WarSclerotic

Sudan accuses Israel of bombing, threatens to retaliate, Sudan, news, StarAfrica.com.

© 2012 AFP

President Obama denies Purple Heart to Fort Hood terrorist attack victims – Watertown Tea Party | Examiner.com.

On November 5th, 2009, Major Nidal Hasan was standing among his fellow Soldiers at the Personnel Processing Center on Fort Hood, Texas. The center is a hub on post where Soldiers do the necessary paperwork before and after a combat deployment. Its here that they complete wills and powers of attorney and the myriad of other personal details that need to be addressed before they ship out to defend our freeedom in harm’s way, leaving their worried wives, husbands and children at home.

It was there, surrounded by our heroes that US Army Major Nidal Hasan opened fire. Eye witness reports state that he was shouting “Allah Akbar” as he gunned down and killed 13 Soldiers and civilians, including a pregnant woman and wounded another 31.

On November 17th 2009, Texas Senator John Cornyn introduced a bill to the Senate that would authorize awarding the Purple Heart Medal to those military victims. It would also award the civilian equivilent, the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom, to the civilian victims. The bill was co-sponsored by Senators Hutchison of Texas and Lieberman of Connecticut. In the House, the bill was introduced by Representative John Carter.

Video: President’s statement on Fort Hood shooting

© 2012 Nokia© 2012 Microsoft Corporation

Location: Fort Hood, Texas

31.201385498047 ; -97.70922088623

In an article on Novembere 17th, 2009, CNN quoted Congressman Carter as saying “As far as I’m concerned, this was an attack by an enemy upon American troops on American soil,” Carter said Tuesday at a Capitol Hill news conference. The bill “is about giving soldiers the benefits that other soldiers get when they are unfortunate enough to be killed or wounded in a combat zone.”

The debate is whether or not the person shooting them was an enemy combatant. The Obama administration has called the shooting an incident of “workplace violence.” If the president acknowledges the Fort Hood shooting an act of terror and Nidal Hassan as an enemy combatant, that would run contrary to his campaign talking points that Al Qaida specifically and terror in general is “on the run.:”

This follows the same narrative of refusing to call the attack in Benghazi, Libya a terrorist attack. In that instance, the administration initially blamed the attack on our consulate that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans on a spontaneous uprising caused by an anti-Islam video.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly on 25 September, Obama mentioned this video six times. Never did he call the attack on U.S. soverreign soil that killed four Americans an act of terror.

A provision was added to the 2012 Defense Appropriations Act that would authorize the Purple Heart Medal for the victims of both the Fort Hood attack and the attack on Soldiers in Arkansas in 2009.

That was one of 32 provisions in the bill that president rejected. In a report from the Office of Management and Budget, keeping the provision for the Purple Hearts would cause the president to veto the bill.

“The Administration objects to section 552, which would grant Purple Hearts to the victims of the shooting incidents in Fort Hood, Texas, and Little Rock, Arkansas,” the veto threat states. “The criminal acts that occurred in Little Rock were tried by the State of Arkansas as violations of the State criminal code rather than as acts of terrorism; as a result, this provision could create appellate issues” (http://bit.ly/K8otuM).

On June 1, 2009, Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, who had spent time in Yemen and was an avowed jihadist, killed one soldier and wounded another in a drive-by shooting on a military recruiting office in Little Rock. He pleaded guilty to murder, avoiding trial and the death penalty, and was sentenced to life in prison.

If these Soldiers were in Iraq or Afghanistan and were shot and killed simply because of the uniforms they wore, there would be no question they would receive the Purple Heart. These Soldiers were standing in Texas and Arkansas, but were still killed by a Muslim extremist simply because of the uniform they wore and what that uniform represented.

According to Army Regulation 600-8-22, among the conditions for which the Purple Heart Medal is authorized reads:

“The Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the President of the United States and per 10 USC 1131, effective 19 May 1998, is limited to members of the Armed Forces of the United States who, while serving under component authority in any capacity with one of the U.S. Armed Services after 5 April 1917, has been wounded or killed, or who has died or may hereafter die after being wounded.

A member described in this subsection is a member who is killed or wounded in action by weapon fire while directly engaged in armed conflict, other than as the result of an act of an enemy of the United States, unless (in the case of a wound) the wound is the result of willful misconduct of the member.”

The regulation continues…”It is not intended that such a strict interpretation of the requirement for the wound or injury to be caused by direct result of hostile action be taken that it would preclude the award being made to deserving personnel. Commanders must also take into consideration the circumstances surrounding an injury, even if it appears to meet the criteria.”

Unfortunately for these brave Soldiers, the circumstances surrounding their deaths and wounds were that they ran didn’t fit into President Obama’s narrative that terrorism perpetrated by Muslim extremists doesn’t exist.

Iraqi vice president: Iran supplying Assad through ground convoys | The Cable.

Posted By Josh Rogin Tuesday, October 23, 2012 – 3:47 PM

For several months, the U.S. government has been urging the Iraqi government to stop Iran from supplying arms to the Syrian regime through commercial flights over Iraqi airspace, but a larger amount of supplies is now crossing Iraq via convoys on the ground, Iraq’s exiled Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi told The Cable.

Hashimi has been living in Turkey following his indictment and subsequent conviction in absentia by Iraqi government courts that he says are working with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The Central Criminal Court of Iraq sentenced him to death last month for allegedlyparticipating in acts of terrorism against his own political opponents,, charges widely seen as political in nature.

But Hashimi is still technically the vice president and he is fighting for what he calls a “fair trial.” He argues that Maliki has hijacked the Iraqi political system and become beholden to Iranian interests, which include supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Hashimi said he has evidence and reports from politicians, from officers in the Interior Ministry, and from Iraqi intelligence officials, all pointing to a growing and active ground transport route from Iran to Syria. The route crosses through the Zarbatia checkpoint on the Iran-Iraq border, west of the Iranian town of Mehran, flows through the city of Karbala, and crosses over to Syria via the al-Qaim border crossing, he said.

“The transit is not only aerial using Iraqi airspace, but the ground transit is becoming a phenomenon. Munitions, heavy arms, and even militias are passing checkpoints without any sort of obstruction,” Hashimi said in a telephone interview. “I am very afraid the U.S. and the international community is only focused on the aerial transit and leaving behind the ground transit. Everything should be checked now.”

“The convoys from Iran continue on this route without any checking. A huge number of busses and trucks are passing the checkpoints all the way from the Iranian border to the Syrian border, passing through al-Anbar [province] without stopping at the checkpoints,” he said. “If these convoys are carrying ordinary passengers, they should stop at least to stamp their passports. If they are carrying food and medicine, why are they not stopping at the checkpoints?”

A U.S. administration official confirmed to The Cable that the U.S. government suspects Iraq is still allowing Iran to ship supplies to Assad via both air and land routes, but that there’s no way to prove that Maliki is lying when he says the shipments contain only humanitarian supplies.

“The U.S. administration has enough evidence to prove that al-Maliki is violating his obligations not only towards the U.S. but towards the U.N. and the Arab League,” Hashimi maintained, adding that when Iraq does inspect the occasional commercial flight from Iran, Tehran is warned in advance so that those specific flights don’t contain military supplies.

Maliki’s continued and often vocal support for Assad is a clear indication that he is aligning Iraqi foreign policy toward Iran and away from U.S. and Western interests, Hashimi said.

“The American administration should be aware that because of unique ties with Iran, the Maliki government will never be able to resist any sort of demand coming from Tehran. This means that the foreign policy of Iraq is now being geared politically and religiously to be aligned with Iran policy. This is just a matter of fact,” he said. “We should expect many, many, many , many attempts to bypass and circumvent sanctions against Iran and Syria by Iraq.”

Since 2006, Maliki has not only been cozying up to Iran, but he has also ignored his commitment to pursue power sharing in the Iraqi government and now acts as the prime minister, commander in chief, minister of defense, minister of interior, and head of intelligence, Hashimi said.

The United States has lost significant influence in Iraq but still has both the ability and the responsibility to urge Iraq to continue down the road to becoming a stable, moderate, democracy governed by the rule of law, he said.

“At the end of the day, you have paid a cost and we have paid a cost, and what was the result of that? That Iraq should just become an ally of Iran?” Hashimi said. “If the mission has not been fulfilled, the U.S. must continue to fulfill its ethical and moral obligation and the Iraqis are very much still in need of their help.”

Israel Hayom | Analysis: Israel emerges from presidential debate as big winner.

Israel Hayom | Five hurt as Gaza rockets pummel Israel’s south.

Israel halts war games to deploy troops, resources in escalating Gaza sector.

DEBKAfile Special Report October 24, 2012, 1:59 PM (GMT+02:00)

Palestinian rocket explodes in Ashkelon

Defense minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz decided Wednesday, Oct. 24, that the heavy Palestinian missile assault from the Gaza Strip, which escalated to 60 rockets on Israeli civilian locations, in a few hours, must be stopped.

The bulk of the personnel taking part in the joint Israeli-US war game Austere Challenge 12 and the Turning Point 6 home front exercise were ordered to pull out, together with anti-missile interceptors and other resources, and redeploy in southern Israel across from the Gaza Strip.
Following this decision, another 13 rockets were fired at Ashkelon early Wednesday afternoon.
debkafile’s military sources report that the two exercises were effectively halted – “reduced” according to the official communiqué – after a wide range of towns and villages within range of the Gaza Strip, including Ashkelon, took a heavy beating from round after round of rockets, including Grads.
Two Thais working in the fields of the Eshkol district were flown to hospital in critical condition. Several properties were seriously damaged and local schools and work places remained closed.

The concentrated assault on Ashkelon, against which 7 rockets were intercepted by Iron Dome batteries, is taken by Israel’s top commanders as the opening shot of a major Hamas offensive, with worse to come.
Our sources report that officials in Washington and Jerusalem are in tense discussions over what to do with the 1,000 US troops, the American Patriots and the US warship standing by with an Aegis anti-missile battery, assigned to the three-week joint exercise which started Sunday.
On the one hand, the joint exercise’s mission was to practice the defense of Israel against potential Iranian, Syrian, Hizballah and Hamas missile attack. The current Hamas assault would seem to be an appropriate operational pitch for the American soldiers to practice tactics in real combat.
But the last thing President Barack Obama wants at this time is direct US military involvement in any Middle East war arena, certainly before the Nov. 6 vote. Using the Gaza scene for practice holds the potential of drawing US soldiers at some point into spiraling combat against the Palestinian Hamas and ultimately the Lebanese Hizballah.

In September, the two terrorist organizations signed mutual defense pacts under Iran’s aegis, obligating Hizballah to open a second front against northern Israel if Hamas comes under Israel attack in Gaza. The defense minister warned Wednesday that while Israel is not eager for ground action in the Gaza Strip, its army is committed to doing everything necessary to restore calm and security to southern Israel.
President Shimon Peres was the first statesman to connect the rising Hamas aggression to the visit of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar in Gaza City Tuesday with a fat check for “development constructon”.

No sooner had he departed, than the Islamist group ruling Gaza let loose with salvoes of rockets against Israel.

Peres commented WEdnesday said that it is intolerable for the rulers of Gaza to receive millions of dollars form the Emir of Qatar and shoot rockets. Nowhere in the world, whether London or New York, would it be acceptable for money awarded for building materials to be spent on rockets. Israel cannot put up with any more of this, said the president. “It is up to Gaza to choose between development and terror and murder.”

The Qatari ruler’s motives in his visit were not exactly constructive, debkafile reported on Oct. 22. He came to extend the regional ambitions which found expression in his intervention in the Libyan revolt and the Syrian conflict. Now, he is bidding to shore Hamas up as a force for reining in Salafi and al Qaeda lawlessness in Sinai before it cuts into Qatari influence in Libya. Israel may find itself not only up against Islamist terrorists but their Qatari sponsor too.
Our military sources predicted then that his visit would encourage Hamas to flex its muscles against Israel to impress its new patron.

The Gaza terrorist crisis ties in with a parallel alert declared by Israeli, US, Egyptian and Jordanian counterterrorism agencies for the coming Eid al Adha festival starting Oct. 25. Our sources revealed that Salafi and al Qaeda cells in Egyptian Sinai are poised to unleash coordinated terrorist attacks on US and Egyptian targets in Sinai and in Israel to avenge Israel’s targeted killing of two senior commanders of the Salafi-al Qaeda Sinai-Gaza network. Perpetrators of the Benghazi murders of 4 US diplomats are among the jihadi reinforcements coming in from Libya.

Three foreign workers injured by Gaza rocket fire, houses in Eshkol region suffer direct hits | The Times of Israel.

IAF strikes terrorist targets, at least three Palestinians killed; dozens of rockets fired from Gaza, Iron Dome intercepts seven

Bloodied clothes left behind in an Eshkol region chicken coop after a rocket attack injured three workers Wednesday, Oct. 24 (photo credit: IDF Spokesperson’s office)

Three people were injured by rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel, Wednesday morning. The men were hurt when a rocket landed on the chicken coop they were working in, in the Eshkol region. The three, reportedly foreign workers, were taken to hospital, two of them in critical condition.

Seven houses in the region suffered hits as tension between Israel and Gaza terror organizations increased after a night of terrorist rocket fire and military air strikes. One woman suffered minor injuries after she stumbled in her rush to reach a protected area. Several people were treated for shock.

Workers clear rubble out of a house in the Eshkol region that was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza on Wednesday, Oct. 24 (photo credit: IDF Spokesman’s Office)

Dozens of rockets were fired towards southern Israel Wednesday morning, landing in the Eshkol, Shaar Hanegev and Hof Ashkelon regional councils.

The Iron Dome anti-missile system reportedly intercepted seven rockets fired towards the city of Ashkelon.

School was canceled in communities in the three regional councils. Citizens were instructed to remain in bomb shelters.

The military branches of Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees took responsibility for the rocket fire. Hamas officials said security forces have been ordered to evacuate their bases, fearing Israeli retaliation.

Israel responded to the morning fire by striking terrorist targets in the Gaza strip, utilizing both air and ground forces.

“If things in the south seem bleak, I promise you that it’s worse in Gaza,” said IDF Spokesman Yoav Mordechai.

Mordechai said that Israel held Hamas responsible for all rocket fire out of Gaza and assessed that the terror group was not interested in a major escalation ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday that begins Thursday.

“Hamas is under stress. It is both a terror organization and a governing sovereign body. It wants to show that it is still active in its resistance to Israel, but would like to contain the violence too,” Moredchai explained. “Any additional fire will be met with a determined response by the IDF. If we see that things calm down, we will respond accordingly,” he added.

Eshkol Regional Council head Haim Yelin called on the government to do everything in its power to bring an end to the fire from Gaza. He urged either a full ground assault or alternatively signing a peace deal with Hamas. He also demanded more fortification to the communities surrounding Gaza.

Israeli fighter planes struck terror cells in the northern Gaza strip three separate times on Tuesday night, the Israel Defense Forces said, killing a total of three Palestinians. The airstrikes came in response to the firing of several rockets and mortars that slammed into open areas in southern Israel on Tuesday.

The army said it carried out a targeted attack against a cell in Beit Lahia planning to launch a rocket. One Palestinian was killed and four were injured, according to Hamas-run television. Later, in a second airstrike, two Palestinians were killed while preparing to fire rockets, the IDF said. Those killed were all reported to be Hamas fighters. A third strike was carried out before dawn on Wednesday. IDF tanks also fired towards rocket launching squads.

Earlier this month, reports from the Strip indicated that terrorists in Gaza were beginning to use rocket launchers that can fire several projectiles at once.

The rockets fired at Israel came hours after the Emir of Qatar became the first foreign leader to visit the Strip since Hamas took over the territory in 2007. Hamas’s spokesman said Israel was embarrassed by the emir’s visit, which he said shattered Israel’s blockade of Gaza, and wished to avenge Hamas’s victory in the political arena.

Earlier on Tuesday, Captain Ziv Shilon was seriously wounded, losing an arm, when a roadside bomb exploded next to his patrol on the border with Gaza.

On Monday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to protect Israel from missile fire by striking at terrorists and preventing them from rearming, in a response to ongoing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

US-Iran talks waste of time – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Op-ed: Washington giving Tehran time it needs to complete development of nuclear bomb

Eldad Beck

At the beginning of the last decade the Europeans – headed by Germany Britain and France – initiated talks with Tehran in an effort to prevent the Ayatollah regime from moving forward with its nuclear program. It was a time when few people around the world knew who Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was and the regime in Tehran was in the hands of reformist mullahs.

The “great success” of this “critical dialogue” with Iran produced a sad joke: During the negotiations, the Europeans and Iranians would criticize the United States, together. The joke may be funny, but the result of this dialogue was not amusing at all.

Meanwhile, the reformist regime in Tehran was replaced by an extremist movement headed by Ahmadinejad, and in the US a Democratic president replaced the “belligerent” George W. Bush.

Under Obama, the US sent Tehran numerous signals indicating that it seeks reconciliation. An American representative even joined the talks between Europe and Iran. But this round of negotiations failed as well.

Everyone remembers Obama’s famous “New beginning” speech in Cairo just after he took office. Now, as Obama’s first term draws to a close, we are informed that Washington and Tehran may launch direct negotiations.

The American administration has turned itself into a joke. The US will give Iran the time it needs to complete the development of a nuclear bomb, after which it will be able to conduct negotiations from a position of power – and Israeli and American threats of an attack won’t help.

All of the Obama administration’s overtures to the Arab and Muslim world have not yielded any results. The American president and his government do not understand the Middle East and are causing irreparable damage.

This failed policy is bolstering the extremists and reduces the chances of a peaceful resolution. We can only hope for a different American administration, one that will terminate this absurd plan before it becomes irreversible.

Palestinians fire 50 rockets, mortars into Isr… JPost – Defense.

Benghazi killers among terrorists poised to strike US targets, Israel and Egypt.

DEBKAfile Special Report October 23, 2012, 7:53 PM (GMT+02:00)

Salafist funeral in Gaza

The counterterrorism forces of Israel, the US, Egypt and Jordan have gone on elevated terror alert ahead of the three-day Muslim festival of Eid al Adha starting Thursday night, Oct. 25, debkafile reports.
They are acting on word received in the last ten days of preparations by Salafi and al Qaeda cells in Egyptian Sinai to unleash coordinated terrorist attacks on US and Egyptian targets in Sinai and across the border in Israel. The jihadis are bent on revenge for Israel’s targeted killing on Oct. 13 of Hisham Saidni and Abdullah al-Ashqar, two senior commanders of their Sinai-Gaza network, the Majlis Shura Al-Mujahideen
Israel’s IDF Sagi-512 Brigade and Shin Bet units are on guard around the Gaza Strip and Egyptian border; Egypt’s military, Interior Ministry and security forces are on high alert in Sinai; and the Multinational Force of mostly US units are on the ready at both its Sinai bases –  Al-Gora near El Arish in the north and Sharm el-Sheikh in the south.
The US special forces unit posted last month on Jordan’s Syrian border was hurriedly transferred to the Red Sea port of Aqaba with a fleet of helicopters, in case the MFO comes under attack.

The Majlis Shura Al-Mujahideen is a roof organization of some 6,000 Egyptian, local Bedouin, Palestinian, Jordanian, Saudi, Yemeni and Libyan terrorists who subscribe to Al Qaeda’s jihadist philosophy. From their strongholds in central and southern Sinai, they have carried out most of the most recent spate of attacks on Israel and on Egyptian military targets in the peninsula.
After their combined assault of July 18 on Egyptian and Israeli military targets, in the course of which they massacred 18 Egyptian troops, Cairo announced the launch of a major offensive to root the terrorists out of their Sinai lairs. But four months on, the jihadis remain in control of large tracts of the rugged Sinai desert. And last week, they received a large increment from Libya. The Libyan reinforcements were discovered on their arrival in Sinai Oct. 15 with a large quantity of weapons including missiles, ready for the forthcoming Eid offensive.
Among them were some of the perpetrators of the murderous attack in Benghazi on Sept. 11which killed four Americans at the US consulate.
On the day they arrived, Al Qaeda’s Shumoukh Al-Islam website ran a eulogy for Hisham Saidni with a warning: “The blood of the Muslim heroes is not cheap, nor is it shed in vain. The Jews will pay dearly for every drop they spill and Israel should expect a devastating response.”

At the beginning of the week, intelligence watchers picked up the sudden disappearance of thousands of jihadis from their Sinai posts as though the earth had swallowed them up. It is suspected they have regrouped in locations close their targets ready to move.

This incoming intelligence prompted the US Statement Department’s travel advisory of Tuesday, Oct. 23, for US citizens visiting Sinai and Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz’s warning that coordinated terrorist attacks may be in store from Sinai and its northern borders with Lebanon and Syria.