Afghanistan Front News - Afghanistan Theatre

MOD: Has announced the names of the three UK Soldiers killed on Tuesday in Afghanistan by an IED, they were " Corporal William Savage, Fusilier Sam Flint and Private Robert Hetherington, all serving with 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland  ".  Our thoughts are with the families of these brave and heroic Soldiers. 

Obama and Arming the Syrian Rebels - Update 1

The Hill: Reports the following from the Obama White House, " ..press secretary Jay Carney on Wednesday declined to deny reports that President Obama is moving closer to providing arms to rebel groups in Syria. ".

Lets Get Real:

It not if President Obama states a red line, its if the US states a red line, one can postulate that Assad of Syria will see the weak response from the Oval as a green light to carry on killing his own people, using guns, planes, tanks, and WMD, it is that simple folks.  If a US President says this and no further then it should be seen as a line that should never be crossed, the weasel words of the Oval is a threat to the authority of the US Presidency, one can see Iran and North Korea looking on and thinking they will chance their arm, Tehran will go nuclear and North Korea might try something on with South Korea.    The Obama Oval is clever, Obama is no fool, he understands that Vietnam destroyed the Johnson Presidency and his Great Society and Iraq left Bush 43 one of the most unpopular Presidents in modern history, his domestic agenda stalled on the Hill.   On the other hand Obama knows that if Assad gives chemical weapons to his terrorists allies then Israel will go ALL in, no matter the view of the Oval, also the Syrian Civil War is causing internal problems in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, a full scale regional war and Israel would make the Obama legacy look bad, thus the above move, its small, but its something, there are not great options in Syria, but not doing anything is no longer an option, events, events folks. 

Boston Bombings - Update 3

CNN - Boston: Reports on the three new arrests in the Boston Bombing, two individuals are from Kazakhstan and the last one is a US Citizen, the article notes of the arrests, " The Kazakh students face charges of making false statements to investigators and conspiracy to obstruct justice, .. ".

Lets Get Real:

If the two individuals from Kazakhstan have been read their rights expect the Republicans to jump on the Oval, even Democrats facing re-election next year might jump ship if the Oval seems more interested in giving rights to suspected terrorists or their helpers than getting information.  The Oval can not use the cover that they are US Citizens, also the Oval is in a hole by stating yesterday that the Boston Brothers were lone wolfs, as stated the Oval should not have jumped the investigation, if there are links to Afghanistan or Russia then the Oval has a major problem, if the two individuals from Kazakhstan shut up after these arrests then the Oval will be seen as weak on national security, also these arrests and the bombers could sink the deal that is being created on the Hill on immigration reform, it only needs a nervy House to say NO. Events folks, Events. 

Boston Bombings - Update 2

Guardian: Reports the following on the three new arrests, " ..the police quashed fears of any risk of further terror attacks by saying "there is no threat to the public". ".

Lets Get Real:

Folks the question that the Oval has to ask what happens after the US and NATO leaves Afghanistan in 2014, the US and the Afghan Government have an agreement for the US to base ten thousand troops in Afghanistan to fight terrorists, the Taliban and Al Qaeda might decide after declaring from their view that they have defeated the West to make life hell for the US in Afghanistan and to support Al Qaeda in further attacks on US interests in Afghanistan, Pakistan and on the US homeland, the threat does not end because Obama says it does, quite the reverse, the Taliban will use the removal of Western troops as a PR tool, they will argue that they have defeated the US, like Afghans defeated the British Empire and the USSR, thus seek to show that they are the winning team, in other words force people to support them on the pain of death.   The secular Government of Pakistan could come under threat from the Taliban of Pakistan, with the support of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the US will need to secure the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, as a unregulated border could lead to the US having to come back, history repeats itself folks, the British had a few incursions in to Afghanistan, the border between British India and Afghanistan always had tension, thus as it will be in the future, history repeats itself folks, just people never learn. 

Boston Bombing Conspiracy ? - Update 1

BBC News: Reports that the Boston Police have taken three other people in to Custody of the Boston Bombing. 

Lets Get Real:

Folks this blog is old fashioned, arrested and charged are two different things, lets not rush to make a conspiracy case just yet, yes the Intelligence sources speaking off the record do not think it was a lone wolf terror cell, in other words the brothers were being controlled, either in the US or Russia., this blog stated yesterday that the Oval was trying to lead the press yesterday to follow the Oval spin that the Boston bombers acted alone, that is risky in a on going investigation, God knows what the Russian FSB is not telling the US,  Obama should keep his ego in check, last time this blog looked he is not an expert on terrorism, and not much else, but in this case he should keep his mouth shut, just in case there are major Al Qaeda links, he does not want to look like he has fallen for his own spin that Al Qaeda is dead, it is a big BUT, if the voters think that the Oval has lost the plot he could become a 2nd Term lame duck faster than any President.   The Presidential windbag should recall the that Chicago is called the WINDY CITY for something, the Oval is fast turning to the windbag with no substance. 

Deaths in Afghanistan - Afghanistan Theatre

MOD: Reports that three UK Soldiers were killed yesterday in Afghanistan, the Soldiers were killed by an IED, the Soldiers were from the " 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland  ".  As of 2001 the UK has lost 444 of its Armed Forces Personnel in Afghanistan, of that total 401 have been killed in hostile/combat action, while 43 have died due to illness, accidents or other incidents. 

Lets Get Real:

The UK is throwing in the towel in 2014 folks, the the UK and the US is getting out of bloody Afghanistan,  the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost in treasure and deaths of brave and heroic members of the Armed Forces, the question has to be asked does the below statement from the MOD hold water, " Security in Helmand, where most UK forces are based, is steadily improving, with Afghan forces already responsible for the bulk of the province - but the environment in which our troops operate remains risky and dangerous, including the threat of improvised explosive devices and insurgent attack.   We will continue to do all we can to minimise these risks but they can never be removed entirely. ".  It can be postulated that once the US and the UK is out of Afghanistan that Kabul within six months to a year will fall to the Taliban or a War Lord, Al Qaeda could be back, thus the question that the families of those that have lost loved ones in Afghanistan will ask , was it WORTH IT, hand on heart folks this blog would have to answer in the negative, brave Soldiers lost their lives for nothing, at the start there was a plan, get rid of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, then we got stuck in to national building in Afghanistan, of all places, Afghanistan, the British Empire, the USSR have ALL tried that, and neither played by the rules, and it did not work folks, Afghanistan is the burial place for the hubris of leaders from Alexander to President Obama. 

Obama and Guantanamo Bay

BBC News: Reports the following  from President Obama's press conference when it comes to the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay " In his remarks, the president seemed to support the US practice of force-feeding some hunger-strikers. ". 

Lets Get Real:

The President is up keeping his liberal agenda, he wants to treat terrorists as typical criminals, even at the press conference he was trying to paint the Boston Bombers as acting alone, it was almost as if the Oval can not cope with the reality, if you listened to the President in at the press event you would get the idea that Al Qaeda was finished, it was happy time after the Iraq/ Afghan Wars are finished, it had echoes of a pre 9/11, pre 21 Century mind set, the press did not tackle him when he implied that the Boston Bombers acted alone, that has not been proven as yet, the Russian connection needs a lot of investigation, as if the Oval was trying to close it down as it would not match the World picture of the Oval, POTUS stated the following, " 

And the question then is was there something that happened that triggered radicalization and an actual decision by the brother to engage in the tragic attack we actually saw in Boston, and are there additional things that could have been done in that interim that might have prevented it....one of the dangers that we now face are self-radicalized individuals who are already here in the United States -- in some cases, may not be part of any kind of network, but because of whatever warped, twisted ideas they may have, may decide to carry out an attack.  And those are in some ways more difficult to prevent.

 

And so what I’ve done for months now is to indicate to our entire counterterrorism team, what more can we do on that threat that is looming on the horizon?  Are there more things that we can do, whether it’s engaging with communities where there’s a potential for self-radicalization of this sort?  Is there work that can be done in terms of detection?  But all of this has to be done in the context of our laws, due process.  ".  What will the Oval say should the FBI find that the Boston Bombing was part of an Al Qaeda operation, will the press pin Obama to the wall over this rush to judgement over Boston, one has doubts.  The US Congress after Boston will be even less of the view to close the Cuban prison, the above move by the Oval is a way to keep the readers of the NY Times/Guardian readers happy, its not going to happen folks.