Jihadi John may be dead ** 80

Jihadi John whose real name was Mohammed Emwazi has reportedly been killed in a drone strike by the USAF. This man was responsible for many beheading of Western hostages, which were duly video graphed and then broadcast  all over the world. This man obviously took sadistic pleasure in severing the heads of the hostages.

Mohammed Emwazi is from Syria and came to the UK at the age of 6. He had his education in the UK, but like most Muslims never integrated with English ethos and culture. On the contrary his mental makeup became decidedly anti West.

The  terrorist was assasinated by a missile fired by an American drone over Raqqa the so - called capital of the Caliphate created by Islamic State which controls land in Syria and Iraq.

As per reports, he was apparently  about to enter into a car when the missile attack took place. As was expected the Islamic State have denied this and have insisted that Jihadi John survived the attack and was taken to hospital though badly injured.

One thing is clear, that Western intelligence had full and complete knowledge of Jihadi Johns movements. Perhaps operatives were on the ground to track the terrorist. Killing him was a mission for Western intelligence.

If it is confirmed that Jihadi John has been taken out it is unlikely to endanger the day to day running of Islamic State as he was not exactly a high - up figure in the hierarchy of Islamic State such as Baghdadi the self styled Caliph of the Islamic State.

It will however be a propaganda coup for the West and will hopefully bring closure to his victim's families.

The Islamic State is coming under great pressure from the air as Coalition forces bomb it and lately the Russians have joined in as well, though western nations are not too happy with the Russian intervention. One reason is that the Russians are supporting their man in Damascus President Bashar al - Assad. The West wants him out, but its easier said than done.

Jihadi John or Mohammed Emwazi  in case dead will not be grieved by anyone. He was a man long wanted for killing the western hostages in a most brutal manner. His death will be like a balm to the families of the men who were  beheaded by this man

Hoodoo against a Sikh as Army Chief laid to Rest

When the case of General VK Singh and his joust with the government finally ended. His plea for an extra year based on his revised date of birth was turned down and he retired on 31 May 2012. The Government announced that Lt General Bikram Singh who was the General Officer Commanding Eastern Command  would be the next Chief of the Indian army.

The Indian army is the 4th largest army in the world with a strength of over 1.2 million. It also faces a threat from both Pakistan and China, with whom the border extends to almost 5000 km. With both the nations India has a territorial dispute and the border is a live border. In such a scenario General VK Singh was wrong to stir the cauldron of date of birth, which in any case was a trivial matter where the geo-political situation is concerned.

General Bikram was the senior most officers and he was rightly anointed as the army Chief. This marked a departure from the earlier policy of not making a Sikh as the army chief by the Nehru Gandhi family. One can recollect that General Kulwant Singh was bypassed to the post of Army Chief in 1951 by Nehru in favor of General Cariappa.General Cariappa allowed things to simmer and made no appreciation of any Chinese threat, sitting smugly in his office.

Similarly in 1967 Lt General Harbaksh Singh was bypassed in favor of Maneckshaw by Indira Gandhi. This trend changed when JJ Singh took over as army chief under the NDA and BJP rule. The government of Man Mohan Singh did the right thing and appointed Bikram Singh as the Army Chief. Singh is a 1972 batch officer and is from a generation that has not actively fought a war.

Notwithstanding this the hoodo against appointing a Sikh was laid to rest.

Memory of a visit to Kabul * 77

A Glorious Visit:to be Repeated

Kabul scene

The company for which I work has an office in Kabul. Last week I was instructed to proceed to Kabul for some official work. I was a little apprehensive about going to Kabul, as the city is always in th enews for the wrong reasons. Everyday one reads of attacks on government buildings and bomb blasts. There was no choice and so I awaited my visa from the Afghan  government.

The visa duly arrived and I drove to Abu Dhabi airport to catch the flight to Kabul. The company asked a professional gunman from South Africa who is also an employee of the company to accompany me. We boarded the Afghan airline and took off. The flight was uneventful and soon we were hovering over Kabul. We landed and I emerged from the plane. Kabul airport is fairly modern, but there tens of soldiers all around.

Visa and immigration formalities took some time and I was asked some pointed questions. On seeing that I was an Indian, the going was easier as the Afghans like Indians. They hate Pakistanis and one Pakistani along with us was given a harrowing time. We came out of the airport to find a bulletproof car waiting for me. This I was told is essential in Kabul, the driver a Afghan named Abdul was friendly and smiled all the tme. Seeing the gunman with me he smirked" no use,no use".

Two days passed in Kabul like a dream. Its not a bad place. The Afghans are friendly and like Indians and the food is superb. The hotel where I stayed was ringed with barbed wire, as I was told that Taliban aided by Pakistan could attack anytime. The Afghans were very friendly and hospitable. But I didn't see much of the city as I was told that its not safe.

I did venture once into the narrow bazaars and loved it. The city is ringed by barbed wire, but overall its safe. I wanted to spend more time but 2 days passed in Kabul like a dream. I will go again and Taliban or no Taliban will like to explore the city to my hearts content.

Modern kabul

Business center in Kabul

kabul is having a mall and a modern business center. This is where I sat for 2 days. I could not take photographs as taking photographs is absolutely forbidden.

Fanatics and Islam: We have a Fight on our Hands

Background

We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevat. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

Fanaticism and Islam

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

Silent majority is cowed

The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous. Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual, prior to World War II, was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder sof  12 are million Chinese civilians, most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?

Peace loving Muslims are Irrelavent

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt. Yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, like in Germany, when they awoke up one day and found that Nazi fanatics had taken over Germany.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

Islamic prayers have now been introduced into Toronto and other public schools in Ontario, and, yes, in Ottawa too.

The Islamic way is only peaceful until the fanatics move in.

In Australia, and indeed in many countries around the world, many of the most commonly consumed food items have the halal emblem on them. Just look at the back of some of the most popular chocolate bars, and at other food products in your local supermarket. Foods on aircraft have the halal emblem, just to appease the privileged minority who are now rapidly expanding throughout the world.

In the U.K, the Muslim communities refuse to integrate and there are now dozens of ?no-go? zones within major cities across the country that the police force dare not intrude upon. Sharia law prevails there, because the Muslim community in those areas refuses to acknowledge British law.

As for we who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts -- the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Last word

Anyone who doubts the seriousness of this issue is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. The problem of Islamic terrorism is real. The moderate Muslims  don't matter, so we must fight the greatest danger of 21st century.

US Army, Major Nidal and Muslims

The US Army, Major Nidal Hasan And The Moslems

Islam is a religion that has global reach and most Muslims are indoctrinated with theories of jihad or the holy war. Thus Muslims joining the US armed forces are also swayed by this rhetoric and Major Nidal was one of them.

The US Army has a glorious history. Starting with the wars against Mexico and the Indian tribes the army soon graduated to global conflicts and did creditably in the two world wars. The recent operations against Iraq and the war against terror in Afghanistan point to a battle hardened and disciplined force. Vietnam was an aberration and the retreat there was for reasons other than military. The present war on terror consists in confronting terrorist's organisations that are predominating Muslim. Though all Muslims are not terrorists yet most terrorists are Muslims. This is an unedifying fact.

The US arms have a global commitment and as such there is a requirement of a steady flow of manpower. But with the draft abandoned the US Armed forces are facing a manpower crunch. Thus the army has also been inducting Muslims in their ranks. The over stretched army with global responsibility needs manpower badly and that perhaps is the reason that a lot many Muslims are inducted into the Armed forces as officers as well as men.

But this induction of Muslims in its ranks is fraught with grave consequences. In this respect the case of Major Nidal Hasan an Army Psychiatrist who gunned down 13 US service men and injured another 32 needs attention. Major Hasan did the unthinkable when he opened fire on his compatriots at Fort Hood, Texas one of the biggest military bases in the USA. From all accounts the reason for this attack was the fact that the Major who had a religious bent of mind was unhappy with the US deployment against the Muslim terrorists in Afghanistan. The major was shot by 2 police officers and is now paralysed. He appeared in a wheel chair in court on 2 June to answer charges against him that consisted of of premeditated murder as well as attempted premeditated murder. The Major will probably be punished, but it will be small consolation to the families of the 13 servicemen who died for nothing.

Islam is a religion that has global reach and most Muslims are indoctrinated with theories of jihad or the holy war. Thus Muslims joining the US armed forces are also swayed by this rhetoric and Major Nidal was one of them. The biggest problem for any army is to fight the cancer within, in the form of dissent and disobedience. But the jump to aggressive intentions does not take time and men indoctrinated in Islam and its global appeal is easily swayed. But it is up to the authorities to keep such men under surveillance. In the case of Major Nidal the warning signals were ignored by his superiors. The fact that he was talking against the US Army deployment against the terrorists in Afghanistan as well as his calls to Muslim soldiers to disobey the orders and not kill Muslims was ignored. His visiting card which carried the slogan ‘soldier of Allah’ was also not properly interpreted. These trends were all apparent at his previous posting at Walter Reed Hospital. No corrective steps were taken with disastrous consequences.

As things stand it  cannot be denied that more cases like the one of Major Nidal may occur. This will become more and more apparent as the war against terror which is basically fueled by Islamic fighters gets more and more bloody. Thus the US armed forces have to be circumspect in enlisting Muslims. In addition a proper screening and watch on such recruits is essential. Any soft approach can lead this mighty army to defeat. God forbid that happens, as that will have disastrous consequences.

As far as Major Nidal is concerned, he is sentenced to death and presently incarcerated in US military barracks. The death sentence was passed in 2013

Chail: Outpost in the Himalayas

Visiting Chail in Himachal-A Himalayan Resort

Chail is a parallel hillstation to Simla.It is however less polluted and populated and an enjoyable place.

Chail is a hillstation nestled in the Himalayas.It is on a a parallel hill crest  to Simla the capital of Himachal Pradesh. There is an interesting tale that  traces the origin of Chail.It appears the Maharajah of Patiala had seduced an English girl when the Raj was paramount from Simla.The Viceroy on hearing of what he thought was a misdeamenour by an Indian prince declared Simla out of bounds to the Mahrajah. Well, the mahrajah went one better and created Chail on an adjacent hill crest.

It is a lovely hill station with the Mahrajah's palace serving as a five star deluxe hotel. It also has a cricket ground that must be making some sort of record as the highest cricket field in the world,as Chail is almost at a height of 8000 feet.You can reach Chail easily by car or state bus from Chandigarh. Chandigarh is connected by rail and air to all parts of India.

The beauty of Chail is that it is one of the few places that one can see snow in the sub continent.If you want to witness snowfall,then visit between end December and end January. But if you wish to go when it is not snowing ,but the place is covered with snow, a visit in the first week of feburuary  can be planned.

Chail is an excellent option compared to Simla ,since it is more scenic and the slopes are covered with lush forests. If you want to go to get away from the heats of the plains then a visit during June and july can be planned. Chail is a place where you can have long walks in the mountain trails and savor the fresh air.It can be a invigorating experience. You can also stay at the Palace hotel the abode of the mahrajah. It is shaped like an English castle complete with turrets.

If you are driving by car keep a few days handy in your book as you may just like to extend your stay !

Muslim Warfare

MILITARY HISTORY: THE MUSLIMS BROUGHT THE CONCEPT OF MOBILITY IN WARFARE TO INDIA

Introduction

Military history is an interesting subject and not just for soldiers. By studying it we can guard against similar problems in the years to come. The defeat of the Hindus  at the hands of the Muslims and the Turks is worth study. It shows us why the Hindu armies lost , despite displaying tremendous courage and bravery and a fatalistic contempt of death. This is part of the module on mobility, which we studied when I was undergoing the 41st Staff course at Wellington.

Hindus Bravery and Artv of war
One thing should be clear that bravery alone is not a substitute for victory. The important thing is to understand the concept of war and the principles involved. In the 19th century Clausewitz propounded the Principles of War and earlier Sun Tzu outlined his ideas in the Art of War. One wishes that the Hindus had studied the art of war.
The Hindus liked war and were very brave. They had a warrior class called the Kshatriyas , yet in most encounters with Turkic and Muslim armies they were decisively defeated.

Opinion of Field Marshal Montgomery

 An excellent analysis of the causes of the Hindu defeat is written by Field Marshal Viscount Barnard Montgomery of Al Alamein in his "History of Warfare." Field Marshal Montgomery also referred to as "Monty"was the most successful British general during World War II.
Monty states that one of the reasons for the defeat of the Hindus was a lack of strategic concept as the passes of the North West like the Khyber Pass were never defended.

Moslem Army and Mobilty

 He also states that the Hindu armies were sluggish and slow moving affairs and lacked mobility.
Mobility is one of the most important principles of war. This concept was imbibed by the Muslim armies. This concept consisted of reliance on the horse cavalry with mounted archers. Muslim armies consisted of hordes of mounted archers who would encircle an enemy  and mount offensive as and when required. They would also retreat and counterattack in a short time. 

Hindu vs Muslim Army

The Hindu armies used to a static concept of war with elephants were thus found wanting in their battles with the Muslims. This weakness was evident from the time of 7th century when Muhammad Qasim defeated the Hindu king Dahir of Sind. yet the Hindus learn't nothing from this defeat and the reliance on the elephant continued. 

The elephants were slow moving and countering thousands of archers on horseback was a difficult proposition. The Muslim army had mobility and along with it came a better tactical sense. It also allowed a commander to change tactics and reposition his force during a battle.

Concept of Mounted Archer

This concept of the mounted archer was something new. It was known to others, but the development to its full potential goes to to the credit of the Muslims. The entire campaign by which the massive  Ottoman empire and subsequent conquests in India, were carried out by legions of mounted archers

Last Word

. The Hindus by neglecting the art of war and not copying the Muslim tactics of mobility and strategic retreat and counterattack sealed their fate and lost, leaving the Muslims to rule India for close to 900 years.