It is obvious by now that tactics developed in Iraq have blown back to be used in Afghanistan. It seems that it may be more than tactics. This is the nightmare warned about but unheeded. The consequences of not completing the extermination of Afghanistan and the queen B Osama have come to fruition. It is past time to rethink what we are doing.
Influx of Al Qaeda, money into Pakistan is seen (hattip: tish, and And, of course, Hat Tip Doug for ferreting out the link.)
U.S. officials say the terrorist network's command base is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq.
By Greg Miller
LAtimes Staff Writer
May 20, 2007
WASHINGTON — A major CIA effort launched last year to hunt down Osama bin Laden has produced no significant leads on his whereabouts, but has helped track an alarming increase in the movement of Al Qaeda operatives and money into Pakistan's tribal territories, according to senior U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the operation.
In one of the most troubling trends, U.S. officials said that Al Qaeda's command base in Pakistan is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq, where the terrorist network's operatives are raising substantial sums from donations to the anti-American insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity.
The influx of money has bolstered Al Qaeda's leadership ranks at a time when the core command is regrouping and reasserting influence over its far-flung network. The trend also signals a reversal in the traditional flow of Al Qaeda funds, with the network's leadership surviving to a large extent on money coming in from its most profitable franchise, rather than distributing funds from headquarters to distant cells.
Al Qaeda's efforts were aided, intelligence officials said, by Pakistan's withdrawal in September of tens of thousands of troops from the tribal areas along the Afghanistan border where Bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, are believed to be hiding.
Little more than a year ago, Al Qaeda's core command was thought to be in a financial crunch. But U.S. officials said cash shipped from Iraq has eased those troubles.
"Iraq is a big moneymaker for them," said a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official.
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ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, Hat Tip Doug for ferreting out the link.
ReplyDelete...said "Times" writer, so I wasted TIME discovering it was the LA TIMES!
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Hint to Trish:
Copy url from Address Bar, PASTE into comment!
No fancy HTML necessary to spare us keyboard maniacs more grief!
My reply to Habu at Belmont:
ReplyDelete"It will mean death. It will mean huge expenditures of money."
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Desert Storm was largely fought by drawing down and disposing of our "excess" capacity after the fall of the Soviet Union.
You and I know, Habu, that huge expenditures would not be required, if we similarly drew down our Nuclear Arsenal in addressing Warizistan.
Iran and the other 9th Century Sandmonkeys would quickly get in line, problem solved.
But, of course we won't.
More must die, huge expenditures of money must be wasted.
Protocols of the 'Boners.
Like I said the other day, soug. It is worse than I had prophesied, while the number of posters at BC, down to barely a handful.
ReplyDeleteLearning from experience, beginning afresh each morning.
Some of US had the experience, we had dealt with the asymetric, and won. We were roundly ignored and/ or abused, by the ignorant and inexperienced bobbleheads of the Ivy League.
I recall when Dr Z sent the message to mini Z, asking for money, back when they were "on the ropes", back when the "insurgency is was on it's last legs".
ReplyDeleteWe've been led by fools and knaves.
Stay the Course!
March on, legionaries, march on.
Must find the Post:
ReplyDelete"It is all but over,"
"The Mission now is..."
Such confidence, eclipsing that of Mr. Rumsfeld!
"Learning from experience, beginning afresh each morning."
ReplyDelete---
Must make one feel youthfull, hitting the memory erase button each evening before retiring,
to awake each day with the opportunity to re-invent the wheel in ever more tortuous, compassionate, and inventive ways.
MARK STEYN
ReplyDeleteAre you a fine upstanding member of the Undocumented-American community? That's to say, are you (if you'll forgive the expression) an illegal immigrant?
Great news! Being illegal is now perfectly legal! Just for being one of the circa 12 million people who shouldn't be here, you can now be here indefinitely! If you were living and working in America illegally before Jan. 1, 2007, you're now entitled to one of the new Z-1 "probationary" visas. And your parents and spouses are entitled to one of the new Z-2 visas, and your children to the new Z-3 visas.
Don't worry: It's not an "amnesty." Every politician in America is opposed to amnesty -- if not the concept, then at least the word. That's why the visa starts with the letter that's furthest away from the one "amnesty" begins with. "Z" stands for zellout . . . no, hang on, zurrender or Zapatista, or some other word way up the other end of the alphabet from "amnesty." But the point is, at a stroke there will be no more illegal immigrants. Because being illegal means you're now legal.
Unless, of course, you came to America after Jan. 1, 2007, and thus aren't covered by the zamnesty. But in that case why not apply for the Z-1 anyway? After all, you're here illegally so how would U.S. Immigration know when you arrived?
Kennedy's Bill had them paying back taxes, Bush insisted on taking that out, as it would be too hard to figure.
ReplyDeleteNo problem figuring credit for Social Security Bennies:
*JUST GIVE THEM AWAY!*
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Why Doesn't This Surprise Me - Mark Krikorian
"Bush removes provision requiring back taxes from illegal immigrants"
" ... You can declare that "illegal" now mean "legal" very easily; to mandate that "incompetent" now means "competent" is a tougher proposition.
ReplyDeleteBut, as John McCain declared, "This is what the legislative process is all about" -- and in the sense that it's a sloppily drafted bottomless pit of unintended consequences on a potentially cosmic scale whose sweeping "reforms" will inevitably require even more sweeping reforms of the reforms in a year or two's time, he's quite right. Also, as Senator McCain says, "This is what bipartisanship is all about."
Last year, National Review's John Derbyshire noted the enrollment statistics for his school district on suburban Long Island, 1,400 miles from the southern border:
ReplyDeleteHigh school: 17 percent Hispanic
Intermediate: 28 percent Hispanic
Elementary: 31 percent Hispanic
Those figures would have stunned any Long Island school superintendent of 40 years ago.
TurboTax should now have a button to push that explains that you have decided not to pay taxes for a certain period of time because it would be too hard for the IRS to figure.
ReplyDelete...given that you didn't file for 10 years, and had employer send all forms in under a dead man's SS Number.
ReplyDeleteThe economists may see the vast human tide as an army of much-needed hotel maids and farm workers and nurses and plumbers, but to assume that everyone on the planet sees themselves as primarily an economic entity is complacent and (post-Sept. 11) obtusely deluded. The political class' urge to capitulate on the integrity of the national border sends as important a message to the world about American will as their urge to capitulate on Iraq.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteEd: HOW could that happen?
Rudy:
ReplyDelete"The reality is, people will always get in. And the reality is, the federal government does not deport them. "
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The reality is, Duncan Hunter's San Diego fence WORKS.
The reality is, we would need no fences, and few Border Agents if we had a shoot on sight ROE.
AND FEWER PEOPLE WOULD DIE CROSSING THE BORDER,
AND 40,000 Fewer innocent US Citizens would die in the next 6 years if we removed criminal illegals from our streets.
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Doing the opposite of GWB would further reduce the strength of the magnet, and return to the Homeland.
"Doing the opposite of GWB ON WORKPLACE ENFORCEMENT would further reduce the strength of the magnet, and return to the Homeland. "
ReplyDelete"Increase return to the Homeland"
ReplyDeleteTime for Bed.
Memory Erased.
The management of the EB has amended the post attribution to include Doug. The management regrets the oversight.
ReplyDeleteMy Pound of Regret!
ReplyDeleteYum, Yum!
"And, of course, Hat Tip Doug for ferreting out the link."
ReplyDelete"The management of the EB has amended the post attribution to include Doug. The management regrets the oversight."
You greedy, link-ferreting bastard, Doug.
:-)
ReplyDelete