Archive for December, 2010

Wikileaks – U.S. government is deeply concerned that terrorist organizations are gaining a foothold in Latin America

The U.S. government is deeply concerned Iran and the Hezbollah terrorist organizations are gaining a foothold in Latin America, according to classified documents released by WikiLeaks and reviewed by WND.

Among the concerns is that Iranian-backed militants may attempt to infiltrate the U.S. or use Latin America as a staging ground for anti-American attacks, it has emerged.

Also, the U.S. caught Iran shipping explosives and attempting to ship unmanned aerial vehicles to Venezuela, the cables revealed.

“Washington analysts assess that Tehran is reaching out to Latin American countries in order to reduce its diplomatic isolation and increase ties to leftist countries in the region that Tehran perceives may share its anti-U.S. agenda,” read a cable from the State Department. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s office posed a number of questions for responses from “Iran watchers and the Iran Regional Presence Office.”

WND reported in May 2010 that hundreds of illegal aliens from countries known to support and sponsor terrorism were sneaking across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The report cited documentation of illegal aliens from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen. Other illegals were from Armenia, Bosnia, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Botswana and Turkey.

Based on U.S. Border Patrol statistics, there were
30,147 [illegals other than Mexicans] apprehended in fiscal year 2003;
44, 614 in fiscal year 2004;
165,178 in fiscal year 2005; and
108,025 in fiscal year 2006.

Most were caught along the U.S. Southwest border.”

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=235325

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Admiral Yamamoto’s warning

“You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”

Admiral Yamamoto to Prime Minister Tojo, During World War II

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The Final Weapon

The purpose of fighting is to win.

There is no possible victory in defense.

The sword is more important than the shield,

and skill is more important than either.

The final weapon is the brain.

All else is supplemental.

-source unknown

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US Navy Electromagnetic Railgun

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Barrett MRAD Precision Rifle

Barrett MRAD Precision Rifle

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New Surefire Hi-Cap Mags for M4/M16/AR15

Press Release:

New SureFire® Hi-Cap Magazines to Provide Firepower Advantages in Combat

60 Round Surefire Hi-Cap Mag

60 Round Surefire HiCap Mag

Fountain Valley, CA — SureFire, LLC, manufacturer of high-end illumination tools and tactical products, is proud to announce the release of its hi-capacity 60- and 100-round (STANAG 4179) aluminum magazines for .223/5.56mm NATO M4/M16/AR15-style firearms. These new high-cap magazines (HCMs)—dubbed the MAG5-60 and MAG5-100—are designed to provide military units with an overwhelming tactical advantage in the delivery of firepower.

“In the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ambushes are commonplace, and the outcome is often determined in the first 30 seconds,” said Don Alexander, SureFire’s Director of Military Sales and retired Special Forces operator with six combat tours. “Firepower and the ability to stay in the fight are key. These magazines will reduce soldier vulnerability by keeping them in the fight for longer periods of time, with less downtime spent on reloads.”

In battle, it typically takes the average soldier four seconds to reload his weapon and reacquire a target, valuable time that could be spent engaging threat targets. At best, 30-round magazines allow a soldier to fire no more than 150 rounds in 30 seconds. SureFire’s 60-round high-cap magazine increases that figure to 240 rounds; its 100-rounder to 293 rounds. And both will support military units planning to incorporate full-auto firepower to more of their operators.

100 Round Surefire Hi-Cap Mag

100 Round Surefire Hi-Cap Mag

SureFire HCMs easily and securely fit into the host weapon, with the bolt closed, when loaded with the maximum round count. The design of the magazine takes into account the allowable tolerances of cartridges manufactured to NATO and SAAMI specifications. A 4×2 quad-stack configuration features a revolutionary internal spring and follower system designed to be more reliable than current standard MILSPEC USGI 30-round magazines. This proprietary internal design also allows SureFire HCMs to be stored indefinitely while fully loaded, in preparation for deployment, which means individual units can be issued ammo supply crates with pre-loaded magazines instead of empty mags and ammo cans, another potential lifesaving benefit in critical-response situations.

The MAG5-60 will fit into most nylon pouches with Velcro® cover flaps intended to hold two standard 30-round magazines, but double magazine pouches with stitched partitions may require some alteration. Both the 60- and 100-round HCMs can be disassembled for periodic cleaning or as required. The magazine floor plate can be easily removed from the body using a punch, the tip of a cartridge, or a variety of common tools.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Para Tactical Target Rifle

Para TTR Videos

Todd Jarrett

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Army’s Long-term Camo Strategy

From: Soldier Systems Daily

Army Camo Plan

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Everything You Need to Know About Wikileaks

Reasonably fair assesment of what Wikileaks is and what is has obtained and distributed.

From: MIT

Everything You Need to Know About Wikileaks
Two experts lay out the facts surrounding the controversy.

* Thursday, December 9, 2010

* By Jonathan Zittrain and Molly Sauter

What is Wikileaks?

Wikileaks is a self-described “not-for-profit media organization,” launched in 2006 for the purposes of disseminating original documents from anonymous sources and leakers. Its website says: “Wikileaks will accept restricted or censored material of political, ethical, diplomatic or historical significance. We do not accept rumor, opinion, other kinds of first hand accounts or material that is publicly available elsewhere.”

More-detailed information about the history of the organization can be found on Wikipedia (with all the caveats that apply to a rapidly changing Wiki topic). Wikipedia incidentally has nothing to do with Wikileaks—both share the word “Wiki” in the title, but they’re not affiliated.

the rest

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Terrorism Hits Sweden

A Muslim terrorist blew himself up in a Swedish shopping center yesterday.

Here is the Reuters report.

TT said the letter promised attacks over Sweden’s presence in Afghanistan, where it has 500 troops with the U.S.-led NATO force, and the cartoons drawn three years ago by Lars Vilks.

Vilks, the target of several attacks, told Reuters Television he was safe and was getting used to being a target.

“Sweden is panicking of course because this has never been the case before that you have an act of terrorism directed toward the public, and this will of course create fear in Sweden,” he said in an interview.

Now we will see the resolve of the Swedish government. Will they bow to a culture stuck in the 5th century or will they double their efforts to eradicate the enemy.

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China and its Double-edged Cyber-sword

China and its Double-edged Cyber-sword is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

By Sean Noonan

A recent batch of WikiLeaks cables led Der Spiegel and The New York Times to print front-page stories on China’s cyber-espionage capabilities Dec. 4 and 5. While China’s offensive capabilities on the Internet are widely recognized, the country is discovering the other edge of the sword.

China is no doubt facing a paradox as it tries to manipulate and confront the growing capabilities of Internet users. Recent arrests of Chinese hackers and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) pronouncements suggest that China fears that its own computer experts, nationalist hackers and social media could turn against the government. While the exact cause of Beijing’s new focus on network security is unclear, it comes at a time when other countries are developing their own defenses against cyber attacks and hot topics like Stuxnet and WikiLeaks are generating new concerns about Internet security.

One of the U.S. State Department cables released by WikiLeaks focuses on the Chinese-based cyber attack on Google’s servers that became public in January 2010. According to a State Department source mentioned in one of the cables, Li Changchun, the fifth highest-ranking member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the Party’s Propaganda Department, was concerned about the information he could find on himself through Google’s search engine. He also reportedly ordered the attack on Google. This is single-source information, and since the cables WikiLeaks released do not include the U.S. intelligence community’s actual analysis of the source, we cannot vouch for its accuracy. What it does appear to verify, however, is that Beijing is regularly debating the opportunities and threats presented by the Internet. Read the rest of this entry »

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Medevac in Afghanistan Can Mean Life or Death

From: Arizona Daily Star

EDITOR’S NOTE: Associated Press photographer Brennan Linsley recently spent a week embedded with Charlie Company, from the 6th Battalion and 101st Aviation Regiment, known as Shadow Dustoff. He describes the work of Army medevac teams in the war zone of southern Afghanistan.

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan – It was pushing dusk when the call came: “One Category Alpha.” The voice crackled over the radio, urgent but matter-of-fact. Translation: One man severely wounded, medical care needed right away.

The medical evacuation team – a pilot, co-pilot, crew chief, flight medic and, on this day, an AP photographer – scrambled into the Black Hawk helicopter. In a few minutes we were zigzagging at more than 150 mph, the fields and mud compounds blurring past like a movie in fast forward. The crew chief held up two fingers: Distance from landing zone, two minutes.

Landing amid gunfire

As darkness fell, the Marines ignited a colored smoke grenade to mark the landing zone. The Black Hawk touched down only to be fired on by insurgents hiding nearby, despite the clear red cross marked on its nose and sides. It rose again and circled.

When it landed the second time, the crew chief threw open the side door to a storm of dust. Within seconds the Marines hauled aboard their comrade, who had a gunshot wound to the head.

The helicopter flew off, low and fast under fire. The medic went straight to work. But the wound was too severe.

The Marine died. Lance Cpl. Ross S. Carver of Rocky Point, N.C., was 21 years old.

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Cyber-Threat Whitepapers

From: SC Magazine

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Cyber Warfare

From IDGA

Over the last year there have been multiple instances of breaches in cyber security in the DoD and government.  Most recently a report detailing the fact that in April massive amounts of internet data traffic was re-routed through servers in China which then had access to the potentially sensitive information.  The incident which lasted 18 minutes was traced back to China Telecom, a state owned telecommunications firm.  The data included information from .mil and .gov sources as well as large corporations such as Microsoft and IBM.

It is not clear if any compromising information was gained from this effort or how or if any of the gathered data will be used.  But it is concerning for many of the agencies and companies involved as they are unsure of where they stand or what could potentially be used against them in the future.

This is not an isolated incident and the U.S. government and the Pentagon have been battling cyber attacks, hacking, and other forms of internet crime for years now.  However, in the last several years these attacks are growing in number and sophistication and are resulting in security breaches that could have grave consequences.  Many seem to be coming from sources in Eastern Europe including Russia and an increasing number from China.  However, it is unclear whether these attacks can be linked to government intelligence networks or are a result of cyber terrorists operating on their own personal agenda.

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Solution: Kill The Enemy

The Washington Examiner has a great article on our military capturing and releasing combatants.

A marine stationed in southern Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province told The Examiner that efforts to detain insurgent fighters are “worthless.”

Earlier this year, his unit held a man known to be working with the Taliban. The Marines had gathered evidence that the man was transporting hundreds of pounds of bomb-making equipment and explosives for the Taliban. But, shortly after they captured him, he was set free.

“Less than two weeks later, we saw the same guy walking through the bazaar,” said the marine, who spoke on condition that he not be named. “He recognized us. I wanted to shoot him right then and there. We got the guy, and yet there he was, walking around planning to kill again, and we couldn’t do a thing about it.”

If the military brass and politicians would stop trying to direct the war and instead focus on killing those who take up arms against us and those who are helping them, I think the morale of the soldiers would be higher and the war would be over. It seems ever since World War II we decided to fight the rest of our wars with one hand tied behind our back.

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