Talib rockets goes bad

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – An insurgent rocket landed near a group of civilians in Helmand Province killing five and wounding one Feb. 25. Afghan National Army and Coalition forces witnessed the errant 107 mm rocket and immediately responded to the site in Karez de Baba and treated the wounded, who suffered sharapnel wounds to their lower extremeties. The injured Afghan was medically evacuated to a nearby treatment facility. The insurgent attack followed a successful five-day mission in the Kajaki District area to disrupt insurgent operations. The combined force eliminated several enemy fighters during the operation. The ANA also destroyed an extensive tunnel and cave system, insurgent command positions, weapons and ammunition caches as well as IED-making materials. “This is another example of the insurgent’s blatant disregard for innocent Afghans similar to the suicide bombings in Kandahar and Lash Kah Ghar Central Mosque,” said Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a Coalition spokesperson.

I read an interesting quote today about how the Talib and AQ Afghanistan should be theirs by the will of god. I guess the think god will forgive them for killing muslims, blowing up roads, blowing up power lines etc. This does nothing but hurt the people they supposedly want to live in the perfect utopia that is islam.

The Diggers

You know being hooked up to the Australian MOD news feed is very very cool

If this is the construction workers....

The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said the sporadic Taliban probing occurred over several days, culminating in an RPG attack onto the construction site. “The immediate and aggressive response by RTF soldiers caused the enemy to break off their attack and abandon their weapons in hastily prepared caches. These were recovered through aggressive follow-up patrolling, which was sustained for a number of days.“Importantly, the effectiveness of RTF force protection measures caused the Taliban to launch their attacks from the extreme range of their weapons systems in low-light conditions, which degraded their ability to target Australian troops.“Our troops in Oruzgan Province are performing magnificently in difficult and demanding operational conditions. They continue to demonstrate great perseverance, resilience and composure in undertaking this important work. I continue to be impressed by their quality and spirit.“During my visit to Afghanistan with the Prime Minister and Defence Minister just prior to Christmas, I was able to pass on my thanks and for the outstanding work they are doing to help the people of Afghanistan.“Australians can be justifiably proud of the professionalism of Australian troops and their ability to respond quickly and aggressively when attacked. The response by RTF soldiers to repeated Taliban aggression is a testament to the quality of their skills, training, leadership and equipment,” Air Chief Marshal Houston said.

ANSF, Coalition forces clear enemy stronghold in Helmand

Let me start this by saying a US commander that sent his men out in a ski mask would get beat down by the press. I Think the ANSF is going to be fine.

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Afghan National Security Forces, advised by Coalition forces, cleared Karez deh Baba and Kajaki in Helmand Province of insurgents and returned the area to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s control Feb. 20-22.Before the fall of Musa Qaleh, insurgents used these villages and the surrounding area as part of a supply line to move weapons and drugs into the city. Insurgents were using the villages to launch attacks on Musa Qaleh and the upper Sangin Valley.ANSF conducted operations to disrupt the insurgents’ ability to engage friendly forces with small-arms, rocket and indirect fire from the prepared fighting positions in the area in the first two days of fighting. Friendly forces also used precision air strikes.“Throughout the day, insurgents kept trying to fight the ANSF,” said Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman. “The result was always the same … they defeated.”The ANSF spoke with the local populace to ensure they understood the purpose of the mission to restore security and to improve the civil infrastructure in the area. “We have been impressed by the efforts in Musa Qaleh and want the same for our village,” a local Afghan said.Other villagers said they will welcome ANSF and GIRoA’s leadership along with the security and stability they can provide. Villagers also provided crucial information about common insurgent practices and the locations of insurgent safehouses.“The insurgents were taxing everyone traveling and said they would tax our crops in the spring,” a local Afghan said. “Please establish a permanent ANSF presence to keep the insurgents from returning to the area.”The corpse of a tortured Afghan male was also discovered Wednesday.During the next day of fighting, ANSF-led forces deployed in smaller units when they observed insurgents moving into fighting positions to engage them. The ANSF rooted out the insurgents and cleared the position finding an improvised explosive device and a small arms cache. The enemy reinforced different fighting positions and engaged with indirect fire when the ANSF-led force renewed their assault. They found another small-arms and ammunition cache and destroyed both with precision guided munitions. Friendly forces found approximately 400 pounds of ammonium nitrate that was destroyed in another insurgent safehouse. “This was an enormous find because this substance is a common explosive additive that could be used in IEDs,” Bowman said. “The ANSF prevented future attacks and saved innocent civilians with this discovery.” The ANSF-led force eventually discovered the insurgents’ command center and a 100-foot deep interconnected tunnel system. The command center consisted of a series of caves and the tunnel was littered with spare ammunition and shell casings. The ANSF suppressed enemy forces in the immediate area before destroying the cave and tunnel system with precision guided munitions. “In the last three days, the Government of IRoA and ANSF saved numerous lives by capturing bomb-making materials,” Bowman said. “ANSF-led forces have maintained pressure on the Taliban to prevent them from accomplishing their goals of terrorizing and intimidating the Afghan populace.”

NY Times sorta aplogizes

The New York Times failed to establish a sexual relationship had existed between John McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman and therefore should not have published the salacious claims it made last week suggesting otherwise, the newspaper’s public editor wrote in Sunday’s online edition.
The editors and reporters were on to a good story about the Arizona senator’s fight against special interests at the same time he had appeared to do a favor for one, wrote Times Ombudsman Clark Hoyt, but charges that the relationship went beyond politics and into romance was a distraction without evidence. He added that Executive Editor Bill Keller’s argument that the story wasn’t about an affair belies the article’s narrative.
“I think that ignores the scarlet elephant in the room. A newspaper cannot begin a story about the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee with the suggestion of an extramarital affair with an attractive lobbyist 31 years his junior and expect readers to focus on anything other than what most of them did. And if a newspaper is going to suggest an improper sexual affair, whether editors think that is the central point or not, it owes readers more proof than The Times was able to provide,” Hoyt wrote.
On Thursday, McCain held a press conference to deny charges that he and Iseman, 40, had had an affair nine years ago while she was lobbying for his assistance to get the Federal Communications Commission to rule on her client’s application for a broadcast license. McCain, 71, who was the Senate Commerce Committee’s chairman at the time, wrote the FCC asking the commissioners to make a decision but did not ask them to rule one way or the other.
McCain, with his wife by his side, answered questions for 15 minutes, and flat out denied a sexual relationship. The focus then turned to the newspaper, which wrote that McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign staff had tried to keep him and Iseman apart for fear their relationship would hurt his campaign.
In Sunday’s post-mortem, Hoyt wrote, “The article was notable for what it did not say: It did not say what convinced the advisers that there was a romance. It did not make clear what McCain was admitting when he acknowledged behaving inappropriately — an affair or just an association with a lobbyist that could look bad. And it did not say whether (McCain aide John) Weaver, the only on-the-record source, believed there was a romance.”
Hoyt said as a result, the newspaper is in the “uncomfortable position of being the story” because “although it raised one of the most toxic subjects in politics — sex — it offered readers no proof that McCain and Iseman had a romance.”
The McCain camp knew for months that the Times had been working on the article, and staffers had been worried that the article could have been a real crusher. In the end, however, the campaign was able to put a positive spin on the story, even using the article as a fundraising tool last week, saying if the so-called liberal New York Times is trying to smear him, then it demonstrates he’s more of a conservative then Republican opponents had suggested.


In case you missed this there was a whiff if sexual innuendo in this article. With no backing at all and the gray lady digs itself deeper into a hole. So please do us all a favor finish laying off the rest of your folks and close the doors.

war pron

The week in pictures

Maybe just Maybe we tagged him

We owe this SOB big time anyway so who is to say we didnt hire this one out?

From the Long War Journal:
Imad Mugniyah, the senior Hezbollah military commander who was killed in Syria earlier this month, helped form the Mahdi Army, the military wing of the radical Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr, according to an Iraqi intelligence official. He was described as a “co-founder” of the Mahdi Army, Naharnet reported, based on a translation from the Iraqi daily Al Zaman.