Friday, June 03, 2011
Islam Means Suffering for Chehen Women
Book Says ISI Scripted Mumbai Massacre
Why US Pulled out of Durban III
Long Live Free Lebanon!
Thursday, June 02, 2011
EUROPE'S E. COLI OUTBREAK IS DEADLIEST EVER
'Infidel Izmir' Resists Turkey's Islamist Regime
ROMNEY: 'OBAMA UNDERMINING ISRAEL'
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is solidly pro-Israel. Announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination, he pulled no punches in his criticism of Barack Obama, the most anti-Israel President in American history.Yemen Chaos Benefits Al Qaeda
Protective Intelligence Lessons From an Ambush in Mexico
Fouad Ajami: UN Can't Deliver Palestinian State
Friday, 3 June 2011
FUNDAMENTALIST TIDE DROWNS
Wild idea: As President, Barack Hussein Obama has apologized to "the Muslim world" for alleged American misdeeds. His disgraceful apologizing to America's enemies is somehow regarded by leftists and liberal loons as progressive. But a true progressive would instead have apologized for--or, at least, conceded the errors of--decades of covert American support for rightwing political Islam (Islamic clerical fascism, or Islamism), including the massive intervention in Afghanistan in order to topple the Soviet Union and the abandonment and betrayal of Iran's Shah and pro-Western government in a craven attempt to jump aboard the Islamist bandwagon of the bloodthirsty Ayatollah Khomeini. The Islamist monster that America, with the help of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, unleashed on the world has not only blown back in America's face but has also spread into Russia and China, worsening relations with these two great powers.
Back to reality. Obama is pro-Islamist. He is pro-Muslim Brotherhood. He believes there are "moderates" in Hamas and Hezbollah, etc. The only Islamists he regards as enemies are Al Qaeda and its affiliates and so-called irreconcilable elements of the Taliban.
The Faithful Lebanese and Their Holy Lebanon
By Elias Bejjani
When we proclaim loudly who we are, we don't brag or boast. No, we do not do this at all. But with simple faith and self confidence we say proudly who we are. We say to the forces of evil that are occupying our country and oppressing our people that no matter what, sooner or later, they will be forced to leave Lebanon in disgrace. Defeat and humiliation is the fate of all occupiers who have found that Lebanon and its people cannot be enslaved. The Syrians, Iranians and their proxy militias like Hezbollah, who are at the present time taking Lebanon hostage, ought to learn from history and foresee their ultimate fate.
Saint Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians (5-6), described the believer’s role by saying: “A little bit of yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” This is exactly the divine responsibility of the patriotic Lebanese people who believe in the 10452 km square concept, honor the distinguished Lebanese identity, are proud of the rich Lebanese culture, affiliate spiritually to Lebanon’s 7000 year history, and are deeply rooted to the holiness of the Lebanese soil.
They have to be like the blessed dough. They have to strengthen the faith of their people, support them in their agony, and be witnesses for the truth with integrity, devotion and endurance. Saint Paul also said to the Corinthians: “If my aim was only to satisfy the people, I would not have been Jesse’s servant, we don’t speak to please the people, but to please Almighty God.”
We are the patriotic Lebanese who carry Lebanon’s torch and its Cross at the same time.
We are the ones who are witnessing for the truth, defending our beloved country and fighting for its sovereignty, independence, and unique identity. Our quest is to provide freedom for our people and secure their right to choose their leaders and officials without oppression or persecution.
We the Free Lebanese all over the world have decided with solid faith to carry Lebanon’s Cross with perseverance, courage and devotion till the day Lebanon is fully liberated. Sadly, at the present time, Lebanon is still an occupied country. Its freedom and decision-making are confiscated and held hostage by the Iranian-armed terrorist militia Hezbollah. The militia holds power over Lebanon by force using corruption, crime and terror.
Against all odds, we have decided to walk the path of struggle and resistance regardless of material gain or loss. We have decided to walk “Lebanon’s Calvary road” and endure all the pain and the humiliation needed to reach the salvific end.
Our civilized and peaceful struggle is not a choice but a fate. It is a divine price that we have to pay for the gift of being born Lebanese, and for the Godly grace that we were molded of Lebanese holy soil and its blessed water. Our quest for liberation is derived from a set of solid national convictions inherited from our great ancestors who created the nation of Lebanon through hard work and remarkable devotion in all through 7000 years of martyrdom.
We are the sons of the great Lebanon, the land of the holy cedars, We are the sons of the nation of civilization, science, culture, We are the sons of the Phoenicians, who gave the world its first Alphabet, We are the sons of the Phoenicians who taught the whole world the science of navigation and the art of trade, We are the sons of the Phoenician King Aheram, whose architects and craftsmen of Tyre built the great temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, We are the sons of the great Phoenician Hannibal, the mightiest military leader, We are the sons of Sheik Bashir, Al-Bustani, Kadmous, Zaynon, Europe, and Malek, We are the sons of the 10452 km square Lebanon.
Because of all of the above and because of who we are it is a sin for us under any given circumstances, no matter what the sacrifices are, to compromise on any of our holy convictions or national beliefs. We say to those who advise us every now and then to be pragmatic and to accept the imposed occupational status quo: "NO, NO, NO."
Your advice simply means enslavement, submission and surrender to the devil. It is a ticket for tyrants and occupiers to control the whole world based on the Darwinist principle of survival of the strongest.
We patriotic Lebanese can’t accept the occupation of our country. No matter who is the occupier, be it the Syrian, Iranians or others, we will resist with all means available to reclaim our freedom and independence. We are fully aware that the process is hard and requires a great deal of sacrifice, but we have no other choice for this is our fate.
We can’t accept the subordination and Dhimmitude principles and give away our history, culture, identity and pride. We can’t accept ignorance, treason and collaboration, and we can’t accept going back to the stone ages.
Our understanding of patriotism is completely different than that advocated by those of other faiths in Lebanon who will for ultimate victory have been weakened. Lebanon for us for means the full understanding of obligations and commitments, and the responsibility to take a courageous stance for our nationhood.
Those who preach enslavement should remember that if Jesus Christ had accepted the painful reality imposed on him by the Pharisees, and had abandoned his heavenly mission, that there would have been no Christianity. If black people had accepted the horrible reality of being slaves, they would not have won their battle and become free. If General DeGaulle had accepted the reality of the Nazi occupation of his country, France would have not been liberated.
Succumbing to evil powers to save one’s physical body leaves one void of faith, hope or aspirations and destroys the soul. It is a conduct based on tangible, visible facts removed from those intangible, spiritual realities. The concept of succumbing to a foreign enemy has no place in nationalism because it is synonymous with surrender. Martyrdom knows nothing of temporary material gains and loses, because the struggle for freedom and liberty is metaphysical and eternal.
Freedom is a gift from Almighty God. He created man in His image and distinguished him from other creatures with remarkable intellectual faculties including emotions, conscience, judgment and creativity. Once man loses these faculties, he loses his human-divine nature.
Any Lebanese who accepts the reality of the occupation of his country and declines resisting and fighting the occupiers does not deserve the privilege of being Lebanese. We ask those who preach ‘subordination to Hezbollah, Syria and Iran’ to strengthen their weakened Lebanese faith and fight fiercely to change the imposed satanic reality on their country of Lebanon.
Free we were born, free we shall die. Lebanese we were born, and Lebanese we shall remain till the Day of the Lord.
Long Live Free Lebanon!
Elias Bejjani is a Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator.
HAMBURG IS EPICENTER OF MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS
The outbreak is deadly and mysterious. Foreign Confidential™ analysts believe that terrorism, though unlikely, should not be ruled out as a cause, as (a) E. coli has long been considered a viable bioweapon, and (b) Communist Cuba, which has formidable biowarfare capabilities, has in the past transferred dual-use E. coli production technology to Iran under cover of scientific research and exchange programs.
The leader of Turkey's opposition is proudly, staunchly secular; he actually embraces the "infidel" label in Islamizing Turkey, as reported here.
By Scott Stewart
On the afternoon of May 27, a convoy transporting a large number of heavily armed gunmen was ambushed on Mexican Highway 15 near Ruiz, Nayarit state, on Mexico’s Pacific coast. When authorities responded they found 28 dead gunmen and another four wounded, one of whom would later die, bringing the death toll to 29. This is a significant number of dead for one incident, even in Mexico.
According to Nayarit state Attorney General Oscar Herrera Lopez, the gunmen ambushed were members of Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel. Herrera noted that most of the victims were from Mexico’s Gulf coast, but there were also some Guatemalans mixed into the group, including one of the wounded survivors. While Los Zetas are predominately based on the Gulf coast, they have been working to provide armed support to allied groups, such as the Cartel Pacifico Sur (CPS), a faction of the former Beltran Leyva Organization that is currently battling the Sinaloa Federation and other cartels for control of the lucrative smuggling routes along the Pacific coast. In much the same way, Sinaloa is working with the Gulf cartel to go after Los Zetas in Mexico’s northeast while protecting and expanding its home turf. If the victims in the Ruiz ambush were Zetas, then the Sinaloa Federation was likely the organization that planned and executed this very successful ambush.
Photos from the scene show that the purported Zetas convoy consisted of several pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (two of which were armored). The front right wheel on one of the armored vehicles, a Ford Expedition, had been completely blown off. With no evidence of a crater in the road indicating that the damage had been caused by a mine or improvised explosive device (IED), it would appear that the vehicle was struck and disabled by a well-placed shot from something like a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) or M72 LAW rocket, both of which have been seen in cartel arsenals. Photos also show at least one heavy-duty cattle-style truck with an open cargo compartment that appears to have been used as a troop transport. Many of the victims died in the vehicles they were traveling in, including a large group in the back of the cattle truck, indicating that they did not have time to react and dismount before being killed.
Unlike many other incidents we have examined, such as the ambush by CPS and Los Zetas against a Sinaloa Federation convoy on July 1, 2010, near Tubutama, Sonora state, the vehicles involved in this incident did not appear to bear any markings identifying them as belonging to any one cartel. In the Tubutama incident, the vehicles were all marked with large, highly visible “X”s on the front, back and side windows to denote that they were Sinaloa vehicles.
Most of the victims were wearing matching uniforms (what appear to be the current U.S. Marine Corps camouflage pattern) and black boots. Many also wore matching black ballistic vests and what appear to be U.S.-style Kevlar helmets painted black. From the photos, it appears that the victims were carrying a variety of AR-15-variant rifles. Despite the thousands of spent shell casings recovered from the scene, authorities reportedly found only six rifles and one pistol. This would seem to indicate that the ambush team swept the site and grabbed most of the weapons that may have been carried by the victims.
Guns may not have been the only things grabbed. A convoy of this size could have been dispatched by Los Zetas and CPS on a military raid into hostile Sinaloa territory, but there is also a possibility that the gunmen were guarding a significant shipment of CPS narcotics passing through hostile territory. If that was the case, the reason for the ambush may have been not only to kill the gunmen but also to steal a large shipment, which would hurt the CPS and could be resold by Sinaloa for a substantial profit.
Whether the objective of the ambush was simply to trap and kill a Zetas military team conducting a raid or to steal a high-value load of narcotics, a look at this incident from a protective intelligence point of view provides many lessons for security professionals operating in Mexico and elsewhere.
Lesson One: Size Isn’t Everything
Assuming that most of the 29 dead and three wounded gunmen were Zetas, and that most of the 14 vehicles recovered at the scene also belonged to the convoy that was attacked, it would appear that the group believed it was big enough to travel without being attacked. But, as the old saying goes, pride goeth before destruction.
In an environment where drug cartels can mass dozens of gunmen and arm them with powerful weapons like machine guns, .50-caliber sniper rifles, grenades and RPGs, there is no such thing as a force that is too big to be ambushed. And that is not even accounting for ambushes involving explosives. As evidenced by events in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, even convoys of heavily armored military vehicles can be ambushed using large IEDs and smaller, sophisticated explosive devices like explosively formed projectiles.
There are people in both the private and public sectors who cling to the erroneous assumption that the mere presence of armed bodyguards provides absolute security. But this is simply not true, and such a misconception often proves deadly. Indeed, there are very few protective details in all of Mexico that employ more than two dozen agents for a motorcade movement — most are smaller and less well-equipped than the Zetas force that was destroyed May 27. Most protective details do not wear heavy raid vests and Kevlar helmets. This means that government and private-sector protective details in Mexico cannot depend on their size alone to protect them from attack — especially if the attackers are given free rein to conduct surveillance and plan their ambush.
In an environment where the threat is so acute, security managers must rely on more than just big men carrying guns. The real counter to such a threat is a protective detail that practices a heightened state of situational awareness and employs a robust surveillance-detection/countersurveillance program coupled with careful route and schedule analysis.
Indeed, many people, including police and executive protection personnel, either lack or fail to employ good observation skills. These skills are every bit as important as marksmanship (if not more) but are rarely taught or put into practice. Additionally, even if a protection agent observes something unusual, in many cases there is no system in place to record these observations and no efficient way to communicate them or to compare them to the observations of others. There is often no process to investigate such observations in an attempt to determine if they are indicators of something sinister.
In order to provide effective security in such a high-threat environment, routes and traveling times must be varied, surveillance must be looked for and those conducting surveillance must not be afforded the opportunity to operate at will. In many cases it is also far more prudent to maintain a low profile and fade into the background rather than utilize a high-profile protective detail that screams “I have money.” Suspicious events must be catalogued and investigated. Emphasis must also be placed on attack recognition and driver training to provide every possibility of spotting a pending attack and avoiding it before it can be successfully launched. Proper training also includes immediate action drills in the event of an attack and practicing what to do in the event of an ambush.
Action is always faster than reaction. And even a highly skilled protection team can be defeated if the attacker gains the tactical element of surprise — especially if coupled with overwhelming firepower. If assailants are able to freely conduct surveillance and plan an attack, they can look for and exploit vulnerabilities, and this leads us to lesson two.
Lesson Two: Armored Vehicles Are Vulnerable
Armored vehicles are no guarantee of protection in and of themselves. In fact, like the presence of armed bodyguards, the use of armored vehicles can actually lead to a false sense of security if those using them do not employ the other measures noted above.
If assailants are given the opportunity to thoroughly assess the protective security program, they will plan ways to defeat the security measures in place, such as the use of an armored vehicle. If they choose to attack a heavy target like the Los Zetas convoy, they will do so with adequate resources to overcome those security measures. If there are protective agents, the attackers will plan to neutralize them first. If there is an armored vehicle, they will find ways to defeat the armor — something easily accomplished with the RPGs, LAW rockets and .50-caliber weapons found in the arsenals of Mexican cartels. The photographs and video of the armored Ford Excursion that was disabled by having its front right wheel blown off in the Ruiz ambush remind us of this. Even the run-flat tires installed on many armored vehicles will not do much good if the entire wheel has been blown off by an anti-tank weapon.
Armored vehicles are designed to protect occupants from an initial attack and to give them a chance to escape from the attack zone. It is important to remember that even the heaviest armored vehicles on the market do not provide a mobile safe-haven in which one can merely sit at the attack site and wait out an attack. If assailants know their target is using an armored vehicle, they will bring sufficient firepower to bear to achieve their goals. This means that if the driver freezes or allows his vehicle to somehow get trapped and does not “get off the X,” as the attack site is known in the protection business, the assailants can essentially do whatever they please.
It is also important to recognize that high-profile armored vehicles are valued by the cartels, and the types of vehicles usually armored generally tend to be the types of vehicles the cartels target for theft. This means that the vehicle you are riding in can make you a target for criminals.
While armored vehicles are valuable additions to the security toolbox, their utility is greatly reduced if they are not being operated by a properly trained driver. Good tactical driving skills, heightened situational awareness and attack recognition are the elements that permit a driver to get the vehicle off the X and to safety.
Lesson Three: Protect Your Schedule
Even for an organization as large and sophisticated as the Sinaloa Federation, planning and executing an operation like the Ruiz ambush took considerable time and thought. An ambush site needed to be selected and gunmen needed to be identified, assembled, armed, briefed and placed into position. Planning that type of major military operation also requires good, actionable intelligence. The planner needed to know the size of the Zetas convoy, the types of vehicles it had and its route and time of travel.
The fact that Los Zetas felt comfortable running that large a convoy in broad daylight demonstrates that they might have taken some precautionary measures, such as deploying scouts ahead of the convoy to spot checkpoints being maintained by Mexican authorities or a competing cartel. It is highly likely that they consulted with their compromised Mexican government sources in the area to make sure that they had the latest intelligence about the deployment of government forces along the route.
But the route of the Zetas convoy must have been betrayed in some way. This could have been due to a pattern they had established and maintained for such convoys, or perhaps even a human source inside the CPS, Los Zetas or the Mexican government. There was also an unconfirmed media report that Los Zetas may have had a base camp near the area where the ambush occurred. If that is true, and if the Sinaloa Federation learned the location of the camp, they could have planned the ambush accordingly — just as criminals can use the known location of a target’s home or office to plan an attack.
If an assailant has a protectee’s schedule, it not only helps in planning an attack but it also greatly reduces the need of the assailant to conduct surveillance — and potentially expose himself to detection. For security managers, this is a reminder not only that routes and times must be varied but that schedules must be carefully protected from compromise.
While the Ruiz ambush involved cartel-on-cartel violence, security managers in the private and public sectors would be well-served to heed the lessons outlined above to help protect their personnel who find themselves in the middle of Mexico’s cartel war.
"Protective Intelligence Lessons from an Ambush in Mexico" is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
A must-read essay--here--by Fouad Ajami, professor of Middle East Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Posts
