Army Sends 32 Tangos to Allah

Fifty-five more detained

Pat Dollard's Young Americans:

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Anbar, Sept 3, (VOI) – U.S. army forces killed 32 members of al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq and arrested 55 others during security raids in the suburbs of al-Karma in north of Falluja, a police source said.

“The U.S. soldiers waged incessant ground and air attacks during the past three days in the areas where al-Qaeda members are holed up in al-Karma and Zhiraa Dijla, some 15-20 km north of Falluja,” the source, who declined to have his name mentioned, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

“Most of the killings occurred by aerial bombardment while the arrests by ground patrols,” the source said.

The source pointed out that the U.S. army “would not have been able to have the upper hand over the gunmen had it not been for the local residents’ refusal to harbor them,” adding “this prompted the gunmen to resort to remote desert areas, which made it easier for the U.S. forces to sort them out from the civilians and directly target them.”

Falluja, one of the largest cities in the Sunni province of al-Anbar, lies 45 km west of Baghdad.

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Stories like this indicate how dire the situation is for AQI. With no place to hide and no means of sustaining the logistics needed to continue the fight, they will be hunted down like dogs. They are being killed or arrested by the score now.

Contrast this with the conditions on the ground in January, just eight months or so ago, when AQI had all but surrounded Baghdad.

Our guys are winning this fight. The only way they lose this is if we decided we don't want them to win.

It really is that simple.

Website Hosted in Minnesota: How to Join Al Qaeda

MEMRI:

Although the site appears to be inactive, one still has to wonder exactly how many US Webhosting companies are allowing this shit to go on. These people have sworn themselves to be our blood enemies and will not stop their global campaign against civilization.

The following are excerpts from the site:

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"You feel that you want to carry a weapon, fight, and kill the occupiers, and that it is our duty to call for jihad as much as to call for prayer... All that is required is a firm personal decision to fulfill this obligation, and participation in jihad and the resistance...

"Do you really have to meet Osama bin Laden in person in order to become a jihad fighter? Do you have to be recognized by Al-Qaeda as one of its members to become a jihad fighter? If Al-Qaeda commanders should be killed, would the jihad be eliminated? What would you do if Al-Qaeda did not exist today? How is Osama bin Laden different from you? - [yet] he managed to establish the world jihad organization. Who provided training to Osama bin Laden and Abdallah 'Azzam when they went to Afghanistan to become the first Arab jihad fighters?

"The answers to these questions are the following: I don't have to meet Osama bin Laden to become a jihad fighter. Moreover, there is no need to meet even one jihad fighter to become one. Neither do I need recognition from Al-Qaeda...

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Pirate Attacks Increase Worldwide. Arrr.

The Tank on National Review Online:

Spike in Pirate Attacks Worldwide

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At least five seaborne pirate attacks — one off Guinea, one off Somalia, three off Indonesia — have been reported to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) over the past two weeks. Last month, IMB reported a spike in piracy worldwide. Weekly Piracy Report here. Piracy Map here.

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The links in the post above are a valuable resource. The live IMB map is particularly cool.

Before you yawn and utter a "so what," consider that on the live IMB Piracy Map, the density of the attacks in the Indian and west Pacific coincide with the areas of the globe that have seen the most intense Al Qaeda activity.

Several intelligence reports identify piracy and seaborne terrorism as a serious threat to global political and economic security. Tremendous amounts of the global oil supply are transported through key straits in the region, the disruption of which would send shockwaves across the globe.

Remember how easy it was for Al Qaeda to nearly sink the USS Cole? While US Navy vessels are presumably much more difficult to approach now, the same can not be said about the massive fleet of tankers, lighters, freighters and other key parts of the merchant fleet.

JihadWatch and the Iraq Conflict

Jihad Watch's Hugh Fitzgerald writes:

Finally, along with the sectarian (Sunni-Shi'a) division inside and outside Iraq, there are possible further unsettlements and sectarian strife in Pakistan, in Saudi Arabia (the oil-bearing Eastern Province), in Lebanon, in Bahrain, even in Yemen. Instead of being welcomed -- since when does one attempt to prevent division and demoralization in the camp of one's enemies? -- these are actively being deplored, in warnings from the Great and Good, that an American withdrawal will bring, could bring, might bring, that deplorable thing called "chaos" to the Middle East. Nonsense. Not "chaos" -- not with those kinds of despotisms willing to use their kind of force with their kind of secret police. Not chaos, really, but perhaps a using up of men, money, and materiel, and attention -- but this time they would all bear the initial adjective "Muslim" rather than "American," and that is a highly desirable change.

This is an interesting perspective. And one with which I respectfuly disagree. Jihadwatch.org is one of my favorite sites. A widget over on the right displays the site's feed here and I am a regular reader (and listener, when I can be) of Spencer and Fitzgerald. For a pair of infidels, they have a keen grasp of Islam and the threat the theocratic adherents pose to freedom.

I think they miss the point on Iraq. Or, I think Fitzgerald does with this post.

Osama bin Laden and his right hand boy Zawahiri have declared that the central battlefront on Islam's War against America is Iraq. Their schpiel is that Muslims suffer so greatly because of their fraternization with the west. We are corrupting them and turning them away from Allah.

It is only when Muslims completely reject western ideals of "imperialist" democracy and "exploitative" capitalism and throw the decadent infidels out of Muslim lands that the faithful can prosper and flourish, we are told.

Having infidel Americans work side by side with Sunni and Shi'a Muslims to defeat other Muslims, and install a thriving, productive Iraqi democracy would be a complete repudiation of everything radical Islam stands for.

Make no mistake about this: Al Qaeda is having its head handed to it in Iraq. As in Afghanistan, the radicals completely underestimated the military capabilities of the United States. But more importantly, Al Qaeda also completely underestimated the desire of ordinary Iraqis to simply live in the peace and freedom of conscience that millenia of social evolution have instilled in all of us.

As I write this, Muslims are fighting side by side with Americans, driving other Muslims out of the historic and cultural center of ancient Islam. For Al Qaeda, it is an unmitigated disaster to see their forces beaten like squalling pigs by other Muslims, fighting in sworn alliance with the forces "Great Satan." As bad as that is for them, it will be even worse when the nation that emerges from the conflict begins to thrive economically, politically and culturally.

The stated goals of Operation Iraqi Freedom are not as farfetched as Fitzgerald believes they are. They are extraordinary difficult to achieve however, and I am not convinced that Mr. Bush will see much of them met by the time he leaves office. But at least one goal--showing the Muslim world that everything Al Qaeda stands for is a lie--is worth pursuing until accomplished.

SENATOR WARNER'S BAD WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS

By RALPH PETERS

If we don't quit, this will not only be a huge practical win - it'll be the information victory we've been aching for.

No matter what the Middle Eastern media might say, everyone in the Arab and greater Sunni Muslim world will know that al Qaeda was driven out of Iraq by a combination of Muslims and Americans.

Think that would help al Qaeda's recruitment efforts? Even now, the terrorists have to resort to lies about their prospective missions to gain recruits.

With the sixth anniversary of 9/11 approaching, how dare we throw away so great a potential victory over those who attacked our country?

Forget the anti-war nonsense you hear. The truth is that our troops want to continue this struggle. I know. I'm here. And I'm listening to what they have to say. They're confident as never before that we're on the right path.

Ralph Peters from Anbar Province, Iraq.

The eastern Afghanistan offensive

The Fourth Rail: Could Bin Laden be the Target?

Bill Roggio of the Fourth Rail reports heavy fighting in the Tora Bora region of Eastern Afghanistan. Dr. Amin al Haq, who serves as Osama bin Laden's security coordinator, was reported to have been wounded in the fighting.

In previous engagements with Taliban and Al Qaeda forces believed to be protecting or traveling with bin Laden, his "Black Guard" security detail has been involved.

This offensive bears watching closely.

FOXNews.com: Hijacker Received Al Qaeda Training

FOXNews.com: Hijacker Received Al Qaeda Training

ANKARA, Turkey — One of the hijackers of a Turkish plane received training at an Al Qaeda camp and wanted to be flown to Iran so he could eventually join Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported Monday, citing police.

Authorities didn't say at which Al Qaeda camp 33-year-old hijacker Mommen Abdul Aziz Talikh, an Egyptian of Palestinian origin, received training.

Police said Talikh, along with Mehmet Resat Ozlu of Turkey, wielded a fake bomb and claimed Al Qaeda ties when hijacking the plane early Saturday after it took off from northern Cyprus. The pair held passengers and crew hostage for more than four hours before surrendering peacefully at the Turkish Mediterranean resort Antalya, where the plane had been diverted after taking off.

Dozens of Turks have joined Al Qaeda in Afghanistan or Iraq, police have said. Suicide bombers linked to Al Qaea hit Istanbul in 2003, killing 58 people in attacks that targeted two synagogues, the British Consulate and a British bank. In February, a court sentenced seven people to life in prison for the bombings.

The two hijackers had met in northern Cyprus a year ago and were living together at the same house for a month, police said. Ozlu was registered at the literature department of a university in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in northern Cyprus, Anatolia said.