Russia's Ambassador Assassinated In Turkey: 'Allahu Akbar!'

Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was assassinated today by  Turkish special forces officer, 22-year -old Mevlut Mert Altintas. who was part of a security detail. Ambassador Karlov was delivering a speech at an art gallery in the Turkish capital of Ankara when he was shot several times in the back without warning, and then shot at least once more at close range as he lay on the floor. As he murdered the Ambassador, the assassin yelled 'Allahu Akbar' numerous times and quoted a follower of Mohammad, "We are the ones who pledged Bai'a (fealty) to Mohammed on the terms of jihad as long as we live.'' He also said in Turkish," "We die in Aleppo, you die here."

Three more people were wounded when the gunman shot into the crowd.

According to eye witnesses, the killer was captured alive by Turkish security, but it was reported afterwards by the heavily controlled Turkish press that he 'died in a shootout with the police.'

So, what's this all about?

Those keeping track on news in this part of the world may recall that Russia's relations with Turkey and its leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have been dicey for some time. Russia took exception to Erdoğan's support of ISIS and other Syrian jihadist rebels, and relations cratered in November of 2015 after the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian fighter jet that had briefly entered Turkish airspace en route from a bombing raid in Syria. After Russia's Putin ordered sanctions on importing Turkish goods and began threatening even harsher retaliation, Erdoğan apologized and relations have slowly improved, but only up to a point. Russia allowed the Turkish military into northern Syria, something that worked for Putin because it freed up manpower for the war in Syria's jihadis and pleased Erdoğan, who wanted to prevent the Kurds from establishing a state there.

But Erdoğan's Islamist heart still beats for the Syrian rebels, and it remains a point of contention that will likely come to a boil once Putin tells Erdoğan to take his military back over the border to Turkey.

The flash point, of course, is the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, where Islamist jihadis are being pushed out of their strongholds in the city. Any time you have this kind of urban warfare, civilians get killed. That's particularly true when jihadis are involved, since they will happily put civilians in danger by using their homes, hospitals and other civilian areas as military outposts. Jihadis will cheerfully use civilians as human shields, especially women and children, and with the aid of our corrupt media will exploit any casualties as 'bleeders,' for propaganda purposes. It's a common tactic, one we've seen used in Gaza and Lebanon among other places. It is simply how they operate.

Just an aside,remember that the majority of these jihadis are 'moderate' Syrian rebels from groups like the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusrah and are armed, trained and financially backed by the Obama Administration, Qatar and the Saudis.

The truth, of course is that at this point, the battle of Aleppo is almost finished and the jihadis there have one single objective...to delay things as much as possible so that the next flashpoint, the jihadi occupied city of Idleb near the Lebanese border can be fortified and reinforced.

So with this in mind, let's connect the dots.

Turkey, at this point is pretty much an Islamist dictatorship under the rule of Erdoğan and his AKP Party. He used the recent 'coup' attempt to cement his control over every aspect of Turkish society - the military, the police, the press, the government, the judiciary, you name it. Anyone remotely suspected of opposition to Erdoğan is rotting in Turkey's jails, especially if they were part of investigating or reporting on the many corruption scandals he and his family have been involved in.

Turkish public feeling has been manipulated quite thoroughly against Russia,Putin and Syrian Leader Assad over Aleppo, something that could not have happened without Erdoğan's consent.

Such things make a useful distraction for Erdoğan and his regime from other things going on in Turkey they might prefer Turks not concern themselves with just now. And in view of what Turkey's press has been serving up to them and the predominant Islamist mindset, I wouldn't be surprised if a number of Turks thought that Ambassador Karlov's murder was just what Russia had coming,particularly since Allah was invoked by the killer against the Russian infidels.

The killer himself, Mevlut Mert Altintas is a piece of the puzzle as well. He was no mere policeman,but a special forces officer, a member of Erdoğan's elite security squad. It's significant to me that several Turkish media outlets cited eye witnesses who saw him alive in police custody have all been scrubbed, and we're now being told he was killed in a shootout with police on the gallery's second floor. No witnesses except the police, of course and they're not talking. Neither is Mevlut Mert Altintas,since he's dead and can't be interrogated.

Erdoğan might well be ginning up public opinion to support him if Turkey decides to annex that juicy slice of northern Syria Putin allowed him to access with President Obama's connivance. Erdoğan is also undoubtedly aware of the Obama Administration's ongoing campaign to demonize Putin and Russia, and this could be his opening gambit to get Obama's support for Turkey if Erdoğan decides to challenge Russia.

Murder Most Foul -To Protect Iran And Argentina's Corrupt President

Argentinian Federal Prosecutor Alberto Nissim was a dedicated and brave man, who was in charge of investigating the 1994 terror bombing at a Jewish community center in Buenos Ares that killed 85 people.

 

In 2007, Nisman issued a report that clearly showed that the bombing had been carried out by Iran and its Hezbollah surrogates. It made the case strongly enough that Interpol issued "red notices"—arrest requests—for five Iranian officials who still remain free today.

Nisman had continued to work on the case and provide more details, especially on the connections between Iran and Argentina's government and their joint efforts at a cover up. Just last year, Nisman was able to get an Argentine federal court to declare the 2013 agreement between Argentina and Iran to establish a joint "truth commission" to investigate the Jewish community center bombing unconstitutional.

Just last week, Nisman had filed a lawsuit accusing President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman of colluding with the Iranians in a cover up of the bombing for the quid pro quo of Iranian oil and personal bribes. A lot of the evidence reportedly came from phone calls between Kirchner's aides and Mohsen Rabbani, the former cultural attaché at Iran’s embassy in Buenos Aires and one of the Iranians subject to those Interpol arrest warrants.

Today Nisman was found dead in his apartment of a single gunshot wound, just hours before he was scheduled to testify in a closed hearing to the Argentinian Congress regarding his investigation of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s corrupt dealings with Iran.

A .22 pistol and a single shell casing were found in the bathroom next to the body, Although Nisman was supposedly under the protection of a ten man security team, none of them heard or saw anything - and of course, Argentine Security Secretary Sergio Berni quickly came out with a statement that 'all signs point towards suicide.'

Yes..just hours before he was supposed to present evidence to Argentina's congress on a case he'd worked on for years.His death is a major coup for Iran, not just because of the 1994 bombing but because of the loss  Nisman's first hand knowledge of Iran and Hezbollah's penetration into Latin America.

And this Iranian regime, these murderers is whom President Obama wants us to get close to?  

Hat tip y un abrazo to Fausta's superb blog, where more info on this is available.

'Who Was That Maked Man'? - Senior Hezbollah Commander Assassinated

No, unfortunately, it wasn't Sheik Nasrallah..but it was a nice target all the same.

Hassan al-Laqis was gunned down near his house in Beirut as he was coming home from work last night, according to Hezbollah. And by the way, notice the Hezbollah flag on the police tape at the crime scene, a warning that Hezbollah controls the crime scene and is vetting who enters and who doesn't.

Now there's no telling what that 'work' consisted of, but Laqis was formerly one of the main commanders of Hezbollah’s rockets division in charge of firing missiles at Israel which caused major damage during the the 2006 Second Lebanon War ...and he had since been promoted The Lebanese media claims that Israel tried to assassinate him during the war and failed, which is worth about what you'd think it's worth.

Hezbollah, of course, is blaming Israel for the hit, and the Israelis are of course denying it.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor denied that Israel was involved, the Associated Press reported.

“Israel has nothing to do with this incident,” Palmor said. “These automatic accusations are an innate reflex with Hezbollah. They don’t need evidence, they don’t need facts, they just blame anything on Israel.”

Now far be it from me to contradict the Israeli Foreign ministry, but the Lebanese papers are reporting that al-Laquis took five shots in the head and neck according to Lebanon's Daily Star. With an assault rifle, while he was sitting in his car in the parking lot. At midnight. Now, that's pretty good shooting, calling for a highly trained operative capable of getting off that many shots (and head shots no less) in a matter of seconds, which is pretty much how the IDF and Mossad train them...but that in itself doesn't prove anything. On the other hand, the word is that al-Laquis was left alive and died in a local hospital, which definitely doesn't sound like IDF or Mossad procedure in these kind of operations.

According to the Daily Star a group of Sunni Jihadis know as the “Free Sunni Brigades in Baalbek” claimed responsibility for the hit.

Sunni groups also claimed responsibility for blowing up the Iranian embassy in Beirut a few weeks ago, a delicious irony considering the support Iran gives to Islamic terrorism...including their proxy Hezbollah. In any event, al-Laquis is taking the dirt nap, and one only hopes the bullets were coated in pork fat when they entered his body.

Good riddance, and congrats to whomever took out the garbage.

Who Really Killed JFK?

 

Today being the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, there's the usual florid prose out there (and of course, the usual Leftist conspiracy theorie about how Kennedy was murdered by 'Right wingers') .

While most of the conspiracy theories are pretty easily dismissed, one thing that isn't is the apparent whitewashing of the facts by the Warren Commission.

Yet that itself is pretty easily explainable.

As I explained to one of my correspondents earlier, the first thing in solving any murder is to look at motive.

There were two groups who had motive to kill off JFK, who by the way was dying of Addison's disease and might not even have finished his term out anyway.

One was the Mob. Because of the help given JFK by Frank Sinatra and others whom were 'connected' during the 1960 campaign,the Mob expected a quid pro quo in certain areas. Instead, Sinatra ended up having zero influence (when Kennedy went to Palm Springs, he stayed at Republican Bing Crosby's house), Attorney General Bobby Kennedy bore down heavily on the Mob and JFK did nothing to get back the Mob's purloined properties in Havana.

In edition, Kennedy was sleeping with Mob boss Sam Giacana's girlfriend, Judith Exner, which made Giacana look foolish when he found out about it.

The second group was the Castro brothers and the Cubans themselves.Kennedy had made a number of amateurish efforts to bump off Castro, even trying to get him to smoke poisoned cigars...not to mention the aborted attempt to overthrow him in the Bay of Pigs invasion.

I would think the Cubans are more likely to have done it. (A) Because Lee Harvey Oswald was heavily involved in pro-Castro groups like the Fair Play For Cuba committee and may even have been a Soviet agent (B) because when he was captured, Oswald repeatedly asked to talk to Hoover and the FBI before he was murdered and (C) This would explain the continued U.S. blockade and isolation of Castro's Cuba, which I believe will end once Fidel is dead. It also explains the Warren Commission whitewash..because to retaliate against Castro might have meant nuclear war with the Soviets.

There may or may not have been a second shooter. Oswald was a trained Marine marksman. It really doesn't matter in the long term.

A third possibility - a long shot,but not out of the question - would have been a joint effort by the Mob and Castro. I say this mainly because of mobbed up nightclub owner Jack Ruby's involvement.

Ruby had terminal cancer, and there's certainly a possibility he might have been leaned on to do the job, and perhaps even promised a lil' somethin' somethin' for his family if he successfully did the deed.

Oswald's death certainly tied up a lot of loose ends, didn't it?

At any rate, that's what I think happened.

Taliban Slaughters Six Amereicans Including Diplomat In Afghanistan

It was a horrible weekend in Afghanistan, as six Americans lost their lives.

Three members of the U.S. military, Anne Smedinghoff, a 25-year-old foreign service officer ,a U.S. civilian who worked for the U.S. Defense Department and an Afghan doctor were killed yesterday by a suicide car bombing attack while travelling to donate books to a school in the Zabul province in South Afghanistan.

Another American civilian was killed by the Taliban in a separate attack in eastern Afghanistan.



In a statement, Secretary of State John Kerry paid tribute to Anne Smedinghoff, a native of Illinois, who was killed in what he called a "despicable attack".

He said: "She tragically gave her young life working to give young Afghans the opportunity to have a better future."

Kerry described Smedinghoff as "vivacious, smart, capable, chosen often by the ambassador there to be the lead person because of her capacity."

He said "there are no words for anyone to describe the extraordinary harsh contradiction for a young 25-year-old woman, with all of her future ahead of her, believing in the possibilities of diplomacy to improve people's lives, making a difference, having an impact" to be killed, Kerry said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack in Zabul and said the bomber was seeking to target either a coalition convoy or the governor.

"We were waiting for one of them," Ahmadi said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It was our good luck that both appeared at the same time."

While the Obama Administration continues to make attempts to negotiate with the Taliban, so far they've shown little interest. With President Obama's set in stone date of a pullout by 2014 and a significant drawdown of U.S. forces already scheduled for the latter part of this year, they simply see it as a case of waiting us out before they take over again.

As Taliban leader Mullah Omar once famously said in an interview after President Obama's mini surge in Afghanistan, "The Americans have the watches, but we have the time."

4 Days After Assassination Reports On Syria's Assad - Still No Public Appearance Or Video

 

It's been 4 days after reports of the assassination or wounding of Syrian leader Basher al-Assad swept the world.

The normal course of events in these matters if the attempt was a failure is for the strong man to make a public speech or appearance in a day or so to show that he's still in control.

The only thing we've heard from Assad is a letter that could have been written by anyone addressed to the upcoming BRIC Forum (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) - to "work for an immediate cessation of violence that would guarantee the success of the political solution" of the Syrian civil war.

"This requires a clear international will to dry up the sources of terrorism and stop its funding and arming," Assad said in the letter, which was carried by Syrian state media on Wednesday.

Assad said Syria is subjected to "acts of terrorism backed by Arab, regional and Western nations" - a reference to the Western-backed opposition fighting his regime.

While it is highly ironic to see the likes of Basher Assad complaining about terrorism, the fact remains that in this particular case, he - or whomever wrote the letter - is entirely correct.

What I've found out from my sources thus far doesn't change my opinion that at the least, Assad was wounded and is now recovering. We know at this point that after reports of the assassination,  Assad was spirited off last Sunday to Shami Hospital in Damascus, that all roads to the hospital were blocked, and that the Syrian TV studios were evacuated and emptied.

If Assad wasn't killed or injured, the normal procedure would be for him to make a live or at least a television appearance by this time.He hasn't.

If he was killed, the other top members of the regime are using this time to plunder what's left and get out of the country. If he was wounded (the more likely scenario, I think) they're keeping things quiet until he can be patched up enough to make an appearance.

Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan Assassinated?

If true, this is huge.


There are a number of reports coming from the Middle East saying that the new Saudi Chief of Intelligence Prince Bandar bin Sultan was assassinated a few days ago in an explosion. The assassination reportedly occurred July 23rd, just a few days after he was appointed.

Iran's official PRESS-TV bureau has the same story.

The perpetrator is said to be Syria, in revenge for the bombing in Damascus which killed several high ranking Syrian officials. My guess is that it was more likely to have been Hezbollah or the Iranians themselves, perhaps the Qods Force. As you may remember, the Iranians have been behind similar operations before in the Kingdom, during the Haj. And of course, the Khobar Towers bombing.

Bandar was not only the Kingdom's intel chief, he was a high ranking member of the Saudi ruling family. He was the son of Prince Sultan ( defense minister from 1963 until his death in 2011) and of a slave. he also served as Saudi ambassador to the US from 1983 until 2005, and was so close to the Bush family that his nickname among them was 'Bandar Bush'.

He reportedly received his promotion to intel chief for planning and executing the Damascus bombing. As I've mentioned, The Saudis and Qataris are bankrolling the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood rebellion.

Official sources in Saudi Arabia are refusing to confirm of deny this, which leads me to believe it might very well be true.

More on this as it comes in.

Investigations Find That Iran Was Behind Attacks On Israeli Diplomats

In related news, the sun rose in the east today.

A multinational investigation into bomb plots targeting Israeli diplomats earlier this year has produced the clearest evidence yet that Iran was involved, illustrating the risks to the west if it fails to reach detente with Tehran over its nuclear weapons programme.

Talks on Iran's nuclear aspirations resume in Moscow on Monday, and western intelligence officials have told the Guardian the price of failure could be high. With Israel refusing to rule out military action if diplomacy fails, intelligence officials fear the volley of attacks carried out by Iranian operatives show Tehran is capable of an asymmetric response. Though the officials admit that predictions are extremely difficult to make, their concerns are based on investigations into plots against Israeli diplomats in India, Thailand and Georgia in February which point to the involvement of Iran.

In India, local agencies told ministers a bomb attack which badly injured the wife of the Israeli military attaché in New Delhi in February was the work of an Iranian "security entity". Their conclusions have not previously been made public and Indian officials have made significant efforts to avoid blaming Tehran, an ally and oil supplier.

The governments of Georgia and Thailand, which both uncovered bomb plots on the day of the Delhi attack, have also not officially blamed Iran.

European intelligence officials told the Guardian they now found it difficult to judge Tehran's "risk calculus".

"Until recently it was possible to see why they were doing what they have been doing," one intelligence official said. "Now it has become very unpredictable. It's very hard to see the logic behind [the February bombings], other than perhaps demonstrate an ability to cause problems in the event of war or a desire for revenge of some kind."

At the time, the Iranians were claiming that these attacks were a false flag operation done by the Mossad.

Particularly chuckle worthy were the last two paragraphs, about how intelligence sources now 'find it difficult to judge Tehran's risk calculus' and don't see any logic behind their actions except the desire for revenge and sheer belligerence.

Have these people been living in a cave since 1979?

Iran is a major fomenter, supporter and source of terrorism and had a proven involvement in 9/11. Their terrorist proxy Hezbollah and elements of their Revolutionary Guard have murdered journalists, politicians and heads of state, blown up a harmless Jewish Community center in Buenos Aires and a US Marine barracks in Lebanon, among numerous other 'operations'.And the regime threatens genocide against Israel and an apocalypse against the west in order to bring on the return of the Twelfth Imam on a semi-regular basis.

And these western intelligence figures are just now figuring out that the ayatollahs aren't rational actors?!!? Gosh, who knew?

I will concede one thing. To the extent that these were retaliations for what Tehran considers assassination attempts on its nuclear scientists, these attacks were simply acts of war. But then again, it isn't Israel threatening genocide against Iran, so the actions are hardly morally equivalent.

Anyone talking seriously about allowing this rogue nation any access to nuclear technology as a 'right' ought to seek serious medical attention. The west is going to have to take these toys away from the ayatollahs and put this rogue nation in a position never to be able to get its hands on them again...either now, when the cost is more painful than it might have been a few years ago but bearable, or later when it will be horrific and involve a great deal more blood and treasure.

Those are the choices on the table.

USS Cole Bomber Killed In Yemen Strike

Roll them drones...sometimes you get a seven or an eleven.

It's with great satisfaction that I relate that al-Qaeda leader Fahd al-Quso reportedly got on the wrong side of a Predator missile in Yemen as he stepped out of his car and was turned into very nasty halal barbecued hamburger. He was an important figure in al-Qaeda in The Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)

Al-Quso was wanted by the FBI after being indicted in the U.S. for his participation in the 2000 bombing in the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, in which killed 17 American sailors during the Clinton years. He also played a part in assisting and training Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 'The Underwear Bomber' in his failed attempt to bring down a commercial airliner on a flight to Detroit back in Christmas of 2009.

G-d speed the good work, as they say.

"I Got Bin Laden" - And Why Obama's Big Boast Might Have Been A Huge Mistake

"..Osama bin Laden will never again walk the face of this Earth. That’s what change is."

So said President Obama at a recent fundraiser, the same one where he also claimed that Republicans threaten the "very core of what this country stands for."

Let's ignore his attacking the GOP's patriotism and focus on that first statement, because President Obama keeps coming back to it as a great foreign policy achievement of his. Was it?

Osama bin Laden certainly deserved death if any one did. But foreign policy is based on strategic goals, not on simply meting out justice to those who've murdered Americans. If President Obama's chief concern was punishing people who've murdered Americans, we wouldn't be aiding the Palestinian Authority, Hamas or the Hezbollah-controlled government of Lebanon and Iran would be a smoking crater right now, with the mullahs, President Ahmadinejad and a lot of other members of that government turned into halal crisps.

Since President Obama is touting this as a great foreign policy accomplishment of his and is using it to raise money, let's simply take a cold hard look at it in the light of what it actually accomplished from that perspective.

At the time he was assassinated, Osama bin Laden was essentially living quietly as a guest of the Pakistani government in Abbottobad. His health was not the best, so a great deal of the actual operational command was in the hands of his subordinate, Egyptian-born former Muslim Brotherhood leader Ayman Zawahiri.

As President Obama has pointed out, al-Qaeda has been weakened severely and marginalized, thanks to bin Laden's miscalculation in making Iraq a central front of jihad and suffering massive losses of men and material. That happened, ironically, because of military strategies like the surge Senator Obama did his very best to criticize and sabotage before he entered the White House.

At the time of bin Laden's death, Al-Qaeda had become more of a brand name, a proselytizing force over the internet and an inspiration to young jihadis rather than an actual source of many attacks.

We used a painstakingly created network of Pakistani informers and intel sources to nail down bin-Laden's whereabouts and plan the operation that assassinated him. We then sent the valiant men of Navy Seal Team Six into Pakistan via helicopter, broke into bin-Laden's compound, shot him down, removed his body, gave him a proper Islamic funeral ( which involves cursing Christians and Jews, if the usual text was used) and threw his body into the sea.

So we accomplished an act of retribution. Let's examine the results and see if they were worth it.

The Pakistanis were predictably livid at being exposed, again, as a major aider and abetter of Islamic fascism and terrorism. Their honor/shame mentality kicked in and rather than express regret that they had been caught sheltering a mass murderer, they went into hysterics about the violation of their sovereignty. They arrested every member of the Pakistani network they could get their hands on that helped the US find and assassinate bin-Laden and charged them with treason, which will likely end in a number of executions. Aside from our network in Pakistan being burnt, this assured that we're going to have great difficulty with intel from that country in the future.

The Pakistanis also closed the land route they control into Afghanistan through the Torkum Pass for several days. This route transports 75% of the supplies going into Afghanistan for our troops, who now simply had to make do without needed supplies for a few days. Also, because the stopped supply trucks were sitting ducks, the Taliban manged to destroy several of them.

Even more costly, we lost one of our helicopters in the bin-Laden operation, a Blackhawk. Now, these normally cost about $20 million or so, but this one cost a great deal more, because it had been highly modified with top secret stealth technology that brought its cost up to more like $60 million. Even worse, the SEAL's were unable to completely destroy it, and the angry Pakistanis gleefully gave it to the Chinese to examine at their leisure. The potential loss of technology is in the millions, not to mention our relationship with Pakistan, which has worsened considerably and is unlikely to recover for some time if at all.

But the worse is yet to come.

When we take a look at exactly why Osama bin-Laden was ratted out after all this time, some interesting intel surfaces. As I've mentioned on these pages before, we know that there was a substantial disagreement between Osama and his chief lieutenant Ayman Zawahiri, prior to Osama's death. Bin laden was relatively comfortable in Abbotobad and wanted to keep al-Qaeda anchored in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Zawahiri, looking at developments in his native Egypt and elsewhere like the 'Arab Spring' , the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Obama's already announced retreat from the region was pushing to relocate al-Qaeda back to the Middle East and the roiling Arab world.

So now that Osama's dead (and according to my sources, there are pretty solid indications he was deliberately fingered) Zawahiri, a former Muslim Brotherhood member has taken over and we see increased al-Qaeda presence in both the Egyptian Sinai and Libya, as well as in Iraq where the Maliki government's marginalization of the Sunnis has given al-Qaeda new life.

Moreover, should Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist governments take over in Egypt and Libya as seems likely, Ayman Zawahiri, al-Qaeda and its affiliates like Takfir-wal Higra can count on a haven to train and recruit, with Libya's oil wealth and Egypt's population and rabid Islamism to draw on.

So let's reiterate, shall we? The chief foreign policy triumph President Obama continually boasts about consists of taking out a largely defanged terrorist. It cost us millions of dollars, inflamed an already unfriendly but unfortunately necessary relationship between the US and Pakistan, burnt our intel network in that country, gave the Chinese and probably the Russians and Iranians a good look at American state of the art stealth technology that cost additional millions to develop, and helped relocate al-Qaeda to the heart of the Middle East after we had largely driven them out.

'Foreign policy achievement' or a fiasco being used for political effect? You be the judge.

Whoopsie! Another Iranian Nuclear Scientist Goes Boom...

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility took the dirt nap today when two unknown assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to his car. He's now halal bits and pieces.

The US formally denied any involvement, which is probably true. I have a feeling it's a lot more likely the Mossad and the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK) might be able to shed some light on the matter.

I don't know if they have life insurance in Iran, but if they do, the rates must be pretty sky high on anyone working at an Iranian nuclear plant!

Obama And Iran - Wag The Dog?

The Iranians have formally denied any participation in the attempt to murder the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.

As usual, they're probably lying. We actually have one of the perps in custody.

But what they may not be lying about is the rationale for the ramping up of rhetoric by the Obama administration ( emphasis mine) :

An aide to Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday denied US allegations that the Islamic republic was involved in a plot to kill the Saudi envoy to Washington.

“This is a prefabricated scenario to turn public attention away from domestic problems within the United States,” Ali Akbar Javanfekr, the president’s press adviser, told AFP.

“The US government and the CIA have a lot of experience in diverting public attention from domestic problems in the United States. We have to wait now to know the details of this prefabricated scenario to know the US government’s objectives,” he said.

Let's examine a few things.

Iran is a rogue nation and state supporter of terrorism who has been in a state of war with us since 1978. They or their proxies have killed US troops in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan, supplied weapons to our enemies. There's even some credible evidence they may have helped facilitate 9/11.

They actually engaged in a shooting war with the U.S. in the Persian Gulf back in the 1980's, and then there's their illegal nuclear program, the constant threats and bluster and their direct arming of our enemies.

President Barack Obama has been an enabler and appeaser of Iran ever since he took office (and to be honest, so was President Bush before him to a large degree). Nothing I mentioned above ever caused him to falter a single bit in 'engaging' with the mullahs or extending what he called 'an unclenched fist' in their direction, no matter how often they spat in his hand.

Now, all of a sudden, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton are pounding their chests and issuing war cries about an 'unacceptable escalation'? Why now?

What's changed, of course is the president's poll numbers. With an election coming on, President Obama might just see some forceful engagement in Iran as a way to boost those ol' approval numbers. It wouldn't surprise me one bit.

This president frequently channels Jimmy Carter, and you may recall the boost in President Carter's popularity when the Iran Hostage crisis began. Before that, he failure to show even a semblence of acumen in running the U.S. economy or its foreign policy had him doomed to be a one term president.

But once the mullahs moved against our diplomats, the American people rallied around him - at least until they finally figured out that an incredibly weak president was going to be as feckless with the Iranians as he had with the commies and virtually everyone else. Then his ratings plummeted again. Meanwhile the mullahs were smart enough to release the hostages the day President Reagan took office even at terms that were actually far less than what they had been demanding of Carter.

If our current miserable excuse for a commander-in-chief has ideas of taking on Iran to bolster his political future, I applaud the action if not the motivation, provided it's done properly...which it likely won't be with President Obama in charge. A few things to consider:

The last thing we need is another war by diktat with foggy objectives. Unlike Libya, the president will need to make the case to Congress. I doubt he's capable of that, but will public opinion sit still for another war like Libya? Especially if the Obama Administration deliberately hampers our military with suicidal Rules of Engagement, encouraged by turgid presidential homilies about Islam, the religion of peace?

We have over one hundred thousand troops and billions in equipment stranded in a land locked Afghanistan surrounded by hostile territory. Some provision is almost certainly going to have to be made to get them out.

major strikes will need to be made on Iran's missile bases,infrastructure and nuclear facilities. And Iran's navy will have to be sunk, in order to keep the Shatt al-Arab in the Persian Gulf unobstructed. This is no time for half measures. Is President Obama capable of that?

Some provision is going to have to be made for our troops in Iraq.It's doubtful the Iraqis will aid their fellow Shi'ites, but they will not want the onus of sheltering U.S. troops, especially if the mullahs have the Iranian trained and armed militias like the Mahdi Army attack.

The Russians have billions invested in Iran, and the Chinese need Iranian oil. Depend on them to obstruct any of the UN resolutions or internationally based actions people like President Obama or Hillary Clinton are so fond of. Ditto when it comes to NATO,some of whose members depend on Russian oil and gas and with the European winter coming on.

The president is also likely to face hardline pressure from Putin to back off from Iran - something Obama has been notably deficient in dealing with in the past. In fact, the only real allies we're likely to have will be Australia and Israel, with maybe the Saudis and the Gulf nations in support roles. Given president Obama's hostility towards Israel, is he going to be prepared to make use of our mosy loyal ally in the Middle East?

Speaking of oil, the president is going to have to reconsider his de facto ban on drilling, something a number of his enviro-wacko supporters won't like at all. A war in the Persian Gulf would of necessity spike the oil market

Above all, is this president prepared to forgo the heady pleasures of nation building after the war's over? Aside from the fact we can't afford it (even less than we could in Iraq)rebuilding Iran would totally ignore the jihadi mentality, which is actually what we're fighting against.For that Islamist mindset, a large amount of rubble and casualties sends a certain invaluable message about the drawbacks of certain actions against America.

These are all things I hope President Obama is considering if he's contemplating a wag the dog moment.Frankly, I wonder if he has.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

FBI and DEA Foil Iran Plot To Murder Saudi Ambassador

The FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency( DEA) were responsible for thwarting what was referred to as an assassin-for-hire plot by Iran to kill Saudi ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubei.

A naturalized U.S. citizen holding Iranian and U.S. passports and a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard will face conspiracy charges for their part in the plot.

The Iranians, of course are denying it out of hand, although a spokesman for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Iranian government was awaiting details about the accusations that he described as a "fabrication" by the U.S.

Meanwhile the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington issued a statement Tuesday thanking U.S. authorities for stepping in.

"The attempted plot is a despicable violation of international norms, standards and conventions and is not in accord with the principles of humanity," the embassy's statement said.

The Saudi ambassador was not the only one on the hit list. U.S. officials said the suspects also discussed attacking Israeli and Saudi embassies in Washington and possibly Buenos Aires, Argentina. There's a huge Hezbollah cell there, for those who've forgotten.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, later told CNN he was confident the plan was sanctioned by the Iranian government.

"The quickness of the decisions that were made in order for certain elements of this to fall into place tells us that it is clearly tied to the highest levels of the Iranian government," he said.

Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, are charged with conspiracy to murder a foreign official, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, an FBI agent's affidavit released Tuesday alleged.

Arbabsiar was arrested in September. Shakuri remains at large, the FBI said.

Authorities developed the case against them with the help of an undercover informant posing as an associate of a Mexican drug cartel, officials and court documents said.

The Mexican drug cartel detail ought to raise some hackles. Regular members of Joshua's Army have known about the link between terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas and drug cartels for quite some time. Both groups, just like the Taliban in Afghanistan have drug sales and processing as an important part of their finances and have done deals with various cartels in Latin America,the Mafia and Union Corse' in Europe and the Chinese Triads in Asia. And if terrorism expert Steve Emerson is correct, a number of Hezbollah operatives and sympathizers have already gotten into the U.S. via our porous southern border.

I also found it interesting that Attorney General Eric Holder took a few minutes today to take credit for the FBI and DEA's work. A question comes to mind:Why is it that Eric Holder claims to know absolutely nothing about operations like Fast and Furious that ended in disaster, but is presenting himself as being entirely in the loop and responsible for an operation he had absolutely nothing to do with that ended successfully? Especially ironic since the Iranians may very well have approached one of the Mexican cartels to buy weaponry the cartels got hold of via Holder and Fast and Furious.

And then of course,there's the timing. The announcement of an arrest that took place two weeks ago at a press conference today by an Attorney General who's already been caught lying to Congress and is about to subpoenaed is, well, just a mite suspicious, wouldn't you say?

As for the Iranian plot itself,I remember a time when this would have constituted an act of war, just like seizing a US embassy and taking American diplomats as hostages once would have been. Instead, this is going to be played down, with maybe some rhetoric that signifies absolutely nothing.And Iran knows it.

The Mullahs aren't stupid. They know weakness when they see it, and they see it in Obama the same as they once saw it in Jimmy Carter.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Libya Gets More Complicated As Rebels Begin Fighting Among Themselves

Libyan rebel leader Abdel Fattah Younes, a defector from Khaddaffi's inner circle was assassinated by members of an allied militia today. Younes was Khaddaffi's former Interior Minister but defected to become the military chief in the rebel Transitional National Council.

Rebel minister Ali Tarhouni told reporters in Benghazi that a militia leader who had gone to fetch Younes from the front line had been arrested and had confessed that his men had carried out the killing, while another unnamed rebel commander said Islamists may have been to blame.

The war itself is pretty much stalemated, and not likely to end anytime soon, especially with the rebels fighting among themselves.

The United States, which has formally recognized the Transitional National Council, said Younes's death was a blow but called for solidarity among the rebels.

"What's important is that they work both diligently and transparently to ensure the unity of the Libyan opposition," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in Washington.

Yes, that's the sort of messy,ongoing situation we're involved with.At a cost of millions per day.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Mayor Of Kandahr Killed In Suicide Bombing

Another victim was added to the string of assassinations by the Taliban in Afghanistan as Ghulam Haidar Hamidi, mayor of Kandahar, Afghanistan was killed today in a suicide bombing attack.

Hamidi, a U.S. citizen, was killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a corridor near Hamidi's office. The mayor was meeting elders from a city district when one of them got close to the mayor and detonated a bomb hidden in his turban.

Hamidi is just the latest in a series of killings carried out by the Taliban as they seek to assert control over Afghanistan as the US prepares to pull out. Two of Hamidi's deputy mayors were killed in attacks by insurgents last year, and in the last four months the provincial police chief, top cleric and leading powerbroker, President Hamid Karzai's half-brother, have all been assassinated.

There will likely be more of these the closer the US withdrawal date gets.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Two Iranian Nuclear Scientists Targeted In Attack

One Iranian nuclear scientist was killed and another badly injured by car bombs in Tehran today in two separate attacks.

The slain scientist, Majid Shahriari, was a member of the nuclear engineering team at the Shahid Behesti university in Tehran as was the injured scientist, Fereydoun Abbasi Davani.

Shahriari was "in charge of one of the great projects" at Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, the Islamic republic's nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

The other scientist, Davani, is a senior defense ministry and armed forces logistics scientist, and a member of the Revolutionary Guards. He is also said to be one of the few specialists who can separate isotopes.

The assassins, riding motorcycles, tossed bombs at -- or attached them to -- the cars of the two Shahid Behesti University professors as they drove with their spouses en route to work.

"A Pulsar motorbike drove close to Dr. Shahriari's car and stuck a bomb on his car which after a few seconds exploded," Tehran police chief Hossein Sajednia was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

"Experts are examining the incidents," Sajednia said. "The type of the bombs and explosive materials and the extent of damage have not been determined yet."

Both scientists were reportedly members of Iran's Basiji militia, which is unusual since the membership of the Basij is mainly drawn from the working and lower middle class, rather like Hitler's SA. If true, the two scientists were very active in politics.

Needless to say, the Iranians are blaming the Mossad and the CIA for the bombings.

Imagine...Iran upset over 'terrorism'!

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!