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November 30, 2006
Backstabber Colin Powell Talking Points The Carter and Gore Way
US should open up to Arabs, Muslims: Powell
Dubai, November 30, 2006
Hindustan Times
Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday that President George W Bush could fight terrorism better by reaching out to Arabs and Muslims.
"We are conveying a bad message, that America does not welcome you, particularly Arabs and Muslims," Powell told a business forum in the United Arab Emirates.
"The greatest weapon against terrorism for America is to open up for the rest of the world."
Arabs and Muslims have criticised US policies as biased towards Israel.
Tensions escalated after US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a backlash against Muslims and Arabs in the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The 19 Al-Qaeda hijackers who attacked US cities in 2001 were Arab Muslims, mainly from Saudi Arabia.
"I hope President Bush and Secretary (of State Condoleezza) Rice would double the effort to bring stability to this part of the world (Middle East)," he added.
Powell said the number of Arabs and Muslims who visit the US has dropped since the attacks and reflected negatively on educational institutions and leisure destinations.
Arabs and Muslims complain of heavy security searches in US airports and denial of access to the country. Many Arab students, mainly from Gulf Arab states, left the United States after the attacks due to fear of discrimination.
"This is bad, not good for America," said Powell.
"When students come to America for a couple of years they will understand Americans more. This is a great weapon against terrorism... not the use of the military."
Wild Thing's comment......
OK first I have to tell you I have NEVER been a fan of Colin Powell. He is a true left thinker and that just drives me over the edge. haha I mean it I don't trust him or like him. Islam does not support America in any way, and it is subversive.
"When students come to America for a couple of years they will understand Americans more."
Oh let's see Powell you mean like how to fly airplanes into buildings ...
I expect him to be an AMERICAN with AMERICAN interests at heart. Perhaps just a bit too much to expect from this fraud and RINO. People like him are the problem, not the soloution. Disgraceful. He should be ashamed, but apparently he does not have the grace to be ashamed.
Hey Powell, don't you think we have an open enough country for Muslims? There are mosques in almost every city, aren't there?
If you want to "open up" more to Muslims, how about inviting Al-Qaeda members to your home, of course, after you've eliminated all means of self-defense for you and your family.
Mr. Powell, why aren't you responding?
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:47 PM | Comments (5)
Hezbollah Said to Help Shiite Army in Iraq
Gen. Michael V. Hayden, left, director of the C.I.A., and Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, testifying earlier this month before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Hezbollah Said to Help Shiite Army in Iraq
WASHINGTON
A senior American intelligence official said Monday that the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah had been training members of the Mahdi Army, the Iraqi Shiite militia led by Moktada al-Sadr.
The official said that 1,000 to 2,000 fighters from the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias had been trained by Hezbollah in Lebanon. A small number of Hezbollah operatives have also visited Iraq to help with training, the official said.
Iran has facilitated the link between Hezbollah and the Shiite militias in Iraq, the official said. Syrian officials have also cooperated, though there is debate about whether it has the blessing of the senior leaders in Syria.
The intelligence official spoke on condition of anonymity under rules set by his agency, and discussed Iran’s role in response to questions from a reporter.
The interview occurred at a time of intense debate over whether the United States should enlist Iran’s help in stabilizing Iraq. The Iraq Study Group, directed by James A. Baker III, a former Republican secretary of state, and Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic lawmaker, is expected to call for direct talks with Tehran.
The claim about Hezbollah’s role in training Shiite militias could strengthen the hand of those in the Bush administration who oppose a major new diplomatic involvement with Iran.
The new American account is consistent with a claim made in Iraq this summer by a mid-level Mahdi commander, who said his militia had sent 300 fighters to Lebanon, ostensibly to fight alongside Hezbollah.
“They are the best-trained fighters in the Mahdi Army,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The specific assertions about Iran’s role went beyond those made publicly by senior American officials, though Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, did tell Congress this month that “the Iranian hand is stoking violence” in Iraq.
The American intelligence on Hezbollah was based on human sources, electronic means and interviews with detainees captured in Iraq.
American officials say the Iranians have also provided direct support to Shiite militias in Iraq, including explosives and trigger devices for roadside bombs, and training for several thousand fighters, mostly in Iran. The training is carried out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, they say.
In Congressional testimony this month, General Hayden said he was initially skeptical of reports of Iran’s role but changed his mind after reviewing intelligence reports.
“I’ll admit personally,” he said at one point in the hearing, “that I have come late to this conclusion, but I have all the zeal of a convert as to the ill effect that the Iranians are having on the situation in Iraq.”
Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, offered a similar assessment in his testimony.
Neither General Hayden nor General Maples described Hezbollah’s role during the hearing.
In the interview on Monday, the senior intelligence official was asked for further details about the purported Iranian role.
“They have been a link to Lebanese Hezbollah and have helped facilitate Hezbollah training inside of Iraq, but more importantly Jaish al-Mahdi members going to Lebanon,” the official said, describing Iran’s role and using the Arabic name for the Mahdi Army.
The official said the Hezbollah training had been conducted with the knowledge of Mr. Sadr, the most influential Shiite cleric.
While Iran wants a stable Iraq, the official said, it sees an advantage in “managed instability in the near term” to bog down the American military and defeat the Bush administration’s objectives in the region.
“There seems to have been a strategic decision taken sometime over late winter or early spring by Damascus, Tehran, along with their partners in Lebanese Hezbollah, to provide more support to Sadr to increase pressure on the U.S.,” the American intelligence official said.
Some Middle East experts were skeptical about the assessment of Hezbollah’s training role.
“That sound to me a little bit strained,” said Flynt Leverett, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and a Middle East expert formerly on the National Security Council staff. “I have a hard time thinking it is a really significant piece of what we are seeing play out on the ground with the various Shiite militia forces.”
But other specialists found the assessment plausible. “I think it is plausible because Hezbollah is the best in the business, and it enhances their position with Iran, Syria and Iraq,” said Judith Kipper, of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Mahdi Army and other militia fighters traveled to Lebanon in groups of 15 and 20 and some were present during the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel this summer, though there was no indication they had taken part in the fighting, the American intelligence official said.
Asked what the militia members had learned, the official replied:
“Weapons, bomb-making, intelligence, assassinations, the gambit of skill sets.”
There is intelligence that indicates that Iran shipped machine tools to Lebanon that could be used to make “shaped charges,” sophisticated explosive devices designed to penetrate armor, American officials have said. But it is not known how the equipment was in fact used.
The officials said that because the Iraqi militia members went through Syrian territory, at least some Syrian officials were complicit. There are also reports of meetings between Imad Mugniyah, a senior Hezbollah member; Ghassem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards; and Syrian representatives to discuss ways of stepping up the pressure on the United States in Iraq.
The mid-level Mahdi commander interviewed this summer said the group sent to Lebanon was called the Ali al-Hadi Brigade, named for one of two imams buried at the Askariya Mosque in Samarra. The bombing of that shrine in February unleashed the fury of Shiite militias and accelerated sectarian violence.
According to the Mahdi commander, the brigade was organized and dispatched by a senior Mahdi officer known as Abu Mujtaba. It went by bus to Syria in July, and was then led across the border into Lebanon, he said. He said the fighters were from Diwaniya and Basra, as well as from the Shiite neighborhoods of Shoala and Sadr City in Baghdad.
“They travel as normal people from Iraq to Syria,” one of the militiamen said. “Once they get to Syria, fighters in Syria take them in.”
Among American officials, concern over the purported Iranian, Syrian or Hezbollah role grew recently when an advanced antitank weapon, an RPG-29, was used against an American M-1 tank in Iraq.
“The first time we saw it was not in Iraq,” Gen. John P. Abizaid, the head of the United States Central Command, told reporters in September. “We saw it in Lebanon. So to me, No. 1, it indicates an Iranian connection.”
American intelligence officials said the source of the weapon was still unclear.
General Abizaid also said it was hard to pin down some details of relationships between armed factions in the Middle East, adding:
“There are clearly links between Hezbollah training people in Iran to operate in Lebanon and also training people in Iran that are Shia splinter groups that could operate against us in Iraq These linkages exist, but it is very, very hard to pin down with precision.”
Wild Thing's comment.......
I really DIDN"T need another reason to whack Sadr, but maybe the US government does.
Our leaders have either not read Carl von Clausewitz or they have forgotten what he wrote in his treatise ON WAR.
Book 1
ON THE NATURE OF WAR
3. Utmost use of force.
Now, philanthropists may easily imagine there is a skillful method of disarming and overcoming an enemy without causing great bloodshed, and that this is the proper tendency of the art of War. However plausible this may appear, still it is an error which must be extirpated; for in such dangerous things as war, the errors which proceed from a spirit of benevolence are just the worst. As the use of physical power to the utmost extent by no means excludes the co-operation of the intelligence, it follows that he who uses force unsparingly, without reference to the quantity of bloodshed, must obtain a superiority if his adversary does not act likewise. By such means the former dictates the law to the latter, and both proceed to extremities, to which the only limitations are those imposed by the amount of counteracting force on each side.
This is the way in which the matter must be viewed; and it is to no purpose, and even acting against one's own interest, to turn away from the consideration of the real nature of the affair, because the coarseness of its elements excites repugnance.
We can't afford to blink...neither in the Middle East or in North Korea. If nuclear weapons are unacceptable in Iran and NK and our government makes a statement to that effect then I expect our elected officials to be on the same page as we the people regarding the term "unacceptable". I am not convinced that is the fact.
The short version?
We need to cut to the chase. No don't go in and kill the bad guys and leave.
Exterminate every last damned one of them and leave a blackened poisoned landscape then tell the rest of those flea bitten camel jocks that if you so much as Whimper something in protest, we'll do precisely the same thing to you. I'm just fed up seeing us trying to fight against these people with one hand tied behind our backs because our "Leaders" (and I use that term loosely), are too freakin worried about offending the sensibilities of those maggots in the world who want to kill us.
No Nation will survive that does not deal with it's enemies quickly and decisively.
I have never been in the military, so my comments on this are just from a girl that comes from a heavy military background, that loves America and respects our military.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:55 AM | Comments (8)
Al-Sadr Loyalists Boycott Iraq Government
Nusrat al-Rubaie, loyalist to Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a message following the meeting in Sadr City district of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006. Lawmakers and Cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have suspended participation in parliament and the government to protest Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's summit with U.S. President George W. Bush. Poster in the background shows Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, Muqtada's late father. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Lawmakers and cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have suspended participation in parliament and the government to protest Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's summit with U.S. President George W. Bush.
A statement issued Wednesday by the 30 lawmakers and five Cabinet ministers said their action was necessary because the meeting constituted a "provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a violation of their constitutional rights." The statement did not explain that claim.
Suspected insurgents attacked the police headquarters in downtown Baqouba, sparking a clash with police that left five of the attackers dead, police said on condition of anonymity, as they regularly do to protect themselves.
Coalition forces backed by U.S. aircraft also killed eight al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents during a raid near the city the U.S. military said.
The early morning attack was aimed at detaining Iraqis who were running a known cell of insurgents, the U.S. command said. The soldiers called in air support after coming under heavy fire from rifles and machine guns, the command said.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:48 AM
Something That Makes Me Say WTF?!
Bush Seeks to Ease Visa Requirement
TALLINN, Estonia -- President Bush said yesterday he will push Congress for a "loosening" of requirements for foreigners to visit the United States without a visa, pitting him against those who have called for the program instead to be tightened or even scrapped altogether after September 11.
The Visa Waiver Program allows visitors with valid passports from 27 approved countries to enter the United States for up to 90 days without a visa. That makes tourism and business travel easier by eliminating the need for a visa, though such travelers can avoid a security screening.
After meeting with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in Tallinn, Mr. Bush said he will press Congress to revamp the program to allow more countries to join.
"I'm going to work with our Congress and our international partners to modify our Visa Waiver Program," Mr. Bush said. "It's a way to make sure that nations like Estonia qualify more quickly for the program and, at the same time, strengthen the program's security components."
But the proposed expansion would run athwart concerns that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cannot keep up with the 27 countries already approved, as the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress' investigative branch, found in a July report.
"DHS cannot effectively monitor the law enforcement and security risks posed by visa waiver countries on a consistent, ongoing basis because it has not provided [the Office of International Enforcement] with adequate staffing and resources," GAO investigators concluded, adding they also found "weaknesses" in how DHS talks with overseas posts working on visa issues.
European Union officials have complained that while U.S. nationals can visit any of the 25 EU member states without a visa, only 15 of these countries receive reciprocal privileges from the United States. Mr. Bush discussed the problem with EU officials at a July summit in Vienna, Austria.
Exclusion from the waiver program is a point of contention in former communist bloc countries such as Estonia, Poland and Hungary that have become staunch U.S. allies in the war on terrorism.
Mr. Bush said the economic and political progress those nations have made earns them the privilege of participating in the program.
"Both the [Estonian] president and the prime minister made this a important part of our discussions," he said. "They made it clear to me that if we're an ally in NATO, people ought to be able to come to our country in a much easier fashion."
Mr. Bush said he wanted to "assure members of Congress that in loosening the visa-waiver issue, or changing the visa-waiver issue, that we'll still be able to protect our country from people who would exploit the Visa Waiver Program to come to our country to do harm."
Wild Thing's comment......
This is very disturbing. Unless I'm missing something? I mean really am I missing something here???? I don't understand how anyone could go through 9-11 and not recognize the need for tighter borders...stricter control of those entering the country.
Whew wow.....well this is one of those things that make you sit back and say "WTF??"
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:44 AM | Comments (7)
November 29, 2006
Sharia Law Is Spreading As Authority Wanes in UK
Sharia law is spreading as authority wanes
By Joshua Rozenberg, Legal Editor
Last Updated: 2:03am GMT 29/11/2006
Telegraph UK.co
Islamic sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in parts of Britain, a report claims.
Sharia, derived from several sources including the Koran, is applied to varying degrees in predominantly Muslim countries but it has no binding status in Britain.
However, the BBC Radio 4 programme Law in Action produced evidence yesterday that it was being used by some Muslims as an alternative to English criminal law. Aydarus Yusuf, 29, a youth worker from Somalia, recalled a stabbing case that was decided by an unofficial Somali "court" sitting in Woolwich, south-east London.
Mr Yusuf said a group of Somali youths were arrested on suspicion of stabbing another Somali teenager. The victim's family told the police it would be settled out of court and the suspects were released on bail.
A hearing was convened and elders ordered the assailants to compensate their victim. "All their uncles and their fathers were there," said Mr Yusuf. "So they all put something towards that and apologised for the wrongdoing."
Mr Yusuf told the programme he felt more bound by the traditional law of his birth than by the laws of his adopted country. "Us Somalis, wherever we are in the world, we have our own law," he said
In his book Islam in Britain, Patrick Sookhdeo, director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, says there is an "alternative parallel unofficial legal system" that operates in the Muslim community on a voluntary basis.
"Sharia courts now operate in most larger cities, with different sectarian and ethnic groups operating their own courts that cater to their specific needs according to their traditions," he says. These are based on sharia councils, set up in Britain to help Muslims solve family and personal problems.
Sharia councils may grant divorces under religious law to a woman whose husband refuses to complete a civil divorce by declaring his marriage over. There is evidence that these councils are evolving into courts of arbitration.
Faizul Aqtab Siddiqi, a barrister and principal of Hijaz College Islamic University, near Nuneaton, Warwicks, said this type of court had advantages for Muslims.
"It operates on a low budget, it operates on very small timescales and the process and the laws of evidence are far more lenient and it's less awesome an environment than the English courts," he said.
Mr Siddiqi predicted that there would be a formal network of Muslim courts within a decade.
"I was speaking to a police officer who said we no longer have the bobby on the beat who will give somebody a slap on the wrist.
Wild Thing's comment......
I look at this kind of thing happening and it makes me even more concerned about our country. All they have to do is stand up to this garbage and say no. But they keep sipping the PC koolaid and repeat endlessly "our strength is our diversity" over and over. Liberals' PC-ness will get us all killed.
I would think that those who voluntarily submit themselves to this sharia court will exert pressure on their infidel associates to submit to it.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:55 AM | Comments (8)
Pelosi 'sad' Over Bush's Iraq Representation
Pelosi 'sad' over Bush's Iraq representation
WASHINGTON --
House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Tuesday she feels "sad" President Bush blamed insurgent violence on al Qaeda while he dismissed notions Iraq is in a civil war.
"My thoughts on the president's representations are well-known," Pelosi told reporters while meeting with Deputy Italian Minister Francesco Rutelli. "The 9/11 Commission dismissed that notion a long time ago and I feel sad that the president is resorting to it again."
Wild Thing's comment....
OMG good grief, how stupid can one person be. She is "sad"????
How about if we send Speaker-elect Pelosi on a nice Congressional junket to Al Anbar province, with no security, just by herself and see how she likes hanging out with the Al Qaeda that she is so sympathetic toward.
Or perhaps Nancy and al-Queda simply share the same sad understanding:
'Iraq al-Qaeda' welcomes defeat of Republicans in the US mid-term polls - BBC, November 10 2006
Al Qaeda gloats over U.S. election Washington Times, November 6 2006
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:47 AM | Comments (6)
Bush Says U.S. Won't Withdraw From Iraq
Bush Says U.S. Won't Withdraw From Iraq
President Bush Says He Won't Pull U.S. Troops Out of Iraq Before Country Is Stabilized
RIGA, Latvia Nov 28, 2006 (AP)— President Bush, under pressure to change direction in Iraq, said Tuesday he will not be persuaded by any calls to withdraw American troops before the country is stabilized.
"There's one thing I'm not going to do, I'm not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete," he said in a speech setting the stage for high-stakes meetings with the Iraqi prime minister later this week. "We can accept nothing less than victory for our children and our grandchildren."
A bipartisan panel on Iraq is finalizing recommendations on Iraq. The group led by former Secretary of State James Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., plan to present ideas to Bush next month.
The commissioners are expected to debate the feasibility of withdrawal timetables.
Recent U.S. elections added fuel to the argument from Democrats that U.S. soldiers need to come home. In Washington, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that Bush must work with Democrats on stopping the violence in Iraq.
"We want to work in a bipartisan way to settle this," Pelosi said. "If the president persists on the course that he is on, that will be more difficult."
Bush has resisted troop withdrawals even while projecting the need for a different approach.
"We'll continue to be flexible and we'll make the changes necessary to succeed," the president said.
Bush pushed back against skeptics of his goal of spreading freedom across the Middle East. "I understand these doubts but I do not share them," the president said.
Bush has two days of meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki later in the week.
Earlier Tuesday, Bush blamed the escalating bloodshed in Iraq on an al-Qaida plot to stoke cycles of sectarian revenge, and refused to debate whether the country has fallen into civil war.
Bush said he will ask al-Maliki to explain his plan for quelling the violence.
"The Maliki government is going to have to deal with that violence and we want to help them do so," the president said. "It's in our interest that we succeed."
Directly seeking help from Iran and Syria with Iraq, as part of new, aggressive diplomacy throughout the region, is expected to be among the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton group.
But Bush repeated his administration's reluctance to talk with two nations it regards as pariah states working to destabilize the Middle East.
Far from reaching out to Iran and Syria, Bush also denounced them for trying to destabilize the fragile, Western-backed government in Lebanon.
"That government is being undermined, in my opinion, by extremist forces encouraged out of Syria and Iran," Bush said. "Why? Because a democracy will be a major defeat for those who articulate extremist points of view."
Meanwhile, a U.S. intelligence official said the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon is believed to be training small groups of Iraqis affiliated with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. As many as 2,000 fighters from Sadr's Mahdi army or his splinter militia may have been trained since the fall of Saddam Hussein. In addition, Hezbollah fighters have gone to Iraq to train Shiite fighters there.
Complete article is HERE.
Wild Thing's comment........
Yesterday's post "What Happened To Let's WIN".... had great comments. And I wanted to I thank you all for them so much, they were wonderful and right on target.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:44 AM | Comments (2)
November 28, 2006
What Happened To Let's WIN
No One Is Focusing on Winning in Iraq;
It's "Get Out, and Turn It Over to Our Enemies"
by Rush Limbaugh
RUSH: They continue to leak data from the upcoming Baker Report (it's being called): the Iraq Study Group. It's fascinating what's happening on this. Nobody any longer is talking about winning. Everybody is now talking about how to "get out." These leaks obviously are having their intended purpose. The intended purpose is to set the stage for when the real report comes out. The real report is probably going to exactly or equal what the leaks have been, and that is, we gotta get out of there, and we gotta let Syria and Iran go ahead and assume control over this and get their assistance with all this. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is, once again now, saying that the United States, Israel, and the UK are doomed, that it's only a matter of time. Hugo Chavez in Venezuela says he's going to take us down. Nobody seems to notice or care.
It's amazing.
I left here on Tuesday, get back now, and not much has changed. The tenor of the news is still pretty much the same. I've got the requisite number of stories on what the Democrats are and aren't going to do, and how they're going to be liberal and not liberal, and how they're going to investigate and how they're not going to investigate. The pope is in Turkey. We have bombing threats, bomb attacks on Wal-Mart now, and there's probably an explanation for this, but everybody is all hepped up now about the situation in Iraq with the Baker report. Here's a little blurb on it from the Associated Press:
"The Bush administration is stepping up diplomatic efforts to stabilize Iraq, even as key congressional figures say their confidence in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government is waning." You know, I would love if the Baker report said: "Just put Saddam Hussein back in charge." I know there's a columnist in the LA Times, a guy who wrote the "Why I Hate Bush" column named Jonathan Chait. Do it, he says. Do it now. Yeah, he mass murders people, but the guy kept order. The guy knew how to keep order. Maybe that's the thing we should do. (Laughing.) It's getting so absurd that I wouldn't be surprised if somebody besides a columnist makes that suggestion. "The New York Times reported today that a draft report by the Iraq study group led by James Baker recommends aggressive regional diplomacy, including talks with Iran and Syria."
This is no different than what has been leaked on prior occasions. "Anonymous officials who have seen the draft report..." I wonder who they are. Could they be members of the commission, I wonder? By the way, Vernon Jordan is on the commission (I wonder what he thinks we ought to do about Iraq) and Sandra Day O'Connor, great Supreme Court justice, she's on the commission. I wonder what she thinks we ought to do about Iraq. Why are these people any better than anybody else on this commission? Ed Meese is on the commission. He makes a lot of sense, a lot of times, but Vernon Jordan is a rainmaker. Sandra Day O'Connor was a justice who doesn't think the judiciary should be criticized. The best and the brightest in these "blue ribbon" commissions, they get appointed -- and I'm looking at all this, and nowhere is anybody suggesting that we win it.
Nobody is! We could do the Limbaugh Plan. The Limbaugh Plan is win in Iraq and get out. The Limbaugh Plan would consist of many things which many say are impossible. Stop the politics. Have both parties line up for US victory. Of course, it's a pipe dream because the fact of the matter is, as I said. Have you heard all the calls over the weekend, "We've gotta send troops into Darfur!" That started before we left on Tuesday and that's there now. What the case is as I mentioned brilliantly to a caller last week, the left in this country will send our military anywhere where we do not have our own national interests at stake. They'll send 'em on Meals on Wheels programs. They'll send them to stop a bloody civil war in Africa.
They'll do it to feed people or what have you, but where our interests are at stake, no way! They're not going to send our troops and our military anywhere where our interests are at stake, because it's not fair, and they don't like the military being used. All of this is a setup. This whole policy on Iraq is a setup now to see to it that we don't have the guts or courage to deploy forces anywhere around the world the next time we need to defend ourselves. That's the danger that lurks behind all of this. With the kind of political leaders we're breeding, who's going to have the guts to do it if it's necessary to do anyway, given what no doubt will happen to him as has happened to George W. Bush?
Oh, by the way, "anonymous officials who have seen the report say it does not specify any timetables for the withdrawal of US troops in Iraq although the commissioners are expected to debate the feasibility of such timetables. Appearing Monday on Good Morning America, Jimmy..." I think we've got the audio of this at some point. I'm not sure I want to listen to it. Carter thinks that Bush "will take their advice as much as he possibly can. Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, potential presidential contender," Ha-ha! Don't make me laugh, "in 2008 said, 'It's not too late for the United States to extricate itself honorably from an impending disaster in Iraq, and as for Bush some of the harshest criticism is coming from his own party, we have misunderstood we have misread we have mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam,' said Hagel."
Honorable intentions are not policies and plans. "Senator Dick Durban of Illinois, now the number two Senate Democrat called Iraq 'the worst US foreign policy decision since Vietnam.' He said Democrats do not have a quick answer, and any solution might be bipartisan." They don't have an answer? They don't? All of a sudden now they don't have an answer! Well, they did have an answer prior to the election! That was cut-and-run, redeploy, whatever. You know, redeploy is another one of these twisting and turning of words that just means quit, but it softens the message of cut-and-run or quit and leave. We'll "redeploy." We'll put our troops somewhere where there's really no need for them to be under the pretense if something really bad happens we can mobilize them quickly and get 'em back in there.
Let me try to explain it. The Iraq war, to the vast majority of people in this country, is no more than a 20-second or 30-second television show every night on the Nightly News -- and they're uncomfortable. They're fed up. They don't want to watch it anymore. "Just end it. Figure it out! Just end it, because I don't want to see it anymore." To them it's not about the country being threatened. It is not about a worldwide conflict in which we find ourselves. It's just something inconvenient. The American people don't want to be inconvenienced; they don't want to see that stuff. We got a story out there now: We've been in Iraq longer than we were in World War II. So what? When did World War II become the official timeline of wars? It doesn't matter. The objective doesn't matter. "However long it takes to win this," that's no longer the objective. Get out, because the American people don't want to see it anymore. They're going to continue to watch the news, and they don't want to see this. It's no more complicated than that.
CALLER: I was calling because, to be honest, I'm actually starting to get afraid of what's going to happen with the new direction we're going in, pulling out and speaking to the terrorist countries? It honestly makes me afraid.
RUSH: Be very afraid, sir.
CALLER: You know, I know people that died in the World Trade, and I really don't -- you know, I love my country, and I love all my fellow Americans, and for another tragic thing like that to happen again, I feel it's coming in the direction that we're going.
RUSH: Yeah. I think you're right. I think it's going to take at least one or more of those kind of events to get people revved up. They've forgotten about it because they want to forget about it and because you live in America you can forget about it because there are enough diversions, there's tranquility and there's peace for the most part. Everybody has their problems, but there's economic opportunity, economic performance. Why do we want to jeopardize all that with a war on terror when there hasn't been another attack here? Plus with the political divisions on this, the whole subject has become a sort of a negative for people. They don't even want to hear about it, much less support it.
RUSH: We went in there on the basis of intelligence reports there were weapons of mass destruction plus Saddam. Let's not refight that. Yeah, that's why we went.
RUSH: Well, look, the president built this stuff up for a year and a half, two years talking about this in speech after speech after speech, and he did often reference the horrors committed against the population of Iraq by Saddam Hussein. He talked about the rape rooms and the torture rooms and so forth, and the mass murders. You can't rewind life like a TiVo, but I look back on it. If we'd have just gone in there after the Gulf War, we had 500,000 troops over there. Do you people remember this? We had 500,000 troops just to kick the Iraqis out of Kuwait, and it took, what, three days? Then the highway to hell, the road to Baghdad was paved with so much death and mayhem and the pictures on the nightly newscasts were upsetting and so we stopped. If we'd gotten rid of Saddam back then, but you can't play the IFgame. I know where you're going with this.
You heard me say earlier today nobody is talking about winning, and you want to know what winning it is. At this stage of the game, I'm going to be accused of playing 20/20 hindsight, but it's not too late to change this. Our objective right now is establishing and building a government and a democracy. That's all fine and dandy, and it's all well and good.
But to me, the focus needs to be on achieving a military victory whatever it takes. If that means wiping out these leaders of the resistance and the insurgents, the terrorists wherever they are... The other day there was a story about some guy in Iraq who was disguised as a woman nursing a baby who was launching attacks against our troops. Wipe 'em out. This is war. If you have to blow up some buildings, blow 'em up. If you have to level some infrastructure, do it. Of course, we've really built the country up in a marvelous way, and nobody is reporting that very much. Anyway, that's military victory as it's always been defined.
Wild Thing's comment.......
I know it is long, but it is well worth the read.Yes I like Rush and listen to him as often as I can. I also think for myself and don't just follow lock step with what he says on every single topic. But when he is right on target he can be awesome. This transcript from Nov. 27th, 2006 is excellent and I wanted to share it with you.
Our troops are wiinning and the left can't stand it. They never can when they see positive things happening. But our troops also need to know they can fight this war in a military way and not in a PC way. Not with having to get permission for every shot fired, every building taken out. This is wrong in more then words can say. I beleive in supporting our military NOT in weakening it, attacking it and making it folllow some kind of mish mosh PC agenda bent on disabeling it at every turn.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:55 PM | Comments (15)
Iran Vows To Help Iraq With Security
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani gestures as he speaks with his Iranian counterpart Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Tehran
TEHRAN
Washington Times
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would do whatever it could to help provide security to Iraq amid warnings the country was on the brink of civil war.
Mr. Ahmadinejad made the pledge at the start of a visit to Iran by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, whose trip was delayed for two days because of a curfew imposed after bombings Thursday that killed 202 persons in a Shi'ite Muslim stronghold. The curfew was lifted yesterday.
The United States is facing calls to engage Tehran in direct talks to help end the bloodshed, which U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said had pushed Iraq closer to civil war.
"The Iranian nation and government will definitely stand beside their brother, Iraq, and any help the government and nation of Iran can give to strengthen security in Iraq will be given," Mr. Ahmadinejad said, Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported.
"We have no limitation for cooperation in any field," he said.
Mr. Ahmadinejad was speaking shortly after Mr. Talabani's arrival and just before the two presidents held formal talks. Mr. Talabani said he would discuss improving ties between the neighbors, which fought an eight-year war in the 1980s.
"In this trip, we will also talk about Iraq's security file because Iraq needs the comprehensive assistance of Iran to fight terrorism and create stability," ISNA quoted Mr. Talabani as saying.
Political analysts said Iran might try to use talks with Mr. Talabani to show off its influence to the United States and bolster its position ahead of any talks with its old enemy. They also said Iran's ability to stem the bloodshed was limited.
U.S. officials have said the violence is being spurred by Iran's backing for Shi'ite groups and its weapons exports. Iran dismisses the charges.
Mr. Annan, making a rare comment on the Iraq situation, said he thought the country was nearly in civil war -- something Iraqi and U.S. politicians have refused to say despite mounting deaths.
"Given the developments on the ground, unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there. In fact, we are almost there," Mr. Annan told reporters in response to a civil war question.
Earlier, King Abdullah II of Jordan, who will host a summit in Amman between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Bush this week, said "something dramatic" must come out of it because Iraq was "beginning to spiral out of control."The New York Times said a draft report to be debated by the Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, would urge an aggressive regional diplomatic initiative to include direct talks with Iran and Syria.
The group's recommendations will be sent to the White House, which is considering a change in strategy in Iraq to allow the U.S. to start pulling out some of its 140,000 troops.
Britain, the United States' main ally in Iraq, said yesterday it hoped to withdraw thousands of troops by December 2007, while Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said the last Italian troops would leave next month.
But Poland appeared to push back the deadline for withdrawal of its 900 troops from Iraq, saying the force would leave by the end of 2007, not by mid-2007 as previously stated.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Oh sure send in the fox to "help" guard the henhouse. The word insane comes to mind.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:55 AM | Comments (4)
Keith Ellison and Koran
America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on
Townhall
By Dennis Prager
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.
He should not be allowed to do so -- not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization.
First, it is an act of hubris that perfectly exemplifies multiculturalist activism -- my culture trumps America's culture. What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book.Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison's favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress. In your personal life, we will fight for your right to prefer any other book. We will even fight for your right to publish cartoons mocking our Bible. But, Mr. Ellison, America, not you, decides on what book its public servants take their oath.
Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath? And if not, why not? On what grounds will those defending Ellison's right to choose his favorite book deny that same right to a racist who is elected to public office?
Of course, Ellison's defenders argue that Ellison is merely being honest; since he believes in the Koran and not in the Bible, he should be allowed, even encouraged, to put his hand on the book he believes in. But for all of American history, Jews elected to public office have taken their oath on the Bible, even though they do not believe in the New Testament, and the many secular elected officials have not believed in the Old Testament either. Yet those secular officials did not demand to take their oaths of office on, say, the collected works of Voltaire or on a volume of New York Times editorials, writings far more significant to some liberal members of Congress than the Bible. Nor has one Mormon official demanded to put his hand on the Book of Mormon. And it is hard to imagine a scientologist being allowed to take his oath of office on a copy of "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard.
So why are we allowing Keith Ellison to do what no other member of Congress has ever done -- choose his own most revered book for his oath?
The answer is obvious -- Ellison is a Muslim. And whoever decides these matters, not to mention virtually every editorial page in America, is not going to offend a Muslim. In fact, many of these people argue it will be a good thing because Muslims around the world will see what an open society America is and how much Americans honor Muslims and the Koran.
This argument appeals to all those who believe that one of the greatest goals of America is to be loved by the world, and especially by Muslims because then fewer Muslims will hate us (and therefore fewer will bomb us).
But these naive people do not appreciate that America will not change the attitude of a single American-hating Muslim by allowing Ellison to substitute the Koran for the Bible. In fact, the opposite is more likely: Ellison's doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal -- the Islamicization of America.
When all elected officials take their oaths of office with their hands on the very same book, they all affirm that some unifying value system underlies American civilization. If Keith Ellison is allowed to change that, he will be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11. It is hard to believe that this is the legacy most Muslim Americans want to bequeath to America. But if it is, it is not only Europe that is in trouble.
Wild Thing's comment......
OK, I have checked around the internet to see if there is an actual quote by Keith Ellison (aka Keith Hakim, Keith X Ellison and Keith Ellison Muhammad) saying he will use the Koran and all I could find was an article saying that the Arab press is saying that is what he will do. So I will just say this, I was against Ellison from day one. He is part of the Islam agenda for America and no good thing will come from having him in any office. Hell I would rather send him packing right out of our wonderful country. Ellison is my enemy in every way!!
The write up by Prager is excellent nontheless, and perhaps saying something about it now, ahead of time will get the word out as to how vile this would be. I hope so!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:47 AM | Comments (12)
Marine General Reinwald Interview about Guns
Marine Corps General Reinwald was interviewed on the radio the other day and you'll love his reply to the lady who interviewed him concerning guns and children.
You gotta love this!!!!
It is a portion of National Public Radio (NPR) interview between a female broadcaster and US Marine Corps General Reinwald who was about to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military installation.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?
GENERAL REINWALD: We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?
GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?
GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: But you're equipping them to become violent killers.
GENERAL REINWALD: Well, Ma'am, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?
The radio went silent and the interview ended. You gotta love the Marines!
Wild Thing's comment......
I got this in my email from a Vietnam Vet I have known for many years and I thought it was a good one so I wanted to share it with you all.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:44 AM | Comments (4)
November 27, 2006
Rep. Rangel: Lack Of Options Makes Soldiers Enlist
Rep. Rangel: Lack Of Options Makes Soldiers Enlist
(CBS) NEW YORK Congressman Charles Rangel said most enlisted soldiers join the military because they do not have the "option of having a decent career."
Speaking with Fox News reporter Chris Wallace on Sunday, Representative Rangel voiced his belief that soldiers in America's armed forces join only for lack of a better choice.
He said:
"I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits."
Rangel also said of American soldiers:
"And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq."
The Congressman also continued to press for the return of the draft, saying:
"I have been advocating a draft ever since the President's been talking about war."
Last month Senator Kerry told students at Pasadena City College that, "you know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
His words were seen by Democrats and Republicans as demeaning to enlisted men and women, implying that they enlist because they do not "make an effort to be smart." However, the senator later apologized, calling his statement a "botched joke" on President Bush.
Wild Thing's comment........
Seperatted at birth Rangel and Kerry sure love to bash our fine mimlitary. Rangel is making no bones about the fact he knows so little, other than being racially ignorant and demeaning those in the military and the state of Mississippi.
Rangel and Kerry both are not worth the air they breath. Patriotism is a concept they do not understand.
I really wish the GOP would stand up and denounce idiots like Rangel point blank. Oh well. I guess being a eunuch is so much better. Funny how the only person who had the guts to call the Democrats out was another Democrat, Zell Miller.
Hey you POS Rangel, how about this......Earth to Charlie: Boys only join Congress if they can't have a decent career and ends up being a freeloading politician. One would be hard pressed to find a greater collection of mediocrity than the US Congress. The vast majority are of average intelligence at best. Most people of accomplishment stay in the private sector as politics in this country drives away the best and the brightest.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:55 AM | Comments (16)
God Bless Bolton and Gillerman
Bolton in extraordinary outburst against United Nations
Calcutta News
The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, launched a scathing attack on the United Nations Friday.
Bolton was furious over the adoption by the General Assembly of a resolution which said the assembly regretted the deaths of 19 civilians in an attack by the Israeli military in the town of Beit Hanoun last week.
Despite the resolution being significantly watered down at the behest of the United States, and being passing by 156 votes to seven, Bolton launched a blistering attack on the UN, and many of its members.
"Many of the sponsors of that resolution are notorious abusers of human rights themselves, and were seeking to deflect criticism of their own policies," he said.
"This type of resolution serves only to exacerbate tensions by serving the interests of elements hostile to Israel's inalienable and recognized right to exist."
"This deepens suspicions about the United Nations that will lead many to conclude that the organization is incapable of playing a helpful role in the region," Bolton continued.
"In a larger sense, the United Nations must confront a more significant question, that of its relevance and utility in confronting the challenges of the 21st century. We believe that the United Nations is ill served when its members seek to transform the organization into a forum that is a little more than a self-serving and a polemical attack against Israel or the United States," he said.
"The Human Rights Council has quickly fallen into the same trap and de-legitimized itself by focusing attention exclusively on Israel. Meanwhile, it has failed to address real human rights abuses in Burma, Darfur, the DPRK, and other countries," Bolton charged.
"The problem of anti-Israel bias is not unique to the Human Rights Council. It is endemic to the culture of the United Nations. It is a decades-old, systematic problem that transcends the whole panoply of the UN organizations and agencies," he continued.
The United States, and Australia joined Israel in voting against the motion, together with four small Pacific island nations. All countries in Europe, including Britain, voted to support the resolution.
The original text condemned Israel over the Beit Hanoun attack and its operations in Gaza, however the adopted resolution had the General Assembly expressing, "regret."
Rather than an outright investigation of the incident the assembly resolved to form a committee, "to look into the facts." The resolution also carried a demand that the Palestinian Authority take action to stop rocket attacks on Israel.
Bolton launched his attack despite gaining these concessions.
Equally critical was Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman who stormed out of the session after telling members:
"I caution everyone who will support this resolution. By doing so, you will be an accomplice to terror. The blood of more innocents will be on your hands."
The resolution was taken to the General Assembly after the United States used its veto to squash a similar motion in the Security Council. It was the 31st time the U.S. had used its veto at the UN to stop resolutions concerning Israel and the Palestinians.
Wild Thing's comment......
I hope Congress gets Bolton confirmed before the Democrats take over next year. sigh Well I am hoping anyway. And I am so totally impressed with Dan Gillerman.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:47 AM | Comments (10)
Russian Federal Highway From Moscow To Yakutsk City
There are excellent Autostrada, excellent Autobahns, and the Interstate highways in the USA, then there's this Russian highway.
This is the Russian Federal highway, Moscow city to Yakutsk City.
The road doesn't have asphalt surface, though it is a vital Federal highway.
Everytime it rains, the traffic flow gets paralized; these shots were made a few days before the traffic jam of 600 cars got stuck there. Hunger and lack of the fuel followed, according to the witnesses. One woman gave birth to a child right in the public bus she was riding on.
Construction teams were afraid to appear on site because during their previous visit they were beaten by people who were stuck for a few days. People were breaking the locks on the trucks, in search of food and warm clothes.
Fuel, food, firearms and steel tow-line are the things that are needed most these days on this Federal highway.
More photo's HERE
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:44 AM | Comments (12)
November 26, 2006
Al-Sadr Loyalists Take Over Iraqi Television Station
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a speech during prayers in Kufa, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 24, 2006. Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr warned Friday they will suspend their membership in parliament and the Cabinet if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets U.S. President George W. Bush in Jordan next week. (AP Photo)
Al-Sadr loyalists take over Iraqi television station
Mercury News
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Followers of the militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took over state-run television Saturday to denounce the Iraqi government, label Sunnis "terrorists" and issue what appeared to many viewers as a call to arms.
The two-hour broadcast from a community gathering in the heart of the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City included three members of al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, who took questions from outraged residents demanding revenge for a series of car bombings that killed some 200 people Thursday.
With Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki relegated to the sidelines, brazen Sunni-Shiite attacks continue unchecked despite a 24-hour curfew over Baghdad. Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia now controls wide swaths of the capital, his politicians are the backbone of the Cabinet, and his followers deeply entrenched in the Iraqi security forces. Sectarian violence has spun so rapidly out of control since the Sadr City blasts, however, that it's not clear whether even al-Sadr has the authority - or the will - to stop the cycle of bloodshed.
"This is live and, God willing, everyone will hear me: We are not interested in sidewalks, water services or anything else. We want safety," an unidentified Sadr City resident said as the televised crowd cheered. "We want the officials. They say there is no sectarian war. No, it is sectarian war, and that's the truth."
Militia leaders told supporters Saturday to prepare for a fresh wave of incursions into Sunni neighborhoods that would begin as soon as the curfew ends Monday, according to Sadr City residents. Several members of the Mahdi Army boasted they were distributing police uniforms throughout Shiite neighborhoods to allow greater freedom of movement. The government announced it would partially lift the curfew Sunday to allow for pedestrian traffic.
In the Diyala province north of Baghdad, Sunni insurgents stormed into two Shiite homes, lined up 21 men and shot them to death in front of women and children, police there said. Later in the day, a Shiite television station showed footage of the victims' burials.
And in the western province of Anbar, a suicide bombing at a checkpoint in Fallujah killed a U.S. serviceman and three Iraqi civilians, according to a U.S. military statement. Another American and nine Iraqis were injured.
Also Saturday, Iraq's most prominent Sunni cleric made an appeal in Cairo, Egypt, for Arab nations to withdraw recognition of Iraq's Shiite-led government and said U.S.-led troops were complicit in Iraq's sectarian crisis. Hareth al-Dhari, leader of the militant Association of Muslim Scholars, declared Iraqi efforts toward a unity government "dead" and said the current violence is political rather than theological.
"The occupying forces have been giving cover to the militias and criminal gangs," al-Dhari said. "The government has been seen setting the atmosphere for them with the curfews to aid them in catching the victims and carrying out their attacks."
Al-Maliki's administration acknowledged it was powerless to interrupt the pro-Sadr program on the official Iraqiya channel, during which Sadr City residents shouted, "There is no government! There is no state!" Several speakers described neighborhoods and well-known Sunni politicians as "terrorists" and threatened them with reprisal.
"We'll obviously try to control them as much as we can, but when they (kill) more than 150 people in bombings, they have the right to speak," said Bassam al Husseini, one of Maliki's top advisers. "What are we going to do? We can't stop this. It's too hot right now."
Sunni politicians vowed to file complaints against the channel for inciting sectarian violence. Ordinary Sunnis were shocked to hear their neighborhoods singled out for attack on the government's station.
"I got four phone calls from friends telling me to change the channel to Iraqiya and see what's happening," said Mohamed Othman, 27, a Sunni resident of Ameriya, one of the districts mentioned in the program. "I think this is an official declaration of civil war against Sunnis. They're going to push us to join al-Qaida to protect ourselves."
Al-Husseini, the government adviser, also affirmed that a meeting between al-Maliki and President Bush would continue as scheduled next week in neighboring Jordan, despite the threats of al-Sadr's allies to withdraw from the government if it occurs. The Cabinet met for more than an hour to hash out an agenda for the trip, he said.
"The meeting will take place. That's the plan," al-Husseini said. "We need to straighten things up."
Al-Husseini said the top two items of discussion would be a report from the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan commission that will make recommendations for U.S. policy in Iraq, and a timetable for a withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.
"We want to talk about it," al-Husseini said, "to ask, `How long are they going to stick around?"
Wild Thing's comment....
7 - 730am: "Good Morning to Death to America", hosted by Mookie and Dirka Dirka Mohammed Jihad.
But wait, there's more! In addition to the suicide explosives belt, the luxurious leather bound Koran personally signed in blood by al-Sadr, the two twin goats for your personal use, the lovely "I Hate Jews" coaster set, and the "Muqtada Rules" Turban, if you call in the next 12 minutes, you'll receive, absolutely free, al-Sadr's new DVD, "Pleasuring 72 Virgins".
I am not making light of how scary it is there. But I know with all that is in me, that if our military was given the OK, they would blow this al-Sadr to the hell hole that awaits him in 10 seconds. Maybe when Bush is there they can discuss sending Muqtada al-Sadr to his death. I would vote for that. I mean Al-Sadr IS a WMD.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:55 AM | Comments (12)
Massive Rally Backs Chavez Opponent
Massive rally backs Chavez opponent
Seattle Times
CARACAS, Venezuela — Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans packed a major highway Saturday in a rally for opposition presidential candidate Manuel Rosales, one of the largest demonstrations against President Hugo Chavez in years.
Shouts of "Dare to change!" rose up from the dense crowd filling the highway for several miles and spilling into nearby overpasses and streets in Venezuela's capital, Caracas. The rally came eight days before the country's presidential election on Dec. 3.
Rosales, speaking from a stage, promised democracy for a country he said was sinking into Cuba-style authoritarianism under Chavez.
"I don't want to be a president who controls all the branches of government," Rosales shouted to thundering applause. "Let there be true democracy in Venezuela!"
He denounced the government for prohibiting television crews from using helicopters to film the march, saying:
"They don't want the people to see this multitude."
"They are scared," he shouted, pumping his fists. "We are going to win on Dec. 3."
The crowd appeared to number in the hundreds of thousands. Organizers claimed more than 1 million people attended.
Rosales, the governor of the oil-rich western state of Zulia who favors a free-market economy over Chavez's brand of socialism, trailed the Venezuelan president by a wide margin in an AP-Ipsos poll conducted earlier this month.
However, his candidacy has managed to galvanize Venezuela's fractured opposition, reviving a movement that had struggled to recover from a crushing defeat in a 2004 recall referendum against Chavez.
Rosales said the vast crowd on Saturday was proof he would defeat Chavez.
They danced to Venezuelan folk music booming from loudspeakers and chanted anti-Chavez slogans.
"After seeing this, nobody should have any doubts about Rosales' chances," 43-year-old accountant Franklin Salas said.
More than 3,000 police were deployed along the march route to prevent clashes with Chavez supporters who gathered on several street corners, shouting "Viva Chavez!" as marchers passed. There were no reports of violence.
Despite the revived opposition movement, Chavez remains hugely popular among the poor, especially those who see benefits from oil-funded social programs ranging from free health care to heavily subsidized government grocery stores.
Rosales lashed out at Chavez for wanting to be "president all his life, until he dies like Fidel Castro - indefinite re-election."
"This country doesn't want that. It wants modernity," he said.
Chavez, first elected in 1998, has said he wants to continue governing Venezuela until 2021 or longer. He said he plans to ask Venezuelans in a referendum if they support changing the constitution to allow indefinite re-election. It currently allows two consecutive presidential terms.
Rosales accused the Chavez administration of having no respect for private property and giving away the country's oil wealth to leftist allies overseas while neglecting the poor at home. He said Chavez wants "a new rich and more poor people ... an elite that runs everything."
Rosales, who temporarily stepped down as Zulia governor to run for president, is one of the few opposition politicians to hold on to office as Chavez's allies have gained control of the National Assembly, state offices and the courts.
Rosales accused the Chavez government of imprisoning people for political reasons and said he would free them if elected. The government says Venezuela has no political prisoners, only people legitimately convicted of crimes.
Ernesto Galindez, a 58-year-old butcher who backs Chavez, said he was surprised by the size of Saturday's march, but predicted Rosales would lose.
"They are going to have to wait six more years because Chavez is still very strong, and he's not going anywhere," said Galindez, grinning.
Wild Thing's comment......
I wonder if our traitor Jimmy Carter will show up to give his support to his commie friend Hugo Chavez?
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:47 AM | Comments (5)
November 25, 2006
Russian Rocket Deliveries To Iran Started
Russian rocket deliveries to Iran started
Russia has begun deliveries of the Tor-M1 air defence rocket system to Iran, Russian news agencies quoted military industry sources as saying, in the latest sign of a Russian-US rift over Iran.
"Deliveries of the Tor-M1 have begun. The first systems have already been delivered to Tehran," ITAR-TASS quoted an unnamed, high-ranking source as saying Friday.
The United States has pressed Russia to halt military sales to Iran, which Washington accuses of harbouring secret plans to build a nuclear weapon.
Moscow has consistently defended its weapons trade with Iran. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said the contract for 29 rocket systems, signed in December last year, was legitimate because the Tor-M1 has a purely defensive role.
ITAR-TASS reported that the rockets were to be deployed around Iran's nuclear sites, including the still incomplete, Russian-built atomic power station at Bushehr.
In August, Washington announced sanctions against several companies, including Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport, for supplying technology to Iran that could allegedly be used to develop missile technology and weapons of mass destruction.
Under the sanctions no US company can deal with foreign companies on the sanctions list for two years.
A spokesman for Rosoboronexport contacted by AFP would not confirm or deny the reports about the Tor-M1 delivery, which were also issued by the Interfax news agency.
The Tor-M1 is a low to medium-altitude missile fired from a tracked vehicle against airplanes, helicopters and other airborne targets.
The news came as the UN Security Council continued to consider possible sanctions against Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity in response to the Islamic republic's suspect nuclear programme.
The major powers have been debating a draft resolution drawn up by Britain, France and Germany that would impose limited sanctions on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile sectors for Tehran's failure to comply with an earlier UN resolution on halting enrichment.
China and Russia, both close economic partners with Iran, argue the measures are too extensive, while Washington has pressed for tougher action.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Putin is playing with fire, the Muslims who destroyed a theater and murdered children care not one whit who supplies them with arms, they will attack the Russians just as quickly as they attack their fellow muslims.
Putin is a dangerous little man, killing one of his KGB agents in London, turning on Poland and continuing to arm the most dangerous people on the planet. What's next for Pootie, murdering anyone who seems a danger to his agenda of hate America, freedom and fair elections. Russia is falling down a rathole with this punk as their great leader. Wake up, and smell the corruption coming from Moscow, we are the enemy to Putin and it is time we stop enabling this little monster.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:05 PM | Comments (24)
Explosive Teddy Bears Found In Lab
Explosive teddy bears found in lab
YNet news
Efrat Weiss Published: 11.25.06, 14:51
A joint paratrooper and Shin Bet force uncovered an explosive lab in Nablus Friday night. In the lab, the forces found teddy bears with wires hanging from them, apparently slated to be used as explosive devices.
The lab was detonated in a controlled manner, and there were no reports of injuries.
The forces also found in the explosives lab three belts made from cloth, ready to contain explosives, a hollow coat used for hiding explosives, and 20 light bulbs and light sockets used for activating explosives.
Test tubes, a hollow gas tank, hollow pipes, batteries, 40 liters of hydrogen peroxide and ohms were also found in the lab.
Since the beginning of the year, Israel Defense Forces soldiers operating in Nablus hit 41 gunmen who were planning, according to the defense establishment, to hit IDF troops or Israeli citizens.
Some 320 wanted terror suspects were arrested in the West Bank city and its surroundings since the beginning of the year, most of them affiliated with Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Fatah and Hamas.
At the beginning of the year, another explosives lab was uncovered in the city's casba. The forces located the lab in an abandoned building after receiving intelligence.
Captain Assaf Cabra, a company commander at the Haruv battalion, addressed the operation at the time: "We launched a regimental operation in Nablus, which included searches, seizing weapons and arrests. We uncovered the explosive lab in the casba, which contained between 40 to 50 kilograms (88 to 110 pounds) of explosives for preparing explosive devices."
The defense establishment reported that the terror organizations were working with greater vigor to carry out terror attacks from the city, and in the past months many explosive belts were captured in the area and gunmen were arrested on their way to carry out attacks in Israel .
Wild Thing's comment......
I am glad they found this lab and I should not be surprised that these subhuman pieces of flesh would do such a thing as to use a childs toy, something so innocent to bring death to children. But then why be surprised, they send their own children off to kill and destroy others lives.
* SondraK ...Thank you Sondra!
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:04 PM | Comments (4)
The Bunker Notebook ~ News From In Country
.
This Category Bunker Notebook at Theodore's World,
will be about the things shared in emails from
our troops and other Americans that are
located in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Theodore's World is very aware of how
loose lips endanger our troops and other Americans
working in the hot zones, so at all times great care will be
taken in how much information is posted.
Some notes will be directly from the troops
and other notes from those such
as employees with Halliburton and others..
.
Yes there is a curfew in Bagdad, I have received emails from a friend that is there. She is an employee with Haliburton in Baghdad.
"They're really not worse...they're better than they were in 2004. They're coming to a head. Most of rest of Iraq is calm now. But there is a need for some changes in the leadership. I guess people learn lessons after a first-time election. I've heard so many Iraqis bemoan not having voted for Allawi's party now.The media has been very successful in distorting the war to the people back home. I've watched them do it for some time now and it disgusts me. They've even been able to influence events here. People just don't realize what ramifications there are when they go spouting off about that. This is not a failure, we have not lost and pulling out now would be disastrous."
And this is from an email from someone that is in the military in Iraq ...Army Infantry Lieutenant...Platoon Leader in the first Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT).....with his permission:
"As you know,Mosul, my personal playground, is more or less stable, but there is a strong insurgent presence here. We in the Stryker Brigade are able to contain them very well, but we've been unable to make a real dent in them personnel-wise. Logistically, we've been hammering them, and that's almost as good. Intelligence (for us) is scattered but reliable. For them, well, there are a very large number of people who are happy to pass on tidbits of info b/c it seems like the good Iraqi/Muslim thing to do.People like to talk about how it took 10 years in Germany and Japan after WWII, but they're ignoring the basic fact that Arabs are NOT German nor are they Japanese. Completely different cultures with completely different mindsets. The current plan would work swimmingly if the Iraqi people gave half a damn about their (meager) existences. They don't; they merely worry about which tribe or sect this or that person is with and whether he/she should be killed (either due simply to their affiliation or in retribution). The IA and IPs (except for the Kurds) follow the same pattern. We, as Americans, can't change that perception. We can't want it more for them than they want it for themselves. It is literally that simple. Americans see this in one way, but the Arab mentality is vastly different (and inferior) from ours. Unfortunately, since it's their country and their region of the world, it's their viewpoint and subsequent actions that matter.
With all the talk back home about having us pull out of Iraq sooner rather than later, I can say with a completely clear conscience that the U.S has not failed the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people have failed us and not lived up to our sacrifices. Democracy and the associated civic and personal responsibilities associated with it are incompatible with Islam, period.
We are still patrolling like 3 years ago. Day in, day out. Only recently have we taken a more "tactical overwatch" stance, but we're still very active in the city. The good news is that the IA are, too. However, ours is a unique situation. IA in Mosul is over 95% Kurdish. They are dedicated and loyal. In the rest of the country, they are Arab, and are loyal to their religious sect and won't hesitate to stab us in the back if it means they can kill some Sunnis/Shi'ites (or whichever other flavor that's out there they don't like). The Arabs are always shady, b/c you really never know where their loyalties lie. Even if some of the IA are substandard Soldiers (below US Army standards, that is), at least they're loyal and motivated. You get no such guarantees from Arabs, ever.
You are right about your assessment of the dedication and professionalism of the military, of course, and you're correct about the idiocy of the media's presentation of the battlespace. We need to get serious with these terrorists/insurgents. This arresting and turning over to the Iraqis is absolute nonsense. Once caught, AIF need to be shot on sight. That will send a clear message that we aren't playing around anymore, and it will make the jihad a lot less fun for these guys. IA over here just caught three guys with weapons and handcuffs at a checkpoint. They admitted to going around fishing for kidnapping victims (who invariably end up dead). Instead of being shot, they're now hanging out in a detention facility getting three meals a day and being questioned (nicely). All AIF know that our ROE is pretty limited and they use our morality against us constantly. It needs to end. They need to be deathly afraid of us.
The bottom line here is that any withdrawal on our part is hardly indicative of a failure on the U.S.'s part but that of the failure of the Iraqi people. Voting for representatives doesn't make you a democracy, it takes a lot of personal responsibility, and these people haven't even figured out sewage and garbage treatment yet! Will Iraq ever be able to handle the responsibility of a democracy? Who knows? What getting out or talking about it does effect are insurgents, it gives them encouragement that they and we don't need from them. And every time one of our Soldiers is killed up here, well it’s like this Chrissie, I drive around the city every day looking at these people and I know for a fact that none of 'em are worth the platoon sergeant from my company who was killed a few months back. Not a single one.
But I do want to complete what we were sent here to do. I want to do it for him, and for all the others we have lost, my brothers. I want to do it for all of you back there to be safe and keep these people from bringing it back home where all my loved ones are. As for myself we're fighting them here rather than on U.S. soil.
Thanks for your support and letting me sound off to you when I can. Thank everyone at your blog too, we check it out over here when we can. It is appreciated!"
Here are two quotes from men regarding Iraq:
First, Kurdish Regional Government Prime Minister Barzani:
"When I was in the United States recently and read the negative news in the Washington Post, New York Times and in the network TV broadcasts, I even wondered if things had gotten so bad since I had left that I shouldn't return."
Next, Gen. Abizaid:
"When I come to Washington, I feel despair. When I'm in Iraq with my commanders, when I talk to our soldiers, when I talk to the Iraqi leadership, they are not despairing."
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:55 AM | Comments (4)
Democrats' Secret Weapons
Democrats' Secret Weapons
Intelligence: Senate Democrats are focusing their new powers on one thing above all else: wrenching as many national security secrets as possible from this White House and using them for political assassination.
Patrick Leahy of Vermont, soon to be chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has made more than 65 requests for classified documents from the Bush administration. Among other secrets, he wants..
"all directives, memoranda and/or orders including any and all attachments to such documents regarding CIA interrogation methods or policies for the treatment of detainees."
Giving Leahy and his staff secrets would, quite simply, be a security risk. Since the 1980s, Leahy's nickname inside the Beltway has been "Leaky Leahy" because of his willingness to provide the press with juicy secrets to be used against Republican presidents.
In 1987, Leahy was forced to resign as vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after leaking a draft report of the Iran-Contra affair to a reporter. In 1985, he was charged with revealing secrets in the Achille Lauro terrorist hijacking, a misdeed that may have cost an Egyptian anti-terrorist agent his life. And Leahy apparently blackmailed the Reagan administration's CIA, threatening to expose a covert operation against the terrorist state of Libya.
The man about to become the new chairman of the panel from which Leahy was removed in 1987 is another big security risk. Incoming Senate Intelligence Committee head Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told National Public Radio last week how frustrated he is with the government's restrictions on sharing secrets from intelligence briefings.
"You can't discuss it with anybody on your staff," he complained. "You can't discuss anything that you've heard with anybody.
"It's a stupid situation . . . and it's one we have to get ourselves out of," he insisted, "and the way you do that is to brief more members of the Senate and House — the intelligence committees — into the program so that they know exactly what's going on."
Rockefeller certainly knew exactly what was going on when, during a 2002 trip to the Middle East, he gave Bashar al-Assad, president of the terrorist state of Syria, advance warning of U.S plans to invade Iraq. Why should we take Rockefeller's advice and spill secrets to other Democratic senators and congressmen? So they can fly to the Middle East and give their own freelance intelligence briefings to terrorists?
Carl Levin, who'll head the Senate Armed Services Committee, will need lots of the classified documents Leahy and Rockefeller demand if he's to follow through with his promised "thorough review" of the CIA's interrogation and imprisonment program.
"I'm not comfortable with the system," he has said. "I think that there's been some significant abuses which have not made us more secure, but have made us less secure and have also, perhaps, cost us some real allies, as well as not producing useful information."
In the five years after the 9/11 attacks, there has not been a single terrorist strike on the homeland. More than a dozen terrorist plots have been foiled, proof that tough interrogations have produced useful information — lots of it — making us much more secure.
"The American people," Leahy wrote in a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, "deserve to have detailed and accurate information about the role of the Bush administration in developing the interrogation policies and practices that have engendered such deep criticism around the world."
Wrong. What the American people deserve from our government is not kowtowing to foreign criticism, but protection from terrorism. That is something President Bush has done to perfection — and Democrats seem willing to sacrifice protection in their crusade to destroy this presidency.
Wild Thing's comment......
The Administration should resist these congressional committees tooth-and-nail. They are not about the national interest, but the raw self-interest of the Democratic party. They are not legitimate legislators, but bullies and thugs who have no problem aiding the enemy, since the enemy they care about is the Republican party.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:47 AM | Comments (4)
Merry Christmas My Friend
Most of you probably have read "Merry Christmas, My Friend" before, but have you heard it with the backdrop of Silent Night?
It was originally title "Merry Christmas, My Friend", and was an instant success that reportedly brought tears to the eyes of the barrracks Commander who ordered it distributed to everyone he knew. It appeared in the barracks publication Pass in Review in December 1987 and Leatherneck Magazine in December 1991.
Written by former Marine Corporal James M. Schmidt, in 1987 when stationed in Washington D.C., it was pounded out on a typewriter while awaiting the commading officer's Christmas holiday decoration inspection.
The poem was recorded as a tribute by Father Ted Berndt, a former Marine and Purple Heart recipient during World War II, currently residing in Dousman, Wisconsin for his daughter Ellen Stout, a Clear Channel radio personality.
Here is the link to the MP3 audio version of "Merry Christmas, My Friend", titled "Soldier's Silent Night" -
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:44 AM | Comments (2)
November 24, 2006
U.S. Army NASCAR driver Joe Nemechek
U.S. Army NASCAR driver Joe Nemechek was presented a copy of A Million Thanks by Shauna Fleming, the 16-year-old founder of A Million Thanks, prior to Sunday's (Feb. 26) Auto Club 500 Nextel Cup race in Fontana, Calif.
What began as a community school project for Shauna at Orange Lutheran High School in Orange, Calif., has turned out to be national in scope. Since she began the letter writing campaign two years ago, Shauna has received more than two million letters of thanks for the American men and women in uniform who are stationed overseas.
She presented the one millionth letter to President George W. Bush at the White House in November, 2004.
TomR mentioned in a comment about NASCAR's Joe Nemechek's US Army Chevy. I had not heard about it so I looked it up and found this totally cool story. Gosh I love things like this happening. Americans loving and appreciating our troops.
Thank you Tom
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:04 PM | Comments (7)
A Muster of Turkey's Crossing Road in Iraq
Soldiers in a Stryker vehicle stop for a muster of turkeys crossing the road in the outskirts of Mosul Nov. 3. The Soldiers are with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. (Sgt. Antonieta Rico, 5th Mobile Public Affairs Det.)
Posted by Wild Thing at 10:38 AM | Comments (7)
China Bought Bomber Secrets
China obtained secret stealth technology used on B-2 bomber engines from a Hawaii-based spy ring in a compromise U.S. officials say will allow Beijing to copy or counter a key weapon in the Pentagon's new strategy against China.
Details of the classified defense technology related to the B-2's engine exhaust system and its ability to avoid detection by infrared sensors were sold to Chinese officials by former defense contractor Noshir S. Gowadia, an Indian-born citizen charged with spying in a federal indictment released by prosecutors in Hawaii.
Additionally, Mr. Gowadia provided extensive technical assistance to Chinese weapons designers in developing a cruise missile with an engine exhaust system that is hard to detect by radar, according to court papers made public recently.
He also helped the Chinese modify a cruise missile so that it can intercept U.S. air-to-air missiles, and helped Chinese weapons designers improve testing and measurement facilities, the court papers state.
Most of the indictment, handed up Nov. 8, outlines how the engineer helped China develop a radar-evading stealth exhaust nozzle for a cruise missile engine.
Additionally, the court papers indicated that Mr. Gowadia sent e-mails to Israel, Germany, and Switzerland in 2002 and 2004 that contained data labeled "secret" and "top secret" that was related to U.S. stealth technology intended for use in the TH-98 Eurocopter and for foreign commercial aircraft.
One computer file found in Mr. Gowadia's Maui, Hawaii, home was a file containing the radar cross-sections of U.S. B-1 and F-15 jets and the Air Force's air-launched cruise missile, information that would be useful to countering those systems by anti-aircraft missiles or other air defense weapons.
The case is the second major military technology espionage case involving China. Earlier this year, two Chinese-born brothers in Los Angeles were arrested as suspects in passing Navy warship and submarine weapons secrets to China.
In all, Mr. Gowadia is charged with making at least six secret visits to China from 2002 through 2005, and being paid at least $110,000 by Chinese officials for highly classified defense technology supplied through January, according to court papers. Investigators think he was paid as much as $2 million, some of which remains in foreign bank accounts.
The first known compromise was Mr. Gowadia's lecture in a foreign country in 1999 that involved the disclosure of defense secrets. He offered classified defense information to as many as eight foreign nations, the court papers state.
Mr. Gowadia was first indicted in November 2005 in connection with passing information to several countries that were not identified. The new indictment states that Mr. Gowadia continued to be engaged in a conspiracy to sell classified technology through January 2006.
Mr. Gowadia worked for B-2 developer and manufacturer Northrop Aircraft Inc. from 1968 to 1989 as part of an ultrasecret special access program for the B-2, and later as a Northrop contractor involved in classified research on missiles and aircraft. He also worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the 1990s.
Wild Thing's comment......
We develop it ... The Chinese steal it from us.
It just never seems to stop, and we don't seem to do anything about it. It's way beyond sad. When you look at the Cold War and how we strove to protect our nation's secrets and keep spies out, you see how truly outrageous our current policies are. Heck, we even let them into the White House and other top-level agencies during the Clinton fiasco.
The US is not severe enough with its traitors. I know it is too late now, but I have always felt we should start with the Clinton's and Loral executives giving guidance technology and bring it all the way up to this. Punish to the max all involved. It makes me sick how the Clinton's got away with what they did and now we have this jerk.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:55 AM | Comments (9)
Nascar Team Rensi Thanks Marines For Their Support
Team Rensi Motorsports Thanks the Marines for Six Years of Support
HOMESTEAD, FL ---Saturday’s Ford 300 NASCAR Busch Series race will mark the conclusion of one of the most popular relationships in the series. The United States Marine Corps colors and logo will take one final ride as the primary marketing partner on the No. 25 Team Rensi Motorsports Ford. The association began in 2001 and amassed 205 races with five trips to victory lane.
“Team Rensi Motorsports would like to thank The United States Marine Corps Recruiting Command and all the Men and Women of the Marine Corps for allowing us to be a part of their recruiting efforts the last six years,” said Team Rensi Co-owner Gary Weisbaum. “It was an honor for us to represent The United States Marine Corps and to meet many outstanding active, reserve and retired Marines and their families over the years.”
Team Rensi Motorsports Co-owner Ed Rensi also sends out his appreciation.
“Team Rensi Motorsports will always be a friend of the Marine Corps and honor the Marine Corps into the future wherever possible. We intend to display the Eagle/Globe/Anchor logo on all of our race cars.”
Many memories have been shared together and the NASCAR community has become more familiar with the outstanding work of the United States Marine Corps over the years. The familiar site of Marines saluting the flag and surrounding the No. 25 Ford during the National Anthem will be missed.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Just a thank you to the Marine Corps for this and the many other things that have been involved with. It is always great to hear of others that appreciate all the things our military does and in all the various areas they are involved with. God Bless our troops.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:47 AM | Comments (8)
November 23, 2006
Thank you Troops and Veterans
Thank you and thank you to all our Troops and to all of you Veterans. And I would also like to thank those of you that have loved ones serving now, sons, daughters, husbands and wives. You are serving too in such a special way. You are all in my thoughts and prayers every single day.
Love
Wild Thing
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:55 AM | Comments (10)
A Turkey's Take on Thanksgiving Day
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:47 AM
November 22, 2006
Ejected Imam Linked To Hamas and bin Laden
Spokesman for 6 Muslim clerics barred from US Airways flight
Jihad Watch
Spokesman for 6 Muslim clerics barred from US Airways flight
One of six Muslim imams pulled from a US Airways flight in Minneapolis last night by federal authorities is affiliated with a Hamas-linked organization and acknowledged a connection to Osama bin Laden in the 1990s.
Omar Shahin, who served as a spokesman for the clerics, is a representative of the Kind Hearts Organization, which had its assets frozen by the U.S. Treasury pending an investigation, notes Islam scholar Robert Spencer on his weblog JihadWatch
Treasury spokesman Stuart Levey in February said KindHearts "is the progeny of Holy Land Foundation and Global Relief Foundation, which attempted to mask their support for terrorism behind the façade of charitable giving."
The imams had attended a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation, said Shahin, who is president of the group.
"They took us off the plane, humiliated us in a very disrespectful way," Shahin said after the incident last night.
Today, Shahin called for Muslims and non-Muslims to boycott US Airways unless the company changes its policy.
"They know what they have to do, they have to be fair and just with everybody," he said.
The Washington, D.C., based lobby group Council on American-Islamic Relations planned to file a complaint, said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.
"Because, unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and it's one that we've been addressing for some time," Hooper said.
CAIR, however, has its own ties to Hamas, having been identified by two former FBI counter-terrorism chiefs as a spinoff of a front group for the Palestinian terrorist organization.
A Sept. 28, 2001, story in the Arizona Republic that said Arizona appears to have been the home of an al-Qaida sleeper cell, named Shahin as one of three part-time Arizona residents who "fits the pattern" of the terrorist group.
Shahin, identifed as being with the Tucson Islamic Center, said members of his mosque may have helped bin Laden in the early 1990s when the al-Qaida leader was fighting against the Russians.
The CIA at that time, Shahin said, called bin Laden a "freedom fighter."
"Then they tell us he is involved in terrorist acts, and they stopped supporting him, and we stopped," he said.
In the story, Shahin expressed doubt that Muslims were responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks and said he "didn't trust much of what the FBI has divulged - including the hijackers' identities."
As for Al-Qaida nests in America, Shahin said, "All of these, they make it up."
Witnesses to the imam's explusion last night said some of them made anti-American comments about the war in Iraq before boarding the flight, according to Minneapolis airport spokesman Patrick Hogan.
Also, some of the men asked for seat belt extensions even though a flight attendant thought they didn't need them.
"There were a number of things that gave the flight crew pause," Hogan said.
Shahin claimed three members of the group prayed in the terminal before the six boarded the plane. Last night, however, he said they had prayed on the plane.
The imams boarded the plane individually, Shahin said, except for a blind member who needed assistance. They didn't sit together and "did nothing," he contended.
Wild Thing's comment........
Nothing better to sooth your soul before a flight like a group of Imams getting in the aisle of the airplane and begin praying! They are lucky the passengers didn't hit them over the head with a metal fire extinguisher.
I could care less if they do boycott the airlines. I'd prefer the airline that throws imams off the plane personally.
CAIR must have their their fax machine on speed-dial so they can file complaints more rapidly.
Just thinking here but how about if US airlines would switch from peanuts and other crunchies to pork rinds.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:55 AM | Comments (19)
Death penalty approved for Akbar
Death penalty approved for Akbar
The death sentence for convicted murderer Sgt. Hasan Akbar was approved late last week at Fort Bragg, N.C., by Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, commander if XXVIII Airborne Corps and court martial convening authority in the case.
Akbar was sentenced to death in April 2005 by unanimous vote of a military panel for the March 23, 2003, grenade attack that killed Capt. Christopher Seifert and Maj. Gregory Stone.
The grenade attack, which also wounded 14 others, took place at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait, where the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, was preparing to cross the berm into Iraq.
Akbar lobbed grenades into three tents while members of the brigade slept, and then fired shots at those who emerged from the smoky blasts.
Approval of the death penalty means that Akbar’s case will automatically go to appeal and be reviewed by the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and ultimately could end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
“He can’t be executed until the president gives a firm OK,” said military law expert Eugene Fidell, who is not involved in the Akbar case.
However, he added, Akbar’s case will likely be in appeals for some time to come.
“Experience teaches that this case will not be over while Mr. Bush is in office,” Fidell said.
Wild Thing's comment......
Hang him now, stop this insane length of time please to get rid of this killer of our troops.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:47 AM | Comments (6)
Second Man Charged in Terror Plan in Manhattan
Manhattan: Second Man Charged in Terror Plan
A New Jersey man has been charged with conspiring to help the terrorist group Hezbollah by allowing people to obtain satellite broadcasts of a Hezbollah television station, federal prosecutors said yesterday.
The man, Saleh Elahwal, 53, of Matawan, N.J., was charged in an 11-count indictment unsealed yesterday in Federal District Court. The indictment also charged another man, Javed Iqbal of Staten Island, who was arrested in August.
The indictment charges the men with helping people receive broadcasts of Al Manar, which features programming that promotes Hezbollah's positions, prosecutors said. Messages left for the men's lawyers were not returned yesterday.
Mr. Iqbal's supporters have said he was exercising free speech.
This was the previous story about this dated back in August of 2006 this year.......
Man Charged With Relaying Hezbollah TV
NEW YORK (AP) - A businessman was charged with providing satellite broadcasts of a Hezbollah television station to New York-area customers, authorities said Thursday.
Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested Wednesday on conspiracy charges of enabling the broadcasts of al Manar, which was designated by the U.S. government this spring as a global terrorist entity, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said in a statement.
Garcia said Iqbal used satellite dishes at his Staten Island home to distribute the broadcasts through a Brooklyn company called HDTV Limited.
The probe began after a tip from a confidential source in February, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The U.S. government considers Hezbollah, Lebanon's most sophisticated Shiite group, to be a terrorist group. An attack by Hezbollah guerrillas on an Israeli outpost last month plunged Lebanon and Israel into 34 days of destruction that killed more than 800 people.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Can someone please explain to me why this man is still breathing American air. (Jail or not)
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:44 AM | Comments (6)
November 21, 2006
Democrats Raise $620K for Radical Islam
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20—
More than 1,000 people turned out on Saturday at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) banquet in Arlington, Va., to hear addresses by several elected officials, including Keith Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress.
The event raised more than $620,000 to support CAIR’s civil rights and advocacy work on behalf of the American Muslim community. (Another dinner held by CAIR’s Southern California chapter (CAIR-LA) over the weekend raised more than $430,000. Some 1,800 people attended that event.)
Elected officials who spoke at the sold-out event included:
Representative- elect Ellison (D-MN)
Reps. Mike Honda (D-CA)
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
Albert Wynn (D-MD).
Ellison and Jackson Lee offered their addresses by video.
Saqib Ali, who was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates (District 39) on November 7, was also in attendance.
Other speakers included Special Agent in Charge Joseph Persichini, Jr. of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Fairfax County Police Chief Col. David M. Rohrer and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now. Most members of CAIR’s national board also took part in the banquet, which was emceed by Julia Shearson of CAIR- Ohio’s Cleveland office.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Good grief! God help us!
I guess all those that gave to CAIR got a promise to be killed last. If left up to the Democrats it will be the Islamic States of America. Well they can try but they will never succeed!
Their speeches make me sick and furious!
To view Keith Ellison's address........CLICK HERE
To view Jackson Lee's address.......CLICK HERE
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:55 AM | Comments (6)
Janet Reno Files Challenge to Terror Law
