The Neo-Progressive

Terrorists Kill Handicapped Child

2005-01-31T16:41:00.000-05:00

From the AP via Yahoo!

Iraq's interior minister said Monday that insurgents used a handicapped child as one of the suicide bombers who launched attacks on election day.

Can these "people" sink any lower? There couldn't be a clearer contrast between the Iraqis that went out and voted yesterday and the terrorists that blow up children in order try to stop them.

Noteworthy Courage in Iraq

2005-01-31T04:10:00.000-05:00

I think this quote from an elderly Iraqi woman says a lot about the attitude of the 8+ million people that came out to vote yesterday.

From CSM:

"Why should I be afraid?" asked Arifa Abed Mohamed, an elderly woman in a black abaya, who was first to vote at dawn on one Baghdad polling station. "I am afraid only from God."

Update: (More Courage)

From Reuters:

Samir Hassan, 32, who lost his leg in a car bomb blast in October, was determined to vote. "I would have crawled here if I had to. I don't want terrorists to kill other Iraqis like they tried to kill me. Today I am voting for peace," he said, leaning on his metal crutches, determination in his reddened eyes.

Two Sure Winners in the Iraqi Election

2005-01-31T03:45:00.000-05:00

The Iraqi people

The first clear winners given today's events are the Iraqi people. For the first time in their history, they looked tyranny in the eye, and tyranny flinched. They have also put the lie to the assertion that Muslims and Arabs in particular are incapable of Democracy and have added yet more weight to the assertion that freedom lives in every human heart regardless of race or religion.

President Bush and the US more broadly

Today's events vindicate, at least in part, the vision that the President put forward in his inaugural speech. They also show that Iraq is on an almost unstoppable course toward democracy. The next two votes in Iraq, the one on the constitution 9 mouths from now and the Presidential election in about a year, will solidify this course. This will effectively end the insurgency. If you don't believe me just ask Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi:

if we fight them, that will be difficult because there will be a schism between us and the people of the region. How can we kill their cousins and sons and under what pretext, after the Americans start withdrawing? The Americans will continue to control from their bases, but the sons of this land will be the authority. This is the democracy, we will have no pretext.

Dean's a shoo-in, Again…

2005-01-28T18:06:00.000-05:00

From the AP via SFGate.com:

Harold Ickes, a leading Democratic activist and former aide to President Clinton, said Friday he is backing Howard Dean to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee -- giving a powerful boost to the front-runner.

Doesn't this all sound familiar? Dean's the big favorite. Dean gets the key endorsements. So where's the microphone? It's time for him to make himself look like an idiot again.

The UNron Scandal Continues

2005-01-28T03:26:00.000-05:00

From Fox:

Paul Volcker (search), the man tapped by the United Nations to lead a probe into the troubled Oil-for-Food program, has potentially too-close-for-comfort ties to companies he's supposed to be investigating

So not only does the UN get to investigate itself, their so-called "independent investigator" is compromised, but no, they won't just give up this farce. Will they?

The Washington Post is Pathetic

2005-01-27T04:47:00.000-05:00

"Pathetic" is the only word I can think of to describe this story. As they say, it isn't the crime (in this case bias) that gets you. It's the cover up. Today the Washington Post has printed a story and then changed it without a correction. Following that, they denied that a correction was made and engaged in the slander of bloggers. After it became clear that this wasn't going to fly, they put the blame on the "website folks" at washingtonpost.com.

Here's the original paragraph that got slammed for it's obvious bias:

Some of the Democrats who opposed Rice were centrists from states in which President Bush won or ran strongly in November, including Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

Anyone that has seen the four underlined senators speak on the senate floor knows they are far from "centrists."

The Post then changed the paragraph, which was reported by the Powerline guys:

the Post has now removed the word "centrists" from its article. I assume this was the result of our pointing out the absurdity of the characterization. But there is no indication of any correction, no acknowledgement that the change was made. So go the mainstream media.

The following is an E-mail sent by Chuck Babington the writer of the Post article:

Thanks for writing. You will not find this quote in my article:

"Some of the Democrats who opposed Rice were centrists from states in which President Bush won or ran strongly in November, including Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)." You (and many others) are victims of a cut and paste job that rearranged paragraphs in order to attack the story. You can read the real article on Washingtonpost.com. I'd be happy to respond if you want to take it from there.
again, thanks,
cb

At the time this email was sent, the article had yet to be reworded by the post, and that paragraph was still on the Post's website.

Once that email showed up on the internet, it must have dawned on Mr. Babington that it was time to cut his loses. The following is from another, later, email by Babington:

You are quite right... The website folks updated the morning story after the vote, and combined some paragraphs.

There seems to be only two options here. Mr. Babington is lying, in which case he wrote as it was printed and is now covering himself. He's been trying to do that without much success all day. The other option is provided by Powerline:

anonymous staffers at the Post revise articles written by the paper's reporters and inject their own political views into the paper's characterizations of members of the Senate.

Either way, the Post has had a pathetic day.

Hilarious Counter Protest

2005-01-22T19:54:00.000-05:00

I can't imagine what the leftists must have been thinking when they saw this:

Indepundent's description of events:

Finally, they reached the front rows of the march -- and turned their signs around:
FREE
CUBA

REAL
LIBERALS
FIGHT
TYRANNY

FREE
VENEZUELA

For a few moments, nobody noticed. Then, to my left, I heard someone gasp, "What do those signs say?"

"Free Venezuela?"

"Those signs are total BULLSHIT!"

Meanwhile, my team was also making our way forward. I found myself immediately behind a man with a megaphone, who was directing the crowd in angry anti-Bush chants. I recognized him as Justin Akers, a community college professor who moonlights as an organizer for the local chapter International Socialist Organization.

That's right -- my property taxes pay the salary of this man, who uses his classroom to indoctrinate young, impressionable students into his radical ideology. And I was close enough that I could almost reach out and touch him...

After marching a few more blocks, we quietly melted away, cutting through the side streets to reach our final rally point at 3rd & Broadway, right outside the NBC Building. There, we waited for the marchers to return.

Meanwhile, some pedestrians began to notice our little counter-rally, and took a moment to absorb the meaning of our signs.

"Hey," one man shouted, "Why don't any of you young guys go over and fight in Iraq?"

I hear this one at almost every one of these events. "I've already been."

This stopped him in his tracks, momentarily. "Well, why don't you go back?" Also predictable.

"If they send me, I'll go again."

He walked away, cursing at us under his breath.

Another man responded to our "Free Venezuela" sign.

"Venezuela is free!" He declared.

I wanted to ask him if he was aware that Venezuela strongman Hugo Chavez recently outlawed the "cacelorazo," a form of protest involving the banging of pots and pans in the streets (which was being practiced by many of that evening's protestors in San Diego, without any sense of irony). But he was gone before I could respond.

Several people didn't seem to understand our point. "Thank you guys for doing this," one man says. "Nobody can blame me when things go all to Hell," he continued, "because I voted for Kerry!"

Others read our signs and smiled, or gave us a thumbs-up.

Could there be any better spokesman for the Left?

Hard Line Iranians Threaten UK

2005-01-20T22:24:00.000-05:00

From the Arab Times:

A hardline Iranian religious group threatened on Wednesday to carry out suicide attacks on a UK-based Iranian exile TV presenter, saying his broadcasts were inflammatory and insulted Islamic values.

Mojtaba Bigdeli, the spokesman of Iran's Hizbollah group, said the British government must ban the satellite channel run by Iranian exiles within 30 days or face the consequences.

"After one month, our commandos will carry out suicide attacks in London against the shameless presenter of the channel," Bigdeli told Reuters by telephone.

Hardliners are just digging their own graves.

The Final Pathetic Death Wails of the Yanukovych Campaign

2005-01-20T02:36:00.000-05:00

From Interfax:

Supporters of Viktor Yanukovych, who is judicially contesting the announced victory of Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine's December 26 repeat presidential runoff election, put up a tent camp on the central square of Symferopil on Wednesday.

The campers put up seven tents on a square area of about 15 meters to 15 meters, fenced the area off with spikes which they tied together with ropes with blue ribbons attached to them, and called it a territory "free from Viktor Yushchenko." Banners were fixed to the tents some of which read, "For Yanukovych, for stronger Ukrainian-Russian unity."

For comparative purposes, here is a picture of the protests in Ukraine's capital after the first "election:"

Why Do I Have to Read an Iraq Newspaper to Hear the Real Story?

2005-01-20T02:19:00.000-05:00

From Al Nahrein via Powerline:

19 Terrorist suspects arrested and 11 Killed in the Yusefiah area in south central Iraq.

A high ranking U.S. Army officer announced today that his forces, in conjunction with the Iraqi Army and Iraqi security forces, killed 11, arrested 19 armed terrorists and captured a large cache of weapons and explosives stolen from the previous regime’s army. The arrests and killing of armed terrorists happened as a result of an armed clash during a campaign covering a wide area in the Lateefiah area south of Baghdad. Brigadier General Michael, commander of the second combat troops army brigade said that this campaign was conducted differently from others in the past, it depended on tips and information the Iraqi forces received from the local population. This information was about the location and existence of armed terrorists in this area. He added that the campaign was not only military but also in preparation of the elections to be held in two weeks. It included securing the area and restoring irrigation and drinking water, electricity and roads for which 55 million dollars in reconstruction funds have been set aside.

As the guys at Powerline adeptly pointed out, the Iraqi paper calls our enemies by their correct name, terrorists. What is wrong with our press that the Iraqis, a people that have had a free press for all of a year and a half, can get the facts right and our media can't?

The Arrogant, Conceited New York Times

2005-01-19T18:38:00.000-05:00

From the NYT:

When I telephoned a man named Ali Fadhil in Baghdad last week, I wondered who might answer. A C.I.A. operative? An American posing as an Iraqi? Someone paid by the Defense Department to support the war? Or simply an Iraqi with some mixed feelings about the American presence in Iraq?

I've noted before that the New York Times has sided with enemy, but this story has solidified that belief. In case you didn't know Ali Fadhil is a blogger for Iraq the Model. The above quote is the first paragraph of the article in which the Times interviews Ali, and it shows the incredible insulation and partisan bias at the Times. The idea that any Iraq that supports the United States must be a CIA or DOD agent, or better yet just "mixed" up, is totally absurd. Think about the beliefs that must under lie this reasoning. Namely, that no rational Iraqi would support the US goals unless of course we we're paying them off.

Chrenkoff puts this idea better I did:

an Iraqi can only seem "genuine" if he shares the liberal media elite's doubts about the liberation of Iraq. God forbid that anyone could possibly be happy that Saddam's gone and Iraq now has a chance for a better future - such people must obviously be frauds, or better still, frauds on American payroll.

Where is the Coverage?

2005-01-19T03:25:00.000-05:00

From The LA Times: (12/28/04)

Iraq's most prominent Sunni Muslim religious party announced Monday that it was withdrawing from next month's parliamentary elections, saying that violence remains too grave to conduct the vote.

The move by the Iraqi Islamic Party threatens to deepen the political alienation of the nation's Sunni Arabs, who make up about 20% of the population but were long favored under Saddam Hussein's government. Many Sunnis have supported the insurgency and fear that the upcoming ballot will only cement their loss of influence as majority Shiite Muslims vote for members of their own sect. Yet Sunni support for and participation in a new government are considered crucial to stabilizing Iraq.

And now three weeks later, the election is still on, and their gambit hasn't paid off. So naturally, they do the old John Kerry Flip-flop.

From AINA:

Iraq's principal Sunni Muslim political party conceded Wednesday that its effort to delay Iraq's parliamentary election had failed and that it was preparing a strategy to influence the elected government following the vote on Jan. 30.

The Iraqi Islamic Party's willingness to accept and engage a new government indicated a possible avenue for Sunni participation
[...]
"The Americans are insisting these elections go on time," Ayad al Samaraee, deputy chairman of the Iraqi Islamic Party, told Knight Ridder. "Most probably, there will be no delay."

Instead of trying to halt the elections, al Samaraee said the party would focus on giving Sunnis a voice in the new government and was now reaching out to other parties and encouraging them to work together.

Now they want to be part of the new government, which is fine, but where is the coverage of this? The headline from the LA Times and the rest of the MSM was "Top Sunni Party Quits Election." Where is the headline saying, "Top Sunni Party Wants into New Government?"

-------------------------------------------

While we are on the topic of the AINA article, what is this?

It also said that 72 parties, coalitions of parties or individuals have joined its call for a boycott. They include Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and Kurds, said Sheikh Omar Zaydan, a spokesman for the Muslim Scholars Association. The claim couldn't be verified.

Since when do you print unverified claims?

Just a Small Thing

2005-01-19T01:34:00.000-05:00

From mnf-iraq.com:

Mosul, Iraq -- Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), were able to defuse a roadside bomb after an Iraqi boy provided them with information about it in northern Iraq on Jan. 10.

Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, were on patrol in Mosul when an Iraqi child informed them of a roadside bomb in the area. The tip led to the diffusion and destruction of the bomb.

Isn't it amazing that a child instinctively recognizes that trying to blow people up that are helping you is wrong, and goes to tell a responsible person that someone is doing something wrong. Now if only this was so clear to adults.

More Bias By Omission

2005-01-19T00:32:00.000-05:00

From Black Five:

As a recent example, the operation in Fallujah delivered an absolutely devastating blow to the insurgency. Though much smaller in scope, clearing Fallujah of insurgents arguably could equate to the Allies' breakout from the hedgerows in France during World War II. In both cases, our troops overcame a well-prepared and solidly entrenched enemy and began what could be the latter's last stand. In Fallujah, the enemy death toll has already exceeded 1,500 and still is climbing. Put one in the win column for the good guys, right? Wrong. As soon as there was nothing negative to report about Fallujah, the media shifted its focus to other parts of the country. Just yesterday, a major news agency's website lead read: "Suicide Bomber Kills Six in Baghdad" and "Seven Marines Die in Iraq Clashes." True, yes. Comprehensive, no. Did the author of this article bother to mention that Coalition troops killed 50 or so terrorists while incurring those seven losses? Of course not. Nor was there any mention about the substantial progress these offensive operations continue to achieve in defeating the insurgents. Unfortunately, this sort of incomplete reporting has become the norm for the media, whose poor job of presenting a complete picture of what is going on in Iraq borders on being criminal.

The essential point that is being made here is that this war is more about perception then anything else. The terrorists in Iraq have never and can never win any militarily significant victory. Every day we remain in Iraq, we get one step closer to victory, and they get one step closer to defeat. There is only one way the terrorists can win, and that is the same way evil people and evil ideologies have always won, which is by default. In other words, the good guys left the field of battle. The terrorists know this. They time attacks so that they make the morning headlines in the US. Every time the media spends hours and paragraphs talking about something the terrorist did, it is victory for the them against us. I'm not saying don't report the bad news. I'm say is put it in context. For example, the idea is being floated about that the terrorists are winning in Iraq. This is the result of the media feeding off itself. They report all these events out of context, and then conclude on that basis that the terrorists are winning. If this continues, they'll start concluding that we are defeated when we're really winning.

What about the media's portrayal of the enemy? Why do these ruthless murderers, kidnappers and thieves get a pass when it comes to their actions? What did the media not show or tell us about Margaret Hassoon, the director of C.A.R.E. in Iraq and an Iraqi citizen, who was kidnapped, brutally tortured and left disemboweled in streets of Fallujah?
[...]
The battle in Najaf last August provides another. Television and newspapers spilled a continuous stream of images and stories about the destruction done to the sacred city, and of all the human suffering allegedly brought about by the hands of the big, bad Americans. These stories and the lack of anything to counter them gave more fuel to the fire of anti-Americanism that burns in this part of the world. Those on the outside saw the Coalition portrayed as invaders or oppressors, killing hapless Iraqis who, one was given to believe, simply were trying to defend their homes and their Muslim way of life.

Reality couldn't have been farther from the truth. What noticeably was missing were accounts of the atrocities committed by the Mehdi Militia -- Muqtada Al Sadr's band of henchmen. While the media was busy bashing the Coalition, Muqtada's boys were kidnapping policemen, city council members and anyone else accused of supporting the Coalition or the new government, trying them in a kangaroo court based on Islamic Shari'a law, then brutally torturing and executing them for their "crimes." What the media didn't show or write about were the two hundred-plus headless bodies found in the main mosque there, or the body that was put into a bread oven and baked.

This is why I believe the media is politically biased and not just biased toward reporting bad news or shocking news. What could be more shocking or bad then 200 headless bodies in what is supposed to be a holy site? And yet, not a word from the MSM. Many in the media aren't just biased against the war or against this administration, they are biased in favor of the enemy. Our own media is betraying us.

There's Optimism on the Front

2005-01-18T17:06:00.000-05:00

From Cpl. Isaac D Pacheco via The Cincinnati Enquirer:

I've become somewhat callused to this kind of seesaw reporting because every day I work with the news agencies that manufacture it. However, many service members shake their heads in frustration each time they see their daily rebuilding efforts ignored by the media in favor of the more "sensational" car bomb and rocket attack stories. Not to say that tragedies don't happen - Iraq is a war zone - but there is so much more happening that gets overlooked if not ignored.

Army Sgt. Addie Collins' Kicks for Kids program is an example of this. Three months ago this Army Reservist from Los Angeles asked her friends and family to forgo sending the usual box of goodies, and instead send a few pairs of kid-sized shoes, which she would hand out to Iraqi children she'd seen walking barefoot. Friends and family told friends and family, and today, 10,000 pairs later, Collins is outfitting an entire Ramadi community with sneakers, sandals and boots.

Where's her morning talk show appearance?

The days when media bias was about telling you things that were false or misleading are over. We've see with the CBS debacle that stories are now fact checked to their minutest detail. The media bias that we see today is more insidious. We'll call it media bias by omission. Basically, they aren't reporting news worthy stories. The BBC doesn't think it's news when American soldiers are assisting the Tsunami survivors. Cpl. Pacheco has shown us something very important. The same thing is happening in Iraq. The MSM is examining every terrorist attack in minute detail, but when something good happens, it's not news worthy. We need a media in this country that reports both sides of the story. Not just the side that they think is important.

Israel is Done Waiting for the Palestinians to End Their Hopeless War

2005-01-16T18:48:00.000-05:00

From the AP:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday he was giving Israel's army free rein to battle militants in Gaza, and the Palestinian leadership called for a halt to attacks on Israelis.
[...]
The Israeli assault on Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza came as Israel Radio reported Sharon had ordered troops "to act immediately with no political or military restrictions" to halt repeated rocket fire into southern Israel Sunday.

"I won't let this mad situation continue," Sharon told the mayor of Sderot, whose residents have threatened to launch a commercial strike Monday in protest at the rocket attacks.

Sharon also told his cabinet the army had been "instructed to take any action needed without restriction to stop terror, and they will continue to do so... as long as the Palestinians do not lift a finger."

Not surprisingly, Israel has little patients with the Palestinian leadership whatever it's form. If the Abbas doesn't stop terror, the Israelis will. Eventually the Palestinians will have to realize that the ball is in their court. The Israelis can live with the Status Quo. The Palestinians can't. In the year, the Palestinians will be contained behind the Israeli Security Fence, and severely limited in the number of attacks they can carry out. The strategic Israeli position is getting strong in relation to the Palestinians. The longer the Palestinians wait to end their hopeless war. The less they will get from the Israelis when the inevitable peace deal is struck.

Genius Leftists Find another Way to Protest

2005-01-16T04:48:00.000-05:00

It appears that Deacon of Powerline has found some more people that are suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome:

An attorney at a Washington D.C. law firm (not mine) told me that her firm is closed for inauguration day, but a number of attorneys plan to work anyway as a protest against another Bush term. To me, this raises an interesting philosophical question: can something be a protest if those against whom it is directed (a) don't know about it; (b) can't be affected by it, even indirectly; and (c) would be completely indifferent about the conduct associated with the protest even if they knew of it?

It's just like the idiots whose big idea was to turn around at the Inauguration.

Population Statistics: A Palestinian Fraud

2005-01-16T04:06:00.000-05:00

From the Jerusalem Post:

While terrorism is the outward face of the post-modern aggressor, social psychology is perhaps his greatest weapon. If the target population can be manipulated to view itself as the aggressor, if it can be brought to view its position as untenable, then it will sue for peace and surrender. So it was that Kadoura Fares, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and one of the heads of Fatah who signed Yossi Beilin's Geneva Accords, said in an interview with the pan-Arab London-based newspaper Al-Hayat in October 2003 that the Palestinian aim in signing the accords was to "foment a piercing public and political debate in Israel."

While Hamas has placed its emphasis mainly on the terrorist aspect of the post-modern battlefield, the PLO has placed an equal emphasis on the psychological component of the war. In fact, it could be said in retrospect that the greatest single victory the PLO has scored in its 46-year-old war with Israel was the publication of a single report in 1997. That report, "Demographic Indicators of the Palestinian Territory, 1997-2015," is based on a census carried out by the PA's Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in 1997. It projects that the Arab population west of the Jordan River will by 2015 outnumber the Jewish population.

These numbers were immediately adopted by such prominent Israeli demographers as the University of Haifa's Arnon Soffer and the Hebrew University's Sergio Della Pergola, who have both warned that by 2020 Jews will make up between 40 and 46 percent of the overall population of Israel and the territories. The Palestinian projections, which place the Arab population of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip at 3.83 million and the Israeli Arab population at 1.33 million for a total of 5.16 million Arabs west of the Jordan River, put Israel with its 5.24 million Jews at the precipice of demographic parity with the Arabs.

If you been around this debate for a while, you know that these numbers were accepted as fact and used to further the Palestinians case. These numbers put pressure on the Israelis to settle the conflict or face the possibility that they would be facing Palestinians demanding not a state, but the right to vote in Israeli elections. This was sobering stuff for the Israelis. But, no longer...

The average of the last two scenarios, which corrected for the Palestinians living abroad and were based on base populations comprised of ICBS Palestinian population survey projections from the 1990s and Palestinian voting records in 1996 and 2004, brought the final projected number of Palestinians in Gaza, Judea and Samaria to 2.42 million - nearly a third less than the 3.83 million figure currently being used.

The study, which has been accepted by prominent American demographers Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt and Murray Feshbach, shows that contrary to common wisdom, the Jewish majority west of the Jordan River has remained stable since 1967. In 1967 Jews made up 64.1 percent of the overall population and in 2004 they made up 59.5 percent. Inside Israel proper, including Jerusalem, Jews make up 80 percent of the population.

With the political motivation gone, Israel is not likely to be looking for much compromise. That puts the ball firmly in the Palestinian's court. If they want talks if they want a state, they must end terrorism.

A Woman Stands Against the Mullahs in Iran

2005-01-16T01:21:00.000-05:00

From CNN:

Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi told Iran's hard-line Revolutionary Court on Saturday she won't obey a vague summons on her to appear for questioning, even if it means she will be jailed -- an open challenge to a powerful body that has tried and convicted many pro-reform intellectuals.

Ebadi, the first Iranian and Muslim woman to win the Nobel peace prize in 2003, vowed in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with The Associated Press to resist hard-line threats against her life and will never bow to intimidation.
[...]
"I've tasted jail myself: 25 days in solitary confinement with no access to radio, newspapers or lawyer. And I'm not afraid of prison," she said. "I'm a lawyer and familiar with the law. I haven't done anything other than defend human rights in Iran."

This is a good example of what Iran needs, which is people that stand against the Islamic extremists there. The more this happens the more the Mullahs will take notice. There are limits to the amount of people you can jail without starting a rebellion. The Mullahs may not realize it, but I believe they are getting close to that line. I would not be surprised if they wondered by it in the next year or two.

Decision Time For Abbas

2005-01-15T03:04:00.000-05:00

Abbas says he wants to lead the Palestinians to Freedom and a state of their own. This is his chance. After a Palestinian terrorist attack that killed 6 Israelis, Israel did not retaliate militarily. They simply cut off ties with the Palestinians until the terrorism stops. Abbas will have no better chance to lead his people then right now. He must not just denounce terror, but stop it. He can, and he must. The Palestinians have suffered for years because of a warped culture and inept leadership. If Abbas shuts down terrorism, Israel will be open to negotiation and the quality of life in the Palestinians areas will increase. If he does not, there will simply be more of the same.

The Loser

2005-01-14T20:33:00.000-05:00

I had to laugh when I saw this as the title of a Reuters story:

Ukraine Court Agrees to Hear Vote Loser's Appeal

I was beginning to doubt whether good headline writers even existed anymore, but alas there is yet hope. As to Mr. Yanukovych, this same court has already rejected his previous claims. He has about as much chance of becoming the President of Ukraine as I do at this point.

In Denial

2005-01-14T19:58:00.000-05:00

From melaniephillips.com::

I asked Iqbal Sacranie, general secretary of the MCB [Muslim Council of Britain],whether he thought that any public statements about Islamic terrorism, or any speculation about the number of Muslims in Britain who might support Islamic terrorism, would constitute incitement to religious hatred. He said: 'There is no such thing as an Islamic terrorist. This is deeply offensive. Saying Muslims are terrorists would be covered by this provision'.

This is similar to what Jesse Jackson and others do all the time. It's a simple theory, really. Just ignore the problem. Deny it exists. Blame everyone else for the problem, and then you don't have to step up to the plate. Take responsibility, and fix it.

CBS Takes Underhand Slap at Bloggers

2005-01-14T01:53:00.000-05:00

From LGF:

CBS has altered the PDF file for their report on Memogate, to prevent copying and pasting.

Here's the page at CBS News, with modified PDF file: CBS Ousts 4 For Bush Guard Story.

Rather obviously (pardon the pun), this is aimed at making it harder for blogs to criticize the report, by stopping them from copying and pasting sections to illustrate points.

These people are stupid. First, for even thinking they could pull this off. Our friends at LGF have already posted the first unedited version with copying enabled, and second, for thinking they weren't going to get ripped for this. They are supposed to be a news provider. They're are supposedly in the business of spreading information, not figuring out creative ways to suppress it.

Just One Hour of CNN Bias

2005-01-14T01:00:00.000-05:00

From Powerline:

I'm back after nearly a week of tough business travel, culminating in four hours at the Boston airport. The worst thing about being stuck in an airport these days is the televisions running CNN non-stop. But today Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics was so over-the-top that it provided comic relief. In one hour she ran the following stories:

1. Big business is rewarding President Bush for past favors and purchasing additional influence by paying for the inauguration festivities. Pro Bush companies, particularly energy and financial services companies, are paying $250,000 a pop.

2. The inaugural festivities cost too much -- at least $40 million. It's true that Clinton's cost about $33 million, but that was when we had budget surpluses and no natural disasters like the current one in Asia. (But I thought big business was footing the bill in order to buy influence -- if so, in the absence of a lavish inauguration, they wouldn't be allocating the bribe money to pay down the budget deficit or provide humanitarian relief).

3. Torture, always torture. Public opinion surveys showing that Americans (like their president) don't favor torture provide the pretext for CNN to show more Abu Ghraib footage and to take another shot at Alberto Gonzalez.

4. President Bush lacks public support for privatizing social security. And, according to Democratic consultant Ann Lewis, it's no wonder, what with the market down 100 points today and the same people who told us there were WMD in Iraq now telling us that social security is in trouble. (I'm not making this up; thank God Lewis is a Democratic consultant).

5. "Everyone loves Laura?" I'm not sure what the question mark was doing in the story, since CNN's poll showed that Laura Bush has an approval rating of something like 86-5. But CNN is quick to claim that this rating tends to go down when the First Lady takes controversial positions on public policy issues.

Woodruff also included a piece on blogging, in which CNN's reporter noted that blogs aren't going away now that the election is over. Instead, they are focusing on substantive issues and local political races. But even this unobjectionable piece was marred by Woodruff's need to explain that "blog" is short for "web log."

During breaks, CNN ran a commercial touting its war correspondent Christiane Amanpour. According to Amanpour "being a war correspondent is more than being a war correspondent," since her stories, "told well have the power to make a difference" and her "job is to make a difference for the good of the world." Judy Woodruff presumably answers to the same job description. Dan Rather too, for a little while longer.

This is why I'm willing to subjected myself to MSNBC when I'm not watching Fox. CNN's like a cess-ridden stream of propaganda.

Ted's Off the Wagon Again

2005-01-13T17:25:00.000-05:00

From ABC:

Kennedy also mangled the name of the Democrats' new star, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, calling him "Osama bin … Osama … Obama."

Looks like that after the election Teddy boy is back to drinking his lunch everyday.

Aren't You Glad These People Aren't in Power Anymore?

2005-01-13T04:09:00.000-05:00

From the New York Post:

Former Clinton White House Mr. Fix-It Bruce Lindsey emerged tight-lipped yesterday after testifying before a federal grand jury probing whether top-secret documents were illegally removed from the National Archives.

The grand jury probe, reported exclusively in The Post Tuesday, is digging into why another former Bill Clinton aide, Sandy Berger, sneaked the national security documents out of the Archives - possibly in his socks.

The Clinton legacy lives on. What were in these documents that Berger was so desperate to destroy them?

Berger admits walking off with 40 to 50 top-secret documents from the archives, but claims it was an "honest mistake" while vetting documents for the 9/11 commission.

Berger has admitted destroying some documents - he says by mistake.

Ha, yeah right! He steals the documents, and then, they are destroyed. Well, isn't that convenient.

In defense of Michael Chertoff

2005-01-13T03:24:00.000-05:00

The Christian Science Monitor has an excellent defense of the President's nominee to replace Tom Ridge at Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff:

In choosing Judge Michael Chertoff as the new Homeland Security secretary, President Bush sends a signal to Americans that it's important to have someone who will stand "tough on terror." Toughness is Mr. Chertoff's wide reputation: As a US Attorney, he made a name for himself by successfully working to get the bosses of the five largest Mafia families in New York off the streets.

That kind of experience with organized crime should translate well into defending American citizens at home from a organized terrorist networks such as Al Qaeda.

I agree.

Guess I'm Not Allowed in Russia Anymore

2005-01-12T23:39:00.000-05:00

From The Washington Times:

The amendment said foreigners could be denied entry if they "commit actions of a clearly disrespectful nature toward the Russian Federation or the federal organs of the government of the Russian Federation."

So when are they going to put the sign up at the Russia embassy that says, "Only Fascists Need Apply."

BTW, Putin is siding with the Terrorists too.

The Attacks Begin on the President's Homeland Security nominee, Michael Chertoff

2005-01-12T19:17:00.000-05:00

From the Muslim American Society:

Michael Chertoff is not fit to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. While he has a good record as a prosecutor, he does not have as good a record on respecting and safeguarding civil rights and liberties. He is, by his own admission, an advocate of "streamlining" justice, a euphemism for setting aside troublesome things like due process of law.

One of the guiding principles of the Department of Homeland Security is that its strategies and actions will be consistent with the individual rights and liberties enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and guided by the Rule of Law. Michael Chertoff's record in John Ashcroft's Justice Department clearly illustrates Mr. Chertoff's cavalier treatment of both.

While serving as the head of the criminal division in the U.S. Department of Justice, Mr. Chertoff was responsible for: (1) misconduct by Justice Department lawyers in a failed prosecution of an alleged sleeper terrorist cell in Detroit, Michigan, (2) an overzealous, and ultimately failed, prosecution alleging the creation of internet terror networks against an innocent college student in Boise, Idaho, and (3) the stalled prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui.

If we accept the above list of things that Mr. Chertoff is supposedly "responsible for," then that would seem to refute that he has a "good record as a persecutor." Thus, one of these things must not be true. Although I don't know all the facts, it would seem to be logical that Mr. Chertoff does have a good record as a prosecutor since he has been conformed three times by various legislative bodies and is likely to be confirmed again by the US Senate to be the Homeland Security Secretary.

Post 9/11, Mr. Chertoff played a key role limiting or eliminating civil rights and liberties protections by promoting actions such as: using "material witness" warrants to incarcerate people of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent, interviewing thousands of Middle Eastern and South Asian men who entered the U.S. lawfully before and after the 9/11 attacks, denying a defendant facing the death penalty the fundamental right to face and question his accusers, and holding suspects indefinitely without counsel as "enemy combatants." Some have described Mr. Chertoff as "the driving force behind the Justice Department's most controversial initiatives in the war on terrorism."

As far as I'm aware, the only people being held incommunicado are people at Getmo or are otherwise in US military custody. Therefore, I'm not clear who their accusers would be. They were captured on the battlefield fighting US forces. The situation seems straight forward to me.

Ultimately, terrorism is a crime...

The author is incorrect here. International terrorism is more then a crime. It is an act of war. Crimes are individual acts, and although that describes a part of the events of Sept. 11, it misses the far more important element, which is that we were attacked not just by individuals but rather by a movement, Islamic fascism. It would be just as absurd to try to round up Islamic terrorists as criminals today as it would have been to round up German fascist in the 1930s. It just won't work.

AP Bias: The Make up of President Bush's Cabinet

2005-01-12T04:14:00.000-05:00

From the AP via Yahoo!:

WASHINGTON - President Bush's second-term Cabinet will look roughly like his first - overwhelmingly male and mostly white, though Hispanics double their representation, to two.

There would also be two blacks and two Asian-Americans, but no Arab-American replacing Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, a Lebanese-American.

While Bush is fond of saying "all wisdom does not reside in Washington, D.C.," he drew most of his new Cabinet choices from the capital's corridors of power. All but two of his nine new picks already serve in the federal government.
[...]
"No matter what presidents say about a desire to have a Cabinet that looks like America, the best they can do is get a Cabinet that looks like Washington,"

While not technically inaccurate, the story is grossly unfair.

Race	Percentage of the Population	Percentage of Bush's Cabinet
White	75%	60%
Black	12%	13%
Hispanic	12%	13%
Asian	3.6%	13%

Source US census(pdf) and News Day

So yes, the cabinet is "mostly white," but minorities are overrepresented. Is this a bad thing? No, it's completely irrelevant, or should be.

Well the Brits Got What They Wanted. Now What?

2005-01-12T02:34:00.000-05:00

From Reuters:

The government faces a major headache in deciding what to do with four detainees held as terrorism suspects for about three years without charges at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and due home soon.

Feroz Abbasi, Martin Mubanga, Richard Belmar and Moazzam Begg will be released within weeks from the camp, set up by the United States in January 2002 to hold combatants captured in Afghanistan and others suspected of association with al Qaeda.

Amid fears of an attack on British soil, Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has introduced tough terror laws, but it must now balance the need to protect citizens with the requirement to respect human rights.

On the positive side, Blair gets to point to this and say that "he got something for the US." On the down side, he's still going to take heat because radical leftist in the UK want these people released, and Mr. Blair isn't going to be that irresponsible with the lives of his own people to put these psychopaths back on the streets.

Cold Water Meets Cat: The Story of Mary Mapes

2005-01-11T03:46:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of LGF Mary Mapes's statement about the CBS report:

I am terribly disappointed in the conclusions of the report and its effects on the four of us who will no longer work at CBS News. I am disappointed as well for the entire organization. It has been my second family and I will miss my colleagues there.

I am shocked by the vitriolic scape-goating in Les Moonves's statement. I am very concerned that his actions are motivated by corporate and political considerations - ratings rather than journalism. Mr. Moonves's response to the review panel's report and the panel's assessment of the evidence it developed in its investigation combine not only to condemn me, but to put all investigative reporting in the CBS tradition at risk.

Oh that rich CBS tradition. How could they do this? I mean...what? You're not allowed to create fake documents to back up your fraudulent politically motivated attacks anymore?

When are They Going to Get It?

2005-01-11T00:48:00.000-05:00

From Yahoo!:

Phil Johnston, who heads the Democrats in losing presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites)'s home state, spoke out amid news of former Rep. Tim Roemer's decision to seek the national party's chairmanship.

"The fact that we lost the 2004 presidential race by a narrow margin should not result in the abandonment of our party's core principles," Johnston said.

Democrats, he said, can only regain the White House by choosing someone who can articulate the values of the party and strengthen its grass-roots organization.

Again and again, you hear this argument. It's the height of arrogance. Think about it. What is Johnston really saying here. Well, he's saying that the American people are too stupid to figure out that he's right. So if he can find someone that can just "talk the language of the stupid people," the Dems would be sure to win. After all, that is what the Republicans have always done, right? Well that or steal the election. This kind of reminds me of a scene at the end of the Lord of the Rings, a king sets himself on fire and goes running off a cliff. The only difference here is that Mr. Johnston is calling on all of his fellow travelers to do the same.

CBS Report Slams News Division

2005-01-10T17:58:00.000-05:00

From CBS (So believe at your own risk):

(CBS) Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National Guard service.

The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with a "rigid and blind" defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.

Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard's deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated.

Why not just close down their news operation altogether? They obviously have no credibility left, and any few remaining views they have are literally dying off. They're just wasting everyone's time pretending to be some kind of legitimate news agency.

The Final Nail Goes into Yanukovych's Coffin

2005-01-10T16:56:00.000-05:00

From China View:

Ukraine's Supreme Court turned down on Monday four more complaints from presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych's team against the Central Election Commission.

And the Fascist goes quietly in to the night, which is much better then shooting yourself in the head after causing the deaths of 80+ million people. I.E. Hitler

There Was No Criminal Activity at the UN...Well Except for Embezzlement and Obstruction of Justice...So Far

2005-01-10T16:33:00.000-05:00

From Voice of America:

Internal United Nations audits of the $64 billion Iraq oil-for-food program have revealed widespread mismanagement. But, investigators say they have not found evidence of criminal activity.

The independent commission looking into the now-defunct U.N. oil-for-food program concludes that administrators were guilty of huge lapses in oversight. Internal audits released by commission chairman Paul Volcker reveal "serious irregularities," including mishandling of funds, fraudulent documentation and bureaucratic bungling.

What…no criminal activity? The Volcker commission is a joke. What would you call "mishandling funds" that either ended up in your pocket or were used for bribes? I'd call it embezzlement. What would you call creating the documents to cover yourself? I'd call it obstruction of justice. No criminal activity? BS.

Useless, Good for Nothing UN

2005-01-10T02:49:00.000-05:00

From the Telegraph:

The UN describes its role in South Asia as one of "assessment" and "coordination." Even this, however, seems to many to be a role unnecessary to the plot. The Daily Telegraph last week described the frustration of in-country UN officials who found they had nothing to do as the Americans, Australians, Indonesians, and Malaysians flew missions.

Thus, useless.

UN Failures:

Dutch Government resigns as a result of U.N. "peace-keeping".

U.N. fails to condemn slavery in Sudan.

The U.N. is even a joke in Sierra Leone.

Where was the U.N. during the massacre in Rwanda in 1994?

Where were they when Mugabe expunged all white farmers from Zimbabwe, and caused a famine that threatens to kill 8 million? Now they are talking with Mugabe about how to avert the disaster. What a joke!

They impede or war in Iraq, claiming diplomacy and inspections are the only answer. At the same time, they refuse to discuss the North Korea's brazen moves.

U.N. ignores more human rights abuses. This time in Iran.

U.N. takes over in East Timor, and then drops the ball leading to further violence and anarchy.

Remember those Buddist statues in Afghanistan that the Taliban destroyed? Well, you guessed it. The U.N. failed to save them.

The U.N. fails to protect those displaced by a civil war in Angola.

That's right. The U.N. failed in Kashmir, too.

The U.N. failed in Somalia.

The U.N. failed in Bosnia.

The U.N. failed in Israel.

The U.N. failed in Columbia.

The U. N. failed in Iraq.

Thus, good for nothing.

Biased Tsunami Coverage From the BBC

2005-01-10T00:53:00.000-05:00

From The Telegraph:

Last week we were subjected to one of the most extraordinary examples of one-sided news management of modern times, as most of our media, led by the BBC, studiously ignored what was by far the most effective and dramatic response to Asia's tsunami disaster. A mighty task force of more than 20 US Navy ships, led by a vast nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, and equipped with nearly 90 helicopters, landing craft and hovercraft, were carrying out a round-the-clock relief operation, providing food, water and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of survivors.
[...]
The real story of the week should thus have been the startling contrast between the impotence of the international organisations, the UN and the EU, and the remarkable efficiency of the US and Australian military on the ground. Here and there, news organisations have tried to report this, such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine in Germany, and even the China News Agency, not to mention various weblogs, such as the wonderfully outspoken Diplomad, run undercover by members of the US State Department, and our own www.eureferendum.blogspot.com. But when even Communist China's news agency tells us more about what is really going on than the BBC, we see just how strange the world has become.

One real lesson of this disaster, as of others before, is that all the international aid in the world is worthless unless one has the hardware and organisational know-how to deliver it. That is what the US and Australia have been showing, as the UN and the EU are powerless to do. But because, to the BBC, it is a case of "UN and EU good, US and military bad", the story is suppressed. The BBC's performance has become a national scandal.

To think the Brits have to pay to have this stuff shoved down their throats. This is the typical systemic anti-Americanism that we are fighting in the media around the world. The same anti-Americanism that leftists blame us for creating, yet that doesn't seem to ring true. When we do something wrong in the eyes of elite world leftists of course the world media is all over it, but when we are doing something that should be considered good be any rational person, there is an amazing lack of coverage. It would seem that it is not our actions that are causing anti-Americanism around the world, but rather biased news outlets like the BBC.

Terrorists at Getmo are...ahhh...well you can read it from yourself

2005-01-10T00:10:00.000-05:00

From City Journal

Even more than Afghanistan, Guantánamo dissipated any uncertainty the detainees might have had about the consequences of noncooperation. Consistent with the president's call for humane treatment, prisoners received expert medical care, three culturally appropriate meals each day, and daily opportunities for prayer, showers, and exercise. They had mail privileges and reading materials. Their biggest annoyance was boredom, recalls one interrogator. Many prisoners disliked the move from Camp X-Ray, the first facility used at the base, to the more commodious Camp Delta, because it curtailed their opportunities for homosexual sex, says an intelligence analyst.

ROFL They're doing what? Aren't these people supposed to be "Islamic Fundamentalists?" Talk about hypocrisy. They want us dead because we don't brutally oppress women, but Johnny and Jake Jihad are getting it on in some cell at Getmo, wow!

Note:You should read the rest of the article it is an extensive look at what works and why in interrogations. As well as, the effect the leftist propagandists are having on our security.

The Irrelevancy of the Democratic Party

2005-01-09T21:43:00.000-05:00

This guy is gold:

Thought for the day, from a gloomy party member on the Democratic Underground Web site: ''Reality sucks. That's the problem. We want another reality.''
[...]
As usual, the media did their best to string along with the Democrats' alternative reality. For the most part, the press now fulfill the same function for the party that kindly nurses do at the madhouse; if the guy thinks he's Napoleon, just smile affably and ask him how Waterloo's going. So Alan Fram of the Associated Press reported with a straight face that Sen. Boxer, Congressman Conyers and the other protesting Democrats ''hoped the showdown would underscore the problems such as missing voting machines and unusually long lines that plagued some Ohio districts, many in minority neighborhoods.''

I think not. What it underscores is that the Democrats are losers. Speaking as a foreigner -- which I believe entitles me to vote in up to three California congressional districts -- I've voted on paper ballots all my life and reckon all these American innovations -- levers, punch cards, touch screen -- are a lot of flim-flam. I would be all in favor of letting the head of Bangladesh's electoral commission design a uniform federal ballot for U.S. elections. But that's not the issue here. What happens on Election Day is that the Democrats lose and then decide it was because of ''unusually long lines'' in ''minority neighborhoods.'' What ''minority neighborhoods'' means is electoral districts run by Democrats. In Ohio in 2004 as in Florida in 2000, the ''problems'' all occur in counties where the Dems run the system. Sometimes, as in King County in Washington, they get lucky and find sufficient votes from the ''disenfranchised'' accidentally filed in the icebox at Democratic headquarters. But in Ohio, Bush managed to win not just beyond the margin of error but beyond the margin of lawyer. If there'd been anything to sue and resue and re-resue over, you can bet those 5,000 shysters the Kerry campaign flew in would be doing it. Instead, Boxer and Conyers & Co. are using a kind of parliamentary privilege to taint Bush's victory without even the flimsiest pretext.
[...]
A Democrat chum said to me on Thursday, oh, well, they're just doing this to toss a bone to the base. But they're running out of bones to toss, and the base needs a reality check, not more pandering. One reason why the party has shriveled away to Greater New England plus the ''minority neighborhoods'' of a few cities is that it's all fringe, and no mainstream. The base is out of control; the kooks still holding their post-election vigil outside one of John Kerry's mansions sound no loopier than the big-time senators. The party has no urge to move on from moveon.org.

He really sums it up perfectly. Read the whole article. It's well worth it.

P.S. Mark Steyn's homepage.

More Bias From the AP

2005-01-09T17:31:00.000-05:00

From the AP via Yahoo! News:

Most of the 550 prisoners from 42 countries no longer are considered of significant intelligence value, but many swept up in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan aren't expected to be freed anytime soon - some because of stalled legal proceedings, others because they allegedly still pose a threat to the United States or its allies.

The US didn't sweep up these individuals. They are combatants. They were captured in battle. These people aren't alleged threats either. They are terrorists. If we release them, they will go back and start planning how to kill Americans again. Some already have

Although all prisoners are accused of links to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime or the al-Qaida terrorist network, Osama bin Laden has remained at large since the Sept. 11 terror attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.

This is what is called a "false clause." Notice that the first half of the sentence has nothing whatever to do with the second half.

The four prisoners who have been charged are low-level suspects, including bin Laden's driver, an al-Qaida accountant, a propagandist and an Australian cowboy allegedly turned Taliban fighter.

You got to love this. This Australian is an "alleged" Taliban fighter, as if the US military plucked him of the streets of Sydney. This guy was in Afghanistan fighting for the Taliban. That makes him an accentual Taliban fighter, not an "alleged" one.

The military also has seen three of its four cases of alleged spying at Guantanamo Bay fall apart. In September, the military dropped an espionage charge against Senior Airman Ahmad Al Halabi, who was accused of trying to deliver messages from detainees to an unidentified Syrian. Al Halabi pleaded guilty to four lesser charges, including taking an unauthorized picture of the camp.

Still pending is a federal case against civilian translator Ahmed Mehalba, accused of lying about having classified materials.

So there are four cases. Two of which they don't mention. Of the other two, we have one that is pending. So that one hasn't "fallen apart." And one where the guy pled out to a lesser charge. Hint to the AP: When you get a conviction, your case didn't "fall apart."

The AP Doesn't Get It

2005-01-09T16:47:00.000-05:00

From the AP via myway.com:

Newt Gingrich is taking steps toward a potential presidential bid in 2008 with a book criticizing President Bush's policies on Iraq and a tour of early campaign states.

First, Gingrich didn't write a book "criticizing President Bush on Iraq." He wrote a book, which among numerous other things criticizes the Administration for "underestimating the effect of anti-U.S. propaganda from the Arab" media. Aside from that, maybe the AP forgot there was just an election, which among other things showed that "criticizing President Bush on Iraq" was not a winning strategy.

American Values, Gonzales, and Our "So-Called War on Terrorism"

2005-01-09T03:44:00.000-05:00

From The New York Times:

If the United States were to look into a mirror right now, it wouldn't recognize itself.

The administration that thumbed its nose at the Geneva Conventions seems equally dismissive of such grand American values as honor, justice, integrity, due process and the truth.

One has to wonder if the author even believes that such values ever existed.

Our friends at Powerline sum this up nicely:

I hate to devote two posts to a single Bob Herbert column, but I want to make a point about his very first line: "If the United States were to look into a mirror right now, it wouldn't recognize itself." Coming from a leftist like Herbert, this "fall from grace" story is worse than disingenuous. Except perhaps for the harrowing Carter years, the American left doesn't believe that the U.S. has ever experienced a period of grace. What is Herbert's line on the World War II internments or our conduct of the Vietnam war (just ask John Kerry)? What did Herbert and his fellow leftists think we looked like in the mirror during the Reagan era, when we "created" the homeless class while engaging in a reckless arms build-up and unilaterally attacked the likes of Libya and Granada? Or, a few years later, when we went to war with Iraq the first time to protect, as the left would have it, our oil interests?

And more from the glory that is the NYT:

His judgments regarding the detention and treatment of prisoners rounded up in Iraq and the so-called war on terror have been both unsound and shameful.

If you live outside of the traditional liberal elitist centers like Washington DC, NYC, or Boston, you might be thinking: "WTF is the 'so-called War on Terror'?" Well, this phrase is common among Europeans. For those of you that have DirecTV, you can here about the "so-called War on Terror" on Link TV (Ch 375). The Channel is like a propaganda arm for the Marxist Stalinist Left. Basically, people who use the phrase "so-called War on Terror" are people that believe the War on Terrorism is a "construct" created to impose the "Imperialism of America" on the world. Note, many of these same people are the crazies that believe that 9/11 didn't happen or that it the US government orchestrate it.

Again the folks at Powerline with some insight:

This is one of the main reasons why I continue to believe that the Democrats will be making a mistake if they push too hard on this issue in connection with the Gonzales nomination. Since 9/11, the Democrats have suffered two major electoral defeats. In both elections, I believe, the main reason was the American public's doubts about the Democrats' seriousness when it comes to fighting terrorism. And these doubts are certainly the major common feature of the two elections. Even Herbert recognizes the problem, sort of, when he states "the Democrats have become the 98-pound weaklings of the 21st century." Unfortunately, Herbert doesn't realize that the Dems have become weaklings because the voting public already views them as such.

The first day of the Senate hearings seemed to confirm that the key Senators opposing Gonzales don't take the war on terrorism very seriously. Democratic Senators (along, unfortunately, with Republican Lindsay Graham) kept arguing that our use of debatable interrogation tactics puts our soldiers in harm's way because it means that when they are captured they are more likely to be tortured. There is some truth to this argument, but it would have been nice if one of these Senators had acknowledged that our actual enemies will behead any American (soldier or not) that they capture regardless of what interrogations tactics we use. It would also have been edifying if Gonzales' opponents had recognized the possibility that information obtained through aggressive interrogation can save lives. But, again, if you don't think the war on terror is real, this point is easier to lose sight of.

In other words, as long as Dems and their leaders see this war as a "so-called war," they are going to lose elections.

BANNED in Iran

2005-01-09T02:23:00.000-05:00

Following the lead of other dictatorial regimes, Iran is banning Blogs.

From slashdot.org:

It appears that Iranian ISPs have been ordered to block a large number of popular Web sites, including weblogging, community, chat and email services. Web (particularly weblog) use has been increasing rapidly in Iran, with 64000+ weblogs published by Iranians via various sites. As of today, if the news is correct, the majority of these may be inaccessible to their authors, as will the email (eg. Yahoo) services they use to communicate with friends, colleagues and family worldwide. See stop.censoring.us and hoder.com for more details. The newly expanded blocks include PersianBlog, Blogger and the Google-hosted Orkut 'social networking' site, where Iranians come third after Brazil and USA, representing 7% of all users.

Maybe this will shock some Iranians into more then just talk. It's time for the Iranians to step up before their government gets the kind of iron-fisted control that was present in pre-war Iraq.

Chirac Encourages Cowardice

2005-01-09T01:17:00.000-05:00

From CNN:

French President Jacques Chirac has warned journalists in France to stay out of Iraq, because their safety cannot be guaranteed.

Good news for us. That's less biased lefty reporters the US military has to protect.

In Case You Hadn't Noticed, the New York Times Has Sided With the Enemy

2005-01-08T00:44:00.000-05:00

From the NYT via the IHT:

Gonzales is said to face a sure confirmation. But thanks to the members of the committee, including some Republicans, who met their duty to question Gonzales aggressively, the hearing served to confirm that Bush had made the wrong choice when he rewarded Gonzales for his loyalty. The nation deserves an attorney general who is not the public face for inhumane, illegal and clearly un-American policies.

It amazes me that these people spend so much time worrying about the well being of terrorists. I only have one question: How many Americans are you willing to see dead to ensure that well being? I think you know my answer.

More Bad Leaders for the Palestinians

2005-01-05T23:16:00.000-05:00

From USA Today:

In the past week, Abbas:

o Called Israel the "Zionist enemy" after seven Palestinians were killed by an Israeli tank shell Tuesday in Gaza.

o Was carried on the shoulders of a leader of the militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades group in Jenin and signaled in Gaza that he would protect militants sought by the Israelis for terrorist attacks.

o Made demands that were sure to aggravate Israel including the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees who fled after Israel became a state, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and settlers to Israel's pre-1967 borders, and making Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Looks like Abbas is going to continue to lead the Palestinians in their quest for death. How leaders could continue to push their people down this road that glorifies killing yourself is incomprehensible.

More Leftist Hypocrisy

2005-01-04T19:09:00.000-05:00

Imagine if I expressed an opinion like this one: "In this time of war, America needs a strong and poised leader. Since men exemplify these qualities, we should have more male leaders." This of course is a bunch of nonsense, and I'm sure I'd hear about it from the leftists. Shockingly however when the roles are reversed, the liberals have reversed their position as well.

From The Christian Science Monitor:

I do not think I would be in danger of making a politically incorrect statement if I suggested the world might be a better place if more women occupied positions of political office and prominence. They can be as strong as any male in leadership positions. Take, for example, Golda Meir or Margaret Thatcher. They can, unfortunately, be as murderous as males - for example, the young women who have carried out suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. But by and large, women have a sensitivity that offers hope of a gentler approach to politics and international affairs.

I only need two words to put the lie to that one: Hillary Clinton.

America Needs to "Wake Up" to What the UN Really Is

2005-01-03T22:29:00.000-05:00

UN officials need to remember who pays there salaries, Namely the US and Japan.

Form CNN:

The U.N. official overseeing relief efforts for the tsunami disaster has called on world leaders to "wake up" to numerous other humanitarian catastrophes that he said get little or no attention.
[...]
"Could we wake up please to those 20 forgotten emergencies" [Egeland]

Nice to see he knows the facts. Maybe he should travel around his own continent spreading this message. The US already gives 40% of the world's disaster relief.

Shockingly Al-Jazeera is in the Pocket of the Terrorists

2005-01-03T00:36:00.000-05:00

From the AP via the Jerusalem Post:

According to Asharq al-Awsat's report, the tape of the March 13, 2000, meeting shows former Al-Jazeera manager Mohammed Jassem al-Ali telling Odai Saddam Hussein, "Al-Jazeera is your channel," and Odai recalls that he proposed "some ideas" in previous meetings that led to "some changes" in political coverage, including the introduction of new hosts on Al-Jazeera programs.

To think people that broadcast terrorists cutting off peoples heads might be on Saddam's side. This is one of the fundamental problems we have in the Middle East. The population getting most of their news from these people who are bought and paid for by terrorists and their supporters. Is it any wonder terrorist find it so easy to indoctrinate fools to go blow themselves up? We need to cut this poison off before it infects anymore people with it's propaganda. A good start would be to kicking Al-Jazeera out of the US.

Yanukovich Finally Hits the Rocks

2005-01-01T03:59:00.000-05:00

From The New York Times:

Viktor F. Yanukovich resigned as Ukraine's prime minister on Friday, signaling the end of a tumultuous political drama that nearly propelled him to the presidency but resulted in his defeat after a popular uprising against state-sponsored electoral fraud.

It was only a matter of time. He may think that he still has a future in politics, but he's damaged goods. Kuchma's faction will find someone not so obviously tainted for next time.

Mr. Yanukovich said, bitingly, that he could not continue serving as prime minister under the country's new leadership, a reference to Mr. Yushchenko's approaching presidency. "I believe it is impossible to have any position in a state that is ruled by such officials," he said.

I'm sure they were just lining up to work for you too.

Mr. Yanukovich remained defiant, insisting he was the rightful victor in the elections. He charged that tens of thousands of Ukrainians had been prevented from voting in the new runoff because of changes in election laws adopted by Parliament after the demonstrations in Kiev and other cities.

Call Jessie Jackson!

A Partial Peace Reaches Sudan

2005-01-01T01:50:00.000-05:00

From the Washington Post:

The Sudanese government and rebels in the southern part of the country signed the final chapters of a peace deal Friday, clearing the way for a comprehensive accord ending Africa's longest-running civil war.

This is obviously a positive development, and while it doesn't end the crisis in Darfur, it provides a outline for such an agreement there. With 70,000 people dead in Darfur as a result of the fighting, peace there is sorely needed.

The United States has put strong diplomatic pressure on Sudan to make peace in the south, so that it can focus on ending the separate crisis in Darfur.

Where ever there is conflict there are the evil Americans pushing for peace.

$315 Million More from the "Stingy" Americans

2004-12-31T23:05:00.000-05:00

From ABC News:

The United States upped its tsunami relief aid tenfold to $350 million Friday as the world's ships and planes converged on devastated shores.

Is this enough for the UN? I doubt it. The anti-Americanism is so ingrained that they could more easy say good things about UBL. It's time we recognized the UN for what it is, a waste of money that solves nothing and stands against the cause of freedom.

Gregoire "Wins"

2004-12-30T23:00:00.000-05:00

From ABC News:

After three vote tallies and nearly two nerve-racking months of waiting, Democrat Christine Gregoire was declared Washington's governor-elect on Thursday. But her Republican rival did not concede and wants a new election.

He should. This one was stolen.

"Do-overs" occur only in golf, and only during practice, she said. "This is not golf and this is not practice."

Really? Is that why you counted the votes three times?

After the election, more than 700 ballots surfaced in King County, which includes Seattle.

Amazingly convenient isn't it?

There needs to be a simple standard so things like this can be avoided in the future. For example, just count the ballots, and who ever comes out on top wins. You're never going to get a perfect result in these things. When the votes are this close, the margin is more like a random variable then anything else. This makes taking recounts a waste of time. The first recount is just as good as any subsequent count if not better because there is less opportunity to "find" new votes.

The US is 'stingy'? What about the $22 billion the UN stole?

2004-12-28T16:17:00.000-05:00

This is an outrage. Where did these people come from? When someone gives money do you slap them in the face and say, "You did give enough?" So how about 20 million more is that enough? Of course, we'll probably add hundreds of millions of dollars more in the next months. Plus we've mobilized numerous military assets to help in the recovery effort, but this isn't enough for the UN. What do they want another $22 billion so they can funnel it to terrorists and mass murders?

We're so evil aren't we?

2004-12-28T03:12:00.000-05:00

After the truly massive disaster in southern Asia, America is rushing to provide assistance, which includes money, US military aircraft to help assess the damage in remote areas, and personnel to help in the relief effort. The US government has pledged four and a half million dollars and will likely put forward 11 million more in the coming days. This is of course is just the beginning. The US will continue to help these countries until they recover. This of course begs the question: Why don't people consider these things before they pass judgment on America?

More Saber Rattling from the Chinese

2004-12-27T23:45:00.000-05:00

From China Day:

Beijing's latest white paper on defence includes its strongest warning yet to Taiwan separatist forces.

It is a "very strong" warning to Taiwan independence forces, said leading experts from the Chinese People's Liberation Army think-tank.
[...]
"Should the Taiwan authorities go so far as to make a reckless attempt that constitutes a major incident of 'Taiwan independence,' the Chinese people and armed forces will resolutely and thoroughly crush it at any cost," says the white paper.

Including nuclear war? I hope that this is little more then propaganda. If Taiwan were to declare independence and the US were to stand in its defense, China would be risking a lot if they moved against Taiwan. This scenario is unlikely, however. Taiwan is not likely to move strongly toward independence in the near future because of the makeup of its current government and US pressure not to make such a move.

Democracy finally prevails in Ukraine

2004-12-27T21:47:00.000-05:00

After three elections, Ukraine finally has a freely elected President, Viktor Yushchenko. His opponent hasn't yet given up, but how could he? He's given up everything in pursuit of the leadership of Ukraine including his integrity. Of course, this isn't just a defeat for Yushchenko's opponent, Yanukovych. It's a defeat for Putin as well. This hopefully will stunt his expantionism at least for the moment.

Is this where Russia is heading?

2004-12-27T14:43:00.000-05:00

From Swissinfo:

Uzbekistan has voted in an election that featured only parties loyal to autocratic President Islam Karimov, who said
he would not tolerate "revolutions" such as those which shook Ukraine and Georgia.
[...]
"Democracy just can't be universal, as there cannot be two completely identical countries," he said. "One cannot use democracy as a
means to topple state power."
[...]
Around 500 candidates from five parties are vying for 125 seats in parliament after four opposition ones were barred from taking part.
Karimov said there was no room for a weak opposition that had little impact on society.

Karimov is an autocrat to his core. What's important to him is not the welfare of his people, but rather "state power." In this case, it's really just his power.

In case anyone was wondering want would have happened if the dems had got their way in Florida

2004-12-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

The Democrats would have continued to "count the votes" until they got the result they wanted. How do we know this? Well, that is what just happened in Washington. After the third recount, the Democrats in King County managed to find just enough votes to change the result.

Putin's Belligerence Continues

2004-12-23T17:46:00.000-05:00

This is the kind of thing that happens when a politician starts to feel untouchable.

Responding to a reporter's request for his reaction to a statement allegedly made by Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski (search) to the effect that "Russia without Ukraine is better than Russia with Ukraine," Putin said angrily that the Polish leader sounded "like someone trying to find a new job" when his term runs out.

Well, it's that an ominous statement. Putin seems to think he can pick the leaders of foreign countries like the USSR used to. You'd think after Georgia and Ukraine he'd get the message that the Russian Federation isn't even close to as powerful as the USSR was, but Putin has the blind ambition typical of many fascist dictators. Hopefully, he's stopped before he can make the inevitable bloody miscalculation like invading one of Russia's neighbors.

"I don't think that is the goal of U.S. policy," he said, adding however that he would pose the question to U.S. President George W. Bush when they meet in Slovakia in February.

"If it's indeed so, then the position on Chechnya is becoming more understandable. That means that there, as well, a policy aimed at creating elements that would destabilize the Russian Federation is being conducted," Putin said.

The position he's talking about is the belief that genocide is wrong, and therefore, Russia should not be slaughtering innocent people in Chechnya.

Update
Another Gem:

"Some market participants got multibillion state assets using different tricks, including some violations of then-existing legislation," Putin said.

By contrast, he said, the 100-percent state-owned Rosneft's purchase of the Yukos stake "was done in absolute conformity with market means."

Like jailing it's CEO for example.

Look Palestinians are Voting!

2004-12-23T16:27:00.000-05:00

From Yahoo!:

Palestinians voted on Thursday in the first municipal elections in the West Bank for nearly three decades, a dry run for a presidential ballot next month to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat.

The elections, which drew a heavy turnout, were expected to be a test of strength between the dominant Fatah movement and Islamists sworn to destroying Israel.

Voting ended at 7 p.m. and results were expected to be released on Saturday.

"This is democracy and freedom, and God willing we will choose the right people who will serve our needs," said Rahma Hamed, a school principal who voted in the village of Silwad, some 12 miles north of Jerusalem.

In the West Bank, roughly 1,000 candidates were competing for about 300 seats on 26 local councils, mostly in villages, during the first phase of the elections. A similar vote in Gaza was delayed because violence prevented registration.

In the West Bank, long lines formed in front of polling stations in mild weather for what was also the first Palestinian ballot since Arafat was elected president in 1996.

And there goes another nail into the coffin of the "Arabs aren't capable of democracy" argument. It is odd to hear many leftist espouse this argument. Especially as they rant about the US Government taking away their rights. I'm always tempted to say, "Well maybe democracy isn't the best system of government for us either." I think that would send most of them over the edge, however.

Of course, what would a day when Palestinians make progress be without a Palestinian leader putting his foot in his mouth.

Abbas has welcomed a proposal by British leader Tony Blair to host a London conference in March on Palestinian reform.

But Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said that what was really needed was a peace conference.

"It is the Israeli side that requires rehabilitation for peace, not us," Qurie told reporters.

I'm sure that comment will go over real well in Israel while they are burying the dead from the last terrorist attack.

Scrooge!

2004-12-22T19:48:00.000-05:00

From Cox and Forkum

Is Kim Jong Il Still Ruling North Korea?

2004-12-20T17:07:00.000-05:00

From Front Page Magazine

Suddenly in North Korea pictures of Kim Jong Il, the peoples' Dear Leader by unchallengeable fiat, have gone missing. Comparative photos taken in a Peoples Cultural Center auditorium in May and August of this year have piqued outside interest in the future of Kim Jong Il. The earlier photo portrays what we have come to think of as the usual adulatory presentation: a portrait of Kim Jong Il side-by-side with one of his father Kim Il Sung, the modestly self-proclaimed Great Leader, dominates the head of the auditorium,. The late summer shot shows the KJI portrait missing so that the late elder Kim's portrait stands alone. All very mysterious.

This is of course pure speculation. They could have taken the Kim Jong Il portrays down to have them cleaned, but since we have virtually no way to know what is going on inside North Korea, We have to look at things like this. Thus, let's assume that the disappearance of the portrays means there has been a change in power inside North Korea. What could this result in? It could be one of two things in my judgment.

North Korea moves to become more moderate. This would probably indicate the involvement of China in forcing Kim Jong Il out. This would probably mean that the North Korean government would be willing to abandon it's nuclear ambitions permanently.

North Korea becomes more extreme. This would indicate some of the hard liners didn't feel like they were getting what they wanted from Kim Jong Il, and therefore simply got rid of him. This would obviously be a bad thing. North Korea could begin in move to a more aggressive posture. This could eventually necessitate U.S. intervention though i doubt it because China would likely take care of that before we would be inclined to.

Russia Turns from Freedom to Fascism

2004-12-18T17:57:00.000-05:00

From IHT:

Practically overnight, Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, would create an energy company that not only controls about 20 percent of the nation's oil exports but also has some of the world's largest energy reserves.

A Kremlin campaign that unfolded over the past year will have succeeded in dismembering the country's foremost private oil company, and it will send a signal to Russia's business elite that the state is back in business, literally.

This isn't good for Russia, and it isn't good for the rest of us either. Putin is essentially creating a fascist state. He exposes fierce nationalism, expansionism, domination of Russia's neighbors, and socialism. The West must do everything it can to stop Putin before this gets out of hand because we know were National Socialism leads.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Houston on Thursday ordered a 10-day delay in the sale, but officials in Moscow organizing the sale rejected the ruling.

Putin has put too much effort into destroying this company to stop for some US Federal Court judge.

The U.S. judge, Letitia Clark, issued a temporary restraining order intended to block the participation of lenders and Gazprom. The banks, analysts said, have extensive operations in the United States, and violating the ruling could put them in contempt. Clark's ruling did not apply to the government of Russia.

Unfortunately that isn't going to stop it either. Putin would rather not make it blatant that he is trying to nationalize Yukos, but he will if he has to. Remember, he controls the media in Russia. He can spin this as he wishes at home.

Although two other largely unknown companies have submitted bids for Yukos, their presence was seen as purely an effort to make the auction seem valid. Foreign suitors, including companies from China, India and other energy investors, have been discouraged from participating in the bidding process.

This is just a façade. I do, however, wonder what Putin has on some of these companies that he's able to "discourage" them from participating.

If the auction is completed on Sunday, Yukos will essentially die that day - a casualty of efforts by Russian prosecutors that came with the tacit blessing of Putin. The founder of Yukos is now jailed and on trial on tax and fraud charges, the company's American executives are in self-imposed exile, and its shareholders are out billions of dollars. Russia's actions have set foreign and domestic investors on edge, prompted a capital flight and raised questions about the rule of law and how businesses will fare.

This is a very clear message to investors and business that operate in Russia. "Agree with Putin, or the state will take everything you have." This is, of course, a very bad message to be sending because investors because they have many choices. So why would they let themselves be bullied in Russia?

Lee Raymond, the chief executive at Exxon Mobil, said this month that he was re-evaluating whether it was the right time to invest in Russia.

Hint: If Exxon Mobil is thinking of pulling out and you have some kind of business operation in Russia, you should already be gone. Putin is less likely to pick on a large company like Exxon Mobil then a smaller less noticeable operation.

"Chemical Ali" Begins to Face Justice

2004-12-18T16:39:00.000-05:00

From Fox:

Once regarded as one of Saddam Hussein's most feared cohorts, the general who gained notoriety as Chemical Ali (search) for the gassing of thousands of Kurds faced a judge Saturday looking haggard and leaning on a cane in the first investigative hearings of former Baath regime members.
...
Al-Majid - who earned his nickname of Chemical Ali for his alleged use of chemical weapons against Kurds and others in the 1980s - appeared haggard in a video released after the interrogation. The gray-haired first cousin of Saddam leaned on a walking stick before sitting in front of a judge behind a desk.

Ahmad was shown staring blankly at the ground as police officers stood to either side of him holding his arms. A thickly set man with black mustache, Ahmad was later seen smiling broadly to others in the hearing room.

This guy was one of the worst of the worst. His trial is likely to by in Early to mid January. Maybe when people hear what these thugs have done, they will see the humanitarian case for the war.

The lawyer, who declined to be identified, quoted Ahmad as telling the judge: "I have been a military officer for 40 years and have never been punished…

Somehow I don't think the "Saddam never told me I was doing anything wrong" defense is going to fly.

Most Disturbing Story of the Day by a Mile

2004-12-18T14:34:00.000-05:00

Before we details of this sickening story, let's look at how ABC titles the story.

Woman Charged in Grisly Theft of Fetus

"Theft" The child is a person! You don't steal people. You kidnap or abduct them. I'm not going to go into the abortion argument, but since the baby did end up living you could call it a "child" instead of a "fetus"

You may not want to read this part. So be warned, It's truly sickening.

A baby girl who had been cut out of her mother's womb was found after a frantic search, and authorities arrested the woman they say strangled the mother and stole the child. The baby was in good condition Saturday.

The child was found Friday at an eastern Kansas home. A red Toyota similar to a description given earlier by police was in the driveway.

Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, was found Thursday in a pool of blood inside her small white home in Skidmore, a town in northwest Missouri.

Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, had earlier been talking with her mother on the phone, and hung up saying a woman she had chatted with online had just arrived at her door, authorities said.
...
Montgomery is the mother of two high school-age children, but Graves said she had been pregnant with another child that was never born.
...
Montgomery confessed that she strangled Stinnett from behind, cut her open, removed the baby and cut her umbilical cord. She also admitted that she lied to her husband about what happened.

You have to wonder what this woman was thinking. In fact, it seems obvious that she wasn't thinking at all. She will likely never see the outside of a prison in either case. That, however, is not much consultation to her husband or the child that will grow up without a mother.

There is of course one positive aspect to this:

The baby was named Victoria Jo and was united with her father, Zeb Stinnett, late Friday, Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center in Topeka said in a statement Saturday on its Web site. She was listed in good condition at the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.

I don't know much about medicine, but it's would seems to be miraculous that the child survived.

Update:
The people at Fox didn't use very good diction either.
Woman Charged in Stolen Fetus Case

Update 2:
Well, at least someone knows how to right an appropriate headline and shockingly it's Yahoo! News:
Mo. Woman Charged With Kidnapping, Murder

Cults of Personality

2004-12-17T22:53:00.000-05:00

Quotes from the Economist
DPRK (North Korea)

Chaperones escort foreign visitors everywhere, lying constantly. "This shop is empty because it's a holiday." "The lights have gone off because it makes a more romantic atmosphere for dinner." "The Americans started the Korean war." And so on. A Chinese diplomat in Pyongyang once begged your correspondent to linger for tea, explaining that, bored witless, he had to talk to someone who would not keep praising the Kims for the sunshine.

When the Chinese get tired of hearing your propaganda, you've gone a bit overboard. The worse part is that these people don't believe they're lies. They have lost all sense of what the truth is.

Presidents-for-life are passé in most places, but not in North Korea, where the Dear Leader's father, the country's founding tyrant, was declared "eternal president" after his death in 1994.

North Korea is the ultimate socialist system. The state has even replaced God!

they proclaimed a uniquely Korean ideology of juche, or self-reliance

Ha, that's a rich one. Twenty-five percent of the DPRK's population survives solely on foreign aid.

In the camps, prisoners have to memorise rules such as "Adore Kim Jong Il with all your heart," and informers report disloyal sleep-talk, which is punishable by death.

What a sick society! It can't be much longer before that house of cards collapses, and if it doesn't, we should give it a push.

Nationalism can elide into that other powerful emotion, hatred, and despots like the Kims make sure to push it that way. A foreign enemy makes it easier to demand unity and obedience. That is why, in maths classes, North Korean children are taught to add and subtract by totting up, and taking away, numbers of dead American soldiers.

That speaks for itself.

His other strategy is to seek nuclear weapons, presumably in the hope that foreigners will take him seriously and buy him off. But that will not protect him from his own people, who will surely demand one day to join the other, richer, freer Korea to the south, just as the East Germans wanted to rejoin West Germany. For now, no one wants to be the first to drop the charade of Dear Leader-worship. But as Nicolae Ceausescu discovered in Romania, the first jeer can swiftly become a revolution.

Kim must have forgoten. The President of the United States is George Bush. He won't be making any deals to pay off the DPRK.

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan, a country of 5m people in Central Asia, is not as shackled as North Korea, but the locks are clicking. It used to be a Soviet vassal state, ruled by a Moscow stooge called Saparmurat Niyazov. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Mr Niyazov deftly reinvented himself as a Turkmen patriot, the "Turkmenbashi" or father of all Turkmen. He banned all opposition, declared himself president-for-life and erected golden statues of himself everywhere, including one in Ashgabat, the capital, which revolves with the sun.
...
Mr Niyazov has renamed months of the calendar after members of his family,

The greatest sin in every religion: Pride

A collection of his thoughts on philosophy, ethics and Turkmen culture, the “Rukhnama” (“Book of the Soul”), forms the basis of the school curriculum. Even to pass a driving test, his subjects must show their knowledge of this “sacred” text.
...
[Mr Niyazov] keeps mosques under state control and puts a copy of the "Rukhnama" next to the Koran in every one.

OBL should take his jihad there. Talk about breaking the tenants of Islam. This guy is making himself a God.

Togo

Togo's ruler, Gnassingbé Eyadéma, is the least revolting of the three, but has been around the longest. A former wrestling champion, Mr Eyadéma seized power in a coup in 1967, when he was 29. He has held on to it through a mixture of guile, force and French support.

The French supported a dictator? That's never happened before.

Be reassured, Eyadéma,
You were crowned by God!
Be reassured, Eyadéma,
The people are behind you!

He sings that to himself every night. I'm sure.

Republicans Need to Get It Together

2004-12-17T16:06:00.000-05:00

We aren't even in Bush's second term, and the Republican party can't get any kind of unified message. First, it was McCain and Hegel, and now this:

Lott, speaking to the civic club Wednesday, said the United States needs more troops to help with the war and a plan to leave Iraq once elections take place in late January. The Mississippi Republican doesn't think Rumsfeld is the person to carry out that plan.

"I would like to see a change in that slot in the next year or so," Lott said. "I'm not calling for his resignation, but I think we do need a change at some point."

The President needs to settle this down, or he's going to start losing that hard won "political capital." He should either get rid and Rumsfeld, or drag these Republicans into the White House and tell them nicely to keep there opinions about this to themselves.

I'd much prefer the latter. Why? There are two reasons. First, you don't change horses in the middle of the race. If Rumsfeld goes, the terrorists will claim it is because of them. Second, he has done a fine job. We can all sit here and Monday-morning-quarter every decision that is made, or we can move forward focus on what's next.

Bush and Faith

2004-12-17T14:25:00.000-05:00

Quotes from the Economist:

Mr Bush clearly does believe God is involved in his life. Asked at a debate in the Republican primary contest in 1999 which philosopher he most identified with, Mr Bush replied promptly, "Christ-because he changed my heart." At a national prayer breakfast in February 2003, he said he "felt the presence of the Almighty". The president has talked of making decisions "on bended knee".

If you had to make a decision, and you believed the following things: a) If you pray to God, he will answer you by guiding your actions to his will. b) You will make better decisions when you ask God. Wouldn't it be logical to ask God before making any important decisions?

By the standards of most evangelical Christians, these beliefs would be considered unremarkable. But Mr Bush cannot be judged by those standards. He is president of all Americans. What about the measure of America's political mainstream?
...
...in the American context, is the president's belief that God is involved in the world's affairs exactly ground-breaking.

If you believe in God, how could you not believe he has a plan for the world?

Critics have complained that such quotations are code to please evangelicals, who recognize them.

<<==rolls eyes. "Code words." Why not just listen to what he has to say instead of searching for what is not there?

A Hero to Remember

2004-12-17T13:34:00.000-05:00

From CNN:

Sixty years ago, Bouck was a young, whip-smart lieutenant, commanding a U.S. Army intelligence and reconnaissance platoon made up of 18 elite soldiers -- the eyes and ears of a fragmented Allied force pushing through Belgium toward the German border.

By mid-December 1944, they had just about reached the border. But there was a huge gap in the front lines, and Bouck's platoon was ordered to plug an isolated stretch of it, on a hill.

"We weren't trained to occupy a defensive position in the front lines. We were trained to patrol and get information about the enemy," says Bouck.

But the enemy found them.

On December 16, a huge column of German paratroopers got wind of Bouck's platoon, dug in on that hill.

The Germans threw some 700 men, in three waves, at Lyle Bouck and 17 other Americans.

The GIs had their orders.

"They were told to hold at all costs. Basically that meant 'until you get killed or taken prisoner,'" says Alex Kershaw, whose new book, "The Longest Winter," recounts the story of Bouck's platoon.

But by day's end, hundreds of Germans were dead.

Some Americans were badly wounded, but not one was killed, and they were captured only when they ran out of ammunition.

This is an amazing story, and he doesn't see himself as a hero either. I thank him for his service and wish Lyle and his wife Lucy well.

I'll be watching MSNBC Tonight

2004-12-16T16:04:00.000-05:00

Although I don't usually encourage such activity, I hope you'll watch MSNBC tonight at 10 pm eastern. They are going to feature a documentary about 2Slick's brigade. (The 159th Aviation Brigade) Here is the Web Site for the film.

"Chemical Ali" Will be the First to Face Justice

2004-12-16T11:58:00.000-05:00

From Fox:

Iraqi officials plan to make one of the highest-profile figures in Saddam Hussein's regime - Ali Hassan al-Majid (search), called "Chemical Ali" by the West - the first person to be tried for war crimes.

"In the next few days we will have the trial of Ali Hassan al-Majid, one of the close followers of Saddam Hussein," Defense Minister Hazim al-Shaalan said Wednesday. "He will be the first to be tried."

The trial could begin as early as next week, but would definitely begin by the middle of January, al-Shaalan added.

Like many of Saddam's closest confidants, "Chemical Ali" is a kinsman from Tikrit. Leading the list of charges against him will be allegations that he ordered the gassing of as many as 5,000 Kurds in the town of Halabja (search) in March 1988, near the end of the Iran-Iraq War.

Let justice be swift. This animal does not deserve to take one more breath in this life.

This is Sickening!

2004-12-16T11:36:00.000-05:00

From WPLG Fort Lauderdale, FL:

Lake County mom convicted of simple assault after a school bus camera caught her beating a student who had gotten into a fight with her daughter didn't show up for her sentencing Tuesday.

Where is the self-control? At some point in the not to distance past, people decided that they had the right to assault other people for no good reason. It was the same concept with the fight between the NBA players and the fans in Detroit. You just have to ask, "What were this people thinking?"

HumVee Armor isn't from Wal-Mart!

2004-12-16T00:40:00.000-05:00

From Fox:

The Army says it will spend more than $4 billion in the coming months to rush more armored vehicles (search) to Iraq to protect troops against bombs.

Officials rejected criticism that shortages reflect poor war planning and said they've been working as fast as possible to give troops what they need.

"This is not Wal-Mart," said Brig. Gen. Jeffery Sorenson

As has been shown in previous posts, this stuff isn't easy to make, and it isn't cheap. The Wal-Mart comment was apt. It isn't like there are warehouses full of this stuff, and the government is just sitting on it.

There was too little advanced body armor and were too few armored vehicles to deal with what the Pentagon has since acknowledged is a far stronger and longer insurgency than expected, critics say.

Isn't hindsight grand?

Who Does This Guy Think He Is?

2004-12-15T21:41:00.000-05:00

From WKMG in Florida:

"I have not been standing for the Pledge of Allegiance due to a conflict I have with the wording of the pledge, specifically the words 'under God,'" Councilman David Habecker said.

The Pledge is for all Americans. If you don't want to say "under God," that's fine, but say the rest of the Pledge. This guy is spitting on the people who died for his right to act like an idiot.

"I'm sad for the community, that there is that much intolerance in our community."

Intolerance? This is the second time today I've heard that accusation hurled at conservatives. Apparently, we're not allowed to call these people out anymore for being fools.

A Story from Iraq

2004-12-15T20:46:00.000-05:00

From Idn_Alrafidain

One of my neighbors told me another story about a teenager. My neighbor recalled his story when the teenager crossed in front of the car which we were using to tour gas stations looking for fuel (there is a real fuel & power crisis nowadays). This teenager volunteered for Al-Mahdee militia of Muktada Al-Sadder. He was assigned to fight in Najaf, though he lives in Baghdad. When he was in Najaf, another group of Al-Mahdee militia who fight in Baghdad took position, to shoot at the American troops, in front of his family house. His father and brothers tried to prevent them from doing so, since the Americans would retaliate causing lot of casualties to the family. They had a quarrel with the militants which evolved into shooting. As a result two brothers of the volunteer fellow were killed.
Two of his brothers were killed by his comrades. Paradoxical, isn’t it?
Visiting his family, on leave, the volunteer discovered the truth of how such militias can harm the people. He quit immediately and started to work as a porter.

Hopefully Iraqis can learn from this story that the terrorists are not fighting for freedom no matter what they may say.

Yushchenko Poisoning Gets More Disturbing

2004-12-15T18:31:00.000-05:00

From Fox:

New tests reveal the level of dioxin in the blood of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko is more than 6,000 times higher than normal, according to the expert analyzing the samples.

Who ever did this wanted him dead bad. If I had to guess, I'd say it was someone sent by Putin.

Experts say Yushchenko, whose face has been pockmarked and disfigured, has probably experienced the worst effects already and should gradually recover, with no impairment to his working ability.

Despite predictions by his opponent, it appears Yushchenko is going to be fine. I'm sure Putin's relieved

There is Nothing Wrong with This

2004-12-15T17:02:00.000-05:00

From Fox:

A judge refused to delay a trial Tuesday when an attorney objected to his wearing a judicial robe with the Ten Commandments (search) embroidered on the front in gold.

Where's the ACLU? This guy is being demagogued by the media for engaging in Free Speech.

Attorney Riley Powell, defending a client charged with DUI, filed a motion objecting to the robe and asking that the case be continued. He said McKathan denied both motions.

"I feel this creates a distraction that affects my client," Powell said.

How about you don't drink and drive? Then, you wouldn't have to be "distracted" by the Ten Commandments, well...that and prison time.

The Inside on the HumVee Controversy: Production is Not Easy

2004-12-14T20:13:00.000-05:00

From RebelRouser.net:

The very first thing you need to know about this armor is what it is. I can’t tell you everything, but I can tell you that it is only an inch and half thick, but yet it stopped an RPG (rocket propelled grenade) from taking my buddy’s head off. If you have all the pieces, it covers every inch of your vehicle, even the floor panels, and weighs so damn much that you use twice the fuel anytime you go out and this stuff is on your vehicle. Pretty much all it is is a mean ass Exo-Skeleton for HMMWV’s.

Okay, so you know what it is, now I’m gonna tell you where it is. The manufacturing process of this Armor takes a good long time for two reasons.

1. The alloys involved are difficult to manufactory.
2. Every piece must be blast tested before it can be sent to Iraq.

What this means is that the company takes these pieces, blows them up and checks to make sure their structural integrity is still good to go. This is very expensive and very time consuming, but this doesn’t mean that there isn’t A LOT of armor being shipped to Iraq. When I left, shipments were arriving every week and this was in February when the program was first starting. Now that it has been awhile it is probably more often.

If you have a chance, you should read the whole article, but this part sums up the main point. Namely, HumVees and their armor don't drop out of the shy, and no amount of wishing by Rumsfeld or anyone else is going to make them just appear because they are difficult and time consuming to produce.

If We Hadn't Stopped This Who Would Have?

2004-12-14T18:46:00.000-05:00

From Reuters:

Allawi gave no further details but residents living nearby said workers found the remains while preparing the ground for a new hospital near a highway in Debashan, north of Sulaimaniya.

Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights has sealed off the site, where its staff are working. The driver of a mechanical digger told Kurdish television about 900 bodies might be in the grave but it was too early to know how many were buried there.

Did we go to Iraq because it was a threat? Yes, but there is another equally valid reason. Saddam was on a rampage killing hundreds of thousands of people. We don't need to go into the depths of what he did to some of those that he didn't kill. It's obvious that he was a depraved man, and he was running his country in character.

Russian Grip on Power in the Ukraine Slips; Yanukovych's Campaign is Crumbling

2004-12-14T14:01:00.000-05:00

There is no better example of the walking disaster that is Viktor Yanukovych then this gem from Fox:

For his part, Yanukovych said he sympathized with his rival and that he wished him "no evil."

In an interview with The Associated Press, he demanded a thorough investigation and promised not to interfere in it. But he stressed that the impact of the dioxin could hamper Yushchenko's performance should he be elected in this month's rerun.

"The fact of the matter is that Yushchenko is seriously ill," he said. "We can all see it."

Translation: I didn't do it, but I hope it accomplishes what it intended.

Not very tactful to say the least.

An Iraqi Fighting the Good Fight in Iraq

2004-12-14T13:40:00.000-05:00

From Ibn_Alrafidain:

I wrote letters to newspapers to publish the [universal] declaration [of human rights]. At least one of the most popular newspapers (Al-Sabah) published it and other universal declarations by the UN which I had known nothing about them.

I believe and insist that we, Iraqis, need educational rehabilitation. For that we need continuous support by the free world.

People like this are a modal of what Iraq must become. Not just standing back and waiting from democracy, human rights, and an end to terrorism to happen, but going out and doing something about it.

Bernard Kerik Deserves Better

2004-12-14T04:15:00.000-05:00

I often nail left wingers for their vicious ad hominem attacks on people they disagree with, but I'm an equal opportunity offender. I was listening to Michel Savages talk show on the radio, and I hear him compare Bernard Kerik to Scott Peterson. Before I go further, let's review the facts. What has Kerik done? He's employed an illegal immigrant and supposedly had an extramarital affair. Now is this enough to prevent him from becoming Homeland Security Secretary? Probably, but does that mean he deserve to be raked over the coals by Michel Savage with comments like "One sick bastard got the death penalty today and another got a life sentence of shame?" Absolutely not. Kerik was a hero on 9/11 and then he went to Iraq to train the Iraqi police. Affairs and illegal nannies don't trump that. Michel Savage should apologize.

Kofi Annan should resign

2004-12-14T01:44:00.000-05:00

“In any other organization, if the CEO was around at the time when there was a $21 billion rip-off, the board of directors would say it’s time to go,” said Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman, whose subcommittee on investigations is looking into a wide range of alleged UN improprieties. “Unless folks see us getting to the bottom of this, I think the U.S. relationship with the United Nations is jeopardized.”
[...]
Rep. Roger Wicker, R-MS, has collected 52 cosponsors for a resolution calling on Annan to resign “due to the allegations of fraud, mismanagement, and abuse.” Sen. Coleman says the condition for continuing U.S.-UN relations is “Kofi himself taking responsibility and stepping down.”

I understand that it might be counter-productive if we are seen in the world as trying to force Annan out, but allowing him to stay is not an option. He is an impediment to the things we need to get done in the world, including in Iraq and with regard to the Israel/Palestinian issue. If getting him out mains withholding funding, then it must be done.

There is another important aspect to the Oil-for-Food Scandal, which has gone largely unnoticed. Oddly enough, Kofi Annan sums it up nicely:

Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a government's ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice and discouraging foreign investment and aid.

Quote of the Day

2004-12-14T01:18:00.000-05:00

From Soldiers for Truth:

We need to get over this PC mindset once and for all. The insurgency terrorists will take their entire country down with them if given the chance. We need to use every resource at our command to obliterate these deviants, and hopefully thereby discourage future would-be combatants.

It is Getting Bad in Darfur

2004-12-14T00:52:00.000-05:00

From 7am News:

Two Save the Children aid workers have been shot dead in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur.

The charity has suspended its operations in the region, which a United Nations report last week said was spiraling into chaos.

The two died after the vehicle that the two Sudanese nationals were traveling in came under fire in South Darfur.

I fail to see the logic in killing people who are just trying to help. It's morally reprehensible.

The number of ceasefire violations has been on the rise in recent months, with rebel leaders accusing the government of breaching the truce and threatening to boycott peace talks.

The rebels announced that they would stay away from the talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, until the government promised to halt attacks.

If countries don't start stepping up to the plate, a lot of people are going to die. You may not think this is your problem, but it is. If the Arabs in that area wipe out all the blacks, there is high likelihood that Sudan could become a terrorist haven in the mode of Afghanistan, which it can’t today because there is a moderating force. i.e. the black Christians

I Try

2004-12-13T23:56:00.000-05:00

From our friends at CBS:

Internet blogs are providing a new and unregulated medium for politically motivated attacks.

So CBS is now for so kind of "regulation?" But when they have a striper at the half time show of the Super Bowl, it's some kind of fascism when they get fined, and what kind of "politically motivated attacks" are they talking about? Like say if I forged documents in an attempt to defeat a sitting President in a time of war. Is that the kind of attack we're talking about here?

At minimum, the role of blogs in the Daschle-Thune race is a telling harbinger for 2006 and 2008. Some blogs could become new vehicles for the old political dirty tricks.

Like all media, blogs hold the potential for abuse. Experts point out that blogs' unregulated status makes them particularly attractive outlets for political attack.

There is not a better example then blogs to show us why the government should keep it's grubby fingers off. We all understand that most political bloggers have an agenda. I do, but if I thought any blogs that I read were simply making stories to defeat a political candidate, I would stop reading them immediately. Your reputation in this business is everything. People aren't going to waste their time reading lies.

Eugene Volokh sums it up nicely:

"He [a blogger in the story] is perfectly free to write the blog. You can criticize him for it but he had a perfect Constitutional right to do what he did," said Eugene Volokh, who teaches free speech law at UCLA Law School and authors his own blog, the Volokh Conspiracy.

"People are free to say whatever they want to say and not reveal any financial inducements and not reveal in whose pay they are...

Knife Control

2004-12-13T22:03:00.000-05:00

From Ananova:

The devastated relatives of stabbing victims traveled to Downing Street in an emotional campaign to put knife crime on a par with gun crime.

The group - which includes the parents of murdered schoolboy Luke Walmsley - are calling on the Government to equalize penalties for knives and guns, and introduce a five-year minimum jail term for carrying an object with a blade longer than three inches.

How are you supposed to defend yourself? Why don't these people just come out and support what they are really after, which is the repeal of self-defense laws. At least that is the net result of their agenda. As with all such laws, they aren't going to stop criminals from getting weapons. All they do is to stop law abiding citizens from getting weapons to defend themselves.

And she said she was "disgusted" with the Government's action on knife crime: "I think if it was one of their children or a member of their family and one of their children had been murdered, I think measures would have been brought in within a year, but of course we are Joe Public."

I'm sorry for this person's loss, but this is a horrible logical argument. Liberals use this kind of argument on other issues all the time. For example, "What if you were raped and got pregnant? Wouldn't you support abortion?" So, why is this argument so flawed? Well, what is the real question when it comes to abortion? It is whether the child/fetus is an individual human life. If the child/fetus is alive, it is irrelevant ethically how it came into being.

Justice is Severed

2004-12-13T17:12:00.000-05:00

This isn't the usual function of the this blog. But I'd like to say that I approve of the Peterson verdict. For if killing your wife and child is not dissevering of the death penalty, what is? I haven't posted on this topic before because I don't believe that it is the role of the media, of which I now include myself, to be creating a circus like atmosphere at these trials. The role of the media is to report the important facts of this case. What the media should be reporting is that he has been charged and what the verdict is. What happened everyday for the last number of months wasn't reporting anything important. It was creating sensationalism for the purpose of having something to talk about, and there are much more important things to discuss. I hope this is the last such case that follows the "OJ mold," but I fear that the likelihood of that is slim.

"Vast Right Wing Conspiracy"

2004-12-13T00:22:00.000-05:00

It's time to debunk this lie. I just turned on MSNBC, and I saw an ad for one of their shows that says so-and-so "believes that there is a right wing conspiracy to control the media." I don't remember his name, but he must be one of those people that will piss on you and tell you it's raining. Just look at the media today. Dan Rather and his fake memos. The mainstream media ignored the Swift Boat Vets and then trashed them. Of course, this is all some conspiracy to get George Bush another term.

More Stark News about Freedom in Saudi Arabia

2004-12-12T22:57:00.000-05:00

From Victon Hanson:

I wish I could report that human rights in the Magic Kingdom had risen to the status of African wild dogs, Longhorn fairy shrimps, or any other endangered species facing extinction. Unfortunately, it's a cold fact of life that something must first come into existence before it can be taken out.

The phantom seed of human rights was planted in the Kingdom last year in May, when the stroke-stricken King deigned to allow the first-ever independent human rights organization on the Arabian Peninsula.

Seven months later, on October 15, 2003, this phantasmal seed germinated into the Magic Kingdom's first human rights conference. Dignitaries from fifteen countries, including the United States, flocked to the occasion. After much hoopla and diplomatic hobnobbing, the conference delivered the divine "Riyadh Declaration": a cornucopia of warmth and sunshine guaranteeing freedom and respect for all things, including the planet. Following a lengthy introduction, 23 items are emphatically "declared and stressed." For those inclined, you can read the entire document at the Saudi Embassy website.

Item three of the "Riyadh Declaration" caught my wandering eye:

The illegal curtailment of freedom and violation of man's sanctity and morale is unjustifiable and is prohibited in Islamic law.

The more I read about Saudi Arabia the more I think that nice smiling Saudi Spokesman must be on some kind of drug. If you have watched the news much, you have seen this guy. He wears a suit. He looks right into the camera and smiles. Then, he lies. He says things like "there is no oppression in Saudi Arabia." This guy's the new Baghdad Bob.

On a more serious note, it looks like things are just getting worse in Saudi Arabia. They apparently believe that no one is going to call them on it, and there probably right, at least for now. But countries like the US, UK, France and Germany should be calling them on these abuses no matter how much oil they have. If they don't, it just going to get worse, and we will be dealing with a war in Saudi Arabia or Iran part II.

More Facts Less Spin: The Real Story Behide Rumsfeld's Q+A with the Troops

2004-12-12T02:56:00.000-05:00

There seems to be a lot of misinformation out there about Rumsfeld's Q+A with soldiers in Kuwait. I think that some perspective on these issues from the soldier's point of view would be useful. The first quote is from Sgt. Missick, who was there at the Q+A. The second quote is from 2Slick's Forum and is authored by a Black Hawk Pilot who is based in Kuwait.

Rumsfeld Grilled By Soldiers?
Almost immediately after returning to camp yesterday after the visit by the SECDEF, I did a google news search and read the AP Wire article and noted that, although the piece was fairly accurate, there was definitely a sense of exaggeration in the tone that presented the townhall meeting as a gripe session. As one of the soldiers in the audience, I felt that presenting the morning in such a fashion was misleading, and with such negative connotations, I wondered how long it may be before the MSM ran with the story and turned a pleasant morning with the Secretary of Defense into a scenario that resembled a defendant being cross-examined by the prosecution in a court room. I knew the story was generating heavy circulation when I saw it headlined on Drudge today (click here for story).

Before I dig in, I want to address one item in particular from the story linked above that I think was not made clear enough. When it stated:

Spc. Thomas Wilson had asked the defense secretary, "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?" Shouts of approval and applause arose from the estimated 2,300 soldiers who had assembled to see Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld hesitated and asked Wilson to repeat his question.

I believe Secretary Rumsfeld hesitated because it was difficult to hear the first part of the question Spc. Wilson asked. Perhaps because of nerves, he spoke at first very quickly, and the acoustics of the hangar were hardly concert-hall quality. The Secretary asked others to repeat parts of their questions as well apparently because of difficulty hearing the question in its entirety. I do think Spc. Wilson is justified in asking such a question. It is a serious issue, and if logistics or "physics" is the obstacle from accomplishing the tasks of up-armoring vehicles to add to soldier safety, then we need to do our best to overcome that obstacle. The Secretary concluded with an anecdote in which he spoke of the recent terror warning surrounding the election. He said he looked out the windows of the Pentagon one day and saw 6-8 up-armored HMMWV's perched at the perimeter of the building. He then said, "Guess what, they aren't there any more."

I also want to express that as a person who has worked in politics for years, I was very surprised when we were told there would be the opportunity to ask questions without first having them screened. I would have assumed there would have been some process where those who had questions submitted them prior to asking the Secretary, and had them approved. Instead, everyone in the room was given the option to stand, motion for one of the soldiers holding a microphone, and ask anything they desired. There was no particular order of what kind of questions were asked and the soldiers who asked questions ranged in rank from Specialists to Lieutenant Colonels. When I say I was surprised that this part of the event was not micromanaged, I want to ensure you that I was pleasantly surprised. In my opinion, it shows the attitude that this Secretary has towards the soldiers he is sworn to represent. It shows those in uniform that he does not see us or our concerns as "below his level," but instead sends a signal that we are his concern, and ensuring we can accomplish the mission is his highest priority.

One more thing I would like to add is this, not one soldier present asked questions about why we were here, or expressed the sort of anti-war sentiment that Michael Moore led some to believe was prevalent in the military. Rather, the concern was about ensuring we would be supplied with all necessary equipment to accomplish the mission and return home safely. Let there be no doubt, this was not a hostile crowd eager to catch the Secretary of Defense off guard by grilling him with questions he has never had to answer. This was a group of truly admirable American's and patriots, receiving confirmation from the man who controls the Department of Defense, that we have the full fledged moral, financial and logistical support, to accomplish the mission.

Missick's Blog

Rumsfeld's Visit

As you know, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld came here for a visit yesterday. The news agencies (all of them- even Fox) have already spun the visit way out of control.

I just watched a "Fox Live" update (it's 1:36 am EDT as I type this- 9:36 am Kuwait time), and the anchor started with "what was supposed to be a friendly question and answer session turned into a tough grilling for Donald Rumsfeld..." -this is not a true statement.

I saw another report that indicated that the SECDEF "was slated to give a pep talk" but that it "devolved into a gripe session." -not true.

I've been sitting through briefings about this visit for the past 6 days- in every case, this visit was billed as a "town hall meeting" in which the SECDEF would open the floor to questions and answer them to the best of his ability- never saw anything that suggested it was supposed to be "friendly" or "peppy." This is nothing new- it's actually something that SECDEF's have been doing for years. When I was a VIP Flight Platoon Leader in Seoul, I picked up Secretary of Defense William Cohen at Osan Airbase, flew him to Seoul Airbase, and watched in stunned disbelief as one of my soldiers asked him why the Clinton Administration thought it was a good idea to keep downsizing the military when deployments like Somalia and the Balkans were "on the up and up." More about that later.

The only thing unusual about this particular "town hall meeting" was the fact that the press was invited. My coworkers and I wondered aloud about the wisdom of this decision, and I still can't really see the logic there. The only thing I can think of is that the SECDEF intended to show that he has nothing to hide- sort of like a "full public disclosure" kind of thing. The problem with this is obvious. When the cameras are rolling and a soldier stands up and asks why the military isn't doing anything to properly equip him for war, guess what happens? That's right- the media machine immediately establishes a new "truth"- in this case it's that the military is not equipping the force. Absolutely no effort is made to fact-check the soldier- his word is taken as pure gospel. Politicians on Capitol Hill start ranting and raving, the pundits weigh in, and the opposition party gleefully waves the "I told you so" banner. All because of one question from a hard-working well-meaning lower enlisted soldier.

SPC Wilson is one of those soldiers who likes to take shots at authority figures. His ex-wife said of him- "It wouldn't matter if it was Bush himself standing there. He would have dissed him the same." This does not mean he's a bad soldier. It does mean that he's probably not a good choice to be an Army spokesperson, which is exactly what he became yesterday. As I mentioned earlier, I had a soldier like him working for me in Korea- the guy who unloaded on SECDEF Cohen for downsizing. I thought it was a fair question- I just wish he would have run his question by me before asking my boss's boss's boss's boss. We had a talk about it- my policy was not unusual, and he was well aware of it- if you have a gripe, ask me about it. If you don't like my answer, then go to the next level. If you feel uncomfortable talking to me, then fine- talk to my boss. Of course he didn't feel uncomfortable talking to me (I'm a pretty nice guy), he just said, "Sorry, Sir- I really don't like the Clintonians. I had an opportunity shot and I took it."

I'm not saying that SPC Wilson has an anti-Bush agenda or anything like that- I think he was probably frustrated about things he either didn't understand or didn't agree with, and just wanted to take a shot. And I can tell you that his platoon leader and everyone else in his chain of command felt betrayed if he didn't voice his complaint to them first- from my experience, I'm guessing he did not.

I have no doubt that one of SPC Wilson's superiors told him to go through a scrap yard to get more vehicle armor. There's nothing wrong with this- resourceful soldiers are always looking to improve on their equipment, weapons, fighting positions, etc. What SPC Wilson might not be aware of (at his level)- is that all vehicles that drive north into Iraq are required to have "level 3" armor protection. If a vehicle does not meet this standard, it will not be driven up north- it will be carried on a flatbed truck. Once in Iraq, armored vehicles are used for driving off post, and unarmored vehicles are used for driving around on post. This policy is put out to each unit's commanders well before the unit even arrives to Kuwait. The leaders are then charged with disseminating this information down to the soldiers. Obviously, this process of "information dissemination" doesn't always happen like it's supposed to- and so we have uninformed soldiers (who think they're going to drive into Iraq in unarmored vehicles) taking shots at our nation's most powerful leaders. It happens all the time, and it's another reason why America is such a unique country. There are many places in this world where a soldier would not survive asking such a question.

I wasn't at the event yesterday, but our friend SGT Missick was there. He presents a more accurate picture of how the soldiers received the SECDEF- very much in contrast with the "Spanish Inquisition" that you saw from the MSM:
I must say that the mood in the hangar was much more of goodwill, with soldiers packing around the Secretary as if he was a movie star to shake his hand or get a picture at the end. There was a great deal of frustration in the voice of the soldier who asked questions regarding vehicles being up-armored, and the hangar did erupt in applause after he spoke, but I wouldn't translate one very tough question into a grill session by American forces.
My $0.02.

1) We don't have enough vehicle armor!

I logged well over 1,500 miles driving around Iraq, and I never even saw an "armored" humvee. I didn't complain- mostly because I was well aware that my father never had any armored humvees in Vietnam, and my grandfather certainly didn't have any armored humvees during WWII.

As soon as the ground commanders asked for armored humvees, the military industrial complex went into overdrive- read more about it here:
Furthermore, Di Rita said, since the Army first identified a need for more armored Humvees, in the fall of 2003, the service "has done just a superb job of turning around a component of industrial base that was doing different things" and turning the manufacturers to making both armored Humvees and armor kits for other vehicles.

At the time, Humvee makers were "producing something on order of 15 armored Humvees per month," Di Rita said.

Today, that number is 450, he said, with $1.2 billion spent since August 2003 on armor and armored Humvees alone. As a result, "three out of four" Humvees now in Iraq are armored, he said.
2) Stop the stop-loss!

[i]"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." -JFK[/i]

3) Active Duty units get "preferential treatment" over Reserve and NG units!

Absolutely 100% false. The priority of money and equipment goes to the units with "tactical priority." If we had a National Guard unit "fighting it out" in the streets of Baghdad, they would have tactical priority (would get priority of equipment and funding) over an Active Duty unit that's guarding camels in Basra. As it happens, Active Duty units usually (but not always) have tactical priority by virtue of their mission and/or location.

When I was in Mosul with the 101st, we were always last in line with respect to funding and equipment. 4th ID (in Tikrit) and 1st AD (in Baghdad) had tactical priority, so they received "preferential treatment." They were fully engaged in the Sunni Triangle- we understood this, so we didn't complain.

As I said earlier, soldiers at the lowest levels do not always understand the concept of "tactical priority"- it's more of an officer thing. Having said that, we officers (and you NCOs out there)obviously need to do a better job of educating our young soldiers about their chosen profession. Secretary Rumsfeld, I'm quite certain, would appreciate it...

UPDATE:

I think Rumsfeld handled the whole thing perfectly. I especially liked this quote:

"I don't know what the facts are, but somebody is certainly going to sit down with him and find out what he knows that they may not know," Rumsfeld said.
True. And his commander will probably ask him why he used a world stage and a session with the SECDEF as a means to pass this "information" up the chain (he might be standing at attention for that part of the discussion). Who knows? The soldier might have a viable excuse for speaking out in such a forum. I seriously doubt it, but he might. In any case, he won't be punished. He'll probably feel pretty bad when he realizes what he did, though...

2Slicks

Thank You Japan

2004-12-11T21:49:00.000-05:00

Japan is a stand up country. It has extended its mission in Iraq for another year.
On Friday the White House spokesman thanked Japan:

''We appreciate the commitment by Japan to extend the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq''

I'd like to extend my thanks as well.

One Step Forward; One Step Back: The Story of Saudi Arabia

2004-12-11T21:38:00.000-05:00

From The Economist:

Forward:

Is Osama bin Laden gaining the upper hand in his homeland?

No. Since May 2003, when a series of bombings in Riyadh made plain the seriousness of the jihadist threat, the Saudi state has fought back. The past six months have been particularly hard on the militants, who had failed to score any "raids", as they call them, since they killed 22 people in a rampage on May 29th. Of the 26 most-wanted men named last year, only seven remain at large. Dozens of others have also been taken out of action.

Nor was the Jeddah attack, for all its boldness, very impressive. Four of the five assailants died, and none penetrated the hardened chancellery within the consular compound. Few Saudis believe such violence will achieve its proclaimed goal of ridding Arabia of "polytheists".

Dogged police work has whittled down the jihadists' potency, while stricter controls on Islamic charities have reduced the scope of terrorist funding. At the same time, some of the more fanatical interpretations of Muslim scripture have been expunged from Saudi schoolbooks. Perhaps more significantly, the Saudi state has enlisted some persuasive voices to denounce the terrorists. Several once-popular militant clerics have publicly recanted. Earlier this week, Saudi television aired emotional interviews with the parents of several jihadists, who said their sons had been the victims of a deviant death cult.

Translation: We're not going to see another Iran anytime soon.

And Back:

In March, a group of reformists were jailed for calling for a constitutional monarchy. Three are still awaiting trial. In September, the government issued an edict banning all state employees, which means most working Saudis, including academics, from publicly questioning state policy. In October it announced that long-promised elections for 178 town councils, now due in February, would be for only half of their seats, with women entirely excluded.

Translation: But we're stuck with the a government that is going to continue to produce terrorists and point them toward the United States so that they can take out their anger over being repressed.

Reassessing Russia

2004-12-11T20:14:00.000-05:00

From The Economist:

THE drama playing out in the streets of Ukraine in recent weeks has been gripping in its own terms. But its bigger significance for the West lies north-east of Kiev, in Russia. As the tide moves towards a presidential election victory for the opposition leader, Victor Yushchenko, on December 26th, the efforts of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, to thwart him have looked ever more cack-handed. But they have also depressed those who still hoped that Mr Putin's Russia might move, slowly and tortuously, on to a path leading to political liberalism—and that he might prove an ally not a foe of the West.
[...]
The conclusion is inescapable. Far from being a political and economic reformer who runs an admittedly flawed but still recognisable democracy, Mr Putin has become an obstacle to change who is in charge of an ill-managed autocracy.

Russian again is moving toward dictatorship if it is not there already. This has the potential to turn into a new Cold War. We have won round one in Georgia and round two in Ukraine, but Putin is consolidating his grip on power at home. As we get closer to defeating Islamic Fascism in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will have to turn to defeating Fascism in Russia, and it will not be easy.

Back on the Offense in Afghanistan

2004-12-11T19:48:00.000-05:00

Form Fox:

Some 18,000 American troops have started a winter offensive against Taliban rebels in Afghanistan, vowing to eliminate insurgents who could threaten parliamentary elections slated for the spring.

The U.S. military said Saturday that it hoped the new push, dubbed Lightning Freedom, would persuade insurgents to accept an amnesty offered by President Hamid Karzai that could stabilize the country and allow foreign troops to pull back.

"It's designed basically to search out and destroy the remaining remnants of Taliban forces who traditionally we believe go to ground during the winter months," spokesman Maj. Mark McCann said. "It's going on throughout the country of Afghanistan."

The operation was initiated after Karzai's inauguration Tuesday as the country's first democratically elected president, McCann said. He didn't know exactly when it began and gave no details of any specific moves against militant targets.

But Maj. Gen. Eric Olson, the No. 2 American commander here, told The Associated Press last month that the operation would include a redeployment to tighten security on the border with Pakistan and raids by special forces to snatch rebel leaders.

Protecting Afghanistan's young democracy has become the most urgent priority for American commander...

To think a month into the campaign in Afghanistan we heard things like "It's going to be another Vietnam." Now the enemy is on the run and there have been free and fair elections. Yet despite this, you will hear these same people exposing the same flawed opinions about the war in Iraq. Will they ever learn?

The Real Story behind the Humvee Controversy

2004-12-10T22:13:00.000-05:00

From the World Tribune:

The United States has satisfied about 70 percent of the military's combat armored vehicle requirements in the Middle East and surrounding regions.

So, it is not quite the disaster that the media is making it out to be. We still need to do better, but we're working on that.

The U.S. military set a requirement of 8,100 up-armored Humvees, of which about 6,000 were being produced, officials said. They said that about 22,000 of Central Command's fleet of 30,000 vehicles have received some form of armor.

Over the last few months, the army has expanded the up-armor effort to include non-combat vehicles in Iraq, officials said. They said the army has added armor to 507 heavy tactical trucks, 492 medium tactical vehicles, two heavy equipment trailers, eight M-915 trucks and 187 palletized load system vehicles that serve in Iraq. The army has operated four depots, two arsenals and one ammunition plant for the production of the armor kits.

I'm not sure what these rabid critics of Rumsfeld want. They talk about this issue as though he's doing nothing about it.

Hispanic Dems Are Revolting

2004-12-10T04:34:00.000-05:00

From Yahoo!:

The Democratic Party has neglected Hispanic voters for a decade and risks severe election losses unless it changes course, Hispanic lawmakers wrote party leaders Thursday.

"It is time for the leadership of the Democratic Party to face the facts. ... Republicans have been committed, methodical and are clearly winning the battle for the Hispanic voters," said the letter by the leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

If current trends continue Republicans will win Hispanics next time around. If liberals keep trying to shove Gay Marriage and Abortion down their throats, there will be little doubt about it too.

You Can Stop Panicking About the Dollar Now

2004-12-10T04:24:00.000-05:00

The Dollar is not going to fall off a cliff. It has rebounded for it's lows this week. Of course, this should have been clear to you just looking at the economy. That is if you haven't been in an ideologically induced hallucination for the last 18 months.