What does a radical Islamic mother say to another radical Islamic mother? Children, they blow up so fast.
What a contrast with the raid that killed Bin Laden in May 2011. The Obama Administration came out with conflicting accounts and required the SEALS who carried out the attack to sign non-disclosure agreements. Why? Because the raid was conducted with the cooperation and knowledge of the Pakistani government; the SEALS faced no guard force; Bin Laden was a cripple unable to get out of bed and was shot so many times by the SEALs his body was dumped in the ocean.
Al Baghdadi? It is now clear he was protected by someone in Turkey. The Turks knew where he was and, until yesterday, kept him safe. Trump’s actions over the last three weeks with respect to U.S. forces in Syria set the table for this operation. A combination of pressure and incentives confronted Turkey’s President Erdogan and he rolled over.
It is telling that there was not a huge fire fight going in. Where was the Baghdadi security team? This is a further indicator that Baghdadi was betrayed by folks he thought were protecting him. Baghdadi fled his house and jumped into a tunnel.
Baghdadi is reported to have blown himself up. Looks like the mission was carried out by Delta Force. They are accompanied by Malanois dogs (looks a little like a German shepherd). Based on what Trump briefed today the dog followed Baghdadi down into the tunnel. The dog can run faster than any soldier in such an environment. Once Baghdadi was trapped he detonated his suicide vest. Fortunately, the dog was not killed (but probably suffered some frag wounds.)
(Someone needs to re-write the Peter and Gordon lyrics on “I Go to Pieces” in honor of Baghdadi’s passing.)
Don’t believe the media reports that the U.S. forces launched from Iraq. Just look at a map. Al Baghdadi was hiding out in Idlib province, which is in northwest Syria. Flight time in helicopters from Iraq is three hours plus. Flight time from the U.S. Air Force base in Incirlik, Turkey is about one hour. This came out of Turkey. That is why the U.S. coordinated/deconflicted the flight path with Russia. Flying from Turkey into northwest Syria takes one directly over territory controlled by the Russians and Syrians.
Trump’s press conference was amazing. He did not divulge key operational details and did a good job of obfuscating the intel sources that provided the break on Al Baghdadi’s location.
One thing is certain–most of the anti-Trump crowd will look for some reason to criticize Trump’s victory. The anti-Trumper crowd looks pretty stupid now. They were predicting the resurgence of ISIS. Whoops!! There goes that narrative. The new status quo in Syria means the end of the U.S. policy of regime change and the beginning of the rehabilitation of Syria as a legitimate nation state. This is really going to piss off the Deep State. All their plans initiated by Obama and Hillary are being destroyed by the red haired road runner known as Trump.
But what about Trump’s comments about keeping the oil, and protecting it with haevy fire power, and inviting in Exxon, etc. He did say a deal might be possible.
Horace
Watch what he does, not what he says. He thinks while talking. This is a bad habit since he does not speak English well. I am told that this is a characteristic of people from the Outer Boroughs of NY City.
Sop for Tillerston: Take it, it is yours, if you can keep it?
https://tass.com/defense/1085522
“Russian defense ministry says has no proof of Islamic State leader’s extermination
Russia’s defense ministry has no reliable information about an operation by US forces in the Turkey-controlled part of the Idlib de-escalation zone aimed at another extermination of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ministry’s spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said”
I am so happy the dog and the others involved in hunting him down did not die. He did not deserve the twisted “honor” of being a suicide bomber.
It makes it more difficult for the left to try to figuratively “blow up” the Trump presidency.
I’m still angry that four men died, and Hillary lied.
I just finished reading Backlash, by Brad Thor. Thor is one of a legion of “NYTimes bestselling authors” that, I’m pretty sure, is on the State Department’s ministry of propaganda payroll.
Thor is also one of the fiction writers featured in C Span’s year-long spotlight on fiction writers, a departure from its years-long focus on non-fiction.
Others in Thor’s company at C Span were David Baldacci and David Ignatius (and others whose names I’ve forgotten). What they have in common is that plots revolve around US good-guys delivering brutal “justice” to US-designated Bad Guys — Iranians, Russians (as in Thor’s latest), Arabs, anybody who messes with Israelis.
As I listened to Trump I tried to figure out which one of the State Department fiction-writers wrote his speech.
I was especially intrigued to watch him describe how “we had robots because el-Baghdadi had a very powerful suicide vest and we didn’t want one of ours to get killed, but we didn’t have to use the robot,” followed by, “he ran into a tunnel that had no exit but we weren’t sure of that– there might have been a trap-door;” then, “he blew himself up and the whole tunnel caved in on him.” I watched Trump as I listened: surely, just my imagination (honed from reading way too many of the State Dept. fiction-thrillers), but I thought I could see him refreshing his memory on how that part of the event had been scripted: How are we going to deal with the fact that we do not have a body?
Whether or not el Baghdadi was killed, recently, by a special ops team — call me cynical.
I weep for my country that the way that its leader re-establishes his bona fides is by celebrating brutal murder, and many Americans will celebrate that murder right along with him.
HillaryObama did the same thing; so did G H W Bush with the “precision bombing” of Iraq that became a thing of pride; the capture of Saddam in his “spider hole;” Hillary’s glee over the sodomized assassination of Qaddafi.
We have been inured to outrages to human beings, especially if they are “over there,” and many who have become wealthy producers of popular culture have played a major role in conditioning the American people to celebrate blood and gore in the name of American Values.
Col. Lang — Your post on Comments is at the back of my mind. I like to think I’m complying; that if I hated USA it would not bother me that we are conditioned to celebrate killing. It does bother me. I don’t think the killing of el Baghdadi is something that enhances the moral stature of USA — particularly when it is coupled, as it was in Trump’s speech — with the bold declaration that US intends to steal Syria’s oil.
“Real Men Go To Tehran.”
Real Man James Jeffrey has been hot to bankrupt Syria for at least a year, his scheme to make reconstruction of Syria impossible unless / until Syria ejects Iran & complies with the Borg’s demands.
oorah.
Artemesia
“I’m pretty sure, is on the State Department’s ministry of propaganda payroll.” Where is that located in the Department of State? Tell me so that I can go after them.
Someone put it this way: “Don’t take him literally. DO take him seriously.”
The dogs are Malinois, probably from the French, malin/, mischievous. They are known for their hyperactivity and intelligence but requires so much attention that few owners can satisfy them
As for me, I am not celebrating the death of this evil, twisted man. I am celebrating the idea that he can no longer lead young men he has brainwashed with his supposedly religious beliefs into killing our young men and women or other people in his part of the world.
I do mourn the fact that the death of this man seems to bother you–he made sure his children were with him when he died. Does it not cause you to think about that evil? Was he putting his children into a situation to be used as possible shields against his death. What would that do, or did that to their minds before they died?
We really don’t have to think about that now because he dragged them with him to his death–and theirs. I prefer to believe that now a Just God will be judging his soul.
It’s a very sad thing that in this “fallen” world, we have to find ways to deal with evil men. We can be excused for being relieved that a really evil man is no longer alive.
No idea whether this information is true or not, but:
Sources: the 8 helicopters that targeted “al-Baghdadi” took-off from “Sarin” airport, flew over the Syrian-Turkish border through Jarabulus and al-Rai to the operation area, and information about the participation of the counter-terrorism forces of SDF in the operation, and remains of the group’s leader transferred to Ain al-Assad in Iraq http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=145505
As posted by .@EHSANI2 on twitter:
Baghdadi‘s Brother-in-law reportedly offered Iraq ‘s intel and later the U.S the information that led to the compound in Idlib
Interesting details in this interview (for those who speak Arabic)
https://youtu.be/PZI3K7mqSD8 via @YouTube
He was only evil to his enemies and opponents. He almost certainly considered himself a man of righteousness, fighting for Islam and defending it against its enemies.
That is why I maintain that we are in a multireligious war.
What I would like to know is how and why such insensible men, lacking discernment & judgement, can get to such high places in the American government. Is there no process of selection or are they selected for exactly such qualities?
Ooh – you should be working the comedy circuits!
Query: from whence did the al-Baghdadi’s DNA sample came? Yes, he was in prison (as a detainee, not as a proper prisioner) in 2004. Correct me if I’m wrong, but back then they didn’t bother with collecting DNA samples – only fingerprints.
To end the cursive text.
Harper,
re the Malanois dogs – they are belgian shepard dogs and look like German shepards
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malinois_dog
“Working dog
A Belgian Malinois working with US Naval Security
In Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and other European countries, as well as in the United States, Canada, Australia and the city of Hong Kong, the Malinois is bred primarily as a working dog for personal protection, detection, police work, search and rescue, and sport work like Schutzhund.[9] The United States Secret Service and Royal Australian Air Force[10] use the breed along with other working lines such as Dutch Shepherd, and also GSD.[11][12][13] In the United States Armed Forces, German shepherds lead the way, but close behind follows the Belgian Malinois.[14]
In India, the ITBP and National Security Guard (NSG) commando unit have inducted Malinois breed into its K-9 unit.[15]
Malinois dogs are used by the Oketz, the K-9 unit of the Israel Defense Forces. Malinois are a suitable size to be picked up by their handlers when required, while still being large enough to control human aggressors. Compared to previously used breeds (such as German Shepherds and Rottweilers), the shorter coats and fair and neutral colors of Malinois are better adapted to natural conditions and less prone to induce heatstroke.[citation needed]
United States Navy SEALs used a Belgian Malinois war dog named Cairo in Operation Neptune Spear, in which Osama bin Laden was killed.[16][17][18]
Belgian Malinois have also been called a “game changer” in the fight against rhino poaching in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, where one dog, K9 Killer, has been responsible for more than 100 arrests.[19] ”
Time for a new narrative, let the SAR take Idlib
Rather than question the death of Baghdadi, I think the Russian Defense Minister would be better served to point out that this underscores the need for Syria to regain control of the Idlib province. Hasn’t Pompeo and other Administration officials warned and threatened the R+6 multiple times to abandon their Idlib offensive?
MSM response pathetic as usual
CNN and the rest have resorted to questioning Trump’s word ordering to find fault with him. They are upset that he mentioned the Russians before the Kurds and the Kurds before our special forces as if that mattered. He mentioned the Russians exactly once and only for the minor act of quietly giving us access to the airspace and our special forces at least a dozen times for the actual mission. These guys need therapy.
I base my personal assessment of this man’s evil nature on his treatment of his children in this situation. I remember that it was a practice when we were in Iraq–an engagement I was really not sure we needed to be in–on my memories of parents there getting financial bonuses for arming their children as suicide bombers.
There are religions and spiritual practices all across the world that accept behaviors and activities that are repugnant to me. But the parent-child relationship seems to me to be something that should be sacred everywhere in every religious system. Abraham’s obedience to God was tested by his determination to do what he thought God wanted when he was going to sacrifice Isaac, but God accepted that willingness over the actual sacrifice of a child.
I am in awe of our military parents whose children go off to fight brutal wars which put them into grave danger for the sake of fighting for other people’s hope that their children can live in peace.
Diana C
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi believed that he was taking his children to paradise with him. Your judgment on the validity of his belief in that is something I share, but it is irrelevant.
Is this idea of “sacred bond” supported by Christianity, as I do not recall seeing it?
Your last paragraph is mis-informed.
https://intelnews.org/2019/10/28/01-2656/
terrorist leaders replacement
I am not sure I have the right words for this article. I have an itchy feeling about it. are they downplaying the death of the terrorist saying that he was a hasbeen and not important anymore?
is it the truth or propaganda?
All things considered, I think it’s naive not to comprehend a close relationship between US administration/Pentagon/State Department and publishers and writers of popular culture.
I’ve been studying this for >10 years; too much information for a 1.5″ comment on another topic.
This interview of John Hench on his book, Books as Weapons, may serve as a starter for those interested
https://www.c-span.org/video/?293026-1/books-weapons&start=34
nb. One of Brad Thor’s characters is a dwarf who keeps as pets/bodyguards two Ovcharkas – Caucasian sheep dogs.
Juan Cole reflects on the rise of ISIL and the death of Baghdadi.
quote
But some journalists in prominent outlets reported silly things like that ISIL is “very, very Islamic.” Yes, and the Ku Klux Klan is “very, very Christian.” People reply that ISIL erected a state over some 5 million people. Well, the Ku Klux Klan ran Indiana.
Violent cults like ISIL grow out of social conditions. They tell you nothing about the character of the religion out of which they emerge. In East Africa, the Lord’s Resistance Army has terrorized Uganda and its neighbors, coming out of local interpretations of Christianity. In Japan, Om Shinrikyo put sarin gas in the Tokyo subway in 1995, sickening thousands (they were trying to commit mass murder). They are a Buddhist offshoot and were trying to provoke the advent of the next Buddha. Buddhists are often appalled to hear this, and protest that Om Shinrikyo is not Buddhism. Right. And ISIL is not Islam in exactly that sense
https://www.juancole.com/2019/10/militarism-provoked-baghdadi.html
This is a difficult one. It must be true. On the grounds that if the story were invented they’d have invented something more credible. As long as they didn’t think of that too.
I tried looking up “Will it play in Peoria?” to see if the term was still current. Verdict uncertain. But will it? That seemed to be the main purpose of the President’s press conference that I watched.
It wasn’t Trump’s finest hour, but if this confounds the neocons and gets the US (and the UK – revolting what we’ve been doing there) out of Syria then he’s a great man.
Looked at map.coming in from Turkey into NW Idlib, can’t see how they would be over Rus/Syrian airspace?? Unless you consider Idlib under Rus/Syrian control..
Babak,
It used to be the selection of nominees was done by the party delegates, the old ‘smoke filled rooms’ as it were. Nowadays we treat party polls as elections in themselves. This has turned the nomination process into an exercise of populism, and an exercise in which only a very small proportion of the electorate bothers to participate in. Hence the last two POTUSes have been a green, first-term Senator and a rather creepy reality TeeVee host.
We should consider going back to those smoke-filled rooms or adopting the Australian system of mandatory voting. The process is being dominated by the most ideologically enthralled, and thereby energized, participants on both sides side.
When this happened before a commenter put in to close the italics. I hope it’s not officious to attempt that now.
Cpm
The originating point of the mission was probably somewhere around Incirlik. Air defense systems reach out for many miles. You don’t have to fly directly over the SAM sites for them to take you down. The air package would have been “painted” by Russian and Syrian sair defense systems going in and coming out.
Thank you.
There was a strong anti-popular streak in Persian literature. The Pirs (gurus) were especially adamant in keeping certain knowledge from those unfit to learn it.
He is an admirable man, a Baha’i, trying not to inflame Islamophobia even more. On the other hand, the revival of slavery by ISIL, and its application to Yazidi women, has left him with an uphill struggle. There was also this matter of an attack on a Shia mosque in Afghanistan 2 Fridays ago, 65 dead.
Since Peoria is now Pence country, the new expression is will it play in liberal hot bed, Hollywood value Santa Monica?
Funny place, Santa Monica, where the small shop owners were forced out due to gentrication caused by wealthy liberals. I wish I could be a wealthy anything; Left Wing, Right Wing, Liberal, Conservative – so long as I had plenty of Greenbacks.
Indeed, the selection process does exist. It must therefore be assumed that this process selects the mediocre or deficient ones. This must also apply to the top brass of the armed forces although different. I remember a report where Senator Graham in committee and public session, humiliated a quarteron of generals (4-stars), calling them a danger to US security…
These were about US performances in Syria in 2014-2015.
Obama, when asked, replied: “It’s not me, it’s the army.”
You will notice this is a follow-up to our little exchange a few days ago.
I’m not sure: Malinois, from Mâlines, a Belgian city and not a French-speaking one. (https://www.woopets.fr/chien/race/berger-belge-malinois/)
But, of course, French dogs are shrewd and clever, and tireless. Different from their masters, probably.
Babak, are you naive about the role of public employee unions in the Democrat Party? Good topic to understand if you want to understand American politics. Used to be played by private industry unions, but those industries were destroyed from within by those very same employee unions. In the vacuum came the rise of public sector unions after JFK unionized “civil servants”.
I commend you to research this fundamental shift in US poltiics – the rise of the public sector unions who provide captive audience services and can elect those who sit on the other side of the collective bargaining table to carry out their wishes. Powerful shift of the power balance in the US political scene.
In fact, everyone in America needs to understand the phenomenon of a weaponized civil service, its unions, its union bosses and how they have affected life in America in our current times.
California is an extreme example in microcosm of the Democrat Party having been taken over by the powerful public employee unions in this state, primarily the California Teachers Association – teachers union who have their hands on 50% of the total general state budget, by law – Prop 98.
d74
The Malinois is a well know Belgian shepherd dog. Look it up.
I’m not sure what aspects of Christianity you are thinking of. Maybe my Sunday School and confirmation teachers were wrong, in your mind, to teach me “The Fifth Commandment.” I have always tried to follow those commandments.
There are many people who are counted as Christians by people outside of the Faith, and some just because they are Caucasian and living in Christian-majority countries.
Swedish aircraft flew around last week.Delivered meatballs from ikea.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/sweden-built-a-russian-fighter-jet-killer-and-stealth-is-irrelevant-2019-2
d74
Some of the people at the top in the professional civilian governments are simply the most skillful politicians within their agencies. Some were congressional staffers who made the jump to the Executive Branch when their party was in power. Some are simply political appointees from civilian life. As for the military it tends to promote conformists who are not original thinkers and who lack the “vision thing.”
My state is a caucus state, so perhaps you count participating in the caucus process as participating in “smoke-filled room” negotiations.
I attended those caucuses during the nomination process of Donald Trump. I did not witness or suspect that any sort of sneaky back-room deals were being made. I, myself, was a Cruz fan, but when my state’s Republican caucuses went for Trump, I did know he had won the nomination fairly.
It took me a long time, but I finally understood why the Republicans went for Trump. He was such a contrast to that smooth-talking, inexperienced half-Black politician who had really no record to make me feel he would do the work of governing rather than spend his time in office trying to radically change our Republic from the way it had been designed by the Founders.
The people who voted for Trump in the caucuses always pointed out that he was a capitalist and knew how a capitalist system should function, and because of that they were willing to overlook his personal flaws.
They say wealth doesn’t buy you happiness, Babak. Though, perhaps like you, I’d have no objection to testing that one out.
PATRICK LAWRENCE: A Sudden-Seeming Power Shift in the Middle East
PL restates some of the discussion we had here a few days ago.
And a lot more
quote:
U.S. objectives in Syria have been patently malign since it began covertly arming Sunni-nationalist jihadists in early 2012 at the latest: It has sought to keep Syria divided and in a state of chaos while backing Islamist proxies to bring down Assad’s secular government in a violent coup. Russia’s intentions are diametrically the opposite: to restore Syria’s territorial integrity while encouraging multi-sided talks intended to produce a lasting peace.
Moscow’s emerging role in the Middle East is studied, the consequence of careful planning and astute statecraft. Since Russia’s entry into the Syrian conflict four years ago, Putin and Lavrov have assiduously developed working relations with nations of very disparate interests, from Turkey and Iran to Saudi Arabia and Israel. The Tehran Times reported last Wednesday that Russia intends to propose a regional security framework by the end of this year. The Iranian daily quotes Mikhail Bogdanov, Lavrov’s deputy foreign minister, as saying this endeavor has been in train since last June.
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/10/28/patrick-lawrence-a-sudden-seeming-power-shift-in-the-middle-east/
Here’s my problem, Christian or otherwise:
1. It is acknowledged that US invasion of Iraq was a “blunder,” that it was based on lies. ISIS emerged as a direct consequence of that USA-led blunder.
2. That being the case, staying in the invaded territory seems untenable, from a Christian pov.
I I were to put that situation in the Catholic notions that I was taught, if one thinks of the invasion as a “sin,” then the necessary thing to do is to Stop Sinning. Stop warring. Get out.
3. We are in the territory of another people, outside of what used to be customary Christian principles — Just War theory. They are not in our territory, we are in theirs. Their resistance is legitimate. Our occupation is as illegitimate as Israeli occupation of West Bank.
4. Beheading someone, or setting someone afire in a cage, are gruesome, primitive acts. Baghdadi led those acts. He deserved to die and the world is a better place now that he has blown himself to bits.
Killing with depleted uranium, drones, hi-tech weapons is civilized and the persons thus killed are somehow less dead. Persons who wield those weapons are the protectors of the American people. George Bush and Dick Cheney bear primary culpability for that blunder that developed into a terror campaign that resulted in the emergence of ISIS.
5. Did your Sunday school and Confirmation teachers teach you that Bush and Cheney should be held accountable for their “sinful” acts, or does using hi-tech weapons exonerate them?
6. Do you believe, as a Christian, that the fact that leaders like Bush & Cheney were NOT held accountable has caused the US political body to behave in a dangerous fashion, in which not only is the world not a safer place, it is reasonable to envision even more killing, whether of the barbaric or the civilized kind.
Artemesia
You could be a pacifist on SST but not a smug, ignorant pacifist Discarding sabot depleted uranium anti-armor rounds have no significant radiation effect. They were used because the slug of depleted uranium that hits the enemy armored vehicle is so dense that it knocks a hole in it. Do you actually have any knowledge at all of the things you go on about. The military stopped buying those because of the mindless prattle of people like you. They now buy anti tank rounds in which the slug is not as dense, not as effective but you got your way. When some mother’s son lies dead just remember to be smug about it. Were your ancestor Tories? Were they happy to be servants of the King. I was opposed to the Iraq War and it cost me, but you are just a self satisfied dummy. Goodbye
Mark,
Obama won because G W Bush went to war in Iraq after 9-11. Any Democrat but Hilary would have won the 2008 election. Mandatory voting? God forbid. We have millions of willfully ignorant citizens who should never be encouraged or required to vote.
Artemesia
You seem to lack an understanding of the simple fact that history is just “things that happened.” Badly flawed people make badly flawed decisions often from a lack of any real knowledge of the world. I opposed the Iraq War and the other Israeli driven follies but I have no intention of allowing you or any other to malign the United States by claiming we are evil. We are not, just inept.
Ah, to have a cosy cottage in Surreyfor the holidays, leaving Londonistan after attending that tiresome ball for Gormenghast Children. It is so good to be a humanitarian, relaxing by the fire, sipping G..
oldman22
i have warned you all not to use SST as a bulletin board for non SST writers. You are banned.
Thank you.
Or like the 19th century Taiping Heavenly Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan who had been converted to Christianity by missionaries. He too like the LRA had his own interpretation and declared himself a son of God and the brother of Christ. That uprising ended up killing 20 to 30 million Chinese, some on the battlefield but most due to famine and disease caused by the rebellion.
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Chinese-Son-Taiping-Heavenly/dp/0393315568/ref=sr_1_3?crid=XSJEFVDZFUUB&keywords=taiping+rebellion&qid=1572298005&s=books&sprefix=taiping%2Cstripbooks%2C296&sr=1-3
I just had never heard about a sacred bond between parents and offsprings from any of the extants religions of West Asia. There is a very strong belief in East Asia about that bond but it is not considered sacred in the sense that you mean.
Maybe we’re on a higher plane, Babak –
“Tell me,” said the king, “you are a mystic, a philosopher, a man of unconventional understandings. I have become interested in the question of value. It is an interesting philosophical question. Take me for example. If I were to ask you to estimate my value, what would you say?”
“Oh,” Nasruddin said, “I’d say about two hundred dinars.”
The emperor was flabbergasted. “What! But this belt I’m wearing is worth two hundred dinars.”
“I know,” said Nasruddin. “Actually, I was taking the value of the belt into consideration.”
Babak,
Seems to me ignorance is a poor antidote to populism. Yet Jefferson’s idealistic image of the farmer/scholar is, sadly, unrealistic. A realistic one might be getting people just over the Dunning-Kruger hump, I suppose. The need for the humanities in a functioning Republic is paramount.
Colonel, Larry, TTG,
CJCS is saying that 2 adult males were captured along with a trove of Intel
Very good!
Ineptness sounds like superior orders, a shield for the consequences of “things that happened”.
The American Constitution as she was originally written with the first ten amendments was strongly anti-democratic and anti-monarchical.
The last candidate for president who was selected in the “smoke filled room” was Warren G. Harding. A good president but maybe too loyal to old friends.
The easiest way to quote is to copy/paste the text you wish us to read between quote marks ” copy/paste “. If you are not quoting the complete quote it is proper and courteous and honest to include an ellipsis … (Usually done with three periods ) where you are omitting words: ” … copy/paste … “.
Yes I am a wee bit of a grammarian. It goes with having the soul of an engineer.
https://www.wikihow.com/Sample/Italics-Usage
It does announce who the next target is.
Of course Isis/Daesh is merely a few young hotheads with an internet connection somewhere close to the Turkish border in Idlib.
So they will keep teeing them up and someone will keep knocking them down.
It may not buy but it can rent.
But consider the serious issue of having real wealth.
1) You are now a target of every grifter, parasite, office seeker, panhandler and crook anywhere around you.
2) If you keep your wealth on you or in your home you will be victimized.
3) If you put your wealth in a safe bank you will be nibbled to death by taxes and bankers.
4) Bernie Sanders will want 95% of all you have to give free health care to the 4 billion foreigners who wish to come to the USA for the benefits and the Hollywood life style.
5) If you decide to renounce your citizenship and move somewhere less parasitical, the IRS will demand about half your wealth before you can take the rest with you.
6) If your wealth came because you did or made or invented or build something monumental you will be thoroughly denounced.
7) If your wealth came because you played Meathead for several years and now live in a gated non-diverse community you will have that bullhorn to denounce creative and productive people with.
8) You will have to associate with people who have the souls of accountants mostly because they are accountants and they are hired by you to help you keep some of that wealth.
It is truly a bitch to be rich. Now to be a Rothschild that is a different kettle of fish.
paco
“ineptness” and “things that happen” sound like that to you because you want to believe in “the hidden hand.”
Lyttennburg,
It’s being reported that a Kurdish spy stole a pair of al-Baghdadi’s underwear and transferred it to US forces, but who knows how it was really done. There are always ways, aren’t there?
Did you not read all that I wrote? I was not at all happy with our engaging in Iraq. I was not really sure we should have gone into Kuwait before that.
I remember clearly the huge sorrow I felt when that first bomb was dropped on Baghdad.
To support the young men and women following the orders of misguided leaders/politicians is not the same as liking what those leaders have asked them to do.
In my belief, we are living in a “fallen” world. What is in the heart of each individual is what counts.
I also did not think we should have gone into Vietnam. I have close friends who served in that war. I went to college with young men who were there only so as not to be drafted. I did not find that one could judge the two groups of young men as each being made up of identical thinkers.
Some went when they were drafted. Some went because they felt they should support our military. Others who stayed made their choices. Some signed up for service that would not take them to Vietnam. Others let their parents send them to college to get out of the draft–but many of those were interested, in my opinion , more in the sex,drugs and rock and roll of that era.
Individuals make individual decisions based on their own personal desires and beliefs, even those individuals in cultures different from our own.
No one I know celebrates killing. As I wrote, I celbrate that the man killed can no longer order others to participate in horrid killings of mostly innocent people.
And, I submit that the same is true in other parts of the world. Individual people must grapple constantly with their own personal take on what is right and what is wrong for any situation.
We would not, in my opinion, be the U.S. now if the Flower Children had taken control of our government. I can’t think of any culture in history where killing and fighting did not occur in some way. I don’t know anyone who celebrates the idea of killing. But, please understand that it IS possible to judge a man by the “fruits” of his actions and not try to say that the man is just doing what the culture he lives in finds acceptable and so we should honor that.
I could have pointed out part of the Second Commandment: “For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”
This is also an expression of the impact of fathers (parents) on their children.
The Fifth Commandment assumes, I suppose, that the parents do take their position as examples for their children seriously: “Honor thy father and mother: that thy days may be long upon the land with the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
I am not trying to preach here, just trying to show where I get my beliefs.
As I mentioned, I think many from other parts of the world lump all people who come from America as as Christians. The Muslim world is quite diverse, and I have tried to learn the differences between Sunni and Shia and on and on. It’s complicated. Christians have the Catholics and then all the many and various Prostestant denominations to figure out.
I once had a nice discussion with a man studying here from Saudi Arabia. He was surprised that I did know a little–a very little–about the differences between Sunni and Shia. He then spent some time as I tried to explain some of the differences between the various Christian denominations.
The passages I give you from the Ten Commandments, however, are foundation beliefs of most Christians. Here in our country, as you may know, some who are not religious–and therefore not Christian–have fought to keep the many plaques and monuments that present the Commandments from being kept or displayed as the country becomes–sadly to my way of thinking–more secular.
Sorry sir,
Godfree Roberts made two proposals. It seemed good policy to me to be uncertain about the first one I was straightening up but affirmative about the second, flattering I would dare say.(for dogs).
I have close relatives who live in the US and they think it’s great. Also relatives who live in Germany and they’re pretty happy too. But the US lot have it better – more space to live in, whereas in Germany many live cooped up in apartments. That makes a big difference, especially for people like me who are used to living in the countryside.
On more important matters, the difference in freedom of speech is amazing. So many subjects are pretty well forbidden in polite society on the Continent whereas, away from snowflake territory, in the US it’s still possible to discuss them.
But that’s normal everyday life. When it comes to politics – that’s a mess everywhere.
Babak was satirising the desired lifestyle of an English Prog, though I’d add in the gite in the Dordogne for good measure. That’s the successful English Prog – there’s a long waiting list.
I reckon Nasruddin wasn’t doing a Diogenes act and telling the king he was rubbish. He was pointing out that there are values other than the monetary. It was by those values that he chose to judge the king and by those values that he himself lived.
I’ve probably got stars in my eyes but I suspect that in the Islamic world they hold to those other values more than we do.
We have considered the two options you set out above very carefully. I think I’ll take the second. My wife, who is more cautious than me, says could we try both before we decide?
After careful consideration is always a good way to determine which of the many paths available at the moment is the one with the highest chance of obtaining happiness.
In that real world where the children announced that the king was naked, the children were quickly escorted to the tower and there the royal surgeon blinded them. The chattering classes continued to admire the high thread count and luxurious colours of the king’s raiment.
IS confirmation of Baghdadi’s death just released a few minutes ago in an audio message from the new spokesman(whose voice sounds familiar to me)
Concerning the Uranium thing, my understanding is that exposure to depleted Uranium is quite linked to increased cancer risks, but well, the alternatives (like f.e. the Tungsten compounds that the Bundeswehr or the Russians use, the latter supposedly use mostly tungsten but also have DU although they never admitted that they do) are quite toxic as well.
Penetrative power differentials between Tungsten and DU (which are disputed, and subject to heavy data washing by all involved nations and agencies, just as the effectiveness of modern tank armor is) do not apply very much to the common operations of US forces today, as these operations are not characterized by their abundance of tank on tank engangements.
They but would certainly be a thing in case of a military clash with the Russian armed forces, as well as in case of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah or in case of increased hostilities in Donbass.
Generally speaking, a lot of things in wars cause cancer, because in wars a lot of pretty hazordous things like chemical factories get blown up, and medical systems tend to be overwhelmed quite rapidly.
All things nuclear also seem to have an innate “fear factor”, but this fear factor extends far beyond the confines of pacifists.
One should note that DU and Tungsten are not considered poisonous weapons by international law because their primary use is to destroy with kinetic energy, they are however both quite poisonous in practice.
AIS
Chest x-rays can give you cancer. Anti-tank rounds are intended to be more lethal than minor amounts of radiations. If a DU round slug holes your turret you probably have more to worry about than small amounts of radiation. Have tank crewman complained about handling the ammunition?
Colonel,
But once the rounds are discharged the fragments end up somewhere and stay, you dont need to be hit. If you are living and having kids around the remains of radioactive rounds you will get cancer. 12 fold increase in Fallujah cancers for example cant be caused by military burn pits as many allege
Serge
“Military burn pits” at Fallujah? You think the US was burning uranium in pits at Fallujah? Civilians in the neighborhood of ground combat may be injured? Did you recently learn that?
About the burn pits ,I read about it this morning coincidentally in an article on the rise of cancers in US veterans over past 20 years:
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article236413328.html
These soldiers and some researchers/clinicians blame burn pits that were burning tons of assorted military refuse on a daily basis in both iraq and afghanistan, not uranium. But I do not buy this explanation
Serge
Why do you not “buy” it?
Colonel,
If the burn pits are responsible then teratogenicity would be pronounced in the veteran population like it was for Agent Orange, and it wouldn’t be circumscribed to specific urban areas that saw intense use of certain munitions.
All
Interview with Bashar al Assad – 10/31/2019
https://sana.sy/en/?p=177331
All:
Informative essay on why Turkisk leaders have done what they have done:
https://warontherocks.com/2019/10/turkey-and-russia-a-remarkable-rapprochement/
CK, yes, we all may lean towards educational measures once in a while. Ideally after careful reflections …
And yes: we are all blind temporarily, or dazzled, if you like. …
That doesn’t answer Lyttenbourg’s question. Prison samples, family?
But I wish I would care. Other then maybe wondering that a T-shirt would have done the same job.
Babak Makkinejad,
Many thanks for that reference.
I see that the author, Michael A. Reynolds, links to a paper he produced in April last year, entitled ‘Outfoxed by the Bear? America’s Losing Game Against Russia in the Near East.’
(See https://www.fpri.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Reynolds2018.pdf .)
The title is somewhat misleading, in that the paper actually deals with the whole history of conflict between West and Russia over the ‘southern rim’ of that country since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the rather radical misreadings common in Washington – as also London.
A paragraph from the opening I enjoyed:
‘For over three centuries, Westerners have likened Russia to a bear. The comparison is not generally flattering. Although bears are large and powerful, the metaphor is commonly deployed to suggest a lumbering and clumsy creature. Hunters and woodsmen who risk encountering bears, however, are rarely inclined to indulge in such smugness. They know bears are clever, agile, and fast.’
The author is apparently associate professor of Near Eastern Studies and Director of the Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies in Princeton University.
A comparison with the – borderline illiterate – demonstrations of ignorance and bigotry produced by figures like Lieutenant-Colonel Vindman is sobering.
In the United States, as in Britain, there is still real ‘area studies’ expertise. It has simply been marginalised from policy-making, in both countries, in favour of a kind of neo-Brezhnevite simplistic ideological dogmatism.
The joke from “the History Boys”.
“History? Its just one ffing thing after another”
For the first 2 decades of Iranian Revolution, I cringed often at the policy statements as well as policies promulgated by the Iranian government: experts and their knowledge were dismissed in favor of ideological fervor and commitment. All of that changed by War and the other great teachers in the School of Hard-knocks. I expect nothing less here.
All,
Translation of the ISIS Baghdadi death announcement and appointment of new Caliph, for those interested in such things:
http://www.aymennjawad.org/2019/10/islamic-state-appointment-of-new-leader
Russian FM Lavrov is saying that Al-Baghdadi’s death is ‘still an open question’.
https://www.rt.com/news/472431-lavrov-al-baghdadi-us-spawn/
Hmmm…..
“Trust but verify.” I heard that somewhere a long time ago.
Thank you.
But those passages do not support your original claim of ” sacred bond”. The Fifth Commandment is recapitulated in Quran: 46: 15-16.
Shia are devotees of the Household of Prophet, respecting religious Authority, religious scholarship and Reason in interpretation of Quran, firm believers in Justice, and the intercessionary powers of their saints. They have overlaps with Catholicism and thus, unsurprisingly, they have become political enemies of Protestants.
The same thing was said with Bin-Laden, the first reports of his death were in December 2001 from Marfan syndrome. And then every few years he died again, and again, and again. Till the world got bored with it.
I agree the radiation is a non-issue, or at least nearly so. But what about the toxic uranium oxides and other chemicals created and widely dispersed when the slug of depleted uranium burns with everything around it at very high temperatures (in actual use) ?
I am glad to hear that DU weapons are no longer used. (Thanks.) But if the toxic chemicals I mentioned are as highly toxic and persistent as I had heard they are, this may be of little comfort to those who live where it was used in the past, up to just a few years ago.
He was evil based on his championship of slavery and beheadings. The same should also be said of the Saudis.
I also thank you for the reference. Reynolds’ knowledge of Turkish/Russian relations far surpasses anything comprehended by Pompeo.
Unfortunately Reynolds has little to zero understanding of the SDF. He pushes Erdogan’s line that the SDF is identical to the Kurdish YPG. That is definitely untrue. As can be seen by the current fighting at Tel Tamir where Assyrian and Armenian Christians are fighting under SDF flag against Erdogan’s takfiris. And by the long association of the Arab Shammar and Shai’tat tribes with the SDF, and many Arab Raqqawis also. Ditto for those Shia Turkmen in Syria whose Seljuk Brigade is part of the SDF. Yes, the commander of the SDF, Maslum Kobane, is Kudish. But senior leadership is mixed: Kino Gabriel is an Assyrian Christian, Rashid Abu Khawla &
Abdul Karim Obeid are both Arab.
Reynolds is either ignorant of those facts, or he is deliberately pushing the Erdogan propaganda in order to keep open his access to Turkish historical archives.
There was nothing that ISIS was doing that did not have precedence in Muslim History, if not Muslim Tradition.