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It is sooo much easier to find both friends and enemies these days. We love our agencies! Be careful though you might find basement cat!
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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A tape released Thursday on a jihadist forum shows the first images of a group of hostages including five French citizens since they were seized two weeks ago in Niger by an al Qaeda offshoot and taken into the desert.Giving in to terrorists demands=more hostage taking. AQIM make monies this way. Not that I don't have feelings for those who where kidnapped, I do. I pray daily for their safety.
The four-minute tape shows still images of the hostages sitting cross-legged in the sand with a gently sloping dune behind them. French officials believe the seven hostages are now in the bordering West African nation of Mali.
The hostages were grabbed in the middle of the night on Sept. 16 from their guarded villas in the uranium mining town of Arlit in Niger where they were working for French nuclear giant Areva.
The French Foreign Ministry said the tape was encouraging because the images show the hostages alive.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21, 2010 – President Barack Obama today presented the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry to the family of an Air Force chief master sergeant killed in action 42 years ago in Laos.
“Today, we present the Medal of Honor to an American who displayed such gallantry more than four decades ago: Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger,” the president said at a White House ceremony. “This medal reflects the gratitude of an entire nation.”
Etchberger’s brother, Robert, and sons, Cory Etchberger, Richard Etchberger and Steve Wilson, attended the ceremony.God Bless you for your heroism, RIP.
The president detailed Etchberger’s actions as he fought through the night of March 11, 1968, holding off the enemy, calling in air strikes and loading three fellow servicemembers into an evacuation helicopter before he was shot by enemy forces who overran his worksite - a secret radar installation manned by Air Force technicians disguised as civilians.
Lima Site 85, set above the clouds on a steep mountaintop in nominally neutral Laos housed a radio transmitter – later upgraded to a radar installation - dedicated to directing U.S. air-to-ground bombing in North Vietnam from 1966 to 1968. The battle at Lima Site 85 resulted in the largest Air Force ground combat loss of the Vietnam War.
“Of those 19 men on the mountain that night, only seven made it out alive,” Obama said. “Three of them owed their lives to the actions of Dick Etchberger.”
During a “small, private” Pentagon ceremony in the winter of 1968, Etchberger’s wife, Catherine, and sons were presented with an Air Force Cross, Obama said, but public awareness of Etchberger’s actions didn’t occur until the Air Force declassified his mission in 1986.[More..]
JPost--Hamas posted a video of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit on Youtube on Monday, suggesting he would be killed if a deal was not soon reached.
In the animated video, two masked men are shown standing on either side of Gilad Schalit in a dark room, with one of them holding an AK-47 assualt rifle.
At the end of the 24-second video, gun shots are heard as the movie goes black and the words "Is the mission completed?" are seen written in Arabic.
SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 15, 2010 – Inchon, South Korea, took on a movie-set quality today as U.S. Marines and their South Korean and U.N. counterparts re-enacted the massive amphibious landing 60 years ago that ultimately turned the tide in the Korean War.God Bless those who gave all, veterans and current members of our wonderful military. You are my heroes!
About 2,500 Korean War veterans, dignitaries and local residents looked on as explosions erupted from the water, “fired” by the USS Dennis, four South Korean and one Australian ship in the waters off Wolmi Island.
Amphibious landing craft buzzed the shoreline, helicopters and fighter jets roared overhead, paratroopers dropped from the sky and 167 U.S. Marines from Twentynine Palms, Calif., scaled the seawall and stormed the beach.
Just as the action appeared to come to a close, Marine Corps Capt. Michael Borneo thrilled the crowd as he marched across the beach amid a flurry of confetti, costumed as Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, with fellow Marines depicting his key officers in tow.
They demonstrated what Army Gen. Walter L. “Skip” Sharp, commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea, called “one of the boldest operations conducted in U.S. military history”
“This history-making operation not only helped to turn the tide of the war, but it highlighted the kind of cooperation between our services and between the nations that continue to help keep the Republic of Korea free today,” Sharp told Korean War veterans attending the 60th anniversary commemoration.
Navy Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, praised the “undaunting courage” exhibited during the operation -- one that “had been dismissed as not doable” by many due to extreme tide shifts.
“It’s humbling,” Walsh said. “We are standing in the shadow of giants.”
MacArthur, who had pressed for the surprise attack to take place while the main North Korean fighting force had focused its effort on the southeast, finally overcame those challenging his plan, and “Operation Chromite” was launched Sept. 15, 1950.
U.S. and South Korean Marines, along with their counterparts from Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, launched the landing in three separate locations.
Lead elements of 10th Corps hit “Green Beach” on the north side of Wolmi Island. Its landing force consisted of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, and nine M26 Pershing tanks from the 1st Tank Battalion.
Meanwhile, Combat Team 5, which included 3rd Battalion South Korean Marines, scaled the seawalls along “Red Beach.” After overpowering the North Korean defenses, they opened the causeway that enabled tanks from Green Beach to enter the fight.
To the south, the 1st Marine Regiment arrived at “Blue Beach,” where they encountered little resistance because North Korean forces already had surrendered.
The successes in Inchon ultimately broke the North Korean army’s supply lines and paved the way to the liberation of Seoul in late September 1950.
South Korean Lt. j.g. Junsung Lee called the surprise nature of the attack a key in catching the North Koreans off-guard.
“The Inchon landing operation was crucial for us to take back the initiative,” he said. “It was a key event.”
William Cheek, a Marine corporal assigned to an anti-tank assault unit during the operation, recalled during today’s ceremonies the challenges he and his fellow Marines encountered. After overcoming 30-foot tides in Inchon Harbor, their amphibious landing vessel Amtrak got stalled in the sand, forcing Cheek to dash about 100 yards across the beach, dodging North Korean tank and infantry fire.
Ultimately, they fought their way to Seoul, supported every step of the way by South Korean civilian volunteers.
Standing beneath a giant Ferris wheel on the landing beach that’s blossomed as a popular tourist attraction, Cheek said he felt proud to see South Korea become “a modern economic miracle.”
“I’m glad some of us were able to help make that possible,” he said, “helping drive out the elements trying to enslave a great nation.”
Navy Vice Adm. Scott R. Van Buskirk, who assumed command of the U.S. 7th Fleet in Japan last week, said the Inchon landing provides a classic example of the Navy-Marine “blue-green team” concept. It also underscores the importance of amphibious landing capabilities that remain critical today, he added.
Marine Corps 1st Sgt. Alex Leibfried, led 167 members of 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, who stormed the beach during today’s reenactment, and he said it felt good to get the opportunity to demonstrate those capabilities.
“It’s probably the No. 1 way we come ashore,” the 18-year veteran said. “It’s good seeing that the Marine Corps is finally getting back to its amphibious roots.”
Two phosphorous mortars were fired at southern Israel from Gaza on Wednesday, Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The Jerusalem Post.IDF responded enough is enough you splodey & soon to be splodey dopes.
"A police bomb disposal team examined a number of mortars that were fired today. We can confirm that two out of the nine mortars contained phosphorous," Rosenfeld added.
Haim Yalin, head of the Eshkol Regional Council where the phosphorous mortars landed, told the Post, "These weapons have been banned by the Geneva convention. They cause burns among victims and they kill. This is an agricultural area, and we now have to explain to farmers how to deal with burns in light of the new mortars."
Al-Ahram showed Mr Mubarak walking on a red carpet ahead of US President Barack Obama as well as the Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders.Fauxtography, not just for Reuters, AP..
A Venezuelan airline's “mystery” flight that shuttled among the capitals of three of the world’s most terror-friendly nations — Venezuela, Syria and Iran — has abruptly canceled its regularly scheduled departures amid accusations that it was used primarily to transport spies, terrorists and lethal cargo among the pariah counties.Read it all.
“I am sorry, but we are no longer flying to Tehran and I do not know when the flights will resume. It was a flight that left Caracas on Tuesdays, but it no longer does,” Jenny Gil Romero, who handles international departures for Conviasa, the national airline that operates the flight, said in a message to FOX News.
Messages to the airline seeking further information went unanswered.
Romero's comments came in response to FOXNews.com's efforts to buy tickets on the regularly scheduled, 48-hour round trip from Caracas to Damascus to Tehran, then back again.
Intelligence analysts with both the CIA and Israel said that, despite the listing of the flight as a regular commercial route and a code share with Iran air -- Flight IR744 is also Flight VO3744 -- there was no way that anyone could buy a ticket and travel without being vetted by the Venezuelan or Iranian government.And without passport controls, flight manifests and other documents, it meant some of the world's most dangerous men could travel without fear of being uncovered.
Curiously, unlike most other bookings on the national airline, calls for reservations on this particular flight were routed to a cell phone in Argentina, rather than to Conviasa's regular service in Caracas.
You may have noticed that Molly Norris' comic is not in the paper this week. That's because there is no more Molly.Her cartoon wasn't even offensive but ole pedophile mo is off limits.
The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But on the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is, as they put it, "going ghost": moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity. She will no longer be publishing cartoons in our paper or in City Arts magazine, where she has been a regular contributor.
She is, in effect, being put into a witness-protection program—except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab. It's all because of the appalling fatwa issued against her this summer, following her infamous "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" cartoon
Orlando, Fla., Sep 14, 2010 / 06:07 am (CNA).- A hacker has attacked the website of the Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC), a group assisting the Christian convert Rifqa Bary[...]Hacker, vKey H@Or, most likely bragging about the hack, especially to CAIR.
In an e-mail to supporters the FFPC said the hacker gained access to its website last Friday and “disabled the entire back-end controls on the site, erased most of the data, disabled the blog and left an obscene message on the events page explaining in broken English who he was and why he was hacking the site.”
“You got hacked due to you s**t thinking abt Great Islam,” the hacker said. “(T)his is due to JHON TAIRY … do good and have good … **** all florida,” the attacker added.
The FFPC reports that its web experts have judged the five-year-old site to be completely unusable and in need of replacement.
WEST POINT, N.Y., Sept. 14, 2010 – They run road races and compete in triathlons. They climb mountains, kayak through rapids and ski on snow and water.You are my heroes, every last one of you...God Bless & thanks you so much for your service.
They are America’s wounded warriors -- veterans who continue to inspire by their resilience and will to overcome any obstacle placed before them.
Six Army soldiers and one Marine from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., visited the U.S. Military Academy here Sept. 10 to test their abilities on a challenging set of obstacles.
The indoor obstacle course test is a rite of passage for all West Point cadets as a testament to their physical fortitude. Being able to make it through this intense test of balance, strength and stamina is hard enough, given months of practice and training. But for the wounded warriors, with only hours of preparation, the test was an inspirational example of the Warrior Ethos and human perseverance, said Army Col. Gregory L. Daniels, the chief of the academy’s physical education department.
“These outstanding soldiers are a testament to the amazing power of the human spirit,” Daniels said of the wounded warriors. “They make no excuses for their so-called disabilities, and they drive on with an indomitable grit that is truly remarkable. Every single cadet should take notice and emulate their invincible spirit.”
For that reason, Daniels made sure cadets were present for this event. Hayes Gymnasium roared with the encouraging cheers of cadets as the wounded warriors moved through the timed course.
“I wanted the cadets to cheer them on with all their might and to be inspired by what they observed,” Daniels said. “These soldiers demonstrated the Warrior Ethos in a very unique and powerful way. I wanted as many cadets as possible to see first-hand the type of young person they will eventually have the immense responsibility and awesome privilege to lead.”
Cadets lined up to congratulate and speak with the group after the test. Cadet Brittany O’Connell said she left with a lump in her throat from what she’d witnessed.
“It made me realize that even with things as hectic as they are here, your problems may not be as big as you think they are,” she said. “It was truly amazing.”
When Daniels told the cadets to remember this event the next time they complained about something being too hard, Cadet Tom Snukis took it to heart.
“It was definitely inspiring, because you see cadets struggle through this every day,” said Snukis, who will take the course for score in October. “Then to come out here and see soldiers missing arms and legs, and they destroyed the [course]. ‘Inspiring’ is definitely the word.”
As the sole Marine and only double amputee in the group, Lance Cpl. Joshua Wege said he had even more to prove than his colleagues. He was not expecting such a large audience, he said, but it fueled his performance with an added dose of adrenaline.
“The entire bleachers were filled, and just the sound reverberating off the walls was cool,” Wege said. “I’ve never had crowds cheer me before. I was nervous at the starting line, which I don’t get very often, but with everyone watching and the blood pumping, I wanted to do the best I could.”
Army Spc. Matthew Kinsey said the group of wounded warriors is pretty close-knit, and it was evident in the way, as professional soldiers, they supported each other. They’d been practicing for a few weeks on a smaller course at Walter Reed, Kinsey said, but the West Point course was exhausting.
“At half-speed, the individual obstacles are not bad, but when you go through everything at once, that’s a challenge,” Kinsey said.
Along with Wege and Kinsey, Army Sgt. Robert Brown, Army Pvt. Harrison Ruzicka, Army Spc. Joshua Rector, Army Spc. Nicholas Edinger and Army Sgt. Shane Baldwin also participated.
A civilian defense attorney hired recently by alleged WikiLeaks leaker Bradley Manning says the Army was so concerned about his client’s mental health prior to the alleged leaks that supervisors removed the bolt from his military weapon, disabling it.Cross posted at the Jawa Report
Attorney David Coombs told CNN, however, that other than sending Manning to a chaplain for counseling, the Army did little to address its concerns about him.
“The unit has in fact documented a history, if you will, from as early as December of 2009 to May of 2010 of behavior that they were concerned about,” Coombs said, adding that Manning’s immediate supervisor “did document prolonged periods of disassociated behavior, quite a bit of nonresponsiveness from Pfc. Manning. And, again, that progressed from the very beginning of the deployment and deteriorated somewhat toward the end.”
The Army declined to comment. “This case does have worldwide visibility and [Manning’s] civilian attorney will do the best he can to defend him and that may bring up other issues other than what is currently known,” said Lt. Col. Robert Owen spokesman for the Army at the U.S. embassy in Iraq. “But the U.S. Army is not going to react to every statement that Manning’s civilian attorney makes.”[More]