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Catherine Moy
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Here’s the moral to the story before you get a chance to read the story: Don’t mess with U.S. marines.
Terrorist insurgents tried to pull a fast one and ended up at room temperature.

Military.Com has the story here:

by Cpl. James M. Mercure - (Military.com)
FARAH PROVINCE, Afghanistan — In the city of Shewan, approximately 250 insurgents ambushed 30 Marines and paid a heavy price for it.
Shewan has historically been a safe haven for insurgents, who used to plan and stage attacks against Coalition Forces in the Bala Baluk district.
The city is home to several major insurgent leaders. Reports indicate that more than 250 full time fighters reside in the city and in the surrounding villages.
Shewan had been a thorn in the side of Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan throughout the Marines’ deployment here in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat operations in the area.
“The day started out with a 10-kilometer patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat,” said a designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified. “Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and machine gun fire. One of our ‘humvees’ was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast.”
The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense eight-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sergeant personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions while the platoon fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site.
“The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they’re given the opportunity to fight,” the sniper said. “A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong.”
During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn’t miss any shots, despite the enemies’ rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position.
“I was in my own little world,” the young corporal said. “I wasn’t even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target.”
After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies’ spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more.
“I didn’t realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies’ lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,” the corporal said. “It was a good day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured.”

So that’s that!

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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President Bush’s adminstration scores another hit on radical Muslim terrorists - this time crippling a financial scheme.
From Michelle Malkin:

A jury on Monday determined that the Holy Land Foundation and five men who worked with the Muslim charity were guilty of three dozen counts related to the illegal funneling of at least $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The unanimous verdicts are a complete victory for the government, which streamlined its case and worked hard to carefully educate jurors on the complex, massive evidence presented in the trial.

The prosecution victory is also a major one for the lame duck administration of President George Bush, whose efforts at fighting terrorism financing in court have been troubled, even though the flow of funds seems to be effectively shut down.

It was the second trial where the government attempted to convict the men and the now defunct Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation itself. It took the jury eight days of deliberations to reach its decisions — less than half the time it took jurors to deadlock end up with an almost complete mistrial last year on the first go-around.

“My dad is not a criminal!” sobbed one courtroom observer after the verdicts were read. “He’s a human!”

Before he read the verdict, the judge had ordered all observers to remain civil and respect the proceedings.

By 3 p.m. Monday, jurors had been sent back to the jury room to determine if Holy Land assets should be forfeited to the government because of several convictions on money laundering charges related to the case.

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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The pact between Iraq and America is pushing the United States to charge terrorists with crimes so they don’t go free. The agreement, if approved, would mean that the United States must release those who aren’t charged with specific crimes. HELLO: This is a WAR!!
This is a real stinker, as far as the pact goes.

The AP has the story:

CAMP CROPPER, Iraq - The U.S. military is rushing to build criminal cases against some 5,000 detainees it deems dangerous — including suspected members of al-Qaida in Iraq — because the proposed security pact with Iraq would end its right to hold prisoners without charge.

The agreement, which is to be voted on by Iraqi lawmakers Wednesday, is primarily intended to set a timetable calling for American troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. But it also calls for control of security matters to shift to Iraqi authorities.

If passed, the deal would mean U.S. troops could no longer hold people without charge as they have since the 2003 invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Beginning Jan. 1, all detentions would have to be based on evidence, and the U.S. would have to prosecute prisoners in Iraqi courts or let them go.

“At the end of the day, if there’s not enough facts to justify a court case, then we’ll have to release,” said Brig. Gen. David Quantock, the commander of the U.S. detention system in Iraq.

Evidence in only a few hundred cases
The Americans have evidence against only “a few hundred” of the most dangerous detainees, Quantock said, leaving open the possibility that thousands could find themselves back on Iraq’s streets soon.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he said.

Part of the challenge stems from differences between the U.S. and Iraqi legal systems. In the United States, forensic evidence is widely used in the courts. Not so in Iraq.

“We’ve got a number of guys right now that are covered in TNT (explosive residue). However, that’s not admissible in Iraqi court,” Quantock said. “What wins the day in Iraqi courts today is two eyewitness statements or a confession.”

The U.S. is training Iraqi forensic specialists and pushing to make such evidence more acceptable in court. Iraqi judges are slowly bending, but it is expected to take time before forensic evidence wins wide approval.

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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From Michelle Malkin

American troops continue to rout terrorists who have killed Americans and terrorized innocent people of Iraq. This time America’s finest nailed an al-Qaida punk responsible for kidnapping and killing Army reservist Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin. The extermination of the terrorist is another huge chunk out of al-Qaida’s leadership.
Sgt. Maupin was used in terrorist videos. The young hero died at the hands of these beasts.  F inally, justice for Matt.
May you rest in peace, Sgt. Maupin.

Here are the details from the Associated Press:

BAGHDAD — An al-Qaida in Iraq leader blamed in the 2004 abduction and murder of an Army reservist and other deadly attacks over several years was killed in an American raid in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Thursday.

U.S. forces acting on a tip carried out the raid Nov. 11 in Baghdad’s Mansour neighborhood, killing Hajji Hammadi and another armed insurgent, the military statement.

The Iraqi was accused in the abduction and killing of Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin, a 20-year-old private first class who was seized when his fuel convoy was attacked by insurgents in Iraq on April 19, 2004, as the insurgency was gaining strength. Al-Jazeera aired a videotape later that month showing the Batavia, Ohio, native wearing camouflage and a floppy desert hat, sitting on a floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.

Maupin’s remains were found in March on the outskirts of Baghdad, about 12 miles from where the convoy was ambushed.

The military statement said Hammadi, also known as Hammadi Awdah Abd Farhan and Abd-al-Salam Ahmad Abdallah al-Janabi, led a group of fighters against U.S. forces in the second battle of Fallujah in the fall of 2004.

Hammadi also was the mastermind of a June 26 suicide bombing against a meeting of pro-government Sunni sheiks in Karmah, west of Baghdad, the military said. The attacker was dressed as an Iraqi policeman and killed three Marines, two interpreters, the local mayor and a host of tribal leaders.

Killed in the attack were Lt. Col. Max A. Galeai, 42, of Pago Pago, American Samoa; Capt. Phil Dykeman, 38, of Brockport, N.Y.; and Cpl. Marcus W. Preudhomme, 23, of North Miami Beach, Fla. All were members of the Hawaii-based 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, where Galeai served as battalion commander.

“Hammadi escorted the suicide bomber to the location and videotaped the attack,” the military said.

Five other suspected insurgents were detained in the raid that killed Hammadi, it added. The military said it was announcing the death after Hammadi was positively identified.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile killings as the U.S. military targets the al-Qaida in Iraq leadership to shore up recent security gains.

It said the insurgent leader became al-Qaida’s emir in a volatile area west of Baghdad in 2004 and had links to slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his successor Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.

He also was linked to the assassinations of many U.S.-allied Sunni leaders who turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, one of the key factors in a sharp drop in violence over the past year.

“The removal of Hajji Hammadi from the AQI (al-Qaida in Iraq) network is yet another significant blow to the terrorist organization,” Brig. Gen. David Perkins said

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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All in a day’s work. Our guys are wiping up the ground with terrorists, targeting a key al-Qaeda honcho who trained others to kill indiscriminately.

Breitbart.com has the story here:

A major Al-Qaeda operative of Arab origin was among six militants killed overnight in a suspected US missile strike in northwest Pakistan, a senior security official told AFP Wednesday.
Security sources identified the militant as Abdullah Azam al-Saudi, a senior member in Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.

“He was a senior commander of Al-Qaeda and was involved in recruiting and training of fighters,” the senior official said.

According to US intelligence shared with Pakistan, al-Saudi was the main link between Al-Qaeda’s senior command and Taliban networks in the Pakistani border region, an Islamabad-based senior security official said.

“He was the man coordinating between Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders on this side of the border, and also involved in recruiting and training fighters,” the official told AFP.

He is the second high-profile Al-Qaeda operative killed in recent US missile strikes in Pakistan’s rugged tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Egyptian Al-Qaeda operative Abu Jihad al-Masri, described by the US as Al-Qaeda’s propaganda chief, was killed in a missile strike in Pakistan in the early hours of November 1.

He was among several rebels killed when two missiles fired by a suspected US spy drone hit a truck in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, security officials said.