CNN.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has signed a deployment order to move an additional 3,000 troops to Afghanistan next year, U.S. military officials said on Friday.

The troops will be part of a combat aviation brigade, the latest approved by Gates for the expected build-up of U.S. troops in Afghanistan throughout next year.

Earlier this year, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, requested at least 20,000 additional troops be sent there to fight the increasing violence by the resurgent Taliban forces in the southern and eastern parts of the country.

The officials could not say what units are being tapped to go because those units are now being told of their deployment and the announcement has not yet been made public.

The aviation brigade will send a number of much-needed helicopters to the region.

Helicopters are the main transportation of the U.S. military in Afghanistan, where high mountain roads and passes make it difficult for large transport vehicles to move troops and supplies around the country.

The U.S. military should just lower the boom on the Taliban.

Let’s drop a few dozen MOAB’s on those sheet heads.

Michael Yon on Pajamas Media reports:

U.S. and Afghan soldiers in Zabul Province give high marks to the Lithuanian Special Forces, who like to ride these captured Taliban motorbikes to sneak up on, and chase Taliban fighters. The “LithSof” are on their way to becoming living legends: Both Afghans and Americans report that the Taliban are afraid of the Lithuanians. Stories about them are filled with dangerous escapades and humor.

Americans say that the Lithuanians are sort of a weaponized version of Borat, who think nothing of sauntering around a base in nothing but flip-flops and underwear. “They look like mountain men. They never shave, sometimes don’t bathe, and often roll out the gate wearing nothing but body armor and weapons. Not even a t-shirt,” an American soldier told me. The Lithuanians may be a little bit nuts, but the Americans love to have them around because Lithuanians love to fight, and when you need backup, you can count on them. That contrasts starkly with many of the NATO “partners.”

Maybe when your country spends almost a half-century with the Soviet boot on its neck, its first generation of free soldiers know what freedom is worth — and that you sometimes have to fight for it.

That last line is pretty powerful.

Thank you for your service, Lithuania.

Hat Tip: The Jawa Report

ITN

Iraq’s cabinet has approved a pact that will let US forces remain in the country until 2011.

President Talibani and Iraq’s two other Vice Presidents still have to ratify the deal.

At least our military will be able to get a chance to finish the job and come home in complete victory.

Check out the news video on ITN.

UPDATE 1: MSNBC.com

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s Cabinet on Sunday approved a security pact with the United States that will allow American forces to stay in Iraq for three years after their U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.

The decision followed months of difficult negotiations and, pending parliamentary approval, will remove a major point of contention between the two allies. Parliament’s deputy speaker, Khalid al-Attiyah, said he expected the 275-member legislature to begin debating the document this week and vote on it by Nov. 24.

“This is an important and positive step,” said U.S. Embassy spokesman Adam Ereli.

Iraq has control over 13 of its 18 provinces, and violence is down dramatically, thanks to the surge.

I just saw this posted on DEBKA File.

DEBKA

Al Qaeda prepares third war front in E. Africa to test Obama

DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive Report

Al Qaeda plans to test the mettle of the incoming United States President-elect Barack Obama by opening a third anti-US war front in the Horn of Africa - in addition to the raging conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Details of Osama bin Laden’s ticking, third-front bombshell will be revealed on Friday.

I think DEBKA File is just hyping up this story, but DEBKA File is thought of as the Israeli Mossad’s news agency, so they could and should have some decent intelligence regarding Al Qaeda opening up a new front in East Africa.

However, the worldwide economic turmoil, as well as decisive and continuous defeats in Afghanistan and Iraq, have taken an excessive toll on Al Qaeda and their leadership base, including their man power and monetary funds.

For the sake of all innocent people, let us hope Barack Obama passes this test. President-elect Obama receives his first intelligence briefing today.

Don’t let the liberal media and liberal politicians fool you.

We are winning in Iraq!

These pictures come from my friend, PV2 G. Womack, and are posted exclusively on Scoop This.

Private Womack and his Army squad members are fans of Scoop This.

Private Womack.

Iraqi Army soldiers. Iraq’s true freedom fighters!

Private Womack’s squad and the Iraqi Army soldiers pose in front of the cross sabers.

On November 4th, vote for Victory in Iraq! Vote for Private Womack and his fellow soldiers!

Vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin. Private Womack will vote for them as well.

ISAF

Initially the Marines observed four adults and two children in a truck laden with burlap sacks and shovels. The adults began digging holes. Once the burlap sacks were removed from the truck and opened, the Marines were able to see IED materiel in the sacks and that the holes being dug in the road were for IEDs.

Marine snipers shot two of the positively identified insurgents as they emplaced an IED. After the initial shots were fired, the other two insurgents grabbed the two children they had brought with them and held them in front of them to use them as shields.

The Marines waited until the children were let go and ran away before snipers shot the remaining two insurgents.

The Taliban are a bunch of cowards. But what else would you expect?

Thank God for U.S. Marines and all other U.S. military personnel.

Hat Tip: The Jawa Report

McClatchy reports:

WASHINGTON — A CIA-led raid on a compound in eastern Syria killed an al Qaida in Iraq commander who oversaw the smuggling into Iraq of foreign fighters whose attacks claimed thousands of Iraqi and American lives, three U.S. officials said Monday.

The body of Badran Turki Hishan al Mazidih, an Iraqi national who used the nom de guerre Abu Ghadiya, was flown out of Syria on a U.S. helicopter at the end of the operation Sunday by CIA paramilitary officers and special forces, one U.S. official said.

“It was a successful operation,” a second U.S. official told McClatchy. “The bottom line: This was a significant blow to the foreign fighter pipeline between Syria and Iraq.”

A senior U.S. military officer said the raid was launched after human and technical intelligence confirmed that al Mazidih was present at the compound close to Syria’s border with Iraq. “The situation finally presented itself,” he said.

The three U.S. officials, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity because the operation was classified, declined to reveal other details of the raid. A CIA spokesman declined to comment.

Also from the article:

The more that U.S. Intelligence personnel learned about Badran Turki Hishan al Mazidih (also known as Abu Ghadiya), the higher al Mazidih ranked on the U.S. most-wanted list. Mazidih produced the most prolific foreign fighter network, which led to thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths, as well as U.S. military deaths. The U.S. Treasury Department froze all assets belonging to Mazidih earlier this year on the 28th of February. Mazidih took direct orders from al Zarqawi and al Masri, both Al Qaeda in Iraq leaders. Mazidih was a High Value Target, especially since he was appointed by al Zarqawi as the groups Syrian commander.

The Bush Administration has refused to publicly acknowledge the operation. Pentagon officials are also not speaking about the operation, though their actions clearly state that they will go after terrorists inside nations that sponsor terrorism or turn a blind eye to terrorists, such as Syria.

Scoop This first reported about the Syrian raid on Sunday afternoon, just as soon as the story broke.

Hat Tip: Hot Air Headlines

breitbart.com

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - U.S. military helicopters attacked an area along Syria’s border with Iraq Sunday, killing eight people, the Syrian government said.

The Syrian report comes just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq told reporters that American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he said was an “uncontrolled” gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

A government statement carried by the official Syrian Arab News Agency said Sunday’s attack was on the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction, firing on the workers inside, shortly before sundown, the statement said.

The U.S. military in Baghdad did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The area is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.

Iraqi insurgents seized Qaim in April 2005, forcing U.S. Marines to recapture the town the following month in heavy fighting. The area became secure only after Sunni tribes in Anbar turned against al-Qaida in late 2006 and joined forces with the Americans.

On Thursday, U.S. Maj. Gen. John Kelly said Iraq’s western borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries but that Syria was a “different story.”

“The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side,” Kelly said. “We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement.”

He added that the U.S. was helping construct a sand berm and ditches along the border.

“There hasn’t been much, in the way of a physical barrier, along that border for years,” Kelly said.

Hopefully the U.S. military can seal off the border with Syria and prevent terrorists from slipping into Iraq.

Around the 2:00 minute mark in the second video, you can hear the chilling screams from Viper Company members. They took friendly fire from a mortar shell.

Bloggers, we sit at our computers every day and we report about both wars. We sit in our air conditioned houses and offices, and with the freedom our military personnel buys for us with their blood, we happily type away, sometimes blogging about crap that does not matter, like $7 million dollar bras. We are not constantly hungry, fatigued, dehydrated, physically sick, and covered with fleas while fighting a relentless enemy. We do our best to report the truth on behalf of the brave people that fight for all of us, but in the grand scheme of life, our blogging contribution is a ghostly pale comparison to the sacrifice exuded by Viper Company, and the rest of our military.

Now, I am not saying that we should not enjoy life, because we should, however, please remember to take some time out in your day and say a prayer for our military. They fight when we cannot; they serve when we cannot. They keep our common enemy at bay, and hopefully one day soon, they will eradicate this enemy.

To all military personnel - the editors at Scoop This believe in victory, and we believe in you. We trust our elected leaders to bring all of you home victorious from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We know our thanks is not enough, though we hope you all accept our gratitude, because the sacrifice all of you have given is a debt we can never truly repay.

You know that Country we know as “Iran” who’s government a certain Barrack Obama wants to dignify by meeting in direct high level talks without pre-conditions? Well, Iran was recently caught red handed trying to send a dirty bomb to Israel which could’ve killed MANY people. The only setback for Iran it seems, was the unknowing Somali Pirates who hijacked the ship en route to the Suez Canal.

When questioned about the contents of the ship, the Iranian Captain:

"was contacted by cell phone and demanded to disclose the actual nature of the mysterious “powdered cargo” but the captain and his officers were very evasive. Initially they said that the cargo contained “crude oil” but then claimed it contained “minerals.” Following this initial rebuff, the pirates broke open one of the containers and discovered it to be filled with packets of what they said was “a powdery fine sandy soil."

After boarding the ship, all of the pirates who inspected the cargo began to experience “strange illnesses” from symptoms consistent with radiation poisoning.

While US and Israeli Intelligence officials remain silent on this incident, Russian Intelligence says:

“[The Ship] was an enormous floating dirty bomb, intended to detonate after exiting the Suez Canal at the eastern end of the Mediterranean and in proximity to the coastal cities of Israel. The entire cargo of radioactive sand, obtained by Iran from China (the latter buys desperately needed oil from the former) and sealed in containers which, when the charges on the ship are set off after the crew took to the boats, will be blasted high into the air where prevailing winds will push the highly dangerous and radioactive cloud ashore.”

The article also points out that for several months, Israel has been urging a Naval Blockade of Iran. It seems that the Pro-Obama media was too afraid to bring light to the story of Iran’s near attack on Israel which would’ve killed hundreds of thousands of people since it may remind the electorate of Obama’s pre-9/11 thinking in a post 9/11 world. This is coming in light of Biden’s recent gaff where he guaranteed that an Obama win in 2008 will all but guarantee an “international crisis" in order to test the new American President already viewed as weak by countries and terrorist organizations who wish us harm. Maybe it’s just me… but when Biden mentioned the "tests" against Kennedy, I was reminded that Kennedy royally screwed up the bay of pigs and consequently, enabled Russia to threaten us with near annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I’d rather elect a president who other nations won’t even try to mess with and not one who comes within a week of getting us all killed.

We also have to wonder if Iran, in carrying out such a major attack on Israel, would attempt a simultaneous attack on the United States since either attack would more than assure the obliteration of Iran. They might as well murder as many "infidels" as possible while they’re at it, right? This is a very dangerous world and we simply cannot take a chance with Barrack Obama especially since all indications suggest that he will pursue the type of foreign policy that failed to prevent the tragic events 9/11/01, a day whose lessons the liberals have chosen to forget. We can hope that the fact that Obama’s lead in the biased polls is lower than John Kerry’s (who still lost by over 1 million votes), still indicates a McCain victory but if Obama does become President, I greatly fear for the secure future of the United States and her allies.

Related Story Hat Tips: Directorblue, Free Republic, Prolife Blogs