Military Roundup
ACLU project endangers CIA interrogators: The CIA says that the ACLU-backed “John Adams Project” endangers CIA interrogators. The Washington Times states the Project “has photographed covert CIA interrogators and shown the pictures to some of the five senior al Qaeda terrorists held there in an effort to identify them further.”
On 29 Mar, 20 photos of CIA interrogators were found in the cell of a detainee believed to be a financier of the 9/11 attacks.
Some CIA officials are said to be concerned over Justice Department officials who formerly represented Guantanamo inmates. Last month, Attorney General Eric Holder admitted nine DOJ appointees represented GTMO detainees or contributed to amicus briefs on their behalf, but would not provide further details. Holder also admitted, however, that he didn’t survey the entire Department, just large offices. There could be many more former terrorist litigators in our “Justice” Department. Andrew McCarthy has more.
Photo of the Day: U.S. pilots flying Russian helicopters?
Cheonan incident: South Korea’s president placed the military on alert, said the sinking could have been due to a North Korean mine. 46 crew members are still missing and it is unlikely any will be recovered.
START Treaty: Russia claims they will have upgraded 80% of their nuclear arsenal by 2015. Meanwhile, the U.S. is paying to dismantle their old weapons systems – allowing the Russians to spend on new weapons systems instead. The U.S. has not introduced a new system in 15 years. Advantage: Russia. Big time.
Afghanistan/Pakistan: U.S. forces set sights on Taliban bastion of Kandahar
Ralph Peters: Gen. McChrystal’s “look out, here we come” warnings to the Taliban may be backfiring; terrorists turning on terrorists in AfPak; Obama’s midnight ride to Afghanistan sends the wrong message.
The good news? We’re not only killing terrorists in Pakistan — they’re starting to kill each other. The bad news? Afghanistan isn’t a war. It’s a politically correct experiment — conducted with our troops — by an administration with higher priorities.
Somalia: Pentagon considers sending surveillance (unarmed) drones, special operations units to Somalia in fight against al Qaeda-linked terrorists.
U.S. Navy E-2 aircraft crashes in Arabian Sea. Three of the four crew have been rescued. Search efforts are underway for the fourth.
In: Military Roundup · Tagged with: ACLU, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CIA, Guantanamo Bay, John Adams Project, Justice, Taliban
Military Roundup
Photo of the Day: The USS Independence sailed from Mobile Bay on her maiden voyage on 26 Mar 2010. This Independence is the seventh so-named vessel in America’s history.
Record-breaking participation for the Bataan Memorial Death March (If you want an example of REAL atrocities, look no further than the Imperial Japanese)
Afghanistan: Gen. Stanley McChrystal has ordered the closure of morale, welfare, and recreation facilities to pay for the troop level increase.
U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan for the last three months are roughly double that of the same period last year according to the Associated Press. Honor the Fallen.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops will march in Russia’s Red Square in May.
Guantanamo Bay: A recently released GTMO inmate has joined the Taliban according to a U.S. counterterrrorism official.
A federal judge released GTMO detainee Mohamedou Slahi - core member of the 9/11 attacks, recruiter of Muhammad Atta, and the man who activated the Canadian cell responsible for the Millenium Plot. Andrew McCarthy’s analysis at National Review
Israel/Gaza: Two Israeli soldiers were killed and one remains in serious condition after fighting with Palestinian militants in Gaza on Friday. IDF forces witnessed armed men planting explosives along the border fence. Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees, Islamic Jihad, and the al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades claim to have engaged in the fighting. Over the last few days, Israel has conducted air strikes in retaliation for multiple rocket attacks from Gaza. Friday’s clashes are the fiercest fighting since January 2009.
In: Military Roundup · Tagged with: Guantanamo Bay, Hamas, Israel, USS Independence
Thoughts on our treatment of POWs, past and present
I was standing in line recently waiting to have my tires rotated and struck up a conversation with an old World War II veteran who was headed to Florida for the Winter. The man was a soldier in the 88th Infantry with whom he fought in Italy. He told me stories of growing up and learning to shoot dinner with a .22 rifle. And dinner was whatever they could find – whether it was squirrels, quails, or ducks (hitting little moving birds with a .22 rifle is quite impressive). Missing meant no dinner!
He also told me of a battle to dislodge a German unit on top of a mountain that lasted over twenty hours, and cost many American lives. Finally, the Germans surrendered, and the commanding officer ordered his men to escort their prisoners back to headquarters. The problem was that the base was several miles away from the front – and the commander only gave the men just a few minutes to hand off their prisoners and return to the front, which would have been nearly impossible.
Well, the soldiers headed towards headquarters with the Germans in tow. But they soon returned – without their prisoners. When questioned what happened, the soldiers’ response was that “the prisoners tried to escape, so we shot them.”
Maybe they did.
Now, to someone who wasn’t there – someone whose closest experience to war was coming across ‘Band of Brothers’ while flipping through the channels to get to the Keith Olberman show – that may not sit well with you.
But you know what? World War II would have been over twice by now, compared to Afghanistan, where things are starting to look a lot more like August 2001 – only now the Taliban have better roads and infrastructure.
The American officer who gave that order and the men who carried it out carried the burden for the rest of their lives. But the bad guys lost and the good guys won. The surviving German soldiers returned home and built a peaceful, economic powerhouse. Liberty survived because we did what it took – including making hard decisions.
Now contrast the ‘Greatest Generation’ execution of World War II with our current generation’s handling with the Global War on Terror:
The countries that criticize the U.S. when it comes to treatment of prisoners of war should look to their own brutal history before wrongly criticizing others. We afford Constitutional rights to foreign combatants, while in some instances actually deny the same rights to members of our military. When our country captures mass murderers and terrorists and gives them better treatment than our own citizens and soldiers, it’s a sure sign that the system needs to be re-evaluated.
In: Politics · Tagged with: Guantanamo Bay, World War II
Would Gitmo transfer make Charleston a terrorist target?
South Carolina’s state government has learned that it will take an act of the U.S. Congress in order to stop the president from sending Guantanamo detainees to Charleston. Washington has been eyeing the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig since President Barack Obama declared he would close the detention facility popularly known as Gitmo within one year of taking office.
On Monday, S.C. Lt. Governor Andre Bauer (R) requested the state take legal action to prevent a transfer to the Palmetto State. But Attorney General Henry McMaster (R) pointed out, “The U.S. Congress is the branch of government with the jurisdiction and the legal authority to stop the president from making unwise decisions that threaten the security of our nation.” Bauer and McMaster are among candidates seeking a nomination to run for governor on the GOP ticket.
Although the move is still considered to be tentative, Senator Jim DeMint (R) along with Congressmen Gresham Barrett, Joe Wilson, and Henry Brown have sent Obama a letter opposing the transfer to South Carolina. All 3 congressmen are Republicans.
In addition, the Rock Hill Herald reported Thursday that McMaster has called for an act of Congress to prevent a transfer to South Carolina, “or any other state on the American mainland.”
Just how “unwise” is the decision to move detainees who could be dangerous to our shores?
“There is no legitimate legal, intelligence, or military reason to bring the detainees here.” writes James Galyean (R), an Assistant U.S. Attorney and legal counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Galyean, who is now running for Congress in South Carolina, helped draft the language that kept alleged terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Gaylean is running for the seat Barrett has held.
In addition to Charleston’s classified naval engineering project, hundreds of millions of pounds of explosives, and reportedly nuclear weapons are housed at the facility. Galyean added, “There’s also a nuclear fuel transshipment facility and a jet fuel storage tank farm inside the fence. You could throw a rock from any of them and hit the brig.”
Barrett, who is campaigning for the GOP nomination to run for governor, pressed his fellow gubernatorial candidates to sign a letter to the president opposing the transfer of terrorists to Charleston. There are 10 gubernatorial candidates from both the Democrat and the Republican parties. South Carolina has a complicated primary process that one newspaper editor said, “sows confusion.”
Rather than unite behind the cause however, some candidates opted to criticise Barrett, saying he has not done enough to stop the transfer – despite three resolutions Barrett introduced to block the transfer. Only two of the other candidates signed the letter, and Democrat candidate Mullins McLeod went so far as to tell Barrett to “take your letter and shove it.” McLeod is a trial lawyer.
“No one wants suspected terrorists on our soil while they await their richly deserved punishment,” wrote McLeod. “But when the President asks us to do our part in the international war on terrorism, the only appropriate response from this or any state’s governor is ‘Yes, Sir, Mr. President.’”
McLeod’s current opinion stands in sharp contrast to Democrat actions and statements when President George W. Bush held office.
Should American citizens be placed in harm’s way in order to do what a politician perceives as “our part,” especially when there is no legitimate reason?
The fact that the Washington – and now a number of gubernatorial– candidates in South Carolina are willing to do exactly that may serve as one more in a long line of wake-up calls to “We the People.”
[Originally published at The US Report]
In: National Security · Tagged with: Guantanamo Bay, South Carolina
GITMO Video
The Pentagon Channel produced a video on the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. It is a three-part series, so be sure to watch all three videos – Parts 2 and 3 are found below.
Part 1
In: National Security · Tagged with: Guantanamo Bay
GITMO Recidivism
In April, the Defense Intelligence Agency revealed that as many as 74 former Guantanamo Bay detainees returned to the battlefield. An unclassified fact sheet shows that 27 terrorists were confirmed to have rejoined the fight, while 47 were suspected of returning.
Not exactly the kind of folks we want staying in downtown Charleston, S.C.
Additionally, the New York Times reported that the report may have been held up for political reasons:
Two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the report was being held up by Defense Department employees fearful of upsetting the White House, at a time when even Congressional Democrats have begun to show misgivings over Mr. Obama’s plan to close Guantánamo.
In: National Security, Politics · Tagged with: Guantanamo Bay, Obama administration
Col. Gordon Cucullu on UTB Radio
Retired Special Forces Colonel Gordon Cucullu will join the program this Monday, November 9. Cucullu, who authored the book Inside Gitmo: The True Story Behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay – and has visited the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay five times, will expose the real situation and dispel the myths that have been widely propagated.
Click here to link to the show.
In: Radio · Tagged with: Gordon Cucullu, Guantanamo Bay, Unto the Breach
ACLU photographing Covert CIA Operatives
How on earth is the ACLU photographing Covert CIA Operatives?
Remember the outrage from the left and the media when the Bush administration supposedly ‘outed’ CIA officer Valerie Plame? Although Americans who are risking their lives to keep us safe at home could very likely die horrible deaths due to the actions of the ACLU and others, I seriously doubt that this outrageous event will illicit so much as a yawn from the media and the left.
From the Washington Post:
Investigators are looking into allegations that laws protecting classified information were breached when three lawyers showed their clients the photographs, the sources said. The lawyers were apparently attempting to identify CIA officers and contractors involved in the agency’s interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects in facilities outside the United States, where the agency employed harsh techniques.
Techniques that Nancy Pelosi and Congress likely approved…
If detainees at the U.S. military prison in Cuba are tried, either in federal court or by a military commission, defense lawyers are expected to attempt to call CIA personnel to testify.
If the Obama administration is serious about effectively ending our ability to collect intelligence in order to keep American families safe, calling covert CIA operatives to the stand is a good way to do it.
The photos were taken by researchers hired by the John Adams Project, a joint effort of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, to support military counsel at Guantanamo Bay, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry. It was unclear whether the Justice Department is also examining those organizations.
Both groups have long said that they will zealously investigate the CIA’s interrogation program at “black sites” worldwide as part of the defense of their clients. But government investigators are now looking into whether the defense team went too far by allegedly showing the detainees the photos of CIA officers, in some cases surreptitiously taken outside their homes.
Our own government and in this case the ACLU are a far larger threat to our nation’s security than our enemies ever could be.
In: Military, Politics · Tagged with: CIA, Guantanamo Bay
I don’t care who you are – this is funny
Mark Steyn filling in for Rush today on the Rush Limbaugh Show (courtesy of Media Matters):
Since we come on the air, Hurricane Bill is now heading for Bermuda, and all those Uighurs released from GITMO to sit on the beach of Bermuda are right in the path of Hurricane Bill. So if something goes horribly wrong, they could be swept up and deposited straight back at Guantanamo, so we’ll keep an eye on the track of Hurricane Bill.
In: Politics · Tagged with: Guantanamo Bay, Mark Steyn
GITMO detainees to be released in US
Attorney General Eric Holder has said that some Guantanamo detainees will be released into the United States. Others would be put on trial in American courts.
Today on Wall Street Journal Online:
For “people who can be released there are a variety of options that we have and among them is the possibility is that we would release them into this country,” Mr. Holder said. “That process is ongoing and we’ve not made any determinations or made any requests of anybody at this point.”
Among the detainees whose fate remains undetermined are 17 ethnic Uighurs (pronounced wee-gurs), from the Central Asian region of China, who have been ordered released by a judge. The U.S. has refused to turn the men over to China, which considers them part of an separatist group.
The Uighurs are Chinese terrorists who trained in Afghanistan and are linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban. According to Thomas Jocelyn at the Long War Journal:
20 of the 22 Uighurs detained at Gitmo were allegedly trained in an ETIM (East Turkistan Islamic Movement) training camp and/or other facilities. At least 15 of the Uighurs detained at Gitmo have admitted that they received weapons training. The main training camp at which the Uighurs trained was reportedly sponsored by al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Five have since been released to Albania.
The bottom line: does releasing terrorists into the United States make Americans more or less safe? Do you want someone who has had training in Afghanistan terrorist camps living in your neighborhood? I sure don’t, but the Obama administration wants them to live in somebody’s neighborhood (likely not in their backyard though). Even if they were put on military bases, the safety of our military’s dependents would decrease significantly.
One terrorist group (Jamaat ul-Fuqra) has 35 known terrorist training camps in the U.S.. It is unknown how many al Qaeda, Hezbollah, or HAMAS camps and cells have here. Iran claims to have several thousand suicide bombers already deployed in the U.S.. Sending terrorists into the United States will only increase the potential of another attack on our homeland. And keeping Americans safe is supposed to be the primary responsibility of government.
In: terrorism · Tagged with: Eric Holder, Guantanamo Bay, Obama administration, Uighurs
