Don't Cower Under Your Afghan*
Okay, this will be an opportunity to post several items, mainly security items to be cognizant of. First, however, I want to start off by being pompous. I E-Mailed my Islamic Civ professor last night with a link to the alternative location of my article about Saif al Qaddhafi, and asked for his feedback. Now, keep in mind that I got a B+ in Islamic Civ I and a B in Islamic Civ II, though I'll admit up front that a big part of those marks were my own inhibitions toward studying to the degree that I should have. Anyway, this is the response that was waiting for me when I got back from work today.
Many of you, notably Mighty Mo and Father Time, know how pompous I can get when I'm priased. It's a good thing I'm not married, because there'd be no living with me right now over something like this.
* * *
Following the lead of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, the Fighting Islamic Group in Libya has officially joined forces with al Qaeda, according to a message attributed to Ayman al Zwahiri. There's next to no information about this group available on the Internet; apparently they've been around since the mid-1990's, but have staged relatively few attacks against the Libyan government. The article doesn't indicate whether or not this group has any relation to the cell that was involved in the attempted murder of Dr. Emmett Brown in 1985.
* * *
There are several noteworthy stories out of Afghanistan and, unfortunately, none of them are good news. First, a story from a couple of weeks ago that kept getting pushed back due to other items: the U.S. military has once again provided evidence that Iran is supplying the Taliban. The article doesn't specifically say that the "advanced technology improvised explosive devices" were EFPs; but given that Iran has supplied EFPs to Shi'i militias in Iraq, it wouldn't be a big stretch of logic.
There have been two major incidents in Afghanistan this week that are worth noting. First, Taliban bikers (yes, bikers) have overrun a district center in Daykundi province. The Taliban have based most of their resurgent operations along the Pakistani border (where Afghanistan straddles the lawless tribal areas of Waziristan), particularly in Helmand province; Helmand borders Daykundi, but this is still a noteworthy attack.
There has also been a deadly attack in Baghlan province (Fox, BBC), which has left six members of the Afghan parliament (of varying ethnic backgrounds - part of the purpose of their visit to the area having been a demonstration of inter-ethnic solidarity) and many school children dead. The total number of fatalities is somewhere between thirty-five and forty-one. Baghlan, which has been relatively peaceful since the 2001 coalition invasion, borders Panjshir province, home of the Afghan nationalist and mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud (whose pictures have been mysteriously removed from the English version of that Wikipedia page; there are still a couple on the Farsi version). The Taliban have not claimed responsibility, and militants loyal to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (Wiki, BBC, Global Security) are known to operate in the area.
If you ask me, this underscores the need for the Marine Corps to re-task and take the lead in Afghanistan, as I noted previously. Afghanistan will continue to be problematic as long as Pakistan is problematic, but a successful counterinsurgency campaign (which the Marines are well qualified to spearhead) is obviously necessary.
* * *
There are several other items that I'd like to get to, but none of them are quick enough to get into right now. I'll make a concerted effort to get to them this evening, which will probably push that post about China to Monday - a good item to start the week off with. In the mean time, be sure to have a look at a couple of recent additions to the sidebar, and tune back in tomorrow.
* The title of this post comes from this old SNL sketch. Folks like Gus know that I can relate anything and everything back to some episode of SNL, South Park, the Simpsons, Friends...
[Fly]:
I haven't looked at anything but the Libyan article, but I thought it was extremely well-done. Informative, straightforward, realistic and without a hint of polemic one way or the other. The NYTimes ran a piece a couple of months ago on Saif -- I don't know if you saw it -- that substantially corroborates what you're arguing. Funny how the editors gave it an inflammatory headline. I've had the same experience the few times I submitted things to the [generic Metropolis newspaper].
I didn't think Muammar was all that old -- must be the Grecian formula.
Thanks for sending me the link. I'll take a look at the other pieces but wanted to get back to you on this.
[Generic University Islamic History Professor]
Many of you, notably Mighty Mo and Father Time, know how pompous I can get when I'm priased. It's a good thing I'm not married, because there'd be no living with me right now over something like this.
Following the lead of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, the Fighting Islamic Group in Libya has officially joined forces with al Qaeda, according to a message attributed to Ayman al Zwahiri. There's next to no information about this group available on the Internet; apparently they've been around since the mid-1990's, but have staged relatively few attacks against the Libyan government. The article doesn't indicate whether or not this group has any relation to the cell that was involved in the attempted murder of Dr. Emmett Brown in 1985.
There are several noteworthy stories out of Afghanistan and, unfortunately, none of them are good news. First, a story from a couple of weeks ago that kept getting pushed back due to other items: the U.S. military has once again provided evidence that Iran is supplying the Taliban. The article doesn't specifically say that the "advanced technology improvised explosive devices" were EFPs; but given that Iran has supplied EFPs to Shi'i militias in Iraq, it wouldn't be a big stretch of logic.
There have been two major incidents in Afghanistan this week that are worth noting. First, Taliban bikers (yes, bikers) have overrun a district center in Daykundi province. The Taliban have based most of their resurgent operations along the Pakistani border (where Afghanistan straddles the lawless tribal areas of Waziristan), particularly in Helmand province; Helmand borders Daykundi, but this is still a noteworthy attack.
There has also been a deadly attack in Baghlan province (Fox, BBC), which has left six members of the Afghan parliament (of varying ethnic backgrounds - part of the purpose of their visit to the area having been a demonstration of inter-ethnic solidarity) and many school children dead. The total number of fatalities is somewhere between thirty-five and forty-one. Baghlan, which has been relatively peaceful since the 2001 coalition invasion, borders Panjshir province, home of the Afghan nationalist and mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud (whose pictures have been mysteriously removed from the English version of that Wikipedia page; there are still a couple on the Farsi version). The Taliban have not claimed responsibility, and militants loyal to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (Wiki, BBC, Global Security) are known to operate in the area.
If you ask me, this underscores the need for the Marine Corps to re-task and take the lead in Afghanistan, as I noted previously. Afghanistan will continue to be problematic as long as Pakistan is problematic, but a successful counterinsurgency campaign (which the Marines are well qualified to spearhead) is obviously necessary.
There are several other items that I'd like to get to, but none of them are quick enough to get into right now. I'll make a concerted effort to get to them this evening, which will probably push that post about China to Monday - a good item to start the week off with. In the mean time, be sure to have a look at a couple of recent additions to the sidebar, and tune back in tomorrow.
* The title of this post comes from this old SNL sketch. Folks like Gus know that I can relate anything and everything back to some episode of SNL, South Park, the Simpsons, Friends...
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