Yon: Afghan Quicksand Awaits Obama

Michael Yon on one of the biggest problems the new president will have to face: Afghan Quicksand Awaits Obama.

President-elect Obama says he is serious about Afghanistan. (Just don’t fumble Iraq, please.) As he must be learning in intelligence briefings, it’s going to be tough stuff. It will be like solving a human Rubik’s Cube during a firefight while the media screams every time you make a wrong move — or what is perceived as a wrong move — and there is a clock ticking and at some unknown point the Cube self-destructs.

Maybe his recent training in the combat of a two-year election cycle will have toughened him up for the international challenges ahead.

Maybe.

(hat Tip:Nancy)

LiveLeak.com – Insurgent Deaths by Apache 30mm and Hellfire

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Light up these bastards!

Terror Attack Destroys Marriott Hotel, Kills At Least 40

A gigantic truck bomb has destroyed the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least 40 people including one member of the US military.

A massive truck bomb destroyed much of Islamabad’s most popular hotel this evening, killing at least 40 people, wounding at least 100 and leaving a crater more than 25 feet deep. Officials feared the death toll would increase by dozens as rescue teams continue work at the scene.

At approximately 8 p.m. local time, an apparent suicide bomber blew himself up as his vehicle was being checked at the security gate of the luxury Marriott Hotel. The bomb was felt as far as 15 miles away. Within 500 feet of the blast, buildings and trees were shredded by the bomb, which was believed to be the biggest in Islamabad’s history.

In the minutes after the blast, dozens of dead bodies littered what used to be the lobby of the hotel. Between the entrance and the security checkpoint, about 50 feet away, there were mounds of rubble under which more dead are feared to be buried.

At least one member of the U.S. miltary was missing at the scene of the blast and presumed dead. Other U.S. military members eating at the hotel’s restaurant sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

(Hat tip:Chas@LGF)

White Muslim convert arrested over ‘Gordon Brown assassination plot’

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2626446/White-Muslim-convert-arrested-over-Gordon-Brown-assassination-plot.html
 
 
The 25-year-old man was arrested at a flat in the Whalley Range area of Blackburn, Lancs, shortly before 7am on Tuesday.
He is believed to be a friend of two other men arrested by counter-terrorism officers at Manchester Airport on August 14.
The pair, who had been about to board a flight to Finland, live less than 100 yards from the home of the suspect held on Tuesday.
A fourth suspect, also from Blackburn, was arrested in Church, near Accrington, shortly after the arrests at Manchester Airport.
All four men are being questioned about a posting on an Arabic website that often carries messages from senior members of al-Qaeda.
The message, written in English, allegedly included a threat to target “all the political leaders, especially Tony Blair and Gordan (sic) Brown”.
It appeared only briefly on January 24 and purported to have been written by Shaykh Umar Rabie al-Khalaila, who described himself as “the leader of al-Qaeda in Britain”.
The latest man to be arrested changed his name when he converted to Islam four years ago.

(Hat tip:bweep)

Taliban Multiple Suicide Bomber Attack

Following the resignation of Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan, Taliban terrorists launched coordinated attacks with multiple suicide bombers on US and French forces: Taliban Forces Kill 10 French Soldiers and Raid U.S. Base.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents mounted their most serious attacks in six years of fighting, one a complex attack with multiple suicide bombers on an American military base on Monday night, and another by some 100 insurgents on French forces in a district east of the capital, killing 10 French soldiers and wounding 21 others, military officials said Tuesday.

Three American soldiers were wounded and six members of the Afghan special forces in the attack on the base in the eastern province of Khost, bordering Pakistan, the Afghan military spokesman, Gen. Zaher Azimi, said. The battle lasted all night, 10 suicide bombers were killed or blew themselves up, and the insurgents were repulsed without entering the base, he said.