U.S. COMMANDOS RESCUE AMERICAN HOSTAGE IN AFGHANISTAN

Awesome! The finest fighting men the world has ever known.

U.S. Special Forces soldiers conducting a daring nighttime operation freed a kidnapped American working for the Army Corps of Engineers—the first known hostage rescue by American forces in Afghanistan.

The American, who was abducted in mid-August, had been held in a growing insurgent stronghold 30 miles west of Kabul, U.S. military officials told The Associated Press. They said several insurgents were killed in last week's mission to free him.

Taliban militants have kidnapped dozens of international aid workers, journalists and other foreigners in recent years and have demanded large ransoms or the release of imprisoned Taliban fighters for their freedom. Increasingly aggressive crime syndicates have also raked in big money by kidnapping wealthy Afghans and foreigners and demanding ransoms.

Three U.S. military officials told the AP that Special Forces troops were able to locate the kidnapper's hideaway in the Nirkh district of Wardak province outside Kabul, but would not specify how. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

100 TALIBAN LEARN THE HARD WAY WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MESS WITH SASQUATCH

Right on my pasty white brothers:

About 100 militants were killed in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, half in air strikes that thwarted a major attack on a key town overnight, Afghan and British forces said on Sunday.

The attempt to enter Lashkar Gah from three directions was “virtually unprecedented” in the area in the scale of the attacking force and their degree of coordination, British military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Woody Page said.

Between 50 and 60 militants, part of a group of 150 that had been seen massing outside of the town for several days, were killed in air strikes that stopped them from entering Lashkar Gah, the Afghan and British forces said. Around 40 more were killed in a three-day operation in the nearby Nad Ali district that wound up on Saturday, they said.

IS SYRIA ABOUT TO PULL A GEORGIA ON LEBANON?

It sure as hell looks that way.

Syria has deployed military forces along its northern Lebanon border and Beirut officials now fear an incursion is imminent, according to a report in The Times.

Damascus has insisted its forces are involved in an anti-smuggling operation along the border, yet the Lebanese Government is braced for the first incursion since Syrian forces pulled out three years ago.

Beirut believes the unusual scale of the operation is connected to tensions between the two countries over recent sectarian clashes in northern Lebanon.

"People around here are worried. We don't know why the Syrians have arrived like this," said 18-year-old Ali, a farmer in the tiny hillside hamlet of Hekr Janin overlooking the border,told The Times.

Lebanese media report that 8000 to 10,000 Syrian special forces have taken up positions along some of the hills overlooking the Kabir river on the border.

Sunnis populate much of northern Lebanon and most of them are supporters of the Future Movement, headed by Saad Hariri, the son and political heir of Rafik Hariri, whose 2005 assassination is widely blamed on Syria.

Mahmoud, Vladmir, Hugo and now these douchebags. Games dictators play. It's far past time to smack these asshats down. Alas, these people know the US is involved in other military affairs. More importantly, they know that Europe will do nothing under any circumstance and that our friends the Democrats have systematically crippled our ability to fuel ourselves with our own oil. We're closer to World War III than many want to believe. Frankly, given that there is no other country that than the US with the will or the means to confront fascists bent on dominating world energy resources, I think it's a war we're destined to lose.

ON PATROL IN AFGHANISTAN

On patrol with British troops in Helmand province.

CORRECTION: OBAMA ACTUALLY DID THANK TROOPS WHILE IN GERMANY...GERMAN POLICE TROOPS THAT IS

So we owe Obama an apology?



h/t Gateway Pundit

OBAMA'S TROOP MEETINGS STAGED: ROAD SHOW NOT SELLING WITH TROOPS

This from someone who knows some soldiers that weren't part of the dog and pony show the media is forcing down our throats:

As you know Obama visited troops this weekend in Kuwait, and Afghanistan. Prior to this weekend I, along with a few friends had been sending information to a few soldiers on an email list referencing Obama and his anti-military entourage and exhorting them not to be “deceived” by his “jive”. From what I’m getting back they were not in the least.

From Camp Eggers I’m told that the mess hall photo op was hugely staged, and if you look at the video you can see it was sparsely attended. The soldier at the end of the video was “selected” and not random.

“Dude showed up in a suit”, one email reads describing clothes Obama wore. Generally visits - as with McCain are in some type of Kaki or other uniform. Obama and all his entourage looked like they were going to a dinner party, or perhaps just trying to project that “authority” thing he’s always talking about.

In any case the response is generally negative, although troops will generally show some type of appreciation I can tell that they can sense that Obama’s only doing this for his own ends, not for their benefit. Soldiers know when they are being part of photo op ed. Not that we mind it, but it depends on who it is. I can remember former president Jimmy Carter coming to visit us at Fort Stewart Georgia back around 1979, the reception was icy to say the least. We had absolutely no respect for the man - none at all.

Obama’s getting the same reviews. That’s what talking about defeat for the last two years will do for you. He’s not fooling anyone, especially where the rubber meets the road.

I’ve sent a few more “information” packets for troops on the Iraqi leg of the tour, so as to help soldiers understand even better what his true positions are.

NATO WARNS RUSSIA OVER ABKHAZIA

Get your licks in while you can NATO. Hope and change is coming. And with that, well you know...

Nato's secretary general has demanded that Russia withdraw troops it sent to the disputed breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia last week.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accused Russia of breaching Georgia's sovereignty by sending in military railway personnel.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer said the Russian move was "contributing to instability in what is already a volatile area".

Russia announced on Saturday that it was sending 300 members of an unarmed unit from the army's railway force to the province to help carry out repairs on the network, labelling the move a humanitarian effort.

Georgia responded that Russia is planning a military intervention in the province.

"These forces should be withdrawn, and both Russia and Georgia should engage quickly in a high-level and open dialogue to de-escalate tensions," Mr de Hoop Scheffer said.

The Abkhaz minority demanded independence from Georgia after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Several thousand people were killed before Georgian forces were driven out in 1993. About 250,000 Georgians were displaced by the fighting.

There are around 2,000 Russians posted in Abkhazia, and about 1,000 in South Ossetia.

Russia and China. It's the new jihad people!

RUSSIA SENDS MORE TROOPS TO GEORGIA

It looks like war is near...

The United States on Sunday expressed dismay over the deployment of additional Russian troops to Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, adding that it has addressed its concern to Moscow.

Georgia accused Moscow of trying to annex the impoverished Black Sea region after Russia sent unarmed troops on Saturday to rebuild a railway in Abkhazia. Russia called the deployment "humanitarian aid."

"The United States is dismayed by Russia's Defense Ministry announcement on May 31 that it intends to send more military forces, including railroad construction troops, into the Georgian region of Abkhazia without the consent of the Georgian government," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.

Georgia said on Friday it had stopped flights by pilotless drones over Abkhazia to quell Western fears that tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow could degenerate into war.

I think the Russians have forgotten the ass-kicking they received in Afghanistan.

CHINESE TROOPS SEEN PATROLLING THE STREETS OF ZIMBABWE

Everyday there is something new with the red menace. Wake the hell up America!

Chinese troops have been seen on the streets of Zimbabwe's third largest city, Mutare, according to local witnesses. They were seen patrolling with Zimbabwean soldiers before and during Tuesday's ill-fated general strike called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Earlier, 10 Chinese soldiers armed with pistols checked in at the city's Holiday Inn along with 70 Zimbabwean troops.

One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: "We've never seen Chinese soldiers in full regalia on our streets before. The entire delegation took 80 rooms from the hotel, 10 for the Chinese and 70 for Zimbabwean soldiers."

China's support for President Mugabe's regime has been highlighted by the arrival in South Africa of a ship carrying a large cache of weapons destined for Zimbabwe's armed forces. Dock workers in Durban refused to unload it.

At least one reporter has openly speculated that China's crackdown on Tibet is timed to take attention away from its actions in Zimbabwe.

Maybe some of the Chinese government's angst over protests against Tibet are in part a smokescreen effort to hide their efforts to help Mugabe maintain his grip on power. There was an election in Zimbabwe over two weeks ago, and the results have not yet been released, although sources inside the country's government have said that Mugube did not receive enough votes to maintain power and will face a runoff election.

China has secretly shipped tens of thousands of small arms to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, raising fears the consignment has been brought in to crush any attempts to unseat Robert Mugabe from power.

The consignment has cost the regime millions of United States dollars and came through Durban harbour in a Chinese registered vessel, An Yue Juang.

It includes 3 million rounds of ammunition for AK47 rifles, the standard assault weapon for the country's defence forces. There were also 1,500 rocket propelled grenades, a support weapon for the infantry, plus 3,500 mortar bombs.
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