USAF conducts strikes on 3 nuclear sites in Iran

It looks like Donald Trump followed through on serious action in the USA when it comes to Iran's nuclear sites, joining the Israeli military and taking out key targets in Iran:

US President Donald Trump confirmed overnight Sunday that the US Air Force carried out extensive strikes on three key nuclear facilities in Iran, marking a dramatic escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict and the first time since the 1979 Iranian Revolution that the US has attacked major military targets inside Iranian territory. The sites targeted were Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

"We have completed a very successful strike," Trump wrote on his social media platform, TruthSocial. "All aircraft returned safely. Now is the time for peace!"

According to reports, the US Air Force used GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs, each weighing 30,000 pounds (13,600 kg), capable of penetrating the mountain over the Fordow facility. The decision came after weeks of internal deliberations in Washington, during which Trump weighed giving diplomacy another chance. But with no sign of progress from Tehran, he opted for military action.

Senior Israeli officials believe the US has been preparing to join the wider campaign and had begun logistical preparations well in advance.

Just hours before the airstrikes, Steve Bannon, Trump's former adviser and a leading voice among isolationist conservatives who oppose foreign interventions, hinted at the looming operation on his podcast, saying: "The party's starting."

One must wonder: does this mean Bannon, who was taking up a negative position through isolationism, was coming around and accepting Trump's stance after all? Well, that's why it's good Trump approved of this mission, because these isolationists can't be allowed to impede upon efforts to defeat evil entities abroad.

On the other hand, Democrat Charles Schumer has voiced his opposition to Trump's mission:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who once claimed to be Israel’s “guardian” in Congress, put out a statement late Saturday night opposing President Donald Trump’s airstrike on Iran’s nuclear sites.

After a delay of several hours, and long after his colleagues — Republican and Democratic — had reacted, Schumer issued a statement criticizing the attacks and backing legislation to limit Trump’s war powers.

The criticism from Schumer and other Democrats echoes their criticism of his successful airstrike on Iranian terror general Qasem Soleimani, when they again cited constitutional limitations on the commander-in-chief.

In reality, Trump’s actions are constitutional, provided that he complies with deadlines established by the existing War Powers Resolution of 1973, which allows the president to conduct war, provided that he report to Congress within 60 days. Few Democrats objected when President Barack Obama used his war powers — even in excess of those allowed by the War Powers Resolution, as Breitbart News has noted in the past:

So once again, Schumer's proven himself a most repellent person, who'd rather rag upon Republicans no matter the deed than prove he recognizes serious issues when he sees them. Nobody should associate with such a reprehensible man. Donald Trump is the winner today, and Schumer's the disgrace.

Israeli military finally strikes Iran's nuclear facilities

Israel's air force has begun a serious operation to destroy Iran's nuclear sites:

On Thursday evening, the long-anticipated Israel strikes began, targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear sites and other key military facilities. The objective of Operation Strength of a Lion is to end the Iranian nuclear threat once and for all, as well as to destroy, as much as possible, the Islamic Republic’s ability to continue to wage war against the Jewish state via its proxies, Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis. The entire state of Israel was on emergency alert; the Israeli Home Front Command issued instructions to all Israeli citizens to comply with guidelines that would be issued as part of “preparations for a significant threat.”

Almost immediately after the air strikes began in Tehran, the propaganda war also entered a new phase. The Iranian military posted on X: “Remember, we didn’t initiate it.”

Ah, but it did. The Islamic Republic of Iran initiated this Israeli strike on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas operatives, funded and directed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, brutally tortured and murdered 1,200 Israelis. The Islamic Republic of Iran initiated this Israeli strike when its leaders regularly screamed “Death to Israel” (as well as “Death to America”) and repeatedly vowed to destroy Israel. As recently as May 17, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, declared: “The Zionist regime, which is the dangerous and lethal cancerous tumor of this region, must undoubtedly be removed, and it will be.”

In fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran initiated it by regarding Israel as an enemy from its earliest days. The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic in 1979, replaced the Israeli embassy in Tehran with an embassy of “Palestine.” He decreed that the last Friday of the Muslim fasting-and-feasting month of Ramadan would henceforth be known as Al-Quds Day. Al-Quds is the name that modern-day Arabs and Muslims use for Jerusalem, and Al-Quds Day from its inception was the occasion for an orgy of hatred for Israel, jihadist saber rattling, and declarations that the Jewish state would soon be completely destroyed and a new genocide of the Jews would begin. [...]

The existence of Israel is an insult to Islam. The Qur’an tells Muslims: “Drive them out from where they drove you out.” (2:191). The Arab Higher Committee ordered the Arabs to flee the new Jewish state in 1948, as the Arab leaders were confident that they would soon destroy the new state, and then the Arabs would be able to go home. Instead, Israel won. Nevertheless, the imperative to “Drive them out from where they drove you out” still applies, for the land of Israel was once the property of the Ottoman Empire, and was ruled by Islamic law.

Extrapolating from Qur’an 2:191, it is a staple of Islamic doctrine that any land that was once under Sharia rule must be ruled by Muslims forever. The command to drive the non-Muslims out is considered to come from the supreme god himself; it is not to be ignored, and cannot be negotiated away. As soon as Iran became an Islamic Republic, it was therefore duty-bound to regard Israel as its mortal enemy. And it did so, with alacrity.

So yes, the Islamic Republic did indeed initiate this conflict. If it didn’t pursue Israel’s destruction so relentlessly, the Israelis would have no quarrel with Iran. But Israel is determined to survive, and so it struck Iran on Thursday.

Well, Israel should be outraged even when non-Jews/Israelis are victims of the Religion of Peace. Because regardless of where it begins, Israelis will be victimized sooner or later as well, and that's tragically and horrifyingly what happened on October 7, 2023. That Iran's been ruled by sharia for over 4 decades is also throughly wrong, morally or otherwise.

The current strike has thus far yielded important results:

Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) confirmed in the early hours of Friday morning local time that Israeli airstrikes on targets in the country eliminated Major General Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Other arms of Iran’s state news apparatus confirmed several other high-profile regime members, including two nuclear scientists, were killed in the strikes. While unverified reports suggested that Salami may be far from the only high-ranking Iranian regime official to have been targeted successfully in the operation, he is the only one whose death the Iranian government has confirmed at press time.

Salami has sustained a place as one of the most prominent and belligerent senior leaders in the Iranian Islamist regime, regularly threatening attacks on America and Israel. In what was perhaps his final public appearance on Thursday, Salami declared that his forces were “war-tested and experienced,” prepared for war against its enemies.

The IRGC is both a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and a formal wing of the Iranian Armed Forces. Among its chief operations is to sustain relations between the Iranian terror state and its jihadist proxies, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Lebanese Hezbollah, and with fellow rogue states such as Venezuela and Cuba. [...]

Another Iranian state media outlet, PressTV, reported early Friday that the strikes had “martyred … several other senior IRGC commanders and nuclear scientists. [...]

The Times of Israel, citing Iranian state television, reported that Israel apparently also bombed one of the most prominent uranium enrichment facilities in the country, the Natanz facility, several times. Scattered but anonymous reports about potential disruptions in Iran by undercover Mossad agents have also surfaced, though Israel has not confirmed them.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the airstrikes during a national address on Friday morning, identifying the strikes as “Operation Rising Lion.”

“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes,” he asserted, stating that Iranian officials were actively taking steps to “weaponize” its enriched uranium stockpile, calling Tehran a “clear and present danger to Israel’s survival.”

“We are defending the free world from the terrorism and barbarism that Iran fosters and exports across the globe,” Netanyahu continued. “Many around the world — even if they won’t say so openly — know in their hearts: thanks to your determination and courage, citizens of Israel, and thanks to the bravery of Israel’s fighters, the world will be a safer place.”

Salami was one of the most powerful people in Iran and a top military leader; his loss will significantly damage Iran’s military operations. The general regularly threatened to attack neighboring Israel and celebrated the deadly activities of Iranian proxies such as Hamas, whose brutal terror spree against Israel on October 7, 2023, prompted Israel to declare war against Hamas in its enclave in Gaza.

No doubt, those nuclear sites contain plenty of radiation, and the explosions at Natanz could make it uninhabitable for a while. And the jihadist general can roast in hell for his crimes. Let's hope the IDF will bring about more impressive results in the war against Iran and its proxies now.

Air force reservists contribute to dhimmitude

A disturbing number of IAF reservists penned an absurdly defeatist letter opposing the war against the Hamas, and have let down the main staff:

In a missive to members of the Israeli Air Force, IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar slams a letter signed by some 1,000 veterans, most of them retirees, demanding the return of the hostages even if it comes at the cost of ending the war against Hamas entirely.

“The manifesto that was published weakens the solidarity and leads to generalizations that affect servicemembers who are not partners to these views, as well as the entire [IAF],” Bar writes.

“It is not appropriate for active reservists to call to stop the war, which they themselves take part in. We cannot allow this in any unit that participates in the war, including the Air Force,” he says.

Bar says that he is “forced to act and declare that active reservists who signed the manifesto cannot continue to serve in the IDF.”

What the reservists are doing makes it sound like they're okay with jihadists striking again. And that's offensive. Of course freeing the remaining hostages is vital. But we can't allow a situation where jihadists could strike anew and murder more people in ways seen on October 7, 2023.

The army staff announced they'll be firing the bad apples:

Israel’s military said Friday it will fire air force reservists who signed a letter condemning the war in Gaza and claiming it only serves political interests instead of bringing the hostages home.

In a statement to The Associated Press, an army official said there was no room for any body or individual, including reservists in active duty, “to exploit their military status while simultaneously participating in the fighting,” calling it a breach of trust between commanders and subordinates.

The army said it decided that any active reservist who signed the letter will not be able to continue serving. It did not specify how many people that included or if the firings had begun.

Interesting some of them include retirees. But one thing's certain - they undoubtably include people with lenient views on Islam, and that's why this is so horrific and sad.

Why nation-building in Afghanistan only wound up failing

Here's an excerpt from Jesse Petrilla's recent book, "If It Takes a Thousand Years: From Al-Qaeda to Hamas, How the Jihadists Think & How to Defeat Them", which explains why, so long as Islam rules countries like Afghanistan, nation-building there won't be possible:

I was serving in the U.S. Army as a Liaison Officer to the Afghan secret police, and facilitated the interrogations of over 400 captured Taliban and Al-Qa’eda members while there. A Taliban leader once told me “You have me in a cage, my fight is over for now, but my children will fight you, and if they don’t win, their children will fight you. If It Takes a Thousand Years, we will win.” Although it didn’t take the Taliban a thousand years to win the battle of Afghanistan, it demonstrates the drive that our jihadist enemies have. They fight generational wars against the West as a whole.

When analyzing our Islamic extremist enemies, it is important for the American people to understand the tribal mindset that so many of our enemies come from. Islam developed from tribal cultures, and many tribal cultures over the past 1,400 years developed under Islam. The Islamic world itself is divided into what I would describe as tribes; you have the Sunni tribe, the Shia tribe, and within that are thousands of other tribes, one of the most recent being the “Palestinian” tribe which has become somewhat of a self-appointed identity by various lost members of other tribes. But in Afghanistan, tribalism is at a level that is virtually unparalleled in the world.

It is human nature to coalesce together into groups, but when you add Islam to the mix, it fuels different dynamics that are completely alien to Westerners. The tribal mindset is so vastly different than our own that it often makes it impossible to reason with them, and they will not respond logically or rationally as you might assume an American or other Westerner would. To Westerners, the tribal mindset may contain many elements that are quite shocking and deeply disturbing.

Part of our training upon arrival in Afghanistan included multiple briefings on Islamic and Afghan culture, since we would be working with locals on a daily basis. In one such briefing, the Afghan-American man leading the discussion began by stating; “You must understand that everything about your way of life in America, is completely different in this planet.” He quickly corrected himself to say “in this country,” but his misspeaking was not too far from the truth. From the way people say hello to the way they go to the bathroom, everything is different, and it is like another world to a Westerner.

In Pashtun tribal law, the largest tribe in Afghanistan comprising almost half the nation, there is something known as khun, or blood money. It can be paid to make amends for various transgressions such as murder, property damage, theft, kidnapping, etcetera. In addition to khun, women can be given to become sex slaves as well as female babies to eventually turn into sex slaves. Women and female babies count as two-thirds of the khun.

Just as in every other part of the Islamic world, Pashtun women have far less status than men. To divorce a woman, the man only needs to declare “I divorce thee” three times publicly. Many Pashtuns also believe that women have something called the “evil eye,” that they have special powers and the ability to cause bad things to happen.

In Pashtun tribal law, if a woman is kidnapped by force, and coerced to consent to marry her kidnapper, but she does not get her father’s permission, the father has the right to kill her. Any inclination of a woman having dishonored the family is rapidly met by her murder. In one of the detainee interrogations, I was truly shocked and saddened when the detainee was describing his family, and nonchalantly said “I have eight children, I had nine but one of my daughters dishonored the family and so I killed her,” a story I unfortunately would hear similar versions of on more than one occasion from multiple detainees.

With women and children relegated to 2nd-class status via Islamic sharia, it's no wonder things are as horrific there as they still are. That the government of Dubya did nothing to prevent many of these repulsive cases behind the scenes is another reason Afghanistan's "liberation" was doomed to failure. We must hope Donald Trump's incoming government will do whatever possible in the meantime to reverse what Biden's bunch enabled upon retreat. But it's doubtless going to be a very long, grueling trip to put an end to the suffering there.

Hamas overlord eliminated

Finally, the barbaric Yahya Sinwar, the overlord of the Hamas terrorist organization, has been obliterated by the IDF:

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Thursday that Hamas leader and Oct. 7 architect Yahya Sinwar was killed in an airstrike in southern Gaza after more than a year of eluding Israeli forces.

“Eliminated: Yahya Sinwar,” the military announced on X.

The Jewish state’s Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz called it a “victory for the entire free world.”

“Mass murderer Yahya Sinwar, who was responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, was killed today by IDF soldiers,” Katz said in a written statement from his office.

“This is a great military and moral achievement for Israel and a victory for the entire free world against the axis of evil of radical Islam led by Iran.”

Reports had begun circulating earlier in the day that a terrorist matching the Hamas chief’s description was killed in a military operation near Rafah.

While intelligence officials believed that Sinwar would be surrounded by hostages to use as human shields, the IDF confirmed that no hostages were injured in the strike that took Sinwar out.

Israeli media reported that the operation was a routine raid that caught Sinwar by chance.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet members had sworn to hunt down and kill Sinwar after learning that he was the man behind the Oct. 7 massacre that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and saw another 251 kidnapped.

The Hamas troglodyte's body was identified by dental records:

IDF forces discovered large amounts of Israeli cash and identifying documents on the terrorists' bodies. Due to the presence of explosives and grenades, drones were initially used to examine the bodies.

One of the terrorists bore a strong resemblance to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, leading troops to believe they may have killed him unintentionally, without prior intelligence. The exact location of the raid remains undisclosed for security reasons.

To confirm Sinwar’s identity, soldiers photographed the body and sent the images to the Israeli police’s forensic unit. Assistant Commissioner Aliza Raziel, head of the unit, confirmed that the teeth in the photos matched Sinwar's dental records from his time in Israeli custody.

"We had Sinwar’s dental data on file, and the match was clear," Raziel said. "This was one of the most significant moments this year, allowing us to quickly provide critical information to the field."

Further evidence suggesting Sinwar’s death included the presence of a senior Hamas commander known to frequently accompany him. Reports from Gaza indicated the other two terrorists killed were Sinwar’s bodyguards, one of whom worked as a teacher for UNRWA and the other a high-ranking official in Hamas’ National Security Office.

So another UN employee who also worked for terrorists simultaneously was punished. It's a vital victory indeed. Now, the question remaining is, where are any hostages who're hopefully still alive?

Update: Joel Pollak notes:

Israel confirmed Thursday that its soldiers had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a battle the day before in Gaza. That would have been impossible if President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had their way.

Good point.

Israel may have to consider not relying on the USA anymore

Fraud-in-chief Joe Biden continues to do what he and the Democrats can to damage Israel's ability to rescue hostages:

President Joe Biden, in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanded that Israel enact an “immediate ceasefire” in its war against Hamas and threatened that the U.S. would change its support for Israel if it does not meet the administration’s demands.

Biden attacked Israel for the humanitarian situation inside Gaza, calling it “unacceptable,” even though Israel has worked to allow aid to flow into the area, but has had to do so in a manner that prevents weapons from entering.

“[Biden] made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers,” the White House said in a readout of the call. “He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”

“He underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and he urged the Prime Minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home,” the statement continued.

White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby confirmed at the White House press briefing shortly after the readout was published that Biden did threaten Israel if it did not meet his demands.

He also seems to blame Israel for the hostages' continued situation. And that's reprehensible. Joel Pollak says Israel may have to consider whether becoming a pariah is for the best:

Biden, like Barack Obama before him, is trying to appease the Iranian regime that funds and arms most of the terror groups in the Middle East. He also believes a Palestinian state is the key to peace, despite evidence to the contrary.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes these policies, as do most Israelis, from right to left. So Biden is trying to do everything he can — overtly and covertly — to push Netanyahu aside and hope for a more pliant leader.

The result is that Israel finds itself alone. Biden is emphasizing Israel’s isolation by using tragedies like the World Central Kitchen deaths to accuse Israel, falsely, of being responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Biden, like Hamas, is demanding an “immediate ceasefire,” and may let the UN declare a Palestinian state.

If Israel wants to defeat Hamas by destroying the last Hamas battalions in the city of Rafah in Gaza, it may have to do so without U.S. support.

Likewise, if Israel takes on Iran — directly, or in Syria and Lebanon — it will be on its own. The White House is hinting that Israel can claw back support by dumping Netanyahu, but Israel would do so at the cost of its independence.

That's simply unacceptable terms. So, Pollak has a point.

IDF rescues 2 hostages in Gaza's Rafah neighborhood

The IDF has thankfully and successfully rescued 2 men who were held hostage by Hamas in Gaza:

Two Israeli hostages Louis Har, 70, Fernando Simon Marman, 60, were rescued at around 2 a.m. on Monday from the second floor of a building in the center of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip by the Israel police’s Yamam anti-terror unit, Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet internal security agency. The men were flown by helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, where they are in good condition. One soldier was slightly injured during the rescue.

Har’s son-in-law Idan Bejerano, said that he and his wife met with his father-in-law briefly before he was taken for medical examinations.

“We were called at 3:30 a.m. and jumped out of our beds in joy. We were told, ‘We have them in our hands,’ and instructed to get to the hospital. It took us nearly an hour to get there, and I am not sure my wife was breathing at all during that time. This is a great relief,” he said.

Asked about their condition, Bejerano replied, “They are both in bed in the hospital. Whether they are healthy in spirit, in body, is still hard to know, but they look whole. It seems they had the strength of spirit of these 128 days to remain strong and come back to us.”

The men were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on Oct. 7, when terrorists from Gaza murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands and took 253 hostage in a murderous rampage near the Gaza border. Marman and Har were taken captive along with Marman’s sisters Clara, 62, and Gabriela Leimberg, 59; and Gabriela’s daughter, Miam Leimberg, 17. They were visiting Har at the kibbutz for the Simchat Torah holiday weekend. The five were hiding in their sealed room during the attack before they were taken hostage. The women were freed as part of an earlier hostage release.

This is very fortunate, but only a small part so far in rescuing any more hostages who're hopefully still alive. For now, we must thank God these 2 men were saved from the awful situation they were in, and now reunited with their families. Let's hope they'll be able to recuperate as best as possible along with their families.

More than 150 Hamas jihadists surrender to IDF in Khan Yunis

An important accomplishment made by the IDF in capturing a significant number of terrorists in the city of Khan Yunis:

Over 150 Hamas terrorists surrendered to the IDF in Khan Yunis on Thursday. Footage of the incident was published on social media.

The terrorists were checked by the IDF soldiers and transferred for initial questioning by the security forces.

This is a very good achievement. There'll be plenty of jihadists to put on trial soon, and hopefully, they'll be given the death sentence, something that's being debated now in the Knesset.

Amazingly enough, veteran filmmaker Steven Spielberg has commented on the issue:

Acclaimed Hollywood director Steven Spielberg spoke out on the Hamas massacre of October 7 for the first time last week.

In an address published by the USC Shoah Foundation last Friday, Spielberg said that he "never imagined I would see such unspeakable barbarity against Jews in my lifetime."

Spielberg, who is Jewish, founded the Shoah Foundation in 1994 to gather and preserve testimony from survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust. The Foundation has begun gathering testimony from survivors of the October 7 massacre under its Countering Antisemitism Through Testimony Collection program, which documents antisemitism in the post-Holocaust era.

According to Spielberg, this initiative is part of “an effort that will ensure that the voices of survivors will act as a powerful tool to counter the dangerous rise of antisemitism and hate.”

“Both initiatives — recording interviews with survivors of the October 7 attacks and the ongoing collection of Holocaust testimony — seek to fulfill our promise to survivors: that their stories would be recorded and shared in the effort to preserve history and to work toward a world without antisemitism or hate of any kind,” he said.

“We must remain united and steadfast in these efforts,” he said.

But does this means he's willing to produce films and/or documentaries in the forseeable future about this tragedy? Because if he doesn't, then he won't be accomplishing anything. Nor will it avail if he takes the same morally equivalent approach he did with Munich nearly 2 decades ago, which ultimately came at the expense of the Jewish victims of the terrorist attack in 1972 at the Olympics. If memory serves, he even sought approval from CAIR, whom it turns out is celebrating the October 7 horror:

Video emerged Thursday of Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), celebrating the October 7 terror attack by Hamas in which 1200 people were murdered in Israel and more than 240 were abducted as hostages.

Awad’s speech on November 24 to the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) convention in Chicago was reported at the time, but was largely overlooked; it resurfaced Thursday when shared by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

[...] The Biden administration also worked with CAIR, despite its radical and antisemitic history, in shaping the so-called “strategy” on antisemitism earlier this year. As Breitbart News reported, CAIR boasted that it helped protect extreme criticism of Israel within the White House’s strategy, which was a reversal of existing policy under previous administrations of both parties.

Will Spielberg be willing to condemn CAIR for their repulsive behavior, and even pan Biden's associations with them? Let's hope he and his institutions realize what a terrible PR error they'd be making if they didn't.

Update: the White House now says it's severing ties with Awad. Something they could've done long ago, and they surely knew CAIR was a repellent lot.

Update 2: Andrea Widburg at the American Thinker comments on the photographs of the jihadists who've surrendered, ideally stripped to underwear.

Update 3: also vital to note is that, as a doctor's revealed, at least 10 hostages of the Hamas were sexually abused in the tunnels:

At least 10 of the Israeli civilians released by Hamas, both men and women, were sexually assaulted or abused while in captivity, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

In a report detailing allegations of severe and widespread sexual abuse by Hamas terrorists during their October 7 onslaught and later against hostages, a doctor who treated some of the 110 hostages released from captivity told the AP that at least 10 men and women among those freed were sexually assaulted or abused.

He did not provide further details, and spoke on condition of anonymity to protect the hostages’ identities.

The doctor’s comments corroborated similar accounts shared at a meeting on Tuesday. The meeting, held between the Israeli war cabinet and a group comprising recently freed hostages and family members of those still held in Gaza, featured firsthand testimonies from some of the released captives. These individuals detailed their experiences of sexual abuse during their captivity, participants said.

Read more if you have the stomach for it. This is exactly why the Hamas has to be brought down altogether, and all sane people must strongly condemn their savagery.

The official entry begins, and could last a considerable amount of time

The IDF's official entry into Gaza has begun, and will obviously not end within a fortnight:

They’re heading into Gaza. Israeli forces, which have been amassing along the border for days, finally went into the Hamas-controlled area to wipe out the terror group. This operation goes beyond past ground assaults—Israel seems poised for the long haul, occupying the area until every Hamas terrorist is eliminated.

The IDF announced today that the next phase has begun and that ground troops are now operating in Gaza.

Make no mistake, this will be a long war. It could last years, as there are reportedly 40,000 Hamas terrorists waiting in terror tunnels to attack IDF forces. Israeli military units had conducted raids into Northern Gaza ahead of the main assault, taking out terrorists, defensive structures, and anti-tank positions. The latest incursions involved tanks and heavy equipment that laid the groundwork for the larger invasion force. This massive operation comes in the wake of Hamas' brutal invasion earlier this month.

With Iran's assistance, the invasion comes after Hamas launched a devastating and barbaric terror attack from Gaza on October 7. Over 1,000 Israelis were murdered. Torture, rape, and kidnapping were also inflicted upon the civilian population, where we saw whole families slaughtered by these radical Islamic animals. Babies were beheaded and set on fire.

It's firmly clear this operation will last a considerable length of time. But the end result will hopefully be one we can be relieved and proud of, and the tunnel network is one of the biggest problems other than the troglodytes dwelling there that must be eliminated. And we must avenge the sadistic murders that occurred on October 7.

A very difficult military campaign ahead

A vital point is made why destroying the Hamas, and freeing hostages, if possible, will be very hard:

Israel is preparing to invade Gaza, a task that will require its military to engage in grinding warfare through an urban setting and defeat a Hamas organization that is stronger than ever, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Israel’s objective is to wipe out all remnants of the Iran-backed terrorist organization whose members brutally murdered 1,300 Israelis, mostly civilians, in an unanticipated intrusion on Oct. 7, Israel’s leaders say. While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is better armed than Hamas and has trained for exactly the kind of operation it plans to execute in Gaza, the coming fight will present new challenges it has not yet dealt with in combat, experts said.

Michael Knights, a researcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), explained the challenges the IDF will face before achieving its war aims. Gaza is packed with secretive tunnels, deteriorating buildings that can be used as strongpoints for attack and thousands of “fanatical” fighters, he said, not to mention civilians.

“Any environment like this — ruins, dents, building quality, lots of civilians— it’s complicated. Then you’ve got hostages, then the three dimensional component [of] tall buildings and really extensive underground spaces,” Knights said. “And then you’ve got an enemy that is probably more advanced than anything we’re seeing outside of the Ukraine environment.”

Hamas is a “fanatical defending force that is actually very well armed,” Knights told the DCNF.

The operation will be like “moving through a minefield” while under fire the entire way through the city, he said.

Without any doubt, it'll be severely dangerous. But for the sake of safety, that's exactly why the enemy's reign can't be allowed to continue.

Update: in the meantime, Naomi Ragen makes a sad point that nothing will be the same now.

Hamas planned to use chemical weapons

Israeli president Isaac Herzog reported details were found of plans by Hamas to use poisonous chemicals:

Israeli security forces found instructions for producing cyanide gas on the body of one of the Hamas terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, Israeli President Isaac Herzog revealed on Sunday.

Speaking with Sky News, Herzog said that troops found a USB flash drive with instructions for preparing a device to disperse the poisonous gas, once used for mass murder in Nazi gas chambers.

"This is material that was found on the body of one of those sadistic villains. It's Al-Qaeda material, official Al-Qaeda material," Herzog told the British TV network.

"When dealing with ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Hamas, this is what we're dealing with," added the Israeli head of state.

Late last week, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's weapons of mass destruction non-proliferation department informed embassies around the world of "Hamas's intention to use chemical weapons" in a classified cable, according to Axios.

The cable reportedly instructed ambassadors to share the file with their host governments privately. "This discovery indicates that Hamas intended to use chemical warfare agents as part of its series of terrorist operations against the civilian population," read the missive.

Cyanide is one of the most dangerous chemicals around, and it's to be hoped the authorities now have a grip on this situation, and will make sure such evil plans cannot be committed.

Security forces terminate murderers of Dee mother and sisters

The IDF's tracked down and killed the jihadists who murdered the Dee sisters and their mother last April:

Security forces on Thursday eliminated the Palestinian terrorists who last month murdered three members of the Dee family in the Jordan Valley.

Lucy Dee, 48, and daughters Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, were murdered in an April 7 shooting on the Route 57 highway near the Hamra Junction.

The terrorists, identified as Hamas members Hassan Katnani and Muad Masri, were killed in an exchange of fire after Israeli forces surrounded their hideout in the city's Kasbah district. The Israeli troops fired a missile at the building in order to flush the terrorists out into the open, according to Israeli media reports.

Ibrahim Hura, identified by the IDF as a collaborator with the Hamas terrorists, was also killed in the raid, according to the Israeli military. Two automatic rifles were found in the terrorists' hideout.

If the terrorists' bodies were blown apart, that'll be another plus.

Israel will have to act against Iran

One of the IDF's commanders made the point:

In a clear warning to Iran, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi said that the military is preparing for the possibility that it would have to act against Iran's nuclear program.

"Preparing the home front for war is a task that must be accelerated in the coming years, especially in light of the possibility that we will be required to act against the nuclear threat," he said Sunday evening during the change of command of the Homefront Command.

"The IDF continues to prepare vigorously for an attack on Iran and must prepare for any development and any scenario. Preparing a military option against the Iranian nuclear program is a moral obligation and a national security order."

One sure thing, Israel cannot wait for the USA government to provide any backing on this subject, considering how incompetent Joe Biden's turned out to be. All that aside, the conflict with Iran was coming, and war with them was inevitable.

OUTRAGE!

See Tammy Swofford's essay Unleashed. Preface to the essay from Swofford Commentary:

As Americans we have the right to demand that our soldiers do not function as blood bait on the fishing lines of the intelligence community when they encounter jihad videos which exploit our injured and deceased warriors. We must demand a policy that when such videos are located they must be immediately scrubbed. Our enemies must know that we will not tolerate digital image abuse of our ranks. There is a saying in Urdu: The monkeys have been given the razors. It is time we take the razors away from them. 

Read the entire commentary in the Daily Times Pakistan HERE.

MEMORIAL DAY 2011

This Memorial Day 2011, the following has been made possible at Arlington National Cemetery:

VETERANS DAY

Photo of soldiers in the United States Army taken in Afghanistan in 2005 and on display at our local VFW post:


These four soldiers are home now!
The sonnet below was written a few years ago by then tenth-grade homeschool student "A.M."

A Soldier’s Farewell

Belovéd, do not weep for me today,
Nor sigh on the morrow when I depart.
For though I am from thine eyes far away,
My thoughts dwell on thee as the battles start.
Death’s cold embrace might appear a relief
From this hellish battlefield’s roiling sand,
Yet then I dream my death writ on a leaf
And with renewed spirit protect my land.
I shirk not my duty to my country
And will strive to bring liberty to all;
When peace and hope shine through the night ‘round me,
Homeward shall my steps delightedly fall.
For one’s heartstrings in his own country lie
And calls him with more force than battle’s cry.
--Contributed by A.M.
More poetry, some old and some new, for this solemn day

On this Veterans Day 2010, remember to thank a veteran for his service to our nation.

Remembering D-Day: June 6, 1944

Two of my cousins from Tennessee, neither of them having yet reached the age of twenty-one, were on the beach on D-Day.

Both came home physically whole but never the same in their souls. What they had seen and experienced in that battle scarred them forever.

But I never saw nor met two others as patriotic as my two cousins. They remained staunch patriots for the rest of their lives....

Read the rest at Always On Watch.

In Case You Missed It: Truth, Health & Jobs

In case you missed them yesterday, below are three of the many subjects covered yesterday at Bob McCarty Writes:

• Officials at the National Institute for Truth Verification issued a news release yesterday, citing two posts I published last week about the U.S. military’s use of portable lie detectors in combat. Read all about it here.

• President Barack Obama met with a group of what the White House calls “health care reform stakeholders.” Click here to learn more.
  

• President Barack Obama’s 2010 budget proposal makes it appear he’s ready, willing and able to bury Americans in new taxes, place the nation’s energy security in peril and put six-million American jobs at risk. Details here.

If Not for Memo, Torture Might Not Be Issue (Part 2)

By Bob McCarty

Despite the overwhelming success of the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer® while it was used by the U.S. military from 2002-2008, a small group within the Department of Defense bureaucracy — namely the Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment (formerly known as the DoD Polygraph Institute) — has used its position and influence to block the use of this portable lie detector in combat zones by the military services. According to a man with a “chip” in the game, their actions are “doing great damage to our national security by keeping it from the war fighters who need it the most.”

Today, I offer a dozen pieces of evidence that reach across DoD to make a solid argument supporting CVSA® as a better tool than the Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System, a cousin to the traditional polygraph, that was designated the “only approved credibility assessment technologies” in the Department of Defense when Under Secretary of Defense James R. Clapper Jr.’s signed a memo to that effect Oct. 29, 2007.

Read all about it in the second in a series of copyrighted articles at Bob McCarty Writes.

ANOTHER OBAMA 'MISTAKE'?

From this article in the Telegraph:

Barack Obama has said he considered joining the United States military when he left school but decided not to because the Vietnam war was over and "we weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point".

[...]

Mr Obama was asked by George Stephanopoulos of ABC's "This Week" programme whether he'd ever thought about military service and replied: "You know, I actually did. I had to sign up for Selective Service [a means of conscription in case of war] when I graduated from high school.

"And I was growing up in Hawaii. And I have friends whose parents were in the military. There are a lot of Army, military bases there.

"And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honourable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue."...

There seems to be a little problem or two with Obama's claim. According to blogger Big Dog,

...This little tidbit has NEVER been mentioned during the oh so long campaign and according to the news, Obama did not mention this in either of his books. One would think that might be a big deal. It is likely that Obama is lying about this in order to ingratiate himself with people who actually support the military. The second part of the lie comes in when he said he had to register for the Selective Service when he graduated from high school. There was no registration for the Selective Service when Obama graduated.

The draft and the Selective Service registration were ended by Republican presidents (Nixon and Ford respectively) and the new registration requirement was instituted by a Democrat, Jimmy Carter. Yes, Obama was required to register but he graduated in 1979 and the registration was reinstated in 1980. Therefore, Obama was not required to register when he graduated, as he claims in the interview. He was not required to register until a year later....

Deliberate deception on Obama's part or just another "mistake." You decide.