Taliban dig in for big assault, say Afghan villagers

Hey, this shit is looking better than the Super Bowl. Is it too late to get some fucking tickets? We'll have a tailgate party outside town and then hunker down for some macho kick ass fighting.

USA!, USA!, USA! NATO! NATO! NATO!

Football people speak in military jargon all the time. Attack! Kill! Assault! Enemy! No prisoners! You probably know most of the rest.

But this is the real shit. Real combat with real killing and something the NFL doesn't have... things exploding. Fireworks? We'll give you fireworks up the ass until you can't hobble to work on Monday.

Taliban militants are massing and preparing for a big fight ahead of a major NATO offensive in an insurgent stronghold in southern Afghanistan, villagers fleeing the area said on Sunday.

U.S. Marines are set to launch a massive operation within days to take Marjah, a dense warren of canals and lush farmland in the centre of Helmand, the country's most violent province.

Military commanders are dubbing the area the last big Taliban enclave in the province. The offensive, one of the biggest of the eight-year-old war, will mark the first major show of force since U.S. President Barack Obama ordered in 30,000 extra troops.

Washington hopes the Marine operation will help decisively turn the momentum this year in a war that commanders accept has not been going their way. They have also not kept the planned offensive a secret, hoping the militants will give up the fight.

"It has to do with letting people know what's coming in the hope that the hardcore Taliban, or a lot of the Taliban, will simply leave, and maybe there will be less of a fight," U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in Turkey on Saturday.

According to some of the villagers escaping Marjah in fear of their lives, fighters are digging in rather than fleeing.

Two questions: Will there be cheerleaders? Will they have on undies?

I always find dark humor preferable to unmanly crying or actually cheering for death and destruction.

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Note: Headline links to source.

Gates says stable Iraq within reach as bombs kill 22

What are the chances Gates suffers from cognitive dissonance? Just asking.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday the goal of a stable and democratic Iraq is within reach, during an unannounced visit to Iraq marked by a spate of car bombs that killed 22 people.

Jesus H Christ in Doc Martens. They're all tools.

SPIIDERWEB™ Rulz!

Via AFP.

Gates rejects Greenspan claim war is about oil

When sock puppets speak...

Come on now. Aside from Bush's ass lickers doesn't anyone realize it was always about the oil? WMD? Dictatorship? Democracy? Stabilizing the region? Freeing the people, many of whom we've killed?

Don't make me laugh. OK, I can't laugh about that last one.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates rejected on Sunday former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's statement that the Iraq war "is largely about oil," saying the conflict is driven by the need to stabilize the Gulf and put down hostile forces.

Gates' defense of the conflict, now in its fifth year, came a day after thousands of anti-war protesters marched in Washington. Police arrested 192 for crossing a barrier, a spokeswoman for the Capitol Police said.

Most were released by Sunday afternoon, but one who was also charged with carrying an incendiary device, and some others with outstanding warrants, were still in custody, Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said.

In his new book, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," Greenspan echoed the long-held complaints of many critics that Iraq's rich oil supplies are a major motivating force behind the war.

"Whatever their publicized angst over Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction,' American and British authorities were also concerned about violence in an area that harbors a resource indispensable for the functioning of the world economy," Greenspan wrote.

"I'm saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: The Iraq war is largely about oil," added Greenspan, for decades one of the most respected U.S. voices on fiscal policy.

Via Reuters.

Feeling secure? Well don't #19

This is so fucking funny I may hurt myself laughing.

We be secret. Hahaha.

The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials.

The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack.

Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from the People’s Liberation Army.

One senior US official said the Pentagon had pinpointed the exact origins of the attack. Another person familiar with the event said there was a “very high level of confidence...trending towards total certainty” that the PLA was responsible. The defence ministry in Beijing declined to comment on Monday.

These are the adults in charge of your intelligence community. Duh!

I'm beginning to think everyone with private information is loony and not to be trusted.

Via Financial Times.

Army secretary resigns in scandal's wake

Is anyone capable of chronicling all the failures of the Bush administration? Most of us would probably be allowed a couple serious failures in performance before being kicked out the door, but Bush makes a career out of failure.

Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey abruptly stepped down Friday as the Bush administration struggled to cope with the fallout from a scandal over substandard conditions for wounded Iraq soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Harvey's sudden departure was the most dramatic move yet in an escalating removal of commanders with responsibilities over one of the military's highest-profile and busiest medical facilities.

Hours earlier, President Bush ordered a comprehensive review of conditions at the nation's network of military and veteran hospitals in the wake of the Walter Reed disclosures.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Harvey had resigned, but senior defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Gates had asked Harvey to leave. Gates was displeased that the officer Harvey had chosen as interim commander of Walter Reed — Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, a former commander of Walter Reed — has been accused by critics of long knowing about the problems there and not improving outpatient care.

"I am disappointed that some in the Army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation pertaining to outpatient care at Walter Reed," Gates said in the Pentagon briefing room. He took no questions from reporters.

On Thursday, Harvey fired the medical center's previous commander, Maj. Gen. George Weightman, for failures linked to the outpatient treatment controversy. Many had speculated that Weightman would be relieved of command, but Harvey's departure was a major surprise.

The Army announced Friday that Maj. Gen. Eric R. Schoomaker will be the new commander of Walter Reed.

"From what I have learned, the problems at Walter Reed appear to be problems of leadership," Gates said. "The Walter Reed doctors, nurses and other staff are among the best and most caring in the world. They deserve our continued deepest thanks and strongest support."

And does it bother you and hearten you to know the press is uncovering these failures instead of those in charge who should be preventing them? Just asking.

I won't honor Harvey with a photo. He doesn't deserve it in spite of any former brilliance, courage and performance in his earlier military career.

(read more)

Watergate, Plamegate and Gatesgate

Don't headline writers realize there are two "significant" Gates guys out there?

[Bill] Gates: Secure Data Remain Key Challenge

[Robert] Gates Says U.S. Not Planning Iran War

Please be a little more specific. If Bill Gates says US isn't planning to attack Iran it might carry a little less weight than if Robert Gates says it.

Sorry, that last sentence may not be true at all. Only time will tell.

Hahaha. Like anyone working on a newspaper or newspaper website is reading SPIIDERWEB™.