2007.08.13 Politics and National Defense Roundup
'Eagles Up!' to defend against ANSWER's Washington protest
C.J. Raven
The highly-decorated Army officer who coined the phrase "Gathering of Eagles" is calling the flock together again.
Retired Col. Harry Riley is giving the "Eagles Up" order for Sept. 15 in Washington to confront the ANSWER anti-war group. ANSWER is supported by such individuals and groups as Ramsey Clark, Cindy Sheehan, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, National Council of Arab Americans, Code Pink and similar organizations.
"We will be sending a message to Congress and to the administration and to the troops that we've got their backs and Gen. (David) Petraeus' back," Riley said. "We're there. They're not alone, and they're worth fighting for." ...
Read the whole thing.
Change of Heart on Immigration?
The White House thinks it’s calling America’s bluff.
By Mark Krikorian
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
This Mencken sentiment appears to be the guiding idea behind the administration’s announcement Friday of stepped-up immigration enforcement. After its relentless six-year campaign for amnesty crashed and burned in June at the hands of the common people, the White House has come up with a new plan: to start enforcing some of the laws they should have been enforcing all along, and so thoroughly scare the public with the consequences that there will be a popular groundswell for amnesty that will finally vindicate the administration position. You can almost hear the president thinking, “be careful what you wish for.” ....
Three Marks on the Horizon
Michael Yon
Almost everyone (by now) must have heard about the “lazy” Iraqi parliament members who, like so many Neros fiddling while Rome burns around them, are taking a month off. Yet comparatively few Americans will ever hear or read about IA Scorpion Company Commander Captain Baker; or Iraqi entrepreneur and community catalyst, “Tonto”; or the Mayor of Baqubah, who summoned the courage to step out of the shadow of al Qaeda and fight to get his constituents a warehouse-sized stockpile of food.
False advertising is afoot. I write these words from Indonesia, soaking wet, having just returned from photographing rice paddies in a pouring rain, wearing a Florida Gators shirt. That means there is a green alligator on my chest. While supporting my team, my shirt perpetuates the myth that alligators are green, when in fact they are black when wet, gray when dry. The mantra that “there is no political progress in Iraq” is rapidly becoming the “surge” equivalent of a green alligator: when enough people repeat something that sounds plausible, but also happens to be false, it becomes accepted as fact. The more often it is repeated—and the larger the number of people repeating it—the harder it is to convince anyone of the truth: alligators are not green, and Iraqis are making plenty of political progress. ...
Where's Murtha's Apology?
Jim Hanson (H/T)
The military has long been known as a very tight knit organization, a family, a Band of Brothers (and Sisters), and no group more so than the United States Marine Corps. They say you are never an ex-Marine only a former-Marine. Well if anyone has stretched that courtesy far beyond decency and perhaps past it's breaking point it is Rep. John Murtha, who once served as a Marine but most recently has taken up stabbing them in the back. ...
Newark exection murders update: The MS-13 connection
Michelle Malkin
On Friday, former prosecutor Remi Spencer and I discussed the arrest of illegal alien Jose Carranza in the brutal murders of three young Newark students and the attemped murder of a fourth. I reported on the discovery of a fingerprint found on a liquor bottle in the schoolyard where the murders took place…and questioned how Carranza could have been fingerprinted and NOT been known to immigration authorities. As I reported in Invasion in 2002, there are several criminal alien databases that are neglected, outdated, unused, and not shared between agencies.
There is also renewed outrage over the multiple times illegal alien Carranza was released on bail for multiple heinous crimes, including an alleged four years of sexual abuse of a girl beginning at age 5.
See also: It's not the details that matter in reporting!
Another Sign Of Success
Ed Morrissey
Major attacks in Iraq have dropped 50% since the start of the surge, USA Today reports. The majority of the improvement comes from the reduction of the al-Qaeda network in western Iraq, which has kept them from conducting large-scale operations: The number of truck bombs and other large al-Qaeda-style attacks in Iraq have declined nearly 50% since the United States started increasing troop levels in Iraq about six months ago, according to the U.S. military command in Iraq.
The high-profile attacks — generally large bombs hitting markets, mosques or other "soft" targets that produce mass casualties — have dropped to about 70 in July from a high during the past year of about 130 in March, according to the Multi-National Force — Iraq.
Quick hits:
- Attack on the Blue Angels…again
Michelle Malkin: ... The annual flyover of the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels sinks millions into the local economy and draws a million spectators, but one supervisor wants to stop these fighter planes from ever soaring through the skies over San Francisco again. ...
- Rove Takes a Powder
- Bush Adviser Karl Rove to Resign at End of Month
WASHINGTON — Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political strategist and good friend, has announced his resignation, effective Aug. 31.
- WSJ: Karl Rove to resign
Michelle Malkin: Well, isn’t this interesting news to greet us on a Monday morning in the dog days of August: ...
- Rove Hits The Road (Update & Bump)
Ed Morrissey: The Karl Rove era will come to a close at the end of this month, as George Bush's key aide has told the Wall Street Journal he will return home to spend time with his family. For any other departure, that would sound like a euphemism for "I got canned". For Rove, who has served as Bush's effigy for many of his critics, the wonder is how he managed to put up with the abuse for so long: ...
- Open thread: The obligatory “Rove resigns” post; Update: Rove gets emotional
- Rove Quits White House to Run Hillary Campaign
Scott Ott: (2007-08-13) — Karl Rove, the chief adviser to George Bush since 1993, in a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, said he would resign from the Bush administration effective August 31, to spend more time with family and to head up the presidential campaign of Democrat front runner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY. ...
- Tommy Thompson Drops out of Presidential Race
Kim Priestap: This was pretty much expected: Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson is abandoning his presidential bid, his campaign announced Sunday night. ...
- So Long Tommy, We Barely Knew You
Ed Morrissey: After tonight, anyone writing about a presidential candidate named Thompson will not feel forced to use his first name. Tommy Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor and Bush administration official, has withdrawn from the race tonight after a disappointing result in the Ames straw poll: ...
- Tommy Thompson Bows Out of the Race
Tom Bevan: Tommy Thompson's campaign just released the following statement: ...
- Well-qualified, but not an American idol
Paul Mirengoff: Tommy Thompson has dropped out of the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. I didn't write about Thompson's candidacy, in part because he's a law partner of mine. But now that his campaign is over, it's worth reflecting on what his failure to generate enthusiasm tells out. ...
|
