Even naturalized citizens have to be exiled if they commit offensive crimes

The USA Senate is looking for ways to deport naturalized citizens who commit severe offenses:

There are few remedies for removing foreign nationals who committed violent crimes, joined terrorist groups, or engaged in large-scale fraud after they became American citizens, lawmakers noted at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Ken Cuccinelli, a former acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, pointed to two key cases that he said show the current law isn’t working, in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution.

In March of this year, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone, opened fire in a classroom at Old Dominion University, where he killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, an ROTC leader. In 2017, Jalloh pleaded guilty to providing material support to the Islamic State. He was reportedly sentenced to 11 years in prison but released early after completing a drug treatment program.

“Despite his terrorism conviction, Jalloh was never denaturalized and deported. Under current law, terrorism is prima facie evidence of fraudulent procurement only within five years of naturalization,” Cuccinelli said. “Because Jalloh’s conduct fell outside that window, the government had no clear path to remove him. A brave American soldier died because of that gap.”

Cuccinelli brought up another example: Mirsad Ramic, a Bosnian national who became a naturalized citizen and lived in Kentucky before he was convicted last year of providing material support to the Islamic State terrorist group.

“We must act on multiple fronts, strengthen the front end, so adjudicators conduct meaningful inquiries, and every applicant is thoroughly tested for hostility to American principles,” Cuccinelli said.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., the subcommittee chairman, sponsored the SCAM Act, short for “Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation.” In other cases, he noted, naturalized citizens joined the Islamic State terrorist group or al-Qaeda or joined a drug trafficking cartel.

“If a man takes the oath of allegiance and then joins ISIS, the fraud likely began long before the battlefield,” Schmitt said Wednesday. “If the man swears attachment to the Constitution, then spies for a foreign country, the betrayal likely began before the indictment. If a man claims good, moral character and then steals millions from the American people, the lie may have been present at naturalization.”

He said his bill would make it easier to denaturalize and remove immigrants who naturalized in the country and then committed a felony.

“We need a serious nationwide denaturalization effort against fraudsters, felons, terrorists, spies, and anyone who obtained American citizenship by deceit,” Schmitt said. “If the government never revokes citizenship obtained by fraud, the oath becomes theater. The application becomes a game.”

In simpler terms, one could say what's called for here is a clear law making it easier to exile foreign nationals who commit severe offenses, and it's something tons of countries that want to remain civilized are in dire need of. We have to hope the GOP will make a serious effort to pass such bills through if they want to make the USA safer again for starters. Then, Europe will definitely need it next.

USA's Catholic bishop council must stop defending Islam, which is already becoming far too established stateside

Maureen Mullarky addresses the disturbing case of the USA's Conference of Catholic Bishops acting as apologist for the Religion of Peace, something previously alluded to by news sites like Front Page:

Earlier this month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) published “Islamophobia: A Guide for U.S. Catholics on Anti-Muslim Bigotry.” Showcased on the USCCB website with a lovely Islamic design cover, this 15-page booklet exhorts Catholics to “address the disturbing phenomenon of anti-Muslim sentiment in our times.”

Introduced by the co-chairs of the National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue (NCMD) — Bishop Elias Lorenzo of Newark and Imam Kareem Irfan — the USCCB declares dire need to counter “the rising tide of anti-Muslim sentiment that has been present for decades.”

The guide uses the term “Islamophobia” as a blunt tool for erasing the Islam from Islamic terrorism. It runs interference for a bellicose religious culture that began its intended conquest of the world in the seventh century.

Discomfort with Islam Deemed a Moral Defect

The USCCB booklet appeared within days of the introduction of a bill by Sen. Ted Cruz to address the steady massacre of Christians in Nigeria by Islamic terrorists. Ongoing jihadist slaughter in DR Congo brought censure from Pope Leo in July after 49 Christians were hacked to death during a service. Some 64 Catholics were killed in Ntoyo, Congo, on Sept. 8-9. Christians are attacked and subjugated in more countries than any other religious group, according to The Washington Post.

That they'd issue such an atrocious form of apologia does a terrible disfavor to victims of Islamic violence everywhere, and is a pure betrayal of Christian adherents, no matter the sect they belong to, whether Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox. This is an utter disgrace. It's also repulsive they'd compare "islamophobia" with antisemitism, because it also ignores Muslim antisemitism of the sort that led to October 7, 2023. And what influences the defense of the Religion of Peace? As some say, follow the money:

Once-Catholic Georgetown has been shilling for Islam for at least two decades. Cooperation began in earnest in 2005 with the gift of a $20 million endowment fund from Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. It was given to expand the existing Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown’s prestigious Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. In recognition of the tycoon’s support, director John Esposito renamed the center the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU).

Grants and contracts from Qatar, worth more than $927.6 million, flowed to ACMCU between 2005 and 2023. Much of that funding is reported to have been routed through the Qatar Foundation. The foundation is a tentacle of the Qatari regime, according to the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy. The foundation has ties to the Safa Network, a nexus of charities that work to propagate Islamist ideology, as reported by the Middle East Forum. In 2005, Georgetown opened a satellite campus in Qatar supported by partnership with the Qatar Foundation.

Wow, the same Qatar that harbored Hamas minions for many years. When will anybody in the GOP wake up and take issue with continued relations with Qatar if this is how they're going to operate?

On a related note, an army veteran, Mark Lucas, who fought in Afghanistan, has warned about Islam's infiltrations into the USA, including the now sadly elected NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani years after September 11, 2001:

The radical jihadists who attacked America on 9/11 dramatically changed the course of American history. Personally, it was the catalyst that encouraged me and a new generation of warfighters to join the military. We wanted to kill the monsters responsible for that horrific act of terrorism.

In 2010, I deployed to Afghanistan as an Infantry Rifle Platoon Leader. It was the deadliest year of Operation Enduring Freedom. I saw radical Islam up close and personal. I believe it poses the greatest threat to Western civilization. The Afghans brutally beat their wives, daughters, and sisters. Young boys were frequently victims of rape. During Key Leader Engagements with local Afghan leaders, we would be served tea by boys who were sold into slavery and sexually abused. Our local Afghan interpreter told us that many children were sold into sex slavery by their parents in exchange for educational opportunities. He proudly informed me that many of these boys would return to murder their parents.

My unit included several women who served on our Female Engagement Team. These women were tough, brave, and noticeably blonde. My soldiers constantly had to guard them from our supposed allies in the Afghan army. During foot patrols, squad leaders physically kept local men from lingering near them. Without the protection of my men, these women would have been beaten and raped.

As Americans, we value our families and protecting the innocent. These values often do not appear in Islamic culture. I saw children trapped in sexual slavery by powerful members of the Afghan government. In large families, parents would sell their children to be raped and abused. This was a normal part of their culture.

My experience was not unique. Any service member who deployed will tell you he saw or heard of similar atrocities. Those of us who served outside the wire in hostile territory witnessed the horrors of radical Islam firsthand. I feel obligated to share this experience, even if it’s not politically correct.

Radical Islam is not being contained to Middle Eastern countries. It is rapidly spreading to the west. Multiple child rape gangs have operated for decades in the United Kingdom. Cities like London discovered that thousands of teenage girls were being targeted for grooming and rape. Many of the offenders were Pakistani men who were involved in the city’s growing Muslim community. The rape gangs were discovered in as many as 50 cities in the U.K. In Sweden, migrant men of non-European origin commit 84 percent of assault rapes in Sweden. An Afghan in Sweden is 69 times more likely to commit an aggravated rape than a Swede is.

This terrifying behavior is coming to the United States. In 2024, Qalinle Ibrahim Dirie, a 42-year-old Somali migrant living in Minnesota, abducted and raped a 12-year-old girl. Following his conviction, the local Islamic center submitted a letter of support on his behalf. The letter stated that Dirie “enriches the lives of those around him” and attributed his crime to “the challenge of starting over in a new culture.” After receiving this endorsement, Dirie received a 12-year sentence this summer, the minimum allowed under Minnesota law.

We are seeing rapid demographic shifts in the Midwest as leftists import these radicals. Dearborn, Michigan, has the largest per capita Muslim population in the country, with 54.5 percent of the city’s residents being either Middle Eastern or North African. This makes it the first U.S. city with a majority Arab population. It is also home to the largest mosque in North America. Throughout the U.S., there are about 4.5 million Muslims, with 58 percent of them being first-generation immigrants. A majority of these Muslims live in states with large cities such as New York, Illinois, and California.

It's chilling to think of how the Catholic council of bishops acts oblivious to all this. Chip Roy's also addressed the encroachment of Islam in the USA:

Mamdani is the poster child for the modern Democrat Party, hiding behind the veneer of pro-immigration policy to foster a purposeful, planned, and strategic effort to advance an “Islamic cultural revolution” designed to fundamentally alter America’s identity. This shift will transform America from a melting pot into a loaded cannon in which the least of our worries will be thousands of Muslims taking to the streets for prayer and parades, or a viral video showing a young woman proclaiming her acceptance of Islam in Times Square, a location often called “the center of the universe.”

But this cultural transformation is not limited to New York City. It is occurring nationwide. Hamtramck, Michigan, a small city within Detroit, has been “flooded” with immigrants and is the first city in the United States to have an all-Muslim elected city council.

One of the reasons for that is because non-Muslims opposed to LGBT ideology may have been instrumental in getting the whole council elected. Such alliances were dangerous, and will come with a heavy price. And it's shameful how women sell out to the Religion of Peace, which is like acceptance of slavery. Here's some more on Mamdani's election:

The race’s outcome indicates a strong preference among NYC voters for the type of communist-style policies Mamdani has touted in years past and throughout his campaign.

It's said that many of the voters who brought Mamdani into power are foreigners, and undoubtably, that includes plenty of Muslims too. And Jarret Stepman notes:

Police deployments to crime hotspots in the city are likely to decline. Many long-time NYPD officers will almost certainly leave the force. Whether Mamdani and the City Council actively defund the police or not may be of little consequence since the mayor will have a great deal of control over how the police will be used. [...]

Mamdani has promised to turn the subway into something akin to a homeless shelter and will undoubtedly make travel on it increasingly dangerous. You are probably more likely to be stabbed or assaulted on a bus ride going forward, but at least they will be “free,” I guess.

Don't be shocked if Mamdani gradually turns the police into a sharia-style outfit. There've already been chilling signs of similar movements there over the years. Stuff like this is exactly why I'd rather not visit the Big Apple ever again. It's hugely regrettable a once famous cityscape had to end up being reduced to this kind of monstrosity, and now in the process, thousands of innocent lives from 911 have been desecrated as a result of this abominable turn of events. But, lest we forget, even the aforementioned Catholic bishop council also clearly has some blame to shoulder for what's come down. They complain about "Islamophobia" to the point where they completely erase the experiences of the military soldiers who experienced firsthand what the Religion of Peace advocates and normalizes, and then we keep seeing these fiascos occur with no end in sight. This is absolutely awful.

John Daniel Davidson's wrong about how the USA should deal with middle eastern issues

One of The Federalist's leading editors, John Daniel Davidson, has written a very sloppy and concerning take on Donald Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia, one that sounds like he doesn't think the USA should promote and demand civilized values in the middle east:

Not only did Trump lambast neocon “nation-building” in the region, he more or less vowed never to pursue the kinds of neocon misadventures that spilt American blood and treasure over the past 25 years in the insane pursuit of creating western liberal democracies in the Middle East.

In stark and unmistakable terms, the president reminded the world of the abject failure of decades of neocon and liberal interventionist U.S. foreign policy under both Democrat and Republican leadership. He specifically called out the trillions of U.S. tax dollars wasted in a totally unsuccessful attempt to turn Iraq and Afghanistan into western-style democracies as part of the global war on terror.

“In the end, the so-called ‘nation-builders’ wrecked far more nations than they built — and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves,” Trump said. “The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neocons, or liberal non-profits like those who spent trillions failing to develop Kabul and Baghdad.”

Ahem. If we take Afghanistan as an example, they didn't even try to do that, and most importantly, refused to wean the country off of the Islamic religion. How does Mr. Davidson expect there to be any long range peace and quiet if there's a dominant ideology that leads to a boomerang effect, where years later, they can, much like a "sleeper agent", go right back to old and dirty tricks?

In other words, Trump’s vision of American foreign policy isn’t driven by a zeal to remake the world into some version of a liberal western democracy. In Riyadh, he was saying that Saudi Arabia and the other Arab states can just be Islamic monarchies, and as long as they present no threat to American interests, and as long as they promote peace and stability, then we can do business with them.

Well, this is telling something. So it's okay if Islam continues to govern such countries - and additionally chilling, if it ends up dominating Europe and the USA - so long as it supposedly doesn't affect the USA? Also, what's this about a "liberal" western democracy? Why not a conservative western democracy? This has got to be another chilling flaw in Mr. Davidson's argument. Something only somebody who doesn't value foreign lives as much as local ones could possibly write. He later says, very insultingly:

Critics will simply repeat platitudes like we fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here, or that a world of liberal democracies is in the American interest. Maybe that’s true in theory, but in practice it amounts to a carte blanche to intervene anywhere in the world for any reason. What’s more, no one seriously believes that America has the ability or competence to plant stable democracies in Africa or Asia — or anywhere, for that matter. The reason for this is simple: stable democracies cannot be planted by any outside power, no matter how rich and powerful. They have to grow organically and domestically from the people themselves. We can applaud emergent democracies, we can do business with them, but there is precious little we can do to guarantee them, much less build them in the first place.

And not every nation has to be a democracy. The great lie of the Bush-era war on terror was that all people yearn for freedom and democracy. No they don’t. Some yearn much more for justice, or righteousness, or simply revenge. Some will be hereditary monarchies, or Islamic caliphates, or any number of other things. That’s fine. We shouldn’t be troubled by our differences with other nations, so long as they don’t threaten us. The idea that we could turn Afghanistan into a modern democratic state was perhaps the greatest delusion of the past quarter-century. As Trump said on Tuesday, “I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be very profound.”

Ahem. Maybe democracy isn't what every nation need be, but should any nation be a spot where barbarism, misogyny and racism can reign? Absolutely not. And it's unacceptable that any country have totalitarians savaging their own subjects. Similar points can be made about communism. Davidson's argument is defeatist in that it additionally refuses to recognize that indoctrination to evil is another grave wrong that can't go unopposed. And it goes without saying that said indoctrination is what's led to "honor murders" by Islamofascists. And it's insulting to Americans' intellects to say the USA doesn't have the ability to establish sturdy democracies on continents like Africa and Asia. By that logic, they didn't have what it took to tame Germany and Japan either.

And Adam Johnston isn't doing much better with his claim the USA shouldn't go to war with Iran, which has some strange descriptions of certain commentary figures:

Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is under fire from neocons after she recently testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee “that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized [restarting] the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”

This caused neoconservative media personality Mark Levin and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley to push back on Gabbard, both sharing an op-ed from former John Bolton Chief of Staff Fred Fleitz, who called the intelligence reports referenced by Gabbard “stupid intelligence.”

I can't currently recall Levin ever being described before as a "neocon". Is this some kind of absurd propaganda to undermine those who believe force is the only true way to defeat savage evil? And are the lives of innocent women in Iran persecuted for not dressing in abayas worthless? Well that's what Johnston runs the gauntlet of implying, and that's no improvement over Davidson's approach. Maybe the war in Iraq was unnecessary, but that's only if you fail to get rid of the Islamist indoctrination that since became more prevalent there. Same can be said about Iran. Are we to assume Johnston and Davidson also believe Lebanon should remain in the clutches of the Islamists too?

Yet under the growing influence of the more nationalist and non-interventionist America First movement, this longstanding alliance is beginning to fracture. A new generation of right-wing leaders — figures who are notably more realist and restraint-oriented, and less reflexively pro-Israel, such as Vice President J.D. Vance, Elbridge Colby, and influential media figures like Tucker Carlson — are questioning endless American interventionism in the Middle East and whether U.S. interests are always best served by unconditional support for Israel.

Wow, with this kind of mentality, we'd never have won WW2, let alone WW1. Interesting Carlson comes up in discussion here, because he's regrettably proven negative to Israel, and that's not good. Also, what's so wrong with being "hawkish"? Does that mean that when a left-winger is "dovish" that's a great thing? Forget it, these propagandists have gone too far, and the Federalist's just proven a most embarrassingly bad publication with this embarrassment.

Now in more news related to Trump's recent Saudi Arabia conference, Christine Williams has addressed the issue, and points to serious info on what crimes al-Sharaa's organization has done:

A MEMRI article entitled, “Qatar Continues To Finance Terror With U.S. Consent: Will Fund Syria’s New Regime, Led By HTS Terror Organization, Just As It Funded Hamas,” examined the terrorist history of Syrian leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who reverted to his original name Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, to create a false impression that he had changed, even though he remains dedicated to the jihadist cause, ie. to establish the Sharia.

Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) “was established in 2012 by Al-Sharaa (then known as Al-Joulani) at the behest of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who would soon become the founder of ISIS. In 2013 the group became the official branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria after Al-Joulani broke with Al-Baghdadi and swore allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri.”

Al-Sharaa’s followers have slaughtered Christians, Alawites and Druze since toppling Al-Assad.

The MEMRI article also exposes the modus operandi of Qatar, “the world’s greatest financer of extremist Islamist elements such as the Muslims Brotherhood and jihadi terror organizations.”

[...] The fall of the al-Assad Syrian regime was bad news for its staunch ally, Iran, which was good news to America and Israel. But like the mujahideen of Afghanistan, Al-Sharaa is no friend to America and Israel, and neither is Qatar. In December, Qatar “rushed to position itself as a pivotal player in shaping Syria’s future” after the fall of al-Assad. Qatar was hand in hand with “its closest regional partner,” Turkey, which was responsible for facilitating and backing al-Sharaa before and after al-Assad’s fall.

Now al-Sharaa is making significant inroads, as his leadership is legitimized by Muslim Brotherhood-supporting Qatar (and Turkey), with new US support to boot.

Seriously, it's very sad and regrettable it's come to this, because not only does it not help Israel, it also does not help any innocent Druze, Kurds and Yazidis in the area. Williams does note though:

One thing for certain is that Trump inherited Joe Biden’s complete betrayal of American interests, both domestically and abroad. Biden left open borders, poured billions into the coffers of Iran, left billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art military equipment in Afghanistan for free use by the Taliban, and virtually factored America out of the equation of any global influence. Biden left Trump to contend with a nuclear threshold Iran and a turbulent Middle East that saw America under the declining Biden as nothing more than a joke.

It’s also no secret that Qatar has been buying out American campuses, where pro-Hamas, intimidating protests proliferated, with little to no intervention by the campus administration.

The picture looks grim. But one needs to remember that Trump, not Biden, cracked down on campus antisemitism, which was disguised as “free speech” when it was really a promotion of jihad terror against Israel and Jews.

Yes, but that doesn't mean Trump should allow jihadism to gain footholds even abroad. As some conservatives may realize, the day will come when right-wingers will have no choice but to do battle overseas if that's what it takes to ensure future generations of decent folk everywhere will have a future. Let's also consider that Iran may not be the only Islamic regime with nuclear research in store.

Of course, the cautionary tale of the mujahideen in Afghanistan should be remembered. However, considering Trump’s past policies of protecting American borders from the worst criminals and jihadists, as well as his reinstatement of the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries of concern, it makes little sense to assume without further evidence that he would betray America to the jihadist cause. Let’s hope there is a method (and long-term results) to the madness — as appears to be the case even at this point. In the meantime, expect the inevitable media circus as America continues to emerge from disastrous, nightmarish Democrat rule.

Certainly it's important to protect USA borders, and to back Israel, but that doesn't mean we should turn our backs on any innocent souls in Islamic regimes who should be liberated from the Religion of Peace's tyranny. And even communist regimes are a bad omen. Mainly because of how they're more than perfectly willling to do business with the Religion of Peace, and maybe even sell out their countries to Islam in the end. Interestingly enough, Trump's deal with al-Sharaa in Syria doesn't seem to have met any opposition or complaints from the Democrats. Surely that's not telling something?

Then, here's some more observations about Trump's gamble on Syria:

“Obviously, it is a bit of a gamble,” Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, told the DCNF. “If you take a look at historical cases in which an entity has been on a terrorist list and then has transitioned towards becoming more acceptable as they become a political party or take over a country, whether it’s the [African National Congress], the [Irish Republican Army], or the [Palestinian Liberation Organization], it’s nevertheless been a process with specific demands and time in order to make sure that this is not just a temporary change of heart.”

What it really is, is taqqiya (deception). And vehement refusal by the PLO to abandon Islam only worsens the matter.

Al-Sharaa has attempted to distance himself from his jihadist past, but HTS still retains the salafist jihadist interpretation of Islam that al-Qaeda espouses, with the latter viewing HTS as traitorous.

Point: if we take the case of Egypt's past autocrat Anwar Sadat as an example, there are jihadists who won't accept that he pulled an act of deception of his own on Israel, and that's how Sadat was slain a few years after the Camp David accords. So it's no surprise if al-Qaeda doesn't accept al-Sharaa's own acts of deception regardless of his intentions. Either way, both al Qaeda and al-Sharaa are bad news, and nobody should have to make a choice between either.

More important information comes from Dr. Yehuda Balanga:

Last Wednesday, US President Donald Trump met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa (al-Julani). It appears Trump chose to ignore the fact that until that meeting, al-Sharaa had been a wanted terrorist in the eyes of the Americans. Overnight, he became wanted in Washington under very different circumstances. "A young and attractive guy," Trump said of al-Sharaa. "A tough guy with a strong background. A very strong background. A fighter." Notably, the American president failed to mention that this "fighter" he praised led a Sunni Islamist-jihadist organization that persecuted and killed men, women, and children during the Syrian civil war solely because of their religious beliefs or political affiliations. [...]

To date, no Islamist movement that seized power has ever abandoned its ideology. Quite the contrary - every past success has emboldened a wider Islamist surge. This was true in Iran after the 1979 revolution, and again after the Arab Spring, when Islamist movements, many tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, rose to power in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and now Syria. Given al-Sharaa's past in al-Qaida and Islamic State, a shift in worldview seems unlikely.

See, this is exactly what may be overlooked in this whole concerning development. Do MAGA supports and America Firsters intend to let this go without public comment?

Anyway, after discovering what the above writers/editors for the Federalist were using for apologia, I decided I'd had enough, and the time had come to remove them from my side menu. Even the Daily Caller so far hasn't written anything that foolish, which is amazing considering Carlson was one of their co-founders. The Federalist had turned out some very tasteless, disturbing and divisive op-eds before, and these latest are only compounding a very embarrassingly bad situation. We could decidedly do without their shoddy "opinions".

Why nation-building in Afghanistan only wound up failing

Here's an excerpt from Jesse Petrilla's recent book, "If It Takes a Thousand Years: From Al-Qaeda to Hamas, How the Jihadists Think & How to Defeat Them", which explains why, so long as Islam rules countries like Afghanistan, nation-building there won't be possible:

I was serving in the U.S. Army as a Liaison Officer to the Afghan secret police, and facilitated the interrogations of over 400 captured Taliban and Al-Qa’eda members while there. A Taliban leader once told me “You have me in a cage, my fight is over for now, but my children will fight you, and if they don’t win, their children will fight you. If It Takes a Thousand Years, we will win.” Although it didn’t take the Taliban a thousand years to win the battle of Afghanistan, it demonstrates the drive that our jihadist enemies have. They fight generational wars against the West as a whole.

When analyzing our Islamic extremist enemies, it is important for the American people to understand the tribal mindset that so many of our enemies come from. Islam developed from tribal cultures, and many tribal cultures over the past 1,400 years developed under Islam. The Islamic world itself is divided into what I would describe as tribes; you have the Sunni tribe, the Shia tribe, and within that are thousands of other tribes, one of the most recent being the “Palestinian” tribe which has become somewhat of a self-appointed identity by various lost members of other tribes. But in Afghanistan, tribalism is at a level that is virtually unparalleled in the world.

It is human nature to coalesce together into groups, but when you add Islam to the mix, it fuels different dynamics that are completely alien to Westerners. The tribal mindset is so vastly different than our own that it often makes it impossible to reason with them, and they will not respond logically or rationally as you might assume an American or other Westerner would. To Westerners, the tribal mindset may contain many elements that are quite shocking and deeply disturbing.

Part of our training upon arrival in Afghanistan included multiple briefings on Islamic and Afghan culture, since we would be working with locals on a daily basis. In one such briefing, the Afghan-American man leading the discussion began by stating; “You must understand that everything about your way of life in America, is completely different in this planet.” He quickly corrected himself to say “in this country,” but his misspeaking was not too far from the truth. From the way people say hello to the way they go to the bathroom, everything is different, and it is like another world to a Westerner.

In Pashtun tribal law, the largest tribe in Afghanistan comprising almost half the nation, there is something known as khun, or blood money. It can be paid to make amends for various transgressions such as murder, property damage, theft, kidnapping, etcetera. In addition to khun, women can be given to become sex slaves as well as female babies to eventually turn into sex slaves. Women and female babies count as two-thirds of the khun.

Just as in every other part of the Islamic world, Pashtun women have far less status than men. To divorce a woman, the man only needs to declare “I divorce thee” three times publicly. Many Pashtuns also believe that women have something called the “evil eye,” that they have special powers and the ability to cause bad things to happen.

In Pashtun tribal law, if a woman is kidnapped by force, and coerced to consent to marry her kidnapper, but she does not get her father’s permission, the father has the right to kill her. Any inclination of a woman having dishonored the family is rapidly met by her murder. In one of the detainee interrogations, I was truly shocked and saddened when the detainee was describing his family, and nonchalantly said “I have eight children, I had nine but one of my daughters dishonored the family and so I killed her,” a story I unfortunately would hear similar versions of on more than one occasion from multiple detainees.

With women and children relegated to 2nd-class status via Islamic sharia, it's no wonder things are as horrific there as they still are. That the government of Dubya did nothing to prevent many of these repulsive cases behind the scenes is another reason Afghanistan's "liberation" was doomed to failure. We must hope Donald Trump's incoming government will do whatever possible in the meantime to reverse what Biden's bunch enabled upon retreat. But it's doubtless going to be a very long, grueling trip to put an end to the suffering there.

Taliban destroyed education for over a million girls in Afghanistan

Ironically, it's the UN that first reported this, considering such an awful outfit does nothing genuine to defend women's civil rights from Islamofascism:

The Taliban’s ban on women receiving above a secondary has deprived 1.4 million Afghan girls of education since 2021, according to research from the United Nations.

The Afghan government first banned girls from attending secondary school in March 2022, later going on to prohibit women from attending university classes in December of that year. As a result of the bans, girls over the age of twelve have had education opportunities restricted, with 300,000 more girls being affected by the ban since the U.N.’s last count in April of 2023, according to a press release from the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

[...] Aside from banning girls from having access to secondary and higher education, the Taliban has also banned females from teaching male students, according to the press release. This change has contributed to the drop in total education enrollment in primary schools from 6.8 million boys and girls in 2019 to 5.7 million in 2022.

“In just three years, the de facto authorities have almost wiped out two decades of steady progress for education in Afghanistan, and the future of an entire generation is now in jeopardy,” the press release states.

But don't expect Kamala Harris to speak in defense of women in Afghanistan if she becomes president. And don't expect the UN to come to their rescue either. They're all just big talk and nothing else. For now, it's terrible what Joe Biden led to shortly after he become the fraud-in-chief of the USA.

What Trump has to say about the Afghanistan disaster, and some RINOs

The Federalist did an exclusive interview with Donald Trump, who had a lot to say about both Biden's botches and RINOs:

“Afghanistan is one of the worst things I think I’ve ever seen for our country,” Trump said. “To lose the young people [killed in the bomb blast] is so horrible. It’s a horrible situation.”

“What Biden is doing is grossly incompetent,” he added. “It’s a disgrace.”

The 45th president also teed off on former President George W. Bush, who used his remarks on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on America to take a thinly veiled swipe at Trump and many of Trump’s supporters when Bush claimed they were “children of the same foul spirit” that led the 9/11 hijackers to kill thousands of innocent American citizens.

“Bush was a disaster getting us into the Middle East. He’s the one that got us into the quicksand of the Middle East, and he didn’t win. He didn’t know how to win. I think he goes down as one of the worst presidents in history,” Trump said.

“Bush now goes around lecturing everybody about all sorts of things, and he shouldn’t be lecturing anybody, because he’s the one who got us into the mess of the Middle East,” Trump continued. “In the 20 years since, it’s been obliterated, and it’s probably in worse shape now than it’s ever been because of him.”

As noted earlier, I'd heard it mentioned on a Steve Bannon podcast that Bush has now made himself into one of the most reviled figures of US politics, right down there along with Biden, and the failure to have ever combatted Pakistan and Iran's regime back in the day is just one more serious error that was made, despite any suggestions to the contrary. Trump also took issue with senator Mitch McConnell, another would-be conservative who's not doing anything to mend the continuing damage, and the way current Republicans are working is simply uninspiring. This is exactly what's bringing about more disasters down the road.

If Not for Memo, Torture Might Not Be An Issue

The question of whether members of the U.S. military and intelligence communities should be allowed to use waterboarding and other forms of torture during interrogations might be largely irrelevant today if not for a memo signed by Under Secretary of Defense James R. Clapper Jr. Oct. 29, 2007.

On that day, Clapper issued a memo granting “Operational Approval of the Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System (PCASS)” and designating the polygraph and its cousin, the PCASS, as the “only approved credibility assessment technologies” in the Department of Defense. And that's where the problems begin.

Click here to read the complete copyrighted story, If Not for Memo, Torture Might Not Be An Issue, at Bob McCarty Writes.

RUSSIAN VIEW OF PAKI TINDERBOX

Hat Tip: Bare Naked Islam

Will Military Continue Stonewalling on Lie Detector?

Nearly two weeks have passed since I published a post (”Is Tech ‘Turf War’ Putting U.S. Troops at Risk“) about my attempts to learn about the effectiveness — or lack thereof — of the military’s use of the Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System. Today, I wonder if officials at U.S. Central Command will continue the Army’s practice of stonewalling me when it comes to answering questions about the use of the hand-held lie detectors in combat zones.

The subject is important to me, especially when I consider a note received from an active-duty member of the Special Operations community who’s obviously familiar with the issues at stake:

“The bottom line is that the upper levels of command owe us a product that works. The CVSA has been tested under combat conditions and truly works! What more proof do they want?”*

To read the long and twisted chronicle of this former Air Force public affairs officer's attempt to get answers from the military, click here.

OBAMA'S TALIBAN FRIENDS

Hat Tip: Bare Naked Islam

Another demonstration of B. Hussein Obama's "moderate" Taliban buddies, carrying out the legal code of the "Religion of Peace" !!!

TALIBAN ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE KARZAI

• NEWS HERE.
• IMHO: THE TALIBAN ARE EMBOLDENED BY THEIR NEW ALLIES IN CONTROL OF PAKISTAN.
• EXIT QUESTION: HOW LONG BEFORE AN ALLY OF THE TALIBAN'S IN THE PAK ARMY GIVES THEM A NUKE TO USE?

SARKOZY STEPS UP TO THE PLATE: ORDERS 1000 MORE TROOPS TO AFHGANISTAN

• GOOD FOR HIM.
• HE PUTS NATO TO SHAME,
• AND THE DEMOCRATS WHO CLAIM BUSH HAS RUINED OUR RELATIONS IN EUROPE.

SEVEN YEARS AGO THE TALIBAN BEGAN DESTROYING THE BUDDHAS OF BAMIYAN

WIKI:

The statues were destroyed by dynamite over several weeks, starting in early March, carried out in different stages.

Initially, the statues were fired at for several days using anti-aircraft guns and artillery. This damaged them but did not obliterate them.

Then the Taliban placed anti-tank mines at the bottom of the niches, so that when chunks of rock broke off from artillery fire, the statues would fall and be blown up again.

In the end, the Taliban tied ropes around some local Hazara men, lowered them down the cliff face, and forced them to place explosives into holes in the Buddhas.^[9]

On March 6, 2001 The Times quoted Mullah Mohammed Omar as stating, "Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we have destroyed them."

He had clearly changed his position from being in favor of the statues to being against them.

During a March 13 interview for Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, Afghan Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel stated that the destruction was anything but a retaliation against the international community for economic sanctions:

"We are destroying the Buddha statues in accordance with Islamic law and it is purely a religious issue".

[THEY WERE FINALLY DYNAMITED ON 3/21/01.]

• GLOBAL JIHAD IS PURELY A PROACTIVE RELIGIOUS EFFORT.
  
• AND REMEMBER, THESE BUDDHAS WERE DESTROYED BEFORE 9/11.
• THEIR DESTRUCTION WAS NOT A REACTION TO WESTERN HEGEMONY.
• IT WAS NOT TIT-FOR-TAT THEN AND IT ISN'T NOW, EITHER. NOT IN MARCH 2001 IN AFGHANISTAN AND NOT MARCH 2008 IN JERUSALEM.
  
• IN FACT; ISLAM IS THE FOREIGN INVADER IN AFGHANISTAN: THE BUDDHAS PREDATED ISLAM'S ENTRANCE INTO AFGHANISTAN BY CENTURIES.
  

WHEN CONFRONTING THE EVIL PEOPLE AND EVIL IDEOLOGY WHICH CARRIED OUT THESE DASTARDLY ACTS, WE HAVE TWO CHOICES:

• FIGHT OR SURRENDER.
• COUNTER-ATTACK OR SUBMIT.
• LEFT OR RIGHT.
• DOVE OR HAWK.
  
• DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN.
  

THE CHOICE IS OURS.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ: WINNABLE - IF WE HAVE THE RESOLVE

CORDESMAN - WASH POST:

Two Winnable Wars

By Anthony H. Cordesman
Sunday, February 24, 2008; Page B07

No one can return from the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, as I recently did, without believing that these are wars that can still be won.

They are also clearly wars that can still be lost, but visits to the battlefield show that these conflicts are very different from the wars being described in American political campaigns and most of the debates outside the United States.

... The military situations in Iraq and Afghanistan are very different. The United States and its allies are winning virtually every tactical clash in both countries.

In Iraq, however, al-Qaeda is clearly losing in every province. It is being reduced to a losing struggle for control of Nineveh and Mosul. There is a very real prospect of coalition forces bringing a reasonable degree of security if decisions such as Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's announcement Friday to extend his militia's cease-fire six months continue over a period of years.

Military victory is far more marginal in Afghanistan.

NATO and international troops can still win tactically, but the Taliban is sharply expanding its support areas as well as its political and economic influence and control in Afghanistan. It has scored major gains in Pakistan, which is clearly the more important prize for al-Qaeda and has more Pashtuns than Afghanistan. U.S. commanders privately warn that victory cannot be attained without more troops, without all members of NATO and the International Security Assistance Force fully committing their troops to combat, and without a much stronger and consistent effort by the Pakistani army in both the federally administered tribal areas in western Pakistan and the Baluchi area in the south.

• WE CAN WIN - IF WE HAVE THE RESOLVE TO WIN.

• ALL OBAMA AND HILLARY PROMISE IS THE "RESOLVE TO RETREAT" - AND MAYBE TALK TO OUR ENEMIES AS WE DO SO.

• THAT GUARANTEES THE ENEMY A VICTORY.

THAT'S WHY A VOTE FOR OBAMA OR HILLARY IS A VOTE FOR THE TALIBAN AND AL QAEDA.

BHUTTO'S PARTY READY TO SURRENDER TO TALIBAN - of course they call it "dialogue" and "autonomy"

CNN:

The Pakistan People's Party, which swept the parliamentary elections last week on Sunday called for an end to military operations in the southwestern Pakistani province where intelligence officials believe Taliban leaders may be holed up.

In a resolution issued Sunday after a meeting of top leaders, the PPP called on the army to immediately stop its operation in Balochistan, a province near the Afghan border.

The party also asked that all prisoners, be released and said it would work toward giving "maximum provincial autonomy" to the area.

• THIS IS TANTAMOUNT TO SURRENDER.

• THIS IS NEARLY EXACTLY WHAT THE DEMOCRATS WOULD HAVE US DO IN IRAQ.

• IT IS APPEASEMENT AT BEST, CAPITULATION AT WORST.

MERELY PUTTING IT ON THE TABLE GIVES AID AND COMFORT TO THE ENEMY.

*******UPDATE: THE TALIBAN ARE ALREADY FLEXING THEIR MUSCLES AT THE PROSPECT OF A NEW ACCOMMODATIONIST REGIME:

Pakistan militants linked to Al-Qaeda warned any incoming civilian government on Sunday that they would strike even more viciously if President Pervez Musharraf's war on terror was continued in tribal areas.

Following last week's inconclusive election, several political parties are in talks to form a coalition big enough for a ruling majority in the National Assembly. How they deal with the militants will be one of their most pressing challenges.

In northwest Pakistan on Sunday, militants attacked a security post and killed a policeman and two paramilitary servicemen and wounded six others, officials said.

THESE ARE THE FRUITS OF APPEASEMENT.

MULLAH OMAR FIRES MEHSUD

PAKISTAN LINK:

Mullah Omar sacks Baitullah for fighting against Pak Army

* Maulvi Faqir refuses to be new TTP chief

LAHORE: Taliban chief Mullah Omar has sacked Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud for fighting against the Pakistan Army instead of with NATO forces, Asia Times Online reported on Friday.

The news website quoted Mullah Omar as telling other Taliban commanders to turn their focus on NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.

The sacking comes at a time when President Pervez Musharraf has launched an intense military operation against Baitullah in South Waziristan.

Mullah Omar appointed Baitullah as TTP chief, according to the website. Baitullah has been sacked at a time when the Taliban’s spring offensive is just months away. “The Afghan front is quiet because the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants are heavily engaged in fighting Pakistani security forces in Waziristan.

Therefore, Mullah Omar has put his foot down to reset goals for the Taliban: struggle in Afghanistan and not against Pakistan, as was being done by Baitullah Mehsud,” the website reported.

Faqir refuses:

It also quoted intelligence sources as saying that Omar appointed Maulvi Faqir Muhammad as TTP chief but Faqir refused to accept the designation after which the local Taliban were holding meetings to find Baitullah’s replacement. Sources told Asia Times that with Baitullah replaced, Omar would use all Taliban resources in the Tribal Areas to dislodge NATO troops from Afghanistan. However, this leaves Baitullah and his loyalists completely isolated to fight Pakistani forces, according to the report. Baitullah is already named by the government as the main suspect behind Benazir Bhutto’s killing.

THESE DIVISION'S REVEAL THAT THE ENEMY IS BEING SMASHED UNDER THE HAMMER AND ANVIL OF NATO AND THE PAKISTAN ARMY.

IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE WE KILL ALL THE BIGGIES IN THE REGION - OMAR, INCLUDED.

TRIBAL UPRISING BEGINS IN WAZIRISTAN?

What helped kill Al Qaeda in Anbar was the tribal strategy - getting the Sunni tribes on our side.

This Sunni uprising was the anvil to our hammer.

We smashed 'em.

There are signs that the same thing is happening in Pakistan's tribal region, specifically Waziristan (DAWN/AFP): Tribesmen raising anti-Al Qaeda Lashkar

WANA, Jan 9: Thousands of armed tribesmen of South Waziristan met here on Wednesday, vowing to organise a Lashkar to hunt down Al Qaeda-linked militants blamed for killing nine of their kinsmen.

The tribal jirga in Wana came three days after militants stormed two offices and killed nine tribal elders of a government-sponsored peace committee.

The jirga ordered tribesmen from every household belonging to the Wazir tribe to come to Wana with arms to prepare for action, a local official said.

“One man from each house should come to Wana with a gun at 10am on Thursday to plan our defence and act against those who are responsible for disorder,” tribal chief Malik Ghaffar told the gathering.

Wazir tribe chief Maulvi Nazir, who earned fame after he drove out hundreds of Uzbeks from the region last year in bloody clashes, is expected to address the Lashkar on Thursday.

He did not turn up at Wednesday’s meeting but had earlier blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a local Al Qaeda commander and leader of the rival Mehsud tribe, for the killing of the peace committee members.

Residents have reported that announcements have been made on a public address system asking Mehsud tribesmen to “leave Wana to avoid losses”.

Baitullah Mehsud is accused by the government of masterminding a spate of suicide attacks in the country, including the December 27 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi. Mehsud has denied any involvement in the killing.

• This comes as Musharraf is turning up the heat with more forces and a new harsh governor. (See earlier post here.)

• And as we prepare to send an additional 3000 troops to the border with Afghanistan.

HEY... YO: BINLADEN... ZAWAHIRI: THE CLOCK IS TICKING...

PAKISTANIS FLEEING TRIBAL REGIONS AHEAD OF MAJOR CONFRONTATION

BBC:

Thousands of Pakistanis have fled into Afghanistan with the security situation deteriorating in Pakistan's tribal regions over the past week.

Hundreds of families, comprising some 6,000 mainly women and children, have been crossing the border.

The UN refugee agency says clashes between Pakistan's Shia and Sunni groups have forced people to flee.

It is the first time so many people have crossed this way as for years it was Afghans fleeing fighting.

EARLIER TODAY WE RELATED THIS:

Pakistan launches new operation in Swat Valley

WEBINDIA: Pakistan launches new operation in Swat Valley

The Pakistan Army launched a new military operation Sunday to clear out armed Islamic militants spotted in remote areas of the strife-torn Swat Valley in the northwest, where hundreds have died in two months of clashes.

AND WE RELATED THIS IN AN EARLIER POST:

NEW GOVERNOR FOR PAKISTAN'S TRIBAL REGION: MUSHARRAF ABOUT TO GET VERY TOUGH

BBC: Key Pakistan governor steps down

The new governor, Owais Ahmed Ghani, has been known for his tough action - which often took the form of brutal force - against Baluch nationalists.

If his appointment indicates anything, it must be that for the Pakistani authorities, the use of force is still very much an option in dealing with militancy in the tribal areas.

• THE HAMMER IS ABOUT TO COME DOWN ON THE ANVIL.
• IT'S LONG OVERDUE.

STAY TUNED...

THEN THERE'S THIS FROM THE LONG WAR JOURNAL; (VIA HOT AIR):

Report: Osama bin Laden’s security coordinator captured in Pakistan

By Bill Roggio January 6, 2008 11:15 PM

Osama bin Laden escorted by the Black Guard. ...

A senior al Qaeda commander has been reported to have been captured in the Pakistani city of Lahore, according to a Pakistani newspaper. Dr. Amin al Haq, the security coordinator of Osama bin Laden’s Black Guard, “was apprehended from Lahore couple of days back,” The Nation reported, citing “credible Afghan sources.” Al Haq is said to be “under interrogation” at an undisclosed location.

The report of al Haq’s capture has not been confirmed, a senior intelligence official told The Long War Journal. US intelligence agencies are aware of the report.

... As security coordinator for the Black Guard, it is believed al Haq would be in close proximity to Osama bin Laden. US intelligence believes Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan’s tribal agencies, a claim the Pakistani government has denied.

THOUGH WE RELATED THAT RECENTLY MUSHARRAF DID INDICATE OTHERWISE - FOR THE FIRST TIME:

FOR THE FIRST TIME, MUSHARRAF PUBLICLY SPECIFIES WHERE OSAMA IS HIDING

SATP: Pakistan

Osama bin Laden hiding around Bajaur, says President Pervez Musharraf

President Pervez Musharraf has for the first time identified an area where he thinks al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding, according to Dawn.

When asked where he thinks the Osama could be, Musharraf said in an interview to The Washington Post that he could be in the area that borders Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal agency and Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

... THIS IS AN AREA WE'VE LONG AND RECENTLY ATTACKED FOR THIS VERY REASON; FROM ASIA TIMES (VIA VWT JULY 17, 2007):

The Bajaur area has been hit twice by Central Intelligence Agency predator drones, one specifically after Zawahiri. However, at a time when al-Qaeda is reactivated and the Taliban's main focus is to lay siege of Kabul, via adjacent Nooristan province in Afghanistan, aerial surveillance is considered insufficient.

... As a result, a large US base is under construction on a mountaintop at Ghakhi Pass on the Pakistan-Afghanistan (Bajaur) border.

Militants believe this is in preparation for an operation inside Pakistan to clamp down on them as well as to renew the hunt for bin Laden and his associates. As a result, the militants have attacked the new base in an attempt to delay its construction.

MY GUESS: MUSHARRAF WOULD ONLY SAY THIS IF:

• A MAJOR ATTACK IS AFOOT;
  
• OSAMA IS TRAPPED -
• AND THIS LEAK IS MEANT TO FLUSH HIM OUT A LITTLE;
• AND THEREFORE I FEEL THAT OSAMA WILL SOON BE DEAD.

DOES ALL THIS (AND RECENT HIGH LEVEL VISITS BY KARZAI, PM BROWN, PM RUDD, PM PRODI AND PRESIDENT SARKOZY) ADD UP TO AN IMMINENT MAJOR OFFENSIVE AGAINST OSAMA?

I THINK IT DOES.

• THE LOCALS SEEM KNOW IT.
• THE TALIBAN KNOW IT.
• AL QAEDA KNOWS IT.

I HOPE MY FEELING ABOUT THIS ARE ACCURATE AND THAT THE HAMMER AND ANVIL ATTACK IS A SUCCESS.

FINGERS CROSSED...

KARZAI IN PAKISTAN FOR MEETING WITH MUSHARRAF

NYTIMES: Karzai in Pakistan to Mend Ties

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan signaled an improvement in relations between their countries after an unusually cordial meeting here on Wednesday and called for greater cooperation in fighting terrorism.

Mr. Karzai was on a two-day visit here in the Pakistani capital, where he would also meet with the opposition politician Benazir Bhutto, a statement from the Afghan president’s office said. Ms. Bhutto is taking part in parliamentary elections scheduled for January.

The two presidents have regularly leveled harsh accusations at each other over the last two years since a Taliban resurgence shook the Afghan government’s control of much of southern Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai has blamed Pakistan for harboring the Taliban and militant training camps, which he says have allowed the insurgents to stage a comeback, while Mr. Musharraf has blamed lawlessness in Afghanistan and Mr. Karzai’s failure to govern for the creeping insurgency.

But the two men emerged Wednesday from their discussions closer to agreement on how to deal with the militants, who over the last year have extended their reach inside Pakistan.

Mr. Musharraf said their talks focused on the need for cooperation on intelligence to meet “this menace of extremism and terrorism, which is destroying both our countries.”

“I think we have developed very strong understanding of each other’s problems and we look forward to cooperation and coordination in all fields for our mutual benefit,” Mr. Musharraf said during a news briefing, which was broadcast live by Pakistan’s state-run television.

“The meeting was productive in all aspects,” Mr. Karzai said.

• THIS MEETING - (BETWEEN TWO MUSLIMS) - COMES RIGHT IN THE HEELS OF MAJOR TRIPS TO KABUL BY PM BROWN, PRESIDENT SARKOZY, PM RUDD, AND PM PRODI.
• THESE VISITS' PROXIMITY TO CHRISTMAS IS NOT A FACTOR - IMHO.
  
• AS I POSTED A FEW DAYS AGO, I FEEL SOMETHING MAJOR IS UP....
• PERHAPS A MAJOR OFFENSIVE IN BAJAUR - NOW THAT OUR FORTIFICATIONS ON THE AFGHAN SIDE AT THE GHAKI PASS ARE FINISHED.

FOR THE FIRST TIME, MUSHARRAF PUBLICLY SPECIFIES WHERE OSAMA IS HIDING

SATP: Pakistan

Osama bin Laden hiding around Bajaur, says President Pervez Musharraf

President Pervez Musharraf has for the first time identified an area where he thinks al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding, according to Dawn.

When asked where he thinks the Osama could be, Musharraf said in an interview to The Washington Post that he could be in the area that borders Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal agency and Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

WHY TAKE CHANCES: LET'S JUST NUKE THIS AREA IN BAJAUR-KUNAR.

UPDATE: THIS IS AN AREA WE'VE LONG AND RECENTLY ATTACKED FOR THIS VERY REASON; FROM ASIA TIMES (VIA VWT JULY 17, 2007):

The Bajaur area has been hit twice by Central Intelligence Agency predator drones, one specifically after Zawahiri. However, at a time when al-Qaeda is reactivated and the Taliban's main focus is to lay siege of Kabul, via adjacent Nooristan province in Afghanistan, aerial surveillance is considered insufficient.

... As a result, a large US base is under construction on a mountaintop at Ghakhi Pass on the Pakistan-Afghanistan (Bajaur) border.

Militants believe this is in preparation for an operation inside Pakistan to clamp down on them as well as to renew the hunt for bin Laden and his associates. As a result, the militants have attacked the new base in an attempt to delay its construction.

MY GUESS: MUSHARRAF WOULD ONLY SAY THIS IF:

• A MAJOR ATTACK IS AFOOT;
  
• OSAMA IS TRAPPED -
• AND THIS LEAK IS MEANT TO FLUSH HIM OUT A LITTLE;
• AND THEREFORE I FEEL THAT OSAMA WILL SOON BE DEAD.