U.S Cuts Aid to Egypt...Maybe...

Sometimes it's like watching parents who can't decide how to deal with unruly children. To many, this is a no brainer: cut aid to them NOW, and don't even CONSIDER restoring it until they have a government that is friendly and receptive to us.

Or do things the way that I think we should and stop giving aid to other countries at all until we have rendered aid to OUR OWN COUNTRYMEN first...

At stake: a sizable portion of the $1.5 billion the U.S. provides Egypt each year. Much of the aid is in military equipment, and at least a quarter-billion in cash assistance to the Egyptian government and $300 million in a loan guarantee are also now in limbo.
The State Department made clear Wednesday that the decision to freeze the aid wasn't permanent and it could be restored if "credible progress" is made toward setting up an inclusive government in the wake of the military coup that overthrew the elected if unpopular government of President Mohammed Morsi.

It should be remembered that Morsi was Obama's choice for leadership in Egypt during the "Arab Spring." Now, as the "spring" seems to show only more signs of shifting and evolving (as any fire eventually does to survive. The world wonders what form it will take next.

Sic vis pacem parabellum.

MT

Conspiracy Theories Revisited

President John F Kennedy was assassinated by the Mafia. Or was it the CIA? The FBI? Cubans working for Fidel Castro? The KGB? Or was it even something Jackie had done because of his involvement with Marylin Monroe? Or it COULD have been Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone. A lot of it depends on who you ask.

Princess Dianna was killed by the Special Air Service under order of the Queen. Or was it an al-Qaeda operation? Or maybe the CIA? The Mossad? Or was it just an accident caused by a drunk driver at the wheel of her limo?

Benazir Bhutto was killed by al-Qaeda. Or was it the Musharref administration? Or the CIA?

Anyone seeing a familiar pattern here?

The more influential the leader, the more speculation there is on how they die when they die an untimely death. No matter what the truth is, it will be lost in a web of suspicion and controversy, rumor, and accusation. Benazir Bhutto joins the ranks of JFK, Dianna, Elvis Presley, and Jim Morrison in the arena of speculations and innuendo surrounding her death. Her family has called upon the United Nations to investigate. England's Scotland Yard has just recently finished their own investigation into her assassination.

BRITISH officials have revealed that evidence amassed by Scotland Yard detectives points towards Al-Qaeda militants being responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Five experts in video evidence and forensic science have been in Pakistan for 10 days since President Pervez Musharraf took up an offer from Gordon Brown for British help in the investigation of the December 27 killing. Last week they were joined by three specialists in explosives.

Bhutto’s murder as she left a rally she had been addressing in Rawalpindi sparked an international outcry. Her body was flown home to be buried with no postmortem examination. Companions insist the cause of death - a bullet wound in her neck - was obvious.

Claims by the government that she had fractured her skull on the sunroof of her car while escaping the blast from a suicide bomb prompted fury from party supporters who insisted she had been shot before the explosion.

When footage of the incident clearly revealed a man waving a pistol in the crowd, the government was accused of a cover-up.

What IS clear is this: al-Qaeda claimed responsibility after the assassination. They aren't generally known to claim responsibility for an incident they weren't involved in.

Pakistan has been, and remains, a tinderbox waiting for the right spark to ignite it. Fortunately, so far, the death of Bhutto has not been that spark. It remains critical that Pakistan remain stable and that their nuclear weapons don't fall into the hands of radical extremists who would have no qualms or reservations about using them.


Once and Always, an American Fighting Man



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al-Queda attrocities...

If you've never heard of Michael Yon, prepare to be impressed, and at the same time, appalled, by what follows. Yon is a blogger, embedded with the military ON THE GROUND in Iraq, funding his stay with the troops through donations and private contributions, bringing us an eyewitness account of the things that happen over there.

After reading over some of his writings, especially the one I'm going to discuss today, I can't imagine how, with this information available, the Democrats are so willing and ready to abandon the Middle East to al-Queda. I honestly can NOT imagine living under the shadow of these people, knowing what I know now, in detail, concerning the lengths that these people will go to to instill terror and fear in the hearts of those they intend to subjugate.

If you have had any doubts that these people are barbaric, cruel, and ruthless, then put yourself in the situation that you're about to read from Michael Yon's writings and see if you can do anything other than feel absolutely sickened...

Since my reporting of the massacre at the al Hamari village, many readers at home have asked how anyone can know that al Qaeda actually performed the massacre. The question is a very good one, and one that I posed from the first hour to Iraqis and Americans while trying to ascertain facts about the killings.

No one can claim with certainty that it was al Qaeda, but the Iraqis here seem convinced of it. At a meeting today in Baqubah one Iraqi official I spoke with framed the al Qaeda infiltration and influence in the province. Although he spoke freely before a group of Iraqi and American commanders, including Staff Major General Abdul Kareem al Robai who commands Iraqi forces in Diyala, and LTC Fred Johnson, the deputy commander of 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the Iraqi official asked that I withhold his identity from publication. His opinion, shared by others present, is that al Qaeda came to Baqubah and united many of the otherwise independent criminal gangs.

Speaking through an American interpreter, Lieutenant David Wallach who is a native Arabic speaker, the Iraqi official related how al Qaeda united these gangs who then became absorbed into “al Qaeda.” They recruited boys born during the years 1991, 92 and 93 who were each given weapons, including pistols, a bicycle and a phone (with phone cards paid) and a salary of $100 per month, all courtesy of al Qaeda. These boys were used for kidnapping, torturing and murdering people.

At first, he said, they would only target Shia, but over time the new al Qaeda directed attacks against Sunni, and then anyone who thought differently. The official reported that on a couple of occasions in Baqubah, al Qaeda invited to lunch families they wanted to convert to their way of thinking. In each instance, the family had a boy, he said, who was about 11 years old. As LT David Wallach interpreted the man’s words, I saw Wallach go blank and silent. He stopped interpreting for a moment. I asked Wallach, “What did he say?” Wallach said that at these luncheons, the families were sat down to eat. And then their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family.

Let's read that last bit again, one more time, to make sure that it soaks in sufficiently, shall we?

I asked Wallach, “What did he say?” Wallach said that at these luncheons, the families were sat down to eat. And then their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family.

Sit back, envision that in your minds. Those of you who are parents, imagine your child being brought out roasted like a pig at a luau and presented to you as dinner. Will your mind allow you to go there? I pray to God that you can't envision it. But it is happening. Today. In the 21st Century, on planet Earth, this is happening. This isn't something from Steven King or Clive Barker or Wes Craven. This is al-Queda.

Is this what we want for the children and families of Iraq? Can you IMAGINE the wholesale slaughter of civilians if we withdraw?

Now consider this. Should we withdraw from Iraq at this point,right now, at this stage, how much time would al-Queda need to grow strong enough to begin anew in their attempts to come HERE to OUR shores? How strong will we allow them to become? How effective will we be in protecting ourselves when they finally DO go into full assault mode on the United States?

Go hug your children and think about these things. Look at your children, ask yourself, "can we afford to allow this evil to exist?" I think you'll find the answers in their eyes...

Especially if you envision them roasted and the main course on the dinner table.

This cannot be allowed to continue.

Once and Always (and maybe some of you understand better why now), an American Fighting Man

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Can we leave peacefully?

To all you "cut and run" "surrender and retreat" people out there, I want you to consider something. Do you honestly think that al-Qaeda will just watch us if we withdraw from Iraq, leaving us to go peacefully, maybe tossing a few "we won, we won, nyah nyah nyah nyah nyaaaah nyaaaaaaah's" at out troops? How many of you have really taken into consideration what happens during demobilization operations if we were to abandon Iraq to it's own devices at this point in the game? Here is what al-Qaeda has plans for in the event that we cut and run:

Hat Tip, Miss Beth's Victory Dance via Victory Caucus.

New Tape: Al Qaeda No. 2 Wants 200,000-300,000 U.S. Dead in Iraq

Ayman al-Zawahiri Says Al Qaeda Wants to Spill More U.S. Blood Before America Withdraws

In a new video posted today on the Internet, al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al Zawahiri, mocks the bill passed by Congress setting a timetable for the pullout of U.S. troops in Iraq.

"This bill will deprive us of the opportunity to destroy the American forces which we have caught in a historic trap," Zawahiri says in answer to a question posed to him an interviewer.


Continuing in the same tone, Zawahiri says, "We ask Allah that they only get out of it after losing 200,000 to 300,000 killed, in order that we give the spillers of blood in Washington and Europe an unforgettable lesson."


Based on the references to the bill, the tape, produced by al Qaeda's propaganda arm, as-Sahab, appears to have been made after Congress passed the legislation last week but before President Bush vetoed in on Thursday.


According to Laura Mansfield, a counter terrorism analyst with Strategic Translations, an organization that monitors al Qaeda postings, the tape was posted on the Internet this morning and covers the usual range of Zawahri's topics including Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.


There has been a flurry of audio and video releases featuring Zawahiri, although no new communication from Osama bin Laden since mid-2006.

How many times do the American people have to be told that these people want us all DEAD? How many times does it have to be said before it penetrates thick skulls? Will it take the deaths that this man is calling for? Will it take another incident like 9/11 before people fully realize that these people are serious?

I'm serious in asking this. WHAT is it going to take for people to undersand that these radical fascist imperialist Islamic extremist want us utterly destroyed and the survivors subjegated to them?

I'm simply and utterly confounded by the mentallity of cutting and running, MORE so the mentallity of "let's fight them over here instead." It simply amazes me. In my mind, we HAVE to keep them busy on their own turf so they can't have time to concentrate on mayhem and destruction here. Too many innocent civilians in our own population depend on it, not to mention the people in the Middle East who don't fall in lockstep behind this mindset.

Simply amazing.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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"The time has come" the Blind Shiek said, "to talk of other things..."

OK (and yes my speech teachers from both high school AND college would CRINGE at me beginning with "OK" but OK...) the Blind Sheik has SPOKEN, by Jiminy, and boy what he said.

"My Brothers...If they [the Americans] kill me, which they will certainly do – hold my funeral and send my corpse to my family, but do not let my blood be shed in vain. Rather, extract the most violent revenge, and remember your brother who spoke the truth and died for the will of God...The Mujahid Sheikh Omar Abdel al Rahman. In the name of God the kind and merciful."

Now here's the rub. We're supposedly "killing" this guy, right?

Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted in 1996 of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks, has long suffered from diabetes and heart ailments and has spent much of his imprisonment at the Springfield Medical Center for federal prisoners.

Full story here.

We are killing him with DOCTORS and NURSES. We want him dead so badly that we're treating his ailments. We want him dead so badly that we're not leaving him to suffer in a cell without treatment. But I want you to take a look at the hatred that they show for us EVEN when we make sure that they have medical treatment (mind you, yes, I realize the sonofabitch is in prison, but that is beside the point. We're providing him with medical care). I understand someone who is being, say, beheaded, for example, calling upon his nation to avenge him. That's perfectly understandable.

Wait. Who beheads people again? Oh yeah, the terrorists, that's right. That's after the beatings and such, where I'm sure that they make sure that doctors are present afterwards to treat their prisoners wounds...

You know, these people scream and cry about honor and righteousness and whatnot. I say they're full of it. If they want to follow the example of a Muslim warrior who WAS a man of honor, they need to look to the example of Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt. Now there was a Muslim Warrior I have to say that even I respect. The man was a man of honor. There is not ONE among these modern Jihadists who is worthy to even utter the man's name from their lips.

Saladin, by the way, was a Kurd. Let me think, who are the people Saddam Hussein was executing in droves in Iraq?

Says a hell of a lot in my book. And yes, Chivalry, Valor and Honor are still traits alive and well in some of us today, they are NOT dead.

Personally, I hope the Sheik survives this latest health ailment. I personally believe that he has more suffering to do in jail here in this life before going on to the next. I also think he's going to be in for a BIG surprise when he crosses over to the other side. The desert ain't the only place that's hot, baby...

Once and always, an American Fighting Man

Others discussing this:
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Redstate, Hot Air, The Jawa Report and Wizbang

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