Occupying Pakistan is NOT the answer. The Obama / Biden administration has a lot of work to do to return Pakistan from the Musharraf Coup.

Asif Ali Zardari is sworn in as Pakistan's new president in Islamabad

Benazir Bhutto's widow Asif Ali Zardari sworn in as Pakistan president (click at title to entry, thank you)
Asif Ali Zardari, widower of the assassinated former Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto, has taken office as the country's new president.
Last Updated: 10:43AM BST 09 Sep 2008
He faces immediate pressure to crack down on Islamic militants amid a series of US raids within Pakistani territory and address daunting economic problems.
Pakistan's most senior judge swore in Mr Zardari at a brief ceremony in the presidential palace recently vacated by Pervez Musharraf, who the incoming leader forced out of office last month....

This Blog has long stated, that Iraq will disintegrate into autonomous provinces. Click for Video.

Biden Says His Tripartite Plan For Iraq Is Working
by Aaron Bruns KALISPELL, MT — Joe Biden’s proposal to quell violence in Iraq by splitting the country into separate, semi-autonomous regions by ethnic group — Shia, Sunni, and Kurd — may never have been formally implemented; but Biden says the good that’s happening in Iraq today follows from exactly what he proposed....


..."If Woodward's assertion as I understand it is correct, it comports with my belief that they knew certain changes that should be made but did not make those changes because it was an election year, and they thought it would reflect on them in a negative way. That's what I understand Bob to be asserting," Biden told a crowd of several hundred at a town hall-style meeting in Green Bay.... (click here)


Iraq Kurds and government end standoff over northern town (click here)
Wed Sep 3, 2008 4:54pm EDT
By Wisam Mohammed and Sherko Raouf
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government and minority Kurds resolved a dispute over control of an ethnically mixed town on Wednesday, Iraqi officials said, ending a standoff that had threatened to trigger violence.
Kurdish and Arab politicians ended the impasse by agreeing to withdraw both the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga security forces from the town of Khanaqin, home to Arabs and Kurds in northeastern Diyala province.
The Iraqi army had wanted to enter Khanaqin, which lies just outside the largely autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, to stamp government authority on the area. But Peshmerga forces patrolling the town had refused to withdraw.
It was unclear whether some Iraqi troops had already entered the town, or whether they were massed at its borders.
"It was agreed that the Iraqi army would withdraw...and the Peshmerga would withdraw to within Kurdistan. The Khanaqin police will control security and enforce the law in the town," said Ibrahim al-Bajilan, head of the Diyala provincial council....

War in Afghanistan takes turn for the worse

Posted By SCOT TAYLOR
Posted 2 days ago
Over the course of the summer, the war in Afghanistan has taken an ominous turn for the worse. The violence has escalate, coalition casualties mount steadily and an emboldened Taliban are flexing their muscles well outside their traditional strongholds in southern Afghanistan.
The Aug. 22 U. S. air strike that killed 90 Afghan civilians -- including 60 children -- was intended for Afghan insurgents operating in the heretofore relatively stable western province of Herat. The Aug. 20 ambush that left 10 French soldiers dead and 21 wounded occurred just an hour outside of Kabul and international press reports confirm that the Taliban now control Wardak, the province that borders the Afghan capital.
Even inside the heavily patrolled streets of Kabul, the Taliban have mounted major terror strikes -- slaughtering Afghan civilians outside the Indian embassy on July 7, and forcing President Hamid Karzai to flee for his life from a parade square on April 28.
After gunning down three foreign aid workers -- including two Canadians in the province of Logan on Aug. 13 -- Taliban officials released an open letter to Canada. The gist of this Taliban message was that if Canada did not end the occupation and withdraw our troops, the insurgents would "be obliged to kill Canadian nationals, in revenge for their brothers, sisters and their children." The Harper government immediately denounced the threat as Taliban propaganda and a "disgusting attempt to justify the deliberate killing of innocent civilians."

2 Fort Hood soldiers die in Iraq, 1 in Afghanistan

FORT HOOD, Texas — The Army says two Fort Hood soldiers have been killed in a roadside bombing in Iraq and a third died from small-arms fire in Afghanistan.
A Pentagon statement Monday says 29-year-old Sgt. Kenneth W. Mayne of Fort Benning, Ga., and 22-year-old Pfc. Bryan R. Thomas of Battle Creek, Mich., died of their wounds Thursday in Baghdad. That was after they were wounded when the road mine exploded near their vehicle.
They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 66th Armored regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood.
The Pentagon later identified a Fort Hood soldier killed in Afghanistan as 18-year-old Pvt. Michael R. Dinterman of Littlestown, Pa. He died Saturday when he was shot while on foot patrol. Dinterman was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.

This election, the American Electorate cannot forget that the Republicans squandered the opportunity to destroy al Qaeda.

There will only be one sincere leader of the Free World this November. Barak Obama and I don't and won't recognize anyone else. I think he is making a mistake by standing with McCain at Ground Zero. McCain sent this nation to war in Iraq and along with Bush/Cheney and placed our national security on the back burner for an oil war. McCain is unable to separate his politics from good decision making on National Security.

We as a nation are facing an election this November that will determine the outcomes of wars and set the tone for international relations for generations. The track record for the Republican dominated administrations since 2001 has been nothing short of a disaster.

On September 11, 2001 a group of terrorists attacked the innocent civilians of the USA that resulted in wide ranging effects, including financial turbulance. As a result, the USA has never been in such a poor state of security. Our military has been diverted from its mission that was to stop and destroy the terrorists of al Qaeda, into a war for oil. Our nation's treasury has never been so badly managed with rising debt ceilings and growing insoluble debt. We are faced with estranged allies that were once at our side and what allies do remain are feeling the defeat of the war in Afghanistan.

This nation cannot ignore the fact that there is one Presidential Candidate that was dedicated to the purpose of defeating al Qaeda first, as a national security issue. That one Candidate is Barak Obama. He voted against the War in Iraq and supported the War in Afghanistan. No other person can make that claim. If the country had gone on the path set by Barak Obama, the USA would have already defeated al Qaeda, secured Pakistan and kept its alliance with Russia with diplomatic relations that would have supported a secure Europe and NATO.

Today, the USA's national security is in shambles. Afghanistan has been lost to the influence of democracy because of tragic deaths of citizens and the resurgence of the Taliban. The resurgence alone of the Taliban is a clear defeat of any USA policy as it relinquished the 'real war' to NATO. Russia has turned from The West as an important ally when they once stood at our side in Afghanistan after the attacks of September 11th. Europe is concerned for what they are preceiving as aggression into Georgia. The Russian movement into Georgia was not blunted because of 'good relations' with The West, but, was engaged because of the threat a missile shield would pose while it preceived South Ossetian people as at risk.

This election, every voter going to the polls has to remember, that the Republicans did not secure our nation. They compromised it and sold it out fiscally to buoy an economy for the re-election of a Neocon that could not be found on the day the towers came down.

Generations of Americans now face fiscal burden our ancestors would distain and ridicule. My father didn't fight for this country so it could be grossly mismanged and placed at risk for the cause of politics.

We need a huge change in Washington DC and there is only one candidate that can deliver it. It is the man that stated, invading Iraq is wrong.

Two Hurricanes, First Land Falling Pacific Storm this year. 12 hour loop.

September 9, 2008
0745z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite (click title to entry for 12 hour loop)

Entering the Gulf of Mexico is the Cat 4 storm Ike. It will continue to cross that body of water, will skim along the Louisiana Coast causing flooding and storm surge and the 'eye wall' will make landfall over Port Arthur, Texas. That is what it is looking like for me right now. It is tough to say the velocity of Ike once it makes landfall, but, as a rule the velocity of these storms in the last couple of years doesn't exceed Cat 3 due to the continental shelf. But, as noted with Katrina, a Cat 3 at landfall, the storm surge is significantly higher due to the high velocity immediately before landfall. I estimate Ike will be a Cat 3 when coming in on Texas.

The Pacific storm is Tropical Storm Lowell. It probably won't make it to southern California, but, will bring some rain to the Baja of Mexico.