Judicious Asininity

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Wed Mar 31, 2004

The Massacre in Fallujah

Time to get tougher on the Sunni Triangle

The events in Fallujah were truly despicable. The people responsible and those who support them need to be brought to account. Actually, the whole city needs to be brought to account and a few daisy cutters would certainly send a strong message. Fortunately for Fallujah, the US is a humane power that does not use collective punishment, unless it has to.

Many of the perpetrators were caught on film. Perhaps each face could be put on a wanted poster with a reward for information leading to their arrest. But that sounds too wimpy for that mob. Better to lock down the city and root out the scum, block by block and house by house. And better to do it using Iraqi forces.

What do other bloggers think should be done? Here's a sample:

Phil Carter at Intel dump says

At the tactical level, this attack may have destroyed one American convoy. But news of this attack, and the Iraqi mob's behavior, has likely reached every American and coalition soldier now serving in Iraq. Just as the news of the Malmedy massacre during WWII enraged U.S. troops and gave them a reason to fight harder, so too will this event. I don't want to suggest for one minute that American troops will commit an atrocity to respond in kind. This isn't Vietnam, and our junior officers and NCOs are too professional to let that happen. But you can bet that every American fighting man and woman in Iraq feels the rage from this incident, and their leaders will now seek to focus and apply that rage constructively to dismantle and destroy every remaining part of the Iraqi insurgency. Payback will be swift, severe and certain.

The hardest part of any counter-insurgency operation, as Army LTC Gian Gentile and MAJ John Nagl have observed, is properly calibrating force to destroy the insurgency without losing the hearts and minds of the civilian population. The challenge for American commanders in Iraq will be to devise an appropriate response for this incident that effectively targets and kills the Iraqi insurgents without causing too much collateral damage. For what it's worth, there is enough anti-American sentiment in Fallujah that we don't have that much to lose there, and thus a heavy-handed approach will not risk much. However, I am confident that American planners are working on this problem right now.

Tue Mar 30, 2004

The Washington Post explains why Palestinian terrorists aren't terrorists

Read and weep

Ombusgod picked up this nice example of moral equivalence.

Michael Getler, the ombudsman at the Washington Post, explains why Palestinian terrorist attacks are not terrorism:

The Israelis, of course, describe such acts as terrorism. But to adopt the language of one side in what is essentially a bitter war carried out daily over many years by gunmen and suicide bombers on one side and an army on the other is not something that The Post, or most other news organizations, is going to do. Palestinians view many Israeli actions -- collective punishment, targeted killings, civilian casualties, house demolitions -- as terrorism, as do some human rights groups. But The Post does not adopt their language either.

I bet al Qaeda would describe US attacks on them and the Taliban as terrorism. The US bombed houses, compounds and villages occupied by Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters and their families. It used a predator armed with a missile in the targeted assassination of al Qaeda fighters in Yemen. If it hadn't been for a defense department lawyer, Mullah Omar would have met the same fate. Destroying the Taliban government was rather severe collective punishment. By The Post's own standards, it should stop referring to al Qaeda operations as "terrorism".

I might add that the Israeli Army's reprisals are designed to minimize civilian casualties while Palestinian attacks are designed to maximise civilian casualties. This distinction must be too subtle for the Washington Post to notice. Read more »

Texas Poker

Time for Bush to show his best hand - Condi Rice

It's sort of neat how Bush got the Democrats and the media to scream for Condi to appear before the 9/11 commission. That screaming drowned out some of Clarke's message and gave the administration and its supporters time to pick apart his credibility. Now Bush can play his best card at the right point in the game. Condi testifies in public and under oath. Her testimony won't contradict her prior secret testimony and she knows a lot more than Clarke about the events surrounding 9/11. His testimony is already suspect and he wasn't in the loop.

Sun Mar 28, 2004

CAIR supports terrorism

They didn't like Yassim's Martyrdom

According to their press release of 3/26/04:

The nation's leading Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today expressed great concern over the United States' veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution Thursday evening condemning the Israeli government. The resolution censured Israel for their targeted assassination of Sheikh Ahmad Yassim, a 67-year-old quadriplegic and the most prominent Palestinian Islamic figure, outside of a Gaza City
mosque earlier this week.

Here's a simple quiz for CAIR.

Was Yassim the founder and leader of HAMAS?

Is HAMAS dedicated to the destruction of Israell?

Has HAMAS taken responsibility for terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians?

Is HAMAS on the US State Department's list of terrorist organizations?

On second thoughts, maybe Jack Straw and the rest of of the EU terrorist appeasers should take this quiz.

Destroying political convention and the constitution

The Democrat's strategy for winning while losing

A democracy with as many moving parts as the United States relies on a certain level of goodwill and mutual respect between political opponents to oil the machinery. Much of this is based on precedent, since both sides realize that the electoral process will reverse their positions, as they win and lose election. However, if one side is determined to defeat the other by any means necessary, then the system starts breaking down. It gets worse if that side also decides it can achieve its political and social objectives from outside the system.

The Democrats seem to have chosen to defeat the Republicans by all means possible in all arenas of conflict. They have chosen to do so while the country is facing its greatest threat since facing down the might of the Soviet empire.
Read more »

Fri Mar 26, 2004

The media calls them Militants, Activists, Resistance Fighters or Guerillas

But they are all terrorists

It really annoys me when the media calls a terrorist who has just murdered a bunch of innocent civilians a militant or resistance fighter. Here's a simple rule the media could observe: If the militant, activist or whatever belongs to an organization on the State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, then the correct term to describe that person is terrorist and the correct term to describe what they do is terrorism. The media should forget its current rule that says killing Jews isn't terrorism.

Thu Mar 25, 2004

The moral blinkers of the Left

Hatred of America blinds them, but a few see the light

This opinion piece by Ron Rosenbam is a must read. Link via Donald Sensing

Microsoft and the EU

That could be GE and the EU or McDonalds and the EU or Boeing and the EU

If I was Bill Gates, I'd just drop support for French and German versions of Microsoft products. Let them eat English.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury criticizes Islam

The extremists won't like what he said; the moderates should heed his message

The Daily Telegraph reports on the remarks that Lord Carey made in Rome. He did not mince words, as these quotes show:

"Although we owe much to Islam handing on to the West many of the treasures of Greek thought, the beginnings of calculus, Aristotelian thought during the period known in the West as the dark ages, it is sad to relate that no great invention has come for many hundred years from Muslim countries," he said.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi took lots of heat for expressing similar thoughts a year or so ago.

"We need to hear outright condemnation of theologies that state that suicide bombers are martyrs and enter a martyr's reward."

It's a pity the hell-bound founder of Hamas did not take heed.

"During my time as archbishop, this was my constant refrain: that the welcome we have given to Muslims in the West, with the accompanying freedom to worship freely and build their mosques, should be reciprocated in Muslim lands,"

We know the Saudi position on that one. If you want to go to Church, visit a Mosque instead and convert to the one true religion. Meanwhile, the few remaining Christians in many Muslim lands live in fear and Dhimmitude.

Dr Carey, who initiated several top-level meetings between Christian and Islamic leaders during his time at Lambeth Palace, urged the West to tackle the Palestinian problem and other inequalities in the Muslim world.

"It will do us little good if the West simply believes that the answer is to put an end to Osama bin Laden. Rather, we must put an end to conditions, distortions and misinformation that create him and his many emulators."

That sound suspiciously like the Bush doctrine that is being implemented in Iraq rather successfully. No surprisingly, moderate Muslim's did not react enthusiastically:

Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said that Dr Carey's comments "saddened" him.

"He should be well aware that mainstream Muslim organizations have consistently condemned terrorist acts but their statements are often ignored by the media," he said.

I do recall many Muslim organizations condemning the recent killing of the founder of Hamas as a terrorist act. I suppose that's what he meant.

Hat tip: Lucianne

Wed Mar 24, 2004

Clarke Beers Wilson vs Bush

Try those four names in a Google search

Richard Clarke, I've covered, as has every blog and news outlet in creation. Former NSC staffer Rand Beers is Clarke's friend and co-teacher and a member of Kerry's foreign policy team. Joseph Wilson is the ex-ambassador who checked out the Niger uranium story and reported his finding in the op-ed page of the NY Times. He is married to Valerie Plume, an alleged CIA undercover person who was outed by columnist Robert Novak. According to Daily Kos:

Beers eventually drew Joe Wilson into the Kerry camp.

Anybody smell a [Democ]rat around here? These guys are using their insider status, their Clinton connections, and a compliant media to do everything in their power to destroy George Bush. The good news is that the Bush team knows how to fight back. Clarke's word against Rice's. No contest. He's already been exposed as a liar and self aggrandizer.

Clarke carries on sinking

Turns out Condi was way ahead of him

Powerline has been on top the Clarke story and has picked up on his negative reaction to the President's National security Advisor:

One of Clarke's most ridiculous claims was his assertion that when he met with Condoleezza Rice in January 2001, "her facial expression gave me the impression that she had never heard" of al Qaeda. My guess is that Ms. Rice's facial expression may have been a clue to what she thought of Clarke; here is what she had to say about al Qaeda in 2000:

You really have to get the intelligence agencies better organized to deal with the terrorist threat to the United States itself. One of the problems that we have is a kind of split responsibility, of course, between the CIA and foreign intelligence and the FBI and domestic intelligence. There needs to be better cooperation because we don't want to wake up one day and find out that Osama bin Laden has been successful on our own territory.

If Clarke had said that, he'd take credit for being a prophet.

Condi: 1, Clarke: 0

What Richard A. Clarke said in 2002

It doesn't jibe with his Election Year claims

When you've read this, check out Instapundit's extended post on Mr. Clarke.

WASHINGTON — The following transcript documents a background briefing in early August 2002 by President Bush’s former counterterrorism coordinator Richard A. Clarke to a handful of reporters, including Fox News’ Jim Angle. In the conversation, cleared by the White House on Wednesday for distribution, Clarke describes the handover of intelligence from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration and the latter’s decision to revise the U.S. approach to Al Qaeda. Clarke was named special adviser to the president for cyberspace security in October 2001. He resigned from his post in January 2003.

Read more »

Are Trial Lawyers the fourth branch of Government?

It's heading that way

Chuck Muth provides this link to a speech by Walter Olson on the increasing power of trial lawyers. It's well worth reading the whole speech but here is a sample:

Today there are increasing reports about how environmentalists are beginning to place their trust in global warming lawsuits against the auto industry, electric utilities and the like. Racial reparations litigation is beginning to absorb much of the energy that used to go into political agitation for civil rights. You see this occurring now in so many areas that William Greider, a leading left-wing journalist, has proposed in Rolling Stone – in the context of discussing Senator John Edwards of North Carolina – that trial lawyers have emerged as the natural leadership of the left in America today. He may be right.

We're already seeing movements to have the EPA treat CO₂ as a pollutant. If the government ever falls for that, and it probably would if Kerry wins, then producers and consumers of energy will be in for tough times (that's most of us). We've already seen the devastation wrought upon US industries by the breast implant hoax and asbestos scam; hundreds of companies have been bankrupted while trial lawyers have pocketed billions. Health care costs have skyrocketed as health care providers take costly precautions to guard against lawsuits, and liability insurance companies try to stay ahead of mega-million payouts. The gun industry and fast food industries are under threat and the tobacco industry is coughing up billions to an unholy alliance of trial lawyers and state governments.

Self-reliance and personal responsibility? They'll be alien concepts in an America ruled by trial lawyers and the politicians and judges they've bought.

Tue Mar 23, 2004

I found some moderate Muslims

The Salafi Society of North America

After all, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been the vanguard of the Salafi branch of Islam, and the Saudis are our good friends and allies. But they seem to have a Jewish problem:

And ever since the first hour in which the Muslims let the beautiful fragrance of Islaam flow through it (Madeenah), the Jews were there showing enmity to the Muslims and their Prophet. So our Prophet, Muhammad, was not safe from the harm of the Jews amongst their ranks. They tried to kill him three times. One time, they tried to kill him by putting a heavy rock on his head. Another time was when they placed poison in the forearm of a goat (for him to eat). And a third case was when the Jewish boy, Lubaid bin al-A’asam, may Allaah’s curse be on him, put a magic spell on him.

And lo, there are the Americans, supplying the Jews with the most ferocious and harmful weapons of destruction, so that they can kill the Muslim children, women and elderly people of Palestine. And they preoccupied the world with their American elections for the purpose of drawing attention away from the Jewish massacre and butchering of the Muslim people of Palestine.

Where are the moderate Muslims?

On the side of Hamas? And Hitler?

James Taranto, in Best of the Web, quotes the Council on American-Islamic Relations' reaction to the untimely demise of Yassim:

We condemn this violation of international law as an act of state terrorism by Ariel Sharon's out-of-control government. Israel's extra-judicial killing of an Islamic religious leader can only serve to perpetuate the cycle of violence throughout the region. The international community must now take concrete steps to help protect the Palestinian people against such wanton Israeli violence.

Actually, I don't recall CAIR ever asking for the international community to protect Israelis from the Palestinian suicide bombers that Yassim's gang sent into Israel, but I'd like to be proven wrong. Taranto then cites the charter of the organization that Yassim founded:

The Covenant of the Hamas, the group's founding document, makes clear that Hamas has no intention of ever stopping the "cycle of violence." Its preamble states: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." Article 7 asserts: "The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.' " And Article 13 says: "So-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. . . . There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad."

Pretty obviously, Hamas is an organization devoted to eliminating the Jews from Muslim territory, preferably by killing them.

By chance, the same issue of Opinion journal includes Joshua Rubenstein's review of Christopher Browning's book The Origins of the Final Solution. This describes the evolution of the Nazi's final solution, from expulsion of Jews, to mass executions in conquered Soviet territories, and on to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The Nazis based their hatred of Jews on racial superiority grounds whereas Hamas bases its hatred on the teachings of Islam. But they share the common goal of eliminating Jews.

If a Muslim organization that positions itself as the voice of moderate Islam in America cannot acknowledge that Yassim was the founder and leader of a terrorist organization devoted to killing Jews, then it has a problem. They call Yassim an "Islamic religious leader" and his termination an "act of state terrorism", but never admit that under his leadership and spiritual guidance, hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians have been eliminated.

Mon Mar 22, 2004

Before and after the liberation of Iraq

Two pictures tell you a lot about the anti-war crowd

The first picture is from a demonstration before the War to liberate Iraq and destroy Saddam's WMD and WMD programs. The second is from the demonstrations held on the one year anniversary. Yep, just loyal Americans enjoying their freedom of speech.

But these guys are nothing compared to likes of Howard Dean, Jimmy Carter and the latest media celebrity, Mr. Richard A. Clarke, when it comes to treachery during a war.

Defining John Kerry

Clearing up Perceptions

Walter Cronkite has some advice for John Kerry:

If 1988 taught us anything, it is that a candidate who lacks the courage of his convictions cannot hope to convince the nation that he should be given its leadership. So, Senator, some detailed explanations are in order if you hope to have any chance of defeating even a wounded George II in November. You cannot let the Bush league define you or the issues. You have to do that yourself. Take my advice and lay it all out, before it's too late.

Yeah, John, come on out of the closet and 'define yourself'. That definition should prove very popular with middle America and carry you a long way. Then again, you could simply rely upon your voting record to show your true colors to voters. On second thought, you are probably right in your current strategy. No need to waste your own time proving your liberal internationalism. It's already clear for all to see, except poor of Mr. Cronkite.

Al Qaeda doesn't have suitcase nukes

Despite their propaganda and breathless news reports

If they had they would have used them already. As we say, use 'em or lose 'em.

A little Oil accounting here

If France had won and Saddam had stayed in power vs what happened

No war for oil:

France: $100billion in oil contracts
US: zip
People of Iraq: zip

War for oil:

France: zip
US: -$87billion to rebuild Iraq (not counting the cost of the war)
People of Iraq: Freedom (priceless)

Sun Mar 21, 2004

All you need to know about Richard A. Clarke

He is a Clintonista trying to blame Bush for his boss's shortcomings (on Terrorism, that is)

A quick google turned up this Washington Post report from June 1, 2002:

Yesterday, the committee heard from its first outside witness, Richard A. Clarke, who was President Bill Clinton's anti-terrorism coordinator and is President Bush's cyberspace security adviser. During the Clinton years, Clarke had warned repeatedly about al Qaeda's plans to attack U.S. targets.

So, why did he wait until 2004 before blaming Bush? 2002 wasn't an election year. Give the dog a bone and he bites you on the butt.
Read more »

The spiritual leader of the HAMAS suicide cult goes to Hell

Allah must have blinked

We were watching an MSNBC program on Al Qaeda when the news came through. High fives all round. The news coverage was appalling, even on Fox. Hey guys, he was a terrorist mastermind. Killing him was a good thing.

Sat Mar 20, 2004

The Cancer has metastasized

It's going to be harder to root out, but it has to be done

My brother called us from overseas straight after 9/11. The attack on the WTC had been live on his evening news. He said that Islamic terrorism was like a cancer. It spreads and metastasizes, weakening and destroying every part of the body that it lodges in until the body dies. It has to be destroyed before it destroys us.

That's a good analogy. The unassimilated Muslim communities in Europe, especially France, Britain and Germany, are breeding grounds for Muslim fanatics. Many are caught, but the most virulent escape to hatch new plots and start new cells. They exploit the host's environment, its legal system and civil liberties, to ensure they can spread without the host's defenses being triggered.

In the US, Saudi money has been used to spread radical Wahhabi theology among Muslim communities. By some estimates, 80% of US Mosques are now controlled by extremists. Muslim radicals are recruiting in our prison system, using Chaplaincy as a cover. The Saudi money acts like the lymph system, providing a conduit for dangerous cells to spread through the host.

The US has attacked and destroyed two large tumors. But other tumors remain. Iran and Syria top the list, but Pakistan and Saudi Arabia contain rapidly metastasizing tumors that urgently need excision. Israel has to contend with a particularly virulent tumor on its borders. This tumor has the European host convinced it is benign, and the problem is with the Israeli- administered surgery.

The Islamic cancer spreads to the organs with the least resistance. Strong resistance in the US, the most critical organ, has caused outbreaks in less resistant areas - Indonesia, Morocco, Turkey, Philippines, Moscow and Spain. While the larger tumors are being excised, the cancer keeps metastasizing and changing. If it spreads beyond the point where surgery and targeted drugs no longer work, large scale radiation treatment may be required to eliminate the source once and for all. Steven Den Beste acknowledges that option:

There are only two ways we can eliminate the true danger we face: we can "destabilize" the entire region [the Middle East] by inducing liberal reforms, in the traditional sense of the word "liberal" (i.e. liberation of individuals), or we can commit nuclear genocide.

Unfortunately, the cancer has already spread beyond the Middle East.

What's the difference between a terrorist and an activist?

Hint: it depends on who they murder

Check Curmudgeonly & Skeptical who picked up the list from Frontpage magazine.

Fri Mar 19, 2004

test

Comparing Iraq and Kosovo

Or Unilateralism vs Multilateralism

Or Bush vs Clinton

It has been five years since the NATO bombing campaign eventually forced Milosevic's regime to withdraw from Kosovo. Since then UN peace keepers had been hunkered down trying to keep the Muslim Albanians and Orthodox Christian Serbs from massacring each other. Economic progress has been minimal and the whole region is far from stable. Terrorist organizations and other representatives of militant Islam have moved into the region, further destabilizing it. The outlook is not so bright.

Meanwhile, one year after the US launched its war against Saddam, Iraq has a constitution agreed to by diverse ethnic and religious groups, an improving economy, a free press and a population happier than it has ever been about its future prospects. Security remains a problem as foreign terrorists groups try to incite civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites. But, provided the US ignores the various voices that dragged it into the Kosovo conflict and stay the course in Iraq, Iraq may well turn into a peaceful and prosperous country.

Don't forget to check out Belmont Club's ever perceptive analysis.

Wed Mar 17, 2004

Bye bye Spain

Hello Andalusia

According to MSNBC, the Spanish have shut the US out of the investigation of 3/11. Zap the sap doesn't seem to have read Dale Carnegie.

What would Roosevelt have done?

We're at war and the enemy is in our midst - did FDR rely on law enforcement?

No.

During WW2 eight Nazi saboteurs (some of whom were US citizens) were apprehended. Their case is covered in a recent book: NAZI SABOTEURS ON TRIAL: A MILITARY TRIBUNAL AND AMERICAN LAW by Louis Fisher that seems to think the Nazis got a raw deal. A review of the book notes that:

Less than a week after the last of the saboteurs was arrested, President Franklin Roosevelt issued a proclamation creating a military tribunal to prosecute the Germans. Besides being Roosevelt's preference, the military court was seen as the best option, because it would prevent immediate notification to the public that German submarines had reached American shores undetected and because it could recommend the death penalty for the perpetrators.

The Nazis were tried by a military tribunal. Six of them were executed and two given long prison terms. The case was considered by the Supreme Court. In its ruling it wrote:

The spy . . . or an enemy combatant who without uniform comes secretly through the lines for the purpose of waging war by destruction of life or property, are familiar examples of belligerents who are generally deemed not to be entitled to the status of prisoners of war, but to be offenders against the law of war subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals.

I'd go with the Supreme Court, rather than Fisher. Read more »

A much more controversial subject is the internment of people of Japanese descent during WW2. PC orthodoxy has established this action as racist and something that should never have been allowed to happen. The truth, as always, is more complex. Quoting Lowell Ponte's book review of By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (by Greg Robinson
Harvard University Press) in Frontpage Magazine:

Roosevelt also had MAGIC, secret U.S. decipherment of coded Japanese messages. Robinson mentions this only in passing. Perhaps political correctness prevented him from referencing the former special assistant to the director of the National Security Agency David D. Lowman and his book MAGIC: The Untold Story of U.S. Intelligence and the Evacuation of Japanese Residents from the West Coast During WWII (Provo, Utah: Athena Press, 2000). As actual intercepts published in this book make clear, FDR had good reason to believe that Japan had networks of spies and saboteurs along the West Coast, but to apprehend them too surgically might reveal to the Japanese that we were reading their encrypted signals. By interning them among tens of thousands of others, this could be concealed. According to Lowman, not a single official familiar with these Top Secret MAGIC messages disagreed with the course of action FDR took towards Japanese Americans.

Here we come to the crux. The Spanish intelligence services were well aware of many of the perpetrators and their associates, as this report makes clear. But there was very little they could do to prevent the attacks. The legal system provided no defense.

But FDR's actions show that there are ways to deal with the threats posed by Al Qaeda. First, treat them like he treated the Nazi saboteurs. If there are known terrorist associates on your soil then, by definition, they pose a terrorist threat. Try them before a military tribunal and send them to Hell. Second, if the terrorists hide themselves among an identifiable host community, isolate the host community until the end of hostilities.

What will it take for Bush or Kerry to act like FDR? Another 9/11? Something worse? Can we afford to find out?

« Collapse

When will the European learn that there is a war going on?

And that it will only be won when the enemy is wiped off the face of the earth

Romano Prodi, President of the European commission, responded to 3/11 by saying that "It is clear that using force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists". But the terrorists clearly believe that using force is the answer. They achieved a change of government and split the US led alliance against Saddam by using force. That will be a lesson well learned. Why should Al Qaeda franchises negotiate with EU leaders and bureaucrats when they can get far better results by blowing up a few hundred civilians now and then?

Tue Mar 16, 2004

Spain needed a Churchill

It got a Chamberlain

This reminscence about Sir Winston Churchill includes this quote:

In 1938 Hitler dismembered Czechoslovakia. In the vain hope of preventing further military conquests, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany for consultations with Hitler, and came back with his famous "peace for our time" announcement. Churchill told him, "You were given the choice between war and dishonour . . . you chose dishonour and you will have war."

Certainly Spain is now on the front line of the war on Islamic terrorism. Its act of national appeasement will not save it from renewed efforts by the Jihadists to take back Andalusia. It seems unlikely that Zapatero will do anything to undo the damage wrought by his own election. He will be forced into an alliance with the communists in order to form a government. His statements on Iraq mark him as Spain's answer to Howard Dean. Publicly insulting Bush and Blair by questioning their decisions on Iraq is just plain stupid. Here's what he said, according to the BBC:

"Wars such as those which have occurred in Iraq only allow hatred, violence and terror to proliferate."

"The occupation of Iraq was ill-conducted and that's why I have said clearly in recent months that, unless there is a change in that the United Nations take control and the occupiers give up political control, Spanish troops will come back, and the limit for their presence there is June 30."

"Mr Blair and Mr Bush must do some reflection and self-criticism... One cannot bomb a people by chance, one cannot lead a war with lies, one cannot accept that."

"The war in Iraq was a huge disaster, the occupation continues to be a huge disaster: It only generated more violence and hatred and the lesson has to be learned."

"The military intervention was a political error for the international order, for the search for cooperation, for the defence of the United States...

"It divided more than it united, there were no reasons for it, time has shown that the arguments for it lacked credibility and the occupation has been managed badly."

He must get all his news from here.

Mon Mar 15, 2004

The Enemy within

Spain, Damra, and Iraq are all connected

The threat Western Civilization faces is barely understood. The enemy is united, patient and skillful at exploiting the West's weaknesses.

Wretchard at Belmont Club drew an analogy between the Ichneumon wasp and the Muslim communities in Western countries. Unfortunately, it is starting to look like a well chosen analogy.

Steven Jay Gould, in arguing for the existence of natural evil, could find no better analogy than the ichneumon wasp, after which the monster in Alien was modeled, and which not coincidentally describes Islamofascism and its Leftist helpers
...
Since a dead and decaying caterpillar will do the wasp larvae no good, it eats in a pattern that cannot help but recall, in our inappropriate anthropocentric interpretation, the ancient English penalty for treason — drawing and quartering, with its explicit object of extracting as much torment as possible by keeping the victim alive and sentient.

The Spanish voted for appeasement, as Mark Steyn notes, just 72 hours after the enemy attacked Madrid and killed hundreds of innocent people. The Spanish electorate did not seem to understand that they were targeted as much to revenge the loss of Spain to the Cross hundreds of years ago as for complicity in the war on Saddam, the ultimate Islamofascist. Will withdrawal from Iraq and the US led war on Islamic terrorism make Spain safer? In the short-term, maybe. Al Qaeda would want European voters to draw the appropriate conclusion from the massacre of 3/11 - appeasement works. So Spain can rest in peace while other European US allies take their turn on the list of Al Qaeda targets. Italy is particularly vulnerable because it is already host to a million unassimilated Muslims. Islamic terrorists find safe haven and recruiting grounds among disaffected Muslim immigrant populations.

The US has its own problems with its Muslim population. While Al Qaeda has not been able to launch another spectacular attack on US soil, individual Muslims have taken action in their cause. The DC snipers, the LA airport gunman and the Grenade tossing sergeant all killed Americans on behalf of Islam. The Muslim community has seen most of its mosques taken over by Saudi financed radicals. In Cleveland, Fawaz Damra, the Imam with a terrorist tainted past, was retained as the leader of the largest mosque in the area by a 177-49 vote. This happened after the FBI arrested him for concealing his ties to terrorist organizations in his citizenship application. It is hard not to draw the conclusion that many Muslims in the US share Damra's views. It's comforting to know that there are 49 moderate Muslims in Cleveland; the rest are a worry. Eric Olsen at Blogcritics.org has more on Damra and his supporters. The US Islamic community is becoming radicalized. As that process continues, it will be able to host more Islamic terrorists. While the US is not yet as exposed as many European countries, it is certainly threatened by the prospect of terrorists finding safe haven in a radicalized Islamic community, and US born Muslims and converts joining the Jihad against the US.

But it is not all bad news. The Bush strategy is working in Iraq, as the BBC reports. Yes, that was the post-Gilligan BBC speaking. Muslims who have suffered in Muslim counties do want a better life. Today Iraqis; tomorrow Iranians. Pray that there is a Middle Eastern domino effect. And if the Middle East can be brought into the modern world, the Middle Ages version of Islam that motivates the Jihadists will go the way of the militant Christianity of the Middle Ages.

Sun Mar 14, 2004

Spain votes for Al Qaeda

It won't save Spain from further attacks and it will encourage more Al Qaeda attacks on other countries at election time

According to this Fox News report, the election that the conservatives were expected to win has been won by the socialist party. Voters reacted against the governing party, blaming its participation in the US led coalition in the war against Saddam for the terrorist attack.

Some voters were angry at outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, accusing him of making Spain a target for Islamic extremists because of his support for the Iraq war, despite the opposition of most Spaniards.

From Al Qaeda's perspective, the attack must rank as a spectacular success. It greatly weakened Spain's resolve in the war against Islamic terrorism and may well have split Spain away from the US led coalition that freed Iraq. It also showed that they can exploit democracy to further their cause.

The big question: Will Spain stick it out in Iraq or turn tail and run?

Wretchard at Belmont Club has a nice analogy to describe what Islamic Terrorism is trying to do to the West.

Roger Simon quotes a Spaniard who gets it.

“I am ashamed of being a Spaniard. We have just surrendered on behalf of the whole West. This is a real tragedy for all; now they know what works.”

Fri Mar 12, 2004

The other Kerrey gets the war on Terror

It isn't a police operation and you don't send a Janet Reno

Byron York has a piece in NRO on the low priority Democrats, both voters and candidates, put on the War on Terror. Kerrey seems not to be a typical Democrat:

The situation brings to mind something said recently by the other medal-winning Kerrey, former Nebraska Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey. On MSNBC last month, Kerrey recalled his days on the Senate Intelligence Committee in the late 1990s, as terrorist attacks on U.S. interests began to accelerate.

"I remember asking very pointedly, why are we treating this like a law enforcement incident?" Kerrey said. "Why are we sending the FBI...to do a crime scene investigation?

"We have a declaration of war by an individual [Osama bin Laden] that demonstrated tremendous military capability, first in Afghanistan and later in several other operations."

Exactly. Osama and company were a major factor in driving the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan and they caused more casualties on US soil than the Japanese did at Pearl Harbor. You don't send FBI agents overseas to investigate their crimes; you send your armed forces to wipe out the threat.

Deadly Reminder

Attacks in Spain Drive Home the Point

John Podhoretz sees the horrific terrorist attacks in Spain as a challenge to those who still insist that the threat of terrorism has been exaggerated:

GO ahead, you deluded or dishonest folks who claim George W. Bush has no business discussing or showing the 2001 attacks on America in his advertising.
Go right ahead with your coordinated, contemptuous complaining - paid for in part by foundations and organizations lubricated by Mrs. John Kerry's ketchup-drenched dollars.

It doesn't matter now, not after what happened yesterday in Madrid. Not after the worst terror strike on a Western country since 9/11.

The bloody reminder of what we are all facing should serve to silence those who still insist that terrorism is not a serious threat. It should serve to silence those who insist we seek U.N. approval for actions of defense that are designed to prevent terror groups from gathering the strength necessary to truly hold the world hostage to their demands. But....it won't.

Watching the carnage, surely Americans will feel some small measure of what they felt on 9/11. How can they not? How can they not say, My God, that might have been me. That might have been my wife, my mother, my son.

Spain is just two days away from elections. That country's brave and principled prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, is not his party's candidate. Nonetheless, his decision to stand by America's side in the War on Terror may have played a role in yesterday's bombing.

The next time somebody refers to the war in Iraq as an act of American unilateralism, I hope somebody shoves a photo of a dead body in the Madrid train station under his nose and demands he apologize to the Spanish dead and wounded.

This means you, John Kerry.

The attacks in Spain were real, not exaggerated. There are still groups of people out there who want us all dead or in servitude to their twisted version of society. This election is about how we want to remember this threat. Will we continue to fight or be lead meekly to the subjugation that radical Islam demands? Your choice America. It better be the right one.

Thu Mar 11, 2004

Europe's first 9/11 experience

Was it ETA, al Qaeda or a joint operation?

Early reports narrow the culprits down to ETA, the Basque terrorist group, and Islamic terrorists. ETA has denied responsibility and dubious Islamic groups have claimed it. Worse, it could even be a joint operation.

Some of the early evidence:

An Islamic group, Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, claimed responsibility, according to Reuters. However, the same group claimed responsibility for the recent power outage in the N.E. USA.

According to Fox News:

A van containing several detonators and an Arabic-language tape of Koranic verses was found near Madrid

The same Fox News report also notes that:

The bombers used titadine, a kind of compressed dynamite, a source at Aznar's office said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

On Feb. 29, titadine was among the explosives found packed into a van that had been pulled over outside Madrid. Two alleged ETA members were arrested, but their identities were withheld.

Some reports suggest suicide bombers were involved and the scale suggest al Qaeda. Others note the operation was not a typical ETA operation; no warning, no government target, multiple bombs.

If ETA and Islamic terrorists are cooperating, it wouldn't be the first time that such associations have been made. The The Dissident Frogman notes that Europe has had to deal with many far left domestic terrorist groups over the years:

I'm not an expert of the ETA, but as a French, I've been living with the news, all over the years, reporting the bombing and murders of what is basically just another loathsome gang of Leftists, this gangrene that stank up Europe for decades. ETA in Spain, IRA in Ireland, Red Army Fraction in Germany, Action Directe in France, Red Regiments in Italy...Yes, some of them are deactivated, or sleeping. But their legacy lives and the Far Left totalitarians were never more active down here than they are today.

I'd add the Japanese Red Army to his list, since it is based in the most Westernized Asian country.

The IRA was caught red-handed receiving arms and explosives from Libya. The IRA may also have passed some of its bombing expertise off to Palestinian terrorists. The Japanese Red Army was responsible for a massacre at an Israeli airport in 1972. There are likely other examples, although the Western terrorist groups were in decline before the Islamic groups became more active.

So, it is n

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