In which our government fails to do its duty, again

Via Theo Spark and Occidental Soapbox, a video from CAIRObservatory:

Iraq Illustrated

Via the esteemed Theo Spark, a picture of an Iraqi soldier or policeman holding an M16 (or possibly an M4?).

Three points to note:

1) The weapon is on SAFE

2) Index finger is safely outside of the trigger guard.

3) He voted! In spite of IEDs, mortar attacks and every thing else the jihadis can come up with to disrupt the elections, he and millions of his fellow Iraqis voted yesterday.

Why is this news?

Oh, yeah - by opening his mouth he's putting his life in danger.

Pakistan-born Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri said there were no "ifs or buts" about terrorism, in a news conference attended by officers from London's Metropolitan Police, lawmakers, charitable organisations and think-tanks.

He said he wanted to convey the message that acts of terrorism cut people off as true followers of Islam.

"They can't claim that their suicide bombings are martyrdom operations and that they become the heroes of the Muslim Umma (the wider Muslim community). No, they become heroes of hellfire, and they are leading towards hellfire.

It has taken decades for such a fatwa to be promulgated. I predict that we shall see a great deal of Muslim "scholars" dispute his claim. Stay tuned to Arab TV (Via Memri) and just watch as they ignore Dr. ul-Qadri and simultaneously attempt to disprove him.

I wonder if Salman Rushdie needs a room mate?

The Man Who Should Be President

I really wish LTC West would run for POTUS in 2012... but he's running for Congress in 2010. LTC West ran for the same seat in 2008 and I posted about his campaign then and I link to his campaign site again. Please consider giving what you can to help send this hero to Congress.

Here LTC West answers a fairly complicated question in a straight up manner.

A Confession

At a hearing to determine his status, Khalid Sheik Mohammad had his lawyer read a confession. A confession made without duress. A catalog of terror, and the leg work it takes to pull off an operation. KSM pays attention and corrects his lawyer. And yet he's going to get an unnecessary trial.

Video from MyThomsonGitmo. It comes with a content warning.

Of Interest to Every Marine

A letter to Marines from a Marine on the USMC in Iraq.

Click to enlarge.

H/T, Theo Spark

An Israeli View of US Airport Security

The Israelis know a thing or two about airline and airport security. And they know ours really is a joking matter. H/T Brian of London via twitter. And if you don't all ready listen, you should really check out Shire Network News, and the "full fat, non-Vegan podcast".

NCTC Boss Just Phone'n it in

Michael Leiter - Future Unemployed Guy

So, you're the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and there is a terror attack within the United States. What do you? Well, when the going gets tough, the tough go... skiing?

But hey, you were keeping in touch via BlackBerry. And these things happen every day; it was a failed attack; a lone nutcase; um, ... uh, shutup.

This guy's operation is the primary ball dropper in this whole fiasco. Where did the State Department and CIA information go? Three guesses, and if you need more than one you lose.

From the New York Daily News:

WASHINGTON - The Obama White House rushed Thursday to defend a top counterterror official who went on a ski vacation for six days after an alleged Al Qaeda bomber attempted to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day.

Michael Leiter -- whose National Counterterrorism Center failed to connect dots on suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab -- came under fire for being away from his intelligence clearinghouse at the height of the crisis when it was still unknown if other terrorists were on their way to the U.S.

Heckuva job, Mikey!

Dump Napolitano

Some joker on Facebook has started a "Dump Janet Napolitano" group....

(OK, that joker would be me...)

Worst. Headline. Ever.

Does Politico really think that terrorism on their watch is the Democrats worst nightmare? Does Politico think the Dems think terror on a Republican President's watch is less bad? Well, they are pretty well plugged in...

There's a lot of things I'm willing to believe about politicians in general, and Democratic ones in particular, but surely not this?

But then we heard from the Secretary of Homeland Security that "the system worked". When last heard from Ms. Incompetano was informing the Arab world that she would work to prevent any anti-Muslim/anti-Arab backlash after the Fort Hood jihad shootings. I guess her hard work paid off as I don't recall any Muslims being beheaded, stoned to death or hanged from construction cranes.

Then we read that the White House "calibrated" it's response to the Christmas Day attack. We learn the attacker's lawyer has handled terror cases before. Miriam L. Siefer allegedly forged documents in a previous terror case in Detroit. No wonder the enemy combatant suspect has stopped being talkative. He's lawyered up and may even entertain thoughts of beating the rap.

Worst head line ever... because it's true. And that is sad.

A Suicide Bombing

A before and after picture. A graduation ceremony for medical students was the target for a suicide bomber in Somalia earlier this month. Who knows why the jihadis pick their targets, but this doesn't seem to be a particularly good "hearts and minds" op on their part. Lesson to Somalis: Don't try to help your self, don't try to help other Somalis...

Note during the voiceover that it seems Somalia's problems are apparently due to the lack of Crusader intervention, or something. The report ends with "Somalia is slipping away." I know this is from Al Jazeera English, but even they have to understand that Somalia is well past "slipping". She stopped being a functional nation decades ago.

We should be updating our maps to indicate that Somalia is, and has been, West Chaosistan, or just another satrap of the caliphate.

Happy Dog

Soldier returns from Afghanistan, Dog rejoices. What could be better?

The Dog that Didn't Bark

I snapped the above picture in Memorial Plaza located within the Coalition Compound of my home away from home here in "Southwest Asia". As you can see there are several flag poles that proudly display the flags of the USA, Qatar, Australia, Canada, France, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

What's missing?

Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my side door

Some months ago my brother posted a picture on his blog entitled Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door... it was, of course, a view outside his home during an early March snowstorm.

I'm currently doing a short sentence at Al Ud..., er, "an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia". What's that I see out my side door?



Ahh, a bunker. It's just like old times! A little poking around the bunker reveals some of the native fauna, and...



A chair? One chair? WTF?

Another map for the world pin...

I'm currently at HERE.

I'm working long days for the next few weeks, blogging likely to be light.

I will say one thing: ABU's as 'desert' uniforms = Epic Fail. I long for my well broken in Desert Camoflage Uniforms... they were just getting to the point of comfort - and by that I mean they were getting to that Viet Cong pajama stage...

California water company insider steals $9 million, flees country

So the California Water Service Company needs auditors so badly they hire an H1B-type. Except there appears to be something funky with this auditor's computer privileges. At the very least this guy had waaaaay to much access for an auditor. And his credentials were still good after he resigned. From SC Magazine:

An insider at the California Water Service Company in San Jose broke into the company's computer system and transferred $9 million into offshore bank accounts and fled the country.

Abdirahman Ismail Abdi, 32, was an auditor for the water company, which delivers drinking water throughout the state and is located in San Jose, Calif. Abdi resigned from his position on April 27. Allegedly, that night he went back to work and made three wire transfers totaling more than $9 million from the company's accounts to an account in Qatar. Abdi was seen by a janitor on the night of the crime, according to the San Jose Mercury News, citing court documents filed Wednesday in the federal court at San Jose.

Now what would a good Presbyterian like Abdirahman want to go and do a thing like that? Now it's possible his motivation was the old fashioned greedy kind, but my thoughts do wander to that other possibility.

The water company claims to have worked with their financial institution to reverse the transaction and get the 9 million back in their account. Reading the story further revealed this stunner tucked in almost as an after thought (emphasis mine):

The local investigation also revealed that Abdi tried to book a flight to London on May 1, days after police searched his South Bay home. Abdi is not a U.S. citizen and was ordered deported to Somalia in 2005, the Mercury News reported.

So he was an H1B type... he just didn't actually have a valid visa. What the hell is the California Water Service doing? There aren't enough qualified American citizens or legal aliens to staff their Auditing department?

This is just great. They have scored the Trifecta of Fail:

1) Illegal Alien. `Nuff said.

2) This guy had a level of system access that an auditor should not have.

3) His access rights should have been terminated as soon as he was separated from the company.

Jerks and Idiots. I almost wish that they didn't get their money back. They don't deserve it...

My Next Bumpersticker

From American Digest... Full size image suitable for printing:

Piracy

Somali pirates are holding an American merchant captain hostage. They vow to fight if attacked... I don't really care if these Somali pirates are classified as terrorists or enterprising criminals. The attack is the first on an American ship since 1805 or so. It comes within days of this self-imposed humiliation:



Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I find it significant that the last serious pirate threat faced by our nation was from Muslim pirates in Africa. That the threat was quelled by actions by the Marines and Navy, but resumed shortly after the above bow.

So what do we do now? Obviously, we try to save the life of the American Captain Richard Phillips. There's a report that he's tried to escape on his own. Our nation must send one message: It is suicide to attack an American ship. Period. Regardless if Captain Phillips is rescued, returned or murdered, his captors should be tracked down and killed.

John Keegan, writing in The Telegraph stated in part:

...One of the reasons why the attack on the Maersk was the first to involve American sailors in around 200 years is encapsulated in a well-known line of the US marines' anthem: "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli". This refers to the occasion, in the early 1800s, when the young republic sent a naval expedition to the north-western coast of Africa, den of the Barbary pirates, to deter attacks on their shipping.

Like other countries, America had paid bribes and ransoms, but the pirates' promises were never kept. Military action, in the form of two expeditions separated by a decade, was far more successful, especially when consolidated by the French occupation of Algeria in 1830. Admittedly, piracy did persist in the South China Sea and East Indian Sea, but with the rise of the European empires – and especially of the Royal Navy – it was eventually wiped out. One of the triumphs of Victorian Britain was to rule waves on which piracy had been extinguished.

He prescribes 17th century medicine for this 17th century ailment:

...So our campaign must be ruthless and pitiless: pirate ships must be sunk on sight and the crews left to swim to safety, if it can be reached.

Many would complain about such tactics but, in my opinion, pirates have no rights – indeed, it will be vital to exclude human rights lawyers from the anti-piracy campaign. To bring any captives to Europe or America for trial would probably be to grant them their dearest wish, which is to secure entry to a new life in the First World.

I'm a fan of Mr. Keegan's. He is a noted historian. I'm glad to have read some of his books, and so should you. However his advice doesn't go far enough. In addition to sinking their ships we should be attacking their safe harbors and removing their shore based logistical support. Mr. Keegan is writing for a British audience, which so he also is obliged to write about the need for rearmament for the Royal Navy. How sad.

Rogue Cessna

So a crazed Catholic in Canada steals a Cessna 172 and flies it to the US. F-16s "escort" him until he decides to land... in Missouri. WTF? Why didn't the 16s take him out sooner?

Oh, he's a naturalized Canadian, but surprise, probably not a Catholic - he's a Turk.

Brothers at War

Update: Welcome to my fellow Theo Spark readers!

Twitter amazes me. I have found some surprising stuff Twitter. One of the things I've discovered is a movie called Brothers at War. Two brothers are soldiers deployed to Iraq and their filmmaker brother travels to Iraq to find out "why". I hope this movie makes it into theaters soon:

A longer trailer from Youtube: