Al-Qaeda is now referring to Iraq as a “university of terrorism” where, apparently, the miscreant students are working on new ways to kill Westerners.

In an audio recording posted on the Internet on Tuesday, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, said his fighters were successfully confronting U.S. forces in Iraq and have begun producing a guided missile called al-Quds 1 or Jerusalem 1.

“The largest batch of soldiers for jihad … in the history of Iraq are graduating and they have the highest level of competence in the world,” Baghdadi said.

He also sought to mend fences with other anti-U.S. insurgent groups in Iraq following reports of tensions between them.

“From the military point of view, one of the (enemy) devils was right in saying that if Afghanistan was a school of terror, then Iraq is a university of terrorism,” said the leader of the group set up last year by al Qaeda’s Iraq wing and some other Sunni groups.

“We would like to inform the mujahideen all over the world, and especially in Iraq, that the Quds (Jerusalem) 1 rocket has gone into the phase of military production,” Baghdadi said, adding that its length, weight, range and precision “matches those of world powers”.

Calling on the various radical Islamic factions to unite, al-Baghdadi has now sworn off killing the Sunni.

This, of course, poses a new worry. If U.S. forces measure readiness for troop withdrawal by declining acts of insurgent violence, a decrease in the number of tribal and sectarian-based attacks may very well create an impression that it’s time to withdraw when, in fact, it’s only a lull in the violence.

Because the converse of Sun Tzu’s famous statement — the enemy of my enemy is my friend — is that the moment your enemy’s enemy is gone is the best time to strike at them, since that’s when it’s least expected.

UPDATE: Top Shiite and Sunni clerics met yesterday to discuss an end to sectarian violence, then emerged from their meeting calling each other “brothers.” Calling for unity, Prime Minister Maliki has been making overtures to Sunni insurgent groups and former Ba’ath party members, even as hundreds of residents of Basra began a 3-day sit-in calling for his resignation. Meanwhile, Iraqi police discovered 17 bodies buried underneath two school yards which had until recently been under al-Qaeda control. At least 85 dead bodies were found throughout Iraq.

Drafted in 1973 to serve in Vietnam, Robert Rangel officially retired… after 40 years!

Rangel’s years in the Army included more than 200 parachute jumps with a special forces unit in Vietnam and Cambodia, time in battle zones, a firsthand view of the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and a tour in the first Gulf War.

Now his priority is to take care of his mom and tackle some projects.

Tops on the list is restoring a 1964 Plymouth Sport Fury. He parked it in his mom’s barn when he went off to basic training.

Talk about someone entitled to a nice, quiet life!

Email from an EV reader, Patriot, informed me that “Operation Military Pride,” an Illinois organization that claimed to raise funds for military members and their families, has been ordered to pay back over $300,000 in funds raised by the group. Evidently, the organization did not register as a charity or fund-raising group as required under state law, nor did it maintain records of how donations were spent.

“We never claimed to be a charity,” [Arlyn] McClaughry [the group's founder] said Thursday. “I didn’t realize we were a charity in the eyes of the law. It was just a bunch of people doing a good deed.”

Despite collecting money for military care packages, McClaughry never registered as a charity or as a professional fundraiser, said Therese Harris, chief of the state’s Charitable Trust Bureau.

That prompted a lawsuit demanding that she prove where more than $300,000 had gone.

Harris said McClaughry never provided proof in court, and so a Cook County circuit judge entered a judgment of $310,586 against her Feb. 21.

The order forbids her from collecting any more charitable contributions, Harris said.

McClaughry disputed that her organization ever collected $310,000. The figure includes money from personal bank accounts never connected to Operation Military Pride, she said.

But she would not say how much she did collect to put together care packages that included such things as DVDs, books and toiletries. She said she ran out of money to pay for a lawyer, and miscommunication about court dates hampered her ability to prove her case.

Harris said McClaughry had more than enough time to submit proof that the money was spent on care packages or other charitable purposes. She said using the military as a vehicle to promote donations during wartime made the case worse.

“It seems to be particularly egregious when it happens under these circumstances,” Harris said.

EV had previously encouraged readers interested in supporting the military to consider making donations to Operation Military Pride. Given the lack of clarity of the group’s purpose and new doubts about the fiscal responsibility of the organization’s leadership, we now retract that recommendation.

Furthermore, we are saddened that Operation Military Pride’s leadership claims not to understand the correlation between soliciting funds on behalf of others in need and being a charitable group accountable under the law. While we do not have sufficient information ourselves to declare such actions outright avarice, we are deeply disappointed that greater care was not taken by OMP to avoid any and all appearances of impropriety.

This time of year, those of us from military families — along with many others — wonder how we can bring holiday cheer to wounded soldiers. The folks at Walter Reed Hospital are kindly requesting that we don’t send more cards. They don’t need them. They’re up to their hoohas in them, to put it nicely.

Instead, consider pre-paid phone cards, gas cards, stamps, stationery, or even gift certificates from AAFES.

Gifts can be sent to:

Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Medical Family Assistance Center
Bldg. 2, 3rd floor, Room 3E01
6900 Georgia Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001

AAFES Homefront program even allows you to send a gift certificate to soldiers you know who are stationed overseas, or to any service member.

UPDATE: Sgt. Hook has initiated a worthy project known as Angel Baskets to provide holiday meals to your Soldiers and their families. Be sure to visit and donate if you can!

Of Russia’s preparations to send nuclear fuel to Iran, David J. at ResurrectionSong notes that Russia is positioning itself as a balance to U.S. power. I think there’s far more to it than mere seeking of renewed Super Power status.

Sure, Russia’s been suspected of collaborating on nuclear projects with North Korea, but let’s not forget that Russia has alread announced its intention to strengthen ties with Islamic countries. Russia has cozied up with both Indonesia and Malaysia, both primarily Muslim states. Meanwhile, Russia and Turkmenistan — another primarily Muslim state — have solidified long-term energy and ecomonic pacts.

Balance U.S. power? I suppose that’s one way to look at it.

Silly string, the stuff that’s the bane of mothers everywhere, may have redeemed itself in my eyes… even if I can’t remove it from the back wall of my house.

STRATFORD, N.J. – In an age of multimillion-dollar high-tech weapons systems, sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that can save lives. Which is why a New Jersey mother is organizing a drive to send cans of Silly String to Iraq.

American troops use the stuff to detect trip wires around bombs, as Marcelle Shriver learned from her son, a soldier in Iraq.

Before entering a building, troops squirt the plastic goo, which can shoot strands about 10 to 12 feet, across the room. If it falls to the ground, no trip wires. If it hangs in the air, they know they have a problem. The wires are otherwise nearly invisible.

Now, 1,000 cans of the neon-colored plastic goop are packed into Shriver’s one-car garage in this town outside Philadelphia, ready to be shipped to the Middle East thanks to two churches and a pilot who heard about the drive. (Source: Military.com

Of course, if your workplace doesn’t feature trip wires, there is still fun to be had.