Mansour Dadullah Captured

Great news on the Afghan front as Mansour Dadullah has been captured. Dadullah took over for his brother as chief terrorist in charge in Afghanistan after the other Dadullah got taken out by our forces. What makes this catch especially strong is that it occurred during the ongoing debate in NATO about supporting the effort in Afghanistan. I'm sure this will only help secure and reaffirm the effort. It's interesting to note as well that he was taken in Pakistan. That's even better yet as I'm sure the Pakistanis will have no problems harshly interrogating Dadullah. It also raises a stronger possibility that al-Qaeda and the Taliban had jointly assassinated Benazir Bhutto. It's also important to note that Dadullah is pretty close with bin Laden as well as Taliban leaders. I hope the Pakistanis milk him for all the information he has that can help the Afghans, the Pakistanis, and the NATO alliance in the fight against global radical Islamic extremism. Very good news indeed.

-Caomhin

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The Dire Situation in Pakistan

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan may well send the nuclear armed nation into a Civil War. Though no one has been confirmed as the group responsible for the assassination of the the former Prime Minister, the chief suspect is al-Qaeda. Suspicion will surround Pervez Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif as well as the Taliban and other groups, but it is al-Qaeda who will most likely, ultimately, be proven to be the group that ended Bhutto's life. Bhutto had twice been removed as Prime Minster due to corruption charges, which had since been dropped upon her deal with Musharraf in order to return from Exile in October. She had returned to Pakistan in order to prepare for the January elections, challenging Musharraf and Sharif for control of the nation, but she did so under great threats against her well being. Bhutto knew her life was on the line, but did not care, she returned to her homeland in order make a push for Democracy and lead her nation. Extremism has long been on the rise in Pakistan, with Musharraf being forced to broker deals with Taliban controlled areas of Waziristan, while forcefully taking on militants during the Red Mosque situations. While Musharraf was a sometimes ally, sometimes foe of both the United States and the militants, it was clear that Bhutto's position was that of a more hard line stance against the Islamic Jihadis who despise all things Democratic and free human life. Bhutto died a patriot for her nation, and hopefully, will cause a rallying cry against jihadist bloodlust and for the cause of democracy. This tragedy could be the start of something positive for the troubled nation.

However, remember that Pakistan is nuclear armed, and al-Qaeda is salivating at the prospects of being able to acquire such weapons. The National Terror Alert Response Center ran an article on the 17th in regards to the possibility that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri may be in Pakistan and trying to obtain nuclear weapons. That was 10 days before the assassination of Bhutto. You should also keep in mind that al-Qaeda had assassinated Ahmed Shah Massoud the day before 9/11, something that makes me very uneasy about this situation. The Global Security website has a history of the Pakistani nuclear weapons program that is definitely worth the read. Among other issues that I have with Musharraf was his pardoning of Abdul Qadeer Kahn, the nuclear scientist who sold weapons secrets to any and all buyers and may have helped numerous dangerous regimes and terrorist networks learn the workings and provide a means to make, nuclear weapons.

-Caomhin

CIA Tapes: Manufactured Outrage

It's not really that shocking that the issue over the destruction of the tapes of interrogation processes is manufactured by the left. Please Michelle Malkin's excellent post in regards to what the Democrats knew and WHEN they knew it. Basically, they knew the tapes existed and were destroyed long before this story became the big rage among leftist media. If the issue is over waterboarding, it has also been long since revealed that waterboarding was only used on three suspects since the War on Terror began and has not been used since 2003. Ed, over at Captain's Quarters has another great post on this issue, in which this information is disclosed. However, an article by David Frum that is being overlooked is available at National Review and relays information and very intriguing possibility put forth by Gerald Posner. Here's a sample:

Zubaydah, wounded when he was captured in Pakistan, was fooled in a fake flag operation to believe that the Saudis held him. Instead of being afraid of the ‘Saudis,’ he demanded to talk to three Saudi princes (one, the nephew of the King, who happened to be in the U.S. on 9/11). He gave his interrogators the private cell phone numbers of all 3. He did the same regarding the chief of Pakistan's air force.

After the U.S. told the Saudis and Pakistanis of Zubaydah's finger pointing, all four men had tragic 'accidents.' The King's nephew died of complications from liposuction at the age of 43. A day later, the 41 year old Prince named by Zubaydah died in a one-car accident on his way to the funeral of the King’s nephew. The third named prince, age 25, died a week later of "thirst," according to the Saudi Royal Court. And shortly after that, the chief of Pakistan’s air force died when his plane exploded with his wife and 15 of his top aides on board.

Very interesting read and one definitely worth a full read. So what he have is a situation where even the idea of destroying the tapes was presented to top Democrats in Congress and were kept in the loop on the happenings of the tapes. The outrage now is purely political in regards not only to the issue, but of the timing. However, if Posner is right, it opens a Pandora's Box of issues in regards to just who our allies are in the Middle East.

-Caomhin