Feb 3
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PANETTA GOES PUBLIC WITH U.S. VIEW THAT ISRAEL WILL STRIKE IRAN THIS SPRING If it weren’t already the case, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli people must be thinking this morning, “With friends like the Obama Regime, who needs enemies?” Mr. Obama’s condescending treatment of the Israeli Prime Minister is well-documented, as is his propensity to [...]
Jan 27
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PANETTA SAYS CUTS WILL HURT ‘AMERICA’S CAPABILITY TO RESPOND’ TO THREATS Politics? Nope. Feisty rhetoric from a Republican presidential candidates debate? Uh uh. Admissions from Barack Obama’s own Secretary of Defense? Yep. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said today that the cuts in defense proposed by Mr. Obama will create “risks” in America’s “capability to respond” to threats. “The risks come with [...]
Nov 8
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CAPTAIN COOL’S HISTORY OF GAFFES, ARROGANCE AND EMBARRASSING MOMENTS Barack Obama’s embarrassing open-mic moment with France’s Nicolas Sarkozy during which they bashed Benjamin Netanyahu should surprise no one; rather, it should simply serve as confirmation for some – and as an “I told you so” opportunity for others; this president is not only no friend [...]
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 [...]
Good for Israel. They have had enough and can no longer wait for Captain-Wait-Until-It’s-Too-Late. They are ready to preemptively strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. And who can blame them? If anything, one must wonder why they have waited this long. Personally, I believe they waited this long because they love peace and have been waiting to see if Obama & the United States would work diplomatically to protect Israel. The reverse has been the result of Obama’s foreign policy. Read the rest of this entry
Oct 16
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It began with the Middle Eastern conflagrations, which spread like wildfire across the Muslim crescent: from Tunisia, to Egypt, to Yemen, to Syria, and to Libya. Touted as a far flung “democratic” movement, supposedly spontaneous in nature and fueled by social media technology like Twitter and Facebook, there are still many questions lingering about the [...]
Sep 21
We are against Imperialism! We are Peace Activists! Iran should have loved us…. “I love the Middle East, you know, I would tell them about the fact that I support Palestinian rights…that I lived in Damascus, that I was teaching Iraqi refugees.. and that all of us are anti-Imperialists, peace activists- the kind of people [...]
King Obama Speaks: Assad Must Go.
King Obama Decides Which World Leaders 'Must Go'
King Obama, with the might of the USA military and billions in USA tax dollars, declares which world leaders ‘must go’ and which world leaders can stay and play. He is now taking aim at Syria. more..
May 20
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Pre-1967 Borders for Israel? Why Our President is Dangerous. – I am dumbfounded. Pre 1967 border for Israel? Obama, in announcing a Middle peace plan which pushes Israel back to pre-1967 borders, clearly has no interest in calming the Middle East situation. He is like a mad king out of control- and we, the sorry subjects must watch [...]
For quite a while, I’ve wanted to call all the conflicts in the middle east a holy war, basically the Crusades all over again. Little did I know, that the people in the middle east didn’t necessarily feel that way in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries until we told them they should. This article, Four Myths About the Crusades, was quite an eye-opener.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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
From 78 months after 9-11
“MSM is full of five-year anniversary stories dating to the invasion of Iraq, and the Washington Post’s is typical in opposing the good news connected with the surge to the “tourniquet” school of retreatists among Democrats who can’t seem to embrace victory even as it unfolds before them.
It has been 78 months since radical jihadism struck America. We have not been struck since at home, and two countries which menaced the U.S. have had their regimes changed and the long, very difficult work of reconstructing them begun. Syria is out of Lebanon, Libya is disarmed, and Hezbollah badly smashed though Israel did not triumph in 2006.
The point is that it isn’t the fifth anniversary of the war, but the anniversary of the start of a central battle in a wider war, one that is going on around the world and which will continue for a very long time.” – Hugh Hewitt
Severed fingers of 5 hostages delivered to U.S. officials in Iraq
But at least they aren’t being waterboarded…
Gunman Kills 8 in Attack on School in Jerusalem
Too bad their schools aren’t “gun free zones”, then this would never have happened. Live and learn I guess.
Of course it was these same folks who celebrated the attacks on 9-11…
Palestinian guerrillas celebrate in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp near the port city of Sidon in south Lebanon March 6, 2008, A Palestinian gunman opened fire in a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem on Thursday, killing at least eight people and wounding about 10
CHERRY PICKING THEOLOGY
”If people find [same-sex unions] controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans.” —Barack Obama (Presidential candidate and theologian extraordinare)
CHERRY PICKING VICTORY
“We’re going to inherit so many challenges from President Bush. When you think about it, we have two wars, not one. We don’t talk about Afghanistan enough. We’ve got two wars. We’ve got to end one, we’ve got to win the other.” —Hillary Clinton
Despite the whining and hand-wringing in this article, it does make some interesting points and speculates on some of the back room power plays of the Israeli political system that we don’t often hear about in the states. Several of the Conclub bloggers are long time fans of Benjamin Netanyahu and I suspect would once again welcome him if he were to regain the reins of power in Israel.
Just two years ago, when former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon left Likud to found the Kadima Party, he took many Likud parliamentarians and much of the party’s cachet with him. Netanyahu had to make do with the remnants, a has-been exiled to the political wilderness. But now his fortunes are rising again, with Gaydamak’s support and the winds of Israeli political insecurity at his back. In the wake of the Israeli military’s failure to defeat Hezbollah last summer, and the takeover of Gaza by Hamas, the hopefulness of the Sharon government is long gone. And many in Israel are now anxiously looking rightward again, back at the Likud, and to Netanyahu himself.
Yesterday’s assassination of arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh was welcome news in Washington, Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv, and, albeit quietly, Beirut and Baghdad. For Hizballah and Damascus, however, the loss of Mughniyeh — who was a brilliant military tactician, a key contact to Tehran, and a successful political leader — is a severe blow to their ongoing activities and operations.
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Hezbollah’s most wanted commander killed in Syria bomb (That’s perhaps one of the most poorly worded headlines I’ve seen in some time)
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah leader Imad Moughniyah, on the United States’ most wanted list for attacks on Israeli and Western targets, has been killed by a bomb attack in Damascus, the Lebanese group said on Wednesday.
Imad Mugniyah Hezbollah accused Israel of assassinating Moughniyah, who was head of the Hezbollah security network during Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, by planting a bomb in his car. In Gaza, Hamas Islamists called for the Arab world to unite against Israel.
See also Arch-terrorist Imad Mugniyah killed in blast.
“We have released no statement on this matter,” said Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, after Hizbullah accused Israel of being behind Tuesday’s attack. Mugniyah is believed by Israel to have been involved in planning the 1992 bombing of Israel’s embassy in Argentina in which 29 people were killed and the blast at a Buenos Aires Jewish center two years later that killed 95.
The Hizbullah commander was also involved in numerous terror attacks on Israel’s border with Lebanon, including the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Souad, and apparently also the abduction of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.”
Another one bites the dust, and the war on Islamic thuggery continues.
We had a $5 million dollar bounty on his head. I wonder if anyone will try to collect? (:
Imad Fayez Mugniyah was indicted for his role in planning and participation in the June 14, 1985, hijacking of a commercial airliner which resulted in the assault on various passengers and crew members, and the murder of one U.S. citizen.
(U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem)
He does also seem to be associated with the bombings of US embassy, the Marine barracks and the French barracks in 1983. There are a bunch of links and stories floating around about this guy. Here are a few:
Shadow Warriors… Mugniyah, the Killer of Navy Diver Stethem & How Clinton Let Him Go
New Fears: The Return of a Superterrorist (Most Dangerous Besides Osama = MUGNIYAH)
Imad Mugniyah likely behind the capture of Israeli soldiers
Imad Mughniyah, the Al Qaeda terrorist in the shadows
Likely Mastermind Of (9/11 World Trade Center) Tower Attacks
Scene of the blast in Damascus Tuesday (Photo: AFP)
It’s enough to make your head hurt.
Reuters reports that if Barack Obama becomes President, he’ll hold a summit with all leaders of Muslim countries:
“Once I’m elected, I want to organize a summit in the Muslim world, with all the heads of state, to have an honest discussion about ways to bridge the gap that grows every day between Muslims and the West.”
Is he planning on doing this before or after bombing Pakistan? Because that could have an effect on that gap he’s talking about. And in what phase of their nuclear program will Iran be when Obama has this sit-down with the mullahs? And will he require Tehran to rebuild the cobwebbed American embassy first or is he through with international law altogether? And when it’s the Iraqi prime minister’s turn to speak, what will Obama do when he requests the return of the 100,000 troops he just withdrew from that country?
I am not exactly holding my breath waiting for answers to these questions. I am however interested in how afternoon tea will go over with those who follow the cult of the Hidden Iman. I’m sure they will be very happy to meet with good old Barak. Can you imagine two or three days of nonstop “the Jews are bad, very very bad and must be driven into the sea”? But at least the US will once again be “respected” in the world, and that’s what really matters in the end.
We can only hope that the game of ‘whack a mole’ has just become some good ‘ol rat killin’. Al Qaeda and their allies in Iraq seem to be on their last legs with their hopes of true victory or ability to seriously destabilize the area severely undermined.
The Iraqi military has demonstrated the capability to deploy such a reaction force over the past six months. The deployment in Mosul is preceded by deployments in Basrah, Diwaniyah, and Diyala, where the security situations dictated a need for additional forces.
The Mosul deployment highlights the growing capacity of the Iraqi command to plan, deploy and support its forces on short notice. This is a capacity that was nearly non-existent just one year ago when the surge began, and represents the future of operations in Iraq as US forces begin to draw down.
by John McCain and Joe Lieberman
The question we face, on the first anniversary of the surge, is no longer whether the president’s decision a year ago was the right one, or if the counterinsurgency strategy developed by Gen. Petraeus is working. It is.
The question now is where we go from here to sustain the progress we have achieved — and in particular, how soon can more of our troops come home, based on the success of the surge.
No need to rush. Let’s take our time, and ensure our success.
The Brits: Iran ’Hoodwinked’ CIA Over Nuclear Plans
The fun little game that somehow our friendly neighborhood “Death to Israel” mullahs suddenly decided to abandon their ultimate tool of blackmail against the West is being hotly contested by the Israelis and now the British. When Iran follows Libya’s example and turns over their thousands of centrifuges and dismantles their labs and associated factories under the keen eyes of a few US spooks then I’ll buy it. Until then, anything less is unacceptable and unbelievable. We’ve seen the ugly face of nuclear blackmail with the North Koreans and I don’t think we are willing to risk it with the Iranians, despite what three people wrote in a report. The eternally wise ones of Conclub fame are not so easily fooled.
British spy chiefs have grave doubts that Iran has mothballed its nuclear weapons programme, as a US intelligence report claimed last week, and believe the CIA has been hoodwinked by Teheran.
Analysts believe that Iranian staff, knowing their phones were tapped, deliberately gave misinformation The timing of the CIA report has also provoked fury in the British Government, where officials believe it has undermined efforts to impose tough new sanctions on Iran and made an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities more likely.
A day after the Director of National Intelligence released the latest NIE that seemed to declare that Iran had put a hold on its nuclear weapons program in 2003, the Israelis are saying wait a minute. They are not even being polite about it…
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was markedly less sanguine than Olmert, giving an interview this week in which he effectively accused the Americans of faulty intelligence gathering.
“It’s true, it seems that Iran froze its nuclear program in 2003,” Barak told Army Radio. “But as far as we know it has since renewed its program.”
Barak suggested that U.S. and other intelligence services were “disconnected” from goings-on in the Islamic Republic.
Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense chief, dismissed the report’s findings this way: “I don’t buy it.”
Of course this NIE, along with the others that have been released before, is a classical CYA document. On the one hand and then the on the other. It should be noted that uranium enrichment is going on unabated in Iran with its centrifuges. AJ Strata puts it like this…
The gas centrifuge program – in light of the cost, risk and schedule it implies in order to produce the small amount of fuel Iran would consume – proves this NIE is a sham of some form or another. The cost effective approach to getting nuclear energy on-line in Iran as rapidly as possible is to buy fuel from Russia. Then Iran could take all the money going into centrifuges and us it for building oil refinery capacity – which WOULD be a huge money maker/saver for Iran.
The latest attempt at peace in the Middle East is being criticized by the right as a “sham.” And why shouldn’t it? Any talks that have Syria sitting at the table are probably meant only to be a show. No serious peace process would have one of the world’s foremost sponsors of terror attempting to hash out a deal. The right’s condemnation of the process is justified. And those who are ready to sit around a campfire and sing “give peace a chance” need only to look at the Saudis to see what a joke the disingenuous Arab players are.
Saudi Arabia’s participation in the U.S.-sponsored talks on Middle East peace was seen as a diplomatic coup for the Bush administration but the kingdom has made clear there will be no handshakes with Israeli officials.
“We are not here for theater. We are here for the serious business of making peace. We are not here to give an impression that everything is normal,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters on Monday, on the eve of the conference to be held in Annapolis, Maryland.
“We will not do anything that will divert from the seriousness of the occasion, (such as) shaking hands to give an impression of something that is not there,” he said.
Of course the Saudis won’t shake hands with Jews. None of the Arab players dare to have their impoverished masses see them shaking hands with Israeli officials. After all, the only way those nations keep the masses in check is by telling them their miserable existence is the fault of the Jews. I suspect that most leaders in the Middle East quietly hope the Israeli/Palestinian conflict continues for this reason.
So while all rational people remain hopeful for eventual peace in the Middle East, I won’t hold my breath. The actions of the players always speak louder than the words.
The Wise One mentioned the absurd treatment that a Brit teacher received in the Sudan in a recent post. Thankfully it looks as if the Sudanese want this to go away quickly.
Funny, I am reading a book regarding the Mahdi uprising in the Sudan at the end if the nineteenth century. It is called Three Empires on the Nile: The Victorian Jihad, 1869-1899 By Dominic Green. To our more liberal minded multi-
culturists who think that we, the United States, by our policies have recently caused the development and growth of radical Islamic fundamentalists I say: Sit back children while I ‘splain it to you.
The radicals are not new, and they haven’t progressed in over 125 years in the Sudan. We are just going to talk about the Sudan as this edification I am giving you is free, and ‘splaining fundamentalism throughout the Arabic speaking peoples and the whole of Islam is beyond the scope of this post (which means I am too lazy to do it, besides you kids can Google too).
Muhammad Ahmad, The Mahdi, was born in the Sudan in 1844. He tried to start his own Islamic state in his quest for a global Islamic Empire or caliphate. Muhammad Ahmed believed he was the lost 12th Imam, the one who will come again to rule for 7 years and rid the world of infidels, like Dave. Ahmad also declared jihad and instituted Sharia law (sounds like guys we know). Ahmed was such a hard case that he actually instituted a harsher form of Sharia than the Taliban put into effect.
Sounds like the same refrain as now. Good to know that not only is slavery still alive and well in the Sudan, their religion and culture has not changed either.
Read the rest of this entry
In Neoconservatism’s Future, Joshua Muravchik lays out a concise, yet detailed history of the movement, as well as how in his view it is not dead yet.
Have America’s troubles in Iraq sounded the death knell of neoconservatism, the political ideology that is said to be behind our presence there? Over the past year, there has been no shortage of voices saying so, many with undisguised glee.
Whether you love them or hate them, there is something to learn here. Even the serious student will be edified!
…With Steve (of Next Stop Lauderdale) who also finds the sudden Democratic interest in condemning a genocidal incident that occurred some 85 years ago rather mysterious and little more than an effort to sabotage the war effort. Unlike some pundits, I do believe with that the Turks committed genocide on the Armenians during this time period, and that probably hundreds of thousands of Turks had been slayed by the Armenian militias earlier and that that the rebuffed Greek attempt to reconquer the old Byzantine empire was not genocidal in nature but the Turkish response to it probably was. The question remains; Will the US condemn the excesses of Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan and what good does it do if they did so? This latest move by the Democrats in Congress is devious and, in reality, a slap in the face of the victims and their families that suffered at the hand of the Turks during those dark days. Exploiting tragedy for partisan purposes. Why am I not surprised?
I don’t know what the merits of the claim are but it seems a little late to press this matter against the current citizens of Turkey and seems to serve merely as a provocation. I wonder why during the 50 years Democrats controlled the Congress they didn’t proffer a similar resolution unless……………….. Now to the Democrats game plan…………Ever since France passed a similar resolution they have not been able to get “fly over” privileges and 30 per of the fuel consumed by the US troops and 70 percent of the cargo to the troops in Iraq pass through Turkey.
One can argue and debate the merits, methods and motives of the Iraq war all day long without reaching a consensus, but the one thing that there should be unanimous agreement on is that a bit of justice will again be rendered. Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali”, was a first cousin to Saddam and was a ruthless and vital of the criminal conspiracy that was the government under Saddam Hussein.
As cold blooded and cruel as any of Saddam’s sons, ‘Chemical Ali’ aka the ‘Butcher of Kurdistan’ aka the ‘King of Spades’ was responsible for the complete destruction of thousands of Kurdish villagers and the indiscriminate slaughter of well over one hundred thousand men, women and children (both Shia and Kurds). Iraq is littered with hundreds of mass graves that stand as the gruesome legacy of this man who helped perpetuate the bloody dynasty that terrorized a nation for over three decades.
Taliban, Pakistani Army battle in North Waziristan
There are many battle fronts across the globe in the ‘Long War’. They all are different to an extent from each other and regionally each war theater employs slightly different casts of characters but they are all related whether they be fought in the mountains of Afghanistan, the wild regions of Pakistan, the jungles of Thailand and the Philippines, the streets of the Holy Land or the sweltering desert of Iraq. Even as the chaos and strife begins to diminish in Iraq it is gaining traction in Pakistan and spilling over with a new fervor in Afghanistan. The West, and its allies, face a desperate and dangerous foe that is far from complete defeat, hence the name ‘Long War’.
The West spent fifty years or so facing down the poison of Marx throughout the world in both hot, cold, and proxy wars before the West was able to ‘declare victory’. We now face a new generational war with an old enemy that seeks the humiliation, ejection and ultimate destruction of the West and the United States in particular. It is not just a war over natural resources (oil), or a particular dispute over control of land (Iraq and Afghanistan) but a clash between civilizations, cultures, theologies and ideologies. In one corner we have the resurgent, oppressive, and fundamentalist form of Islam that aggressively is expanding by both warfare and immigration. In the other we have a decadent and declining West that culturally and spiritually is in full retreat despite its military, industrial and technological superiority. It is hamstrung (perhaps fatally) by the cancerous ideologies of ‘multiculturalism, political correctness, tolerance, inclusion, and diversity’ that have destroyed its self-image while simultaneously castrating its ability to truly and vigorously engage its enemies.
The struggle between the two contestants is decades old, though only apparent to many since 9-11. It has a few more decades to go.
Pakistan’s insurgencyin the Northwest Frontier Province intensified over the last week as major clashes are underway in the Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuary of North Waziristan. Upwards of 200 have been reported killed in the fighting, which includes artillery barrages and helicopter and attack aircraft assaults. The Pakistani military claims 120 Taliban and 45 soldiers have been killed in the fighting, but independent reports puts the number of soldiers killed much higher.
Heavy fighting between the Taliban and the Pakistani military has been reported for the fourth day in a row in and around the town of Mir Ali, an al Qaeda stronghold. Pakistani fighter-bomber have been called in to conduct air strikes on Taliban positions in the region, while over 50,000 civilians are said to be fleeing the area.
Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is defacto control; yellow is under threat.
One can only ‘blow the trumpet in Zion’ and sound the alarm. Unfortunately, that is all we can do here. The true decisions in regards to the worldwide expansion of such offshoots from ‘the religion of peace’ lie in the hands of others.
The Muslim Brotherhood is the name of a world-wide Sunni Islamist movement, which has spawned several religious and political organizations in the Middle East, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, dedicated to the jihadi credo:
“God is our objective, the Quran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, struggle is our way, and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations.”
It should be noted that al Qaeda’s number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, joined the Muslim Brotherhood at age fourteen. It should also be noted that the Muslim Brotherhood was responsible for the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
Ok, here is the Blackwater column I’ve been working on. Barring a relatively few minor revisions this should be up fairly soon on a variety of places on the web. It’s already up at Watchblog.
The mere mention of private military companies is enough to panic the OH MY GOD squad of American society and leaves them loudly shrieking fascism and totalitarianism, murder and thuggery.
There have been scores of private military companies and security firms employed by the Department of Defense and the State Department in Iraq since the war began. The most famous of all the “professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations firms” is the North Carolina based Blackwater USA.
Forest fires have been raging all over Beirut. The official story from the commander of Lebanese Civil Defense states:
It’s a 95 percent possibility that the fires were caused intentionally by people trying to obtain charcoal as a cheaper substitute for fuel.
However, W. Thomas Smith Jr., who blogs for NRO’s milblog “The Tank” has a different take. He is in Lebanon right now and has been noticing some rather peculiar happenings.
But nobody is buying that. No one here that I’ve spoken to — and I’ve talked with lots of people over the past 24-plus hours since the fires started — believe that fires were started “by people [all across the nation] trying to obtain charcoal” at exactly 8:00 p.m., Tuesday evening.It is indisputable that the timing was exact. The fires were deliberately set. They burned from one end of the nation to the next. And Lebanese leaders are saying from behind closed doors that the hand of Syria is all over it.“The fires are a message,” everyone says.
Over 200 fires were set on Tuesday evening, and some suspect that Syria may have a hand in the action.
Mr. Smith also notes that Hezbollah is also building battle positions in southern Lebanon and recently had a “show of force” throughout Beirut.
Hezbollah is rehearsing for something big here. Not sure what or when. But a few days ago, between 4,000 and 5,000 HezB gunmen deployed to the Christian areas of Beirut in an unsettling “show of force,” positioning themselves at road intersections and other key points throughout the city. Two additional objectives were achieved: First, the operation served as a probing action to determine local reaction. Second, it served as an exercise to gauge the time required (speed, synchronization, etc.) to achieve the key points and intersections.Amazingly, there was no response from the police or the army.
Seems as if this simmering pot is about to boil over. Read more of Mr. Smith’s take at “The Tank”on NRO.
The Past, Present, and Future of Neoconservatism
The neo-con philosophy may be on the ‘outs’ at the moment but it is an interesting political ideology that was developed by a small, but elite group of intelletuals that included many notables over the years and greatly influenced every president since Carter. Originating on the Left, it is now almost fully identified with the Right. And yet, it is probably more of a world view than anything, and cannot be easily put into any one partisan camp. I, for example, am not a neo-con but more of a post9-11 traditional conservative.
The term “neoconservative” was coined in the 1970’s as an anathema. It was intended to stigmatize a group of liberal intellectuals who had lately parted ways with the majority of their fellows.
As a heretical offshoot of liberalism, neoconservatism appealed to the same values and even many of the same goals—like, for example, peace and racial equality. But neoconservatives argued that liberal policies—for example, disarmament in the pursuit of peace, or affirmative action in the pursuit of racial equality—undermined those goals rather than advancing them. In short order, the heretics established themselves as contemporary liberalism’s most formidable foes.
The little nation of Israel continues to stand up to the Goliath of nations and peoples that seek its destruction. What the Syrians and the rest need to remember is that the Israelis rarely bluff. Lebanon and Hezbollah found that out the hard way last summer. How much of all this is true is certainly hard to say with 100 percent accuracy, but you can be sure that where there is smoke, there is fire. Events are starting to move quickly in the Middle East.
Israel to Syria: Use chem weapons & we’ll wipe you off map
Citing Syrian intelligence sources, the report claimed a team of Iranian and Syrian engineers were killed July 26 while trying to arm a Scud-C missile with a mustard gas warhead.
Syrian official news agency, SANA, reported that least 15 Syrian military personnel had been “martyred” and 50 others injured in the blast near the northern city of Aleppo on the Turkish border. It claimed the early morning explosion was caused by the high temperatures.
The SANA report mentioned nothing of Iranian personnel killed in the mishap.
Jane’s said dozens of Iranian workers were among those who died when a fire in the missile’s engine triggered the explosion and release of a toxic cloud of lethal chemical agents banned under international law.
And in a completely unrelated matter Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid.
Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.
The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.
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