Inside the Ring

China missiles

One little-noticed intelligence disclosure contained in the Pentagon’s annual report on Chinese military power says China now has ballistic missiles designed to hit U.S. aircraft carriers and ships at sea.

The missiles are described in the report as part of China’s “anti-access/area denial capabilities” that include “anti-ship ballistic missiles designed to strike ships at sea, including aircraft carriers.”

Using a ballistic missile to target ships requires a degree of sophistication not shown by Chinese missiles in the past, and indicates China’s military has mastered precision missile targeting, no doubt helped by the theft of U.S. warhead design and other secrets through espionage in the 1990s.

Other new weapons that are part of the precision-guided missile arsenal are advanced cruise missiles, medium-range ballistic missiles, the direct ascent anti-satellite missiles, like the one tested in January 2007.

Victory over FARC

U.S. counterterrorism officials are privately cheering the Colombian military raid that killed Raul Reyes, a senior commander of the notorious FARC terrorist group last week.

“This was a major victory for the United States in the war on terror,” one military official said. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia “is one of the top ten designated global terrorist that is as much a target and focal point of the [global war on terror] as is al Qaeda.”

U.S. military officials said the Colombian raid into Ecuador that killed Reyes on Saturday involved a joint special operations group called CCOPE and included commandos from three elements known as the Commandos, the Lancero group and naval commandos. The paramilitary component was followed by Colombian National Police who took over the scene and recovered laptop computers and other information about the communist terror group.

The evidence and intelligence shows that Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are providing a safe haven to the terrorists, with Mr. Chavez also helping with material support.

“We have evidence of collusion, evidence of Chavez funding the FARC to the tune of $300 million,” one U.S. military officer said.

One document uncovered from Reyes’ computer revealed that a group of “gringos,” or Americans, was dealing with FARC through Ecuadorean intermediaries.

The Americans were quoted in the FARC leaders’ document as saying that Sen. Barack Obama will be the next president and that he does not support Plan Colombia, an anti-drug and aid strategy to back the Colombian government, or a U.S. free trade agreement with the country.

Nimitz buzzed again

A Russian strategic nuclear bomber flew over the U.S. aircraft carrier Nimitz near South Korea on Wednesday, the second time in two months a bomber flew close to the carrier and its task force.

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