NunoftheAbove

This was delivered on the 40th anniversary of D-Day.

A great organizaation to which to donate in memorial to veterans.

Also featured on today’s Fox News Sunday, the founder, Tom Day, as the “Power Player of the Week.”

Day of Infamy Speech

Since most of us won’t get the chance to see it with our own eyes, here is what it is like to fly in presidential style.

A US drone launched two Hellfire missiles against an Al-Qaeda operative and four other militants in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan on Saturday.

The Pakistani intelligence officials in the restive tribal area of North Waziristan said the dead operative was Rashid Rauf, a man who held dual Pakistani and British citizen and who has been linked to a 2006 plot to blow up British airliners. The attack came from an unmanned U.S. Predator drone that fired at least two Hellfire missiles at a suspected Taliban compound in the tribal village of Ali Khel in the morning, according to the intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about missile strikes. The dead also included at least three foreign fighters, the officials said.

Rauf, a former resident of the northern British town of Birmingham, was the suspected ringleader in an alleged al-Qaeda plot to blow up commercial jetliners at airports in London. He was arrested by Pakistani authorities in Bahawalpur in August 2006 after British officials learned of the alleged terrorist operation, which authorities said included a plan to smuggle liquid explosives and camera flash detonators on board at least 10 airplanes. The plot led to widespread new restrictions for items carried onto planes by travelers.

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Rauf was also involved with the Pakistani terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed which was implicated in the abduction and brutal murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearlman in 2002.

Update:  11/20/08

The Iraqi thought to be responsible for Staff Sgt. Maupin’s abduction and murder of an Army reservist from Ohio and other deadly attacks over several years was killed in an American raid in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Thursday.

U.S. forces acting on a tip carried out the raid Nov. 11 in Baghdad’s Mansour neighborhood, killing Hajji Hammadi and another armed insurgent, the military statement.

His father, Keith Maupin, said he got a call from the Pentagon on Wednesday telling him that Hammadi had been killed.

“They told me they killed him on Veterans Day,” Maupin said. “Ain’t that appropriate.”

He said the Army knew that Hammadi was in the videotape.

“They told me he was the tall guy standing behind Matt,” Maupin said. “He was the only tall guy there.”

“The removal of Hajji Hammadi from the AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) network is yet another significant blow to the terrorist organization,” Brig. Gen. David Perkins said.

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Matt Maupin was captured April 9, 2004 when the convoy he was in was attacked by Iraqi insurgents in Baghdad. Later video showed Matt being held by his captors and later another blurred video indicated that he had been executed. His body, however, was not recovered until recently.

He is only one of 4,000 but the tragedy was extended for three years as his family and friends waited for the final closure to come. That happened Sunday when an Army general came to the Maupin’s home to deliver the news that his body had been located and would be coming home.

The Glen Este High School graduate was the only U.S. military member still listed as missing-captured in Iraq. Military officials identified the remains through DNA, Keith Maupin said. He said he wasn’t told where the remains had been found.

Read Michelle Maulkins’ blog here

The Maupin family adopted a saying during their vigil waiting for the final news to come about their loved one.

Odo Nnyew Fie Kwan Frame (”Love Never Loses Its Way Home”), a West African proverb, is used in Iraq among the troops to describe the search for Staff Sergeant Maupin. The Maupin family also used the phrase as a cornerstone for their hope that Matt would one day return home.

Condolences can be left for the Maupin family at the Yellow Ribbon Website.

The tragedy of Matt’s death will only be multiplied if his sacrifice is lost to the politicians who would use the war in Iraq as a tool to advance their own agendas.

Originally published March 31, 2008

Thank you veterans for your sacrifice!

In Dallas this weekend, a group of women convened for a final time to reminisce about their experiences which forged the way for many in today’s military.

During World War II, these women got a chance to do something no female had ever done before. As members of the Women Air Service Pilots, they were the pilots of military aircraft. They flew all types of missions except combat and by so doing, freed up men to fly the deadly combat missions.

The main job of the 1,100 WASPs was ferrying aircraft to England from factories in America. They also flew missions to train male counterparts in skills including aerial gunnery.

The Air Force Museum says the women flew almost every aircraft in the inventory from four-engine bombers to experimental jet fighters.

The whole time, they were considered civilians, allowing the Army Air Forces to maintain the chauvinistic stance that the service had no female pilots

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Although some did not take them seriously during their tenure, the risks were serious enough with thirty-eight dying.  But the event in Dallas was a time of celebration and remembrance for the approximate 500 remaining members of this elite group of women who saw opportunity where others saw danger.

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The tribal regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have provided sanctuary for Islamic terrorists including Obama Bin Laden who was forced to take refuge in the rough, mountainous terrain following the American invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11.

Pakistan has resisted the US desire for to be more aggressive in pursuing the Islamic militants in the semi-autonomous area until recently and had criticized some US operations.

The battle for Bajaur began only after 2,000-3,000 militants overran a paramilitary post at Loi Sam, which the military has not yet retaken.

Before the operation militants had launched over 60 attacks on paramilitary troops, cut off all main roads, set up training camps and assassinated a dozen tribal leaders.

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Once spurred into action, however, the Pakistani military leaders are optimistic about their ability to wipe out the seemingly indefatigable militants.

The army claims it has killed over 1,000 militants in Bajaur, a place described by commanders as the “centre of gravity of the insurgency”.

“The threat from Bajaur radiates in all directions,” said Maj Gen Tariq Khan, the commanding officer of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force engaged in the bulk of counter-insurgency operations in the tribal areas.

“If we dismantle this here and destroy its leadership then 65 percent of militancy will be controlled. If they lose this, they lose everything.”

Pakistan seems to be sending the message to the US that they are capable of quelling the  unrest within the tribal areas.  Specifically, Pakistan does not want interference in what they see as their problem and Pakistani government spokesman Akram Shaheedi urged U.S.-led coalition forces “not to violate (the) territorial sovereignty of Pakistan as it is counterproductive to the war on terror.”

“It has been Pakistan’s policy that we will not allow anyone to violate our sovereignty, and we will continue to defend our territorial sovereignty,” he said.

The war in Iraq has caused a deferral of US military resources to support the surge but recent decisions by President Bush indicate that Afghanistan has again become a primary focus on the war against terrorism.  Pakistani’s initiative to bring the tribal areas under more control should come as welcome news to the US.