Lots of interesting news out today on our war efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. So let’s get to them.

First off it is being confirmed that the “British are Coming!” The UK is sending more fighting troops – as opposed to French and German troops who are not allowed to fight – to Afghanistan as part of the Spring offensive on al-Qaeda’s last large refuge on Earth. Even the UK media cannot help but be a bit cheeky about the difference between their fighters and those from the mainland of Europe:

AN extra 600 British troops are to be sent to the Afghan badlands, The Sun can reveal.
The move will lift the number of UK soldiers battling the Taliban above 8,000 for the first time.

Top brass want to take advantage of recent triumphs. They need 150 more infantry to hold the fanatics’ former stronghold of Musa Qala – which was seized from rebels in December.

Up to 350 engineers and logistics experts have been requested to boost reconstruction plus 100 more staff to man the huge HQ in Camp Bastion.

…

Britain and the US are sending extra soldiers because countries like Germany and France refuse to fight in lawless Helmand province – fearing fatalities.

Yep, it seems the more leftist states of the EU are only willing to dress up and pretend to fight the war on terror because their whimpy leaders are not into ‘violence’ (no insult meant to the men and women in uniform, who no doubt are professional and serious war fighters). (click images for link back to source site)

Speaking of terrorist appeasers (surrenderers), the UK does have an infestation in some areas. Seems convicted and jailed terrorists wanted to be closer to their associates and rekindle their evil scheming – so they convinced some of their jailers it was unfair for them to be housed with ‘whites’:

Two al-Qaeda terrorists have been moved from their jail after one complained it was “99 per cent white”.

Dirty bomb plotter Dhiren Barot, 35, and Bluewater conspirator Omar Khyam, 26, both whined about their treatment at Frankland prison, Co Durham. Now prison bosses stand accused of giving in to their demands.

Government security adviser and Tory MP Patrick Mercer raged: “I think we have to remember who’s in charge.

“These people have been convicted of hideous crimes.

…

Barot has now returned to Belmarsh jail, in South East London, which he was removed from nine months ago after radicalising other inmates.

There, he was reunited with hate preacher Abu Hamza, 49, and July 21 ringleader Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29.

Counter terrorism sources said his return was deeply worrying.

No word yet on whether their demands for weapons will be honored as well. Sen Obama, are you paying attention to this and why playing into racism – or simply looking the other way – is wrong in so many ways?

OK, one more head scratcher and then on to more serious news. It seems one of the radicals in the Kashmir region has proposed a slight change in tactics for Islamic extremists and how they handle spies and dissidents. Instead of killing them (sometimes brutally slowly) he proposed (get this) these people be put on trial, and if proven guilty they get … the cold shoulder!:

Taking a strong exception to random killings by militants, senior pro-resistance leader Syed Ali Geelani Thursday said the collaborators should be excommunicated if proved guilty of spying for the state.

“Death is not the only penalty to deter collaborators. There are other means. Let the Mujahideen bring the culprits to the public. If proved guilty after proper verification people should observe social boycott against such elements. I have repeatedly said this. Even if a person indulges in anti-movement activities he could be warned and there are methods to make him feel like a sinner,” a Hurriyat statement quoted Geelani as said in a gathering in Sopore on Wednesday.

“Let the armed fighters not create any confusion by killing a person without disclosing his anti-movement activities to public,” Geelani told a local news gathering agency KNS, on Thursday.

Actually, the guy is simply trying to restore some sanity to the insanity that is Islamo Fascism, knowing full well that the violence and atrocities being committed by these thugs is turning the masses against them. Somehow I just don’t think Bin Laden and company are going to move to ignoring their enemies to death. Just can’t envision that one.

OK, now onto some serious stuff. One thing Bin Laden did make clear this week with his second message was (a) Iraq is near and dear to al-Qaeda’s dreams so they can (b) launch attacks on Israel from Iraq.

Al-Jazeera broadcast on Thursday an audiotape on which a voice identified as Osama bin Laden declares “Iraq is the perfect base to set up the jihad to liberate Palestine.”

The voice calls on “Muslims in neighboring countries” to “do their best in supporting their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq.”

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And he predicted, “Palestine will be restored to us, with God’s permission, when we wake up from our slumber and adhere to our faith and sacrifice our souls and belongings for it.”

This is a clear call on Muslims to come fight and die so al-Qaeda can take Iraq. It is a clear call for Muslims to send donations into the war effort. It is a clear indication that we cannot leave Iraq and let al-Qaeda take it over. Because it is a good base to start a war with Israel from.

This makes sense since it is too far to attack Israel from the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In addition to being close enough to send waves of fighters into Israel and the Palestinian areas, the support of Syria and Iran are close by for logistics and weapons. Bin Laden has spoken clearly – how dense does a Surrendercrat have to be not to get the message? These are not dots folks, no need to over think this one.

On the opposite side in the battle for Iraq the government there has just signed into law a new round of elections by October:

The United States on Thursday praised Iraq’s presidential council for signing a law that paves the way for provincial elections, which Washington sees as crucial to helping reconcile the nation’s factions.

The three-member presidential council ended its objections to signing off on the measure on Wednesday, two days after Vice President Dick Cheney visited Iraq on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the war.

…

“The Provincial Powers Law represents an important step in what is likely to be an ongoing democratic effort to maintain a uniquely Iraqi balance between central government authority and the preservation of local empowerment,” the U.S. embassy in Baghdad said in a statement.

The law will define the relationship between Iraq’s 18 provinces and the central government and is seen by Iraqi officials as an important first step towards holding provincial elections, due by Oct. 1.

I can tell you one thing from this news – the Iraqis don’t want a Democrat in the White House come next January. These elections are one month from our own, and not long after the GOP and Dem conventions. The contrast in message will be stark. Iraq will be proceeding to democracy after having fought by our side to slay al-Qaeda’s thugs and purge them from the country and the dems will be wallowing in fictional defeat and a need to surrender to someone, anyone, as soon as humanly possible.

Of course the ramifications of this event and how it will play in America was discussed in Iraq between Cheney and the Iraqi leaders. And the Iraqis want to send a signal as much as al-Qaeda does. But where al-Qaeda’s message is blood soaked bodies blasted apart, the Iraqis message will be in free and open elections. As I said, how hard is it for a Surrendercrat to get the message?

And al-Qaeda is getting desperate for fighters and suicide bombers, now preying on the hurt and loneliness of widows as their main fighting force:

Al-Qaeda has decided to enlist widows to carry out suicide bombings in Iraq, according to a study by the Voices of Iraq news agency.

During the last three months, six suicide attacks were carried out by women. A total 10 women have carried out suicide attacks in Iraq since April 2003 , according to statistics from the United States army.

As recently as Wednesday, a woman blew herself up in volatile Diyala province, killing five people. On Monday, a female suicide bomber blew herself up among a group of civilians in the holy Shia city of Karbala, killing 47 people and wounding 75 others.

Police investigators established that the women were both middle-aged and recently widowed.

The majority of of female suicide bombers come from Anbar and Diyala provinces, the report said.

“Al-Qaeda is active in those two provinces, and military operations that kill this organisation’s elements are also active there,” the report cited sociologist Fari al-Obedi as saying.

Is al-Qaeda offering cash to these women’s families in return for a bombing run? Whatever the case, the brave Islamic soldier of past has been replaced by Muslim men sending despondent women out to die for them. Pathetic – and every male in Islam knows it is pathetic. They are still a very chauvinistic society, and they know how the men of the West are seeing this turn of events.

And we are whooping butt on al-Qaeda’s last foot hold in Iraq:

A major campaign to oust al-Qaeda from its last urban stronghold in Iraq is well underway despite the current absence of door-to-door and neighbourhood-to-neighbourhood street battles, according to US and Iraqi officials. The Iraqi Army’s (IA) 2nd Division, backed up by 2,000 US troops, is in the process of establishing physical, 24-hour presence within the city of Mosul.

The effort includes building Combat Operations Posts (COPs) from which soldiers launch targeted raids, patrol neighbourhoods and establish vehicle checkpoints in cooperation with Iraqi Police units to limit the movement of gunmen and their supplies.

The IA’s 3rd Division is mostly to the west of Mosul, interdicting terror suspects and their supplies coming across the Jazirah desert from nearby Syria.

Al-Qaeda-Iraq (AQI) is fighting back the only way it can, with car bombings and snipings, mainly against police posts, to break Iraqi Police resolve and keep a wedge between authorities and citizens.

“Mosul is their last major urban stronghold and they have to hold onto it to remain viable,” said US Army Lt. Col. Mike Simmering, the executive officer of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment that supports Iraqi Army efforts in the city.

Finally, Phil Peterson at the Long War Journal has another one of those riveting day-in-the-life stories about US soldiers in Afghanistan – don’t miss it.