Judicious Asininity

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Mon Jul 31, 2006

Palestinian/Arab attitudes on full display

Why should we give such scum any credence?

This resource gives us insight into Palestinian attitudes. Condoleeza Rice seems to be a particular target because she is a black woman. The monkey-in-the-womb cartoon is particularly offensive, and the rest are little better. The idea that a single black Christian woman could be the most powerful woman in the world really gets up their noses.

What they don't understand, can't understand, won't understand, is that Rice's success epitomizes America. It tells the world that in America, anyone can achieve success. Most Americans take pride in that. In the Palestinian's insular, ignorant, tribal world, success is killing a Jew or two.

It isn't much better in the US Islamic world. I watched Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News defend the monkey cartoon on O'Reilly.

I've got a little suggestion for our racist Islamic friends: don't insult our Secretary of State. She holds your fate in her hands.

Sun Jul 30, 2006

The Koran versus Mein Kampf

Why should we hand Korans out to Muslim prisoners?

I don't think I can find a link to prove this assertion but I doubt you'll find any evidence that US authorities gave WWII Gernan POWS copies of Mein Kampf. But we give our Muslim terrorist prisoners Korans that we treat with the utmost respect. That's crazy. They find their inspiration in the Koran and use it to justify every vile act committed against Infidels and fellow Muslims.

I'd like to suggest we give them Korans that have been passed by an American corprate HR department. It would remove any verses that might give offense to women, Jews, Christians, Bhuddists, Hindus, atheists, multiculturalists and the ACLU. That should cut the Koran down to just a page or two.

(Posting revised for clarity)

Emergency, Emergency, everyone to get from street

If the Russians could say that, why couldn't Hezbollah?

The Israelis have warned Lebanese civilians of impending attacks by dropping leaflets alerting them of possible attacks. Hezbollah does not. They don't say, "We are going to launch 50 rockets at Haifa in the next 24 hours so take cover or evacuate". Quite the opposite; they launch inaccurate rockets without warning. The only "target" can be civilian since there is no way for them to actually hit an Israeli military target.

Israelis do not have the luxury of choosing to avoid military targets. The Lebanese do. That is, if Hezbollah lets them. But Hezbollah knows that civilian casualties are good propaganda, so they do all they can do to cause them.

Islamic Terrorists are cowards

And traitors to their own heritage

Muhammed was a warrior who established Islam and led by example. The example, by Western standards, was horrendous. No one could imagine Jesus sanctioning the beheading of hundreds of Jewish male prisoners of war and the sale of the Jewish women and children into slavery, but Muhammed did. Muhammed himself took one of the women for himself. Oh, what a perfect example of humanity. Oh, what a great example of Allah's will. Oh, such mercy.

But, despite his inhumanity, it is doubtful that Muhammed sheltered behind women and children when he went to battle. But that's what Hezbollah does. That makes them cowards by any standards, including their own.

The Middle East needs to look at Japan

What happened to this Mazda shipment couldn't happen to any shipment from the Middle East

The Autoblog posts an account and pictures of a cargo ship that capsized off the coast of Alaska. The ship was carrying 4,700 Mazda vehcles, 30% of them the very attractive CX-7 crossover SUV.

It appears the ship can be salvaged. The fate of the cargo is less certain.

But here's the point to consider. The Mazda CX-7 was being shipped from a Mazda plant in Hiroshima, Japan. Two generations ago Hiroshima lay in ruins after the first use of a nuclear weapon in war-time. Japan itself was devastated by a war that it started and the US finished.

Now Japan is shipping advanced automobiles and a host of other advanced technologies across the world. Its car manufacturers have set up shop in the US and are driving the Big Three to the brink of bankruptcy. The world looking at the ruin of Japan in 1945 could never have imagined that Japan could rebound and challenge the economic might of the USA. Nor could they imagine that Japan would become a Democracy and America's strongest ally in Asia. But that happened under US guidance and protection. Japan represents the best of the West.

The Middle East largely escaped the devastation of WWII. The economic expansion in Europe, Asia and North America needed vast supplies of oil. Much of that has been supplied by the Middle East using Western drilling technology, Western refining tecnology, Western transportation technology, Western marketing and it is used in a wide range of applications based on Western technology. Without oil, the Middle East would have remained a technological and cultural back-water, like Africa. With oil, the Middle East developed into a technological and cultural back-water, with great cash-flow. It sure isn't wealthy because that cash-flow has never been used to create real economic wealth. All we will ever see shipped from the Middle-East is oil and terrorism. We are unlikely to see Arab cars shipped in Iranian cargo ships to compete in the toughest car market in the world.

Thu Jul 27, 2006

Al Sadr might make the same mistake as Nasrallah

Here's hoping; letting Al Sadr live was the coalition's biggest mistake

Threatswatch reports that:

While Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met first with Prime Minister Tony Blair in Britain on Monday and then with President Bush in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to much fanfare, a less heralded but possibly more significant showing was made in Baghdad as followers of the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr made their gravest threats yet against the Iraqi government. Occupying the grounds around the prime minister’s office with a sit-in, Sadr’s followers demanded that Maliki cancel his trip to Washington in protest against attacks on Sadr’s Mahdi Army, which has been blamed for the most gruesome attacks on Sunni civilians. U.S. and Iraqi troops have increased operations against members of the Mahdi Army and the Sadrists are responding by threatening to wage war on U.S. troops and, apparently for the first time, against the Iraqi government itself.

Al-Sadr's threats and his militia's actions are akin to the activities of their Hezbollah brethren. They have gone too far and the axe is about to fall.

Israel is in danger of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

Letting up now when they have Hezbollah on the run will prove fatal

Powerline links to reports from the Israeli press that suggest Israel is not pressing its advantage over Hezbollah. The cited Jerusalem Post report says:

As a result of the cabinet decision, the IDF said the operation in Lebanon, now called "the war within the straits" would retain its current format, according to which brigade and battalion-level forces - not division-level as Halutz had requested - carry out pinpoint incursions on specific targets. The IDF stressed that if Bint Jbail - where eight Golani soldiers were killed on Wednesday - did fall into Israeli hands, the victory could have a ripple effect on other Hizbullah strongholds and cause them to surrender.

Israel may never again get the chance to strike a decisive blow against Hezbollah. Could they do it under a Democrat Administration? I kinda doubt it. A party trying to shove Joe Lieberman overboard isn't going to be a robust supporter of Israel doing anything except conceding territory.

The Israeli government should give their generals free reign to annihilate Hezbollah. They should hold the Lebanese government accountable since Hezbollah is part of that government. Civilian casualties? That's what Hezbollah has been inflicting on Israel with its rocket attacks. Luckily, Israelis were prepared with bomb shelters and evacuation plans, so casualties have been low.

The Lebanese civilians have been less fortunate since Hezbollah wants as many civilian casualties as possible. Dead Jews are good, but dead Muslims killed by Jews are much better; they have tremendous propaganda value. Israel needs to reinforce the fact that Hezbollah shelters behind civilians; that civilians have had clear warning to clear out of Hezbollah controlled areas; and that all civilian casualties on both sides are solely the responsibility of Hezbollah.

Belmont Club speculated on Israel's intentions. He wrote:

It's the conventional wisdom and maybe Nasrallah hopes it's true. But already doubt is apparently creeping into his soul. Sixty or more Lebanese have reportedly been arrested as Israeli spies in Beirut. The Hezbollah see them everywhere. Although subsequently denied, there were reports that Nasrallah had sought refuge in the Iranian embassy. In the meantime Ahmadinehjad and Assad are ceaselessly calling for ceasefires. Everywhere the word "ceasefire" is heard. But never from Israel. Maybe somewhere in his mind Nasrallah's realized that the IDF isn't after some buffer zone: they are after him and his cadre. His cadre they already have: they are fighting to keep real estate they are doomed to lose. Nasrallah himself they may have by and by. But there may be worse to come. Whether accidental or not, the IDF attack on Kiyam raises the specter that it will operate eastward against the Bekaa valley and perhaps eventually against the Beirut-Damascus highway. That would cut off supplies from Syria to his men in the south and to his command element in Damascus. Then where would Nasrallah's influence over Lebanese politics be? And how should he fare against his former adversaries in the recently concluded Civil War? With the onus of all the ruination he has visited upon Lebanon upon him and his forces in stuck in a southern front against the IDF he may find it hard to cut the swath he once did in government circles.

Perhaps the Israeli cabinet needs to start reading Belmont Club. Because, if Hezbollah is able to re-establish itself, Iran will arm it with much more lethal weapons than the pip-squeak Katyusha. Instead of missile warheads loaded with ball bearings, Israel might face missiles delivering chemical weapons, dirty nuclear waste and biological weapons. Israel, get the job done. Bush and Rice, give Israel all it needs to get the job done. A few hundred daisy cutters might come in handy.

Wed Jul 26, 2006

Hezbollah has a war

Of its starting but not of its choosing

Apparently, Hezbollah thought that killing a few Israeli soldiers and taking two hostage was business as usual. But Hamas had pulled the same trick in Gaza a few days before, and their controllers, the let's Nuke-Israel-Crowd in Iran were doing everything they could to distract attention from their nuclear weapons program. What better than a Muslim war on Israel to distract the world? But Iran miscalculated the response. The attacks by Hamas and Hezbolah were so egregious that the civilized world (that excludes most UN member states) were loathe to critize Israel according to the usual leftist script. Haaretz says:

Just as the United States would like Israel to defeat Hezbollah, Iran does not want the organization destroyed and is doing everything in its power to prevent this. This shows that the military struggle has still not reached its peak, nor have the diplomatic efforts.

This war will go to the end. I am impressed that a centrist Israeli leader with a weak political position could act so strongly.

Israel cannot accept a ceasefire until Hezbollah is destroyed. It's that simple. Nor can the US. That's even simpler.

Killing Hezbollah and Hamas are critical step towards destroying Iran's Mullocracy.

The Leftist's Dictionary

A start

Some of us in the non-reality based community have difficulty understanding the reality-based community. See, we have the terms wrong already. I'm in the anti-Islamo-fascist community and they're in the pro-Islamo-fascist community. I'm in the pro-West community and they're in the West-Is-The-Root-Of-All-Evil-Community.

Well, to help us poor suckers in the non-reality based community, I've taken a shot at preparing a little dictionary that explains what they mean by some of the words they use. Here's the first pass:

Nazi - Conservative
Progressive - Communist
Liberal - Socialist
Racist - White
Neo-con - Jew
Diversity - Conformity
Social Justice - More taxes
Compassion - More taxes
Welfare - More taxes
Equality - More Taxes
Justice - no jail time
Freedom fighter - Terrorist
Guerilla - Terrorist
Insurgent - Terrorist
Leader - Dictator
Hero - Any Communist leader
War Hero - Any Communist sympathizer
Humanitarian - Communist
Reformer - Communist dictator
Undocumented worker - illegal alien
Future Democrat - illegal alien
New Democrat - Felon
Philanthropist - Moveon.Org donor
Exploiter - G.O.P. donor
Democracy in action - Venezuela, Cuba, Iran
Failed Democracies - Iraq, Afghanistan, Australia, UK, USA
Environmental Catastrophe - Prudhoe Bay
Moron - George Bush
Genius - Karl Rove
Evil Genius - Dick Cheney
Mistake - Confusing Karl and Dick
CIA - Effective intelligence agency
NSA - Spies on Americans
Right to know - classified
Public Servant - leaker
Reporter - leakee
Freedom of Religion - freedom from religion
World Peace - Death to the USA

Additions and corrections will be greatly appreciated.

Tue Jul 25, 2006

Demography trumps Terrorism in Islam's conquest of Europe

Political Correctness has morphed into cultural suicide

Strategy Page provides a concise summary of the modern history of Lebanon. It misses a few key points, such as the failed peace-keeping missions and the terrorist attack on a Marines barracks that killed 220 Marines.

One point struck me:

Demographic shifts spurred on by Christian emigration to France and the United States, combined with Shia birth-rate growth, led to political debate on what the proportional system should be changed.

The major weapon that Islam is using against Europe is demography. Insular Muslim enclaves in Europe are largely free of the societal and cultural pressures that have depressed European birth rates to suicidally low-levels. European style cradle-to-grave social welfare policies have had the perverse effect of reducing the incentive for middle-class Europeans to have children while increasing the incentives for Muslim immigrants. Their women don't have careers outside of the home and the state pays them to breed. Islam encourages that and breed they do. And their progeny will vote and Democracy will be destroyed once Muslims reach critical mass.

What has happened to Lebanon is an object lesson for Europe. Demography has given Shiite's control of Lebanon, and Hezbollah has taken full advantage.

In a generation, Muslims will be able to sway elections in France. The split between Left and Right will make it easier because the Left will sell-out to the Muslims for short--term political gain. And short-term it will be if the European equivalent of Hezbollah (or Hamas, or al Qaeda or the Muslim Brotherhood) become the political representatives of French Muslims.

Can anything be done to save Europe? Probably not. Political Correctness ensures that Europeans will always be ceding ground to Muslim demands. In another perverse twist, possibly the only thing that will wake Europeans up to the threat of Muslim conquest from within would be large scale terrorist attacks.

Mon Jul 24, 2006

We face savages

That's the reality of the war on radical Islam

Just My Opinion explains the nature of the enemy:

The West continually makes the universal human error of assuming that the person we are talking to is more or less like us. We assume, in other words, that ultimately they are reasonable people who want the same things we all want, peace, prosperity, freedom, opportunity. We assume that the daily exhortations to eliminate the Jews and infidels and "moderate Muslims" are just empty rhetoric. They can't really mean it. Millions of people couldn't possibly be that crazy. But, if we need proof, we need only look at the thousand year Shia-Sunni global civil war.

Or the Nazis. Or the Communists.

Proportionality

What the War has cost Israel and Lebanon so far

Start with some basic numbers.

Populations as of 2006

Israel: 6,352,117
USA: 298,444,215
Lebanon: 3,874,050

According to this Fox News report of 7/24/06:

Israel's death toll stands at 36, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 19 soldiers killed in the fighting.

Translating those numbers into US figures, Israel has lost the equivalent of 798 civilians and 893 soldiers in 12 days of war.

Lebanese casualties have been much higher. From the same report:

At least 384 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 20 soldiers and 11 Hezbollah fighters, according to security officials.

Doing the same translation, Lebanon has the lost the equivalent of 27,194 civilians, 1,541 soldiers and 847 terrorists.The Hezbollah terrorists are doing very well. They have forced the Israelis to kill large numbers of Lebanese civilians and they have reaped the propaganda reward. But the tactic of hiding among civilians has run out. Even the UN sees that. Fox News again, quoting U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland:

"Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," he said. "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."

"We need a cessation of hostilities because this is a war where civilians are paying the price," said Egeland, who was heading to Israel.

I think Egeland does not understand Hezbollah. They are proud of what they have achieved. That's why Israel must be allowed to rid the world of such cowardly vermin.

Sun Jul 23, 2006

The enemy got over-confident

Too bad (for them)

They'd gotten used to the cycle. Terrorists attack Israel. Israel reacts proportionately. World reacts disproportionately. Israel retreats. This is the cycle of violence that everyone says needs to be broken.

Hamas started the cycle again, by taking an Israeli soldier hostage, expecting the usual cycle to continue. Unfortunately, for Hamas, Israel had just handed over the rest of Gaza to the Palestinians. The world could see clearly that Hamas was truly a terrorist organization because it used the new territory as a new base to attack Israel.

Hezbollah, having occupied the buffer zone that Israel had left, emulated Hamas. It seized a few Israeli soldiers and demanded a mass prisoner release in exchange. Israel had retreated from Southern Lebanon as a sign of peace.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Israel can't be fooled twice. Hamas and Hezbollah are learning, to their cost, that it isn't a cycle; it's more like bullying Superman.

Fri Jul 21, 2006

Why we (i.e. Israel and the US) shouldn't negotiate with Hezbollah

Or Syria, Or Iran.

For the same reason the Allies didn't negotiate with Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan in WWII. The only deal on the table is their unconditional surrender. That shouldn't be negotiable.

Thu Jul 20, 2006

Did israel get Hassan Nasrallah?

He sure hasn't been doing any live appearances lately

The Scotsman reports:

Israeli military sources said dozens of warplanes dropped 23 tonnes of explosives on Wednesday night at a site where it said intelligence showed senior Hizbollah leaders were sheltering in a bunker.
...
Hizbollah has fired barrages of rockets into Israel, reaching as far as the coastal city of Haifa for the first time. Nasrallah last appeared on television on Sunday after a deadly Haifa strike to say the conflict was just beginning.

You'd think a loud-mouth like Nasrallah would pop-up soon after an attempt on his life to taunt the Israelis. If he doesn't show in the next few days he isn't going to show, ever.

Update:

He popped up on Al Qaeda TV. Next time, loud-mouth.

The win-win approach to the War on Terror

How both sides can claim victory

In Islam, there is no greater glory than dying while engaged in Jihad.

As Infidels, we aren't exactly happy at the prospect of being slaughtered by 6th Century savages on their way to paradise. So we try to kill them before they do us any harm. In fact, our duty is to send them to their paradise before they kill us. They're happy dying in their cause and we're happy to kill them before they kill any infidels. Isn't that a great win-win?

So, we can do everyone a favor by sending as many of them to paradise as fast as we can. It's pleasing that Israel has taken the lead against Hezbollah.

Wed Jul 19, 2006

Common sense prevails in Maryland - Wal Mart wins

Socialistic discrimination gets the toss

Betsy's Page notes news reports that a Federal Judge tossed the Maryland law that discriminated against Wal Mart simply because it was the biggest employer in the state and, by the way, a target for union organizers.

I'm no fan of Wal Mart. I go there and I can't find much that I want to buy. It smells cheap, looks cheap, and sweats cheap. Maybe that's why they do so well. But I'd rather pay a bit more to get the quality and reliability I expect.

And that's the point. Wal Mart should compete in the marketplace on a level playing field. It's going to win some customers and lose some. Tilting the playing field to suit a political agenda is flat out wrong. Just like socialism.

Tue Jul 18, 2006

War is clarifying

It separates good from evil

We are seeing this as Israel fights back against Hamas and Hezbollah. The world recognized that Israel gave up territory in Southern Lebanon and Gaza in exchange for peace. Good people would take the deal and cease making war. Evil people would see such concessions as a sign of weakness and exploit the territorial advantages to wage further war.

Israel's concessions for peace were met with war. That is undeniable. That is why moderate Arab regimes have not condemned Israel. That's why the wishy-washy Europeans did not blame Israel for the violence.

Israel has a free hand to crush Hezbollah and Hamas. The Syrians will be too chicken to get involved. The Iranians will rant and rave and try to ramp up the pressure on the US in Iraq but they will be unable to help Hezbollah or Hamas. It's good news that the US is, finally, dealing with the Mahdi army, Iran's proxy in Iraq. The UN will run around like a chicken with its head cut off.

This time Israel will have the time to do the job. If the US had any honor they would send in the Marines to help kill Hezbollah. We need to avenge every attack on us, no matter how long it takes. The US lost 220 Marines to a cowardly Hezbollah attack. Now is the time to remind the world that Hezbollah committed this atrocity against a peace-keeping force and we haven't forgotten.

Sun Jul 16, 2006

The CO₂ problem

Reduce CO₂ emissions: do nothing

Heavy Lifting has the solution to the CO₂ problem. Here's the starting point:

My contribution to the debate would be to suggest less exercise and more laziness. At rest, the average breath expends one half liter of carbon dioxide whereas at full exercise the average breath might expend 3 to 4 liters of carbon dioxide.

As a marathoner, I have to say I'm unimpressed.

It's all one war

One ideology, one goal, one Umma

Wake up, everyone.

Do you want live under Sharia law? Do you want to be beheaded simply for being an Atheist or Hindu? Do you want to want to live as a second-class citizen because you are Christian or Jewish ("People of the Book")? Do you want to replace the scientific knowledge accumulated over the last 100 years with the wisdom of the Koran? Do you want to destroy every work of art created by Western Civilization?

That's what every Islamic terrorist wants. They'll use every bit of Western technology that they've bought or stolen to achieve that aim. They'll infiltrate our cities and use the wombs of their women to destroy our Democracies. They will lie, cheat, subvert, spy, murder, behead, and blow themselves up for the world-wide Umma.

If you want what they want, condemn Israel, hate Bush, reveal our secrets, and betray the West. Otherwise, recognize the enemy, the way they subvert our institutions, the way they adopt the mantle of victimhood to appeal to our natural sympathies for the underdog, and the way they use our enemies to aid their cause. Then fight back every way you can. Step one is doing what the MSM doesn't do: inform your fellow citizens of the nature of the threat.

Proportionate response is a sure-fire route to extinction

Those who ask it of Israel would never ask it of themselves

Take that great icon of 20th century statemanship, the diplomatic genius who nearly saved Saddam, the President of France, Jacques Chirac. The WPO reports:

"The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would envision using . . . weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and fitting response on our part," Chirac said during a visit to a nuclear submarine base in Brittany. "This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind."

President Chirac says France's nuclear arsenal could deliver targeted strike.

The French president said his country had reduced the number of nuclear warheads on some missiles deployed on France's four nuclear submarines in order to target specific points rather than risk wide-scale destruction.

"Against a regional power, our choice is not between inaction and destruction," Chirac said, according to the text of his speech posted on the presidential Web site. "The flexibility and reaction of our strategic forces allow us to respond directly against the centers of power. . . . All of our nuclear forces have been configured in this spirit."

At the same time, he condemned "the temptation by certain countries to obtain nuclear capabilities in contravention of treaties."

But, when Israel is attacked Chirac says:

French President Jacques Chirac called for a "show of moderation" in Lebanon, and said that a lasting cease-fire is needed.

He went on to say that forces threatening Lebanon's security and sovereignty must be stopped.

Speaking before the G8 summit, Chirac said he and Bush were in complete agreement that UN resolutions had to be applied, and that "all forces which threaten and endanger the security, stability and sovereignty of Lebanon must be stopped."

Presumably, if Chirac was the Prime Minister of Israel, Damascus, Tehran and the Bekka valley would be no more. Luckily, Israel is led by patriots, not hypocrites.

Sat Jul 15, 2006

Hezbollah's Strategic Problem

Use it or lose it

Ever since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah has been arming rather than disarming as it was supposed to do. By some accounts, Iran has helped Hezbollah build an arsenal of 10,000 rockets capable of striking Israel. These rockets are Katyushas and Iranian-made rockets with ranges up to 45 miles; that threatens Israel as far south as Hadera (between Haifa and Tel Aviv). They are not precision weapons so their primary function is to terrorize civilians.

Hezbollah started this current conflict by entering Israel, kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing eight of their comrades. When Israel responded, Hezbollah started its rocket barrage. But Israel surprised Hezbollah by its vigorous response. Israel seems determined to eliminate the threat posed by Hezbollah on its northern border. So, Hezbollah now faces a grim choice: it can either expend its stockpile of rockets or lose them.

It doesn't really matter much; the rockets are not strategically significant and their impact to date has been piffling. They gave Hezbollah an unwarranted confidence in its military strength and led it to make a grave mistake.

Let us pray that Israel does what needs to be done: wipe out Hezbollah and Hamas.

Fri Jul 14, 2006

The US owes Hezbollah big time

Time for some pay-back

From About:

In August 1982, members of the Armed Forces of the United States, France and Italy moved into Lebanon to effect the evacuation of Syrian troops and PLO soldiers from Lebanon. A new President of Lebanon was elected and Israel gave their backing to the election. It was short-lived however, as the new President was assassinated by Syrian agents. The next day Israeli troops invaded West Beirut to secure any threats and to attempt to eradicate PLO members within the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. This attempt led to the massacre of nearly 3000 (This number is in dispute) Lebanese in those refugee camps. While the Israeli military wasn't directly involved in the massacre, they stood by as members of the Lebanese Christian militia, sent in by the Israeli's to find any PLO members, killed many women and children. Later, the Israeli's agreed to withdraw from Lebanon on the sole condition that Syria left as well. Syria declined that invitation. As 1982 moved into 1983, Muslims began to view the multi-national force in Lebanon as an enemy just as dangerous as Israel. The Hezbollah, a terrorist organization funded by Iran and Syria, formed in the midst of this violence. In April 1983, they bombed the United States Embassy in Beirut, killing 63. It was a portent of things to come...
The United States Marines were stationed in Beirut as a peace keeping force. They were headquartered in a compound building at the Beirut International Airport. At 6:20 a.m. on October 23, 1983 most Marines were still in bed. A yellow Mercedes delivery truck, not unlike many other trucks that came and went around the Marine barracks entered the International airport, turned on an access road that led to the Marine barracks and circled around a parking lot. The truck turned towards the compound and raced forward. It crashed through a chain link fence separating the parking lot from the entrance to the barracks. It burst through a gate and drove into the lobby of Marine Headquarters. The truck, carrying more than 12,000 pounds of TNT, was detonated by the driver.

The four story building immediately collapsed. Two hundred and twenty Marines, eighteen Navy personnel and three Army soldiers lost their lives in the attack. Sixty Americans were injured in the explosion. Two miles away and twenty seconds later, at the French barracks, another truck exploded, killing fifty-eight French paratroopers and injuring 15. Rescue attempts at the barracks were difficult as snipers took shots at the rescue workers.

Aftermath: President Ronald Reagan called the attack a deplorable act and insisted that they would stay in Lebanon. They eventually moved the Marines out to the Naval Fleet in the Harbor to protect them. In 1984, the Marines departed. The United States did not retailiate for the attacks, fearing they would lose support of other Arab nations. The French, however, did response with an airstrike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which had given support to the Hezbollah organization.

The failure to take revenge for this terrorist atrocity is probably Ronald Reagan's biggest foreign policy blunder. It ranks with Jimmy Carter's enormous blunders in Iran.

Our enemy has a long memory that dates back to the founding of Islam; they savor every victory over the infidels (that's us) and seethe and writhe in shame at every loss. It is way past time for the Bush administration to tie Hezbollah to Iran, its nuclear weapons program, and the war on terror. Would Iran supply WMD to Hezbollah if it could? We shouldn't wait to find out. Better to send a large force of Marines to Southern Lebanon to help the Israelis wipe out Hezbollah. I'm sure the Marines would relish the oppotunity to avenge the cowardly murder of 220 of their fellow Marines back in 1983.

Wed Jul 12, 2006

The Indian bombings escalate a simmering civil war

Muslim terrorists have been killing Indians for years

This table, derived from an analysis at The religion of Peace, shows the number of Muslim terrorist attacks in India during the first six months of 2006:
Date Country City Killed Injured Description
1/2/2006 India Khog 1 0 An 18-year-old Hindu is kidnapped by militant Muslims and tortured to death.
1/3/2006 India Bumloora 1 0 A civilian is abducted from his job site and hanged by the Mujahideen.
1/9/2006 India Awantipora 1 0 The Mujahideen abduct a man from his home and shoot him to death.
1/11/2006 India Udhampur 1 2 A teenage girl is killed when militants hurl a grenade into her home on Eid day. Two other relatives are injured.
1/15/2006 India Kashmir Valley 1 0 A contractor is abducted and killed by the Mujahideen.
1/16/2006 India Kulgam 2 1 Islamic radicals gun down two political activists in separate attacks.
1/18/2006 India Pampore 1 0 The body of a civilian is recovered ten days after being abducted by the Mujahideen.
1/19/2006 India Khrew Pampore 1 0 A civilian is shot to death by the Mujahideen at his village.
1/21/2006 India Budshah Chowk 0 7 Seven people are injured in a Mujahideen grenade attack.
1/27/2006 India Tral 1 0 A policeman is killed in a Mujahideen mine attack.
1/28/2006 India Poonch 2 2 Two army personnel are killed by Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, who infiltrated the border.
1/29/2006 India Kanjikullah 1 0 A policeman is abducted and murdered by the Mujahideen.
2/4/2006 India Sarhuti 1 0 Hizb-ul-Mujahideen behead a young man.
2/5/2006 India Baramulla 1 0 A civilian is murdered by the Mujahideen.
2/6/2006 India Amirabad Tral 1 0 Muslim terrorists gun down a policeman.
2/6/2006 India Gursai 1 0 Muslim terrorists abduct a civilian from his home and murder him in captivity.
2/9/2006 India Kither 2 0 A woman is among two people killed in an ambush by Muslim terrorists.
2/10/2006 India Gursai 1 0 A civilian is abducted and hanged to death by the Mujahideen.
2/11/2006 India Shedgam 1 0 Muslim radicals kill a civilian outside his home.
2/14/2006 India Sopore 1 5 Six civilians are injured when a Muslim militant tosses a grenade into the street. One succcumbs to injuries two days later.
2/15/2006 India Bugam Kulgam 1 1 The Mujahideen force their way into a home, then shoot a man to death and injure his brother.
2/17/2006 India Panglar 1 1 The Mujahideen gun down a policeman in a brutal attack that also injures a young girl.
2/19/2006 India Srinagar 1 0 A civilian is gunned down in broad daylight by the Muhahideen.
2/20/2006 India Pattan 1 0 Militant Muslims shoot a civilian to death on a highway.
2/22/2006 India Sopore 1 0 The Mujahideen murder a woman outside her village.
2/23/2006 India Srinagar 1 0 Islamic terrorists murder a university student.
2/25/2006 India Sarhuti 1 0 Only weeks after the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen beheaded her fiance, the same group breaks into a young woman's house and shoots her to death.
2/27/2006 India Sopore 1 0 The Mujahideen gun down a civilian on the street.
2/28/2006 India Bijbehara 1 0 Islamic terrorists kill an animal worker.
3/1/2006 India Titwan 1 0 The Mujahideen abduct a teenage boy and then behead him in captivity.
3/1/2006 India Baramulla 2 0 Two security personnel are gunned down by the Mujahideen.
3/1/2006 India Baramulla 2 0 Two policemen are murdered by Islamic militants while on street patrol.
3/2/2006 India Tarzoo 1 0 A civilian is murdered by the Mujahideen.
3/3/2006 India Lucknow 2 12 Muslim rioters kill two Hindus and injure a dozen more.
3/5/2006 India Pulwama 0 26 Twenty-four civilians and two police are injured when a Jaish-e-Mohammad militant tosses a grenade into the road.
3/5/2006 India Srinagar 2 3 Two policemen die when a Jaish-e-Mohammad radical lobs a grenade at their picket.
3/5/2006 India Baramulla 1 0 A man is gunned down by the Mujahideen at a bus stop.
3/7/2006 India Varanasi 23 62 Muslim terrorists (Lashkar-e-Toiba) use a trio of bombs against Hindu civilians at a religious prayer offering. At least twenty-three innocents are massacred and several dozen injured.
3/7/2006 India Handwara 1 0 A woman who suffered injuries when Muslims attacked her on 11/21 finally succumbs. Elsewhere, the Mujahideen kidnaps a 17-year-old and chops off his fingers.
3/8/2006 India Awantipora 1 0 An SPO is kidnapped by Islamic militants and killed in captivity.
3/8/2006 India Chajru 1 0 A villager is brutally gunned down by the Mujahideen.
3/11/2006 India Reasi 1 1 Mujahideen terrorists force their way into a civilian's house and shoot him to death.
3/11/2006 India Ladi Pahalgam 1 1 The Mujahideen abducts two civilians from their home and shoots one to death in captivity.
3/11/2006 India Thathri 0 1 Muslim terrorists force their way into a home and deliberately cripple a young girl by shooting her in both legs.
3/12/2006 India Kader 1 0 A boy is abducted and beheaded by the Mujahideen.
3/13/2006 India Ganderbal 1 0 After keeping him in captivity for two days under harsh conditions, the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen hang an abducted civilian.
3/15/2006 India Bhajja 2 0 An older husband and wife are shot to death by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists after forcing their way into the couple's home.
3/18/2006 India Sumbal 1 0 Muslim gunmen murder a young civilian.
3/18/2006 India Rawalpora 0 10 A woman and nine others are injured in a powerful Hizb-ul-Mujahideen car blast.
3/19/2006 India Sopore 2 5 Al Mansooran terrorists kill two security guards by tossing a grenade into their complex.
3/20/2006 India Rajouri 1 0 A civilian is murdered by the Mujahideen.
3/25/2006 India Sangiot 1 0 A boy is abducted and murdered by the Mujahideen.
3/26/2006 India Pampore 1 7 Lashker-e-Toiba militants attack an Indian army convoy on a highway, killing at least one.
3/27/2006 India Sanjote 1 0 A youth is kidnapped and tortured by the Mujahideen, who finish him off by slitting his throat.
3/27/2006 India Rohama 1 0 A civilian is shot dead by the Mujahideen.
3/30/2006 India Gandipora 1 0 The Mujahideen abduct and murder a local folk singer.
3/31/2006 India Soura 1 5 The Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist group uses an IED against a military vehicle, killing one and injuring five.
4/1/2006 India Gharat 1 0 The Mujahideen abduct and kill a civilian.
4/2/2006 India Sopore 1 0 Islamic militants assassinate a city councilman.
4/2/2006 India Chadoora 1 0 The Mujahideen abduct and murder a university grad student.
4/2/2006 India Lama Dhar 1 0 A teenager is killed in a grenade attack by the Mujahideen.
4/4/2006 India Baramulla 1 2 Militant Muslims kill a party activist and injure two women with automatic weapons.
4/4/2006 India Tral 1 0 A policeman is abducted and killed by Islamic radicals.
4/6/2006 India Harhama 1 0 A 70-year-old man is shot to death by Muslim terrorists.
4/7/2006 India Baradari 1 4 A Mujahideen bombing on a bus kills at least one civilian.
4/7/2006 India Kashiyar 1 0 The Mujahideen abduct and behead a civilian.
4/7/2006 India Parne 2 0 An elderly couple are murdered inside their home by Islamic radicals in a heinous attack.
4/9/2006 India Challad 3 0 Three members of a family, including two brothers and a woman, are murdered by the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
4/10/2006 India Bijbehara 1 0 A forest worker is abducted and murdered by the Mujahideen.
4/11/2006 India Kangan 1 0 A civilian is abducted and murdered by the Mujahideen.
4/12/2006 India Tral 1 1 A Mujahideen ambush against a vehicle leaves one dead.
4/14/2006 India Srinagar 5 31 A series of deadly grenade attacks on civilians leave three women and two men dead.
4/17/2006 India Tral 1 4 Muslim militants attempt a political assassination, killing one and injuring four.
4/18/2006 India Sildhar 2 0 The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen abduct two civilians from their homes and murder them in captivity.
4/19/2006 India Handwara 2 0 Two soldiers on leave are killed inside their home by the Mujahideen.
4/20/2006 India Bhaderwah 1 3 A Mujahideen grenade attack on a police station leaves one dead and three injured.
4/21/2006 India Gool 2 0 Two transportation employees are shot to death on the job by Muslim radicals.
4/21/2006 India Kishtwar 1 0 A civilian is gunned down by the Mujahideen.
4/21/2006 India Cherwan 1 0 The Mujahideen murders a civilian outside his village.
4/23/2006 India Pulwama 1 0 A civilian is abducted and murdered by the Mujahideen.
4/24/2006 India Srinagar 1 25 One civilian was killed, and two dozen others wounded, when Muslim militants stage three grenade attacks on polling stations.
4/25/2006 India Arnora 2 0 Two bodyguards are killed by Muslim terrorists attempting to wipe out the family of a legislator.
4/25/2006 India Tral 0 24 Twelve schoolchildren are among twenty-four people injured when an Islamic radical hurls a grenade into a crowded market.
4/25/2006 India Shopian 1 0 A bookseller succumbs to injuries suffered from an Islamic terror attack.
4/27/2006 India Awantipore 1 0 The Mujahideen gun down a policeman.
4/27/2006 India Pahalgam 0 20 Twenty people, including eight tourists, are injured when a Muslim radical tosses a grenade into a crowded bus stop.
4/28/2006 India Kulgam 1 0 The Mujahideen kill a Communist Party activist inside his home.
4/30/2006 India Udhampur 13 0 Thirteen Hindus are kidnapped by Muslim extremists and brutally executed. Families are among the dead.
5/1/2006 India Kulangam 1 0 A civilian is killed when the Mujahideen detonate a roadside bomb.
5/1/2006 India Doda 22 9 Islamic militants rouse Hindu villagers in the middle of the night and have them line up outside their homes, where they are massacred. Twenty-two are killed. Only nine survive with injury. The victims include women and children.
5/1/2006 India Handwara 1 3 The Mujahideen kill a construction worker and injure three others with an IED on their job site.
5/2/2006 India Doda 1 0 A civilian is abducted from a forested area and executed by the Mujahideen.
5/4/2006 India Chadoora 2 9 Two civilians are killed when Islamic militants hurl a grenade into a market.
5/5/2006 India Bijnour 1 0 A civilian is kidnapped from his home by the Mujahideen and killed in captivity.
5/6/2006 India Kupwara 1 0 A civilian is killed inside his home by the Muhahideen.
5/7/2006 India Pulwama 2 0 Two Mujahideen, who are considering quitting, are gunned down by their peers.
5/9/2006 India Kilimanoor 1 0 A father of three is brutally stabbed to death by Muslim militants.
5/10/2006 India Gandoh 1 0 A guard is killed in a Mujahideen attack on a civilian's home.
5/10/2006 India Doda 1 2 A Mujahideen attack on a house leaves one civilian dead.
5/11/2006 India Bi-Tara 1 1 The Mujahideen murder a civilian and injure another in a shooting attack.
5/11/2006 India Dhandli 1 0 A woman is murdered inside her home by a group of militant Muslims.
5/11/2006 India Srinagar 2 0 Al Mansoorian terrorists gun down two police officers in cold blood.
5/13/2006 India Doda 2 41 Militant Muslims attack Hindus civilians at a rally with grenades. At least two are killed.
5/14/2006 India Kunan Poshpora 1 0 The Mujahideen ambush and kill a civilian.
5/15/2006 India Chatibandi Bandipore 2 0 The Mujahideen behead two civilians.
5/15/2006 India Batpora 2 0 Two civilians are kidnapped by Muslim radicals, then killed by having their throats slit. One was a shopkeeper.
5/16/2006 India Handwara 1 0 A civilian is lynched from a tree by the Mujahideen.
5/17/2006 India Doda 0 18 Eighteen people are injured when a Muslim hurls a grenade at a crowd.
5/18/2006 India Srinagar 1 23 A Muslim woman tosses a grenade out a car window, killing a civilian. A second blast in Pulwama injures twenty-three.
5/21/2006 India Srinagar 6 22 Two Islamic groups vie for responsibility for a bloody attack on a youth rally that leaves six innocents dead.
5/23/2006 India Srinagar 2 38 Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists rampage against unarmed civilians in the capital city.
5/23/2006 India Thanala 1 0 A civilian is beheaded by Islamic extremists.
5/23/2006 India Srinagar 2 20 Two people are killed when a Fedayeen detonates an explosives-laden vehicle along a city street.
5/25/2006 India Srinagar 4 7 An 8-year-old boy is among four killed when militant Muslims hurl a grenade at a tourist bus.
5/25/2006 India Chewa 1 0 A civilian is murdered by the Mujahideen.
5/26/2006 India Kishtwar 2 0 Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami shoot two farmers to death in their field.
5/27/2006 India Bandipura 2 1 A woman is among two people shot to death by Islamic terrorists.
5/28/2006 India Srinagar 3 0 Three civilians are murdered by Islamic terrorists in separate attacks - one as he lay injured in a hospital bed.
5/30/2006 India Srinagar 1 9 A Jaish-e-Mohammad militant tosses a grenade into a crowd of people, killing one.
5/31/2006 India Thal 1 0 Islamic terrorists slit the throat of a villager.
5/31/2006 India Dalgate 1 36 Thirty-six tourists are injured in two Mujahideen attacks on their buses. One succumbs to injuries on June 2.
6/1/2006 India Budhal 1 0 A civilian is abducted and murdered by the Mujahideen.
6/2/2006 India Bhata 1 0 A civilian is abducted and murdered by the Mujahideen.
6/4/2006 India Rajouri 1 0 Islamic radicals kill a man inside his home.
6/7/2006 India Patnazi 1 0 Islamic terrorists murder an 18-year-old girl in her home.
6/12/2006 India Sopore 3 0 Three people are killed in two separate Islamic grenade attacks.
6/12/2006 India Kulgam 8 5 Hibul Mujahideen massacre eight migrant laborers.
6/12/2006 India Budora 1 0 A newly recruited soldier, home on leave, is abducted, tortured and beheaded by the Mujahideen.
6/12/2006 India Jammu 1 22 Hindu pilgrims at a busstop are the targets of a grenade attack by Islamic militants.
6/13/2006 India Anantnag 1 0 The Mujahideen abduct a civilian, murder him and then toss his body in a stream.
6/14/2006 India Sopore 1 0 A man is murdered by Islamic terrorists.
6/14/2006 India Bandipore 2 0 Two civilians are gunned down by the Mujahideen.
6/15/2006 India Dunga 1 13 Two brothers are brutally tortured by Islamists, who cut off their tongues, noses and ears. A 65-year-old man is also shot to death.
6/15/2006 India Srundoo 1 0 The Mujahideen gun down a civilian.
6/16/2006 India Bandipore 2 3 The Mujahideen stages a grenade attack along a city street, killing two civilians.
6/16/2006 India Kashmir 2 0 Two civilians are murdered by militant Muslims in separate attacks.
6/19/2006 India Tangmarg 1 0 A civilian is abducted and murdered by the Mujahideen.
6/20/2006 India Aaora Missipora 1 0 A political activist is shot to death by the Mujahideen.
6/22/2006 India Sopore 2 20 Muslim militants hurl a grenade at the house of a religious rival, killing a woman and a child, and injuring twenty others.
6/22/2006 India Rajpura 1 0 A civilian is killed in his home by the Mujahideen.
6/23/2006 India Lal Chowk 1 0 Islamists murder a police officer on a city street in the capital.
6/24/2006 India Palhalan 1 1 A 12-year-old boy is killed in a Mujahideen ambush.
6/24/2006 India Srinigar 1 9 An Islamic militant tosses a grenade into a crowded street crossing.
6/25/2006 India Tral 1 0 The Mujahideen kidnap a policeman and then torture and execute him.
6/26/2006 India Baramulla 2 0 Two civilians are murdered by the Mujahideen in separate attacks.
6/26/2006 India Bandipore 3 0 Islamic radicals gun down three civilians.
6/27/2006 India Rajpora 2 0 Two people are kidnapped by Islamic militants, and then exectuted with their bodies thrown into a stream.
6/29/2006 India Kashmir 2 0 Two civilians are shot to death by radical Muslims in separate attacks (Kangan and Bandipore).

The toll, before the latest atrocity, was 254 dead and 578 wounded. It's a bit hard to blame Bush's war on terror for these attacks. The truth is that Muslims have been slaughtering Hindus for centuries. Some of the worst atrocities in history were perpetrated by Muslim invaders, as this FrontPageMagazine article explains:

Moslem invaders "broke and burned everything beautiful they came across in Hindustan," displaying, as an Indian commentator put it, the resentment of the less developed warriors who felt intimidated in the encounter with "a more refined culture." The Moslem Sultans built mosques at the sites of torn down temples, and many Hindus were sold into slavery. As far as they were concerned, Hindus were kafirs, heathens, par excellence. They, and to a lesser extent the peaceful Buddhists, were, unlike Christians and Jews, not "of the book" but at the receiving end of Muhammad’s injunction against pagans: "Kill those who join other gods with God wherever you may find them." (Not that being "of the book" has much helped Jewish and Christian victims of other Moslem aggressions, but that’s another article.)

The mountainous northwestern approaches to India are to this day called the Hindu Kush, "the Slaughter of the Hindu," a reminder of the days when Hindu slaves from Indian subcontinent died in harsh Afghan mountains while being transported to Moslem courts of Central Asia. The slaughter in Somnath, the site of a celebrated Hindu temple, where 50,000 Hindus were slain on Mahmud’s orders, set the tone for centuries.

Muslims regard India as Muslim land, just as they regard Spain and Israel as Muslim land. Any territory taken by Muslims remains Muslim forever, in their view. It is in that noble spirit that Muslims feel free to slaughter Jews, Christians, Hindus, and everyone else, including fellow Muslims.

Thu Jul 06, 2006

The Democratic Underground proves a 9/11 theory

The 9/11 Towers must have been brought down by controlled explosions

Popular Mechanics debunked the most prominent 9/11 conspiracy theories. One of the theories was that burning jet fuel could not have melted the structural steel that held up the twin towers and the buildings must have been brought down by controlled explosions planted by some military organization controlled by Bush. Here's the Popular Mechanics analysis of that claim:

CLAIM: "We have been lied to," announces the Web site AttackOnAmerica.net. "The first lie was that the load of fuel from the aircraft was the cause of structural failure. No kerosene fire can burn hot enough to melt steel." The posting is entitled "Proof Of Controlled Demolition At The WTC."

FACT: Jet fuel burns at 800° to 1500°F, not hot enough to melt steel (2750°F). However, experts agree that for the towers to collapse, their steel frames didn't need to melt, they just had to lose some of their structural strength--and that required exposure to much less heat. "I have never seen melted steel in a building fire," says retired New York deputy fire chief Vincent Dunn, author of The Collapse Of Burning Buildings: A Guide To Fireground Safety. "But I've seen a lot of twisted, warped, bent and sagging steel. What happens is that the steel tries to expand at both ends, but when it can no longer expand, it sags and the surrounding concrete cracks."

"Steel loses about 50 percent of its strength at 1100°F," notes senior engineer Farid Alfawak-hiri of the American Institute of Steel Construction. "And at 1800° it is probably at less than 10 percent." NIST also believes that a great deal of the spray-on fireproofing insulation was likely knocked off the steel beams that were in the path of the crashing jets, leaving the metal more vulnerable to the heat.

But jet fuel wasn't the only thing burning, notes Forman Williams, a professor of engineering at the University of California, San Diego, and one of seven structural engineers and fire experts that PM consulted. He says that while the jet fuel was the catalyst for the WTC fires, the resulting inferno was intensified by the combustible material inside the buildings, including rugs, curtains, furniture and paper. NIST reports that pockets of fire hit 1832°F.

"The jet fuel was the ignition source," Williams tells PM. "It burned for maybe 10 minutes, and [the towers] were still standing in 10 minutes. It was the rest of the stuff burning afterward that was responsible for the heat transfer that eventually brought them down."

Of course, that refutation isn't good enough for some of the folks at Democratic Underground. Two-Four links to a post at Democratic Underground by Spoooked911, a frequent contributor, who conducted his own scientific experiment to prove that burning jet fuel could not have brought down the towers. It is fascinating to watch a great scientific genius at work. The mark of a genius is the ability to reduce a problem to its essential components. Spooked911 does that (follow the links to see the illustrations):

I set up the following experiment using steel rabbit fencing as the steel structure supporting a heavy cement block.

Note, this fencing is easily bendable, has no significant rigidity, and was not reinforced in any way. The fencing was bent into an outer square and an inner rectangle (the core):

Then I damaged the "columns" by cutting them with wire cutters:

Just inside where the gash was made in the outer wall, I placed a cup of kerosene (jet fuel), and there was newspaper around the bottom on the structure.

Then I put a heavy cement block on top, weighing about 15 pounds. I don't think the wire structure would hold more than three of these blocks, so the "safety factor" was not particularly high.

Then I tipped over the cup and lit the kerosene:

Then fire burned for about twenty minutes, and toward the end, I put my foot on the structure to see if it would extra weight. It still did:

The structure held up fine after the fire died:

After the fire was hot, the "columns" were not hot at all:

In a second experiment, I used the same wire fence and block set up, but increased the amount of "airplane damage", added in newspaper all around the inside of the structure, and soaked everything thoroughly with kerosene. In this expt, the fire was more intense and lasted significantly longer, but... the structure held up just fine. (Sorry no pictures of this one).

What I conclude is that a fairly flimsy steel structure does not distort and bend and collapse very easily from a simple hydrocarbon fire. And thus, it is not clear why the much stronger steel columns in the WTC towers weakened so much from fires that the towers underwent global collapse.

If kerosene/jet fuel/hydrocarbon fires can indeed cause steel structures to collapse, it should be quite simple to show this in an experiment-- right?

Wrong, genius.

Tue Jul 04, 2006

We don't call them Islamofascists for no reason

Radical Islam's links with the Nazis

TogerHawk links to a post at Willisms that describes the links:

If you think Husseini [Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, uncle of Arafat] learned his anti-semitism from Hitler, you might be surprised to know it might have been the other way around. As early as 1920 Husseini was organizing pogroms against Jews while 'Palestine' was still under British control, killing hundreds of Jews and injuring many more.

Husseini's admiration for and collaboration with Nazism is by no means an isolated case. Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, was also an 'ardent supporter' of Nazi Germany, as was Anwar Sadat, who spent four years in a British prison camp for collaboration with the Third Reich. In his 1978 autobiography, In Search of Identity, Sadat wrote:

"I was in our village for the summer vacation when Hitler marched from Munich to Berlin, to wipe out the consequences of Germany's defeat in World War I and rebuild his country. I gathered my friends and told them we ought to follow Hitler's example...."

One of the founders of Syria’s Ba'ath Party, Sami al-Joundi, said "We admired the Nazis. We were immersed in reading Nazi literature and books . . . . We were the first who thought of a translation of Mein Kampf. Anyone who lived in Damascus at that time was witness to the Arab inclination toward Nazism."

Gamal Abdel Nasser's brother Nassiri translated Mein Kampf into arabic, and was an enthusiastic supporter of Hitler.

Go read the whole piece.

One thing that the Palestinians learned from the Nazis was the power of the big lie. They've been so good at it at that Western lefties now routinely equate Israelis with Nazis. Lawrence Auster wrote:

51 percent of Germans equate Israelis with Nazis

This shocking news is from the Jerusalem Post, via JihadWatch:
Six decades after the mass extermination of six million Jews in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany, more than 50 percent of Germans believe that Israel's present-day treatment of the Palestinians is similar to what the Nazis did to the Jews during World War II, a German survey released this weekend shows.

51 percent of respondents said that there is not much of a difference between what Israel is doing to the Palestinians today and what the Nazis did to the Jews during the Holocaust, compared to 49% who disagreed with such a comparison, according to the poll carried out by Germany's University of Bielefeld.

The survey also found that 68 percent of Germans believe that Israel is waging a "war of extermination" against the Palestinians, while some 32% disagreed with such a statement.
JihadWatch explains the prevalence of this amazing belief among Germans as the result of jihadist propaganda. That's certainly a big part of it, but I think a bigger part of it is liberalism itself. Liberalism teaches modern Westerners that any exertion of authority, any use of force, is the equivalent of Fascism or Nazism (of course there are lots of unprincipled exceptions to this). Modern Westerners see the Israelis, year in, year out, suppressing the Palestinian population, using violence against them. They don't have to know anything else, they don't have to know what the Palestinians are doing, they don't have to know why the Israelis have no choice but to do what they are doing. All they see is the "oppression," and that is enough.

Seventy years ago, based on Nazi race ideology, the German people delegitimized the Jewish people and waged a demonic campaign to drive them out of existence.

Today, based on liberalism, the German people delegitimize the Jewish state and support the people who are waging a demonic campaign to drive it out of existence.

Himmler would be so proud of the Islamofascists and their lies.

Mon Jul 03, 2006

MSM Treachery

It's freaking everywhere

Watched the fireworks display after the Indians Yankees game at Jacobs field. It's the eve of the 4th of July so we were expecting lots of red, white and blue. What we got was lots of red and green. No blue. What were they celebrating? The Mexican election?

So we turned our attention back to the TV and caught the last half of "Patriot Games". It depicts IRA bad guys, linked up with Islamic "freedom fighters" based in Libya, taking revenge on a CIA good guy played by Harrison Ford. It's based on a Tom Clancy novel and is a pretty good thriller. Made in 1992. What do we get from Hollywood post 9/11?

VDH has the bad news:

Take this fall's "Flightplan," in which the U.S. air marshal on board and a flight attendant turn out to be the true terrorists. Meanwhile, four Middle Eastern males are unfairly put under suspicion in the lynch-mob atmosphere on the plane.

The film warns us that the real threat after Sept. 11 is certainly not young Middle Eastern males on planes who might hijack or crash them into iconic American buildings. No, more dangerous in Hollywood's alternate universe are the flight officials themselves — who in reality on Sept. 11 battled terrorists only to have their throats cut before being blown up with all the passengers.

A slickly filmed "Syriana" is the worst of the recent releases. The film's problem is not just that it predictably presents the bad, ugly sheik as a puppet of American oil interests while the handsome and good independent crown price is assassinated for championing his oppressed people against Western hegemony. Or that the conniving corporate potentates have big bellies and Southern accents while the good-hearted, sloppily dressed George Clooney is double-crossed by his stylish, pampered CIA bosses safe in the Washington, D.C., suburbs.

"Syriana" also perverts historical reality. Everything connected with the oil industry is portrayed as corrupt and exploitive, with no hint that petroleum fuels civilization. Hollywood producers might not see many oil rigs off the Malibu coast, but someone finds and delivers them gas each morning for their luxury cars.
...
Spielberg's "Munich" assumes just such a false symmetry between the killers who murdered the innocent athletes and the Israeli agents who hunted them down — each in their own way victimized and caught in a cycle of "perpetual" violence.

Lost in this pop moralizing is the reality of 1972, when none of Israel's neighbors were willing to accept the existence of the Jewish state within even its original borders. Then there was no chance that Israeli agents would storm an Olympic event and murder athletes — but every probability that the Soviet bloc, Western Europeans and Middle East autocracies would never hunt down international terrorists who had done so to Israelis.

So Bill Keller is just doing his duty when he discloses and disables security program after security program, all to the benefit of Osama Bin Ladin. Even better, he granted himself authority to do so without once checking with the people.

Sat Jul 01, 2006

Why I hate soccer

It's the sports equivalent of World War I

World War I was a stalemate until the very last months, as this commentary by Lexington Green at Chicago Boyz explains:

I have not been clear at all if you need to say this. I thought everyone already knew that the German Army of World War I was an extraordinary army. It crushed Russia. It virtually destroyed the Italian Army. It held the French and British at bay for years. It swept an entire British Army off the map in a matter of days during the March 1918 offensive. The quality of German Army of World War I is beyond dispute and needs no verbal defense from me.

The point of my comments is that the British Army of World War I ended up being a very powerful, very effective army. This is fact, however, virtually unknown. The final offensives it launched in 1918 were an amazing campaign that is virtually unknown. This is a serious defect in our historical view of the war. Yes, by then the German army had been ground down. But, that is the whole idea of an attritional war. When attrition has taken its bite, you can finish the enemy off. And even against a weakened enemy, the final offensives were remarkable displays of skill and coordination of all arms.

Well, it's World Cup time, so I paid an eighth of an eyelid to bits of it today. We watched the shoot-out that gave Portugal victory over England. I tried to explain it to my wife. She gets opera, she gets Hamlet, she gets drama, but she doesn't get sports.

We were out when France played Brazil so I watched the replay. I knew who won but I wanted to see how it happened. First half, nothing but whines from the wife. Second half, same as the first, and then I feel a horrible itch by a band-aid on my heel. I'd abraded my heel a couple of days ago on a little 6 mile run, and it bled a bit. So I headed to the bathroom to check out the itch. Seems a mosquito caught the whiff of blood and bit me nearby. I put on some anti-itch cream and then I heard a triumphant scream from my wife. They scored, she yelled, while you were in the bathroom. I didn't tell her it was a replay, but still, it hurt to miss the ONE score in an 80 minute game.

The incident reminded her of a famous family story about her grandfather. He'd gone to a 1920 World series game to watch Cleveland play Boston. He was a fan. He died watching a baseball game and likely wanted to go in a baseball park. Anyways, he's at the game and decides he needs a hot dog. He heads out to the hot dog concession and hears a great roar from the crowd. He'd just missed the first and only unassisted triple-play in World Series history. I think he took out his rage on the hot dog.

Missing the winning goal in a World Cup soccer game isn't quite on the same scale, but she was happy to draw the parallel.

Why we hate the MSM's coverage of Iraq

No perspective, all slant

Neo-Neocon explains the incredible short-sightedness of the MSM:

But when I read the linked Reuters article that began this post, I wondered about what the journalists at Reuters are keeping in mind when I saw the following sentence [my emphasis], "No one claimed responsibility for the attack but it had the stamp of al Qaeda and made a mockery of a three week-old security clampdown in Baghdad."

The increase in the sort of editorializing represented by the phrase "made a mockery," occurring in a straight news article, is one of the reasons many of us criticize the MSM, including Reuters. And it's not just that the statement seems out of place; it seems unintelligent and simplistic, at best. A security clampdown in the sort of atmosphere that is present-day Baghdad is, by definition, not going to be perfect, and anyone who expects it to be is naive and unrealistic.

It would have been too much to expect the media to put a terrorist attack into a statistical perspective. The media fails to understand perspective or statistics. Their motto: "If it bleeds it leads", especially if it undermines Bush's war on Jihadism.

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