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http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/05/31/us-confirms-american-carried-syria-suicide-bombing/


Interesting...first time I've heard of this happening. Prayers go out to those struggling.

Perfect story for them to run w/ in terms of getting public support for droning "American" citizens overseas w/o due process.

Anyway the Americans are supporting the anti-Assad forces, so it won't matter. The total number of foreign troops fighting in Syria is estimated at more than 100,000. The Europeans alone number more than 2,000. This is definitely not a good sign.

well, guess that plan of mine to trek from Athens to the pyramids overland is out of the question :(

If you go dressed as a camel, the chances of you being smoked in a drone strike drop by like a whole 10%.

Or even droned at home. The sooner this administration is gone the better.

lol... I guess that this might be your planned route:

Greece ==> Turkey ==> Lebanon ==> Israel ==> Egypt.

The US drones are not active anywhere along the route, but remember that Lebanon is quite close to Syria. Also, some 1 million Syrian refugees are currently stationed at Lebanon.  ;D

How could I get from Turkey to Lebanon? Ferry?

Oh... you are right. I forgot that Lebanon doesn't share a common border with Turkey. Then the only option will be to travel via Syria. But that option is very unwelcome, as the fighting is raging on there. Anyway, most of the Mediterranean coast is controlled by Assad's army, including major cities such as Tartous and Latakia. 

Yeah I've been looking into it the past couple hours and then I suddenly realized how bad things are over there and it's probably not worth getting kidnapped :( Hell I should probably skip Lebanon too but I bet it's beautiful

There are a lot of beautiful places in that area. Unfortunately no one feels safe to go see it.

Lebanon is a definite no-no. There is no government control over much of the country side. Some of the area is under the control of Hezbollah, some under the pro-Syrians, some under the Maronites, and there are even places controlled by the Palestinian militia groups.

I just wonder for how long was he an American citizen and how much he carried another nationality.

It's like the robberies made in Spain by Romanians who have received spanish nationality. They are added to the wrong column in statistics :).

He was born and brought up in the US (Florida, to be precise).

His father is a Palestinian Arab, born in the West Bank, while his mother is a non-Hispanic White, born in the US.

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/06/04/us/BOMBER/BOMBER-superJumbo.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/05/31/article-0-1E5CE82000000578-518_634x624.jpg

More details:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/04/us/friends-of-moner-mohammad-abusalha-saw-no-indications.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2645784/He-American-son-parents-tormented-basketball-playing-son-turned-suicide-bomber.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/31/us-syria-usa-bomber-exclusive-idUSKBN0EB0XX20140531

Sorry for doubting this and being wrong on this issue but I still think he wouldn't have ended like this if he was called John or Michael ;).

According to his friends, he was a Muslim in name only. He was a thoroughly Americanized kid. All of his friends were native-born Americans and he didn't even knew any Arabic. How this non-practicing kid got brainwashed in such a short duration is still a big mystery.

I can see it.  There are many instances in history of civilians traveling to other countries to assist causes they feel are just.


Here 700 Irishmen went to Spain to fight for the fascist Franco in defense of nuns being killed by Communists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Brigade_%28Spanish_Civil_War%29


Here 2,500 Britons went to Spain to fight for the Communists in the same war:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-13937616

Obama says don't worry...he's not going to used weaponized drones over the U.S. while he runs out the clock.  AFAIK, he kind of didn't elaborate on his administrations specific efforts to get the capability codified into law for the next guy (or very likely, gal) to use if they feel the need.  Yo, Obama;  Thanks for 'the change we can believe in', asshole.

There was some Korean American from Los Angeles who went to Libya to fight Gaddafi. 
http://news.yahoo.com/spring-break-libya-133500440.html

Sometimes people fight just to fight.  Sometimes for money.  IIRC - there are Russians in Syria who are fighting, because Assad promised them condos on the beach. 

that really makes me think I could do it

Mercenaries can be found in any nation. They will fight for anyone, in exchange for money. Even during the NATO invasion of Libya, a large number of Russian, Ukrainian and Serbian mercenaries were fighting on the side of Gaddafi.

We have them here to. We just call them contractors.

lol... the private security contractors. At one point of time, some 100,000 of them were serving in Iraq alone. Now they have spread out to other conflict-prone areas, such as Libya and Afghanistan.

PMCs cost so much more than military dogs, reasoning? Possibilities I can think of is that they can operate outside conventional rules of engagement and privately escorting vital Big Business personnel.

edit: http://academi.com/pages/protect
ah, protecting business interests such as real estate and trade routes as well. and saves quite a bit of political cost I imagine

Yes. They are very expensive. The average salary ranges from $200 to $1,000 per day. I have even heard about PMCs earning as much as $6,000 per day in Fallujah and Ramadi. But at the same time, the PMCs who get KIA are not counted together with the American / NATO military deaths. And the American military is not responsible for any of their actions.

Actually, contractors cost far LESS than real soldiers.  American mercenaries get only about $150,000 per year.  To kit one out for battle probably only costs about $60,000 (M16, armored Ford F-250 pickup, boots/radios/mags/etc.)

After six years of use, they can be thrown on the trash heap and forgotten.

State soldiers earn far less per year in base salary, but can lay claim to EXPENSIVE long-term benefits such as government health care, retirement pensions, housing, survivor insurance, and more.

After 2-10 years of usefulness, you are still stuck with them.

Al Qaeda mercenaries are even better.   They are like Chinese peasants stamping out high-profit iPhones.  Salary about $18,000 per year.  Cheap kit of AK-47's, Nike trainers, the occasional .50 cal., an old Toyota, and hand-held crap radios.  Total cost probably only about $5,000 each to field.

The BEST aspect of mercenaries is avoidance of lawsuits when they murder people, and being able to deny that they are even work for you.