COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, November 03, 2014

How did Islamists receive American weapons? See the evidence from guided missile that exploded near Syrian front line

Exclusive: Soldiers near Mediterranean coast tell of daily missile attacks


ON THE SYRIAN ARMY FRONT LINE AT ASH-SHAQRAA, NORTHERN SYRIA


Syria’s special forces troops are strung out across a pinnacle of hills here just north east of Lattakia on one of the country’s most dangerous front lines, under daily missile attack from reinforced rebel forces now supported by Isis.
The officers, all of whom are paratroopers, speak of new tactics and upgraded weapons used against them since Isis seized the Iraqi city of Mosul - and some of the radio traffic they listen to from their enemy is in the Chechen or Georgian languages.
Intelligence reports speak of a unification of various rebel factions calling themselves the “Legion of the Coast”, a clear sign that the Isis-inspired rebels - including Isis supporters themselves - intend to strike westwards towards the Mediterranean, scarcely eight miles away.
It’s fair bet that a big battle is shaping up in these pine-covered mountains.
The soldiers themselves talk of the thermal heat-seeking missiles fired at them with detailed knowledge, and agree that the mixture of Islamist groups above and to the east of them are carrying out daily probing attacks to test their defences.
Intriguingly, their surveillance patrols are returning at dawn to report the sound of unidentified night-time aircraft flying into Syrian airspace from Turkey and then east, deep into Syria.


















This began around 20 days ago. They do not know if the machines - drones or aircraft - are American and they have heard no airstrikes day or night. But their officers talk of the new TOW anti-armour weapons that have appeared in rebel hands.
One officer showed me an Islamist website videotape of rebels firing a heat-seeking rocket at his own encampment just to the north of here at Qastel Ma’af. The missile can be seen exploding but in fact disintegrated against concrete revetments around a tank.
But when a corporal dragged a sack load of missile parts into a room in this Syrian hill-top fortress, it contained some fascinating evidence of the rebel armoury. Most missiles fragment into thousands of pieces on detonation but just over a month ago - on 26 September - a guided missile exploded deep beneath sand and earth and the fragments clearly show the name of its American arms manufacturer, circuit boards and the coding of the weapon.
Part of the missile identifies the “Eagle-Piche IND (Indiana) INC.” company as the manufacturer and says, in English, that it is “helium charged”, adding - rather ironically as it turns out -- the words: “CAUTION -- CONTAINS 6400 PSIG He (high explosive), FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS TRANSPORATION IF REFILLED -- PENALTY UP TO $25,000 AND FIVE YEARS IMPRISONMENT (49 USC 1809). The Syrians do not know how this weapon - which appears to have been manufactured as long ago as 1989 - made its way from the US to the hands of their country’s Islamist rebels - but it would not be difficult for the Americans to find out. Its full computer coding reads: DOT-E7694 NRC6400/11109/M1033 79294 ASSY 39317 MFR 54080.
A battery tube from another missile fired on the fourth of last month carries an inscription indented in the metal: “132964 Battery thermal MFG DATE 12/90 LOT No (indecipherable numeral then 912 S/N 005959.”
These codes should make it easy for the Americans to identify the purchaser - or receiver - of the weapon, if they choose to do so.
How did the Islamists receive these American weapons? On the international arms market? Or from ‘moderate’ rebels who were given American weapons and then sold them to the highest bidder.
Evidence of just how dangerous these hilltop fortresses are - and they are perched amid countryside that resembles more the hills and valleys of Bosnia than the more familiar desert and rural countryside of Syria - came when a general received a radio call that a suicide bomber was moving towards his positions.
He immediately ordered all armed Syrian outposts to open fire on anyone suspiciously approaching their positions. He had good reason to do so, for just seven months ago many of his closest colleagues were annihilated by a rebel suicide bomber on the neighbouring hilltop of “Position 45” to the north of Qastal Ma’af.
By chance, I visited the very same post almost exactly a year ago and was introduced to the soldiers there by their commander, General Mohamed Maarouf.


Last March, the bunkered post, surmounted by a broken communications tower, came under a ferocious siege by Islamist rebels led by Moslem al-Chichani, the notorious - or legendary, depending on your point of view - red-bearded Chechen leader who moves constantly around the battlefields of Syria and Iraq. Outnumbered, the Syrian soldiers held out for a full week - they were all special forces, like the men at Ash-Shaqraa - when General Maarouf called for an armoured personnel carrier to evacuate his wounded.
The armoured vehicle that emerged through the fog, however, was not the one the general had called for. Driven by a suicide bomber, it crashed into the centre of the compound with 15 tons of explosives aboard, detonating with a roar heard all the way to the Mediterranean, killing almost all the soldiers, including General Maarouf and tearing open a crater 30 feet wide and 15 feet deep.
Within hours, an Islamist video showed a laughing al-Chichani with other rebel colleagues, boasting of their victory. One officer said to me that “almost all the soldiers you met last November were martyred.”
Several Syrian officers believe that Chechens are sent to fight here because the land is similar to their native country. The airwaves are also filled with Turkmen voices, many of them Syrian Turkmens, some with other Turkish accents, usually calling for reinforcements or asking for more missiles or ammunition.
The Syrians know that their enemies can also listen in to their radios although they have more sophisticated ways of communicating to each other. Yet they suspect the Islamists may now be able to listen to land-line conversations.
Turkish soldiers stand by a fire on a hilltop above the Syrian city of Kobani, near the Turkey-Syria borderTurkish soldiers stand by a fire on a hilltop above the Syrian city of Kobani, near the Turkey-Syria border



















In the last year, more fighters from the Nusra Front and Jund el-Islam have turned up opposite the Syrian front lines - although ‘front line’ is perhaps a misleading expression. In many wooded areas, the area under ‘control’ by Syrian troops and rebels is only notional. As a Syrian officer said some months ago of a different battlefield, “the Syrian soldier controls what his feet are standing on” - a now well-known epithet that probably applies to many of the world’s wars.
In reality, the rebel posts are perhaps a mile and a half from Ash-Shaqraa but the two sides sometimes find themselves only 200 metres apart. Turkmens are used in the battles because of their local knowledge but the soldiers here have noticed that the “labels and brands” of the various Islamist groups are constantly changing. If ISIS is here as an organised structure, they say, it is still very small. But they have noticed the rebels now using armour-piercing missiles for the first time as well as missiles with a range of five kilomtres. Among Arabic accents on the radios are voices from Egypt, Libya, the Gulf, Tunis and Morocco. Smaller Islamist factions appear to swallow each other “like whales”, one soldier memorably said, adding that it was “only a matter of time before a big faction swallows all the smaller factions.” He did not use the Arabic word ‘Daesh’ -- ISIS -- but that must surely be what will happen. Some units belong to the “Liwa al-Adiyat” - the ‘Brigade of Great Ordeals’ -- but whenever these men engage in fighting, units from other factions arrive to support them.
Syrian troops have also observed large numbers of Turkish troops and armour massing along the border to their north and the construction of a new concrete fortress by Turkish forces on top of Al Aqra mountain. To describe the situation here as ‘tense’ would be to fall victim to an old cliche. Suffice it to say that after giving me a pair of military binoculours to look into the forests, an officer asked me to return behind a sand revetment to avoid attracting sniper fire on their position. One of the late Ganeral Marrouf’s closest comrades was at Ash-Shaqraa on Sunday and he reminded me of the last conversation I had with his former commander. “He told you, Mr. Robert, that he would live to victory or be martyred - well, he kept his promise!”





Published on Sep 20, 2014
This is intense combat footage showing both Chechen's and their ISIS counterparts fighting against Syrian military in Aleppo.

















97 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Kind of like a bunch of Democrat, soon-to-be-ex Senators.

      Delete
    2. Turns out, Rufus, your pal Kay Hagen steered Porkulus funds to a business owned by her own family but only now, the day before the election, are they carrying the story nationally. The rest of the hornets' nest will be cleaned up after the election, I suppose.

      Delete
  2. At the bottom of the post, there are several videos of the YPG taking out ISIS tanks and the last video is of Hezbollah in open ground man to man combat with ISIS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My "wet" dream? To see BOTH ISIS and Hezbollah kill each other.

      Delete
    2. You should try to achieve some 'self control, "O"rdure.

      Delete
    3. You should try to actually think before you comment as your words resemble literary diarrhea.

      Delete
    4. If you had an undertanding of what a "Wet Dream" is, "O"rdure, you'd know that thinking is not part of the process.
      Again ... I'll discus it more fully in our e-mail conversations.

      Delete
    5. Get you up to speed on the English expressions you are trying to integrate into your writing.

      Delete
    6. It's the least a supposed man of Mossad can do for an acolyte, a wanna be, like yourself.
      We hall see if more mentoring and some one on one coaching can get you out of the Social Media Commandos and into a 'real' outfit.

      Delete
    7. We shall see if more mentoring and some one on one coaching can get you out of the Social Media Commandos and into a 'real' outfit.

      Delete
    8. Deuce used the term "wet dream" about bibi wanting to nuke Iran.

      Apparently you have selective reading skills...

      Delete
    9. Jack HawkinsMon Nov 03, 09:16:00 PM EST
      If you had an undertanding of what a "Wet Dream" is, "O"rdure, you'd know that thinking is not part of the process.
      Again ... I'll discus it more fully in our e-mail conversations.


      Actually the brain is the largest sex organ in the thinking and intelligent portion of our species.

      Now I know, from what you told me in your emails to me, that you when you have "relations" with your horse, it's "natural" and you don't think...

      Please stop molesting your horse. Not thinking is not an excuse.

      Delete
  3. The author is correct, the US should be able to track those lot numbers.
    Could if it wanted to.

    The nightly aircraft, probably supply drops to the rebels, from the Turks.
    Just as likely the Turks are supplying the weapons, or Saudi / Qatar, through Turkey, as it is the weapons are coming from the Iraqi stores looted in Mosul.

    All of those supporters of Daesh have access to US weapons.
    Being the largest arms dealer in the world, lots of those weapons have been proliferated around the globe.
    Even the Israeli have access to that type of weaponry.

    ReplyDelete
  4. November 2, 2014 |





    Did you hear that the president of Israel said Israel is a “sick society”? Reuven Rivlin, a Likudnik, said in late October. There’s been lots of coverage in Israel, but as AndrewSullivan points out, the declaration hasn’t gotten much attention stateside. I should think it would be viral.

    TheJewish Telegraphic Agency’s report:

    “It is time to honestly admit that Israeli society is ill – and it is our duty to treat this disease,”
    Rivlin told the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities on Sunday at a conference titled “From Xenophobia to Accepting the Other.”

    “The tension between Jews and Arabs within the State of Israel has risen to record heights, and the relationship between all parties has reached a new low,” he said. “We have all witnessed the shocking sequence of incidents and violence taking place by both sides. The epidemic of violence is not limited to one sector or another, it permeates every area and doesn’t skip any arena. There is violence in soccer stadiums as well as in the academia. There is violence in the social media and in everyday discourse, in hospitals and in schools.”

    From the Jerusalem Post:

    The time has come to admit that Israel is a sick society, with an illness that demands treatment, President Reuven Rivlin said at the opening session on Sunday of a conference on From Hatred of the Stranger to Acceptance of the Other.

    Rivlin wondered aloud whether Jews and Arabs had abandoned the secret of dialogue.

    With regard to Jews he said: “I’m not asking if they’ve forgotten how to be Jews, but if they’ve forgotten how to be decent human beings. Have they forgotten how to converse?”


    JTA says that Rivlin spoke of abuse he’s received on his Facebook page. Presumably from the right, not the left. This is a country where a settler extremist assassinated a prime minister who was saying he wanted to compromise with Palestinians, 19 years ago.

    ... the president of the country is saying this? A Likudnik politician?
    As Sulllivan says, any American who said this would be instantly marginalized and smeared as an anti-Semite.
    Witness Blumenthal’s blacklisting by the Times, and the fact that Sand and Thrall appear in English publications.

    While liberal American Jews hold on to their dreamcastle Israel, with the help of Shavit and his media posse; and the New York Times gives a platform to wingnut Caroline Glick to malign Palestinian leaders. This is a very dangerous situation.

    Though I imagine if there’s enough controversy over the comments, The New York Times will cover them. Chris Matthews has surely seen Rivlin’s comment but won’t touch it until safe media here have picked it up.

    By the way, in a radio discussion on Open Source a month ago, I said that Zionism began in 1894 with Theodor Herzl hearing the chant, Death to the Jews, in Paris, and that it has now culminated 120 years later with nationalist Jews chanting Death to the Arabs in Jerusalem.

    That is the alpha and omega of political Zionism, which has failed Herzl’s own test, that the stranger will be welcome in Jewish society.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Man-o-man ...

    I Googled that quote, thinking that the President of a country would not call his own society sick, but I was wrong!


    ‘Israel Is A Sick Society’

    : Western Media Blackout As Israeli President Comes Clean

    Amazing, the honesty...

    The President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, used the words ‘Israel is a sick society’ to describe the current state of the nation, while addressing Israel’s Academy of Sciences and Humanities last weekend.

    It is doubtful that he is a 'self-loathing Jew'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I see Rat is talking to himself again...

      another avatar in the stable...

      Delete
    2. Well, golly gee WiO, someone said something, somewhere, that Jack can wedge into his ever changing storyline and lo and behold, eureka, the rat doctrine reigns!!

      Delete
    3. The storyline remains constant, Ash.

      1. The US should withdraw from the Middle East, when it can replace the 22% of the oil it receives from the region.
      2. Absent that replacement, the US should engage to the least extent possible, while securing the oil needed to lubricate the economy.
      3 Thus the Rat Doctrine of supporting the local forces that share the current interests of the US, using Close Air Support, but no boots on the ground.
      4. Since the President has invoked the 14SEP2001 AUMF, the US should support any and all forces that are in combat against the Daesh, al-Qeada operatives operating in Iraq and Syria.

      5. The US should withdraw ALL support provided to Israel, for a variety of reasons.
      Which there is no reason to articulate, now.

      Delete
    4. The fact that the President of Israel has stated that Israeli society is sick, just icing on the cake

      “I’m not asking if they’ve forgotten how to be Jews, but if they’ve forgotten how to be decent human beings. Have they forgotten how to converse?” -
      Reuven Rivlin, President of Israel


      Delete
    5. Oh, and ...
      6. Israel is not the 'font of Western Civilization'. In fact Israel is not a "Western" country and Judaism is not a "Western" religion.

      Delete
    6. The fact that "O"rdure has no answer to the statement made by the President of Israel, just so, so Comical.

      All he has is some 'name calling', which is meaningless except as fodder for the fun house.

      Delete
    7. No one calls more names that you, Jack, by a very large margin you are the champ in that department

      All we need do is really add it up something.

      Delete
    8. Thanks for bringing the topic back to Israel.

      Israel is a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family.

      And yes, thanks for pointing out the important things that Israel and the jews have given the world thru out their 40 centuries or so on the planet.

      it's an amazing story.

      From Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to King David and Solomon, ethnical monotheism to even giving the world TGIF.

      Jack, points out, in his hatred and jealousy, all the warts he can point out about Jews, Judaism and Israel. But the truth? we Jews do that honestly for ourselves. Our greatest ancestors were flawed human beings... We openly admit our imperfections... But we also admit our amazing contributions to the western world.

      Thanks Jack, you are a mirror to which reminds up of why Israel is and was a great nation, no matter it's small size...

      Delete
  6. Brown may be closing in on New Hampshire

    New Hampshire Snapshot

    RCP Average: Shaheen +0.8
    RCP Ranking: Toss Up


    Whopppieeeeeee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Off to the showers, here.

      G'nite and excellent tomorrow to you all.

      Delete
    2. How Scott Brown Could Win New Hampshire's Nationalized Election
      It's a state that loves a wave. And that could be just what the Republican needs to take down Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
      By Lauren Fox

      http://2164th.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-did-islamists-receive-american.html#comment-form

      Delete
  7. .

    Rat remains a figment of your imagination, Wi"O"Mon Nov 03, 10:04:00 PM EST


    Hmmmm.

    I choose to use the original posting, to maintain continuity.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Follow the account numbers, Legionnaire Q.
      Follow Robert Peterson's and it will lead you to Bob Oreille

      Follow Jack Hawkins and it will lead you to ...
      Jack Hawkins.

      Follow desert rat and it will lead you to desert rat.
      There is no continuity between any of the characters.

      Delete
    2. Except in the mind of the reader ...

      Which is the realm of imagination, as stated above.

      Delete
  8. .

    I was watching CSPAN tonight and saw a talk from a couple of weeks ago that was put on by the CBC and had Glenn Greenwald on talking about the usual, the dicks in D.C. and in Ottawa. It reminded me of a couple things I had forgotten.

    First,

    A Rumsfeld-era reminder about what causes Terrorism

    We can't combat Terrorism by sending our military into Muslim countries. Doing that only exacerbates the problem.

    In 2004, Donald Rumsfeld directed the Defense Science Board Task Force to review the impact which the administration’s policies — specifically the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — were having on Terrorism and Islamic radicalism. They issued a report in September, 2004 (.pdf) and it vigorously condemned the Bush/Cheney approach as entirely counter-productive, i.e., as worsening the Terrorist threat those policies purportedly sought to reduce. It’s well worth reviewing their analysis, as it has as much resonance now as it did then (h/t sysprog).

    The Task Force began by noting what are the “underlying sources of threats to America’s national security“: namely, the “negative attitudes” towards the U.S. in the Muslim world and “the conditions that create them” (click images to enlarge):

    And what most exacerbates anti-American sentiment, and therefore the threat of Terrorism? “American direct intervention in the Muslim world” — through our “one sided support in favor of Israel”; support for Islamic tyrannies in places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia; and, most of all, “the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan“:

    Let’s just repeat that: ”Muslims do not ‘hate our freedom,’ but rather, they hate our policies.” And nothing fuels — meaning: helps — the Islamic radicals’ case against the U.S. more than ongoing American occupation of Muslim countries:


    http://www.salon.com/2009/10/20/terrorism_6/


    Second,

    During the 6 years of Obama's presidency, he has managed to bomb 7 predominately Muslim countries, as well as, Muslim militants in an eighth.

    It calls to mind Einstein's definition of insanity.

    .



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. “American direct intervention in the Muslim world”
      Which is why the President, to his credit, is following the Rat Doctrine and not directly intervening, but only supporting local forces.

      “the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan“:
      The US has left Iraq, and will not reoccupy it, unless the US abandons the Rat Doctrine and invades that country, one more time. As far as Afghanistan, the footprint has been greatly reduced, though there still is a US toe in that cesspool.

      ”Muslims do not ‘hate our freedom,’ but rather, they hate our policies.”
      Yep, but until the US can fuel its fleet of 300 million vehicles without Persian Gulf oil, we will remain engaged.

      “one sided support in favor of Israel”
      See recommendations, above.

      Delete
    2. The US can replace that 22% of our oil consumption now sourced from the Persian Gulf region, with ethanol, and could do so post haste if the public demanded it.

      Delete
    3. Hell, we replaced 10% in about 3 years, and no one, basically, even noticed.

      Delete
    4. All bullshit, The koran causes terrorism, preaches it, demands it, everything else is secondary.

      Delete
    5. Jack's first post on this thread is a name-caller, odds are high his last will be too.

      Go back through the threads, count the names called, and the callers, nothing you find will surprise you.

      Waste of time, though.

      Time to turn to the elections, USA.

      Delete
    6. Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, of all the people in the world to refer to someone a a 'name caller' you are one to talk, you cunt

      Delete
    7. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  9. .

    “American direct intervention in the Muslim world”
    Which is why the President, to his credit, is following the Rat Doctrine and not directly intervening, but only supporting local forces.


    Lord, rat, do you really believe there is some meaningful difference between being killed by a missile from a drone or by a shell from a tank to either the person being killed or to his relatives or to his neighbors?

    In fact with a drone even when not under attack the fear is constant because of the possibility of an attack. The same fear is there whether you are a militant or whether you are a civilian.

    Why don't you try explaining the intricacies of the Rat Doctrine to one of the victim's relatives.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Have you not noticed, Quirk, that there have been No stories out of Iraq about innocent victims?

      That is because Obama's policy has been one of being very deliberate about targeting Only Daesh, and because the U.S. Pilots have been extraordinarily skillful at hitting headcutters, and only headcutters.

      Delete
    2. .

      Christ, Rufus. What kind of fool's paradise do you live in?

      Go Google civilian casualties due to the US bombing in Iraq and Syria. Google the latest bombing standards put out by Obama regarding civilian casualties. Here's the first I came across.

      Amid the rise of civilian deaths in US-led military operation against ISIL, Washington has acknowledged that any strikes in Syria and Iraq are exempt from its “standards” applied to other aerial attacks.

      US National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden revealed that the current airstrikes will not be performed in line with a previously announced standard for allegedly minimizing civilian casualties.

      Obama announced last year that the highest standard which the US can meet is un-authorizing drone attacks unless there is “near certainty” about the lack of civilian casualties.

      The confirmation came a week after a dozen civilians, including children, were killed in a US attack in the village of Kafr Daryan in Syria's Idlib province.

      Human Rights Watch says the bombing should be investigated for possible violations of the laws of war.

      The US-led coalition has been bombing ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria, but has largely failed to halt militant advances.

      The “near certainty” standard was intended to apply “only when we take direct action ‘outside areas of active hostilities,’ as we noted at the time,” Hayden added.

      “That description, outside areas of active hostilities, simply does not fit what we are seeing on the ground in Iraq and Syria right now,” Hayden noted.


      http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/10/01/380661/us-lifts-rule-over-civilian-protection/


      What were you doing during the Libyan war. There were no deaths there either according to Centcom. Their story was always the same, "We have heard reports of these deaths but we can't confirm them." Centcom is always ready to report on how many pick-ups they take out but what would possess them to 'confirm' they took out a family or a bunch of kids?

      The US never reported any deaths in Libya. The only places the blown out houses and dead bodies showed up was on YouTube or in the Guardian.

      You didn't see any of this stuff going on in Vietnam?

      .

      There were no deaths reported in Libya either

      Delete
    3. .

      Have you not noticed, Quirk, that there have been No stories out of Iraq about innocent victims?

      No. I haven't noticed that. But then, my Google searches aren't confined to daily Toyota Count or successful US airstrikes against ISIS.

      .

      Delete
    4. Some "civilian" workers at a Syrian Daesh facility were allegedly killed. Allegedly.

      However, I didn't ask about Syria, or Libya (and, I might add: the Syrian casualties, if they did occur, was in the initial Mass Raid.)

      However, back to the question that I actually asked: Have you googled up any reports of actual civilian casualties due to our actions in Iraq?

      The answer, of course, is No.


      Delete
    5. And, as for Syria, I'm not sure just how much of a "civilian" you really are when you're working at a Daesh mobile refinery, stealing oil, and reselling it for the headcutters.

      Delete
    6. It's kind of ironic when the guy that one minute is bitching because we're not bombing enough, fast enough, is citing civilian casualties (that don't even exist.)

      Delete
    7. .

      Well Rufus, I have to get ready for a doctor's appointment right now but I will be glad to answer your 'Baghdad Bob' post when I get back this afternoon.

      You are either a complete naif or a nitwit. Oh, or a reincarnation of Baghdad Bob.

      Later.

      .

      Delete
    8. You were posting the other day about how "the little guy" needs Higher interest rates, and you call Me a nitwit.

      :)

      You couldn't make this shit up.

      Delete
  10. Stay tuned for "A Real Shellacking, Part II"

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well, Legionnaire, Q, I was addressing the post you made, not the post you could have made.

    {;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, Legionnaire Q, I was addressing the post you made, not the post you could have made.

      deleting that comma, makes it all the more concise.

      Delete
    2. .

      Just answer the last one I did ask you dumb shit instead of avoiding the question.

      .

      Delete
  12. Iraqi military, bolstered by Shiite militias, poised to attack idled oil refinery

    IRBIL, Iraq

    A mix of Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias aligned with the government are poised to attempt to break the Islamic State’s five-month siege on Iraq’s largest oil refinery after a series of military gains along the country’s main north-south highway, according to Iraqi security officials and local residents.

    The refinery on the outskirts of the predominately Sunni Muslim town of Baiji has been surrounded by a mix of fighters that includes local Sunni tribes hostile to the Shiite-dominated central government, the Islamic State and smaller units of former Baathist military commanders, who have formed a loose alliance since taking over Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, in June.
    ...
    in the aftermath of the Mosul takeover, a small unit of Iraqi special forces — since reinforced by a handful of Shiite militiamen — retained control of the central control compound of the Baiji refinery. That left the facility offline but out of the hands of the Islamic State, which has aggressively pursued oil, gas and refinery capability in both Iraq and Syria as a way to fund its nascent caliphate. But the facility being offline has cost the Iraqi government a huge economic price, as it represents nearly 40 percent of the country’s gasoline refinery capability, forcing the import of much more expensive refined products even as Iraq faces by far the worst economic crisis in its modern history.

    Although the Iraqi security forces continue to lose significant ground in Sunni-majority western Anbar province, the offensive by government forces into the central province of Salahadin has seen more success, retaking portions of Tikrit, relieving a siege on a major Shiite shrine in Samarra and now, according to officials and local residents, much of Baiji.
    ...
    “The army and the Iranian militias have been in the town [of Baiji] for almost a week,” said Abu Ahmed al Baiji, a local resident reached by phone. “[Sunday] night there was a huge battle as the Islamic State attacked them from all sides, but this morning, the army remains.”

    Iranian militias are a common description of Iraqi Shiite paramilitary groups used by Sunnis, in reference to their anti-Sunni attitudes and Iranian training and, in some cases, direct Iranian leadership in combat.

    Khazal Hamad, a member of the Salahaddin provincial council, said that Iraqi security forces have taken control of most of the town and are preparing to launch an operation to relieve the refinery in the next few days.

    “One week ago, the Iraqi army with popular support and local police launched a big attack and made great progress, and they are now inside downtown Baiji,” he said. “Now we control at least three-quarters of the town. But we have small problems that are creating an obstacle to the Iraqi army’s progress. There are roadside bombs, snipers and some car bombs. But they are moving forward and are taking steps to liberate the entire town from Daash,” he added, using the derogatory Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

    “Some of the people inside the town have stopped supporting Daash and, as you know, we can’t judge how powerful Daash is, but these days, they are weakened and they’ve lost many fighters, from leaders and the support that they had,” Hamad said.



    Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article3546362.html#storylink=cpy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. “As you know, the refinery has been under our control from the beginning, and Daash has tried every so often to take control of it but they couldn’t and they can’t,” he said.

      Separately, an Iraqi security official, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media, said that the biggest problem is bombs planted on the roads and inside homes, a common tactic used by the Islamic State to halt the advance of poorly trained and equipped Iraqi army soldiers.

      The Islamic State, he said, launched an unsuccessful operation at midnight Sunday to try to wrest the downtown from Iraqi security forces.

      “They were attacking from four sides, but our security forces and militiamen were ready for it,” the official said. “When the battle was over there were 14 dead bodies from Daash in the streets, and they retreated.”

      Iraqi security forces could make more rapid progress but have been exercising restraint in their use of artillery so that they limit the damage to homes, he added.


      Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article3546362.html#storylink=cpy

      Delete
    2. “The peshmerga are part of the Iraqi defense system and our support is with them. What the army has is for the peshmerga, and what is required from the army is required from the peshmerga,”
      Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said on Tuesday.

      - Voice of America

      Delete
  13. What you are actually addressing is yourself, Jack.

    Everyone else gave up reading you long ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You very post, Fraudster, is an indicator that you lie.
      You are obsessed with reading the content, the very fact that you would claim to be me, is an indication that the of the content being posted is hitting home.

      On time, on Target - Fire for Effect.

      {;-)

      Delete
    2. Your very post, Fraudster, is an indicator that you lie

      Delete
    3. copy editor - belatedTue Nov 04, 06:25:00 AM EST

      is an indication that the content being posted is hitting home.

      Delete of the

      Delete
  14. Heavy Fighting Between Kurds, IS Continues in Kobani

    MURSITPINAR, TURKEY—

    Gunfire and explosions were audible from the Syrian-Turkish border region near Kobani on Tuesday, indicating little respite from intensive clashes between Kurdish forces, backed up by Syrian rebels, and Islamic State militants.

    Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters and moderate Syrian rebels bombarded Islamic State positions in Kobani on Monday ...
    ...
    The arrival in Kobani of the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga and additional Syrian Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters in recent days has escalated efforts to defend the town after weeks of U.S.-led airstrikes slowed but did not reverse the Islamists' advance.

    Meanwhile, Iraq said it would supply semiautonomous Kurdish region with its needs for heavy weapons to help Kurdish fighters battling militants of the Islamic State group.
    ...
    “The peshmerga are part of the Iraqi defense system and our support is with them. What the army has is for the peshmerga, and what is required from the army is required from the peshmerga,” Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said on Tuesday.

    Weapons for peshmerga

    The Baghdad central government will also supply peshmerga fighters with heavy weapons when it gets the arms it contracted on, Obeidi added.

    “When we have weapons, God willing, they will have their share like other Iraqi troops,”
    Obeidi said after a tour of a peshmerga training center in the Kurdish city of Irbil.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The U.S. government has recently begun supplying arms to the Kurds directly, responding to their pleas for military hardware to match the Islamic State group's.

      The threat has also spurred cooperation between the region and the federal government in Baghdad, which has withheld arms and salaries from the peshmerga for years due to disputes over oil and budgets.

      Britain has also sent just 40 machine guns to Iraq's Kurds and a small group of soldiers to teach fighters how to fire them.

      Kurds say they need much heavier weapons, such as tanks and attack helicopters, to take on Islamic State fighters.

      More than 100 instructors from Germany, Canada, Australia and United States are now on the ground in Iraqi Kurdistan, teaching the region's peshmerga forces how to use the new weapons.

      Delete


  15. Israel colony plan ‘slap in face of US’


    ‘The regime has chosen colonisation over the two-state solution’


    “With the situation in occupied Jerusalem at boiling point, Israel’s latest [colony] announcement is a slap in the face to Kerry, to the international community, to the Palestinian people, and to peace,”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. ''In 10 years Israel will cease to exist''


      8 years to go ...
      http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2012/10/30/16913.shtml

      Delete
  16. Opinion: A Republican victory would boost these 21 stocks
    By Michael Brush

    Published: Nov 3, 2014 8:10 a.m. ET

    Energy, medical-device and housing companies would gain an edge if the GOP takes the Senate

    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/21-stocks-that-would-win-with-a-republican-congress-2014-11-01

    ReplyDelete
  17. SodaStream's Earnings Report Looks Like A Dying Fad

    Summary:
    SODA reported fiscal third quarter results.
    The report increases my confidence that SODA’s product line is a dying fad.
    I anticipated and still anticipate further weakening results.

    In my previous SodaStream (NASDAQ:SODA) article entitled SodaStream: The Fad Is Over I stated among other things, "I believe the fad is over and SodaStream has a lot lower to go in terms of both revenue and stock price."
    I didn't believe the new health and wellness strategy around soft drinks would work, and I still don't.

    There doesn't seem to be any real attempt on a significant improvement in the burdensome technology or any new clever marketing.

    SODA third quarter earnings are now out.
    Revenue slid 13% to $126 million, as we already knew from the preliminary announcement.
    Diluted earnings per share collapsed even worse falling 41% to $0.45.

    CEO Daniel Birnbaum stated, "Today, we are introducing a comprehensive growth plan that will serve as our blueprint for returning SodaStream to profitable growth."
    You can access the growth plan here.
    In it, the company admitted, "the trend stopped" not just in the U.S. but growth outside of the U.S. is at "lower rates than previous years."
    The focus on the plan is "making water exciting."

    One word: seriously? Pardon the sarcasm, but - the $200 billion soft drink market certainly has much more opportunity for the average household than the "exciting" water market.

    With the soda fad dying SODA has its work cut out for itself on convincing people to come back to the table to make exciting water and replenish the lost soda-making sales and profits.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Some fool is sure hung up on Soda Stream.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why sure, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, there is no dispute that in the last year the value of Sodastream has cratered

      What is in dispute is Why?

      "O"rdure tells us that the company is fundamentally strong, that the sock has merely taken a beating.
      He does not take the next step, which if what he says is true, would be to credit the Boycott, Divest and Sanction Movement for the evaporation of Sodastream equities.

      Others would lay the cratering of Sodastream's equity values on thepoor fundamentals of Sodastream's business model.

      The real question then, is Sodastream's stock value and US retail sales collapse to be laid at the poor fundamentals of its business or the result of international politics?

      "O"rdure' position, it is BDS politics, not business fundamentals, I am not so sure.

      Delete
  19. The real money follows Lester Crown.

    !

    ReplyDelete
  20. General Dynamics - more than doubling in value during the term of Barack Obama

    $65.58 9NOV2009
    $139.76 4NOV2014

    Sometimes the "Draft Dodger" Peterson is like a broken clock.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Six weeks after Mr Obama was sworn in, 6MAR2009, General Dynamics was at $36.49
      So far General Dynamics has had an almost 200% gain, on the strength of Mr Obama' back.

      Mr Crown never made such a good investment, as the day he advanced Barack Obama $3 million dollars for those three books.

      Delete
    2. Books that dear Doug tells us Mr Obama did not even write, himself.

      Delete
    3. My error fellas ... General Dynamics has done much better than I said ...

      So far General Dynamics has had an almost 383% gain, on the strength of Mr Obama' back.

      Sorry about that ..

      Delete
  21. The Unites States didn't make those weapons, the Chinese did. We don't make anything anymore. They should be marked "Made In China".

    Slow night, at the fare pickup terminals at the airport last night, cabby craps?

    You have been doing anything but bullshitting all night.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meanwhile, I have to get up and go to work, and I'm supposed to be retired......

      ta,ta

      Delete
    2. You should have invested your casino winnings in General Dynamics.

      Delete
    3. Not wasted your money on engineering plans for a subdivision plat map.
      That money was buried, never to be seen again.

      Delete
  22. Jack HawkinsMon Nov 03, 10:30:00 PM EST
    Oh, and ...
    6. Israel is not the 'font of Western Civilization'. In fact Israel is not a "Western" country and Judaism is not a "Western" religion.


    Christianity relies on Judaism for its theology. Marcion, one of the first church "Fathers", recognized the danger and did his best to remove the Tanakh and its Jewish god from Christian theology. He failed and became a heretic.

    Brother Rat,

    Digest this and I will test you.

    http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/marcion.html
    Marcion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whatever you linked address says, will remain a secret, it is not clickable.

      The reality, modern Christianity is not based on Judaism, nor is it connected to 'early christian writings'
      Modern Christianity was an invention of a Roman citizen.
      Modified by a Roman Emperor, and found its base by incorporating European Pagan beliefs.



      Delete
    2. It totally rejected the Eastern roots of Judaism.
      The Law and the Word, denied any standing.

      Leviticus was abandoned.
      All in the name of Western mores and standards.

      Delete
    3. It totally rejected the Eastern and Egyptian roots of Judaism.

      Delete
    4. Whereas modern Judaism, that is mostly Eastern, Babylon being where the Talmud was written, with Egyptian myth integrated into the Torah.

      Delete
    5. Jack HawkinsTue Nov 04, 10:25:00 AM EST
      Whatever you linked address says, will remain a secret, it is not clickable.

      The reality, modern Christianity is not based on Judaism, nor is it connected to 'early christian writings'


      You are a moron.

      Delete
    6. Not at all, allen, I can use HTML.

      Delete
  23. Once again, it is necessary to correct Robert "Draft Dodger" Robertson ....

    The United States is the world's second largest manufacturer, with a 2010 industrial output of approximately $1,696.7 billion. In 2008, its manufacturing output was greater than that of the manufacturing output of China and India combined, despite manufacturing being a very small portion of the entire U.S economy, as compared to most other countries.
    ...
    The United States produces approximately 21 percent of the world's manufacturing output, a number which has remained unchanged for the last 40 years.
    - Wiki

    Not a bad percentage of global manufacturing, for 3% of the world's population.

    There was a loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector of the economy, but no real decline in manufacturing.
    This is a chart that tells the tale, graphically. Along with This one and finally Employment

    But for Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson to say that the US does not build stuff anymore. A total lie

    ReplyDelete
  24. http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/11/04/Iranians-mark-anniversary-of-US-Embassy-takeover
    IRANIANS MARK ANNIVERSARY OF US EMBASSY TAKEOVER

    ... for all you lovers of Iran out there ...

    I will put up a reminder of the Iranian festivities accompanying the celebration of the Marine barracks attack, in due course. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. allen, the desk co-ordinator cannot use HTML, he must be a moron

      Delete
  25. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/israel-us-business-usual-warplane-145035758.html
    Israel, US say it's business as usual as warplane plant unveiled

    "IAI is scheduled to make more than 800 sets of F-35 wings, while another Israeli company, Elbit Systems Ltd, will produce helmets for the pilots. Susan Ouzts, vice-president of international programmes at Lockheed, put the value of Israel's contribution to the F-35 project at $4 billion.

    IAI started building F-35 wings, at a pace of a set a week, in September, but had to postpone the inauguration due to the threat of incoming Palestinian rockets during Israel's Gaza war in July and August."

    I may have read that, in the interest of the Palestinian "peoples", Sweden, the UK, and several unnamed EU purchasers will take delivery only of wingless aircraft. In a show of good faith, Israel's critics may take delivery of helmets, but only if DOS is used.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. allen, the desk co-ordinator still cannot use HTML, he must really be a moron

      Delete
  26. http://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-thousands-pack-iraqs-karbala-ashura-074415427.html
    Shiites mark holy day in defiance of jihadists

    ... what an enchanting festival ... Really, how hard could it be to convince them to use AKs?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only a moron would be unable to utilize the technologies at his fingertips.

      Delete
  27. Crapper doesn't do, and has never done, and will never do, anything but pass gas, and plenty of that, all night long.

    (if the behavior of the last 10 years is an indication)

    What not pass on to the USA political news of the day, which is much more interesting....and mor important too.....

    The majority of bloggers here think Crapper needs psychological help.....and most have even made many suggestions in that regard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority,
      it is time to pause and reflect.”

      Delete
    2. “The truth, as much as people acted like they wanted to hear it,
      was sometimes too cruel and harsh.”

      Delete
  28. Israel’s president has delivered a sharp warning on declining Arab-Jewish relations on a visit to the scene of a massacre by Israeli police of 47 Arab villagers in 1956.

    Reuven Rivlin – the first sitting Israeli president to visit Kafr Qasim on the day of town’s annual commemoration of the killings – acknowledged the massacre as a “terrible crime” and “murder of the innocents” ...
    ...
    “However, the state of Israel will also always be the homeland of the Arab population, which numbers more than one and a half million … The Arab population is not a marginal group in Israeli society … Many of them experience not uncommon manifestations of racism and arrogance on the part of Jews.”
    ...
    Rivlin’s comments in Kafr Qasim are part of a continuing critique of Israel from the right. He denounced a recent arson attack on a mosque, and at an academic conference on tolerance questioned whether Jews and Arabs had abandoned the secret of dialogue.

    With regard to Jews specifically, he said last week:
    “I’m not asking if they’ve forgotten how to be Jews, but if they’ve forgotten how to be decent human beings.
    Have they forgotten how to converse?”

    ReplyDelete
  29. At a conference earlier this week, Rivlin, Israel’s president, said “It’s time to admit honestly that Israeli society is sick.”
    He went on to suggest that his country’s Jewish citizens have “forgotten how to be decent human beings.”

    Haaretz reports and opines

    ReplyDelete
  30. “We have all witnessed the shocking sequence of incidents and violence taking place by both sides.
    The epidemic of violence is not limited to one sector or another, it permeates every area and doesn’t skip any arena.
    There is violence in soccer stadiums as well as in the academia.
    There is violence in the social media and in everyday discourse, in hospitals and in schools.”

    ReplyDelete
  31. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/11/04/air-force-fires-2-more-nuclear-missile-corps-commanders-disciplines-another/
    Air Force fires 2 more nuclear missile corps commanders, disciplines another

    "The most senior officer to be relieved was Col. Carl Jones, the No. 2 commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, in charge of 150 of the Air Force's 450 Minuteman 3 nuclear ICBMs. He was dismissed 'for a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities,' and has been reassigned as a special assistant to the wing commander."

    "He was dismissed 'for a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities,' and has been reassigned as a special assistant to the wing commander."

    "He was dismissed 'for a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities,' and has been reassigned as a special assistant to the wing commander."

    "He was dismissed 'for a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities,' and has been reassigned as a special assistant to the wing commander."

    "He was dismissed 'for a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities,' and has been reassigned as a special assistant to the wing commander."

    ... amazing ...

    ReplyDelete