Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi Does Not Sleep with the Fishes by Larry C Johnson

What does a radical Islamic mother say to another radical Islamic mother? Children, they blow up so fast.

What a contrast with the raid that killed Bin Laden in May 2011. The Obama Administration came out with conflicting accounts and required the SEALS who carried out the attack to sign non-disclosure agreements. Why? Because the raid was conducted with the cooperation and knowledge of the Pakistani government; the SEALS faced no guard force; Bin Laden was a cripple unable to get out of bed and was shot so many times by the SEALs his body was dumped in the ocean.

Al Baghdadi? It is now clear he was protected by someone in Turkey. The Turks knew where he was and, until yesterday, kept him safe. Trump's actions over the last three weeks with respect to U.S. forces in Syria set the table for this operation. A combination of pressure and incentives confronted Turkey's President Erdogan and he rolled over.

It is telling that there was not a huge fire fight going in. Where was the Baghdadi security team? This is a further indicator that Baghdadi was betrayed by folks he thought were protecting him. Baghdadi fled his house and jumped into a tunnel.

Baghdadi is reported to have blown himself up. Looks like the mission was carried out by Delta Force. They are accompanied by Malanois dogs (looks a little like a German shepherd). Based on what Trump briefed today the dog followed Baghdadi down into the tunnel. The dog can run faster than any soldier in such an environment. Once Baghdadi was trapped he detonated his suicide vest. Fortunately, the dog was not killed (but probably suffered some frag wounds.)

(Someone needs to re-write the Peter and Gordon lyrics on "I Go to Pieces" in honor of Baghdadi's passing.)

 

Don't believe the media reports that the U.S. forces launched from Iraq. Just look at a map. Al Baghdadi was hiding out in Idlib province, which is in northwest Syria. Flight time in helicopters from Iraq is three hours plus. Flight time from the U.S. Air Force base in Incirlik, Turkey is about one hour. This came out of Turkey. That is why the U.S. coordinated/deconflicted the flight path with Russia. Flying from Turkey into northwest Syria takes one directly over territory controlled by the Russians and Syrians.

Trump's press conference was amazing. He did not divulge key operational details and did a good job of obfuscating the intel sources that provided the break on Al Baghdadi's location. 

One thing is certain--most of the anti-Trump crowd will look for some reason to criticize Trump's victory. The anti-Trumper crowd looks pretty stupid now. They were predicting the resurgence of ISIS. Whoops!! There goes that narrative. The new status quo in Syria means the end of the U.S. policy of regime change and the beginning of the rehabilitation of Syria as a legitimate nation state. This is really going to piss off the Deep State. All their plans initiated by Obama and Hillary are being destroyed by the red haired road runner known as Trump. 

Comments

[Babak Makkinejad]

Thank you.

[Leith]

Or like the 19th century Taiping Heavenly Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan who had been converted to Christianity by missionaries. He too like the LRA had his own interpretation and declared himself a son of God and the brother of Christ. That uprising ended up killing 20 to 30 million Chinese, some on the battlefield but most due to famine and disease caused by the rebellion.

https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Chinese-Son-Taiping-Heavenly/dp/0393315568/ref=sr_1_3?crid=XSJEFVDZFUUB&keywords=taiping+rebellion&qid=1572298005&s=books&sprefix=taiping%2Cstripbooks%2C296&sr=1-3

[Babak Makkinejad]

I just had never heard about a sacred bond between parents and offsprings from any of the extants religions of West Asia. There is a very strong belief in East Asia about that bond but it is not considered sacred in the sense that you mean.

[English Outsider]

Maybe we're on a higher plane, Babak -

"Tell me," said the king, "you are a mystic, a philosopher, a man of unconventional understandings. I have become interested in the question of value. It is an interesting philosophical question. Take me for example. If I were to ask you to estimate my value, what would you say?"

"Oh," Nasruddin said, "I'd say about two hundred dinars."

The emperor was flabbergasted. "What! But this belt I'm wearing is worth two hundred dinars."

"I know," said Nasruddin. "Actually, I was taking the value of the belt into consideration."

[Mark Logan]

Babak,

Seems to me ignorance is a poor antidote to populism. Yet Jefferson's idealistic image of the farmer/scholar is, sadly, unrealistic. A realistic one might be getting people just over the Dunning-Kruger hump, I suppose. The need for the humanities in a functioning Republic is paramount.

[J]

Colonel, Larry, TTG,

CJCS is saying that 2 adult males were captured along with a trove of Intel

[jd hawkins]

Very good!

[Paco]

Ineptness sounds like superior orders, a shield for the consequences of "things that happened".

[CK]

The American Constitution as she was originally written with the first ten amendments was strongly anti-democratic and anti-monarchical.

[CK]

The last candidate for president who was selected in the "smoke filled room" was Warren G. Harding. A good president but maybe too loyal to old friends.

[CK]

The easiest way to quote is to copy/paste the text you wish us to read between quote marks " copy/paste ". If you are not quoting the complete quote it is proper and courteous and honest to include an ellipsis … (Usually done with three periods ) where you are omitting words: " … copy/paste … ".
Yes I am a wee bit of a grammarian. It goes with having the soul of an engineer.
https://www.wikihow.com/Sample/Italics-Usage

[CK]

It does announce who the next target is.
Of course Isis/Daesh is merely a few young hotheads with an internet connection somewhere close to the Turkish border in Idlib.
So they will keep teeing them up and someone will keep knocking them down.

[CK]

It may not buy but it can rent.
But consider the serious issue of having real wealth.
1) You are now a target of every grifter, parasite, office seeker, panhandler and crook anywhere around you.
2) If you keep your wealth on you or in your home you will be victimized.
3) If you put your wealth in a safe bank you will be nibbled to death by taxes and bankers.
4) Bernie Sanders will want 95% of all you have to give free health care to the 4 billion foreigners who wish to come to the USA for the benefits and the Hollywood life style.
5) If you decide to renounce your citizenship and move somewhere less parasitical, the IRS will demand about half your wealth before you can take the rest with you.
6) If your wealth came because you did or made or invented or build something monumental you will be thoroughly denounced.
7) If your wealth came because you played Meathead for several years and now live in a gated non-diverse community you will have that bullhorn to denounce creative and productive people with.
8) You will have to associate with people who have the souls of accountants mostly because they are accountants and they are hired by you to help you keep some of that wealth.
It is truly a bitch to be rich. Now to be a Rothschild that is a different kettle of fish.

[turcopolier]

paco

"ineptness" and "things that happen" sound like that to you because you want to believe in "the hidden hand."

[Eric Newhill]

Lyttennburg,
It's being reported that a Kurdish spy stole a pair of al-Baghdadi's underwear and transferred it to US forces, but who knows how it was really done. There are always ways, aren't there?

[Diana C]

Did you not read all that I wrote? I was not at all happy with our engaging in Iraq. I was not really sure we should have gone into Kuwait before that.

I remember clearly the huge sorrow I felt when that first bomb was dropped on Baghdad.

To support the young men and women following the orders of misguided leaders/politicians is not the same as liking what those leaders have asked them to do.

In my belief, we are living in a "fallen" world. What is in the heart of each individual is what counts.

I also did not think we should have gone into Vietnam. I have close friends who served in that war. I went to college with young men who were there only so as not to be drafted. I did not find that one could judge the two groups of young men as each being made up of identical thinkers.

Some went when they were drafted. Some went because they felt they should support our military. Others who stayed made their choices. Some signed up for service that would not take them to Vietnam. Others let their parents send them to college to get out of the draft--but many of those were interested, in my opinion , more in the sex,drugs and rock and roll of that era.

Individuals make individual decisions based on their own personal desires and beliefs, even those individuals in cultures different from our own.

No one I know celebrates killing. As I wrote, I celbrate that the man killed can no longer order others to participate in horrid killings of mostly innocent people.

And, I submit that the same is true in other parts of the world. Individual people must grapple constantly with their own personal take on what is right and what is wrong for any situation.

We would not, in my opinion, be the U.S. now if the Flower Children had taken control of our government. I can't think of any culture in history where killing and fighting did not occur in some way. I don't know anyone who celebrates the idea of killing. But, please understand that it IS possible to judge a man by the "fruits" of his actions and not try to say that the man is just doing what the culture he lives in finds acceptable and so we should honor that.

[Diana C]

I could have pointed out part of the Second Commandment: "For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

This is also an expression of the impact of fathers (parents) on their children.

The Fifth Commandment assumes, I suppose, that the parents do take their position as examples for their children seriously: "Honor thy father and mother: that thy days may be long upon the land with the Lord thy God giveth thee."

I am not trying to preach here, just trying to show where I get my beliefs.

As I mentioned, I think many from other parts of the world lump all people who come from America as as Christians. The Muslim world is quite diverse, and I have tried to learn the differences between Sunni and Shia and on and on. It's complicated. Christians have the Catholics and then all the many and various Prostestant denominations to figure out.

I once had a nice discussion with a man studying here from Saudi Arabia. He was surprised that I did know a little--a very little--about the differences between Sunni and Shia. He then spent some time as I tried to explain some of the differences between the various Christian denominations.

The passages I give you from the Ten Commandments, however, are foundation beliefs of most Christians. Here in our country, as you may know, some who are not religious--and therefore not Christian--have fought to keep the many plaques and monuments that present the Commandments from being kept or displayed as the country becomes--sadly to my way of thinking--more secular.

[d74]

Sorry sir,
Godfree Roberts made two proposals. It seemed good policy to me to be uncertain about the first one I was straightening up but affirmative about the second, flattering I would dare say.(for dogs).

[English Outsider]

I have close relatives who live in the US and they think it's great. Also relatives who live in Germany and they're pretty happy too. But the US lot have it better - more space to live in, whereas in Germany many live cooped up in apartments. That makes a big difference, especially for people like me who are used to living in the countryside.

On more important matters, the difference in freedom of speech is amazing. So many subjects are pretty well forbidden in polite society on the Continent whereas, away from snowflake territory, in the US it's still possible to discuss them.

But that's normal everyday life. When it comes to politics - that's a mess everywhere.

Babak was satirising the desired lifestyle of an English Prog, though I'd add in the gite in the Dordogne for good measure. That's the successful English Prog - there's a long waiting list.

I reckon Nasruddin wasn't doing a Diogenes act and telling the king he was rubbish. He was pointing out that there are values other than the monetary. It was by those values that he chose to judge the king and by those values that he himself lived.

I've probably got stars in my eyes but I suspect that in the Islamic world they hold to those other values more than we do.

We have considered the two options you set out above very carefully. I think I'll take the second. My wife, who is more cautious than me, says could we try both before we decide?

[CK]

After careful consideration is always a good way to determine which of the many paths available at the moment is the one with the highest chance of obtaining happiness.
In that real world where the children announced that the king was naked, the children were quickly escorted to the tower and there the royal surgeon blinded them. The chattering classes continued to admire the high thread count and luxurious colours of the king's raiment.

[Serge]

IS confirmation of Baghdadi's death just released a few minutes ago in an audio message from the new spokesman(whose voice sounds familiar to me)

[A.I.S.]

Concerning the Uranium thing, my understanding is that exposure to depleted Uranium is quite linked to increased cancer risks, but well, the alternatives (like f.e. the Tungsten compounds that the Bundeswehr or the Russians use, the latter supposedly use mostly tungsten but also have DU although they never admitted that they do) are quite toxic as well.

Penetrative power differentials between Tungsten and DU (which are disputed, and subject to heavy data washing by all involved nations and agencies, just as the effectiveness of modern tank armor is) do not apply very much to the common operations of US forces today, as these operations are not characterized by their abundance of tank on tank engangements.
They but would certainly be a thing in case of a military clash with the Russian armed forces, as well as in case of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah or in case of increased hostilities in Donbass.

Generally speaking, a lot of things in wars cause cancer, because in wars a lot of pretty hazordous things like chemical factories get blown up, and medical systems tend to be overwhelmed quite rapidly.
All things nuclear also seem to have an innate "fear factor", but this fear factor extends far beyond the confines of pacifists.
One should note that DU and Tungsten are not considered poisonous weapons by international law because their primary use is to destroy with kinetic energy, they are however both quite poisonous in practice.

[turcopolier]

AIS

Chest x-rays can give you cancer. Anti-tank rounds are intended to be more lethal than minor amounts of radiations. If a DU round slug holes your turret you probably have more to worry about than small amounts of radiation. Have tank crewman complained about handling the ammunition?

[Serge]

Colonel,

But once the rounds are discharged the fragments end up somewhere and stay, you dont need to be hit. If you are living and having kids around the remains of radioactive rounds you will get cancer. 12 fold increase in Fallujah cancers for example cant be caused by military burn pits as many allege

[turcopolier]

Serge

"Military burn pits" at Fallujah? You think the US was burning uranium in pits at Fallujah? Civilians in the neighborhood of ground combat may be injured? Did you recently learn that?