Is All Of Islam The Blame For Ground Zero? Mosque Not An Affront To Honoring Ground Zero.

The lower Manhattan building that will possibly house the Cordoba Initiative Mosque and Cultural Center is seen in New York August 16, 2010. The project, planned near the “ground zero” site of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, has emerged as an emotional issue 2-1/2 months before U.S. congressional elections in which Republicans are trying to take back control of Congress from Obama’s fellow Democrats. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

I don’t see the 9/11 attack as a religious war. I don’t see all of Islam is to blame for the 9/11 attack. I see a small radical group of Islamic extremists for the attack on the World Trade Center buildings specifically al-Qaeda. I don’t see all the hub-bub over building a mosque near not at Ground Zero. If the Mosque practices peace and tolerance and is not affiliated with extremists ideology let it be built and honor the people who died that day and remember who was really behind the attack al-Qaeda.

A woman walks past the lower Manhattan building that will possibly house the Cordoba Initiative Mosque and Cultural Center in New York August 16, 2010.REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Afghanistan: December 2001 Osama Bin Laden In Our Grasp

A soldier of the Afghan National Army (ANA) looks out across the hills in Tora Bora in 2008. Osama bin Laden was within the grasp of US forces in late 2001 and could have been caught if then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld hadn’t rejected calls for reinforcements, a hard-hitting US Senate report says.(AFP/File/Joel Saget)

 

Senate Report Explores 2001 Escape by bin Laden From Afghan Mountains…

A new Senate report being released Monday again underscores the critical mistake made by Gen Tommy Franks and Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld by not putting in the military assets to kill Osama Bin Laden at Tora Bora. We all watched afar as reports came in that a last stand battle was brewing in the mountains of Tora Bora at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border 2 months after the U.S. SENT in Special Ops to take down the Taliban regime. Osama Bin Laden with 1000-1500 hardcore jihadists retreated to the caves and tunnels of Tora Bora. With only limited time Osama Bin Laden and his posse is left to battle paid Afghan allies and a handful of spec ops and CIA spooks who then requested additional U.S. Troops  and pursue the terrorist leader to the top of the mountain and attempt to encircle and prevent escape into Pakistan. That request was denied and Osama Bin Laden escaped across the Pakistan border and has been thriving in the no mans  tribal area of Pashtun and along points of the mountain region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Now 8 years later President Obama is faced with a growing Taliban- Al Qaeda resurgence because leaders in the Bush adminstration chose not to put in the adequate amount of military force that could have cut the head off the beast ‘Osama Bin Laden’. Instead President Bush and his administration chose to commit massive amount of U.S. military assets into an invasion of Iraq and billions and billions of dollars into going after Saddam Hussein a thug not a global terrorist.

Tuesday President Obama will lay out his strategy moving forward in Afghanistan at West Point. With multiple-multiple deployments by our military servicemen and women and waning American support the clock is really ticking but what is the alternative to withdrawal and leave Afghanistan like the U.S.S.R did 20 years ago and precipitated the rise of Al Qaeda and the eventual worst civilian attack on American soil.

9/11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Faces NYC Trial

 

Alleged 9/11 mastermind to be tried in New York…

Five Gitmo detainees involved in the 9/11 terrorist attack will be transported to New York City and tried in Federal Court. One of the five is the mastermind behind the 9/11 attack Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who was captured in Pakistan back in March 2003.

I think it is only fitting that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed be prosecuted in the city that he caused so much death and destruction. Hopefully they find the darkest coldest cell in New York City while he awaits his fate.

Operation Enduring Freedom: Began Eight Years Ago Today, In Afghanistan

Special Forces riding on horseback at the onset of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan October, 2001.

On Sunday October 7, 2001 United States and British forces began aerial bombings on Taliban forces and Al Qaeda targets. The first wave of U.S. forces would not come in tanks and jeeps but on horseback. Special forces teams allied with Northern Alliance forces attacked Taliban and Al Qaeda targets all over Afghanistan with the help of precision air attacks. By December Osama Bin Laden was trapped in the mountains of Tora Bora on the Afghanistan -Pakistan border. It was a complete victory for the U.S. and the allies and it seemed that Al Qaeda and  Osama Bin Laden would be destroyed that week in December 2001 in the mountains there, but Osama Bin Laden and what was left of Al Qaeda slipped over the border in Pakistan.

Now eight years later the Taliban have been growing ever so stronger and Al Qaeda still exists in a no man land along the Afghan- Pakistan border. While President Bush sent U.S. forces to Iraq most of the attention and resources went with it and allowed the Taliban and Al Qaeda to stabilize and recruit new men and boys from the local tribes and madrassas. The attention has now turned back to the place where the War on Terrorism began after 9/11 once President Obama was elected and now the question is do we have the will to finish or will American support wane at a crucial moment in the War in Afghanistan? These are questions that are being contemplated at the White House as ground commander Stan McChrystal has asked for 40,000 additional troops to support Operation Enduring Freedom. Is there another strategy that can keep Afghanistan out of Taliban and Al Qeada hands perhaps these are the questions that need to be and are being asked as the President decides what the next step is in Afghanistan..

U.S. Marines from Alpha Co., Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 6th Marines, startle the owner of a compund who refused to open his door for a search during Operation EL DORADO. (05/05/2004)

Special Forces Afghanistan

 

link: next  photo’s by John D McHugh’s Afghanistan portfolio…

November 29 2006, Paktia province: 1-32 Infantry Battallion, attached to 4-25 Field Artilley Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, warm themselves by a campfire at dawn (John D McHugh/AFP)

THE STREAM…

Afghanistan Troop Surge Request and Roman Polanski Who?

U.S. Marines with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marines go on patrol in Nawa district, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009.(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Ground commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan is requesting 40,000 additional troops to secure the country and accelerate the training of the Afghanistan security forces. This will bring our total troop strength to 120,000 in country. I was against the troop surge in Iraq but it did work and perhaps it will work in Afghanistan. I haven’t seen or heard any other top military brass come out and dispute the request. So in my opinion I believe the President should give Gen. Stanley McChrystal the troops. Otherwise, Central Commander Petraeus and Defense secretary Gates need to come out and explain a different strategy.

Failing in Afghanistan and leaving like the U.S.S.R in the “80′s would lead to another pre 9/11Afghanistan that would allow groups like Al Qaeda to regroup and prepare for more cataclysmic attacks on the west.

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Polish director Roman Polanski attends a news conference for the film “Chacun son Cinema” at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, May 20, 2007.REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier

The celebrity director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland for a 30 year old rape conviction of a 13 year old girl. Mr. Polanski fled the United States after learning his plea deal may not happen and instead of facing sentencing fled to France. Over the weekend he was arrested in Switzerland for the 30 year old rape conviction and is in jail waiting possible extradition.

No one has the right to rape a child and then flee to another country and hide from justice. France maybe alright with underage rape but it ain’t OK here in the United States and how dare the celebrity pundits that are taking up for him and demanding his release from extradition. If he is going to get any relief he should wave any appeal to the extradition and make his case in an appeal court in California.