Orders of New Body Armor Halted!

Marines Call New Body Armor Heavy, Impractical

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

By Jennifer Griffin – Fox News

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Pentagon and Marine Corps authorized the purchase of 84,000 bulletproof vests in 2006 that not only are too heavy but are so impractical that some U.S. Marines are asking for their old vests back so they can remain agile enough to fight.

Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway wants to know who authorized the costly purchase of the nearly 30-pound flak jackets and has ordered the Marine procurement officers at the Quantico base in Virginia to halt the rest of an unfilled order, FOX News has learned.

[Oh… I don’t know…  But, I think I would start with those bastard Politicians who killed the “Dragon Skin” vests in favor of these cumbersome POS flak jackets. Yup, follow that money trail straight back to those lard butt Congressmen who were greased by special interest Lobbyists…]

“I’m not quite sure how we got to where we are, but what I do know is it is not a winner,” Conway told FOX News at the end of his recent trip to Iraq.

“I think it is foolish to buy more.”

Twenty-four thousand more vests were scheduled to be shipped to Iraq in the coming months, but Conway halted that order during his trip.

“I’ve asked them to tell me — to walk me through — the whole process … how it evolved,” Conway said.

“It goes back a couple of years. I think the vest has its advantages. It fits pretty well on the waist. The weight is distributed more evenly on the hips than shoulders, but Marines don’t like it. I didn’t like it when I put it on.”

The protective jackets, manufactured by Protective Products International in Sunrise, Fla., are known as Modular Tactical Vests, or MTVs. With heavy plates, known as sappis, on their sides, they provide more coverage than the older vests. That makes them much safer but also much heavier. The MTVs have more protection than the older “Interceptor,” made by Point Blank, and they distribute weight more evenly.

The new vests, weighing in at about 30 pounds each, are three lbs. more than previous regulation body armor. Marines, who are already carrying up to 95 lbs. depending on the mission, say they feel the difference.

The vest slips over the head, but one Marine said that because of its weight, it often rips the skin off one’s nose and scrapes the ears.

Stop Means F***ing STOP!!!

Warner’s comments, submitted along with the article, are in blue:

I can feel a Cornelia Rau moment coming on..

Milk it for all it’s worth arseholes

And always do what the man with the gun says:

.

Lamyaa al-Saadi with her son Ahmed in Brisbane. The Iraqi family is suing Australia over an army shooting in Baghdad . Picture: Patrick Hamilton

Family shot by Diggers sues government

Michael McKenna | February 28, 2008-The Australian

THE al-Saadis are the tragic face of Australia ‘s involvement in Iraq .

A Baghdad middle-class family, they lived only streets away from Australia ‘s embassy in the war-torn Iraqi capital.

Their lives changed in the instant a Digger turned his gun sights on them as they drove home from dinner with relatives in the early evening of February 26, 2005.

The Australian army claimed the red 1984 Volkswagen, driven by shop owner Nezar al-Saadi, and crowded with his wife, Lamyaa, their three young children and a teenage nephew, was “suspicious” and failed to respond to “repeated requests to stop”.

Mr Saadi says he pulled up as soon as he saw the four Diggers, two on each side of the street that led to their modest home in the suburb of al-Jederia.

What is not contested is the carnage that followed when one of the Australian soldiers sprayed the car with gunfire.

Ms Saadi lost the sight in her left eye, suffered skull and jaw fractures, hearing loss and scarring to her face. Her son Ahmed, then aged 8, was blinded in his right eye.

Mr Saadi and the remaining children survived with lacerations but, like his wife and second-youngest boy, they still suffer mentally from their ordeal.

Three years to the day since the shooting, the family on Tuesday lodged a landmark civil action for compensation in Queensland – where they have been living since September on a special medical treatment visa offered unsolicited to them last year by the Howard government.

The civil action is believed to be the first case of its kind against the Australian Government, and will test the assertion by Chief of the Defence Force Angus Houston that the commonwealth is not “legally liable” for injuries inflicted in ADF military operations. It will also raise questions about the failure of the government to provide the family with appropriate and ongoing medical and psychological treatment.

Israeli Father of four, Killed by Kassam Rocket Launched from Gaza

Since CNN probably won’t be reporting on this, I thought I’d bring it to your attention:

Father of four killed by Kassam

By Stan Goodenough
February 27, 2008 – JNewsWire

An 47-year-old Israeli, father of four, was killed Wednesday when Gaza’s Palestinian Arabs launched a barrage of Kassam rockets at the Negev town of Sderot.

Roni Yehieh was sitting in his car in a college parking lot when one of more than 22 rockets that were fired in salvoes through the morning exploded nearby, lethally peppering his chest with shrapnel.

Several other people were wounded in the attacks, with one missile scoring a direct hit on a house and another slamming into a factory shortly after the area had been vacated.

Later in the day, after seven casualties had been evacuated to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital a Kassam hit the grounds of the medical facility.

By early Wednesday evening, more than 30 rockets had been fired from the Strip, which has been turned into a massive terrorist training and launching camp since Israel abandoned Gaza in 2005.

Islam and Pedophilia

While checking into the age of Aisha when she was forced to marry Muhammad (for some reason, I thought five, but Warner was right, she was six), I came across the following scholarly posting on Answers.Yahoo.com that just had me floored!  All I could say was, “Eeeeewwww, you sick, sick, sick, bastards…”

—————————-
Question from Macy:

“Muslims did Mohammad sleep with Aisha when she was 9 years old?”

Additional Details

Sahih Bukhari Book 58, Number 236:
“Narrated Hisham’s father:
Khadija died three years before the Prophet departed to Medina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married ‘Aisha when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consumed [sic] that marriage when she was nine years old. ”

–  Doesn’t consumated mean he slept with her?
–  Which one says that she was 16?
—————————-
Best Answer – Chosen by Voters
Pedophilia laws from //http://www.islamic-fatwa.net

[RE:] Question 1809

After the permanent committee for the scientific research and fatwahs (religious decrees) reviewed the question forwarded by the grand scholar of the committee with reference number 1809 issued on 3/5/1453 and 7/5/1421 (Islamic calendar)

Question: ‘It has become widespread these days, and especially during weddings, the habit of mufa’khathat of the children. (mufa’khathat – literally translated, it means “placing between the thighs” which means placing the male member between the thighs of a child).

What is the opinion of scholars, knowing full well that the prophet, the peace of Allah be upon him, also practiced the “thighing” of Aisha – the mother of believers – may Allah be pleased with her ?

Answer: After studying the issue, the committee has answered as follows:

As for the prophet, his thighing his fiancée Aisha when she was six years of age and not able to consummate the relationship was due to her small age. That is why the Prophet used to place his male member between her thighs and massage it, as the prophet had control of his male member not like other men.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, The Supreme Leader of Iran, the Shia Grand Ayatollah, 1979-89 said in his official statements:

“A man can quench his sexual lusts with a child as young as a baby. However, he should not penetrate. Sodomizing the baby is halal (allowed by sharia). If the man penetrates and damages the child, then he should be responsible for her subsistence all her life. This girl, however, does not count as one of his four permanent wives. The man will not be eligible to marry the girl’s sister. It is better for a girl to marry when her menstruation starts, and at her husband’s house rather than her father’s home. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven.”

Khomeini, “Tahrirolvasyleh” fourth volume, Darol Elm, Gom, Iran, 1990

“It is not illegal for an adult male to ‘thigh’ or enjoy a young girl who is still in the age of weaning; meaning to place his penis between her thighs, and to kiss her.”

Ayatu Allah Al Khumaini’s “Tahrir Al wasila” p. 241, issue number 12

“Young boys or girls in full sexual effervescence are kept from getting married before they reach the legal age of majority. This is against the intention of divine laws. Why should the marriage of pubescent girls and boys be forbidden because they are still minors, when they are allowed to listen to the radio and to sexually arousing music?”

“The Little Green Book” “Sayings of the Ayatollah Khomeini”, Bantam Books

Bush Names U.S. Envoy to Islamists

I was going to post my take on this development, but JoshuaPundit’s Freedom Fighter said it so much better than I. So, after deleting my original post, I present to you Freedom Fighter’s take on the situation:

Bush Names US Envoy To Islamists

Eight months ago,in the midst of trying to shove amnesty for illegal aliens down America’s collective throat,President Bush took some time off to participate in ceremonies honoring a Saudi funded wahabist outpost within spitting distance of the White House, the Islamic Center of Washington D.C.

While he was there, the president made an extraordinary promise to appoint a US envoy to one of the world’s most bigoted groups, the Organization of the Islamic Conference “to listen and to learn from them” in the words of the current occupant of the White House.

President Bush has finally named an official envoy, a Texas businessman named Sada Cumber whom I believe is Pakistani in origin (degrees from the University of Karachi). He’s in the high tech industry, the CEO of SozoTek, a wireless imaging company.

Mr. Cumber aside,the implications of the US naming such an envoy are astounding.

For those of you not familiar with the OIC, let’s revisit a few highlights:

• The conference is the place where Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed received a standing ovation for a keynote speech delivered on October 16th, 2003 that was nothing less than a declaration of jihad against the west. In it he declared that `Jews run the world’ and essentially said in so many words that the destruction of Israel was a goal towards a larger pan-Islamic caliphate, and that essentially, the US and Europe will only accept Islam as their master after their current masters, the Jews, are destroyed.

• In 2004, just after the massacre of children at Beslan, the OIC famously defined Islamic terrorism as `legitimate resistance’ and refused to cooperate with the UN in condemning it.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

“Third-Eye Blind” Reportedly Vows Revenge for Killing of Abu Laith al-Libi

As Leatherneck likes to say, “BZO or die!”

Al-Qaida No. 2 reportedly vows revenge
Video focuses on death of extremist Abu Laith al-Libi in Pakistan

MSNBC News Services

DUBAI – In a video posted on the Internet on Wednesday, al-Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, purportedly vowed revenge for the killing of a top group commander in a suspected U.S. attack in Pakistan.

“No chief of ours had died of a natural death, nor has our blood been spilled without a response,” Zawahri said in the video posted on an Islamist Web site, referring to the killing of Abu Laith al-Libi.

Libi, considered as one of Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenants in Afghanistan, was killed in an suspected U.S. missile strike that killed up to 13 foreign militants in Pakistan’s North Waziristan border area in late January.

“If one of our chiefs passes, another arises in his place,” Zawahri said, without making a specific threat.

“So seek help O Americans and agents of Americans … from those seeking a way out … They will be of no help to you,” he said, referring to Muslim clerics who have criticized jihadist militants.

Al Qaeda Issues Fatwa Against Geert Wilders

Well, we knew it was coming sooner or later…  Yup, Islam is a religion of peace…  Not!

Al Qaeda Fatwa against MP Wilders AMSTERDAM, 28/02/08 – NISNews – The terrorist network Al-Qaeda has given orders for the assassination of MP Geert Wilders, newspaper De Telegraaf reports. The Party for Freedom (PVV) leader must be ‘slaughtered’, the orders say, because he has insulted Islam and the prophet Mohammed.

The newspaper based its report on a recent message on a protected web forum of internet site al-ekhlaas.net, which De Telegraaf claims is affiliated with Al-Qaeda. The internet threat, which was posted on 28 January, was intercepted by the American research institute SITE Intelligence Group, the newspaper reports.

“In the name of Allah, we ask you to bring us the neck of this unbeliever who insults Islam and the Muslims and ridicules the prophet Mohammed,” the site says about Wilders, according to the newspaper.

The message honours Mohammed Bouyeri as a hero. This Amsterdam-born Moroccan Muslim cut Islam-critic Theo van Gogh’s throat on 2 November 2004. The message also appeals for readers to “terrorise” the Netherlands to prevent Wilders’ controversial film on the Koran from being broadcast.

Wilders says his film is finished, and only still needs to be edited. He will try to show the film via an official broadcaster. He expects the negotiations to last between several days and several weeks.

Wilders has set up a separate website where his Koran film will be shown in any event. The host of this site, http://www.fitnathemovie.com, is located in the United States. Wilders also plans to put the film on the YouTube website.

The film takes place within the Koran, Wilders earlier explained, with the book opening and showing the viewer images of atrocities allegedly inspired by the verses. It lasts about 15 minutes and ends with a picture of the prophet Mohammed, to which “something happens”, he added.

IAEA’s Iran Report Flawed

For those of us who keep a close eye on nuclear proliferation, the following analysis raises more than just a couple red flags concerning the IAEA’s whitewashing of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.  So, if you’ve got some time on your hands, I submit the following for your perusal:

Holes and Questions In The IAEA’s Iran Report

By Steve Schippert | February 28, 2008 – ThreatsWatch.org

While Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hails the latest IAEA report on the Iranian nuclear weapons program as another “great victory” against the United States and the West, significant holes and questions remain. On several “outstanding questions” the IAEA had on the Iranian program, the UN nuclear watchdog agency’s Director ElBaradei was satisfied with the Iranian response. But even some of those seemingly settled issues raise significant questions from within themselves. And a gaping hole remains in the form of indications of the “administrative interconnections” among the Iranian enrichment program, high explosives testing and missile re-entry design programs as well as “their possible link to nuclear material.”

These interconnections are extremely significant, so much so that they individually and cumulatively render any and all previous questions – described in the latest IAEA report as “no longer outstanding at this stage” – moot points. As was clearly stated in the aftermath of the December National Intelligence Estimate which stated that “in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program,” there are three components to a nuclear weapons program: enrichment, warhead design, and delivery systems.

If these three programs are not only in existence but “administratively interconnected,” as the IAEA report indicates, little comfort can be drawn from questions settled to Mohamed ElBaradei’s satisfaction on Polonium-210, a uranium mine, procurement activities and equipment contamination. To do so would be an inability or unwillingness to see the forest for the trees.

The following paragraphs will analyze the IAEA report and the issues it addresses as well as the questions that arise or remain unsatisfactorily addressed. The analysis will proceed in the topical order addressed by the IAEA report of February 22, 2008.

Violent Jihad the Duty of All Muslims

Warner sent us this interesting news tidbit from down under.  Note how the defense tries to use the same old tired moral equivalency arguments, comparing Christianity with Islam in an attempt to justify bad behavior…   

Leader Benbrika no terrorist, Melbourne court told
Norrie Ross
February 27, 2008 Herald Sun AU

VIOLENT language used by members of an alleged Muslim terror cell was no worse than would be found in the Bible, a Supreme Court jury heard today.

If the violent language is supposedly the same, then why don’t we have large groups of Christians strapping bombs to their chests and blowing up innocent men, women, and children???

It was a reaction to their frustration at events in the Middle East and derived from their cultural background and the Muslim literature they read.

Hey, I’m pretty frustrated at what’s going on with events in the Middle East, too.  But, you don’t see me going out and killing anyone…

Remy van de Wiel QC said his client, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, made no secret that he believed it was the duty of all Muslims to engage in jihad if the “prerequisites” were right.

It was no different, Mr van de Wiel said, to a Christian saying that if a member of their religion was oppressed, or the religion was oppressed it was their duty to stand up and fight for them.

Uhm…  Where exactly is that in the Bible?  I don’t recall anything like that in the Christian Scripture (New Testament)…  But, I do recall “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” and, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

Mr van de Wiel told the jury they might be shocked by what they heard in secretly-taped conversations between the 12 Melbourne men who are on trial for a variety of terrorist offences.

They were frustrated at events in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and other Islamic countries and fearful about the possible effects on innocent Muslims of anti-terror laws passed in Australia.

Mr van de Wiel said the Bible was full of violent language that called on Christians to put homosexuals and adulterers to death, to disregard heathen judges and threatened plagues on unbelievers.

Uhm, again, where exactly is that in the New Testament?  This guy is an idiot…

Wednesday’s Flight 93 Memorial Blogburst

Alec says he is keeping it simple this week with this nifty PDF flyer you can print up and hand out to spread the word:

Click thumbnail to view high rez flyer (300dpi). Fits letter size paper. Suitable for flyering your town or campus.