GINA COBB

Were Islamic Terrorists on Flight 447?

Terror Names Linked To Doomed Flight AF 447

Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on the Air France flight which crashed with the loss of 228 lives, it has emerged.

French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31.

Flight AF 447 crashed in the mid-Atlantic en route to Paris during a violent storm.  . . . .

Soon after news of the fatal crash broke, agents working for the DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure), the French equivalent of MI6, were dispatched to Brazil.

It was there that they established that two names on the passenger list are also on highly-classified documents listing the names of radical Muslims considered a threat to the French Republic.

A source working for the French security services told Paris weekly L'Express that the link was "highly significant".

Agents are now trying to establish dates of birth for the two dead passengers, and family connections.

There is a possibility the name similarities are simply a "macabre coincidence", the source added, but the revelation is still being "taken very seriously".

France has received numerous threats from Islamic terrorist groups in recent months, especially since French troops were sent to fight in Afghanistan.

Security chiefs have been particularly worried about airborne suicide attacks similar to the ones on the US on September 11, 2001.

So Now Osama Bin Laden Is Alive Again? And Accusing OTHERS of "Hatred"?

At least, that's the story being published today based on an audio recording.

I'm not buying it.  Nobody has ruled out the possibility of vocal imitators from among Osama's many male relatives.

In any event, "Bin Laden" has this to say:

In an audio recording timed for Obama's latest overture, the al-Qaida leader said the US leader had planted seeds of "revenge and hatred" towards the US in the Muslim world, al-Jazeera television reported.

Like all guilty people in the history of the world, "Bin Laden" accuses Obama of what he does himself.  "Revenge?"  "Hatred?"  That's all Osama Bin Laden was ever about.  The September 11, 2001 attack was "revenge and hatred," and in the most extreme way possible.  Bin Laden's hatred is so large as to encompass thousands of innocent civilians. 

Innocent civilians weren't accidental casualties of war.  These were Bin Laden's targets.

I don't really care what "Osama Bin Laden" has to say about Barack Obama or any other subject.  Assuming he's alive, Bin Laden forfeited his right to have any opinion taken seriously when he planned a mass murder of civilians.

Was the Air France Flight Bombed?

Is it a clue or just a coincidence?

There was a bomb threat to another Air France flight leaving Buenos Aires just three days before the disappearance of Flight 447. 

The story, dated May 27, 2009, is linked at Drudge at this hour:  Bomb threat on Air France Flight

The airport safety delayed an Air France flight this evening before departring for Paris immediately after the company received a bomb threat over the phone at the airport of Ezeiza.

The Federal Police, along the Firemen’s direction and the Airport’s Safety proceeded to inspect the plane, that arrived this morning from the French city and, after a brief stop, it was preparing to return.

The routine procedure lasted approximately one hour and a half and, as sources of the airport reported all the passengers are ok and they were not evacuated.

This story relates to an earlier flight of May 27th, leaving from a different city (Bueonos Aires, Argentina rather than Rio do Janiero, Brazil).  The flight that crashed, Flight 447, left Rio de Janiero Sunday night, May 31st at 7:03 p.m. local time.

The bomb threat involved a different aircraft.  Based on this report, the plane that was lost, an Airbus A330-200, registration number F-GZCP, flew into Bangalore, India on May 26th and May 28th, leaving for Charles de Gaulle, Paris, the same day on both occasions. The aircraft did not report any technical problems, according to air traffic controllers who cleared it for take-off.

What is plausible about the story is that a bombing would explain the lack of any distress communication from the doomed flight.  As an explanation for the disaster, it potentially fits the facts better than the theories of a crash due to lightning or severe storm conditions.  Those theories alone seem inadequate to explain the loss of the flight, according to many seasoned commercial pilots who have discussed the loss of Flight 447 in the media over the past few days.

Misery Grows as Pakistan Battles the Ruthless Taliban

Men, women and children displaced by the violence caused by the Taliban in the Swat Valley are suffering mightily in refugee camps.  More than 2 million have been displaced, creating a humanitarian crisis that has the International Red Cross "gravely concerned."

Fleeing the Taliban in the Swat Valley in April

Meanwhile, those left behind in the Swat Valley are struggling for their survival:

One female student in the town of Saidu Sharif has managed to send e-mails to the BBC News website describing the struggle to survive.

---

I am still in Swat and I will die here. I will not leave my homeland because of the Taleban and I'll fight against them with every possible means.

Our communication system is not working. My phone hasn't been working for many days, it only gets a signal occasionally, especially when the curfew is removed.

There is no electricity and we are using a generator but we have a limited supply of oil to run it. We are only using it for half an hour every 24 hours to charge the laptop and the phones. I am writing this in a hurry.

Most of the people in our town and surrounding villages have left. The ones who have remained want to leave, but most have no money for transport.

Everybody here is against the Taleban. But for me there is a big question mark over the dedication of the Pakistani army

Pregnant women and sick people, who can't walk, have been left behind. In the whole of Swat there is not a single lady doctor. Even a male doctor is hard to find, as they have left.

I know that people in refugee camps in Pakistan live in bad conditions, but the  government and international donors are ignoring those remaining in Swat.

Food shortages

People are hungry. Because of the curfew there is a shortage of food. We are running out of stored food items. But we are at risk every time we go out as we might be targeted by the Taleban or the army.

There are many Taleban commanders in my village. Their intelligence is so good, they know what we discuss in our homes.

Six days ago one of my relatives was slaughtered in Mingora city. His dead body was left on the road for four days and nobody handed it over to his parents.

A militant group from a nearby village, all of them young boys, used to come to our girls' college to intimidate the girls. They were checking the faces of girls and were saying things like "I love you" and similar nonsense. One day this group tortured a female school teacher.

I wanted to complete an MBA course. Now the colleges are closed, schools are destroyed, education is impossible. Women can't even go out on the streets any more.

I know who the local Taleban are. I know them personally. Some of them are my distant relatives. A friend of mine works for the police here and he knows them too, but he can't do anything. The ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] targeted and destroyed the police force structure, clearing ground for Taleban activities.

In the past, when people have come forward with the details of Taleban they know, they have been betrayed.

So I don't know who we can trust with that information now.

Everybody here is against the Taleban. But for me there is a big question mark over the dedication of the Pakistani army.

The Taleban have their own FM radio station. How come they can be traced by foreign media to give interviews, but they can't be traced and killed by the Pakistani army?

The Pakistani army thinks it is nearing victory in Swat.  It is difficult to tell whether this represents hopeful thinking or is fact.

Of course, this is entirely the fault of Islamofascist terrorists in Pakistan who decided that it was acceptable to kill innocent children in the pursuit of political power.  No nation can or should tolerate such murder and mayhem.

1 in 7 Detainees Transferred Out of Guantanamo Has Already Returned to Terrorism

Hmmmmmm.  Good thing Obama carefully thought through his plans for what to do with the dangerous terrorists at GITMO before he announced he's shutting the place down!  (He did think it through, right?)

An unreleased Pentagon report concludes that about one in seven of the 534 prisoners already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has returned to terrorism or militant activity, according to administration officials.

The conclusion could strengthen the arguments of critics who have warned against the transfer or release of any more detainees as part of President Obama’s plan to shut down the prison by January. Past Pentagon reports on Guantánamo recidivism have been met with skepticism from civil liberties groups and criticized for their lack of detail.

The Pentagon promised in January that the latest report would be released soon, but Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said this week that the findings were still “under review.”

Two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the report was being held up by Defense Department employees fearful of upsetting the White House, at a time when even Congressional Democrats have begun to show misgivings over Mr. Obama’s plan to close Guantánamo.

Oh, and here's the kicker:

Terrorism experts said a 14 percent recidivism rate was far lower than the rate for prisoners in the United States, which, they said, can run as high as 68 percent three years after release. They also said that while Americans might have a lower level of tolerance for recidivism among Guantánamo detainees, there was no evidence that any of those released had engaged in elaborate operations like the Sept. 11 attacks.

. . . yet.

I don't know how to break it to the New York Times, but there was also "no evidence" that anyone had engaged in "elaborate operations like the Sept. 11 attacks" until September 11, 2001.

By then it was too late.

Obama: Hey, Here's a Thought -- Why Don't We Stick With Those Military Tribunals? Oh -- and We'll Need A New GITMO

Gee, it took him a while, but Obama has finally figured out that, by golly, it might be a good idea to use the military tribunals that President Bush created to try GITMO terrorists.  Yes, the same military tribunals that Obama criticized when he was a candidate.

Oh -- and by the way -- after announcing that he will close the prison at GITMO, Obama wants another $50 million to -- wait for it -- build another prison to house most of the same terrorists!

Gee, that's really helpful.  We'll close one perfectly good prison only to spend tens of millions building another.  I'm sure the terrorists will appreciate the change of scenery from one maximum security prison to the next.  Good thing the economy is booming and American taxpayers have money to burn!

Strangely enough, the news that Obama plans to use the military tribunals got released on a Friday, when -- hey, whaddya know -- there's nobody around to cover it!

Ed Morrissey:

Barack Obama promised to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and end the military tribunal process that he opposed as a Senator for its detainees if elected President.  After taking the oath of office, Obama fulfilled that promise by ordering the shutdown of Gitmo and halting the tribunals.  Now, three months later, the Obama administration can’t find nations willing to accept murderous, lunatic terrorists as guests, and suddenly those military tribunals look pretty good:

The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.

Officials said the first public moves could come as soon as next week, perhaps in filings to military judges at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, outlining an administration plan to amend the Bush administration’s system to provide more legal protections for terrorism suspects.

Continuing the military commissions in any form would probably prompt sharp criticism from human rights groups as well as some of Mr. Obama’s political allies because the troubled system became an emblem of the effort to use Guantánamo to avoid the American legal system.

Does anyone else find it fascinating that the Obama administration leaked this on a Friday night?  I suspect that they know just how much flak they will take over this reversal, especially in the media.  This seems designed to bury the story in a weekend cycle, with a prayer that a big event occurs between now and Monday to keep it buried.

Maybe Madonna will get married again.  Who knows?

You have to love this passage (emphasis mine):

When President Obama suspended Guantánamo cases after his inauguration on Jan. 20, many participants said the military commission system appeared dead.  But in recent days a variety of officials involved in the deliberations say that after administration lawyers examined many of the cases, the mood shifted toward using military commissions to prosecute some detainees, perhaps including those charged with coordinating the Sept. 11 attacks.

“The more they look at it,” said one official, “the more commissions don’t look as bad as they did on Jan. 20.”

Hmm.  Maybe they should have looked at it a little more before running for President on the promise of ending the only effective manner of trying terrorists captured in foreign countries. Many of us looked at it in much more detail, including Congress.  Maybe Barack Obama wasn’t familiar with that, but that was the job he supposedly held before this one - the one where he postured for the Left while his colleagues in both parties worked to fashion a practical system of military tribunals to make sure that we locked up terrorists without damaging national security.

But, hey, actual governing is hard — harder than voting present, and certainly harder than casting politically-expedient votes when you know it won’t affect the outcome.

We’re waiting for our apologies.

But what about this little matter of closing GITMO only to open another new prison -- call it GITMO Lite -- in the U.S.?  From Investors Business Daily:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday that he has asked for $50 million to build a prison in the U.S. that would house the enemy combatants who were sent to Guantanamo after being captured in the war on terror.

If the brig at Gitmo is closed, as many as 100 of the roughly 250 inmates there would be moved to the U.S. The rest could walk away because the evidence against them, while good enough to keep them incarcerated in a military prison as enemies of America, might be inadmissible in a criminal court on U.S. soil.

Who is going to want these 100 radicals, many of them linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban, in their backyard? And where will those who could no longer be detained end up? Back in the battlefield fighting U.S. troops?  . . . .

The prison facility at Guantanamo, an ideal location for housing suspected terrorists, has become an open sore of controversy. After years of demands that the Gitmo prison be closed, Barack Obama heeded them upon becoming president. On Jan. 22, the country's new executive signed an order requiring the facility to be shut down within the year.

Problem solved? Not quite.

There's that little matter of finding a place for men who live to kill and would be happy to get their hands on an American the same way a wolf would like to tear apart a chicken.

Closing the detainee camp at Gitmo will solve nothing.  . . . .  And for what? A useless political victory for those who traffic in mindless symbolism over a man who hasn't been in the White House even four months?

The debate over Gitmo has been marked by more hysteria than rational thought. Have any of its critics wondered why the Bush administration chose to send suspected terrorists there rather than to a federal prison within the 50 states? Could it have been for security reasons?

. . . .  It's reasonable to believe that the Bush White House simply thought it wise to keep the enemy combatants off U.S. soil and away from civilian Americans.

The best place for the detainees at the Guantanamo base is right where they are. Why waste $50 million in taxpayers' money for new construction costs, as well as the tens of millions that were already spent to build facilities that will be, in Gates' word, mothballed? To gain nothing but hollow political points?

At Gitmo, the detainees are free to face Mecca when they pray. They have access to Islamic reading material and eat hot halal — approved by Islamic law — meals.

They are not in stocks, stretched out on the rack or systematically beaten. They are exactly where they should be. Pragmatism, not politics, is what should determine their location.

Their Depth of Depravity Is, Again, Beyond Belief

The world has somehow absorbed the shock of one Islamofascist atrocity after another.  But Islamofascists never fail to reach new depths.  From Gateway Pundit:

Terrorist Mommy Blows Herself Up With Toddler In Emergency Food Line

While the American media was focusing on prosecuting the Bush regime for splashing water on terrorists, they missed this story.

An Iraqi mommy with her toddler blew up in an emergency food line in Iraq this past weekend.

The National Post reported, via Free Republic:

Having spent this morning catching up on my weekend reading, I came across this Page 4 article from Friday's New York Times. Here's the lead paragraph: "BAGHDAD — At least 80 people died and 120 others were injured Thursday in three bombings, one by a female suicide bomber in Baghdad who, Iraqi officials said, held a young child’s hand as she set off her explosives among a group of women and children receiving emergency food aid."

Even putting aside our baseline revulsion at terrorism, there are three especially hideous things that jump out from this:

1) A mother deliberately taking her (presumed) child with her as she immolates herself. For all the hundreds of suicide bombings that Iraq has already witnessed, this has got to be a first.

2) This was a line for food aid. Islamists have gone from attacking U.S. soldiers, to attacking Iraqi soldiers, to attacking police stations, to attacking the religious ceremonies of rival sects — on down the line of nihilism until, now, they are reduced to blowing up hungry people seeking sustenance.

3) This hideous crime was played on page four of The New York Times. And a quick scan of other media suggests it got similar B-rate treatment elsewhere.

Have You Forgotten?

Navy Frees Ship's Captain (Update: Or Did the Captain Free Himself With Navy Support?)

Awesome news.

MOMBASA, Kenya – An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a swift firefight that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, the ship's owner said.

A senior U.S. intelligence official said a pirate who had been involved in negotiations to free Capt. Richard Phillips but who was not on the lifeboat was in custody.

Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was safely transported to a Navy warship nearby.

Maersk Line Limited President and CEO John Reinhart said in a news release that the U.S. government informed the company around 1:30 p.m. EDT Sunday that Phillips had been rescued. Reinhart said the company called Phillips' wife, Andrea, to tell her the news.

Update:  Confederate Yankee notes that the captain was freed when he threw himself overboard again:

Captain Richard Phillips escaped from his Somali captors and threw himself off the lifeboat once more, and this time, Navy SEALS were lurking in the water to receive him.

The results were predictable:

Three of the pirates were killed and one was in custody after what appeared to be a swift firefight off the Somali coast, the official said.

Initial reports indicate Phillips jumped overboard for a second time and the military was able to take advantage of the situation.for

If that's how Captain Phillips freed himself, I'm impressed indeed by his persistence, ingenuity and bravery.  Put him alongside airline pilot Chesley Sullenberger (who managed to land his plane and passengers safely on the Hudson River in January) as a true American hero.

Update 2:  With more details coming out, it sounds like most of the credit for this rescue belongs with the U.S. Navy:

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Navy snipers on the fantail of a destroyer cut down three Somali pirates in a lifeboat and rescued an American sea captain in a surprise nighttime assault in choppy seas Easter Sunday, ending a five-day standoff between a team of rogue gunmen and the world's most powerful military.

It was a stunning ending to an Indian Ocean odyssey that began when 53-year-old freighter Capt. Richard Phillips was taken hostage Wednesday by pirates who tried to hijack the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama. The Vermont native was held on a tiny lifeboat that began drifting precariously toward Somalia's anarchic, gun-plagued shores.

. . . .  Negotiations with the three pirates were growing heated, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said.

One of them pointed an AK-47 at the back of Phillips, who was tied up and in "imminent danger" of being killed when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge made the split-second decision to order his men to shoot, Gortney said. Navy snipers took aim at the pirates' heads and shoulders, he said. The lifeboat was about 25-30 yards away and was being towed by the Bainbridge at the time, he said.

A fourth pirate had surrendered earlier in the day and could face life in a U.S. prison.

John Bolton Reacts to Obama's Handling of the Pirate Hostage Crisis

Asked about the pirate crisis, Obama refuses to comment.

He's trying to stay on his agenda, but he comes across as indifferent.

John Bolton explains how Obama could better handle the situation.

We don't know whether Obama has authorized a secret hostage rescue attempt.  I hope he has, and I'm waiting until we know more.  But in the meantime, what we have had from the Obama administration so far looks a lot like a Vacuum of Will.

In the past, broad international agreement existed on how to deal with pirates. Any naval or police power of any state could attack any vessel attacking a merchant vessel of any state.  . . . . Pirates disappeared from the seas because the swift and sure universal response to piracy made piracy suicidal. Today, when faced with piracy, we dither. Maritime law, once considered clear and long-established, suddenly now is viewed as ambiguous and unsupported. 

. . . . The return of international lawlessness on both land and sea arises from a paralysis brought on by the breakdown of internal trust and cooperation in the developed nations. We cannot enforce international law because half of our polity believes we have no right to. Half of our polity is more concerned with using piracy and other forms of lawlessness as sticks with which to attack their internal political enemies than they are with defending international law. The Geneva and Hague conventions have died in the last few years as it became evident that the principles of those conventions will only be applied to actions of the militaries of liberal democracies, and to no one else. Systematic violation of the Conventions has become the accepted road to political power, personal wealth and, occasionally, a Nobel Peace Prize.

Half of the polity now argues that unlawful and inhumane tactics merely represent the desperation of the justified underdog instead of the callousness of the cruel and greedy. In such a moral environment, those who must fight and apprehend pirates understand that they will face far harsher judgment, with far less presumption of innocence, than will the pirates. Why should they risk their reputations, careers, freedoms and lives just to uphold the law when they know their most likely reward will be a knife in the back? 

In a world in which a country is sanctioned and ostracized for responding to overt large-scale attacks on its civilian population, what kind of support can a naval officer fighting pirates expect? If responding to attacks on civilians gets one branded a war criminal what will happen to those who respond to attacks on economic interests? What kind of justice can they expect in a world in which in any court in any country has the presumed legal right to pass judgment on the actions of any individual anywhere in the world?   

In a vacuum of will, the brutal and the criminal prosper. Lawlessness spreads until it becomes the accepted norm. People no longer put any trust in laws and lawful institutions. Lawless and despotic authoritarianism seems the only alternative to a chaotic and violent anarchy. This is the future we face. 

Forty years ago it would seem pathetically funny that a group of people in a fishing boat armed with nothing more than assault rifles and RPGs could capture ships out from under the nose of the U.S. Navy, but today we regard it as a “very serious and complicated problem.” It isn’t. Modern piracy is a trivial problem with simple, proven and well understood solutions. The fact that we cannot deal with it tells us how sick we’ve become. 

Has Islam Really "Changed the Shape of America"?

Why yes, it has.

Obama says that Islam has "changed the shape of America."  We couldn't agree more.

Photos and caption from TheReligionofPeace.com, via JihadWatch

President Obama said in an April 6th speech to the Turkish Parliament that "the Islamic faith . . . has done so much over the centuries to shape the world — including in my own country." 

Obama also says America is "no longer a Christian nation," which is an odd statement for a man who professes to be Christian. 

America has always honored religious freedom, but about 75% of Americans are Christians, and only about 1% are Jewish.  Less than 1% are Muslim.

Jews have lived and worshipped peacefully in America throughout its history.  Many Muslims have lived and worshipped peacefully in America too, but on a dark day in 2001, Islam did indeed change the shape of America.

Taliban Chops Off U.S. Hand of Peace, Calls Offer of Reconciliation a "Lunatic Idea"

Welcome to the asylum.  The Obama administration has reached out to the brutal Taliban the Hand of Peace -- the Hand of Effortless, Easy, Almost-Total-Surrender-Peace.  To no surprise of anyone who's been paying attention, there is now a bloody stump where the Hand of Easy Peace used to be:

KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents rejected on Wednesday a U.S. offer of "honorable reconciliation" as a "lunatic idea" and said the withdrawal of foreign troops was the only way to end the war in Afghanistan.

With the Afghan conflict now in its eighth year, NATO-led forces and the Taliban are locked in a bloody stalemate with violence set to rise further this year as more U.S. troops arrive and seek to contain the insurgency ahead of August elections.

President Barack Obama is redoubling U.S. efforts with more troops, more diplomatic effort and more economic assistance, but he has also already spoken of the need for an "exit strategy."

If the U.S. plan fails to show results, analysts say, time is on the Taliban side.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an international conference on Afghanistan on Tuesday that those members of the Taliban who abandoned extremism must be granted an "honorable form of reconciliation."

"This matter was also raised in the past," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, referring to comments by Obama last month who spoke of reaching out to moderate Taliban.

"They have to go and find the moderate Taliban, their leader and speak to them. This is a lunatic idea," Mujahid said by telephone from an unknown location.

Of course the Taliban is completely crazy, evil, and beneath contempt.  Anyone who routinely targets innocent civilians for murder is a cancer on the world.  But it is the Obama administration that needs a serious reality check here.

When you reach out your hand of peace to Islamic terrorists, they will chop it off.

Do you need examples?  Ask Margaret Hassan, an Irish aid worker.  Ask Nicholas Berg, who carried a Koran when he was kidnapped.  Ask Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

They all came in peace.  They all trusted in the humanity of Islamists.  They are all dead.

I could give you a thousand other examples that are equally tragic. 

Islamists are not reasonable.  They are not fair.  They are not sane.  They have no shred of human decency.  In Iran, they chant "Death to America" at every public rally.  They chanted it in their legislature the day they voted to resume uranium enrichment.  They literally threaten to chop off the hands of those who do not share their murderous ideology (see image above).  In Afghanistan, the Taliban throws acid in the faces of young girls to keep them from attending school.  The Taliban disembowels schoolteachers to the same end.  If we were to list all the atrocities of Islamic terrorists in the last 40 years, we would never finish.  By now, hundreds of thousands if not millions are dead at the hands of Islamofascists.

Let's not forget that the Taliban has threatened an "amazing" attack on Washington, D.C. "soon."  Perhaps an attack will come soon, or perhaps not, but is there any doubt about the Taliban's intentions?

This is no minor misunderstanding among nations of goodwill that can be resolved by taking a deep breath and saying something nice.  There is no "reset" button.

The Taliban's entire reason for being is inconsistent with America's peace, prosperity, and survival as a free nation.

It's time to grow up, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.  It's time to grow up and realize that wishing does not make it so.

If we want peace in Afghanistan or anywhere that Islamic terror reaches its bloody tentacles, there is but one way:  Nations of goodwill must fight or be willing to fight.

It's a novel concept I just invented called "Peace through strength."

Now that we've tried "Peace through surrender" with the Taliban, maybe the Obama administration can start looking at some alternatives.

What Do a Muslim Orphanage and a Terrorist Training Camp Have in Common?

Everything.

The Islamist War on Britain

From the Telegraph:

Britain is fighting a war – and we are too soft on our enemies

And, just in time to add an exclamation point:

Government adviser on Islamic terror arrested after stabbing someone in his home

The Moderate Taliban

 

Obama and Biden seem to think they can reach out to "moderates" in the Taliban. 

Good luck with that.

The Taliban scoffed at the very idea this week:

Afghanistan's Taliban on Tuesday turned down as illogical U.S. President Barack Obama's bid to reach out to moderate elements of the insurgents, saying the exit of foreign troops was the only solution for ending the war.

Obama, in an interview with the New York Times, expressed an openness to adapting tactics in Afghanistan that had been used in Iraq to reach out to moderate elements there.

"This does not require any response or reaction for this is illogical," Qari Mohammad Yousuf, a purported spokesman for the insurgent group, told Reuters when asked if its top leader Mullah Mohammad Omar would make any comment about Obama's proposal.

"The Taliban are united, have one leader, one aim, one policy...I do not know why they are talking about moderate Taliban and what it means?"

"If it means those who are not fighting and are sitting in their homes, then talking to them is meaningless.

I'm not quite sure who those "moderate" Taliban members are.  Are they the "insurgents" who only throw acid in the faces of girls trying to attend school on odd-numbered Tuesdays? 

I can think of many activities that would be more likely to succeed than trying to find moderate, reasonable terorrists in the Taliban. 

 If they were reasonable they wouldn't be in the Taliban.