"This is our religion. We cannot leave our religion for one man."

Sunday afternoon, white supremacist Wade Michael Page entered a sikh temple outside Milwaukee and opened fire, leaving at least seven people dead, including himself.

Page was a neo-Nazi extremist, involved in a group called End Apathy to spur whites to action and a member of two bands, called "Blue Eyed Devils" and "Definite Hate."  Their lyrics include songs about killing Jews, blacks, gays, and other minorities.

Much of the media focus has been on how Sikhs, practitioners of a monotheistic religion that originated in South Asia, are often confused for conservative (in stupid media parlance: "extremist") Muslims who wear head dresses and have long beards (Sikhs have beards and wear turbans).  In the years following the September 11 attacks, they have been targets for hate crimes.  In February, a Sikh temple was defaced and in late 2010 a Sikh cabdriver beaten.  In both instances, the perpetrators made false allegations of connections to al-Qaeda and militant Islam.

Missing in this conversation: are all Muslims that wear headwear and have long beards "extremists?" No. I know many who are good people, conservative, yes, but would not turn to violence.

Even more disturbing, would the attack have been more acceptable had it been against conservative Mulisms? As if their headwear-beards-beliefs would somewhat excuse Page's attack?

Russian exporter with ties to the Pentagon sending missile defense systems to Syria

Russia’s main arms exporter announced on Friday it would send advanced missile defense systems to Syria capable of shooting down airplanes or sinking ships in the event of foreign intervention into the Levantine country’s crisis.

“I would like to say these mechanisms are really a good means of defense, a reliable defense against attacks from the air or sea,” Anatoly P. Isaykin, the general director of Rosoboronexport, said.  “This is not a threat, but whoever is planning an attack should think about this."

According to the New York Times, among the weapons to be shipped to Syria are the Pantsyr-S1, a radar-guided missile and artillery system capable of hitting warplanes at altitudes well above those typically flown during bombing sorties, and up to 12 miles away; Buk-M2 antiaircraft missiles, capable of striking airplanes at even higher altitudes, up to 82,000 feet, and at longer ranges; and land-based Bastion antiship missiles that can fire at targets 180 miles from the coast.

Buk-M2 antiaircraft missiles.
Photo: AP

The systems to be shipped are not considered to be top of the line.  Rather, the announcement is another step in the retrenching of tensions between Moscow and Washington. 

The two have been butting heads over the cause and how to handle Syria’s spiral of violence.  The United States accuses Russia of supporting a murderous dictator, President Bashar al-Assad, and condoning his use of violence, while Russia accuses the United States of  pro-rebel bias and military adventurism.  Russia believes NATO and the United States overstepped its mandate during the Libyan war and violated domestic sovereignty. 

There were also reports Moscow was planning on sending an amphibious landing vessel and a small squad of marines to Tartus in Syria to provide security for military instillations and infrastructure. 

Russia is Syria’s biggest arms supplier and maintains its only base outside the former Soviet Union in Tartus. 

Moscow emphasizes the arms sold to Damascus are defensive in nature and are not being used against the opposition.  Isaykin told reporters Moscow has not shipped rifles, ground-to-ground rockets, helicopters and onboard weapons, or armored vehicles—necessities for a civil war—to Syria in over ten years. 

Meanwhile, a United States senator criticized the Department of Defense for granting Rosoboronexport a no-bid contract to provide Afghanistan’s forces with 21 Mi-17 helicopters, valued around $1 billion. 

“I remain deeply troubled that the [Department of Defense] would knowingly do business with a firm that enabled mass atrocities in Syria,” Republican and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee John Cornyn wrote in a letter to DOD secretary Leon Panetta. 

The Pentagon responded that the deal with Rosoboronexport is the “only legally available method” to supply the helicopters to Afghanistan. 

“We understand the concerns,” said Pentagon spokesman George Little.  “We’re not ignoring them.  But I would make the point that, in the case of Afghanistan, the Mi-17 is about giving them what they need and what they can use effectively to take on their own fights inside the country.

The Russian arms exporter was subject to United States sanctions from 2006 to 2010 for allegedly supplying Iran and Syria with equipment that could be used to build weapons of mass destruction.  A United States intelligence report this week also said the firm was supplying Iran with equipment for its disputed missile program.  

Shabaab places bounty on Obama: For you, ten camels. "Old Woman" Hillary only worth ten roosters, hens

"Whoever reveals the hideout of the idiot Obama will be rewarded with 10 camels, and whoever reveals the hideout of the old woman Hillary Clinton will be rewarded 10 chickens and 10 roosters," said Fouad Muhammad Khalaf, a member of al-Shabaab.

SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant organizations, reported Khalaf made the comment after Friday prayers, mocking a United States bounty on members of the Somali organization.

"I can assure you that these kinds of things will never dissuade us from continuing the holy war against them," continued Khalaf.  "There is nothing new in the fact that infidels pay to have Muslim leaders killed.  They already did that by offering camels for the head of the Prophet Mohammed, and the dollar is the camel of today."

Khalaf was referring to a story in the Quran in which an offer of 100 camels was made for the Prophet when he was fleeing Mecca for Medina.

On Thursday, the Department of State announced a $7 million bounty for al-Shabaab founder and leader Ahmed Abdi aw-Mohamed, more commonly known as Godane or Abu Zubayr, and a $5 million bounty for information on the whereabouts of Khalaf and three other members of the militant group.  Three million was offered for information on two other members of the group.

Al-Shabaab took control over large swaths of Somalia after the fall of the Islamic Courts Union after an Ethiopian invasion in 2006.  The Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which once controlled only blocks in Mogadishu, successfully reclaimed several key bases from al-Shabaab in recent months with the assistance of troops from the African Union.

According to VOA, after years of war, Somalia is working to attract investment and business back to Mogadishu.

"Now, business, hotels, restaurants have started opening, roads are building, schools are building so now, a lot of hope [is] there," said MP Mohammed Amin Osman.

Eager Lion: US will lead massive 12,000 soldier, 19 country "irregular warfare" exercise

The United States will lead a massive military exercise involving over 12,000 soldiers and 19 countries, based in Jordan.  Fellow participants include Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and Australia.  The exercise, dubbed Eager Lion, will span two weeks.

According to the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), the purpose of Eager Lion is to strengthen military-to-military relationships between participating nations through joint approaches, integrating all instruments of national power to meet current and future complex national security challenges. 

“The message that I want to send through this exercise is that we have developed the right partners throughout the region and across the world…insuring that we have the ability to…meet challenges that are coming to our nations,” said United States Major General Ken Tovo, commander of United States Special Operations Forces.

Major General Tovo addresses reporters in Amman.
Photo: France 24

Major General Tovo took pains to emphasize no forces would be deployed to Jordan’s north bordering Syria.  “This has nothing to do with Syria.  We respect the sovereignty of Syria,” he explained. 

The exercise is expected to draw criticism from Iran, which is facing intense pressure from Western and Arab capitals to curtail its nuclear program and perceived regional aspirations. 

It is also meant to emphasize continued United States engagement in the region despite withdrawal from Iraq and United States support for Jordan.  Jordanian officials are concerned about unrest spilling over its borders from Syria entangling its own restless Palestinian population.

Publicly, officials from participating countries say the operation is aimed at no country in particular, but instead against “realistic threats.”

US military taught officers to use "Hiroshima" tactics for "total war" on Islam

Danger Room reports the US military taught its officers to use "total war" against the world's 1.4 billion Muslims.

From Dooley's slides

"We have now come to understand there is no such thing as moderate Islam," Army Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley, who taught the course, said.  "It is therefore time for the United States to make our true intentions clear. This barbaric ideology will no longer be tolerated. Islam must change or we will facilitate its self-destruction."

International laws protecting civilians are "no longer relevant," continued Dooley, who suggested using the tactics of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki to Islam's holiest cities, and destroying Mecca and Medina.

The program was first brought to the public's attention by Danger Room and subsequently cancelled in April of this year.

Such talk in no way represents the beliefs of the majority of those in our armed services, and certainly none that I have met.  Every soldier, marine, and sailor I have spoken with would be appalled with the suggestion of complete annihilation of a society, no matter their political orientation.  Those who would advocate such tactics are in the minority, but their radicalism is what gets noticed and mars the reputation of the United States military abroad.  These classes, as well as mistaken drone strikes killing women and children and Staff Sgt. Robert Bales massacring innocent Afghans reinforces this idea the United States is at war with Islam.

The Arabist flagged Danger Room's report.  The site's main admin, Issandr el-Amrani, is a respected blogger. To see the extent of the damage such reports do to our reputation abroad, just see his posting on the subject.

The US military: the world's most advanced fighting force, technologically bleeding edge, probably the most complex logistics and planning effort by anyone on the planet.  The core of the American empire. Unfortunately, it is also plagued by complete morons and apparently a culture of genocide.  

Our military is respectable, professional, and determined to protect the innocent at home and abroad.  But idiots like Dooley and Bales (and not to mention their supervisors) drowns them out.