on Thursday. Cities captured in the ISIS offensive so far include Saddam Hussein's hometown of Fallujah, Ramadi, Tikrit and Iraq's second largest city- Mosul. According to Al Aan TV reporter Jenan Moussa, ISIS released statements through their twitter feed outlining strict new laws for the occupied cities that were to go into effect immediately- no alcohol, no tobacco, no firearms, women must cover up and only go outside 'when necessary'. The group has also promised to destroy shrines, monuments and graveyards and told Iraqi police and soldiers in the occupies territories to 'repent or die'. The International Business Times reports that ISIS may now be the wealthiest jihad group in the world after looting more than 500 Billion in Iraqi dinars (the equivalent of US$429 million) from Mosul's central bank.

Iran, which has considerable commercial and strategic interests in Iraq, reportedly sent the Quds unit of the Revolutionary Guards to help Noor Al-Maliki's government fight the emboldened ISIS movement as well as guard certain Shi'ite shrines from ISIS demolition. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Iranian officials authorized their Air force to bomb ISIS convoys if they come within 60 miles of the Iran-Iraq border.

Meanwhile, the Kurdish Peshmerga militia moved into positions abandoned by the retreating Iraqi Army in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Although both Shiite and Sunnis are wary of Kurdish involvement in the conflict, the battle-hardened Peshmerga is the most cohesive fighting force remaining in Iraq to go up against ISIS.

ISIS was formed roughly three years ago in Syria's Civil War as one faction that took up arms against the Bashr Al-Assad regime. However, the group also battled with the more secular Free Syrian Army which was made up of deserters from Bashr Al-Assad's security forces. An Al Qaeda offshoot, ISIS seized large swaths of territory from both Assad's security forces and the Free Syrian Army in eastern Syria before turning their attention to Iraq earlier this year.

Al Qaeda Detainees Among Hundreds Freed in Deadly Jailbreak of Two Iraqi Prisons

Marwan Ibrahim/AFP

Senior members of Al Qaeda in custody were among hundreds of inmates who were set free from multiple jails- including Baghdad's infamous Abu Grahib prison- in a pair of brazen nighttime raids that was carried out earlier this week.

According to Iraqi officials, suicide bombers drove vehicles into the front gates and detonated before a second wave of gunmen swarmed into the prison, opening fire on the guards with mortars, RPGs and machine guns and setting inmates free. Meanwhile, accomplices positioned themselves on the road leading to the jail and ambushed reinforcements as they were on their way to aid the besieged guards. The Abu Grahib and Taji prisons were only re-taken after Iraqi officials sent in helicopter gunships and special operations soldiers.

One security official told Reuters on condition of anonymity: "It's obviously a terrorist attack carried out by al Qaeda to free convicted terrorists with al Qaeda."

A simultaneous attack on another prison, in Taji, around 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, followed a similar pattern, but guards managed to prevent any inmates escaping. Sixteen soldiers and six militants were killed.

Although officials said some of the escapees were quickly recaptured, the majority of the Al Qaeda commanders in custody are said to be at large. Interpol has issued a regional alert for the escapees, saying its working with Iraqi police to obtain pictures of photographs of the fugitives.

Al Qaeda-allied Sunni insurgents have stepped up attacks on Iraqi civilians, policemen and soldiers in recent weeks, killing hundreds. Perhaps the single deadliest single attack in Iraq this month occurred on July 12th, when a suicide bomber blew up a café in Kirkuk as patrons were marking the end of the day's fast for Ramadan, killing at least 38 people.

On Thursday, Sunni gunmen reportedly had set up a roadblock on a highway outside of Kirkuk and executed 14 Shi'ite truck drivers.

Desert Storm Commanding General Norman Schwarzkopf Passes Away At Age 78

Retired General H. Norman Schwarzkopf passed away from complications from pneumonia in Tampa, FL on Thursday at the age of 78.

Nicknamed 'stormin Norman', Schwarzkopf was a 1956 graduate of West Point, served two tours in Vietnam and was named commander of the US Central Command facilities at McDill AFB in Tampa, FL.

In 1990, when Saddam Hussein's forces invaded Kuwait, Schwarzkopf convinced Saudi monarch King Fahd to allow the Arabian peninsula to be used as a staging area for American troops to counterattack and drive Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait. In addition to US, French and British forces Schwarzkopf also commanded an array of Arab troops from Egypt, Qatar, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. After a months-long buildup, operation Desert Storm was launched in January 1991. As the arab armies thrust into Kuwait, British and French forces- along with the US 101st Airborne Division, the 24th Infantry Division, 1st Armored Division and 3rd Armored Cavalry regiment- swept across the Saudi-Iraq border west of Kuwait, flanking Saddam's forces and decimating Iraqi armor and infantry as airstrikes continually bombarded Baghdad.

The results were devestating for Iraq's military, with as many as 35,000 killed by coalition forces while allied losses were fewer than 500. However, with Saddam's forces in disarray and full retreat into Baghdad, there was finishing thrust into the Iraqi capital by US and coalition forces at the time because the objective had been to remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait [I know for a fact there was a giant road sign in English and Arabic measuring the distance to Basra and Baghdad displayed in a motor pool in Ft Stewart, GA in the late 1990s- NANESB!].

Schwarzkopf retired from the Army the following year and wrote a biography called 'It Doesn't Take A Hero'. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and recieved honors from France, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Qatar and Bahrain. Aside from a brief stint as an NBC military commentator, the retired general mostly avoided politics and the spotlight, occasionaly acting as a spokesman for National Prostate Cancer Awareness and serving on the Nature Conservancy board of governors.

US Army Debuts His And Hers Body Armour

US Army Corporal Kristine Tejada keeps watch while securing the site of the ancient Sumerian Ziggeraut in Ur, Iraq. SSgt. Jeremy J. Fowler photo

Ladies of the Unites States Army- Tired of trying to stop bullets and shrapnel with a 40 year old flack jacket that was clearly made with somebody a foot taller and 80 lbs heavier than you in mind?

The you're in luck! The US Army is getting ready to begin field testing of body armour specifically designed for female soldiers this month. The GIs in question are part of the Ft Campbell, KY based 101st Airborne Division.Think of it as the 'Secret' of body armour- Stong enough for a man, but made for a woman.

"Most females tend to have a narrow or thinner waist as it relates to the chest area, so we pulled the waist area in," said Lt. Col. Frank J. Lozano, the product manager for Soldier Protective Equipment.

"Some women will want more room in the waist area, so we allowed for adjustability in the cummerbund in the back, which can be pulled in tighter or let out more than on the standard [Improved Outer Tactical Vest]."

Bringing the shoulder area closer to the neck helped accommodate narrow female shoulders and opens the area around the armpits. That opens up the mobility for the shoulders and upper arms so that female soldiers can properly hold their weapons against the shoulder

The female body armor also has a shorter bottom for a better fit, since the average torso length of women is shorter than that of men. That shorter length prevents the armor from chafing the hips female soldiers as they walk, and also avoids the blood circulation issue caused by the front armor plate.

A group of 30 female soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division will get 100 prototypes to try out in September or October. Their suggestions will then help finalize the body armor that deploys more broadly by next summer.

Another satisfied customer!

According to the US Army's own estimates, women currently make up 14% of all active-duty personnel. While women aren't technically allowed to serve in any combat arms fields (i.e. infantry, armour, artillery) there are a number of support MOS's where female soldiers do serve and are considered high-risk; such as Military Police or Combat Medic.

The female-only body armor is not to be confused with 'tactical corsets' which purportedly seeks to combine the practicality and convenience of a modern-day Load Carrying Equipment (LCE) harness with the Victorian era grace and elegance of a corset.

British Specialists to Help Iraq Destroy Stockpiles of Saddam-Era Chemical Weapons

British soldiers wearing protective suits in Iraq circa 2003

The UK's Ministry of Defense announced that they would be sending a team of experts to Iraq to help the government there dispose of chemical warfare agents dating back to Saddam Hussein's regime.

The British Defense Ministry will start training Iraqi technical and medical workers this year, an embassy statement said. The teams will work to safely destroy remnants of munitions and chemical warfare agents left over from Saddam’s regime.

Saddam stored the chemical weapons near population centers so that he could access them quickly, despite the danger to his civilian population.

Most of Iraq’s chemical weapons were destroyed by military forces in 1991 during the first Gulf War or by U.N. inspectors after the fighting. The inspections halted just before the invasion.

The head of the Iraqi National Authority, Mohammed Al Sharaa, said the remnants "represent a great challenge to the Iraqi experts to safely dispose." He called the agreement with British authorities "a good opportunity for Iraqi experts to benefit from the well-known expertise of U.K. experts."

Most notoriously, the Saddam Hussein regime used chemical weapons against civilians and the Kurdish peshmerga militia in the village of Halabja in 1988.

Hussein was deposed during the American-led invasion in 2003, captured and eventually executed by Iraq's civilian government. Many anti-war activists and politicians had claimed there were never any chemical weapons to begin with and such talk was merely a fabrication to justify the an American-led invasion.

Althought no massive WMD cache was discovered by American or coalition forces, Sarin was discovered in a 2004 roadside bomb and in 2008, the Pentagon was approached by Iraq's civilian government to ship more than 500 tons of uranium out of Iraq to Canada for disposal by Cameco [NYSE- CCJ; TSX- CCO].

Some have speculated that Hussein was able to spirit away major components of his WMD program to Syria before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This claim had been revisited when Syria's Bashr Al Assad threatened to use chemical weapons- including mustard gas, VX and Sarin- against armed insurgents clashing with his military or foreign forces who intervened in the ongoing conflict. However, Syria has had its own WMD program independent of Saddam Hussein's since before Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Anti-War Landlady in Boston Refuses To Rent Apartment to Veteran

To say this makes me angry would be the understatement of this relatively young 21st Century.

Remember this shit the next time the American left tries weaseling out of their blood libel of the US military over the last decade with the standard 'I support the troops, but not the war' platitudes.

Sgt. Joel Morgan, 29, tried to rent a two-bedroom apartment in the Savin Hill section of Dorchester from 63-year-old Janice Roberts.

“I’ve been deployed so many times, I really haven’t had much of a home,” he told WBZ-TV.

Morgan didn’t get the apartment.

According to the lawsuit, Roberts told Morgan his war service and her peace activism presented a “conflict of interest.”

“Because of what you told me about the Iraq war… we are very adamant about our beliefs… it’s just not comfortable for us… and I’m sure now that you know this, it would not be comfortable for you,” Roberts said in a voicemail to Morgan.

“I would suggest you do the right thing and look for a place less politically active or controversial.”

The divorced father has a young son and is training to be a Boston firefighter so he needs to live in town.

He was shocked and confused and that led him to sue.

“I’ve never been in that situation (being turned down for an apartment), so it was like, ‘I don’t understand what you mean, I just want to give you a check and rent an apartment,” Morgan told WBZ-TV.

“(It) just really, really disgusted me,” he said.

“It really freaked me out that ‘Is this what I’m going to be facing? Should I not let people know that I’m a combat vet?’

Military service members and veterans are part of a protected class in Massachusetts and, therefore, they cannot be discriminated against.

Since Sgt Morgan is studying to be a Boston firefighter, I wonder how Janice Roberts would feel about if her building caught on fire in the not-too-distant future and the first truck to show up had Morgan and another veteran on it. Would she stand by her principles and refuse their help knowing that at least one of them was a soldier who fought in a war she objected to?

How much do you want to bet that despite all the lip service being paid to 'honoring our returning vets', Janice Roberts and people with her worldview are perfectly happy voting for the politician whose idea to curb record unemployment among veterans is to dump them out in the wilderness in a rehash of the Depression-era CCC.

And for those of you who might object and say 'But Fenway- that's just one anti-war landlady. Don't you think it's unfair to paint a whole group with a broad brush based on the actions of one person?...where exactly were you with your objections when attendees at Tea Party raiilers were being judged on the basis of one or two birther signs? I've honestly stopped caring about the sensibilities of people who have made it quite unambiguous that they hate my guts LONG ago.

[Hat Tip: Weasel Zippers]

The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

Perhaps its just me, but there seems to be a much more profound and marked sense of loss between Veteran's Day (or Rememberance Day for those of you in Canada) last year and this year's fairly easy to remember 11/11/11.

Aside from the fairly recent loss of a WWII veteran in our own family, it seems as though we aren't aware of figures such as America's last WWI veteran or one of the remaining Navajo code talkers until they've left us. Even though more famous individuals such as Family Circus cartoonist Bill Keane and Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Feller served honorably in our nation's armed forces, that only seems to be highlighted in their obituaries.

And that's not even including the veterans of more recent conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan, who are currently facing an inexplicably higher unemployment rate than the civilian population. I'm not quite sure what to make of that either, since you'd assume that recently discharged veterans would have a certain amount of training, experience in much more stressful situations and leadership skills that potential employers would find desirable.

While the Senate recently passed legislation that would provide tax credits for companies that hired recently discharged veterans, I don't see how it would do much good until the economy in general improves.

While this humble blogger did serve in the United States Army, this was in the epoch before pixellated camouflage, velcro nametags or unit patches and Stryker brigades. In fact, since my honorable discharge, my former division has moved on the bigger and much more audacious things.

For those of you that have served, I can only offer my sincere gratitude and appreciation.

Thanks you and may God bless America.

Anti-Social Club Episode of Borderline Psychosis- 53 Killed After Gunmen Torch Monterrey Casino; NM Police Chief Admits Cartel Ties; Iraqi Connection?

UPDATE 8/31: Acting ATF director Kenneth Melson was reassigned to a lesser post in the Justice Department on Tuesday in the wake of further fallout from the Fast & Furious investigation. US Attorney for Minnesota B. Todd Jones was named as acting director after Melson's departure- a permanent head for the ATF would need to be confirmed by the US Senate.

Also on Tuesday, the US Attorney for Arizona resigned effective immediately. US Attorney Dennis Burke stepped down two weeks after testifying before a House Oversight Committee regarding Fast & Furious, which Burke was in charge of as the state's US Attorney.


NUEVO LEON: At least 53 people were killed when eight gunmen burst into a casino in the northern industrial center of Monterrey, doused the place with gasoline and ignited a fire that trapped dozens of patrons and gamblers.

With shouts and profanities, the attackers told the customers and employees to get out. But many terrified customers and employees fled further inside the building, where they died trapped amid the flames and thick smoke that soon billowed out of the building.

Video footage showed workers continuing to remove bodies well into the night.

Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal said many of the bodies were found inside the casino's bathrooms, where employees and customers had locked themselves to escape the gunmen.

In an act of desperation, authorities commandeered backhoes from a nearby construction site to break into the casino's walls to try to reach the people trapped inside.

The attack took place on August 25th. The following day, Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared three days of mourning and the Mexican government offered a reward of 30 million pesos ($2.4 million) for information leading to any of the assailants in the Casino Royale attack.

On Monday night, Federal Police in Monterrey announced that they had arrested five suspects and were still seeking the whereabouts of two more. Authorities believe a likely motive in the casino attack is nonpayment of extortion money and the five detained suspects are said to be members of the Zetas. Surveillance footage of the suspects filling up five gallon canisters of gasoline at a gas station not too far from the Casino Royale was shown at the conference announcing the arrests Monday.

The attack shocked and angered many Mexicans because instead of career criminals, the victims were mostly middle aged women who frequently visited the casino to play bingo.

MEXICO CITY: 21 of Mexico's 31 senior federal prosecutors abruptly quit earlier this month. Mexican press outlets report this as being the single biggest mass resignation of federal officials in recent history.

The office announced late last month that in Morales' first 100 days on the job, 462 prosecutors and other officials had been dismissed and 111 more were facing criminal charges involving a range of infractions, including fraud, theft, abuse of power and falsification of documents. An additional 386 employees were in the process of being dismissed.

Rosa Elena Torres Davila, a senior official in the attorney general's office, made Monday's announcement and said the resignations were tendered on Friday. They included the top federal prosecutors in some of Mexico's most violent states where drug traffickers have intimidated local authorities and killed thousands of people in cases that have largely gone unprosecuted. They also included the top federal prosecutor in the capital, Mexico City, which is a federal district with a status similar to that of a state.

Attorney General Marisela Morales declined to cite specific reasons behind the mass departures

CALIFORNIA: Local, state and federal law enforcement officers raided an Iraqi-Chaldean social club in San Diego County and arrested 60 men in a multi-agency investigation dubbed 'Operation Shadowbox'. The social club had been a source of complaints from both neighboring businesses claiming drug dealing and prostitution were rampant and wives of some patrons said that their life savings was being gambled away at the club.

More ominously, members of the club were alleged to have purchased drugs and explosives from the Sinaloa cartel. Marijuana was sold out of the club while methamphetamine smuggled in from Mexico would be forwarded to a sister organization in Detroit.

Since January, the DEA and El Cajon police have purchased narcotics, firearms, improvised explosive devices and pharmaceuticals from people at the club, Sprecco said. In April, an undercover operative was shown a hand grenade and was told more were available from a Mexican military source. Suspects in the investigation reportedly arranged narcotics shipments from El Cajon to Detroit.

During the course of the investigation, operatives discovered a suspected association with the Sinaloa Cartel, a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization, and the Chaldean Organized Crime Syndicate, which began in Detroit in the early 80s and has been linked numerous crimes, including murder, arson and kidnapping, Sprecco said.

The investigation resulted in the seizure of drugs including more than 13 pounds of methamphetamine, more than four pounds of ecstasy and pharmaceuticals and about 3,500 pounds of marijuana, Sprecco said. Authorities confiscated more than $630,000 and three luxury cars.

Officers seized 34 firearms, including semi-automatic rifles and four explosive devices, which were processed with the help of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department's Bomb Squad and the FBI, Sprecco said.

The city of El Cajon has the second-highest Chaldean population in the United States after Detroit- the San Diego suburb is home to about 47,000 Iraqi Chaldeans, many of them having immigrated there before the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in their native Iraq.

NEW MEXICO: The former police chief of the small New Mexico border town of Columbus has pleaded guilty to trafficking firearms and tactical gear across the border into Mexico on behalf of enforcers for 'La Linea'- a gang of enforcers for the Juarez cartel.

As a participant in the conspiracy, Vega conducted counter-surveillance, used a village-owned Ford F150 truck to transport firearms from the country, pulled over a car of ATF agents at La Linea's request, and tried to get ATF agents to return firearms to Gutierrez after they were seized, Spitzer told the court.

And on Feb. 10, Vega purchased thousands of dollars in body armor, boots, helmets and clothing, including a bulletproof vest for a La Linea leader, whose name was not mentioned in court.

Vega had previously pleaded not guilty to taking part in the conspiracy, in which he and his co-defendants allegedly purchased about 200 firearms - including AK-47-type pistols, weapons resembling AK-47 rifles, but with shorter barrels and without rear stocks, and American Tactical 9 mm caliber pistols - from Chaparral Guns in Chaparral and smuggled them to members of the Juárez-based La Linea cartel between January 2010 and March 2011.

In raids, law enforcement seized 40 of the AK-47 type pistols, more than 1,500 rounds of ammunition and 30 high-capacity magazines before they crossed the border, and found another 12 firearms in Mexico that were traced back to the defendants. Three others were found on three dead individuals in an SUV in Juárez, and others were found at a narcotics bust there, according to federal prosecutors

Former police chief Angelo Vega faces up to 35 years in prison and a $750,000 fine. The village's former mayor- Eddie Espinoza- and village trustee- Blas Gutierrez- have already pleaded guilty for their role in the weapons smuggling case.

Since the arrests, the small 4-man police department has been disbanded and the area is patrolled now by the Luna County Sheriff's Department.

Happy Australia Day from Not Another New England Sports Blog!

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish my Australian visitors a happy Australia Day as well as to remind my non-Australian visitors that today is, in fact, Australia Day!

I've had the good fortune of visiting Australia myself awhile back and meeting some of their soldiers while I was still in the US Army. I mean, on top of everything else, how could you not love a country who's concept of meter maids is attractive women in sparkling gold bikinis putting money into parking meters?

For the record, the Australian Army has fought alongside their American counterparts since WWI, and as I'm writing this, Aussie diggers continue to serve in Afghanistan, Iraq and even closer to home where they have been doing search and rescue operations during the flooding in Queensland.

So throw another shrimp on the barbie and raise your pint of XXXX or Black Swan (as some of us know, Foster's is for the tourists) with your sheila and best mates...[did I leave out any Aussie-centric cliches?- NANESB!].

This American, at least, considers himself fortunate to count Australia one of his nation's closest allies.

'Combat Barbie' Redux- 2009 Miss England Returns to Active Duty With Royal Army

*sigh* All good things must come to an end. Some of you who were around towards the beginning of Not Another New England Sports Blog!might remember the name Katrina Hodge- Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge of the Royal Army, to be specific.

A decorated Iraq war vet, she competed in the 2009 Miss England pageant and was awarded 1st runner up when the then-reigning Miss England was stripped of her crown for getting into an altercation with another contestant at a nightclub [No word on whether or not it was a prolonged Dynasty-esque face-slapping, dress-ripping, hair-pulling, falling-into-a-pond catfight- NANESB!]. So in a rather ironic twist, the military woman is awarded the Miss England crown for not fighting.

And now that a new Miss England was crowned last year, Corporal Hodge is back with the Royal Army and awaiting deployment to Afghanistan.

the move from soldier to beauty queen was a lot easier that the move in the other direction.

‘I’m not going to lie, it was hard to come back,' said Hodge.

‘It’s definitely a change of lifestyle from having your hair and make-up done every day to being in your combats and having your hair scraped back.'
But after 12 months of fancy hotels, false eyelashes and beauty assistants at her beck and call, Combat Barbie is back in combat training

Aside from her Miss England duties, Corporal Hodge had a pretty eventful 2010 in that she married some lucky bastard a fellow British soldier at a private ceremony in Sri Lanka last June.

Sanctuary? Beseiged Iraqi Christians May Find New Home in Kurdistan

Overlooked by many in the news leading up to the 2010 mid-term elections was the terrorist massacre of at least 50 worshippers and clergy in Baghdad's Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic Church on November 1st. Terrorists thought to be with al-Qaeda in Iraq initially targeted the Baghdad stock exchange before moving to the church across the street. Iraqi security forces quickly cordoned off the area surrounding Our Lady of Salvation and attempted to negotiate, but the attackers threw grenades and detonated explosive vests when the Iraqi forces stormed the church, killing 49 parishioners and 9 policemen.

In the days following the church attack, more Iraqi christian were targeted by car bombs and mortar attacks, killing at least five more. Some of the survivors of the terrorist attacks were given asylum by France and flown to Paris for medical treatment.

Many of Iraq's remaining Christians are concerned for their own safety after the latest attacks and want to leave Iraq. However, leaders in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq have invited Iraqi Christians to relocate to Kurdistan from elsewhere within Iraq. Kurdistan's autonomy during the final decade of Saddam Hussein's regime and after Operation Iraqi Freedom has meant that for the most part the economic and security situation is far more stable than elsewhere in Iraq.

Iraq's president Jalal Talibani (a Kurd himself) has even raised the possibility of establishing Christian-majority provinces within Iraq in an interview with France 24 television.

Hmm....wait a second. The sanctimonious self-appointed righteous indignation brigades that were out in force preaching tolerance when that douchebag Florida pastor promised to burn a bunch of Korans on September 11 have been pretty quiet since the Our Lady of Salvation massacre.

This would mean Iraqi and Kurdish Muslims have shown more concern over the plight of Iraq's Christians than the professional whiners and victims in their perpetual seethe-apalooza trying to hold up even token opposition to the 9/11 mosque in Manhattan as bigotry and Islamophobia.

Even if the Our Lady of Salvation massacre never took place, there's still the matter of Egyptian Muslims torching the homes of Coptic Christians over rumors a Coptic man was in a relationship with a Muslim woman. Or the Pakistani Christian mother of two who was reportedly sentenced to death for 'blasphemy' after she rebuffed efforts by Muslim co-workers to convert her.

Just some food for though the next time the head of an Islamic organization says that pointing out what's taking place in the Islamic world is akin to '1930s Germany'.

[Hat Tip: Eat it or Wear It; Weasel Zippers]

From the Sandbox to the State House- 4 Years in the Life of SSG John Kriesel

There are a bunch of election results for me to try and get caught up on, but after glancing at this New York Times article about gains the Republican party made in state legislatures across the country, I was reminded of something Philly blogger Wyatt Earp fist brought this to my attention nearly 10 months ago.

With that in mind, I thought I'd check the election results in Minnesota to see how John Kriesel had done. As it turns out, he's now the Representative-elect for Minnesota State House Seat 57A.

St. Paul, Minn. -- It was just 10 hours after John Kriesel had learned he won Minnesota House Seat 57A; he stood in front of a barrage of cameras and reporters in room 125 of the State Capitol.

"Well, compromise is what keeps me from having to sleep on the couch every night," the newly elected Republican from Cottage Grove said when asked about the state's budget. And that was the beginning of his political career.

"Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, he makes us a better body," House Minority leader Kurt Zellers of Maple Grove remarked.

"I'm banged up, I'm sore, and I'm tired. It's been a long campaign," he said a few hours later, finally sitting in his living room. "Just where my life is now compared to where it was 4 years ago, you know, I can't hardly believe it," Kriesel said.

4 years ago, Staff Sgt. Kriesel was on routine patrol in Fallujah, Iraq. "We drove over a 200-pound improvised explosive device and it killed my two best friends and I lost both of my legs in the blast," he recalled.

John Kriesel woke up in a hospital bed in Washington D.C. 8 days later. It was then he realized his two friends did not survive the blast. He vowed to live his life in their honor; he was determined to walk again and return to Minnesota. He never forgot the conversations he had with his friends while serving in Fallujah; they often talked about politics.

"I think they would be proud, we talked a lot over there about stuff like this," he said.

Kriesel campaigned hard in Cottage Grove, South St. Paul, and the surrounding communities. He just about wore out the Segway he used to get door to door. The day after the election, he was waiting on a doctor to fit him for a new socket for his leg; he wore that out too, while on the campaign trail.

Bruised, battered, and still running on adrenaline, John Kriesel left his Cottage Grove home at 7 p.m. Wednesday night, for a book signing in St. Paul. He was working on 3 hours sleep and ready to sign 2nd addition copies of his book, that hit stores in July.

A former soldier and soon to be lawmaker; still making strides to honor the men he served with. "I won't take this lightly, it means a great deal to me," Kriesel said about his new position at the State Capitol.

[Hat tip- Support Your Local Gunfighter; KARE]

Obama Speechifies Some More, Hopes You Don't Notice Even More Private Military Contractors In Iraq or Opposition to 2007 Troop Surge

Observe how the photographer superimposed concertina wire over the armoured vehicles to emphasise that these are US combat units leaving Iraq!

President Obama gave a speech from the Oval Office tonight, which in and of itself is pretty noteworthy considering that he wasn't campaigning or vacationing. The occasion of the speech was to mark the 'official' end of US combat operations in Iraq today, as well as re-writing recent history to suit his own ends. Particularly rich was his throwaway line about "there were patriots who supported this war and patriots who opposed it"- weasel words from a man who's hoping that most Americans have short-term memory that doesn't go back further than 2 years.

All in all, it was a mercifully brief speech- at least by Obama's standards. Chances are he had to switch the topic back to the economy and vacuous, halfhearted platitudes about how wonderful our servicemen and women are (despite protestations to the contrary from his base and own political party) to avoid any mention of the fact that the 2007 Iraq troop surge proposed by Gen Petraeus was vehemently opposed by himself and then Delaware senator Joe Biden- who went on to propose that Iraq be partitioned into three sectors.

Washington Examiner

Since Obama brought up the economy in his speech, it was rather reminiscent of his 'Gee you Army guys are swell, but your silly wars are so gosh-darn expensive' speech from the enemy camp US Military Academy at West Point late last year. As it turns out, the 7+ years of the Iraq war may not have been as big a drain on the Treasury as Obama's failed stimulus plans in his first 18 months in office.

Also, does anybody else remember the frothy, sanctimonious indignation over the use of private military contractors over in Iraq during the Bush era? [I for one think that accusations levelled against contractors were in large part trial balloons for charges the anti-war left was getting ready to level against American troops- NANESB!] Turns out Obama Administration is hiring an unprecedented number of them to fill the void left by departing US forces, according to a New York Times article rather ambiguously titled 'Civilians to Take US Lead as Military Leaves Iraq'. I have yet to hear the same voices critical of the Bush Administration opine on this development, even though it's the worst-kept secret this side of the Tigris River.

Feds: Computer Evidence Ties Jailed Anylist to Wikieaks

The Army Private thought to have provided more than 70,000 classified documents to left a series of angry, brooding messages on his Facebook page earlier this year, lashing out at the Army, his ex-boyfriend and 'society at large'. [Yes....the article reads 'ex-boyfriend'. How long before 'Dont Ask Don't Tell' is to blame for the Wikileaks fiasco?- NANESB!]

Manning, who is half British and went to school in Wales, appeared to sink into depression after a relationship breakup, the Daily Telegraph said. It quoted Manning as posting he didn't "have anything left" and was "beyond frustrated."
In an apparent swipe at the Army, Manning also wrote: "Bradley Manning is not a piece of equipment," and quoted a joke about "military intelligence" being an oxymoron, the Telegraph said.
Manning began his gloomy postings on Jan. 12, saying: "Bradley Manning didn't want this fight. Too much to lose, too fast," the Telegraph said.
At the beginning of May, when he was serving at a military base near Baghdad, the Telegraph said, he changed his status to: "Bradley Manning is now left with the sinking feeling that he doesn't have anything left."
Five days later he said he was "livid" after being "lectured by ex-boyfriend", then later the same day said he was "not a piece of equipment" and was "beyond frustrated with people and society at large," the paper said.
The Telegraph said Manning's personal page tagline reads: "Take me for who I am, or face the consequences!"

And despite assurances from sanctimonious anti-war radical leftist and WikiLeaks founder Julius Assange that all sensitive information was redacted prior to the document dump, leaked information in the documents includes the names and addresses of Afghans who had been cooperating with US and NATO forces and intelligence-gathering methods.

A somber-faced Julian Assange, editor of WikiLeaks, said he was "disappointed in what was left out" of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' comment. Gates "spoke about hypothetical blood," Assange said, reading from a statement, "but the grounds of Iraq and Afghanistan are covered with real blood."
Assange went on to accuse the Pentagon chief of overseeing "the killing of thousands of children and adults" in Iraq and Afghanistan, and criticized him personally for not announcing a criminal investigation based on the the leaked document.

[Which would be like Assange bitching about the RAF not investigating the firebombing of Dresden after he just leaked detailed plans that include the names of Allied spies in Germany or how the Allies plan on crossing the Rhine- NANESB]
Assange changed his story at least once to say that he tried contacting the White House to get their input on any information they'd want withheld, but went ahead with the document dump when he never heard back from them.
And as for 'Hypothetical blood', I highly doubt it will be 'hypothetical' that much longer given the overall history of that part of the world.....that's if the leaked information hasn't already been acted upon by the Taliban.

Pentagon Says Nothing New in Afghanistan Documents Leaked Online

Pentagon and Administration officials are downplaying the online leak of more than 90,000 documents regarding the military effort in Afghanistan. However, senior Pentagon officials say that they still need to sort through at least 75,000 of the documents.

Some of the revelations contained in the Wikileaks document dump were already widely known or suspected by those in military, diplomatic and intelligence community, such as Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence Directorate playing a double-game with the USA and the Afghan Taliban. Documents from Afghan officials included in the leaks also allege that Iran has been arming and financing Taliban commanders as far back as 2005.

Earlier this month, the US Army pressed charges against PFC Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst stationed in Iraq who leaked classified video of two Reuters journalists killed by a helicopter gunship along with Iraqi insurgents back in 2007. While Manning was stationed in Iraq and the Wikileaks document dump deals mostly with Afghanistan, Army officials have not ruled out the possibility that Manning could also be the source of the latest leaks and are attempting to backtrack what information he had access to.

"WikiLeaks does not have an opinion whether the war in Afghanistan should continue or not continue. ... It should continue in a just way if its to continue at all,"

Wikileaks creator Julia Assange claimed in a CNN interview. However, in an inteview with Germany's Der Spiegel the other day, Assange said:

"I enjoy crushing bastards. So it is enjoyable work."

Note that the Wikileaks benefits nobody but the Taliban in the short-term, so it's pretty clear who Assange thinks the 'bastards' are in this instance.

Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said the information should be put "in context" and that journalists should avoid publishing anything that could harm U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Assange, he said, "is an anti-war activist who has repeatedly cast a very unfair light on the American military and on the American population in general."

"There are American troops in harm's way getting shot and killed," Rieckhoff said. "If WikiLeaks is endangering them, we need to push back, and the American public needs to push back."

As others much more in the know than myself have described it, the leaks are more or less "old news that comes at a bad time".

Steve Schippert of threatswatch.org goes into more detail about some of the familiar-sounding memes that seem to be a common theme of the latest offering from WikiLeaks.

Curious how Assange and the others haven't gone to such lengths to undermine the regimes of Hugo Chavez, Hu Jintao or Mahmoud Ahmedinejhad. I guess they're part of the 'vulnerable' that he seeks to protect.

Federal Judge Rules 'Stolen Valor Act' Uncontitutional

A US District Judge in Colorado has dismissed charges against a man who claimed he was a graduate of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, a survivor of the September 11 attack on the Pentagon and wounded in in IED attack while serving a tour in Iraq- but had never served a day in the military.

Judge Robert Blackburn said that the Stolen Valor Act under which Richard Glen Strandlof was charged unconstitutional and violated Strandlof's free speech rights.

Strandlof- a psychiatric patient in Nevada at the time he claimed he was caught in an IED attack- had been active in groups such as the now-disbanded Colorado Veterans Alliance and Iraq Vets Against the War (IVAW) under the name of Rick Duncan (and the rank of Captain). Strandlof was active in fundraising for these groups as well as Democrat candidates for office running on an anti-war platform [Yes indeedy- huge shock that the Dems and IVAW would embrace a phony veteran!- NANESB!] .

At the time of Strandlof's arrest last year, Federal investigators were trying to determine the whereabouts of some $25,000 he had raised during a 2006 New year's Eve event in Reno, NV. Strandlof also appeared in a 2008 campaign ad for Democrat Congressional candidate Hal Bidlack, identifying himself as a combat veteran who served three tours of Iraq.

Strandlof and his group (which he claimed a membership of more than 32,000) were also active in organizing events for Congressional candidate Jared Polis (D-CO, 2nd District) and other Democrats in the lead up to the 2008 Democrat National Convention in Denver.

Since Judge Blackburn is so concerned about freedom of expression, I wonder how his honor feels about the 'hate crimes' legislation that was passed (surreptitiously as part of a Defense-funding bill, I might add) late last year.

2007- "Petraeus or BETRAY US!!!?": 2010- "OMG! Petraus is our Guy!"

Above is the 2007 full-page print ad that self-parodying left-wing professional whiners moveon.org placed in the New York Times impugning General David Petraeus' service and charachter while he was to appear before congress asking for a troop surge in Iraq, claiming that he was "a military man at war with the facts" and closing with "General Petraeus is likely to become General Betray Us".

When Sen John Cornyn (R-TX) drafted a resolution that condemned moveon.org for the ad, then Senators Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden voted against it. Then Senator Barak Obama was absent from the roll-call, but was quoted in a New York Times article as calling Cornyn's resolution "a stunt".

Mr. Obama said, “By not casting a vote, I registered my protest against these empty politics.”

The resolution ultimately passed the senate by a 72-25 margin, with Senator barbra Boxer (D-CA) authoring a seperate resolution that condemned the ad without mentioning Obama and the Dems most faithful cheerleaders moveon.org by name that never made it out of committee.

But with McChrystal's 'resignation' over some comments in a magazine article, the Obama Administration has suddenly hoped the rest of us have all forgotten about that full-page ad in the Times (apparently at a discount) that his fanboys took out not even three years ago.

The career whiners at moveon.org sure as hell want you to forget, since they've scrubbed all images or mention of the ad from their website now that he's the Obama Administration's pick for US Commander in Afghanistan.

However, much to the chagrin of groups like moveon.org or Think Progress, some of us have a very long memory when it comes to their slurs and libel against the US Military.

[H/t Weaselzippers for archiving the ad and moveon.org's accompanying promotional blurb]

Gen. McChrystal Expected to Step Down Over Remarks Made in Rolling Stone Article

Hmm.....remarks in the article that seem to have gotten the attention of our thin-skinned Commander in Chief.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday that McChrystal displayed "poor judgment" and summoned him to the White House on Wednesday to hear from him first-hand and consider whether to fire him.

"I think it's clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed a poor — showed poor judgment," the president said Tuesday, surrounded by members of his Cabinet at the close of their meeting. "But I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make any final decisions."

According to two senior administration aides, McChrystal informed his superiors that he is prepared to offer his resignation but had not done so, NBC News reported.

Does anybody else see the irony of our golfing, concert-going, lawsuit-happy commander in chief saying that somebody else expressed 'poor judgement'? Gee, if only the Rolling Stone article had been published back in October- when McChrystal was asking for a troop surge in Afghanistan- maybe then he could've met with the President for more than 30 minutes while Air Force One was on the tarmac at Copenhagen.

The bankrupt-in-more-than-one-way Newsweek is calling for McChrystal's head on a pike, which is all the more reason for me to give the General the benefit of the doubt. According to the article, the General bluntly referred to a counterterrorism strategy advocated by vice-president Joe Biden as 'short-sighted'- the same Joe Biden that said the Iraq war was lost in 2007, opposed the troop surge and then took credit for the turnaround in Iraq.

Outside of the insubordination aspect, I really fail to see the controversy here. And truth be told, I don't remember Newsweek or other Democrat Party Mouthpieces mainstream media outlets working themselves into a frothy, self-righteous outrage over General Shinseki's undermining the civilian leadership during the Bush Administration.

This all smacks of a nice big juicy distraction while oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican smugglers and cartels traffic narcotics and humans into this country unimpeded- issues that the current commander in chief has failed miserably at even addressing, let alone solving.

UPDATE: McChrystal has officially stepped down.

The Envelope Ballot Please. Iraqis Head to Polls For Second Time in 5 Years

(AFP/Azhan Shalal)

As the Academy Awards were wrapping up in Hollywood last weekend, halfway across the globe the Iraqi Parliamentary elections were getting under way. This would mark the second time in five years that Iraqis have headed to the polls in a national election.

While the security situation there has improved markedly since 2005, the campaigning leading up to the election was marked by threats and sporadic bomb attacks targeting campaign offices and public disputes and protests over a slew of candidates banned from this year's elections. Election day itself was relatively calm, although some mortar fire was reported in Baghdad. Estimates put voter turnout at 62% and with about 80% of the votes counted on Tuesday, former PM Iyad Allawi's al-Iraqiyya coalition has a narrow lead over the State of Law coalition headed by incumbent Prime Minister Mouri al-Maliki. Although there have been allegations of tampering and fraud by various factions, many independent international observers viewed last week's elections as largely open and fair [certainly no worse than your average Cook County, IL election- NANESB!].

Another aspect of last week's elections that received little notice was that the security for the polling stations was handled exclusively by Iraqi security forces. Not only that, but halfway through the day, Iraqi officials lifted a complete ban on vehicular traffic on streets and roads anywhere near polling stations due to concerns over suicide car bombers. The Americans sat this out for a number of reasons- and things worked out just fine.

Curiously, President Obama and VP Joe Biden have yet to take credit for this. I guess Joe was too busy getting his panties in a bunch over the Israelis building some apartments or something. In fact, I'm pretty sure Obama and Biden were all in favor of cutting and running from Iraq as senators. This does raise the question- if terrorist attacks against our soldiers or Iraqi civilians could be blamed solely on George W. Bush, the 'failed policies of the last 8 years' or some nefarious cabal run by Haliburtion or Blackwater from 2003 onward, how come these same actors do not get credit for free and open elections where there was once a belligerent, totalitarian regime grinding their citizenry slowly under their boot heels barely 7 years prior? Oh- and kindly spare me from this sanctimonious 'the-Iraqi-war-took-America's-focus-off-of-Afghanistan' bullshit; that's usually a favorite talking point of those who's military service and expertise goes no further than ordering the special edition DVDs of GI Joe. [No- I'm pretty sure the Taliban being able to reconstitute and re-arm themselves unobstructed in Pakistan's remote Frontier region had alot more to do with it, dumbfucks...thanks for playing- NANESB]

So while Hollywood was congratulating themselves in yet another awards ceremony last week, the people of Iraq had a say in attempting to establish a more stable and prosperous future for their fledgling democracy. Keep in mind the vast majority of those being honored in Hollywood last weekend would've been just fine if the Iraqis still had the boot of the Hussein regime still pressing down hard on their throats.

Now- nowhere did I say it was going to be smooth sailing regarding Iraq; however this could be seen as a good indicator. But given the history and nature of that particularly rough neighborhood, I think that is a far greater achievement than any computer-generated 8-foot tall blue person.

Stolen Valor Update: Suspect in Vermont Scam Flees Country

Jay Agg, Communications Director of AMVETS, e-mailed me with an update on the case of Simon George, who scammed a Brattleboro, VT auto shop out of $1000 worth of repairs and labor last month by lying about his military service.

The AMVETS ReportStolenValor.org website reports that George has since fled to his native England to avoid facing charges.