Memorial Day: We Will Remember...For the Rest of Our Lives

"We were young. We have died. Remember us. ... We have done what we could But until it is finished it is not done. ... We have given our lives But until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave. ... Our deaths are not ours, They are yours, They will mean what you make them. They say, Whether our lives, and our deaths were for peace and a new hope Or for nothing We cannot say. It is you who must say this. ... We leave you our deaths, Give them their meaning." --Archibald MacLeish, American poet, writer and the Librarian of Congress

(Hat tip for Quote: Henry Bowman)

Memorial Day: Honoring the Fallen, Remembering the Sacrifice, Reliving the Separation...Freedom Isn't Free

I just wanted to get the day over with and go down to Smokey’s for a few cold ones. Sneaking a look at my watch, I saw the time, 1655. Five minutes to go before the cemetery gates are closed for the day. Full dress was hot in the August sun. Oklahoma summertime was as bad as ever—the heat and humidity at the same level—both too high.

I saw the car pull into the drive,’69 or ‘70 model Cadillac Deville, looked factory-new. It pulled into the parking lot at a snail’s pace An old woman got out so slow I thought she was paralyzed. She had a cane and a sheaf of flowers,about four or five bunches as best I could tell. I couldn’t help myself. The thought came unwanted, and left a slightly bitter taste: “She’s going to spend an hour, and for this old soldier my hip hurts like hell and I’m ready to get out of here right now!

But for this day my duty was to assist anyone coming in. Kevin would lock the “In” gate and if I could hurry the old biddy along, we might make the last half of happy hour at Smokey’s. I broke Post Attention. My hip made gritty noises when I took the first step and the pain went up a notch. I must have made a real military sight; middle-aged man with a small pot-gut and half a limp, in Marine Full Dress Uniform, which had lost its razor crease about 30 minutes after I began the watch at the cemetery.

I stopped in front of her, halfway up the walk. She looked up at me with an old woman’s squint. “Ma’am may I assist you in any way? She took long enough to answer. “Yes, son. Can you carry these flowers? I seem to be moving a tad slow these days.”

“My pleasure Ma’am.” Well, it wasn’t too much of a lie. She looked again. “Marine, where were you stationed?” “Vietnam, Ma’am. Ground-pounder. ‘69 to ‘71.”
She looked at me closer. “Wounded in action, I see. Well done, Marine. I’ll be as quick as I can.”

I lied a little bigger “No hurry, Ma’am.”

She smiled, and winked at me. “Son, I’m 85-years old and I can tell a lie from a long way off. Let’s get this done. Might be the last time I can do this. My name’s Joanne Wieserman, and I’ve a few Marines I’d like to see one more time.” “Yes, Ma’am. At your service.”

She headed for the World War I section, stopping at a stone. She picked one of the bunches out of my arm and laid it on top of the stone. She murmured something I couldn’t quite make out.

The name on the marble was Donald S. Davidson, USMC, France 1918. She turned away and made a straight line for the World War II section, stopping at one stone, I saw a tear slowly tracking its way down her cheek. She put a bunch on a stone; the name was Stephen X. Davidson, USMC, 1943. She went up the row a ways and laid another bunch on a stone, Stanley J. Wieserman USMC , 1944.

She paused for a second, “Two more, son, and we’ll be done.” I almost didn’t say anything, but, “Yes, Ma’am. Take your time.” She looked confused. “Where’s the Vietnam section, son? I seem to have lost my way.” I pointed with my chin. “That way, Ma’am.” “Oh!” she chuckled quietly. “Son, me and old age ain’t too friendly.” She headed down the walk I’d pointed at. She stopped at a couple of stones before she found the ones she wanted. She placed a bunch on Larry Wieserman USMC, 1968, and the last on Darrel Wieserman USMC, 1970.

She stood there and murmured a few words I still couldn’t make out. “OK, son , I’m finished. Get me back to my car and you can go home.” “Yes, Ma’am If I may ask, were those your kinfolk ?”

She paused. “Yes, Donald Davidson was my father; Stephen was my uncle; Stanley was my husband; Larry and Darrel were our sons. All killed in action,all Marines.” She stopped,whether she had finished or couldn’t finish, I don’t know. She made her way to her car,slowly, and I waited for a polite distance to come between us and then double-timed it over to Kevin waiting by the car.

“Get to the “Out"-gate quick. I have something I’ve got to do.” Kevin started to say something but saw the look I gave him. He broke the rules to get us there down the service road. We beat her. She hadn’t made it around the rotunda yet. “Kevin, stand to attention next to the gate post. Follow my lead.” I humped it across the drive to the other post. When the Cadillac came puttering around from the hedges and began the short straight traverse to the gate, I called in my best gunny’s voice “TehenHut! Present Haaaarms!” I have to hand it to Kevin he never blinked an eye; full dress attention and a salute that would make his DI proud.

She drove through that gate with two old worn-out soldiers giving her a send off she deserved, for service rendered to her country, and for knowing Duty, Honor and Sacrifice.

I am not sure, but I think I saw a salute returned from that Cadillac.

-author unknown

(Special thank you to: Hog Whitman)

Memorial Day: The Long Journey

Memorial Day: Our Vietnam War Fallen Remembered

Video: All I Am Doing Is Fighting For You and Me

(Hat Tip: Christie)

Breaking News: French Sources Reveal That Top Iranian Revolutionary Guard Leader In Damascus Was Assassinated

I don't know how many of you saw the story a couple of weeks ago about a "Syrian" who was connected by arms deals to the Iranians was killed in a robbery attempt at his home in Damascus but the reason that story didn't quite jive was because it was a lie and a coverup. The truth has now leaked out from French sources and the man has been correctly identified as a top leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard's covert operations in Damascus, Syria.

From the report at DEBKA:

The death of Khalil Sultan, a high-ranking general of the IRGC's al Qods external terror branch, at his home in the exclusive Damascus district of Al Mezzeh Sunday, May 16 is now revealed by French intelligence and Syrian exile sources in Paris to have been assassination by an unknown hand.
The authorities in Damascus said at the time that the general, whom they described as a rich Syrian businessman, sales agent for the Iranian Kordo automobile manufacturers, was killed in the course of a robbery.In fact, according to debkafile's intelligence sources, Sultan ran Iranian Revolutionary Guards' covert operations in Damascus and Beirut under deep cover. The gang which burst into his luxury villa and gunned him down with automatic rifles removed only documents and laptops, but did not touch valuables, cash or gold.

Western sources disclose that his death caused deep shock in top Syrian and Iranian government and security circles. His assassins' success in reaching this top secret agent in the most closely-guarded neighborhood of the capital, seat of Syrian government institutions and domicile of senior officials, has caused Syrian intelligence and the regime as a whole deep embarrassment - particularly after a long series of hits against high-profile Hizballah and Hamas operatives in the Syrian capital's most secure districts - like the case of Hizballah commander Imad Mughniyeh.

As you can see from the last part from the report, the Syrians are freaking out over another high level assassination right under their noses. Not only was Sultan's identity and status compromised but obviously, someone got close enough to off the bastard. Good.

Before we chalk this up as a possible Mossad operation, the article does point out to Sultan's relationship with an Iranian general who defected to the West - so, with that said, it might have been Iran itself that decided to take him out before he had a chance to compromise anything - but at the same time, why not just arrest him and take him into custody? What this also might suggest is some underlying issues between the Syrians and the Iranians - I find it unlikely that it is a coincidence that both this general and Hezbollah's top terrorist were both snuffed out without the Syrians having a clue.

Iranian Guards general assassinated in Damascus - French sources


The death of Khalil Sultan, a high-ranking general of the IRGC's al Qods external terror branch, at his home in the exclusive Damascus district of Al Mezzeh Sunday, May 16 is now revealed by French intelligence and Syrian exile sources in Paris to have been assassination by an unknown hand.

The authorities in Damascus said at the time that the general, whom they described as a rich Syrian businessman, sales agent for the Iranian Kordo automobile manufacturers, was killed in the course of a robbery.
In fact, according to debkafile's intelligence sources, Sultan ran Iranian Revolutionary Guards' covert operations in Damascus and Beirut under deep cover. The gang which burst into his luxury villa and gunned him down with automatic rifles removed only documents and laptops, but did not touch valuables, cash or gold.
As Tehran's top operative for disposing of anti-Iranian elements in Syria and Lebanon, he worked in conjunction with Bashar Assad's intelligence branches. Their most recent joint project was the roundup of Iranian-Arab exiles from Ahwaz who live in Syria.
Western sources disclose that his death caused deep shock in top Syrian and Iranian government and security circles. His assassins' success in reaching this top secret agent in the most closely-guarded neighborhood of the capital, seat of Syrian government institutions and domicile of senior officials, has caused Syrian intelligence and the regime as a whole deep embarrassment - particularly after a long series of hits against high-profile Hizballah and Hamas operatives in the Syrian capital's most secure districts - like the case of Hizballah commander Imad Mughniyeh.

The victim was close to the al Qods Brigades chief Gen. Qassem Suleimeni, who is entrusted with the Islamic Republic's most hush-hush clandestine operations. French sources stress, on the other hand, that he was also a personal friend of the Iranian general who recently defected to the West. They name him as Gen. Reza Baba Hossein, the first time, debkafile's sources note, that this Iranian general has been publicly revealed to be a defector to the West.

that an Iranian general has been publicly named as a defector to the West.
Sultan's duties and diverse connections suggest three possible parties may have wanted him dead:

1. More than one foreign element had an interest in sabotaging Iran's covert activities in Syria and Lebanon and the intelligence partnership between Tehran and Damascus.
2. Syrian opposition exiles in Paris point the finger at their Sunni compatriots who are involved in activities for weakening Iranian and Shiite influence in their country.
3. Sultan's friendship with the defecting general may have aroused Tehran's suspicion that he abetted his friend's escape - or even had contacts in Western intelligence himself - in which case, Iranian intelligence would have no qualms about signing his death warrant.

Video: Dramatic Development in Britain

Gen. McChrystal: Clear Evidence That the Taliban Are Training In Iran

Oh boy, big huge surprise, huh? The Taliban have received weapons and training from the Iranians? Let me catch my breath here! (sarcasm off) You know, after hundreds and hundreds of documented accounts of the Iranians providing weaponry, training and personnel to the insurgency in the Iraq War, why has it taken all of this time for at least someone to point a finger at Iran for their efforts against U.S. troops in Afghanistan?

Well, Gen. Stanley McChrystal finally dispelled any doubt that the Iranians are actively working to help kill U.S. and NATO troops with this statement, taken from the article at Breitbart:

The commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Sunday there is "clear evidence" that some Taliban fighters have trained in Iran.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal told reporters in the Afghan capital that Iran—Afghanistan's western neighbor—has generally assisted the Afghan government in fighting the insurgent group.

"There is, however, clear evidence of Iranian activity—in some cases providing weaponry and training to the Taliban—that is inappropriate," he said. McChrystal said NATO forces are working to stop both the training and the weapons trafficking.

I have to tell you, I about had a fit during a big portion of the Iraq War in that the U.S. did not take direct action against the Iranians for what they did to spill American blood in Iraq - I called for it time after time that Iranian personnel captured in Iraq should be either placed in Gitmo or put to death and I also called for U.S. action inside of Iran's borders to stop the flow of IED technology into the Iraqi War zone.

And now, we see that the light of day has shone on the Iranian support of the Taliban and I'm sure we'll see absolutely nothing come of it. Let's put this in a different perspective - let's just imagine that during World War 2, while the U.S. was fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific, it was determined that North Korea was providing the Japanese on new weaponry that was killing a ton of our Marines and sailors - do you think there would have been any hesitation to take out that North Korean supply line? Hell no.

And I'm not going to blame all of this on the new Commander-in-Chief Obama because the fact of the matter is that George W. Bush was in charge when it was common knowledge that the Iranians were helping to kill our troops in Iraq.

I have to ask the question again: Just why is it that the Iranians continue to get a free pass for aggression against the rest of the world? Why is it that Iran has never had to pay the price for backing terrorism and death against the West?

NATO general in Afghanistan: Taliban train in Iran


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Sunday there is "clear evidence" that some Taliban fighters have trained in Iran.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal told reporters in the Afghan capital that Iran—Afghanistan's western neighbor—has generally assisted the Afghan government in fighting the insurgent group.

"There is, however, clear evidence of Iranian activity—in some cases providing weaponry and training to the Taliban—that is inappropriate," he said. McChrystal said NATO forces are working to stop both the training and the weapons trafficking.

Last month, McChrystal said there were indications that Taliban were training in Iran, but not very many and not in a way that it appeared it was part of an Iranian government policy. He did not give details on how many people have trained in Iran at Sunday's news conference.

NATO said a service member was killed Sunday in a small arms attack in southern Afghanistan, taking overall NATO losses in May to 49, according to a tally by The Associated Press. That makes May the deadliest month for foreign troops in Afghanistan since a spike in February during a major offensive in Marjah, when 53 died, including 31 Americans.

The nationality of the service member killed Sunday was not released. May is already the deadliest month for U.S. forces this year, with 32 troops killed. The month also brought the 1,000th U.S. military death in the Afghan war since it began in 2001.

The AP's figures are based on Defense Department reports of deaths as a direct result of the Afghan conflict, including personnel assigned to units in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Uzbekistan. Non-U.S. deaths are based on statements by governments that have contributed forces to the coalition.

The Taliban have spread out beyond their heartland in the south in recent years to increasingly launch attacks countrywide.

In the north, insurgents detonated a remote-controlled bomb Sunday as a police convoy passed by, killing seven officers in a province previously considered to be relatively safe, said deputy provincial Gov. Shams-ul Rahman.

The attack was the deadliest of a half-dozen separate incidents across the country.

In nearby Kunduz province, militants attacked a police checkpoint in Ali Abad district, triggering a gunbattle that killed three insurgents and wounded seven others, the Interior Ministry said.

In eastern Paktia province, NATO planes dropped guided bombs on Saturday to kill a team of militants that had fired mortars at coalition forces in Zormat district.

And NATO and Afghan forces killed one suspected militant and detained several others at a compound in southern Helmand province where bomb-making equipment was found. Coalition patrols arrested other suspected insurgents in operations elsewhere in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar, both considered Taliban strongholds.

In Ghazni, also in the south, militants on Sunday attacked a convoy of fuel tankers on a road regularly used as a resupply route for NATO forces. The assault left the trucks burning but caused no injuries.

"I saw the convoy moving in the morning and then suddenly I heard an explosion. Fighting started and lasted for 30 to 45 minutes. They burned a lot of containers," said local resident Azrat Shah.

McChrystal stressed to reporters that the Afghanistan fight will extend long beyond July 2011, when President Barack Obama plans to start drawing down forces.

In recent meetings with President Hamid Karzai, Obama "reaffirmed the strategic partnership, which is way beyond July 2011," McChrystal said. "I think President Obama's decision to begin the reduction of U.S. forces in 2011 really needs to be viewed in that context."

However, the strategic partnership depends on being able to transfer some responsibility to Afghan forces, which are still plagued by a lack of training and distrust of the people despite years of training programs funded by the international community.

The Marjah offensive has been followed by the re-infiltration of Taliban forces into the area despite a continuing strong U.S. Marine presence.

"We've dramatically changed the state of the insurgency in that region," McChrystal said, while acknowledging that "progress there is not yet fully established."

A summer offensive planned for the Taliban birthplace of Kandahar will be similarly painstaking, McChrystal said. The plan is to focus on delivering services like electricity and water, he explained.

"Progress will be measured in months, rather than days," he said.

Also Sunday, Canada said the chief of its forces in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard, was being relieved following allegations of an inappropriate relationship. Col. Simon Hetherington, the acting commander of Canada's forces, said Menard's dismissal would not have an impact on the Canadian mission in southern Afghanistan.

Sensitive To the Monday Holiday, U.S. Predator Drones Kill 11 Taliban In South Waziristan Ahead of Time

Booooyah! Eleven Taliban, hiding in South Waziristan, were taken out by a pair of predator drones late yesterday - the significance of this strike is that it hit SOUTH Waziristan and not NORTH Waziristan. Here's some of the details from The Long War Journal:

The US killed 11 terrorists in airstrikes in Pakistan's lawless tribal agency of South Waziristan. The strike is the first in the tribal agency this year.
The strike, which was carried out by unmanned Predators or the more deadly Reapers, targeted "militant hideouts" in the Nezai Narai area in South Waziristan, according to Geo News. It is unclear if the strike targeted al Qaeda, the Taliban, or allied Central Asian terror groups known to operate in the tribal agency.
No senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders have been reported killed at this time.

This is a huge wake up call to the Taliban in that it reinforces that no province or agency in NW Pakistan is safe from these predator strikes - I can imagine these Taliban, having braved the risk of going back to South Waziristan, felt completely safe there....well, I guess they weren't.

US kills 11 in Predator strike in South Waziristan

The US killed 11 terrorists in airstrikes in Pakistan's lawless tribal agency of South Waziristan. The strike is the first in the tribal agency this year.

The strike, which was carried out by unmanned Predators or the more deadly Reapers, targeted "militant hideouts" in the Nezai Narai area in South Waziristan, according to Geo News. It is unclear if the strike targeted al Qaeda, the Taliban, or allied Central Asian terror groups known to operate in the tribal agency.

No senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders have been reported killed at this time.

The attack took place just one day after Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, called for the CIA to end the strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas. Alston claimed the program is not subject to accountability that would exist under a program run by the US military.

"With the Defense Department you’ve got maybe not perfect but quite abundant accountability as demonstrated by what happens when a bombing goes wrong in Afghanistan," Alston said in an interview with The New York Times. "The whole process that follows is very open. Whereas if the C.I.A. is doing it, by definition they are not going to answer questions, not provide any information, and not do any follow-up that we know about."

Alston's comments follow criticisms of the CIA program earlier this year by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a lawsuit against the the Defense Department, the State Department, and the Justice Department, demanding enforcement of its January request for information on the program.

The US government has defended the air campaign in Pakistan, and insisted the program is in line with international laws of war and remains accountable to the US Congress.

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Taliban Decimate Afghan Police, Take Over Control of District In Nuristan Province

This is not good, folks. I don't care how the Afghans or U.S. command tries to spin this, this is not good. Nuristan Province is on the Afghan side of the Pakistani border and now, the Taliban are in full control of one of the districts in that province - basically, what happened was about 500 Taliban decided to take it and what they were up against was Afghan police and some tribal lashkar members - no U.S. troops, no Afghan army troops. I'd say it was surrendered, wouldn't you?

Here's the latest details from The Long War Journal:

The Taliban have seized control of a district in the northeastern province of Nuristan after several days of heavy fighting.
Afghan police have abandoned the district center of Barg-e-Matal as fighting took place in the main town, Afghan political and police officials said. The Taliban now claim they are in control of the district and have boasted that their forces have raised the Taliban banner over the district center.
Afghan officials maintain they conducted a "tactical retreat" today from the district center in Barg-e-Matal after the fighting threatened nearby civilians.

The clashes in Barg-e-Matal began on May 25, when a large Taliban force estimated at between 300 to 500 fighters attacked the district center. Afghan police, backed by a lashkar, or militia of local Nuristani tribesmen, fought back. US air support was called in to aid in the fighting against the Taliban, but no US ground forces have been reported to have engaged in fighting in the area.

This is not surprising, however as this is what Gen. McChrystal has bet the farm on - the fall back strategy where U.S. and NATO troops are centered around the larger population centers and try to hold those and create peace in those areas. I have a problem with that, in that it seems to me it would be like putting all American troops in Washington, D.C. and allowing the surrounding areas of Maryland and Virginia to fall to the enemy - that to me, doesn't make sense.

The last thing we need about now is for more moral victories for the Taliban.

Taliban take control of district in Nuristan

The Taliban have seized control of a district in the northeastern province of Nuristan after several days of heavy fighting.

Afghan police have abandoned the district center of Barg-e-Matal as fighting took place in the main town, Afghan political and police officials said. The Taliban now claim they are in control of the district and have boasted that their forces have raised the Taliban banner over the district center.

Afghan officials maintain they conducted a "tactical retreat" today from the district center in Barg-e-Matal after the fighting threatened nearby civilians.

"Since the district headquarters is inside the village in a crowded location we had to make a tactical retreat to avoid casualties to civilians" Jamaludin Badr, the governor of Nuristan, told AFP.

The Taliban control key facilities in Barg-e-Matal, said Mohammad Gul Himat, an Afghan border police commander. "Taliban have control over their radio facility which means Taliban have captured the district," Himat told AFP.

The fate of the Afghan policemen defending the district center is not known. It is unclear if they were killed, captured, or fled the scene of the fighting.

The Taliban issued two releases on the fighting in Nuristan on its website, Voice of Jihad. On the website, the Taliban claimed to have "seized complete control of the district" and "captured four military posts blocking off all the routes to the district center." Both releases included crudely photoshopped images of a white Taliban flag flying over a fighting position built by US forces.

The clashes in Barg-e-Matal began on May 25, when a large Taliban force estimated at between 300 to 500 fighters attacked the district center. Afghan police, backed by a lashkar, or militia of local Nuristani tribesmen, fought back. US air support was called in to aid in the fighting against the Taliban, but no US ground forces have been reported to have engaged in fighting in the area.

Afghan officials claimed that Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Qari Fazlullah led the initial assault in Barg-e-Matal, and later claimed he was killed. But Mullah Munibullah, the Taliban's military commander for Nuristan, denied that Fazlullah led the attack and said he was not killed in the fighting. Munibullah said only Afghan Taliban were involved in the fighting.

But General Qaseem Payman, the provincial police chief for Nuristan, insisted that "a large number of Pakistani and Chechen rebels" were seen fighting in Nuristan. And in the past, Munibullah has admitted to working closely with al Qaeda and other South and Central Asian jihadist groups.

Payman said the Taliban suffered heavy losses in the battle for Barg-e-Matal despite their success in overrunning the district center.

"In the last one week battle between our forces and the Taliban, two policemen were killed and few others were wounded, but the Taliban suffered heavy casualties," Payman told Quqnoos. "Around forty-five Taliban fighters were killed and dozens of others were wounded."

The Barg-e-Matal district is a known Taliban transit area to and from the northern Pakistani district of Chitral. Last summer, the Taliban took control of Barg-e-Matal for several months after a similar attack. US and Afghan forces were deployed to the region to help local Nuristanis eject the Taliban, but the forces later withdrew.

Barg-e-Matal borders the district of Kamdesh, which is under Taliban control since US forces withdrew from combat outposts last fall after an attack by a large Taliban and al Qaeda force.

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(Hat Tip: Right2thePoint)

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Announcement: Computer Issues

UPDATE: Well, I've got some bailing wire strung through some duct tape and all hooked to a rivet and it's working so far.....NOBODY BREATHE!


No, the jihadis from Pakistan haven't succeeded in bringing Holger down but I do have some computer hardware issues that could keep me down for a bit. I'll see if the "fix" of bailing wire and duct tape might work but if you don't see me back, I want to be sure everyone has a terrific Memorial Day weekend.

I only ask that you remember the true meaning behind this weekend's Holiday.

Take care and I'll be back as soon as is possible.

14 Yr Old Pakistani Christian Girl Raped and Kidnapped By Muslim Men

The onslaught in every muslim country against all infidel women and girls continues - the latest report concerns a Christian girl in Pakistan who was abducted, raped and held captive for months by three muslim men. Do not miss the point of all of this - this act of violence and intimidation was due to this girl's religion, her Christianity and that is all. We all know the fire drill of the islamists - convert and submit to islam or you will be killed or maimed (physically and/or emotionally) for the rest of your life on this earth.

The disgusting story is from Assist News.

Pakistani Christian teenage girl allegedly raped in captivity


Sidra Sarwar, a fourteen-year-old Christian girl, has been allegedly raped by three Muslim men and held in captivity for about three months, ANS has learned.

According to Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP), Muhammad Khalid, a Muslim man used indecent language against her when she was walking through the local fields in August 2009.
The organization then alleged that Khalid and two accomplices kidnapped Sidra at gun point on August 28, 2009 at 5 pm.
The ministry said that each of the three kidnappers allegedly raped Sidra for a month. The SLMP said that Muhammad Khalid married Sidra after she became pregnant to avoid being prosecuted.
SLMP said Sidra managed to escape from captivity and reached her family on December 20, 2009.
“The poor family tried best to get a case registered against Khalid and his fellows but failed. After a month some Christian elders helped Sidra and pressurized local police and finally the Police First Information Report was registered against the culprits on January 20, 2010”, said Sohail Johnson, Chief Coordinator of SLMP.
Johnson told ANS that when police officers conducted a raid to arrest culprits they (the police) discovered that they had secured a pre-arrest bail.
The Christian rights activist told ANS that the culprits got away with rape and kidnapping after Muhammad Khalid produced wedding certificate in the court.
The SLMP said the police declared culprits innocent on May 13, 2010.
Mr. Johnson told ANS that Sidra is 8 months pregnant. He added, “The girl and her family are allegedly receiving threats from the culprits to stop them from pursuing justice”.

Jihadis From Europe Have Established a "European Village" In the Midst of South Waziristan, Pakistan

I've blogged a number of times about the Germans who have heard the call of radical islam and have traveled to Pakistan to join the Taliban and al Qaeda in the jihadi fight but now it is being revealed that many more Europeans have actually done the same and in fact, they have organized themselves into an actual "European Village" right smack dab in the middle of Jihadi Haven, namely South Waziristan, Pakistan.

From the article at Central Asia Online:

Abdul Ghaffar Al-Almani, 22, was one of five foreign Islamic militants killed during a clash with security forces in South Waziristan April 28.
But something separated Al-Almani from his fellow foreign fighters: Uzbeks, Tajiks, Arabs and others. Al-Almani was born Eric Breininger in Germany.
German police were seeking the Islamic convert on suspicion of membership in the Sauerland Cell, a group of German radicals accused of plotting to bomb foreign targets in Germany, officials told Central Asia Online. They requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Germans and militants from other European countries are said to have established a complete “European Village” in South Waziristan, adding a new aspect to the war on terror in the region.

A couple of things I want to say about all of this - first of all, it's my contention that this proves that islam is the root of terrorism and not the other way around like the appeasers in America (and the Obama administration) want you to believe. We literally have European natives who convert to islam and within months, are on the battlefield as jihadis - these individuals are in essence recruited for jihad. Secondly, I find it interesting that these European jihadis have segregrated themselves in South Waziristan - I guess, after they get to Pakistan and actually have to hang out with their Arab and Pashtun and Pakistani overlords, they have decided they'd rather be "away" from that swine and initiate their own community. Who would have thunk it - a form of caste system in jihad.

Foreign militants active in Waziristan


PESHAWAR -- Abdul Ghaffar Al-Almani, 22, was one of five foreign Islamic militants killed during a clash with security forces in South Waziristan April 28.
But something separated Al-Almani from his fellow foreign fighters: Uzbeks, Tajiks, Arabs and others. Al-Almani was born Eric Breininger in Germany.

German police were seeking the Islamic convert on suspicion of membership in the Sauerland Cell, a group of German radicals accused of plotting to bomb foreign targets in Germany, officials told Central Asia Online. They requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Germans and militants from other European countries are said to have established a complete “European Village” in South Waziristan, adding a new aspect to the war on terror in the region.
The political agent of South Waziristan, Shahab Ali Shah, declined to comment.

But Mohammad Amin, a tribal elder from South Waziristan, confirmed the presence of a large number of Germans and other militants of European origin.
“They, however, have no individual entity but are associated with Tahir Yuldashev’s Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). They are far more aggressive ... than the local militants”, Amin said.

Wazir tribesmen in South Waziristan opposed the presence of foreigners, said Mahmood Wazir, a resident of Azam Warsak, and so conflict was inevitable.
"When the IMU men gained power in Waziristan and started to target even locals, the tribesmen along with local militants ... seized the Uzbeks’ private jail in Azam Warsak in March 2007 and killed many of the foreigners”, Mahmood said.

Combat raged for two days, and 52 died. Around 45 of those killed were Uzbeks; the rest were tribesmen.
“On April 2 last year, a jirga of elders declared jihad against foreign militants ... and started to raise a tribal lashkar against them”, said Isa Khan, a member of the Yargul Khel tribe. “Heavy fighting concentrated in the village of Doza Ghundai left more than 60 people, including 50 foreigners, killed. Several Uzbeks and foreigners surrendered to the lashkar. Around ten tribal fighters and one Pakistani soldier were also killed”.

Some accounts, though, paint a portrait of foreign fighters becoming both entrenched and comfortable in the tribal areas.
The News International recently reported that affluent settlers from the Uzbek and Tajik areas of Afghanistan had come to Waziristan and Tank and had established mini-states. The Uzbek- and Tajik-Afghans were growing in both numbers and wealth, posing a threat to local tribesmen, the story said. But the militants of European origin pose their own issues.

The German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) has a list of about 100 citizens who left for Afghanistan and Pakistan or attempted to join militants, according to news reports. The list includes former Berlin resident Michael W, his Eritrean wife and her minor daughter. Also on the list is a 19-year-old Berliner, Omar H, who disappeared with his girlfriend in January 2009.
“The trend of bringing wives and children to Waziristan is something new", said Amin, who tracks developments in his area.

Pakistani police arrested Nihad C, a citizen of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in 2007 for organising terrorist training. The Bosnian was reportedly in contact with jihad supporters in Germany and Bosnia-Herzegovina. During this time, police arrested another German national, Mihael N., in Pakistan. Nihad had planned to deliver Mihael to a militant camp on the Afghan border.
“The campaign of recruiting foreigners into the ranks of militants is being led by Abu Adam, a 24-year-old German, and Abu Ibrahim. Adam, whose real name is Mounir Chouka, received weapons training in the German army ... and later spent three years training at the Federal Office of Statistics. He left his country in 2007", a source told Central Asia Online. A German-Libyan brother-in-law of Abu Adam, Ahmed K, was also among the fighters in the German village in Waziristan.

In a number of videos posted on YouTube, Abu Adam and Abu Ibrahim urge viewers to take up arms for Islam.
“Militants belonging to different Western countries have been killed and apprehended here. The respective governments of these militants (need to take more responsibility) for their flow to the Pak-Afghan border areas and for strengthening militancy in our country”, Delawar Jan, a security analyst, told Central Asia Online.

“Among the foreigners are not only Germans but a large number of Uzbeks; Tajiks; Arabs from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen and Palestine; and Chechens and some from Sweden, Turkey, Canada and other European countries”, sources in the political administration confirmed to Central Asia Online.

The high-profile foreigners who were killed during security operations in the tribal areas include IMU commander Tahir Yuldashev.

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Obama Bows To Muslim Demands To Pressure Israel Over Nukes

Huge surprise, huh? Barack Hussein Obama has decided to give in to Arab countries and allow a pressure on Israel to dismantle its secretive nuclear weapons program. Let me see, how many times exactly HAS Obama stood up to Arab countries? Anyone?

Here's the story from Haaretz.

U.S. yields to Arab demand to pressure Israel on nukes


The United States on Friday accepted Arab demands to pressure Israel over its atomic program as part of a pact among NPT members to aim for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.

The 189 signatories of the global anti-nuclear arms treaty on Friday backed a declaration proposing a 2012 conference to discuss banning weapons of mass destruction across the Middle East.

The creation of such a zone could ultimately force Israel to sign the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and abandon any nuclear weapons it has. But U.S. officials say this could not happen until there was peace in the region.

The United States fought hard to delete the clause regarding Israel but backed down to save the conference, delegates said.

The 28-page Final Declaration was approved by consensus on the last day of the month long conference, convened every five years to review and advance the objectives of the 40-year-old NPT.

Under its action plan, the five recognized nuclear-weapon states - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China - commit to speed up arms reductions, take other steps to diminish the importance of atomic weapons, and report back on progress by 2014.

The NPT is intended to stop the spread of atomic weapons, though it allowed the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia to keep their arsenals while calling on them to negotiate on disarmament.

Sticking Points

The creation of a WMD-free zone would eventually force Israel to declare and abandon its atomic bombs. U.S. officials say such a zone could not be created without Mideast peace.

Israel, which like nuclear-armed India and Pakistan never signed the NPT, is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies its existence.

The Obama administration changed U.S. policy by joining Britain, France, Russia and China in backing a Mideast nuclear conference while encouraging Israel to participate.

"We've got a strong draft that would strengthen all three pillars of the NPT - disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy," a diplomat said.

Britain's chief delegate, Ambassador John Duncan, told Reuters the draft text was "unprecedented" in its scope.

The 2005 NPT review collapsed after participants could not agree on a WMD-free zone in the Middle East and in the face developing nations' annoyance with the United States for failing to meet previous disarmament pledges.

Iranian Army and Navy On High Alert As U.S. Nuclear Submarine Enters Strait of Hormuz

I'm not taking this to the bank considering the pansy Commander-in-chief we have but DEBKA is reporting that a U.S. nuclear submarine has indeed entered the Strait of Hormuz and has caused the Iranians to hit every military alert they have in their country.

From the report:

Tehran reports that an Iranian naval patrol Thursday, May 27, detected a US nuclear submarine sailing through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which most of the oil produced by Persian Gulf states passes on its way to world markets. debkafile's Iranian sources report Tehran has placed its navy and army on high alert.Western intelligence and naval sources confirm that a nuclear-armed American submarine has in fact entered the Persian Gulf. This confirms debkafile's report of May 20 that the Obama administration had decided to boost US military strength in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf regions in the short term with an extra air and naval strike forces and 6,000 Marine and sea combatants.

Imagine, Memorial Day 2010 the U.S. launches an all out missile barrage on Iran's nuclear facilities and at the same time, bombers overhead drop bunker busting bombs on the same facilities....now THAT would be a Memorial Day to commemorate! Pardon me while I wipe the drool off my chin over that visual.

A US nuclear submarine crosses into Strait of Hormuz

Tehran reports that an Iranian naval patrol Thursday, May 27, detected a US nuclear submarine sailing through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which most of the oil produced by Persian Gulf states passes on its way to world markets. debkafile's Iranian sources report Tehran has placed its navy and army on high alert.Western intelligence and naval sources confirm that a nuclear-armed American submarine has in fact entered the Persian Gulf. This confirms debkafile's report of May 20 that the Obama administration had decided to boost US military strength in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf regions in the short term with an extra air and naval strike forces and 6,000 Marine and sea combatants. Carrier Strike Group 10, headed by the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, was due to sail out of the US Navy base at Norfolk, Virginia Friday, May 21.On arrival, it was to raise the number of US carriers off Iranian shores to two. Thursday's arrival of a US nuclear submarine also ties in with the currently rising military tensions along Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon.Up until now, President Barack Obama kept just one aircraft carrier stationed off the coast of Iran, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Arabian Sea, in pursuit of his policy of diplomatic engagement with Tehran.

Video: SeStAkgAtE

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57 Pakistani Hindus Convert To Islam ...To Save Their Jobs With Muslim Owners

Talk about a new twist on Muslim domination - I think we've all come to expect the traditional ways that islamists force converts to islam....the saber held to one's neck, the knife held to the throat of a child, a bomb vested minion walking into a public square ...but this past week, muslim business owners in Pakistan have unveiled their latest trick - they insisted that their Hindu workers convert to Islam in order for those workers to keep their jobs and be able to feed their families. Nice huh? Religion of peace and love, baby.

I wonder, do you actually technically convert to Islam if you go through the ceremony with your fingers crossed behind your back?

Here's the article at DNA:

57 Pakistani Hindus convert to Islam 'under pressure'


ISLAMABAD: Over 50 Pakistani Hindus have converted to Islam in the Sialkot district of Punjab within a week (between May 14 and May 19) under pressure from their Muslim employers in a bid to retain their jobs and survive in the Muslim-dominated society.

As many as 35 Hindus converted to Islam on May 14, another 14 on May 17 and eight on May 19, 2010.

All the 57 Hindus who have converted belong to the Pasroor town of Sialkot.

According to some Pakistani electronic media reports, Mangut Ram, a close relative of some of the new converts, who lives in Sialkot, said that these Hindus had to embrace Islam because they were under pressure from their Muslim employers.

He said four Hindu brothers along with their families lived in the village of Nikki Pindi. Mangut Ram said that Hans Raj, Kans Raj, Meena/Kartar and Sardari Lal along with his nephews and sons worked at an eatery in Karachi.

According to Mangut Ram, his co workers often used to speak against Hindus in Karachi where his family worked. “The owner of the shop where I worked said that after a few months of his employing me the sales dropped drastically because people avoided purchasing and eating edibles prepared by Hindus. Many people opposed the large presence of Hindu employees at his shop and my boss felt pressured to change the situation,” he added.

Ram said Sardari Lal and his brother Meena/Kartar had worked at the sweets shops for several years and made a decent living that allowed them to support their families.

He said other Muslims employees of the nearby shops discriminated against them and persecuted them. The shop owner was forced to think about their future at his establishment. “That was when the two brothers and their families decided to embrace Islam in order to keep their jobs and be secure,” he added.

Ram confirmed that 13 family members of Sardari Lal, 12 members of Meena/ Kartar, their nephew Kans Raj’s son Boota Ram along with three adults and several children of these families embraced Islam on May 14, 2010.

He said that Sardari Lal’s older brothers Hans Raj and Kans Raj remained Hindus. Hans Raj too has said that he might consider converting to save his job. He said that life was ‘just easier if one was Muslim’ and he wouldn’t be discriminated against.

Ram said that 14 Hindus of the Tapiala village had embraced Islam on May 17 because they were extremely poor and could not get jobs because no one would employ the large Hindu family.

He said that another relative of his, Parkash, who lived in the village of Seowal, along with his eight family members had embraced Islam in order to save their lands.

“After embracing Islam, Parkash Ram told me that Muslim neighbours had been mistreating him and had forced him to convert,” Mangut Ram said.

Stand Off At Sea Approaches: What Will Happen When the "Freedom Flotilla" Meets the Israeli Navy Off of Gaza?

This a very long article over at The Investigative Project on Terrorism which I won't excerpt in its entirety below due to length but it describes a 750 member group of Palestinian activists who are sailing to Gaza to bring "aid" to the Palestinians - of course, they won't tell you that their "aid" consists of construction materials for making smuggling tunnels so Hamas can bring rockets into Gaza.

From the article:

Israeli officials are tight-lipped about their plans to stop 750 activists who are approaching Gaza with boat loads of supplies in violation of an embargo on the Hamas government. The activists are on nine ships carrying approximately 10,000 tons of aid. Israeli officials have said they intend to cut off the "Freedom Flotilla," before it docks.

The flotilla represents a coalition of international groups, including some from Viva Palestina (VP), which has led three previous aid convoys to Gaza. Its last venture ended with violent clashes on the Egyptian border, resulting in Hamas militants killing an Egyptian police officer. Egypt subsequently cut off land access to Gaza for the convoy.

The flotilla, which hopes to arrive by week's end, carries cement, iron, generators, prefabricated homes, and building and construction materials, in addition to medical equipment and educational supplies. Israel typically does not allow building materials to enter Gaza because "those kinds of materials, instead of making houses for people, are used for building bunkers and reinforcing the armed capacity of Hamas and also construction tunnels for smuggling weapons," according to Amit Zarouk, a spokesperson at the Israeli Embassy in Ankara.

Now, I don't know if I'm simply reading this article wrong or if there is a serious typo in it but read this section of the article for me:

Notable participants in the flotilla include U.S. Navy veteran Joe Meadors and Ambassador Edward L Peck, Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General, as well as Galloway, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and parliament members from more than 16 countries.

Does that say that Hugo Chavez is one of the putzes on board one of these boats sailing for Gaza? Am I reading that right? If that's the case then I sincerely hope this flotilla hits a couple of mines along the way and blows sky high.

But the fact of the matter is this - this flotilla represents a single gathering of the biggest misfits on the planet - these are morons who basically pick out the most controversial cause on the planet and decide to call attention to themselves. I am hopeful that the Israelis make complete fools out of them - wait, they already are fools. Let me rephrase - I hope the Israelis stop them miles and miles from Gaza and simply don't let them go any further....no fireworks like these activists want, they just stop em dead in their tracks and let em sit there in the ocean.

I want to see footage of Hugo Chavez and Galloway hanging over the side of their little dinghys heaving their guts from sea sickness, drinking their own piss cuz they ran out of water, fighting with each other over the last Snickers bar on board....and they watch them flounder around in a circle when they discover they can't make it back to their home port.

Confrontation Looms Over Gaza Flotilla

Israeli officials are tight-lipped about their plans to stop 750 activists who are approaching Gaza with boat loads of supplies in violation of an embargo on the Hamas government. The activists are on nine ships carrying approximately 10,000 tons of aid. Israeli officials have said they intend to cut off the "Freedom Flotilla," before it docks.

The flotilla represents a coalition of international groups, including some from Viva Palestina (VP), which has led three previous aid convoys to Gaza. Its last venture ended with violent clashes on the Egyptian border, resulting in Hamas militants killing an Egyptian police officer. Egypt subsequently cut off land access to Gaza for the convoy.

The flotilla, which hopes to arrive by week's end, carries cement, iron, generators, prefabricated homes, and building and construction materials, in addition to medical equipment and educational supplies. Israel typically does not allow building materials to enter Gaza because "those kinds of materials, instead of making houses for people, are used for building bunkers and reinforcing the armed capacity of Hamas and also construction tunnels for smuggling weapons," according to Amit Zarouk, a spokesperson at the Israeli Embassy in Ankara.

With the backing of the Turkish government, three ships of the flotilla sailed from Turkey on Saturday bearing the country's flag during a send off ceremony with thousands of supporters. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed support for the flotilla and requested that Israel allow it to reach Gaza.

Organizations leading the flotilla, including the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) and IHH, the International Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish-based charity, call it "the biggest internationally coordinated effort to directly challenge Israeli's ongoing occupation, aggression, and violence against the Palestinian people." Other organizers include a London-based group comprised of European NGOs, and organizations based in Greece and Sweden.

The organizations have made it clear that their intention is political: their primary goal includes "break[ing] the siege of Gaza." Israel has invited the organizations to use its land crossings to deliver aid, as all other groups delivering aid to Gaza do, yet the flotilla organizers insist "We have not and will not ask for Israel's permission."

Viva Palestina partnered with IHH during its last convoy, and declared that it is "very proud to announce their involvement with IHH again on this flotilla." VP chief George Galloway, recently voted out of Parliament in the British elections, repeatedly praised IHH during speeches in the U.S. in late January and early February.

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President Obama and Janet Napolitano, We Want the Deputy Secretary of ICE Fired Now!

I think most of us were beyond rage the other day when the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security's "Immigration and Customs Enforcement" or ICE alluded to the fact that he might just not process any illegals nabbed via the Arizona enforcement of Federal immigration laws. Way beyond rage. And this article from Family Security Matters does a good job of describing what we all want - fire John Morton's ass now.

Here's some from the article:

Morton, backed up by his boss, Secretary Janet Napolitano, said that ICE has the discretion to not process illegal aliens they encounter. He agrees with the president when he said that Arizona’s recently passed immigration law was “misguided,” and he recently said that the solution to the illegal immigration problem was through a comprehensive federal approach, and not patchwork by the various states. Translation: Amnesty to all illegal aliens. He also said that ICE will instead concentrate its efforts in other states to go after employers who knowingly hire illegals.

Has Mr. Morton even read the Arizona legislation? Why should he if members of the administration including Sec. Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder haven’t either? Ignorance is bliss. I read it, and if those most critical of the law did the same, they would see the template for a model federal law. They would read that the new Arizona law compels law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of persons they feel may be here illegally. The state law differs from federal law in that it compels its officers to do something about the illegal alien problem while the feds get a pass because of “discretion.” There’s the problem. Federal agents should be compelled to enforce all federal laws being broken in their presence, especially immigration laws.

Let's look at it this way - let's pretend that it's still the Bush administration in charge and one of the officials in that administration made the statement that perhaps they just wouldn't process any people accused of violating newly created Hate Crime legislation. Now, how would that go over with the Left? You're right, they'd be screaming like banshees and holding House committee hearings starting the next day - there would be 100 calls for the firing of that official.

Well, here's call #2 for John Morton to be fired, immediately.

Fire the ICE Man for Not Doing His Duty


In probably the most outrageous statement a federal official could ever make, John Morton, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (pictured above), said that his agency would “not necessarily” process illegal aliens captured by Arizona law enforcement. Isn’t that his job?

Morton, backed up by his boss, Secretary Janet Napolitano, said that ICE has the discretion to not process illegal aliens they encounter. He agrees with the president when he said that Arizona’s recently passed immigration law was “misguided,” and he recently said that the solution to the illegal immigration problem was through a comprehensive federal approach, and not patchwork by the various states. Translation: Amnesty to all illegal aliens. He also said that ICE will instead concentrate its efforts in other states to go after employers who knowingly hire illegals.

Has Mr. Morton even read the Arizona legislation? Why should he if members of the administration including Sec. Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder haven’t either? Ignorance is bliss. I read it, and if those most critical of the law did the same, they would see the template for a model federal law. They would read that the new Arizona law compels law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of persons they feel may be here illegally. The state law differs from federal law in that it compels its officers to do something about the illegal alien problem while the feds get a pass because of “discretion.” There’s the problem. Federal agents should be compelled to enforce all federal laws being broken in their presence, especially immigration laws.

Instead of criticizing Arizona’s common sense immigration law, AG Holder should embrace it and lobby for an identical federal law that will go a long way in reversing illegal immigration. The Arizona law has tough penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegals, or whose sub-contractors do. One of the penalties is the loss of their business and professional licenses.

The Arizona law also forbids public officials and state entities from restricting the exchange of information between state and local police and ICE to determine if someone is in the country illegally. In contrast, cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco declare themselves “sanctuary cities” and forbid their officers from enforcing the law.

An administration that ignores a state’s plight of being overrun by illegals that are killing its residents and have already made its capital city the kidnapping capital of the country, is simply siding with the opposition instead of its own citizens. It’s the epitome of dereliction of duty to protect U.S. citizens. Instead, President Calderon of Mexico is invited to the White House to politely tell Arizonians to get screwed. When compared to Mexico’s immigration policies, Arizona’s law is wimpy.

A prudent administration would immediately fire Morton and Napolitano, and dispatch every available ICE agent to Arizona, along with hundreds of FBI, DEA and ATF agents, on a temporary duty basis, to get the situation under control. It would lobby Congress to immediately pass a federal law granting the authority for all local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law and require them, during a lawful police encounter, to check the legal status of all suspected illegal immigrants. If the person is clearly in the country illegally, local law enforcement officers would be compelled to arrest them and turn them over to ICE or the Border Patrol for deportation. Instead, this administration prefers hugs to arrests, and sees illegals as a means to add numbers to its political party in order to retain power.

A prudent administration would scrap any notion of “reforming” immigration law and instead enforce existing law. Until that is done, reforms can wait. It would lobby Congress to pass legislation compelling all public schools to check the legal status of existing and future students. This way the first lady won’t be embarrassed again when she visits a classroom and a little girl tells her that her mother “doesn’t have papers,” like what happened a week ago.

A law compelling public housing agencies to determine the legal status of prospective residents would have prevented the president’s illegal alien aunt from getting rent-free accommodations for as many years as she did before she was finally caught and then given a free pass by an immigration judge.

If illegal aliens knew the first time a cop stopped them for a traffic violation in the morning they would be on a bus back to Tijuana that night, they might not come here illegally in the first place.

Arizona has shown the courage and leadership this country badly needs. That’s why 70 percent of the nation supports the new law.

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Fazlullah, Head of the Swat Valley Taliban, Reported Killed Just Inside Afghanistan

Well, you know the drill ... don't take this information to the bank but let's keep our fingers crossed that Pakistani Taliban leader, Maulvi Fazlullah was killed the other day when his forces clashed with Afghan forces just inside of Afghanistan in Nuristan province.

From the report at DAWN:

A top leader of Pakistan's Taliban may have been killed in a clash with Afghan forces near the border, a senior Afghan police officer said on Thursday.

Maulvi Fazlullah, the head of a Taliban faction in the Swat Valley, was reportedly killed along with six of his comrades in the Barg Matal district of Afghanistan's Nuristan province, which lies close to the border with Pakistan, said Mohammad Zaman Mamozai, chief of the Afghan border force for the eastern region.

“Our units have reported that Fazlullah has been killed. We don't yet know if it's true or not. We're investigating this right now,” Zaman said.

The bodies were recovered by the police, he said, adding: “We're investigating to find out if Maulana's body is among those seven.”

By now, I'm not willing to make a call on the accuracy of this, especially when there aren't any U.S. or even Pakistani forces involved in the killing. But, if true, it would represent a very nice sized fish taken out of the mix in the region.

Fazlullah reportedly killed in clash: Afghan police


ASADABAD: A top leader of Pakistan's Taliban may have been killed in a clash with Afghan forces near the border, a senior Afghan police officer said on Thursday.

Maulvi Fazlullah, the head of a Taliban faction in the Swat Valley, was reportedly killed along with six of his comrades in the Barg Matal district of Afghanistan's Nuristan province, which lies close to the border with Pakistan, said Mohammad Zaman Mamozai, chief of the Afghan border force for the eastern region.

“Our units have reported that Fazlullah has been killed. We don't yet know if it's true or not. We're investigating this right now,” Zaman said.

The bodies were recovered by the police, he said, adding: “We're investigating to find out if Maulana's body is among those seven.”

Mohammad Farouq, Nuristan's deputy provincial police chief also said the Pakistani militant leader may have been killed, but had no confirmation.

“We have reports from our sources that he has been killed in Bargi Matal clashes. We are investigating,” Farouq said.

The news of Fazlullah's death comes after reports of several days of clashes between Afghan forces and militants in Barg Matal.

Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, who heads a Pakistani Taliban faction based in the Bajuar tribal region, denied media reports that Fazlullah was leading any assault in Afghanistan.

“He could be in Nuristan because the Taliban have been moving back and fourth along the (Pakistan-Afghan) border,” he told a news agency by telephone prior to reports of Fazlullah's death.

“He may be living in Nuristan but he is not engaged in any fighting there,” he said.

In a BBC interview in November, Fazlullah said he had escaped to Afghanistan after a Pakistani military offensive against the Taliban in his Swat Valley stronghold in April last year. — Agencies

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The Truth About Gaza

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Is fancy restaurants and Olympic-size pools!

Yes that is the truth. Some Concentration Camp!  That is what the Main Stream Media and the pro-Palestinian anti-Semites in the Free Gaza Movement call Gaza: The World's Largest Concentration Camp!

What they (The Main Stream Media) won’t tell you about are the fancy new restaurants and swimming pools of Gaza, or about the wind surfing competitions on Gaza beaches, or the Strip’s crowded shops and markets. Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live a middle class (and in some cases an upper class) lifestyle that western journalists refuse to report on because it doesn’t fit with the simplistic story they were sent to write.

Here, courtesy of the Palestinian Ma’an news agency, is a report on Gaza’s new Olympic-sized swimming pool . (Most Israeli towns don’t have Olympic-size swimming pools. One wonders how an area that claims to be starved of water and building materials and depends on humanitarian aid builds an Olympic size swimming pool and creates a luxury lifestyle for some while others are forced to live in abject poverty as political pawn refugees?)

If you pop into the Roots Club in Gaza, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook, you can “dine on steak au poivre and chicken cordon bleu”.

The restaurant’s website in Arabic gives a window into middle class dining and the lifestyle of Hamas officials in Gaza. And here it is in English, for all the journalists, UN types and NGO staff who regularly frequent this and other nice Gaza restaurants (but don’t tell their readers about them).

And here is a promotional video of the club restaurant . In case anyone doubts the authenticity of this video, I just called the club in Gaza City and had a nice chat with the manager who proudly confirmed business is booming and many Palestinians and international guests are dining there.

In a piece for The Wall Street Journal last year, I documented the “after effects” of a previous “emergency Gaza boat flotilla,” when the arrivals were seen afterwards purchasing souvenirs in well-stocked shops. (You can also scroll down here for more pictures of Gaza’s “impoverished” shops.)

But the mainstream liberal international media won’t report on any of this. Playing the manipulative game of the BBC is easy: if we had their vast taxpayer funded resources, we too could produce reports about parts of London, Manchester and Glasgow and make it look as though there is a humanitarian catastrophe throughout the UK. We could produce the same effect by selectively filming seedy parts of Paris and Rome and New York and Los Angeles too.

Of course there is poverty in Gaza. There is poverty in parts of Israel too. (When was the last time a foreign journalist based in Israel left the pampered lounge bars and restaurants of the King David and American Colony hotels in Jerusalem and went to check out the slum-like areas of southern Tel Aviv? Or the hard-hit Negev towns of Netivot or Rahat?)

But the way that many prominent Western news media are deliberately misleading global audiences and systematically creating the false impression that people are somehow starving in Gaza, and that it is all Israel’s fault, can only serve to increase hatred for the Jewish state – which one suspects was the goal of many of the editors and reporters involved in the first place.

Read it all here.

Olympic-sized swimming pools and fancy gourmet restaurants just like the type that Auschwitz and Dachau had.  And what about those starving children?

These children look starved, malnourished, and depressed!

Depression really has taken hold on these children of Gaza.

Compare those pictures to these of actual starving children.

These children starved to death. There have been no reports of massive starvation or malnutrition coming out of Gaza. If anyone can show me reputable source (None Palestinian or Free Gaza loonies.  WHO, or International Red Cross is acceptable.) I will post a retraction.  But they don't
acknowledge any incidents.

Before one condemns, one should learn all the facts.

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LMFAO! Is this guy great, or what?

Update to Readers: LiveLeak Videos

Hey all, I just wanted to be sure that all Holger readers are aware of the odd appearance of LiveLeak videos here at Holger Awakens. As you can see below, scroll down to the latest LiveLeak video posted here - "Canadians Ambushed by Taliban" - the LiveLeak videos are showing up in stills as just a black background. This started about a week ago and I'm actually not sure if this is unique to my blog or not but the videos ARE FINE. All you have to do is click the "Play" arrow and the vids run normally.

I wanted to be sure no one was skipping the videos, thinking they were not loaded properly.

p.s. if any of my brilliant readers have a fix I'm not aware of, please leave that in comments.

Thanks for all of your support here at Holger!

Islamic Stockholm Syndrome

Man, what a GREAT article this is from over at Family Security Matters! This is a must read for anyone that is concerned about islamic terror or islamofascism or anything in between.

I want to point out one piece of this article that I think really nails it:

Basic American values – what I call the three Cs – are going to have to come from the mothers and fathers of our children. The three Cs are: Country, Constitution, and Children. If we begin focusing on these values, we can defeat the Islamic Stockholm Syndrome.

What the author is saying is that we have to actively FIGHT I.S.S., not just make people aware of it - I've made many references at this blog about the "soft jihad" going on in America and that is one of the prime methods of mushrooming this Islamic Syndrome and I've stated that first, we need to shine the light of day on the Soft Jihad and then attack it. Let me just state one example.

You remember the case of the "Flying Imams" I'm sure. In order to fight the Soft Jihad, the imams who brought these lawsuits against ordinary American citizens should have been taken to court under charges of filing false charges - the imams should have been sued, they should have been hounded day in and day out for bringing their suits against concerned citizens. It isn't good enough that they lost their case because that's not what they wanted - they could care less about money, they wanted to ensure that Americans would learn from their actions and no American citizen would EVER dare risk making a false warning of terror activity. Well, what is needed is for everyone to become MORE sensitive to the behavior and not heistate one iota in reporting it.

The effects of Islamic Stockholm Syndrome will give the islamists their eventual prize - sharia law in America and subsequently, the takeover of our Country.

Exclusive: ISS (Islamic Stockholm Syndrome)


There have been many reactions from our book, Muslim Mafia. CAIR condemns it while American patriots are praising the book and the evidence we presented for all to see. It all boils down to this: The only people who should be offended in any manner by our book are terrorists and terror supporters. Islamic based terrorist groups and their supporters wittingly and unwittingly use the media, politicians, law enforcement, religious leaders, our educational system, and naïve Americans to further their agenda.

Many readers will recall Patricia Hearst. In 1974, she was taken hostage by bank robbers from the group known as the Symbionese Liberation Group (SLG). Hearst had always led a life of privilege and had literally nothing in common with her captors. She was held hostage for many months and later was taken prisoner herself by law enforcement because she had joind her captors and joined them in their career of robbing banks. Hearst was sentenced to two years but the sentence was later commuted by former President Jimmy Carter. Many educators and medical personnel came to her defense, and Hearst was subsequently diagnosed as having the effects of what was then labeled the “Stockholm Syndrome.” Essentially, Hearst began living the life and beliefs of her captors due to the fear they had initially imposed on her during her months as their hostage. In layman’s terms, she was “terrorized” by her captors and her very existence depended on them allowing her to live, for if they chose to do so, they could kill her at any time. She slept, ate, and conducted every waking hour watching her captors. Over a period of time she began to accept the notion that what her captors had done to her and others was right.

Now in 2010, we have millions of people who are suffering from what I describe as “Islamic Stockholm Syndrome.” Other people who study Islamism like Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, and Steve Emerson have discussed this concept, but I am giving it a name and hope my readers will begin sharing with others.

During my numerous presentations, lectures, training, and general discussions, I have often been asked how is it possible for very intelligent people (including journalists, law enforcement, politicians, and other Americans from all walks of life) to ignore the Islamic ideology of violence when we have had so many warning signs of the pending and planned violence by Islamic terror groups and their supporters. Hardly a day goes by that an Islamic leader does not express in vivid detail how Islam will annihilate not only Israel, but Canada, the UK, America and all parts of the world who are not part of the Islamic Ummah (Nation) under Sharia Law. We hear and see the violence being spread in the name of Islam, yet we remain silent. Not only do most remain silent, but many now clap for the very Islamic leaders who call for killing innocent people and ridicule and/or denounce their critics.

For 1,400 years, Islamic ideology has been passed down from one generation to the next and people have passed down the terrible atrocities committed in the name of Islam to their children and grandchildren. The world has witnessed the brutal beheadings, stoning, and outright murder of innocent men, women, and children by groups identifying themselves as “Pure Muslims.” The world has al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban and numerous other groups killing innocent people daily. In America, we have the supporters of the same violent ideology threatening, harassing, intimidating, and daring anyone of organization to “oppress Islam.” To do so is to be labeled a hate monger, Islamophobe, racist, and many other nasty words invented by the leaders of Islamic based terrorist groups.

It is my belief that after the attack on our great country on 9/11, not only were millions of Americans traumatized, but millions of people across our globe as well. People in Canada, Australia, Japan, and many other countries looked at America as being the most powerful nation on earth – yet we had been attacked by a handful of “Saudi trained Islamic terrorists” and the great nation they saw as the “Giant” was crumbling to Islam as other nations had for centuries, with millions of people dying due to violence in the name of Islam.

This, I believe, was the beginning of “Islamic Stockholm Syndrome” (ISS). Of course, immediately after 9/11, our country had brave people openly saying we would fight to the death to save our beautiful country but in reality, this lasted only a few short months. Politicians have always been for the most part “gutless” and take the safe road, but in times past, when there was ample evidence to show them there is a particular problem with any given issue, they gave in to common sense and made the correct decisions. Those days are forever gone. Even when there is ample evidence provided by outstanding, intelligent men and women like Pamela Geller, Steve Emerson, Robert Spencer, and thousands of documents from the book Paul Sperry and I wrote (Muslim Mafia), clearly identifying Muslim Brotherhood (terrorist organizations) operating freely within our country whose intentions are to destroy our country and destroy the futures of our children, the evidence is being ignored. Our politicians are under the influence of ISS. Yes, many are still ignorant and incompetent, and have been in bed with the enemy for years – and now, law abiding politicians are accepting the violent Islamic ideology as a way of life.

ISS has affected the rational thinking of many of our senior law enforcement directors and managers. All across America there is ample evidence to indicate a strategic plan is being carried out to commit treason and sedition against our country. Islamic leaders have been providing lectures and documents to their worshippers for decades, detailing exactly how America can and will be destroyed from within. Many of our street level law enforcement see this happening on a daily basis, but they are powerless because their directors and managers are aligning themselves closer with their captors such as CAIR, ISNA, MSA, MAS, MANA (all Muslim Brotherhood Islamic non-profit organizations operating freely in America). Leaders within the FBI and major law enforcement departments, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office (Sheriff Baca), open their doors to Islamic terrorist supporters yet throw up a hand to a concerned citizens reporting suspicious activity on such groups. Sedition and treason are being planned by Islamic leaders inside New York, yet we are allowing our “captors” (Islamic leaders financed by Saudi Arabia) to build a mosque on the sacred ground Islamic terrorists murdered over 3,000 innocent people that left thousands of young children to live their lives without their mothers or fathers.

Readers need to review the Stockholm Syndrome and do their part in understanding how it is possible for a hostage or victim of an Islamic terrorist group to have its very victims become supporters not just of their captors, but of their captors’ violent ideology.

Many readers will be asking what can be done. This is the most important question. In America and across the world we need to take back our children. Our children are not going to survive ISS by being taught by other ISS supporters. Basic American values – what I call the three Cs – are going to have to come from the mothers and fathers of our children. The three Cs are: Country, Constitution, and Children. If we begin focusing on these values, we can defeat the Islamic Stockholm Syndrome.

Do not allow your government, which is slowly adapting the ways of our captors (Islamic terrorist groups), to be in control of your children. Begin taking back your parental rights and insure that your children are taught the correct values, ethics, and morals upon which our country was founded. Do not allow the major media organizations to “brainwash” your children with values you know that are not designed in the best interest of your children or that of our nation. Do not send your children to the liberal universities that have already accepted their “captors’ demands” and their ideology.

Essentially, it is time for American to take back America. If it is not good enough for our children and our country, we do not want or need it. Oppress any “ism” that creeps along into our country and destroy it – or it will spread and your children will become its victims.