November 2006 Archives

Iran deploys women's death squad against Sunnis in Iraq

Iran is financing and directing new ways to drive Sunnis from their homes in Iraq. One of these is the organization of a Shi'ite women's death squad. The women wear traditional Sunni dress, enter neighborhoods without causing attention, and kill their targets.

The Iranian-sponsored Mahdi Army has organized one such female death squad. Mahdi, which controls Iraq's police and security forces, has been leading nightly assaults against Sunnis, particularly in the Baghdad area.

Mahdi has not sought to hide the new squad. The Al Boraq website identified the women killers as Al Zahra. Boraq said the women have been recruited from around the country and ordered to head for Baghdad as refugees.

At this point, the Shi'ite women are said to come from the southern town of Mahmoudiya. They carry false identification papers.

CNN: Pelosi: It's 'sad' Bush is blaming Iraqi insurgent violence on al-Qaeda

Bush sounds like a moron.
Pelosi sounds like a moron.

House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters on Wednesday that she feels it is "sad" that President Bush continues to blame Iraqi insurgent violence on al Qaeda.

"My thoughts on the president's representations are well-known," Pelosi said. "The 9/11 Commission dismissed that notion a long time ago and I feel sad that the president is resorting to it again."

During a joint press conference with the president of Estonia, Bush was asked by a reporter if he worried that calling the situation in Iraq "a civil war would make it difficult to argue that we're fighting the central front of the war on terror there."

Bush responded that "there's all kinds of speculation about what may be or not happening."

"There's a lot of sectarian violence taking place, fomented, in my opinion, because of these attacks by al Qaeda, causing people to seek reprisal," Bush said. "And we will work with the Maliki government to defeat these elements."

Pelosi's statement also followed a press briefing in Baghdad earlier today, where a US military spokesman was unable to state clearly what role al Qaeda plays in Iraq violence.

Displaying a series of slides and charts, the spokesman for the multinational forces in Iraq claimed that "since October of 2004, we have now killed or captured over 7,000 al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists."

It IS the war on terror.
It's also civil war.
It's fed by evil nations with evil intent, one calling on their version of god and the other LITERALLY the detritus of national socialism.

Neither Bush nor Pelosi has excuse or room. We are not fighting over the amount of govt help for seniors taking LIPITOR, you fucking morons. We're going to fire you both

It's absurd to claim this is all Al Qaeda, and it's absurd to claim it's not Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda is probably the agent offering to protect the Sunnis from Moqtadr al Sadr !
I just hope they are as pathetic in leadership as we are right now.

This is the most disgusted I have been since 2001.

WAKE UP !

U.S. Bans Sale of IPods to North Korea

The Bush administration wants North Korea's attention, so like a scolding parent it's trying to make it tougher for that country's eccentric leader to buy iPods, plasma televisions and Segway electric scooters.

The U.S. government's first-ever effort to use trade sanctions to personally aggravate a foreign president expressly targets items believed to be favored by Kim Jong Il or presented by him as gifts to the roughly 600 loyalist families who run the communist government.

Kim, who engineered a secret nuclear weapons program, has other options for obtaining the high-end consumer electronics and other items he wants.

But the list of proposed luxury sanctions, obtained by The Associated Press, aims to make Kim's swanky life harder: No more cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, expensive cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles or even personal watercraft, such as Jet Skis.

The new ban would extend even to music and sports equipment. The 5- foot-3 Kim is an enthusiastic basketball fan; then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented him with a ball signed by Michael Jordan during a rare diplomatic trip in 2000.

Experts said the effort _ being coordinated under the United Nations _ would be the first ever to curtail a specific category of goods not associated with military buildups or weapons designs, especially one so tailored to annoy a foreign leader. U.S. officials acknowledge that enforcing the ban on black-market trading would be difficult.

The population in North Korea, one of the world's most isolated economies, is impoverished and routinely suffers widescale food shortages. The new trade ban would forbid U.S. shipments there of Rolexes, French cognac, plasma TVs, yachts and more _ all items favored by Kim but unattainable by most of the country.

"It's a new concept; it's kind of creative," said William Reinsch, a former senior Commerce Department official who oversaw trade restrictions with North Korea during Bill Clinton's presidency. Reinsch predicted governments will comply with the new sanctions, but agreed that efforts to block all underground shipments will be frustrated.

Paper: Iran Leader Writes to Americans

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter to the American people that will be released at U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday, a state newspaper reported.

The newspaper gave no details of the letter, an apparent attempt by the firebrand president to reach out to Americans over the head of their government.

The state-run newspaper Iran reported the letter in bold type on its front page, saying "the five-page letter to the American people will be released by Iran's representative at the United Nations today."

Ahmadinejad wrote a rambling, 18-page letter to President Bush in May, which Washington criticized for not addressing Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. is leading the drive to impose U.N. sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.

Average Iranians were disappointed by the cold response to the May letter, the first official communication between the two countries' presidents since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

What the hell is the source for that opinion AP?

Islamic sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in parts of Britain

Sharia law is spreading as authority wanes

By Joshua Rozenberg, Legal Editor
Last Updated: 2:03am GMT 29/11/2006

Islamic sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in parts of Britain, a report claims.

Sharia, derived from several sources including the Koran, is applied to varying degrees in predominantly Muslim countries but it has no binding status in Britain. However, the BBC Radio 4 programme Law in Action produced evidence yesterday that it was being used by some Muslims as an alternative to English criminal law. Aydarus Yusuf, 29, a youth worker from Somalia, recalled a stabbing case that was decided by an unofficial Somali "court" sitting in Woolwich, south-east London.

Mr Yusuf said a group of Somali youths were arrested on suspicion of stabbing another Somali teenager. The victim's family told the police it would be settled out of court and the suspects were released on bail.

Well then, why not just have vigilante committees with standards?

A hearing was convened and elders ordered the assailants to compensate their victim. "All their uncles and their fathers were there," said Mr Yusuf. "So they all put something towards that and apologised for the wrongdoing."

Although Scotland Yard had no information about that case yesterday, a spokesman said it was common for the police not to proceed with assault cases if the victims decided not to press charges.

Now maybe it's just me, but if we all have our own separate legal standards, we all end up with separate societies, and a different entity from whatever a nation state actually is, and by the by, CIVIL WAR. But hey, who am I?

File this beauty under, okay I GIVE UP.

This is a history professor, you know, like Will and Ariel Durant, or VD Hanson, or Bernard Lewis, or Doris Kearns Goodwin, or even like Tony Judt or Jared Diamond?

NOT

Who Killed Pierre Gemayel?

Israel.

How did Mr. Levine come up with this conclusion?
According to him, Israel is the only one to have something to gain by Gemayel's death.

More on this IDIOT, and here, and don't forget the entire Huffington list of stupidity

Here's the thing... if this was just the Huffington, we all go oh well, but this piece of garbage appears also on the History News Network. How can someone like Judith Apter Klinghoffer ( of David Irving lawsuit fame) STAND IT

I'm sure I can make up equally deranged theories.

Muslim religious leaders removed from a Minneapolis flight last week exhibited behavior associated with a security probe by terrorists and were not merely engaged in prayers, according to witnesses, police reports and aviation security officials.
Witnesses said three of the imams were praying loudly in the concourse and repeatedly shouted "Allah" when passengers were called for boarding US Airways Flight 300 to Phoenix.
"I was suspicious by the way they were praying very loud," the gate agent told the Minneapolis Police Department.

Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks -- two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.

ON THEIR OWN? OR DID THEY CHANGE SEATS FROM INDIVIDUAL SEATS TO SIT TOGETHER, OR WERE THEY SITTING TOGETHER AND THEY CHANGED SEATS TO PROVOKE SOMETHING? THIS IS NOT REALLY A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE DUDES. THIS IS NOT SITTING IN THE FRONT OF THE BUS.

CAIR is NOT the NAACP, and no one is lynching Imams

"That would alarm me," said a federal air marshal who asked to remain anonymous. "They now control all of the entry and exit routes to the plane." A pilot from another airline said: "That behavior has been identified as a terrorist probe in the airline industry." But the imams who were escorted off the flight in handcuffs say they were merely praying before the 6:30 p.m. flight on Nov. 20, and yesterday led a protest by prayer with other religious leaders at the airline's ticket counter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

“The ceasefire offers a period of calm for our fighters to recover and prepare for our final goal of evacuating Palestine.” ....by the book, baby

Leaders of major terrorist groups in Gaza said Sunday they either do not recognize the ceasefire agreement or plan to use it to re-arm and improve terrorist training. Two Kassams were fired Monday.

Abu Abir, spokesman for the Hamas-linked Popular Resistance Committees terrorist organization in Gaza, said Sunday, “The ceasefire offers a period of calm for our fighters to recover and prepare for our final goal of evacuating Palestine.”

Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza on Sunday morning, calling for an end to all Palestinian terrorist activities and Israeli counter-terrorist activities. Israel has pulled most of its ground troops out of Gaza.

Two Kassam rockets were fired from Gaza at western Negev areas this afternoon (Monday). No one was physically hurt in this latest ceasefire violation.

So you though Mel brooks was the only one, eh...

"Hey, Der Fuhrer's SelectComfort level is 65, he's very insistent on that."

Rhea Perlman and Jerry Doyle Star in Bob & Carol & Ted & Hitler

Ironically, the man had earlier gotten a fortune cookie that read "A Man of Great Power Will Come Between You and Your Wife."

Mel Gibson's remake of It Happened One Night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Meet Hitler, the Bed-Wetting Drug Addict

By David Crossland in Berlin

German cinema breaks new ground in January with its first comedy about Hitler. Jewish director Dani Levy is following in the footsteps of Charlie Chaplin, maker of "The Great Dictator," with a decidedly unsympathetic portrayal of Hitler as a bed-wetting drug addict who is making the world suffer for his beatings as a child.

Hitler likes to play with his toy battleship in the bath, wets his bed, can't get an erection and is addicted to drugs he keeps in his giant globe, according to Germany's first comedy about the Führer, made by Jewish director Dani Levy.

So sorry, but isn't that yet clear?

NBC is right, this time.

We have armed militias, and wink and a nod semi government death squads operating with outright and quasi support of the government against a murderous minority formerly in power, which will simply not acquiesce to the needs of any kind of pluralistic society, and believes they are a much larger percentage of the population then they are.

I predict that this is not going to be contained at ANY negotiating table on this planet.

It's to the death.

We BLEW any chance there MIGHT have been VERY EARLY. But realistically speaking, just like Yugoslavia, what we have seen is the model for the future for nation states made up of ancient hostilities long suppressed.

I personally believe there was no avoiding this, NOW. I believed it COULD be avoided, but might not be.

Remember THIS?
September 4th...feels like a year ago, and it was RIGHT ON

Panel to Weigh Overture by U.S. to Iran and Syria

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 — A draft report on strategies for Iraq, which will be debated here by a bipartisan commission beginning Monday, urges an aggressive regional diplomatic initiative that includes direct talks with Iran and Syria but sets no timetables for a military withdrawal, according to officials who have seen all or parts of the document.

While the diplomatic strategy appears likely to be accepted, with some amendments, by the 10-member Iraq Study Group, members of the commission and outsiders involved in its work said they expected a potentially divisive debate about timetables for beginning an American withdrawal.

In interviews, several officials said announcing a major withdrawal was the only way to persuade the government of Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, to focus on creating an effective Iraqi military force.

Several commission members, including some Democrats, are discussing proposals that call for a declaration that within a specified period of time, perhaps as short as a year, a significant number of American troops should be withdrawn, regardless of whether the Iraqi government’s forces are declared ready to defend the country.

Among the ideas are embedding far more American training teams into Iraqi military units in a last-ditch improvement effort. While numbers are still approximate, phased withdrawal of combat troops over the next year would leave 70,000 to 80,000 American troops in the country, compared with about 150,000 now.

“It’s not at all clear that we can reach consensus on the military questions,” one member of the commission said late last week.

Move the troops to Kurdistan, you morons, or they will be throwing candy from the windows in Teheran, Qom, Damascus, south Beirut, Gaza and every city from Morocco to the Chinese border when the final stupidity occurs.

When we observe the fact the war is cruelty, one is always, in a liberal democracy, confronting the question of whether the society is worth saving.

I believe we have not confronted this question. Our enemies ALWAYS confront this issue ..."I was ordered to fight all men until they accept....". But to resist this absolutist 'god-authorized' command to make war, to resist against the greater jihad, one will have to, in the end, exercise every cruelty imaginable. To give the opportunity for democracy as an antidote to perpetual war, we will have to be sure of our ground. Many here ASSUME we are better, but when confronted by the deaths as result of resistance to terrorist, national and supra national armed dawa, feel that vague unease about not all bullets magically attracted to bad guys.

Is what we offer a better answer than surrender to the austere spartanism of jihadistanism, and the blank walls of salafist grimness, or the theofascist list of shia najis (Ali al-Sistani states that Jews and the Christians who do not accept the prophethood of Muhammad "are commonly considered najis,) of others (such as jews outside in the rain).

CLICK THE PIC

Thugs to USA - let's talk...
If you want to escape without massive slaughter in Iraq the price is:
Lebanon goes to Hizballah
Free Hand to Syria
Iran gets nukes
Israel is handcuffed in all its dealings, and goes on the problem country list..
and the leader of the Baker Botts legal firm (which also REPRESENTS SAUDI ARABIA AGAINST AMERICANS CITIZENS FOR $$) is hired to create the response to reality:

Just a look at a few points...we will return here I am certain.....

Syria set its price for cooperating with the US in Iraq when it murdered Gemayel. That is, in addition to pressuring Israel to give up the Golan Heights, the US will be expected to accept the reassertion of Syrian/Iranian control over all of Lebanon through a new government controlled by Hizbullah and its allies which will replace the Saniora government. The fall of the Saniora government will also spell the demise of the Hariri murder tribunal. Iran and Syria also demand that the US abandon its policy of regime change in both countries.

Another similarity between Israel's retreat from Gaza and northern Samaria last year, its withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000, and the proposed US retreat from Iraq today are the obvious consequences of such a retreat for the US, the region and the world. Far from bringing peace and stability, as the champions of the withdrawal policy mindlessly claim, a retreat will cause more war, more instability and more suffering in Iraq, in the region and throughout the world.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Maj. Gen. Yahya Safavi has become one of the most important men in Iran, responsible for the nation's increasingly powerful military arsenal. Safavi has developed a force of up to 10 million soldiers that is separate from Iran's regular military and responsible only to the ruling mullahs.

Over the past three years, the IRGC has been given the best of Iran's weapons and platforms. The force has developed and maintained control over Iran’s entire strategic arsenal and was responsible for securing the nation's nuclear program.

"The IRGC began as a buffer against a military coup," a Western intelligence source said. "Today, it is far superior in strength to the regular military and can conduct the bulk of the fighting against any enemy, including the United States."

This has made Safavi one of the most powerful men in Iran. Under his tutelage, the IRGC, backed by the paramilitary Basij, has become a formidable fighting machine, capable of conducting sustained missile and rocket attacks throughout the entire Gulf and against the U.S. military presence in Iraq

Time to have something wonderful prepared for these sons of bitches

Iran, Syria synchronizing air defense, signals intelligence to counter any U.S. attack

LONDON — Iran and Syria have begun an effort to ensure military interoperability.

Western intelligence sources said the effort is meant to ensure that the two militaries could coordinate attacks, share information and launch joint ground and missile operations. The effort began in 2005 and was formalized in a defense cooperation accord signed last November.

"The effort is being financed by Iran and is meant to ensure that a U.S. attack on Iran would be countered by attacks on the U.S. military presence in Iraq from both east and west," a source said.

Iran and Syria operate medium-range Scud-class ballistic missiles, with weapons jointly produced.

The two countries have also consolidated their signals intelligence network. The source said Iran has provided technology and financing to establish two SIGINT stations in Syria.

One station is in the Jazirah region in northern Syria near the Turkish border. The other is in the Golan Heights near Israel.

The source said two additional stations were planned with all four to be completed in 2007. Iranian and Syrian personnel will staff the stations.

The two countries also plan to cooperate in air defense. Under two agreements signed over the past year, Damascus and Teheran pledged to make their air defense batteries interoperable, allowing for either country to help the other during an emergency.

Over the past year, Iran has ordered the TOR-M1 short-range air defense system from Russia. Syria has purchased the SA-18 Igla-S system.

David Ignatius in Real Clear Politics and the WaPo tells us :

We Can't Save the Mideast

1) The sickness must end. 2) Syria has an opportunity to leave behind its drab Cold War trench coat and become a modern, prosperous Mediterranean nation; Hezbollah, the militia that represents Lebanon's dispossessed Shiite population, has a chance to lead its followers into political power and prosperity. 3) The Middle East needs the rule of law 4) Now the United Nations must find a way to make the rule of law real

The idea that America is going to save the Arab world from itself is seductive, but it's wrong.
The hard work of building a new Middle East will be done by the Arabs, or it won't happen.

So at the synagogue reading group, THIS was the latest book selection.

Now, I went out of my way to learn nothing about the author.

I wondered why and who chose this book.

I wondered if we would have a touchy feely pc discussion.

So let's have a quick, Epa review of the book first.

I REALLY feel bad for Mr. Azlan. He is an american. He is of iranian descent. He is not one of the bad guys. He probably would fare badly in most mosques, not in this nation, and maybe IN this nation as well. He wants badly for Islam to be an Episcopalian more oatmeal and granola peace be unto you gentleness. He is a blatant apologist and admits it. He thinks there is a reformation going on and says not to worry because all this hubbub will end with a kinder gentler Islam, and one of the reasons is....GET READY.....the greater Jihad is internal struggle and these other guys are wrong.

Imagine my sensation seeing that hunk of stuff on the sidewalk.

The democratic party is STILL screwed.....find here the Huffington Post's comments on Alan Dershowitz's review of the inestimable Jimmy Carter's latest book, whose publication was held until AFTER the election, in clear fear that every jewish person would pull the entire lever for republicans.

The five pages of mostly invective commenting demonstrate clearly WHERE the democratic party is heading.

Nowhere is there the slightest realization that opposition to Israel's existence continues EN MASSE because of the Quran, and that no peace is possible.

Amazing ignorance

We will feature the citations or in the case of older winners, the full story of the Medal of Honor winners.

There are about 3500 awards in the history of the nation, and about 100 are still alive...most of these stories are not just hair raising, but purely astonishing, and fill you with a sense of sacrifice, honor, duty, and meaning beyond what we all experience from day to day.

These are reminders that we have been handed something of value, and by men and women who gave meaning to their actions.

Dr. Ben Salomon, Saipan, 1944

Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, 2d Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. Place and date: Saipan, Marianas Islands, 7 July 1944. Entered service at: Milwaukee, WI. Birth: Milwaukee, WI.

Citation:
Captain Ben L. Salomon was serving at Saipan, in the Marianas Islands on July 7, 1944, as the Surgeon for the 2d Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. The Regiment's 1st and 2d Battalions were attacked by an overwhelming force estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese soldiers. It was one of the largest attacks attempted in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Although both units fought furiously, the enemy soon penetrated the Battalions' combined perimeter and inflicted overwhelming casualties. In the first minutes of the attack, approximately 30 wounded soldiers walked, crawled or were carried into Captain Salomon's aid station, and the small tent soon filled with wounded men. As the perimeter began to be overrun, it became increasingly difficult for Captain Salomon to work on the wounded. He then saw a Japanese soldier bayoneting one of the wounded soldiers lying near the tent. Firing from a squatting position, Captain Salomon quickly killed the enemy soldier. Then, as he turned his attention back to the wounded, two more Japanese soldiers appeared in the front entrance of the tent. As these enemy soldiers were killed, four more crawled under the tent walls. Rushing them, Captain Salomon kicked the knife out of the hand of one, shot another and bayoneted a third. Captain Salomon butted the fourth enemy soldier in the stomach and a wounded comrade then shot and killed the enemy soldier. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Captain Salomon ordered the wounded to make their way as best they could back to the regimental aid station, while he attempted to hold off the enemy until they were clear. Captain Salomon then grabbed a rifle from one of the wounded and rushed out of the tent. After four men were killed while manning a machine gun, Captain Salomon took control of it. When his body was later found, 98 dead enemy soldiers were piled in front of his position. Captain Salomon's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

Rainier Valley barber shop owner flees U.S

Facing sentencing in plea deal, he phones FBI to say he's in Somalia (neener, neener??)

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER

Ruben Shumpert, who federal agents allege made his Rainier Valley barber shop a kind of "anti-American training ground for Muslims" where children were taught "how to shoot and fight the Americans," has telephoned the FBI to say he won't be going to prison anytime soon.

Shumpert, who faces sentencing on federal counterfeiting and weapons charges, has fled to Somalia.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Shumpert, who is also known as Amir Abdul Muhaimin, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Redkey said. He was to be sentenced Tuesday.

Shumpert -- an African American convert to Islam -- was among more than a dozen, mostly African immigrants from Islamic countries arrested by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force two years ago on a mix of charges, including immigration fraud and bank fraud.

OH, OK

Shumpert was never charged with any terrorism crimes?

What?

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Three suicide car bombers and two mortar attacks shook Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite slum Thursday afternoon, killing at least 144 people and wounding 236 others, many of them seriously, police said.

The bombs and mortar shells struck at 15 minute intervals beginning about 3 p.m., with the first suicide bombing striking a vegetable market.

Angry residents and armed militiamen flooded the streets hurling curses at Sunni Muslims. Police said the death toll was expected to rise significantly.

Heavy clashes broke out Thursday afternoon between gunmen and guards at the Shiite-controlled Health Ministry building in north Baghdad, security officials said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Up to six car bombs killed 133 people in a Shi'ite militia stronghold in Baghdad on Thursday, in one of most devastating such attacks since the U.S. invasion.

A further 201 people were wounded, police said, and the Health Minister said the toll could rise. "Many of the dead have been reduced to scattered body parts and are not counted yet," Ali al-Shemari told Reuters.

The blasts, which were followed by a mortar barrage aimed at a nearby Sunni enclave, came at Six parked vehicles each packed with as much as half a metric ton of explosives, as well as mortars landing in the area, devastated streets and a crowded market in the sprawling Sadr City slum in east Baghdad, Major General Jihad al-Jabori of the Interior Ministry told Iraqiya state television.the same time as gunmen mounted a bold daylight raid on the Shi'ite-run Health Ministry.

WTF? Send the americans to Kurdistan. These guys have BLOWN their opportunity for something better, not achieved on an OCEAN OF BLOOD

"War is cruelty and you cannot refine it"

What will be the consequence of this:

BBC: The Israelis have called off a planned air attack on a house in Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza after hundreds of Palestinians formed a human shield.

Mohammedweil Baroud said he was warned by Israeli forces to leave his home. He instead ran to a mosque and summoned neighbours to help defend the house.

Mr Baroud is a commander in the Popular Resistance Committees militant group.

The Israeli army often orders people out of homes ahead of attacks, saying it aims to avoid casualties.

A Hamas commander at the scene said people had gathered to show that the demolition strategy of the Israelis could be defeated.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed to Reuters news agency that the raid had been called off because of the Palestinian action.
"The attack plan was cancelled because of the people there," he said. "We differentiate between innocent people and terrorists."

June 6, 1862 (2 years before the "march"), to his wife Ellen:
"The very object of war is to produce results by death and slaughter, but the moment a battle occurs the newspapers make the leader responsible for the death and misery, whether of victory or defeat. If this be pushed much further officers of modesty and virtue will keep away, will draw back in to obscurity and leave our army to be led by fools or rash men."

JPOST:

During Friday's debate on an anti-Israel UN General Assembly resolution, Gillerman turned to the French delegation and asked, "If France was shelled across the border, what would the French do? Would the French government send flowers to the attackers? Well, by voting for this resolution you will be sending flowers to the terrorists, flowers which tomorrow will be laid on the grave of the next Israeli victim."

LAY ON MACDUFF, or is that Bolton? What the world needed in 1938 was UNDIPLOMATIC TRUESPEAK. The French are too reprehensible to be allies, they have already capitulated anyway.

Undiplomatic? Certainly. Counterproductive? Maybe. Deserved? In spades.

According to Gillerman, France not only supported - in contrast to abstentions by Denmark, Japan and the UK - the lopsided resolution that the US vetoed in the Security Council, but lobbied other European countries to support the similar Arab-backed resolution in the General Assembly.

Too absurd for words.

French soldiers in Lebanon who feel threatened by aggressive Israeli overflights are permitted to shoot at IAF fighter jets, a high-ranking French military officer told The Jerusalem Post.

Wednesday, several days after meeting with an IDF general in Paris to discuss what he said was a "blatant violation of the cease-fire."

Last weekend, Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan, head of the IDF Planning Directorate, traveled to Paris and met with military officials to explain why the IAF flies over Lebanon despite the UN-brokered cease-fire.

Nehushtan, new to his post and previously deputy commander of the air force, told his French counterparts that Israel was conducting the flights to collect intelligence on Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon.

According to the French officer, Nehushtan apologized for an incident on October 31 when an IAF fighter carried out a mock bombing run over a French UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon, almost prompting troops to fire anti-aircraft missiles.

Ayatollah who backs suicide bombs aims to be Iran's next spiritual leader ..or.... Hojatieh go for broke ..I hope Israel is purchasing about a dozen KC-10's

An ultra-conservative Iranian cleric who opposes all dialogue with the West is a frontrunner to become the country's next supreme spiritual leader. Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi Mohammad Mesbah-Yazdi

In a move that would push Iran even further into the diplomatic wilderness, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, 71, who publicly backs the use of suicide bombers against Israel, is campaigning to succeed Grand Ayatollah Ali Khameini, 67, as the head of the Islamic state.

Considered an extremist even by fellow mullahs, he was a fringe figure in Iran's theocracy until last year's election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a fellow fundamentalist who views him as his ideological mentor. He is known to many Iranians as "Professor Crocodile" because of a notorious cartoon that depicted him weeping false tears over the jailing of a reformist journalist.

HOJATIEH, folks ..the guys the freak Khomeini tried to stamp out as too extreme.

Notice that NOWHERE in the Telegraph article is this word mentioned. Too frightening for the peoples?

Time to review Rainbow Orange, GW.
Time to at least sit down with Charlie Rangel.
Move assets to Diego Garcia, and watch Russian communications to Teheran carefully. Maybe a little "AF is short of water" action.

Time to plan for actual action. Time to hunt for Hizballah HERE. Cells HERE. Smugglers on the border, now ..so were those votes worth it, btw?

But I digress...

TEEN GOES NUCLEAR: He creates fusion in his Oakland Township home

On the surface, Thiago Olson is like any typical teenager.

He's on the cross country and track teams at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills. He's a good-looking, clean-cut 17-year-old with a 3.75 grade point average, and he has his eyes fixed on the next big step: college.

But to his friends, Thiago is known as "the mad scientist."

In the basement of his parents' Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren't privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has taken him more than two years and 1,000 hours to research and build -- a large, intricate machine that , on a small scale, creates nuclear fusion.

Nuclear fusion -- when atoms are combined to create energy -- is "kind of like the holy grail of physics," he said.

While seated in the lotus position, hum lightly......

Just a lone crazy person
Just a lone crazy person

Oh hell, hum louder

They've become a fixture in the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan, a new breed of unmanned aircraft operated with remote controls by "pilots" sitting in virtual cockpits many miles away.

But the Air Force's Global Hawk has never flown a mission over the United States.

That is set to change Monday, when the first Global Hawk is scheduled to land at Beale Air Force Base in northern California.

"This landmark flight has historic implications since it's the first time a Global Hawk has not only flown from Beale, but anywhere in the United States on an official Air Combat Command mission," base spokesman Capt. Michael Andrews said in a statement.

OOPSIE, so sorry, Seymour Hersh.

VIENNA — A document obtained by Iran on the nuclear black market serves no other purpose than to make an atomic bomb, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday.

The finding was made in a report prepared for presentation to the 35-nation IAEA board when it meets, starting Thursday, on whether to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose economic and political sanctions on Iran.

The report was made available in full to The Associated Press.

First mention of the documents was made late last year in a longer IAEA report. At that time, the agency said only that the papers showed how to cast "enriched, natural and depleted uranium metal into hemispherical forms."

The agency refused to make a judgment on what possible uses such casts would have.

But diplomats familiar with the probe into Iran's nuclear program said then that the papers apparently were instructions on how to mold highly enriched grade uranium into the core of warheads.

In the brief report obtained Tuesday, however, the agency said bluntly that the 15-page document showing how to cast fissile uranium into metal was "related to the fabrication of nuclear weapon components."

Must be a mistake. Maybe there is a peaceful use for shaping plutonium and uranium? We have to find another reason or it will be hard to rationalize avoiding this and thinking about other things.

2 can play at the game...

Opposition takes aim at strategic Iran sites in coordination with U.S.

Iran's opposition has been directed to strike oil facilities that finance the Teheran regime. Arab intelligence sources said Britain and the United States have been training Arab and Kurdish operatives to attack oil facilities in Iran in an attempt to destabilize the regime.

On Nov. 10, a bomb exploded in Ahwaz, the most active oil production center in Iran's Khuzestan. While no one was injured the attack was seen as a warning to Teheran that Iran's opposition was going for the jugular.

The attack's timing might not have been a coincidence. Gulf Cooperation Council countries have been on alert for an Iranian strike on oil facilities. About 10 days ago, a Kuwaiti refinery exploded and was knocked out of commission.

Funny how ABCCBSNBCNYTIMESWaPo seemed to have neglected mentioning this.

Every once in a while the obvious course presents itself.

S. Korea Rejects President Bush's N. Korean Ship Inspection Program

HANOI, Vietnam — President Bush, trying to stiffen global resolve to confront North Korea, failed to win South Korea's support Saturday for a tough inspection program to intercept ships suspected of carrying supplies for Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missiles.

Bush sought to persuade South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun to fully implement U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea for testing nuclear weapons. He also sought South Korea's support in the Proliferation Security Initiative, a voluntary international program that calls for stopping ships suspected of trafficking in weapons of mass destruction.

Roh said his country "is not taking part in the full scope" of the security initiative" but that it would "support the principles and goals of the PSI."

"South Korea fears more than a North Korean nuclear exchange, doing something which might in any way cause upset in Pyongyang, so afraid are we. We fear this more than we honor an alliance of 56 years, and those who saved this nation. We fear this more than we honor ourselves."

"I appreciate the cooperation we're receiving from South Korea for the Proliferation Security Initiative," Bush said.

You sound like every obsequious, idiot, afraid diplomat that went before you, Bush. You are an embarassment to yourself these days. Just shut up and stay in the white house if that's all you have now.

I have a different idea.

Withdraw the 38,000 men in South Korea who now serve no useful function since the Koreans, with all the high tech, democracy, and armed forces they need, instead have a requriement for SHARK CARTILAGE to stiffen their boneless backs. Send them to Baghdad, where the last chance for those men and women may be occurring

Prime Minister Olmert On Iran: I'll Do Everything in My Power That The Jewish People Will Never Again Be Exposed To The Threat of Annihilation

He is not believable.
Such a statement needs either the unmistakable backing of performance, which certainly FAILED in Lebanon, or the Sherman like granite inflexibility of promise to be carried out.

Try this, you putz:

"Israel to guarantee the survival of the few Jewish people, will abandon its guarantee NOT to be the 1st to use nuclear weapons on the day we believe Iran has tested a nuclear weapon. I will use all means compulsory to act in the defense of the Jewish people from the promised holocaust by every leader of Iran since 1979. I urge the people of Iran to save themselves, and take matters into their own hands"

UGH !!!

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert paid an historic visit to the Simon Wiesenthal Center and toured the Museum of Tolerance on November 15, 2006. The Prime Minister was accompanied by both Israel's new Ambassador to the United States, Sallai Meridor and UN Ambassador, Dan Gillerman, along with Chief of Staff, Yoran Turbowitz and Consul General to Los Angeles, Ehud Danoch.

US tactics in strategic planning could not be more stupid.

After the Iranians invaded US territory in 1979, and kidnapped our ambassadorial staff in an act of war, we failed to respond to effectively, we pal'd up with Saddam to ensure that Khomeinist jihadi freaks did not end up ruling the gulf.

Admirable desire, and utterly stupid tactic.

Today, we are repeating the past, making the Al Saud the new old boss same as the new old boss, and become again the untermenschen guards for the family gas station in the hijaz. When you hear Saudi Arabia, think Somoza and Nicaragua.

The Al Saud, and their Al Sheikh in laws are not the friends of freedom, rights or the american peoples. They CANNOT be. It's against their religion. Is there a PERSON, JUST ONE, who recognizes the ineluctable, unchangeable reality of this? Is there ONE LEADER who can see that this expediency will lead to other, greater problems.In 20 years will we see pictures of Condi shaking hands with Prince Naif who later (or his family) will be traced to financing terrorism used against american citizens? ENOUGH.

Where's my hydrogen car? End our need to CARE about these murderous salafist FREAKS, you MORONIC TWITS

From Gertz:

Saudis see new 'special relationship with Washington' on security as Iran threat looms

ABU DHABI — Saudi Arabia and the United States have concluded talks on drafting strategy to defend the Gulf region against threats from Iran.

Gulf diplomatic sources said Riyad and Washington held what they termed the most comprehensive talks in years on cooperation to confront Iran's missile and nuclear threats to Saudi Arabia and the five other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The sources said the talks envisioned a long-term U.S. presence in and cooperation with the GCC to develop their militaries and coordinate against Iran and Al Qaida.

"Unlike previous efforts, the talks were serious and detailed," a source familiar with the sessions said. "I think both sides are quite clear on where the other stands."

The talks took place in late October during the visit of Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khaled Bin Sultan to Washington. Khaled, the son of Saudi Crown Prince Sultan, who is also the kingdom's defense minister, met Vice President Richard Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior members of the Bush administration.

Let's dance, woman. The sooner the better.

Iran vows missile exports to its neighbors to drive U.S. from the region

Iran will provide missile systems to regional allies, an Iranian military commander said last week on Al-Alam television.

The Nov. 9 repme=hon Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps military exercises quoted IRGC Commander Brig-Gen Yahya Rahim-Safavi as saying Iran was now producing both ballistic and cruise missiles, including 2,000 kilometer Shihab-3 missiles and 300 kilometer, shore-based and sea-based anti-ship cruise missiles.

“We had Scud-B and Scud-C missiles during the war and we acquired them from some foreign countries, like North Korea, but 17 years after that war, we were able to manufacture all of these spare parts and all these supplies, including fuel, especially Shahab-3 with a range of 2,000 km, and Shahab-2,” he said.

The key architect of the U.S.-led international war on terror is being replaced and the new defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, is expected to pursue more conciliatory and less aggressive tactics, according to U.S. defense officials.

Of course Mr, Gates was an integral part of the team which performed the perfidious display of first calling for, and instigating the Shia to rise against Saddam in 1991, then allowing the Iraqis to fly helicopters in the no fly zone, then refusing to act when the helicopters were used to slaughter the Shia. Eventually estimates in the mass graves ran to 350,000 to 400,000. Think the Senate will ask about this?

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pressed the U.S. military, especially its special operations components, to conduct more aggressive operations aimed at killing, capturing and otherwise disrupting foreign terrorist networks and their supporters. He once asked a four-star general in charge of special operations, “have you killed any terrorists today?” to highlight his priority.

China ends secrecy, shows off missile defenses

China’s military revealed its concept for national missile defenses at the international air show at Zhuhai last week.

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. disclosed the previously secret concept of a ballistic missile defense system at the show, according to the Wen Wei Po newspaper.

The Chinese have been very busy at both ends of the strategic scale, and now field mobiles ICBM's and submarine launched ICBM's (whose range are almost those of ours, btw), as well as defense oriented weapons.For instance this is DF-31pictured here
The DF-31 reportedly can carry a single 3-megaton H-bomb or three 90-kiloton nuclear warheads. The missile has an official range of over 4,800 miles. The Dong Feng 31 reportedly is equipped with U.S. missile and warhead technology that was obtained by China through espionage and legal and illegal technology transfers from the Clinton administration.

The JL-2 pictured here was deployed in Chinese submarines beginning in 2002, and has a range of ALSO of ~4800 miles.

It was the first time China’s government or state-run industry had discussed the concept of defending against missile attacks. Beijing in the past vehemently opposed U.S. and allied missile defenses as being destabilizing and has sought international curbs on missile defenses in international forums.

The defenses shown at the exposition include nearly 20 types of anti-missile and air defense interceptors along with anti-reconnaissance operations, counter-jamming techniques and secondary strikes.

The missiles included three major air defense, sea defense and ground-to-ground systems that would be integrated into a system to provide “comprehensive and effective defense” of China's air, water, and territory.

The OJ thing is way past disgusting

Time to do something

Turn them off

What is wrong with Maliki? Iraq has been given an opportunity to ESCAPE THE MADNESS. They are out of their gourds with blood sickness, revenge disease and religious inspired death wishes convinced that glory is floating on a river of blood.

Put it aside and create something better.

If accurate this is chaos, ragnarok, the agony of anarchy, and a clear indicator it's over the edge:

SAFWAN, Iraq (Reuters) - British forces mounted raids in southern Iraq on Friday, a day after four Americans and an Austrian were abducted when the civilian convoy they were guarding was hijacked, Iraqi security sources said.

Amid confusion over how far various incidents were linked, police in one town said they killed an American in civilian clothes and wounded another after the Americans shot dead two policemen who pulled over their unmarked vehicle near Zubayr on Friday.

A British military spokesman said troops killed two gunmen in a raid near the border town of Safwan, close to where the convoy was attacked after crossing from Kuwait. But he said that raid was not related to the search for the missing foreigners.
He declined to comment on what Iraqi security officials said was a search by British troops for hostages in the Garma area of Basra, the main city in the oil-rich, mostly Shi'ite region.

He denied Arab media reports a British soldier was killed.

Rice: U.S. Concerned About Rising China

The United States has some concerns about a rising China, including a military expansion that may be excessive, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday.

Beijing has spent heavily in recent years on adding submarines, missiles, fighter planes and other high-tech weapons to its arsenal and extending the reach of the 2.3 million-member People's Liberation Army, the world's largest fighting force. Its reported military budget rose more than 14 percent this year to $35.3 billion, but outside estimates of China's true spending are up to three times that level.

"There are concerns about China's military buildup," Rice told a television interviewer. "It's sometimes seemed outsized for China's regional role."

Beijing insists its multibillion-dollar buildup is defensive, but it has alarmed some Asian neighbors and U.S. military planners who see China as a potential threat to U.S. military pre-eminence in the Pacific.

Asked whether U.S. foreign policy toward China is aimed at containing China's ability to flex military power, Rice turned the question to politics and economics.

"U.S. policy is aimed at having China be a responsible stakeholder in international politics," she replied. "That means that Chinese energy, Chinese growth, Chinese incredible innovation and entrepreneurship, would be channeled into an international economy in which everybody can compete and compete equally."

WARNING:Solipsoid diversion

What am I?

I believe going into Iraq was right, but as of this morning "it" isn't worth american sacrifice because they can't keep a republic, but I do believe the Kurds deserve troops and protection,..from all their surrounding enemies (Turkey, Iran, Syria and whatever Al Anbar province ends up as).

I believe the USA cannot afford to have any withdrawal be portrayed by the killers as a victory for them and a defeat for us, and THAT is worth american lives (it will cost them one way or the other, you know).

I believe Samuel Huntington was not only correct, but it is upon us, and that one war is going on, worldwide, and we are not acting it. I believe this war is a war of the peoples, and that we live in the transition moment between ideas and weapons.

I believe Europe is probably screwed. I believe we'll probably save their asses again, in the end. Some wahabbi moron will destroy the Lebrun paintings in the Louvre in the name of Allah, or something, and that will do it for the NY Times.

But I can tell you what it is not about. Not about Israel, not about Iraq, not about Afghanistan. They are mere excuses. Algerian Muslim fundamentalists murdered 150,000 other Algerian Muslims, sometimes slitting the throats of children in front of their parents. Are you seriously telling me that this was because of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians or American foreign policy?"

From the National Post of Canada:

Dr. Tawfik Hamid doesn't tell people where he lives. Not the street, not the city, not even the country. It's safer that way. It's only the letters of testimony from some of the highest intelligence officers in the Western world that enable him to move freely. This medical doctor, author and activist once was a member of Egypt's Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Arabic for "the Islamic Group"), a banned terrorist organization. He was trained under Ayman al-Zawahiri, the bearded jihadi who appears in Bin Laden's videos, telling the world that Islamic violence will stop only once we all become Muslims.

He's a disarmingly gentle and courteous man. But he's determined to tell a complacent North America what he knows about fundamentalist Muslim imperialism.

"Yes, 'imperialism,' " he tells me. "The deliberate and determined expansion of militant Islam and its attempt to triumph not only in the Islamic world but in Europe and North America. Pure ideology. Muslim terrorists kill and slaughter not because of what they experience but because of what they believe."

Hamid drank in the message of Jihadism while at medical school in Cairo, and devoted himself to the cause. His group began meeting in a small room. Then a larger one. Then a Mosque reserved for followers of al-Zawahiri. By the time Hamid left the movement, its members were intimidating other students who were unsympathetic.

He is now 45 years old, and has had many years to reflect on why he was willing to die and kill for his religion. "The first thing you have to understand is that it has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with poverty or lack of education," he says. "I was from a middle-class family and my parents were not religious. Hardly anyone in the movement at university came from a background that was different from mine.

Boston -2 local imams arrested in alleged visa scheme

Now why would they do that?

By Yvonne Abraham and Raja Mishra, Globe Staff | November 16, 2006

Federal immigration agents arrested imams from two Boston-area mosques yesterday on charges they were involved in a scheme that provided religious worker visas to immigrants who used them to enter the United States and work instead as gas station attendants, truck drivers, and factory laborers.

Hafiz Abdul Hannan , imam , or leader, of the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell in Chelmsford, and Muhammed Masood , imam of the Islamic Center of New England in Sharon, were among 33 people taken into custody nationwide after a multi-year investigation led by agents in Boston and New York, said Paula Grenier , a spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"This was a nationwide religious worker visa fraud scheme designed to help illegal aliens," said Grenier. "These people had to be solely engaged in religious employment, and in many cases were not."

Under the Religious Worker Program, started in 1990, churches, synagogues, and mosques can ask the government to approve visas for foreigners to fill vacant positions. Several thousand visas are issued each year that permit immigrants to enter the United States exclusively for religious employment. To obtain the visa, immigrants must have religious training and experience in their native country. Once here, they are not allowed to hold secular jobs. The religious worker permits can ultimately lead to green cards, or permanent residency.

Under the scheme, described by federal authorities yesterday, the immigrants, who were mostly Pakistani, paid a fee to US religious organizations, which then sponsored them for the visas. Federal immigration officials believe that abuse of the program is widespread: an August 2005 audit found signs of fraud in more than 30 percent of applications.

Some of those arrested did legitimate religious work, but had filed false paperwork to win their own visas, or once here, to sponsor others, said Grenier. Because the investigation is ongoing, she would not say whether the imams are alleged to have sponsored the visas for others or violated their own visas by working secular jobs.

" Compared to rising inequality in the United States and Israel, ranked numbers one and two for social inequality among developed nations, the Iranians look pretty damn good."

Claims without provenance, followed by stupidity

Iran even has a vibrant gay subculture.(Link included)

Many may also assert that Iran wants to destroy Israel. I don't believe this for a moment, but rather - along with Juan Cole - int�߄9et comments by Ahmadinejad as the comments of the descendant of a race that can proudly trace its national history for 5,000 years to a country he perceives as upstart thief of land that has less than 80 years of disputed possession. Many in the Middle East believe that demographic, economic and geopolitical shifts will mean that Israel fades away into historical oblivion over the next hundred years. They may well be right, as painful as that prospect is to those who ferverently believe in a Jewish state, but that serious prospect only makes the determined zionists currently holding sway more dangerous.

Destroy Israel? How would we get that idea?

You seem to be looking for THIS:

Have a nice day !

Murtha or Hoyer in a secret ballot.

Who was elected last week, and who leads?

Here is the elected... a self identifying pic:

“A lifetime of Hoosier values, a southwest Indiana native, Brad Ellsworth knows faith and family comes first… Opposes abortion, and supports traditional marriage… a hunter who supports the Second Amendment, who will fight to protect our kids from violence and filth on TV and the Internet.”

That's a democrat, sports fans. Here's another....

The former created the majority, the latter ...Pelosi-Murtha-Rangel-Conyers runs it.

Today the election for majority leader in the democratic congress will occurr by secret ballot, with no need for all those who represent a lifetime of hoosier values to reveal or be pressured into a vote for defeat, ignominy and radicalism.

Harry "we just killed the patriot act" Reid, and Dick "US army are nazis" Durbin vs Mitch "I wish I was Jesse Helms" Mconnell and Trent "what happened to my white sheet" Lott

This is NOT AN IMPROVEMENT

BEAM ME UP, PLEASE

Tokyo should debate whether to develop nuclear weapons, a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said last week.

“If we do not debate it now, when else should we debate it?” said Shoichi Nakagawa, chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council.Nakagawa supports discussing whether Japan should go nuclear and wants to hold a debate on whether or not to proceed. Other officials in the party have not pursued the issue, Nakagawa said.

Japan has a highly developed nuclear infrastructure and could develop nuclear weapons in a relatively short period of time, according to U.S. officials.

It's time for our allies to take partial responsibility for the growing IRRESPONSIBILITY of the allies of our foolishly adventurous enemies.

Samir Ubeid, an Iraqi Researcher Living in Europe: The Nobel Prize Is Racist and Stems from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Robin Williams appearing with Steve Martin in Marat/Sade as rewritten by Woody Allen could not be stranger than this

Samir 'Ubeid: I don’t call it the Nobel prize – I call it the "Hubal" [idol] prize.

Interviewer: Hubal?

Samir 'Ubeid: Yes, because it often encourages heresy. It encourages attacks against the heritage, and encourages those who scorn their people and their culture. The proof is that it was awarded recently to Pamuk, who had encouraged civil strife, which might preoccupy Turkey and the Muslims in general. He held Turkey responsible for what the Ottoman state did, when he referred to the massacre of the Armenians.

[...]

Interviewer: In other words, if you are a traitor to your country, you deserve this prize.

Samir 'Ubeid: If you are a traitor to your country, and a heretic, who curses his Prophet, you deserve a Nobel Prize.

Why has the prize been awarded to 167 Jews, and to only four Arabs out of 380 million Arabs – and all four are considered traitors? For example, Al-Sadat got the prize during the normalization process, and as a price for Camp David, together with Begin, who committed Deir Yassin massacre, and who was in the "Hagana" gangs. Later, the prize was awarded to [Ahmad] Al-Zewail, in order to buy his invention, and Al-Zewail has disappeared since.

Interviewer: You mean the Egyptian Ahmad Al-Zewail?

Samir 'Ubeid: Yes, the Egyptian chemist. The prize was also awarded to Muhammad Al-Baradei, and in this case, it is soaked in the blood of the Iraqi children and people.

[...]

Mother Teresa was brought, along with a group of people like her…

Interviewer: Some say the prize was awarded to her for her missionary activity in Africa, India, and so on...

Samir 'Ubeid: Let’s assume she was righteous, according to the logic of the media, which is now controlled by the Jews and Hollywood. When they awarded the prize to Teresa, they wee trying to award an "artificial hymen" or "artificial honor" to this prize. My colleague said that there is democracy. What democracy is there, if out of 1.5 billion Chinese, only two or three were awarded the Nobel? If you examine the Russian scientists and writers, who shook the world with their literature and their knowledge... What about Sakharov, what about Tolstoy? In addition...

Interviewer: But Sakharov was awarded the Nobel prize.

Samir 'Ubeid: I meant Chekhov. Chekhov! Chekhov!

Outgoing Marine Corp Chief of Staff Mike Hagee, has stated ...

He says he was deeply concerned about who would take charge of major Iraqi cities, like Najaf, as the Marines pushed through them on their way to Baghdad.

Hagee says he asked his boss again and again who would take charge of those cities. He wanted to know what the plan was for Phase IV — military terminology for the phase that follows the end of major combat operations. Phase IV is, in other words, what comes after "mission accomplished." Hagee says that he sent his questions up the chain of command, as they say in the military — and never heard back.

Galactically inexcusable stupidity. The kind we see everyday in real life. WRIT LARGE

In Feb 2003, retiring chief of staff Genl Shinseki warned that OCCUPATION would take several hundred thousand (War games predicted 400,000).

We conquered the joint in the advertised "cake walk" with about 80,000 or LESS at the pointy end of the spear.

John McCain repeatedly has insisted that more men are MANDATORY to achieve anything.

Yet, it has been reported that up to 2/3 of the american people (I don't know where) now think that going into Iraq is wrong. Nobody is adding one man under such a mess of opinion.

If it is not yet clear that garrsioning a state, and introducing self responsibility requires something other than the army and Marines (or JUST the army and marines) then nothing will make this clear. We need a "state construction" force with the know how to create something out of nothing, and the force security to protect the human capital and brains it takes to fulfill such a job, as well as the indigenous brave souls willing to step forward and commit acts.

None of this makes the ridding of the world of the rule of Saddam Hussein WRONG. It makes the execution of that ridding an inexcusable conglomeration of incompetence and wishful thinking. But the only choice for rejection of this incompetence turns out now to be Pelosi and her choices of Murtha, and Alcee Hastings. This portends very ill for the USA and free peoples.

Make no mistake where the responsibility for this lies.

It lies with Mr. Bush

Steyn yesterday:

The incoming speaker says Iraq is not a war to be won but a problem to be solved. The incoming defense secretary belongs to a commission charged with doing just that. A nostalgic boomer columnist in the Boston Globe argues that honor requires the United States to "accept defeat," as it did in Vietnam.

Didn't work out so swell for the natives, but to hell with them.

What does it mean when the world's hyperpower, responsible for 40 percent of the planet's military spending, decides that it cannot withstand a guerrilla war with historically low casualties against a ragbag of local insurgents and imported terrorists? You can call it "redeployment" or "exit strategy" or "peace with honor" but, by the time it's announced on al-Jazeera, you can pretty much bet that whatever official euphemism was agreed on back in Washington will have been lost in translation. Likewise, when it's announced on "Good Morning Pyongyang" and the Khartoum Network and, come to that, the BBC.

For the rest of the world, the Iraq war isn't about Iraq; it's about America, and American will.

Hassan Abbassi, Professor of Strategy at the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guard Corps Universityand, according to Tehran sources, the principal foreign policy voice in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration.:

To hear Mr. Abbasi tell it the entire recent history of the U.S. could be narrated with the help of the image of "the last helicopter."
It was that image in Saigon that concluded the Vietnam War under Gerald Ford. Jimmy Carter had five helicopters fleeing from the Iranian desert, leaving behind the charred corpses of eight American soldiers. Under Ronald Reagan the helicopters carried the corpses of 241 Marines murdered in their sleep in a Hezbollah suicide attack. Under the first President Bush, the helicopter flew from Safwan, in southern Iraq, with Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf aboard, leaving behind Saddam Hussein's generals, who could not believe why they had been allowed live to fight their domestic foes, and America, another day. Bill Clinton's helicopter was a Black Hawk, downed in Mogadishu and delivering 16 American soldiers into the hands of a murderous crowd.

According to this theory, President George W. Bush is an "aberration," a leader out of sync with his nation's character and no more than a brief nightmare for those who oppose the creation of an "American Middle East." Messrs. Abbasi and Ahmadinejad have concluded that there will be no helicopter as long as George W. Bush is in the White House. But they believe that whoever succeeds him, Democrat or Republican, will revive the helicopter image to extricate the U.S. from a complex situation that few Americans appear to understand.

It goes on,....

Blair - we must work with 'Axis of Evil' states

Uh, there are several ways to do this....

Independent UK:

Our new friends in the Middle East
Iran and Syria were demonised to justify the invasion of Iraq. Now Britain and the US want their help sorting out the mess ...

Times of London:

The first cracks in the united front over Iraq between Tony Blair and President Bush appeared last night as the Prime Minister offered Iran and Syria the prospect of dialogue over the future of Iraq and the Middle East.

Mr Blair said there could be a new “partnership” with Iran if it stopped supporting terrorism in Iraq and gave up its nuclear ambitions. Syria and Iran could choose partnership or isolation, he said.

There is nothing wrong with talking..there is something wrong with expectations.

For Iran and Syria's govts to survive ultimately the United States must be seen to lose.

Is Israel bluffing?
....bring down our first contestant, Mahmoud, Bill

Israel will not accept a nuclear Iran

- visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told US television, but while not ruling out military action, said he hoped diplomacy would dissuade Tehran from pursuing its nuclear program.

"We will not tolerate the possession of nuclear weapons by Iran," Olmert told NBC television's "Today Show" program, ahead of talks with President George W. Bush on Iran's nuclear ambitions and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I think they mean it, especially with the USA about to rediscover the meaning of the words "shriveled scrotum" in the White House. Israel will perceive itself to be on its own, and while that increase their jeopardy, it also increases their freedom and reduces their responsibilities to others.

Asked whether his country was considering a preemptive strike targeting Tehran's nuclear facilities, Olmert answered: "I hope we don't have to reach that stage."

But the Israel leader said his first choice is a negotiated resolution.

"Every compromise that will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities, which will be acceptable to President Bush, would be acceptable to me."

Olmert added that he was not seeking Washington's protection from Tehran.

"I am not coming to the United States to ask America to save Israel," he said, saying his country had drawn the lessons of the Holocaust and World War II.

An adroit foreign policy would be to have the Shia govt simply say... So Long Yanks, and thanks for all the fish

From Strategy Page:

IRAQ: The Americans Have Served Their Purpose, And It's Time For Them To Go November 13, 2006: As far as the Shia Arabs are concerned, all of Iraq's problems are still caused by the Sunni Arabs. Therefore, get rid of the Sunni Arabs, and let the good times (and the oil money) roll. The Sunni Arab terrorists continue to support this attitude, by setting off bombs in Shia Arab neighborhoods. Despite a lot of bravado on the Internet, the Sunni Arabs are losing. Not just in body count, but in terms of sharply decreasing Sunni Arab population. The Shia Arab death squads are killing more Sunni Arabs than the terrorist bombs are killing Shia Arabs.

Attempts to keep the suicide bombers out of Iraq have failed largely because of poorly trained police, and corruption. The bomb teams can still bribe their way into the city. Meanwhile, parts of Anbar province, where some pro-Saddam tribes continue to offer bases for terrorists, look like a combat zone. Towns have a bombed out, shot-up and abandoned look. Anbar is being abandoned, as Sunni Arabs flee the country from both Anbar and Baghdad. While some Sunni Arab towns and neighborhoods can organize private guard forces, even these are helpless against police or soldiers moonlighting as Shia death squads.

The government has proved helpless in stopping the death squads. This is the dark side of democracy. The death squads are very popular among the Shia Arabs, and the Shia Arab politicians who dominate the government know it. While the Sunni Arab leadership has gone through the motions of trying to suppress the terrorists, it has not worked. The Shia Arabs see this ineffectiveness as tacit support for the continued terror attacks on Shia Arabs, and have increasingly turned on Sunni Arab leaders. The army and police now go after the well guarded Sunni Arab leaders, and arrest them on "suspicion of supporting terrorism."

China sub secretly stalked U.S. fleet..UNDETECTED..and surfaces UNDETECTED in missile range of the same missile which whacked the Israeli SAAR fired in July

In considering US actions against submarines of this technology level, when a US admiral was asked if we would lose any carriers bringing the attack to the enemy (think invasion of Taiwan as we are occupied with Iran and NoKo and Iraq..leading to a US Naval attack in the straits of Taiwan)...his response was "Probably several". What is important is not that the Chinese, who have certainly been rapaciously stealing our military and electronic secrets for decades, are trying to achieve the success of this war profile mission, it is that they ARE succeeding in carrying out these missions.

A Chinese submarine stalked a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific last month and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected, The Washington Times has learned. The surprise encounter highlights China's continuing efforts to prepare for a future conflict with the U.S., despite Pentagon efforts to try to boost relations with Beijing's communist-ruled military. The submarine encounter with the USS Kitty Hawk and its accompanying warships also is an embarrassment to the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Adm. William J. Fallon, who is engaged in an ambitious military exchange program with China aimed at improving relations between the two nations' militaries. Disclosure of the incident comes as Adm. Gary Roughead, commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet, is making his first visit to China. The four-star admiral was scheduled to meet senior Chinese military leaders during the weeklong visit, which began over the weekend.

The Type 039 (Song class) diesel-electric torpedo submarine is China’s first new-design, conventionally powered submarine since the introduction of the Type 035 (NATO cldename: Ming class) in the early 1970s. it is designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW), but is also capable of general reconnaissance, water mine laying and patrol missions. The submarine is a blend of Chinese and Western technologies, and represents a major step forward in China’s conventional submarine design.

According to the defense officials, the Chinese Song-class diesel-powered attack submarine shadowed the Kitty Hawk undetected and surfaced within five miles of the carrier Oct. 26.
The surfaced submarine was spotted by a routine surveillance flight by one of the carrier group's planes. The Kitty Hawk battle group includes an attack submarine and anti-submarine helicopters that are charged with protecting the warships from submarine attack.

Pelosi Puts Weight Behind Murtha in Leader Bid

For those who don't remember, it was Murtha who first demanded immediate withdrawal for LITERALLY the criminally murderous americans, and then Pelosi who backed him up.

If this story is right, it is the beginning of the end of democratic electoral success, and a clear demonstration that they simply are beyond trust in national security matters.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), in line to become Speaker in January, is throwing her support to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) in the race for Majority Leader, a move that will be an early test of her influence and will weigh heavily on Murtha's contest with Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) for the post.

Pelosi, in a letter distributed Sunday to newly elected House Democrats, wrote that Murtha's outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq helped change the electoral campaign for the House this fall. Murtha began calling for a U.S. pullout from Iraq a year ago, and his open opposition to the war made him a focus of intense criticism from Republicans and the White House.

Pelosi, though, credited Murtha, one of her closest allies in the House, with changing the national debate on the issue and helping provide Democratic challengers and incumbents with a winning argument for the mid-term elections.

No one wants to be the last schmuck to be killed while the politicians make any sacrifice into needless waste of lives>>>>
Democrats say will push for Iraq withdrawal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats, who won control of the U.S. Congress, said on Sunday they will push for a phased withdrawal of American troops from Iraq to begin in four to six months, but the White House cautioned against fixing timetables.

"First order of business is to change the direction of Iraq policy," said Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is expected to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress.

Democrats will press President George W. Bush's administration to tell the Iraqi government that U.S. presence was "not open-ended, and that, as a matter of fact, we need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months," Levin said on ABC's "This Week" program.

Bush has insisted that U.S. troops would not leave until Iraqis were able to take over security for their country, and has repeatedly rejected setting a timetable for withdrawal because, he says, that would only embolden the insurgents.

Out of THIS argument will come Rangel's threat to cut off funds to force Bush to obey the wishes of the majority of americans to leave Iraq

Army report finds training alone can't fix Iraqis' discipline problems or...

How do you infuse 200 years of what democracy really is, in 6 months, AND demote sharia?

WASHINGTON — More than three years into the post-Saddam Hussein era, the Iraq army still confronts endemic discipline problems.

A report by the U.S. Army found Iraqi troops have been hampered by corruption, poor skills and insufficient discipline. The report, written by a former U.S. adviser, said Iraqi troops often conduct revenge attacks on civilians after insurgency strikes.

No, really? SO WHAT'S THE FREAKING ANSWER? WE KNOW THE PROBLEM.

"The 'burst reaction' may be attributed to Iraqis experiencing denial, anger and grief all at the same time," Lt. Col. Carl Grunow wrote in a report published in Military Review, a bimonthly publication of the U.S. Army's Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Grunow said Iraqi soldiers overreact to insurgency fire. A former adviser to an Iraq army armored brigade, Grunow said soldiers often fire all of their ammunition in response to a single sniper shot.

Iraqi troops, usually unsupervised, often attack civilians after military units sustain casualties. Grunow said up to 40 percent of some Iraqi units have fled battle, without incurring a penalty.

So? What's the plan Stan? Oh by the way, you also forgot to add that they are demoralized since Maliki has aligned himself with Moqtadr Al Sadr, and is doing nothing to weaken tribal and religious murders and kidnappings, thinking the Americans will leave, and he'll be with the winners of this incipient civil war.

Gertz:

Western intelligence sources have detected new evidence of collaboration between the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority and Al Qaida.

Palestinian operatives of Al Qaida have returned from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Gaza Strip. Flush with money, these operatives recruit supporters and build an infrastructure in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Al Qaida would probably not form a separate organization in the PA, sources said. They said Al Qaida operatives, directed by the movement's No. 2 figure, Ayman Zawahiri, would become aligned with Hamas and obtain safe haven and freedom of movement.

Ah yes a fun time for all.

The who's who for the Muslim Brotherhood....
Hassan Al Banna, Founder
Sayd Qutb, the Thomas Jefferson of intolerant and racist murder in the name of god
Adbullah Azzam, palestinian progenitor of intifada and bombings, and student of Muhammad Qutb, Sayd's brother at King Abdul Aziz University's School of Islamic Studies.
Ahhmed Yassin the first fusion outside, HAMAS IS the muslim brotherhood
The dynamic duo of mass murder, Ayman a member, proper, and OBL taught by Sayd Qutb's brother, at Abdul Aziz U, where the Al Saud gave the prohibited Muslim Brotherhood sanctuary from Egypt.

Iran's Arabic language television station broadcast footage it claimed showed a US aircraft carrier cruising in Gulf waters it said was taken by an unmanned Iranian drone.

The brief minute-long film, which was shown on Al-Alam television's evening news bulletin, showed wobbly aerial footage of an aircraft carrier stacked with war planes as it sailed. The television's anchor said the film, the property of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, showed a vessel from "the US fleet in the Persian Gulf".

"A source in the Revolutionary Guard said the drone carried out its mission without US fighter pilots reaching it," the television said.

It said there were 10 such films taken by the drone which showed "more precise information and details about military equipment, foreign forces, and their activities in the Persian Gulf."

The station did not name the vessel nor did it say when the footage was shot.

The broadcast comes near the end of Iran's latest 10-day war games, "Great Prophet II", which military chiefs have said were aimed at showing off Iran's defensive prowess and testing new military hardware.

The war games coincided with US-led naval manoeuvres in the Gulf off Iran aimed at halting arms-trafficking, the first time such an exercise has been held in the area.

As we pointed out on the basis of an earlier report

the north korean tests of October were to test command and control systems for missile barrage launches for Iran.

And now this:

LONDON — Iran has demonstrated its capability to launch a massive missile strike in the Gulf.

Western intelligence sources said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps succeeded in a test that concentrated massive missile and rocket fire in one area. They said the IRGC launched hundreds of missiles and rockets by remote control against simulated targets in the Gulf. "They fired and fired and there were no duds or mishaps," an intelligence source said. "It was a very impressive display of firepower."

On Nov. 2 Iran began firing Shihab-3 and Shihab-2 ballistic missiles and medium-range rockets at the start of the "Great Prophet" exercise.

The source said Great Prophet, held in 10 Iranian provinces, resembled a North Korean exercise held in July 2006. At the time, Pyongyang fired a range of intermediate-, medium- and short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan in what was later deemed a test of the North's command and control system.

You had such a hard time believing that, you read this, right?

Well here is the real headline:

UN seeks end to 'very dangerous' overflights

BEIRUT: A senior United Nations envoy said Friday that Israel's continued violations of Lebanese airspace "are very dangerous," stressing the world body's keenness to "halt or at least reduce" Israeli overflights in the coming weeks. This came as France said Friday it hoped the US would put pressure on Israel to end military flights over Lebanon, after French peacekeepers nearly launched missiles at Israeli jets flying carrying out mock raids.

"This message must be sent by France and other countries, and also the UN ... We hope the Americans can send the same type of message to the Israelis," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei.

What fatuous smarmy cretins.

The entire purpose of the flights are to ensure the Israelis KNOW what is being smuggled and dug in, in violation of the UN Resolution the French and the UN are sidelining by winking and nodding at the hizballah murderers.

Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse A lawsuit in Germany will seek a criminal prosecution of the outgoing Defense Secretary and other U.S. officials for their alleged role in abuses at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo

Just days after his resignation, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany's top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Al Qaeda:

"I swear by God we shall not rest from jihad until we...blow up the filthiest house known as the White House," the voice on the recording said.

What's wrong with this picture?

AND THANKS, SO MUCH

As an effective administrator of a garrison situation (Iraq) I was no fan of Rummy (conquering a nation and obliterating armed forces is another deal).

I am and always have been a fan of Mr. Bolton.

So if I'm Mr. Bush (or who Mr. Bush advertised himself to be next to the retired fire chief standing amid the ashes and vapor of 3000 New Yorkers), and I read this:

John Bolton's prospects for staying on as U.N. ambassador essentially died Thursday as Democrats and a pivotal Republican said they would continue to oppose his nomination.

The my response is, fine.

Then for the next 2 years the US will have no representation at the UN and I will block every cent I can for the UN.

Of course, that's not who Bush is, IS IT?

Let's see who John Murtha, and Nancy and Harry Reid will pick.

Maybe the guy on the left?

BTW, anyone recognize the fella in the middle?

Two years after U.S. assault on it, Fallujah returns to insurgent hands

Are you kidding?
If I am in charge an awful lot of people are looking for new jobs today ... right down to brigadier generals...

Jay Price and Mohammed Al Dulaimy, McClatchy News Service
FALLUJAH, IRAQ - When insurgents hid a bomb in front of his house a few days ago, intending to use it against U.S. or Iraqi troops, Majeed al-Rawi had only one option: Move out.

"If I report it to the Americans, I will be killed by the men who put it there, and if I don't, my family will be killed either by the explosion or the Americans," the car dealer said. "This is not a way to live; this is a way to hate life."

Two years after U.S. troops launched a devastating ground assault that purged, at least temporarily, the heart of the Iraqi insurgency, Fallujah once again is a violent place.

In recent months, insurgents have filtered back into the city, despite tight controls that limit access to only six checkpoints. Residents must submit to an extraordinary identification system that includes fingerprinting, retina scans and bar-coded identification cards.

An insurgent intimidation campaign has killed two City Council members and at least 30 police officers.

The campaign has been so effective that police patrols have all but stopped, as officers fear to walk the streets.

I think we're ready for "fresh perspective" all right.

It's time to convey the message that either this is worth ZERO american lives, or it's time for MORE RUBBLE, LESS TROUBLE

Presented for your consideration, without value statements...the customer is always right...what did the voters say ?

1. If you want an elective war, WIN IT, or secondarily, hold miscreants responsible - TO US..it's probably true that media is warping the story, but the story is a piece of sh*t to begin with

2. If you say you are a party of values, you can't be Cunningham, Foley, Ney and Abramoff, with Delay as arrogant blugdeoner in chief for spice, and YES we will tolerate more from the dems because they don't CLAIM superior values ..and please - don't point to Barney Frank etc. that's baloney. If character counts, show some. Otherwise you're just the same AND hypocrites to boot, and we SEE you.

3. Our message on the border may be muddled, but you did NOTHING...NOTHING about either that or immigration.

4. We're pissed off and we'll turn on the dems too, and fast.

5. We don't buy the good economy story, we buy the rich getting richer story

6. If you want to lay claim to the word conservative, put away the checkbook, and get rid of all the employees, and stay the hell out of my life, church, and bedroom..if we want to ban gay marriage, we can damn well present it as a binding referendum ourselves, otherwise it's religion and NOT Reagan or Goldwater, masquerading as conservative and we SEE you, oh and we STILL prefer having women being able to choose rather than the reverse.

The voters saw in power...INCOMPETENT RELIGIOUS HYPOCRITES.
Gee, that's attractive.
And nowhere in the mix is the word TERROR

As Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pledged Wednesday to rule the House fairly in the 110th Congress as the first-ever female Speaker, a handful of senior Democrats moved aggressively to secure other leadership posts in their nascent majority.

One day after Democrats decisively seized control of the chamber from the GOP, one of the architects of that victory — Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) — remained mum about his plans despite speculation that he could run for Majority Whip.

Current Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) was not similarly hesitant, formally announcing his bid for the Majority Leader’s office early Wednesday morning and confidently predicting that he will secure the post when Democrats vote in leadership election on Nov. 16.

“I think I’m going to win,” Hoyer said in an interview Wednesday. The Maryland lawmaker, who has served as Minority Whip since 2003, said “over a majority” of House incumbents as well as newly-elected lawmakers “have indicated that they would be supportive of me.”

But Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) — who stunned fellow lawmakers when he announced in June that he would campaign for the Majority Leader post against Hoyer — re-affirmed his own interest in the office Wednesday.

“I’m working diligently now trying to convince people that I’d make a good balance” to the leadership team, Murtha said in an interview with National Public Radio.

Iran buying 'whole villages' of converts in Syria; Assad gives 'carte blance'

WASHINGTON — Iran is moving in on Syria to the point of encouraging Alawis and Sunnis to convert to Shi'ite Islam.

Syrian opposition sources said the regime of President Bashar Assad has given Iran "carte blanche" in Syria. Unlike his late father, Bashar has allowed Iranian clerics to spread the Shi'ite religion in Syria.

"Syrians have been observing over the last year a dangerous phenomena mostly witnessed by an alarming number of non-Shia turning to Khomeini-style Shia in return for financial rewards," the opposition Reform Party of Syria stated. "Whole villages and urban areas are adopting the Hizbullah model whereby clinics, schools and social services are provided by Iran in return for Syrians to convert to Shi'ism."

In August 2006, RPS stated, Iran opened two centers in the Syrian port of Latakia. The centers, which teach Farsi, have been converting Sunni Muslims.

If Bush had little personal loyalty after ALL, then why not 6 months ago?

If a fresh perspective was required, then why not after the Golden Mosque was blown up?

After the Fallujah offensive was stopped?

After THIS MORON was allowed to live, with 600 in his personal mob (now at 15,000)

After the looting in 2003?

After Abu Ghreib?

After the 2004 election?

Doing this today makes Bush APPEAR to be craven, stupid or foolish, or poorly organized. Or all

Hizbullah's new-found popularity in Sunni-controlled Gulf states poses future security threat

ABU DHABI — Hizbullah has become the rage in Sunni Gulf states.

Take Saudi Arabia, ruled by the sternest of Sunnis. In the Saudi port of Jeddah, the hottest product is a brand of fireworks called "Hizbullah."

Yemeni traders hawk a rocket that measures a meter and sells for about $40. The firework explodes like dynamite and emits a rainbow of colors. A smaller version is called "Bin Laden."

Saudi authorities have banned the Hizbullah fireworks as too dangerous. But that hasn't stopped thousands of Hizbullahs — produced in China — from being ignited throughout Jeddah on Ramadan nights.

In the aftermath of its war with Israel, Hizbullah has become a hit in the Gulf Cooperation Council. To Sunni youngsters, Shi'ite Hizbullah represents the promise of Muslim strength.

This sounds like a job for John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi !
After all, Sunni and Shia never work together

Today the Committee Chairman is THIS GUY

In January it will be a fellow named Alcee Hastings

That Hastings’s name is even being mentioned for the position -- or, indeed, any public office -- is itself noteworthy. A former federal judge, Hastings was named to the bench for the Southern District of Florida by Jimmy Carter in 1979. But in 1981 Hastings found himself embroiled in a corruption scandal, indicted on charges of conspiracy to accept a bribe. The case involved two brothers, Frank and Thomas Romano, who had been convicted in 1980 on 21 counts of racketeering. Together with attorney William Borders Jr., Hastings, who presided over the Romanos' case, allegedly hatched a plot to solicit a bribe from the brothers. In exchange for a $150,000 cash payment, Hastings would return some $845,000 of their $1.2 million in seized assets after they had served their three-year jail terms. Taped conversations between Hastings and Borders confirmed that the judge was a party to the plot, though he was acquitted by a jury in 1983.

Hastings did not evade justice for long. A report compiled by a special Investigating Committee in 1986 found clear evidence that Hasting’s had covered up his role in the bribery scheme. In 1988 the Democrat-led House voted 413 to 3 to impeach Hastings on numerous counts of conspiracy and perjury; a Democrat-controlled Senate subsequently removed him from his judgeship. The most withering criticism of Hastings came from a fellow black American, Michigan’s Democratic Congressman John Conyers. Admitting that he was sympathetic to Hastings’s politics, Conyers nonetheless condemned his role in “high crimes and misdemeanors,” and rendered a devastating verdict: “We did not wage the civil rights struggle in order to substitute one form of judicial corruption for another.”

It seems there is data that shows democrats respond to exit pollers at 6-8% bias higher than republicans. Who cares why?

Never the less, it should be OBVIOUS from the exit polling, that the Foley experience was that fine, invisible line which made the underlying, troubling feeling about the lack of cause in republicana, the loss of Newt Gingrich's positive directions (nomatter what one might THINK of that direction), the unease over the continuation without any correction in Iraq, the North Korean and growing Iranian debacle, and the growing sense that in power for 12 years the republicans were not much different from the dems over 62, finally manifested in complete anger for the american people.

Had there been progress in in Iraq could this have happened?

Had Hastert destroyed Foley the year of the Iraq invasion could this have happened?

Yes.

The wrong men had been recruited to fight and win elections for the republicans over 12 short years.

Why? How?

And 5+ years later....
Malaysian Cleric Hussein Ye

May Allah help all the mujahideen, especially in Palestine, especially in Iraq, and wherever they are, who fight to protect human rights.

What happened in 9/11 nobody really knows. Even the American government, until today, say that they suspect the Muslims are involved. They only suspect.

So we can not act on a suspicious statement. We do not know who is behind that. If they want to say it is the Muslims, what can we do? It's their word against our word. In Islam, in the international court you cannot act on suspicion. Anything you do - when you act, must have what is called "hot proof," "hot evidence."

You mean like the cell phone calls of passengers and crew?

Female masturbation is more risky than male masturbation. Male masturbation is not as risky. Sometimes women insert finger, and some women insert objects that may be risky, especially since the hymen is very sensitive, and any playing with it may tear it. This might expose the woman to accusations.

Obviously, not only does he like to watch, but he is a forensic pathologist in his spare time ... clearly he is an expert hymenologist

She may tell them this or that, but they will not believe her. They will think she must have had forbidden relations with some guys. This way, a person exposes himself to accusations of fornication, a woman might be accused of fornication. She will bring disgrace upon herself and her family. This will be a disaster, and some relatives might kill her

Yes.
Kill all women who masturbate. This is clearly infringing on purely male territory.

I am one of those people who see a very clear picture. In our childhood... When we were young boys...

I cannot forget the sight of the American forces leaving Vietnam in h%3A1opters, which carried their officers and soldiers.

Some Vietnamese, who had fought alongside the Americans, tried to climb into these helicopters, but the [Americans] threw them to the ground, abandoned them, and left. This is the sight I anticipate in our region, but I am not saying it will happen in months. It will take years. The Americans will gather their belongings and leave this region - the entire region. They have no future whatsoever in our region. They will leave the Middle East, and the Arab and Islamic worlds, like they left Vietnam.

I advise all those who place their trust in the Americans to learn the lesson of Vietnam, and to learn the lesson of the South Lebanese Army with the Israelis, and to know that when the Americans lose this war – and lose it they will, Allah willing - they will abandon them to their fate, just like they did to all those who placed their trust in them throughout history.

Air force officers held for attempt to murder Musharraf with rockets

A cabal of Pakistani military officials with access to President Pervez Musharraf's innermost security circle has been arrested after trying to assassinate him in a rocket attack.

The strike, aimed at the president's high-security personal residence-office in Rawalpindi, took place shortly after he returned from Britain and the US in late September.Although the president was not hurt, the attempt demonstrates the political instability engulfing his nation, which was heightened last week by his government's bombing of a madrassa in north-west Pakistan killing 80 suspected militants.

With hardline religious parties orchestrating strikes and demonstrations, fears are growing that Gen Musharraf's opponents may make further attempts to remove him by force, creating a power vacuum in the Islamic world's only nuclear-armed state.

Gee....I imagine the ISI might have known something, right?
Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah !

The author of Ender's Game strikes hard. When the Sci Fi authors are with you look out below. The last piece I read by a sci fi author on all this was by Dan Simmons author of Hyperion, and he shook me. Mr. Card is ALL ROOT with this one. Please read it all.

There is only one issue in this election that will matter five or ten years from now, and that's the War on Terror.

And the success of the War on Terror now teeters on the fulcrum of this election.

If control of the House passes into Democratic hands, there are enough withdraw-on-a-timetable Democrats in positions of prominence that it will not only seem to be a victory for our enemies, it will be one.

Unfortunately, the opposite is not the case -- if the Republican Party remains in control of both houses of Congress there is no guarantee that the outcome of the present war will be favorable for us or anyone else.

But at least there will be a chance.

I say this as a Democrat, for whom the Republican domination of government threatens many values that I hold to be important to America's role as a light among nations.

Saudi rulers locked in power struggle over response to Iran threat

Against the backdrop of the NoKo's UN ambassador lunching with the Iranian UN ambassador every day last week, followed by the story of the new Arab nations group (Egypt, KSA, UAE, Morocco, and Algeria) to rapidly explore nuclear technology (gee, ya think the IAEA coming up with a stand to shut down Iran and NoKo would have been wise?) we have this piece of hilarity, viewed from any angle.

Saudi leaders cannot decide whether Iran is more of a threat than is Israel.

Saudi King Abdullah believes that Iran represents the greatest threat to the Gulf Arab kingdom and must be fought at any cost. The king regards Iran as intent on taking over the Sunni oil sheikdoms in the region, with Saudi Arabia being the biggest prize.

Abdullah sees Iran's leadership as intent on forming a Shi'ite arc that would dominate the Middle East and destroy the Sunni world. Already, Iran has in his view effectively taken over Iraq, Lebanon and Syria while making serious inroads in such countries as Bahrain, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

As a result, Abdullah wants to form an alliance with Israel and Jordan to prevent a Shi'ite takeover. The king's idea is for the three countries to cooperate against Iran both on its home court as well as in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. The United States could be counted upon to support such an alliance.

Mideast terror leaders to U.S.: Vote Democrat

Get ready.......

JERUSALEM – Everybody has an opinion about next Tuesday's midterm congressional election in the U.S. – including senior terrorist leaders interviewed by WND who say they hope Americans sweep the Democrats into power because of the party's position on withdrawing from Iraq, a move, as they see it, that ensures victory for the worldwide Islamic resistance.

The terrorists told WorldNetDaily an electoral win for the Democrats would prove to them Americans are "tired."

They rejected statements from some prominent Democrats in the U.S. that a withdrawal from Iraq would end the insurgency, explaining an evacuation would prove resistance works and would compel jihadists to continue fighting until America is destroyed.

They said a withdrawal would also embolden their own terror groups to enhance "resistance" against Israel.

"Of course Americans should vote Democrat," Jihad Jaara, a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group and the infamous leader of the 2002 siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, told WND.

Any questions, here?
Americans, remind yourselves of Hassan Abbassi, and :"We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization"

"This is why American Muslims will support the Democrats, because there is an atmosphere in America that encourages those who want to withdraw from Iraq. It is time that the American people support those who want to take them out of this Iraqi mud," said Jaara, speaking to WND from exile in Ireland, where he was sent as part of an internationally brokered deal that ended the church siege.

"There is an atmosphere in America that encourages those who want to withdraw from Iraq...an evacuation would prove resistance works and would compel jihadists to continue fighting until America is destroyed"

Every once in a while, it becomes a worthwhile exercise to compare democrats across the years

Howard Dean:

I think George Bush is the most incompetent president we've had in our lifetime. I mean, nobody would accuse President Nixon of being incompetent.

Harry Truman:

A President cannot always be popular.

I will tell you – there has never been an [American] army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq.”

For me war has become a flat, black depression without highlights, a revulsion of the mind and an exhaustion of the spirit.

"I am convinced a volunteer army would be an army of the poor and the black and the brown and lead to the perpetuation of war crimes"
education, if you make the most of it, and you study hard, and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq

Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi:

We just killed the Patriot Act

Sam Rayburn (long term dem speaker of the house)

I will not deny that there are men in the district better qualified than I to go to Congress, but gentlemen, these men are not in the race.

"At the right time, we will have a position."

The manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured

VIA LGF - please SWARM IT

The Canadian branch of radical Islamic front group CAIR has issued a fatwa on Mark Steyn for this article: The future belongs to Islam.

Here’s the CAIR “Action Alert” calling down vengeance on Steyn, with nice clear talking points outlined for the faithful: CAIR-CAN Action Alert.

(Ottawa, Canada – Oct 31, 2006) The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) is asking all people of conscience to write to Maclean’s Magazine.

In the October 23rd issue of Maclean’s, a provocative and Islamophobic article by Mark Steyn was printed entitled, “The future belongs to Islam.” The article’s fear mongering tone focuses on the influx of Muslim immigrants into Europe and North America through an analysis that parallels Samuel Hungtion’s [sic] infamous book, “The Clash of Civilizations.”

An excerpt from the article reads:

“Age + Welfare = Disaster for you;
Youth + Will = Disaster for whoever gets in your way... Islam has Youth and will, Europe has age and welfare.”

In criticising the Maclean’s article, Derrick O’Keefe writes, “Seen within the “War on Terror”... Steyn’s article must be understood as a deliberate, hateful and provocative act.”

ACTION REQUESTED

1. Write a 150 word letter to Maclean’s Magazine for print.
2. Or submit a two to three paragraph letter to the Maclean’s editorial board.

When writing it is critical to keep Maclean’s readership in mind and maintain a style that is calm and convincing, but firm.

TALKING POINTS

1. The article entitled “The Future belongs to Islam” is inflammatory and offensive. It does little to build bridges, it simply divides people.

2. It would be appreciated if such provocative articles are not given space and if Maclean’s maintains a balanced editorial policy.

3. Maclean’s in the past was an authoritative and respectable voice for Canadians; however, today’s Maclean’s is clearly breaking away from this tradition.

4. If Maclean’s Magazine continues to publish such articles, I will consider not renewing my subscription.

WRITE MACLEAN’S AT:

E-mail:
letters@macleans.ca
adsales@macleans.ca

Fax: 416.764.1332

Maclean’s Letters
One Mount Pleasant Road
11th floor
Toronto, ON
M4Y 2Y5

EMail or fax your support of Steyn

letters@macleans.ca
adsales@macleans.ca
FAX:416.764.1332

Over the years Mr. Hersh has gotten them correct (My Lai) and gotten them tragically wrong (Flight 007). But now he has demonstrated a political dialectic, and more probably an economic need to act in a manner not only detrimental to the american polity (who cares about that, so does Al Sharpton?) but also harmful to the will of the USA, expressed in the voting booth, and the safety of the people of the USA.

Mr. Hersh is claiming that the american army is a bunch of murderers who would be received in a fashion worse than the killer armies of My Lai faced upon return from Vietnam (i.e spat upon in airports). By the way the factless and silly Mcdill Daily credit Mr. Hersh with turning america against the war in Vietnam (funny I thought it was the way media shaped the huge military victory of Tet into a huge political loss).

In describing the situation we freely elected, by clear majority, Hersh says this:

“In Washington, you can’t expect any rationality. I don’t know if he’s in Iraq because God told him to, because his father didn’t do it, or because it’s the next step in his 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program,” he said. Hersh hinted that the responsibility for the invasion of Iraq lies with eight or nine members of the administration who have a (CODE WORD ALERT) “neo-conservative agenda” and dictate the U.S.’s post-September 11 foreign policy.

Any questions?I hear the Doors playing....

'this is the end, my dear old friend, the end......'

NYC Judge Refuses to Toss Terror Charges

A judge refused to toss out charges against a jazz musician, a doctor and two other men accused of supporting terrorists.

Defense lawyers had argued that the men were arrested through entrapment and outrageous conduct by an overzealous government in late 2001, but U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska refused to dismiss the charges Monday.

She said evidence in the case could be viewed as showing the men had made statements and taken actions making them "predisposed to commit these crimes" even before the government sent a confidential informant to record their conversations.

The judge said trial will begin in April or June for Rafiq Abdus Sabir, a Florida doctor; jazz musician and martial arts expert Tarik Shah of New York; bookstore owner Abdulrahman Farhane of New York; and Washington, D.C., cab driver Mahmud Faruq Brent.

This is a dangerous stereotype....your muslim neighbor might really be ready to .....AND every survey bears this out.....but it can't be right....RIGHT? Can it?
It's my hope these guys were TURNED IN by those americans who happen to be muslim, that just can't stand this sh*t.

Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said on Tuesday it had arrested three men planning suicide attacks in Kabul, including two from a Pakistan-based cell run by the capital’s Taleban-era deputy police chief.

The two were seized this week while trying to enter the city from neighbouring Logar province, spokesman Sayed Ansari told reporters.

They were part of a Pakistan-based cell organised by Mullah Mohammad Ibrahim Hanifi, who was the deputy police chief of Kabul during the 1996-2001 Taleban regime, he said.

“Mullah Ibrahim Hanifi, who is living in Pakistan, has been organising suicide attacks in southern Afghanistan. The two men we captured were also sent by him,” he said.

The agency was holding another man suspected of being an accomplice to a suicide bomber who killed around a dozen people outside the interior ministry on September 30, Ansari said.

The blast was one of a series of seven that rattled the capital between early September and early October, killing scores of people, including three foreign soldiers.

The suspect had been identified as a Pakistani national sent to Afghanistan by the outlawed Pakistani militant group of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen to carry out a suicide attack, Ansari said.

Harkat-ul-Mujahideen has reported links to the Al Qaeda terror network and is said to be involved in crossborder attacks.

Suicide attacks have soared in Afghanistan this year, with the tactic generally agreed to have been picked up from international militant groups.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said this month there had been 91 such attacks in 2006.

The latest was on Tuesday and killed an Afghan policeman in the southern province of Ghazni, according to authorities.

These attacks have killed 155 civilians, 40 members of the Afghan security forces, six government officials and 14 foreign troops, ISAF said.

The Taleban, ousted from government in a US-led military offensive in 2001, uses suicide and road-side bombings in an insurgency that has peaked this year and seen the rebels take on security forces in sophisticated attacks.

Elvis Soto's variety store used to make money. But few customers have been walking through his door lately, and his merchandise _ calling cards, cell phones, car stereos, clothing _ is collecting dust on the shelves.

With bills mounting, Soto might have to take another job to stay afloat financially, and may even close the store.

On Wednesday, a tough, first-of-its-kind law targeting illegal immigrants goes into effect in this small hillside city in northeastern Pennsylvania. But the evidence suggests many Hispanics _ illegal or otherwise _ have already left.

That, in turn, has hobbled the city's Hispanic business district, where some shops have closed and others are struggling to stay open.

"Before, it was a nice place," said Soto, 27, who came to the United States from the Dominican Republic a decade ago. "Now, we have a war against us. I am legal but I feel the pressure also."

The ordinance, approved by City Council in September, imposes fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and denies business permits to companies that give them jobs. The law empowers the city to investigate written complaints about a person's immigration status, using a federal database.

Mayor Lou Barletta, chief proponent of the new law, contends illegal immigrants have brought drugs, crime and gangs, overwhelming police and municipal budgets. He announced the crackdown in June, a month after two illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic were charged in a fatal shooting.

If the problem is so large that businesses must close in Pennsylvania, it is our PERSONAL responsibility to make sure that BOTH border security, and sensible immigration policies are the result here.

We START with border security. Note that this law does NOTHING to the criminals who are here illegally, it PROPERLY targets americans who violate the laws for profit.