Air Force Lags On Sending Spy Planes To Combat Zones

The first MC-12W Liberty Project aircraft, an Air Force manned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance plane, arrives at Key Field Air National Guard Base in Meridian, Miss., on April 28. By Senior Master Sgt. Richard Davis, U.S. Air Force

From USA Today:

WASHINGTON — The Air Force has failed to deploy new spy planes to Afghanistan and Iraq even though Defense Secretary Robert Gates has made it a priority to rush the aircraft to troops in combat, according to interviews with military officials and documents.

Gates is concerned that the delivery of the planes to Afghanistan will be "out of synch" with 21,000 troops being sent there by President Obama for a summer offensive against Taliban insurgents, said Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman. The planes are two to three months behind schedule, according to the Air Force. "The bottom line is that Secretary Gates is impatient when it comes to getting war fighters the tools they need to be successful," Morrell said.

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My Comment: These planes will be effective in tracking insurgents at night .... especially targeting those who plant IEDs at night. Everyday that these tools are not in operation .... U.S., Allied, and Afghan lives are in danger. Under these conditions, I can understand and sympathize with Sec. of Defense Gates impatience with this delay in delivery.

Pirates, Inc.: Inside The Booming Somali Business

Image: Personnel from the french warship Nivose (r.) inspect a captured pirate boat.
Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

From Christian Science Monitor:

Meet the modern-day brigands behind the sometimes sophisticated, always risky operations that raked in an estimated $80 million in ransoms in 2008.

BERBERA, SOMALILAND - On a blazing morning in early May, Hassan Abdullahi and eight other men got into their small, wooden boat – each armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, a grenade, and outsized hope. They pushed out from a village near Bossasso, a large port in the Puntland region of Somalia, into the gentle waters of the Gulf of Aden to seek their fortune. They would make their way west 250 miles along the Somali coast before turning north toward Yemen, where busy shipping lanes narrow near the Red Sea.

Their goal, shared by a Somali businessman living abroad who funded their weapons and boat, was to attack commercial ships and hold them for ransom.

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My Comment: It's all about the money .... it is always about the money.

New Legal Battle In Guantanamo

Omar Khadr is shown in a courtroom sketch in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Thursday, May 8, 2008. CTV

From Yahoo News/AP:

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – A session of the Guantanamo war crimes court that began Sunday will likely show the difficulties President Barack Obama faces in changing the system and closing the prison by January.

The case in question, of a Canadian charged with killing an American soldier, is stalled by infighting among lawyers.

Other defendants have even more complex legal issues, and officials say the U.S. may have to choose between delaying Guantanamo's closure or quickly finding somewhere else to hold the trials.

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My Comment: Government (as a rule) works at super slow speed. For impending Guantanamo trials .... government works at super duper slow speed.

This entire legal process has now gone astray. What vital intelligence information that could have been gleamed from these captives is now no more .... and as a result, the entire process should move forward .... we owe this to the families of 9/11.

But of course we are not moving forward, and thanks to President Obama's declaration in January on his intent to close Guantanamo, this entire process is now up in the air.

The Impact Of U.S. Culture On Iraq

Iraqi policemen assigned to the 2nd National Police Division's 8th National Police Brigade and U.S. paratroopers assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, Multinational Division Baghdad look down a street while patrolling Sumer Al-Ghadier, in the 9 Nissan district of eastern Baghdad during Operation Asfah Ramlyah. The combined forces teamed up to confiscate several weapons and disrupt insurgent activity. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Alex Lice

A Quiet but Undeniable Cultural Legacy -- Washington Post

U.S. Occupation of Iraq Will End, but a Host of American Influences May Linger

Across the street from the tidy rows of tombstones in the British cemetery, mute testimony to the soldiers of an earlier occupation, Mustafa Muwaffaq bears witness to the quieter side of the United States' six-year-old presence in Iraq.

In wraparound sunglasses, shorts and shoes without socks, the burly 20-year-old student waxes eloquent about his love for heavy metal of all kinds: death, thrash, black. But none of it compares, he says, to the honky-tonk of Alan Jackson, whose tunes he strums on his acoustic guitar at night, pining for a life as far away as a passport will take him.

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My Comment: I can only hope that they take the best of our culture, and not the worse.

Inside Guantanamo Prison (Pictures)

A Guantánamo detainee sleeps in his cell in the Camp 5 detention facility on the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Scenes From Guantánamo Bay -- Boston.com

During a military judicial hearing on Monday in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other detainees charged with coordinating the attacks of September 11th told Judge Col. Stephen Henley that they wished to stop filing legal motions and to confess in full. However, some of the detainees hedged their statement - suggesting they might change their minds if they could not be assured of execution. By January, some of the nearly 250 men at Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility will have been locked up for seven years. Collected here are photos of the multiple detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay - all photographs either reviewed by or released by the U.S. Military. (30 photos total)

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My Comment: I missed these Hi-rez pictures when they were published a few months ago. This collection of pictures on what happens in Guantanamo Bay prison is impressive.

Mexico Drug Traffickers Corrupt Politics

Photo: Rafael Cedeño Hernandez and other suspected La Familia men were detained in April in Michoacan state. Last week, 10 mayors and 20 other local officials were held across the state in a related inquiry. Officials say La Familia has tainted all levels of political life in Michoacan. Alfredo Estrella / AFP/Getty Images

From The L.A. Times:

The cult-like La Familia Michoacana has contaminated city halls across one state, federal officials say. It sometimes decides who runs and who doesn't, who lives and who dies.

Reporting from Patzcuaro, Mexico -- There are few places in Mexico that better illustrate the way traffickers have corrupted the political system from its very foundation than Michoacan, the home state of President Felipe Calderon.

A relatively new and particularly violent group, La Familia Michoacana, is undermining the electoral system and day-to-day governance of this south-central state, pushing an agenda that goes beyond the usual money-only interests of drug cartels.

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My Comment: Money and politics walk hand in hand .... and the narco drug barons and cartels have a lot of money.

My main concern and worry is that Mexico's drug and political culture becomes part of the U.S. political culture. When this happens on a large scale, the damage that it will do will be immeasurable.

Afghanistan War News Updates -- June 1, 2009

Afghan National Army soldiers sit in the back of a pickup in the village of Bazaar e Panjwai, in Kandahar. Reuters

Fighting Taliban — If US Patrols Can Find Them -- Yahoo News/AP

TATAR, Afghanistan – Lt. Eric Schwirian speaks softly, smiles a lot and shakes many wary hands during his platoon's three-day trek deep into an Afghan valley, looking for a fight with the Taliban.

But while thousands of extra troops have poured into Afghanistan this year in an escalating conflict, this unit in the central Afghan province of Wardak has barely had a sighting of its quarry.

It's frustrating for these infantrymen to feel as though they're chasing ghosts among the villages and terraced fields, but their daily routine — patience, presence, tea-drinking and handshakes — is central to America's counterinsurgency strategy.

Read more ....

More News On Afghanistan

248 insurgents killed, dozens hurt in Afghan operations -- Dawn
U.S. and Taliban to Redouble Afghan Efforts -- New York Times
Fighting Taliban _ if US patrols can find them -- AP
Extra U.S. troops in Afghanistan by mid-July -- Reuters
Twelve militants killed in Afghanistan -- AFP
Afghan battles leave 12 insurgents, 6 police dead -- China View
Afghan troops kill 6 Taliban insurgents, wound 8 others -- China View
Militants storm prison in E Afghanistan -- China View
More British troops needed in Afghanistan 'to safeguard reputation with US' -- The Telegraph
Army fury at refusal to bolster Afghan campaign -- Independent
Two British soldiers killed in Afghanistan: ministry -- AFP
Two British soldiers die in Afghan explosion -- Reuters
Afghans protest against civilian deaths in firefight -- Reuters
Afghan Valley Offers Test for Obama Strategy -- New York Times
No sacrifice of human rights, democracy in Taliban talks: Afghan ambassador -- Canadian Press
Karzai Consolidates Power as NATO Troops Seek Afghan Stability -- Bloomberg
Afghan presidential hopeful vows to create PM post -- Reuters
Afghan vote deal-making coming to a head -- AFP
Army Deploys Old Tactic in PR War -- Wall Street Journal
Afghanistan demands return of Guantanamo prisoner -- AFP

Using North Korea To Make The Case For Missile Defense

From CQ Politics:

North Korea’s latest round of saber-rattling will be front and center in the coming national debate over missile defense, perhaps prompting some lawmakers to think twice about the Obama administration’s plan to reshape the military.

After the hermitic Stalinist country set off a nuclear device and test-fired several short-range missiles this week, conservative lawmakers and former officials linked the event to their decades-long drive to increase funding and support for a worldwide missile “shield” designed to detect and destroy ballistic missiles fired at the United States or its allies.

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My Comment: The original purpose for the U.S. missile defense program was to never be a counter to the then Soviet Union, but to be used as a tool against rogue nations like North Korea and their missile programs. In short .... the missile program was never envisioned to stop hundreds of missiles .... but to stop a few from a smaller power.

This is the debate that is now going to happen .... and for proponents of the U.S. Missile Defense program .... they definitely now feel comfortable (thanks to North Korea) that they can make their case.

Crisis On The Korean Peninsula -- News Updates For June 1, 2009

This is a satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows the nuclear complex at Yongbyon, North Korea, Tuesday May 26, 2009. DigitalGlobe / AP

Modifying Conciliatory Stance, South Korea Pushes Back Against the North -- New York Times

SEOUL, South Korea — After years of incendiary threats and weapons tests, the world has become accustomed to provocations from North Korea. More unusual this time is that South Korea is pushing back.

After North Korea’s nuclear test last week, South Korea swiftly moved to join an American-led effort to search ships for unconventional weapons, despite threats of war from the North if its ships were boarded. South Korea has also lobbied China and Russia to take a unified stance against the North, and supported calls at the United Nations Security Council for new sanctions.

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More News On The Korean Crisis

Lee Says South Korea Won’t Tolerate North’s Threats -- Bloomberg
North Korea puts long-range missile on launch pad, reports say -- L.A. Times
NKorean missile arrives at launch base: reports -- AFP
Gates Says ‘Some Signs’ North Korea May Test Missile -- Bloomberg
S.Korea 'not ruling out' island raid by North -- Asia One News
N Korea bans navigation in Yellow Sea: Agency -- Business Standard
S. Korea monitors Yellow Sea -- UPI
US Delegation Seeks Asian Consensus on North Korea -- Voice of America
US vows 'unshakeable commitment' to Japan security -- AFP
North Korea's intentions unclear, Gates says -- L.A. Times
FACTBOX-A look at North's Korea's international finances -- Reuters
N. Korea could duck sanctions -- Washington Times
Time to Face Facts on Our North Korea Ignorance -- Time Magazine
North Korea, the dead land -- The Telegraph
U.S. journalists jailed in North Korea are expected to get prison terms -- L.A. Times
Families plead for US reporters' release in NKorea -- Yahoo News/AP
Eyes Are on North Korea as Journalists Go on Trial -- Wall Street Journal

N. Korea's Nuclear Defiance May Embolden Iran, Israelis Worry

Photo: At an Asian security summit this weekend, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reassured participants - including his Japanese (l.) and S. Korean (r.) counterparts - that the US would not 'bend to pressure or provocation.' Wong Maye-E/AP

From Christian Science Monitor:

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates promised Saturday that the US will not 'stand idly by,' but the communist nation's example could be a case study in how to side-step diplomacy.

Tel Aviv - As the US and Asian neighbors of North Korea mull a united response to block the communist nation's nuclear program following a recent test, Israel is bracing for the fallout.

The chief concern is that Pyongyang's defiance of the international community will serve as a case-study for how Iran also might side-step diplomacy, acquire nuclear weapons, and fuel a regional arms race. If North Korea can get away with becoming a nuclear nation with little punishment and despite US diplomatic efforts, Israeli analysts say that may embolden Iran to flout international pressure, too.

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My Comment: There are two forces at work here. North Korea's neighbors are now formulating a strategy to counter a clear cut case of nuclear proliferation in their "neighborhood". The are united in their opposition, but they will now have to agree upon a universal course of action. This will take some time. The wild card is Japan. If North Korea has a developing and growing nuclear weapons program, Japan may be inclined to change their constitution and start their own nuclear weapons program .... a feat that can be done very quickly. This change in policy will send shock waves throughout Asia.

The other "force" is in the Middle East.

Iran is now looking at developments in Asia, and are realizing that the cost to having a nuclear weapons program is not that steep .... if there is a cost at all. In turn, I believe that this will only embolden the Iranian Government to speedup and pursue their own program ..... and they will do so in the open. The wild card is Israel, and on how they may react .... but for the moment the Iranians are looking at Asia.

The development of an Iranian nuclear weapons program will also change the dynamics of the region appreciably. Do not surprise if Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt start to develop their own programs also .... and they will do so with the blessings of Europe and from the U.S. This will also will send shock waves throughout the region.