A cut in pay leads to murder

The Afghan soldier who gunned down nine Americans in a shooting rampage at a military compound in Kabul last April targeted and killed his U.S. mentors after they took away his wings and cut his salary nearly in half because he was unable to learn English, a longtime colleague of the killer has told FoxNews.com.
A second Afghan airman, who was wounded in the April 27 attack, says the gunman, Col. Ahmed Gul, also intended to kill Afghans who were working with the Americans at the base at Kabul Airport. And he said he fears there will be more incidents like it as the war winds down.

Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/26/exclusive-flunked-english-class-pay-cut-behind-afghans-shooting-rampage-at-us/#ixzz1kbHdWHGG

I can’t say this is much different from Americans. We hear all the time about fired disgruntled workers who go back into the workplace and gun down their managers, co-workers, etc.

What is surprising in this whole thing is that the Air Force just released their Special Investigation report into this incident and there was no mention of the cut in pay or flying status. Why would that be? It could be that none of it is true, or that it is but the Air Force for some reason is hiding that fact or did not want to make that known for some politically correct reason.

I would say that if this were true, it would be a prime motive of why COL Gul decided to murder. I would hope that the Air Force is not trying to hide this in order to hide the fact that as we mentor and train Afghans to do their jobs and secure their own country that we would and should be holding them accountable and thereby punishing them when needed.

I don’t mean to sound all conspiracy theorist here but lets just say I have seen more than my fair share of covering up of Afghan inadequacies and shortfalls by US military and civilian leadership.

Photo Courtesy of www.bigstockphoto.com

Is NATO that stupid?

I have to wonder what elementary school drop-out is up at NATO running things and making decision? It does not take even a High-school diploma to figure out this is not a good idea or will turn out well.

Taliban militants, who have shunned violence, are being provided monthly cash incentive of £100, besides being given amnesty for all crimes such as murdering children, beheadings and hanging women.

“Members of the Taliban who give up their fight are being paid £100 a month and will be allowed to keep their guns in a new initiative to end the insurgency,” the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.

Paying the Taliban not to fight is like giving a rapist free hookers so he doesn’t rape innocent women. Sure it will accomplish what you want in the short term, but over time it will become too expensive and you make them dependent on you.

Once we cut off the payments then they will go back to doing what they have to in order to survive, which means attacking us or the Government of Afghanistan. You cannot buy your way out of a problem like this.

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Yeah we are screwed

The other day I put up a poll titled “Is our new stealth technology lost?” asking people to respond how bad the loss of the Sentinel stealth drone to Iran is to our country. Well I think now that the Iranians are showing the unmanned drone almost completely intact it is beyond being “really bad” and is more like “we are screwed”.

To read the story and see the video of the drone in Iran’s hands go check out www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16098562

Pakistani Taliban on the ropes?

I know it has been a while since I posted, but since the crazy Veterans Day weekend in Las Vegas I have been swamped with things on my plate and just physically unable to sit down and write. But now I am able to get back to some blogging and would like to start with this one.

It seems from some recent stories coming out of overseas news outlets that the Taliban in Pakistan are starting to feel the pressure of US drone and Pakistan Army attacks.

Peshawar, Pakistan – After a deadly campaign of attacks, the Pakistani Taliban are weakened and exploring peace talks with authorities perceived as increasingly at odds with the United States, observers say.
Taliban commanders now say they have started initial talks with Islamabad, mediated by former army officials, in a move that could end years of “holy war” that saw 500 attacks killing more than 4 700 people, according to an AFP tally.
The army and the spokesman for the main umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban faction, allied to al-Qaeda, strongly denied the claims and low-level violence continues on a near daily basis, as do clashes between troops and militants.
Any negotiations underway need to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Rebel factions are eclectic and nebulous and it remains unclear whether they are united enough to clinch a deal or how long any such deal would last.
Nevertheless, the rhythm of attacks has changed dramatically in Pakistan, with the death toll steadily diminishing in a pattern that continued after US Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in the garrison city of Abbottabad on May 2.
Significantly, there has been no major Islamist militant attack in Pakistan since a suicide bomber killed 46 people at a funeral in the northwestern district of Lower Dir on September 15.
According to an AFP tally, around 800 people have been killed in bomb attacks so far this year, significantly fewer than the 1 360
killed in 2010.
About 556 people died in attacks in the six months before bin Laden was killed and 412 in the six months afterwards.
“TTP was at its peak in 2007-2008. But it has since been weakened and is divided,” said Saifullah Khan Mehsud, an analyst at the FATA Research Centre, a think tank dedicated to the Afghan border areas where Taliban are based.
In 2009, the Taliban marched to within 100 kilometres of the capital Islamabad, sending Western allies into a tailspin of panic, worried that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into rebel hands.
The army went on the offensive, local anti-Taliban militias proliferated and the rebels were pushed back into the mountains on the Afghan border. TTP founder Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike in August 2009.
Islamist militants’ main base, the tribal district of North Waziristan, has been targeted for three years by US drone strikes which “kill TTP militants for the most part”, according to one frequent visitor to the district.
The army has also stepped up searches and checkpoints on the roads linking the semi-autonomous tribal zone to the rest of the country. More and more rebels are also reported to have fled into Afghanistan.
“It is much more difficult for militants to move around. Overall, their network has been disrupted,” said the frequent visitor to North Waziristan.
A number of observers also say the TTP is short of money. Two of its main sources of income – kidnappings for ransom and donations from local traders – have dried up.
Potential kidnapping victims are taking more precautions and people are less inclined to cough up cash when civilians are so often killed in their attacks. …

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Additional Campaign Phase Identified for Afghanistan Campaign Medal

The Department of Defense announced today that an additional campaign phase has been approved for the Afghanistan Campaign Medal (ACM). Accordingly, an additional campaign star corresponding to the campaign phase is now authorized for wear on the ACM.

     ACM campaign stars recognize a service member’s participation in DoD-designated military campaigns in the Afghanistan Campaign Medal’s area of eligibility.

     Service members who have qualified for the ACM may display a bronze campaign star on their medal for each designated campaign phase in which they participated. The stars are worn on the suspension and campaign ribbon of the campaign medal.

     The additional ACM campaign phase and associated dates are:

Transition I July 1, 2011 through a date to be determined.

     The four previously approved ACM campaign phases are:

Liberation of Afghanistan – Sept. 11, 2001 to Nov. 30, 2001

Consolidation I – Dec. 1, 2001 to Sept. 30, 2006

Consolidation II – Oct. 1, 2006 to Nov. 30, 2009

Consolidation III – Dec. 1, 2009 through June 30, 2011.

      Service members should contact their respective military departments for specific implementation guidance.

Another very sad day in Afghanistan

It looks like Saturday has turned into another sad day for Coalition and our Afghan partners in Afghanistan.

Two suicide bombers, one of them a woman, blew themselves up, claiming at least four lives while an Afghan soldier shot dead four people, including three NATO soldiers, in Afghanistan Saturday, officials said.

A woman suicide bomber blew herself up next to the department of National Directorate for Security in Kunar province capital Assadabad, killing one person and injuring five others, including three policemen, an official told Xinhua.

The second suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car around 11.30 a.m. near a NATO convoy in Darul Aman road in the western part of Kabul Saturday morning, police spokesman Hashmat Stanikezy told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, an Afghan soldier opened fire and killed four people, including three NATO soldiers, and their local interpreter in Uruzgan province, said General Abdul Hamid Wardak, Afghan army commander in the southern region.

Reports are now coming out saying the VBIED (car-bomb) in Kabul killed 13 American service-members. When I first heard that I wondered “why 13?”, as it seemed like a weird number. You really can’t cram 13 in a HUMVEE or MRAP and since it was a convoy I doubt they could blow up three MRAPs from one VBIED. However I am now hearing it was an attack on a bus.

It was one of the Armored buses called a RHINO.

In Kabul, the suicide bomber targeted an armored bus that was part of a convoy of mine-resistant armored military vehicles traveling on a road in the southwest end of the city. NATO said there were “several” causalities among its forces and Afghan civilians, but did not provide details.

The Afghan Ministry of Interior said three Afghan civilians and one policeman died in the Kabul attack. Eight other Afghans — two members of the Afghan security forces and six civilians, including two children — were wounded, said Kabir Amiri, head of Kabul hospitals.

The attack occurred near the ladmark Darulaman Palace, the bombed-out seat of former Afghan kings. Continue reading →

Too long in coming

Army Capt. Will Swenson has been recommended by the top U.S. general in Afghanistan for the Medal of Honor after widespread speculation about why his heroism had gone unrecognized, according to a published report.

Swenson braved enemy fire on Sept. 8, 2009, with Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer, who will receive the nation’s top valor award Thursday at the White House. Meyer, now a sergeant in the Individual Ready Reserve, told Marine Corps Times recently that it was “ridiculous” Swenson already hadn’t received some form of valor award.

“I’ll put it this way,” the outspoken Meyer said in an interview. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

Marine Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, took a personal interest in the fierce firefight in Ganjgal, Afghanistan, that led to Meyer’s award, according to a report published on The Wall Street Journal’s website Wednesday night. The record of the battle was reopened last month, and “given the four-star general’s personal interest, sworn statements attesting to Capt. Swenson’s valor were quickly found.”

“Gen. Allen has since forwarded a Medal of Honor recommendation, saying it was the right thing to do despite a lapse of two years,” the report said.

As the story says (www.navytimes.com/news/2011/09/military-medal-of-honor-william-swenson-report-ganjgal-hero-recommended-091411w/) this has taken too long to make happen and I along with many others are highly suspicious why it took so long for this recommendation to go forward.

This delayed recommendation has several scandalous facets to it. First and foremost is that even thought Dakota Meyer was nominated for and received the Medal of Honor, CPT Swenson was not even put in for an Army Commendation Medal, much less anything near MoH or the MoH itself. As documented in multiple sworn statements, CPT Swenson was side by side, performing the same heroic actions as Dakota Meyer. Continue reading →