Tag Archives | Afghanistan

McCarthy: ‘Poison Photo-Drop’

By on May 12, 2009 in Uncategorized

From Natonal Review Online:

American soldiers, American civilians, and other innocent people are going to die because Pres. Barack Obama wants to release photographs of prisoner abuse. Note: I said, “wants to release” — not “has to release,” or “is being forced to release,” or “will comply with court orders by releasing.” The photos, quite likely thousands of them, will be released because the president wants them released. Any other description of the situation is a dodge.

If President Obama wanted to refrain from releasing these photos in order to protect the military forces he commands or promote the security of Americans — his two highest obligations as president — he could do so by simply issuing an executive order. The applicable statute expressly allows for it, just as it provides for Congress — now in the firm control of the president and his party — to withhold the photos from disclosure. Instead, Obama and congressional Democrats are choosing to release the photos. [Read More]

Bill Kristol notes at The Weekly Standard Blog, that Obama may be backtracking on the photo release.

Comments { 1 }

U.S. Base in Afghanistan Struck By Blast

By on March 4, 2009 in Uncategorized

From The Wall Street Journal:

KABUL — A bomb blast exploded outside the main U.S. base in Afghanistan on Wednesday, wounding several people, a U.S. official said. An Afghan governor blamed the attack on a suicide car bomber, and the Taliban claimed responsibility.

The governor of Parwan province, Abdul Jabar Takwa, said the bomber was in a car that exploded after he drove past a police checkpoint.   [Read More]

(H/T Associated Press)

Comments { 0 }

Suicide Bombers Kill 20 in Afghanistan

By on February 11, 2009 in Uncategorized

We are still at war Mr. President, do you understand?

Comments { 0 }

“Victory” in Afghanistan redefined by Obama

By on January 29, 2009 in Uncategorized

From The Washington Times:

President Obama is likely to scale back U.S. ambitions for troubled Afghanistan, redefining victory in a war that his closest military and foreign-affairs advisers say cannot be won on the battlefield.

Even before a planned doubling of U.S. forces in Afghanistan later this year, the new administration is lowering its sights — and lowering expectations. Although there is general agreement that the United States will be in Afghanistan for years to come, the new focus is on how to show even small security gains and development progress quickly. [Read More]

Comments { 0 }

Will Obama Follow Through in Afghanistan?

By on January 16, 2009 in Uncategorized

By Oliver North, at Human Events:

With all the preparations for the biggest, most expensive and most restrictive inaugural celebration in history, this is probably not the time to remind our President-elect of things he said and wrote, promises made or commitments pledged. Perhaps one of his new aides will clip and save this for his perusal later next week.

Candidate Obama repeatedly described Afghanistan as “the central front in the war on terror.” Sometimes, he included neighboring Pakistan, which he occasionally threatened to attack. After a brief visit to Afghanistan in July 2008, he said that “one of the biggest mistakes we’ve made strategically” was “failing to finish the job.” He used a sports metaphor, “We took our eye off the ball,” to accuse his predecessor of being “distracted by Iraq.” Then he pledged that if elected, “I will once and for all dismantle al Qaeda and the Taliban.” That is what we were told by once Senator, now President-elect, soon to be Commander in Chief, Barack Obama. But that’s not what he is saying today.  [Read More]

Comments { 0 }

“This great nation will never tire … never falter … and never fail”: Farewell President Bush

By on January 15, 2009 in Uncategorized


Here is the transcript to President Bush’s farewell address, delivered before a live audience of 200:

Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your president. The first decade of this new century has been a period of consequence – a time set apart. Tonight, with a thankful heart, I have asked for a final opportunity to share some thoughts on the journey we have traveled together and the future of our nation.

Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy. In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people. Standing on the steps of the Capitol will be a man whose story reflects the enduring promise of our land. This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole nation. And I join all Americans in offering best wishes to President-elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls.

Tonight I am filled with gratitude – to Vice President Cheney and members of the Administration; to Laura, who brought joy to this house and love to my life; to our wonderful daughters, Barbara and Jenna; to my parents, whose examples have provided strength for a lifetime. And above all, I thank the American people for the trust you have given me. I thank you for the prayers that have lifted my spirits. And I thank you for the countless acts of courage, generosity, and grace that I have witnessed these past eight years.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 0 }

WaPo: Gitmo Prosecutions “in Chaos”?

By on January 13, 2009 in Uncategorized

That’s what an article by Peter Finn in tomorrow’s Washington Post claims. The statement that “the system of handling evidence against detainees at Guantanamo Bay is so chaotic that it is impossible to prepare a fair and successful prosecution,” comes from Lt. Col. Darrell Vandeveld, a former Military prosecutor who resigned last year citing “a crisis of conscience.” Vandeveld filed a declaration in federal court yesterday supporting a petition to have the charges against Gitmo detainee Mohammed Jawad withdrawn because he had been “tortured” while in Afghan and subsequently US custody. Jawad was captured in Afghanistan in 2002 after severely wounding two US soldiers and their interpreter in a grenade attack. Military officials have rejected Vandeveld’s claims. Finn cites e-mail correspondence with chief military prosecutor Col. Lawrence Morris who has this to say:

“I am happy to respond under oath to any of the allegations,” Col. Lawrence Morris, chief military prosecutor, said in an e-mailed statement. Vandeveld, he said, “was disappointed when I did not choose him to become a team leader, and he asked to resign shortly thereafter, never having raised an ethical concern during the 9 months I supervised him. I relied on his representations to me about Jawad and other cases I entrusted to him (which included his advocacy of a 40-year sentence for Mr. Jawad the week before he departed).”

According to Finn, military judges in this case as well as in the case of Omar Khadr, have requested to be briefed on the supposed disorganization of evidence in Gitmo prosecutions, and a verdict in Jawad’s case is expected within 30 days.

Seems like Bush Derangement Syndrome stuff to me. It seems liberals and anti-Americans like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are obsessed with this, but no one else is writing about it. As I see it anyone who throws a grenade at US soldiers only deserves the worst. Andrew McCarthy of National Review makes what I think is a pertinent comment while discussing Obama’s plans to close Gitmo at the NYT blog:

[...]the purpose of holding enemy combatants in wartime (which the Supreme Court has repeatedly validated, as recently as the 2004 Hamdi case) is not to prosecute them but to remove them from the battlefield and derive intelligence. Prosecution is incidental to that purpose, and often not practical. If your first imperative in detaining people is the right one (i.e., to defeat the enemy and protect Americans), you are going to detain many people who cannot be prosecuted at all, let alone “swiftly.”

Check back in the morning for updates.

Comments { 0 }

Gitmo Detainees to Receive Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Cards on Obama’s First Full Day in Office

By on January 13, 2009 in Uncategorized

The New York Times reports today that P.E. Obama plans to issue an executive order to close the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on his first full day in office. Though the article cites legal experts and Obama advisors who state that the closure might take up to a year, this is still an incredibly dangerous move. One main issue in closing Gitmo is sending the remaining detainees back to their countries of origin. The problem is that many of these countries have refused to accept these terrorists, which clears the way for their release into the United States; also, countries that have already accepted Gitmo detainees have a tendency to release them from custody immediately allowing them to return to terrorist activity.

As of July 2007, at least 30 detainees were confirmed to have returned to terrorist activity in Pakistan or Afghanistan, most being either killed or re-captured by Coalition forces on the battlefield. In April of 2008, Adullah Saleh al-Ajmi, a Gitmo detainee who was caught in Afghanistan and later released to his home country of Kuwait, blew himself up in a suicide attack in Mosul, Iraq that killed 6 Iraqi police officers. JudicialWatch.org, reports today on its blog that “the Department of Defense says that the number of Guantanamo prisoners—all suspected Middle Eastern terrorists—who have returned to “the fight” since their release from custody has nearly doubled in a short time from 37 to 61.” There are 248 enemy combatants remaining in custody at Gitmo, and it appears the Obama team has not yet offered a plan for what to do with them. Releasing these people into the United States—or for that matter anywhere in the world—is just asking for more attacks, and endangers the lives of free people around the globe.

UPDATE: The Challenges of Closing Guantanamo, In the Room for Debate blog at newyorktimes.com, It’s worth a read.(h/t Andy McCarthy)

Comments { 0 }

14 Students die in Afghan School Bombing

By on December 28, 2008 in Uncategorized

From Amir Shah and Jason Straziuso Associated Press, The Washington Times:

The wreckage of a vehicle that was used by a bomber is seen on the ground after a suicide attack in Khost province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008. A suicide bomber tried to attack a meeting of tribal elders and blew himself up near an Afghan primary school on Sunday, killing 14 children and wounding 58 people, the U.S. military said. (AP Photo/Nashanuddin Khan)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber tried to attack a meeting of tribal elders and blew himself up near an Afghan primary school on Sunday, killing 14 children and wounding 58 people, the U.S. military said.

The suicide blast went off near the entrance to a police and army post, said Yacoub Khan, the deputy police chief of the eastern province of Khost. U.S. troops are also stationed inside the outpost, but no troops were wounded or killed in the attack.

The U.S. military said that 16 people were killed, including 14 students, an Afghan soldier and another person, who was likely an Afghan security guard that Afghan officials said was killed.

Dr. Abdul Rahman, a doctor at a hospital near the blast, said the children were aged 8 to 10.

Photos of the bombing’s aftermath showed bloodied textbooks lying on the ground beside small pairs of shoes. The U.S. military also released images of the blast caught on a security camera.

U.S. Gen. David McKiernan, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, said he believes the militant network run by warlord Siraj Haqqani was responsible for the attack. [Read More]

Comments { 0 }

Tension between Pakistan and India yields Pakistani Troop Movement

By on December 26, 2008 in Uncategorized

From The Wall Street Journal:

Article by Zahid Hussain in Islamabad and Matthew Rosenberg in New Delhi.

Tensions between India and Pakistan rose again Friday as Pakistan said it was redeploying an unspecified number of troops from the fight against Islamic militants in the northwest.

Pakistani officials wouldn’t say where the troops were headed nor provide estimates of how many soldiers were on the move. The officials also said Pakistan had sharply curtailed leave for all troops amid the heightened tensions with India.

A Pakistani military spokesman suggested they will be redeployed to face Indian forces on the country’s eastern border, calling the troop movements and the restriction of leave “defensive and precautionary steps” prompted by souring relations with India after last month’s Mumbai terrorist attacks that left 171 people dead.

Another Pakistani security official said some of the country’s soldiers were being moved from northwestern areas where there were no militants to fight, or where both sides were snowed in.

Both officials insisted the redeployment was modest and won’t affect the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda, which control wide swaths of territory along Pakistan’s northwestern border with Afghanistan. [Read More]

Comments { 0 }