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Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and various sources around the world. If you're a blogger, you can join the conversation. If you link to any of these stories, add a link to the Dawn Patrol too and your trackback will be added to the list. Hat Tips to the Dawn Patrol are greatly appreciated.Refresh for updates.
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Taliban Prepares for Major NATO Offensive -- [Voice of America]
In southern Afghanistan, Taliban militants are digging in for a fight against NATO forces preparing a massive assault on a key insurgent stronghold.
Witnesses say Taliban fighters are bringing in weapons supplies and digging in around Marjah in Helmand province, home to an estimated 80,000 people and center of opium trafficking. NATO commanders say thousands of coalition and Afghan troops are preparing to take back Marjah in one of the biggest offensives of the eight-year-old Afghan war.
Special Forces Assassins Infiltrate Taliban Stronghold in Afghanistan -- [Times Online]
American and British forces poised to assault the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, have begun targeting insurgent leaders for assassination, The Sunday Times reported...
Dear Moderate Taliban -- [David Bellavia site - Semperpapa]
The Sunday edition of UK Times Online has a report from Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, titled "Special Forces Assassins Infiltrate Taliban Stronghold in Afghanistan" in which the tale is told of Coalition Special Operations Units having begun going around the Taliban held city of Marjah looking to find and kill Taliban leadership in advance of a major offensive that will possibly start very soon.
...Call me picky, but I have a little bit of a problem with the whole thing, in my humble opinion.
Far from advancing any criticism of the Military tactics, I am very concerned with the approach taken with this operation, which is called Moshtarak or "Together".
Mainly, my question is why are we telephoning the enemy the impending attack? And now we are telling our enemy that Special Ops teams are already in the city?
British sniper avenges his friend by killing Taliban -- [Telegraph]
Fusilier Martin Williams described shooting the insurgents as a "vendetta" against those who killed his friend Robert Hunt, who was the 200th soldier to die in Afghanistan.
His skills were put to the test when his patrol came under fire after it moved into a compound in an area north of Lashkar Gah in central Helmand last Monday. He took up his position and waited patiently for enemy troops to appear. His victims included two Taliban shot in a ditch at a distance of about 800 yards, including one who was hit in the throat.
"He put his hand out as if asking someone to help but not one came," the Welshman said. "There was definitely less movement after I dropped them.
"The Taliban are used to machine guns but as soon as you get a sniper on the ground, it puts the fear of God into them."
Taliban defiant as Afghans flee ahead of assault -- [AFP]
NATO commanders called on the Taliban to surrender as troops dug in Monday for a major assault on one of the last insurgent strongholds in southern Afghanistan, sending thousands of residents fleeing.
Afghanistan's NATO head: Military push needs gov't -- [Herald-Standard]
The success of a planned major U.S.-Afghan offensive in the south depends on how quickly troops and civilian development workers can get public services up and running once the Taliban have been driven away, the top U.S. and NATO commander said Sunday.
An Epic Tragedy -- [Afghanistan My Last Tour - in Afghanistan]
In the past 9 months, I have met some colorful people in Afghanistan. They have appreciated my interest in their culture, history, and philosophy. As such, they provide me insights and stories you don't read about in a book or newspapers. Over numerous cups of tea I find out some interesting stories or a sneak peak about their personal lives. These personal details are cultivated by developing a relationship and gaining trust of the individual you mentor and many cups of green tea.
Love, No War -- [Afghanistan My Last Tour - in Afghanistan]
...In the pictures are a new fleet of ANA pickup trucks, 7-tons, and up-armored Humvees, compliments of our US taxpayer dollars. As the size of the ANA forces expands, so does their requirement to have more vehicles to transport the troops and logistics. While outside the camp today, I spotted a truck that caught my attention.
First MEDEVAC for Joint U.S., Afghan Crew -- [Soldiers' Angels Germany]
U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Richard Kramer and Afghan Sgt. 1st Class Ghulam Sakhi, flight medics with the 438th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group/Combined Air Power Transition Force, discuss with an Afghan soldier through Shakira Azzizi, an Afghan translator, what is going to happen on a rotary wing medical evacuation from Bagram Airfield
Amnesty International is 'damaged' by Taliban link -- [Times Online]
A SENIOR official at Amnesty International has accused the charity of putting the human rights of Al-Qaeda terror suspects above those of their victims.
Gita Sahgal, head of the gender unit at Amnesty's international secretariat, believes that collaborating with Moazzam Begg, a former British inmate at Guantanamo Bay, "fundamentally damages" the organisation's reputation.
In an email sent to Amnesty's top bosses, she suggests the charity has mistakenly allied itself with Begg and his "jihadi" group, Cageprisoners, out of fear of being branded racist and Islamophobic.
Officials Confirm Kidnapping of U.S. Contractor in Iraq -- [Washington Post]
An American contractor working for the U.S. military in Baghdad has been kidnapped by a Shiite militant group, U.S. officials said this weekend in response to a statement and video issued by the group.
Iraq Militant Video Shows Abducted American -- [Voice of America]
A Shi'ite militant group in Iraq has released a video of a man it apparently kidnapped, and who appears to be a U.S. contractor who disappeared last month.
The video posted on the Internet shows a man wearing a U.S. military uniform. He is sitting in front of a flag inscribed with the name of the militant group - League of the Righteous.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Defense said a 60-year-old American contractor Issa T. Salomi had disappeared on January 23, and that search efforts were under way.
Iraq vote row to be resolved before campaign starts -- [AFP]
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday he has received assurances that judges will resolve a simmering row over who can stand in Iraq's general election before official campaigning starts on February 12.
Around 100 lawmakers had gathered earlier at parliament for an emergency session to debate a contentious decision to allow hundreds of candidates allegedly linked to executed dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath party to stand in the vote.
Former Iraqi premier slams de-Baathification -- [The Peninsula]
BAGHDAD: Iraq's pro-Western former prime minister Iyad Allawi has denounced a commission that barred candidates allegedly linked to Saddam Hussein from elections before their disputed reinstatement on appeal.
African Taliban Appoint Special Envoy to US -- [Jawa Report]
His name is Abukar Abdou Arman and he's a long time resident of the United States and a "well-known community activist." So well-known, in fact, that I've never heard of him. Any one have any info on Arman?
How screwed up is Somalia? The African Taliban in Somalia -- who Arman represents -- are now our allies. These would be the same people that we helped oust from power through our support of the Ethiopian invasion only to find that the alternative in the al Qaeda aligned Shabaab were worse.
Ahmadinejad Orders Production of Higher-enriched Uranium -- [Washington Post]
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday ordered the production of higher-enriched uranium -- significantly beyond the levels of its regular nuclear fuel -- prompting the United States to renew threats of carefully targeted sanctions.
Gates: Tough Sanctions Could Still Work -- [Defense Link]
There is still time to toughen sanctions to pressure Iran into complying with international demands that it halt its nuclear program that many believe is geared toward developing a nuclear weapon, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today.
"If the international community will stand together and bring pressure to bear on the Iranian government, I believe there is still time for sanctions and pressure to work," Gates said at a press event alongside Italy's minister of defense Ignazio La Russa.
"But we must all work together," he added.
Obama Challenges Terrorism Critics -- [New York Times]
The White House pushed back Sunday against Republican criticism of its approach to terrorism, calling it "not anchored in reality" as a national security debate that was largely muted in recent years roared back to center stage with an angry intensity.
Obama official accuses GOP of using terrorism as 'political football' -- [Los Angeles Times]
Reporting from Washington - President Obama's deputy national security advisor accused Republicans on Sunday of using national security as a "political football" and of being disingenuous in criticizing the treatment of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the Christmas Day airliner attack.
Clinton Sees Islamist Terror as No. 1 Threat -- [Washington Times]
...While one of the White House's top national security advisers criticized lawmakers for politicizing national security threats, including the Christmas Day attack over Detroit, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said even a nuclear-armed North Korea or Iran isn't as great a threat to the U.S. as al Qaeda and allied jihad groups.
"The biggest nightmare that any of us have is that one of these terrorist member organizations within this syndicate of terror will get their hands on a weapon of mass destruction," she said in a Sunday appearance on CNN. "So that's really the most threatening prospect we see."
Special Delivery -- [Michael Yon]
American troops are spread widely across Afghanistan. Some are remote and accessibility is difficult. In 2008, I was with six soldiers in Zabul Province who didn't even get mail for three months. They had no email. They were on the moon. Six courageous men, in the middle of nowhere, and their nearest backup was a small Special Forces team about five hours away. Resupply to these small outposts is crucial, difficult, and would require major effort by ground. Enter the United States Air Force....
German-born US Soldier headed for OCS two years after being seriously wounded in Iraq -- [Soldiers' Angels Germany]
...You may also remember the extraordinary circumstances surrounding Spc. Jamaleldine's CASEVAC.
Upon landing, the co-pilot/gunner helped load the injured Soldier into the front seat without further injury. Despite the heavy small arms fire and surface-to-air fire events in the area, the co-pilot/gunner strapped himself onto the left side of the aircraft and hunkered down on the wing. The pilot flew to Camp Ar Ramadi medical pad, where emergency medical personnel provided treatment.
And now, over two years later, Jamaleldine is slated to attend Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning.
Stolen Honor as A Pick-Up Line? -- [Maggie's Farm]
Is wearing fraudulent medals of valor just a harmless pick-up line?
Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University's law school who is not involved in the two cases, said the Stolen Valor Act raises constitutional questions because it bans bragging or exaggerating about yourself."Half the pickup lines in bars across the country could be criminalized under that concept," he said.
The AP reports that defense attorneys in two Stolen Valor prosecutions are challenging the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act, passed unanimously in the US Senate and by acclamation in the House in late 2006. They say, the AP reports, "the First Amendment protects almost all speech that doesn't hurt someone else. ...
Absurd Stolen Valor case moves to the judicial phase -- [BurnPit - MOTHAX]
The Milblogs joined together to take this guy down, and all that remains now is the courtroom drama. You might recall from my earlier post that the ACLU and others are arguing that the Stolen Valor law is unconstitutional.
Guess what I have in my hot little hands? -- [This Ain't Hell...]
This will come out in sections. I have not been authorized to release it, but the email attached claimed it had already been "filed."
MCMANUS was previously convicted in U.S. Federal Court in California in 2002, arising out of federal criminal charges originating in Louisiana, for impersonating a U.S. "Air Marshal" and also impersonating a U.S. Army Major, both in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 912, He received a sentence of two years probation, which was later revoked for violations.
Another Update on Stolen Valor Imposter; what his real rank was -- [Bouhammer]
Below is a great article from the Houston Chronicle about McManus whom I have blogged about HERE and HERE. They highlight what his real rank was....he was a Private First Class. Yep, he never even breached the NCO corps.
GIs back from Iraq get 'rock star' welcome -- [Waukegan News Sun]
and "Welcome home!" An upstairs banquet room at the hall was decorated with balloons, welcome signs and tables decorated with stars and colorful cloths.
Ashwaubenon students welcome home Iraq veteran Steve Nolan with hugs -- [Green Bay Press Gazette]
He was stationed north of Baghdad, and said the number of troops will continue to decline. "Iraq is closing down," he said. "Things are getting better.
Child Abuse: Because of Bush! -- [Greyhawk]
or "how America's news is made".
...Tabloid data (in which our story sets out for Britain to seek it's fortune)
Somehow the British tabloid Daily Mail heard the child abuse story, and one week after the arrest they found a way to make news from Nisqually Valley an international sensation: add "waterboarding" and CIA" to the mix.
A Well-Written War, Told in the First Person -- [NY Times]
Soldier-writers have long produced American literature, from Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs about the Civil War to Norman Mailer's World War II novel, "The Naked and the Dead," to Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," about Vietnam.
The current group is different. As part of a modern all-volunteer force, they explore the timeless theme of the futility of war -- but wars that they for the most part support. The books, many written as rites of passage by members of a highly educated young officer corps, are filled with gore, inept commanders and anguish over men lost in combat, but not questions about the conflicts themselves.
...The writers say one goal is to explain the complexities of the wars -- Afghan and Iraqi politics, technology, the counterinsurgency doctrine of protecting local populations rather than just killing bad guys -- to a wider audience. Their efforts, embraced by top commanders, have even bled into military reports that stand out for their accessible prose.
"The importance of good official writing is so critical in reaching a broader audience to get people to understand what we're trying to do,"
To be fair, "fog of war" was suggested by the editors... -- [Abu Muqawama]
Elizabeth Bumiller, you are in the penalty box of the English language. Describing the many great memoirs that have been written about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, she writes these books "explore the timeless theme of the futility of war."* If that hackneyed phrase was even accurate to describe the books she profiles, we would forgive her, but since almost all of the books she describes deal with war at its tactical levels divorced from the question of whether or not the violence is realizing political objectives, it makes no sense. Here's a question: whatever happened to the authors of The Unforgiving Minute and One Bullet Away? Because it seems to me the career choices they made after writing their books endorse the utility of war.
On military blogs and social media. -- [Castra Praetoria - in Bahrain]
What is the impact of social media? Do military blogs shape how we view our military and current conflicts we are engaged in? Does it affect the way we communicate? How about the way we write?
White House press corps feels bypassed by Obama in favor of TV shows, YouTube -- [Washington Post]
Six months ago, network executives were complaining that the White House was costing them tens of millions of dollars by pressing them to carry presidential news conferences in prime time.
Rep. John Murtha dead at 77 -- [Washington Post]
Critics dubbed Rep. Murtha, the chairman of the powerful subcommittee that controls Pentagon spending, the "King of Pork" for the volume of taxpayer money he could direct to the area around his home town of Johnstown. Most of the largesse came in defense and military research contracts he steered to companies based in his district or with small offices there.
John-Jack Murtha is Dead -- [Greyhawk]
...I will pause now to say something nice about him: he was never convicted.
The Post story neglects to mention how he called several Marines killers, that they were absolved, and that they in turn sued him for libel - along with various other reasons that most veterans consider him "the second ex-Marine."
(Need more? Dawn Patrols Archives are here.)
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