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Wednesday, 18 July 2007
 

2007.07.18 Long War // Dhimm Perfidy Roundup

After All-Night Debate, Senate Rejects
Measure to Bring Troops Home From Iraq

WASHINGTON  —  The Senate rejected a plan Wednesday to bring home U.S. troops from Iraq by early next year after spending an all-night session debating whether to demand President Bush change the mission.

The 52-47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and move toward passage. Four Republicans voted with the Democrats, ...

Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman voted against the troop withdrawal plan. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who strongly supports the withdrawal approach, voted no as a technical move that allows him, under Senate rules, to bring the troop withdrawal plan back to a vote at a later date. ...

Below the fold:

  • Senate Democrats Lack Support From G.O.P. on Pullout

See also:

Senate Democrats Lack Support From G.O.P. on Pullout
Carl Hulse

WASHINGTON, July 17 — A handful of Republicans who have distanced themselves from President Bush on the war in Iraq refused Tuesday to back a plan to withdraw American troops from the conflict, leaving Senate Democrats short of the support needed to force a vote on their proposal.

As the Senate headed into an all-night session complete with cots in Capitol meeting rooms and an antiwar vigil across the street, some Republicans who have gone public with their complaints about the war strategy also weighed in against the Democratic withdrawal plan as ill advised and driven mainly by partisan considerations. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 18, 2007 at 12:33 AM in Dem Dumbness, Dem Perfidy, Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Tuesday, 17 July 2007
 

2007.07.17 Long War // Dhimm Perfidy Roundup

Below the fold:

  • Mitch McConnell: Dark Night of the Senate
  • Pace: US Weighs Larger 'Surge' in Iraq

See also:

Dark Night of the Senate; Stunting debate growth.
Mitch McConnell

While Republicans focus on the dangers posed by al Qaeda in Iraq, our long-term national-security interests in the Persian Gulf, and the warnings that the United Nations and the Baker-Hamilton Commission are issuing on the potential consequences of withdrawal, Democrats will spend the next 24 hours acting out what their staffers have referred to as a “publicity stunt.” They are staging a modern-day version of Jimmy Stewart’s round-the-clock filibuster from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to wear down opponents of a firm deadline for withdrawal. The only problem: They are, in effect, filibustering their own bill. ...

Pace: US Weighs Larger 'Surge' in Iraq
Robert Burns

BAGHDAD (AP) - The U.S. military is weighing new directions in Iraq, including an even bigger troop buildup if President Bush thinks his "surge" strategy needs a further boost, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.

Marine Gen. Peter Pace revealed that he and the chiefs of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force are developing their own assessment of the situation in Iraq, to be presented to Bush in September. That will be separate from the highly anticipated report to Congress that month by Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander for Iraq.

The Joint Chiefs are considering a range of actions, including another troop buildup, Pace said without making any predictions. He called it prudent planning to enable the services to be ready for Bush's decision.

The military must "be prepared for whatever it's going to look like two months from now," Pace said in an interview with two reporters traveling with him to Iraq from Washington.

"That way, if we need to plus up or come down" in numbers of troops in Iraq, the details will have been studied, he said.   ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 17, 2007 at 12:35 AM in Dem Dumbness, Dem Perfidy, Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Monday, 16 July 2007
 

2007.07.16 Long War // Dhimm Perfidy Roundup

Today's absolutely must read: Superman

U.S. General in Iraq Speaks Strongly Against Troop Pullout
John F. Burns

BAGHDAD, July 15 — An American general directing a major part of the offensive aimed at securing Baghdad said Sunday that it would take until next spring for the operation to succeed, and that an early American withdrawal would clear the way for “the enemy to come back” to areas now being cleared of insurgents.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commanding 15,000 American and about 7,000 Iraqi troops on Baghdad’s southern approaches, spoke more forcefully than any American commander to date in urging that the so-called troop surge ordered by President Bush continue into the spring of 2008. That would match the deadline of March 31 set by the Pentagon, which has said that limits on American troops available for deployment will force an end to the increase by then.

“It’s going to take us through the summer and fall to deny the enemy his sanctuaries” south of Baghdad, General Lynch said at a news briefing in the capital. “And then it’s going to take us through the first of the year and into the spring” to consolidate the gains now being made by the American offensive and to move enough Iraqi forces into the cleared areas to ensure that they remain so, he said. ...

Below the fold:

  • Not a pretty story
  • Hadley sees improved Iraq by September

See also:

Not a pretty story
Paul Mirengoff

For years, Rowan Scarborough has distinguished himself through his coverage of military affairs, first for the Washington Times and now for the Examiner. This week, the Examiner is publishing excerpts from Scarborough's new book Sabotage, which tells the story of the CIA's war against President Bush.

In the first installment, Scarborough describes the CIA's war with the Defense Department, which began shortly after 9/11 when DoD (through veteran analyst Michael Maloof) asked the CIA to provide intelligence reports about al Qaeda's links to other terrorist organizations and sponsors of terrorism. According to Scarborough, the CIA flatly refused to provide this material.

Only after Paul Wolfowitz intervened did the CIA disgorge its reports. When DoD used them to produce a 150-slide briefing on contacts among al Qaeda, Iraq and Iran, the CIA (in Scarborough's telling) went ballistic. Soon, Democratic lawmakers like Carl Levin began charging that Douglas Feith (Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's top civilian advisor) had set up an illegal organization. According to Scarborough, "Levin, using the friendly Washington Post and New York Times, launched a campaign against a 'rogue' intelligence cell inside the Defense Department." ...

Hadley sees improved Iraq by September
By Eric Pfeiffer

National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley yesterday said he expects the situation on the ground in Iraq to improve by September and, therefore, rejected a proposal from two Republican senators that calls for starting to draft redeployment plans for American forces before then.

Mr. Hadley was asked on CBS' "Face the Nation" by host Bob Schieffer whether "the situation in Iraq is going to look any different" when Gen. David M. Petraeus delivers his progress report on the surge to Congress in September.

"I think it will," Mr. Hadley replied. "I think we will have had two additional months of our security strategy going forward; now, since the last several weeks, with a full complement of forces.

"We think we will see progress on the security side. We hope we will see the bottom-up kind of reconciliation" among Iraqis, he said. "But the point is that Congress set a schedule, which basically said we need to do a review in September." ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 16, 2007 at 01:34 AM in Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Sunday, 15 July 2007
 

2007.07.15 Long War // Dhimm Perfidy Roundup

The “latest” bin Laden video…plus: ex-jihadist Hassan Butt tells Muslims to get their heads out of the sand
Michelle Malkin

It’s from old video, but coming on the heels of Zawahiri’s possibly coded message, counterterrorism officials are rightly concerned. AP at Hot Air:

The feds are already worried about Zawahiri’s new tape containing some sort of signal to jihadis in the field. The fact that it’s followed by the first new Osama video in almost three years won’t do anything to reassure them. It’s also worth noting that the quote in the middle here is repeated three times, just like the quote at the end of the Zawahiri tape that’s got the feds nervous. It comes from Volume 4, Book 52, Number 54 of the Bukhari translation of the hadith; Zawahiri’s quote came from Mohammed’s last sermon.

Jeffrey Imm has more at the Counterterrorism Blog: ...

See also:

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 15, 2007 at 03:27 PM in Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Saturday, 14 July 2007
 

2007.07.14 Long War // Dhimm Perfidy Roundup

A Crossroads For The Surge
Ed Morrissey

The Times of London reports on a crossroads in Jabour that demonstrates the successes and the dangers of the surge in Iraq. While the soldiers would prefer to be elsewhere, the efforts to close down lines of communication for al-Qaeda and other terrorists has created an "Iraqi surge" in the area -- the creation of a new police unit from tribal volunteers who want the momentum to stay against the terrorists. The tribal leaders remain cautious about cooperating too much with the Americans, however, because they are afraid we're leaving:

Below the fold:

  • Bush beats back another mutiny over Iraq

See also:

Bush beats back another mutiny over Iraq
By: John Bresnahan

For all the hearings and dramatic speeches, for all the votes and news conferences by House and Senate Democrats -- and some anti-war Republicans -- President Bush is still getting his way on the war in Iraq and will likely continue to, at least until September.

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, summed up the stalemate in Congress over Iraq this way at a news conference Thursday:

“The story is that after all of the bluff and bluster and after all of the political machinations and the efforts to use the [2008] defense authorization bill for the political purposes that have been described here and the purpose of undermining the mission of our troops, at the end of the week, we're left where we were at the beginning – namely, we support the president's policy, we support [Army] Gen. [David] Petraeus' mission and we support the efforts of our troops.”

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 14, 2007 at 03:04 AM in Dem Dumbness, Dem Perfidy, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Friday, 13 July 2007
 

2007.07.13 Long War // Dhimm Perfidy Roundup

A call to action
Scott Johnson

Peter Hegseth is the Minnesota native and Princeton alumnus who served as an officer with the 101st Airborne in Iraq. He now heads up Vets for Freedom, an Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans group dedicated to supporting the troops and their mission in Iraq. They will be heading en masse to Capitol Hill on July 17, and deserve the support of all of us. If you’re an Iraq or Afghanistan vet, please consider joining them. If not, please consider supporting them. In a message this morning, Pete makes the following points:

1) We have the support of numerous other vets organizations — American Legion, Troops Need You, Gathering of Eagles, Appeal for Courage, Move America Forward, Troop Talk, and more.

2) If we do this right, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans —- and the blog and talk radio communities -- could transform the Iraq war debate, much like they did for immigration. And this event could be a starting point.

3) We need vets to show up — despite time constraints and financial constraints...it’s too important.

Pete's "Call to Action" can be seen in its entirety here. Here are excerpts:  ...

See also: The "Win the War" movement takes another step

Below the fold:

  • The New York Times Surrenders
  • 'They' still have no plan
  • Deserting Petraeus

See also:

The New York Times Surrenders
A monument to defeatism on the editorial page
Victor Davis Hanson

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.  ...

'They' still have no plan

Is there not a moral obligation of the United States to make sure that the Iraqi people are safe before the U.S. withdraws?" ABC News' Jake Tapper asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday. As Mr. Tapper summarized the exchange, "I tried to get an answer... I did not succeed."

Mr. Reid's response to this very reasonable question was to dodge here, dodge there, and never answer directly. He cited Iraqi opinion polls showing that 69 percent of Iraqis feel less safe because of the U.S. presence. He cited the war's cost of many billions and the 600 dead Americans in the last six months. "That's enough," Mr. Reid said. "With all due respect, Senator, you didn't answer my question," responded Mr. Tapper. Mr. Reid's final response: "OK. This is not a debate." Indeed, real debate is the last thing Mr. Reid and the growing pro-withdrawal caucus wants. ...

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.

It began with a U.S.-led offensive that killed or wounded more than 200 enemy fighters and captured 600. Most important was the follow-up. Not a retreat back to American bases but the setting up of small posts within the population that, together with the Iraqi national and tribal forces, have brought relative stability to Anbar. ...

We don't yet know if this strategy will work in mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods. Nor can we be certain that this cooperation between essentially Sunni tribal forces and an essentially Shiite central government can endure. But what cannot be said -- although it is now heard daily in Washington -- is that the surge, which is shorthand for Gen. David Petraeus's new counterinsurgency strategy, has failed. The tragedy is that, just as a working strategy has been found, some Republicans in the Senate have lost heart and want to pull the plug. ...

A month ago, Petraeus was asked whether we could still win in Iraq. The general, who had recently attended two memorial services for soldiers lost under his command, replied that if he thought he could not succeed he would not be risking the life of a single soldier. ...

Just this week, Petraeus said that the one thing he needs more than anything else is time. To cut off Petraeus's plan just as it is beginning -- the last surge troops arrived only last month -- on the assumption that we cannot succeed is to declare Petraeus either deluded or dishonorable. Deluded in that, as the best-positioned American in Baghdad, he still believes we can succeed. Or dishonorable in pretending to believe in victory and sending soldiers to die in what he really knows is an already failed strategy.

That's the logic of the wobbly Republicans' position. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 13, 2007 at 12:16 AM in Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Monday, 09 July 2007
 

2007.07.09 Global Bumper Sticker Roundup

Republican Retreat
Voters will give the GOP no credit on Iraq if it forces an ugly outcome.

The last of the brigades President Bush ordered for his military surge in Iraq only arrived in the country last month, and they have been heavily engaged with al Qaeda in the Sunni triangle around Baghdad as part of the new military strategy. So it's especially distressing that Republican Senators should decide that this is the time to separate themselves from Mr. Bush on Iraq. ...

A moment of truth
Scott Johnson

Given the demonstrable progress made by General Petraeus and the forces under his command implementing the surge counterinsurgency strategy over the past month, I find the Democratic compulsion to mandate our defeat in Iraq incomprehensible and any Republican assistance lent to the Democrats' effort contemptible. Pete Hegseth is a native of Forest Lake, Minnesota and Princeton alumnus who served as an officer in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division. Pete is serves in the New Jersey National Guard and is executive director of Vets for Freedom. We have featured Pete's messages and letters several times over the past two years. Today's Wall Street Journal publishes Pete's "Give the surge a chance" (subscribers only, I think). Pete writes: ...

Below the fold:

  • Story wrong about Iraq pullback, White House says

See also:

Story wrong about Iraq pullback, White House says

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's spokesman on Monday denied a published report that described intensifying debate among White House officials over whether to begin a gradual pullback of U.S. troops in Iraq.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said a story in The New York Times about a proposed "gradual withdrawal"of forces in "high-casualty neighborhoods in Baghdad and other cities" is "way ahead of the facts."

"There is no intensifying discussion about reducing troops," said Snow during his daily briefing for reporters. He said the so-called "surge," or increase of nearly 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, has been complete for only a matter of weeks.

"The surge is not an open-ended commitment, it's not an occupation," said Snow. "It's a surge ... to create space so that we can achieve as swiftly as possible some of those basic necessities for the Iraqi people to be able to step up and stand in the lead. And then at that point, the Americans step back into less visible, more support positions."

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 9, 2007 at 03:42 PM in Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Friday, 06 July 2007
 

2007.07.06 "Bumper Sticker" Roundup

Iran's Proxy War
Tehran is on the offensive against us throughout the Middle East. Will Congress respond? 
Sen Joseph Lieberman

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.

Gen. Bergner also revealed that the Quds Force--a special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps whose mission is to finance, arm and equip foreign Islamist terrorist movements--has taken groups of up to 60 Iraqi insurgents at a time and brought them to three camps near Tehran, where they have received instruction in the use of mortars, rockets, improvised explosive devices and other deadly tools of guerrilla warfare that they use against our troops. Iran has also funded its Iraqi proxies generously, to the tune of $3 million a month. ...

Ed Morrissey has worthy comments here.

Below the fold:

  • Court Reverses Anna Diggs Taylor
  • What's In A Name?

See also:

Court Reverses Anna Diggs Taylor
Ed Morrissey

CQ readers will recall the decision by Detroit federal judge Anna Diggs Taylor that ruled Bush's warrantless surveillance of international communications illegal and demanded a cessation of the NSA's activities in this program last fall. At the time, I argued that her reasoning was flawed, especially regarding the legal standing of the plaintiffs. Today the appellate court agreed, directing Taylor to dismiss the charges: ...

Paul Mirengoff has more here. See also: Name that party: FISA edition, Law & Order

What's In A Name?

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 6, 2007 at 12:36 AM in Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Wednesday, 04 July 2007
 

2007.07.04 "Bumper Sticker" Roundup

  • Pakistani Mosque Rebels Defiant as Surrender Deadline Passes
    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan —  About 700 followers of a radical mosque surrendered Wednesday as government troops with armored personnel carriers tightened their stranglehold on the building a day after clashes killed at least 16 people, officials said. However, Minister of Information Mohammed Ali Durrani said that "a few hundred" militants could remain inside the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, whose clerics have challenged the government by trying to impose a Taliban-style version of Islamic law in the capital.
  • Red Mosque leader captured while trying to escape … in a burqa
  • "Warning" blasts, surrender order, at Pakistan mosque
    ISLAMABAD, July 4 (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces fired a series of "warning blasts" before dawn near Islamabad's radical Red Mosque on Thursday, stepping up pressure on hundreds of militant students inside to surrender, a security official said.  There were about eight explosions at intervals of several minutes, witnesses said. Some gunfire also erupted but both the blasts and gunfire stopped after about 20 minutes.  ...
  • Pakistani forces topple walls of radical mosque

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 4, 2007 at 12:39 AM in Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Tuesday, 03 July 2007
 

2007.07.03 "Bumper Sticker" Roundup

Just read 'em. Maybe I'll be up to doing more with them later:

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 3, 2007 at 12:37 PM in Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Sunday, 01 July 2007
 

Bless the Beasts and Children

Another Michael Yon masterpiece you need to just go read for yourself.

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 1, 2007 at 04:50 PM in Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

5 Arrested in Connection With UK Terror Incidents

Five arrested over terror attacks as airport chaos kicks in 
Controlled explosion of car at hospital where bomber suspect remains critical

• Brown's new terrorism advisor: Attacks are "textbook al-Qaeda"
• Controlled explosion of car at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley

Five people were arrested as police continued to search properties around the UK in the wake of three failed car bombings.

With Britain on its highest state of terror alert, air passengers struggled to reach airports as tough vehicle restrictions came into effect.

The Glasgow airport incident led to a ban on the picking up and dropping off of passengers by vehicles at airport forecourts nationwide.  ...

As usual with any important story, Michelle and Allahpundit are staying on top of the matter.

See also:

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 1, 2007 at 02:09 PM in Great Britain, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Saturday, 30 June 2007
 

More jihad in the UK

2 Arrested After Car on Fire Rams Glasgow Terminal

GLASGOW, Scotland —  Two men rammed a flaming sport utility vehicle into the main terminal of Glasgow airport Saturday, crashing into the glass doors at the entrance and sparking a fire, witnesses said. Police said two suspects were arrested.

There were no reports of injuries but the airport — Scotland's largest — was evacuated and all flights suspended, a day after British police thwarted a plot to bomb central London, discovering two cars abandoned with loads of gasoline, gas canisters and nails. ...

[T]he green SUV barreled toward the building shortly after 3 p.m., hitting security barriers before crashing into the glass doors and exploding, witnesses said. Two men jumped out of the burning vehicle, one of them engulfed in flames, they said. ...

Michelle Malkin has more, as do Allahpundit and Captain Ed. ... Allahpundit has more here and here. Baldilocks has a good roundup here as well.

See also:

Contributed by Bill Faith on June 30, 2007 at 12:35 PM in Great Britain, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Wednesday, 20 June 2007
 

2007.06.20 Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan Roundup

30 Al Qaeda Fighters Killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD —  Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops pressed forward for the second day Wednesday with an operation aimed at clearing out a Sunni insurgent stronghold northeast of Baghdad. The U.S. military said at least 30 Al Qaeda fighters were killed and several bombs and weapons caches destroyed as the soldiers fought their way through the streets of Baqouba.

The U.S. military operation that involves some 10,000 American soldiers in Diyala province, an Al Qaeda bastion to the north and east of Baghdad, matched in size the force that American generals sent against the insurgent-held city of Fallujah 2 1/2 years ago. By late Tuesday, the military had reported only one American death, a Task Force Lightning soldier killed by an explosion near his vehicle. ...

Below the fold:

  • U.S.-Iraqi offensive yields results

See also:

U.S.-Iraqi offensive yields results 
A major thrust in Diyala province, which began Tuesday, has left at least 30 suspected insurgents dead and uncovered 1,000 roadside bombs.

BAGHDAD -- At least 30 suspected insurgents have been killed in two days of operations being conducted in Diyala province as part of a major thrust by U.S. and Iraqi forces to clear Al Qaeda operatives from the region, the military said today.

Soldiers conducting Operation Arrowhead Thunder also have uncovered more than 1,000 roadside bombs around the provincial capital, Baqubah, where the offensive is being conducted, Iraqi security officials said.

Local residents reported heavy fighting in some neighborhoods and aerial bombardments on the western side of the city, where the U.S. military says many insurgents have been based since the last major offensive in March cleared them from eastern Baqubah.

Until early Tuesday, when some 10,000 troops launched the new mission, U.S. forces rarely had crossed the Tigris river into the western side of town. The latest operation is targeting insurgents who have tried to establish Baqubah as their own capital with strictly Islamic rules imposed on residents. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on June 20, 2007 at 08:29 PM in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Tuesday, 19 June 2007
 

2007.06.19 Israel/Lebanon/Palistan Roundup

Six of One...

Below the fold:

  • Brothers to the Bitter End

See also:

Brothers to the Bitter End
By Fouad Ajami

SO the masked men of Fatah have the run of the West Bank while the masked men of Hamas have their dominion in Gaza. Some see this as a tolerable situation, maybe even an improvement, envisioning a secularist Fatah-run state living peacefully alongside Israel and a small, radical Gaza hemmed in by Israeli troops. It’s always tempting to look for salvation in disaster, but in this case it’s sheer fantasy.

The Palestinian ruin was a long time in coming. No other national movement has had the indulgence granted the Palestinians over the last half-century, and the results can be seen in the bravado and the senseless violence, in the inability of a people to come to terms with their condition and their needs.

The life of a Palestinian is one of squalor and misery, yet his leaders play the international game as though they were powers. An accommodation with Israel is imperative — if only out of economic self-interest and political necessity — but the Palestinians, in a democratic experiment some 18 months ago, tipped power to a Hamas movement whose very charter is pledged to the destruction of the Jewish state and the imposition of Islamist rule.

The political maxim that people get the leaders they deserve must be reckoned too cruel to apply to the Palestinians. Before Hamas, for four decades, the vainglorious Yasir Arafat refused to tell his people the basic truths of their political life. Amid the debacles, he remained eerily joyous; he circled the globe, offering his people the false sense that they could be spared the consequences of terrible decisions. ...

You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

Contributed by Bill Faith on June 19, 2007 at 01:11 AM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Saturday, 16 June 2007
 

2007.06.16 Iraq/Iran Roundup

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 

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. ...

Below the fold:

  • Missing Soldiers ID Cards Found in Al Qaeda Safe House

See also:

Missing Soldiers ID Cards Found in Al Qaeda Safe House

BAGHDAD —  The identification cards of two soldiers missing since an attack on their unit May 12 were found in what the American military called an Al Qaeda in Iraq safe house north of Baghdad, U.S. authorities reported Saturday.

The military statement said the ID cards of Spec. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Michigan, were discovered along with computers, video production equipment, rifles and ammunition at the otherwise empty house near Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on June 16, 2007 at 01:11 PM in Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Thursday, 14 June 2007
 

2007.06.14 Iraq/Iran Roundup
-- Special "Incompetence they name is Harry" editon

Harry Reid Calls Military Commanders Incompetent
Ed Morrissey

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid showed his support for the American military by calling two of its top leaders "incompetent". Pandering to liberal bloggers, Reid made the comments in explaining his strategy to make Republican Senators sick of voting on the Iraq war and bludgeoning them into declaring defeat:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "incompetent" during an interview Tuesday with a group of liberal bloggers, a comment that was never reported.

Reid made similar disparaging remarks about Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said several sources familiar with the interview. ...

So Harry Reid, the man who couldn't get a supplemental spending bill completed in less than 108 days, is calling Pace and Petraeus incompetent.

That's the same Harry Reid who couldn't get the Democrats' "100 Hours" pledges to fruition in over 120 days and counting. In fact, this is the same Majority Leader that has led the least-accomplished session of Congress in a generation. ...

Scott Johnson: What label for Harry Reid?

Bill Frist: More Solutions, Less Name Calling

Don Surber: Perspective

Uncle Jimbo: Harry Reid, real men, and last nerves

Sabotage in Samarra 
Michelle Malkin

Bill Roggio rounds up news and analysis of the twin bombings of the al-Askaria mosque's remaining minarets this morning in Samarra. John Burns at the NYTimes reports on efforts to avert sectarian reprisals:

[A]fter Wednesday’s renewed attack on the shrine at Samarra, 75 miles north of Baghdad, appeals for calm by Shiite political and religious leaders, as well as by moderate Sunni politicians and the top two American officials in Iraq, appeared to have headed off the risk of a new sectarian convulsion, at least for now.

By nightfall, with emergency curfews in Baghdad and several other cities, and Iraqi forces moving in to protect mosques across the country, there were only scattered reports of reprisal attacks.

Roggio warns aptly: ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on June 14, 2007 at 03:42 PM in Dem Dumbness, Dem Perfidy, Iran, Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Thursday, 07 June 2007
 

2007.06.07 Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan Roundup

Turkish Force of 250,000 Set for Kurds
Eli Lake

WASHINGTON — American diplomats are quietly urging the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq to take steps that would help ease the alarm over the Turkish troops amassed on Iraq's border.

Ankara, Washington, and Baghdad all rushed yesterday to deny an Associated Press dispatch that the Turks had begun an invasion of northern Iraq in pursuit of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a group listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department and blamed by the Turks for suicide blasts in their capital this year. ...

See also:

Contributed by Bill Faith on June 7, 2007 at 07:50 AM in Iran, Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Monday, 04 June 2007
 

2007.06.04-05 Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan Roundup

Terror Group Claims U.S. Soldiers Captured in Iraq Were Killed

CAIRO, Egypt —  An Al Qaeda-umbrella group claimed its militants killed three American soldiers after capturing them last month in Iraq, according to a new video released Monday.

"The Americans sent 4,000 soldiers looking for them and ... fearing that this will have bad repercussions, the state of Islam decided to and announced their killing making it a bitter result for the enemies of God because they were alive and then dead," said an unidentified voice on the video, which was made available to The Associated Press by the Washington-based SITE Institute.

The video does not offer any proof that the soldiers were killed and does not show the soldiers. The militants said in the video that the soldiers were buried, but again, did not offer proof.

Related:

Below the fold:

  • Charges against Guantanamo detainee dismissed

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Charges against Guantanamo detainee dismissed

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) -- A military judge on Monday dismissed terrorism-related charges against a prisoner charged with killing an American soldier in Afghanistan.

The move dealt a blow to the Bush administration's attempts to try Guantanamo detainees in military court.

The chief of military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay, Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan, said the ruling in the case of Canadian detainee Omar Khadr could spell the end of the war-crimes trial system set up last year by Congress and President Bush after the Supreme Court threw out the previous system.

But Omar Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured after a deadly firefight in Afghanistan and who is now 20, will remain at the remote U.S. military base along with some 380 other men suspected of links to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The judge, Army Col. Peter Brownback, said he had no choice but to throw the Khadr case out because he had been classified as an "enemy combatant" by a military panel years earlier -- and not as an "alien unlawful enemy combatant."

Michelle Malkin's following the story here.

***

It seems the MSM, amazingly enough, has botched another one. Click here. (H/T: Paul Mirengoff)

Contributed by Bill Faith on June 4, 2007 at 02:37 PM in Iran, Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Sunday, 03 June 2007
 

2007.06.02-03 "No Illegal Left Behind" Roundup

See previous: 2007.06.01 "No Illegal Left Behind" Roundup -- Sleep well, America. Your government is awake. This post is backdated; please scroll down for newer content. Original timestamp 2007.06.02.03:42.

Jorge Bush: Saving America from the jihadis so he can give it to the Mexicans.

Bush’s Push on Immigration Tests His Base 
By Jim Rutenberg and Carl Hulse

WASHINGTON, June 2 — President Bush’s advocacy of an immigration overhaul and his attacks on critics of the plan are provoking an unusually intense backlash from conservatives who form the bulwark of his remaining support, splintering his base and laying bare divisions within a party whose unity has been the envy of Democrats.

It has pitted some of Mr. Bush’s most stalwart Congressional and grass-roots backers against him, inciting a vitriol that has at times exceeded anything seen yet between Mr. Bush and his supporters, who have generally stood with him through the toughest patches of his presidency. Those supporters now view him as pursuing amnesty for foreign law breakers when he should be focusing on border security.

Postings on conservative Web sites this week have gone so far as to call for Mr. Bush’s impeachment, and usually friendly radio hosts, commentators and Congressional allies are warning that he stands to lose supporters — a potentially damaging development, they say, when he needs all the backing he can get on other vital matters like the war in Iraq.

“I think President Bush hurts himself every time he says it is not amnesty,” said Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, referring to the bill’s legalization process for immigrants. “We are not all that stupid.” ...

Read the whole thing. Jorge, it's got some big words in it but maybe you can get someone to read it to you.

Below the fold:

  • ¡Run, Paco, run! ¡Eet's a trap!

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¡Run, Paco, run! ¡Eet's a trap!

Mickey Kaus has a very interesting question:

Suppose Congress passes the Kyl-Kennedy-Bush immigration bill this year. And next year the voters elect as president Fred Thompson, or someone else who is skeptical of the benefits of putting mass legalization ahead of getting control of the border. Are the new "Z-visas" promised to illegals in the bill revocable by a future Congress? If they are, why would any rational illegal come "out of the shadows" to claim one (and make himself or herself eligible for re-illegalization)? 

You know, friends and neighbors, whether the Z-visas are revocable or not, spreading the word that they are could put a major dent in the number of them that get issued. Hmmm.

Contributed by Bill Faith on June 3, 2007 at 11:56 PM in Immigration, Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack


Saturday, 02 June 2007
 

Jihadi terror plot at JFK thwarted

3 arrested in terror plot at JFK airport, official says

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Three suspects have been arrested in what authorities say was a terror plot aimed at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. A fourth suspect is being sought, law enforcement officials said on Saturday.

The planning, which began last summer, involved four men, and targeted fuel tanks and pipelines at the airport, law enforcement sources said.

It did not target airplane flights, they said.

The goal was to set off explosives in a fuel line that feeds the airport and also runs through residential neighborhoods, The Associated Press reported, quoting officials close to the investigation.

An official described the suspects as "al Qaeda wannabes."

One suspect, a U.S. citizen who is a native of Guyana and who once worked at the airport, was described by a source as "a very angry Muslim extremist."

Another suspect is a former member of parliament in Guyana, several law enforcement officials said. ...

See also:

Contributed by Bill Faith on June 2, 2007 at 12:23 PM in Islamism Delenda Est | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack


Friday, 01 June 2007
 

2007.06.01 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

See previous: 2007.05.30 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

Below the fold:

  • Lebanon launches attack on militants in refugee camp
  • Heavy Fighting Resumes in Lebanon

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Lebanon launches attack on militants in refugee camp 

(CNN) -- Lebanon's military on Friday launched a new artillery attack on a Palestinian refugee camp north of Tripoli where Islamic militants have been holed up.

The renewed fighting comes after more than a week of relative quiet between the military and the militants of Fatah al-Islam, which is said to be affiliated with al Qaeda, inside the camp.

It was some of the heaviest daylight artillery fire seen since the start of the campaign to root out the militant faction. The fighting at the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli, which started May 20, is the worst internal violence since the end of Lebanon's civil war in 1990.

Nahr al-Bared is one of several Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon da