Vets For Freedom: Change We Can Believe In
U.S. Airstrikes Kill 11 Pakistani Soldiers
From the AP:
U.S.-led forces killed Pakistani troops in an airstrike along the volatile Afghan border that Pakistan’s army condemned on Wednesday as “completely unprovoked and cowardly.”
U.S. officials confirmed that three aircraft launched about a dozen bombs following a clash between Taliban militants and Afghan and U.S.- led coalition forces late Tuesday. Pakistan says the strikes killed 11 of its paramilitary troops.
The Pakistani army said the airstrike hit a post of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the Mohmand tribal region and was a “completely unprovoked and cowardly act.”
That is really unfortunate. We cannot afford to make mistakes like this. We need Pakistan’s cooperation and foolish incidents like this jeopardize our already strained relationship. A situation like this could cause riots to break out potentially put the entire Pakistani government at risk.
U.S. Missile Fired In NW Pakistan
An American unmanned Predator Drone is thought to have fired a missile at something or someone on the Afghan/Pakistan border today.
The missile was believed to have been fired into the Mohmand ethnic Pashtun tribal area in northwest Pakistan. This makes sense, because this same area has been hit by Predator drones on at least four separate occasions, resulting in the deaths of dozens of militants.
Unnamed Pakistani govt. officials confirms there was an attack, but won’t give any specifics as to what or who the targets may have been.
“There was an attack by a spy plane close to the Afghan border but we don’t have information about casualties or damage,” said the government official based in the region. He declined to be identified.
Neither U.S. nor Pakistani authorities usually confirm U.S. missile attacks on Pakistani territory, which would be an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.
War Footage Of The Day: Afghanistan
Video: President Bush Gets Fired Up At Press Conference
Bush Accepts Petraeus Plan To Pause Troop Reductions
In a speech today President Bush ordered an indefinite halt in U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq after July, embracing the key recommendations of his top war commander. Bush said Gen. David Petraeus will “have all the time he needs” to consider when more American forces could return home.
The president also announced he will try and relieve the heavy strain on the Army by reducing the length of combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan to 12 months, down from the current level of 15 months.
-Samantha Giles
Pictures: Prince Harry At War
Here are some pictures of Prince Harry serving his country in Afghanistan:
(Click photos to enlarge)
Prince Harry Serving On Front Lines In Afghanistan
From the AP:
Prince Harry has been serving on the front line in Afghanistan with the British Army, calling in airstrikes on Taliban positions and going out on foot patrols, the Ministry of Defense announced Thursday.
Officials said the prince, a lieutenant in the Blues and Royals regiment, was still deployed in the country.
“His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary,” said the head of the army, Gen. Richard Dannatt. “He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battle group.”
Harry, who is third in line to the throne, has been in Afghanistan since December.
The planned deployment had been disclosed to reporters, with no specific date, and was not reported previously under a pool agreement between the Ministry of Defense and all major news organizations operating in Britain, including The Associated Press. The news blackout was intended to reduce the risk to the prince and his regiment.
The news embargo was broken, however, after reports of the prince’s deployment were leaked by an Australian magazine and a German newspaper, and then reported on a U.S. Web site, the Drudge Report.
Dannatt, the military commander, said he was “very disappointed” that the story had leaked.
Harry, 23, has been deployed in the restive Helmand province for 10 weeks, where most of the 7,800 British troops in Afghanistan are based, according to the military’s statement.
In a recorded interview, Harry said he was happy to be standing shoulder-to- shoulder with his colleagues.
“It’s nice just to be here with all the guys and just mucking in as one of the lads,” said Harry, who had expressed bitter disappointment when he was banned from going to Iraq with his battalion last year. Army chiefs said publicity surrounding his deployment could put him and his unit at risk.
Pooled video footage of Harry in Afghanistan showed the prince dressed in camouflage fatigues patrolling arid and dusty terrain and firing a machine gun.
Harry graduated from Sandhurst military academy in 2006 and trained as a tank commander. After the decision not to send him to Iraq, he retrained as a battlefield air controller, the job he has been filling in Afghanistan.
The fact that Prince Harry actually wanted to fight is a very noble thing. He has more honor and guts than a lot of people both in Britain and in America. He and his brother are a credit to their country and will make exceptional leaders one day.
-Chris Jones
Emergency Landing For U.S. Senators In Afghanistan
From the AP:
Helicopters carrying three senior U.S. senators made emergency landings Thursday in the mountains of Afghanistan because of a snowstorm.
Sens. John Kerry, Joseph Biden and Chuck Hagel were aboard the aircraft. No one was injured, according a statement from Kerry’s office. The senators and their delegation returned to Bagram Air Base in a motor convoy, and have left for Turkey.
“After several hours, the senators were evacuated by American troops and returned overland to Bagram Air Base, and left for their next scheduled stop in Ankara, Turkey,” the Kerry statement said. “Sen. Kerry thanks the American troops, who were terrific as always and who continue to do an incredible job in Afghanistan.”
The lawmakers were on a trip this week that included stops in India, Turkey and Pakistan, where they observed the elections earlier this week.
Kerry and Biden are Democrats from Massachusetts and Delaware, respectively, and the Republican Hagel is from Nebraska.
Top Al-Qaeda Commander Killed
One of Al-Qaeda’s top commanders in Afghanistan and a key liaison with the Taliban, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed according to a Web site used by militant groups.
Pakistani intelligence officials and local residents said that a missile hit a compound in a village about 2.5 miles outside Mir Ali in North Waziristan late Monday or early Tuesday, destroying the facility.
Residents said they were not allowed to approach the site of the blast and the Pakistan government and military said they did not know who fired the missile. Local officials said that foreigners were targeted in the attack.
A knowledgeable Western official said that “it appears at this point that Al-Libi has met his demise,” but declined to talk about the circumstances. “It was a major success in taking one of the top terrorists in the world off the street,” the official said. He added that the death occurred “within the last few days.”
This was apparently not your average terror leader, but rather a central figure in the Al-Qaeda organization. Abu Laith al-Libi was an Al-Qaeda training camp leader featured in numerous Internet videos.
He is also believed to be behind a Feb. 2007 bombing at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan during a visit by V.P. Dick Cheney that killed 23 people.
Al-Libi was among the 12 most wanted terrorists with a $200,000 dollar reward on his head.
All this business about the Pakistani ISI not knowing who fired the missile is comical, but the current political climate in Pakistan certainly justifies such statements.
The real story is one that has played out several times on Pakistani soil. U.S. forces are not allowed to openly operate in Pakistan, but an agreement was reached several years ago with Musharraf to allow Predator drones to track terrorists 24 hours a day in bad weather and good.
These are not your average Predator surveillance drones however, these are a special armed version called “Reapers” that are equipped with either Hellfire missiles or 500 lb. JDAM bombs.
The Reapers criss-cross the tribal regions in Pakistan searching for wanted terrorists and when one is spotted, what follows can best be described as “swift American justice.”
There is a high degree of probability that when Osama bin Laden is eventually “brought to justice” it will be in much the same fashion.
-Chris Jones
Pentagon Plans “Mini-Surge” of U.S. Troops in Afghanistan
The Pentagon said on Wednesday U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was considering sending an additional 3,000 Marines to thwart any Taliban spring offensive, bringing to around 30,000 the number of American servicemen and women in Afghanistan.
Around half the U.S. contingent serves in a 40,000-strong NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), while the rest conduct missions ranging from counter-terrorism to reconstruction to training Afghan troops.
Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry, said the increase in troop numbers would help anti-insurgency operations as the new national army continued to grow.
As usual, if we want something done right we have to do it ourselves. The vast majority of NATO allies participating in Afghanistan have been wary of increasing their efforts in the region because of a dip in political support at home.
The countries that are participating usually have a heavy set of restrictions placed on them regarding what they’re allowed to do.
Most are limited to performing “peacekeeping” operations only and therefore cannot aggressively assist in hunting down Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces.
However, NATO’s de Hoop Scheffer pointed to recent smaller additions from countries such as France, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland — which on Wednesday announced it would add 400 troops and helicopters — to its existing 1,200-strong contingent.
“You cannot say the allies are not active enough, because they are active … But I still think we can do better,” he told reporters at an event in Brussels, noting persistent shortfalls in NATO’s forces.
I always find it interesting when I hear critics say that America has no business acting like the world’s policeman, but we’re the only ones who ever step up to the plate when it comes time to commit troops to anything (with the exception of Canada, Great Britain, and Australia).
Anytime a region of the world goes up in smoke, countries look to America to do something about it. But on the rare occasions that America looks to the rest of the world for assistance, suddenly we’re on our own.
-Chris Jones
Britain Caught Negotiating With The Taliban
It looks like Britain’s new Prime Minister is the weak kneed leader we all thought he was. Agents from MI6 entered secret talks with Taliban leaders despite Gordon Brown’s pledge that Britain would not negotiate with terrorists.
Officers from the Secret Intelligence Service staged discussions, known as “jirgas”, with senior insurgents on several occasions over the summer. Readers might recall it was not long ago that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf held “jirgas” with the same people in hopes that the Taliban would agree not to hang out with Al-Qaeda anymore. Of course they did agree, and of course they lied.
The Prime Minister had denied reports of talks with the Taliban under questioning from David Cameron, the Tory leader, in Parliament just 24 hours prior to the London Telegraph breaking the story.
The disclosure comes only a fortnight after the Prime Minister told the House of Commons: “We will not enter into any negotiations with these people.”
The Government was apparently prepared to admit that the talks had taken place but Gordon Brown was thought to have “bottled out” just before Prime Minister’s Questions on Dec 12, when he made his denial instead.
Not surprisingly the U.S. government is “extremely unhappy” that our closest ally has been trying to negotiate with terrorists who supported the September 11th attackers.
This is the kind of crap we have come to expect from some allies, but Britain is not one of them. Ironically, under the leadership of Nicolas Sarkozy, France has finally located it’s balls and is fast becoming our staunchest ally and a favorite of President Bush.
The idea that Islamic fanatics like the Taliban are ever going to live up to any agreement is absurd, and Britain knows better.
-Chris Jones
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