Canada's Contribution: Longest Sniper Kill-Shot Ever Recorded

For those of you that question Canada's global value-add, as the werewolf does on occasion, you can assuage your concerns pronto. This fascinating little clip from The History Channel, showcases the longest successful sniper kill ever recorded. It was made a Canadian unit sniper, Rob Furlong, attached to the US Special Forces serving in Afghanistan in 2002. It's a solid and fascinating little segment that breaths fresh life into the concept of justifying Canada.

Kabul Assaulted: The Taliban's Tet Offensive?

Given the saturation of Haiti coverage and the whirlwind of excitement around Scott Brown, this disturbing development in Kabul has gone largely unnoticed. According to The New York Times, a well coordinated multi-faceted assault by Taliban suicide bombers and soldiers came very close to penetrating key Afghan governmental buildings. Green Aghan soliders, with limited support from a contingent of New Zealanders, were able to repel the attack and restore order. However, perception is everything and it must be very disturbing to have terrorist insurgents waging war in the streets of that fledgling nation's capital. The Times is clearly pushing the point of view that the Taliban is resurgent, however, the werewolf wonders if the opposite isn't true on some levels.

Sometimes spectacular attacks, such as these, are the throws of desperation, trying to mask weakness by marshaling every resource in a show of false force. It smells of classic slight of hand strategy and deception 101. Is this the time for the President to double down and go after the Taliban with everything we have? It was pathetic that the President played petty politics with Afghanistan by authorizing only a partial release of the troops requested by General McChrystal after months of of empty debate(Better something than nothing, but still). Yet, he releases 10,000 troops to Haiti in a heartbeat. We need to shit or get of the pot when it comes to deciding if we are serious about helping the Afghan government we installed and eradicating the Taliban. The werewolf firmly believes it is high-time to double down on some horse laxatives and to purge our bowels in an explosive fashion with the Taliban on the receiving end. Nothing would shame the werewolf more than America abandoning our allies and replaying the failure of Vietnam.

Although the werewolf was still more than a decade away from even being conceived, this reminds him of the 1968 Tet Offensive. Despite suffering substantial tactical defeats and the severe loss of manpower and leadership, the Viet Cong(the bad guys in the Vietnam War) were able to spin their failed assault into a huge PR victory, breathing new life into their almost lost cause. Idiots like Walter Cronkite, failed to read between the lines, and saw the Tet Offensive as symbolic victory, doing the VC's dirty work and laying the ground work for American failure. The werewolf just hopes that Vietnam doesn't repeat itself, with the Americans and their allies winning the tactical and military conflict, only to lose the PR and strategy conflict. He hopes people keep history in mind when they read these stories. So much is at stake.

Getting Sloppy: Falling back into Bad Habits.

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent op-ed by former CIA analyst Reuel Marc Gerecht addressing Al Qaeda's successful use of a double agent to execute a devastating suicide bombing at a forward operating base in Afghanistan base last week. The article, a must read, highlights several strategic and tactical errors made by the CIA. While not shy to criticize, the werewolf gets the sense that the CIA has become everyone's favorite punching bag(mostly warranted, but not always), and he'll save his direct critical thoughts for another time. However, in terms of structural failures this paragraph was rather shocking:

"Indeed, al Qaeda did to us exactly what we intended to do to them: use a mole for a lethal strike against high-value targets. In the case of al-Balawi, it appears the target was Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama bin Ladin's top deputy. During the Cold War, the CIA completely dropped its guard in the pursuit of much-desired Cuban and East German agents. The result? Most of our assets were plants given to us by Cuban and East German intelligence. With al-Balawi supposedly providing "good" information about al Zawahiri and al Qaeda's terrorist planning, a salivating CIA and the GID proved inattentive to counterintelligence concerns."

As a devoted student of the Cold War, the werewolf is keenly aware of some of the intelligence legacies from that storied era. One of the starkest lessons, was the Soviet Union's ability to manage human intelligence assets better than the West. While the West usually enjoyed a degree of technical superiority, and despite the moral abyss that communism embodied, there was an allure that made prominent double agents working for Moscow a theme of that conflict. One only need recall the infamous Cambridge Five, Kim Philby in particular, the Rosenbergs, Aldrich Aimes, and the post-conflict mercenary actions of Robert Hanson. These are the most infamous examples, however, they only reflect a skimming of the surface, especially in light of the manipulation via low level double agent's that the Warsaw Pact deliberately deployed to flood the West. The problem has manifested itself differently in the modern conflict, as one only need examine the internal Jihad executed at Ft. Hood last November.

While he detests communism on all levels, and celebrates its collapse, the werewolf recognizes the false Utopian allure that could appeal the to the fragile minds of intellectuals, or those seeking shelter in collectivism through their own profound individual insecurities. While this lesson is indirectly linked to the current conflict, because it is just unfeasible for a non-Muslim senior intelligence official to spontaneously convert, he feels that the detachment from Islam in the higher ranks, makes identifying double agents nearly impossible, as highlighted by the article and recent events. What is both alarming and impressive is the cleverness of Al Qaeda, to exploit this highlighted historical weakness of Western intelligence to their own advantage. Just when we think we've got the upper hand our enemies show a resilience and adaptability that is frightening.

This raises several concerns for the long term prospects of how this conflict is waged. The werewolf is certainly no expert in the field. But if we want to win(as the werewolf badly does). playing tunes from the historical playbook and fighting yesterday's wars is not the right path. The werewolf wonders, for all of their bravery, dedication, and impressive service to our country, if the intelligence services as currently constructed, suffer from inherent structural biases and political handicaps that make prosecuting this war to a successful conclusion more difficult than it needs to be. He doesn't have any answers, but thinks now, more than ever, changing the beat and tempo, could be decisive.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab: From Priviledged Nigerian Elite to Failed Islamic Terrorist.

There is still much to learn about fledgling trust-fund jihadist Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed Christmas day terror plot on the Detroit bound Delta/NW flight from Amsterdam. Especially given the reports of his presence on various British and American watch lists, and the boy-terrorist's own father explicitly warning the U.S. Embassy in Abuja of his son's conversion to the dark-side. We have Dutch citizen hero, Jasper Schuringa, to thank for his quick and deliberate subduing of Abdulmutallab on the flight. Sadly, by its very nature, several theaters of the War of Terror will require the quick reaction of citizen irregulars like Meneer Schuringa. However, this BBC article makes it abundantly clear that the maladjusted Mr. Abdulmutallab certainly never wanted for much in his life by any measure, and he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth as the son of a Nigerian banking magnate. It is no crime to born wealthy or privileged, mind you.

What really galls me is the continued assumption by many on the left and some of the paleo-conservative right that Islamo-Fascism and Jihadist terror has its origins in wealth discrepancies and poverty. Between the odious John Walker Lindh, most of the 9/11 terrorists, and Osama Bin Laden himself, there is a clear pattern of privilege, wealth, education, and elitism. The tone and attitude of the aforementioned links seems surprised that the young failed Jihadist is a man of wealth and privilege, when the trend seems to indicate that to be a norm, and surprise should be reserved for actually finding a poverty stricken jihadist working for Al Queda. (I will leave the Arab-Israel conflict details out of this post, since this focuses on the War on Terror) I think the real story here is that Africa and its Muslim population is beginning to formally enter the War on Terror as an operational theater in the minds of the west. It has been a functional theater for some time, yet not in the minds of most people. Africa has been a ripe ground for Muslim terrorism for years. A few examples include the fact Bin Laden operated out of the Sudan, Somalia is a lawless wasteland that's population is completely Muslim, and there have been reports of Lebanese middle men in western Africa using blood diamonds to finance various terror operations. Although there has been a subtle focus by American security policy on Africa for some time (especially with a large American presence in Djibouti), it has largely escaped the public perception. The Middle East, Caucusus, south Asia, Europe, and southeastern Asia all seem to get more press and attention. While I do not think the overall dynamic of the conflict will shift, I do think more young Jihadists of African extraction will rise to prominence, and more attention will be paid to the African front of the conflict as this story unfolds. We shall see.

The Legacy of Flight 93.

Passengers on a Detroit bound NWA flight from Amsterdam thwart a would be suicide bomber. It is an impressive reminder of both the legacy of Flight 93 and the fact that all Americans may unexpectedly be called to act as soldiers in the War on Terror. This was certainly an episode with a happy ending.