A fascinating story and I urge every one to read the complete article. Real life is far more interesting then fiction. The Frederick Forsyth fictional character “Jackal” from the 1971 novel would have approved.
Imad Mughniyah pictured on an Interpol warrant
by Erol Araf
On the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Imad Mughniyah, a.k.a. “The Iranian Jackal,” much new information about the hunt for the terrorist most wanted by Mossad and the FBI has emerged. It’s a story of high-tech surveillance and old-fashioned espionage, and it’s just starting to be truly told now.
Imad Mughniyah was 20 years old when he made his debut on the international terrorist scene in 1983, with a series of spectacular and deadly bombings aimed at Western forces in Lebanon. The 1983 Beirut suicide bombings included those on April 18 at the U.S. Embassy (63 killed); on Oct. 23 at the U.S. Marine barracks (241 killed); and on Oct. 23 at the French paratrooper barracks (58 killed). A litany of bombings, hijackings, kidnappings and assassinations followed, with an ever-increasing body count. A list of the attacks he is believed to have been involved in, directly or in a leadership capacity, reads like an index of late-20th-century terrorism: Car bombings of the Israeli embassy and the Jewish cultural center in Argentina (124 killed) in the early 1990s; the World Trade Center bombing of 1993 (6 killed); the Khobar Towers suicide bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996 (19 killed); the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 (223 killed); the 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen (17 killed).
And perhaps even the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. The 9/11 Commission Report references “a senior Hezbollah operative” shepherding the future hijackers in and out of Iran. Some terrorism experts believe this was almost certainly Mughniyah. Indeed, according to Peter Lance’s book Triple Cross, Osama bin Laden spoke admiringly of Mughniyah’s lethal handiwork and in 1993 met with him in Khartoum, Sudan, to form a working alliance. That historic meeting, according to Lance, was brokered by Ali Mohamed, bin Laden’s master spy and double agent inside the FBI. Kenneth R. Timmerman, in Countdown to Crisis, quotes Major General Amos Malka, a senior Israeli military intelligence official, saying that before Sept. 11, the Israelis had picked up on numerous signs that bin Laden and Mughniyah were planning new operations against Israel and the U.S. “within the next few weeks.”
Even after the Sept. 11 attacks, Western intelligence agencies continued to track Mughniyah with interest. According Ronen Bergman, author of The Secret War with Iran, in 2005 Mossad informed both the CIA and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that Mughniyah had established a Hezbollah network in Montreal to “prepare for the execution of terrorist attacks should the U.S.A. strike at Iranian nuclear installations.” He surfaced again as the prime Hezbollah strategist in the 2006 Lebanon War. [........]He enters by one door, exits by another, changes his cars daily, never makes appointments on a telephone, never is predictable. He uses only people that are related to him that he can trust.”
Despite his prolific terrorism career and the keen interest in the West, it was not until June, 2007, that Mossad caught a break. The lead came from his birthplace, Tayr Dibba, a small town in south Lebanon, some 15 miles from Israel. It came from one of the operatives of the Ali al-Jarrah network, operated by Mossad. Al-Jarrah himself had been recruited while serving time in an Israeli prison, and his cousin Ziad Jarrah was the hijacker pilot of United Airlines Flight 93. [.......]All of this information he passed back to Israel, collecting perhaps as much as $500,000 for his services.
It was money well spent. A member of al- Jarrah’s network lived in the same village as some of Mughniyah’s family. The informer reported that the terrorist had been moving around major European cities to avoid detection, and that he had changed his appearance. He also had apparently been sending his family occasional postcards from the cities he was hiding in. It wasn’t much to go on, but Israel still sent in a special unit of undercover agents. Blending in with the locals, they worked to verify the intelligence and tap the phones of Mughniyah’s friends and relatives. [........]
Israel also paid particular attention to former East German Stasi agents who had maintained contacts with their Palestinian allies even after the fall of communism. When East Germany collapsed, many of its spies packed up whatever sensitive documents they could obtain and then vanished. [.......]Israel set about locating them and offering generous payments to anyone with useful information. Before long, a former Stasi agent reached out to a Mossad agent in Berlin: He had the Stasi file on Mughniyah, and it was available for a price. The meeting between Mossad representatives and the ex-Stasi spy took place at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin. A large file containing Mougniyeh’s latest photographs was exchanged for a brief case containing $250,000. [......]
This was a major coup in the hunt for Mughniyah, but it required a further lucky break to give Israel the information it needed to bring Mughniyah down. As recounted by David Markovsky in his article “The Silent Strike,” published last fall in The New Yorker, in 2007, Israeli agents infiltrated the home of Ibrahim Othman, head of the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission. Once inside, they bugged his computer. While Israel had been looking for information about the Syrian nuclear weapons program (and indeed, in September of 2007, bombed a nascent nuclear reactor inside Syria), access to this computer allowed Israel to compromise other computers inside the supposedly secure networks of Syria’s rulers. Among the information obtained through this operation were details of weapons transfers from Syria to Mughniyah.
These Syrian files, the ex-Stasi documents and the intelligence trickling in from Mossad’s spies in Lebanon began to provide a detailed picture of Mughniyah’s recent locations and activities. Israel was getting closer, and in January of 2008 made a breakthrough — it developed intelligence indicating that Mughniyah was having an affair with a woman in Damascus, and would often spend time with her inside a luxury condo in the Syrian capital. [.......] It is believed that Mossad was able to get photos of Mughniyah as he came and went from this condo, and that they matched the Stasi files.
In early 2008, Mughniyah received an invitation to attend celebrations of the Iranian Revolution at the Iranian Cultural Centre and meet with his Syrian and Iranian contacts. [.......] Through means yet to be revealed (though perhaps related to Israel’s compromising of the Syrian computer networks), the Mossad found out about this meeting. This meant that they not only knew where he would be, and when, but also, in all likelihood, had up-to-date intelligence on what the target currently looked like.
The exact sequence of what happened next is still a secret. But enough is known, both about this operation and about Mossad’s modus operandi, to make some educated guesses. A team would be prepared, safe houses established and communications arranged. It’s believed that a squad consisting of four members was assigned to the operation. One member was charged with tracking the target while remaining in constant communication with command and the safe houses. Another member was responsible for arranging transportation and logistics inside Damascus. The third member was tasked with “cover” — monitoring potential and emerging threats to the operation and, if necessary, creating a diversion. The last member was the executioner.
Out of the safe houses, agents monitored the Iranian Cultural Centre and every place Mughniyah was believed likely to visit. The Damascus safe house had a large garage for wiring vehicles with remotely controlled explosives and altering their appearance, as well as installing mobile command, control and communication equipment. [......] Days before the assassination, Mossad obtained priority access to a recently launched Israeli satellite. State of the art, it was capable of feeding the strike team real-time intelligence 24 hours a day.
The strike team took up positions outside the Iranian Cultural Centre in Damascus, waiting for Mughniyah. At the same time, a few rented vehicles with remote controlled explosives placed inside headrests were parked, at intervals, along the street. Guests began to arrive at 7:30 p.m., with the Iranian ambassador himself arriving at 8. At 9 p.m., a silver Mitsubishi Pajero turned into the street and parked close to where two strike team members were waiting. [......] Then the passenger door opened and Imad Mughniyah emerged. He wore a dark suit and his beard had been neatly trimmed. He started to walk up the street, passing one of the cars the Israelis had planted there. It exploded, beheading Mughniyah.
By the time the bomb went off, most of the Israeli agents had already packed up and left. Their mission was accomplished. They shut down the safe houses, removed any incriminating evidence, and calmly left the country under false IDs, escaping before there was any reason for Syria to suspect their presence. The two agents who had been on the street with Mughniyah when the bomb exploded had a harder time getting out — with Syrian security on high alert, especially at the airports, the agents are reported to have crossed into Lebanon and then sailed out into the Mediterranean in inflatable boats, to be rescued by an Israeli submarine hiding beneath the waves.
The risky end to the mission, however, did little to obscure the obvious — it had been a complete success. [......] And, best of all, one of the most dangerous terrorists of our time had been killed, his body so thoroughly shattered that parts were found dozens of metres away from the bomb site.
“The world is a better place without this man in it,” U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. “One way or the other he was brought to justice.” Indeed. The man who had lived by the car bomb, died by one, too.
Read the rest - Death of a master terrorist: How the ‘Iranian Jackal ‘was killed
Tags: Erol Araf, Imad Mughniyah, Mossad, Stasi
I hope people take the five minutes and actually read the article.
Good thing the Obama White House was not involved.
Very interesting read. Reminds me a lot of the book ” Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel’s Deadly Response” by Aaron J. Klein.
It also explains how Israel knows so much more about those Syrian Nuclear bomb sites that they saw fit to convert into craters during the early 2000′s, as well as the shipping info on the help from North Korea and such. When you’ve hacked into the head boy’s computer and such, not many secrets left.
@ Dolphin:
It was not the greatest, but there’s was a made-for-TV movie called “Sword of Gideon” that was a fictionalized account of the Israeli response -- but man did I cheer when they got that scum.
Off topic, but you guys are going to love this.
http://tinyurl.com/bwht3uy
@ Carolina Girl:
Dang it, just checked Netflix and it is not on there (streaming).
Same sediments as you when listening to the book. Man masaad (sp?) Hunted them for years and every time the actually got their target I got a big ‘ol grin on my face! LOL.
Al-Jarrah himself had been recruited while serving time in an Israeli prison, and his cousin Ziad Jarrah was the hijacker pilot of United Airlines Flight 93
yougottabefuckingkiddingme
The amount of determination, intelligence, courage, and money put into getting this mass murderer is fascinating. It takes far less planning to destroy people and property, which is why terrorism is such a successful tactic for Islamic Supremacists. No country has the resources to track and destroy every religious a$$hole. Look at the number of police and weapons it took to rid the world of that Dorner scumbag.
I read the article a few days ago before you posted it, Speranza. It’s nice to see Mossad pull off a bravura coup like that from time to time.
I don’t remember which book it was in, but Daniel Silva wrote one with a scenario that was oddly close to this one. I don’t know if anyone here reads him, but his character is Gabriel Allon, a Mossad assassin who works as an art restorer when he’s not running around killing bad guys.
IIRC his bad guy bought it in Paris
What really is gripping my attention right now is the “Prisoner X” affair (Ben Zygier)…. Was he a double agent? And for whom? Will we ever find out?
The sheer numbers of American mosques working on destroying the West through implementation of Sharia Law; Research
http://mappingsharia.com/
eaglesoars wrote:
I’ve read most of those and enjoyed them. It is such a relief to find an author who uses fiction to point out the ever present dangers of Islamic Supremacism. It is, otoh, a nightmare to appoint a guy who went to University in Cairo and speaks fluent Arabic (and Jew hate thrown in) to head the CIA. My magic eight ball says that the masses are delusional.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
You got that right.
Where is everybody tonight? This is a good thread, I hate to waste it.
Carolina Girl wrote:
It was complete bunk though. Also it was the basis for Spielberg’s nonsensical “Munich” which also was bunk.
Moe Katz wrote:
Most of their greatest successes you never hear about.
Speranza wrote:
I was just thinking the same thing! All of the elements of a real world thriller, and the audience is sparse. It has to be frustrating for you, to say the least.
yenta-fada wrote:
Apparently, it wasn’t fiction, tho, was it yenta? Silva knew. I’ve half a mind to re-read his books and take them as docu-dramas.
I wonder how he knew. I wonder who he knows.
Flyovercountry wrote:
The Left is trying to ridicule Rubio for the water. IF they want to see something hilarious look at Joe Biden’s head.
Speranza wrote:
Hollywood; Where History goes to die.
Carolina Girl wrote:
Steven Bauer and Michael York were in it.
Speranza wrote:
Best that way, really. The only thing that bothers me is that Mughniyeh may have been blown to bits before realizing what was happening to him.
yenta-fada wrote:
Hollywood would never make a film like “Exodus” now.
Imad, Imad, Imad.
Couldn’t do without
yenta-fada wrote:
Hagel is a clown but Brennan scares the piss out of me. There’s a report out quoting an ex-FBI agent saying Brennan converted when he was in the Magic Kingdom. I’m not willing to discount it.
He did a sit-down with the editors of the Washington Times a few years ago. He ended up walking out on them because they didn’t buy his bull that Islam means peace. I believe they even put it up on their website.
Israel is no longer “cool”.
yenta-fada wrote:
eaglesoars wrote:
No, it was not fiction. My guess is that if a best-selling writer is willing to tell the truth about Israel, there would be people who would seek him out. As Speranza noted, Israel’s successes are downplayed. People despise Jews enough for just metabolizing, never mind their accomplishments. /
eaglesoars wrote:
Brennan looks and sounds like a real weirdo. He is as close to having a “Kim Philby” type controlling the U.S. intelligence services.
Speranza wrote:
The dumb bastard said that?
@ eaglesoars:
I have listened to a couple of Silva’s books, but none in that series. Will check them out.
http://www.squidoo.com/daniel-silva-books-in-order
I have listened to:
The Unlikely Spy
The Mark of the Assassin
It has been a while, but I recall I enjoyed them.
In 1966 Kirk Douglas made a film about Mickey Marcus who was an American who commanded the fledgling Israeli Army in 1948 called “Cast a Giant Shadow”. John Wayne and Frank Sinatra had cameos in it. Yul Brynner also was in it.
yenta-fada wrote:
good guess.
Speranza wrote:
Yeah. Another book that should be on everybody’s ‘must read’ list.
“Infiltration” by Paul Sperry.
have to get food
be back in a few
@ eaglesoars:
Here it is
WH counter-terrorism adviser Brennan storms out of TWT offices
Speranza wrote:
That’s your first mistake
eaglesoars wrote:
Why?
@ Speranza:
I’m not sure, but the preview of this look pretty good (skeptical hopeful) Got the dvr set to record it.
http://www.history.com/the-bible
Past is prologue. Why the Brotherhood offed Sadat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLe3c5QM010&feature=player_embedded
I dread Obama’s Israel visit.
Dolphin wrote:
There is no history any more on The History Channel.
Amen to that.
@ Speranza:
As I said -- skeptical hopeful.
Dolphin wrote:
We can but hope!
@ Speranza:
Brennan, like Erdogan, gets sooo emotional about the ‘plight’ of the poor Palestinians, that he can’t even stay in the room when somebody talks about Israel. The emotionalism and lack of self-control of radical Muslims and their enablers is…..normal. Brennan needs a check up from the neck up.
Speranza wrote:
I bet he sends John Kerry. Obama won’t go. I’d put money on it.
Speranza wrote:
Eaglesoars can speak for herself, but I don’t think Brennan is dumb. Dangerous, but not dumb.
yenta-fada wrote:
When he referred to Jerusalem as “al Quds” (I noticed he did not refer to it as “Yerushalayim”) -- that told me all I need to know about that bloodless, Arabist apparatchik.
yenta-fada wrote:
His beliefs are dumb, and he is evil.
Speranza wrote:
He’s not dumb. Yenta is right. Think Kim Philby.
yenta-fada wrote:
He will go just so he can brow beat and humiliate Netanyahu in his own backyard and then have a real love fest with Mahmoud Abbas.
@ Speranza:
Is he going? First I have heard about it, but am in PM (project management) class all this week, so a little out of touch.
BHO is a blathering idiot. Could not even watch the SOU address last night, nor any of the coverage this morning, but had to be at work @ 6:30 am, so that was not too difficult.
Need to wrap up here also. Another day of it tomorrow.
Dolphin wrote:
Yes he is going in the Spring.
eaglesoars wrote:
Anyone who thinks Islam is beautiful is a maroon!
@ yenta-fada:
@ Speranza:
Rand Paul to block Brennan.
@ Speranza:
G-d help us. Was that part of the SOTU address?
Night all.
@ eaglesoars:
I agree with you.
Speranza wrote:
This is more than the “banality” of evil. It is the willful propagandization of evil in order to paralyze the masses with fear. So, Ozero can go to Cairo and then support the downfall of the leaders of Libya and Egypt who remained neutral towards the West. Nobody spoke against this deeply un-American behavior for fear of being called racist and losing their job/reputation/safety. Tossing America’s allies under the bus has proceeded apace.
Speranza wrote:
Care to put any shekels on that bet?
Speranza wrote:
Yeah, well the Cambridge 5 were maroons for a different ideology but that ideology has done untold damage.
Dolphin wrote:
‘night!
Dolphin wrote:
No. The White House announced it two weeks ago.
@ eaglesoars:
I do not underestimate Progressives.
Rodan wrote:
Good luck with that.
Rodan wrote:
Well, that will piss off President Jarrett.
Rodan wrote:
Neither do I. They play to win unlike the Stupid Party.
eaglesoars wrote:
Oh he is dangerous as were the Cambridge Spies. The Cambridge Spies despised their class (which was the upper class).
eaglesoars wrote:
Indeed. I think it an apt comparison.
Speranza wrote:
Mark Levin was just on Hannity ranting about that very thing. He’s yelling LAWSUIT LAWSUIT LAWSUIT (basically)
It’s his legal group that sued the NLRB -- and won. Altho NLRB has stated they’re ignoring the ruling because they’re going to appeal.
@ Speranza:
That would be an interesting thread.
Vote no on Jack Lew! Another one of Obama’s dopes.
eaglesoars wrote:
I was watching him. In fact he is still on.
Rodan wrote:
I could do it but it needs a good time slot.
We might as well sing our way down the road to ruin: “Brennan Loves the Moors.”
I don’t know if anyone has read it yet -- I’ve only read reviews -- but the new e-book “Benghazi: The Definitive Report” lays the whole debacle on Brennan’s desk.
He was running the guns off the books. State didn’t know, CIA didn’t know.
@ eaglesoars:
That makes sense. It explains why Hamas and Syrian al-Qaeda had NATO grade weaponry.
Speranza wrote:
Look at what happens to whistleblowers in Greece:
Greece’s construction industry is down 66% year and over. Professionals that collect VAT are not submitting the taxes to Athens as tax evasion is prevalent. Also citizens are resorting to stealing electricity to survive.
Their chief statistician is now on trial for telling the truth on the real debt of Greece. He refused to lie.
Rodan wrote:
Stick to bifocals.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
He has urged that jihadis be killed rather than captured
So interrogators are unable to take down their words
He’s not taking any chances, is he?
eaglesoars wrote:
No.
And I still maintain that the producer of the Mohammed video was being financed by government agents, and the reason he was arrested was to ensure that no reporter who might ask embarrassing questions would be able to get to him.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
That one is brilliant. I had that Clancy Brothers album and can hear the original in my head whenever I read your parody.
Speranza wrote:
I have little doubt that the current Snake Department and DOD are chock full of
CambridgeIvy League Spies who despise their class, country and fellow man. The enemy within for sure. Gee whiz, look at who we have for SOS. Kerry’s been selling out this country for decades. And then there’s the Top Turd-in-Chief who tells the Russians (on worldwide TV) that he will have more flexibility on nuclear disarmament after the election. We are screwed from hell to breakfast.yenta-fada wrote:
There’s a link to them playing it in the credit line.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
That was the ONLY scenario I could come up with that explains how this more-than-obscure video got the blame for the attack
Now I know why Scott Brown decided not to run for John Kerry’s Senate seat -- he has become a Fox News Contributor (following in Palin’s footsteps) Thanks a lot Scott Brown and thanks Fox News! /
eaglesoars wrote:
I think the fact that the “financed by 100 Jews” scenario, and the fact that the filmmaker’s attempt to pass himself off as an “Israeli Jew” unraveled quickly were the reasons he was summarily seized.
yenta-fada wrote:
The Rising of the Moon (about the 1798 Uprising) is my favorite Clancy Brothers/Tommy Makem song.
@ huckfunn:
The House of Saud, Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood definently have influence with the State Department.
huckfunn wrote:
Obama-Brennan-Hagel-Kerry, we are in for dark times (more dark times actually).
I would also point out that IF it could be established that Bakoula’s amateurish video was financed by the government, and that the bogus “filmed by an Israeli Jew, and financed by 100 Jews” story was part of the plan, this shows more than anything the depraved depths of the antisemitism and the anti-Israel hostility of the Obama gang.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
I had forgotten that.
Speranza wrote:
Dumb-dumber-dumbest-dumb ass
Speranza wrote:
Love that one, too. The tune is actually the same as “The Wearin’ of the Green”—and, since that has raised its head, here’s one from the archives that can be sung to that tune:
The Ballad of Gillian Gibbons
There was a fool from Liverpool who went to the Sudan
She went to teach the kiddies there, who are Mohammedan.
She brought a stuffed bear to her class, let her kids choose its name
They chose a monicker for it which was the very same
That many of them also bore, the name of Mohammed
The man who dreamt up Islam (peace they wish upon his head).
The school’s administrators heard, and were shocked and outraged
That a plush toy should bear the name of Islam’s holy sage.
And almost before “Allah Akbar” anyone could say,
Police descended on the school and locked Teacher away.
Police descended on the school and placed Teacher in quod
For letting children name a bear for their prophet of God.
The teacher languishes in jail in the town of Khartoum
Awaiting how the prosecutors will decide her doom
She may face forty lashes, face a prison term, or fine
Or any portion of these prosecutors can combine,
And all for bringing to her class a fluffy little toy
And letting her kids give to it the name they’d give a boy.
She lingers in the Khartoum jail and can do naught but wait
And hope Western diplomacy will save her from her fate.
So teachers, take this warning; if you feel like doing good
You’d best seek opportunities around your neighborhood;
If you go to savage places trusting to the rule of law,
You may not like the tender mercies of the sharia.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
Amateurish indeed. THAT part still bothers me. Why not do a bang-up job?
In other breaking news that won’t help the Jews….Drew Barrymore is converting to her husband’s Jewish religion. Oy veh.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
He was a ******* low life scum bag anti-Semite for doing that. He deserves to have his face smashed for his attempt to divert attention from himself.
yenta-fada wrote:
So what? She is not evil and we need as many Jews as we can.
Rodan wrote:
This is a pro MB government we have and it is an utter disgrace.
@ Speranza:
McCain would have been just as bad.
Speranza wrote:
I think it was part of the plan. This guy was just a low-level operative
eaglesoars wrote:
Three reasons I can think of:
a) it was the limits of the filmmaker’s ability, and they had to go with whoever was willing;
b) amateurishness would make it look less like a put-up job;
c) the quality was about equivalent to the kind of crap done on Iranian and Egyptian TV, so it was calculated to appeal to that audience.
Rodan wrote:
Not really, at least he would not have had the hostility towards America, Israel and Britain but yes, he would be the overbearing p**** we all know and dislike.
Rodan wrote:
Speranza wrote:
I honestly don’t know how we ever recover from this. There must be hundreds (yea thousands) of longterm moles of every stripe in every corner of the most sensitive offices of our government. The left’s wet dream come true. Sorry for the doomage. I generally have a pretty positive outlook, but we have 4 more years of this. It’s over. We lost.
Looks like some Maronites probably on behalf of Israel killed a Iranian commander in Lebanon.
A senior commander in Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard reportedly killed in Lebanon
@ huckfunn:
Its been going on for decades. Its just now its reaching critical mass. This has not happened over night.
@ Speranza:
He would have US troops dying in Syria right now.
Rodan wrote:
Most excellent!
Rodan wrote:
The country would not allow that.
@ Speranza:
The term: mercenaries of the Zionist regime Is what Hizballah calls The Kateb/Lebanese Forces. They accuse the Maronites of being Israelis 5th Columnists.
@ Speranza:
Conservative media would be pushing Pro Intervention propaganda. Most Republicans would support it since they look to look tough on foreign policy. It would be like the run up to Iraq. Any Conservative who questions it would be called a traitor and intimidated.
@ Rodan:
Why even the worst Republican (even McCain) is better then a Democrat
Shame on Jewish Democrats:Op-ed: Republican senators were the only ones who passionately grilled Hagel on his lack of support for Israel
yenta-fada wrote:
That’s the difference between Folks that know what they are doing and a bunch of people who are not too sure about which way is “up” chasing after someone…
I have to go. We brought Molly the Beagle home from the hospital this afternoon and she’s having a really difficult post-op.
Thanks for the thread Speranza. Loved it.
eaglesoars wrote:
You usually like my threads and I greatly appreciate that.
Syrian al-Qaeda issues arrest warrant for Hizballah’s stooge PM of Lebanon.
Syria rebels to issue “arrest warrant” against Miqati
Rodan wrote:
I think you are taking it to the extreme. Most conservative media see the situation in Syria as I do. Two bad actors both of whom deserve to lose.
@ Speranza:
The Son of Rand Paul is one of Hagel’s fieriest critics. Irony of history, huh?
Rodan wrote:
It sure is and I was not happy originally when Rand Paul got the GOP nomination.
@ Speranza:
That’s not the Case. Fox is Syria Pro-Intervention as are most Conservative blogs.
We get carried away a lot by our anti RINO rhetoric but need to not lose sight of the fact that better a Republican liberal then a Democratic liberal because numbers count if you want to control the Senate committees and develop an aura of winning elections.
@ Speranza:
He’s been a breath of fresh air. I do not think he will ever be President, but he will be a player is shaping 21set Century Republicanism.
@ Speranza:
We need to run what can win in certain areas. The Democrats do it.
Rodan wrote:
Fox is not so much conservative but populist. Some on Fox support the idea of supporting the Rebels and some (Krauthammer for example as well as Sean Hannity) take the same position I do.
Rodan wrote:
That lesson has not sunk in for a lot of folks on our side.
Speranza wrote:
Absolutely. Plus, there is a better—slim, but better—chance that a Republican liberal will heed the more-conservative blandishments of those from his own side of the aisle.
Rodan wrote:
He wont be POTUS because of his batshit crazy old man.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
All you need is one key vote from them at times (like Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln did for the Democrats on Obamacare).
@ Speranza:
That maybe a blessing in disguise. We need some thinkers on our side.
Speranza wrote:
Rebel rebel, from al Qaeda
Rebel rebel, for sharia
Rebel rebel, how you detest
All the teachings of the West
General George S. Patton as portrayed by George C. Scott
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
And remember I was not referring to the Confederates.
Rodan wrote:
We need some people with common sense on our side (that excludes the ex Senator from Pennsylvania).
@ Speranza:
Laugh at The Corpulent ones economic stupidity!
$9.00 an hour, to help lift families out of poverty
I am still disappointed in Scott Brown. I gave him $40 and he went for the big bucks at Fox. Now that he i snot running for Senate watch him come across like a huge conservative.
Speranza wrote:
The land I was born in, it used to be free
Now it’s dismissed as the “flyover country”
Our old Constitution our leaders deride
I wish we had some common sense on our side
—not Bob Dylan
Rodan wrote:
He is so stupid it is embarrassing. I cannot even look at his dumb blog.
@ Speranza:
The real Scott Brown will appear.
Speranza wrote:
I’m sure he has a Brown-nose for news…
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
“Flyover country” went for Obama.
Rodan wrote:
Big deal. He could have won a seat for the “team” and like Jim DeMint abandoned his supporters for big money. Screw Scott Brown.
Speranza wrote:
Not all of it—especially when you factor in the fraud.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
Enough with the “fraud”. We freaking lost.
What’s the big deal admitting that your side lost? The rest of the country (or the majority) does not think like us (or did not think like us) on this blog.
@ Speranza:
You win some, you lose some. As soon as the Hurricane Sandy photo op happened, I knew the election was lost.
Rodan wrote:
So many people on our side are still in denial. ISsevery election we lose from now on going to be written off as “fraud”?
Speranza wrote:
Yes. We did. And the fraud stuff will never be addressed, as it applies to the last election.
That doesn’t mean we don’t keep it in mind going forward.
Rodan wrote:
As soon as Romney decided to play it safe in the two remaining debates, and Paul Ryan went all wonkish on us in his debate with Joe Hairplugs Biden (of the rude behavior performance) I got a really bad feeling about the election.
@ 143 Speranza: Every vote counts. Prosecuting some fraud makes it less likely to occur the next election. It raises the level of the conversation. Ignoring it might be a little too passive of an activity in the modern times.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
Dude we lost (deal with it) and it was not fraud that cost us the election. It was a timid candidate (again) combined with incredibly poor campaign decisions by Romney both in the primaries (being a demagogue on immigration against both Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich) and in the general election (not running ads earlier in the year and allowing Obama to define him) as well as the Obama juggernaut that did us in.
darkwords wrote:
There has always been fraud but gnashing ones teeth and claiming that is why we lost is a fools paradise. How come we won in 2004, 1988, and 1984?
We lost because the Republican brand as perceived (wrongly I might ad) by too many voters out there sucked!
Speranza wrote:
Oh, I’m dealing with it; I’m resigned to four more years of the Minstrel President.
And I agree with your assessments, as far as they go. That doesn’t mean that there is not also a fraud issue that must continue to be addressed along with the issues you’ve quite accurately delineated.
@ Speranza:
Not responding to Obama for 3 months during the summer put him in a hole.
@ buzzsawmonkey:
Maybe next time we can have a candidate with half way decent advisers because John McCain’s and then Mitt Romney’s advisers were the absolute dumbest jerks out there. It would have helped if Romney did not try to be something he clearly was not -- a hard core conservative instead of the Eisenhower Republican I always knew he was.
@ Speranza:
He could have won the nomination just being who he is.
Rodan wrote:
It was incredibly stupid. His coming out party on October 3 (which you, me and Urban Infidel watched together at her place) was terrific but a day late and a dollar short and he failed to follow up on it. Those excruciatingly long GOP primaries also sapped the strength.
Speranza wrote:
Five or six people from this blog and C2 could have put him over. Bill Whittle could have put him over. There’s lots of talent out there, that is not being used.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
I absolutely agree with you.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
The Establishment has contempt for the grass roots common sense Republicans especially for those like me and you and Rodan who live in or come from Blue States and actually understand how people think and the importance of symbolism.
And with that cheery note, I must bid you all goodnight.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
Me too! Good thread.
@ 104 huckfunn: Have to unravel one of them that sheds light on more of them.
Rodan wrote:
Like Poppy and W. he tried to come across as something he never was and that was a huge mistake. Romney is a good, successful, patriotic, decent, intelligent and capable man -- that should have been his selling points, and not being a fake social con.
@ 150 Speranza: I’m just saying any fraud is bad and I see a trend I think in the country towards accepting corruption due to info overload. I’d like kids to grow up influenced more by elections with integrity.
darkwords wrote:
When enough good folks stop believing that our elections are free and fair it’s going to get real ugly.
Rude place names. They left off Washington DC
Da_Beerfreak wrote:
Our elections are no longer free and fair, the media is a propaganda mill for the left and we have a Mugabe-wannabe in the White House.
Excellent article Speranza. The world is a lot better off with Mugniyeh no longer wasting our oxygen.
@ Da_Beerfreak:
@ The Osprey:
if some people would allow us to actually ID voters they could at least claim we had fair elections…
brookly red wrote:
I think the unprecedented fight against voter ID laws pretty much proves the fraud is a key part of the Democrats’ election strategy.
I’ve never met anyone other than a left-wing activist who even gives the idea of making people show ID to vote a second thought. People show ID for stuff on a daily basis. No real people care.
But the professional left is almost at the point of self-immolation to stop voter ID laws from being passed.
The Osprey wrote:
There’s more to it than just the media. I watched Franken steal a Senate seat here in Minnesota. Folks that claim election fraud is just an excuse for a poor candidate are misleading not only themselves but others that are looking for any excuse not to deal with the fraud.
Just in case Obama’s plans to raise the minimum wage and add tens of millions of illegal aliens to the workforce don’t finish off the economy:
Some ladies twitter description. Makes me automatically think she is a charles johnson class racist. Why apologize for being from the south in the year 2013?
@ 171 lobo91: The left doesn’t really know what they are talking about. And are willing to waste wealth to tilt at the global warming windmills. They have to be made fools of.
Former Spook writes on decline in US Navy while Obama fiddles.
darkwords wrote:
Most of the people who believe the global warming hoax are just idiots, but the ones in the administration know better. This is deliberate. They’re trying to crash the economy.
@ lobo91:
He will crash the economy if Congress raises minimum wage by 24% in addition to taxing carbon emissions, let alone the fiasco know as ObamaCare will have on the way business hire in the immediate future.
Calo wrote:
Absolutely. There’s no way we can absorb all these changes with the economy the way it is now.
And nobody can be stupid enough to believe that we can. It has to be deliberate.
I cannot help but repeat my favorite question. “If Ozero’s only intent was to destroy the US, what would he do different?”
So far I cannot find a single thing!
AZOlddog wrote:
I think what we’re seeing now is the “flexibility” he mentioned to Putin.
They’ve just shifted gears now that the election’s over.
Speranza wrote:
I’m late, as usual. But, excellent post Speranza.
A day without learning something new is a day wasted.
lobo91 wrote:
It is deliberate.
The political class is afraid of the middle class and believe crashing the economy is the way to get rid of the middle class, or at least put them back in their place.
It’s also a twofer for the political class:
1.) Crashing the economy destroys economic freedoms.
2.) Destroying economic freedoms destroys political freedoms.
It’a a win-win for the Ruling Class which has used its wealth to insulated itself from the worst aspects of the coming economic collapse.
@ Da_Beerfreak:
And it’s also why they’re so desperate to take away everyone’s guns.
And why we won’t let them.
@ Da_Beerfreak:
I’m beginning to become a huge fan of the Second Amnendment in the current era of politics.
I think Texans done got to my brain and my California thinking has been finally obliterated.
lobo91 wrote:
In the NASCAR part of the country where I was raised they would say “He is fixing to put his foot in it!”
Calo wrote:
Last time my forebearers got as perturbed as a few relatives I have talked to in the last few days it wound up at a place called Kings Mountain!
@ lobo91:
@ Calo:
I live in the People’s Republic of Minnesota.
It feels like occupied territory.
Wherever I look all I see is Blue.
It feels like occupied territory…
@ AZOlddog:
The vineyard in Woodside?
@ Da_Beerfreak:
Colorado used to be a red state. It really still is, outside of Denver.
Our legislature is shifting into high gear on gun laws now. Hundreds of people came to testify yesterday and today against the new laws the Dems want. They didn’t care. Everything passed out of committee on party line votes.
lobo91 wrote:
There’s no doubt that the D’Rats everywhere are being whipped into a hysterical rage against guns and gun owners by the Ruling Class with the intent of delegitimizing our Second Amendment Rights.
AZOlddog wrote:
There’s no doubt that the current path we’re on does not lead to a good end…
@ Calo:
Nope Battle during the American Revolution! Google it, the ultimate “Take No Prisoners!”
@ Da_Beerfreak:
Magpul (which is a Colorado-based company) has already said that they’re leaving if they pass the new magazine ban. They’ll be taking 700 jobs with them, probably to either Arizona or Texas.
@ AZOlddog:
Heh, just checking to make sure you are still breathing.
Night, gentlemen.
And, Happy Valentine’s Day from an old gal who loves y’all that stay up late at night keeping me company.
Phoenix and Tucson are making them offers. I would imagine several places in Texas are also!
@ lobo91:
We have DPMS Panther Arms here in Minnesota. Haven’t heard what they might do if the State passes an assault rifle ban.
Calo wrote:
Nite Calo!
@ Calo:
Rest well, catch ya later.
Here’s a new ad the NRA is running in several states:
@ Calo:
Night
@ lobo91:
Obama’s gun control == Fool’s Errand.
The only goal of this plan that makes any sense is to create a large new class of criminals that the Government can abuse.
And what Historically follows Registration?
@ Da_Beerfreak:
This is going to end badly.
Look at what happened in the past week with that guy Dorner. One halfway-competent guy basically paralyzed southern California law enforcement.
Multiply that by a hundred…or a thousand…or a million.
AZOlddog wrote:
“What is confiscation, Alex”
//Gun control for $200
lobo91 wrote:
And go back a couple of years to the beltway snipers. Two guys. one gun, and an old car made a mess of DC Town for a couple of weeks. Finally caught by pure accident.
lobo91 wrote:
Correct Lobo! Pick your next choice!
Can I have Molon Labe for a $1000!
Orion Arms just gave two big “Fuck Offs” in a row, one to the police of the state of NY, and one to the FoP. Look for the IRS, DHS and BATFE to suddenly become very interested in their business practices.
Mike C. wrote:
But it’s for the Children. /////////
Er, make that “Olympic Arms”, not “Orion Arms.” My bad…
You can’t get one of their ARs anyway -- 2 year backlog of orders.
Olympic Arms’ epic “Fuck Off!” to the FoP…
Hat tip -- rayra at GCP
Speranza wrote:
Brennan is either stupid/clueless or naive or evil. Terrorism is the strategy while terror is the tactic. To claim that both are the same and therefore terrorism/terror is “only” a tactic is a statement which alone should make him unfit for the director of the CIA.
The strategy of terrorism is to get attention, an attention the group wouldn’t get otherwise, to attract followers (worldwide), to drive “the enemy” into expensive counter-attacks (wars etc.) which could change the political landscape in such countries, to intimidate the civil society so you avoid resistance, etc.
To reach this goals they use acts of terror.
Conclusion: terrorism is a strategy, terror is a tactic.
For all blogmocracy members who were curious about Eisenhower’s statement about “the military industrial complex” here is a very insightful article in which context this was said:
What caused Ike to criticize the “military-industrial complex”?
Today I shall be at (or as close as I can get) to the front door of our local Gander Moutain store at opening time (9 AM.) Supposedly their supply truck arrives before opening time today, so I’m going to see if I can get lucky and snag some .22 LR. I’m guessing this is a 50-50 proposition at best, but I feel obligated to give it a shot (so to speak.)
@ Mike C.:
I feel like a Soviet citizen joining a line for something without even knowing what the line is for, based on the fact that it’s for something I’ll never get if I don’t get in the line. This is fucking ridiculous…
Mike C. wrote:
Obamanomics
Actually, this isn’t Obamanomics per se, but rather a massive spike in demand. Caused, it is true, by Obama and his fellow travellers, but not by what passes for their economic policies. While prices have skyrocketed, I note that I can now actually buy 5.56 NATO, 7.62 NATO, 9 mm, .45 ACP, .38 Special/.357 Magnum, .30-06, .44 Magnum, etc. But .22 LR? Unobtainium.
The Osprey wrote:
As soon as I saw the article I knew I had to put it up.
AZOlddog wrote:
Let me guess -- confiscation?
@ Speranza:
Yes.
On an interesting corralary, notice that it took the LAPD, plus numerous local, state and other police agencies days to run down ONE determined person. Imagine a mere 1/10 of 1 % of gun owners in the US resisting confiscation. That would be roughly 80,000 individuals. Think about that…
Mike C. wrote:
Yeah good luck with that Police Commissioner Beck!
Mike C. wrote:
To create an artificial shortage of goods (in this case ammunation) is part of Obamanomics. Another example would be “green energy”.
@ Guggi:
No, I don’t think so. Sure, the DHS may be buying 1.6 billion rounds of ammo in the last 10 months in a deliberate attempt to impact supplies, but capacity is far higher than that. This is one of those “inconvenient truths”, AKA “unintended consequences.” The American people are arming up and overwhelming capacity. I doubt this was the intent of these morons.
@ Mike C.:
Above you say if 1/10th of 1% of gun owners resisted how many people that would be, but I think it would be far higher than that. The people buying guns and ammunition now aren’t buying it with the plan that they’ll just turn it in when Obama and the Democrats tell them to. People are arming up, and complying with Obama’s new laws is not what they are planning on.
Iron Fist wrote:
One thing I tell many in my circle is to pick your friends with great caution. I have no great believe that when the SHTF there will be many that won’t fight and may betray you to safe the own skin. Bravado does not a warrior make. If it gets ugly (last option) we will just have to see!
@ Tanker:
What I think you’ll see isn’t immediate fighting, but wide-spread civil disobediance. There will be those who comply with Obama’s new laws, but many more who will quietly ignore them, put back their weapons, and prepare for the time when fighting errupts. It is critical that if fighting starts it is the Feds that start it. I don’t advocate revolution, but civil disobediance. If 20 million people ignore Obama’s gun control laws, he can’t enforce them. That is one of our first lines of defense. Civil disobediance, jury nullification, and State governments that shield their citizens from Federal over-reach are our front line of defense. Add to that an uncertain Supreme Court, and we may have enough to protect our rights without it errupting into full-scale hot civil war. Frankly, I don’t expect Obaam to get his gun control measures through the Senate, let alone the House. His base may love gun control, but the rest of the nation hates it.
Iron Fist wrote:
Safe a foxhole for me in TN, I’m not sure my state would stand by my rights. I can be there in no time. The last thing I hope for is a shooing fight. I hope civil disobedience would be enough to turn the tide!