Dec 6
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The aftermath of the so-called tragedy at Salala, Pakistan last month really brings forth their true colors, the true allegiances of our “ally” Pakistan. Although, I think calling them an ally might be stretching it a bit. In case you may have forgotten just what happened on that day, NATO fighter jets and helicopters fired [...]
Nov 15
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I really enjoyed the Mel Gibson film Conspiracy Theory. In fact, I love conspiracies altogether. Not that I believe them, but they are fun. One of the things that I find fascinating about them is that in any good conspiracy, there is at least a grain of truth. I would even go so far to [...]
Nov 7
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DEFECTOR CLAIMS ISLAMIC REGIME POSSESSES NUKES FROM OLD SOVIET UNION If Reza Kahlili is to be believed, the ayatollahs and the crazy little Hitler-wannabe must be laughing their extremist Islamic asses off, as the U.S. and much – although not all - of the civilized world frantically attempt everything short of “pretty please” and military action to stop these Muslim [...]
“I’LL TELL YA WHAT: I’LL TRADE JA SECURITY FOR YOUR FREEDOMS, OK?
The day that I agree with the ACLU is the day that confirms my belief that the world has truly turned upside down. That day is today. The ACLU is demanding transparency & legal justification for the killing of American born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, his teen age son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen who was born in Denver in 1995, and his 17-year-old Yemeni cousin that were killed in a U.S. military drone strike that left nine people dead in southeastern Yemen. Read the rest of this entry
Oct 10
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AND THE RAT THOUGHT LIBERALS WERE THE BIGGEST HYPOCRITES ON THE PLANET The envelope, please. (drum roll) Ladies and gentlemen…the winner…of this century’s Huge Brass Balls Award…by unanimous decision…is…al-Qaeda! Yes, folks, al-Qaeda wins the el-large-o cojones award hands down for criticizing the killing of U.S.-born al-Qaeda terrorist, Anwar al-Awlaki. And I thought liberals were the most audacious hypocrites on [...]
Sep 8
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WHO THE HELL DOES THIS GUY THINK HE IS? MUSLIMS STILL CLAIM SPAIN AFTER 519 YEARS! Ahmet Rehab, the head of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, (CAIR), says that following the tenth anniversary of 9/11, with the exception of remembering the victims, America should move on from the terrorist attacks. Huh? Two questions, Ahmet: [...]
Sep 2
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Our premier spy agency has expanded into industrialized assassination, killing over 2,000 “targets” and civilians over the last 10 years, as the Washington Post dryly puts it. CIA Shifts Focus To Killing Targets will tell you more. Is creation of an automated killing machine on such a scale wise? Is it moral? It’s too secret for those discussions to occur. [...]
Aug 16
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Much could have been done with the money spent to now on those wars; What the Money Spent in Iraq and Afghanistan Could Have Bought at Home in America explains. Ask yourself: Did we get our money’s worth by spending it where we did? Are the present accomplishments there worth the lives lost? The two programs [...]
Rat, here. Confused? Jack was kind enough to identify a story on which he felt I’d like to pontificate – so he saved me a place in line, expecting I’d take up the gauntlet – which I’ve done. After a bit of cut and paste, here you have it – today’s lunacy from the crazies of the Obama Administration:
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Several months ago, I posted an article entitled Jihad Cosmo: al Qaeda Launches Women’s Magazine, which several readers incorrectly believed to be satire. The magazine was real, (although the name Jihad Cosmo was not), as were the stories I highlighted – which made it all the more hysterical. Well folks, AQ’s back with more.
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“As Americans have been seared by hostage taking, violent rhetoric, and terrorist attacks that have killed thousands of our citizens – A FAILURE TO CHANGE OUR APPROACH threatens a deepening spiral of division between the United States and Muslim communities.”–Barack Obama, May 19, 2011
May 13
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A new national alert system was announced by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week. The Personal Localized Alert Network – PLAN – will be used to alert the public to emergencies via cell phone. In addition to local emergency messages, PLAN will also carry “presidential alerts.” Cell phone users will be able to opt out of [...]
May 13
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FIELD TRIPS AND BIRTHDAY PARTIES CAN’T BE FAR BEHIND Just because the Obama Regime finally realized that closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison was a much better symbolic campaign promise to Bill Maher and Rosie O’Donnell than it was a responsible, big-boy executive decision made in the best interests of the United States doesn’t mean [...]
May 9
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Attorney General Reopened Investigation Two Years Ago In the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden, with Barack Obama fresh off his “I killed bin Laden” victory tour, Attorney General Eric Holder’s criminal investigation into the interrogation techniques utilized by CIA officers against captured terrorists is front page news again. Holder reopened the previously reviewed [...]
SPIKING THE FOOTBALL?
In part from Meredith Jessup: Just hours after the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed in a firefight with U.S. commandos, John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism advisor, hailed Barack Obama’s “gutsy call,” (which it was), that gave approval for the Special Forces mission to proceed.
While the president does indeed deserve credit for ordering the raid, (and by all accounts, has accepted it), he told us yesterday that we musn’t “spike the football” because “it’s not what we do.”
But…if you visit www.gutsycall.com, guess whose re-election website you’ll find? You guessed it; Obama’s 2012 campaign has apparently purchased “gutsycall.com.”
So much for not politicizing bin Laden’s death.
^
And Obama’s trip to Ground Zero today?
CIA Interrogators Developed First Strands That Led to Bin Laden
A member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee has told CNBC that the death of Osama Bin Laden was a direct result of enhanced interrogations.
“The information that eventually led us to this compound was the direct result of enhanced interrogations; one can conclude if we had not used enhanced interrogations, we would not have come to yesterday’s action,” US Senator Richard Burr in a telephone interview with CNBC. Read more at cnbc.com.
Current and former U.S. officials say that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, provided the nom de guerre of one of bin Laden’s most trusted aides. The CIA got similar information from Mohammed’s successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi. Both were subjected to harsh interrogation tactics inside CIA prisons in Poland and Romania. Read more at washingtonpost.com.
Facts are stubborn things when they get in the way of “the truth,” aren’t they?
*
Oh oh, here come the hateful accusations of hatred again!
May 2
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- IS ANYONE SURPRISED THAT BARACK OBAMA TOOK THE CREDIT? – It should certainly be noted that Barack Obama continued this country’s efforts to track down Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. Rat chose “noted” and “continued” vs. “credited” and “spearheaded” for a reason: Did America, the world, or the al Qaeda mastermind [...]
Apr 27
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More news from Afghanistan, some good and some bad. – http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-prison-web-20110427,0,7314837.story – In a daring prison breakout, 488 inmates of the Sarposa Prison in Kandahar escaped the jail through a tunnel dug from the outside by insurgents. The 1000 foot tunnel which must have taken months to dig terminated in one of the cells, prisoners [...]
Apr 18
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“LONDON TALIBAN” WORKING TO IMPOSE SHARIA IN BRITAIN The UK’s Daily Mail reports that the “London Taliban” is working to impose sharia law in parts of Britain and is reportedly issuing death threats to women who refuse to comply with the radical group’s demand that they wear head scarves. While police in London have vowed to pursue [...]
Apr 11
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POLICE FEAR MUSLIM VIOLENCE IN RESPONSE TO ENFORCEMENT OF NEW LAW Paris police arrested a woman today for wearing a burqa on the first day of France’s ban on Muslim veils. About a dozen people, including three women wearing hijabs, staged a protest in front of Notre Dame. Police said the woman was detained because the [...]
Mar 15
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On Friday, March 11, 2011, terrorists entered the home of a Jewish family in Itamar and killed five family members, stabbing them to death. The victims were: Udi Fogel, 36 Ruth Fogel, 35 And three of their children: Yoav Fogel, 11 Elad Fogel, 4 Hadas Fogel, 3 months The alarm was raised by the couple’s [...]
Mar 10
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AS NY CONGRESSMAN PETER KING HOLDS HEARINGS ON RADICALIZATION IN THE U.S. MUSLIM COMMUNITY, IT’S TIME TO HEED THE WARNING IN EUROPE The alarming increase in Muslim violence against indigenous Europeans the last several months has been virtually ignored by the American media. Is this due to respect for “peaceful” Muslims, fear of the violent [...]
ISLAM – What the West Needs to Know (Quixotic Media)
An examination of Islam, violence, and the fate of the non-Muslim world.
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In case you have a little bit of time on your hands this weekend. A powerful, and disturbing, movie to watch.
This is what happens when the cult of “tolerance, diversity, sensitivity, and multiculturalism” begins to capture the military related institutions of this country. They’ve already captured the colleges, entertainment, and the media, and the rest of our societal and cultural institutions are under full-scale assault. We all sneer at political correctness and the ‘isms’ of the Left that accompany it but it is deadly serious struggle we are engaged in. It is gut-wrenching to watch a culture and a people begin to slit their own throats and surrender on all fronts. As conservatives we see these attacks on common sense, our heritage, and our culture coming. We warn against it, rail against it, and predict the eventual outcome of it, but for whatever reason we seem to be helpless to prevent these things from happening. In this never-ending culture war, that the Left has declared and the Right is forced to fight, conservatives are always losing unless they win and liberals are always winning unless they lose. We have traveled that far down a dangerous path that eventually only leads to damnation and ruin.
Progressivism is the most insidious of fifth columns that undermines the traditions and institutions that once made this country great. It is really an amazing thing to watch as one by one the dominoes are toppled as the Left continues to wage its ruthless ideological war on all that is true, right, decent, moral, and rooted in tradition, religion, and Western culture.
VMI Celebrates Muslim Invasion, Brutal 781-year Occupation of Spain
Stonewall Jackson is rolling over in his grave.
Next month his beloved Virginia Military Institute will be convening a celebration commemorating the 1300th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Spain under the Muslim warlord Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711 A.D. The March 23-25 celebration entitled “711-2011: East Meets West” and organized by VMI’s Center for Leadership and Ethics, is scheduled to feature standard Muslim apologists Reza Aslan and Akbar Ahmed. VMI Superintendent Gen. J.H. Binford Peay has even filmed an invitation to the celebration.
No word if VMI’s World War II commemoration will be entitled “Germany meets Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Belgium, France, Norway, The Netherlands and Russia”.
Event organizers describe the event as follows:
We celebrate the 1300th anniversary of Tariq ibn Ziyad’s crossing of the Straits of Gibraltar, setting into motion the fusion between two worlds. The agenda will tell the vital story of the achievements when Muslims, Christians, and Jews thrived side by side in Western Europe, building a society that lit the Dark Ages. Experts will discuss how to transform education, promote tolerance, political reform, and advance human development so that we can emulate the spirit and triumphs of the early years.
STRATFOR provides its usual excellent analysis on what is happening in Egypt. Though I rarely side with Zazu or Andre on anything (except perhaps music), they are right to point out that we have supported trash in order for them to hold off even worse trash. That has to end. We do need to support dissident groups who are more amenable to American concerns. Here is another concern: Hamas is able to cross the border from the Palestinian Territories into Egypt pretty much unhindered thanks to the chaos ensuing at the moment. This means they are wilfully trying to help the Muslim Brotherhood take over the reins of power in Egypt. If they do, that will almost assuredly mean war in the Middle East, and if that happens, it’ll spread out quickly throughout the Maghred, the Arabian Peninsula, and possibly into Turkey and Southern Europe. Attach that with the headaches in Chechnya, and you have a recipe for a very hot summer, war-wise.
The good times have just ended in analyst-land. Where were the Islamists while the revolution occurred? They were planning how to seize power. Enter Rachid Ghannouchi, who had been in exile for years in London. He is not Osama bin Laden. He leans closer to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Islamist Prime Minister of Turkey. Let us see where Ghannouchi takes Tunisia in this dangerous time.
By a Muslim on “radical Muslims,” shariah law, and the Third Jihad. Looks interesting.
[h/t The Jawa Report]
*applause*
We need more *Ewald Stadlers in elected office here in the USA. The closest I’ve seen in recent years is Gov. Chris Christie, who’s unafraid to tell it like it is.
And we have an inordinate amount of wusses in Congress.
H/T: Polipundit.
*That said, he may do well to up his PSD, as no doubt a fatwa will be issued against him.
This is what a serf looks like and how a cowed subject is treated. Not how a free and sovereign citizen should be dealt with. Shame on the idiots that continue to allow these daily outrages and pathetic dog and pony shows to continue. I sure feel safer, don’t you? This is the difference between looking for a terrorist and looking for ‘objects’ while completely throwing any sense of decency and logic out the window.
Facebook is an evil idea. It destroys friendships. Oh, well… Off to the news:
Chechnya will never be quelled so long as a madman like Moscow’s hand-picked strongman, Ramzan Kadirov, is allowed to run roughshod over the citizenry, driving them to extremists who have more in common with Al Qaeda rather than the indigenous Sufi movements which are more prevalent in the region. Expect to see a lot more attacks like this one soon in Chechnya, possibly igniting a third war in the region in the past 20 years.
A shameful idiot of a Governator goes to Moscow and looks like an industrial tycoon in comparison to the locals, who are salivating at making a pseudo-Silicon Valley near Moscow that will, most likely, simply turn into a place for either the Putin/Medvyedev axis or the Russian Mafia to shake down and scare off any investment. It gets worse as Anna Chapman, the “sexy spy,” (right…) who bumbled her way into fame gets hired by a bank for her “advice.” Pity poor Russia.
Russian racism is nothing new. Anyone who doesn’t look like a run-of-the-mill Slav, even if you are as pale as the Georgians are, gets called the local equivalent of a nigger (and you’d better believe they find it as offensive as an African-American would). Russian Muslims in general are being treated in a disgraceful and inhuman way in Perm, Siberia, and insurrections are beginning to happen against officers who treat conscripts harshly. More bad news for the Russian Bear, I’m afraid.
HT: La Russophobe.
STRATFOR’s founder analyzes the death of multikulti in Germany. You may wish to read Thomas Sowell’s excellent take on the subject as well.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is in a state of panic as he tries to mend rifts caused by supporting a sleazy election win by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Other ayatollahs, based in Qom, will have none of it.
Cross-posted at RudyCarrera.com.
I’m surprised this is from far back as early June. Condell is on top of it, as usual.
There’s no such thing as a slow news day, folks…
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This might drive anti-war moon-bats crazy, but the reality is that those militants should have been held indefinitely until the war ended decisively or the military should have done what they needed to do in the field. Like it or not, Guantanamo is not going away. If the POTUS, who ran on a platform of getting rid of it won’t do so, then it’s here to stay. It’s only a shame that we didn’t hold the cretins who ended up going back home and resumed their killing.
Ulf Laessing of The Saudi Gazette has more on this disturbing trend here.
Cross-posted at RudyCarrera.com.
Given how grotesquely liberal and crappy the BBC News was when I lived overseas, I wasn’t feeling too keen on giving France24 the time of day. Let’s face it; thanks to toads like Jacques Chirac, a lot of my fellow Americans, expatriates included, considered the French to be, as that lovely sorbiquet goes… ‘Cheese-eating surrender monkeys‘. With the exception of Parisians, who are hopelessly rude, I wish to not only NOT bag on our Gallic friends, but give them kudos for some decent reporting. France24 hosted a round-table of sorts on video shot in North Africa of jihadis training, frolicking like Bambi and Thumper in the woods, et cetera. On the panel was Walid Phares, one of the sanest voices in terms of analyzing terrorism. The last time Europe had news TV worth watching was when Tim Sebastian was hosting HARDTalk. This channel may turn out to be worth watching.
Cross-posted at RudyCarrera.com.
Four score and 285 days ago (give or take a few), our nation elected someone they thought they knew. Today, not so much – but not to worry. All (or at least some of it, digitally enhanced and re-packaged to fit the format of your screen) will be revealed, when he gets a chance to re-introduce himself to the American public. I can hardly wait.
A week from Friday is the deadline for emptying the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, a cutoff that the newly inaugurated President Obama established as one of his first acts in office. No one seriously expects his administration to meet the deadline, and Huffpo’s Nathan Harvey wails that it may take yet another year to figure it out. “By all accounts we are not going to make it. In fact, the Obama administration has asked for another full year to do so.”
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Dave’s recent War and Peace part II novel about militant Islam and the way we approach it today brought this clip to mind. If you want to see how a war is won, watch this mini-series (Band of Brothers), one of the best I have ever seen IMHO.
I can’t say enough about this segment though. Just when things are worst, a change is made. A two second politically incorrect decision and order (at 6:04) changes everything – and the effects it has on those following are obvious by the end of the clip. Watching the leadership ‘trickle down effect’ is inspiring, and makes me ‘hope’ for a leadership ‘change’.
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities — but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.
– Winston Churchill – The River War, volume II pp. 248–50 (1899)
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“We have a Muslim terrorist, who called for jihad, who shouted “Alahu Akbar” as he was killing unarmed soldiers in a health center, who had cards made up that said “Solider of Allah,” who spoke of pouring boiling oil down the throats of infidels, who has regular correspondence with a radical imam who preached to 9/11 terrorists . . . and, and, and, and . . . we call it not terrorism but a “killing spree” as if that is what it was and not a terrorist trying to kill as many Americans as possible for political motives.
There is a rot that spreads outside of Washington into the larger culture. It begins with a confusion of terms, and by not calling things by their proper names, it begins with a disassembling of the moral categories. We don’t hear about terrorism or radical Islam so we are surprised to find it in our midst, and when we do, we don’t even recognize it. We have Army generals who elevate diversity over life, we have a president who speaks not of radical Islam or terrorism — though life is what we are fighting for and radical Islam and terrorism is what we are fighting against. And so we are reminded again of the notion that the chief purpose of education is to know when a man is talking rot. Because, if unchecked, the rot will settle, it will metastasize. Soon we no longer know anymore what we are fighting against . . . or more importantly, what we are to fight for.”
Bill Bennet on his show this morning. You can find the whole thing here http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjlhY2E5Y2UxYzUxMjc5YWFjMzVjZjE5MjczYjNmNDY=
I’ve always admired Benjamin Netanyahu over the years.
I heard his speech to the U.N. live today, and my jaw dropped. This is what a past American president and a past British Prime Minister (or two, at least) sounded like.
We are the civilized ones. They are the barbarians howling at the gate. We must win. They must lose. We must live. They must die. It can’t get any simpler than that…
Last week, PG stated unequivocally that the release of the so called “torture memos” have “damaged the country.” There is no question that Obama will be walking a tight rope with no net on this issue. PG correctly pointed out that Obama has backpedaled on his commitment to not prosecute over the matter, demoralized the intelligence community, polarized the country, and emboldened our enemies.
Not to be outdone, resident naysayer and thorn-in-the-side of conservatives, Phoenecian (Phooey), challenged PG to come up with evidence that supported PG’s assertion that the intelligence community was “demoralized.” The exchange proceeded as such:
Phooey: Cite your sources, please. (Hint hint: anecdotes are not data)
PG: dude, should I just give a bad link like you do, with demonstrably misleading information, or should I provide real support? Here is one Phooey… *PG then went on to post two more
Phooey: Hint hint: anecdotes are not data. Also hint hint – the directors do not always speak for the workers.
PG: What part of its “my observation of the available comments” do you not understand son. I gave you some of those comments. If you fail grasp that I can not help you. If you disagree with that then that’s fine with me Phooey. If you can find comments contrary to my position then more the better. If you find my argument unsupported that is all cake to me.
Well, unfortunately for the United States, it appears that PG actually knows what he is talking about. Global Intelligence think tank Stratfor writers Fred Burton and Scott Stewart had this to say about the topic:
Politics and moral arguments aside, the end effect of the memos’ release is that people who have put their lives on the line in U.S. counterterrorism efforts are now uncertain of whether they should be making that sacrifice. Many of these people are now questioning whether the administration that happens to be in power at any given time will recognize the fact that they were carrying out lawful orders under a previous administration. It is hard to retain officers and attract quality recruits in this kind of environment. It has become safer to work in programs other than counterterrorism.
The memos’ release will not have a catastrophic effect on U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Indeed, most of the information in the memos was leaked to the press years ago and has long been public knowledge. However, when the release of the memos is examined in a wider context, and combined with a few other dynamics, it appears that the U.S. counterterrorism community is quietly slipping back into an atmosphere of risk-aversion and malaise — an atmosphere not dissimilar to that described by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission) as a contributing factor to the intelligence failures that led to the 9/11 attacks.
If you care about our counterterrorism efforts, you must read the entire link. It is a fascinating, non-partisan look at how legal and political considerations may be trumping our ability to effectively fight terror abroad.
ared a skyscraper tooWhat would the reaction be if this had happened last July during Bush’s final months? I don’t suppose Huffpo and Kos threads would light up, right?
On Monday morning, one of the 747s used to ferry around the U.S. president was dispatched to the Statue of Liberty, escorted by a fighter jet. Assignment: Get some fresh glamour shots of the plane.
The Air Force said the flight needed to remain confidential. So while New York police knew about it, as did at least one person in the mayor’s office, regular New Yorkers remained in the dark.
As a result, to onlookers Monday all across downtown Manhattan — where the World Trade Center once stood — the photo shoot looked like a terrorist attack. People watched in horror as a massive aircraft, trailed closely by an F-16 fighter jet, banked and roared low near the city, in a frightening echo of the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Fearing the worst, thousands of people streamed out of the skyscrapers and into the streets. Some buildings ordered evacuations. “Oh God, it was mayhem in here, just mayhem,” says Rubin Shimon, manager of Styling Haircutters, a barbershop near Ground Zero. Many people took shelter in the shop to call loved ones on their cellphones.
It should be noted that when Bush landed on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, he never set off mass panic. But it may demonstate just how trivial the Obama Administration takes the threat of terrorism today. In light of the Obama repudiation of Bush’s anti-terrorism policies, look for the American public to quickly grow tired of Obama should, God forbid, terror reach our shores once again.
Looking more smug than correct, Wes made the following observations the other day:
Nobody’s going to mention that we can now verify that the US created very detailed procedures for torturing people? Or that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded not once, not thrice, but at least 183 times in one month? Not to say he didn’t deserve it, but still, that not only is unquestionably severe torture, that’s also pretty much proof that torture doesn’t really work to deliver quick, actionable intelligence. Or at least was definitely not part of anywhere near a sort of “ticking time bomb” scenario.
The news of the memos didn’t really shock me for its content nor for its barbarity. In fact, the memos show that we are a nation of laws that struggles in dealing with the lawless. Certainly we would never, and can never, treat our own accused citizens in this way. But while others define torture through the lens of a camcorder with a serated knife sawing someones head off, we continue to be a nation of laws debating reasonable ways to get actionable intel from those who do not abide by laws.
Our “torture” techniques are certainly arguable. But at Gitmo we maintained a standard to ensure that the techniques wouldn’t cause severe mental pain or suffering. For example, only Americans would torture with a physician on duty; in case a waterboarded suspect didn’t regain consciousness. Only Americans would consider “walling” a terrorist by wrapping a towel around his neck to guard against whiplash before slamming him against a “flexible, false wall.” And only Americans would torture using bugs ensuring that they make it clear to the detainee that the bug doesn’t sting.
In some cases, the memos address specific interrogation plans. When the CIA proposed putting an Al Qaeda suspect in a small box with an insect, the Justice Department endorsed the idea but added conditions it said were necessary to keep the agency from violating the international convention against torture.
“If you do so . . . you must inform him that the insects will not have a sting that would produce death or severe pain,” said a 2002 memo sent to the CIA’s acting general counsel. A footnote clarified that the CIA never carried out the insect interrogation plan.
Ultimately, if we are going to release memos that are political and designed to provide fodder for the perpetually outraged, then Dick Cheney is absolutely correct in saying that we need to release the positive intelligence we were able to gain from these methods. Rather than listening to President Obama engaging in the knee-jerk, “this is horrible and someone must be prosecuted” reaction, the public has a right to know if these interrogation techniques were valuable and what type of domestic terror activity was averted because of them.
Instead of being treated to a valuable debate on the future of rough interrogation on lawless terrorists, we will be subjected our own form of intellectual torture. That torture will come in the form of grandstanding by those who trip over themselves to condemn rough interrogations of people who want to destroy the west.
…U.S. Troops Ambush Taliban With Swift and Lethal Results
From The New York Times:
By C. J. CHIVERS
KORANGAL OUTPOST, Afghanistan — Only the lead insurgents were disciplined as they walked along the ridge. They moved carefully, with weapons ready and at least five yards between each man, the soldiers who surprised them said.
Behind them, a knot of Taliban fighters walked in a denser group, some with rifles slung on their shoulders — “pretty much exactly the way we tell soldiers not to do it,” said Specialist Robert Soto, the radio operator for the American patrol.
If these insurgents came close enough, the soldiers knew, the patrol could kill them in a batch.
Fight by fight, the infantryman’s war in Afghanistan is often waged on the Taliban’s terms. Insurgents ambush convoys and patrols from high ridges or long ranges and slip away as the Americans, weighed down by equipment, return fire and call for air and artillery support. Last week a patrol from the First Infantry Division reversed the routine.
An American platoon surprised an armed Taliban column on a forested ridgeline at night, and killed at least 13 insurgents, and perhaps many more, with rifles, machine guns, Claymore mines, hand grenades and a knife.
The one-sided fight, fought on the slopes of the same mountain where a Navy Seal patrol was surrounded in 2005 and a helicopter with reinforcements was shot down, does not change the war. It was one of hundreds of firefights that have occurred in the Korangal Valley, an isolated region where local insurgents and the Americans have been locked in a bitter stalemate for more than three years.
But as accounts of the fight have spread, the ambush, on Good Friday, has become an emotional rallying point for soldiers in Kunar Province, who have seen it as a both a validation of their equipment and training and a welcome bit of score-settling in an area that in recent years has claimed more American lives than any other.
The patrol, 30 soldiers from the First Battalion, 26th Infantry, had left this outpost before noon on April 10, and spent much of the day climbing a ridge on the opposite side of the Korangal River, according to interviews with more than half the participants.
Once the soldiers reached the ridge’s crest, almost 6,000 feet above sea level on the side of a peak called Sautalu Sar, they found fresh footprints on the trails, and parapets of rock from where Taliban fighters often fire rifles and rocket-propelled grenades down onto this outpost.
The platoon leader, Second Lt. Justin Smith, selected a spot where trails intersected, and the platoon dug shallow fighting holes before dark. Claymore antipersonnel mines were set among the trees nearby.
At sunset, Lieutenant Smith called for a period of absolute silence, which lasted into darkness. Then he ordered three scouts to sit in a listening post about 100 yards away, 10 feet off the trail.
The scouts set in. Less than a half-minute later, a column of Taliban fighters appeared, walking briskly their way.
Sgt. Zachary R. Reese, a sniper, whispered into his radio. “We have eight enemy personnel coming down on our position really fast,” he said. He could say no more; the Taliban fighters were a few feet away.
Is this where I get to cheer or say “don’t mess with the Jews”? The Israelis have vowed “never again” and unlike the slushy, nutjob, campus activist types they actually mean it. It is an exciting time in history to live my friends.
Israel Launches Covert War Against Iran
Israel has launched a covert war against Iran as an alternative to direct military strikes against Tehran’s nuclear programme, US intelligence sources have revealed.
“As US-Israeli relations are bound to come under strain over the Obama administration’s outreach to Iran, and as the political atmosphere grows in complexity, an intensification of Israeli covert activity against Iran is likely to result.”
Mossad was rumoured to be behind the death of Ardeshire Hassanpour, a top nuclear scientist at Iran’s Isfahan uranium plant, who died in mysterious circumstances from reported “gas poisoning” in 2007.
Other recent deaths of important figures in the procurement and enrichment process in Iran and Europe have been the result of Israeli “hits”, intended to deprive Tehran of key technical skills at the head of the programme, according to Western intelligence analysts.
“Israel has shown no hesitation in assassinating weapons scientists for hostile regimes in the past,” said a European intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity. They did it with Iraq and they will do it with Iran when they can.”
I kind of like Gates and I am glad he has remained on in the key position of Secretary of Defense. Here is what he is engineering as the undoubtedly soon to be renamed “war on terror” continues.
Thousands of Troops Expected in Afghanistan by Summer, Gates Says
Gates Predicts U.S. Will be in Iraq and Afghanistan ‘for Years to Come’
A study of the effects of Islamization.
You’ve got to love the Internet.
Another fun little vid:
The Children of Hamas
Feinstein furious over Panetta pick
“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director,’’ Feinstein said.
“I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read,” said Senator Feinstein, who will chair the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in the 111th Congress. “My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”
Here is a roundup of some of the news about the current Israeli ground offensive into Gaza.
A picture slideshow of the operation
IDF battling Hamas terrorists in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun
Israeli troops and tanks slice deep into Gaza
The president-elect’s silence on the Gaza crisis is undermining his reputation in the Middle East
Israeli forces slice Gaza in two
Gaza conflict: Reaction in quotes
Hamas: We’re using PA arms to battle IDF
For Israel, Chance to Strike Before an Ally Departs
Cut oil sales to Israel’s backers-Iranian commander
Truce entails end of terror, projectile fire, disarming Hamas
The True Roots of Palestinian Nationalism and Islamic Jihad
I like it when Netanyahu gets a bit biblical…
Netanyahu on the current Israeli/Hamas war
In a special session called in the wake of the IDF operation in Gaza and the situation in southern Israel, Netanyahu called upon the citizenry of Israel, Jews and Arabs alike, to stand united behind the IDF’s actions in the south. He likewise called for a change in policy that would restore Israel’s deterrence. “For three transgressions of Gaza, I will turn away but for the fourth, I will not”, Netanyahu opened his address in the plenum session of the Knesset quoting from the Prophet Amos.
“For firing upon civilians, for taking cover behind civilians, for causing suffering to our citizens, and for causing suffering to their citizens, we will strike back at the terror in double measure , said Netanyahu and enumerated the crimes of the Hamas: “for destroying our communities, for destroying hope, we will pay them back with an iron hand, the hand of the Jewish people, as the Prophet Amos said: “I will send fire in the walls of Gaza.”
A year’s intel gathering yields ‘alpha hits’
More than 170 targets were hit by IAF aircraft throughout the day. At least 230 Gazans were killed and over 780 were wounded, according to Palestinian sources. Officials said at least 15 civilians were among the dead.
The IDF released a list of some of the targets hit: the Hamas headquarters and training camp in Tel Zatar; the “Palestinian Prisoner Tower” in Gaza City that was turned into a Hamas operations center and armory; the Hamas police academy, which was bombed during a graduation ceremony, killing 70-80 people; training camps in southern and central Gaza; the former office of Yasser Arafat in Gaza City that is now used by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh; and the Izzadin Kassam Brigades headquarters in the northern Gaza Strip.
Update: The Israeli assault on Hamas continues. I can only wonder what the response from the US would be if bloodthirsty terrorists calling for its extermination had launched thousands of rocket attacks from just over the border in Mexico. Would the world be wringing it’s hands and whining about “disproportionate response” and assorted nonsense? And would we care if they did? The answer is no. Israel is a modern, sovereign, civilized state that has every right to punish and destroy those who so eagerly seek it’s own destruction. There can be no peace in the Middle East until the Arabs decide that Israel has the right to exist, and the right to protect itself. Israel has said that they will not allow another Hezbollah type terrorist state to be established on their border. And I support their effort to prevent that from happening. I do not necessarily cheerlead war. In fact, I hate the suffering, loss and misery that war causes. But I do cheerlead necessary and just wars and the destruction of the cult of Islamic jihadism wherever it rears it’s ugly head.
Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
Intensified rocket strikes by Gaza militants, which triggered the Israeli offensive, have revealed the expanding range of missiles that are making larger cities farther inside Israel vulnerable.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Palestinian militants sent a deadly barrage of missiles flying deep into Israel on Monday, demonstrating that Hamas still had firepower three days into Israel’s punishing air offensive in Gaza. Three Israelis were killed and two seriously wounded. Palestinian health officials put the three-day death toll in Gaza at 364; the U.N. said the total included at least 62 civilians.
In Monday’s attacks, Israel focused its bombing on the houses of Hamas field operatives in a campaign meant to tear at the roots of the extremist group ruling Gaza. Israel’s defense minister promised a “war to the bitter end against Hamas” and allied militants.
I’m willing to bet that this wasn’t some renegade Baptist sect or some sort of offshoot of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. What do you think? Hmmmm… who could it be? Who could it be? Perhaps a fundamentalist follower of the prophet Muhammad giving his life for Allah? We’ll soon see.
Our friend Eric over at Tygrrrr Express has some thoughts on Pakistan without Pervez Musharaff. Eric has one of the better ‘one man show’ blogs on the web and his Sunday night football game synopsis should never be missed. And sadly, he won’t come blog for us so we have to “go to him”. Conclub has managed to snag some exceptional writers like THB and founder DFV, but Eric could not be tempted to make the jump.
Pakistan is not a situation that can be resolved with hope, change, or ‘Yes, we can.” That eliminates Mr. Obama. It cannot be resolved with tough talk from pretty boys that made their living suing people. Sorry, Mr. Edwards. 35 years of experience and solutions do not count if those solutions are completely fictional. Mrs. Clinton, just sit down.
I repeatedly refer to the republicans as the party of adults precisely because of moments like this.
Pakistan has nuclear weapons. If Islamofacist terrorists gain access to these weapons, the entire world could blow up. Do those on the left care? Of course not. Musharraf was an ally of President Bush, so he must be bad.
This is what the left calls reasoning. President Bush is evil. Therefore, his allies must be evil as well. His enemies must be good, which is why condemnation for Musharraf was not extended to Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden.
Like most everybody, except McCain and our own DFV, Obama was one hundred percent wrong when it came to “the surge”. In many ways, it was the deciding factor (along with the sometimes maligned Gen. Petraeus and his tactics) that drastically curtailed the violence and bloodshed in Iraq and probably “won” the war for the US and our coalition allies.
It takes a lot to admit when you are wrong. It takes even more to admit you are wrong when you want to be the leader of the free world. It would take a statesman to embrace the tactics, concepts, ideas and policies that would lead to victory on the battlefield once you had adopted the poor policy of attacking the very tactics, concepts, ideas and policies that had brought success all across the board on nearly every level in a time of war.
Change? Yeah, I want change. I want Obama to change.
Barack on Iraq:
January 2007—”And until we acknowledge that reality, uh, we can send 15,000
more troops; 20,000 more troops; 30,000 more troops. Uh, I don’t know any,
uh, expert on the region or any military officer that I’ve spoken to, uh,
privately that believes that that is gonna make a substantial difference on
the situation on the ground.”July 2007—”Here’s what we know. The surge has not worked. And they said
today, ‘Well, even in September, we’re going to need more time.’ So we’re
going to kick this can all the way down to the next president, under the
president’s plan… My assessment is that the surge has not worked and we
will not see a different report eight weeks from now.”September 2007—”After putting an additional 30,000 troops in… we have
gone from a horrendous situation of violence in Iraq to the same intolerable
levels of violence that we had back in June of 2006. So, essentially, after
all this we’re back where we were 15 months ago… It is a course that will
not succeed.”January 2008—”I had no doubt, and I said when I opposed the surge, that
given how wonderfully our troops perform, if we place 30,000 more troops
in there, then we would see an improvement in the security situation and we
would see a reduction in the violence.”Now: “What I said was even at the time of the debate of the surge, was if
you put 30,000 troops in, of course it’s going to have an impact. There’s
no doubt about that.”
At what point is it okay to fight dictators like Saddam or the al Qaeda terrorists who want to take his place?
It turns out that the answer, according to Gandhi, is NEVER. During World War II, Gandhi penned an open letter to the British people, urging them to surrender to the Nazis. Later, when the extent of the holocaust was known, he criticized Jews who had tried to escape or fight for their lives as they did in Warsaw and Treblinka. “The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife,” he said. “They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.” “Collective suicide,” he told his biographer, “would have been heroism.”
The so-called peace movement certainly has the right to make Gandhi’s way their way, but their efforts to make collective suicide American foreign policy just won’t cut it in this country. When Americans think of heroism, we think of the young American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, risking their lives to prevent another Adolph Hitler or Saddam Hussein.
Gandhi probably wouldn’t approve, but I can live with that.
I couldn’t agree more. I often wonder what a Thompson presidency would have looked like. He’d make a good president but he didn’t have the stomach for the cut throat circus that is the modern day presidential race. The rise and fall of both the Guiliani and the Thompson campaigns was striking to behold and yet little has been written about them. Rarely do you see candidates fall so fast without there being a scandal as the cause (think Gary Hart).
“Woe betide the people who celebrate the release of a beastly man who bludgeoned the skull of a 4-year-old toddler.”
- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (story: Hezbollah celebrates prisoner swap, Israel mourns). There is a vast gap between the civilized and the uncivilized peoples of the world. We saw that stark difference today. Coffin for coffin is the only trade I would ever agree to with such barbarians.
A single-digit month.
Looking at the coalition fatalities for the first half of July, 2008 shows something remarkable…something not yet noted by any mainstream news agencies or blogs.
At first glance, the stats show that 6 good Americans gave their lives for our country so far this month in Iraq.
But that number of 6 doesn’t tell the tale.
Looking more closely at the numbers, two of our lost soldiers were due to non-hostile work accidents (e.g. one was electrocuted).
But that doesn’t mean that we’ve lost 4 good men to combat this month…you see…two of those lost to combat were killed at the height of the Surge, way back in May of 2007. They are shown in stats for this month because that’s when their bodies were recovered.
This means that two of our grave losses were from last year, not this month’s combat…and two other losses were due to non-hostile causes.
In other words, for the first half of July, 2008, the U.S. has lost two good men to combat in Iraq.
This is not D-Day 1944. Thousands haven’t been lost on a single Normandy beach in minutes.
We’ve lost two in two weeks to enemy combat.
If the second half of July mimmicks the first, we’ll have a single-digit of combat losses in Iraq this month. – Southack from FreeRepublic.com
ICasualties.com has some good charts and figures when it comes to the Iraq War. If this trend continues I eagerly await the Left (and Andre in particular) trotting out their own “mission accomplished” banner as even they are probably bright enough to see that the insurgency is collapsing in Iraq, the Sunni’s have decided they want to have a say and stake in the coming Iraq, and Al-Qaeda has been both rejected by the population and devastated on the battlefield. The Jihadists unexpectedly decided to make their stand in Iraq (with the compliance and cooperation of the threatened Hussein government) and thousands of fleeing Afghani based Al-Qaeda types as well as like minded others from throughout the Islamic world prepared to carry out a guerrilla war on the soon to invading American forces. Since then they have waged a surprisingly bloody, bushwacking type of war but now there is only one combatant left standing in the desert, and his name is Uncle Sam. This war is winding down, and forestalling any panicky and ill timed mass pullout by a naive Obama White House, the true work of creating a new, stable post-war ally will begin in the Middle East.
We hope to have a friendly nation in which to keep an eye on Iran and Syria, protect the areas petroleum fields, provide stability in the region, protect Israel and make the areas despots a wee bit nervous. If the United States wishes to remain a superpower it needs to be willing to make the hard choices at this time to protect it’s interests in the region. The only other option is to throw our hands up and withdraw behind our ocean barriers and bury our head in the sand as a resurgent Russia and empowered China make a play for world influence, control and strategic advantage.
I often rail about the hate-mongers on the left who base their policy support and opposition only on whether or not Bush is for or against it. Such hacks show no propensity to think outside of what the nutroot blogs tell them to think. So when Glenn Greenwald has a minor spat with Keith Olbermann over FISA, I am comforted by the fact that the savy Greenwald is at least a man of principle.
This episode doesn’t really originate with either Greenwald nor Olbermann. It actually centers around yet another Barack Obama flip-flop (shocker!). Apprently, after vehement opposition last year, Obama is now planning to vote for an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The update he supports will give telecoms immunity from prosecution if they cooperate with the government’s Terrorist Surveillance Program. Greenwald wrongly opposes such immunity and believes that lawsuits are an acceptable way to protect the Fourth Amendment rights of citiznes. Olbermann also opposed such immunity going so far as to rant against it in one of his “Special Comments” last January. Greenwald details the rest:
In a 10-minute “Special Comment,” the MSNBC star condemned Bush for wanting to “retroactively immunize corporate criminals,” and said that telecom immnity is “an ex post facto law, which would clear the phone giants from responsibility for their systematic, aggressive and blatant collaboration with [Bush's] illegal and unjustified spying on Americans under this flimsy guise of looking for any terrorists who are stupid enough to make a collect call or send a mass email.”
Olbermann added that telecom amnesty was a “shameless, breathless, literally textbook example of Fascism — the merged efforts of government and corporations that answer to no government.” Noting the numerous telecom lobbyists connected to the Bush administration.
But as Greenwald notes, that was “five whole months ago.”
Now that Barack Obama supports a law that does the same thing — and now that Obama justifies that support by claiming that this bill is necessary to keep us Safe from the Terrorists — everything has changed.
Last night, Olbermann invited Newsweek‘s Jonathan Alter onto his show to discuss Obama’s support for the FISA and telecom amnesty bill (video of the segment is here). There wasn’t a syllable uttered about “immunizing corporate criminals” or “textbook examples of Fascism” or the Third Reich. There wasn’t a word of rational criticism of the bill either. Instead, the two media stars jointly hailed Obama’s bravery and strength — as evidenced by his “standing up to the left” in order to support this important centrist FISA compromise:
Make no mistake about it; Olbermann, Alter and Obama are snakes. Obama will say or do anything to get elected. Alter is perfectly content to whore himself and his magazine out to the left and Olbermann doesn’t have a shred of credibility with his unhinged, hate-filled tirades against George Bush (You SIR!). But on this issue, they are correct. Greenwald, on the other hand, is a fringe left constitutionalist who recently wrote a book about manipulative electoral tactics used by the GOP ignoring the stellar voting patterns of Democrats.
But on this issue, at least he is consistent. I encourage you to pick through the links and the replies by Olbermann on DailyKos. He only makes more of an ass of himself as he tries to defend his 180 degree turn.
“Today, according to the most recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, ’71 percent of the American public disapproves of how Bush is handling his job as President, an all-time high in polling.’ His position can be compared with that of Harry Truman who left Washington unpopular and alone in 1953. Today, with the passage of time, most historians and certainly the American people, see Truman in a different light, primarily for his willingness to stand firm against Soviet aggression, whether against Greece or South Korea, and proclaim the Truman Doctrine, effectively defending the free world from Soviet efforts to expand their hegemony. Like Truman, George W. Bush, in my view, will be seen as one of the few world leaders who recognized the danger of Islamic terrorism and was willing with Tony Blair to stand up to it and not capitulate… The reason I believe history will redeem President George W. Bush is that he is one of the few leaders on the planet today who understands the larger picture. He has not lost his courage and vision of the future. He knows what calamities await the world if it engages in appeasement and deserts an ally in order to buy an illusory peace. We will recognize his worth long after he is gone.”
—former New York City Democrat Mayor Ed Koch
And if we elect a government that subverts or weakens or ends our war against terrorism, we can count on this: We will soon face enemies that will make 9/11 look like stubbing our toe, and they will attack us with the confidence and determination that come from knowing that we don’t have the will to sustain a war all the way to the end.
-Orson Scott Card: Nebula-award winning author.
When you look at the number of factors in play at this point in history, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that air strikes are imminent. The real question now is, to what extent will U.S. airpower be involved? The key factors are as follows:
This video from CBS News gives a good look at the Israeli maneuvers in the Mediterranean.
“Whatever the military success, and progress that may have been made, the surge didn’t accomplish its goal. And some of the success of the surge is that the goodwill of the Iranians—they decided in Basra when the fighting would end, they negotiated that cessation of hostilities—the Iranians.”
—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
“Now that the Supreme Court has seen fit to affirm a variety of rights of terror suspects held at Guantanamo, a new book is out exposing the harsh realities of Gitmo—the diet on which detainees have gained weight—the soccer fields and basketball courts—the letters home about mild weather and beautiful sunsets—and the detainees who don’t want to leave.”
”Once upon another time, namely Franklin Roosevelt’s, most of a group of German saboteurs that had infiltrated this country were caught, tried by a military tribunal that was convened by executive order for that purpose, promptly convicted and then executed—all within seven weeks. Can anyone imagine that kind of swift and effective justice from this court?”
Israel Developing Consensus In Favor Of Iran Strike -Spiegel
The Israeli government no longer believes sanctions can stop Iran from building nuclear weapons and a broad consensus in favor of a military strike against Tehran’s nuclear facilities – without the U.S., if necessary – is beginning to take shape, according to an article in Spiegel Online. The report cites recent comments by Israeli officials, including comments by deputy prime minister Shaul Mofaz, which were widely dismissed, by the U.S. and others, as electioneering.
“In truth, however, there is now a consensus within the Israeli government that an air strike against the Iranian nuclear facilities has become unavoidable,” Spiegel Online writes.
I think a President Obama destabilizes the Middle East and increased the risk of major conflict in the region. Iran, Syria and their host of proxy armies from Hezbollah to Hamas to Islamic jihad will be emboldened and a more isolated Israel will be more willing to take matters into their own hands if they don’t feel they have “big brother” Uncle Sam ready to take care of things for them. Despite his protestations, Obama is no friend of Israel and appears to be Carter like overly friendly with its sworn enemies who have vowed to finish what Hitler started. We will see increased instability, emboldened terrorist and rogue regimes, a nuclear Iran and far higher gas prices amidst a very jittery world market come next spring if we are not careful.
But then again, the masses cry for change. Be careful what you wish for. He will do it. Yes he can.
“The Taliban took us from the rear and we gave them a good spanking,”
- British soldier (source)
More news you won’t here Obama or the Democrats bragging about. This is a global war with many fronts and different types of battlefields. Americans tend to be spoiled and demand quick solutions to complicated problems, but this one will be a generational fight and we must be prepared to engage in it for decades to come.
Asian Gains Seen in Terror Fight
Three years after the region’s last major strike — the attacks on three restaurants in Bali that killed three suicide bombers and 19 other people — American and Asian intelligence analysts say financial and logistical support from Al Qaeda to other groups in the region has long dried up, and the most lethal are scrambling for survival.
UPDATE: Link has been fixed.
We are about to elect a president that believes it is wise to negotiate with this:
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Japan’s prime minister Thursday that the world will soon not include the United States, Iranian news agency IRNA reported.
“The U.S. domination is on the fall. Iran and Japan as two civilized and influential nations should get ready for a world minus the U.S.,” Ahmadinejad told Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on the sidelines of the U.N. food summit in Rome on Tuesday, IRNA reported.
Even more astonishing than Mr. Obama’s absence from Iraq, however, is the fact that he has apparently never sought out a single one-on-one meeting with Gen. Petraeus. The general has made repeated trips back to Washington, but Mr. Obama has shown no interest in meeting privately with him. It’s enough to make you wonder who exactly Mr. Obama listens to when it comes to Iraq?
Mr. Obama frequently decries the danger of “dogmatists” and “ideologues” in public policy, yet he himself has proven consistently uninterested in putting himself in situations where he might be confronted with the hard complexities of this war. It suggests a dangerous degree of detachment and overconfidence in his own judgment.
After all, Mr. Obama was among those in January 2007 who stridently opposed the surge and confidently predicted its failure – even going so far as to vote against funding our soldiers in the field unless the Bush administration abandoned this new approach. It is now clear that Mr. Obama’s judgment on the surge was spectacularly wrong.
Yet rather than admit his mistake, Mr. Obama has instead tried to downplay or disparage the gains our troops have achieved in the past 12 months, clinging to a set of talking points that increasingly seem as divorced from reality as some in the Bush administration were at the darkest moments of the war.
One wonders if this will be brought up more often. Obama’s detachment from Iraq, the generals running the war, and the troops fighting it, is disturbing when he may be the one making some very fateful judgments regarding the future of that country and America’s strategic interest in the region. His comments and proposed policies for the war have up until now been incredibly naive and little more than bumper sticker slogans. If he wants to be POTUS he needs to address things head on, not just pander to the Michael Moore crowd.
“A hundred years from now, Americans might still be fighting militant Islamists in Iraq and other places. What could be worse than that? A hundred years from now, America and the West could have been defeated by militant Islamists.” —Clifford May
We received a comment this morning by someone using the name L’Enfant on Dave’s old post In Defense of Blackwater and the Modern Day ‘Merc’. I did not want it to get lost in the shuffle.
The immunity mentioned in previous posts applies not to just contractors but the US military and allied forces. It is not a complete immunity just immunity from Iraqi law. This is very common in diplomatic missions and is the same immunity we extend to diplomatic convoys of other countries while visiting the US. Each person can still be criminally prosecuted in his/her home country per the laws of that country.
The most common misconception is the huge discrepancy of pay between contractors and military. Contractors receive a daily rate only when they are on contract. This does not include any retirement benefits, medical, tuition reimbursement, sick leave, vacation, and many other fringe benefits included on top of military base pay. It is true that the contractor will make more in a calendar year than a soldier, but after the conflict is over the expense of that contractor is discontinued. Imagine the cost if Diplomatic Security had to hire 1,300 people today as well as support people back in the US. What would the 20 year cost of that be, additional facilities needed to house and run these operations? Pensions? Health benefits? Other fringe benefits? Given that the government does not frequently have RIF’s we need to look at the 20 year costs to compare a short term need filled by contractors.
Lastly many people use the word “merc” and “mercenary” without understanding the hurt it causes. Many of the contractors KIA referenced in the article were killed protecting diplomats. As 99% of these contractors are former military it is very hurtful for a widow or child to hear people refer to their husband or father as a “merc” or “mercenary” when he/she made the ultimate sacrifice for his/her country. Many may respond that they were doing it for the money but those will be the people who have never met any of these contractors. Let’s spend less time debating if they fit the definition of a mercenary and more time honoring the fact that they clearly meet the definition of a patriot.
Comment by L’Enfant — April 22, 2008 @ 5:46 am
L’Enfant is right – they are of our blood and bone. We diminish ourselves when we do not acknowledge it. I know some of these “contractors” and to a person they are our very best.
I hope our Liberal friends will find L’Enfant’s words educational as well. I tried to no avail to explain to Wes that there was nothing new or pernicious about “contractor” immunity. Should we give up immunity for our Secret Service officers the next time they protect the president abroad? Funny but Bush certainly understands how vulnerable people are who do this job.
It is interesting to encounter the truth and dispel the lunatic fantasies and outrages. The “Mercs” are just hard working people trying to do their duty for their country. So less romantic than the conspiracy theory of Dick Cheney’s private above the law army.
If you want to meet one of these patriots let me introduce you to Bill Juneau.
Please come back and comment L’Enfant. It was Dave’s post but I do not think he minds the correction on mercenary.
Ever since I wrote a couple posts on Blackwater and the modern day mercs (here and here) I have continued my research and interest in the subject. I signed up for the Blackwater Tactical Weekly newsletter and am currently reading a book about the company as well (an extemely biased, anti-conservative, anti-Christian one, but informative nonetheless). If you are interested in reading the latest issue you can view it here and if you would like to sign up to receive your very own merc informational email scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up.
Perhaps the oppressors of Zionists, enemies of Western Civilization, the Mahdi zealots, the Muhammadens, the Islamofastics, the Islamists, heralders of the return of the Caliph, 7th century resurgents, followers of the moon god, belly bombers of Allah and slaughterers of the innocent were all taken.
McCain pressed on ‘Islamic’ terror label
A coalition of American Muslim groups is demanding that Sen. John McCain stop using the adjective “Islamic” to describe terrorists and extremist enemies of the United States.
Muneer Fareed, who heads the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), told The Washington Times that his group is beginning a campaign to persuade Mr. McCain to rephrase his descriptions of the enemy.
This should have been titled: Has Hillary Grown a Pair? but I usually try to avoid such crudeness in titles.
On the eve of the Pennsylvania primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., tells “Good Morning America” she would “obliterate” Iran if they attacked Israel. (AP/ABC News)
She’s talking tough, after all she dodged sniper fire in Bosnia to help bring peace to the region and… uh, never mind. It’s always send the Right into fits of giggles when Liberals talk tough, but at least she’s giving lip service to the reality that there are ‘bad guys’ out there. Obama doesn’t even pretend to have a grasp of world events and the War on Terror. He has offered little more than to have tea and cookies, Jimmy Carter style, with the thugs, despots and crazies of the world. No other candidate will embolden and invigorate the enemies of the United States than to a president who is indebted to the pacifistic, peacnik agenda of the fringe Left.
It’s looking like Hillary will attempt to ‘run to the right’ of McCain in the general as he attempts to ‘run to the center’ and outflank Hillary for the moderate votes. That would certainly be interesting to watch as well.
Clinton on Iran Attack: “Obliterate Them”
In an ad that began airing in Pennsylvania Monday morning, Clinton implies she is tougher than Obama.
“Who do you think has what it takes?” the narrator asks in an ad depicting historical images of crises that presidents have had to deal with: Osama bin Laden, headlines about the stock market crash of 1929, long gas lines from the 1970s oil-shocks, images of the Cold War, Hurricane Katrina and soldiers. It features the first image of Osama bin Laden to be used in a TV ad this political season.
A number of progressives have mentioned to me how fantastically fashionable European governments are. This post is fascinating on so many levels…
Several pieces today tie together to forma disturbing mosaic. The first two are the growing threat of radical Islam in Great Britain and the penetration of the structures of several elite universities there.
The second is the new report by the NEFA Foundation on the Muslim Brotherhood structure in Belgium.
The most disturbing to me is a report that Britain’s Home Secretary Jaqui Smith believes the police are being overwhelmed by the growing threat of radical Islam in Britain.
“There are 2,000 individuals who are being monitored. There are 200 networks involved and 30 active plots,” she said.
So the UK liberal Labour Party see this growing threat in spite of multiculturalism and without the fear mongering that said enlightened cultural relativity prevents? Wow! Not only does the oh so trendy socialist Home Secretary realize there is a threat, she has some suggestions on how to handle it…
And she warned the menace of Islamic fanatics is mounting so fast that police will be unable to cope within a year—unless they are given new powers to lock up terror suspects for longer.
At present cops can hold suspects for up to 28 days, but the Home Office wants that increased to 42 days.
“We can’t wait for an attack to succeed and then rush in new powers,” said Mrs Smith. “We have got to stay ahead.”
“Because we now understand the scale of what is being plotted, the police have to step in earlier—which means they need more time to put evidence together.”
So like tell me what Bush is doing again? Hey I know it is their delusion – BDS – so it is not nice to demand logic, but please explain it to me!
Sign the “official” General Petraeus thank you card. I did.
Here is the relevant post reprinted in full from HughHewitt.com.
Posted by: Duane R. Patterson at 10:30 PM
General David Petraeus is in Washington, D.C. to give his latest report to the Senate and the House about the progress in Iraq after the surge, and what still needs to be done. The last time this warrior visited the Congress, instead of receiving the honor and gratitude from a grateful nation that he deserves, his arrival in Washington was greeted by a full-page ad placed by MoveOn.org in the New York Times, calling him a traitor by renaming him General Betray-us.This time around, at least one Senator has made sure that General Petraeus will be thanked properly for his service, and you can add your name to that list, too.
Republican leader Mitch McConnell, over on his campaign site’s blog, has drafted a thank you letter to David Petraeus, and has it set up so that you can add your name and brief comments that will be presented to the General.
Please click here to add your name to the card, and show General Petraeus that the MoveOn view is not how most Americans feel about their military men and women.
A must read if you want to look beyond the bumper sticker sloganeering and political posturing that obscures the debate about the Iraq War.
Petraeus On The ‘Fragile And Reversible’ Situation In Iraq
…Still, security in Iraq is better than it was when Ambassador Crocker and I reported to you last September, and it is significantly better than it was 15 months ago when Iraq was on the brink of civil war and the decision was made to deploy additional US forces to Iraq.
A number of factors have contributed to the progress that has been made. First, of course, has been the impact of increased numbers of Coalition and Iraqi Forces. You are well aware of the U.S. surge. Less recognized is that Iraq has also conducted a surge, adding well over 100,000 additional soldiers and police to the ranks of its security forces in 2007 and slowly increasing its capability to deploy and employ these forces…
Multi-National Force-Iraq: Charts to Accompany the Testimony of Gen David H. Petraeus
Some very interesting information here, and some good indications that serious progress is (finally) being made. It’s been a hard, long slog, but for the US to actually be able to leave Iraq they must have in place a stable political situation, dependable army and security infrastructure, and a minimum of extremist, insurgent and terrorist activity. Otherwise, you have chaos, anarchy and a failed state. Whether or not someone supported the initial invasion is irrelevant. The rallying point should be for all viewpoints is that a stable, healthy and secure Iraq is vital for not only the interests of the United States but for the Iraqi’s and the region as a whole. Taliban Afghanistan taught us what a failed state can lead too. We have to learn from those lessons and make sure that it does not happen again in a nation far more valuable, strategic and important than Afghanistan ever was.
McCain, Clinton and Obama set to question Petraeus and Crocker
McCain brings another asset into the hearing in the form of Senator Lindsey Graham. As his chief surrogate, Graham is Robin to McCain’s Batman. No one else is more in sync with the Arizona senator on Iraq. During the hearing, Graham can easily use his time during questioning to elaborate a McCain point or address another point McCain may have left out.
McCain also has Sen. Joe Lieberman to carry his torch in the Armed Services hearing. He’s an independent who votes with the Democrats on virtually every issue but the Iraq war.
Together they turn Washington in to Gotham City. McCain and Graham are the Caped Crusaders, with Lieberman filling in as Commissioner Gordon — he may not be a full-fledged Republican crime fighter, but he’s certainly a strong supporter of the cause.
Gen. Petraeus has done an absolutely outstanding job in Iraq and all sides in the Iraq debate should stop to give him due thanks as he reports back to Washington. No one, including the most ardent of Iraq hawks, believed that the fairly small size of the surge, and the new tactics wielded with it, would have such an amazing turn around on ground in Iraq as they have. McCain, DFV, and many of us have bewailed the fact that this was not implemented two years ago. If one man has been the most dead on correct on this issue it has been Sen. McCain. You can feel free to disagree with him on whatever you want to but there is no denying the fact that if the ‘McCain surge’ had been implemented two years ago with Petraeus at its head, we probably wouldn’t be talking about ‘the War’ in anything besides a historical context.
It was Shrillary herself who said that it would take a ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ to believe that the surge would be successful and took a few cheap shots at the General hoping to score a few political points. The last time the general was ‘in town’ Hillary called effectively called him a liar and MoveOn.org called him a traitor. That says everything you need to know about the mettle and mentality of those who happily dwell in the deepest, darkest and slimiest parts of the political landscape. I eagerly await her apology tomorrow as well as from others sitting on the various committees. If she had the slightest shred of integrity that woud be the first thing she would offer when she finally had the opportunity to address the General. Unfortunately, I probably await in vain.
“I say to you: that we are in a battle, and that more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media.” – Sheikh Muhammad al-Zawahiri
That quote was part of an intercepted and authenticated communique from Osama bin Laden’s chief lieutenant to the now-departed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Mullah Mohammad Omar is the former ruler of Afghanistan and was the founder (along with 30 others) of what became known as the Taliban. He is reputed to be a relative of Osama bin Laden by marriage, lost an eye fighting the Russians, is very reclusive, and is still at large plotting the return of Taliban to power in Afghanistan.
Mulah Omar (Left) donning cloak of Mohammed
In 1996, as Taliban fervor increased, Omar accepted the title of “Amirul Momineen,” or “commander of the faithful,” in an emotional meeting in Kandahar where he appeared on a balcony above thousands of cheering Taliban, wrapping himself in a cloak said to belong to the Prophet Mohammad. The cloak had not been removed from its Kandahar shrine in 60 years, and had never been worn before. Omar is the first Muslim since the Fourth Caliph, a nephew of Prophet Mohammad, to publicly accept the Amirul title, a ranking in Islam nearly second to the Prophet.
“Our neglect of the Middle East Peace Process has spurred despair and fueled terrorism”
Barack Obama
My friend and Conclub contributor thompaine asked me to expand on certain concerns I had regarding Senator Obama’s outlook on Israel and the Middle East. Well my young friend will most assuredly learn that to ask me to expand is to invite a verbose reply at the minimum (mostly cutting and pasting and I had been working on something like this for awhile). In any event here is your messenger’s humble attempt to respond.
To understand Senator Obama’s view regarding Israel, and US interests in the Middle East as a whole, one would do themselves a favor by becoming familiar with Liberation Theology. A few good sources for doing that might start with its birth from mid-twentieth Catholic-Marxist thought, through the decades to one of its current branches – “Black” Liberation Theology. One could begin with the current Pope’s thoughts on it in the 1980′s, or Wikipedia if you must. If one has time Ron Rhodes has treatments on both the original Latin American Liberation Theology, and on the present form of “Black” Liberation Theology. There are those that might not agree with Ron’s religious views; but only a fool would argue with his scholarship. You may want to go to the advocates of this theology – Liberation Theology Resources (they even say Ron does good work.) Let me give you a quote from the father of Black Liberation Theology today in America…
Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community. . . . Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.
It is important to note that these Marxist-socialist views have influenced Senator Obama’s outlook. To believe they have not stretches credulity. He has a close twenty year association with Jeremiah Wright Junior whose church is based on Black Liberation Theology. Reverend Wright has an interesting take on Israel too…
The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for almost 40 years now. It took a divestment campaign to wake the business community up concerning the South Africa issue. Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community up and to wake Americans up concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism.
Obama has also blamed that “our neglect of the Middle East Peace Process has spurred despair and fueled terrorism”implicitly blaming Israel for terrorism and a sign that a President Obama would pressure Israel. Obama seems to ignore the roles that schools play in the Middle East in the teaching of hatred; the roles of mosques and Imams in stoking terrorism; the glorification of violence and martyrdom in the media; the role of jihad in the Koran.
The most telling facts associated with Obama’s intent regarding Israel relate to who his advisers are, and in one case have been. Those advisers are Samantha Power, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Susan Rice and Robert O. Malley. Those names are enough to scare any supporter of Israel. You throw in Jimmy Carter and James Baker with them, who have been mentioned before by Susan Rice, and you just might have the Israelis planning preemptive strikes for their survival. In reality I believe they already have. Read the rest of this entry
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