Blogging has been lite for the last several days. Some may be aware that Rocketsbrain is re-wiring after maxing out in the Cal-PERS retirement system. He's been in the "designing to sell" mode ala HGTV for since retiring.

Anyway having open house this wk'd and have been busy doing last minute cleaning and repairs.

Insightful, meaningful, and eclectic blogging will resume on Monday.

Anyway was somewhat "bummed out" after reading Joe Katzman's rather bleak analysis of the developing situation in Iran. I'll post an except shortly.

rocketsbrain

HT Renew America

Mortal Threat

Frank Gaffney
January 16, 2006


Suddenly, the Iranian nuclear program is all the buzz. It appears to be nearing the point at which weapons-grade material, if not actual atomic or nuclear weapons, will be in the hands of one of the world's most dangerous regimes. Given the magnitude of the danger thus posed, it is astounding that the world's response to date seems confined to rhetorical hand-wringing and diplomatic maneuvering.

To be sure, President Bush and his newly installed German counterpart spent much of their recent summit on the subject. Their entente on the matter evidently will clear the way for referring it to the UN Security Council.

Unfortunately, it seems likely to be subjected there to an open-ended gab-fest. After all, economic sanctions against Iran — the worst punishment most diplomats can imagine — will probably be blocked by the threat of vetoes from Iran's friends in Moscow and Beijing. In any event, U.S. officials are at pains to say that military action is not an option, at least for now.

One can only conclude that this rather flaccid response to the prospect of a nuclear-armed, Islamofascist Iran reflects a sense that the threat thus posed will be somebody else's problem. Certainly, it is a problem for Israel, which Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declared should be "wiped off the map." But since many in the so-called "international community" have little more love than he does for the Jewish State (whether they admit it or not — look at their anti-Israel voting record in the UN), the threat to Israel is unlikely to catalyze action against Iran's mullahocracy.

But what if Iran's nuclear weapons were actually intended to bring about one of Ahmadinejad's other stated objectives: "a world without America"? Would we indulge in still more talk-a-thons like those of the last two-plus years led by the European Union 3 (Britain, France and Germany) — for which the Iranians have publicly expressed appreciation as "buying time" for their nuclear program?

In fact, there is reason to believe that the Iranian regime is working towards a capability that could destroy America as we know it. A blue-ribbon commission's report to the Congress last year (http://empcreport.ida.org/) found that a single nuclear weapon detonated in space high above the United States could unleash an immensely powerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP). An EMP wave a million times stronger than the most powerful radio transmitter would damage or destroy the electrical grid and unshielded electronic devices upon which our society utterly depends. The effect (visualized in a short video available at www.WarFooting.com) could be "catastrophic" — possibly reducing America from a 21st Century superpower to a pre-industrial society in the blink of an eye.

Iranian missile tests — including firing a Scud missile off a ship and flying the new Shahab 3 missile in a profile apparently designed to deliver a weapon into space — suggest that the mullahs are seeking an EMP capability. The sort of death and destruction such an attack might precipitate seem consistent with the apocalyptic vision of Shiite extremists, who believe such conditions to be the prerequisite for a messianic age ushered in by the arrival of the "12th imam."

If this is, indeed, what the Iranian regime has in mind, would we wait to act? Would we continue to contract out to the Europeans or the UN the job of protecting our security interests? Would we allow the Israelis — who are under no illusion that their country faces an existential threat from a nuclear-armed Iran — to act alone against a danger we may share?

The truth of the matter is that we now have no choice but to take several steps:

First, we must seek to deter an attack on this country with credible, reliable and useable nuclear forces. This will require a resumption of nuclear testing and the introduction of new weapons designed to hold at risk what the Iranian regime holds dear.

Second, we must field at once missile defenses capable of stopping an Iranian EMP attack. This will require immediately expanding the number of Navy ships with the Aegis fleet air defense system that are equipped to intercept ship-launched ballistic missiles.

Third, we must take active steps to reduce our nation's vulnerability to EMP attack. Rep. Roy Blunt has expressed his support for such steps. The other candidates to lead House Republicans are among those national leaders who should give this need priority attention.

As these measures will take time, it is incumbent upon us to make a concerted effort to help the Iranian people overthrow their government. The regime that threatens us oppresses them. We can — and must — energetically find ways to work against our common foe.

Finally, we may have no choice but to use military force to disrupt, if not destroy, the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Preparations for doing so should be in train now as this option may need to be exercised far more quickly than some would have us believe.

Should such force be necessary, it must be used not only to target the regime's covert nuclear sites, but also the means by which the Iranian government exercises repressive control over its people (e.g., the security services, religious police, intelligence and communication systems). In so doing, we should make clear our solidarity with the people of Iran and that our fight is with their despotic and malevolent mullahs.

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., is President of the Center for Security Policy and a columnist for the Washington Times.

© Copyright 2006 by Frank Gaffney

Read it Here

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/gaffney/060116

We must engage the enemy in Cyberspace to win the War of Information.

Time Online cited Dr. Zin, www.regimechangeiran.com, in this article re bloggers et al inside Iran. Also mentions the importance of Iranian women inside the regime. The Mullahs are doing everything they can to block these alternative forms of information. They realize they are doomed if they can't keep these com channels blocked.

We need to engage the enemy in Cyberspace if we are going to win this war. These sites need to be mirrored all around the Internet so folks in Iran can access this stuff outside the country around the system blocks the Mullahs are throwing up.

See this previous post:

If I'm correct that there is a rift developing in the ruling Iranian theocracy, the US/DOD/Dept of State, Radio Free Europe, The Voice of America, the BBC (fat chance), Deutsche Welle (Perhaps) and the Blogs should be running Mack trucks into this rift zone to reach the Iranian "Joyless Generation."

Read More

*****

Time Magazine

Slamming Its Doors on the World

As Iran confronts the West over nukes, its leaders are patrolling the Web to silence critics at home
By AZADEH MOAVENI/TEHRAN

As the editor of the Iranian Feminist Tribune, a website devoted to women's issues, Parvin Ardalan used to sit at her home computer each night, posting news articles on the site that the country's print press would never carry. She spread the word about sit-ins and seminars. At its busiest, the site attracted 70,000 visitors a day. But late last year, Ardalan received a text message from a friend informing her that the site had disappeared. Along with thousands of other websites--including opposition blogs like regimechange.blogspot.com and online retailers like Bloomingdales.com--the Feminist Tribune was blocked as part of a censorship campaign by Iran's new hard-line government but is still accessible outside Iran. "We lost one of our greatest tools," Ardalan says. "It's hindered our work, which I suppose was the goal."

For Western governments as much as for activists like Ardalan, the aims of the Iranian regime grow more alarming every day. Led by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's elected government--whose powers are circumscribed by the country's ruling ayatullahs--has made confrontation the guiding tenet of its policies at home and in the world. The regime made its most provocative move yet last week, resuming work on its uranium-enrichment program, which the U.S. and some of its allies believe is a critical step toward the eventual production of nuclear weapons. The resumption touched off a flurry of international condemnation and raised the likelihood that Iran will be referred to the U.N. Security Council. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared that by resuming enrichment activities, Iran has "shattered the basis for negotiation."

What happens next is still up in the air. The Bush Administration is pushing what one official calls a "very carefully calibrated, incremental approach." The first step would be a Security Council statement urging Iran to comply fully with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. If the Iranians refuse, the U.S. would urge the Security Council to issue a legal demand to Iran to suspend enrichment work. If all else fails, the U.S. and its allies are likely to pursue "targeted sanctions" against Tehran, such as restricting the regime's access to international financial channels and squeezing its ability to trade and travel. But getting agreement on the nature of sanctions--and avoiding a veto by Russia or China, which both have deep economic interests in Iran--could take months.

To many Iranians, Ahmadinejad's strategy of confrontation and refusal to compromise reflects the regime's unease as much as its pugnacity. At home, the new administration has sought to roll back the moves toward liberalization pursued by former President Mohammed Khatami and is imposing Islamic strictures and cracking down on even nonpolitical forms of expression, like women smoking in cafés and satellite TV. Some Iranians believe that the country's rulers fear further engagement with the West will embolden young people to demand greater freedoms, which may fatally undermine the regime's authority. "They feel danger, and their strategy of dealing with it is by attacking rather than cooperating," says a former senior reformist official.

The government's aggressive policing of the Internet reflects how decisively Ahmadinejad has stemmed momentum toward democratic reform. Hard-liners in Iran's judiciary first sought to seal off the Internet in 2004 by arresting Web technicians and bloggers. Since 2004, authorities have rounded up at least 20 writers for posting subversive material online, handing them jail terms ranging from a few days to 14 years. Last June, following Ahmadinejad's surprise election, the government launched a fresh onslaught, this time against the websites and blogs themselves. Using keyword filters and censorship software pirated from U.S. firms, the government blocked thousands of websites containing news, political content and satire. It even blocked the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The crude filters make it impossible to look up suggestive words such as women, so a Google search on women's pregnancy produces an ACCESS DENIED screen. "The end result is a marginalization of women and women's issues," says activist Sussan Tahmasebi.

Activist webmasters and bloggers are trying to navigate around the filters. Many have changed their domain names to get themselves back online for a few days until the censors catch up. Women in Iran, an assertive website carrying news and reports about women's issues, switched from com to a org address after being blocked, was filtered again and is now accessible as net. Activists in Iran now hoard backup domain names, although they have recently hit an unexpected wall: Iranian Web developers say that U.S. domain providers have stopped selling addresses to Iranian Web clients, claiming the sales contravene U.S. economic sanctions against Iran. As a result, some activists are investigating the possibility of running their sites through satellite services, which may allow them to evade the government's reach. Hossein Derakhshan, a prominent Iranian exile blogger who offers a quirky, Jon Stewart--like brew of political commentary, has watched Iranian visitors to his blog plummet from a high of about 8,000 hits a day to a low of about 1,500 a day. He sends out his daily content by e-mail, which for now remains free and, he hopes, secure.

Ahmadinejad's policies have started to cause splits within the country's ruling élite. He faces pressure to moderate his policies from some conservative rivals who are uncomfortable with his more incendiary statements, such as calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and openly rooting for the death of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. But so far, even those critics are having difficulty being heard. Last October some prominent conservatives openly bared their criticism of Ahmadinejad on the news website Baztab, which belongs to Mohsen Rezai, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards. The government promptly took the site down.

With reporting by Elaine Shannon/Washington

Read it All

*****

[Comment from Dr. Zin on his site linking to this article]

It was an honor to be mentioned, but unfortunately their copy proofers didn't catch the mistake in the title of our blog. They cited RegimeChange not RegimeChangeIran. (RegimeChange.blogspot.com is an small anti-Bush blog, not an Iran blog). They made the same mistake on Bloomingdales link). I fixed them in this post.

HT The Counterterrorism Blog

No problem here move on!

*****

January 16, 2006
Massive Immigration Benefit Fraud a Threat to National Security

On January 13, the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a press release announcing the takedown of a large-scale immigration benefit fraud scheme in the Newark, New Jersey area. The ICE announcement noted the arrest of an Indian citizen suspect named Narendra Mandalapa who was charged with the Federal violation of Fraud and Misuse of Visas, 18 United States Code, Section 1546.

The investigation, conducted jointly between ICE and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), the immigration benefits agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is reported to have found nearly 1000 suspected fraudulent labor-based immigration visa petitions filed on behalf of Indian and Pakistani aliens seeking entry into the United States. The ICE announcement states the investigation is continuing to determine how many such aliens may actually have made entry into the US.

The case highlights an extremely important aspect of the link between immigration and national security, and how vulnerable our immigration system is to abuse by all manner of violators, but particularly those who engage in fraud. Immigration fraud has been rampant for decades. Our visa and immigration benefit issuance system has been, for far too long, treated by both the Government and the recipients as something akin to an entitlement system for foreign nationals. Resources devoted to system integrity and detection of fraud have never been commensurate with the degree of the problem.

[...]

Read More

HT Ace of Spades

The Washington Times

blished January 16, 2006

RAMADI, Iraq -- Gazing through the telescopic sight of his M-24 rifle, Army Staff Sgt. Jim Gilliland, leader of Shadow sniper team, fixed his eye on the Iraqi insurgent who had just killed an American soldier.
His quarry stood nonchalantly in the fourth-floor bay window of a hospital in battle-torn Ramadi, still clasping a long-barreled Kalashnikov. Instinctively allowing for wind speed and bullet drop, Shadow's commander aimed 12 feet high.
A single shot hit the Iraqi in the chest and killed him instantly. It had been fired from a range of more than three-quarters of a mile, well beyond the capacity of the powerful Leupold sight, accurate to 3,300 feet.
"I believe it is the longest confirmed kill in Iraq with a 7.62mm rifle," said Sgt. Gilliland, 28, who hunted squirrels in Double Springs, Ala., from the age of 5 before progressing to deer -- and then to insurgents and terrorists.
"He was visible only from the waist up. It was a one-in-a-million shot. I could probably shoot a whole box of ammunition and never hit him again."
Later that day, Sgt. Gilliland found out that the American soldier who had been killed by the Iraqi was Staff Sgt. Jason Benford, 30, a good friend.

[...]

Read More

HT The American Thinker


Photo fakery at the New York Times
January 16th, 2006

Is a fake staged photo fit to print? What if it staged in a way that makes the US forces fighting the War on Terror look cruel and ineffective? The evidence argues that yes, it can run, and in a prominent position - at least in the case of the New York Times website.

It appears that the Times, once-upon-a-time regarded as the last word in reliability when it comes to checking before publishing (which makes them so much better than blogs, of course), has run a fake photo on the home page of its website. The photo has since been removed from the home page, but still can be seen here.

The picture shows a sad little boy, with a turbaned man next to him, a little bit further from the camera, amid the ruins of a house. Other men and boys peer in from the background. The photo is captioned

“Pakistani men with the remains of a missile fired at a house in the Bajur tribal zone near the Afghan border.”

The story it accompanies is about the apparently failed attempt to take out al Qaeda’s #2 man al Zawahiri, with a missile attack from a Predator drone.

“How sad!” readers are encouraged to think. “These poor people are on the receiving end of awful weapons used by the clumsy minions of Bush. And all to no avail. Isn’t it terrible? Why must America do such horrible misdeeds? Bush must go!”

The only problem is that the long cylindrical item with a conical tip pictured with the boy and the man is not a missile at all. It is an old artillery shell. Not something that would have been fired from a Predator. Indeed, something that must have been found elsewhere and posed with the ruins and the little boy as a means at pulling of the heartstrings of the gullible readers of the New York Times.

[...]

Read More with Links

HT The American Daily

Stop Iran!
By Carol Devine-Molin (01/15/06)

Our dreaded nuclear showdown with Iran is at hand. America must now respond to this fundamental question: Do we let a lawless regime, which is the foremost state sponsor of transnational terrorism, get hold of nuclear weaponry? Clearly, the answer is no. The world’s only remaining superpower, led by President George Bush, is not about to let the crazed Islamofascists of Iran make pixie dust out of Western civilization.

If left to their own devices, what can we anticipate from this fanatical bunch in Tehran? Once nuclear-armed, Iran would undoubtedly ratchet up the bluster – not much of a stretch, given its already wildly out-of-control rhetoric – and quickly proceed to torment the West with nuclear blackmail, a host of demands, and an orchestrated campaign of non-nuclear terrorist attacks, all calculated to break the will of the West. Things would only escalate. There would be no appeasing this terribly irrational and malevolent regime.

Inevitably, Iran’s leadership would work itself up into a full-fledge tizzy, launching nuclear attacks on its own, or in tandem with one of its surrogate terrorists groups to share in the dirty work. Cities such as Washington DC, NYC, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv and London would be at the top of Iran’s hit list. The question many might ask is this: Are these radical Islamists concerned about retaliation? Not really. At its root, Radical Islam is an apocalyptic death cult. They’ll kill, and they’re prepared to be killed. But more about that later.

By its own admission, the leadership of Iran is hell-bent on bringing the West to its knees, starting with the destruction of America and the tiny nation of Israel, the latter being the lone outpost of the West in the Middle East, and surrounded by a sea of enemies. Iran, led by a patently deranged extremist, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his mullah cohorts, won’t be deterred from acquiring nukes. Significant diplomatic efforts by “The Big Three” European powers (France Germany and the UK), and more recently Russia, have failed to persuade Iran to abandoned its nuclear ambitions. It would be fair to say that the Iranians were always gaming us, stringing us along, with no intention of engaging in serious and constructive negotiations.

And what of the UN? After two years, “The Big Three” have concluded that diplomacy is at a “dead end”, and they’re calling upon the International Atomic Energy Agency (the UN’s nuclear watchdog) to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible economic and diplomatic sanctions. UN sanctions are really all about symbolism and “feelgoodism”. It’s a show of unity that permits the global community to pat itself on the back with one hand, and wag its finger in the face of the offending nation with the other hand. But will the UN sanctions effectively pressure Iran into mending its ways? Or will Iran blow-off condemnation of its nuclear breach as just more empty words from the UN ivory tower? You can bet, it’s the latter. When it comes right down to it, the Iranians are well aware that UN sanctions have no teeth.

And here’s some other food-for-thought about the UN: First, knowing these worthless apparatchiks and terrorist sympathizers at the UN, it’s highly doubtful that anything substantive will be accomplished at that venue. Second, when have UN sanctions ever really worked? Sanctions only hurt the common man in any given society, while the corrupt elites, who know how to work the system, find ways to manipulate or circumvent sanctions in order to survive and even thrive. A perfect case in point is Saddam’s Iraqi regime. The UN Oil-for-Food program was initially developed to counter the debilitating effects of sanctions upon the Iraqi people after the Gulf War and prior to Saddam’s ouster. Instead, Saddam and his cronies co-opted the UN Oil-for-Food program, and used it as their own little slush fund. The inept and corrupt UN was part and parcel of those shenanigans.

In short, we’re not going to be able to depend upon the UN, or the European socialists for that matter, to significantly aid us with the “Iran problem”. They might help marginally with a bit of public condemnation of Iran and some futile sanctions, but the hard-lifting will have to be accomplished by the US and Israel. And what about hitting Iran in the wallet where it’s bound to hurt? Well, it’s pie-in-the-sky to think that the Europeans would be the tiniest bit inclined to take a principled stance, and support a Naval Blockade that would: a) shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and, b) prevent the export of Iranian oil. Europeans depend on that oil, and they’re not going to absorb any kind of temporary hit to rein-in Iran, even if Iran is destined to come back and bite them in the derrière at some later point. The Europeans, who are typical Leftists, are short-term thinkers. They need to adequately grasp that Iran despises all of Western civilization, and it’s only a matter of time before they feel the full fury of that wayward regime.

Now let’s examine the Iranian leadership more closely: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the mullahocracy (Teheran’s "revolutionary" ruling class comprised of hundreds of mullahs – Muslim clerics – who are in pivotal political positions) have made no bones about the fact that they’re committed to targeting America, the “Great Satan”, and Israel, the “Little Satan”, which are deemed intolerably decadent and worthy of destruction by Radical Islamist standards. There’s no denying that the hard-line leaders of Iran are a bunch of lunatics, particularly Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who might very well be one of the terrorists who held the American hostages during the famed 444-day episode at the American Embassy in Tehran, circa 1979-1981. Several of the former hostages have come forward to identify Ahmadinejad as one of their captors, and if confirmed, demonstrates that Ahmadinejad has bona fides of long standing within the realm of terrorism. Let’s just say there are many other disturbing allegations regarding Ahmadinejad’s past floating about.

But there’s so much more that’s disconcerting about this bizarre individual who is obsessed with a messianic figure from antiquity and an apocalyptic cult. Ahmadinejad believes that he’s paving the way for the “second coming” of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi, who will usher in a new era. Ahmadinejad is no saintly John the Baptist. Rather, the Iranian leader appears bent on perpetrating chaos and destruction.

Sadly, Ahmadinejad is not alone in his wacko beliefs; Other Iranian elites share Ahmadinejad’s end-time vision and proclivity to embrace “pave the way” activism to help bring about the annihilation of the West. Reportedly, Ahmadinejad has assigned devotees of this “mystical 12th Imam” cult to his cabinet and various governmental spots. Worse yet, it wouldn’t be a stretch to characterize Ahmadinejad as out-of-touch with reality. He’s not only delusional, but experiences hallucinations as well. And this is the Iranian leader who wants to control nuclear weapons? If it weren’t for the monumentally high stakes, Ahmadinejad would be considered just another pathetic figure. Instead, the first word that comes to mind when discussing Ahmadinejad is “dangerous”.

According to Iran expert and author Ken Timmerman: “When Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations in New York last September, he suddenly felt himself surrounded by light. It wasn't the stage lighting, he said. It was light from heaven… Ahmadinejad's "vision" at the UN could be dismissed as political posturing if it weren't for a string of similar statements and actions that suggest he believes that he is destined to bring about the "end times" - the end of the world - by paving the way for the return of the Shiite Muslim messiah. Given that Iran continues to pursue suspect nuclear programs, which could bring the Islamic Republic dangerously close to a weapons capability, a leader with messianic visions is worrying. After all, this is the same man who recently pledged to use Iran's newfound powers to "wipe Israel off the map" and to "destroy America."

One key question we should ponder is this: How would a nuclear-armed Iran, with a growing delivery capacity (courtesy Russia, China, and others) play out in the real world? There are no certainties in this life, only educated guesses. That’s precisely why the Pentagon is always running war games, which examine possible threats to our national security and help in the development of contingency plans to address whatever comes down the pike. For example, Iran might decide to engage in simultaneous nuclear attacks upon Israel and its vital ally, the US, for the two-fold purpose of disabling the US and thwarting its ability to come to the defense of a stricken Israel. Another scenario being bandied about has Iran utilizing a nuclear bomb to create a high-altitude nuclear burst - an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon - which has the capacity to cripple America’s electronic infrastructure.

According to a July 2004 report in Jane’s Defence Weekly, “The US armed forces infrastructure, and American society at large, remain vulnerable to a debilitating attack by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generated by a high-altitude nuclear blast, a senior-level, congressionally appointed panel has warned.” In effect, an “electronic blanket” would knock out electrical grids, all communications, computers, appliances, cars, trucks, train tracks, etc. Telecommunications and all types of advanced computer technologies are particularly vulnerable to an EMP attack. Although the American populace would survive an initial blast of this sort, it could potentially deny the populace access to electricity, news/information, modern day transportation, and basic supplies such as food, water and medicine for a considerable period. In such a scenario, starvation and illness would be rampant, and numerous casualties would ensue. In other words, a devastating nuclear EMP attack would lead to slow death of a populace, making it an especially insidious type of warfare.

EMP weaponry (e-Bombs) can be both nuclear and non-nuclear in nature; it’s an open secret that the US military’s highly classified research facilities have been working on a new generation of weapons for many years, including sophisticated non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse technologies and lasers. The US military has been drawn to e-bombs because of its non-lethal aspects that would damage an enemy’s technologies with precision strikes, but minimize collateral damage and preserve civilian lives.

There’s extensive information readily available about EMP weaponry on the Internet, but one good source that’s relatively easy to grasp is at www.science.howstuffworks.com. The website notes that “The U.S. military has been pursuing the idea of an e-bomb for decades, and many believe it now has such a weapon in its arsenal...Much of the United States' EMP research has involved high power microwaves (HPMs).” Now, it’s doubtful that this new weaponry under development is ready for prime time. However, when it’s eventually deployed, and that still could be years away, it will revolutionize the way in which the US conducts military strikes.

Now back to the Iran crisis at hand: In all likelihood the US military, in cooperation with the Israeli military, will be required to engage in surgical strikes upon Iranian nuclear facilities in order to stop the lawless regime from going nuclear. Reportedly, our military is prepared to hit pivotal nuclear sites at Bushier, Natanz, Arak, Isfahan, among others, with cruise missiles. According to Fox News, “F-117 stealth fighter jets could take out a radar system by firing missiles and anti-aircraft guns at Isfahan or surface-to-air missiles around the Bushier reactor. B-2 bombers carrying eight 5,000-pound laser-guided bunker busters would hit buried targets like the Natanz enrichment site or the deep tunnels in Isfahan.”

And this point has to be underscored, because the political Left – which is given to histrionics and overreaction - always gets it wrong. There will be no ground war in Iran, no soldiers in the mud. Any thinking person understands that the probability is literally zero-nada-zilch that the US military is going to conduct an all-out assault with ground troops. Is that clear enough?

*Ed: Views are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of American Daily.




Carol Devine-Molin has a BA in psychology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and an MA in forensic psychology (social psychology) from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) in New York City.She resides in Westchester County, New York. Devine-Molin is a regular contributor to several online magazines.

[...]

Link

HT Jihad Watch

Now this warrants some watching

******

"Osama's people" crossing into US from Mexico?

He denies it all now. It is unclear why he would have asserted it all in this phone call, however, if it were not true. Of course, there could be any number of reasons. But this case bears monitoring. "Infiltration from the south feared: Terrorist smuggling denied by admitted drug runner," from The Brownsville Herald, with thanks to Richard:

Officials are pointing to records in a South Texas drug case with alleged terrorist ties that they say underscores the lack of preparedness here.

The attorney for a jailed Gulf Cartel member cited in the incident, however, says his client was falsely accused of trying to smuggle Iraqi terrorists into this country. He maintains the claims were brought to increase the punishment for a drug offense against the accused.

The allegations are debated but the danger is real, warns U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz who believes federal lawmakers do not realize the exposure that exists on this porous international boundary.

“There is a huge disconnect between Washington and the border,” Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, said and called the security issue “alarming.”

‘Gente de Osama’

The January 2005 arrest of Noel Exinia and Cesario Nuñez appeared to be just another Drug Enforcement Administration bust on the border, until court documents in the case are examined more closely.

A few days before their arrest on federal cocaine trafficking charges, Exinia and Nuñez moved more than a quarter-ton of cocaine from Mexico through the Rio Grande Valley and on to New York City, the men told officials.

Nuñez, 33, pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy charge in September. His sentencing is set for Thursday.

Exinia, 35, eventually pleaded guilty to the same charge. His sentencing is expected in March.

Court documents filed in Exinia’s case make frequent references to his position in the notorious Gulf Cartel. The paperwork also contains details of a December 2004 incident in which he tried to secure transportation for 20 Middle Eastern “terrorists” waiting to enter the United States from Monterrey, Chiapas and Puebla in Mexico.

Recorded telephone conversations authorized under the U.S. Patriot Act and a court order captured the La Feria truck driver referring to the 20 men as “gente de Osama” or “Osama’s people.”

During a Jan. 5, 2005, telephone conversation, Exinia described the men as “Iraqis,” ages 25 to 33, who were willing to pay $8,000 for transportation past Border Patrol checkpoints in South Texas and into the U.S. interior.

Exinia mentioned that eight of the men were coming to Progreso, northwest of Brownsville. He said they were “dangerous” and “really bad people.” They carried guns and made the smuggler that was helping them “afraid.”

Read More

HT ThreatsWatch

Apparently the jury's still out. As Bill notes there still seems to be a great deal of coordination with Pakistani intel sources. DNA was gathered at the site which would be dicey in this remote area in the best of times.

The attack has been condemned by the Pakistani Infomration Minister and the US Ambassador has been summoned to explain. Bill says this was probably for local consumption.

Bill also notes in the "tea leaves" al-Qaeda may be drawing down its forces in Iraq and moving back to Afganistan.

This could be a strategic retreat that they will term a victory. This will definitely be Page 1 above the fold material for the MSM. NOT!

*****

Zawahiri, and al-Qaeda's Future Plans
Zawahiri update, is al-Qaeda planning on withdrawing from Iraq?

By Bill Roggio

The fate of Ayman al-Zawahiri is still unknown after an airstrike in the Pakistani town of Damadola, near the Afghan border in the province of Bajaur. An Al-Arabiya source close to al-Qaeda states Zawahiri is still alive, and Pakistani intelligence sources claim he escaped the attack. American intelligence officials are still eager to see the results of the DNA tests, and are unusually optimistic on the possibility Zawahiri was indeed killed in the strike. The fact that a team was able to gather remains indicates a certain level of sophistication and coordination in the strike, as Bajaur is a hostile and remote environment unfriendly to American forces and the central Pakistani government.

The Washington Post states the strike was “based on timely intelligence about Zawahiri’s whereabouts early Friday. Zawahiri had been under surveillance by the CIA for two weeks.” And Pakistan is reported to have been intimately involved in the intelligence gathering and operation. The Daily Times reports “the attack was planned and executed by a combination of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers in Pakistan and Pakistani officials. ‘This would not have happened unless they had pretty precise information that the right target was at that location.’”

[...]

The strike against Zawahiri comes at a transitional stage of the war. There are reports al-Qaeda is reallocating resources from Iraq, which Zawahiri himself referred to as “the place for the greatest battle of Islam in this era.” Their destination is reportedly Afghanistan. The Coalition is currently conducting operations during the winter months, and the Taliban has yet again vowed to step up attacks. Other evidence points to al-Qaeda expanding operations in Lebanon, with the end target being Israel.

[...]

The failure of al-Qaeda in Iraq to gain real traction with the Iraqi people may very well be the reason for this shift. There have been numerous cases of red-on-red fighting between al-Qaeda and the insurgency. Mohammed at Iraq the Model provides even further anecdotal evidence:

Al-Qaeda is apparently being chased down and confronted by Iraqis in Anbar and Samarra according to a report from al-Sabah. Mohammed al-Ubaidi is a citizen of Anbar who took part in a battle against al-Qaeda fighters said that people were enraged by the attacks that kill civilians in Anbar and other provinces and therefore have decided to form squads from the residents to rid Anbar from the foreign terrorists. The reports mentions that several tribes’ sheikhs had a meeting in the home of a sheikh of the Dulaim tribe where they pledged to fight al-Qaeda and throw them out of the province. There are also news that some 120 al-Qaeda members have already fled outside Iraq after a series of battles between their cells and the residents of Ramadi and other towns and suburbs of Anbar. According to the same report, similar measures are being taken by the residents in Samarra and have succeeded in forcing foreign terrorists out of their city.

al-Qaeda’s operations have been impacted by the successful offensive this summer and fall in northern and western Iraq. Lt. Gen. John R. Vines states “al-Qaeda is increasingly in disarray and we have pursued, captured and killed a large number of them.” And al-Qaeda recruiting cells continue to be rolled up in Europe. The latest round of arrests in Spain netted a senior operational leader and twenty of his cell members. These efforts, over time, place a strain on al-Qaeda in Iraq’s ability to keep up a steady operational pace.

[...]

Zawahiri is the pragmatist and strategic commander of al-Qaeda. His letter to Zarqawi, and Zarqawi’s letter to Osama bin Laden provide a window into the way they view the state of current battles. You can see the need for urgency in their actions. If al-Qaeda withdrawal from Iraq is really in the works, Zawahiri’s recent statements declaring U.S. defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely cover for withdrawal.

al-Qaeda may believe it has a greater chance at achieving a victory against the West in Afghanistan. The United States is removing 4,000 troops from the Afghan theater, which are to be replaced by NATO forces. The Dutch are debating providing their alloted contingent of forces, which threatens the foreign policy of the European Union and NATO’s commitment to Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda is likely trying to cleave the Afghanistan Coalition, and attacks such as the suicide strike against Canadian soldiers in Kandahar are designed to achieve such a split.

Perhaps al-Qaeda believes the buffer in the Tribal areas of Pakistan will provide it the protection needed to conduct a successful counteroffensive against Coalition forces. But many high-level al-Qaeda operatives and leaders have met their end in Pakistan. And the strike against Zawahiri, whether successful or not, demonstrates al-Qaeda is not free to operate without a response.

Read it All

HT Dr. Zin - Regime Change Iran

This is definitely a must read on how blogs can be used to win the War of Information in the GWOT.

Dr. Zin just posted this piece. Because of the great significance of this piece I'm posting it here in its entirety. I hope the author will forgive us.

*****

Iran, Blogging Against the Regime

Alex Alper and Laura Barcella, AlterNet:

A new book showcases Iran's burgeoning blog world -- a vibrant 75,000-member community struggling for free expression in the face of a militant Islamic regime.

Iran, Blogging Against the Regime
By Alex Alper and Laura Barcella, AlterNet
Posted on January 14, 2006, Printed on January 15, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/30702/

Described by Reporters Sans Frontieres as "the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East" -- where, in the last six years, 41 daily newspapers have been banned -- Iran has long lacked a public forum for independent voices.

But it hasn't been immune to the user-driven web revolution. In April 2003, Iran became the first government to imprison a blogger: Sina Motallebi of the popular weblog RoozNegar.com. (Despite anti-censorship public outcry, the Iranian government still uses extensive filtering to block out Internet content deemed inappropriate.) It seems that as the regime has tried to crack down on "immorality," dissent and secularity, Iranians have become more polarized against the government, creating a fast-growing community of political and personal bloggers.

Nasrin Alavi, an Iranian NGO worker who lives in London, has collected the best of the Iranian blogosphere in an acclaimed new book, We Are Iran (Soft Skull Press). This compilation of postings from the vibrant Farsi blog community gives readers an unprecedented glimpse into Iranian citizens' lives, and what emerges is a picture of an educated, youthful population with passionate opinions on Israel, the U.S., political Islam, and other far-reaching issues.

Alavi created the book to help outsiders understand the "monumental social changes" currently under way in her home country. "These blogs offer a unique glimpse of the changing consciousness of Iran's younger generation," she explains. "[They] see themselves as citizens with rights, struggling for a civil society. They greatly outnumber the soldiers of the ideological state."

Born in September 2001 when young Iranian journalist Hossein Derachshan posted how-to-blog instructions on his website, the country's weblog community has blossomed into a 75,000-member network. Farsi is now the fourth most common blogging language, far surpassing other countries in the region (such as Iraq, which only has 50 bloggers). Keeping a web journal is now common there; not just for everyday people, but for student organizers, censored journalists, ex-pats and even Muslim clerics, as a forum to discuss topics from the Oscars ceremony to the separation of church and state, and to plan protests under a militant regime that regularly jails (and tortures) dissidents.

While other Muslim countries are working to curtail this sort of extremism, Iran has experienced militant Islamic rule for a quarter century, making Iranians even more acutely aware of its failings. As one blogger, dubbed "Our Voice," writes: "Twenty-five years of religious rule has had one long-term benefit for generations to come, no Iranian will ever want to mix matters of state with religion."

And blogger Safsari notes: "At a time when our society is deprived of its rightful free means of communication, and our newspapers are being closed down one by one -- with writers and journalists crowding the corners of our jails, the only realm that can safeguard and shoulder the responsibility of free speech is the blogosphere."

Ironically, Iran's blog community owes its existence partly to the Islamic militant regime's premium on education. Because education and universal literacy were ideals of the 1979 Revolution, the Iranian literacy rate stands at 90 percent, higher than many European countries. Women account for 65 percent of university enrollment and computer access is the highest in the Middle East. Most Iranians -- over two-thirds of whom are under 30 -- have an acute awareness of Iranian history, including their democratic legacy extending back to the turn of the 19th century.

The blogs featured in We Are Iran shed light on a broad confluence of cultural influences, and an ambivalence about both Western and Persian traditions. Female bloggers intensely debate the role of the veil, which women are required by law to wear in public spaces. Is covering up a symbol of non-Western pride, a means to enter the public sphere without being objectified -- or is it just another outdated manifestation of state control? Blogger Neda writes:

Our Inheritance from our ancestors is this thing we call "honor": a reverence for the chastity of women. Yet this is the thing that separates us from the First World nations, but we still kill ourselves preserving it. Gentlemen, leave women's honor to them. Get on with your work, as this is holding our society back

And another female blogger ponders what would happen if women were no longer legally required to wear the veil:

Would this be culturally tolerable to Iranians? You, a woman who lives in Iran, are you prepared to go public in full view of our men, who get so worked up by just glimpsing an inch of ankle underneath your robes that they need to wank? Would you honestly feel secure walking past a man who for 20-something years is used to seeing your one eye, and his fantasy is just to see the rest of your face? People have to change gradually, as our culture cannot change overnight.

The excerpts Alavi has included in We Are Iran are consistently engaging and insightful, and her accompanying text helps to contextualize them with historical and cultural information (though the book's sections aren't very well organized). Alavi also provides Westerners with a sense of Iran's political realities, whose burgeoning pro-democracy forces would only be silenced by U.S. aggression. "I wanted to show that this is not a society that should be precision-bombed into democracy," she says. "I believe that the worst thing that could possibly happen to Iran would be a U.S. attack. Any possible conflict with the West will only strengthen the power base of Iranian radicals. Even those Iranians who oppose them are tempted to move to their camp in the face of foreign aggression."

And though it's still a bit early to gauge, Alavi reports positive responses to her mission, both from readers across the world ("a German reader wrote to say, 'I am ashamed to admit that for many years I have been unable to see Iranians as anything but hostage takers,"' Alavi reports) and from critics. The book was recommended by English PEN and has been selected as one of the books of the year by both the Independent and the New Statesman.

Still, it remains to be seen what kind of an impact the blogosphere will have on Iran's political future. "Only time will tell if Iranian blogs are merely a place for the beleaguered to blow off steam, or a modern day Gutenberg press that would usher in the age of democracy," says Alavi.

At least for now, We Are Iran helps shed some needed light on majority views in Iran, and its people will continue to find some respite in the freedom of expression (albeit threatened) that cyberspace allows. As lolivashe writes, "In a society where one is taken to history's abattoir for the mere crime of thinking, I write so as not to be lost in my despair. I write a weblog so that I can shout, cry and laugh, and do the things that they have taken away from me in Iran today."

Laura Barcella is an associate editor at AlterNet. Alex Alper is a former editorial intern at AlterNet.

© 2006 Independent Media Institute.

All rights reserved.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/30702/

HT Dr. Sanity

This is just up at Dr. Sanity's Blog. Dr. Sanity concludes Iranian President MAD is a very real danger. Dr. Sanity should know as she is a practicing shrink - M.D. (Psychiatry / Aerospace Medicine).

Charles Krauthammer, who Dr. Sanity quotes, also thinks his a nut case. BTW if you didn't know Dr. Krauthammer is also an M.D. (Harvard) and was the chief resident in psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital, he published scientific papers, including his co-discovery of a form of bipolar disease, that continue to be cited in the psychiatric literature according to his bio by (Time)

So a Holocaust-denying, virulently anti-Semitic, aspiring genocidist, on the verge of acquiring weapons of the apocalypse, believes that the end is not only near but nearer than the next American presidential election. (Pity the Democrats. They cannot catch a break.) This kind of man would have, to put it gently, less inhibition about starting Armageddon than a normal person. Indeed, with millennial bliss pending, he would have positive incentive to, as they say in Jewish eschatology, hasten the end.

To be sure, there are such madmen among the other monotheisms. The Temple Mount Faithful in Israel would like the al-Aqsa mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount destroyed to make way for the third Jewish Temple and the messianic era. The difference with Iran, however, is that there are all of about 50 of these nuts in Israel, and none of them is president.

*****

Believe It
By. Dr. Sanity

In my career as a psychiatrist I have encountered many psychotic individuals with religious delusions. One study suggests that those patients with religious delusions are suffering from a particularly virulent form of schizophrenia, where the potential for self-harm or harm to others is significantly increased. The study concluded that "religious delusions are commonly found in schizophrenia and that by comparison with other patients who have schizophrenia, those patients with religious delusions appear to be more severely ill."

[...]

Which brings me to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad latest rantings.

[...]

The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is more than worrying. Any reasonable person on the face of the earth should be scared stiff at the potential destruction that such a person could wreak on the entire world.

Hitler at least did not have a nuclear bomb. And look at the worldwide devastation and death he orchestrated. The Gates of Vienna has already discussed Ahmadinejad's Kampf, for those interested in historical parallels.

If you are interested in the religious background of the Shia 12th Imam, this site gives a good summary

[...]

Several points. Ahmadinejad was a key player during the Iranian Revolution back in the Jimmy Carter presidency-- so his delusion is fairly fixed. Some have even suggested that he thinks he is the 12th Imam. Certainly his religious ecstasy during the UN speech has given him reason to believe that he may be the vessel in which the Imam returns to rule.

[...]

Again, the point to remember is that those who might believe in the imminence of Armageddon to the point of religious delusion in the respective Christian or Jewish faiths do not have nuclear weapons with which to facilitate their psychotic visions.

[...]

t is also worth pointing out that the Christian faithful conceive of a coming battle between good and evil in an abstract sense, with the forces of good lining up against their opposite numbers on the dark side. Ahmadinejad takes the same concept and makes it frighteningly concrete (as psychotic patients are wont to do). We are left in no doubt about exactly who Ahmadinejad considers evil and who must be "wiped off the map" in the coming apocalyptic confrontation.

[...]

Ahmadinejad can conclude all he wants that the West is living in the "dark ages" because they are reluctant to agree to his desire to possess nuclear weapons, but all you have to do is listen to what the man is saying to comprehend the enormous danger he represents to humanity with his mind consumed with dark and apocalyptic visions; and his hands controlling a nuclear button.

And if you think you can't believe what you are hearing... think again. Believe it.

Read it All

HT In The Bullpen

The West’s stance against Iran’s ambitions for a nuclear program and thus nuclear weapons might do more to hurt Ahmadinejad within Iran and the Iranian power structure than any sanctions might do to the nation’s economy.

[...]

There seems to be turmoil within the Iranian government. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has had problems appointing an oil minister having the Iranian parliament reject Ahmadinejad’s first three nominees. What was largely passed over in the Western media appeared to be an attempt on the life of Ahmadinejad. The mysterious plane crash containing some top Iranian military brass further adds fuel to the fire.

[...]

Furthermore, Ahmadinejad insisted the West is living in the ‘dark ages.’ This from a country which publically executes citizens whose only offense is that they are gay or they killed an attempted rapist.

[...]

The Islamic Revolution, 21st Century style, has met its match though inside Iraq with a budding Democracy, making the outcome in Iraq far more important to the entire world than most people are giving it credit for. Much like the left-wing government structures of Fascism versus Communism squared off in World War II, it is likely two distinct government types have done more to move Iran to the brink of war than any other measure. Even the very idea Iran is trying to procure nuclear weapons only escalates this already raging war of ideas, and Ahmadinejad will not back down for what he sees is Allah’s quest to have the world fall under Sharia Law.

Thus the West has two viable options, after we determine we are partial to the system of government which allows different cultures versus the other government structure which demands we all adhere to one religion, one set of rules and every culture the West has been attributed with over the past several centuries is negated. Either we sit back and allow Iran to procure a nuclear weapon to hold over the heads of other nation-states in the Middle East until they succumb to the Islamic Revolution or we take the stance that we will oppose its spread.

[...]

We of what is commonly referred to as the West, and everyone who believes if there is to be government Democracy is the way to go, should be concerned with Iran acquiring a nuclear warhead not necessarily just because they will use it upon friendly nations or that the weapons may be transfered into the hands of terrorists. We should be concerned because it is this trump card in the hands of someone who wishes to remake the world’s map and culture into his own image subjugating us to what he sees as his divine right.

Sadly, there are those that see Iran’s nuclear program to be nothing more than an issue coming up in an election year. It’s far greater than politics.

Read it All

HT The Counterterrorism Blog

Great piece from the Counterterrorism Blog on the secret to winning the GWOT - first Win the War of Information.

Have a "come to Jesus Meeting" with the House of Saud. Tell them to quit funding and supporting the radical mosques and madrasses that preach the hate and evil of radical Islamofascisim around the world.

Here's an excerpt on this meme from sometime ago:

. . . we will not win the War On Terror while there is a continuing supply of recruits to replace those we eliminate. We can’t fight a war of attrition unless we use overwhelming force to knock out the enemy all at once. This is a war of ideals and we must change our strategy accordingly. We must shut down the terrorist production factories. These are the fundamental schools the Saudis and others have tolerated to remain in power. . . . These schools, program children at a very early age to hate our culture and to adopt without question the ideology of radical Islamic extremism.

Why are many of the transnational terrorists who reside in the “swamp” not the stereotypical downtrodden refugees as often portrayed in the media? Who are these terrorists who ally with one another when convenient to attack the Great Satan and Zionists who of course are the root of all evil and wrongs Islam has suffered since the fall of the Islamic Empire? Many have studied at our best schools and have become doctors, engineers, computer programmers, and other highly trained professionals who have experienced the best the west has to offer. Why are we seen as such a threat? They have been programmed by these schools into the cult of radical Islamic extremism whose bounds are very powerful and culturally unifying. Researchers have found self-esteem, sense of self, and other important factors in the formation of human personality are largely established by the time of eight years. If this is true if we turned off the tap today, we still have another generation before the well runs dry. Yes, this is a war of culture and ideology.

[...]

The radical Islamic extremists believe there is a need for Devine government to control man, as he will only do evil if given free will. This is a failed ideology. . . . I suggest, it is the recognition and acceptance of the free will of man to CHOOSE to do good or evil. The power of this universal TRUTH is unending.

In terms of today, Dr. Phil always asks, “How’s that workin for ya?” The answer is not very well. This struggle has continued for many centuries and yet the radical Islamic extremists have remained as they were in the 12th and 13th Centuries of the old Islamic Empire. Once man has taken the bit of freedom in his mouth, there is no turning back. The Internet and blogging is interconnecting the world. The free flow of information is becoming transparent to international borders.

[...]

. . . The news media has abdicated its role and journalistic responsibility given it by the 1st Amendment. The news media as we know it may no longer be relevant as the provider of our news. Our cherished 1st Amendment right should not be twisted to justify the interests of media conglomerates.

This is a right given by a free people to the press as a fundamental check on the abuse of power by those who WE CHOOSE to govern. With a strong and unbiased free press we will not suffer the tyranny of fanatics who rule by fear, torture, genocide, deceit, and perversion of culture and religion to remain in power, like the people of Iraq we have just liberated. Once the "truth" is told, the power of the "great lie" to control evaporates.

*****

Saudis' Lack of Followthrough Drawing More Fire

The Counter Terrorism Blog

An excellent story in today's "LA Times," reprinted elsewhere without registration, adds fuel to the gathering sentiment among Washington policymakers in the Executive Branch and on Capitol Hill that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia won't keep its past promises to stop the funding of terrorism and anti-Western propaganda outside the country. The first sentence says it all: "Although Saudi Arabia has cracked down on militants within its borders, the kingdom has not met its promises to help prevent the spread of terrorism or curb the flow of money from Saudis to terrorist cells around the world, U.S. intelligence, diplomatic and other officials say."

This issue is a continuing focus of our efforts here, and none of us think the Saudis have done enough. Steven Emerson and other witnesses provided details of the KSA's lack of followthrough during the November 8, 2005 hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee. During that hearing, Senators of both parties, including those on opposite sides of virtually every domestic political issue, forcefully criticized the KSA and promised legislative action unless it kept its past promises. Olivier Guitta recently posted about a column in the Arab press criticizing the KSA. Doug Farah and Victor Comras have posted often about the Saudis' lack of progress, most recently here. I've posted about the 4-year delay in the Saudis' establlishing a financial intelligence unit to track terrorist financing and assist our intel community. The unit supposedly opened only this past September with a surprising lack of notice by the KSA, but the LAT article notes the Saudis still haven't imposed oversight of its charities activities overseas.

[...]

Read it All

HT Strategy Page

I sent this out recently as an email and decided to post it here as a companion piece to the promo for FOX's 24.

I'm not normally not a big fan of Newt Gingrich, but as reported by Austin Bay in his new column just up at Strategy Page, either Newt experienced an epiphanal moment or someone is ghost writing for him.

Bay's column succinctly distills what's wrong with our current intelligence gathering abilities. In general this is what collectively the 9/11 commissions found in their investigations of why we got caught with our pants down.

Our current governmental bureaucratic structures stamp out any creativity, imagination, and risk taking within our domestic law enforcement communities.

The paradigm must shift if we are to prevent or deter the next strike by our enemy in the GWOT AKA Islamofascisim (See below*). The classic LE paradigm is ill-prepared to carry out it's new mission in this war. Our domestic LE and criminal justice system by nature are too reactionary to deal with the unique challenges we face in the GWOT.

We can no longer be "first responders." We must become "first preventers" to defend the homeland. The first inherently gives the enemy first strike capability.

Perhaps more funding re Homeland Security should be devoted to this purpose rather than harassing, "old ladies from Pasadena," whose underwire in their bras trigger screening devices at airports gates and paying for "gold plated fire trucks?"

*****

To Fix Intelligence, Hire Artists and Fire Bureaucrats

by Austin Bay
December 7, 2005
Discussion Board on this On Point topic

Newt Gingrich's thoughtful and often-provocative testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence deserves careful consideration. The former speaker of the House, testifying on Oct. 19, focused on American intelligence performance and organizational flaws. These are abundant, abysmal and, as we know from both Pearl Harbor and 9-11, potentially fatal.

Gingrich says, bluntly, "The nation's intelligence system is broken, and we cannot rest until we fix it." He suggests measures that reward intelligence success and penalize failure. Given Washington's bureaucratic and political impediments — turf wars, ego-crats, electioneering, etc. — merely reorganizing intelligence agencies and creating a new intel czar doesn't solve fundamental problems.

[...]

Gingrich identifies five "themes" for intelligence reform:

* America's current "global responsibilities" are more complex than during the Cold War.
* America's current national security challenges are more difficult than those confronted during the Cold War.
* Intelligence is "grotesquely under-sourced" based on what "leaders claim they want" it to achieve.
* Intelligence needs a measurable system of accountability.
* Congress must also evolve institutionally to deal with new strategic and intelligence complexities.

Read More

HT The American Thinker

The new season of FOX Network's 24 starts tonight in a special two-hour thriller. Viewing 24 should be a mandatory assignment for all domestic security agencies.

See Col. Austin Bay's recent column mentioned above:

To Fix Intelligence, Hire Artists and Fire Bureaucrats

*****

24: Fantasy, Reality, and the War on Terror

The American Thinker
January 15th, 2006

Tonight’s season premier of 24, the innovative “real-time” television series portraying (over 24 one-hour episodes) an eventful day in the life of Jack Bauer, counter-terrorism fighter extraordinaire, has generated unusual buzz for a television series well into middle age, as the dog years of TV network drama series are calculated.

This renewed popularity once again proves correct the old Public Relations adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Last year, the Council on Islamic American Relations (CAIR) was “shocked” that the series would actually portray Muslim Americans as involved with terrorism:

“At first I was shocked,” organization spokeswoman Rabiah Ahmed told the Daily News. “In this particular case, they show an American-Muslim family and they portray them as terrorists.”

As viewers of Hollywood fare realize, Muslims are rarely if ever involved in terrorism. It is usually Serbians, fictional African countries, and, of course, neo-Nazis who perpetrate the terror violence coming from our PC fantasy factories.

[...]

The New York Times also did its part, generating a controversy and outrage in some quarters over a National Security Agency project to monitor international telephone calls coming from or going to known al Qaeda associates when those calls involved someone in America – a practice quaintly and inaccurately described as “domestic surveillance” by the Times and other partisans.

The question of how far we should allow those entrusted with protecting us from terror to go has been discussed, polled, and argued to the point where virtually everyone is aware that it is important. To all those who raise such questions, Jack Bauer, the hero of 24 provides an unequivocal answer: whatever it takes.

[...]

The ancient Greeks developed a term for what Jack Bauer supplies us. It is the narcotic of catharsis. We live in a perpetual, usually conscious, state of anxiety over what will become of us in the face of terrorists who do not hesitate to inflict mass casualties of the most horrible order. Many of us are also genuinely troubled by the potential loss of freedom if our civil liberties are infringed. As a result, we live with tension, the release of which generates pleasing endorphins in our brains.

And Jack Bauer does provide release. He Does What Needs to be Done. No worrying over constitutional protections, or even fear for the legal and personal costs when responsibility is put on his shoulders. Torture the suspect (or last season, violate the diplomatic immunity of a Chinese consulate), and protect America.

[...]

Fantasy and reality, when confused in a human mind, can produce psychosis. But when their antipodean harmony is artfully balanced to speak to our hopes and fears in a meaningful manner, they entertain and even enlighten us.

[...]

If only those who think that America can enact a Bill of Rights for al Qaeda, that an update of Secretary of State Henry Stimson’s comment that “gentlemen do not read each others mail” is just the thing for us now, had such a profound sense of the relationship between fantasy and reality, America would be safer.

Read It All