December 06, 2007
Of Teddy Bears and Cartoons
By Victor Davis Hanson
Here we go again. Thousands of Sudanese Muslims took to the street last week to threaten death to a British schoolteacher in Khartoum.
Her crime? She inadvertently committed the felony of allowing her class to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/12/of_teddy_bears_and_cartoons.html
NO LASTING PEACE
By RALPH PETERS A respite between rounds isn't worthless, of course - lives are saved, Israel's economy improves and the Arabs get one more chance to get their act together. But we're forever disappointed because we're convinced there's a good, permanent solution, if only we can figure it out. http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/11272007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/no_lasting_peace_314090.htm
November 27, 2007 -- SHORT of intolerable carnage, there's no durable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. None. The best all parties can hope for is an occasional time-out.
Let's hear it for good news from Iraq
Globe Columnist / November 25, 2007
THE NEWS from Iraq has been so encouraging in recent months that last week even the mainstream media finally sat up and took notice. Can the Democratic Party be far behind?
more stories like this:
In a story titled "Baghdad Comes Alive," Rod Nordland reports in the current Newsweek on the heartening transformation underway in the Iraqi capital:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/11/25/lets_hear_it_for_good_news_from_iraq/
As Democrats See Security Gains in Iraq, Tone Shifts
By PATRICK HEALY
Published: November 25, 2007
As violence declines in Baghdad, the leading Democratic presidential candidates are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on Iraq: acknowledging that success, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress there, and highlighting more domestic concerns like health care and the economy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/politics/25dems.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
November 21, 2007
Hillary's Faux Experience
By Tony Blankley
Having spent much of my adult life in politics, it would be silly at this late date to be shocked by the discovery of insincerity and misleading statements coming from leading candidates for president. But if I have seen too much of the world to be shocked, at least I still can be appalled. And the gentle lady, the junior senator from the Empire State continues to appall.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/hillarys_faux_experience.html
IRAQ: WHAT WENT RIGHT
COURAGE, SKILL, LUCK AND EXHAUSTION
November 21, 2007 -- THE situation in Iraq has im proved so rapidly that Democrats now shun the topic as thoroughly as they shun our troops when the cameras aren't around.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11212007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/iraq__what_went_right_407604.htm
It's true: Iraq is a quagmire
But the real story is not something you have heard
Sunday, November 18, 2007
By Jack Kelly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
We're floundering in a quagmire in Iraq. Our strategy is flawed, and it's too late to change it. Our resources have been squandered, our best people killed, we're hated by the natives and our reputation around the world is circling the drain. We must withdraw.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07322/834685-373.stm
Channeling Dick Cheney
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: November 18, 2007
I have no idea who is going to win the Democratic presidential nomination, but lately I’ve been wondering whether, if it is Barack Obama, he might want to consider keeping Dick Cheney on as his vice president.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/opinion/18friedman.html?ref=opinion
November 11, 2007
Dictators and Democrats Stick with principles — not personalities.
by Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online
I don’t think many Americans would argue that the answer for the sometimes lethargic, elected Karzai government in Afghanistan should be a coup by a Pashtun warlord and his battle-hardened lieutenants. Prime Minister Maliki and his elected government in Iraq are frequently criticized for being unwilling, or unable, to deal with Shiite militias. Should the U.S., then, look instead for an ex-Baathist to knock a few heads and declare martial law?
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson111107.html
Denying Alliance
Democratic candidates love to attack Bush's foreign policy.
By Charles Krauthammer
When the Democratic presidential candidates pause from beating Hillary with a stick, they join in unison to pronounce the Democratic pieties, chief among which is that George Bush has left our alliances in ruins. As Clinton puts it, we have “alienated our friends,” must “rebuild our alliances” and “restore our standing in the world.” That’s mild. The others describe Bush as having a scorched-earth foreign policy that has left us reviled and isolated in the world.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MmU0NDZhMDUxOTBhMjdkMWUxZGRlZTFjYWQwYjc4MWI=
Diplomacy in the Post-9/11 Era
"European governments are not able any more to ask their people for great sacrifices."
BY DAVID B. RIVKIN JR. Saturday, November 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST
"Whoever the next president is, the new administration will be extremely disappointed if it believes that our relationships will mend because its leader has a different name. . . . Personal diplomacy and relationship-building, although important, are rarely the paramount drivers of global affairs. These are shaped importantly by the long-term national interest."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010875
November 15, 2007
When Good News is No News
By Victor Davis Hanson
There's an old expression about war: "Victory has many fathers, while defeat is an orphan." But in the case of Iraq, it seems the other way around. We've blamed many for the ordeal of the last four years, but it is the American victory in Anbar province that now seems without parents.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/when_good_news_is_no_news.html
To show where our heads are at as Pakistan fights an Islamic fanitic overthrow ... here in NYC everyone is enjoying a sunny day in Central Park watchiung the marathon and getting ready for the huge Colts/Pats football game ... can anyone say pre-911 shark attack news programming ???
New York City Marathon
Advice for the first-time New York City Marathon runner or first-time spectator: Slow down and enjoy it.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/new_york_city_marathon/index.html
Pakistan is on the verge of a islamic overthrow...fanatics that want to blow up the U.S. are close to aquiring an nuclear arsenal. The Pakistan government clamps down much like it is done through out the Muslim world, not to mention Russia or China and our newspapers thrive on positioning this as a loss due to President Bush !!! How absurd ... if we are not careful we will cause ourselves to self-destruct the way that ab obsolete Western Europe is doing ...
Page 1 of the New York Times
News Analysis
Musharraf Leaves White House in Lurch
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and HELENE COOPER
Published: November 4, 2007
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 — For more than five months the United States has been trying to orchestrate a political transition in Pakistan that would manage to somehow keep Gen. Pervez Musharraf in power without making a mockery of President Bush’s promotion of democracy in the Muslim world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/world/asia/04assess.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Some fairly terrorifying news ... let the left loones blame this one on Bush ... a nuclear Pakistan is in play .... the worst of senarios ...
Emergency declared in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Faced with increasing violence and unrest, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency Saturday, government sources told CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/03/pakistan.emergency/index.html
Want this jerkoff on record and his paper as well....
Op-Ed Columnist
Fearing Fear Itself
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: October 29, 2007
In America’s darkest hour, Franklin Delano Roosevelt urged the nation not to succumb to “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.” But that was then.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/opinion/29krugman.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
10/26/07
IT will be interesting to see if Clnton peaks too early ... it must be distressing to many to see her phoney , b.s. act with Bill all over again, as if zillions have not seen the lying, manipulating show before .... he is especially repulsive as you know he is even manipulating her to regain his moment in the sun ...
Oct 25, 2007 21:47 | Updated Oct 26, 2007 16:47
Column one: Preventing World War III
It goes without saying that if and when a decision is made in Jerusalem or Washington to carry out an attack against Iran's nuclear installations the public will only learn of the decision in retrospect. All the same, over the last few weeks, it has been impossible to miss the fact that the Iranian nuclear program has become the subject of intense and ever increasing international scrutiny. This naturally gives rise to the impression that something is afoot.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1192380656298&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
October 26, 2007
Relax, Republicans, It's a Fine Field
By Charles Krauthammer
Major grumbling among conservatives about the Republican field. So many candidates, so many flaws. Rudy Giuliani, abortion apostate. Mitt Romney, flip-flopper. John McCain, Mr. Amnesty. Fred Thompson, lazy boy. Where is the paragon? Where is Ronald Reagan?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/10/relax_republicans_this_is_a_fi.html
Putin compares US shield to Cuba
Russian President Vladimir Putin has compared US plans for a missile shield in Europe to the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960s.
The crisis saw the US and Soviet Union go to the brink of nuclear war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7064428.stm
Hold Your Conventional Wisdom!
Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007
By WILLIAM KRISTOL
"In case you missed it, a few days ago Senator Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock concert museum. Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time." This jab by John McCain at Hillary Clinton at the most recent Republican presidential debate received the evening's only standing ovation. Admittedly, those standing were partisan Florida Republicans. Still, it was a moment--in its combination of high-spirited playfulness and polemical sharpness--that made me think happier days may lie ahead for the GOP.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1675601,00.html
October 24, 2007
The Legacy of the Bush Administration?
by Victor Davis Hanson
The American
This article appears in the "Geopolitics" section of the recent issue of The American.
By October, 15 months before his presidency would end, George Bush’s approval ratings still hovered around 30 percent.
His administration will go down, say historians such as Columbia’s Eric Foner and Princeton’s Sean Wilentz, as a disaster. As Wilentz put it, “Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.”
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson102407.html
The Great Navigator
Hillary Clinton.
By Charles Krauthammer
Bill Clinton’s greatest domestic achievement, aside from abolishing welfare, was free trade. The crown jewel was the North American Free Trade Agreement. He got that through Congress over sustained union opposition in 1993. Monday, Sen. Hillary Clinton proposed that NAFTA and other existing trade agreements be reassessed every five years.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MWZmYTBhNWEzYjRjN2M5YjA1MDQ5OTYyZjQ5NjkxYmY=
International Relations 11.10.2007
Putin Accuses Europe of Ignoring Nazism in the Baltics
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2817872,00.html
Oct 10, 2007 21:15 Updated Oct 11, 2007 9:15
Zionism's bleak present
By DANIEL PIPES
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1191257274428&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
October 11, 2007
Hope Yet for Iraq?
By Victor Davis Hanson
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/10/hope_yet_for_iraq.html
CODDLING KILLERS
PAKISTAN'S APPEASEMENT FAILS
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10112007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/coddling_killers.htm
Why Bush Will Be A Winner
By William KristolSunday, July 15, 2007
I suppose I'll merely expose myself to harmless ridicule if I make the following assertion: George W. Bush's presidency will probably be a successful one.
Let's step back from the unnecessary mistakes and the self-inflicted wounds that have characterized the Bush administration. Let's look at the broad forest rather than the often unlovely trees. What do we see? First, no second terrorist attack on U.S. soil -- not something we could have taken for granted. Second, a strong economy -- also something that wasn't inevitable.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301709.html
The dominoes continue to fall as self-preservation dominates the game. The joke is going to see how revisionist history unfolds as the Far Left, having achieved it's goal of castration of a president and the collapse of America in Iraq, tries to blame the massacres and danger that will follow all on George Bush. We are on the verge of entering one of the bleakest points in American history as we hand the terrorists receive the biggest boost we could ever give them.
This is not Viet Nam. This is a war we have little choice in ending and it is going to be playing at a theater near us very soon.
PANICKY POLITICS
POPULISM PUSHING U.S. POLITICIANS INTO PATHETIC POLICIES
By GERARD BAKER
July 15, 2007 -- DEMOCRACY, Winston Churchill famously observed, is the worst form of government ever devised - except for all the others. Well, he was right about the first part.
In America these days, democracy is living down to its reputation - producing sticking-plaster solutions to epochal challenges, indulging the worst populist instincts of its voters, throwing up demagogic leaders unworthy of the job and rejecting those of true courage.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07152007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/panicky_politics_opedcolumnists_gerard_baker.htm
McCain rips Democrats for 'defeatism'
By Stephen Dinan, The Washington Times
John McCain, fresh off a trip to Iraq, attacked Democrats yesterday for a "choose to lose" approach to the war, as the Arizona senator tries to find common ground with the Republican primary voters who have deserted him in recent months.
"Defeatism will not buy peace in our time," Mr. McCain said in a speech in New Hampshire. It was his first major campaign event since he announced dismal second-quarter fund-raising efforts and his two top national-campaign operatives resigned and took other staffers with them out the door.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070714/NATION/107140029/1001
Keep on Surgin' Bush is beating them back.
by William Kristol, The Weekly Standard
I don't think Congress ought to be running the war. I think they ought to be funding the troops.
--George W. Bush, press conference, July 12, 2007
President Bush is absolutely right. But in a way his admonition to Congress at his press conference last week was unfair. He's correct that Congress can't run a war. But this Congress doesn't want to run a war. It wants to lose a war. Congress can, in principle, achieve this, and the Democrats who control this Congress are doing their best to bring it about.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/877zcqqk.asp
July 13, 2007
Deserting Petraeus
By Charles Krauthammer
"The key to turning [Anbar] around was the shift in allegiance by tribal sheiks. But the sheiks turned only after a prolonged offensive by American and Iraqi forces, starting in November, that put al-Qaeda groups on the run."
-- The New York Times, July 8
Finally, after four terribly long years, we know what works. Or what can work. A year ago, a confidential Marine intelligence report declared Anbar province (which comprises about a third of Iraq's territory) lost to al-Qaeda. Now, in what the Times's John Burns calls an " astonishing success," the tribal sheiks have joined our side and committed large numbers of fighters that, in concert with American and Iraqi forces, have largely driven out al-Qaeda and turned its former stronghold of Ramadi into one of most secure cities in Iraq.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/07/deserting_petraeus.html
Who Is Responsible for the Mess in Mesopotamia?
Thomas Donnelly has pointed out one of many dissonant elements in mainstream media (MSM) coverage of the Iraq war. On Sunday, July 8, The New York Times editorial page stridently called for the U.S. to "leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit."
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=071307A
Lebanon: One year on. Your Views.
I find it both fascinating and important to read what others feel about key issues of our day. This column is taken from a "your opinions" section from Al Jazeera where readers write in expressing their thoughts .... you learn a lot about perspectives from around the globe ... often quite scary and sobering ...
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=172&dgPoolID=c9283284-9360-48e4-b0c9-fa1986735c15
The article below is typical of the far left media that has been working it's hardest to insure we fail as a nation in Iraq. I post it because I want it memorialized for future reference. Everyone from the Europeans to the Iranians are the wise good guys and the faults of the world are all George Bush. What I find most distrubing is the distortion of facts, the revisionist history and the myopic glee over their distruction o George Bush. There is a smug, giddy glee to their coverage but they remain completely unaware that the problem they have created will not leave once Hillary and Bubba return to office. My question becomes what then?
Moving Right Along
While Republicans abandon him at home, the rest of the world is preparing for the era beyond Bush. What the next president should do to repair the breach between Washington and the world.
Newsweek, July 12, 2007 - While the White House desperately tries to save George W. Bush’s “legacy,” the rest of the world is putting it behind them. In capitals around the globe, Bush is already a lame, indeed mortally wounded, duck. And in government offices where U.S. policy can still tilt the fate of nations—that’s most places—the 2008 presidential race is being watched like the World Cup. In Tehran, where I visited in late June, senior officials admit they are closely following the debate. Mohsen Rezai, secretary of Iran’s powerful Expediency Council, told me in an interview that despite Bush’s baby steps toward engagement with a regime he has disdained talking to for six years, “Mr. Bush’s government is stuck at a crossroads and it can’t make a decision. Mr. Bush is not a patient person. We hope … we can pursue a better path with the next American government. The candidates for next American election are saying [more] logical and rational things about Iran." Another top Iranian official, chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, also said he liked what he was hearing, especially about moves to end the Iraq War. “The Democrats are now coming out with good statements, but we don’t know how once in power they would behave.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19731336/site/newsweek/
In democracy at it's ulgyiest, all the rats are leaving what may be a sinking ship thinking they can save their own asses by pointing fingers against the administration at the 11th hour .... what no one is dealing with is the reality of how massive and distrubing an xit will be , televised worldwide, maximized by the terrorists ...
THE SURRENDER LOBBY
July 13, 2007 -- A new intelligence report prepared by the National Counterterrorism Center apparently concludes that al Qaeda is re-energized, and growing increasingly confident that it can stage successful terrorist attacks against the West.
And Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says al Qaeda's "level of intent remains high."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07132007/postopinion/editorials/the_surrender_lobby_editorials_.htm
From The Times
July 13, 2007
How paranoid little Napoleons took over America
Iraq and immigration have shown US politics at its worst
Democracy, Winston Churchill famously observed, is the worst form of government ever devised – except for all the others. Well, he was right about the first part.
In America these days democracy is living down to its reputation, producing sticking-plaster solutions to epochal challenges, indulging the worst populist instincts of its voters, throwing up demagogic leaders unworthy of the job and rejecting those of true courage. The most depressing spectacle is unfolding over Iraq. Washington has reached the stage where vital national interests – and the security of much of the world – are being determined almost entirely by immediate, panicky political considerations. Americans want their troops home.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article2067022.ece
Victor Davis Hanson
The New York Times Surrenders
A monument to defeatism on the editorial page
12 July 2007
On July 8, the New York Times ran an historic editorial entitled “The Road Home,” demanding an immediate American withdrawal from Iraq. It is rare that an editorial gets almost everything wrong, but “The Road Home” pulls it off. Consider, point by point, its confused—and immoral—defeatism.
1. “It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.”
Rarely in military history has an “orderly” withdrawal followed a theater-sized defeat and the flight of several divisions. Abruptly leaving Iraq would be a logistical and humanitarian catastrophe. And when scenes of carnage begin appearing on TV screens here about latte time, will the Times then call for “humanitarian” action?
http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2007-07-12vdh.html
THE 'QUIT IRAQ' CAUCUS:
RECIPE FOR MASSACRE
July 11, 2007 -- EVEN as our troops make serious progress against al-Qaeda-in-Iraq and other extremists, Congress - including Republican members - is sending the terrorists a message: "Don't lose heart, we'll save you!"
Iraq's a mess. Got it. The Bush administration has made so many mistakes I stopped counting a year ago. But we've finally got a general in Baghdad - Dave Petraeus - who's doing things right. Iraqi politicians are still disgracing themselves, but our troops are killing America's enemies - with the help of our former enemies.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07112007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_quit_iraq_caucus__opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm?page=1
Our Own Worst Enemy
By ALEXANDER M. HAIG, JR.July 10, 2007; Page A21
Let us not delude ourselves. The recent Hamas conquest of Gaza is a signal defeat for the United States that goes well beyond the particulars of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We have sought to deny the Islamic terrorists a territorial base in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and elsewhere. Now they have won one on the Mediterranean. Gaza is partly a consequence of three bad habits bedeviling the war on terror:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118403572723161796.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
Muslims have to join this battle
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 08/07/2007
Admiral Sir Alan West, the man appointed to the Lords by Gordon Brown to oversee security in Britain, has made a comprehensive assessment of the terrorist threat currently facing us.
In the interview we publish today, he says the situation is worse than it was when Eliza Manningham Buller, who retired earlier this year as head of MI5, warned that there were at least 30 plots involving more than 100 dedicated terrorists.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=PCO5IURPEUO5RQFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/opinion/2007/07/08/dl0801.xml
Today The New York Times lead editorial calls for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Newspapers around the world are reporting on this as some sort of historic occasion and I simply don't get it.
The New York Times has staged a continuous campaign to discredit this president and guarantee our failure in Iraq since the war began. The New York Times has day in, day out taken every negative spin possible and used it to castrate the Bush Administration. Now, today, without any details on how to handle the chaos such a departure would cause or what we face as a nation by leaving, The Times positions itself as having made some bold statement. Bullsh-t.
The New York Times has become a local, agenda driven tabloid, it's once well respected name now irreparably tarnished. It is nothing new and that is why this article will come and go and very few will care.
Editorial
The Road Home
Published: July 8, 2007
It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/opinion/08sun1.html
•
I found it amusing to see all the recent "hype" as Hollywood and the music industry geared up for it's tribute to bring much needed attention to our environmental difficulties, the highly publicized and extremely well marketed "Earth Day." No one could hope to possibly miss the massive promotions geared up by the entertainment industry as it promoted it's "stars" scripted contributions to our troubles facing our planet. All I can say is what a bunch of bullsh-t.
99% of the "stars" taking place in this series of performances don't have the slightest clue as to the cause and effect of what they performing about. The vast majority came in their high powered jets and gas guzzling hummers, transported them from their gluttonist 20,000 sq. ft. homes from around the globe to share time with the rest of us. Who do they think they are fooling?
More than anything else it was yet another self-serving marketing campaign to continue momentum for professional careers. Their commitment to "green" is as serious as Julia Roberts, on stage at the Hurricane Katrina benefit in jeans and a work shirt, staring at the camera as if she just arrived from digging out bodies while asking for your money before flying off in her private jet. Pure showbiz. Yea for us.
I speak because I am familiar with Hollywood's commitment to 'green". I am a green builder and for the past year I have been speaking with architects and interior designers all over the greater Los Angeles area, trying to sell green building products and have them incorporated into the homes of the powerful and rich elite of L.A. that can have influence. I am told almost always to get real, that the showbiz world is non-acting when it comes to any form of personal involvement. So far it has been fascinating to see the near universal disdain when it comes to personal participation. It really says "let the average schmuck do it, not me. Call me at showtime. Yesterday we did.
Below you will find an article from former Middle East consultant for the New York Times Thomas Friedman who we can all still read for profit when he keeps his juvenile personal politics mostly removed from an article.
Op-Ed Columnist
Live Bad, Go Green
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, Published: July 8, 2007
Over dinner with friends in London the other night, the conversation drifted to global warming and whether anything was really being done to reverse it. One guest, Sameh El-Shahat, a furniture designer, heaped particular scorn on programs that enable people to offset their excessive carbon emissions by funding green projects elsewhere. “Who really checks that it’s being done?” he asked. And how much difference does it really make?
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/opinion/08friedman.html
The New York Times chooses to lead off page one of Sunday's edition with an article blasting the U.S. Military and the Pentagon without naming one credible source to substantiate it's claims. The former great paper has become a farce. It is completely agenda motivated and a slave to the far left. If they had any decency whatsoever, they would apologize to their readers for this self-motivated, transparent agenda.
It is pathetic. Despicable.
U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ’05
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: July 8, 2007
WASHINGTON, July 7 — A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas was aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/washington/08intel.html?hp
Pakistan mosque stand-off.
Your views.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=170&dgPoolID=8432a635-adae-4243-b93a-34ae0365dd5d
July 6, 2007
Virtual War
We are in a collective Animal Farm
by Victor Davis Hanson , National Review Online
In the last two months, lunatic Islamic radicals have failed at weird mass murder plots at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and JFK Airport in New York. And now in Great Britain, more incompetent jihadists were foiled again — thanks to their inability to ignite flammable gas canisters.
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson070607.html
EDITORIAL
A two-edged sword
Clinton's remarks on clemency for Libby show the dilemma her candidacy faces.
July 6, 2007
IN THIS WEEK'S torrent of well-deserved criticism aimed at President Bush for sparing I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby a prison sentence, one attack stood out. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D.-N.Y.) denounced the administration for considering itself above the law, and said the commutation "sends the clear signal that in this administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice." She happens to be right. A defining feature of this administration has been its arrogant refusal to submit to the most basic public inquiry, a hubris that extends to its rejection of the rule of law.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-clinton06jul06,0,4965898.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
Pussyfooting Around The Terrorists
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Thursday, July 05, 2007 4:20 PM PT
War On Terror: Judging from the political correctness coming from British leaders, one wonders if the threat facing the West is terrorism or racism. You can't win a war if you don't know you're in one or who the enemy is.
Failure to recognize the nature of the war we're in and who the enemy is seems to be a theme of the government of newly instated British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In words reminiscent of Bill Clinton's treatment of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, 10 Downing Street seems to think the latest terrorist plot is strictly a law enforcement matter.
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=268528361773780
Why Americans Should Feel Happy
By WILLIAM KRISTOL, Time Magazine
About three-quarters of Americans, according to surveys, think the country is on the wrong track. About two-thirds of the public disapprove of the job performance of President Bush, and an even higher number disdain Congress. The media are excited about the prospect of a wealthy businessman running for President as an independent who could tap into broad public disgruntlement with the partisan politicians in Washington.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1640412,00.html
July 06, 2007
The Cost of Failure
By Cal Thomas
If you believe the Bush presidency is a failure, what then? Do you delight in whacking him like a piñata for the next 18 months with your only objective a Democratic blowout victory in the 2008 election? If that is your strategy, do you ask yourself what kind of country a Democratic president will inherit and whether he (or she) will have the ability to quickly turn things around after months of pummeling a weakened president?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/07/the_cost_of_failure.html
ON THE FRONT
Iran's Proxy War
Tehran is on the offensive against us throughout the Middle East. Will Congress respond?
BY JOSEPH LIEBERMAN Friday, July 6, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Earlier this week, the U.S. military made public new and disturbing information about the proxy war that Iran is waging against American soldiers and our allies in Iraq. According to Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, the Iranian government has been using the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah to train and organize Iraqi extremists, who are responsible in turn for the murder of American service members.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010302
July 05, 2007
Terror Remains the No. 1. Issue
By Daniel Henninger
and chiseling a path to the White House, the task at hand is figuring out what ails the collective mind of the American electorate, this week and when the 300th week of the campaign lumbers into view next year. Yesterday found candidates Biden, Dodd, Clinton, Obama, Brownback and Romney floating like tireless balloons through Fourth of July parades all over Iowa. After that, our 20 or so presidential diviners and their retinues will continue to belly-flop into towns across America, trying to connect, trying to discover the one thing that will still animate voters when the final bell rings Nov. 4, 2008.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/07/terror_remains_the_no_1_issue.html
July 05, 2007
After The Next Atttack
By David Ignatius
How would America react to a future terrorist attack? Would the country come together to combat its adversaries, or would it pull further apart?
Perhaps we will never have to confront the question, you say. Perhaps our good luck will hold, or our intelligence will detect all the plots and plotters, or the terrorists will conclude that America is so divided anyway, why do anything that might unite the country. Maybe things will turn out that way, but a prudent person wouldn't bet on it.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/07/after_the_next_atttack.html
White House: Clinton shameless in Libby comments
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- White House spokesman Tony Snow fired back at former President Bill Clinton after Clinton charged that the Bush administration believes the law is a "minor obstacle" in the "Scooter" Libby case.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/05/clinton.libby/index.html
Here we go ... Bubba's on the trail for Hillary and it just might erupt in their faces ... today we have former President Clinton blasting Bush about the Libby pardons ... the same former president that disgusted both parties with his anything goes pardon fire sale in his last days in office ... a few more like this and maybe the country will wake up and remember Clinton 1 for what it was instead of some 1990's form of Camelot ...
Bill Clinton blasts commutation of Libby's prison sentence
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- Former President Bill Clinton blasted his successor's decision to spare former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby from prison, telling Iowa radio listeners that Libby's case differed from his own administration's pardon controversy.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/04/clinton.libby/index.html
This matter of fact breakdown of the Libby case makes the witch hunt, drum beating of the Keith "Fat Boy" Olbermann's of this world and their motives pathetically transparent. Their consistent slamming of everything ever done by the Bush Administration is deeply hurting America in the arena of world opinion and aiding our enemies. The Far Left is the greatest danger this country has ever faced and we are close to having Hillary, it's poster creature, as our president.
Alan Dershowitz
Playing Politics with Libby
Posted July 3, 2007 10:09 AM (EST)
The outcry against President Bush's decision to commute Scooter Libby's sentence is misplaced. President Bush acted hours after the U.S. Court of Appeals denied Libby bail pending appeal. That judicial decision was entirely political. The appellate judges had to see that Libby's arguments on appeal were sound and strong -- that under existing law he was entitled to bail pending appeal. (That is why I joined several other law professors in filing an amicus brief on this limited issue.) After all, if he were to be sent to jail for a year and then if his conviction were to be reversed on appeal, he could not get the year back. But if he remained out on bail and then lost the appeal, the government would get its year. In non-political cases, bail should have and probably would have been granted on issues of the kind raised by Libby.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dershowitz/playing-politics-with-lib_b_54772.html
Professor Hanson offers a clear and lucid accounting of where we are, what has been accomplished and what yet is within our reach.
July 4, 2007
Our Enemy’s Attrition
Reasons to reexamine the Middle East’s negative prognosis.
by Victor Davis Hanson , National Review Online
The majority opinion is that the occupation in Iraq has been so bungled that the blowback has ruined American efforts at promoting positive change throughout the Middle East.
Perhaps. But for all the justifiable criticism of the Iraqi reconstruction, two truths still remain — the United States is taking an enormous toll on jihadists, and despite the terrible cost in blood and treasure, has not given up on a constitutional government in Iraq.
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson070407.html
Even the far left Guardian is now openly criticizing the Islamic fanatics who appear to attack all without any true rhyme or reason. It is becoming clear that this is not about George Bush or the State of Israel but the disease in Islam itself.
Not in our name
Blaming UK foreign policy is not the answer. Where are the Muslim marches in revulsion against acts of terror in Islam's name?
July 3, 2007 , The Guardian, by Asim Siddiqui
The events of the last few days have been sobering for us all. The response from some UK Muslim groups (influenced by Islamist thinking) is still largely to blame foreign policy (undoubtedly an exacerbating influence but not the cause), rather than marching "not in my name" in revulsion against terrorist acts committed in Islam's name. By blaming foreign policy they try to divert pressure off themselves from the real need to tackle extremism being peddled within. Diverting attention away from the problems within Muslim communities and blaming others - especially the west - is always more popular than the difficult task of self-scrutiny. And what part of foreign policy do the Islamists want us to change to tackle terrorism? Withdrawal from Iraq?
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/asim_siddiqui/2007/07/not_in_our_name.html
Do you support the commuting of Libby's prison sentence?
An opinion poll of Al Jazerra readers worldwide shows just how deep the impact of the far left witch hunt has helped again to under mind the U.S.'s prestige around the globe. It is fascinating to actually the thoughts and perspectives of people worldwide.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=169&dgPoolID=8f915eff-4327-437a-bb68-cc3b9fbae458
Talk about scary .... President Hillary is on the way ...
Romney and Giuliani Trail Democrats in Fund-Raising
By ADAM NAGOURNEY , Published: July 4, 2007
DES MOINES, July 3 — Two more Republican presidential candidates disclosed new fund-raising totals on Tuesday that underscored the tough political environment for their party and the big money advantage that the Democrats have built.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/us/politics/04repubs.html?hp
A tough day for Thomas Friedman...he realizes he cannot blame the Islamic extremest phenomena and all it's ramifications on George Bush. What now Tom ?
At a Theater Near You ...
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: July 4, 2007
London
I knew something was up when I couldn’t get a cab. Then there were sirens and helicopters whirring overhead. I stopped a passerby to ask what was going on. He said something about a car bomb outside a disco six blocks from my hotel. A few hours later, I finally found a taxi. The driver warned me that it was nearly impossible to get across town. Another bomb had been uncovered in a car park. Next day, more news: a suicide bomber had driven his Jeep into an airport and jumped out, his body on fire, screaming “Allah! Allah!”
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/opinion/04friedman.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fThomas%20L%20Friedman
Taking America for Granted
This country’s survival is not automatic. What we do will determine that.
By Thomas Sowell, National Review
When my research assistant and her husband took my wife and me to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, I was impressed when I heard her for the first time speak Chinese as she ordered food. My assistant was born and raised in China, so I should have been impressed that she spoke English. But I took that for granted because she always spoke English to me.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzYyNjcxNjU0NDY1OTI2Y2M1MzExMDE3MjA3Nzc0MmQ=
From The Times, July 3, 2007
Cult of Contempt
The Left must condemn a fanaticism that is misogynist and homophobic. The arrest of two more terrorist suspects in Scotland underlines the speed of the investigation into the atrocities planned for London and Glasgow. The police and security services apparently had no prior intelligence on a campaign of terror inspired by al-Qaeda; but they have reacted with speed and efficiency in uncovering the terrorist network and following up the very many leads left by the bungled operations.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article2017440.ece
Pyongyang Pussyfooting
By John R. Bolton, Posted: Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Wall Street Journal
In the musical "Camelot," King Arthur tells Guinevere that "July and August cannot be too hot" in his domain. In the U.S. State Department's Camelot, avoiding a hot summer of bad news is also a high priority. This explains its euphoric reaction to North Korea's first partial moves to comply--three months late--with its February 13 promise to "shut down and seal for the purpose of eventual abandonment" the Yongbyon nuclear facility.
http://aei.org/publications/pubID.26441,filter.all/pub_detail.asp
TWO WARS - AND NO LEADERSHIP
TERROR'S TWO FACES & OUR FAILURES
By Ralph Peters, The New York Post
July 3, 2007 -- WE'RE not fighting a single war against terrorists. We're stuck in two. The past few days saw both conflicts hit the headlines. And we're still not serious about either one.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07032007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/two_wars___and_no_leadership_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm
Count on the fact that while the rest of the world contemplates the horrors attempted in London and almost completed in Glasgow, pudgeball Keith Olbermann and his far left goons at MSNBC will spend tonight and the next month's coverage of their thankfully last place show blasting President Bush for sparing Scotter Libby a jail sentence ... count on this as we are less than an hour from air time ...
July 02, 2007
Musharraf is Still the Best Bet--for Now
By Daniel Markey
A DANGEROUS BACKLASH
Even before the dust had settled on 9/11, U.S. policymakers were well aware that Pakistan was at the center of the world's worst Islamist terrorist networks. The Bush administration quickly moved to persuade once-sanctioned Islamabad to become an essential partner in the "global war on terror." But today, nearly six years after Secretary of State Colin Powell first announced that Washington and Islamabad stood "at the beginning of a strengthened relationship," the Taliban are still entrenched in the Afghan-Pakistani border region, al Qaeda's top leaders have found a secure hideout in Pakistan, and terrorist attacks within and beyond Pakistan's borders persist with deadly regularity.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/07/musharraf_is_still_washingtons.html
Jihad in Britain
The terrorists don't seem to care that Tony Blair is gone.
Monday, July 2, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Barely 48 hours on the job, Britain's new Prime Minister Gordon Brown got a lesson in the realities of the post-9/11 world.
Terrorist plots in London and Glasgow pushed the U.K.'s security alert up to the highest level--"critical"--for the first time in a year. In fortunate contrast to the London subway bombings two years ago this July 7, neither attack came off as planned. Two cars packed with gasoline, gas cylinders and nails were discovered early Friday in the British capital and defused. At Glasgow airport, a similarly rigged SUV crashed into security barriers, barely failing to get inside the departure hall. Except for an attacker who set himself ablaze yelling "Allah, Allah," no one was seriously hurt. Police arrested five suspects.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010285
“Stupid Terrorist”, Is it any surprise?
By Michael Ledeen
Many commentators have unburdened themselves of the observation that the British terrorists don’t seem very smart. Or technologically ept. They failed to blow themselves up in London, despite having lots of martyrdom gear. They failed to crash through barricades at Glasgow Airport, and you’d think they might have noticed the obstacles. Beloved Allahpundit remarks, in response to stories suggesting that the failed terrorists came from al Qaeda and received guidance from Iran, that “a joint AQ-Iran operation would have run a lot more smoothly and packed a considerably bigger wallop that these attacks did.”
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzAyZjVmNTQ1NmY2ZGNlMjRkZDZlZWRiMjdjMjczYWE=
Don't Mince Words
The London car-bomb plot was designed to kill women.
By Christopher HitchensPosted Monday, July 2, 2007, at 1:11 PM ET
Why on earth do people keep saying, "There but for the grace of God …"? If matters had been very slightly different over the past weekend, the streets of London and the airport check-in area in Glasgow, Scotland, would have been strewn with charred body parts. And this would have been, according to the would-be perpetrators, because of the grace of God. Whatever our own private theology or theodicy, we might at least agree to take this vile belief seriously.
http://www.slate.com/id/2169592/
My plea to fellow Muslims: you must renounce terror
As the bombers return to Britain, Hassan Butt, who was once a member of radical group Al-Muhajiroun, raising funds for extremists and calling for attacks on British citizens, explains why he was wrong
Sunday July 1, 2007 The Observer
When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the British Jihadi Network, a series of semi-autonomous British Muslim terrorist groups linked by a single ideology, I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy. By blaming the government for our actions, those who pushed the 'Blair's bombs' line did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2115832,00.html
Democrats Plan to Press GOP on Iraq
Majority Party Frustrated on Hill
By Elizabeth Williamson and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff WritersSaturday, June 30, 2007; Page A02
With the immigration bill dead, troop-withdrawal deadlines vetoed and other high-profile initiatives stalled, Democratic leaders closed six months in control of Congress mired in low approval ratings and plotting a legislative blitz on an issue they once tried to escape: Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/29/AR2007062902444.html?hpid=topnews
GLOBE EDITORIAL
Iran regime drowning in oil
June 30, 2007
THE HARD-LINE regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been frightening neighbors with its meddling-by-proxy in Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza. The regime's apparent pursuit of nuclear weapons has also prompted unusual solidarity among the United States, Europe, and Russia; together they have been ratcheting up United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran, demanding that it suspend uranium enrichment and comply with its obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency. But the most telling signs of trouble for the theocratic regime in Tehran are currently on display not in its external relations but in domestic turmoil.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/06/30/iran_regime_drowning_in_oil/
THE WEEKEND INTERVIEW
Of Tax Cuts and Terror
New York's former mayor makes his case to be Reagan's heir.
BY BRIAN M. CARNEY Saturday, June 30, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
"I think the American people in November 2008 are going to select the person they think is strongest to defend America against Islamic terrorism. And it is not going to focus on--as some of the media wants it--just Iraq. I think Americans are smarter than that."
Thus did Rudy Giuliani summarize the rationale for his presidential campaign at a meeting this week with the editorial board of the Journal. Next year's election will be about national security, not about Iraq narrowly defined.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010277
The biggest threat to the safety of the citizens of the United States is the far left media. It is so dominated with a blame America ideology it has become both a pawn and an asset to Islamic terrorists. I say this after carefully watching events unfold over the past several years.
The far left wants to position terrorism as a republican only issue. The New York Times places a story about a foiled terror plot to blow up Kennedy Airport and half of Queens on page 37. Why not page 1 like all the other local New York media? Because it would emphasize that there is a significant , life and death threat we are facing and not a Republican witch hunt.
Yesterday two terror bombing plots were foiled in London. It was a massive story but not for pudgy slime ball Keith Olbermann and MSNBC. While most of the rest of the world was in shock over the near miss of a terror plot aimed at killing hundreds of civilians, the smug Olbermann continued his broadcast series on the character assisnation of Vice President Dick Cheney. The London terror plot was not mentioned.
The viewpoint expressed is so myopic and dated it is frightening. Little spells it out better than today's outstanding article by Bruce Thorton.
June 29, 2007
The Passion of the Left
CIA’s new revelations fan the flames of “progressive” myths of our past.
by Bruce Thornton, VDH Private Papers
The publication of the CIA’s “family jewels” — the record of its domestic spying, hare-brained plots against Castro, and mind-control experiments, among other oddities — is sure to add fuel to that roaring bonfire of a myth that so-called “progressives” have been warming their egos at for forty years.
http://victorhanson.com/articles/thornton062907.html
ILL WINDS
Winds of War Iran is making a mistake that may lead the Middle East into a broader conflict.
BY JOSHUA MURAVCHIK Monday, June 25, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Several conflicts of various intensities are raging in the Middle East. But a bigger war, involving more states--Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, the Palestinian Authority and perhaps the United States and others--is growing more likely every day, beckoned by the sense that America and Israel are in retreat and that radical Islam is ascending.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010256
IN America every citizen is entitled to their own opinion and has the right to express it in a peaceful manner. There is no question about it. However, what concerns me about this article from the American based Arab American News is that a paper published by people living in The United States can still take the position of Israel as the bogeyman , seeking destruction of it's 300 million neighbors by manipulating and then utilizing the United States in a puppet like manner.
It's fascinating because it is happening right here. You would hope that Arabs living here in America would have a broader based perspective than those living in any of the dictatorships through out the Middle East. Perhaps a bit better perspective. Unfortunately it appears not to be so.
Why this is ultimately so dangerous for the survival of the state of Israel is a fact few talk about today but will not be able to avoid in the future. Over the next 10 or 15 years population trends predict that there will be more Arabs and Muslims living in the United States than Jews. That translates into more voting power and will simply shift the policy position pendulum with our the self-serving, survival first politicians.
Watch and wait.
Aiming toward disaster
By: Patrick Seale / The Arab American News2007-06-23
What would it take to persuade Israel to rethink its attitude towards its Arab neighbors — and primarily towards the Palestinians? The Hamas victory in Gaza is surely a clear signal that an Israeli change of direction is urgently needed.
http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=8982
Last update - 14:22 24/06/2007
PA intelligence chief: Iran aided Hamas in takeover of Gaza Strip
By News Agencies
Palestinian intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi on Sunday accused Iran of close involvement in Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza, saying Tehran funded the Islamic militants and trained hundreds of them.Tirawi said the battle for Gaza earlier this month had been carefully orchestrated and was a joint program with Iran.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/874410.html
Last Chance for Abbas
By Charles Krauthammer, Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A19
Gaza is now run not by a conventional political party but by a movement that is revolutionary, Islamist and terrorist. Worse, Hamas is a client of Iran. Gaza now constitutes the farthest reach of the archipelago of Iranian proxies: Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Mahdi Army (among others) in Iraq and the Alawite regime of Syria.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062101863.html
Conservative Columnist: The End of War as We Know It?
by J. Peter Pham, 06.22.2007
I have been following the Hamas takeover of Gaza with a sense of what Yogi Berra, in reference to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, described as "déjà vu all over again."
http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=14728
Op-Ed Columnist
The Capitol Energy Crisis
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: June 24, 2007
When you watch a baby being born, after a difficult pregnancy, it is so painful and bloody for the mother it is always hard to tell the truth and say, “Gosh, that baby is really ugly.” But that’s how I feel about the energy legislation passed (and not passed) by the Senate last week.
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/opinion/24friedman.html
Amazing but the L.A. Times of all newspapers had the balls to call out the western media on it's cowardly complete lack of courage on the Salman Rushdie Knighting affair...an important piece.
Why no mention of this as a New York Times lead? Answer: Because the New York Times is becoming irrelevant.
Where is the West's outcry?
June 23, 2007
By Tim Rutten, The Los Angeles Times
FOR a writer, Salman Rushdie has had a rather turbulent career.Even by his standards, however, this has been quite a week for the Indian-born, British-educated Booker Prize-winning novelist, now a resident of New York:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-rutten23jun23,1,6014697.column?coll=la-news-columns&ctrack=1&cset=true
Crackdown on Dissent Is Under Way in Iran
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: June 24, 2007
Iran is in the throes of one of its most ferocious crackdowns on dissent in years, with the government focusing on labor leaders, universities, the press, women’s rights advocates, a former nuclear negotiator and Iranian-Americans, three of whom have been in prison for more than six weeks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/world/middleeast/24iran.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Is it any wonder why the middle east is such a miserable mess? Five years under the world's spotlight after 9-11, we have all been forced to see the mechanics of the region as it really is. Even today we have the "highly respected" Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram posting it's lead editorial blaming America and Israel for the Mid Easts woes ...
It is pathetic beyond belief. Any same Westerner would know our only strategy is to create energy substitutes as quickly as possible and leave this miserable section of the planet to it's own demise.
A matter of legacy:
Normally a president would aim to leave office on a note of goodwill. George W Bush doesn't seem to care, writes Ayman El-Amir* , Al-Ahram Weekly
With 18 months to go before the expiry of his presidency, George W Bush must be anxious about the question of his place in history. This, at least, is usually symptomatic of world leaders, who entertain belated self-doubt as to how historians and future generations will judge their era, their actions and their achievements. Not George W Bush. He has dedicated his two-term presidency to the global war on terrorism. Regardless of the dismal failure in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war-by-proxy against Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Bush administration has one more prized target to attack -- Iran. Without arresting Iran's budding nuclear capability, whether by regime change or military strike, President Bush's messianic mission will never be accomplished.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/850/op21.htm
Just a reminder of the sort of animals we are up against. Where is the world outcry, the marches, the New York Times headlines denouncing this sort of activity?
The West has become a theater of the absurd, denying reality at all costs. I'm amazed The Guardian of all papers had the balls and decency to actually post this story.
Nato accuses Taliban of using children in suicide missions·
Troops say bomb defused on six-year-old boy· Claim follows 13 civilian deaths in air strike Chiade O'Shea Islamabad, Saturday June 23, 2007 The Guardian
Children as young as six are being used by the Taliban in increasingly desperate suicide missions, coalition forces in Afghanistan claimed yesterday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2109574,00.html
An always fascinating look at how other parts of the world think about specific issues. This week I have selected the feedback of Al Jazeera readers worldwide on the issue of author and former assignation target Salman Rushdie being selected for knighthood.
Should Britain withdraw an honour given to Salman Rushdie?
Salman Rushdie, the author of a novel considered blasphemous by many Muslims, has been awarded a knighthood. Pakistan's parliament has demanded that the title is withdrawn and an apology issued. Should the British government take back the award?
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=166&dgPoolID=27d03f54-e23c-4850-a88e-e419a10e84fa
What's a news day be without the blatantly biased The New York Times choosing to open their page one lead without a story slamming events in Iraq. It does not matter that most of the news reported elsewhere depicts a story of new found success with a change in strategy. All the Times wants is to brainwash the American Public into thinking all is lost and to bring the troops home.
No where do they determine what should be done after that catastrophe takes place. The New York Times is a far left, highly partisan disgrace.
Militants Said to Flee Before U.S. Offensive
By JOHN F. BURNS
Published: June 23, 2007
BAGHDAD, June 22 — The operational commander of troops battling to drive fighters with Al Qaeda from Baquba said Friday that 80 percent of the top Qaeda leaders in the city fled before the American-led offensive began earlier this week. He compared their flight with the escape of Qaeda leaders from Falluja ahead of an American offensive that recaptured that city in 2004.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/world/middleeast/23iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
David Horovitz, editor of the Jerusalem Post, puts reality into perspective in an article regarding Hamas' brutal overthrow and take over of Gaza and the world's reaction to it.
Updated Jun. 21, 2007
Editor's Notes: Leverage in Hamastan
By DAVID HOROVITZ, The Jerusalem Post
Let's be sure we've got this straight. Hamas has taken over the Gaza Strip, with a display of ruthless brutality toward its own people. We've seen Palestinians shoved off the roofs of buildings, by other Palestinians. We've seen Palestinians with literally dozens of bullets pumped into their heads, by other Palestinians. Palestinians murdered in front of their families, by other Palestinians. Palestinians murdered as they waited, desperate and helpless, to get out of the Strip, by other Palestinians.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1182409609561&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Professor Hanson brilliantly details the history of what got us into Iraq and analyzes the what if scenarios and how others might handle them in the future. Hanson's ability to place current event paters into historical perspective is exceptional and highly informative.
June 22, 2007
Reactionary Amnesia: The good ole’ days in the Middle East.
by Victor Davis Hanson, National Review Online
“Mess,” “fiasco,” “disaster,” “blunder,” and “catastrophe.”Fill in the blanks with almost any stock noun of gloom these days when speaking about Iraq.For finger-in-the-wind politicians, writing off Iraq is mere throat-clearing before moving on to any discussion of immigration reform or taxes. For ahead-of-the-curve pundits, starting out with “The failure in Iraq” is like opening their browser before daily pontificating. No need of explanation or empiricism, one just gets things out of the way at the very beginning with our new postmodern ritual.
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson062207.html
Democrats promised way more than they've delivered so far
Six months on, much ado over an unfinished agenda
By Jill ZuckmanWashington Bureau, Published June 21, 2007, 7:11 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- In the heat of their successful campaign last year to retake the House and Senate, Democrats made voters promise after promise.They promised to end the war in Iraq. They promised to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. They promised to lower prescription drug prices for seniors and raise the minimum wage.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070621dems,1,2175390.story?page=1&cset=true&ctrack=3&coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
It's time we call a spade a spade here ... there are two wars going on over Iraq. The first is our soldiers and military in the field. The second is the media war to end the war. The huge concern is that the plug will be pulled just when we are getting our act together to win this thing.
Last night I watched CNN and MSNBC spend the first third of their programing positioning all doom and gloom over the war. Never in their coverage was the slightest hint that the military is turning this thing around. Everything is positioned to disturb the American public so that support crumbles.
What scares me the most is other than blaming George Bush, the Left has zero plan to do anything to deal with the catastrophe of what an American military defeat would mean. They are truly a party of dreamers living in a vacuum.
IRAQ: MILITARY GAINS, GOV'T MESS
By Amir Taheri, The New York Post
June 22, 2007 -- SIX months ago, the U.S.- led Coalition force in Iraq appeared to be largely in self-defense mode, allowing terrorists and insurgents much latitude in parts of Baghdad and the troubled provinces of Anbar and Diyala. At the same time, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared to be engaged in a broad political offensive.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06222007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/iraq__military_gains__govt_mess_opedcolumnists_amir_taheri.htm
WINNING ON OFFENSE
REAL PLAN TO DEFEAT IRAQ FOES
By Ralph Peters, The New York Post
June 21, 2007 -- HALLELUJAH! For the first time since Baghdad fell, our military in Iraq has a comprehensive, integrated plan to defeat our enemies. Until now, our efforts have always been piecemeal, stop-start affairs. Even our success in the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004 went unexploited. Things have changed. And terrorists, not just Iraqi civilians, are dying.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06212007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/winning_on_offense_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm
June 20, 2007
Journey into Islam
By Tony Blankley
I have just finished reading a deeply disheartening book by my friend Professor Akbar Ahmed. Dr. Ahmed is the former Pakistani high commissioner to Britain and member of the faculties of Harvard, Princeton and Cambridge, current chair of Islamic Studies at American University -- and is in the front ranks of what we Westerners call the moderate Muslims, who we are counting on to win the hearts and minds of the others.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/journey_into_islam.html
A very interesting piece from the Eqyptian weekly ...
Integrating Islamists: Political inclusion is the best way to blunt extremist currents within Islam, writes Ammar Ali Hassan*
Al-Ahram Weekly
Counter-violence has not succeeded in burying extremist Islamist groups. Nor has it limited or weakened them to the point of stripping their efficacy or marginalising them into inactivity, making them incapable of recruiting or mobilising followers. Counter-violence has also not prevented Islamist groups from challenging the authorities, whether through symbolic rhetoric or through real actions ranging from the circulation of inimical leaflets to the perpetration of acts of extreme violence.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/849/op12.htm
Once again it is very interesting and revealing to read how readers around the word sound off about Gaza in an Al Jazeera opinion section ...
Can Gaza find peace?
An Israeli energy company has cut back fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip as Israel attempts to isolate the Hamas movement after it took control of the coastal territory. Can Gaza find peace? Send us your views.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=164&dgPoolID=0f59991e-6676-4014-ad8d-e46bb059be44
June 19, 2007
Hypocrisy That Undermines Civilization
By Victor Davis Hanson
There is only a thin veneer that separates civilization from man's innate barbarity. Some 2,500 years ago the historian Thucydides once warned us about the irony of revolutionaries and insurrectionists destroying this fragile patina of culture, as if they themselves might be exempt from ever wanting it back again.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/civilization.html
THE SIEGE OF LEBANON
AFTER GAZA, THE NEXT DOMINO?
By Peter Brooks, The New York Post
June 18, 2007 -- BEWARE: The Gaza Strip may be only the first dom ino to fall this summer in Iran and Syria's push to establish an arc of influence across the Middle East, stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Eastern Mediterranean. Lebanon, already teetering on the brink of instability, could easily be next.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06182007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_siege_of_lebanon_opedcolumnists_peter_brookes.htm
Land for Peace …… or land in pieces?
By Seth Leibsohn
The news out of Gaza is actually not the latest history lesson that Munich-type land-for-peace propositions require us to restudy. What we need is an update to Baruch Spinoza. While nature may still very well abhor a vacuum, we now know beyond speculation that terrorism will thrive in one. Where once a democratic state “occupied” Gaza, a terrorist Fatah took over under the watchful eyes of the U.N. In less than two years, the even-more-radical Hamas blasted Fatah out of power and took over from there — in one of the bloodiest coups of the past decade. Now Hamas, with support from Iran, runs a mini-state on the border of Egypt and Israel.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDNjZjY0YjZjNzJkZmUwZjUwNWE5YzdiOTU5ZGU3NTk=
The Gaza Effect
By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek,June 25, 2007 issue -
The Israelis didn't want Palestinian elections back in January 2006. Even Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, had been worried about them and kept asking for delays. As early as the spring of 2005, Abbas had warned American officials that he did not have the popular support to disarm Hamas, the Islamist party that turned suicide terror bombings into a standard tactic in Israel and which both Abbas and the Israelis saw was growing in power. But Bush administration officials insisted, confident of the curative powers of democracy. Later, after Hamas stunned the world by winning control of the Palestinian Parliament, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice claimed: "Nobody saw it coming."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19263096/site/newsweek/
It is very interesting to see how readers of Al Jazeera see the Iranian nuclear issue. Now that this paper is in English, we are afforded an amazing opportunity to actually see how other parts of the world actually think. Like it or hate it, we cannot afford to ignore it.
Iran's nuclear programme: Your views
Al Jazeera Reporting
Iran has brushed aside warnings by G8 leaders that it would face further UN sanctions if it failed to halt uranium enrichment work. Is the pursuit of nuclear technology Iran's right?
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=145&dgPoolID=dbbeb33f-7bc0-494b-9c45-5783ff142fc3
Another retelling of how Al Qaeda is outlasting an American public that is spoiled, lazy and in denial. Not the first time this argument was positioned here but it cannot be understated. The left and it's media supporters are positioning terrorism as a Republican issue. Much of the country lacks the perspective and the follow through to realize that there are real nuts out there who would set a nuclear bomb off in the middle of New York City in a second once they are able to do so ... it cannot get any scarier than that.
This is why I keep posting this sort of article. You cannot understate what is at stake and it is at stake.
Slow-motion Tet
Al Qaeda is counting on sapping our will, and persuading America to choose to lose a war it could win. by Frederick W. Kagan & William Kristol 06/25/2007
Last week, a group of tribal leaders in Salah-ad-Din, the mostly Sunni province due north of Baghdad, agreed to work with the Iraqi government and U.S. forces against al Qaeda. Then al Qaeda destroyed the two remaining minarets of the al-Askariya mosque in Samarra, a city in the province. Coincidence? Perhaps. But al Qaeda is clearly taking a page from the Viet Cong's book. The terrorists have been mounting a slow-motion Tet offensive of spectacular attacks on markets, bridges, and mosques, knowing that the media report each such attack as an American defeat. The fact is that al Qaeda is steadily losing its grip in Iraq, and these attacks are alienating its erstwhile Iraqi supporters. But the terrorists are counting on sapping our will as the VC did, and persuading America to choose to lose a war it could win.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/769bdqeo.asp
