Was Extortion17 A Set-Up?

Don’t miss a brand new episode of For The Record!

On August 6, 2011, the Taliban shot down a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan's Wardak Province leaving 30 American soldiers dead, including 17 members of the elite Navy SEAL Team Six. It was the largest American loss of life since the Afghan war began. Next Thursday, For The Record, Episode 3: Fallen Angel takes an unflinching look at how tactical errors and mismanagement of our Special Forces factored into this tragedy. Plus, hear from the victims' family as they share memories and celebrate the extraordinary lives of these fallen heroes. Don’t miss For The Record: Fallen Angel next Thursday, June 27th at 8pm ET only on TheBlaze. Not a subscriber? Start your 14-day free trial HERE. 

SEAL Team 6 Shootdown

What Happened to Seal Team 6

"Extortion 17" was the call sign for the Chinook helicopter full of 38 brave military personnel (including 17 Navy SEALS from Team 6) that was shot down August 6, 2011, in the Tanji Valley of Afghanistan.   This tragedy occurred a few short months after Osama Bin Laden was killed (May 2) by members of SEAL Team 6.  

No doubt, you remember hearing that horrifying news. But what have we heard since?  Nothing, until last Thursday, when parents of three lost SEALs and one Army National Guardsman spoke at the National Press Club and pleaded for an investigation into what went wrong.  They were joined by retired, high-ranking military officers who expressed grave concern about what is happening within the military's ranks.  

This press conference came a day after the Benghazi hearings.  I watched both in their entirety, and wept over the stories of heroism, duty and honor .... and unanswered questions.  

Below you'll find links to the press release announcing the SEAL families' press conference, and to articles about the conference which I believe fairly capture the essence of those 3 hours.  (The last link is to a story published right after the helicopter crash happened, based on official reports at the time.) 

The families spoke convincingly about research they have done to learn the truth about what breakdowns in procedure apparently occurred. And they accused, sometimes by name, high ranking members of the military for lying to them. 

Possibly most disturbing, we learned that the 7 Afghans listed on the helicopter manifest who were supposed to be flying with our troops, were pulled off the flight at the last minute, but the manifest was never changed.  The implication is that these Afghanis may have fed intelligence to the enemy about the Chinook's flight plans, and that our troops were purposely sent to their deaths in retaliation for the killing of Bin Laden. (You'll hear more about that by listening to the press conference.) 

Two members of Congress attended the press conference (Rep. Louis Gomert and Rep. Michelle Bachman), and they are working with colleagues to demand an investigation into what happened to Extortion 17.  In addition, Freedom Watch is preparing a lawsuit, which we will hear more about in the near future.  

Friends, I plead with you to watch the video of the press conference.  It is gut-wrenching, it is heart-breaking.  But this is a story that must be told and investigated.  It is unfathomable that brave members of our military would be sent to their death with malice of forethought.  And this is exactly what some are charging about Benghazi.  The fog will lift, when the public's outcry demands it. 

The press conference can be seen within the Canada Free Press article.  There are some pre-conference interviews.  The conference itself starts at the 9 minute, 27 second mark.

Freedom Watch Press Release: http://www.freedomwatchusa.org/navy-seal-team-vi-families-to-reveal...

Canada Free Press:  http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/print-friendly/55097#.UYz6pBYr...

Washington Times:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/9/seals-families-hit-2...

The Blaze:  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/09/lies-and-deceit-see-what...

Fox News:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/10/families-fallen-navy-sea...

The Blaze report from August 6, 2011:  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/08/06/update-25-navy-seals-amo.

Whistleblowers - Navy SEAL Extortion 17 EXPOSED - Obama Failures

Hear the testimony here:  http://youtu.be/rqtJrJ40Cio?t=1s
  
Please don't miss Admiral "Ace" Lyons briefing on the Muslim Brotherhood in America here:http://youtu.be/rqtJrJ40Cio?t=1h19m   ( Starts at 1:19:00 )

The National Press Club News conference http://press.org/events/navy-seal-team-vi-families

(Washington, D.C.). Three families of Navy SEAL Team VI special forces servicemen, along with one family of an Army National Guardsman, will appear at a press conference on May 9, 2013, to disclose never before revealed information about how and why their sons along with 26 others died in a fatal helicopter crash in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011, just a few months after the successful raid on the compound of Osama Bin Laden that resulted in the master terrorist's death.

Accompanying the families of these dead Navy SEAL Team VI special operations servicemen will be retired military experts verifying their accounts of how and why the government is as much responsible for the deaths of their sons as is the Taliban.

The areas of inquiry at the press conference will include but not be limited to:

1. How President Obama and Vice President Biden, having disclosed on May 4, 2011, that Navy Seal Team VI carried out the successful raid on Bin Laden’s compound resulting in the master terrorist’s death, put a retaliatory target on the backs of the fallen heroes.

2. How and why high-level military officials sent these Navy SEAL Team VI heroes into battle without special operations aviation and proper air support.

3. How and why middle-level military brass carries out too many ill-prepared missions to boost their standing with top-level military brass and the Commander-in-Chief in order that they can be promoted.

4. How the military restricts special operations servicemen and others from engaging in timely return fire when fired upon by the Taliban and other terrorist groups and interests, thus jeopardizing the servicemen’s lives.

5. How and why the denial of requested pre-assault fire may have contributed to the shoot down of the Navy SEAL Team VI helicopter and the death of these special operations servicemen.

6. How Afghani forces accompanying the Navy SEAL Team VI servicemen on the helicopter were not properly vetted and how they possibly disclosed classified information to the Taliban about the mission, resulting in the shoot down of the helicopter.

7. How military brass, while prohibiting any mention of a Judeo-Christian God, invited a Muslim cleric to the funeral for the fallen Navy SEAL Team VI heroes who disparaged in Arabic the memory of these servicemen by damning them as infidels to Allah. A video of the Muslim cleric’s “prayer” will be shown with a certified translation.  Watch the video:http://youtu.be/G968rxOjiMs

U.S. Soldiers Urged Not to Shoot Taliban at Night so Locals Can Sleep

U.S. Soldiers Urged Not to Shoot Taliban at Night so Locals Can Sleep

The green on blue assassinations; tangos inside the wire with impunity; Marines ordered to unload and stack weapons when civilian authorities are present were reasons enough to pack it in.

This is just screwed up. The civilian authorities want American soldiers killed.

It is now officially time to leave. When this kind of incompetence is in charge, we can't win, we can't tie. We can only lose. Any future loss of American lives is the equivalent of government sanctioned murder of US citizens. The left doesn't care. They hate the military anyway. Its been demonstrated time and time again how the left feels about America's Warrior Class. This will get a lot more American and NATO soldiers and Marines killed or worse.

Reports indicate U.S. soldiers and British Royal Marines have been urged to show "courageous constraint" by not shooting Taliban members spotted planting IEDs. The reason? Shooting them might disturb the locals.

This news comes out on the heels of an investigation into the death of Royal Marine Sergeant Peter Rayner, whom witnesses say watched the Taliban plant IEDs at night but was ordered not to engage them. Families of other soldiers and Royal Marines are telling stories of how their loved ones were not allowed to use mortars or night illumination when they came across Taliban members in an area full of IEDs.  

The reason given was that "the sound of shooting 'might wake up and upset the locals.'"
This is not "courageous restraint" -- this is appeasement.

This is not appeasement; this is the equivalent of surrendering and then joining the other side. Our government, our civilian authority, has just told the enemy it is OK to plant IEDS at night, because we told our soldiers not to shoot you. The Muslim Brotherhood is dictating American military tactics.

Taliban Attack Results In Worst American Airpower Loss Since Vietnam

Taliban Attack Results In Worst American Airpower Loss Since Vietnam

What we have had for four years now is a corrupt media working hand-in-hand with the Obama White House to cover up and downplay every kind of bad news. The media's behavior in his regard has only gotten impossibly worse since Obama's reelection campaign began. But over the last few weeks, the media's shilling has devolved into nothing less than dereliction of duty.

We can't even sing that old refrain, What would the media do if Bush… because Bush never scapegoated an American citizen in order to take the focus and blame off of his own security failures. Bush never told the American people that the successful assassination of an American ambassador by al-Qaeda was a spontaneous protest over a film gone haywire.
But it's probably is safe to say that in final days of Bush's reelection bid, had America suffered its worst airpower loss since Vietnam and an ambassador been assassinated due to unforgivable U.S. security failures, the media would've made damn sure the American people knew exactly what happened.

With results that are tragic in both the global and personal sense, an American president's foreign policy is collapsing all around us, and the only stories the American media will tell are those that will help drag him over the November finish line.

We Never Like These Posts

With a mixture of sadness and gratitude, we have to report the loss of a Virginia son in Afghanistan.

His Dad, retired 1Sgt Aaron Ozbat, wrote this in the email notification he sent out this morning:

"Captain Jesse Aaron Ozbat, who is from Prince George County, was killed in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan when enemy forces attacked his unit with an IED. CPT Ozbat was killed in Afghanistan on 20 May 2012. Words can not describe all the emotions our family feels. He was a Man of Honor and Integrity. He was 28 years old. He graduated from Prince George High School in 2002 and from Virginia State University in 2006. He was the kind of Man you would want your daughter to marry."

We share your grief and sorrow, Top. We are lucky we have such men willing to stand the fence line and be the sheepdogs guarding the flock. Your loss is our loss.

Readers and friends,
I know this is short notice, but if you could find time in your day on Saturday to help us line the route between the Memorial Chapel on Fort Lee to Blandford Cemetery where Jesse will be laid to rest, it would show his family that his death did not go unnoticed and that his sacrifice - and theirs - is appreciated.

You will only need to be in place until the procession passes. The route will start at Memorial Chapel on Fort Lee at approximately 11:00 a.m. (Funeral is at 10:00 for anyone who would like to attend)

It will proceed through Fort Lee exiting through the Mahone Gate on Hickory Hill Road. From Hickory Hill Rd, it will turn right onto Route 460 West

From 460 West the route will bear right onto Winfield Road Stay straight on Winfield until the stop sign

Turn right at Crater Road Follow to Blandford Cemetery on the right

You may gather at any of these locations to show your support. If you wish to attend the service, the Memorial Chapel is located at 1901 Sisisky Blvd on Fort Lee. Please be prepared to show ID at the gate.

I Love A Parade

"Another day in Paradise. Every meal's a banquet, every paycheck's a fortune and every formation is a parade"

Next Saturday, 19 May in Richmond VA there is going to be a parade to welcome home the Iraq and Afghan vets and salute them for their service and sacrifice. I realize we still have troops downrange, and they are likely to stay awhile yet, but its time to do this thing. We tried a few years back, couldn't get anything going. Hard to get funding sometimes. But this time, with the help of the Welcome Home Foundation, the Richmond Times Dispatch, and hundreds of volunteers, the parade is going to happen and we are going to pawwwwtay.

In conjunction with the parade, we are going to set up a Veterans Resource Village on the grounds of The Carillon, Richmond's WWI Memorial. There will be Veterans Service Organizations, (including our very own Cooking with the Troops), Wounded Warrior Project will be on hand, veterans agencies from the state and federal government and a few companies and groups looking to hire veterans, including Wal-Mart Transportation, the largest employer of veterans in the country, and Dupont Spruance Plant will be on hand to talk to vets about oppportunities working for the maker of Kevlar and Nomex, two products our military depend upon every day to keep them safe.

McGuire,Woods LLP will have some legal foks on hand to assist vets with any legal issues they may have, and they stepped up big time for this one.  Capitol One will have a booth to talk to vets about financial issues and do some recruiting. (full disclosure-both of my children work for CapOne, and you could do a lot worse. They love it.) Dept of Motor Vehicles will have their mobile outreach van onsite, along the Veterans Outreach Center van, AUSA Mobile Blood Donation van, and the Hunter-Holmes McGuire VA Hospital van.

I have to give props to a lot of folks who have donated to this effort. City Ice Co, down in Chester, VA is giving us ice to keep the water cold we got from Virginia Artesian Water, Co over in Mechanicsville, VA. Both of these local companies support our military and veterans and we need to return the favor. Thank you Mark from City Ice and Nancy from VA Artesian. Haley Buick GMC is providing tents and transporting veterans for us. Commonwealth Events and PartyPerfect worked with us on getting the rest of the tents and the tables and chairs.

This is just a partial list of the folks who have stepped up for our veterans and we thank them. Its never too late to donate of course, and we will accept most anyone who wants to volunteer to help.

Here are a couple of links that have been up recently:
P Henry Saddleburr <----good pics from St Louis parade here.
PJMedia

Former Navy Chief and Current Marine Mom Robin Beres

Former Navy Chief Robin Beres discusses the Welcome Home Parade on WRIC

They Should Be Enlarged & Posted In Every Madrassa

The 2 year old images from Afghanistan showing US and Afghan soldiers posing with what was left of the stupid tangos who suffered from premature discombobulation should be enlarged to poster size and posted on every street corner in the muslim world.

Counter the recruiting efforts of the cultists who convince these people their only way to heaven is to kill innocents while killing themselves.

Time is Up in Afghanistan

Time is Up in Afghanistan

Family Security Matters Contributing Editor Gregory D. Leeis a retired Supervisory Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the author of three criminal justice textbooks. While on DEA diplomatic assignment in Pakistan, he was involved in the investigation of several notable terrorism events and arrests. He recently retired after more than 39 years of active and reserve service from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Chief Warrant Officer Five Special Agent for the Criminal Investigation Division Command, better known as CID. In 2011 he completed a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan while on special assignment to the Special Operations Command Europe. Visit his website at http://www.gregorydlee.com/ and contact him at info@gregorydlee.com.

Afghanistan is one of many places on earth that is truly ungovernable by Western standards. The U.S. has learned, or will soon, what the Soviets and English before them learned: Afghanistan marches to a different drummer. It will always reject foreign intervention, regardless of how well intended the interventionists are.

Read the rest here:

Stop The Presses!!!! Hold The Phone!!!!

From Pat Dollard's NEW and IMPROVED website!!!! (Go tell him it looks good, please)

Report: NATO Agrees To Let Afghan Government Try Koran-Burning Soldiers

In a development that could chill the dedication of every soldier in the field, the U.S. government has refused to deny reports by the government of Afghanistan that NATO has agreed to have the soldiers who burned copies of the Quran face trial.Last week, Afghan president Hamid Karzai demanded NATO turn over the U.S. troops to be tried in Afghanistan. President Obama subsequently sent a letter to Karzai reassuring him that the troops involved would be punished for their actions.

Part of the three-page letter to Karzai said, “I extend to you and the Afghan people my sincere apologies. We will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible.”

It is unclear exactly what Obama meant by that statement as the White House has not released the full text of the letter. However, the Afghan government may have provided insight into its contents.

Over the weekend, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan government media and information center website posted a joint statement by the delegations assigned to probe the Quran burning incident.

The statement says that two delegations were created to “investigate the circumstances and causes that have led to the inhumane incident.”The statement listed several items, including a demand that the U.S. turn over the authority of the prison in Bagram to the Afghan government to ensure similar incidents do not recur and “calls on the U.S. government to fully and comprehensively cooperate to this end.”
However, the statement used vastly different language when discussing the fate of the U.S. soldiers involved in the incident.

“NATO officials promised to meet Afghan nation’s demand of bringing to justice, through an open trial, those responsible for the incident and it was agreed that the perpetrators of the crime be brought to justice as soon as possible,” the statement said.The wording suggests members of the military could be handed over to an Afghan system that imposes Shariah-related penalties.

WND requests to both NATO and the Pentagon asking for confirmation of the statement by Afghan authorities were not returned.Although the statements apparently were made by the Afghan government Feb. 25, they have received no mention in the mainstream media.Clare Lopez, a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy, said if the statement by the Afghan government turns out to be true, it would be an unprecedented betrayal of our men and women in uniform.“ (oh gee, a Marxist betraying American troops, whodathunkit)

I can’t imagine we would ever do this, what would we charge them with? Are we going to try Americans for crimes committed under Shariah law? I cannot believe our government would go that far,” she said.

Robert Spencer, founder of Jihad Watch, said it was fascinating that the U.S. government has not gotten out in front of this issue and denied the statement.“The administration needs to clarify their stance on this. The longer they wait to deny this the more it has the opportunity to further inflame the Muslim in Afghanistan.”
Spencer said that whether the soldiers end up being turned over to the Afghan government or face court-martial, either decision would set a dangerous precedent.“

"It would be unconscionable either way,” he said. “If they turn them over to the Afghan government for trial then we are endorsing the applicability of Shariah law to non-Muslims in the U.S. military. If they court-martial them then they are adopting those norms as part of the UCMJ. Either way it’s frightening.”

Lopez said that while U.S. officials have made large concessions to appease Muslims, turning the soldiers over to face trial would be over the line.“If they were to allow our soldiers to be tried under a legal system that calls for the death penalty for destroying a Quran, that would be unthinkable,” she said. She said that the silence on the part of U.S. officials has the potential to cause real damage to the morale of troops.

“When the government will not come out with a strong denial of this statement by the Afghan government it has the potential to cause our troops to wonder if the U.S. will truly stand behind and protect them when they are simply trying to do their job,” she said. It appears that the soldiers may not have violated Islamic law at all by their burning of the Qurans.

In a PBS interview, Imam Jihad Turk, director of religious affairs at the Islamic Center of Southern California, said it was acceptable to burn the Quran if it was in a state of “disrepair.”

Or being used to pass messages to other terrorists for the purpose of conspiring to murder ISAF troops or escape detention in order to re-join the Taliban to murder ISAF troops.

Tell Me Again What Our Mission Goals Are

In Afghanistan. Why are we there? Still? After 11 years? Anyone have an answer? I don't. We aren't going to convert the Taliban to God fearing protestants. We aren't going to change 2,000 years of twisted, perverted beliefs. We will not convince them that killing innocents who don't hold their beliefs is a crime against our God because in their mind, we have no God. We are infidels; dogs who must be eliminated at any cost.

So what's the point, at this point, of trying? We're not going to kill them all. Not the way the civilian government and the current administration is doing things. Hell, we can't even kill the ones we know are dangerous. We can't even allow our Marines to have weapons when visiting civilian officials arrive at a base. (On that subject: Suppose the Taliban learned that there were unarmed Marines inside the compound and decided to mount a mass susicide attack?) We can't trust the ones we've spent years training not to shoot the trainers. The civilian authorities can't trust our own Marines not to shoot them. So you tell me. When do we say, "Screw it. This is it. We've done all we can and you people are on your own. Goodbye Good Luck AMF Have a nice day."

I just can't can't justify in my mind the continued loss of American blood for a country that won't embrace progress or appreciates the sacrifices being made every day.

Do Not Rush To Judgement

Soldier accused of killings was family man

As reporters swarmed Bales' neighborhood late Friday, Holland and other neighbors shook their heads, trying but failing to reconcile the man they thought they knew with the allegations against him. Military officials say that at about 3 a.m. last Sunday, the 38-year-old staff sergeant crept away from the Army base where he was stationed in southern Afghanistan, entered two slumbering villages and unleashed a massacre, shooting his victims and setting many of the bodies on fire. Eleven of those killed belonged to one family. Nine were children.

"I can't believe it was him," said Holland, recalling a kind-hearted neighbor. "There were no signs. It's really sad. I don't want to believe that he did it."

Why do they always say, "There were no signs"? The man was deployed to acombat zone. The neighbor wouldn't have known anyway.

There are Afghani officials who are saying there had to be more than one shooter, claiming one man could not commit the acts alleged in the time frame reported.

I don't know. I do know I will not rush to judgement on this until I've seen more.

Karzai Wants Us Gone; Let's Get Gone

Karzai says he wants all troops pulled back from the COPs and FOBs. Wants them to stay inside the wire and not interact with the Afghani population in the rural areas.

Well hell yeah, Baby. By all means, lets give Karzai what he wants. But I think we should go a step further and bring all US military personnel, all the diplomats, all the contractors and all the spooks all the way home. Load the aircraft with personnel. Leave the hardware to rust in the sand. Disable anything that could be used against departing aircraft. Fly CAPs over the base while loading the aircraft and if one of those savages tries to take down the aircraft, bomb the living crap out of them.

We are just now hearing that 7 Marines have been killed by Afghani soldiers. Did you see that in any media outlet? Had you heard that before today? The people we are helping, the men we are training supposedly to protect their own country, are killing US military personnel while they are on duty. When you can't trust the people you have trained, its time to didi the flock out.

Lets get down to where the rubber meets the road: No Afghani is worth the life of one Marine, one soldier, one sailor, or one airman. Not one, not ten, not a hundred. They are ungrateful savages who don't care one furry rat testicle about our military. Screw them and the goat they hump.

SOLDIER MURDERS AFGHANS, GENERALS MURDER SOLDIERS

SOLDIER MURDERS AFGHANS, GENERALS MURDER SOLDIERS

Another great piece from Ralph Peters.

On Sunday, just before dawn, an American staff sergeant walked away from his post in the badlands of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, went into a nearby village, and methodically murdered sixteen civilians, including women and children. This didn’t happen in the confusion of a firefight amidst the “fog of war.” It was the brutal act of a veteran who cracked. The deed cannot be excused. But I believe it can be explained.

For a final analysis we’ll have to wait until all of the facts come in, but it appears that a soldier who had served honorably during multiple tours in Iraq broke down and went mad in Afghanistan. We should not be surprised that this happened. We should be surprised that it hasn’t happened sooner and more often: The shock of this incident after a decade of hopeless, meandering efforts that have thrown away the lives and limbs of our troops while ambitious generals lie about progress, seek promotion, and engage in military masturbation is actually a tribute to our men and women in uniform out on the front lines (to the extent that “front lines” exist).

That staff sergeant—who turned himself in after the killings—is guilty of murder in a degree yet to be determined, but the amazing thing is how disciplined, patient and tenacious our troops have been. Given the outrageous stresses of serving repeated tours in an environment a brand-new private could recognize as hopeless (while his generals fly back and forth congratulating themselves), it’s remarkable that we have not seen more and even uglier incidents. The problem in Afghanistan isn’t our troops—although craven generals routinely insist that everything is the fault of “disrespectful” soldiers—it’s a leadership in and out of uniform that is bankrupt of ideas, bankrupt of ethics, bankrupt of moral courage—and rich only in self-interest and ambition.

Read the rest here

How About We Bring All Our Personnel Home and Just Nuke The Damn Place

So Karzai wants the "perpetrators" tried, convicted, and I guess hung from a bridge. Or maybe he'd prefer they be burned and then hung from a bridge.

Karzai’s Response to Obama’s Apology: Put U.S. Troops on Trial and Punish Them

(CNSNews.com) - Three days after President Barack Obama dispatched his ambassador to Afghanistan to hand deliver a personal letter from the president of the United States to Afghan President Hamid Karzai apologizing because U.S. forces at Bagram Air Force Base had mistakenly burnt some Korans, Karzai has responded to the gesture in a statement broadcast live on Afghan television.

Karzai, according to a BBC translation of his remarks made Sunday, told the Afghan people he was speaking to them after discussing the matter with “jihadi leaders,” “prominent scholars,” and Afghan elected officials, and that he spoke for the “pure sentiments” of the “Afghan nation” and the “Islamic world,” when he said: “We call on the US government to bring the perpetrators of the act to justice and put them on trial and punish them.”

At the same time Karzai was demanding the prosecution and punishment of U.S. troops involved in the Koran-burning incident, he conceded that the U.S. government had indicated that the Koran burning “was not deliberate.”

"We all know that regrettably some days ago an American soldier burnt our Holy Koran,” Karzai said, according to the BBC translation. “We condemn this vicious act in the strongest terms. The government and the people, scholars, tribal dignitaries, spiritual figures of Afghanistan, the educated people of our country all share the people's feelings... Our people's sensitiveness is right and is laudable.”

"The US government says that such act was carried out because of ignorance and lack of knowledge,” Karzai said. “This incident happened as a result of the ignorance of the US military officer about our vision about Islam and not recognizing the Koran. It was not deliberate."

"Today,” Karzai said, “we had a detailed session attended by jihadi leaders, prominent scholars, speakers of both houses--the lower house and the senate--the esteemed chief justice, vice presidents and other dignitaries and our government. We discussed the matter of the burning of the Holy Koran. Representing the Afghan nation and their pure sentiments, in fact the Islamic world, once again we call on the US government to bring the perpetrators of the act to justice and put them on trial and punish them."

While lauding the Afghan people for the “sensitiveness” to the Koran burning, and calling for the prosecution and punishment of the U.S. military personnel involved, Karzai appealed to Afghans to calm down and allow the Afghan and U.S. governments to move “pursue the matter.”

"We should all try to calm down and by calming down we should not allow the enemies of security and peace and progress of the people of Afghanistan to misuse or hurt our people's property or our people's lives by using the people's sensitiveness,” said Karzai. “We hope our people will be calm and develop the country. They should be sure that the government of Afghanistan and all its institutions will pursue the matter and we and the US government will pursue the matter."

The White House did not publicly release the three-page letter that Obama sent to Karzai on Thursday. However, the New York Times reported on Friday, that Karzai’s press office said two of the sentences in Obama’s letter said: “I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident. I extend to you and the Afghan people my sincere apologies.”

Well isn't that special? I'm soooooo glad we have Dear Leader to apologize for our military personnel doing their job. You see, prisoners, especially prisoners you know for an absolute dead certain fact will kill you, cannot be allowed to communicate with each other, or anyone outside. Thats how plots to escape get planned. That's called "controlling the environment" or PROTECTING THE DAMN PLACE!!!! If they were using Bibles or the damn dictionary to pass messages and they get intercepted because someone was actually doing their job and paying attention, then I would expect the same thing to happen, and I wouldn't care. I notice that Karzai met with "jihadi leaders" (aka the tallyban man) so I'm sure this will all get worked out. As soon as we nuke the damn place.

Time to bring our men and women home and let these ungrateful stone-age neanderthals kill each other. Good riddance.

Lt Col Allen West USA Retired Weighs In On Marines

From one who is more than qualified to comment on behavior while downrange, Lt Col Allen West, in an email to The Weekly Standard says:


'Shut Your Mouth, War Is Hell'
Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), a former Army lieutenant colonel, sends THE WEEKLY STANDARD an email commenting on the Marines' video, and has given us permission to publish it.


“I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.


“All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill. Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?


“The Marines were wrong. Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.


“As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.”

Dana Loesch at Big Journalism has the cajones to say what needs to be said.

Will You PLEASE Stop Documenting This Stuff!!!

Guys, with all the respect you are due and have earned, will you PLEASE, for the love of mike, stop documenting these events??


Please understand that I, personally, could care less what you do downrange to improve morale. From what I've seen, it certainly doesn't meet the level of crudeness and cruelty exhibited by these goat-humping towel-heads when they, oh, lets say, mutilate a girl to make her unattractive to men.


Photgraphs and videos are not memories, they are evidence.

Uh Oh Boys and Girls She's Baaaaaccccck

From Discover the Networks comes this notice that the anarchists, leftists, marxists, peaceniks, useful idiots, usual suspects and assorted malcontents will be gathering in Washington DC on 6 October for an anti-capitalist rally. The irony of this is, some of these anti-capitalists will be coming by charter bus, the owners of said charter bus being capitalist. If they were dedicated activists, they would all walk to DC and not buy a single item from anyone.

After the jump you can read the roster of revolutionaries scheduled to attend. Of course Susie Q and her merry band of ladies in pink spandex (be still my heart), will be there, as will ANSWER, UFPJ, WCW. As I said previously, the usual suspects, with some new group names thrown in.

More than 150 organizations are scheduled to send representatives to the DC gathering on October 6, including the All-African People's Revolutionary Party, the Backbone Campaign, Code Pink, Food Not Bombs, Global Exchange, the Green Party USA, Healthcare-Now, the International Action Center, International ANSWER, the Middle East Children's Alliance, Movement for a Democratic Society, the Network of Spiritual Progressives, Occupy Wall Street, Pax Christi, Peace Action, Progressive Democrats of America, Sojourners, Tikkun, United for Peace and Justice, Veterans for Peace, the War Resisters League, Women Against Military Madness, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and World Can't Wait. Another key supporter of O-2011 is the National Lawyers Guild.

The newly formed “October 2011″ movement will stage its kickoff rally in DC next Thursday. Calling on the U.S. government to end all economic policies “which foster a wealth divide,” this organization vehemently opposes federal spending cuts — favoring instead massive government expenditures for the purpose of “creating jobs.”

Encouraging its members and supporters to pursue “a culture of resistance,” O-2011 selected Washington, DC's Freedom Plaza as the site of its first major Call to Action, scheduled for October 6, 2011. This date was chosen because it marked the tenth anniversary of America's post-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan, and because it represented what O-2011 called “the beginning of the 2012 federal austerity budget”—a reference to a recently passed debt-ceiling bill designed to curb the United States' escalating national debt. Promoting the October 6 event as a “nonviolent resistance similar to the Arab Spring and the Midwest awakening,” O-2011 has pledged to “resist the corporate machine” and to “demand that America's resources be invested in human needs and environmental protection instead of war and exploitation.”

Book Burning Is An Expression of Bigotry

Just as public demonstrations of hate for anyone are expressions of bigotry, so is book burning. An over simplification of the definition of bigotry is a belief that one is morally and intellectually superior to all others and no one is right but them. Jones didn't kill those people in Afghanistan, but he tripped the triggers of those who are by nature violent and bigoted. Radical islamists are bigots and need very little provocation to act out. They do not have the wiring in their brains to allow them to embrace the philosophy of freedom of expression. The problem is, Jones essentially yelled FIRE!!! in a crowded theater knowing the crowd would panic and trample one another, and there was no fire. Jones caused the deaths of those people just as surely as if he had been there. But Jones is a bigot and bigots don't care about innocents.

Rolling Stone aids and abets the enemy....again

Rolling Stone magazine apparently enjoys writing hit pieces to damage the American military.

First there was Michael Hastings. He took down General McChrystal. He violated the journalistic principle of "off the record" to get any dirt he could. Of course, General McChrystal was stupid enough to grant him access and trusted him to write an objective story. And stupid enough to talk freely where Rolling Stone's reporters were present. Hey, General! Its freaking Rolling Stone Magazine, what did you expect?

This idiot actually, then, tried to embed with an Army unit in Afghanistan. The Army said, "Um..., NO."

However, Hastings continued his hit pieces with an idiotic story on supposed psy-ops being conducted against American politicians that were visiting Afghanistan to manipulate them in supporting more spending. His only source was a disgruntled officer that had been reprimanded by the CO of that command. Those familiar with the Army and "psy-ops" called BS on the story and disproved it in detail. Shocking, isn't it, that the story was fiction......

Now, Rolling Stone is again attempting to smear the US military. Another jackass is writing about the soldiers that allegedly committed murder. THOSE soldiers were apparently stupid enough to pose with their victims. Writing about such crimes is a valid enterprise. Unfortunately, Rolling Stone, and more specifically Mark Boal, who produced the movie Hurt Locker, has decided to juxtapose actual proper combat procedure and the crimes. Boal, whose only exposure to the military has been the movie business, intermixes crime reporting with operations that took place elsewhere, in an effort to smear our soldiers and create a bigger story. And that story has been picked up internationally.

Michael Yon, a preeminent war reporter, had been embedded with the the unit involved. He's calling BULLSH#T! on the the entire story. He points outs one example.

The online edition of the Rolling Stone story contains a section with a video called “Motorcycle Kill,” which includes our Soldiers gunning down Taliban who were speeding on a motorcycle toward our guys. These Soldiers were also with 5/2 SBCT, far away from the “Kill Team” later accused of the murders. Rolling Stone commits a literary “crime” by deceptively entwining this normal combat video with the Kill Team story. The Taliban on the motorcycle were killed during an intense operation in the Arghandab near Kandahar City. People who have been to the Arghandab realize the extreme danger there. The Soviets got beaten horribly in the Arghandab, despite throwing everything including the Soviet kitchen sink into the battle that lasted over a month. Others fared little better. To my knowledge, 5/2 and supporting units were the first ever to take Arghandab, and these two dead Taliban were part of that process.

Michael Totten has some suggestions on how to pay Rolling Stone back for their "support" of the troops. (Emphasis mine.)

I’ve found in the past that boycotts work. I led a boycott against one magazine and it went bankrupt. It’s doubtful that Rolling Stone will go bankrupt for its sins, but you can cost them money not by boycotting their magazine, but by boycotting their advertisers. That hurts. Just pick an advertiser whose products you already buy, boycott it, and tell the advertiser why you are not buying their product.

Support our troops. Boycott those that advertise in Rolling Stone.