Kasie Trees a Possum

kasies-possum.jpgkasie-barks.jpgKasie found a new friend today, and sent this possum up a tree about five-thirty this morn. In the pictures you can see Kasie barking out of the side of her mouth and you can see her new friend in the crotch of a tree high above. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them.

Morning Terror Round up

Caucausus 

Five Bosnian Terrorist suspects were arrested in Sarajevo and Bugojna for arms smuggling and terror planning by Muslim-Croat authorities. They are suspected to be in the Muslim group Vahabis, yet another bud on the the Muslim Brotherhood planted Takfirist tree of terror groups. (A Takfirist is someone who believes in establishing the caliphate & who grants themselves the right to attack other Muslims and Muslim states by declaring them “non-muslim” over whatever imagined slight they can come up with.)

Also in the Caucausus there was an ambush in Southern Chechnya, with mixed reports of casualties, total of 9 dead. There were also IED attacks on Russian APC’s to the North of that. Frontier Post

Middle East

Israel 

A teenage boy in Israel was injured near Hebron by a suspected IED, which are certainly unusual within the country. Authorities are investigating. This indicates to me that Israel needs to continue watching for skilled and trained terrorists returned from Iraq and Afghanistan – it raises the level of danger as the forces opposed to Israel are gaining veteran fighters who are much more effective.

Meanwhile Israel is on alert as the traditional 40 day mourning period end for Mougniyeh coincides with the end of Purim and several other religious holidays including Muslim and Christian.

Yemen

Authorities have arrested five suspects in the mortar attack that hit a school near the US Embassey.

Africa

Somalia 

Somalian “pirates” have released a Russian Ship and crew after ransom was paid. The minister’s security caravan was attacked, and the US listed a Somalian group on the terror groups list.

South Asia (aka Subcontinent)

Thailand 

In Southern Thailand there have been two recent clashes between Police and Muslim separatists, Here and Here, Sunava Yako, a leader of the terror groups with a bounty  was killed. In a grim milestone note the varied Muslim separatist groups have now pushed the number of deaths past the 3,000 mark since the insurgency re-ignited in 2004.

Afghanistan

A suicide bomber attacked a shrine in Khandahar, killing one Afghanistan Policeman and injuring two others.

Pakistan

Five Pakistani soldiers were killed by a suicide car bomb at a paramilitary base near the border. The counter-insurgency war has taken a turn with Al Qaeda and Baitullah Mehsud’s Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan now focusing on the military and intel forces inside Pakistan.

 There’s more on that here at Asia Times, where Syed re-gurgitates Taliban Agit-prop in this article. Like all agit-prop, there are some real facts woven into this that intel folks probably need to look at. Below is my analysis, like all analysis it’s opinion not fact.

The point is that AQ and the Taliban are infiltrated, but also the FIA, ISI, and other Pakistan agencies are also infiltrated as well. The recent Lahore bombings as well as the Italian Cafe bombing were targetted strikes according to the article.  Also of interest is the supposed intent to refocus on the Khyber agency, and areas of Afghanistan where they have not operated much before. This could be two things: They’ve worn out their welcome where they are at, and/or the good guys are making things too hot for them there. 

If this is real and not misdirection, I would look for three things: targetted assasinations to destabilize, kidnappings to gain funds and exert influence, and supply interdiction through the Khyber pass. This is the classic battle ground of the area – if the Mehsud/Wazir Taliban do attempt to move in then they will face some very tough sledding from the locals. Look for them to leverage the dislodged odd-lots of Kashmiri terror groups operating out of Dara Adam Khel region to spearhead.

Also there’s a great overview of the command center for missile strikes such as that against the Haqqani network from Phil Peterson, embedded in Afghanistan, and Matt Dupee at Long War Journal.

A purportedly new tape from Osama Bin Laden was aired on Al Jazeera, this one mentions Palestine-Israeli conflicts, and reports say it mentions more  recent but not current events such as the Annapolis conference.

So I will resurrect Bin Laden once more if the voice prints match and if he actually references Annapolis by name, instead of just referring to “negotiations” generically. As we all know, negotiations have never really stopped except for brief periods and were ongoing back in 2006. Until I can see contents and context I’m not willing to pronounce him still alive yet.

There’s also a new study out on Pakistan Tribal Regions and their attitudes towards the Taliban and Al Qaeda, it’s on the recommended reading list as soon as I can find the full study.

Bangladesh

The Cartoonist who was jailed for the Mohammed-cat cartoon has been freed, and that’s creating some unrest. The case was dropped because the person who originally complained about the cartoons repeatedly failed to show up for the hearings, so they couldn’t have been that offended, n’est ce pas?

Sri Lanka

Troops killed 30 Tamil tiger militants in Sri Lanka.

Europe:

Spain

ETA has bombed a Police Barracks in Spain, causing only slight injuries.

New Osama Bin Laden Message Coming

Site has reported that a new message will be forthcoming from Osama Bin Laden. From Reuters:

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is expected to release a new message, the U.S.-based terrorism monitoring service SITE Institute said on Wednesday.The message is entitled, “The Response Will Be What You See, Not What You Hear,” SITE said in a release.   

This is interesting in the wake of four attacks in Pakistan since we hit Al Libi – will Osama be telling us who we got, and is the speculation that Ayman Al Zawahiri is dead correct, or did we hit Baitullah Mehsud?:

 Jawa has the video, it’s a static pic of Uncle Binny with a voice over Motoon rant.     

UPDATE: Osama Bin Laden is dead, and has been for a while. I agree with Rusty’s analysis at Jawa, this is old retread tape from ’06. If Uncle Binny (I spit in the milk of his mother) is alive, then he needs proof of life for the Taliboys and Jihooties, they are certainly getting not only demoralized, but killed in droves.

The tape is generic mentioning zero current events that are important (Wilder Film, Pakistan elections, assasination of Bhutto, death of Al Libi, Yemen attacks, the Yeshiva attack, the list of things that could have been mentioned goes on and on.) This appears to have been made during the period of the first Motoon uproar, when the Pope was more in the news, and as such the tape is a fraud.

The Best Things in Life Aren’t Free

With the dollar in free-fall and Congress providing bread and circuses rather than action (the “stimuli check”, the Waxman Steroid Witchunts) you have to wonder why we elect these people. The best thing Congress could do tomorrow to stop the bleeding would be to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.The pundits aren’t telling you this because they don’t think it possible.

Our dollar, and our economy are based on trust and confidence in the future. With the tax hike coming, the future has become uncertain, so the economy has slowed. Why did it happen now, why’s it seem so sudden?

Businesses and financial institutions plan quarter by quarter in two year cycles, and the bean counters at every Fortune five hundred company in America have looked two years ahead to tax hikes this quarter. They see less money in the economy as consumers feel the pinch, and they see marginal businesses failings downroad from the tax hike that will occur if congress doesn’t act. They see uncertainty, and they see less confidence.

If congress wants to stop the bleeding, they should make the cuts permanent and they should do it today, not tomorrow. One of the best things about life is security and hope for the future – if that future becomes uncertain then security and confidence both wilt, and we all know that bean counters are not the bravest souls to begin with.

The legislative loons in the Democrat party think they have time to wait until after the election, but confidence in the future and security must be granted now by congress because bean-counters plan ahead, and the accountants are taking that future accounting right now.

Demagogues like Pelosi and Obama can try to blame “big business” all they want, but big business has to deal in the real world of cause and effect, balance sheets and cash-flow, because they hold the trust of their investors and that’s a trust they must keep faith with.

If you are in a 401k or other retirement investment plan, that means they must do their best to keep your trust, regardless of the sound and fury of Congressional Theater. This didn’t happen suddenly, or out of the blue. It happened as we entered this quarter for a reason – the business planning cycle. It’s time for congress to restore the faith and confidence in the future, they need to make the tax cuts permanent.

UPDATE: Here’s a fine example of how Democrats crush security and confidence through taxation.  

New Zawahiri Death Potential

AJ is reporting another snip that matches up with earlier reports of “Egyptian Fugitives” last week. This one specifies an “Arab Doctor” frequenting the area.

On the one hand it could be Dawn salting rumors to get hits, or it could really be something.I  bit on the one last time, I might as well this time.

We’ve done four high-power hits on militants in Pakistan since we got Al Libi, without any confirmations of who’s dead. The usual local protests of killing civilians are not there for three of these attacks. We also have reports of lots of drone sightings in North Waziristan, so things are getting very interesting in Pakistan.  h/t Jawa 

CBS Finally Discovers Baitullah Mehsud

While those close to real terror reporting have known about this guy for two years, CBS calls him a “Rising Star”. The good news is that we finally have confirmed photos of him, this comes courtesy of Bill’s Blog.

Bill Roggio has many posts about Baitullah, and the archives here contain many as well, CBS only lightly covered his history. Here’s the last year’s worth

.