Blogs of War

Syrian Television: U.S. Commandos Stage Attack Inside Syrian Territory

by John Little in Iraq, Syria

October 26, 2008 · 1 Comment

This hasn’t been confirmed but it sounds like something did go down:

Local residents in a Syrian border town said that American forces killed seven men in a helicopter-borne commando attack inside Syrian territory.

Doctors in the town of Al-Sukkariya, some eight kilometres from the Iraqi border, said seven corpses and four wounded had been delivered to a nearby clinic after the attack.

The eyewitness accounts said that four helicopters were involved in the operation, with two of the helicopters landing in the town and eight American soldiers disembarking. The eyewitnesses said that the seven killed men were supposedly construction workers.

Afterwards, the US helicopters then left Syrian airspace with all the soldiers again on board.

So, either the U.S. military is taking construction code enforcement incredibly seriously or the Syrian’s are learning the hard way that they can’t sponsor or allow cross-border operations with impunity.

The area is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.

Iraqi insurgents seized Qaim in April 2005, forcing U.S. Marines to recapture the town the following month in heavy fighting. The area became secure only after Sunni tribes in Anbar turned against al-Qaida in late 2006 and joined forces with the Americans.

On Thursday, U.S. Maj. Gen. John Kelly said Iraq’s western borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries but that Syria was a “different story.”

“The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side,” Kelly said. “We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement.”

Update:
It looks like we’re confirming the attack – and it was related to the hostile cross-border traffic:

U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as “serious aggression.”

A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the foreign fighter network that travels through Syria into Iraq. The Americans have been unable to shut the network down in the area because Syria was out of the military’s reach.

“We are taking matters into our own hands,” the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.

The attack came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an “uncontrolled” gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

Barbara West and Joe Biden: The Interview Barack Obama Doesn’t Want You to See

by John Little in Media, Politics

October 26, 2008 · 13 Comments

Obama-Biden got some tough, but fair, questions and they’re in total meltdown mode over it:

Biden so disliked West’s line of questioning that the Obama campaign canceled a WFTV interview with Jill Biden, the candidate’s wife.

“This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election,” wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign.

McGinnis said the Biden cancellation was “a result of her husband’s experience yesterday during the satellite interview with Barbara West.”

Voters need to see this and thanks to the Obama-Biden freakout they will.

Government Computers Used to Dig Up Information on Joe the Plumber

by John Little in Crime, Politics, Sci/Tech

October 24, 2008 · No Comments

It looks like people may have been illegally, or at least inappropriately, poking around in government databases looking for information about Joe Wurzelbacher:

Public records requested by The Dispatch disclose that information on Wurzelbacher’s driver’s license or his sport-utility vehicle was pulled from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles database three times shortly after the debate.

Information on Wurzelbacher was accessed by accounts assigned to the office of Ohio Attorney General Nancy H. Rogers, the Cuyahoga County Child Support Enforcement Agency and the Toledo Police Department.

It has not been determined who checked on Wurzelbacher, or why. Direct access to driver’s license and vehicle registration information from BMV computers is restricted to legitimate law enforcement and government business.

Paul Lindsay, Ohio spokesman for the McCain campaign, attempted to portray the inquiries as politically motivated. “It’s outrageous to see how quickly Barack Obama’s allies would abuse government power in an attempt to smear a private citizen who dared to ask a legitimate question,” he said.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see this traced back to a P.I. or lawyer with political contacts.

Pittsburgh Police: Ashley Todd Lied About Obama Supporter Attack

by John Little in Crime, Politics

October 24, 2008 · 4 Comments

The weird “B” and Twitter activity had a lot of us suspecting that this would come. She didn’t hold out long:

Pittsburgh police said a 20-year-old woman who originally said she was robbed and assaulted at knifepoint in Bloomfield because of her political views made the story up.

Ashley Todd — who has a backward letter “B” scratched into her right cheek — confessed to faking the story and will be charged with filing a false report, Assistant Police Chief Maurita Bryant said at a news conference Friday.

Todd, of College Station, Texas, admitted there was no robbery or attacker and said she had prior mental health problems, according to Bryant.

We’re looking at some sad and stupid decision making by Ashley. Her actions won’t help her cause, can’t help but fuel more racial tension, and the impact will be felt the rest of her life. Hopefully, she’ll get the help she obviously needs.

Update:
She’s catching a whole bunch of heat, from liberals and conservatives alike, on Twitter. You can watch the outrage scroll by on Summize.com.

Is Wall Street Waking Up to Obama?

by John Little in Money, Politics

October 24, 2008 · 1 Comment

Charles Gasparino links the panic to investor’s sudden realization that we’re about to re-live the Jimmy Carter era:

The resulting credit crunch is hitting Main Street harder than ever before. The country is headed for recession; the only question is: Just how low can the markets and economy go?

It could be a lot lower – it all depends on the policies of the next president.

And, as it looks increasingly likely that Obama will be that man, the markets are casting a vote of “no confidence.”

To be fair, McCain hardly instills confidence among the Wall Streeters I speak to. Why has his campaign spent the last week focusing on Obama’s friendship with former terrorist William Ayers – when it should be hitting Obama’s blind loyalty to policies that bring together the worst elements of Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter?

Recently, Obama said he wants to expedite loans to small businesses, so he seems to have a clue that they produce much of the country’s job growth. Yet his income-tax hike on upper brackets will hit vast numbers of small businesses – they’d face the highest rates they’ve seen in decades.

Overall, his plan includes some of the most lethal tax increases imaginable, including a jump in the capital-gains rate. He’d expand government spending massively, with everything from new public-works projects to increases in foreign aid to a surge in Afghanistan – plus hand out a token $500 welfare check that he calls a tax cut to everyone else.

I believe this fear is, at most, playing only a small part in the current crisis and Gasparino admits as much. Still, you have to wonder how this growing unease about Obama is going to play out when people actually have to pull the lever.