COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Iran Un-Veils Secret Weapon to Frustrate Western Advances. Pentagon Concerned. Clinton Offers to Intervene.

With respect to Islamic Fascism [Michael Ledeen]
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is trying his hand at a new social endeavor: family planning on a national scale. The Iranian president has announced his willingness to decrease the number of hours worked by married professionals in an average week as a way of encouraging greater fertility. Ahmadinejad’s plan, which is said to be currently under review by the Ministry of Health, would reverse population control measures put in place by the regime over the past decade to boost prosperity. It envisions a near-doubling of Iran's population, to some 120 million souls, in the foreseeable future.

Ahmadinejad's initiative appears to have a clear objective: international dominance. "Westerners have got problems," the Iranian president has told reporters. "Because their population growth is negative, they are worried and fear that if our population increases, we will triumph over them." (London BBC, October 23, 2006; Melbourne The Age, October 24, 2006)

John Kerry Studying Joke Book to Entertain the Troops who Did Not Get Into Harvard

Kerry defends remarks, lashes out at White House

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday October 31, 2006

Washington- US Senator John Kerry, who ran against US President George W Bush in the 2004 election, lashed out at the White House on Tuesday for accusing him of ridiculing US troops in Iraq. The White House had earlier demanded Kerry apologize to US soldiers for implying that they ended up in Iraq because they were uneducated. Kerry said his remarks were a "botched joke" about the president's lack of preparation for the war in Iraq.

"My statement yesterday - and the White House knows this full well - was a botched joke about the president and the president's people, not about the troops," Kerry told reporters. More if you can stand the lying asshole.

Trick or Treat-The October Surprise in Iraq

Iraqi PM lifts Sadr City cordon

"US forces have been searching for a kidnapped Iraq-born soldier
Iraq's prime minister has ordered the lifting of all US and Iraqi military checkpoints around the Shia stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad.
US forces put a security cordon around the area recently as they carried out searches for an abducted soldier.

The week-long restrictions have caused increasing resentment in the densely-populated suburb.

Nouri Maliki, the prime minister, said he was lifting the measures to allow traffic to flow around the city.

"The prime minister, in his capacity as commander in chief of the armed forces, has decided to lift the blockade of the access roads to Sadr City and other areas of Baghdad," his office said in a statement.

His announcement came shortly after radical Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr, called for a general strike to protest against the blockade.

The district is largely controlled by the Mehdi Army, a militia led by Moqtada Sadr.

A US military spokesman said that he was not aware of the order but told the AFP news agency that any concerns of the prime minister would be addressed "at the highest command levels".

The area has seen brief clashes between US forces and the Mehdi Army since the blockade was imposed.

The Iraq-born US serviceman was seized last Monday after leaving his base inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone to visit Iraqi relatives in the city."

Comment by Desert Rat says: It is Mr Maliki's country, after all.

BBC

John Heinz-Never-Changes-Stripes-Kerry


AFTERNOON UPDATE: Kerry did not really mean it when he said it. It was a joke. Do not believe your lying ears Drudge

There are few more loathsome politicians than John Kerry. Had he not looked into the mirror and saw another J F'nn K, he would have had a marvelous career as an ambulance chasing, rich-widow chasing trial lawyer. He certainly has all the opportunistic charm and qualifications including all essential character deficiencies.

At the end of the Viet Nam war he threw his medals and honor over the White House fence and shafted the reputation of an era of US fighting men to begin his political career. He has spent a lifetime being for things before being against them. He is a tedious pedant, a narcissist to the power of three.

Ever responsive to a change in the wind, he reported to duty at the Democratic Convention, ready for battle and a chest full of new fresh medals. (Did you know he served in Viet Nam?). There he stood, at attention, a smart salute, beaming to the roar of the Democratic faithful, a new more patriotic proud ex-GI, proud decorated veteran of war, fully recovered from grievous injuries for which he received three purple hearts. He fell a little short of his goal, but not before he double and triple crossed the republic reminding us of his service and thanking every military man he met for his. Thank you for your service, Thank you for your service,
Thank you ever so much for your service.

Well, guess what? John Kerry gave another salute to his band of brothers. It seems as if Drudge caught Kerry at it again, telling students if you do not study and get smart, "you get stuck in Iraq". That is how an American Political Zebra supports the troops. Listen to him in his own words: Drudge

Monday, October 30, 2006

Getting Advice on the Fleeting Iraqi Dream?

Events and circumstances are looking very glum for President Bush's dream of a "free and democratic Iraq." Day by day more voices are declaring that unless something changes, the President will be thwarted.

From the Washington Times article:
Adnan Pachachi, the old (83) wise man of Iraq, who served as foreign minister (1965-67) and is now a member of the new Iraqi parliament, demonstrated this week how not to lose it. To begin with, he recommended major changes in the 5-month-old Iraqi government still trusted by President Bush. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's team, said Mr. Pachachi, "includes many ministers with close links to the militias, the death squads and other terrorist groups." In a Financial Times piece, Mr. Pachachi added, "We would delude ourselves if we believed such a government could be effective in fighting terrorism and sectarian violence."
A hard-nosed geopolitician, Mr. Pachachi advocated negotiations with insurgents who are willing to be integrated in the political process, as well as quid-pro-quo talks with Iran, Syria and other neighbors with a view to ending their interference. But this can only happen, he explained, "with a competent government untainted by militia connections and enjoying the people's trust," which could clean up the security forces.
With the Iran-backed and -funded Shi'ite militia now in the driver's seat, a withdrawal of the U.S.-led coalition forces would quickly translate into a meltdown of law and order and the disintegration of a unitary state into feuding fiefdoms ruled by warlords. Militia armies would be at each other's throats.
Mr. Pachachi says it is time to update the composition and mandate of the multinational forces by bringing in fresh troops from Asian, European, Arab and Muslim countries. After what the leaders of these new prospects have been watching 24/7 on CNN, FOX, BBC and Al Jazeera, one would have to conclude the chances of new military participants range from zero to nil.



The Muslim countries would do well to take up Pachachi's suggestion and get on board with the peace keeping. It would be costly, yes, but cheaper than doing nothing.

Hattip Habu:

Time to Bury Lie of "Religion of Peace"- The Suicide Death of Islamic Honor.

Islam may have been the Religion of Peace for a while but as Noah Feldman pointed out in this past weekend's NY Times Magazine, one can no longer make that case. Beginning with the Armenian genocides and since the birth of Israel, Islam has been rewriting the laws of war to make suicide honorable, and to sanction the killing of women and children. He reminds the reader that one Imam has issued a Fatwa justifying a nuclear attack so long as it kills no more than ten thousand civilians.

Mr. Feldman says that Arab countries have not feared Israel's nuclear weapons but a nuclear Iran is frightening them especially in light the fact that many of them have been at odds with Shia Islam. Suicide bombing was unknown to Islam and the middle east prior to 1983 but:
Since then, suicide bombing has spread through the Muslim world with astonishing speed and on a surprising course. The vocabulary of martyrdom and sacrifice, the formal videotaped preconfession of faith, the technological tinkering to increase deadliness — all are now instantly recognizable to every Muslim. And as suicide bombing has penetrated Islamic cultural consciousness, its list of targets has steadily expanded. First the targets were American soldiers, then mostly Israelis, including women and children. From Lebanon and Israel, the technique of suicide bombing moved to Iraq, where the targets have included mosques and shrines, and the intended victims have mostly been Shiite Iraqis. The newest testing ground is Afghanistan, where both the perpetrators and the targets are orthodox Sunni Muslims. Not long ago, a bombing in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, killed Muslims, including women, who were applying to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. Overall, the trend is definitively in the direction of Muslim-on-Muslim violence. By a conservative accounting, more than three times as many Iraqis have been killed by suicide bombings in the last 3 years as have Israelis in the last 10. Suicide bombing has become the archetype of Muslim violence — not just to frightened Westerners but also to Muslims themselves.

What makes suicide bombing especially relevant to the nuclear question is that, by design, it unsettles the theory of deterrence. When the suicide bomber dies in an attack, he means to send the message “You cannot stop me, because I am already willing to die.” To make the challenge to deterrence even more stark, a suicide bomber who blows up a market or a funeral gathering in Iraq or Afghanistan is willing to kill innocent bystanders, including fellow Muslims. According to the prevailing ideology of suicide bombing, these victims are subjected to an involuntary martyrdom that is no less glorious for being unintentional.


Feldman has written a long article, (nine pages) covering information which most readers of the Elephant Bar are already all familiar with. Hopefully, though, enough of the regular NY Times readers will read and understand the article and it's implications.


After I prepared this post, I was reading the previous one and saw that Ash had commented on the article noting that the violence had been condemned by Islamic clerics. That's true some have, and we should be grateful for that but as was pointed out, their's are little voices barely discernable in the din. One could also point out, that these moderate voices of Islam could well be among the first to be forever quieted by their more fundamentalist brothers.

Islam Rule Britannia - A Veil of Intimidation is Falling Over Europe

Well, well, well, what a shock. It seems as if the little Muslim girl was not exactly asserting her rights to freedom of expression. She was responding to Islamic intimidation. The continuing drip drip drip of repression is eating away at the very fiber of Europe. They better get wise and the US should be taking very careful notes. Islam is not just another religion. It is a cult that has great wide reaching ambitions. And Herr Schröder and his tribe of left leaning useful idiots are worried about Christianity in America. Europe you may want to see if you can find grandpa's rosary beads.

Hard line cleric had told banned teacher to wear veil in class
30/10/06 Daily Express
By Sarah White

THE Muslim teaching assistant who lost her battle for the right to wear a veil in class was following a religious ruling.

Aishah Azmi, 24, had received the fatwa from hard-line Islamic cleric Mufti Yusuf Sacha.

He is said to teach at the West Yorkshire mosque where two of the London bombers Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer were regular worshippers.

Azmi has always claimed she was driven by personal beliefs.

She sparked a nationwide furore by taking the junior school where she worked to an employment tribunal for suspending her over her refusal to remove the controversial niqab in lessons.

She lost her case against Headfield Church of England Primary School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, earlier this month.

She was controversially awarded £1,100 for the victimisation that was triggered by her fight, which she aims to take all the way to the European Court of Justice at a cost of £250,000 to British taxpayers.

Her legal team have now revealed that Sacha is one of several hundred British clerics with Mufti status, which grants him the right to issue fatwas based on Islamic law.

He advised her that it is obligatory for women to wear the niqab or face veil in the presence of men who are not blood relatives.

German Political Leadership - Feminizing Germany

Just when you think it cannot get any worse, German leadership gets worse. Germany faces some profound problems. It has a very uncomfortable level of Islamic immigrants who are socially segregated. It has a resurgent Russia to her east and it is only a matter of time till that problem will we back on their doorstep. Germany should be asserting itself on the world scene but the opposite is happening. This article from DW- World tells it all.
They are getting hysterical because some of their troops found and took goofy pictures with some skulls.

It is hard to believe but do not be surprised whatever news comes out from the Current German Political Establishment. Is it any wonder that right wing groups are getting restless. Read it and weep.
Defense | 29.10.2006 DW
Germany Reconsiders Sending Troops on Foreign Missions


Defense Minister Jung said Germany should limit its foreign missions

Senior politicians on Sunday said Germany should rethink its role in foreign peacekeeping missions as the scandal over soldiers playing with skulls in Afghanistan battered the army's image.

Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung warned that Germany may have stretched the military to its limits by sending troops on 11 foreign missions, ranging from Africa to the Middle East to Afghanistan.

"Even if we have the support of parliament, many deputies feel that we have reached the limit. We should practice restraint," Jung told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. "Until now we have failed to accompany the growing number of foreign military missions with a proper debate about their meaning and purpose," he added.

Jung's remarks contrasted sharply with a white paper on defense he submitted to cabinet on Wednesday which paves the way for Germany to increase the number of peacekeepers abroad from about 10,000 to up to 14,000.

Surprise Pakistani Assaults on al-Qaeda and Taliban Camp.

UPDATE: Last Updated: Monday, 30 October 2006, 17:39 GMT

'Shock and awe' on Afghan border

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News
Locals say civilians were killed in the attack. The missile strike that has killed close to 80 alleged militants in Pakistan's Bajaur area appears to have targeted well-known supporters of the Taleban and al-Qaeda. But exactly who was killed at Chinagai remains unclear as paramilitary troops prevented reporters from travelling to the area.A number of locals and a senior minister in North-West Frontier Province, Siraj-ul-Haq, who led funeral prayers for those killed, said that there were several children among the dead. Surprisingly, the attack came on a day when the government and local militants were scheduled to sign a peace deal mediated by tribal elders.

80 suspected militants killed in Pakistan
RTE- News
30 October 2006 08:27

It is understood 80 suspected militants have been killed in an attack by Pakistani forces on a building close to its border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani army helicopters struck a madrassa near Khar, the main town in the Bajaur area, in a region where many al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents are thought to have sought sanctuary. The attack came two days after thousands of pro-militant tribesmen gathered in Bajaur in show of support for al-Qaeda and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Pakistan's lawless northwestern tribal areas became a sanctuary for militants who fled Afghanistan after US-led forces ousted the Taliban regime five years ago.

Pakistani forces have since launched a series of military operations throughout region in which more than 1,000 militants and 600 soldiers are reported to have died. Forbes is reporting additional details:
Pakistan air strike destroys militant training camp - army
10.30.2006, 01:52 AM Forbes.com


KHAR, Pakistan (XFN-ASIA) - Pakistani helicopter gunships have destroyed an Islamic school in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan where up to 80 militants were training, the chief military spokesman said.

Witnesses said funeral prayers were said for some 20 people and dozens more may have been killed in the air strike on a madrassa near Khar, the main town in the restive Bajaur tribal agency. The army would not confirm the death toll.

'We had information about the presence of 70 to 80 miscreants who were engaging in militant training in this madrassa,' chief military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told Agence France-Presse.

The madrassa was run by a local Taliban commander known as Maulvi Liaqat who was wanted by the authorities for sheltering insurgents, he said.

Some of the militants were foreigners, he added.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Schröder Odor - Deutsches Schwein


Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is back in the spotlight joining Pervez Musahrraf as the lastest "world leader" hoping to cash-in with a post 9/11 biography. The BBC seems to think "Schröder's memoir, "Decisions: My Life in Politics" will be a best seller and of course, the buzz is all about Schröder's typical secular progressive misunderstanding of George Bush's faith.
Here's a BBC Video

From Der Spiegel:
October 23, 2006, 11:58 AM
"Bush is an entirely likeable and open negotiating partner," Schröder told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, when its interviewer suggested Schröder had been mild with his rivals in the memoir. "That's old age," Schröder, 62, quipped. But he repeated a charge from his book that Bush made political decisions based on his fear of God. "It's a problem that isn't unique to Bush and the United States," he said. "When (a leader) takes political action directly from prayer, in other words from a dialogue with God, it can be problematic for a democracy."
Schröder targets role of religion in America
By Judy Dempsey International Herald Tribune

Published: October 22, 2006
BERLIN Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor, has strongly criticized the growing influence of religious conservatives in the United States while at the same time defending his close friendship with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

In a lengthy interview in Der Spiegel, the weekly news magazine, and with Bild am Sonntag, Schröder dismissed suggestions that he was anti-American because he opposed the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

The interviews come just days before Schröder 544-page autobiography, "My Life in Politics," is published. It traces the rise of a working class child, whose father was killed during World War II, to the top of German politics.

Schröder told Bild am Sonntag that his meetings with President George W Bush were "pleasant," even though Schröder, along with President Jacques Chirac of France, had opposed Bush's plans to invade Iraq. Schröder's critics had accused him of using strong anti- war rhetoric to win a second term, which he did in 2002.

Schröder said he was "anything but anti-American, even though he openly challenged U.S. policy in Iraq. In the Der Spiegel interview, he described how he had
tears in his eyes as he watched the events of Sept. 11, 2001, on television. "It was important to me that Germany fulfill its requirements as an ally," he said.

But when it came to the planning for the Iraq war, Schröder, referring to Bush, told Der Spiegel that "if a person adopts a policy based on what he gleans from his prayers, in other words, a personal talk with God, it can lead to difficulties in democracy."

Schröder went on to criticize the growing role of religion in U.S. politics.

"We rightly criticize that in most Islamic states, the role of religion for society and the character of the role of law are not clearly separated," he said.

"But we fail to recognize that in the U.S.A., the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies."

When asked by Der Spiegel if he still believed Putin was an "impeccable democrat," as Schröder himself called him during one of his several meetings with the

Russian president in 2005, he replied: "I have nothing to correct."

Putin and Schröder had established an unusually close personal relationship. While most German leaders eventually forge close contacts with whoever is in power in Moscow, Schröder adopted two Russian children. Moreover, he became a member of the board of a company owned by Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas monopoly giant and one of the most powerful companies in Russia.

When Putin visited Berlin in September 2005, less than two weeks before parliamentary elections, he and Schröder put the final touches to the construction of
a German-Russian gas pipeline that would run under the Baltic Sea and for the first time directly allow Gazprom to directly send gas from Russia to its markets in Western Europe. Immediately after the election, the defeated Schröder was appointed to a new company charged with overseeing the project.

In the interview with Der Spiegel, Schröder said the elections had nothing to do with his new job and defended the joint venture.



I would be very troubling if George Bush claimed that God had told him what to do, but the President on a Barbara Walters Special told a relieved Ms. Walters, that he does not hear from God but studies the Bible and prays for guidance.

Schröder says that he is not anti-American and that is possibly true but he shares a fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity with other secular progressives that could prove detrimental to the struggle with radical Islam:

Schröder went on to criticize the growing role of religion in U.S. politics.

"We rightly criticize that in most Islamic states, the role of religion for society and the character of the role of law are not clearly separated," he said.

"But we fail to recognize that in the U.S.A., the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies."



George Bush is a member of the Methodist Church which is hardly a bastion of fundamentalist American Christianity . In fact, the Methodist church is considered to be one of the most liberal of the evangelical churches in America. Schröder is either truly ignorant about religion or has made a calculated appeal to the secular left. Either way, for a western leader of his stature to equate Islam and Christianity does not bode well for the future of a secular Europe or what's left of the Christian West.

Iraq-t-Dumpti Sat on A Wall...Can We Stop the Impending Fall?


It is too early to second guess Iraq but we all have and we all do. That is how the human mind works. If you are objective and honest and fair, you may find some sympathy for the objective in the Iraq Incursion. It all made sense in theory. The premise was that "The Religion of Peace" was hijacked by evil-doers who took advantage of the poverty and chaos of failed and despotic regimes. The Muslim world was in need of liberation and reform. It was logical that those who inherited the ideals of The Enlightenment would believe in those ideals and had a vision of applying them to Islam. Like the word or not, it was a crusade, but a noble one.

It was also very much the belief in diversity and multi-culturalism, mix and match, yearning to be free, we can all get along, all in the parlance of the times. Saddam's Iraq was the perfect place to start. It had the right address in the right neighborhood between Syria and Iran. It also had the enticement of unfinished business. Most people criticized the first Bush Administration for "not finishing the job". Here I plead guilty.

The mission was also based on the very naive belief that Islam was just another religion and morally equivalent to all other religions. We did not know otherwise. We believed it to be true and practiced what we believed. Islam had been given complete access to the Western Hospitality Suite. 911 opened some doubts when the guests trashed the place. The rogue theory and metaphor of hi-jacked planes was attached to a hi-jacked religion. Afghanistan needed to be both punished and liberated and Iraq was next.

It offered a long term fix and for awhile it appeared to have the possibility of working. Purple fingers viewed through rose colored glasses, a real rainbow coalition. Well, we learned a thing or two from the experience. Check that, we are beginning to learn. We are learning that Islam is not the same. We are learning that the clap-trap multi-cultural diversity worshiping establishment of the Left may have tossed us a real ticking time bomb with a virgin seeker attached to it.

The West is changing. When I, for one, started using the phrase, "Islam is the Problem", I got some nervous laughs and "some you shouldn't say that"s. Now, it is hardly noticed except as a truism. We may not be winning the WOT but we are beginning to win the war on euphemisms.
"Religion of Peace" is on the way out but we have a very long way to go. The process has begun.

As Viet Nam was but one part of the Cold War, Iraq shall be just one part of the realignment of Islam to the rest of the world. We need to look at in in that context. We will have no choice, because Islam will keep reminding us. The Telegraph has an interesting opinion piece on a likely option for Iraq. It is a recognition of the reality that Iraq as a single country makes as much sense as Yugoslavia did. Read it and keep your powder dry.

The only solution left for Iraq: a five-way split

"Change is in the air. The recent pronouncements of General Sir Richard Dannatt and Margaret Beckett suggest that a more pessimistic outlook regarding Iraq's future is enveloping Whitehall.

Even the previously bullish US administration is beginning to show cracks in its resolve. Once unvoiced fears — about civil war, insurgent victory, Iranian takeover through Shi'a militias, even the Balkanisation of Iraq — are now being spoken aloud and even listened to, and may result in new strategies emerging.

But the choices available to policy-planners are few and far between, and are now governed largely by the realities in Iraq, rather than by any plan emanating from the embattled Coalition."...

Saturday, October 28, 2006

A Bridge Too Far?


The BBC Worldservice Thursday aired a report from Afghanistan. Their correspondent was taken by the Taliban for a "long drive through the desert in a convoy of new 4x4 SUV's guarded by confident men with Kalishnikovs and RPG's." The "Taliban Leader" was boasting that the locals welcomed him into the area and remarked that he could travel "anywhere day or night without even a pistol; something the Government couldn't do." The WorldService also reported that the Afghan National Army was reverting to it's corrupt, old ways of "shaking down" highway travelers at gunpoint. A Taliban leader told the BBC that trucking companies had hired the Taliban to take care of the problems with the Army. It was reported that civilian deaths from recent NATO actions are causing a backlash and another Taliban leader said that they had hundreds of volunteers for suicide attacks and warned of as many as a half-dozen martyrs striking simultaneously.

Other news reports indicate that the Taliban are settling in nicely next door in western Pakistan where they have in certain areas already formed an ad hoc government and are levying taxes on "petrol and six-month trucking permits."


Friday, it was reported that the Saudis are on elevated terror alert levels with oil facilities being the target. This reminded me of an article at I read earlier this week at Jamestown.org which warned that Islamic terrorists had determined that the Saudi Royals are not devout Muslims, are allied with America and will now be increasingly targeted.

From a the same website Michael Scheurer observes the growing crime rate in Afghanistan, the Musharraf brokered Taliban haven in Waziristan, and the traditional Afghan intolerance of foreign rule and concludes:
Overall, the increasing pace of the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan suggests it is only a matter of time until the commanders of the U.S.-led coalition are faced with telling their political leaders that a decision must be made to either heavily reinforce coalition forces—it appears that more than the 120,000 men Moscow deployed to Afghanistan in the 1980s would be necessary—or begin preparations to withdraw from the country. If taken now, such a decision would be made in the context of polls showing popular opinion in Canada and Britain turning decidedly against continued participation in the Afghan war and media reports that France may begin to withdraw its special forces from Afghanistan next spring (Associated Press, October 15).



In these gloomy days, it is looking more probable that US led efforts to bring "freedom and democracy" to Iraq and Afghanistan will fail as the US public decides that the goal just isn't worth the effort.

It was a noble effort but was it doomed from the start? Was it "Mission Impossible" for the west to attempt such a change in the heart of the Islamic world? Was it a bridge too far?

Beach Burquaa Blues, Please Do not Offend The Muslims


In solidarity with the great Gates of Vienna

Secratary Madame Madelieine Albright, Politcal Tart, Déclassé

An old ending to an old joke goes, " Madam, now that we have established what you are, let's negotiate the price." Here we have an old madam in the true Clintonista fashion, out of office and out of class. Novak gives her a whack on her ample behind or as they say at Foggy Bottom , derrière.

MADELEINE SOLICITS Prince of Darkness

Recipients of mail from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) were surprised this past week to receive a fund-raising appeal signed by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.

Secretaries of state, by tradition, stay away from partisan politics while in office. Former holders of the position generally follow the same practice. Nobody can remember fund-raising solicitations from Colin Powell, Warren Christopher or Henry Kissinger.

Albright's letter requested "a contribution of $50, $75 or more" for the DCCC to guarantee a Democratic House majority. "The single most effective step you can take to shape the outcome of November's elections is to support the DCCC," she said, as "the only organization whose sole mission is to win a Democratic House majority."

Sheik Elhilaly, mufti of Australia, Practicing Apology to Ausie Woman

Sheik Elhilaly is wrong
By Irfan Yusuf
October 27, 2006 12:00 dailytelegraph

IN April last year, a Sydney sheik made remarks linking dress to sexual violence against women.

He alleged that women who dressed a certain way were eligible for rape. When clarifying his remarks, the young imam made matters worse by claiming he was only referring to Muslim women who refused to wear the hijab.

That young imam was forced to retract and apologise for his comments. Muslims thought they had seen the end of such misguided and misogynistic religiosity.

Now, one of Australia's most senior imams has repeated the same slur. Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly, whose title includes mufti of Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific (even if many across the Tasman and the Pacific have never heard of him), has now alleged that women are meat which should not be left uncovered.

To make matters worse, the Sheik's representative and translator has claimed that the Sheik was only referring to sex workers. As if sex workers are not entitled to the same rights as any other members of the community.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward has called for Elhilaly's deportation. It's too late for that – the Sheik has been a citizen for over a decade. However it isn't too late to call for the Sheik's removal.

Yet it seems only the body which appointed him – the peak Muslim body known as the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils – can remove him. AFIC is currently being managed by an administrator appointed by the courts.

The latest Elhilaly gaffe illustrates the widespread misogyny that exists among Muslim religious leaders.

AFIC itself has tended to be a female-free zone. Until its most recent (and disputed) election, AFIC had not had a female executive member for some two decades.

Many ethnically-based mosques across Sydney and Melbourne bar women from attending or make life most uncomfortable for them.

This year, at least five Muslim men will join a host of other prominent Australian men as ambassadors for White Ribbon Day. WRD is an initiative of UNIFEM, the UN agency for women, and is a day to campaign for the elimination of all forms of violence against women.

Perhaps one step Elhilaly could take would be to impress upon his congregation the importance of heeding the White Ribbon Day message.

However, he must first apologise to women and men of all persuasions. Anything less than a complete apology would be unacceptable.


* Irfan Yusuf is a Sydney lawyer and UNIFEM Ambassador for White Ribbon Day

Chirac Declares Hand. Iran Doubles.

Maybe, just maybe, there is some movement to deal with Iran. Now it is not realistic to expect too much at one time. There will be no dramatic moves but there does seem to be a more subtle strategy developing with Iran. It is probably a version of the same that was applied to North Korea.

Chirac is thinking about another run as President. There is new turmoil, or more correctly a continued turmoil with French Yutes. Chirac also knows that depending on the outcome of the US election, Bush may find himself constrained by a Democrat controlled Congress. It is in Chirac's interest to show the initiative with Iran with very little cost to France.

The Chinese seem to have convinced North Korea to quiet down and Chirac just inked a huge Airbus deal in China. He is busy making other trade deals with the Chinese that will all play well for him in the next French election. Any costs to France of a mild slap at Iran through sanctions will be more than offset by the Chinese deals. Chirac will look good in leading the way to Iranian sanctions and that may neutralize criticism over the lack of progress in the Yute salute to French authorities.

Chirac for sanctions if talks collapse: Iran steps up enrichment


WUHAN (China), Oct 27:

French President Jacques Chirac said on Friday that if a stalemate developed in the dialogue with Iran over its nuclear programme then sanctions should be imposed.

“I hope that we can find a solution through dialogue,” Chirac said here.

“If it goes on and appears that the dialogue will not end, then it is probably necessary to find calibrated, adaptable, temporary and reversible sanctions that will be imposed to show Iran that the entire international community does not understand their position and is hostile to it.”

President Chirac’s statements followed reports from Iran that scientists had begun feeding gas into a second cascade of centrifuges to enrich uranium, defying UN threats of sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

“The second cascade was set up two weeks ago and this week gas was injected into them,” an official told the ISNA news agency in Tehran. “We have the product of the second cascade.”

Iran on Wednesday confirmed it had installed new equipment to step up uranium enrichment and said it would imminently start pumping gas into the equipment.

President Chirac said he had “never been a great believer in sanctions” and that he “has never been convinced of their effectiveness”.

But “in this particular case, it is obvious and the entire international community recognises this, notably China, but also Russia, the Europeans and the United States that the ambitions clearly signalled by Iran are not compatible with the idea we are making concerning non-proliferation.”

A top Iranian cleric in Tehran’s Friday sermon defied the UN over probable sanctions, calling again for a return to negotiations.

“If you want to go ahead with the sanctions, go ahead,” said Ahmad Khatami.

“You have imposed sanctions on us for the past 27 years. What did you gain? It was with these sanctions that Iranian youth reached nuclear energy and self-sufficiency.”

On Thursday in Beijing, a joint communique released by Chinese President Hu Jintao and Mr Chirac called on Iran to heed UN mandates over its nuclear programme and abide by an earlier Security Council resolution to abandon its uranium enrichment programme or face sanctions.

“The two sides call for respect of Security Council resolution 1696 and agree to pursue their joint efforts for a resolution of the nuclear issue to maintain a close permanent contact on this matter,” the statement said.—AFP

Masood Haider adds from United Nations: The five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on Friday remained at odds over a new draft resolution to impose sanctions on Iran.

The three European nations which had drafted the resolution — Britain, France and Germany — met for the first time on Thursday with the United States, Russia and China to discuss the sanctions.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Germany, Achtung! Worry About What is in the Skulls of Your Politically Correct Leaders and Not About Some Harmless Prank

Germany, please get over yourself. ( Hattip Allen, The Magnificent) Worry about what is in the head of live taleban skulls and not in some dessicated skulls found in the desert. Your young soldiers have a dirty shit job on their hands because your Politically Correct Masters and their multi-culture freak ideas imported you some great big Islamic problems. The young soldiers are out in the hell hole of Afghanistan protecting your right to take six weeks holiday. They are doing a dog's day while most of you sit and wring your angst about how dreadful the world is. Grow the hell up. You are a big power. Open your eyes, take a deep breath and start acting like one. A harmless prank by a bunch of young soldiers in the desert should not bring you weeping to your knees. Get this into your skulls and quit worrying about empty ones in Afghanistan.

More Photos Surface in Widening German Skull Scandal, Germans still Devastated

More Photos Surface in Widening German Skull Scandal DW-World.DE


"German defense ministry officials Friday suspended two soldiers for their alleged part in the desecration of skulls in Afghanistan. The scandal meanwhile widened as a tabloid said it would publish more photos Saturday.German defense ministry officials Friday suspended two soldiers for their alleged part in the desecration of skulls in Afghanistan. The scandal meanwhile widened as a tabloid said it would publish more photos Saturday.

Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said that the two men "will no longer be a part of the German army." Four others, who had also been identified as having participated in taking the photographs, have since left the Bundeswehr.

German private TV channel RTL on Thursday night showed pictures of a soldier kissing a skull that was lying on his shoulder and of another posing with a skull mounted on his patrol vehicle. In a third photograph, several skulls are piled on top of each to form a pyramid."

German Skull Update:
Skull Scandal Raises Questions About Army Training Methods

DW Skull Update Central
German politicians have unanimously condemned the incidents and an official inquiry has already led to the suspension of two soldiers.

"I'm devastated and also worried, both about the abuse of Islamic values as well as the yet unforeseeable consequences of these incidents," said Winfried Nachtwei, defense policy spokesman of the opposition Green Party.
"The majority of German troops in Afghanistan are involved in reconstruction work
Though defense experts have been at pains to point out that the incidents are isolated and that the entire 2,800-strong contingent of German peacekeepers in Afghanistan shouldn't be tarred with the same brush, many are calling for a review of army training programs and the preparedness of German soldiers participating in overseas missions."

Telegraph Concerned About BBC Youts


The BBC's The Telegraph commitment to bias is no laughing matter

By Tom Leonard
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 27/10/2006


It's fair to say the message is finally getting through: the BBC has a problem with impartiality. The row over BBC bias has been rumbling on longer than war in Sudan and always seemed just as unresolvable. The format was always the same: take a bunch of Left-leaning, liberal-minded television executives and a bunch of Right-leaning politics wonks with obsessions about BBC reporting of the Middle East, the EU and the Tory party. Then they hit each other over the head with rolled up, heavily underlined copies of programme transcripts from Newsnight or Today.

And this is a battle that the BBC has become very adept at fighting. Every time the clamour of bias on some particularly hard news issue, such as Israel, Iraq, or Brussels, gets too loud, the corporation commissions some research that finds no bias, or – next best – evidence of bias on both sides.

BBC Concerned about Parisian Youts.


Riots haunt Parisians a year on BBC

Many youths blamed police for the teenage boys' deaths
At least 500 people have marched silently through a suburb of Paris in memory of two teenage boys whose deaths a year ago sparked riots across France.
The crowd in Clichy-sous-Bois held a banner saying the two youths from immigrant families "died for nothing".

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy ordered police to step up security on buses, after several were hijacked and set ablaze ahead of the anniversary.

Democratic Chances Getting Queered in New Jersey. Not that there is anything wrong with it.


NJ's Gay Ex-Governor Says He Would Marry
Oct 26 10:47 AM US/Eastern



Former Gov. James McGreevey, who resigned after acknowledging a gay affair, said he would tie the knot with his partner if state lawmakers decide to allow gay marriage.
"Marriage would offer the ability to bless our relationship in a committed way," McGreevey, 49, told The New York Times.

McGreevey's comments followed a state Supreme Court ruling Wednesday that same-sex couples must be given the same rights as married people. The court left it up to the Legislature to decide whether to extend those rights under the structure of marriage or something else.

Selecting the "Dolly Obama": Why We Need, Hyper-Liberal Barack Obama, ex-Muslim, ex-crack head, ex-Housing Project Organizer, for President.











































You thought the Tibetans were ridiculous in the selection of a leader? In case you forgot, here is how it goes:

The succession of Dalai Lamas

The title "Dalai Lama" is presently granted to each of the spiritual leader's successive incarnations (for example, The 14th Dalai Lama's next incarnation will hold the title "the 15th Dalai Lama").
Upon the death of the Dalai Lama, his monks institute a search for the Lama's reincarnation, or yangsi (yang srid), a small child. Familiarity with the possessions of the previous Dalai Lama is considered the main sign of the reincarnation. The search for the reincarnation typically requires a few years. The reincarnation is then brought to Lhasa to be trained by the other Lamas.


Sound ridiculous? Be patient, because this is how we do it in America. On to our "Dolly Obama":
Do a Google search on Barack Obama and this is what you get: Results 1 - 10 of about 3,570,000 for Barack Obama. (0.08 seconds) . Why? Or why are the American people so shallow, so ridiculous and so desperate in seeking a leader that they flock to a man with the absolute minimum of qualifications, experience and stature to be POTUS? Yet for someone with little experience or accomplishment, vague policies, Mr Obama is extraordinarily popular. He is 44, but people are already salivating for him to run for president. Something about him fills a gap in American politics and that something could be done by central casting. It is show time!

"Barack Obama, The Almost White Knight on a horse and Great Hope for The Republic."

Barack Obama on Meet The Press, January 2006:
"I will serve out my full six-year term. You know, Tim, if you get asked enough, sooner or later you get weary and you start looking for new ways of saying things, but my thinking has not changed."
Obama, October 2006:
MR. RUSSERT: But it's fair to say you’re thinking about running for president in 2008?

SEN. OBAMA: It's fair, yes.

MR. RUSSERT: And so when you said to me in January, "I will not," that statement is no longer operative.


SEN. OBAMA: The -- I would say that I am still at the point where I have not made a decision to, to pursue higher office, but it is true that I have thought about it over the last several months.

And from the same interview:
MR. RUSSERT: You've been a United States senator less than two years, you don't have any executive experience. Are you ready to be president?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, I'm not sure anybody is ready to be president before they're president.

Well that is for sure. Who is this guy with this exotic name? Barack Obama means "blessed by God" in Arabic. His father was an economics student from Nairobi,who married his mother, S. Ann Dunham, of Wichita, Kansasa, a white American anthropology student. They divorced when Obama was young, and his father returned to Kenya. His mother then married a guy from Indonesia and moved there until "Blessed by God" was ten. Obama was raised by his mother until about age 10, when she turned him over to his maternal grandmother in Honolulu.

Barack, was raised as a Muslim, and later became a Christian. In his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father, Obama admits using marijuana and cocaine as a teenager. His other experiences to date are that he studied for two years at Occidental College, where he admitted using drugs, including crack cocaine. (This guy didn't screw around with beer like Bush or the non-inhaling Clinton). He then transferred to Columbia University. There he majored in political science. Upon graduation, he worked for a year at newsletter publisher Business International (now part of The Economist Group), moved to Chicago, and became a community organizer for a housing project on the city's South Side. He got religion and Obama became a Christian and joined the Trinity United Church of Christ.

He left Chicago for Harvard University, where he was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude. After law school, he returned to work as a community organizer in Chicago. Obama organized and registered over 100,000 voters for Bill Clinton and Senator Carol Moseley Braun. (That would be an interesting study in Chicago politics.) He then joined a local civil rights law firm, and he became a lecturer on constitutional law at the University of Chicago.

His campaign for Senate received an enormous boost when his opponent, Republican Jack Ryan, withdrew amid embarrassing allegations in his divorce from Star Trek actress Jeri Ryan, that during their marriage he had tried to lure her to attend sex clubs in France. He is now a freshman Senator from the same state that elected Carol Moseley Braun. And that's all folks. Sounds like POTUS material to me.

But even the normally sensible Charles Krauthammer is getting in on the hype:

October 27, 2006
Obama Can Win by Losing
By Charles Krauthammer
WASHINGTON --
When just a week ago Barack Obama showed a bit of ankle and declared the mere possibility of his running for the presidency, the chattering classes swooned. Now that every columnist in the country has given him advice, here's mine: He should run in '08. He will lose in '08. And the loss will put him irrevocably on a path to the presidency.

Obama's political challenge is to turn his current fame and sizzle, which will undoubtedly dissipate, into something concrete. In physics, it's the problem of converting kinetic energy into potential energy: Use the rocket fuel behind his current popularity to propel him to a higher national plane from which he would eventually move almost laterally to the presidency.
realclearpolitics

This is not quite the dream story that is being created for you by big MSM and the Left, but the legend is a work in process. This will be interesting. Can't we do something like this in Iraq, find an Iraqi Bomba. I guess not. We already have too many of them. So it goes in the Land of the Free if not the particularly smart.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

The New German Lion and The Rape of Europe. "cum hier Kätzchen."

..."The very word Islam means “submission” and the secularists have submitted already. Many Europeans have already become Muslims, though they do not realize it or do not want to admit it."

Two stories of note. (hattip Habu) One begins like this:
"The German author Henryk M. Broder recently told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant (12 October) that young Europeans who love freedom, better emigrate. Europe as we know it will no longer exist 20 years from now. Whilst sitting on a terrace in Berlin, Broder pointed to the other customers and the passers-by and said melancholically: “We are watching the world of yesterday.”

Europe is turning Muslim. As Broder is sixty years old he is not going to emigrate himself. “I am too old,” he said. However, he urged young people to get out and “move to Australia or New Zealand. That is the only option they have if they want to avoid the plagues that will turn the old continent uninhabitable.”....

..."Many Germans and Dutch, apparently, did not wait for Broder’s advice. The number of emigrants leaving the Netherlands and Germany has already surpassed the number of immigrants moving in. One does not have to be prophetic to predict, like Henryk Broder, that Europe is becoming Islamic. Just consider the demographics. The number of Muslims in contemporary Europe is estimated to be 50 million. It is expected to double in twenty years. By 2025, one third of all European children will be born to Muslim families. Today Mohammed is already the most popular name for new-born boys in Brussels, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and other major European cities."...

..."As Tom Bethell wrote in this month’s American Spectator: “Just at the most basic level of demography the secular-humanist option is not working.” But there is more to it than the fact that non-religious people tend not to have as many children as religious people, because many of them prefer to “enjoy” freedom rather than renounce it for the sake of children. Secularists, it seems to me, are also less keen on fighting. Since they do not believe in an afterlife, this life is the only thing they have to lose. Hence they will rather accept submission than fight. Like the German feminist Broder referred to, they prefer to be raped than to resist.

“If faith collapses, civilization goes with it,” says Bethell. That is the real cause of the closing of civilization in Europe. Islamization is simply the consequence. The very word Islam means “submission” and the secularists have submitted already. Many Europeans have already become Muslims, though they do not realize it or do not want to admit it.

Some of the people I meet in the U.S. are particularly worried about the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. They are correct when they fear that anti-Semitism is also on the rise among non-immigrant Europeans. The latter hate people with a fighting spirit. Contemporary anti-Semitism in Europe (at least when coming from native Europeans) is related to anti-Americanism. People who are not prepared to resist and are eager to submit, hate others who do not want to submit and are prepared to fight. They hate them because they are afraid that the latter will endanger their lives as well. In their view everyone must submit.

This is why they have come to hate Israel and America so much, and the small band of European “islamophobes” who dare to talk about what they see happening around them. West Europeans have to choose between submission (islam) or death. I fear, like Broder, that they have chosen submission – just like in former days when they preferred to be red rather than dead."
The Brussels Journal

And all I can say here is, "cum hier Kätzchen, Kätzchen."

Six Germans Questioned in Skull Scandal. DW is all in a dither and according to them:
German politicians and military officials have called for better cultural training for soldiers after photos of an alleged desecration of a skull in Afghanistan shocked the nation.

You Deserve a Break Today


I have been up late scouring the headlines, (I love that cliche, it makes one feel so official) and here is what I scoured up for you. First put aside the morning coffee for a moment and try something a little more refreshing The pause that refreshes ? .

After you have fortified yourself consider some of the unintended humor in some headlines. I do not know why this caught my attention, let's just say it is in The "Oh Really" category. Not really? I wish Jeremy Irons were here to help me understand why that made me laugh. Shall we go back to the tape? After that peak into my psyche, perhaps we should. Yeaaaah, let's do it. Roll the Tape .

All right, fun is over, back to business.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

The Ill Wind Which Blows No Man to Good

Jews are the canary in the coal mine.

The canary is in distress, the danger is mounting but the world doesn't want to see it anymore than the last time anti-semitism got out of control and a world war erupted.

Here's a little warning ignored by the world news services:

Ireland: Pro-Palestinian protesters attack Israeli ambassador
Dozens of enraged pro-Palestinian protestors attacked Israel's ambassador to Ireland this weekend as he was leaving a university in the city of Galway.

Dr. Zion Evrony, speaking at an open lecture organized by the law school, was first greeted with dozens of shouting protestors waving Palestinian flags. During the speech 20 students attempted to "blow up" the lecture by using an agreed signal and suddenly shouting and waving signs and flags. The protestors were asked to leave the hall.

After the speech and Q&A portion of the 90 minute lecture were over the ambassador exited the hall surrounded by police officers. However as he was leaving the campus grounds several dozen angry protestors attacked his vehicle, pounding their fists against the car and climbing onto the car. No one was arrested.
Although seemingly ignored, there have been abundant warnings coming from Israel that Iran and Syria are rearming Hezbollah. Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and Fatah have made clear their intentions toward Israel. The common denominator amongst the Islamic world seems to be an irrational hatred of Jews and it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore Biblical warnings in what seems to be a world turned upside down.

While the French Police beg for assistance against the intifada, a French Officer in Lebanon says that they may have to shoot down Israeli aircraft if they continue flyovers in southern Lebanon. A new generation of leftist anti-Zionists are becoming more vocal and aggressive. In America, the ACLU attacks all things Christian but vigorously defends Islam.

The virulent Jew hatred spewed by the Islamic world and echoed by the self-hating western leftists ought to serve as a warning that an ill wind is blowing.

(Evening Update) Blogger has had some technical problems, during that time the BBC is reporting a significant related story to Whit's important post. I take the liberty to add it
-2164th :

Iran charged over Argentina bomb

The blast was the worst terror attack in Argentina's history. The Iranian government and Lebanese militia group Hezbollah have been formally charged over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires. Argentine prosecutors are calling for the arrest of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and seven others.

Chief prosecutor Alberto Nisman accused the Iranian authorities of directing Hezbollah to carry out the attack.

Hezbollah and Iran both deny that they were involved in the blast, which killed 85 and wounded 300.

The blast, on 18 July 1994, reduced the seven-storey Jewish-Argentine Mutual Association (AMIA) community centre in Buenos Aires to rubble.

Nobody has ever been convicted of the attack, but the current government has said it is determined to secure justice.
Iran charged over Argentina bomb - BBC

Iraq & US Going Their Own Way Together?


Today while the President was saying he is not satisfied with the situation in Iraq and that a change of tactics are forthcoming, Nouri al-Maliki voiced dissatisfaction with a US raid on Sadr City:








In Baghdad, the Iraqi leader took a hard slap at the United States for a raid by U.S. and Iraqi forces on the stronghold of a Shiite militia led by a radical anti-American cleric on whom Al-Maliki relies for political support. Al-Maliki said the raid "will not be repeated."

Al-Maliki also criticized the top U.S. military and diplomatic representatives in Iraq for saying his government needed to set a timetable to curb violence in the country. "I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it," he said.

So, what should the United States do next? Over at Frontpagemag.com, Daniel Pipes offers an alternative strategy for Iraq. He says that we should let the Iraqis handle their own security while we withdraw to the desert, maintain territorial security, and keep the oil flowing. He also points out that we should stop building the biggest embassy in the history of mankind which we have already poured a billion dollars into. He concludes with this statement:
The idea has developed since World War II that when the United States protects its interests by invading a country, it then has a moral obligation to rehabilitate it. This "mouse that roared" or "Pottery Barn rule" assumption is wrong and needs to be re-evaluated. Yes, there are times and places where rehabilitation is appropriate, but this needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis, keeping feasibility and American interests strictly in mind. Iraq – an endemically violent country – fails on both counts.
If we hear much more of this kind of talk from al-Maliki, Daniel Pipes will look prescient.

"Cut the head off Saddam's regime, and keep the rest intact to run the country,"

The privilege of writing history is given to the victors, and at this stage there seems to be a shortage of victors in Iraq but that does not stop the pundits. The Daily Telegraph, in an opinion piece by Con Coughlin starts to deconstruct the events that led to the current Iraq debacle, and it is a debacle in every sense of the word. The highlights of the article are below and the entire piece is here. The premise is that Tony Blair and the neocons had great influence over George Bush.

Comment:
Without Blair's support, it would have been very difficult for George Bush to get to the necessary level of US domestic support for the war in Iraq. Coughlin, in his piece, places a lot of blame on the neocons for their influence in steering Bush into Iraq. This is a common held view and expressed frequently over at the Belmont Club by C-4, for one. However, it is silly to think that Bush was led by the neocons. Politicians at the level of POTUS seek out advisors from people who are already in agreement with their position. That would imply that Bush was already a neocon, which would further imply, as with other neocons, that Bush had previous liberal leanings. In other words, Bush and his fellow neocons reinforced their jointly held views.

Are the neocons responsible? Is Bush a reformed liberal, therefore a neocon?

The following are out-takes from The Telegraph opinion:

  • If Blair had foiled the neocons, Iraq wouldn't be such a mess.
  • The British and American military that participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom had indeed achieved a remarkable military victory. Within the space of three weeks, they had decisively defeated the ragged remnants of Saddam's Republican Guards and taken control of the country.
  • The coalition's precision bombing tactics meant that only key military and Ba'ath party personnel and installations were targeted, so that Iraq was still a functioning state by the time coalition commanders assumed responsibility for governing the country.
  • "Cut the head off Saddam's regime, and keep the rest intact to run the country," was how one senior British intelligence officer explained his vision for the post-Saddam administration of Iraq.
  • The sad truth is that the seeds of the current mess had already been sown by the time Mr Blair became the first Western leader to visit Iraq, at the end of May 2003.
  • By then the powerful American neoconservative lobby, which had formed the vanguard of the pro-war campaign, had seized control of the Pentagon and the administration of post-war Iraq - with disastrous consequences.
  • The neocon vision was to raze every remnant of the Ba'athist regime and build its utopian vision of a Western-style democracy in Iraq as a beacon that would expose the cracks in the tired autocracies that characterise the modern Middle East.
  • Inadequate planning by the Pentagon - where leading neocons such as Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith were responsible for post-war Iraq - meant all the government buildings and ministries that had been left untouched by the bombing campaign were destroyed by gangs of looters who roamed unchecked throughout the city for weeks after hostilities had ceased.
  • The decision taken by Paul Bremer, the preposterous American-appointed governor, to undertake a wholesale de-Ba'athification of Iraq's military, security and administrative institutions created hundreds of thousands of bitterly resentful Iraqis - most of whom had no love for Saddam - became recruiting fodder for the insurgency.
  • Mr Blair was the only world leader with the power to influence events in Washington. His key foreign policy advisers on Iraq, highly experienced diplomats such as John Sawers and later Sir Jeremy Greenstock, made Downing Street well aware of their opposition to the wide-ranging de-Ba'athification programme and the wilder extremes of the neocon agenda.
  • When people do look back on this time, they will see that Mr Blair failed in his duty to the peoples of both Britain and Iraq.

The New Iraq Army- FUBAR Brigade, Don't Believe Your Lyin Eyes



FUBAR

The Guardian

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

New Afghan Army- Brave, Eager, Vicious and Fighting for Their Country.

First, some good news about the Afghan Army:

They are dumb as dirt but fight like hell. Okay, technically the article didn't say the Aghanis are dumb; illiteracy is the biggest problem for 68 US and NATO teams training the 30,000 strong Afghan army. But based on their performance last week when they pulled American chestnuts out of the fire, they will fight.

"The ANA (Afghan National Army soldiers) are vicious, looking at the way they attacked the hill," said Sgt. Joseph Fincher, 24, of Fort Worth, Texas, one of 17 Marines training Afghans at Camp Bermel, a stone's throw from the border with Pakistan. "I'm just excited the ANA is eager to do this. After seeing them in action there's no doubt they're and Fighting for Their Country.fighting for their country."

One Afghan in the fight last week recalled with pride how his fellow soldiers led the attack.

"The ambushed Americans retreated and we rushed in. We were fighting ahead of the Americans," said Mohwad Ghrozi, a 25-year-old from Kunar province who said he saw eight wounded insurgents kill themselves with grenades.

Sgt. David Bowman, a National Guardsman from Portland, Ore., who is training soldiers at Camp Orgun-e, said progress "comes and goes"

"They're eager to fight the enemy," he said. "Sometimes it's to the point of negating the American actions because they're so eager. Sometimes it's like taking a bunch of 9-year-olds to Chuck E. Cheese's."

Capt. Mark Larson of Madison, Wis., said most Afghan soldiers are not literate. "You make progress, but it's frustrating," he said of the training.
It's good to hear that the Afhanis will fight unlike the Iraqis who seem to favor the cut-and-run tactic.

We keep hearing about the Taliban resurgence but the news I read this summer seemed to indicate that the Taliban were getting their rear ends kicked. The Taliban use of al-Qaeda suicide and roadside bomb tactics seem to be a desperation move after a summer of probably heavier than expected losses. They're adjusting tactics in an effort to cow the population into not supporting the infidels. At some point, though, they will have to hold their ground. So far, they haven't been able to do it. We'll see again next spring when the new crop of Muslim jihadis join up with the fellows from Waziristan. Before you get too hopeful for the future of Afghanistan, read on:

Robert Spencer brings us the bad news from Afghanistan:

An Afghan citizen named Abdul Rahman, you may recall, made international news last spring, when his conversion from Islam to Christianity led to his arrest, with the intention of putting him on trial for apostasy. At that time he was spirited away to safety in Italy. Now jihadists in Afghanistan are demanding his return to Afghanistan in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist, Gabriele Torsello. “We want this issue resolved before the end of Ramadan,” his captors demanded, but no resolution seemed imminent as the holy month drew to a close.

It is safe to say that if Italian authorities agreed to turn over Abdul Rahman to the kidnappers, the convert would almost certainly be killed for his crime of apostasy from Islam. Yet at the time of Abdul Rahman’s arrest, puzzled Western analysts pointed to what they thought were guarantees of freedom of religion and of conscience in the new Afghan Constitution: after all, didn’t the document pledge “respect” for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Didn’t it say, “followers of other religions” were “free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law”?
So, a bit of good news gets rained on by the reality that this is one very backwards part of humanity. What do you do with so many millions and millions of religious fanatics who are locked into an 8th century mentality in a dangerously armed 21st century?

EU Puts Together Sanction Plan Against Iran Without US, Iran Terrified

Europeans may move Iran resolution without U.S.
Tue Oct 24, 2006 3:45pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Key European states are threatening to circulate their own draft resolution imposing nuclear and missile sanctions on Iran after failing to reach agreement with Washington, a European diplomat said on Tuesday.

But a senior U.S. official predicted the dispute will be resolved.

A unified front among Britain, France, Germany and the United States has been key to international efforts to deal with Iran's nuclear program.

But they have recently split over a U.S. demand that Russia be forced to halt work at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, U.S. officials and European diplomats said.

"The Europeans have told the United States that we're going to circulate the text among the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council and planned to do it today," one diplomat said.

But a senior U.S. official told Reuters: "On Bushehr, I think they'll solve it" by allowing some work on the project -- worth an estimated $800 million to Russia -- to proceed.

The Iconic Face of Men at War

In June, 1967, while awaiting orders to go to Germany on what would be my third consecutive overseas assignment, the visions of frauleins dancing in my head were suddenly shattered. "Guess what asshole? We are going to Da Nang." Ralph, my friend from Boston, told me to report to the Orderly Room, and sure enough, my name and sixteen others were on the list. At that time, there were over 300 KIA's per week. There was still plenty of support for the war and Johnson had not yet resigned, but it was also a time when doubts and protests had replaced the sixties equivalent of "staying the course". Shit happens, but that expression had not yet show its way into the language, Nether had WTF. Both are in play today. A pargagraph from a BBC report, titled, "Looking for options" tells a tale of what the mood is for the troops in Iraq..."At this US base somewhere near Tikrit, the mood seems sombre and resigned. Many of the recent US casualties have been among troops based in this area.

The sense from the soldiers is of going through the motions, rather than believing yet another initiative will make any difference." BBC Baghdad Diary

What are the troops thinking today? They may not have yet asked who will be the last to die in Iraq, but you have to believe they are thinking it.

The Big Boys Ultimate Disaster Preparedness Kit

Here's a brief easy, read on apocalyptic thinking and a mainstreaming of formerly hard core survivalist mentalities.

Personally I don't see the kind of panicked apocalyptic thinking or survivalist metalities. I have seen store shelves emptied and long lines at gas stations because of hurricane panic. I have seen a proliferation of disaster preparedness kits but surprisingly none had duct tape. They are usually the garden variety kit for breakdown on the highway, or loss of power in the home. Ordinary bare bones, natural disaster type kits.

Always looking for an opportunity, I am thinking of putting together a wealthy man's disaster preparedness kit. I thinking big, something that I could pitch to Neiman Marcus for inclusion in their Christmas Book.

Kit includes:
1 - Hummer H2 Lux edition with winch, roof mounted basket and off-road lights.
4 - Five gallon fuel cans: (Jerry type; mounted)
2 - Ruger Mini-14 .223 Ranch Rifles with 10 five-round and 40 thirty-round magazines.



1 - Beretta A391 Extrema, 12 guage.
2- Mossberg 500 Persuader Series, 8 shot, 12 guage.


This is just for starters. We still need more guns, a trailer, spare tires, shelter, first aid, cooking equipment, water purification, etc. Think Safari.

Please add your favorites or preferred items for the Ultimate Disaster Preparedness Kit.

THE DEATH OF A MUSLIM WOMAN, the Dishonor of Honor Killing


Quran, Surah 4. Women

15. If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, Take the evidence of four (Reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them, or Allah ordain for them some (other) way.

16. If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both. If they repent and amend, Leave them alone; for Allah is Oft-returning, Most Merciful.


As discussed in the previous post, honor killing continues. It is astounding how little attention is given to this practice in the MSM. It is the ultimate hate crime and it is an institutional hate crime. We in the West should demand that Islam conform to normal and acceptable Western standards. At a minimum we should be hearing from the defenders of human rights and woman issues. If you are already familiar with the details of this vicious crime, scan to the bottom of the post to two related stories.

THE DEATH OF A MUSLIM WOMAN
"The Whore Lived Like a German"


By Jody K. Biehl in Berlin der spiegel
First published in March 2, 2005, ( worthy of a review if you missed the story.)

In the past four months, six Muslim women living in Berlin have been brutally murdered by family members. Their crime? Trying to break free and live Western lifestyles. Within their communities, the killers are revered as heroes for preserving their family dignity. How can such a horrific and shockingly archaic practice be flourishing in the heart of Europe? The deaths have sparked momentary outrage, but will they change the grim reality for Muslim women?

The shots came from nowhere and within minutes the young Turkish mother standing at the Berlin bus stop was dead. A telephone call from a relative had brought her to this cold, unforgiving place. She thought she would only be gone for a few minutes and wore a light jacket in the freezing February wind. She had left her five-year-old son asleep in his bed. He awoke looking for his mother, who, like many Turkish women in Germany, harbored a secret life of fear, courage and, ultimately, grief. Now her little boy has his own tragedy to bear: His mother, Hatin Surucu, was not the victim of random violence, but likely died at the hands of her own family in what is known as an "honor killing."
Hatin's crime, it appears, was the desire to lead a normal life in her family's adopted land. The vivacious 23-year-old beauty, who was raised in Berlin, divorced the Turkish cousin she was forced to marry at age 16. She also discarded her Islamic head scarf, enrolled in a technical school where she was training to become an electrician and began dating German men. For her family, such behavior represented the ultimate shame -- the embrace of "corrupt" Western ways. Days after the crime, police arrested her three brothers, ages 25, 24 and 18. The youngest of the three allegedly bragged to his girlfriend about the Feb. 7 killing. At her funeral, Hakin's Turkish-Kurdish parents draped their only daughter's casket in verses from the Koran and buried her according to Muslim tradition. Absent of course, were the brothers, who were in jail.

The crime might be easier to digest if it had been an archaic anomaly, but five other Muslim women have been murdered in Berlin during the past four months by their husbands or partners for besmirching the family's Muslim honor. Two of them were stabbed to death in front of their young children, one was shot, one strangled and a fifth drowned. It seems hard to fathom, but in the middle of democratic Western Europe -- in Germany, a nation where pacifism is almost a universal mantra -- murderous macho patriotism not only exists but also appears to be thriving. It may even be Germany's liberalism -- and its post World War II fear of criticizing minority cultures -- that has encouraged ultra-religious families to settle here.

The problem is that much of this insular and ultra-religious world is out of public view, often hidden in inner-city apartments where the most influential links to the outside world are satellite dishes that receive Turkish and Arabic television and the local mosque. Tens of thousands of Turkish women live behind these walls of silence, in homes run by husbands many met on their wedding day and ruled by the ever-present verses of the Koran. In these families, loyalty and honor are elevated virtues and women are treated little better than slaves, unseen by society and often unnoticed or ignored by their German neighbors. To get what they want, these women have to run. They have to change their names, their passports, even their hair color and break with the families they often love, but simply can no longer obey.

Precise statistics on how many women die every year in such honor killings are hard to come by, as many crimes are never reported, said Myria Boehmecke of the Tuebingen-based women's group Terre des Femmes which, among other things, tries to protect Muslim girls and women from oppressive families. The Turkish women's organization Papatya has documented 40 instances of honor killings in Germany since 1996. Examples include a Darmstadt girl whose two brothers pummelled her to death with a hockey stick in April 2004 after they learned she had slept with her boyfriend. In Augsburg in April, a man stabbed his wife and 7-year-old daughter because the wife was having an affair. In December 2003, a Tuebingen father strangled his 16-year-old daughter and threw her body into a lake because she had a boyfriend. Bullets, knives, even axes and gasoline are the weapons of choice. The crime list compiled by Papatya is an exercise in horror. And the sad part, said Boehmecke, is that it is far from complete. "We'll never really know how many victims there are. Too often these crimes go unreported."
In many cases, fathers -- and sometimes even mothers -- single out their youngest son to do the killing, Boehmecke said, "because they know minors will get lighter sentences from German judges." In some cases, these boys are revered by their community and fellow inmates as "honor heroes" -- a dementedly skewed status they carry with them for the rest of their lives. Currently, six boys are serving time in Berlin's juvenile prison for honor killings. "In a way, these boys are victims, too," she said. Sometimes they are forced to kill their favorite sister.

Epilog: The youngest brother, Ayhun, was sentenced to nine years and three months imprisonment, close to the ten year maximum applicable to minors in Germany. The two other brothers, Alpaslan and Mutlu, were not convicted due to lack of evidence, although the prosecution had asked for life sentences for the crime of conspiracy; they beleived that the older brothers planned the murder and acquired the weapon.

Related stories: 10/23/06 Payvand, Iran, news
Cries from the heart: History of torture and abuse of women in Iranian prisons

Are Muslim Women Oppressed? reason online

Monday, October 23, 2006

Islamic Men, Restoring Their Honor, by "Honor Killing" Their Woman.

Honor killing? The very sound of it makes me homicidal. The thought of some worthless pathetic runt of a man, having to kill a woman to re-establish his honor, and this is an accepted practice in "The Religion of Peace" is in itself vile.

Veils for woman? Burkhas for woman so that another man cannot see the wife, mother or sister of these wretched Islamic so-called men. The first duty of any man worthy of the name, man, is to protect the weaker and vulnerable members of his family or tribe.

Honor killing? No decent society or religion would tolerate the utterance of the term let alone countenance the very practitioners amongst them.

There is no honor in Islam. The very word pestilence comes to us from the darkest Middle Ages, and Islam is a pestilence inflicted on the world.. We cannot allow this human disgrace to advance further into our societies and must assist any and all who which to roll it back. The perfidy of Western politicians that cannot even utter the truth about the horror of Islam must be exposed, condemmed and rejected. Read this and note, it takes place in the Kurdish areas, which are supposed to be the best of the lot.

Khaleej Times Online >> News >>

Teenage girl murdered by brother in Turkish “honour killing”

23 October 2006
ANKARA - A 15-year-old girl who gave birth to a child which she said resulted from a rape became the latest victim of so-called “honour killings” in Turkey, newspapers said on Monday.The victim, named only as Naile, had apparently not been aware she was pregnant until she started feeling unwell and was admitted to a hospital, where she gave birth to a boy, the reports added.The young girl, from a mainly Kurdish town near Turkey’s eastern border with Iran, was murdered by an elder brother on Saturday, press reports said.She later told her mother that the pregnancy had resulted from a rape. When other members of the family heard the news, the elder brother shot her dead at point-blank range in a street of the town, and then fled.The Vatan newspaper quoted the local public prosecutor as saying that the family were believed to have convened a meeting at which they designated the brother to kill the girl, in order to remove what they saw as a stain on their honour.In recent years the Turkish government has stepped up its efforts to crack down on such crimes, which now carry a life prison sentence. Most “honour killings” in Turkey occur in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country. Saturday’s incident was in the town of Baskale.

AFP