Because no one does the GWOT like we do the GWOT!
(Catchy slogan, eh Booman? Maybe we should banner it?)
And where should GWOT news start than with your favorite terrorist torture center detention facility, Guantanamo Bay!
A Saudi detainee at Guantánamo Bay has been found dead in an apparent suicide, authorities at the US prison camp have said.
“The detainee was found unresponsive and not breathing in his cell by guards,” the military said in a brief statement, which did not identify the prisoner or say exactly how he died. He was pronounced dead “after all lifesaving measures had been exhausted”, the statement added.
I don’t know what he was so depressed about. We treat these guys like kings, after all. I hear from reliable sources they get gourmet food and better amenities than at the Ritz-Carleton, for goshsakes! Then again, maybe it was probably just another act of asymmetrical warfare against the American people. I don’t know why we can’t just kill em all and end this threat to America, once and for all.
Well, moving on, it seems we’re finally making progress with the Iraq Army. Why they are even conducting joint operations with Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army, in a sure sign of progress in Iraq:
(cont.)
The Haqq Agency posted a video of an alleged joint operation between an Iraqi Army unit and the Mahdi Army at the border of the predominately Sunni district of Fadhil in central Baghdad. The video clearly shows a member of the army unit wandering around and using his cell phone to film Iraqi soldiers and gunmen in plainclothes, who he refers to as members of Jaish Al-Imam (the army of the imam). The blurry video, which is dated May 10, 2007, is possibly filmed at the neighboring Shi’ite-majority Abu Saifain district, southeast of Fadhil.
The cameraman addresses the soldiers by their first names (Basim, Maitham, Azhar, Hameed), and he is apparently familiar with the militiamen, as they smile back at him while they reload their weapons in preparation for the assault on Fadhil. He repeatedly shouts a Shi’ite slogan, “Ali wiyak, Ali,” which means “May Ali be with you,” in reference to the first Shi’ite imam Ali bin Abi Talib, the nephew and son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed, as the gunmen and militiamen spray the street with bullets. In another instance, he shouts “Ali yinusrak ‘ala ahl al Fadhil, al manaweech,” meaning “May Ali grant you victory over the residents of Al-Fadhil, the bastards.”
Makes you wonder why the US military suspects the Mahdi Army in that Green Zone kidnapping of five British citizens on Tuesday.
BAGHDAD, May 30 — Scores of U.S. troops descended on the vast Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad late Tuesday and early Wednesday, residents there said, searching several houses in what appeared to be an intense hunt for a British financial consultant and four British bodyguards abducted Tuesday.
The five were taken from a Finance Ministry building by dozens of men dressed in police uniforms as the consultant, who works for the American firm BearingPoint, delivered a lecture under a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development, a U.S. Embassy official said.
The Mahdi Army militia loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has its stronghold in Sadr City, but a spokesman for the cleric said the militia was not involved in the kidnappings.
“It has been a known fact for some time that the Interior Ministry police, security units and forces are corrupt, are penetrated,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told BBC radio Wednesday, saying he suspected the Mahdi Army of involvement in the abductions.
I just bet Iran is behind all this. I don’t know why we stop pussy footing around with those crazy mullahs and just bomb the crap out of them, sooner rather than later. I mean, if it’s good enough for John Podhoretz …
In a column called “The Case for Bombing Iran: I Hope and Pray that President Bush Will Do It,” Podhoretz calls for the US to attack now. He writes:
“The plain and brutal truth is that if Iran is to be prevented from developing a nuclear arsenal, there is no alternative to the actual use of military force–any more than there was an alternative to force if Hitler was to be stopped in 1938.
“Since a ground invasion of Iran must be ruled out for many different reasons, the job would have to be done, if it is to be done at all, by a campaign of air strikes. Furthermore, because Iran’s nuclear facilities are dispersed, and because some of them are underground, many sorties and bunker-busting munitions would be required. And because such a campaign is beyond the capabilities of Israel, and the will, let alone the courage, of any of our other allies, it could be carried out only by the United States.”
Because if we don’t stop Iran now, by 1939 2008 they’ll be invading Poland! And who wants that in that kind of distraction in a Presidential election year?
Meanwhile, our ally Turkey is just begging us to take stronger action against terrorists in Iraq, so they don’t have to:
Turkey’s military massed more troops and tanks on the border with Iraq Thursday as the country’s military chief said he was ready to stage a cross-border offensive to fight Kurdish guerrillas. […]
He complained about what he said was a lack of help from allies in fighting the Kurds as Turkish leaders publicly asked the United States and Iraq to destroy and scatter rebel bases inside Iraq. […]
“It is obvious that Turkey does not receive the necessary support in its fight against terrorism,” Buyukanit said at an international security conference in Istanbul. “I should state clearly that there are countries which directly or indirectly support PKK terrorism. We feel truly saddened because of this.”
Oh, wait. The Kurds are our allies, too! How embarrassing. Just forget that entire story, please. It obviously has little if any importance to Our Dear Leader’s eventual triumph in the central front in the War on Terror, which I’m sure will be accomplished any day now.
President George W. Bush would like to see a lengthy U.S. troop presence in Iraq like the one in South Korea to provide stability but not in a frontline combat role, the White House said on Wednesday.
[…]Iraq’s neighbors have raised concerns about the possibility of the United States maintaining permanent bases in Iraq, and some U.S. lawmakers have said they think the Iraqi insurgency may have been fueled by perceptions the United States wants a permanent presence in the country.
Washington has consistently denied wanting permanent bases in Iraq.
Because we won that Korean War thing, didn’t we?
Well that’s all for now folks! It’s another grand day for terrorist hunting. Who knows what new successes in the GWOT the dawn will bring?
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL — Bill Dillow wanted to make a statement in his St. Johns County front yard. So he put up a sign.
“I thought somehow I ought to get a voice in what’s going on,” Dillow said.
The large; sign he erected in the middle of his front yard reads “Iraq War Toll 3466.” That’s the number of American troops killed in Iraq. He put the sign up last month and 135 soldiers ago. He’ has changed the number every time another soldier dies. […]
The WWII and Korean War veteran has also lowered his flag to half staff. He says if the flag is lowered when a president dies, it should also be lowered for soldiers. […]
Dillow says he’ll keep the sign up until all the American troops come home.