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UK Muslims Found Aiding Taliban War British Muslims are actively supporting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan, says the former commander of UK forces. Brigadier Ed Butler claimed British troops had also uncovered evidence that militant Islamic groups in Helmand province are suspected of assisting terrorist plots in the UK. Earlier this year suspicions were raised that the Taliban was recruiting an increasing number of fighters from Britain after RAF experts overheard secret transmissions spoken in broad Midlands and Yorkshire accents. Brig Butler, 46, who led British troops in Helmand province for six months, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that a growing number of British-born Muslims were assisting the Taliban. He said: "There are British passport holders who live in the UK who are being found in places like Kandahar. "There is a link between Kandahar and urban conurbations in the UK. This is something the military understands, but the British public does not." Brig Butler, widely regarded as one of the best British officers of his generation, announced his decision to retire from the Army earlier this year. Despite claims his premature retirement was in protest at the Government's under-funding of the armed forces, Brig Butler insisted his decision to step down was prompted by the desire to spend more time with his family. He is currently Commander of Joint Force Operations based at Northwood, near London, and will formally leave the Army next year. After passing the grim milestone of 100 military deaths in the country since 2001, politicians and commanders alike agree that there can be no early exit for UK forces from this foreign entanglement.

Al Qaeda Posting Confirms Death of Weapons Expert By ALAN CULLISON : WALL STREET JOURNAL August 4, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan -- In a blow to al Qaeda in Pakistan, the terrorist group confirmed Sunday that one of its top weapons researchers, Abu Khabab al-Masri, was killed, apparently in a U.S. missile strike. For more than a decade, Mr. Masri moved in the top echelons of al Qaeda as a bomb maker and innovator of the group's mostly feckless attempts to build viable chemical and biological weapons. While his expertise is replaceable, Mr. Masri's death further degrades the old guard who were trusted by al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahri. Al Qaeda confirmed Mr. Masri's death in a posting on Islamist Web sites Sunday, calling him an "expert" who left behind a generation of students. He was rumored to have been killed in a missile strike in a village in Pakistan's northern tribal areas. The timing of Mr. Masri's death in the attack coincided with a visit to the U.S. by Pakistan's new prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is under pressure to do more to combat Islamists on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Mr. Masri, who carried a $5 million bounty on his head, was part of a well-educated Egyptian cadre in al Qaeda that has developed and directed some of the group's most spectacular attacks. Experts say he likely helped train the suicide bombers who attacked the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 and assisted in the failed mission of Richard Reid, a British citizen, who tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic airline flight with a bomb concealed in his shoe in 2001. A chemist by training, Mr. Masri started in al Qaeda as a bomb maker but branched out into the development of biological and chemical weapons after the terror group settled in Afghanistan in the 1990s. There he was entrusted with part of al Qaeda's so-called yogurt project to develop weapons of mass destruction, and operated a training camp in the village of Derunta. He tried unsuccessfully to develop an anthrax weapon and, with Dr. Zawahri, tried to develop poisons that could kill more quickly by mixing them with chemicals that caused them to be absorbed into the skin more rapidly. It isn't clear how much of the research bore results, though U.S. authorities said Mr. Masri did gas some dogs at the Derunta training camp. U.S. authorities said he provided hundreds of mujahedeen with hands-on training in the use of poisons and explosives and distributed training manuals showing how to make chemical and biological weapons. Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism specialist and professor at Georgetown University in Washington, noted that one of Mr. Masri's students was Kamal Bourgass, who was convicted in 2005 of trying to spread poisons on streets in the U.K. "He had his hands in a lot of different things," Mr. Hoffman said. In April, U.S. officials confirmed that another senior al Qaeda planner, Abu Obaidah al-Masri, alleged mastermind behind the 2005 London transportation bombings, died in Afghanistan last year of hepatitis.(.

Spy-in-sky patrols over British cities in hunt for Taliban fighters MI5 is using a fleet of sophisticated surveillance aircraft to search for unidentified Britons who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan.The manhunt has been ordered because it is feared the committed and highly trained fighters may have returned home to plot terror attacks in the UK.Planes with eavesdropping equipment are now flying over British cities searching for returning Afghan fighters.They are attempting to identify suspects using ‘voice prints’ of fighters with British accents picked up by RAF Nimrod spy planes monitoring Taliban battlefield radio signals.The revelation comes after the former SAS commander in Afghanistan yesterday confirmed that British Muslim extremists were actively supporting Taliban and Al Qaeda attacks on British troops. He said there was also evidence that these people were then returning home to plot further attacks in the UK.Brigadier Ed Butler warned: ‘There is a link between Kandahar and urban conurbations in the UK. This is something the military understands but the British public does not.’Whitehall sources have never officially confirmed that the three Britten-Norman Islander aircraft based at RAF Northolt in West London are being used for covert surveillance by MI5. One of the Islander aircraftLast year it was revealed that West Midlands Police had used the aircraft, which can monitor computer and mobile-phone communication and long-wave radios, to track suspects connected to the plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier. And their long-term role with the Security Service was apparently confirmed by a photograph, obtained by The Mail on Sunday, of an MI5 surveillance officer, Steven Lanham, who died on duty in 1999, dressed in a flying suit alongside one of the aircraft.The Islander aircraft regularly patrol the skies over Birmingham and Coventry, Leicester, West Yorkshire and the bordering Greater Manchester areas, flying at between 12,000ft and 15,000ft.Their equipment and capabilities have never been officially disclosed but they are believed to be able to monitor mobile-phone calls. More recently they have been fitted with equipment capable of picking up signals from wi-fi computer networks. ‘Traffic’ intercepted by the equipment on board is analysed and processed, probably at the GCHQ spy centre in Cheltenham, searching for voice matches with those overheard in the Afghan war zone.Voices heard in Afghanistan and the suspect voices in the UK are computer-analysed looking for a match. It is understood that, in some cases, it has been possible to determine the true identities of the Taliban fighters from the UK. Last night Whitehall sources refused to discuss MI5 surveillance methods."

UK Muslims 'killed' in Afghanistan Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has warned UK Muslims of the dangers of joining the Taleban after three Britons were reportedly killed in Afghanistan. Mr Hoon said those who survived could face legal action if they made it home. Two men from Luton, Bedfordshire, and another man from Crawley, West Sussex, were killed on Wednesday during US-led bombing raids on the Afghan capital of Kabul, a spokesman for Islamic group al-Muhajiroun told the BBC. Mr Hoon said: "I hope that anyone who is contemplating going to Afghanistan does think very carefully about the consequences both to them and their families in terms of the grief they might suffer, as well as the legal action that might follow on their return - if they were to return." There were reports at the weekend that Britons who fired on British troops in Afghanistan could be charged with treason. Five 'martyred' The UK Foreign Office has not confirmed the deaths of the three British men. According to al-Muhajiroun, Afzal Munir and Aftab Manzoor, both 25 and from Luton, were killed in the Afghan capital Kabul. Hasan Butt, leader of the al-Muhajiroun in Lahore, Pakistan, said the men had gone to Afghanistan in early October to wage jihad (holy war) against the unjust policies of America. Mr Butt said: "We have learned from our contacts that they were martyred by the American bombing on Wednesday." He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday that he had confirmed reports of up to 100 Muslim men coming the West to fight a jihad, 60% of whom he believed were from Britain. "It's absolutely normal for any Muslim...to be more than happy to go and sacrifice his life for the noblest cause on this earth, which is to live and die for Islam." Community leader Akbar Khan, who runs Building Bridges, an anti-racist group in Luton, confirmed that two young British men died in Afghanistan and said growing numbers of Muslims had been joining up to fight. "There's a lot of unhappiness among Muslims in Luton and the rest of the country about the attitude of the West," he said. The BBC's Barnie Choudhury said Luton was not seen as "a hotbed of Muslim fundamentalism". But he said there were growing reports of many young Muslim men "going missing". Welfare role The al-Muhajiroun claims hundreds of Muslims are making their way to Pakistan. Prof Masood Hazarvi, the priest at the men's local mosque, the Central Mosque, said: "We have banned people distributing posters and pamphlets calling for jihad against the US." "He was probably doing some welfare stuff, handing out blankets or food or something to refugees" Sharafat, Crawley mosque Mr Butt said the three men were not members of al-Muhajiroun. Al-Muhajiroun is one of the several international Islamic groups which operate in Pakistan to promote the establishment of a true Islamic state. A third man who is believed to have died attended a mosque near his home in Crawley. Its chairman, Sharafat, said the man may have been visiting his family in Pakistan close to the border with Afghanistan..

WARRIORS "And when the talk is of courage and valor and leadership after reading the story of a “little” battle in Afghanistan you may have a new standard when using those terms. The battle was, I believe first reported by AP and then by two reporters from Stars and Stripes." 9 Funerals for 9 Warriors I'm sure you heard about 9 soldiers being killed in Afghanistan a couple of weeks ago. As AP reported it, it was a "setback", the "newly established base" there was 'abandoned' by the Americans. That, of course, was the extent of their coverage. Steve Mraz of Stars and Stripes and Jeff Emanuel tell the rest of the story. Emanuel, who went out and dug into the story sets the enemy force at 500 while AP sets it at 200. Frankly I'm much more inclined to believe Emanuel than AP. July 13, 2008 was the date, and Jeff Emanuel, an independent combat reporter sets the scene: Three days before the attack, 45 U.S. paratroopers from the 173d Airborne [Brigade Combat Team], accompanied by 25 Afghan soldiers, made their way to Kunar province, a remote area in the northeastern Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, and established the beginnings of a small Combat Outpost (COP). Their movement into the area was noticed, and their tiny numbers and incomplete fortifications were quickly taken advantage of. A combined force of up to 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters quickly moved into the nearby village of Wanat and prepared for their assault by evicting unallied residents and according to an anonymous senior Afghan defense ministry official, "using their houses to attack us." Tribesmen in the town stayed behind "and helped the insurgents during the fight," the provincial police chief, told The Associated Press. Dug-in mortar firing positions were created, and with that indirect fire, as well as heavy machine gun and RPG fire from fixed positions, Taliban and al Qaeda fighters rushed the COP from three sides. As Emanuel notes, the odds were set. 500 vs. 70. Even so, Emanuel entitled his article, "An Alamo With a Different Ending." The 500 terrorists apparently didn't realize they were attacking US Army paratroopers. The unit in question was 2nd Platoon, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, led by 1LT Jonathan Brostrom. The first RPG and machine gun fire came at dawn, strategically striking the forward operating base's mortar pit. The insurgents next sighted their RPGs on the tow truck inside the combat outpost, taking it out. That was around 4:30 a.m. This was not a haphazard attack. The reportedly 500 insurgents fought from several positions. They aimed to overrun the new base. The U.S. soldiers knew it and fought like hell. They knew their lives were on the line. The next target was the FOB's observation post, where nine soldiers were positioned on a tiny hill about 50 to 75 meters from the base. Of those nine, five died, and at least three others -- Spc. Tyler Stafford among them -- were wounded. When the attack began, Stafford grabbed his M-240 machine gun off a north-facing sandbag wall and moved it to an east-facing sandbag wall. Moments later, RPGs struck the north-facing wall, knocking Stafford out of the fighting position and wounding another soldier. Stafford thought he was on fire so he rolled around, regaining his senses. Nearby, Cpl. Gunnar Zwilling, who later died in the fight, had a stunned look on his face. Immediately, a grenade exploded by Stafford , blowing him down to a lower terrace at the observation post and knocking his helmet off. Stafford put his helmet back on and noticed how badly he was bleeding. Cpl. Matthew Phillips was close by, so Stafford called to him for help. Phillips was preparing to throw a grenade and shot a look at Stafford that said, "Give me a second. I gotta go kill these guys first." This was only about 30 to 60 seconds into the attack. Kneeling behind a sandbag wall, Phillips pulled the grenade pin, but just after he threw it an RPG exploded at his position. The tail of the RPG smacked Stafford 's helmet. The dust cleared. Phillips was slumped over, his chest on his knees and his hands by his side. Stafford called out to his buddy three or four times, but Phillips never answered or moved. "When I saw Phillips die, I looked down and was bleeding pretty good, that's probably the most scared I was at any point," Stafford said. "Then I kinda had to calm myself down and be like, 'All right, I gotta go try to do my job.' " The soldier from Parker, Colo. , loaded his 9 mm handgun, crawled up to their fighting position, stuck the pistol over the sandbags and fired. Stafford saw Zwilling's M-4 rifle nearby so he loaded it, put it on top of the sandbag and fired. Another couple RPGs struck the sandbag wall Stafford used as cover. Shrapnel pierced his hands. Stafford low-crawled to another fighting position where Cpl. Jason Bogar, Sgt. Matthew Gobble and Sgt. Ryan Pitts were located. Stafford told Pitts that the insurgents were within grenade-tossing range. That got Pitts' attention. With blood running down his face, Pitts threw a grenade and then crawled to the position from where Stafford had just come. Pitts started chucking more grenades. The firefight intensified. Bullets cut down tree limbs that fell on the soldiers. RPGs constantly exploded. Back at Stafford 's position, so many bullets were coming in that the soldiers could not poke their heads over their sandbag wall. Bogar stuck an M-249 machine gun above the wall and squeezed off rounds to keep fire on the insurgents. In about five minutes, Bogar fired about 600 rounds, causing the M-249 to seize up from heat. At another spot on the observation post, Cpl. Jonathan Ayers laid down continuous fire from an M-240 machine gun, despite drawing small-arms and RPG fire from the enemy. Ayers kept firing until he was shot and killed. Cpl. Pruitt Rainey radioed the FOB with a casualty report, calling for help. Of the nine soldiers at the observation post, Ayers and Phillips were dead, Zwilling was unaccounted for, and three were wounded. Additionally, several of the soldiers' machine guns couldn't fire because of damage. And they needed more ammo. Rainey, Bogar and another soldier jumped out of their fighting position with the third soldier of the group launching a shoulder-fired missile. All this happened within the first 20 minutes of the fight. Platoon leader 1st Lt. Jonathan Brostrom and Cpl. Jason Hovater arrived at the observation post to reinforce the soldiers. By that time, the insurgents had breached the perimeter of the observation post. Gunfire rang out, and Rainey shouted, "He's right behind the sandbag." Brostrom could be heard shouting about the insurgent as well. More gunfire and grenade explosions ensued. Back in the fighting position, Gobble fired a few quick rounds. Gobble then looked to where the soldiers were fighting and told Stafford the soldiers were dead. Of the nine soldiers who died in the battle, at least seven fell in fighting at the observation post. The insurgents then started chucking rocks at Gobble and Stafford 's fighting position, hoping that the soldiers might think the rocks were grenades, causing them to jump from the safety of their fighting hole. One rock hit a tree behind Stafford and landed directly between his legs. He braced himself for an explosion. He then realized it was a rock. Stafford didn't have a weapon, and Gobble was low on ammo. Gobble told Stafford they had to get back to the FOB. They didn't realize that Pitts was still alive in another fighting position at the observation post. Gobble and Stafford crawled out of their fighting hole. Gobble looked again to where the soldiers had been fighting and reconfirmed to Stafford that Brostrom, Rainey, Bogar and others were dead. Gobble and Stafford low-crawled and ran back to the FOB. Coming into the FOB, Stafford was asked by a sergeant what was going on at the observation post. Stafford told him all the soldiers there were dead. Stafford lay against a wall, and his fellow soldiers put a tourniquet on him. From the OP, Pitts got on the radio and told his comrades he was alone. Volunteers were asked for to go to the OP. SSG Jesse Queck sums up the reaction to the call: "When you ask for volunteers to run across an open field to a reinforced OP that almost everybody is injured at, and everybody volunteers, it feels good. There were a lot of guys that made me proud, putting themselves and their lives on the line so their buddies could have a chance." At least three soldiers went to the OP to rescue Pitts, but they suffered wounds after encountering RPG and small-arms fire, but Pitts survived the battle. At that time, air support arrived in the form of Apache helicopters, A-10s and F-16s, performing bombing and strafing runs. The whole FOB was covered in dust and smoke, looking like something out of an old Western movie. "I've never seen the enemy do anything like that," said Sgt. Jacob Walker, who was medically evacuated off the FOB in one of the first helicopters to arrive. "It's usually three RPGs, some sporadic fire and then they're gone .... I don't where they got all those RPGs. That was crazy." Two hours after the first shots were fired, Stafford made his way -- with help -- to the medevac helicopter that arrived. "It was some of the bravest stuff I've ever seen in my life, and I will never see it again because those guys," Stafford said, then paused. "Normal humans getting up and firing back when everything around you is popping and whizzing and trees, branches coming down and sandbags exploding and RPGs coming in over your head ... It was a fistfight then, and those guys held ' em off." Stafford offered a guess as to why his fellow soldiers fought so hard. "Just hardcoreness I guess," he said. "Just guys kicking ass, basically. Just making sure that we look scary enough that you don't want to come in and try to get us." Jeff Emanuel summed the fight up very well: "Perhaps the most important takeaway from that encounter, though, is the one that the mainstream media couldn't be bothered to pay attention long enough to learn: that, not for the first time, a contingent of American soldiers that was outnumbered by up to a twenty-to-one ratio soundly and completely repulsed a complex, pre-planned assault by those dedicated enough to their cause to kill themselves in its pursuit. That kind of heroism and against-all-odds success is and has been a hallmark of America's fighting men and women, and it is one that is worthy of all attention we can possibly give it." Of the original 45 paratroopers, 15 were wounded and The Sky Soldiers lost 9 killed in action in the attack. They were: 1LT Jonathan Brostrom of Aiea , Hawaii SGT Israel Garcia of Long Beach , California SPC Matthew Phillips of Jasper , Georgia SPC Pruitt Rainey of Haw River , North Carolina SPC Jonathan Ayers of Snellville , Georgia SPC Jason Bogar of Seattle , Washington SPC Sergio Abad of Morganfield , Kentucky SPC Jason Hovater of Clinton , Tennessee SPC Gunnar Zwilling of Florissant , Missouri Of the 9 that were lost, Sgt Walker says: " I just hope these guys' wives and their children understand how courageous their husbands and dads were. They fought like warriors." They fought like warriors. Last week, there were 9 funerals in the United States . 9 warriors were laid to rest. 9 warriors who had given their all for their country. All proud members of a brotherhood that will carry on in their name. They fought and died in what most would consider impossible circumstances, and yet they succeeded. A nameless fight in a distant war which, until you understand the facts, could be spun as a defeat. It wasn't. And it is because of the pride, courage and fighting spirit of this small unit that it was, in fact, a victory against overwhelming odds. And there's little doubt, given that pride and given that fighting spirit, that they'll be back to reestablish the base, this time with quite a few more soldiers just like the ones who "kicked ass" the last time there.

Confirmed: AQ “mad scientist” killed July 29, 2008 by Ed Morrissey Yesterday I wrote about the claim from Pakistan that the senior al-Qaeda chemical-weapons expert died in an American missile strike in South Waziristan. Given that Abu Khabab al-Masri had been declared dead more than once before, the initial report got received with some understandable skepticism. However, Pakistani officials told CBS today that they have positively identified Midhat Mursi’s body, along with five other “Arabs”: One of al Qaeda’s top chemical and biological weapons experts was killed in an air strike by a CIA pilotless drone in a remote Pakistani border region, senior Pakistani intelligence officials told CBS NewsTuesday morning. Intelligence officials investigating the early Monday missile attack confirmed that Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri was one of six men killed and his remains had been positively identified. “We now have a positive ID on the body. I can confirm to you that Al-Masri has been killed,” a Pakistani intelligence official told CBS News on the condition of anonymity. Earlier reports claimed that the six men killed included three Arabs, while the other three were believed to be Afghans or Pakistanis. However, the intelligence official who spoke to CBS Tuesday said all six men were Arabs. Those killed also included Sheikh Ibrahim, a mid ranking al Qaeda operative believed to be either Egyptian or Jordanian. The other four victims were described as ordinary foot soldiers. The intelligence official did not provide the full names nor the citizenship of the four lower ranking militants. CBS reports that the death of Abu Khabab would only have a “minimal” impact on AQ operations, since the group has largely abandoned the notion of chemical and biological attacks. However, Khabab also ran terrorist training camps, among whose graduates were Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid, both of whom will spend the rest of their lives in Supermax prisons in the US. His death may not “cripple” either the Taliban or AQ, but it certainly eliminates another member of its leadership and sends a message to the rest of the network about their operational security. The word on this attack is that it had a great deal of support from Pakistan. The Pakistanis haven’t exactly hidden this from view, either, announcing the strike and the target with more enthusiasm than one might suspect from the current government. Prime Minister Gilani is visiting the US, and made a press appearance at the White House yesterday after news of the strike hit the wires. The Gilani government wants to reassure the US of its continued partnership, and together with recent military activity around Peshawar, may be looking to revert back to a policy once favored by Pervez Musharraf regarding their radical Islamists.

'Aching loss' of Soldier's Mother The mother of an SAS soldier who died in a Puma helicopter crash in Iraq has spoken of her "aching loss". Lee Fitzsimmons, 26, from Peterborough was one of two SAS soldiers killed when the aircraft crashed in Baghdad last year. He can be named for the first time after a court order was lifted. The Puma came down near Salman Pak on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital on November 20 killing two and injuring 12. His mother Jacqui Auty said she had been in "absolute hell" since his death. In a statement released through solicitors McKay Law, she said: "The last few months have been absolute hell. Inside, I still can't believe that it has happened and that I'll never see or hold Lee again. "It is of some small comfort knowing that he loved his job, knew the risks, and wouldn't have had it any other way. It still doesn't make up for the aching loss I feel." Mr Fitzsimmons, a keen runner, joined the Royal Marines in 1999 aged 17. He saw active service in both Iraq and Afghanistan. His then girlfriend Michelle is 29 now and works as an assistant finance manager. They had known each other for five years. He leaves a younger sister and a brother. Hereford Coroner David Halpern imposed the order in December but it was lifted following media applications. Two other SAS soldiers who have remained anonymous since their deaths in Iraq are also expected to be named later on Tuesday.

British soldier dies in Afghanistan A British soldier who died from a single gunshot wound has become the 113th UK serviceman to be killed in Afghanistan. The soldier from the 4th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland was shot in Helmand province on Monday. He was among a group who were on foot patrol in the Marjah area, west of Lashkar Gah. They were warned by locals that Taliban fighters were nearby, but before they could take shelter the soldiers came under fire. The shot soldier was evacuated by helicopter for medical treatment but died. Next of kin have been informed. The soldier is expected to be named later on Tuesday or on Wednesday morning. A statement from the Ministry of Defence said: "It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that a soldier from 4th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, attached to 1st Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment, was killed in Helmand province. "He was evacuated to the Joint Force Medical Facility at Camp Bastion by helicopter but sadly, and despite the best medical efforts, died as a result of his injuries." Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel David Reynolds, said: "Our thoughts are with the family at this tragic time. As a member of Task Force Helmand he was a colleague of all deployed here and he will be missed." His death came on the same day that the bodies of two other soldiers killed in the region were repatriated. The bodies of Lance Corporal Kenneth Rowe, 24, from Newcastle, and Corporal Jason Barnes, 25, from Exeter, Devon, were flown into RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire, on Monday.

Intelligence Officials: Dozens of Europeans Have Trained in Terror Camps in Pakistan Officials Fear This May be the Beginnings of a New Breed of al-Qaeda-Affiliated Terrorism. Dozens of white Europeans have trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan's tribal regions in recent months, U.S. intelligence sources tell ABC News, in what officials fear may be the beginnings of a new breed of al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorism. Intelligence officials believe this person, identified as Eric B., is a German national who is plotting attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Europe. (IntelCenter) Government officials suspect the terrorists, recruited in Europe, have been dispatched to plan attacks against Europe and possibly the United States. The alleged terrorists hail from Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Romania and Estonia, sources said. There is growing evidence that some European recruits may have already gone operational. Two of the suspects arrested in a September 2007 plot to kill American soldiers in Germany were native Germans, and U.S. officials say they are investigating whether they were trained in Pakistan. An April 2008 report from Europol also noted that an increasing number of European nationals attended training in Pakistan "and were later involved in, or suspected of, terrorist offences in the EU." Intelligence officials say the remote tribal areas along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan have in the last several years become a haven for terrorist recruiting and training. Hundreds of radicals from across the region have flocked to al-Qaeda training camps in the area. In interviews with ABC News and in a series of little-noticed public statements and reports, intelligence officials have said they believe al-Qaeda has successfully completed a major goal: recruiting and training Western would-be terrorists. "Al-Qa'ida is improving the last key aspect of its ability to attack the U.S.: the identification, training and positioning of operatives for an attack in the Homeland," according to a February Threat Assessment report from the Director of National Intelligence. "[W]e have seen an influx of new Western recruits into the tribal area since mid-2006," the report said. Those Western recruits are thought to be more difficult to detect and able to easily enter Europe and the U.S. and blend in with Western culture. "They're recruiting operatives from Europe. Why? If you're from Europe, it doesn't require a visa to fly to the United States," Mike McConnell, the director of National Intelligence, said in a speech in March.

IRAN HIDING UNCONTROLLED AIDS EPIDEMIC while worrying about Sanctions? Two brothers, named Alai, both doctors in Islamic Iran, specializing for over the past decade in AIDS and HIV treatment and control, have both been arrested and are being held incommunicado. Reports from Islamic Iran indicate the arrests stem initially from a disclosure by the two doctors of the huge, disproportionate rate of AIDS in the holy city of Ghom, south of Tehran, specially among the students at schools for those aspiring to join the ranks of the clergy. In addition, reports say that ayatollahs and other senior Mullahs and regime officials apparently number among those who have contracted AIDS from the pool of infected students in Ghom and elsewhere throughout the Islamic nation. With the daily proximity and sharing of quarters by the Islamic noviate students, the obstacles the Islamic sharia laws and the Iranian culture present to a heterosexual relationship, despite denials by President Ahmadi-Nejad that there are no gays in Iran, gay sex is the most easy to practice for a major portion of the populace, whose average age is around 25-years. Young enough to have strong sexual drives but without the money required to marry or buy sexual favors, though these favors abound for sale in Islamic Iran. Same sex relationships flourish broadly as the only viable alternative. Societal structure and conditions lead to incredibly greater infection by AIDS in the Islamic Iran population (similar to some African nations) because one third of Islamic Iran's population is drug addicted and shares needles. A far higher statistic than the government wants to admit and is (as usual) suppressing the information and the reliable source the two medical brothers provided in their expert and experienced capacity. Remember, one third of 70 million residents in Islamic Iran means OVER 20 MILLION addicted people, who for whatever reasons are vulnerable to contracting and transmitting AIDS and other infectious diseases. Remember, that for the most part these are unsophisticated, mentally restricted by religion and medically ignorant citizens, whose education has been curtailed or stunted since the fall of the Shah by religious definition of what is permitted as curriculum. Remember, that in Islamic Iran, education for women has been restricted and edicts have been passed to prevent more than 10% admittance of females to universities. Remember, that discussing health and personal hygiene facts offend and embarrass the sensitivities of almost every member of the population except a very narrow minority layer of the populace, including among those who live in major cities, have traveled or studied abroad and have a questing mind. The kind of information available from Mass Media sources, as a given to us in the West, is beyond their reach. The Islamic regime tries to eradicate challenges by stamping them out, inflicting penalty of death by execution instead of education as their tool. The education needed would conflict with the Dark Age mores and customs they insist must be followed by Iranians trapped in a time warp, which excludes them from the modern world in which we all live and is forbidden to them. Remember, there are over 500,000 street children and a further 100,000 homeless women in Tehran streets, who are vulnerable to being forced into having sex for pay or by force, widening the epidemic potential of all this unprotected sex. And who readily turn to solace in drugs, which the Mullahs are happy to provide as the biggest drug dealers in the land. Thus further increasing the infection rate potential. The regime bigwigs also encourage addiction to keep as many as possible in a stupor, desperately trying to find a way to pay for the drugs and simultaneously trying to feed themselves and their families – thus too preoccupied with daily survival to rise up against them. Shades of the opium the British introduced into China for similar reasons. And China’s strategy some decades ago of dumping huge amounts of black tar Heroin into the USA at ridiculously low prices to addict our youth and weaken us for generations to come.

Thank you for Your Service? This short piece was from an American soldier who was lined up to meet Obama when he carried out his 'Whistle stop' visit to Iraq to meet the troops. ED I don't know each of your personal political convictions and apologize if anyone finds this offensive.  I thought it was important enough to share. This is Jeff's first hand view of Senator Obama.  Tiffany ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Hello everyone, As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to 'The War Zone'. I wanted to share with you what happened. He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram.   As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn't say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service. So really he was just here to make a showing for the American's back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you. I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheer leaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States. I just don't understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country. If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake. In service, CPT Jeffrey S. Porter Battle Captain TF Wasatch American Soldier

Army Dog Handler Killed in Skirmish A British Army dog handler has been killed by insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said. The serviceman, who was part of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, died on patrol in the Sangin area of Helmand Province on Thursday. Another two soldiers were wounded and an explosives sniffer dog was killed in the incident. Next of kin have been informed, the MoD said. The dog handler, who was attached to 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, came under enemy fire while on patrol from Forward Operating Base Inkerman. The Ministry of Defence later updated the number of soldiers wounded in the incident to six - five from 2 Para and one from 3 Para. One of the casualties suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries and is being airlifted to the UK for further treatment, but the other five are now returning to duties. Royal Navy Captain Michael Finney, spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan, said: "I would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of our fallen soldier." The death takes to 112 the number of British service personnel who have lost their lives in Afghanistan since the start of operations in November 2001. Army weapons maintenance specialist Corporal Jason Barnes, 25, from Exeter, Devon, was killed by a roadside bomb in Helmand on Tuesday as he drove an ambulance back to base.

Death from The Sky The battle for Cassinga has not stopped for thirty years and the publication of the South African commander’s memoir on the infamous day will only add fuel to the fire, writes Paul Ash. Shortly after eight ’o clock in the morning on May 4, 1978, four C130 transports, laden with South African paratroopers, began their low-level run over a dusty former mining town called Cassinga, 250km north of the border between South West Africa and Angola. The operation, codenamed Reindeer, began with a pre-emptive airstrike by South African Air Force bombers and fighters, and thick smoke hung over the town as the transports approached the drop zones. The aircraft, hugging the ground to avoid anti-aircraft fire, pulled-up to 600 feet. Green lights went on over the exits and 367 men — a thinned-out parachute unit of mostly Citizen Force reservists commanded by Colonel Jan Breytenbach — poured into the sky. Only later did they remember that it was Ascension Day.Despite the low drop height, many of the paratroopers landed well away from their intended drop zones, partly the result of a tactical error — the aerial photographs used to plan the raid had been scaled incorrectly which meant that the troops were dropped a few seconds too late. The strong west wind took care of the rest, blowing many of the jumpers off course and over a river. Some, including Brigadier Mike du Plessis, the highest-ranking South African soldier to take part in the attack, landed in the river. Recalling the jump years later, Du Plessis said the South Africans suffered their first casualty as the attack began. “One guy, young Niemand. He’s still gone — nobody saw him, he went into the river.” The young paratrooper was one of four South Africans to die at Cassinga. The others were killed during bitter fighting as the paratroopers regrouped and assaulted the town. Losses on the other side were much higher. A definite number has never been established but radio transmissions intercepted by South African intelligence days later put the death toll at over 600 in the town itself with hundreds more killed when the paratroopers stopped an armoured column — belatedly coming to the Cassinga’s aid from the south — on the outskirts of the town. By nightfall, the last South African soldiers had been extracted by helicopter and were back across the border at forward bases in South West Africa and within days, the paratroopers were back on civvy street. The South Africans said the mission had been a spectacular victory, smashing a major SWAPO logistics base and hampering the organisation’s ability to continue guerrilla incursions into South West Africa. Up in Angola, things were being seen somewhat differently. The paratroopers had barely returned home before SWAPO began insisting that the South Africans had attacked an unarmed refugee camp and massacred over 600 people, mostly women and children. Three decades have done nothing to dilute the bitter and heated controversy. Cassinga has generated a lot of copy over the years. It has been the subject of university theses and reports. Type “Cassinga” into a web search engine and the word “massacre” will invariably pop-up. SWAPO has made great mileage out of its propaganda victory and the South Africans have been on the back foot ever since. In his memoir of the raid, published in May, Jan Breytenbach says the SADF may have won the fight but it lost the war. “SWAPO initially said they beat off our attack on their base ... but about four or five days later they start talking about a refugee camp. Unfortunately our COMOPS people were way behind the times — they reacted instead of going over to the offensive. They reacted to the rubbish being pumped-out by the other side.” In spite of all the attention and notoriety, first-hand accounts of the attack — from either side — are rare. Breytenbach says he was compelled to write the book because the people who took part had never been given a chance to put their side of the story. In 2003, a serving paratrooper, Major-General McGill Alexander, submitted a thesis on Cassinga for his Masters degree. At the time it was hailed as the most comprehensive examination of Operation Reindeer. A later university paper written by Rhodes professor Gary Baines, slates Alexander’s work for being partisan, saying the former paratrooper had failed to locate and interview and survivors. Nor did he have any luck getting SWAPO military personnel to speak to him. Breytenbach also has a problem with Alexander’s thesis but for different reasons. “He makes some superficial conclusions, amongst others that the paratroopers were panicking, running around towards the end ... chaotic ... throwing things away. The other thing, of course, is the situation around the so-called refugee camp which he accepted as gospel truth coming from the other side,” says Breytenbach. The issue of whether Cassinga was a refugee camp is at the very heart of the unending row. SWAPO has consistently maintained that it was. The South Africans said it was a military base and the headquarters of Dimo Hamaambo, veteran SWAPO leader and PLAN’s overall commander. Their evidence was based on aerial reconnaissance photographs showing an extensive trench system protecting the town to the south and west, as well as emplacements for heavy crew-served weapons. In an interview with Alexander, retired SADF general Constand Viljoen — chief of the Army at the time of Operation Reindeer — said that he had never seen any intelligence report that described Cassinga as anything other than a military base. As far as the SADF was concerned, the town was a legitimate target. At the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings 19 years later, the commissioners felt otherwise, saying at the time that the attack was possibly the most controversial event that the commission had dealt with. The TRC said it was possible that the SADF had mistaken the town for a military base and then went on to say that the SADF had not really taken adequate measures to pare the lives of civilians. It was especially critical of the use of fragmentation bombs — banned by the Geneva Convention — dropped in the initial air strike. In the days after the battle, SWAPO rushed foreign journalists to the town. The reporters were shown a mass grave stacked with hundreds of corpses, many of them women. Nearby was another mound of soil, allegedly also a mass grave which contained the bodies of over 250 women and children. Press reports said the South Africans had indiscriminately shot unarmed civilians; the paratroopers countered that women had been dragged into the PLAN trenches and used as human shields. In the end, the trench-clearing was, by all accounts, extremely bloody work. SWAPO’s claim that hundreds of women and children were massacred remains unproven. “If I was a propaganda officer in SWAPO, I would have covered up [the grave] with the combatants in it and kept the other one open for the media so they could photograph the women and children,” says Breytenbach. In this highly flammable milieu, uncovering the absolute truth about Cassinga seems impossible. Breytenbach says he approached SWAPO officials to hear their side but says they refused to speak to him. Breytenbach also takes issue with then Brigadier Du Plessis who was also on the ground during raid. Breytenbach contends that Du Plessis interefered with the operation even though he (Breytenbach) was the overall commander. In particular, Breytenbach takes umbrage at Du Plessis’s decision to call in the SAAF helicopters— waiting 22km from Cassinga at a Helcopter Administration Area in the bush — to come and extract the paratroopers . Breytenbach writes, “As a staff qualified officer he should have known that it was totally unprofessional to override the decisions of the battlefield commander unless that commander had become a casualty. Thus his decision to call in the chopprers in spite of my emphatic ‘negative’ verged on criminal insolence and disregard of orders given, amongst other also to him as a rubbernecking visitor, by me as the senior battle commander at Cassinga ... This could have jeopardised the lives of hundreds of paratroopers and also of (sic) the chopper crews.” And so the fight goes on and the real issue — the violent and bloody death of hundreds of people, whether fighters or civilians — gets lost in the noise. The survivors like Johanna Kamati, whose best friend, Selma Hamufungu, was killed in the raid, and the paratroopers who had the grim task of clearing the trenches, have to live with the memories. And as for the young paratrooper who drowned. His name wasn’t Niemand, it was Andre Human. Human died that day. Eagle Strike, by Col. Jan Breytenbach, Manie Grove Publishing (e-mail mgrove@acenet.co.za) R450 .

Plea Over Security Force Training Gordon Brown has been urged by MPs not to abandon Britain's commitment to train and support the Iraqi security forces as the UK draws down its troop levels in the country . The Prime Minister is expected to signal his intention to cut back the 4,000-strong British force in Iraq over the course of next year when he delivers a Commons statement on the current situation before MPs break for the summer. However, the Commons Defence Committee said that while the security situation had been "transformed" in recent months, more work needed to be done to ensure the country did not slip back into instability. In a report timed to coincide with Mr Brown's statement, the committee said that the mentoring and training of Iraqi forces in the south of the country by British troops must remain a "medium-to-long-term-project". Maintaining a sizeable training commitment was also, it said, the key to ensuring Britain remained an influential player in Iraq as the country - potentially one of the biggest oil-producers in the region - recovered its power and prosperity. The committee, which visited Iraq last month, delivered an upbeat assessment of the situation in the wake of Operation Charge of the Knights, led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki against the militias in Basra last March. It said that the success of the operation, largely carried out by the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) with British and US support, had led to a "seismic shift" in the balance of power in the city. It had also transformed the way the British Military Training Teams (MiTTs) working with the ISF were able to operate. Whereas last year all training was carried out at the main British base at Basra Airport because it was too dangerous for the MiTTs to operate outside, now the teams were based with their Iraqi "parent" units around the region. Currently Britain has 11 MiTTs, each with a core group of 20 to 30 trainers with a further 60 or so troops for force protection. There is also a 75-strong joint UK-US Naval Training Team working with the Iraqi Navy at Umm Qasr - Iraq's sole deep-water port. The committee said that it was "vital" to the stability of southern Iraq that their work was able to continue, even as overall British force levels were reduced.

Council Turns Down Soldiers' Charity for Fear of Offending Minorities Councillors refused to back a charity for injured soldiers because they were worried it might upset minorities from war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan. By Richard Alleyne The leaders at Portsmouth City council were asked to donate £500 to a fun day event to raise money for the charity Help The Heroes, which looks after wounded soldiers back in this country. But they initially turned down the grant because it argued their support may upset ethnic minorities who could have been traumatised by armed conflicts. A rejection letter said the event "could cause offence to ethnic minority groups living in the community who may also have experience of injury/violence due to the war". The decision left Richard Chamberlain, 57, who had arranged the event with other residents in his block of flats "jumping up and down" with anger. He and others complained and eventually they forced the council into a U-turn. Mr Chamberlain said: "I am absolutely over the moon that they have changed their minds. "When you think of Portsmouth you think of ships and the navy. This is a military town and has been for years. "I don't know what changed their minds or who to thank for changing it. I just think it's brilliant that this whole thing has had a happy ending." Councillor Steven Wylie, cabinet member for housing, admitted that the council had made an "error of judgement". He said: "On behalf of Portsmouth City Council, I would like to apologise unreservedly for any offence caused by the decision to turn down an application for funding for the Help for Heroes summer event. "The decision was made with the best intentions, but it is clear that in the council's view there has been an error of judgment. "I am glad that I have been able to look again at the application for funding for this summer event and I can confirm that we have been able to offer the applicants the full £500 they applied for. "I would like to wish Help for Heroes every success in their summer event." The event, which will feature a table-top sale, a barbecue, a bouncy castle and face painting, Help for Heroes was launched in September 2007, by a group of people with connections to servicemen or women. The charity is backed by the army's own charity, the Army Benevolent Fund, as well as the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt. I'm pleased that Portsmouth saw sense in the end. Its disgraceful when we bend over backwards to the minorities and forget the sacrifices made by our own servicemen and women to keep this country safe. Safe for just such minorities who very rarely join our forces to help protect the very country that gave them sancuturary. Shame more councils don't take a leaf out of Portsmouth's book.ED.