Centerfield

YAY! A good sign.

Of course, he must have some understanding with Iran, and I'm sure his group will continue, but so long as he stays away, he's gonna look weak, and forces of order in Iraq will look like something to think about.

I expect other violent militias will start to diminish as well, again, as long as he stays away.

P.S.: not game over, though.

Yep, just think, initial NK agreement to dismantle a nuclear site ( through a US-lead regional coalition), EU support of tougher Iran sanctions (despite Putin's rant), Belgium accepts its role in the Holocaust and Sadr has skipped town fearing US targeting. Intense news cycle.

And the Democrat reaction? Rumor has it they are busy trying to figure some explanation how hundreds of advanced sniper rifles recovered from terrorists in Iraq and sold by the Austrians to the government of Iran is not evidence of Iranian aggression. How many soldiers have died from these weapons? Dodd says Iraq pre-war intelligence makes this hard to accept.

I also saw this today as many Democrats assume the Mecca agreement requires renewed Western assistance:

"Hamas Political Bureau chief Khaled Mash'al said that victory over the Jews was near, and that the Israeli entity was today in its worst shape ever and its patrons were in no better shape.

Regarding whether the Hamas-Fatah Mecca agreement would hold up against the challenges it faced, he said that all factions and organizations needed to show restraint. He added that patience and fortitude were called for until the siege was lifted."

Source: Al-Hayat, London, February 12, 2007

The Congress looks deaf, dumb and blind.....they are now even using Bolton as a poster boy for Bush's mangled NK nuke effort. LOL

And the Palestinians seem to be smoking crack.

I wonder if he left because Iraqi/US intelligence has evolved to the point he feared he could not hide (too many spies) AND the US finally had the political cover to take him out,

And this is not good news. Ironic, if Sadr flees again.

Oh, c'mon, I'm sure he's just visiting his sick grandmother, like that QODS commander we caught in Irbil. :-)

I hear he is a guest speaker at an EST convention in Tehran. Tet Offensive>

Actually, I read that the upcoming vote on Kirkuk is liable to set off a Sunnis offensive against the Kurds while Maliki is hoping to throw Kurds at Shia militias. Any suggestions Democrats? Some call it "fighting five wars at once". "Success" overall, requires "success" in each. FDR had an easier job. He said success was “unconditional surrender”.

Once again, Austrian sniper rifles and Iranian armor-piercing rounds can take out a slow moving helicopter. Our soldiers have had their heads blown off by them. What can one say when hundreds of the above weapons show up in terrorists hands (“literally”) after being given to the Iranian government for "border security" over our repeated “diplomatic” objections? Yes Mr. Dodd, Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Hagel?? To avoid a Gulf of Tonkin (which grows more possible for Israel and the US), I think now we better be very transparent here. We have to make this a criteria of last resort. Peaceful pressure back-up by the convincing deployment of offensive power can yield results when all else fails. Democrats need to propse another criteria rather than object to administration and EU posturing. Otherwise, they might as well side with Putin's logic.

We have a damning EU report (I linked somewhere here) and an EU pledge for tougher sanctions against Iran, more EU pledge for troops to Afghanistan and a NATO expansion including Georgia which may later request missile Defense. Putin mad, Putin very mad. We have Russia and China cornered into a NK agreement and “Mecca” producing a recognitionless plank of dead wood.

There is great opportunity to avert disaster in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Iran and even Africa, but it will take centrist action with common values, coming together to act. The US seems to be moving things far better than anything Democrats are now prescribing for the world. There are dangerous consequences and enormous opportunities. It takes a tenacious mind to make it through this minefield. This does not just hang over Obama. It hangs over our nation whether they see it or not. Weakness is not an option, but neither is blindness.

I fear the Democrats will look only at the cup half full and fail to become apart of an emerging unity. This "unity" is shaky and fickled, but it is better that defeatism and apathy. Our adversaries have far more problems. Can one say a centrist line is taking shape in the West, or should we look at polling data and believe the sky is falling (did Cheney go hunting again)?

Maybe he just went to deliver a package for some friends. Or maybe he's "redeploying."

Now I think you don't waste time clicking my links. See border security link above. You know, some links like the one about sniper rifles and ASAT tests appeared here before they ended up on DefenseTech or ClobalSecurity. And these sites usually disclose stuff before CNN, MSNBC or ABC. AP is usually off the facts. And the media chatter starts a bit before our politicans take notice. By then, it is digested into the political spin and quickly forgotten.

Here is an interesting link from DefenseTech Maybe Centcom will come here and correct my spelling.

As for St. Valentine's Day from Bin Laden: Attack Canada Now what if the Austrian sniper rifles end up with AQ via Iran and they hit a few pipelines in Al Saka and Canadras. Cat and Mouse with the Canadian Mounties?

Hell, I'm sure some dealers sell advanced .50 caliber armor-piercing rifles on the internet these days. Not sure the Jihadists will like the cold weather though.

Sniper Rifles and Beyond

An article below that was posted on the internet and came up on Google. It is from Strafor. Do a Google for sniper rifle Iraq.....

"Iraq: Ominous Signs of a Looming Sniper Threat
February 14, 2007 21 43 GMT

Summary

In a series of raids across Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces seized more than 100 Austrian-manufactured sniper rifles in a 24-hour period Feb. 12-13. The .50-caliber weapons, which were legally exported to Iran in 2006, represent a grave danger to coalition troops.

Analysis

Over the course of the last six months, handfuls of heavy .50-caliber sniper rifles manufactured by the Austrian company Steyr-Mannlicher have been turning up in Iraq. But a series of joint U.S.-Iraqi raids Feb. 12-13 in Baghdad uncovered more than 100 Steyr "HS.50" rifles -- an unprecedented development that bodes ill for U.S. troops surging into the Iraqi capital.

In 2005, the National Iranian Police Organization placed an order for 800 Steyr HS.50s worth more than $15.5 million (nearly $20,000 per rifle). Ostensibly, the rifles were intended for use in interdicting drug smugglers. The U.S. and U.K. governments both protested the shipment in 2006, fearing the rifles would fall into the hands of Iraqi militias. A month and a half after the initial shipment, the first U.S. soldier was killed with one of these Steyr rifles.

A standard practice among Western weapons manufactures is to mark a rifle with its serial number in several locations -- not only the frame but also the bolt and barrel -- and this is the practice at Steyr-Mannlicher. Such marking is especially important for sniper rifles, which are machined to precise tolerances -- a professional would want to keep the bolt and the barrel with the original rifle. Grinding the serial numbers off would negatively affect the accuracy of the rifle.

The Steyr HS.50s found in Baghdad have been traced through Iran back to the 2005 Austrian deal with the National Iranian Police Organization, presumably by using discernable serial numbers on the weapons.

The .50-caliber round is powerful enough to punch through not only the Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts (E-SAPI) -- the armored plates worn by U.S. troops -- but also much of the light armor of U.S. vehicles. Iran also appears to have supplied armor-piercing incendiary rounds, which are even more destructive once they get inside the cramped compartments of vehicles. The armor-piercing incendiary rounds would also wreak havoc with a low-flying helicopter if it could actually be struck in-flight.

The Steyr HS.50 and other rifles of its kind are designed to engage targets at thousands of yards. Of course, a rifle is only as good as the marksmanship training of the person holding it. World-class snipers are the product of intensive training, something Iraqi insurgents noticeably lack (there are running jokes within U.S. military units about how terrible Iraqi marksmanship is). That said, a weapon like the Steyr HS.50 used to engage targets at 100 to 300 yards in a dense urban environment has a much larger margin of error and is devastating at such close ranges. Moreover, it is a single-shot, bolt-action rifle more accurate than the semi-automatic M82A3 Barrett .50-caliber sniper rifle used by U.S. forces. In the right hands, the HS.50 is capable of a minute of angle beyond 1,600 yards (a measurement amounting to phenomenal accuracy).

Insurgent snipers have been increasingly dangerous in the last two years. In 2003 and 2004, Iraqi sniper fire was inaccurate and sporadic. Since then, however, casualties from sniper fire have been creeping up, and turret gunners are now being taken down with head shots.

That more than 100 Steyr HS.50s were confiscated in a single 24-hour period in Baghdad suggests two things: First, that such a concentration was put in place in preparation for the building U.S. surge into the Iraqi capital and that the cache could represent the bulk of the rifles supplied to Iraqi Shia by supporters inside Iran. But if substantially larger portions of the original 800 rifles have slipped into the capital, it will be costly for both U.S. and Iraqi forces. The only question is: How many did Iran keep for itself?
The second point to consider is this: U.S. troops almost certainly acted on excellent intelligence, suggesting that if there are more large caches, they very well could be found.

Such a powerful weapon in the hands of a single, well-trained professional is trouble enough. But hundreds of these rifles supplied to a large swath of Shiite militias could exact a considerable toll on coalition forces moving into Shiite neighborhoods -- a toll the current level of force protection cannot prevent."

We can see with violent chaos and outside interference, there was always the threat of a slow escalation with many arms dealers in Iraq. IED and sniper rifles will continue to escalate as well as other types of weapons.

The next step is for the deployment of rail rifles that will leap frog the danger of a 50 caliber rifle. The soldier carries slugs that can penetrate armor many many miles away. Much of this great leap depends on power generation and storage. The idea of electrical power is outlined this report. The idea is relatively simple. The Navy and other branches are steaming ahead.. Smaller arms such as coil guns, sniper rifles, lasers, other type of electromagnetic beams have amateurs on the internet busy. One day electrified Hummers and tanks, planes and subs will revolutionize the power and stealth of military force. For now, a rail or coil rifle would give US snipers a big advantage. Mach 1 slug pin-point at twenty miles. 10 seconds between recharge. Navy cannons would be far more lethal. Robotic snipers and autonomous IED that can “seek” the enemy are works in progress. Hell, the joint fighter is supposed to carry a laser cannon under its belly. I guess that was what Putin was referring to. “Wait until you see the OFFENSIVE systems”. LOL There are even systems that can track a sniper bullet and hopefully, hit it with "something". Electrical power and storage seems to be the great limiter with 1000 kw lasers nearing availability. Several researchers in the last years have announced some real, break-throughs.

What does this mean for Iraq? Right now and for the next year? I don’t see Airborne lasers zapping AQ snipers or countering advanced missiles and IEDs coming to Iraq by the summer. Until our new weapons and defensive systems get to our soldiers, we are fighting an increasingly dangerous enemy. Terrorist sniper rifles out-match ours. These present high tech weapons and the skills to use them can prove lethal anywhere in Jihadsit's hands. There is a good argument for commanding the field soon, so this long-term escalation does not happen. Whether we can is another matter. The problem is that we have to counter our enemy's escalation now. Success must include some rational counter to sniper rifles, IED, advanced missiles and quite possibly increasing WMC, or even a dirty bomb. Time is not on our side in the present state. It must involve the cooperation of the majority of the Iraq people. I don't think rail sniper rifles or heat rays are going to help us anytime soon. It makes one wonder if we have all the counters to any strike on Iran.

this just in while Biden and others go on an on about funding. I think its getting silly for Democrats to live in a bubble of their own making.

Where is the American bloodbath they were predicting?