Coalition Forces Kill Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, a Senior Taliban Leader and Close Associate of Osama bin Laden

Afghanistan
Saturday, December 23, 2006

A coalition air strike Dec. 19 in Afghanistan’s Helmand province killed a senior member of the Taliban’s inner circle, military officials reported today.

Credible intelligence led coalition forces to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani’s location near the border with Pakistan, officials said. His vehicle, traveling in a deserted area, was destroyed by the air strike, instantly killing him and two unidentified associates.

"Osmani was in the top ring of the Taliban leadership and he was also a close associate of Osama bin Laden and Gulbuddin Hekmatyr," said Army Col. Tom Collins, a coalition spokesman. "His death is a major achievement in the fight against extremists and their terrorist networks."

Osmani was the Taliban’s chief of military operations in the provinces of Uruzgan, Nimroz, Kandahar, Farah, Herat and Helmand. He played a central role in facilitating terrorist operations involving Taliban, al Qaeda and the Haqqani network, including roadside bomb and suicide attacks, kidnappings, numerous atrocities against innocent civilians, and direct attacks on coalition, NATO and Afghan forces, Collins said.

In other news from Afghanistan, Afghan security forces with coalition forces captured five suspected terrorists today during an operation in Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, east of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Credible information led to the capture of the primary suspect, a known roadside bomb facilitator with ties to al Qaeda and other militant groups operating against the Afghan government and international forces, officials said.

There were no reported injuries to civilians, Afghan or coalition forces.
(Taken from a news article by DoD - American Forces Press Service)

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay - Allahu Akbar...

Panel says U.S. Must Tighten Port Security

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A panel of government and business leaders, acting on behalf of the country's 361 commercial ports, called for new federal laws to ensure all cargo is inspected and said every regulated port should implement a risk-management plan... Security officials fear any of the millions of shipping containers that arrive in U.S. ports each year could be used to conceal weapons such as a nuclear bomb...
Read the rest of the story at MonstersAndCritics.com

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Now... I understand the need to want to inspect all those containers coming into our ports from overseas. And I really think we need to find a way to make sure they are checked long before they get to the shores of our great country.
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I did a post on this many months back and I still get the heebie-jeebies thinking about it. Here’s the way I vision a nuke going off in this country.
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I visualize a high-level terrorist... sitting on the dock of a bay somewhere in the USA... waiting on his ship to come in. When his ship moves in to port... he starts chanting Allahu Akbar... Allahu Akbar... Allahu Akbar... Allahu Akbar... Allahu Akbar–- then he stands up... pumping his fist into the air and shouts at the top of his lungs one more time... Allahu Akbar. Then he pushes a button......

BOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(CLICK on Video)

And our beloved country goes into shock and mourning like never before.

AubreyJ.........

DoD Identifies Marine Casualties

No. 1309-06 December 22, 2006
DoD Identifies Marine Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Killed were:
Lance Cpl. Ryan J. Burgess, 21, of Sanford, Mich.
Lance Cpl. Ryan L. Mayhan, 25, of Hawthorne, Calif.

Burgess and Mayhan died December 21st while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. They were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.
For further information about these Marines, please call the Twentynine Palms public affairs office at (760) 830-3760.

Space Shuttle Discovery Should Be Landing Today

Landing day has arrived for the Space Shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts. Seven opportunities are available today, with the first at 3:56 p.m. EST at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. All three shuttle landing sites will be activated today due to unfavorable weather forecasts at Kennedy and Edwards Air Force Base in California. Weather is forecast to be favorable at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

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The last opportunity at Kennedy is at 5:32 p.m. Three exist at Edwards – 5:27 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:36 p.m. Two are available at White Sands – 5:27 p.m. and 7:02 p.m. Landing opportunities also are available Saturday at all three sites.
(Info taken from NASA.gov)
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Read the latest updates on Flight and Landing HERE

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If you have time to do so...
Watch the Landing LIVE

at NASA TELEVISION

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Click HERE to find your preferred Video Player
(It will be under... “Watch NASA TV NOW”)

I like watching it in Windows Full Screen...

ENJOY!!!
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Update:
STS-116 Space Shuttle Discovery landed safely at 5:32 p.m. EST at Kennedy Space Center, bringing another successful mission to the International Space Station to an end.

Welcome home and Job well done!!!

AubryeJ.........

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

No. 1308-06 December 22, 2006
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Scott D. Dykman, 27, of Helena, Mont., died December 20th in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered from an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.
For further information related to this release, contact the Alaska U.S. Army public affairs office at (907) 384-6666.

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

No. 1307-06 December 22, 2006
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Robert J. Volker, 21, of Big Spring, Texas, died December 20th in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.For further information related to this release, contact the Fort Hood public affairs office at (254) 289-3883.

Soldiers Missing in Action from Vietnam War are Identified

No. 1306-06 December 22, 2006
Soldiers Missing in Action from Vietnam War are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are:
Maj. Frederick J. Ransbottom of Oklahoma City, Okla.
Staff Sgt. William E. Skivington Jr. of Las Vegas, Nev.
... Both U.S. Army.

Ransbottom will be buried in Edmond, Okla. on Jan. 13, and Skivington will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., on Jan. 23.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

On May 12, 1968, North Vietnamese forces overran the Kham Duc Special Forces camp and its surrounding observation posts in Quang Nam-Da Nang Province (formerly Quang Tin Province), South Vietnam. Ransbottom and Skivington were two of the 17 U.S. servicemen unaccounted-for after the survivors evacuated the camp. Search and recovery efforts at the site in 1970 succeeded in recovering remains of five of the 17 men. A sixth man was returned alive during Operation Homecoming in 1973 after having been captured and held prisoner of war by the North Vietnamese.

Between 1993 and 2006, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted eight investigations and four excavations in the vicinity of the camp site. The team interviewed former North Vietnamese officers and soldiers who participated in the battle. Some recalled seeing the bodies of U.S. servicemen near one of the observation posts, and U.S. eyewitness accounts placed Ransbottom and Skivington near the post.

During an excavation conducted in 1998, two U.S. servicemen who survived the battle accompanied JPAC to help locate the observation posts, but found no evidence of human remains. Later excavations conducted in the area yielded human remains, identification media and personal effects for Ransbottom, Skivington and several other soldiers.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

Interview by Tom McLaughlin with Captain Charlie Benbow USMC

Here’s a little taste of how the interview went...

Tom:
How is the morale of the Marines you serve with? Do they feel the support of their country?

Captain Benbow:

“The morale is very high, but the Marines are starting to wonder what the changes in Congress and the Secretary of Defense will mean for the war effort. Most of us feel the support of the average American, but are very skeptical of the media and the political leadership. There is almost a sense that the latter two are working against us.”
Read the interview in full at Tom McLaughlin

Very good interview, Tom... but most of all I’d like to thank Captain Benbow for his service to this great country of ours. Merry Christmas to both...
AubreyJ.........

(Special thanks to our friends at U.S. Central Command, Public Affairs - Capt. Anthony Deiss - Sgt. Eric Jensen - Spc. Chris Erickson for the heads-up)