Dreams Into Lightning 2

Morning Report: 2012-05-03

ISAF captures Uzbek al-Qaeda-linked leader. Long War Journal: 'Coalition and Afghan special operations forces captured a leader of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan during a raid today in northern Afghanistan. The IMU leader, who was involved with assassinations and suicide operations, is the second commander from the group to have been targeted in the district in the past three days. ...'

Profile of would-be bridge bomber Joshua Stafford. This Ain't Hell has the details on this winner. At age 23, his only interest is "smoking weed".

Egypt's frontronner Amr Moussa no friend of Israel. Al-Monitor: 'Cancellation of the gas agreement between Israel and Egypt is only a harbinger of things to come. If Amr Moussa will indeed be elected Egypt’s president, the experts anticipate additional escalation. Moussa, considered the leading candidate in the presidential race of our southern neighbor, earned his popularity in large due to his hard-line attitude toward Israel. It is no accident that Egypt’s hit parade includes the song “I hate Israel and love Amr Moussa” ...'

Morning Report: 2012-05-02

Taliban to start spring offensive. Long War Journal: 'The Taliban statement, which was released in English and other languages, said that the "Al Farooq Jihadi spring operation" offensive will begin on May 3, and will target foreign and Afghan security forces, Afghan political and government officials, the Afghan High Peace Council, and anti-Taliban militias. The statement is attributed to "The Leadership Council of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," which is better known as the Quetta Shura. ...' The statement coincided with an assault that missed President Obama's visit by just hours: 'A Taliban fighter detonated a car bomb at the main gate of the compound at about 6:15 a.m. local time. The four other fighters, wearing suicide vests and armed with assault rifles, hand grenades, and rocket-propelled grenades, then entered a parking area in the outer perimeter of the base, according to a report received by The Long War Journal. ...'

May Day thugs cause damage, attempt more. In San Francisco's Mission District, a group of protesters vandalized shops and cars on Valencia Street on the eve of May Day. Elsewhere, some individuals had more serious trouble in mind. From the Belmont Club:

WKYC has links to the actual criminal complaints filed against Connor Stevens, Brandon Baxter, Douglas Wright, Anthony Hayne and Joshua Stafford in connection with an alleged plot to blow up the Route 82 Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge and perhaps to subsequently attack targets in Chicago in connection with the coming NATO summit. ...

The complaints are worth reading to gain a glimpse into the more extreme fringes of Occupy, to whom some of the suspects belonged or even had leadership positions in. In that universe, the enemy is the Federal Reserve, the One Percent, Fusion Centers and other targets. Since these proved hard to attack it is alleged the suspects decided to focus on the measly bridge.

According to the criminal complaints, the suspects allegedly discussed ways of communicating secretly, spoofing their IP addresses, using untraceable electronic transfers and using peer-to-peer networks to avoid detection by the Man. However, they neglected to avoid the acquaintance of an FBI confidential human source ...

Go to the post for links, and Fernandez' reflections on the incident.

China and technology. Strategy Page reports the latest information on the PRC's efforts to steal and appropriate American technology, and how Beijing hopes to succeed where the old Soviet Union failed.

Morning Report: 2014-04-15

Pakistan Taliban launch jailbreak assault, frees 400. Long War Journal:

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan launched a nighttime assault on a prison in northwestern Pakistan, freeing nearly 400 inmates, including "hardcore militants."

A Taliban force estimated at 150 fighters launched the attack on the prison in the district of Bannu at 1:00 a.m. local time and clashed with prison personnel for nearly two hours, according to AFP. The heavily armed Taliban fighters blew open the front gate and lobbed grenades and fired on prison guards during the attack. Other Taliban fighters blocked off the surrounding roads to prevent Pakistani reinforcements from reaching the prison.

Ihsanullah Ihsan, a spokesman for the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, claimed credit for the assault and said the group would provide more details on those who were freed. ...

Afghan Taliban attack embassies. Those guys are on a roll. 'Attackers in Afghanistan launched a coordinated wave of assaults Sunday, targeting a heavily protected district of the capital that includes embassies and the presidential palace, as well as trying to strike an airbase used by American troops, officials said. Government facilities, and the American, German and Russian embassies in Kabul were targeted, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said, saying up to seven locations were attacked.'

Ammar Sahib Gets His Virgins

Long War Journal:

Last night Coalition and Afghan special operations forces again targeted the leadership cadre of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan during a raid in the northwestern province of Faryab. The IMU facilitator who was killed in the raid had previously been in Afghan custody for murdering two members of a Provincial Reconstruction Team and two civilians, but spent only six months in jail before being released.

The combined special operations team killed Ammar Sahib, who was also known as Qyamuddin, during a raid in the district of Maimana. The International Security Assistance Force said Ammar Sahib was shot and killed by Afghan soliders after he "confronted them with an AK-47." Two of his associates were detained "and are scheduled to be turned over to National Defense Security officials." ...

"Stubborn Yorkshirewoman" Cpt Lisa Head

Telegraph:

Captain Lisa Head, 29, had been lucky to survive the first explosion, when an undetected IED partially detonated under her foot, merely showering her with dust.

But after stepping away to smoke a cigarette and enjoy a “Condor moment” to gather her courage she returned to the alley in the Afghan village of Padaka, in Helmand Province. ...

Read the rest at the link. Via Stuttaford at The Corner.

Afghanistan: Where does the aid go?

Mike Thompson, BBC:

Abdul says his crops failed, many of his animals have died and local food prices have soared. His community, he says, has had no help at all, either from the government or international aid agencies.

Yet he has heard on the radio that large sums of aid have come to his country, though not, Abdul insists, to peaceful areas like his.

"There is no fighting here and nobody cultivates poppies. All the international aid seems to go to Kandahar and Helmand, none of it comes here," he says.

"Maybe people in those provinces are powerful, or maybe because they are fighting they send all the aid to them."

Abdul's theory may not be far from the truth. ...

Former Afghan President Rabbani Killed

Fox reports that former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani has been killed in Kabul.

Burhanuddin Rabbani:

Burhanuddin Rabbani (Persian: برهان الدين رباني - Burhânuddîn Rabbânî) (1940 – 20 September 2011) was President of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996. Burhanuddin Rabbani was the leader of Jamiat-e Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Society of Afghanistan). He also served as the political head of the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (UIFSA), an alliance of various political groups who fought against Taliban rule in Afghanistan. He served as President from 1992–1996 until he was forced to leave Kabul because of the Taliban takeover of the city. His government was recognized by many countries, as well as the United Nations. He was also the head of Afghanistan National Front (known in the media as United National Front), the largest political opposition to Hamid Karzai's government.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility. Apparently taking a cue from Jyllands-Posten, "the attacker hid the bomb inside his turban".

Chesler: Saving Schoolgirls

Phyllis Chesler's latest piece is provocatively titled The High Cost of Western Idealism.

Yesterday in Charikar, Afghanistan, for the second time in two weeks, 50 innocent schoolgirls were poison-gassed at school and had to be hospitalized. Many girls lost consciousness and collapsed. Some girls were dizzy, nauseous, and threw up. Amazingly, Noor Jahan, a ninth grader at the Ura Jalili Girls High School said:

“I am pretty sure whoever has done this is against education for girls, but I strongly ask the parents not to be discouraged by such brutal action and send their children to school.”

Such attacks on Afghan girls schools have escalated within the past year. However, this barbaric, Taliban mentality is alive and well among some Afghan immigrants in the West. The Afghan-Canadian brother, Hasibullah Sadiqi, who killed his sister and her fiancée in Ottawa and who is now standing trial, came to Canada when he was five months old. Nevertheless, Hasibullah enacted ancient tribal, (or radically Islamic codes), despite the fact that he had been living in the West for more than twenty one years. ...

Continue reading at the link.
According to the Telegraph:

"I am pretty sure whoever has done this is against education for girls, but I strongly ask the parents not to be discouraged by such brutal action and send their children to school," said Noor Jahan, a ninth grader at Ura Jalili Girls' High School.

Afghan Women Protest Rape Law

Phyllis Chesler:

When I lived in Kabul, women simply did not rise up, take to the streets, and mount brave demonstrations. Hell no. Wealthy women wore decorous long headscarves, long coats, and gloves, and were driven around by chauffeurs in expensive European cars. Poor women wore the full burq’a and were forced to sit separately from men on public buses; they were also kicked to the back of the line in the bazaar when the male servants of wealthy families came to make their purchases. Occasionally, if a country girl or woman was out working or walking and a male non-relative chanced by, she would swiftly, shyly turn her face away and simultaneously cover it with her headscarf. This was a practiced, perhaps terrified motion.

Imagine my joy today, nearly fifty years later, when I read that Afghan women just took to the streets to protest a new law which legalizes rape within marriage, requires a husband’s permission in order for his wife to be able to work, and requires wives to “dress” as their husbands desire.

The heroic women faced down an angry, dangerous mob of men who called them “whores.” ...

Afghan Rape Bill

Aziz Poonawalla at City of Brass:

In an explicit bid to appease hard-line Islamists, Afghanistan's "president" Hamid Karzai has signed a bill into law that essentially legalizes rape of a woman by her husband ...

As a bonus, the law is named the "Shia Family Law" even though the bil is not representative of mainstream Shi'a jurisprudence, but rather focused on the extreme attitudes within a distinct ethnic minority ...

Go read the rest. As AP says, this marks a return by the Obama administration to the old, dark days of so-called "realism".