Thursday, July 7, 2011

DTN News - ISRAELI DEFENSE NEWS: American Picks IDF Service Over Elite US Army Rangers

Asian Defense News: DTN News - ISRAELI DEFENSE NEWS: American Picks IDF Service Over Elite US Army Rangers
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 7, 2011: “People fight here for a reason: To keep Israel alive. And for me, the US army did not have as much meaning as the Israeli army," Dabush says.

Becor Dabush always knew he wanted to serve in the military.

It took him a while, though, to realize that it was supposed to be in the IDF.

Born in Los Angeles to an Israeli father and American mother, and raised in North Miami Beach, Dabush was a member of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) – a federal program aimed at motivating teenagers to serve in the military – throughout high school. He subsequently signed a contract committing himself to enlisting in the US Army Rangers upon graduation.


The summer before his draft, though, Dabush flew to Israel to visit family for the last time before his scheduled deployment at Fort Benning in Georgia for basic training.

“During the vacation I traveled around and met soldiers on buses and trains and started talking to them, and they said that while the military is tough, it’s a brotherhood since we are all Jewish,” Dabush said on Wednesday. “People fight here for a reason: To keep Israel alive. And for me, the US army did not have as much meaning as the Israeli army.”

He returned to the US and fought to get out of his contract to serve in the Rangers. After it was annulled, Dabush boarded a plane back to Israel where he immediately enlisted in the IDF.

He was drafted in February and is currently serving in the Nahal Brigade’s elite Reconnaissance Battalion.

“I always wanted to join the army as a kid,” he said. “I really loved how the army works, how it is serious, there is a framework and how it teaches you to be a leader.”

Not all of Dabush’s friends from JROTC approved of his decision to join the IDF. “I have a lot of friends in the US military, and they do not see things like I do. They don’t see the same point of view that I have,” he said.

Nevertheless, Dabush said he does not regret his decision for a minute, and plans to try-out to become an IDF officer.

“The other soldiers in my unit looked at me a little strange in the beginning and they didn’t understand why I came here, but slowly they began to understand that we are all here for a larger purpose – to defend our country,” he said.





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DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Taliban Attacks Grow Bolder

Asian Defense News: DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Taliban Attacks Grow Bolder
**Pakistan Factor in Afghan War - From intelligence and commonsense aspect, the finger is being pointed at Pakistan is the biggest factor to Afghan war solution. First and foremost, Pakistan army has created the Taliban and continues to shelter and harbour to-date, evidently as per daily American drone attacks in NWFP of Pakistan. It is not in the interest of Pakistan to scale down the conflict in northern neighbouring country, as Pakistan is earning a hefty sum in transhipment fees for military hardware, petroleum and daily products for NATO forces in Afghanistan, free American military & economy aids over the tune of $20 billion and lucrative drug trade known to be handled by military establishment and are the mentor of Taliban.
The Afghan war has become a white elephant for obama administration on cost of maintaining U.S. forces plus human casualty, which has been going on over 10 years longer than Vietnam conflicts and unpopular among Americans, recent resignation ofSecretary of Defense Robert Michael Gates and the US lawmakers threaten to cut Pakistan aid in lieu of Osama bin Laden’s was living in an army town Abbottabad in Pakistan raises pointed questions about how he managed to evade capture and even whether Pakistan’s military and intelligence leadership knew of his whereabouts and sheltered him.
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 7, 2011: In the biggest operation since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, last week the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces backed by U.S. helicopters and British jet fighters killed more than 170 insurgents and arrested another 56 men, some of whom wounded. Afghan and U.S. troops attacked suspected Taliban safe havens in southern Afghanistan beginning June 20; several Afghan policemen and seven soldiers died, while five U.S. soldiers were wounded. The operation was carried out in the mountainous part of the country between the southern provinces of Kandahar and Zabul. Kandahar Deputy Police Chief General Salim Khan, who was involved in the operation, called it, "The heaviest bombing and fighting I have seen since the fall of the Taliban."


U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore reported that two U.S. CH-47 Chinook helicopters were also damaged by small-arms fire that forced one to make an emergency landing. There were no casualties and both helicopters returned to base.

Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said seven insurgents had been killed, including senior commander, Mullah Mohammad Easa. He said no Taliban fighters had been captured. After U.S. jets and attack helicopters pounded insurgent positions on Wednesday, June 22, the guerrillas fled through the mountains into Zabul province. (Pajhwok, June 25).

During the past four weeks, there has been a steady increase in the fighting in southern Afghanistan, with most of the attacks taking place in Kandahar province, the former Taliban stronghold. First, there was the May 29 assassination of Mawlawi Abdullah Fayez, a prominent pro-government cleric. Then on June 1, an alleged suicide bomber killed more than 20 people at a mosque, including a former resistance commander and, General Akram Khakrizwal, the Kabul police chief. Since June 20, the most intense fighting has taken place along the border between two volatile southern provinces, Kandahar and Uruzgan (Pajhwok, June 15).

The escalation of violence, especially on the border with Pakistan, has steadily increased tension between the two countries. Pakistan Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad recently denied that his government was in any way involved in the Afghan unrest, saying: "Pakistan as a state is not involved in any unlawful activity on Afghan soil… No Taliban leaders are hiding here" (Daily Outlook Afghanistan, June 25).

Kabul takes a different view. In the Afghan capital there are increasing accusations that Pakistan is not doing enough to stem the flow of arms and insurgents from its territory. Three months of bloodshed across the south and east have left hundreds dead and sparked fears that the Afghan war is widening, rather than winding down.

U.S. and Afghan officials warn that things could get worse ahead of the landmark parliamentary elections scheduled for September. Javed Ludin, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told a news conference in Kabul on Tuesday, June 21, "Our people are dying, our schools are getting burned, our mosques are getting blown up, and our clergy are being assassinated." Ludin also pointed out that the insurgency's activities are concentrated in areas close to Pakistan, and he disclosed that Kabul had asked Islamabad to crack down on militants hiding in its territory. "Some senior members of the Taliban, including some who are involved in killings and are considered terrorists, are in Pakistan," he declared (Daily Outlook Afghanistan, June 22). The request came one day after it was revealed that Afghan intelligence agents had foiled a plot by three Pakistanis to assassinate former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.

According to Afghan officials, three men armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles were captured on June 19 in northeastern Laghman province, near the Pakistani border, just 150 feet from where Khalilzad had planned to inaugurate a road with Afghanistan's interior minister. The three suspects are said to have confessed that they were waiting for a "special vest" to arrive from Pakistan for use in a suicide attack (Afghan TV, June 21). News of the arrest has sharpened criticism of Pakistan in the Afghan press. According to Afghan media, Islamabad is trying to frustrate efforts to achieve security and stability in a post-Taliban Afghanistan.

The daily newspaper Anis puts the blame squarely on Pakistan, writing, "Our people have now realized that the Pakistani intelligence agency [ISI] is behind all the security problems in Afghanistan." Furthermore, "This recent arrest," it continues, "suggests that Pakistani intelligence is involved in undermining security and stability in Afghanistan." According to the newspaper, the suspects admitted to "the role of the ISI and Pakistani extremist groups in terrorist activities in Afghanistan" (Anis, June 21).

Another newspaper, Erada, also blames Pakistan for many of the ills that have befallen Afghanistan in recent weeks. "The reason behind the recent upsurge in fighting... is that Pakistan is interfering in our domestic affairs and is striving to undermine security and stability in order to disrupt reconstruction." According to the newspaper, "To achieve this vicious end, Pakistan has been following a policy of double standards...and is harboring terrorist leaders on its territory"(Erada, June 21).

As the news of the latest operations comes in, there is a familiar tone echoed by the other sources as well. "The bombings have grown more frequent. The battlefield clashes have intensified. Three months of unprecedented bloodshed have shaken confidence in Afghanistan's future, and senior officials are pointing fingers at a familiar foe -- Pakistan" (AP, June 22).


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