| November 05, 2007 Edition |
Yemen's Truce with al QaedaWho will be the next victims?The Weekly StandardJane Novak The American attempts to rehabilitate the Yemeni regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh have not succeeded. Yemeni authorities recently pardoned Jamal Al-Badawi, convicted mastermind of the 2000 USS Cole bombing. All the terrorists who bombed the American warship and killed 17 American sailors are free, except those dead or in U.S. custody. Jamal Al-Badawi was originally sentenced to death in 2004 as the lead planner of the USS Cole bombing. The sentence was reduced to 15 years. He escaped twice, the last time in February 2006. He has been on the loose since. He spent less than three years physically inside a jail, where, by the way, he was very well treated. One of the FBI's top ten most wanted terrorists; he is currently at home receiving well wishers. Full Story |
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| QUOTE OF THE WEEK |
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We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us. Marcel Proust |
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| PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES, EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS |
Closing the CaseA Spanish court has sentenced 21 people to jail terms for the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Now for the political fallout.NewsweekMike Elkin With one blow, a three-judge panel at the Spanish High Court today convicted 21 people for the 2004 terror attacks on its commuter trains and undermined a three-year-old political conspiracy theory about the Al Qaeda-inspired violence. After a two-year investigation and a nearly five-month-long trial that included about 750 witnesses, the court ruled unanimously to sentence 21 of the 29 defendants to prison terms ranging from three to 40,000 years for various counts of homicide, attempted homicide, belonging to and collaboration with a terrorist group, falsifying documents and trafficking in explosives. Full Story Evil ExposedHoly Land Trial Shows Charity's Hamas TiesNew York PostSteven Emerson The trial of four key figures with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development ended last week with a hung jury. Holy Land's defenders and allies are trumpeting the mistrial as a huge victory. Yet the defendants remain in legal jeopardy, with a new trial almost assured - and the prosecution has, at a minimum, closed a lucrative funding channel for the Palestinian terror group Hamas. Prosecutors in the Northern District of Texas deserve praise for bringing this case in the first place. The trial record conclusively demonstrated that Holy Land and several of its unindicted co-conspirators - including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) - grew out of Hamas. Moreover, it showed that they spent the better part of 15 years deceiving government agencies and the media, hiding their true goals under a mask of work for charity and civil rights. Full Story Flashpoint: Arms racingMiddle East nations rush to shore up sophisticated weapons stocksArmed Forces JournalPeter Brookes Instability in Iraq, sectarian violence, Islamic extremism, ethnic rivalries, the rise of Iran and questions about America's long-term commitment to the region are making for a Middle East more unsettled than at any time in recent memory. So it shouldn't come as a shock that a Middle East arms race - both conventional and nuclear - may be in the offing as states hustle to get weapons that ensure their security bets are well hedged against current and future threats. Taking a look at the political-military landscape around the Middle East, from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, there's no shortage of well-founded reasons for strategic insomnia in regional capitals. Full Story  |
| BREAKING NEWS FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
Energy producers react to security threatInternational Herald TribuneBill Farren-Price Energy security, traditionally a high priority for consumer countries that depend on imported oil and natural gas, is now topping the military and foreign policy agenda for producing countries, as they seek to reinforce their credibility in the eyes of volatile global oil markets. Flush with petrodollars from rising oil prices since 2003, producer governments have been emboldened to increase their cut of the economic rent from oil and, in some cases, to challenge the geopolitical status quo in ways that would have been unthinkable during earlier, leaner times. But hand in hand with this new confidence has come a realization that high oil prices have also raised the stakes for those intent on disrupting energy supplies. Full Story The Next FrontierThe creation of AFRICOM, the U.S. military's new Africa Command, offers the hope of steady, low-key progress in the war on terror.The AtlanticRobert D. Kaplan Africa matters. It is no longer a third-rate theater of war. The Pentagon's decision to stand up a war-fighting command exclusively for Africa by the end of 2008 presages a new direction for the global war on terrorism, with profound implications for the military and its relations with the State Department and other executive-branch institutions. It also provides a way for the United States to deal with a rising China. The U.S. military, particularly the Marines and Army Special Forces, has been deeply involved across the Sahara Desert for years, in train-and-equip missions for select companies of African armies, from Senegal on the Atlantic to Djibouti by the Red Sea. The Ethiopian military that fought radical Islamists in Somalia was the product of U.S. military training. Full Story Crowning Queen CristinaIt was an easy win for Argentina's new president. The cakewalk will end when she takes office.NewsweekJoe Contreras As elections go, this one should have been billed as Queen Cristina and the Dozen Dwarfs. Almost from the moment in July when Argentina's outgoing president Néstor Kirchner anointed his wife-cum-senator Cristina Fernández as his designated successor in the upcoming national elections, the country's First Lady began jetting to foreign capitals to meet with chiefs of state and generally conducted herself as if the actual balloting on Oct. 28 would be a mere formality. The opinion polls unanimously predicted an easy win for Fernández (who follows the regional tradition of keeping her own name) despite the crowded field of 13 candidates, and the vote-counting on Sunday evening produced no surprises: with just over 96 percent of the voting precincts reporting, Fernández had garnered nearly 45 percent of the ballots cast, almost double the amount received by the runner-up candidate and enough under Argentine law to avert a second-round runoff. Full Story Taliban Bench Warmers"They're just coming up here and getting killed."The Weekly StandardChristian Lowe It's true that insurgent violence is on the rise in Afghanistan, with a surging Taliban taking up tactics first used against U.S. forces in Iraq, including suicide bombs, improvised explosive devices, and vehicle-borne IEDs. Afghan civilians and national security forces are being killed in greater numbers this year than any year since the 2001 invasion. According to an Afghan diplomatic source, 700 civilians have been killed so far this year--some in poorly-targeted U.S. bombing raids--but a large proportion of those have been the victims of insurgent attacks. Full Story Al Qaeda's QuagmireNew York PostFor evidence of how quickly the tide of war can turn, look no further than Osama bin Laden's latest epistle to his al Qaeda underlings in Iraq. The theme of the audiotape, broadcast on al-Jazeera TV last week, is purportedly the need to avoid "division" in the prosecution of jihad. The not-so-subtle message: You guys are screwing up - big time. From his bloody-handed perspective, he's right to be worried. Both American and civilian casualties in Iraq are on track to drop drastically for the second straight month - a direct result of the sharp rise in Iraqi cooperation with U.S. forces that has resulted from Gen. David Petraeus' so-called surge strategy. Full Story |
| THE WEEKLY CARTOON |
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| JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
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To view the latest contract opportunities at Blackwater, visit our Contract Web Page. TO FILL OUT AN APPLICATION AND SUBMIT YOUR RESUME CLICK HERE Questions regarding Security Consulting or Training at Blackwater (252) 435-2488 or email webmaster@blackwaterusa.com. |
| SECURITY FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
"Murder with Impunity"Iran targets the Baha'i--again.The Weekly StandardPaul Marshall The Iranian government is currently intensifying its persecution of its largest religious minority, the Baha'is. This reveals something of the government's nature, and also sheds light on the hotly debated question: Does the regime remain a revolutionary one, or has it become instead a "normal country," one that, despite its fervent rhetoric, aspires only to international acceptance and regional power? The regime has always persecuted the Baha'is, of whom 300,000 (out of some 5 million worldwide) still live in Iran. The Baha'i religion was founded in Iran in the mid-1800s, and the regime demonizes its adherents as heretics or apostates from Islam, who therefore should have no legal status or protection and who should be eradicated. Full Story Democracy DisinvitedWhat might Russian President Putin have to hide from election monitors?Washington PostThere's no doubt that the ticket led by Russian President Vladimir Putin will win a landslide victory in December's parliamentary elections. Mr. Putin is genuinely popular. Also, his government dominates the media, which saturate the country with his propaganda. And serious opposition candidates have been excluded from the ballot. So why is Mr. Putin afraid of international election monitors? After weeks of stalling, Moscow told the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe this week that it would be allowed to send no more than 70 observers to monitor the vote, compared with 450 in the 2003 election. Full Story How Musharraf's Move Could BackfireTimeAryn Baker/Kabul and Simon Robinson Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency Saturday, citing growing militant attacks and interference in government policy by members of the judiciary. But far from a solution to Pakistan's problems, Musharraf's move to consolidate power has plunged the country into a deeper constitutional crisis and is likely to unleash a wave of new attacks by Al Qaeda-inspired militants, further destabilizing a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror. The declaration of a state of emergency by Musharraf, who remains head of the army eight years after seizing power in a bloodless coup, suspended the constitution, blacked out independent television news stations and cut some phone lines. Full Story Islamist Movements and Weapons of Mass DestructionWorld Politics ReviewHans Rühle and Michael Rühle Just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Pakistani authorities arrested two atomic scientists suspected of having aided the terror network al-Qaida in efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction. One year earlier, they had founded a humanitarian aid agency for Afghanistan: the "Reconstruction of the Muslim Umma." But for the two Taliban sympathizers, the aim of constructing a new Muslim community was not only a matter of economic and political solidarity with the faithful around the world. In their opinion, Pakistan's nuclear weapons, which they had helped to develop, were also the "property of all Muslims." Full Story Violence Haunts Guatemala's ElectionTimeMica Rosenberg Guatemala goes to the polls on Sunday, haunted by a violent and contested past and anxious over an increasingly violent present. The legacy of the country's 36-year-civil war is never far from contemporary politics, and the frontrunner in the presidential runoff - retired General Perez Molina, whose right-wing Patriotic Party has a very slight lead over left-leaning businessman Alvaro Colom in some opinion polls - has been the subject of allegations in a new book on the 1998 assassination of Guatemalan human rights crusader Bishop Juan Gerardi. Gerardi was bludgeoned to death in the parish house of his Guatemala City church the day after he published an exhaustive report of human rights violations by the Guatemalan army during the civil war. Full Story |
| TACTICAL TRAINING & INTELLIGENCE RESOURCES FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
Mirror Image Training: Training to Combat TerrorismMirror Image is a tactical and strategic training course developed and owned by the Terrorism Research Center. TRC instructors have trained hundreds of military personnel that are subsequently deployed to active combat operations, as well as large numbers of first responders, law enforcement, and security professionals. Mirror Image is an intensive one-week classroom and field-training program, designed to realistically simulate terrorist recruiting, training techniques, and operational tactics. During the course, participants will receive insight into the mindset and rationale of the terrorist through hands-on experience with the methods and means terrorist employ, education about terrorist ideologies and the cultural dimensions that influence their decision making process. Military, law enforcement, intelligence, and security professionals will, in turn, be able to see themselves as the terrorists see them and understand the weaknesses in their own environment that the terrorists will seek to exploit, and which all too often they miss. Armed with these insights participants will leave the course better able to anticipate, prevent and respond to multiple terrorist threats.
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| FRANKS REVIEW |
Tactical Equipment EvaluationK5 Tactical Hawk Spike Breaching (+) ToolNo matter how much we look into the past and study it so that we can learn from our mistakes, there seem to be a couple things we overlook: 1) we can learn just as much from what we did RIGHT, and 2) if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Through the past few centuries one of the most effective battle tools has been an axe, or by another name a tomahawk. If the hawk is designed and constructed properly, it can also serve other uses such as hammering, prying and breaching. This week we're going to take a look at such a design from K5 Tactical: the Hawk Spike.Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/other/k5hawkspike.htm
Recreational Equipment ReviewField Folders For Hard UseI have a number of friends who like to make fun of me because I always have at least two knives on my person. Admittedly, both are folders, but I like to have one available for either hand. In the field, remembering the rule that 2 is 1, and 1 is none I recommend having a decent fixed blade knife backed up by a useful (read well designed and sturdy) folding lock blade. This week we'll take a look at a few well designed models, the pros and cons of design, and when they can serve you best.Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/toolknife/fieldfolders.htm |
| CHAPLAINS CORNER |
ANOTHER WEEK...has passed for each of us. We have each done many things that we never did before. Each thing we do is a new thing. It may be similar to what has been done in times past but each new incident is a new thing for us to do.My four days of duty were all full... motor vehicle crashes, traffic problems, parking problems, registration checks, assisting those in need, keeping the roadways as safe as possible and killing trees with all of the reports. I am blessed with being able to pull out of the crisis caused by the fatigue that built up on me while I was out a few weeks ago doing personal business. Some days all of the effort must be accompanied by an attitude of hard pushing of myself until I get through it and get the chance to crash and rest... Then repeat the process again the next day. This week started hard but each new day became easier once I got it started. Friday was filled with much activity and only one very short slack period.... Each day was full... Sometimes to the point of requiring overtime to get it all accomplished. When I look back over it all I see people who were kept safe from harm... I see roadways cleared of vehicles that should not have been there... I see people who thought they could bypass the basic rules of law and were caught at it... Some people learn from warnings... Some learn from tickets and fines... Some learn only when they lose something and the cost becomes much greater... Enforcing the law has a very basic foundation... It is all for the purpose of peace and safety that gives to all of us the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as best each of us is able to achieve. Now today (I am writing this on Saturday)... Today was a day of special assignment with the recruiting team. My partner and I worked an event called Touch-A-Truck. All kinds of trucks were on display including one of our paddy wagons and our recruiting Hummer that is on loan to us from a local dealer and decked out in full police markings. Right beside our Hummer in the lineup was a US Navy Hummer battle vehicle manned by two ordinance disposal personnel. All of us had a great time lifting the little kids into and out of our vehicles and watching the thrills on their faces. The kids rode the gun turret (no gun in place) on the military Hummer and sat in the seats in our Hummer pretending they were driving or pretending some other adventure. It was a beautiful day for them and for us. http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2007/article/110507chaplain.htm |
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