Iraqi Insurgents Hacking Drone Video
A fully armed MQ-9 Reaper taxis down a runway in Southwest Asia. The Reaper's primary mission is as a persistent hunter-killer against emerging targets. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson)
Iranian-backed Shiite fighters in Iraq have been hacking the live video feeds from U.S. unmanned drones according to senior defense officials. The Wall Street Journal reports that the insurgents are using a Russian-made, off-the-shelf program called SkyGrabber to view the non-encrypted information coming from the drones.
Officials say that there have been no reports of insurgents interfering with the flights, and also assure that no harm has come to our troops and that no missions have been compromised as a result of the security breach.
“That may be true today, but may not be the case in future conflicts,” remarks Bill Roggio of LongWarJournal.
Roggio speculates:
Don’t be surprised if you read a story in the next few days or weeks saying that elements within Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency have been monitoring US Predator and Reaper feeds, and relaying targeting information to al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. I have heard far too many stories about how senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders miraculously avoided attacks and left the target sites just minutes before the strikes. The officials repeatedly told me that they believed the anti-US elements in the ISI were tipping off the terrorist commanders before the strikes.
Many hours – even days – worth of recorded drone video feeds have been found on captured insurgent computers operating in Iraq, and sources say that feeds have also been intercepted by enemies operating in Afghanistan. According to WSJ‘s sources, the Pentagon has known of the encryption vulnerability since the Bosnia campaign during the 1990′s, but assumed that our enemies would not have the wherewithal to intercept the signals.
If the Pentagon is going to assume anything, they should be assuming that our enemies will compromise our communications, and design systems with that possibility in mind.
In: Military · Tagged with: al Qaeda, Bill Roggio, drones, Inter-Services Intelligence, Iraq, ISI, MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Pakistan, Taliban
New Evidence of Saddam-bin Laden Connection
We didn’t invade Iraq because of 9/11 and we didn’t invade because of Saddam’s connections to Islamic terrorists. But he was connected. And many don’t realize, but we had been authorized to attack Iraq previously by Congress.
Ryan Mauro writes at Pajamas Media:
The lead prosecutor of Saddam Hussein, Ja’far al-Musawi, says that he has seen official documents that prove that his regime was involved with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Last year, a Kurdish newspaper published an Iraqi intelligence document from 2002 referencing a proposed meeting with al-Zawahiri to discuss a “revenge operation” against Saudi Arabia at Saddam Hussein’s request. If previous ties had not been maintained and if there was such hostility between the secularist government of Saddam and al-Qaeda as is assumed, such a plan would never have been hatched by Saddam or been acted upon by his intelligence service.
A source at the Iraq Memory Foundation, which is going through thousands of files to document Saddam Hussein’s reign, has reported that they have seen documents showing a link between Saddam and al-Qaeda.
In: National Security · Tagged with: al Qaeda, Iraq, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein
Rules: Shoot terrorists on sight
As I have pointed out on air, the rules state that terrorists can be shot on sight. Not rules put forth by Dick Cheney – but the rules found in the Geneva Convention that was agreed upon by countries across the globe. Because the international community wanted to stop terrorists (non-uniformed combatants) from wreaking havoc upon noncombatants.
But Western civilization has all but accepted terrorism as a legitimate way to fight and govern.
Does putting a bullet in a captured al Qaeda cell leader sound cruel and unusual? Not as cruel and unusual as allowing them to terrorize their own people, as al Qaeda and the Taliban are wont to do. Or as messed up as turning them loose on our judicial system, a move that will lead to the destruction of something that suicide bombers and hijacked airplanes couldn’t touch.
FrontPage has more on the situation with the upcoming court-martial of three Navy SEALs, whose capture of a high-value terrorist may or may not have resulted in a “fat lip.”
As far as legality is concerned, terrorists like Abed are lucky to be left among the living after their capture. As conservative columnist Thomas Sowell rightly points out, Islamic terrorists have never followed the Geneva Convention regarding the rules of warfare, as can be easily discerned in the case of the Blackwater security guards alone. More importantly, however, the terrorists themselves are not covered by the Convention’s provisions.
“Neither the Constitution of the United states nor the Geneva Convention gives rights to terrorists who operate outside the law,” writes Sowell.
Legally, under the Convention’s terms, the American military in wartime has the right to shoot any captured enemy not in uniform. Sowell states, “There was a time when everyone understood this” and cites World War Two’s Battle of the Bulge as an example. German troops caught in American uniforms during that battle were shot almost immediately and without trial. Their executions were even filmed and shown years later on American television with no fuss ever made regarding legality.
60-something years ago, the U.S. transitioned from a peacetime economy to simultaneously defeating the two greatest militaries the world had seen in no time flat. In fact, in the time we have spent fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, we would have won World War II twice by now. Our troops stopped the Wehrmacht cold, but we can’t seem to put a dent in a bunch of RPG-toting terrorists who want to turn the clock back to 600 A.D.
Perhaps the world would be better off if we abandoned the political correctness that affords Constitutional rights to those who have no regard for civilization. Perhaps folks like the aforementioned terrorist should be treated like we did the German spies – shot on sight.
In: National Security · Tagged with: al Qaeda, Geneva Conventions, Navy SEALs, Political Correctness, World War II
More on US raid into Somalia
Bill Roggio at Long War Journal has more details on the U.S. special forces raid into southern Somalia to kill al Qaeda leader Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. Roggio reports that “Nabhan is thought to train terrorists in Somalia and has been at the forefront in cementing ties between Shabaab and al Qaeda.”
Originally, eyewitnesses reported that the helicopters and troops were French.
The operation, dubbed Celestial Balance, was approved 11 days ago after US intelligence determined that Nabhan was shuttling back and forth between the Shabaab-controlled port cities of Merka and Kismayo. A car transporting Nabhan and five other foreign fighters was escorted by another car carrying three Shabaab escorts; the vehicles were hit as they stopped for breakfast as they traveled to Kismayo.
According to one witness, upwards of six helicopters were involved in the raid. At least two AH-6 Little Bird special operations attack helicopters strafed the two-car convoy. Other helicopters dismounted Navy SEALs, who seized the body of Nabhan and another, and purportedly took two other wounded fighters captive. An unconfirmed report indicated that Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow, a senior Shabaab leader, was among those killed.
In: Military · Tagged with: al Qaeda, al Shabaab, Navy SEALs, Somalia, terrorism
Are we even TRYING to catch bin Laden anymore?
The search for Osama bin Laden has been farmed out to Pashtun spies run by the ISI – the Pakistani intel service that created the Taliban. Conflict of interest? Instead of actually accomplishing anything, the ISI handlers keep our spooks prison-like conditions staring at computer monitors.
I don’t think our politicians are willing to do anything but to just have a presence overseas. Killing bin Laden may not bring about the end of al Qaeda, but it sure as heck would be a great propaganda victory for the U.S. – something neither of the last two administrations seem willing to do.
From the Times of London:
When a senior al-Qaeda figure was identified and located — Mr Keller said that it would take weeks, often months, to build a case for an airstrike by a US Predator drone — and even if the go-ahead was finally given by CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, the Pakistanis still had to approve. “Since 9/11, with 99 per cent of these strikes, the Pakistanis were consulted and they have to approve them,” he said.
99% of air strikes are given with approval from a government that is doing its best to keep this guy hidden. Why do you think that Pakistan waits for months to give approval for air strikes? Because the target is long gone. What Mickey Mouse political appointee makes these decisions? This is BS! No wonder why Michael Scheuer is pissed off.
In: Geopolitics · Tagged with: al Qaeda, CIA, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan
‘We have the right to kill’
“We have the right to kill four million Americans-two million of them children… Furthermore, it is our right to fight them with chemical and biological weapons…”
- Suleiman Abu Gheith, spokesman for al Qaeda
In: In Their Own Words · Tagged with: al Qaeda
A ‘New approach’ with Iran?
This is a transcript of the Unto the Breach program. Click here for the audio.
And to think you heard it on CNN… On the show “Cafferty File,” host Jack Cafferty addressed Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s defense of the hundreds of millions of dollars that will be spent on contraception.
“What exactly did she mean? Are the millions of dollars for contraception supposed to stop people from having babies? [That’s] starting to sound a little like Chairman Mao.” Good point, Jack. Try finding any remarkable difference between Pelosi’s Congressional Progressive Caucus’ platform and the Chi-Coms’.
Iraq
Barack Obama is accelerating his promise to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. U.S. troops are reducing their visibility as Iraqis take over security.
Intelligence officials are saying that the Sunni al Qaeda in Iraq insurgents are being replaced by Shiite Iranian proxies. Representative Gary Ackerman (D-NY), who chairs the House Subcommittee on Middle East and Southern Asia, says that Iraq is being absorbed into a “regional proxy war with Iran.”
In: Geopolitics · Tagged with: al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Iran, IRGC, Nancy Pelosi, nuclear weapons, Quds Force, sanctions
Hamas Rearms, GITMO Recidivism
This is a transcript of the Unto the Breach program. Click here for the audio.
Despite the three-week Israeli operation into Gaza, the terrorist group Hamas may be even better off than they were before Operation Cast Lead.
Senior adviser to Hamas’ Prime Minister, Ahmed Yousef, told the Sydney Morning Herald that Hamas was rearming, and that the terrorist group had no intention of a peaceful resolution with Israel. That’s the same Ahmed Yousef that gave Hamas’ endorsement of Barack Obama back in April 2008.
Yousef called on Obama to open direct negotiations with Hamas, “I’m sure that with time, [the US] will contact Hamas one way or another, either secretly or openly they will sit with Hamas, because without Hamas nothing can be moved.”
Obama told the New York Times in a May 2008 interview that Hamas (and Hezbollah) have “legitimate claims.”
That’s creepy, and a sad departure from the Bush Administration, who refused to negotiate with terrorists. And when you consider that Obama still plans to open direct negotiations with Iran, who is on the doorstep of a nuclear arsenal, it is easy to see why Hamas believes that Obama will talk with them.
In: National Security · Tagged with: Ahmed Yousef, al Qaeda, Guantanamo Bay, Hamas
UPDATE: Al Qaeda’s Afghanistan Leader Not Killed in July Airstrike
Despite reports from Pakistan, al Qaeda’s Afghanistan commander Sheik Mustafa Abu al-Yazid (a.k.a. Sheik Saeed, Abu Saeed al-Masri) was apparently not killed in a strike by Pakistan security forces. The intelligence community had been skeptical of the reports from the beginning.
Not only was Al-Yazid not eulogized, as AQ usually does, his signature was found on a eulogy from Ayman al-Zawahiri for two top commanders, Abu Khabab al-Masri (a.k.a. Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar) and Abu Abdullah al-Shami, who were recently killed. (more…)
In: National Security · Tagged with: Afghanistan, al Qaeda, Pakistan
Senior al Qaeda Leader Killed in Pakistan?
Pakistani television is reporting that senior al Qaeda (AQ) Aleader Mustafa Abu al-Yazid has been killed in heavy fighting in the Bajaur tribal region. Pakistan has stepped up its attacks on the region bordering Afghanistan which has become a stronghold for AQ and Taliban terrorists.
Al-Yazid is the top AQ commander in Afghanistan, and also goes by the names Sheikh Saeed and Abu Saeed al-Masri. It is believed that he was the third-most senior leader in al-Qaeda behind Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
These reports are unconfirmed at this time, and it is unknown whether al-Yazid and al-Masri are the same individual.
In: National Security · Tagged with: Afghanistan, al Qaeda, Pakistan, Taliban
