Friday, February 09, 2007
Update: Is this video report a phony? Is it staged?
This is an update of this post. When I first posted it, I was surprised at the cameramen continuing the filming and not getting shot. Several of the posters pointed out that they thought this was staged. I looked again and believe it may be staged. Give us your opinions and spread this to other sites for the purpose of exposing it to further scrutiny.
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Hey, there's an idea. Why didn't I think of that. Wash your car in the river. Got one a few blocks from here, nice boat launching ramp too. Can use that. Beats the quarters at RainDrop Car Wash.
ReplyDeleteRufus did say one time it's all in their genes.
From bully to bullee in one short minute!
ReplyDeleteBurn the schools! Plant poppies!
yea Bob, instead of a "drug free school zone", they create a "school free drug zone".
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't surprise me if that whole burning school sequence had been staged. Something about the way the Police "ambush" the Taliban, just didn't look right.
ReplyDeleteOf course, my problem is that I've don't trust any of them or the British reporter.
Same impression here, Whit.
ReplyDeleteThe camera crew would (should) have been seen filming a few people crawling around, shot and bleeding but the "bad guys" got clean away. apparently.
... didn't set up the attack very well, did they?
That DNA ... ?
ReplyDeleteI's called Islam!
Same sentiments here.
ReplyDeleteScene 1: "School in flames"
(enter left) Taliban: (screaming incoherently)
Looks like a play to me.
That Afghan police in the video chose to apply a heavy-handed approach to Taliban operatives is not surprising. Funny that the voice-over dismisses them in a single word - "shambles". Not to mention "firing indiscriminately" at Taliban operatives.
deuce is right - it's the culture. However "Western-trained" and "professional" the Afghan police may be trained, don't expect them to show mercy to the bastards who's trying to screw their country up. We should be glad they're on our side.
The NY Post has a piece by Amir Taheri.
ReplyDeleteAyman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's chief theoretician, has repeatedly said that the key aim of his so-called jihad in Iraq is to force the Americans to run away, as the Soviets did from Afghanistan in 1989.
The reference to Afghanistan is interesting. The "Arab Afghans," of which al Qaeda is the most notorious group, played no more than a cameo role in driving the Soviets out. And the Taliban - a group created by Pakistan five years after the Soviet departure - never fought the Communists.
The Communist regime in Kabul was overthrown by an alliance of a Tajik guerrilla army (led by Ahmad Shah Massoud) and a Communist militia - whose leader, the Uzbek Abdul-Rashid Dostum, had decided to switch sides. Years later, Dostum told me that he decided to switch when his Moscow "contacts" told him that the new Soviet elite under Mikhail Gorbachev was no longer interested in Afghanistan's fate. ..."
aQ was formed by Egyptians and Sauds, the Taliban by the Pakistani. Sunni Mohammedans, to a man.
The US now chafes at the bit, to take on Shia militias in Iraq and the Mullahs of Iran. The Shia enemies of the Sauds and Taliban. While funding Pakistan which funnels cash to continued Taliban operations.
There is something Orwellian about that picture.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePallywood, Afghanistan style.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the defense secretary has been getting a lukewarm response here to his plea for allies to send more troops and aid for a spring offensive in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteGates said the U.S. made no additional commitments for more troops of its own. He recently extended the tour of a brigade in Afghanistan, where the U.S. has 27,000 troops _ the most since the war began in 2001.
U.S. and NATO military leaders in recent months have repeatedly called on alliance members to send reinforcements and lift restrictions on where their troops can serve. On Thursday, Gates secured smaller offers from some nations, but he met resistance from key allies.
France and Germany are questioning the wisdom of sending more soldiers, while Spain, Italy and Turkey have also been wary of providing more troops.
"When the Russians were in Afghanistan, they had 100,000 soldiers there and they did not win," German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told reporters.
The meeting in southern Spain did produce some offers, however.
Lithuania, which already has 130 troops in Afghanistan, offered to send an unspecified number of special forces, helping to fill a key shortfall.
Germany says it will provide six Tornado reconnaissance jets but not significantly augment its 3,000 troops in the north. The Italian government said it would send a much-needed transport plane and some unmanned surveillance aircraft, but it is struggling to secure parliamentary backing for the finances needed to maintain a contingent of 1,950.
Spain also said it would send four unmanned planes and more instructors to help the Afghan army.
Gates said that after nearly five years at war with the Taliban, this spring will be critical because it could give the people of the country more hope.
"Each spring for the last several years, the Taliban have been more aggressive and there has been an increasing level of violence," he said. "There is a consensus on the part of the ministers that it is important that this year we knock the Taliban back."
The end of winter has traditionally brought an upsurge in attacks by Taliban militants in Afghanistan. U.S. commanders have already predicted that this spring will be even more violent than last year, when a record number of attacks included nearly 140 suicide bombings.
About 15,000 of the American troops are serving in the NATO-led force, which now totals about 36,000, while the other 12,000 are special operations forces or are training Afghan troops.
Knock 'em back!
knock 'em back!
WAY BACK!!!
Look at the numbers of our European allies deployments.
30 million Pashtuns.
Who we gonna call?
GWB "Justice" sent letter recommending that Border Agents be held in Jail, not bail, on appeal.
ReplyDeleteGWB appointed Judge sentenced the Agents.
GWB agent went to Mexico to give Drug smuggler immunity.
GWB Homeland "Security" workers LIED TO CONGRESS about agents (Mexicans) "Wanting to shoot some Mexicans."
Drug Smuggler was NOT shot in Butt or Back, but in side, having fought repeatedly with agents.
Ballistics tests have NOT linked Drug Smuggler's wounds with Agents Weapons!
Investigation here was initiated by a conspiracy between a friend of the Smuggler on the investigation with the smuggler's family in Mexico!
Much much more, all indicating the corruption and lawlessness of the Bush Admin.
Outlaw Bush should be impeached so Dick Cheney can bring the law back on the side of our Soldiers, Agents, and CITIZENS!
...and restore the Country's/Citizen's SECURITY.
Ballistics data don't support charge against border agents
ReplyDelete"Thank You for your donation support and prayers" from Joe, Nacho & Monica
If you want to talk to Joe call 915-779-8666
Please read Joes letter to congress!
Accounting of our debts, not including incidental expenses.
Over 250,000.00 in loss of earnings and legal fees.
The Ramos family has been burdened for 19 Months without Nacho's pay.
ReplyDeleteNacho has a wife three young children, they have to sell their house after spending their life savings on the court case.
His father in law Joe has also spent his retirement at age 64 on the case.
Please donate and it goes 100% directly to the family account.
Feel free to call. Joe Loya 915-779-8666 oe EMAIL: laJoe@sbcglobal.net
While in Anbar, steve @ threatswatch, reports the Six Enemy Tribes of Anbar still are.
ReplyDeleteThe police recruits, not from the SETA's 300,000 people.
Now the other Tribes, well over 20 of them, make up the other 700,000 Anbarites. From that population base 3,000 policemen have been recruited, with slots open for that many more. Iraqi Army recruitment has been very light. According to the Marine General's comments last week.
In a population with over 40% unemployment, not good recruiting results.
Who would control Anbar, if we left? Not the Federals, that seems evident, but which group of Tribes would dominate & where?
Why have the SETA still not been targeted, are we still trying to "buy them off"?
Big carrot, little stick.
Killed three on the road north of Tucson. Almost all the roads, in AZ, are unpaved dirt roads.
ReplyDeleteFolks pulled over by men with assualt rifles, three killed, same or more wounded. Some kidnapped.
There are no armed Mohammedans cruising the backroads of AZ, no threat from them, to my daughter.
But these armed guerillas, one toting an AK met a National Guardsmen last month, have free run of the frontier. Upon meeting the armed infiltrator the Guardsmen redeployed, while calling for Border Patrol agents to take action against the armed infiltrators. After the chance face to face with the retreating Guardsmen the guerilla force moved south, back into Mexico.
Danger lurks on the frontier, more now than ever before. Not even during the early heydays of drug running was there anarchy and lawlessness, like this.
Meanwhile, in Mosul, US firepower is used against armed men in the employee of US allies:
ReplyDeleteBAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. helicopters on Friday mistakenly killed at least five Kurdish troops, a group that Washington hopes to enlist as a partner to help secure Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
The Kurdish deaths occurred about midnight in eastern Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. The U.S. military said the airstrike was targeting al-Qaida fighters, but later issued an apology, saying the five men killed had been identified as Kurdish police.
Kurdish officials put the casualty toll at eight killed and six wounded, and said the men were guarding a branch of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan _ led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a key supporter of U.S. efforts in Iraq.
The U.S. military said the attack was launched after ground forces identified armed men in a bunker near a building they thought was being used to make bombs. The troops called for the men to put down their weapons in Arabic and Kurdish and fired warning shots before helicopters fired at the bunker, the military said.
Mahmoud Othman, a prominent Kurdish lawmaker who is not a PUK member but has strong ties to the community, said that for U.S. troops, the incident amounted to "attacking the people who support them."
"This is not a good sign for the new security plan that they (U.S. forces) have started," Othman said.
"Foot Pirates" often kill Mexicans smuggling drugs North to reap the spoils, leaving "randomly killed" Mexicans in their wake.
ReplyDelete(GWB Can Hint Darkly that we don't cotton to "Vigilantes")
ReplyDeleteThat would be you, me, the National Gaurd, and Border Agents.
ReplyDeleteGore offers prize to anyone that invents something to remove 1 Billion Tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteI am offering a 1 Billion Dollar Prize to anyone that invents something to control the radiation cycles of the Sun.
rufus could tell us how many of acres of switchgrass that would take, see if it pencils out.
ReplyDeleteI guess that farmer Al has enough money, from his family's tabacco ventures, to fund that kind of extravegant effort. Unless he does not plan to pay.
Restructure the ag business across Columbia, change the dependency, exchanging heroin for methadone, then claiming to be clean.
850 gallons of ethanol per acre of sugar per annum, in Brazil, that's the premier commercial utilization, to date. Takes alot of acres of switchgrass to be a really viable alternative to gasoline.
Switch Grass in Fl could quite likely yield 1400/gal per acre. It will be cheaper, by far, to grow; we'll see about cost of production. Of course, it'll probably be the same, Zero. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I don't want to say, "I Told You So," but I TOLD YOU SO!
WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court blocked the Pentagon on Friday from transferring an American citizen to an Iraqi court to face charges he supported terrorists and insurgents.
ReplyDeleteA three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously ruled that Shawqi Omar, a citizen of both Jordan and the United States who once served in the Minnesota National Guard, has a right to argue for his release before a U.S. court.
By a 2-1 vote, the panel upheld an injunction issued last year by U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina here that barred the U.S. military from turning Omar over for trial in an Iraqi court.
Omar was captured in Iraq in 2004 by U.S. forces during a raid on associates of Iraq al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. air strike in 2006. Omar is being held at Camp Bucca, a prison in southern Iraq, where he has been held for over two years without formal charges and, his family says, without access to counsel.
The U.S. military, which says Omar was harboring insurgents and had bomb-making materials at the time of his arrest, decided in 2005 to transfer him to the Central Criminal Court of Iraq for investigation and trial, but has been blocked by the U.S. court injunction.
Lots of tidbits of info in the above. Another exNational Guardsman mohammedan.
Jordanian passport, as well as US.
Ain't life a bitch, two years, he has not spoke to a lawyer yet. Ain't that a shame. Guess we cannot bring him back to the States, bet he was not mirandized.
Wonder when or if the DoD will want to transfer other US citizens to the Iraqi for criminal trial?
Marines, Army, rapists, murderers.
Should this young Marine stand trial in Iraq? I would think not, he claims to have been following orders, orders he considered, as a Corporal to be legal.
Should Corporals, Generals or Iraqi Judges decide what is legal?
Before or after the fact.
Handing US citizens to foreign governments, what weak sisters.
Should this young Marine stand trial in Iraq? I would think not, he claims to have been following orders, orders he considered, as a Corporal to be legal.
ReplyDeleteRat, this paragraph doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the post. Could you elaborate?
Guys in the video washing the cars in the river--some of those cars weren't so bad--they must be the poppy guys. Guys with the donkey carts are the farmers.
ReplyDeleteCAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Military prosecutors must restart their case against a Marine corporal who made the stunning decision to withdraw his guilty plea for the murder of an unarmed Iraqi civilian.
ReplyDeleteCpl. Trent Thomas, 25, told a judge Thursday he no longer believes he is guilty and was following a lawful order. He had earlier pleaded guilty to several charges, including kidnapping and murder.
WaPo tells the tale, who did what and what not. Some above the Cpl., in the Chain of Command, have pled out, another awaits trial.
Should DoD turn these Marines over to the Iraqi, for Justice to be dispensed?
Any more or less so than they should turn over any other US citizen?
I think This is a Really Good Idea.
ReplyDeleteOkay, Rat, I see.
ReplyDeleteDid the Jihadi lose 400? If so we're winning. Did we KIA 100 insurgents, we'd be breaking even. If less than 40 it would just be an accelerated indication of failure.
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason there is a blanket being on those numbers, rufus. It is not to empower the enemy, but to keep the US Public with the mushrooms.
I am offering a 1 Billion Tons of CO2 prize to anyone inventing something that will remove Al Gore from the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteU.S evidently bombing the you know what out of Afgan. since first of Feb. Nice article in USAToday about the Rover system.....
ReplyDeletePassed out drowned in their own puke.
ReplyDeleteThat's how all the great ones die.
Entertainment interlude--News Flash--Zsa Zsa Gabor's hubby, Prince Frederick von Anhalt, says he may be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby. Zsa Zsa must be around eighty now isn't she? I bet that Prince isn't really a Prince, but just says he is a Prince, and is really a younger truck driver.
ReplyDeleteJudge orders body on ice for 10 days pending a hearing.
$2 Billion for the one who can keep our orbit from becoming gradually more elliptical (thus bringing on the next "Glaciation.")
ReplyDeleteOn looking at that clip again, I agree it is staged. That is why the cameraman survived.
ReplyDeleteGag,
ReplyDeleteYou talking about the ROVER III?
Deuce,
ReplyDeleteThis is a blatant attempt at manufactured news. I hope you contact Charles over at LGF and get this further exposure.
rufus mention 1,400 gal gallons per annum for Florida croplands.
ReplyDeleteNo way I thought. It is possible, but not likely. The reasearch is found in two excellent sites, both of which reference the work of Dave Bransby of Auburn University.
He seems to have done the long term reasearch on the subject.
Ten year averages show 15 tons per annum per acre of switchgrass, which equates to 1,500 gallons.
So 100 gallons are reported produced per ton of dried product.
This report from dtn
Bransby reminded farmers that when producing switchgrass they are growing it for quantity for ethanol and want maximum dry matter yield. Composition is irrelevant. If they are growing it for livestock feed, earlier harvest is better since composition and quality (protein and nutrients) are important.
The crop can yield three to four tons per acre on CRP (conservation reserve program) land that is usually marginal and unmanaged, five to six tons per acre in the north with fertilizer and seven to eight tons in the south with fertilizer.
"It is easy to get four tons with no fertilizer," Bransby said, but by adding 50 pounds of nitrogen per acre, yield can be pushed another one to two tons per acre. That application is half or less of the amount of fertilizer applied to corn.
Farmers will grow what they can get paid for and, according to Bransby, they will grow switchgrass for ethanol production if it is priced right. "The farmer has to make money and right now they are being paid $50 to $60 per ton for switchgrass as hay. If they can continue to get that amount, it is a reasonable expectation that they will make money growing it for ethanol."
The story does say that the 15 ton per annum production was not a commercial effort, but a labor intense experiment.
It goes on to compare ethanol production costs of corn and switch grass. Wouldn't nobody be growin corn, for ethanol, based on those numbers.
Rat, good research, Thanks.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the 14 or 15 ton is "Optimal" conditions; soil quality, water, climate, etc. However, there will be some land in the South East that will flirt around with those numbers.
And, the whole process, from seed, to processing will get better as time goes on. Anyway, it's gonna be a Winner.
Oh, and, btw, Switch Grass is far from the best grass for this purpose. There are some S American Species (non-invasive) that will probably be superior to S Grass.
Oh, and "Everything" you read and hear in the popular Media about Corn Ethanol is JUST PLAIN WRONG.
ReplyDeleteThe Modern Plants are WAY MORE EFFICIENT THAN ANYONE in the popular media gives them credit for. What they don't take into consideration is that they produce 18 lbs of ethanol, BUT THEY ALSO PRODUCE 18 POUNDS OF DISTILLERS GRAINS PER BUSHEL, and 18 Pounds of CO2 which is being used more, and more to FLOOD OLD OIL WELLS TO "PRODUCE MORE OIL."
Also, the Modern Ethanol Refineries don't use ANY FOSSIL FUELS (they gassify their own effluent,) and starting this year the new ones will also refine the "Stover" (stalks.)
By the way, the New Refineries will produce their own Nitrogen fertilizer as a by-product.
Rat, you ARE RIGHT about one thing that I kind of glossed over. An Iowa farmer that's sitting on 200 bu/acre land will probably continue to raise corn. However, a Tn. farmer that averages 130 bu/acre will quite likely look at switch grass, and say, "Dang, when do we get one of them Cellulosic refineries over here.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be an interesting decade coming up.
This one will be a Dandy.
ReplyDeletePut a couple of thousand on the Winner of this "Sweepstakes" and Retire Comfortably.
ReplyDeleteThere are going to be thousands of these done.
I reposted this to encourage more scrutiny to see if it is in fact staged.
ReplyDeletefirst thing I notice in the video is the precise use of 'foreign army', and 'occupying force', in reference to the US and UK military.
ReplyDeleteyes, quite clearly staged.
ReplyDeleteDamned if I know.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is we ought to Buy the Damned Poppies.
And, what was that deal about a warehouse for the wheat?
Look, I grew up on a farm. I know Farmers. Farmers are the same all over the world. All they want to do is farm until they go broke, or Die.
You want peace in Afghanistan? Buy the Damned Poppies.
School--if it's a school--is burning. Wouldn't that argue that if it's staged, would have been on the spur of the moment. Where do you get the actors on the spur of the moment. On the other hand....
ReplyDeleteYep. That has to be staged. Or else it is the world's bravest cameraman.
ReplyDeleteGateway, we all enjoy your blog, tremendously. It probably gets linked here more than any other. I know I go to it four or five times (if not more) every day.
ReplyDeleteYou do a Great Job.
Gateway, Deuce and Whit have only had their blog up and running for a couple of months; I'm sure they would appreciate it tremendously if you would put them on your blogroll.
ReplyDeleteIt's just a small group of grumpy old men (largely Vets) but we seem to get ahead of the curve an exorbitant number of times.
Largely from reading excellent sites like yours, of course.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rufus.
ReplyDeleteGo Cards!
ReplyDeleteOn more important matters, I'm thinking the Prince may well be the father of Anna's daughter. After all, he's married to Zsa Zsa, age 90, and he's a spry 59, even if he is suing Viagra Company. And Anna, she was married to the tycoon, aged 89. The Prince and Anna have a lot in common, a lot to talk over. And Anna wanted to be a Princess.
ReplyDeleteHardy, har, har--what a country. Beome eunichs for the kingdom's sake comes to mind.
The definition of confusion? Father's day in (fill in your most hated town here..San Fran, Vegas, Hollywood).
Lot's of money in those paternity suits.
Bob, I always thought a child needed a Father; but, when I see what this poor little girl's got to choose from . . . . . Well, I just don't know. The Orphanage might not be THAT Bad.
ReplyDeleteWell, if you figure it out, tell me in the mornin. It's bedtime for Bonzo. Nite.
ReplyDeleteGateway Pundit has not only placed the Elephant Bar on his blogroll, he has also graciously given the EB top billing in his latest thread. Regulars here might consider giving Gateway Pundit a warm, earnest word of thanks, as rufus did in this instance and I have done elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteTaliWood Strikes in Lashkar Gar
Read Comments
Gateway Pundit is a stickler for good manners sans profanity, so be warned.
At the moment Gateway Pundit is having issues accepting comments. When he is back up, I hope someone here will post the following for me.
ReplyDelete"As a regular commenter at the Elephant Bar, please accept my thanks for the entry of that blog onto your roll and the conspicuous billing it at the head of this thread.
If you have had the time to peruse the Elephant Bar, you may have been struck by the quality of discourse. Also, you may have been shocked by the rough and tumble. Many regulars there have had military service, some still are serving, and some few have relatives and friends in active service downrange. Consequently, as with any military bar, the conversation can be salty and downright profane. The owners, Deuce and Whit, purposefully set out to create a site that would serve the same function as officers' and enlisted clubs used to serve, i.e. a place without boundaries, encouraging unexpurgated raw opinion. Newcomers need not fear, however, anyone willing to present an opinion reasonably will be instantly embraced.
Again, thanks for your kind "endorsement" and thanks for the outstanding work you do at high volume.
One final thought, watch rufus and me; he hails from the Bootheel and I from the Old Lead Belt."