I Don't Think So

The BBC headline screams:
UN denounces Israel cluster bombs
The UN's humanitarian chief has accused Israel of "completely immoral" use of cluster bombs in Lebanon.

UN clearance experts had so far found 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets at 359 separate sites, Jan Egeland said.

Israel has repeated its previous insistence that munitions it uses in conflict comply with international law.

100,000 bomblets? So far? How many bomblets are in a bomb? How many bombs can Israeli fighter jets deliver? How many sorties would be required if every single bomb and bomblet failed to explode?

This story is begging to be exposed.

From the Federation of America Scientists:
CBU-87/B Combined Effects Munitions (CEM)
BLU-97/B Combined Effects Bomb (CEB)

The CBU-87 is a 1,000-pound, Combined Effects Munition (CEM) for attacking soft target areas with detonating bomblets. The CBU-87 CEM, an all-purpose, air-delivered cluster weapons system, consists of a SW-65 Tactical Munitions Dispenser (TMD) with an optional FZU-39 proximity sensor. The BLU-97/B Combined Effects Bomb (CEB), effective against armor, personnel and material, contains a shaped charge, scored steel casing and zirconium ring for anti-armor, fragmentation and incendiary capability. The bomblet case is made of scored steel designed to break into approximately 300 preformed ingrain fragments for defeating light armor and personnel. A total of 202 of these bomblets are loaded in each dispenser enabling a single payload attack against a variety and wide area coverage. The footprint for the CBU-87 is approximatel 200 meters by 400 meters. The body of the submunition is cylindrical in shape, approximately 20 centimeters long, and has a 6 centimeter diameter. It is bright yellow when new.
During Desert Storm the US Air Force dropped 10,035 CBU-87s. During Allied Force the
US dropped about 1,100 cluster bombs, and most of these were CBU-87s. The dud rate for a standard cluster was approximately five percent.

So 202 bomblets per bomb and a 5% dud rate. 100,000 bomblets found.

My calcs tell me the Israeli's would have to have dropped 9900+ CBU-87s. I don't think so.

For Those Who Want Charter Schools and Vouchers. Here's Why You're WRONG!

... as goes California, so goes the Nation ...

... Government by definition, IS OUR ENEMY! Government fights against Liberty. Government schools are controlled by government based LIBERALS. DO I HAVE TO MAKE IT ANY CLEARER? ...

Plainly Spoken!

"If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Shariat law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you," he was quoted as saying. "I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that that is false. If you can't agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country which practices it, perhaps, then, that's a better option."

... too bad this guy can't run for President of the United States! Thanks goes to the Tigress for pointing this out.

The Failure Of Reason

Mr. Radu, makes a terrific case describing the U.N.'s pitfalls and problems, then says we should put up with it for "cultural" reasons. Only a liberal socialist would use that kind of logic! America cannot be isolationist but we can certainly communicate with our international neighbors without the U.N. To stay involved in the U.N. means eventual complete loss of our sovereignty and thus slavery.

Erasing Our Borders - Trading Sovereignty For Profit

"This would be part of the ‘super-highway’ spanning the United States from the Mexican border at Laredo, making its way through Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma and connecting with the Canadian highway system north of Duluth, Minnesota. "

... sometimes the money's not worth it!

... also, the COST IS HIDDEN!

We Should Be Promoting Dissent - Between Arabs!

Occasionally, a TV talking head will comment that we should be inciting argument between Shia and Sunni, allowing them to kill each other and therefore helping to solve our problems. I agree!

... "the seething resentment of Sunni al-Qaeda, directed at what it sees as an attempted Shiite takeover of the jihad campaign in the Middle East." ...


Iraqi al-Qaeda's new leader, Abu Hamza al-Masri Photo: Reuters

Good News and Bad News

Item 1:

The Good News:
Glaciers are Growing.

The Bad News:
Global warming is causing it.




Item 2:


The Good News:
The left is beginning to see the dangers posed by radical Islam.

The Bad News:
It's America's fault

Let's Make a Deal

Today Iraq opened its heavy water reactor. Yesterday, it was reported that they offered to begin negotiations if the US would give them a "Security Agreement." On 22 August, they said that they were ready to begin "Serious Negotiations."

I'm confused but it sounds like the negotiations have already begun.

Our response should be "Our offer is already on the table - "Suspend nuclear activities and agree to complete inspections and then we will begin negotiations."

If this situation doesn't end just like North Korea, I'll be shocked.

Debunking Arab Propaganda

ht to Wretchard at the Belmont Club:

On the night of July 23, 2006, an Israeli aircraft intentionally fired missiles at and struck two Lebanese Red Cross ambulances performing rescue operations, causing huge explosions that injured everyone inside the vehicles. Or so says the global media, including Time magazine, the BBC, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and thousands of other outlets around the world. If true, the incident would have been an egregious and indefensible violation of the Geneva Convention, and would constitute a war crime committed by the state of Israel.

But there's one problem: It never happened.

Read the whole article. It takes apart another blatant piece of Arab propaganda which was perpetrated by an easily duped western press who know no shame. I wonder how many of them will publish corrections.

I Never Have Disagreed With Victor Davis Hanson - Until Now ...

"Mr. Bush’s Communication Problem
It’s not him; it’s what he’s supposed to be communicating."

... it's not communication! One would have to go back over the President's entire administration and this Blog to understand that it's all about RESULTS, not about communicating intentions ...

Mr. Hanson states his case clearly in the following 3 paragraphs:

"The old calculus was first the proverbial horse of defeating and vanquishing utterly the enemy; then the cart of showing magnanimity in rebuilding the country of a contrite loser. Only in that order would the Americans be willing to give millions to the former supporters of once murderous Nazis, Italian fascists, or imperial Japanese who had killed and maimed their sons."

... aka, the "old way"

"In the Middle East, we reversed the sequence, on the idealistic — and I think correct — premise that the Afghan and Iraqi people were captive to their dictators, and that we wished to avoid an all-encompassing conflict along the lines of World War II. In other words, we trusted that the Taliban and Saddam Hussein explained the recent savagery of the Afghans and Iraqis, rather than the innate savagery of the Afghans and Iraqis themselves explaining the creation of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. The result of this confidence, despite the carnage of war, was that democracy was ushered in, the rogues were to be kept out, and peace was supposed to follow from a grateful, liberated people. "

... aka, the "new way"

"In any case, the administration’s problem is not really its (sound) strategy, nor its increasingly improved implementation that we see in Baghdad, but simply an American public that so far understandably cannot easily differentiate millions of brave Iraqis and Afghans, who risk their lives daily to hunt terrorists and ensure reform, from the Islamists of the Muslim Street who broadcast their primordial hatred for Israel and the United States incessantly. "

... we just don't understand!

... the last bit is where he goes wrong. I think the American people completely understand that there are Iraqis and Afghanis who fight for and cherish freedom and that they are different from the Jihadist murderers. The problems the President is having has to do with RESULTS and ACTION, not communication. We do not see positive, war-winning results and his actions here at home and abroad are dismal at best. Perhaps, just perhaps, the NEW WAY is not working? ...

How To Kill An Infidel? - Read The Internet!

"The Islamic al-Khasba website has published on August 4 a document titled "How to Kill a Crusader on the Arabian Peninsula," The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported.
The document details several possible ways to kill western victims and provides tips on selecting them, following them, and finally murdering them."

From an Email

De Oppresso Liber

... a superbly written piece on what makes American Soldiers different

Pro-Life Conservative? Not Even Close

"Catholics believe, as do many other Christians and non-Christians, that human life begins at the moment of fertilization, which is the moment when the sperm and the egg meet and they form a new human person with distinct DNA [that is] biologically different from mother and father," says Euteneuer. "One of [the drug's] mechanisms is to stop the fertilized human egg from entering into the uterus and [being] implanted [there]. It expels the fertilized [egg], and therefore it's an abortion-causing drug."





... the Ultimate Non-Conservative?

Maybe Its Time For Him To Go?

... also, Jerusalem Post



"JERUSALEM -- Hundreds of Israelis, including soldiers back from fighting in Lebanon, gathered last night outside the Knesset to demand a state inquiry into the government's management of the war and to call for the resignations of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz. "

Dearbornistan! Meet Your Buddy In Florida!

... it's a long standing joke; if we were lucky, California would break off at the San Andreas and float away into pacific ocean. Well, in Florida we have an area that needs to be sucked into the abysmal Bermuda Triangle - PALM BEACH COUNTY!

" ... UC Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian, brought his hate-filled show to two extremist Islamic Centers in South Florida. Both of these institutions are in the process of building large-scale mosques in their respective cities. And, given that their guest had previously called for attacks on the United States, the question naturally arose: Were these institutions looking to make friends in the community or to start a holy war?"

Why Continuously Beating The Drum Is Important

"... Pessimism is now the conventional wisdom about the wars in the Middle East, and, indeed, it is hard to find any good news in the recent ceasefire. ..."

"This past month, the world of the fascist jihadist and those who tolerate him was once again on display for civilization to fathom. Even the most timid and prone to appeasement in the West are beginning to see that it is becoming a question of “the Islamists or us.”

"In this eleventh hour, that is a sort of progress after all."

... it takes a long time to awaken some; KEEP BEATING THE DRUM!

Washington Continues To Placate C.A.I.R.

... when idiots run things, we all suffer! This IDIOT MOMENT brought to you by the F.B.I., once again, the FAT, BALD, IGNORANT!

The Merging of History, Liberalism and Defeatism

... an excellent piece by William R. Hawkins

"... As a student, Tolkien had argued for the proposition in prep school debates that the West had become too civilized for its own good; and by civilized is meant having adopted too many liberal notions ..."

Garner Cartoon - Washington Times

Ceasefire? Lamentations on Weak Leadership

... Cal Thomas describes the situation - and what we in the West don't understand yet ...

"it isn't over and it won't be over until Israel and the West get over moral equivalency and political correctness and fight to win. The evil guys are fighting to win."

Olmert's Capitulation!

... "the United States and the world community have chosen with this dire Security Council resolution to create a powerful scenario of perceived, and to some extent real, jihadist victory while ensuring continuing instability and endangerment of Israel" ...

Mercenary Warfare

In Neal Stephenson's 1992 science-fiction classic, the two main characters have been hired by the Mafia and other ethnic corporate franchises to deal with a fanatic religious cult whose chief warrior possesses a hydrogen bomb. In the novel, governments are too powerless to deal with this threat. It is a brutal, post-national world.

Today in reality, Islam contains a fanatical religious cult whose chief warrior seeks nuclear weapons. Iran may be leading the world toward a post-national era.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah uses a combination of military might, ruthlessness, ethnic solidarity, and religious fanaticism to form an entity more powerful than the state of Lebanon, and arguably more powerful than the state of Israel. What we are seeing unfold in the Middle East may be a step toward the sort of post-national environment envisioned by Neal Stephenson

Trouble in South Korea

Leftists are causing trouble all over the world and South Korea is no exception.

Senior military and security experts were joined by thousands of conservative activist groups on Friday in a rally against Korea's efforts to take over sole wartime operational control of its forces. Participants said President Roh Moo-hyun and his administration were destroying the Korea-U.S. alliance with efforts to take wartime control out of U.S. hands and called for Roh's resignation if they persist. Some slogans called for the president to be impeached.

HT: Whatifif who also noted:

Is a Korean military coup in the making? Korea has only had a civilian government for less than 20 years, I think 1988. I don't know when the next Presidential election is, but I think it is pretty soon, less than 2 years. Could be a watershed election, three possible results; opposition party election with weakening of labor/students/pro-North alliance, re-election of Uri party and US withdrawal or re-election of Uri party and military takeover in response.

Who Knows?

The Security Council voted last night to authorize yet another ceasefire in the Middle East; UN Resolution 1701. It was revealed that Israel would continue on in Lebanon until the Lebanese army assisted by a UN force of up to 15,000 men took over security. Hesbollah is barely mentioned in the resolution but UN 1559, calling for the disarmament of all militias must be enforced.

This resolution is a joke. Both the BBC and the Jerusalem Post report that there is no authorization of UN Force:
From the Jerusalem Post:
The text of the resolution does not specify under which chapter of the UN Charter the force would be authorized. Instead, it says the force's mandate includes several elements: monitoring the cessation of hostilities, accompanying Lebanese troops as they deploy and as Israel withdraws, and ensuring humanitarian access.

The UN force, known by its acronym UNIFIL, will help coordinate the deployment of Lebanese forces to the south. Israeli troops that have occupied the area in more than four weeks of fighting would then withdraw.

UN troops (up to max 15,000) are authorized to assist the Lebanese Army. They are not authorized to disarm anyone. No one is going to take Hesbollahs weapons and it's a safe bet that Hesbollah are not going to just give them up. If they do, it's a charade and the Lebanese Gov't is as duplicitous as their former colonial master, France.

So, up to a maximum of 15,000 UN Troops will chaffeur Lebanon's Army to SL and watch as Hesbollah gives up it arms.

Yeah Right!

This is what you get with liberalism. The likes of Olmert or John Kerry.

I'll predict that France never gets to Lebanon. The Hezzi's think they smell blood and are not going to allow themselves to be disarmed anyway. I suspect that this is all for show. Neither Israel nor the US expect it to work but it will show the UN who the reasonable parties are.

Mixed Signals and no Clear Direction

I'm not tossing in the towel, but...(the ubiquitous but) things don't look too good right now. Nobody knows where we are going. Too many confusing signals. The Bush Administration has not done a good job of leading the country. Is it a war or not? Will Iraq stabilize or not? Will Amadenijad be challenged or not? A mad man constantly threatens annihilation of first Israel then the US and we seem to have no plan or world support. Bush has flatly stated that Iran will not have nuclear weapons but are those empty, regrettable words? We just don't know and if Israel has indeed been exposed will that embolden the Islamists?

If anyone could figure out what was going from one day to the next with the way Israel conducted its adventure into Lebanon, I would like to hear it. I have never witnessed anything so disjointed or senseless as the surreal movie that we just watched and whose plot I couldn't follow. Olmert and his generals must go. I don't think he will last long and I will be interested to see the reaction on the Israeli street. If Netanyahu becomes publically critical, you know Israel's foray into Lebanon was a charley foxtrot. If we don't hear from Netanyahu, then something’s up and there is more to this than meets the eye.

I would offer that Bush and Condi gave Olmert a tremendous cover and a long leash for a long time. Initially, I was sure that this was in preparation for the bigger upcoming event to the East. I wouldn't be surprised that as Olmert showed a lack of spine, Bush pulled the plug and went for the deal. I heard that there were rumors of a near mutiny/coup by Israeli Brass. If this is true, the situation was untenable with Olmert in place and the powers that be decided to back off for now.

Who knows?
Iraq and Iran
I don't doubt that we will eventually prevail against the Islamic fascists, but we have certainly miscalculated especially in Iraq. It's time to turn up the heat on al-Maliki. He either turns his army loose on al Sadr and others or we ease on out and let them have at each other.

I have no idea what happens with Iran but to do nothing is unthinkable.

It's all a joke! The UN, Hamas in Palestine, Hesbollah in Lebanon; both Islamist militias in league with duplicitous governments answering to the puppet master in Iran. Meanwhile, al-Maliki fiddles while Iraq burns and the UN keeps on giving.

Lebanon could be a big setback against Iran which seems to be very adept at manipulating events. The consequences and costs of Olmerts appatent indecisiveness remain to be seen and paid.

So much for bringing freedom to the Muslim world.

PaulDanish commenting over at The Belmont Club offered this ecouragement.

Well, it ain't over 'til its over, and I'm not so sure resolution 1701 means its over.

There's enough wiggle room in this thing to allow Israel to keep on fighting for a substantial amount of time, and it looks less and less like it will stop until, at a minimum, it reaches the Litani. As a practical matter, there's no way to make it stop until the French blue helmets arrive. That could take a while, if for no other reason that it's going to be tough to find a functioning airport in Lebanon.

I don't think the IDF will continue to be held up by Hez. If you look closely, it seems to be adopting new tactics. Judging by the tape of men going into battle the IDF is using infantry instead of armor. Since the Hez cells seem to be organized to stop armor and mechanized infantry, this could be a vulnerability. It would be interesting to know if Hez cells have medium machine guns. If they don't they might be at something of a disadvantage against dismounted infrantry. (The very heavy artillery barrages that are being reported may be the IDF walking infantry into battle.) All this is important, because nothing changes perceptions and the political balance of force than success on the battle field.

I think it's highly likely the war will end with the IDF on the Litani if not somewhat beyond and that the New Improved UNIFIL may not deploy for a long time. Truth is neither the French nor any other Euros are much interested in dying in order to keep Arabs and Jews from killing each other. They are not going to show up until everyone is ready to stop fighting, and they're not going to try very hard to force anyone to.

Resolution 1701 is a Chapter 6 resolution. That makes compliance and enforcement pretty flaccid. (It kinda reminds of the old Cold War joke told by workers in Communist Countries: "They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work."
Interestingly, it was turned into a Chapter 6 at the insistance of the Lebanese government. That is being widely taken to mean that the Lebanese wanted to prevent anyone from getting in the way of Hezbollah attacking Israel, but it could just as easily mean that it was because the Lebanese government wanted to prevent anyone from getting in the way of Israel attacking Hezbollah. Unintended or not, that's a pretty unavoidable consequence of it.

It may be that 1701, borrow a phrase from Mark Twain, is like Wagner's music. It's better than it sounds.

We Need To Understand What FASCISM Is

"Fascism is a chauvinistic political philosophy that exalts a group over the individual -- usually a race or nation, but in this case the adherents of a religion. Fascism also espouses centralized autocratic rule by that group in suppression of others. It usually advocates severe economic and social regimentation and the total or near-total subordination of the individual to the political leadership. This accurately describes the philosophies of Hitler, Mussolini, the leaders of Imperial Japan and other fascistic regimes through history. It also describes Thursday's terrorists. "

... to keep us in line a very insidious method is used; POLITICAL CORRECTNESS!

Mr. President, I know you're busy right now - but could you do something about the Anti-Christian U.S. Navy?

... punished for uttering those two nasty, disrespectful words; "Jesus Christ" ...

Wow! The Whole Dang Site Is Great Today!

Plans Destroyed

Connecticut? This is London Calling.

The One-Percent Problem

The War We Forgot to Fight

Surreal Rules

These Are The Folks Bush Wants "Peace In Our Time" With

Nasrallah: "If Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide."

"Husseini wrote ... Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world. I asked Hitler for an explicit undertaking to allow us to solve the Jewish problem in a manner befitting our national and racial aspirations and according to the scientific methods innovated by Germany in the handling of its Jews. The answer I got was: "The Jews are yours."

The bomb “was God’s judgment and God’s mercy at the same time.”

Bishop Griswold demonstrates what is wrong with liberalism.

The outgoing chief bishop of The Episcopal Church, having presided over that 2 million member denomination’s spiraling schism over homosexuality, squeezed time into his schedule this week for an apologetic visit to Hiroshima.

Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold expressed “repentance” over the U.S. atomic strike on the Japanese city 61 years ago. He is also very worried about current U.S. foreign and military policies, of course.

“I express my own profound sorrow, regret and repentance for the suffering the citizens of this city bore on August 6, 1945, and those in Nagasaki on August 9,” the presiding bishop told worshippers at Hiroshima’s Church of the Resurrection. “I further issue a call to continuing mutual repentance and reconciliation.”

This old timer shows what the Church used to be:

In contrast to the surreal observations of the American bishop, a retired Japanese bishop spoke of Hiroshima with greater historical and spiritual perception. Bishop Joseph Noriaki Iida, as a teen-age naval academy student, was a witness to the atomic blast and understood what caused it.

“At that moment, I felt I deeply understood that we had chosen the way of death three years ago,” when Japan declared war on America, Bishop Iida recalled to the Episcopal News Service. Viewing a charred Hiroshima from atop a hill 61 years ago, he remembered the Scripture: “Today I lay down two ways: the way of life and the way of death; the way of blessing and the way of curse.” The glowing mushroom cloud over Hiroshima also reminded him of the pillars of cloud and fire that protected and guided the Hebrews out of ancient Egypt.

Iida said the atomic blast at Hiroshima was a cause of jubilation for the Koreans, Southeast Asians and American soldiers whom the Japanese were killing. But even for the Japanese themselves, the bombings provided freedom from totalitarianism, militarism, colonialism and racism, he said. The bomb “was God’s judgment and God’s mercy at the same time.”

Remembering a blackened Japanese history textbook at the time, in which only sentence fragments remained, Bishop Iida compared it to his realization that what he had been told about his country by Japan’s militarist dictators was “totally wrong.” After learning of Japan’s atrocities and of the Nazi Holocaust, and absorbing the Japanese Emperor’s denial of his own previously professed deity, Iida considered turning to communism.

Iida read the Bible so that he could refute Christianity. But instead he succumbed to the “love of God.” While communism had urged hatred of the bourgeoisie, he said, the “Bible said unconditional love, love against those who persecuted you, who hate you.” The Japanese bishop concluded: “Christianity is superior. That’s why I became a priest of the Anglican Church.”

Terrific Job, Cousins!

AP Photo

... Pakistan helped also!

To The Heart Of The Matter

"If there is one bedrock conviction underlying President Bush’s foreign policy, it is that freedom is the desire of every human heart. Bush repeats the phrase at every opportunity, and it is the premise of his push for democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere: Given a free choice, it is assumed, people will choose freedom and the political system best suited to foster it."

"The problem with Bush’s freedom rhetoric is that it appears to not be true."

"An evangelical Christian, Bush couches his belief in the universal hunger for freedom in religious terms. He often says that freedom is God’s gift to humanity. But it sometimes seems that he neglects what, for a Christian, is a central event in understanding human motivation, the Fall. Pride and hatred and fear are as likely to drive human behavior as any hunger for freedom."

Asymmetric Warfare

Victor Davis Hanson last week wrote about an amoral west being unable to make moral judgments. Richard Fernandez The Belmont Club: The Sling and the Stone wrote:

Byrne's horror at Jesus Camp perfectly illustrated what Mark Steyn called the single greatest weakness of Western culture: its ability to draw a moral equivalence between anything and everything; between a terrorist camp with explosives and machineguns and a summer camp in North Dakota. It is really an inability to see anything in due proportion. Kofi Annan's assertion of "disproportionate response" by Israel against Hezbollah really makes no sense in world where an equivalence operator can be inserted between any two operands of whatever value. And the consequence of the fallen calculus of international relations is the tactical and strategic equivalence between a democratic state and terrorist non-state; the parity between barbarism and civilization.

Moral equivalency may be one of the most important factors inhibiting the near term prosecution of a “war” against a waxing Islam. Unfortunately, warnings about the deleterious effects of western liberalism have gone unheeded by the elites while Islamists are exploiting the liberal myopia in an asymmetric public relations campaign and war against modernity.

For liberal western media, smart bombs and technology bind the west to higher moral standards with more accountability for civilian deaths. As punishment is mitigated by lower IQ’s, dysfunctional childhoods and victim status, allowances are made for those who use crude weapons such as car bombs, ied’s, and katusha rockets. Islam skillfully takes advantage of a post-modern west which resorts to moral equivalence and excuses to justify decadent and perverse behavior.

Arafat and company perfected the underdog role of “Zionist victim.” Like the Irish Republican Army politicians claimed no control over their military wing, President Arafat claimed that he had no control over the myriad militant forces which he had either created or allowed to form. New actors continue the roles in Gaza and Lebanon. The political wing of Hamas claims that it has no control of its military wing. The government of Lebanon claims to have no control of Hesbollah. It is in this manner that militant Islam operates while the governments claim deniability and the politically correct feminized west obsesses on the Arab victims of Israel or the US.

There are encouraging signs that some in the western media have begun to recognize the Islamists’ tactics but most are loathe to admit that they are themselves victims of a humanist trap.

Can We Be Anymore Serious Than This?

Natan Sharansky: Israel's Very Survival at Stake

Speaking Of The Devil ...

"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on the brink of handing President Bush the worst diplomatic disaster of his presidency. She is poised to agree to two United Nations resolutions that will tie the hands of both Israel and the United States in the war on terror and, in particular, inhibit future action on its number one state sponsor — Iran."

Marine Stories

From TigerHawk:

Dear Dad,

If I ever hear airmen griping and complaining, I jump into them pretty quickly, now. Most people over here have nothing to gripe about compared to Marines. Marines are different. They have a different outlook on life.

One Marine Private was here for several days because he was a lower priority evacuation patient. He insisted on coming to attention and displaying proper military courtesy every morning when I came through on rounds. He was in a great deal of pain, and it was a stressful to watch him work his way off the bed and onto his crutches. I told him he was excused and did not have to come to attention while he was a patient, and he informed me that he was a good Marine and would address "Air Force Colonels standing on my feet, sir."

I had to turn away so he would not see the tear in my eye. He did not have "feet" because we amputated his right leg below the knee on the first night he came in.

Read the rest at Tigerhawk.

A Reply To The Reply

Yes, I agree - our leaders are "awake", but I'm not convinced they have a clue as how to deal with all this, and they've been clueless on contingency planning for what may happen. I watched FOX NEWS SUNDAY this morning. Newt Gingrich and Joe Biden were agreeing with each other concerning this "lack of appropriate action". I never agree with Sen. Biden but found myself shaking my head in affirmation to what was being said. He expressed it as; "a seemingly nonexistent learning curve" within the administration. The problem is not being aware or awake but lacking ability to deal with the situation.

Iraq and the Shia/Sunni situation is a mess. Afghanistan is a mess. Why is Al-Sadr still living, why are tribal Imams still running things, etc., the questions can go on and on. Why are we not pressuring the Pakistani and Afghanistan leaders harder? While logical and reasonable answers (excuses) can be given to these kinds of questions it also indicates a definite lack of planning and action. If more troops were needed to keep control of an area, for example, why didn't it happen? The Kurds are very stable. They always have been. They don't have the tribal differences that mainstream Iraq has. The "PLAN" worked there because of the societal differences. I suspect that our military leaders were "awake" to this within “Iraq proper” but our political leaders would not allow them to do what was needed. Iraq will not survive as a stable nation unless we change our approach.

The Europeans have historically been slow to awareness. They are asleep at the switch. I've always found it strangely funny that they see Bush as a "unilateral Cowboy" with a "Cowboy Diplomacy". I call Bush's diplomacy "Brokeback Cowboy Diplomacy", very wimpy and "bendoverish". As for the EU learning something in their dealings with the Devil in Iran? It's meaningless, all "Dipstick" has to do is increase his supply of oil to them. They’ll cave, cave, cave …, after all they're still asleep and dreaming.

We've known about Iran and Syria being "sisters in the same brothel" for many years now. Although the Arabs will fight each other to the death from within, they unite and fight as one against an outside, INFIDEL enemy. This has been the case since WW1 and the famous, T.E. Lawrence. Historically, the Iranians (Persians) have been outsiders, but Islam has changed all that. Yes, the Arabs (Muslims) are good at propaganda. We haven't just been slow to respond; our efforts in this area have been absent - the learning curve again!

Democrats shouldn't even be in the discussion. They are, without any doubt, simply anti-American. And yes, it hurts us.

Our leaders are awake, but are walking around in a daze. Plenty of sharp people have given them answers but they keep doing the same wrong things. I think Bush's will and leadership is the driving force behind all this. A strong leader can be very good, but an obstinate one can get us killed. The "success trend line" is pointing down, not up. Either we need to change what we're doing or change leadership. Unfortunately, President Bush has spat upon so many conservatives; a liberal seems to be next in line.

Barbar Lerner is correct; hesitation is very dangerous. And our leaders seem incapable of doing nothing else.

Why Won't our Leaders Wake Up? - A Reply.

In the last thread, LadyHawk asked, "Why won't our leaders wake up?" I know that this reply is inadequate but I offer it anyway.

They're awake You can be sure of that. But, boy, do they have their hands full! Currently they have to contend with:

16 million Shias in Iraq. Iran just shook its rattles at the US the other day when it mobilised, by some accounts, over 100,000 Shias in a demonstration against Israel. The Iranians and al-Sadr were warning us that they can make life very miserable in Iraq. Why they think this is a threat is beyond me when it's obvious that this is exactly what they intend to do anyway. The challenge for the Bush administration is too buy time for the Iraqi government to consolidate power so that the government (and not the militias) has a monopoly on force in that country. We don’t know whether Iraq will survive as a nation, but we’re trying to ensure that it does and that the investment we have made is not wasted.

World Opinion: World opinion is simply against confronting radical Islam which they do not view as a threat. The Bush Administration has been accused of acting unilaterally. The Bush administration seems to be working to bring world opinion on board for the inevitable actions against Iran. That's why it deferred to the EU3 to deal with Iran. Realising that we need more time to stabilize and strengthen the government in Iraq and as a show of multilateral cooperation, the Bush administration enlisted the Europeans in the task of dealing with a mad man. The Bush administration calculated that the Europeans would see the folly in negotiating with the devil. I think this has worked.

The Muslim world. The world wishes to see the US humbled and it doesn't matter who accomplishes that feat. The Muslim world is desperate for a hero who can give the US a black eye. It was Arafat, then Bin-Laden, then Zarqhawi in Iraq, and now its Ahmadinejad in Iran with his proxy, Nasrullah in Lebanon. Thanks to Jimmy Carter and subsequent administrations, Islamists have been allowed to operate almost unimpeded until September 11, 2001. It has been a continual public relations struggle to wage war against the Islamists who like the left are very adept at propaganda. Syria solidly joining the Iranians may have been a wildcard that we did not see coming. One interesting aspect of the troubles in Lebanon is that like the Sunni/Shia divide in Iraq, the Sunni leaders in the greater middle east seem to be content to let the US and Israel “carry their water.” A Sunni/Shia schism has been highlighted and the Bush Administration must find a way to exploit it.

Democrats and the LeftAlthough, I don’t believe the results are accurate, a recent poll found that 30% of those polled believe the US government was complicit in the attacks on Sept 11. Even the US Supreme Court has strained and bent US laws and the Geneva Convention to stymie the Bush Administration’s efforts to combat the Islamists. The Democratic Party has continually criticized and obstructed the war effort.

Iran As Barbara Lerner pointed out, Iran has been at war with the United States since 1979. Unfortunately, they weren’t taken seriously but now that the Iranian mullahs have replaced their previous moderate President with “Amadjihadi” their intentions have been made quite clear. They will not tolerate a democratic government anywhere in the Muslim world and are going after the low-hanging fruit of weak governments in Iraq and Lebanon.

It’s not our leaders who aren’t awake. Bush and Blair have been trying for years to warn of the dangers but the people aren’t listening. I have to think that the Bush Administration knows a lot that they just aren’t telling.

A world-wide existential chess game is being played and every move must be thought about long and hard because this is a game is that is “for keeps” and a wrong move can have truly catastrophic consequences.

The Bush Doctrine? - Lose The War!

"By waiting for a first strike we are put in a position of playing a retaliation game after we have already endured unacceptable losses in population and perception. Once America and Israel are seen as weak enough to defeat, then the international jackals will all join in for the kill. This is what our enemies hope to accomplish…We face a crisis of major proportions. Hesitation may be fatal."

" ... the time to act is now ..."

They're all insane

From Drudge:

The island's communist government beefed up security, mobilizing citizen defense militias and asking military reservists to check in daily because of what it says are fears of a U.S. attack during Castro's health crisis.

The White House has insisted no such threat exists, with press secretary Tony Snow dismissing the suggestion that the United States would attack the island as "absurd."

This business with Castro is getting amusing.

Our Failure To Deal With The Enemy - Iran

"Iran admitted for the first time on Friday that it did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hizbullah. Secretary-general of the "Intifada conference" Mohtashami Pur told an Iranian newspaper that Iran transferred the missiles so that they could be used to defend Lebanon, Channel 1 reported. The extent of Iran's intimate involvement in Hizbullah attacks is starting to emerge. "

This Has All Happened Before - V.D.H.

"Our present generation too is on the brink of moral insanity. That has never been more evident than in the last three weeks, as the West has proven utterly unable to distinguish between an attacked democracy that seeks to strike back at terrorist combatants, and terrorist aggressors who seek to kill civilians. "

... strange isn't it, how some see it and some don't?

This Weekend in Wausau

This has been going on since 19 and 69. And the women just keep getting better lookin' every year.

Yeehaa!

Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians - They're All The Same

" ... Liberal churches in the U.S. and Europe are fast becoming empty museums. Unwilling to acknowledge their problems, they respond by becoming ever more vitriolic in their political hysterics, to prove they are still relevant ..."

... Bush is a Methodist! But, the "church" hates him!

Some Days you wonder

Some days, when you read stories like this, you wonder if the Muslim world is worth the effort.

Kabul to deport Korean Christians

The group says that it is working to improve medicine and education
Afghanistan says it will deport hundreds of South Korean evangelical Christians amid fears for their safety.
They have been accused by Islamic clerics of preaching Christianity. Afghanistan bans attempts to convert people to non-Islamic faiths.

Around 1,500 South Koreans arrived this week for a "peace festival", and education and entertainment programme.

On Wednesday, hundreds of Afghans held a protest rally against them at a mosque in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Come On UN - Denounce these War Crimes

It is a war crime to indiscriminately fire into civilian areas.

Will the UN show us some righteous indignation? How about the MSM tonight on the Six o'clock news?

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hizbollah guerrillas killed seven people in a rocket barrage on Israel and three Israeli soldiers in fighting in Lebanon on Thursday, the deadliest day of the war for Israel.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the UN or the media to denounce Hesbollah.

On the other hand, if Democrats take control of Congress we can expect impeachment proceedings.

We can also expect Muslim nations to push war crimes prosecutions against the United States and Israel.

It's all about power, and the neither the US or Israel can afford to hand it over to any world body.

Move On People, Nothing to see Here

From Drudge:
Someone threw a molotov cocktail at the front door of Baltimore Hebrew University.

The incident occurred about 2:45 p.m. yesterday. Agent Donny Moses, a city police spokesman, said the female employee alerted maintenance workers who came and extinguished the small fire and then alerted authorities.

Moses said detectives determined the fire was started by an incendiary device, such as a Molotov cocktail, thrown at a steel door, causing no damage. It is being investigated by the department's arson unit, but has not yet been classified as a hate crime.

"At this point, there's nothing that would indicate that this is a hate crime," Moses said. "They have problems with juveniles in that area."

I could just as well say,"At this point, there's nothing that would indicate that this is not a hate crime."

(Hate crime? Terrorist act? Let's keep screwing with our language. Pretty soon, we won't know what anything means.)

That LIBERAL In The Whitehouse! - Spending Our Money!

... and No, it's not because of the War! The Enemy Government continues it's War against the citizens!

Liberals Cannibalize One Of Their Own

"Why an outspoken left-wing commentator is being called a race traitor by the racist Left."

... how does it feel, Juan?

The UN: Like Shooting Ducks in a Barrel

Fox News reports that Mark Malloch Brown, Deputy Secretary of the UN, like the UN itself has a hard time calling a spade, "a spade"

The United Nations can't agree on a definition for terrorism, so it is understandable that Mr. Brown couldn't call Hezbollah a terror organization.

The poor old United Nations, they've so lost their moral bearings that these days criticising them is like "Shooting ducks in a barrel." Its very easy to do but not a lot of fun.

Detroitistan

It is surprising the things we learn each day. Who knew there where so many Arabs in Detroit? Who knew there were so many Americans in Lebanon?

Those Complicit Diplomats - Masters Of Murder!

... "our leaders keep falling into the Iranian traps" ...

..."Western leaders fell for the Iranian strategy, and the Iranians have pretty much gotten what they wanted" ...

... "if our leaders won't provide an assertive American national defense on their own power, we will have to demand it of them. If they won't lead the way against our enemies, we will have to lead and force them to follow."