No matter how hard I try, I can’t get through this article without snorting:

Philippine Muslim rebels recently shot down a US spy drone flying inside their territory in the restive southern region of Mindanao, where American forces are aiding local troops in fighting separatist and communist insurgents.

Mohagher Iqbal, a senior leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), on Friday said that the drone had been captured by rebel forces in the hinterlands of Talayan town in Maguindanao province.

He added that the spy plane was shot down on the night of October 31. Iqbal said the rebels recovered the plane on November 1 and the MILF leadership announced the capture of the drone on the same day.

[...]

“The spy plane is still in good condition and intact and we will not give it back to the US military. It is now the property of the MILF,” Iqbal told The Manila Times.

[source:  Military.com]

Troops leaving Iraqi cities

The U.S. military in Iraq is abandoning – deliberately and with little public notice – a centerpiece of the widely acclaimed strategy it adopted nearly two years ago to turn the tide against the insurgency.

Now the Americans are reversing direction, consolidating in larger bases outside the cities and leaving security in the hands of the Iraqis while remaining within reach to respond as the Iraqi forces require.

They’re moving to places like LSA Anaconda (now called Joint Base Balad), a place I wrote about here.  Permanent duty station, here we come!

Fantasy conversation in my head between a new Army recruit and their recruiter:

Recruiter:  “You have a few choices of permanent duty station, please pick two:  Landstuhl in Germany, Osan Air Base in South Korea, or Joint Base Balad in Iraq.  You choose.”

Recruit:  “hmmm…  they all have Burger King’s.  Tough choice.”

Regardless, it’s nice to FINALLY receive news that troops are pulling out of outlaying Iraqi towns and cities and moving back to garrisons in a relatively peaceful fashion.

Oh, and P.S.:  Afghanistan here we come.

The shift is not explicitly linked to U.S. plans for increasing its military presence in Afghanistan, but there is an important connection: The logistical resources needed to house and supply a larger and more distributed U.S. force in Afghanistan have been tied up in Iraq. To some extent that will be relieved with the consolidation of U.S. forces in Iraq onto larger, outlying bases that are easier to maintain.

The U.S. military is investigating a report that an airstrike that occured last Monday, November 3rd, hit a wedding party killing nearly three dozen innocent Afghan people.

The President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karza, responds:

“This is my first demand of the new president of the United States — to put an end to civilian casualties,”

I’m sure he’ll get right on that.

A question was just asked on CNN if voters seem more enthusiastic or energized than in previous election years. The simple answer is yes.  But I was musing exactly why the voters are more energized and I realized that it’s more complicated than it appears.

Here are the top reasons I think people are more enthusiastic this Presidential cycle than in the past:

1. Finally seeing an end to the Bush reign.
2. Voters are excited to elect the first African-American President, Barack Obama.  There’s a few key words being thrown around:  momentus and historic.
3. Second to electing an African-American as president is electing the first female Vice President.  It’s definitely a factor especially considering that Sarah Palin’s running mate, John McCain, has one foot in the grave already.  Which leads me to….
4. Electing the oldest man to take the presidential office.
5. Lastly, although my gut tells me it should be higher on the list, some voters are excited to elect AGAINST the first African-American president.

This combination of race, sex, and enthusiasm to change the current Presidents policy is making it the most exciting election year in U.S. history. I’m proud to be a part of it. Vote!

The United States has spent $4 billion more on intelligence than any other previous year.

What exactly does that amount of money get you?

The majority of the money supports electronic eavesdropping, wiretapping and the vast, high-speed data-mining operations of the National Security Agency, which has headquarters at Fort Meade. The budget also funds satellite photo reconnaissance and collection and analysis by agents of the CIA, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Treasury Department and others.

The budget appropriations, which were highly classified until 2007, do not include funds for tactical, or localized, military intelligence collection and analysis done by the armed forces and the Pentagon. Disclosure of the overall budget appropriation number was required by Congress in 2007 at the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.

I guess that doesn’t include the brave men and women in uniform monitoring Twitter for terrorist activity.

It’s something we’ve suspected all along and finally we have confirmation that Iran has been supplying militants across the Middle East including Lebanon and Iraq:

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran is supplying weapons to “liberation armies” in the Middle East, a top Revolutionary Guards commander said, offering the first official confirmation the country provides weapons to armed groups in the region.

Gen. Hossein Hamedani, deputy commander of a volunteer militia that is part of the elite Revolutionary Guards, did not provide specific details in the report on the state-run Borna news. The U.S. military has accused Iran of arming Shiite militias in Iraq, and Iran is widely believed to provide weapons to Lebanon’s militant Shiite Hezbollah group.

“Not only are our armed forces self-sufficient, liberation armies of the region get part of their weapons from us,” Hamedani said, according to the report on Borna’s Web site late Sunday.

In the past, Iran – a majority Shiite country – has denied arming Hezbollah, saying it only provided political and financial support. The Iranian government has also denied providing weapons or financial support to Shiite militants fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

But the U.S. military has said it has evidence that elements of the Mahdi army, an Iraqi militia loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, have been armed by Iran.

Next on Americas “to do” list is a cross border Iranian raid.

Twitter is the latest in Web 2.0 social networking applications that allows users to send messages to a maximum of 140 characters (or Tweets) across the web at lightening fast speed.

In fact, Twitter users were able to report the L.A. earthquakes from last July faster that official news outlets could.

So why is the U.S. Army saying that terrorists are using Twitter to expand on their dastardly deeds?

“Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences,” the report said.

Hacktivists refers to politically motivated computer hackers.

“Twitter is already used by some members to post and/or support extremist ideologies and perspectives,” the report said.

“Extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by hacktivists and activists for surveillance,” it said. “This could theoretically be combined with targeting.”

The report outlined scenarios in which militants could make use of Twitter, combined with such programs as Google Maps or cell phone pictures or video, to carry out an ambush or detonate explosives.

“Terrorists could theoretically use Twitter social networking in the US as an operation tool,” it said. “However, it is unclear whether that same theoretical tool would be available to terrorists in other countries and to what extent.”

I’m doubtful that terrorists would use Twitter, which is essentially a PUBLIC forumn, to post messages to each other about secret terrorist plots.  There’s gotta be a more private way to communicate like standard text messaging.

Regardless, the government’s keeping an eye on your Tweets.  Be forewarned.

Speaking of Twitter users, follow me!  I promise I’m not a terrorist:

Yeah, yeah. We get it. You hate America:

America’s current economic turmoil is “divine punishment” for Washington’s treatment of the Palestinian people, a Hamas leader said during a Friday sermon.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said God was penalizing the US for supporting an Israeli-led blockade of the Strip. Haniyeh said God’s punishment would also extend to America’s allies.

“This is divine punishment, because of America’s embargo of the Palestinian people,” said Haniyeh, who devoted much of his 45-minute sermon in a Gaza City mosque to attacking the US.

But excuse me, Prime Minister Haniyeh. How exactly is the Palestinian economy faring?

As of December 2006, unemployment has risen from 23% in 2005[1] to over 50%. Two-thirds of Palestinians are living below the poverty line. In the last four months, approximately 10,000 have emigrated from the territories, and approximately 50,000 have applied to do so. For the past nine months, the 160,000 civil service workers, who are the primary breadwinners for a third of households, have not received their full salaries due to the cuts in foreign aid.[2] As a result of the Israeli blockade on the territory, 85 percent of factories are shut or operating at less than 20 percent capacity. Israel estimates that its own businesses are losing $2 million a day from the closing, but Gaza is losing $1 million a day, an amount it is less able to afford.[3]

That’s what I thought. Insert foot in mouth whenever you’re ready, Haniyeh.

It’s the Jews, of course.

The Hamas militant group on Tuesday accused the Jewish Lobby in the United States of fomenting the global financial crisis.

The crisis was the result of “bad administrative and financial management and a bad banking system put into place and controlled by the Jewish lobby,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement.

Barhum said that despite approving a bailout plan of $700 billion dollars, the U.S. government was ignoring the role of “the Jewish lobby that put the U.S. banking and financial sector into place.”
This lobby, said Barhum, “controls the U.S. elections and defines the foreign policy of any new administration in a manner that allows it to retain control of the American government and economy.

Whew. Glad we got that one cleared up.

Thanks for your idiocy, Hamas.

I’ve gotten used hearing rumors about Barack Obama like how he’s a Muslim, or that he swore on the Koran when elected to the Senate.  All of which have been proved INCORRECT without a shadow of doubt.

It was recently brought to my attention that ANOTHER rumor is developing.

Apparently some voters in Iowa argue against voting for Barack Obama for fear that he’ll change the United States flag if elected President.

You’ve. Gotta. Be. Shitting. Me.

I can only assume that this rumor has spawned from old news items like when Obama wasn’t wearing the tiny American flag pin during public appearances like all the other candidates last year.  Or when his campaign airplane was outfitted with his campaign logo instead of the American flag.

I have no link to the story that there are some Iowa voters who believe Obama will change the American flag if elected President because it was something directly told to me by those voters.

But does it shock anyone that something so absurd is swinging votes?  Then again, I think some people are looking for any reason to cast their vote for “anyone other than Obama”.

UPDATE:

I came across a site called “Conservapedia” designed to mimic Wikipedia except catered specifically for, you guessed it, “conservatives”.

Check out what it says in the Barack Obama entry.  No wonder people are all backwards on the truth:

Obama is likely to be Muslim because:

• Obama’s background and education are Muslim
• Obama’s middle name remains Muslim, which most Christians would not retain[8]
• Obama recently referred to his “Muslim faith”[9]
• Obama uses the Muslim Pakistani pronunciation for “Pakistan” rather than the common American one[10]
• Obama, in his autobiography “Dreams from My Father” (1995), descibes Muslim Malcolm X as his favorite black leader
• Obama’s claims of conversion to Christianity arose after he became politically ambitious, lacking a date of conversion or baptism.[11]

The odds of Obama being truthful in his claim that he converted to Christianity are less than 100 to 1 against it, as fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.[12]