The SEAL Team that stormed Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound last May put special forces commandos on the map.

Without SEAL Team 6′s exploits that day, there is little doubt reports of a new commando team in the Persian Gulf would have raised an eyebrow.

As it is, military blogs are buzzing about Spencer Ackerman’s story at Danger Room where he reports that a new “elite commando team” is operating in the Gulf region.

Ackerman spoke with military sources that say the team, called Joint Special Operations Task Force-Gulf Coordinating Council (JSOTF-GCC), is on the ground to instruct local troops in special operations. This is the first time the U.S. has acknowledged the existence of the team.

Ackerman admits there is no proven connection to the Iranian scientist who was assassinated several days ago, and says many special-ops guys dismiss the news, saying that the new task force is simply there to advise and any connection to Iran will be “indirect at most.”

Which doesn’t make it any less interesting to add to the pile of rumors and tensions piling out of the Persian Gulf, but there are special forces teams assigned to hot-spots all over the world, and the public generally has no clue at all.

There are 2,500 Navy SEALs, about half of which are based at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base and Dam Neck Annex in Virginia Beach, with 2,400 assigned to the Special Warfare Command (SWC).

SWC has an additional 700 Special Warfare Boat Operators, and 700 reserve personnel deployed around the world. Considering there are already two aircraft carrier groups in the Gulf now, there are likely many more special forces in the region than just this newly acknowledged task force.

Source: Business Insider.

Just when you thought Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow was down; like a phoenix, he rises from the ashes.

Tebow and the Broncos were last seen Saturday night walking off the field after getting shellacked by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

The former Florida Gators quarterback couldn’t muster any offense in the game and was outclassed on the field by Brady.

But, Tebow has been a ratings draw for CBS and now, the network wants to get Tebow in the studio this Sunday for the AFC Championship game.

According to USAToday.com, CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said CBS has had conversations with Tebow’s people and are waiting to hear back from the popular quarterback.

McManus said CBS is hoping to hear from Tebow by midweek.

Source: CBS Miami.

My Two Cents: I wish the American elderly were as bad ass as the Japanese elderly. Maybe then I wouldn’t be paying for their mistakes and for their entitlements. If anything, you have to appreciate and respect the spirit of these people. End Two Cents.

*Taken from BBC. Video at link.

The Skilled Veterans Corps, as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60.

They say they should be facing the dangers of radiation, not the young.

It was while watching the television news that Yasuteru Yamada decided it was time for his generation to stand up.

No longer could he be just an observer of the struggle to stabilise the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The retired engineer is reporting back for duty at the age of 72, and he is organising a team of pensioners to go with him.

CONTINUED..

My Two Cents: A thousand times LOLZ! I also love how the flyer is assuming that underprivileged children must be black! End Two Cents.

*Taken from The Blaze.

This does not help accusations that the owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling, is racist.

In a full-page ad published in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, the team announced it would be celebrating “Black History Month” on Wednesday by admitting “1,000 underprivileged children free.” Wednesday is March 2. Black History Month is in February.

“It seems as if Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling forgot when Black History Month is,” the Huffington Post writes. Over at ProBasketballTalk.com, Kurt Helin notes that the Clippers did play a lot of road games in February, but the move is still embarrassing.

But Helin also points out that the time of the celebration may not be as offensive as the language of the ad.

“Yes, underprivileged youth are helped (although as Deadspin points out, if children just show up and go to a table to get tickets as proposed, how do you know their economic status?).”

Deadspin says it has “one guess,” and its most likely based on the fact that the ad is celebrating Black History Month.

Rollingout.com takes a more direct approach: “The offensive ad equates black children with being underprivileged and makes a generalization about an entire race.”

Still, not everyone is up in arms. Robert Littal over at BlackSportsOnline is annoyed by the ad, but not enraged: “I understand that the Clippers only had two home games in February, but they had the schedule for a very long time, just put your celebration on one of those dates. I don’t think it is a huge deal and it is a nice gesture, just looks incompetent.”

Yes, yes it does.

*Taken from Yahoo News.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Discovery, the world’s most traveled spaceship, thundered into orbit for the final time Thursday, heading toward the International Space Station on a journey that marks the beginning of the end of the shuttle era.

The six astronauts on board, all experienced space fliers, were thrilled to be on their way after a delay of nearly four months for fuel tank repairs. But it puts Discovery on the cusp of retirement when it returns in 11 days and eventually heads to a museum.

Discovery is the oldest of NASA’s three surviving space shuttles and the first to be decommissioned this year. Two missions remain, first by Atlantis and then Endeavour, to end the 30-year program.

It was Discovery’s 39th launch and the 133rd shuttle mission overall.

“Enjoy the ride,” the test conductor radioed just before liftoff. Commander Steven Lindsey thanked everyone for the work in getting Discovery ready to go: “And for those watching, get ready to witness the majesty and the power of Discovery as she lifts off one final time.”

Emotions ran high as Discovery rocketed off its seaside pad into a late afternoon clear blue sky, and arced out over the Atlantic on its farewell flight. There were a tense few minutes before liftoff when an Air Force computer problem popped up. The issue was resolved and Discovery took off about three minutes late, with just a few seconds remaining in the countdown.

Discovery will reach the space station Saturday, delivering a small chamber full of supplies and an experimental humanoid robot. “Look forward to having company here on ISS in a couple days,” station commander Scott Kelly said in a Twitter message.

The orbiting lab was soaring over the South Pacific when Discovery blasted off.

“Discovery now making one last reach for the stars,” the Mission Control commentator said once the shuttle cleared the launch tower.

On-board TV cameras showed some pieces of foam insulation breaking off the external fuel tank four minutes into the flight, but shouldn’t pose any safety concerns because it was late enough after liftoff.

NASA is under presidential direction to retire the shuttle fleet this summer, let private companies take over trips to orbit and focus on getting astronauts to asteroids and Mars.

An estimated 40,000 guests gathered at Kennedy Space Center to witness history in the making, including a small delegation from Congress and Florida’s new Gov. Rick Scott. Discovery frenzy took over not only the launch site, but neighboring towns.

Roads leading to the launching site were jammed with cars parked two and three deep; recreational vehicles snagged prime viewing spots along the Banana River well before dawn. Businesses and governments joined in, their signs offering words of encouragement. “The heavens await Discovery,” a Cocoa Beach church proclaimed. Groceries stocked up on extra red, white and blue cakes with shuttle pictures. Stores ran out of camera batteries.

The launch team also got into the act. A competition was held to craft the departing salutation from Launch Control: “The final liftoff of Discovery, a tribute to the dedication, hard work and pride of America’s space shuttle team.” Kennedy’s public affairs office normally comes up with the parting line. Souvenir photos of Discovery were set aside for controllers in the firing room. Many posed for group shots.

Lindsey and his crew paused to take in the significance of it all, before boarding Discovery. They embraced in a group hug at the base of the launch pad.

Unlike the first try back in November, no hydrogen gas leaked during Thursday’s fueling.

NASA also was confident no cracks would develop in the external fuel tank; nothing serious was spotted during the final checks at the pad. Both problems cropped up during the initial countdown in early November, and the repairs took almost four months. The cracks in the midsection of the tank, which holds instruments but no fuel, could have been dangerous.

The lengthy postponement kept one of the original crew from flying.

Astronaut Timothy Kopra, the lead spacewalker, was hurt when he wrecked his bicycle last month. Experienced spacewalker Stephen Bowen stepped in and became the first astronaut to fly back-to-back shuttle missions.

Packed aboard Discovery is Robonaut 2, or R2, set to become the first humanoid robot in space. The experimental machine — looking human from the waist up — will remain boxed until after Discovery departs. Its twin was at the launch site, perched atop a rover, waving goodbye.

“I’m in space! HELLO UNIVERSE!!!” R2 announced in a tweet sent by a human still on Earth.

Discovery already has 143 million miles to its credit, beginning with its first flight in 1984. By the time this mission ends, the shuttle will have tacked on another 4.5 million miles. And it will have spent 363 days in space and circled Earth 5,800 times when it returns March 7.

No other spacecraft has been launched so many times.

Discovery’s list of achievements include delivering the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit, carrying the first Russian cosmonaut to launch on a U.S. spaceship, performing the first rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir with the first female shuttle pilot in the cockpit, returning Mercury astronaut John Glenn to orbit, and bringing shuttle flights back to life after the Challenger and Columbia accidents.

Discovery is expected to be eventually put on display by the Smithsonian Institution.

*Taken from the Telegraph.

The FBI has launched a manhunt for a previously unknown team of men suspected to be part of the 9/11 attacks, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.

On September 10 they were booked on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington, but failed to board. The following day the same Boeing 757 aircraft was hijacked by five terrorists and crashed into the Pentagon.

But, instead of boarding the American flight, the Qatari suspects – named as Meshal Alhajri, Fahad Abdulla and Ali Alfehaid – flew back to London on a British Airways flight before returning to Qatar. Their current location is unknown.

Investigators are also hunting a fourth man, Mohamed Al Mansoori, who they say supported the alleged terrorist cell while they were in the US.

The man, who is from the United Arab Emirates, previously lived in Long Beach, Los Angeles. His current location is also unknown, and US officials recommended that he is put on an international terror watch list because he “may pose a threat to aviation in the US and abroad”.

The details of the secret 9/11 team have emerged in a secret American government document obtained by the Wikileaks website and passed to The Daily Telegraph. It was sent between the American Embassy in Doha and the Department for Homeland Security in Washington.

The document, sent on 11th February 2010, states: “Mr Al Mansoori is currently under investigation by the FBI for his possible involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks. He is suspected of aiding people who entered the US before the attacks to conduct surveillance of possible targets and providing other support to the hijackers.”

Details of the unknown 9/11 alleged plotters has never previously been disclosed. An official inquiry into the 9/11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people, indicated that the team may have received assistance in Los Angeles but investigators did not publicly provide more details.

The 9/11 Commission report, published in July 2004, states that at least two of the hijackers previously visited Los Angeles but, at the time, investigators appeared to have little information on their movements. The report states they had a “brief stay in Los Angeles about which we know little”.

Only one person – Zacarias Moussaoui – has been tried and convicted over involvement in the 9/11 attacks as all the terrorists died in the crashed planes. Moussaoui, accused of being the twentieth hijacker, was sentenced to life in prison.

The secret American document contains detailed information about the movements of the three alleged Qatari plotters.

They took BA flight 185 from London to New York on 15th August, 2001, and the memo alleges that they subsequently conducted “surveillance” on potential targets ahead of the 9/11 attacks. It states: “They visited the World Trade Centre, the Statue of Liberty, the White House and various areas in Virginia.”

They then flew on an American Airlines flight from Washington to Los Angeles, arriving on 24th August and checking into a single room at a hotel near the airport. They paid for the room with cash and during the last few days of their stay requested that their room should not be cleaned.

The cable states: “Hotel cleaning staff grew suspicious of the men because they noticed pilot type uniforms, several laptops and several cardboard boxes addressed to Syria, Jerusalem, Afghanistan and Jordan in the room on previous cleaning visits.

“The men had a smashed cellular phone in the room and a cellular phone attached by wire to a computer. The room also contained pin feed computer paper print outs with headers listing pilot names, airlines, flight numbers, and flight times.”

While in the US, they were aided by Mohamed Ali Mohamed Al Mansoori. The secret document also states that the three Qatari men spent a week travelling with Mr Al Mansoori to “different destinations in California”.

The Qatari men were scheduled to board American Airlines Flight 144 on September 10th from Los Angeles to Washington but did not turn up.

They instead boarded a British Airways flight to London, before flying back to Doha on another BA flight.

The following day the same American Airlines aircraft, flying on route AA77, was hijacked as it returned from Washington and crashed into the Pentagon, killing 184 people.

It is not known whether the FBI believe that the men were simply assisting the hijackers or were a fifth cell who pulled out at the final moment. Alternatively, they may have been planning an attack on the West Coast of America or even London which was abandoned or went wrong.

Mr Al Mansoori has never been publicly named in connection with the 9/11 attacks. The three Qatari men were included on an FBI list of more than 300 people who were wanted for questioning in connection with the 9/11 attacks, which was leaked in 2002.

At the time, the FBI stressed it was not a list of suspects, but merely parties they thought might have information useful to the investigation.

The US embassy cable obtained by the Daily Telegraph was written by Mirembe Nantongo, the deputy chief of mission in Doha. It was marked “priority” and sent to the office of Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the CIA.

Mr Al Mansoori’s visa was revoked after the information about him came to light, but “his name was not watchlisted in the class system”, suggesting he may have managed to leave America.

A spokesman for the FBI declined to comment.