Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Islamic Terrorism

Front Line Forum

Michael Yon has inaugurated a new feature on his weblog to enhance coverage of the War on Terror – FRONT LINE FORUM.

Greetings,

Today we open a new frontier. My site gets much traffic and exposure, making this an excellent venue for our people in harm’s way to tell their stories. Please click here http://flf.michaelyon-online.com/ for our first story from a soldier in Iraq. The story is well written and complete with photos.

If you know someone at war who would like to submit a story to FLF, many people are waiting to read it. Photographs are encouraged.

Please spread the word about the Frontline Forum–there are graphic links and related resources in the Press Room off the FLF main page.

Respectfully,

Michael Yon

(Clarification: Many people have assumed I am in Iraq. I am in Afghanistan. My first dispatch from Afghanistan will be published in about two days.)

Michael Yon

UPDATE: The first article in the new forum is a hit! A home run actually! Blogger TF Boggs submitted an excellent story about some Iraqi kids and families.

10 Apr 2006 by Blogosphere Islamic Terrorism Military Patriotism

Three Years In Iraq

Critics of Operation Iraqi Freedom often allege that little or no progress has been made since the invasion. The Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Donald Rumsfeld, has written an excellent article about our progress and addresses critics’ allegations.

From CENTCOM:

What We’ve Gained In Three Years In Iraq

By Donald H. Rumsfeld

Some have described the situation in Iraq as a tightening noose, noting that “time is not on our side” and that “morale is down.” Others have described a “very dangerous” turn of events and are “extremely concerned.”

Photo by Capt. Joe Vanty, 138th MPAD, US Army Reserve – Young children watch as U.S. Soldiers from Alaska’s 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team pass by.

Who are they that have expressed these concerns? In fact, these are the exact words of terrorists discussing Iraq — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his associates — who are describing their own situation and must be watching with fear the progress that Iraq has made over the past three years.

The terrorists seem to recognize that they are losing in Iraq. I believe that history will show that to be the case.

Fortunately, history is not made up of daily headlines, blogs on Web sites or the latest sensational attack. History is a bigger picture, and it takes some time and perspective to measure accurately.

Consider that in three years Iraq has gone from enduring a brutal dictatorship to electing a provisional government to ratifying a new constitution written by Iraqis to electing a permanent government last December. In each of these elections, the number of voters participating has increased significantly — from 8.5 million in the January 2005 election to nearly 12 million in the December election — in defiance of terrorists’ threats and attacks.

[read more]

07 Apr 2006 by International Islamic Terrorism Military

Focus at FOSE is War

FOSE stands for Federal Office Systems Expo, and is a yearly trade show held in Washington, D.C. FOSE is currently in progress at the D.C. Convention Center. EWeek notes that a big demand this year is for IT and information services. To put the article in perspective, recall Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s recent remarks about losing the media war. Last December, Rumsfeld also indicated a need to improve our military cyberspace capabilities.

The Focus at FOSE is War

The exhibition floor at this year’s FOSE, the annual technology fair for the federal government, is decorated with big, rugged gear, reminding attendees that we are still at war, and there’s money to be made.

The Department of Defense, which had an operating budget of $430 billion last year, reports that it manages more than twice the dollar volume of the world’s largest corporation, and it carries 500 times more inventory items than Home Depot. This year, the department’s IT needs are greater than ever.

[Read the rest]

07 Mar 2006 by Cyberspace Islamic Terrorism Military

Larry Elder’s Interview with Saddam’s General Sada

General Georges Sada, former top Iraqi Air Force figure, tells Larry Elder what happened to WMDs in the days leading up to the invasion.

From Larry Elder’s syndicated article in the South Bay Daily Breeze:

Iraqi general: Intelligence was correct

Elder: General, as you know, the president has been accused of lying about the intelligence, fabricating it, cherry-picking it, that he wanted to go to war, he really didn’t believe that Saddam had WMD. It was all a big smokescreen. When you hear people accuse the president of lying about WMD, of misleading the country and the world, your reaction, Gen. Georges Sada, is what? Photo: Larry Elder (LarryElder.com)

Sada: Let me tell you. I am really surprised how people are speaking like this and their soldiers are still in the battle. You see, a soldier when he is in battle, he wants to feel that all his nation are backing him and they are with him. And now I tell you I feel very sorry when I see some people in this country, their soldiers are in the battle, and they are discussing political things making that soldier to feel that he is there in the wrong place. That’s one. Second, if there was something right had been done in this country, it was the best decision taken in the proper time, to go and liberate Iraq from an evil dictatorship who only God knows what he was going to do in the region, and maybe even to America, because that man was possessing the weapons of mass destruction and then he was with very evil intentions towards all the West, especially America.

Photo of General Sada – Google.

[Read the rest of the article.]

Why doesn’t the Administration capitalize on this important information?

07 Mar 2006 by International Islamic Terrorism

Six and a Half Billion People

. . . as of last night, that was the “official population” of our planet. And they say it will keep growing and growing.

From LiveScience.com:

Planet’s Population to Hit 6.5 Billion Saturday

A population milestone is about to be set on this jam-packed planet.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7:16 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the population here on this good Earth is projected to hit 6.5 billion people.

Along with this forecast, an analysis by the International Programs Center at the U.S. Census Bureau points to another factoid, Robert Bernstein of the Bureau’s Public Information Center advised LiveScience. Mark this on your calendar: Some six years from now, on Oct. 18, 2012 at 4:36 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the Earth will be home to 7 billion folks.

[ . . . ]

Remarkably, despite the many new developments over the past 50 years, one fact looks very much the same, explained Kent and Haub: Populations are growing most rapidly where such growth can be afforded the least—an observation that has changed little over time, they said.

That last thought is the most frightening. This means that the most backwards places on the planet will continue to produce, indoctrinate, and deliver more and more American hating people into the population.

26 Feb 2006 by Culture Islamic Terrorism

We Interrupt all this Gushing . . .

. . . to bring you a great article by a great soldier. This is one of the best that we’ve read in a while. Just read AMERICAN CITIZEN SOPHISTRY From American Citizen Soldier

About the author (in his own words):

BUCK SARGENT is the nom de guerre of an infantry team leader and noncommissioned officer on active duty in the United States Army. He was deployed to Afghanistan from 2003-2004 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and is currently serving in Mosul, Iraq on a yearlong combat tour. He is a University of Texas graduate, a fire-breathing conservative, and a diehard patriot. He is also pro-victory and will support any party or persons who are like-minded.

13 Feb 2006 by Islamic Terrorism Military Patriotism

My Kind of SUV

I probably couldn’t afford the gas bill, but wouldn’t it be cool to take one of these on the Harbor Freeway at rush hour? Or, on your favorite busy thoroughfare?

Buffalo EOD Vehicle

The Buffalo uses steel wheels and disc rollers which allow the vehicle to be driven over and detonate anti-personnel mines without sustaining damage. As a result, unusually large numbers of mines can be neutralized in a short period of time. The vehicle retains all round (including roof) ballistic protection from 7.62mm NATO ball cartridges. This armor is upgradeable to protect against Dragunov AP cartridges. In a recent incident that involved a Buffalo vehicle which ran over an anti-tank mine, the blast tore off a wheel and destroyed an axle on the vehicle. There were no casualties to the crew inside the Buffalo and the vehicle maintained its mobility and drove itself out of the minefield. It was repaired overnight and was back in operation the following day.

[more]

13 Feb 2006 by Islamic Terrorism Military

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