Ukrainian special forces team caught near Donetsk

RT is reporting that 3 officers of the most elite anti-terrorist unit in the Ukraine, they are called "A" or "Alpha", were caught in the city of Gorlovka, near Donetsk.  Read the full article and watch the video of their interrogation by reporters here.

Now let me provide some context here.

The Ukrainian SBU is a truly frightening secret service.  Ever since it's foundation following the independence of the Ukraine the SBU did some work arresting gangsters and criminals, but it's most feared mission was to be the "enforcement" service of whoever was in power.  The top of the top of the SBU forces were supposed to be the "A" or "Alpha" anti-terrorist forces.  It is rather cute that the proudly independent Ukies felt the need to use the same designation as the hated Moskals whose famous anti-terrorist group is called "A" (the Alpha thing is a media invented misnomer and an attempt to sound like the US "Delta" Force; in reality the group is called "the A Directorate").  Anyway, they call have the same name, but in terms of skills or record the two groups are very different.  For one thing, the Russian "A" never was the enforcement service of the regime and they had no political role or mission at all.  Second, they really did deal with anti-terrorism and very serious organized crime.

Still, by Ukrainian standards, these are the top of the top.  These are also the folks who have been kidnapping anti-regime activists over the pasts months.  I have to note that the previous commander of the Ukrainian Alpha was sacked for refusing to engage in operations against the Russian-speaking population - so there were some honorable officers in this group.  But by now it is pretty clear who stayed.  And they mission was typical too: to kidnap the head of the local police department.

The hunters became prey

Instead, the three wannabe kidnappers got caught themselves.

The three captured today were lead by a Lieutenant-Colonel, no less.  For the Russian militias to have detected, intercepted and captured three undercover Alpha officers is already fantastic, but to catch an Alpha Lieutenant-Colonel is nothing short of miraculous.  It is also a testimony of the absolutely unique level of gross incompetence of the Ukrainian security service to have such a high ranking operative caught.

It is also highly ironical. 

For days the regime in Kiev was reporting that it caught GRU (Russian military intelligence) officers here, then there, then again over there.  They were never shown, of course.  At the GRU HQ in Moscow they laughingly declared that by now the Ukies had caught so many GRU officers that the entire GRU personnel was now in captivity and the GRU offices empty.  So imagine the pain and embarrassment in Kiev when they found out the self-organized militias of a small town near Donetsk managed to capture 3 Alpha officers alive, including a Lieutenant-Colonel.

The video shows them pretty well-banged up - they did resist being captured - and completely despondent.  All three clearly realize that their screwup deserves to be listed in the Guinness Book of Records under the "amazing incompetence" heading.

The past 24 hours have been a disaster for the junta in Kiev: first a group of spies pretending to be with the OSCE got caught, and now 3 Alpha officers are also captured.

Except attacking a few checkpoints and stealing its food and medicines, the junta forces have so far totally failed to achieve anything.  The single most feared segment the junta's security and enforcement apparatus was the SBU, which is also the best equipped and best trained.  And then this.

I wonder what else could go wrong?  Will a US national working for the CIA be captured wearing a silly wig?  Or maybe a junta official like Avakov or Taruta?

Let's just hope that nothing terrible happens tomorrow as the regime might try something "macho" to save face, like Reagan did in Grenada (arguable the worst military operation in modern history, by the way).

Stay tuned.  Kind regards and good nite,

The Saker

The French newspapers are really ridiculous...

This is the front page of the French magazine Le Figaro:

That's right - a Dubya-style "mission accomplished".  It took these folks 32 hours to get a single guy.  And they got at least three colleagues shot in the process...

Even the excuse "we were told to get him alive" is not credible.  There are plenty of "special technology weapons" which can be used to catch an armed terrorist which, in this case, was made even easier by the fact that he had no hostages and that the entire building was evacuated.  As a Russian anti-terrorist officer commented in the newspaper Rossiiskaia Gazeta, the use of special weapons such as "flash-bang" grenades and paralyzing gas should have made this a 3min operation, not a 32 hours one.

The French special police forces (RAID, GIPN, GIGN) have a very good reputation and some of their success were spectacular (remember the successful storming of the Air France Flight 8969 in 1994?).  I have no idea what went so wrong this time, but the kind of jingoistic flag-waving nonsense printed by Le Figaro is really only an embarrassment for the French police.

NATO botches operation to kill Gaddafi

Another NATO SNAFU: they wanted to kill Gaddafi, but ended up killing one of his sons, and three of his grandchildren.  Now everybody repeat after me:

No, this is not terrorism
No, this is not terrorism
No, this is not terrorism
No, this is not terrorism
(keep repeating until convinced)

Dubai seeks Israeli prime minister’s arrest over murder of Hamas militant

The AFP reports (via Raw Story)

Dubai police said Tuesday they are seeking the arrest of Israel's prime minister and the head of its spy agency over the murder of a top Hamas militant in a hotel room of the Gulf city-state.

Police chief Dahi Khalfan said he had issued the demand for the arrest warrants as he was now certain they ordered the Cold War-style hit on Mahmud al-Mabhuh.

"I have presented the (Dubai) prosecutor with a request for the arrest of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the head of Mossad," Meir Dagan, said Khalfan.

"I am now completely sure that it was Mossad," said the police lieutenant general.

Mabhuh, a founder of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas organisation's military wing, was found dead in a room of the luxurious Al Bustan Rotana hotel near Dubai's airport on January 20.

Dubai police have identified 26 suspects from the hit squad murder they say bore the hallmarks of the Mossad. The Hamas man had been drugged and then suffocated.

Khalfan said last month that Dubai would issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu if Israel was found to be implicated in the murder of the Palestinian militant.

Netanyahu "will be the first to be wanted for justice as he would have been the one who signed the decision to kill al-Mabhuh in Dubai," he was quoted as saying in The National newspaper on February 5.

"We will issue an arrest warrant against him," said the English-language newspaper published in Abu Dhabi.

Police say the suspects entered Dubai on fake passports using the identities of 12 people from Britain, six from Ireland, four from France, three Australians and a German, before fleeing the Gulf emirate.

Two members of the hit squad which killed Mabhuh had "returned to the United States after passing through a European country," said Dhalfan, who on Monday said the suspects were hiding out in Israel where they could avoid arrest.

Israeli officials have refused to confirm or deny the reports.

But Israel's media sees the killing as Mossad's work, and the probe has caused a diplomatic headache for the Jewish state with the countries whose passports were used summoning its envoys to hear angry protests.

On Tuesday, Ireland's Sinn Fein defended a town council's decision to remove a page in its guestbook signed by the Israeli ambassador over the alleged use of Irish passports in the Dubai murder.

The Israeli embassy in Dublin described the incident as "a rare exception" initiated by "publicity seeking" by Sinn Fein.

In Lebanon, an MP representing the Shiite militant group Hezbollah said security must be stepped up for all foreigners entering the country as they could be secret agents like the assassins in Dubai.

Australia meanwhile said that it was sending police to Israel to investigate how its passports were used in the elaborate plot

Khalfan told AFP Western passports would be closely inspected following the Mabhuh's murder but that Jews would not be singled out.

"We respect all people and all religions, whether they are Muslims, Jews, Christians or others," Dahi Khalfan told AFP, asked about remarks attributed to him that "all Jews" would be prevented from entering Dubai.

He said immigration services would be on their guard "after Israel's abuse of passports from Western countries," although there was no way of knowing if a Westerner entering the United Arab Emirates was an Israeli with dual citizenship.

"The officers of the immigration service will now look twice if they have any doubt about the documents or photos, and will scan them," he said.

Latest Israeli FUBAR shows Mossad as incompetent as IDF (UPDATED!)

Next to the myth about the "invincible Tsahal" (or IDF), the myth of the almighty and all-knowing Mossad is one of the favorite canards of the corporate media. Well, since Israel did not win a single war since 1973 and since up to about 40'000 Israeli soldiers, sailors and airmen were comprehensively, and embarrassingly, defeated by about 1'000 Hezbollah 2nd tier infantry soldiers (the best one had been kept north of the Litani river) the first myth is now dead. Thanks to the recent killing of a Hamas official in Dubai, the second myth about the "formidable" Mossad is now taking a nose-dive to join the first one in the proverbial garbage heaps of history.

Unlike some previous Mossad SNAFUs, this time the assassins did get the correct guy, and they did kill him. They even managed to leave the country without being arrested. What these pseudo-pros did not realize is that a) their faces would be identified b) their passports would be identified and c) their retinal scans would be identified. So much for their professionalism (click on the picture for a high-res picture of their mugshots). Furthermore, all their actions were caught on numerous CCTV and have been made public by the Dubai police (see video here). Lastly , since these idiots decided to take the real identities of wholly unsuspecting Israeli citizens from Europe, they have now alienated not only the rest of the planet, but even their own public opinion (read Gilad's excellent commentary about this). Today, it was announced that they were now all blacklisted (well, redlisted, technically) by Interpol. Enraged Dubai cops are now demanding that the head of the Mossad be placed on the Interpol "red list" too.

And all this for what purpose exactly?

Here is what Ha'aretz' Gideon Levy had to say about this:

Let's suppose the Dubai assassination project had worked out well. Mahmoud al-Mabhouh would have received his kiss of death, the assassins would have returned safe and sound to their bases, and no Israeli would have run into identity complications. And then? Mahmoud's place would have been taken by Mohammed, who also would have tried to kill Israeli soldiers and smuggle Iranian arms into Gaza. Perhaps the heir would even outperform his predecessor, as has happened in several previous liquidations. We eliminated Abbas al-Musawi? Well done, Israel Defense Forces. We got Hassan Nasrallah. We killed Ahmed Yassin? Well done, Shin Bet security service. We got a Hamas many times stronger. Abu Jihad was eliminated? Well done to the Sayeret Matkal special forces unit - of course, according to foreign news reports. We killed a potential partner, relatively moderate and charismatic. As a bonus, we got revenge attacks like those after "the Engineer" Yihyeh Ayash was slain. We also got the danger hovering over every Israeli and Jew in the world each anniversary of the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, which was also blamed on Israel.

He is quite correct, of course. In reality, the Israeli secret service is far from being as formidable as some think. It is technically very mediocre and strategically outright incompetent. The IDF and the Mossad (and by "Mossad" I am really referring to the whole bunch of them, Mossad, Aman, etc.) are little more than yet another example of the boundless Israeli arrogance, hubris and outright stupidity. Sure, they are skilled at organizing massacres (like the one in Gaza) and at executing Palestinian leaders, but it is a constant feature of the Israeli security establishment that each of its supposed tactical "successes" results in a strategic disaster.

I am under no illusions about the long term consequences of this latest Mossad debacle. The iron grip of the Israel Lobby on the western corporate press and political elites is such that after a little huffing and puffing it will be all forgotten, swept under the carpet. If needed, some big revelation about the "new Antisemitism" will be announced or a Holocaust event organized (like this one). All in all, this is really a "no big deal" case, at least as seen by the Israeli side. But the real consequence of this will be to further erode the perception of the Israeli power in the eyes of the world and, in particular, in the Middle-East.

Speaking about Israeli assassinations, there was one which was clearly a "success", at least in tactical terms: the murder of Imad Mughniyah in Damascus in 2008 (though in this case, the Israelis did not act alone, but with Syrian complicity). here is what Hassan Nasrallah had to say about Hezbollah's upcoming retaliation for his death:

So they thought Hezbollah would search for a modest aim and strike it and consider that a revenge for Hajj Imad Moghniyeh and the story would end there. That’s not how we act. I would like to stress for you that in the past two years we had within our reach many modest aims but we did not make use of them because it is Hajj Imad Moghniyeh whose revenge we are seeking. This is in frank words. We know the goals and consequently the timing and the place. We know which operation might achieve this goal and then we might tell the Israelis this is Hezbollah’s response to your assassination of its jihadi leader. Our choices are open. We may take our time. No one is pressing on us. Let no one begrudge us. Our enemy is alarmed. Let them remain worried every day and in every place and field and concerning all goals. But it is we who will choose the time and the place and the goal. Today on the anniversary of Hajj Imad Moghniyeh I tell you and all his family, friends and dear ones: We want a revenge as great as Imad Moghniyeh. That’s what we are searching for. We do not want revenge for the sake of revenge, but in order to defend all of our leaders, cadres and the cause which Imad Moghniyeh represents.

Unlike the Israeli leaders, it is well-known that Hassan Nasrallah never makes empty threats. In this case, Hassan Nasrallah is announcing that Hezbollah will kill an Israeli official of the Cabinet or IDF command level (whether active or retired). What Hezbollah is seeking is not just a way to "get even" but to achieve a tacit agreement with the Israelis that they will not start killing off each other's leaders (something along the lines of the understanding which, say, the CIA and KGB had during the Cold War years).

Will the Israelis be smart enough to realize that the murder of Mughniyah was a major strategic blunder and that they better get a modus vivendi with Hezbollah? I don't think so. I therfore fully expect Hezbollah to deliver on their promised retaliation. Needlss to say, the Israelis will go crazy when this happens. They will probably try to kill Hassan Nasrallah or Naim Qassem, as they have so many other times in the past, and they will probably fail. But even if they succeed, this will bring them no advantage: Israeli leader fear death, Hezbollah leaders don't.

Still, Hezbollah can hardly be seen as triggering another orgy of violence like the war of 2006. And since Hezbollah is not in the business of conducting operations it cannot claim credit for (no, Hezbollah had nothing to do with the Buenos-Aires bombings), this places Hezbollah in a complicated situation: how to retaliate at a Cabinet/IDF command level without triggering a war? There are two possible solutions to this problem: a) to retaliate and wait for the next (inevitable) war to start to admit responsibility or b) to retaliate once a war is started. The former would be a departure from the usual Hezbollah practice, so I am leaning towards the latter.

Alas, we will know soon enough.

The Saker

UPDATE1: for a good laugh on how the Zionist controlled corporate media spins this debacle, check out the hilarious report by Sky News about how the Mossad was framed by common criminals (I kid you not!). Great stuff really. Stay tuned for more attempts to "dis-ridicule" the Mossad dummies.

UPDATE2: Seumas Milne from The Guardian makes a very valid point: "Imagine for a moment what the reaction would be if ­Iranian ­intelligence was almost ­unversally believed to have ­assassinated a leader of one of the organisations fighting the Tehran government in a western-friendly state. Then consider how Britain, let alone the US, might respond if the killers had carried out the ­operation ­using forged or stolen passports of ­citizens of four European states, including Britain, with dual Iranian nationality". The guy must be an Antisemite. No doubt.

UPDATE3: who gives a f**k about the consequences of this debacle? Not Eitan Haber from Ynet, for sure. I am afraid that he is quite correct.

UPDATE4: According to Ha'aretz the Israeli Government believes that what Ha'aretz calls the "Dubai passport row" (sic) won't cause a major crisis. Why can a brazen act of international terrorism can be described as a "passport row"? Kuz its *Israel* dummy! They are the good guys, remember?

UPDATE5: The Gulf News website reports that the two Palestinian accomplices of the Mossad assassins who were arrested in Jordan and extradited to Dubai were former members of Palestinian Authority. Surprise, surprise, PA thugs acting like footsoliders for the Mossad. What else is new?

UPDATE6: AP reports that the total number of suspects is now 18. Eighteen operatives for the murder one Hamas official. Just how incompetent, not to mention cowardly, are these guys?!

UPDATE7: Israel is becoming an official "pariah state" says Gilad Atzmon. Bradley Burston agrees in Ha'aretz. This reminds me of the prophetic words of Norman Finkelstein: "At the same time, Israelis are hardened, and unless they are forced to pay a price, they are not likely to respond to moral or ethical appeals. I suppose it is like South Africa during Apartheid. When some were forced to pay the price – through sanctions, some of them turned around. You know, when you heard of South Africa in those times, your skin crawled. You might as well have been talking about Nazi Germany. People just did not want anything to do with South Africa. It just had such an ugly reputation. And, South Africans were not pleased with that". I agree with all of them. While the totally Zionised corporate media and ruling elites will continue to blindly Israel, the rest of mankind, in particular those with liberal or progressive views, is recoiling in horror and disgust at the behavior of this racist terrorist rogue colonial statelet.

UPDATE8: check out Robert Fisk's take on this story:



UPDATE9: check out Victor Ostrovsky (former Mossad) take on this story here.

UPDATE10: According to Gulf News, the hit team used a lamp to try to make the murder look like an electrocution. The paper adds that Mahmoud Al Mabhouh was not tortured since the killers only spent 22 minutes in the room. Instead, he was killed by suffocation. A total of 18 members were part of the hit team which attached a special tracking device to al Mabhouh's car to track him back to the hotel.

Israel's latest SNAFU

You all heard the story: the Israelis got pissed-off at Turkey for showing a TV show which they don't like, they decided to humiliate the Turkish envoy to Israel with some totally immature antics (sitting him on a lower chair, only putting a little Israeli flag on the table and by, quote, "not smiling" - at least on camera).

This time, the customary arrogance of the "Jewish state" ended up backfiring badly when the Turks decided not to take that crap and demanded not one, but TWO apologies form a state which is only used to disdainfully accepting all kinds of apologies, but never presenting one

Worse, the Turks actually gave a public ultimatum with an equally public deadline "or else". And the Israelis blinked and rolled over. I can just imagine the terrible anguish that the expert practitioner of "chutzpah" which pass for "diplomats" in the "Jewish state" must have felt when they had publicly present their apologies.

What a fantastic admission of weakness too. If Turkey can humiliate the Ueber-arrogant Israelis, just imagine what a determined major power could do to it!

Whatever one might think of the Turkish government - and I sure am not fan of it at all - it has to be said that Ankara handled this situation brilliantly.

The smackdown of the arrogant bastards who run the "Jewish state" is a fantastic PR success for the Turkish government. In the past, the Turks have already bullied Syrian into submission (with threats over the PKK), and now they succeeded in bullying the Israelis. The only ones who actually forced the Turks to back down, though not too publicly, where the Russians (who clearly indicated to the Turks that any further intervention in the Caucasus or the Black Sea would be met with force if needed).

I strongly believe that Israel far from being strong, is really an extremely weak state which is hiding this weakness under an external appearance of arrogance and constant sabre-rattling. But look at the fact: the Israeli lost ALL their wars since 1973 - they could not even beat Hamas in Gaza, nevermind Hezbollah in Lebanon - and they are the most unanimously hated nation on earth surviving only by the ruthless exploitation of the USA by the Israel Lobby.

By smacking down the Israelis the Turks have essentially declared "the Emperor has no clothes!". Hopefully, everybody else will now come out of their stupor and follow suit.

The Saker

The USA has lost yet another war - has anybody noticed?

One of the most inept war launched during the so-called GWOT (Global War on Terror) was the CIA-run war on the Islamic Courts in Somalia. Using a combination of Ethiopian troops, CIA goons and Special Ops, the USA invaded Somalia and took control of Mogadishu. Well, its over. The Ethiopians have left and the Islamic Resistance is back on control.

Yet another useless war initiated by the USA ends up in abject humiliation and defeat. The CIA goons will now get promoted, the Special Ops will get their medals, the Ethiopians will go back home, and the US corporate media will not report about it.

- Over one million refugees, over 16'000 civilians killed?

- Who cares about a bunch of niggers/hadjis/ragheads? Fuck them! We are AMERICANS!!

What else is new?

The Saker

Gilad Atzmon - Israel Has Managed to Lose Again

by Gilad Atzmon for Palestine Think Tank

Haaretz reported today that IDF Senior officials "believe that Israel should strive to reach an immediate cease-fire with Hamas, and not expand its offensive against the Palestinian Islamist group in Gaza."

This shouldn't take us by great surprise. Though Israel has proved beyond doubt that it is rather capable of conducting large-scale genocide, it also proved that its military forces do not have the answer to Islamic resistance. The Israeli chief military officials admitted as well that "Israel achieved several days ago all that it possibly could in Gaza." The IDF, so it seems, finished its role in Gaza. It turned its neighbourhoods into piles of rubble. Relentlessly, it even murdered the civilian population in broad daylight by means of air raids and attacks from warships. Images of white phosphorus artillery shells bursting over schools and hospitals are now part of our collective memory. Tanks firing into schools loaded with evacuees seeking refuge from the bombing of their buildings is now the image associated with the Hebraic soldier and yet, the Israelis failed to achieve any of their objectives. I must admit that it must take a special talent to be an Israeli general. As much as they are good in committing war crimes, they somehow fail in everything else.

The Israeli politicians initially swore to destroy Hamas, they then lowered their expectations, they promised just to destroy Hamas' rocket launching capabilities, all the while reassuring their excited Israeli voters that this time the Jewish State will fight till the bitter end. Seemingly, their promises fell too short once again.

Hamas is still there; its support within the Palestinian street is stronger than ever. But it is not only the Palestinian street. Hamas' message of defiance is spreading all over the Muslim world and beyond. Last week I was marching in London together with another 100,000 protesters. The support for Hamas was all around. It was on placards, flags, headbands and loudspeakers. Not only is Hamas far from being defeated, its rocket launching capability seems to be unaffected. Day after day Hamas combatants manage to remind Israelis in Ashdod, Ashkelon and Sderot that they actually live on stolen Palestinian land. Give Hamas the necessary time and the ballistic message will be carried to every corner of stolen Palestine.

Israel is desperate for an exit strategy. I learned today that Defence Minister Barak is looking for a week long humanitarian ceasefire. Please do not hold your breath, the notorious mass murderer didn't change his spots all of a sudden. Being a veteran general, Barak realises very well that his soldiers on the ground need a break and they need it now. Being that they are gathered together in a few scattered open areas, they are currently exposed to Hamas' snipers and mortar fire. In the last few days, Israeli forces started to suffer a growing number of causalities. The attempt to step up the battle into Gaza's neighbourhood met with some severe resistance. The Israeli army is stuck once again.

If this is not enough, within a few days Obama is going to reside in the White House and the Israelis are not totally convinced that the new American president will blindly support their murderous strategy. Defence Minister Barak realizes that his window of opportunity might be closing down. He realises that IDF soldiers may have to dig in Gaza city outskirts without achieving any of the war's military objectives. Barak needs a few days of ceasefire to create a new reality on the ground. He obviously prefers to hide behind a humanitarian effort. This is far easier than admitting that once again the IDF was caught unprepared. Olmert aids, however were stupid enough to admit the lie. Apparently one of them slammed Barak earlier on today suggesting that "Hamas sees the scenes and hears the voices, these comments are a shot in the arm for Hamas and its leaders."

As things stand, IDF soldiers are now stranded in Gaza. Don't misinterpret me, they are still capable of spreading death and inflicting carnage, yet they cannot win this war. The IAF ran out of ˜military" targets a week ago and the artillery is probably facing the same situation. As news floods in it becomes evident that once Israeli soldiers leave their armoured vehicles and Merkava tanks they are subject to the mercy of Hamas. I have read today on Ynet that some IDF soldiers reported that they "don't really see the enemy", "we get hit and we do not know by who and how."

As things stand, Hamas is becoming a symbol of heroic persistence. Its combatants on the ground fight almost with bare hands against America's most lethal technology. Similarly, Hamas'political leadership has managed to set itself as the key to any possible resolution of the current conflict. The hope that Hamas would be toppled or discredited proved to be just another Jewish wet dream. Hamas is now becoming a widely accepted entity by the international community. It is regarded as an elementary ingredient in any possible solution. Israel, on the other hand, is seen for what it is for real, a murderous criminal state involved in genocidal war crimes of the worst order.

However, there is a new reality that we have to bear in mind. The damage Israel is leaving behind in Gaza is horrific. It has flattened neighbourhoods, it has spread white phosphorus in populated areas. As if this is not enough, the many tons of bunker buster bombs which Israel was using day and night have shaken the foundations of every building in Gaza and the question looms large as to whether Gazan houses that are still standing will be safe to live in. EU officials raised the question today wondering who is going to pay for the reconstruction of these eradicated towns, camps and villages.

In an ideal ethical world, Israel would have let the Gazans go back to their land. But ethics and Israel are very much like parallel lines. They somehow never meet. As much as it is clear that Palestinians will come back to their land, it won't be Israel that that will welcome the inevitable returning Palestinians.

Someone will have to rebuild Gaza, and the only name that comes to mind is the democratically elected Hamas. Such a huge project maintained by Hamas will be the right answer to Israel's criminal war and its murderous objectives.

More fallout from the botched US raid on Syrian village

The shit is hitting the fan after the botched US raid on the Syrian village near the Iraqi border and even nominal US allies such as the Maliki government and even Fouad Siniora (!!) in Lebanon are condemning this aggression. Other protesting voices include Qatar, the OIC, the Arab League, Russia and China. Even the otherwise 'tame and lame' EU "voiced concerns" about this raid (which just goes to show that the EU is even more under the US boot than the Maliki government or Siniora). Iran also warned that the US should not try this kind of trick with Iran.

In the West the corporate press is doing an excellent job keeping this story as low profile as possible but then, it really matters little what the TV watching idiots in the West think about any of that. What matters is that this botched raid is nothing short of a PR-disaster in the entire Middle-East. Yet again, the Americans come out of this looking stupid, incompetent and phenomenally arrogant.

The UK's Guardian put it well in an article called Syria, the US goes at it alone again: Yesterday's raid into the Middle Eastern country was yet another example of Bush's often disastrous approach to the 'war on terror'.

To fully measure the boundless imbecility of it all one needs to remember that the Baathist regime of Assad in Syria has been, for a long while already, a very faithful and trustworthy ally of the USA in the self-declared GWOT (Global War on Terror): heck, they even kindly agreed to detain and torture high-security detainees kidnapped by the CIA goons and then turn them back to the Americans. Does anyone seriously believe that the USA would allow the Syrians to detain and interrogate any al-Qaeda members if at the same time Syria was protecting al-Qaeda?! And if not, then the Americans could have easily asked the Syrian to detain and torture or kill any presumed al-Qaeda members hiding right across the Iraqi-Syrian border. But no, they went in themselves, in broad daylight of all things, and did what US Special Ops do best: bungle a raid and shoot a bunch of civilian bystanders.

[The gross incompetence of US special ops never ceases to amaze me. The Brits, the Russians or the Israelis would have gone in quietly and either bombed the place or snatched their targets without anyone even knowing who did it. For that, of course, they would have needed to either bring (or get) some vehicles to a landing zone about 10km outside any inhabited area and they would have done so at night. The cowboys decided to come in with guns blazing and ended up being filmed by cellphone cameras. And I bet you that, like in Grenada (arguably the most inept military operation of all times) the morons who conducted this raid will get medals and promotions].

One could expect anything from the Maliki government in Iraq of course, but my guess is that the SOFA thing is dead and that the latest US fiasco will prove to be the final blow to this deal.

US raid on Syria 'will hamper SOFA'

Exactly as I predicted:

Press TV reports that An Iraqi lawmaker has warned that Sunday's attack on Syria would negatively affect a security pact the US is insisting to sign with Iraq.

"The air strike will send a negative message to Iraq's neighbors," MP Abbass al-Bayati told Voices of Iraq news agency on Tuesday.

US commandoes onboard four helicopters attacked a Syrian border region on Sunday, killing at least eight civilians and wounding several others. Washington claims all victims of the attack were members of a terrorist network. Syrian officials and witnesses, however, have dismissed the allegations.

Al-Bayati said the timing of the US attack was wrong and could have negative consequences.

"I hope that this air strike will not affect the Iraq-Syria relations that have recently started to improve," the parliamentarian added.

The remarks were made just hours after the Iraqi Parliament voiced concern about the attack and called on the government to launch a probe into the incident and inform the legislative body.

Syria termed the incursion as a terrorist act and warned of retaliatory measures if the US launched similar attacks.

The military operation has also fueled the speculations that Washington might use Iraqi soil as a launch pad for further wars in the region if Baghdad signs the so-called Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).

The controversial agreement has sparked outrage among Iraqi political and religious leaders who say SOFA would virtually put the war-torn country under the US's tutelage.

Yes, this was (yet another) US screw-up (UPDATED!)

Now I am sure of it. First, watch this:



Notice a couple of things:

1) the footage of the attack was shot in daylight. That is *not* how you would conduct any real anti-insurgency raid (they happen at night). From the footage one can only conclude that even small arms fire (nevermind MANPADs) could have easily taken out these helicopters (had any insurgent force been there to begin with, of course).

2) there appears to be absolutely no Syrian censorship of any kind: footage is freely shown, eyewitnesses are interviewed. This is not at all how the Syrian regime and its paranoid security and intelligence services would handle the situation if anything remotely important had been located there.

3) The Syrian representative to the UN confirmed the "two helicopters and eight man" figures. Earlier reports spoke of four helicopters which leads me to believe that we are talking about 2 helicopters landing the soldiers and two more providing cover from the air. This is wholly inadequate for a real counter-insurgency operation which would have required a far more substantial force to cover the inserted soldiers.

4) The official reaction is totally atypical. Normally, there would be an orgy of triumphalist statements about how "top al-Qaeda leaders" were killed and about how is "brilliantly executed" operations "sends a message" to "all terrorists and enemies of freedom worldwide" that the USA will "lead the world against the scourge of terrorism" anywhere where the terrorists hide. Instead: 'no comment'. What do you mean, 'no comment'?! You just attacked a sovereign country and you have no comments at all to justify this?!

There is no doubt in my mind that this is yet another monumental screw-up, probably at the local commander level. Also, US intelligence is notoriously poor (they almost never seem to get their targets right) and most of its human intelligence is acquired through very crude and ineffective means (money and torture).

Boundless arrogance, imperial hubris, racism towards the "hadjis" (AYE-rabs, ragheads, gooks, indjuns, niggers, etc. etc. etc.), poor intelligence and political pressure to achieve some "results" are all the trademark of the long list of failed US counterinsurgency operations in history.

The latest one just goes to show that nothing has changed.

UPDATE: I just found the first "explanation" for the US raid. In the Jerusalem Post. Here is what it says:

A US counterterrorism official said American forces killed the head of a Syrian network that funneled fighters, weapons and cash into Iraq.

The raid Sunday targeted the home of Abu Ghadiyah, the nickname for the leader of a key cell of foreign fighters in Iraq, according to the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence. The US Treasury Department has identified him as one of four major figures in al-Qaida's Iraq wing who were living in Syria.

Also Monday, a villager said US forces grabbed two men and took them away by helicopter during the cross-border raid

Now that is typical stuff. First, its all hush hush, super secret you understand, so no sources other than unidentified US officials "speaking on condition of anonymity". Second, not only did the Americans kill a "top al-Qaeda" leader (they are ALL "top al-Qaeda leaders" you understand), but they even seized two (presumed) insurgents.

Now ask yourself a simple question: if you wanted to seize a "top al-Qaeda leader" which presumably would be protected by a bunch of well-armed and well-trained "al-Qaeda terrorists" - would you send four choppers in broad daylight when you could not only get easily shot down, but when your intended target might be moving around?!

Of course not.

If you wanted to kill somebody an airstrike would do just fine (and would not put your soliders at risk). If you wanted to seize somebody you would do it in the night when your target is stationary, your force protected, your insertion hidden and your chance to get in and out before anyone reacts is maximized.

This official verison is utter nonsense.

Yet another botched US raid?

Take a look at this al-Jazeera report about the US raid in Syria:

From the information slowly trickling in it appears that the US SNAFUed this time again. The fact that any footage at all is coming from this village shows that there was nothing of any kind of value there, be it people or infrastructure. Then the accounts by the civilian victims also points to some rather pathetically inept actions by the Americans (shooting at a woman reaching out to her kid? shooting a fishing dude?!). Then the size of the striking force - 2 or 4 helicopters and 8+ men - is really too small for any serious kind of operation in a foreign (and mostly hostile) country. The latter even makes me doubt whether this was truly an American action and, if yes, what forces were involved. Lastly, it took a while for the US to "verify" that information. That makes no sense at all. Any operation deliberately aimed at a target inside Syria would have had the direct supervision of the Pentagon brass and White House.

So here is my guess: yes, the Americans did it, but they probably did not realize that they had entered Syrian territory (GPS malfunction?). Sending such a small force into Syria just does not sound credible to me. Unless we hear a dramatically different account of what actually took place I think we can safely dismiss this latest raid as yet another US screw-up in the GWOT.

Finally, you can just imagine how that kind of imperial hubris and arrogance will be received in Iraq which is already up in arms about the SOFA the US is trying to impose. It is just basic common sense to see that if the US does not give a damn about international law, national borders of sovereign countries or the UN Charter (all of which have been grievously violated in the latest raid), it would be naive to the extreme to expect Uncle Shmuel to abide by any SOFA.

I can just about hear the laughter in Tehran...