Theodore's World

Death penalty approved for Akbar
Army Times
The death sentence for convicted murderer Sgt. Hasan Akbar was approved late last week at Fort Bragg, N.C., by Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, commander if XXVIII Airborne Corps and court martial convening authority in the case.
Akbar was sentenced to death in April 2005 by unanimous vote of a military panel for the March 23, 2003, grenade attack that killed Capt. Christopher Seifert and Maj. Gregory Stone.
The grenade attack, which also wounded 14 others, took place at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait, where the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, was preparing to cross the berm into Iraq.
Akbar lobbed grenades into three tents while members of the brigade slept, and then fired shots at those who emerged from the smoky blasts.
Approval of the death penalty means that Akbar’s case will automatically go to appeal and be reviewed by the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and ultimately could end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.

“He can’t be executed until the president gives a firm OK,” said military law expert Eugene Fidell, who is not involved in the Akbar case.

However, he added, Akbar’s case will likely be in appeals for some time to come.

“Experience teaches that this case will not be over while Mr. Bush is in office,” Fidell said.

Wild Thing’s comment……
Hang him now, stop this insane length of time please to get rid of this killer of our troops.

Manhattan: Second Man Charged in Terror Plan
NYT
A New Jersey man has been charged with conspiring to help the terrorist group Hezbollah by allowing people to obtain satellite broadcasts of a Hezbollah television station, federal prosecutors said yesterday.
The man, Saleh Elahwal, 53, of Matawan, N.J., was charged in an 11-count indictment unsealed yesterday in Federal District Court. The indictment also charged another man, Javed Iqbal of Staten Island, who was arrested in August.
The indictment charges the men with helping people receive broadcasts of Al Manar, which features programming that promotes Hezbollah’s positions, prosecutors said. Messages left for the men’s lawyers were not returned yesterday.
Mr. Iqbal’s supporters have said he was exercising free speech.

This was the previous story about this dated back in August of 2006 this year…….
Man Charged With Relaying Hezbollah TV
NEW YORK (AP) – A businessman was charged with providing satellite broadcasts of a Hezbollah television station to New York-area customers, authorities said Thursday.
Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested Wednesday on conspiracy charges of enabling the broadcasts of al Manar, which was designated by the U.S. government this spring as a global terrorist entity, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said in a statement.
Garcia said Iqbal used satellite dishes at his Staten Island home to distribute the broadcasts through a Brooklyn company called HDTV Limited.
The probe began after a tip from a confidential source in February, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The U.S. government considers Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most sophisticated Shiite group, to be a terrorist group. An attack by Hezbollah guerrillas on an Israeli outpost last month plunged Lebanon and Israel into 34 days of destruction that killed more than 800 people.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Can someone please explain to me why this man is still breathing American air. (Jail or not)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20—
More than 1,000 people turned out on Saturday at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) banquet in Arlington, Va., to hear addresses by several elected officials, including Keith Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress.
The event raised more than $620,000 to support CAIR’s civil rights and advocacy work on behalf of the American Muslim community. (Another dinner held by CAIR’s Southern California chapter (CAIR-LA) over the weekend raised more than $430,000. Some 1,800 people attended that event.)
Elected officials who spoke at the sold-out event included:
Representative- elect Ellison (D-MN)
Reps. Mike Honda (D-CA)
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
Albert Wynn (D-MD).
Ellison and Jackson Lee offered their addresses by video.
Saqib Ali, who was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates (District 39) on November 7, was also in attendance.
Other speakers included Special Agent in Charge Joseph Persichini, Jr. of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Fairfax County Police Chief Col. David M. Rohrer and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now. Most members of CAIR’s national board also took part in the banquet, which was emceed by Julia Shearson of CAIR- Ohio’s Cleveland office.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Good grief! God help us!
I guess all those that gave to CAIR got a promise to be killed last. If left up to the Democrats it will be the Islamic States of America. Well they can try but they will never succeed!
Their speeches make me sick and furious!

To view Keith Ellison’s address……..CLICK HERE

To view Jackson Lee’s address…….CLICK HERE

Reno Files Challenge to Terror Law
Breitbart.com
Former Attorney General Janet Reno and seven other former Justice Department officials filed court papers Monday arguing that the Bush administration is setting a dangerous precedent by trying a suspected terrorist outside the court system.
It was the first time that Reno, attorney general in the Clinton administration, has spoken out against the administration’s policies on terrorism detainees, underscoring how contentious the court fight over the nation’s new military commissions law has become. Former attorneys general rarely file court papers challenging administration policy.
Suspected al-Qaida sleeper agent Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is the only detainee being held in the United States.
The former prosecutors challenged the Justice Department’s right to bring al-Marri before a military commission.
A citizen of Qatar, he was arrested in 2001 while studying in the United States. He had faced criminal charges until authorities designated him an enemy combatant and ordered him held at a naval base in South Carolina.
The Justice Department said in court papers last week that a new anti- terrorism law strips detainees such as al-Marri of the right to challenge their imprisonment in court.
Some of the eight attorneys named in the document are now in private practice and represent detainees at the military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most served under President Clinton, though the list includes former U.S. Attorneys W. Thomas Dillard and Anton R. Valukas, who served under President Reagan.
“The existing criminal justice system is more than up to the task of prosecuting and bringing to justice those who plan or attempt terrorist acts within the United States without sacrificing any of the rights and protections that have been the hallmarks of the American legal system for more than 200 years,” the attorneys wrote.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Well it seems Reno is Ramsey Clarks new side kick. Janet Reno’s so concerned about terrorists. She can kiss my ass. The Clintons are pulling them all out to destroy this country, aren’t they!?!! I mean what business does she have in today’s world anyway.
I am not sure but I think International Law says that non-uniformed combatants may legally be shot on sight. Not captured unless capture is desired. Not given trials. Not given attorneys. In their quest to attack all things GOP/Conservative (and deliberately hinder our war effort), the Left would order attorneys for every prisoner our awesome troops capture.

Holiday season is here, Thanksgiving and Christmas and spending time with loved ones.
Many of our troops are going to be spending the holidays in Iraq or Afghanistan or deployed to other hostile locations, without their families. Still others will have left there already via medevac. It is for them that Operation Santa was born, and specifically, Operation Santa/Bethesda-Walter Reed:
Our troops give so much every day, we owe them more then we can ever repay. Please join me in thanking them and making sure they have a Christmas.

I know that they’d rather be back with their units in Iraq or Afghanistan AND at home with their loved ones but they can’t be either place. They must be there to heal.
I am pleased to announce the newest Operation Santa venture: Operation Santa/Bethesda and Walter Reed. It will work mostly the same was as the other Operation Santas. We want to bring them a stuffed stocking and a little bit of home. Candy canes, cookies, crackers, ornaments, cards, books, dvds, cd’s, batteries, new socks.
You can help us do this. You can send some Christmas cheer to a wounded servicemember at Bethesda or Walter Reed. You can donate money, you can donate gift cards from Sam’s, Walmart, Target, etc. You can donate material goods.You can make a difference in a servicemember’s holiday away from home.

All this is being organized by Carrie, whom you’ve probably seen around the blogs in comments, and Andi of Andi’s World.
From Andi:

You can make a tax-deductible donation here. Please be sure to note that your donation is specifically for Operation Santa/Bethesda and Walter Reed, otherwise your donation will go to the general fund for Operation Santa.
Donations by mail can be sent to:
Marine Corps Family Foundation
4000 Lancaster Drive- Suite 57
Salem, OR 97309
Thanks in advance for your help. It’s hard to describe the joy these troops feel when strangers work to ensure that their Christmas is as good as it possibly can be.

If you use Pay Pal – send your donations to donations@marinecorpsfamilyfoundation.org–again, make sure you note that the donation is for Operation Santa–Bethesda/Walter Reed.

Hat tip to:
* Andi’s World
* MVRWC
* The Cotillion

This weeks Guard the Borders blogburst is brought to you by Heidi Euphoric Reality
Last week, two Muslim leaders in Boston were arrested for immigration fraud – illegally filing
fraudulent visa documents and obtaining religious workers’ visas. The arrests were the
culmination of a multi-year
investigation in Boston and New York:

The ICE agents arrested Hannan Wednesday along with 32 other people in eight
states and the District of Columbia in connection with an alleged nationwide scheme to help many
foreigners, mostly from Pakistan, immigrate and remain in the U.S. by filing false applications for
religious workers’ visas. Most of
those taken into custody did not have religious training or experience to qualify for the visas, and held
secular jobs here in the U.S., such as working at gas stations and factories or driving trucks, according
to the ICE. Others were religious workers but had used fraudulent identity documents to get their visas,
the agency said.
The agency claims the petitioners of the visas took substantial cash fees from the foreigners for the false paperwork filed on their behalf.

Despite the fact that the imams were not arrested precipitously, but only after a multi-year investigation,
they have an excuse ready:

“All it is is a minor administrative technicality error” in his immigration paperwork, said
Vilal Kaleem, associate director of the American Muslim Society’s Boston chapter. “It’s completely
disgraceful in the manner they dealt with it,” he said of the federal Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents.
[…]
Kaleem said Hannan was driving his family to an immigration office for an interview for the
green-card proceedings on Wednesday when the federal agents arrested him. Hannan’s son and
daughter were crying following the arrest, Kaleem said.

So, so sad. My heart breaks.
Meanwhile, the Muslim community in Boston is doing what Muslims do best: seething.

Muslim leaders in the Boston area expressed outrage yesterday over
the arrest and jailing of two senior clerics…”It’s just so flabbergasting the way they would do this” …
“This seems to be a direct attack at our religion and community”…”it is deeply humiliating
when a man of such high religious status in our community is treated as a criminal in
front of the world”…”Why do you just arrest some respected members of the community and haul them away?”…”People are attached to the imam. They will be very upset. Everyone loves him.”

Oddly enough, it is apparently not humiliating for “a man of such high religious
status” to act as a criminal. Because though our government rarely enforces it, it is
still technically illegal to break our immigration laws. Unfortunately, when it comes to our immigration
law, this will likely turn into the following scenario: They broke the law. They got arrested for
breaking the law, but now it’s the government’s fault for enforcing the law.
The Muslim American Society provides contact information to their community so that they can
demand a “safe and speedy return” and to demand “fair, speedy, and respectable treatment” of the
imams. I’ll provide the contact info here for you should you prefer to register thanks that our laws
are actually being enforced:
The MAS provides contact information, so folks can insist on “fair, speedy and respectable” treatment
of the imams.

Senator Edward Kennedy (617)565 3170
Request to speak to Tom Cohan, (ext. 119)
Senator John Kerry (617) 565-8519
Request to speak to Carmen Velazquez

Yeah, I know – fat lot of good it will do to contact those two Senators, but if you’ve got
nothing better to do, have at it.
At a time when Muslim immigration to America is at an all-time high, even more are sneaking into the country
illegally than ever before. In July, Homeland Security discovered that more than one-third of religious
workers visas were obtained using fraudulent means, and the fraud was particularly rampant among Muslims.

The probe found a particularly high fraud rate among applicants from countries the
government deemed to pose a security risk, such as Egypt, Algeria, Pakistan, Syria and Iraq, the
report found.
[…]
Some immigration watchdogs say that the program should be seriously curtailed because, even in
cases where the applications are legitimate, the visas could bring radical clerics into the country.
Last year, for example, the FBI arrested three Pakistani men associated with a mosque in Lodi, California.
All had entered on religious-worker visas. Two were accused of ties to a terrorist training camp in
Pakistan before coming to the United States, and the third, an imam, allegedly delivered sermons endorsing
violence against non-Muslims before he came to America.

This is only one more reason among many why our immigration enforcement is the front line of our
national defense. The two issues are inextricably intertwined. To remain lax in immigration
enforcement is to invite infiltration and attack. This is why all those whose first act on American
soil is a criminal one MUST be deported, no matter their ethnicity or nationality.
Our immigration laws have to be strictly enforced if we are to have any hope of future security.
This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the
forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror.
If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst!
Just send an email with your blog name and url to admin at guardtheborders dot com.

U.S. keeping an eye on sensitive projects at Bell Labs ~ French Takeover
Star-Ledger Staff
Although a French company soon will own the famed Bell Labs, the U.S. will exercise “unprecedented” control over sensitive government projects at the New Jersey facility, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1st Dist.) said yesterday.

“The U.S. government will be able to veto any people who have direct control over Bell Labs, and can veto the removal of any persons who have control over Bell Labs,” said Andrews, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and was briefed last week on the pending takeover of Lucent Technologies by Alcatel of France.

Bell Labs, birthplace of the transistor, was inherited from AT&T by Lucent a decade ago. The labs are centered in Murray Hill.
President Bush approved the merger of Lucent and Alcatel on Friday, based on a review by a multiagency federal panel called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
His approval hinges on both companies following through on “two robust and far-reaching agreements designed to ensure the protection of our national security,” according to a statement from the White House. One of those agreements involves oversight of Bell Labs by three former top defense and intelligence officials.

Andrews said Bell Labs is involved with just about “anything that touches on imperatives for the country’s security.” But he called the merger of the two telecom companies vital for their economic health, “good for the country, and good for New Jersey.”

“The U.S. government will have more control over the flow of information in and out of this entity than it has over the flow of information into other so-called American entities,” Andrews said. “I think this is an unprecedented level of control, where the U.S. government will have an ongoing window into the management of Bell Labs.”

Inder Singh, an analyst for Prudential Equity and a former Lucent executive, said it should not be hard for Bell Labs to segregate sensitive projects behind a “firewall.”

“It won’t be very different from what Bell Labs has done, historically,” Singh said.

Lucent and Alcatel are aiming to close their deal on Nov. 30. The combined company, Alcatel Lucent, will be the largest supplier of equipment for mobile phone networks. It will be based in Paris, and employ 88,000 people at first. About 9,000 job cuts are expected later.

“We’ve gotten all the regulatory approvals we need and are just finalizing the last steps,” said Lucent spokeswoman Joan Campion.

Wild Thing’s comment……
Just another consolidation of critical infrastructure within the grasp of foreigners.
I think this is insane! Bell Labs is responsible for a HUGE number of America’s technology innovations since 1920 (this is only a fraction of the things Bell Labs has invented or first-developed):
* Fax (1920)
* Movies with synchronized sound (1926)
* Television (first transmission, 1927)
* Radio astronomy (1931)
* Speech synthesizer (1937)
* Calculators (1940 and later)
* Photovoltaic (PV) cell (1940s)
* Scrambler for speech (1943)
* Transistor (1947)
* Teleprinter (1949)
* Microwave research (1950s)
* TransAtlantic cable (1956)
* Electronic music (1957)
* LED (1962)
* CO2 Laser (1964)
* Charge-coupled device (1969)
* UNIX (1970)
* C language (1970)
* Fibre optics (1976)
* 32-bit CPU (1980)
* Cellular phone (1980)
* Breakup of AT&T (1984)
* Wireless networking (1990)
* 56k modem (1991)
* Electron lithography (1996)
* Voice over IP (1998)
* Plastic transistors (2000)
We’re selling this??? What are we, crazy? Sadly, I think so…

Hotel Chain Blocks CNN
Stoney Creek Hospitality Corp., a Midwest hotel chain, has blocked CNN from the selection of TV channels it provides to guests, claiming that an Oct. 18 report showing Iraqi insurgents shooting U.S. troops was “shocking and repulsive” and “supported terrorism.” James Thompson, president of the company, which operates hotels in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, told the Associated Press that he acted in “a moment of conscience.” He said his decision to remove CNN from his hotel guest rooms was permanent.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
It is always great to know of Americans that support our troops, that appreciate what our military, our troops, our Veterans have done for all of us. I already have posted about what CNN did but I wanted to share this great story with you about what one of the Hotel Chains has done about it as well.
This is their website
I emailed this Inn when I heard the news last week and this is the letter I got back:

The management of Stoney Creek Inns respects and supports diversity of opinion. America’s strength comes from the freedoms we embrace. I support the men and women of the United States military, who protect those freedoms. The October 18th broadcast of a terrorist propaganda tape, witnessing the sniper assassinations of American soldiers is an obscenity! A decision of conscience was made.
We continue to offer a variety of news channels for our guests with a wide diversity of coverage.
Respectfully,
James H. Thompson
President
Stoney Creek Hospitality Corporation

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD,
Afghanistan – After two years of planning and work, the Kandahar Airfield runway reconstruction project neared completion on Oct. 16.
Army Maj. Paul Graham, the Kandahar area engineer for the Afghanistan Engineer District of the Army Corps of
Engineers, was in charge of this $34 million project.

“It’s like a model car. We got the thing built and now we are putting the decals on it,” said Graham about this five-phase project.

“The project itself started in January 2005. The original runway was built in 1960 by a U.S. contractor and badly damaged in two wars. It was 10,500 feet long by 100 feet wide,” said Graham.

The old runway was completely removed, the underlying gravel base rebuilt, and a new asphalt surface applied,” said Graham. “Kandahar Airfield now has a runway that is 10,500 feet by 180 feet, capable of supporting nearly any airplane.”

“In September alone we worked 84,000 man hours, and our typical crew per day was about 400 people,” said Graham about the great deal of manpower used to complete this project.
About one-third of workers were Afghans, while the rest were from a Turkish paving company and Contrak
International Inc., a U.S.-based general contractor.
Air Force Capt. Michael Scullion, civil engineer with the 17th Civil Engineering Squadron and runway project liaison,
explained how the improvements on the runway will benefit the basic maintenance of the aircraft.

“The old runway was a constant foreign object damage hazard. This new runway will help Coalition forces decrease maintenance on their aircraft. Before, crews were out there, a big part of their day, repairing the engines due to FOD,” said Scullion.

“Harriers just hammered the old runway with their downward jet blast. They literally blew the old runway to pieces. Air Force engineers worked tirelessly to keep the old runway operational until phase three was completed,” said Graham about the usage of the runway.

Many Coalition forces didn’t fly into KAF because no nation wanted to risk damaging their aircraft on bad asphalt.
“For FOD, the F-16 Falcon is a vacuum cleaner,” Graham added. ”It sucks up dirt, dust and debris off the ground better than just about any other aircraft. The old runway was broken up to the point where if you operated an F-16, it would suck up chunks of the runway.”

Now, KAF has a runway with the capacity for longer-range fighter aircrafts, bigger cargo aircrafts and commercial airliners, supporting aircrafts that previously could not operate here.

“We are already seeing the commercial cargo outfits such as DHL and ACT flying bigger birds into KAF,” said Graham. “We’re all waiting to see that first C-5 Galaxy or L-1011 TriStar come in on final.”

While NATO-ISAF forces will certainly benefit from a larger runway, perhaps the greatest impact of this airfield runway reconstruction project will be how it helps the people and economy of the region.

TIKRIT, Iraq – Task Force Lightning Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army, and the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, dealt a blow to anti-Iraqi forces by killing nearly 50 insurgents and capturing 20 while uncovering a large cache complex.
During this combined operation, Task Force Lightning Soldiers from the IA and coalition uncovered six caches, many of which were buried in underground bunkers. The caches included over 400,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition, 15,000 rounds of heavy machine gun ammunition, five mortar bipods, three heavy machine guns, three anti-tank weapons, two recoilless rifles and numerous mortar rounds, grenades, flares and artillery rounds.
Additionally, the Soldiers noticed an abandoned Nissan truck with false license plates. Upon searching the vehicle, the Soldiers uncovered a number of IED making material and anti-Iraqi forces items such as batteries, cellular phones, blasting caps, explosives, propaganda materials and a large amount of U.S. dollars.

“We made a significant impact on the enemy’s ability to conduct any type of anti-Iraqi force operations,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Poppas, 5-73rd commander.

Elements of the 3/1-5 IA, and 5-73rd Cav., conducted the five-day mission, engaging insurgents while emplacing IEDs in the roads or maneuvering in tunnel and canal systems, staging for attacks.
Aside from the impact on the enemy’s stronghold, members of the unit also conducted engagements throughout the surrounding villages.

“At the same time, while we are having these direct kinetic operations, we are having non-kinetic engagements with the families of the village who also want the insurgents out of their area so they can return to a sense of normalcy,” Poppas said.

Al-Qaeda’s ‘best assets’ prime UK timebomb
Telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 12:32am GMT 19/11/2006
British Muslims volunteering to fight against coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are being sent back to Britain to become al-Qaeda “sleeper” agents, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
MI5 agents believe that young Asian men, who have been trained to take part in the so-called “global jihad” in al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan, are now regarded as too valuable an asset to be used fighting British and American troops.
MI5 and MI6 are working on the assumption that they are being ordered to return to their communities in Britain with instructions to establish secret, autonomous cells and to conduct independent terrorists operations without any direct input from al-Qaeda’s high command.
Security sources claim that al-Qaeda is unlikely to send a British passport holder to his death as a suicide bomber in Iraq when he would be far more valuable as a “sleeper” in Britain.
MI5 fears that it is impossible to estimate how many British Muslims have attended training camps over the past decade or how many are back in the UK planning attacks.
Hundreds of thousands of people travel from Britain to Pakistan every year, mostly to visit relatives or do business. The challenge facing the intelligence services, say security sources, is to discover which among them are travelling for “nefarious” reasons.
The warning was made as the Prime Minister is visiting Pakistan, where British terrorists are known to have undergone training.
Security sources have also warned of the danger facing Britain from radicalised Muslims who are currently fighting as part of the insurgency in Iraq.
MI5 assumes that a “backwash” of violence may be unleashed in the UK by British-born Muslims who have been involved the fighting in Iraq.
A security source said: “We may see people who have been ‘blooded’ in Iraq, who are experienced in weapons handling and bomb making, arriving back in this country and they may cause a problem.”
Andrew Rowe, a Jamaican convert to Islam who is known to have visited Bosnia in the 1990s, is often cited as an example of a militant Muslim who fought a jihad abroad and returned to Britain to conduct a campaign of terrorism.
Rowe, a drug dealer before his conversion to Islam, became known as the “sock bomber” after he was arrested for carrying socks with traces of high explosives, which police believe had come from mortars. He was jailed for 15 years for possessing material which might be of use to terrorists.
It emerged earlier this month that Dhiren Barot, a Muslim convert who was jailed for 40 years for plotting to kill thousands of people in Britain and America, had attended a training camp in Pakistan and was subsequently recruited as a sleeper agent by al-Qaeda. Whitehall sources said he typified the threat now facing Britain.
At least two of the bombers involved in the attacks on London on July 7 last year are also known to have visited terrorist training camps in Pakistan.
Last week Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the head of MI5, gave warning that it was just a matter of time before Britain was attacked with a chemical, biological or radiological weapon.

She said that up to 1,600 terrorists in the UK were involved in 30 “priority one” plots. Whitehall sources have admitted that it was impossible for MI5, given its current level of resources — it has 2,800 staff — to disrupt every terrorist plot being hatched against Britain

.
The source said:

“MI5 would have to be the size of the Stasi (the 100,000-strong East German secret state police during the Cold War) to have a chance of stopping every possible attack and, even then, it would be unlikely that it would succeed.”

Wild Thing’s comment……
From the other stories coming out of the UK I have a feeling that M15 is fighting an uphill battle with their warnings and information they are putting out. I hope not, but when we read of how they cave in to the Muslims demands etc. we need to learn from them too on how NOT to let the terrorists take over here as they have done in the UK.