A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Chinese Spying a Threat, Panel Says - Spying by China in the United States is the biggest threat to keeping American technology secrets, a bipartisan government panel concluded in a report released yesterday. (READ MORE)
Pakistanis Growing Frustrated With U.S. - ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 15 -- Inside call centers and in high school social studies classes, at vegetable markets and in book bazaars, Pakistanis from different walks of life here say that ever since President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule two weeks ago, he's been the most unpopular... (READ MORE)
State Dept. Won't Order Diplomats to Iraq - The State Department expects to announce, perhaps as early as today, that volunteers have filled all 48 open jobs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for next year and that it will not order any foreign service officers to work there against their will, officials said yesterday. (READ MORE)
U.S. to Seek New Sanctions Against Iran - The Bush administration plans to push for new sanctions against Iran after the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency reported yesterday that Tehran is providing "diminishing" information about its controversial nuclear program, U.S. officials said. (READ MORE)
Spitzer's Fall - When we last checked on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, he had got himself into an ethics imbroglio over the matter of trying to destroy a political opponent. His descent has continued--to where a poll this week reports that only 25% of New Yorkers say they'd re-elect him. The other 75% can't say they weren't warned. (READ MORE)
CBS Asks Judge to Dismiss Rather's Suit - CBS asked a judge Thursday to dismiss a $70 million defamation lawsuit that veteran television newsman Dan Rather filed against the network and its parent company, arguing that he waited too long to take legal action. (READ MORE)
In Mississippi, Poor Lag in Hurricane Aid - The state is the only one for which the White House has waived the rule that 50 percent of its federal grants be spent on low-income programs. (READ MORE)
Court Rejects Fuel Standards on Trucks - A federal appeals court said that new fuel-economy standards for light trucks, including S.U.V.’s, didn’t thoroughly assess the impact of greenhouse gases. (READ MORE)
Hillary Goes on Attack - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last night retaliated against her two main challengers for the first time — saying neither has taken bold stances on the issues. (READ MORE)
Hollywood Stars Mum on Donations to GOP - Republican presidential candidates have been drawing support — and cash — from Hollywood celebrities, but few of the stars in super-liberal Tinseltown want to be publicly linked with the Grand Old Party. (READ MORE)
Democrats See Victory 'Out of Reach'- Top Democrats yesterday rejected reports of U.S. military progress in Iraq, saying victory remains "out of reach" as long as political divisions roil Baghdad. (READ MORE)
White House Fills State Position - The Bush administration has outmaneuvered the Senate to install a loyalist in the top arms control post once held by John R. Bolton over the strong objection of the Foreign Relations Committee, congressional and administration officials said yesterday. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
From an Anthropological Perspective: Rituals of Group Membership - The 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division is now on their way home after, for some, serving sixteen months in Iraq. Most were here at least fourteen months. I had the honor of working with them for two months and am now looking forward to ten months with another brigade, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Before the 2/1 left however, their Deputy Commanding Officer whom I worked closely with gave my team a unit coin. (READ MORE)
This War and Me: Little Doodah - I occassionally come across a story that touches my heart in such a way that I have to share it. I came across such a story today. I came across the story of a 5-year old Iraqi girl named, Roossel. Her father calls her Doodah. Below is a letter to Greg from his brother, Joe. Every day you see local nationals working around base. They come from all over the area and help us build or rebuild on the base. Some of them work on water lines, some build fences and some, like Doodah's father, drive trucks that haul supplies or materials. (READ MORE)
Michael Yon: Come Home - Come home, come home, Ye who are weary, come home; Will L. Thompson, “Softly and Tenderly” The Dome Under the Cross: Local Muslim and Christian leaders had prepared the church for his arrival. A Bishop came to St John’s Church in Baghdad today, 15 November, where a crowd of locals welcomed him home. They were joined at the service by soldiers from the 2-12 infantry battalion, many of whom had fought hard to secure these neighborhood streets. Members of the hard-fighting Iraqi Army 3rd Division were also here for this special day. (READ MORE)
Iraq Pundit: Drop in Violence - My relatives in Baghdad welcome the security improvements in the city. They say they can see a marked difference just since September. Here the BBC quotes Baghdadis who have similar comments on the improvement: "I think it's because the American and Iraqi troops have started to attack the Mehdi army. They have been arresting leaders of the Mehdi army and also al-Qaeda." (READ MORE)
Yellowhammering Afghanistan: Halftime - It's finally here - the six-month mark. We're half way there to mission completion. We're half way home. The hump is huge because from every day forward there is less time in Afghanistan than time already here. We still have a lot we want to accomplish and the clock starts working against us in getting them all done. Looking back, we have already achieved a lot, I believe. We have also lost some guys to injuries and the stress of what we do has sidelined a few others. We miss them all and wish nothing but the best for their recovery. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
The Religion of Peace: TheReligionofPeace.com Turns 10,000! - What a difference six years makes! In the mind-numbing aftermath of 9/11, who would have guessed that within just a few years American politicians would be campaigning on promises to ensure the comfort of incarcerated terrorists... that Hollywood writers would be generating reams of scripts replete with noble Muslim characters persecuted by fictitious American bigots... that footbaths would be making their way into airports and public universities... or that Muslim travelers would be chasing lawsuit dollars by scaring the hell out of fellow airline passengers with deliberately provocative behavior. (READ MORE)
Peggy Noonan: On Setting an Example - I thought I'd say a word for the Beaconists. This election year we will, sooner or later, be asked to think about, and concentrate on, what American foreign policy should be in the future. We will have to consider, or reconsider, what challenges we face, what the world really is now after the Cold War and after 9/11, what is needed from America, and for her. In some rough and perhaps tentative way we will have to decide what philosophical understanding of our national purpose rightly guides us. (READ MORE)
Kimberly A. Strassel: Rudy's Gamble - Give Rudy Giuliani this: He's living his campaign slogans. The flinty ex-mayor keeps telling America he's fearless, a risk-taker, the guy who can accomplish the impossible (say, cleaning up Sin City). As if to prove it, he's betting the shop on a high-stakes path to the Republican nomination. Ever since a relatively unknown Georgia peanut farmer used the early primary states to garner the national spotlight, the track to the presidential nomination has run square through Iowa, New Hampshire and (more recently) South Carolina. (READ MORE)
Naomi Schaefer Riley: Evangelicals and Evil Empires - In the days since Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid, reactions have run the gamut from confused to dumbfounded. Mr. Giuliani has been credited with doing the impossible: getting one of the biggest names on the religious right to overlook his views on abortion and gay marriage. And Mr. Robertson has been accused of compromising his principles--either to defeat Hillary Clinton or to hitch his own star to a successful politician. But in endorsing Mr. Giuliani, the famed evangelist has been nothing if not consistent. Media Matters, a self-described "progressive research and information center," sent out an email immediately after the announcement. (READ MORE)
Oliver North: Legacy - It was a quiet ceremony on Veterans Day at the Reagan Ranch Center of Young America's Foundation. There, the family and friends of William J. Casey gathered for the presentation of an award on his behalf from The Honourable Company of Freedom Fighters. The international organization's charter states it was "founded to recognize and honor individuals and groups which have fought for freedom, participatory government and against fascism, communism, moral relativity and terrorism in all their forms." (READ MORE)
Charles Krauthammer: Balance of Power Returning to United States - When the Democratic presidential candidates pause from beating Hillary with a stick, they join in unison to pronounce the Democratic pieties, chief among which is that George Bush has left our alliances in ruins. As Clinton puts it, we have "alienated our friends," must "rebuild our alliances" and "restore our standing in the world." That's mild. The others describe Bush as having a scorched-earth foreign policy that has left us reviled and isolated in the world. (READ MORE)
Jonah Goldberg: iPod Democracy - A recent poll of New York University students found that two-thirds of them would trade their right to vote in the next election for a year's tuition. And 20 percent said they'd give up their right to vote for the next president in exchange for a new iPod. Half said they'd sell their right to vote - forever - for $1 million. Now, none of this really tells us anything new. We know that lots of Americans, particularly young ones, don't place much value on their right to vote. If they did, they'd vote more. (READ MORE)
Lorie Byrd: From OJ to Britney to Iraq - Remember when OJ Simpson was considered a sports hero and an American success story, rather than that guy who got away with double homicide? Remember when Britney Spears was known as the hit-making Mouseketeer who spoke publicly of remaining a virgin until marriage, rather than the out-of-control boozing party girl who shaved her head, flashed photographers and had her kids taken away from her? Timing makes all the difference. (READ MORE)
Mona Charen: Too Close to Kooky - Memo to: Ron Paul supporters Subject: Your e-mails Okay, enough is enough. Like every other journalist in America, and who knows, maybe the world or even the universe, I've been deluged with your letters and e-mails. So I've done as you asked and taken a closer look at your candidate. Here is what I've found: 1. Ron Paul is inconsistent. Though he calls himself a man of principle and is apparently admired as such by his ardent fans, his principles seem somewhat elastic. He rails against the Bush administration for its supposed assault on civil liberties, yet when he was asked at one of the debates whether Scooter Libby deserved a pardon, he said no. (READ MORE)
Burt Prelutsky: Why the Democrats Deserve to Lose - I know that most people, even my fellow conservatives, think I’m kidding when I say that it mystifies me that the Democrats constitute a major political party. But I’m perfectly serious. I honestly don’t know why more people vote for Democrats than for Libertarians or vegetarians, for that matter. At least I know what those people want: namely, less meddling by the federal government and more salads on the dinner table. (READ MORE)
Michael Reagan: Waving the White Flag - It has been said that there are none so blind as those who will not see. The quote is attributed by some to Jesus (Matthew 13:13): “Therefore I speak to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” That’s a perfect description of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid, both of whom disingenuously state that that there has been no sign of progress in Iraq and that we are losing the war there and must pull up stakes and run as fast as we can with our tails between our legs.(READ MORE)
Janet M. LaRue: Supreme Court May Target Second Amendment - The press took umbrage at a court’s “broad” interpretation of the Constitution, which recognized an individual right to keep and bear arms and shot down D.C.’s gun ban as unconstitutional. Will the Supreme Court uphold the right of self-defense? The U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t decided a Second Amendment case since United States v. Miller in 1939, and even then, it dodged the bullet. The Court didn’t decide whether the Amendment protects an individual or a collective right to keep and bear arms. (READ MORE)
Sally Canfield: Deconstructing Pipes - Since the Clinton Administration's ill-fated attempt to introduce government-run health care to the United States, mountains of paper have been produced analyzing our nation's health care system. And while Republicans and Democrats have spent countless hours debating themselves, the one group that has been left out of this debate is the American people. With 47 million Americans without some kind of health coverage, and millions more worried they will lose what coverage they have, one Governor knew the time for talking was over. What Governor Romney proved is that you can apply conservative principles to ensure that all people have access to affordable health insurance. Instead of theories, Governor Mitt Romney got results. (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: Payback - Well, I'm sure you've heard that a horde of slavering moonbats has been blockading the gates to the Port of Olympia in Washington, preventing the unloading of military hardware brought back from Iraq for refurbishing. The loons have not only been standing in front of the trucks, they've also been pouring concrete on railroad tracks to hinder the movement of materiel. They claim it's a demonstration of "people power" and an exercise of their rights to dissent, to assemble, to petition for redress of grievances, to speak out, and whatnot. Well, they ain't the only ones who have that right. So I'm wondering if it'd be just as fine and dandy for people who disagree with them to express their feelings in similar ways. (READ MORE)
Winds of Change: Patterico Is Wrong On Torture - Patterico is a friend, and a smart guy, and someone who would make me cringe in fear if he were ever to prosecute me. And a wonderful husband and dad, I'm sure. I'm saying this in no small part because he took on a challenging hypothetical about torture, and I don't think he's a bad guy for asking the question. He's been getting slammed a lot for asking. He shouldn't be, we ought to be asking the question - and the answer ought to inform us about who we are and what this country is about. But here, I'll disagree with Patterico, who says: (READ MORE)
Jonathan Adler: Court Rejects Bush CAFE Rules - Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sent the Bush Administration's revised automotive fuel economy standards back to the Department of Transportation for reconsideration. Under the Bush Administration, the DoT modestly tightened the fuel economy standards governing light trucks, but also increased the flexibility afforded automakers by basing future light-truck fuel economy standards on vehicle size, rather than an overall fleet average. In this case, Center for Biological Diversity v. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, several states and environmental groups challenged the Bush Administration's new federal fuel economy standards for light trucks on several grounds... (READ MORE)
The Tygrrrr Express: Turning into Lou Dobbs - One issue that I do not touch on my blog is the issue of illegal immigration. I also do not deal with illegal immigration’s sister issue, outsourcing. I stay out of this contentious fight over Americans and jobs because it is one that splits the republican party, and I prefer to focus on issues that unite republicans, such as taxes and the War on Terror. Also, at the risk of enraging many (if you’re not enraged by now you died a couple years ago and nobody told you), I just can’t force myself to normally care. People who obsess about the borders cannot understand how I don’t care, but I simply cannot force myself to feel passion about something that does not bother me. That does not mean I think they are wrong. It just means it is not my primary fight. (READ MORE)
TigerHawk: The Congress to American business: Do not help America in time of war - The Senate Judiciary Committee has reported out a new "eavesdropping bill" -- the term assigned by the New York Times to describe the overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- that confers no immunity on telecommunications companies that cooperated with requests for assistance from the United States government in time of war. The result is that dozens of lawsuits against those companies alleging that the telecoms damaged plaintiffs can proceed. Democrats blocked immunity because they believe that evidence to be adduced on the order of judges will reveal more details about our surveillance practices and, presumably, inflame new controversy that they can turn to partisan advantage. (READ MORE)
Tel-Chai Nation: Bolton is right: Annapolis will only be a setback - John Bolton addresses the subject of the Annapolis conference and does it well: "A former Bush administration stalwart who has become a vocal critic told The Jerusalem Post this week that the planned meeting in Annapolis later this month to push for Israeli-Palestinian peace is 'a mistake.' John Bolton, a leading neoconservative who served as the US ambassador to the UN before leaving the administration last winter, spoke to the Post following a lecture Tuesday night on his new book..." (READ MORE)
Some Soldier's Mom: Holiday Packages for the Troops - To hell withthat idiot woman in Massachusetts.... my sitemeter is filledwith people looking for ideas of things to send the troops. I know I'm running late on this post this year -- SO GET GOING!! First, I suggest that you make this a family project -- nothing better than to explain the sacrifices of the military to your children. It is also a GREAT group project -- Homeowners Associations, church groups, community groups, poker groups, reading and investment clubs... (READ MORE)
Melanie Phillips: No friend to Israel - Clearly, either the Israel embassy in London or the Times has a sense of black humour. In its report of today’s Jewish Chronicle story about how the initial enthusiasm by Prince Charles’s private secretary sir Michael Peat to accept an offer to visit Israel was slapped down by others in the Prince’s household for fear that HRH might be used to help Israel burnish its international image (heaven forbid), the Times volunteered that the invitation by the Israel embassy had been issued in the hope of building on the traditionally strong relations between Israel and the British Royal Family. (READ MORE)
Smooth Stone: Arafat's Legacy: Environmental and Health Disaster from Uncollected Garbage in Gaza - Rotting garbage is indeed the deserved and fitting image for Gaza, land stolen from the Jewish people, an image just in time to coincide with the anniversary of the death of the foul-smelling murderer Jew-hating Egyptian Yassir Arafat. From PHCR: “PCHR is extremely concerned by the accumulation of uncollected garbage throughout Gaza City as a result of a full strike by municipality employees who have not received their salaries for 8 months. The strike has stopped the provision of municipal services to the population, including health, environment, and garbage collection services throughout the city.” (READ MORE)
Rhymes with Right: Good News For Troops, Bad News For Dems - One more sign that the situation in Iraq is improving, and that we are winning. The deadly campaign of roadside bombs engaged in by the terrorist insurgents has fallen off shortly, indicating that the Surge has crippled the enemy and forced Iran to back off its support of the terrorists killing Americans and Iraqis. “An American military official on Thursday reported a sharp decrease in the number of roadside bombs and other homemade explosive devices in Iraq. The official, Maj. Gen. James E. Simmons, said Iran, which American officials contend is the source of the deadliest of those weapons, appeared to be abiding by a reported commitment to halt their flow into Iraq.” (READ MORE)
The Redhunter: Waking Up in the UK? - The British might just be waking up to the danger that surrounds them. A poll published earlier this week in the Evening Standard shows that many Brits are not keen on Muslims who won't adopt Western ways (h/t USS Neverdock). Methodology being important, the story says that those surveyed were "more than 700 "influentials" - a category including business leaders, innovators, politicians and other prominent individuals - carried out for the Standard by opinion pollsters YouGovStone." Here are some of the key findings: (READ MORE)
Jeff Emanuel: Is a gridlocked federal government (and an uninformed Senate Majority Leader) reason enough to abandon Iraq? - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stepped up to the microphone on Thursday to publicly deny that the significant military progress made in Iraq this year has actually taken place at all. “Every place you go you hear about no progress being made in Iraq,” the AP quoted the Nevada Democrat – who has clearly taken great care to avoid going to “every place” where people who actually know something about the reality on the ground in Iraq – as saying. “The government is stalemated today, as it was six months ago, as it was two years ago,” said Reid, whom the AP reported as “warning US soldiers were caught in the middle of a civil war.” (READ MORE)
Dale Franks: The Bill Problem - David Broder takes a look at Bill Clinton’s intervention in Hillary’s campaign to defend her in the aftermath of the debate fiasco. He writes that this points out the one problem her campaign has in terms of the type presidency Ms. Clinton would preside over when her husband is still vital and engaged. “The former president’s intervention — volunteered during a campaign appearance on her behalf in South Carolina — raised the second, and largely unspoken, issue identified by my friend from the Clinton administration: the two-headed campaign and the prospect of a dual presidency.” (READ MORE)
Pros and Cons: The Pros and Cons of Immigration - I too would like orderly, legal, assimilative immigration. I would like to favor young, wealthy and highly skilled, preferably entrepreneurial people in our immigration system. I even like the idea of a wall. Absolutely I think our educational system should encourage rather than discourage assimilation, except in terms of assimiliation into pop culture and “freedom below the belt”, that supposed liberty which is mere license. That said, even illegal immigration has it’s good points - it’s pros as well as cons. To whit, our ageing, relatively non-breeding (relative to our past and the assumptions built into our social welfare net, not relative to other advanced societies) needs new folks. (READ MORE)
Patterico: Why Am I Having This Debate? - I am reading across the Internet that I am a torture apologist. That is inaccurate. Reading comprehension is not a prerequisite for the Internet. I doubt that anyone making that assertion can point to a statement of mine that supports the use of torture in real life. I am open to debating the issue, but I haven’t decided in my own mind that torture is appropriate in the real world, and so I don’t think I have said that anywhere. Feel free to correct me if you think you can find a statement of mine to the contrary. I have said that I would support limited waterboarding of a known mass-murdering terrorist if it were 100% certain that it would prevent a terror attack. But, as many have noted (and as I knew when I posed the hypo), any such hypothetical is necessarily hypothetical, because it assumes the benefit of hindsight in advance. (READ MORE)
Neptunus Lex: Hard to understand - Boy Scout boxes soliciting care package donations for deployed soldiers in a Cambridge, MA polling stations were removed because a poll worker complained that they were implicitly “pro-war.” Supporting deployed soldiers with care packages is an endorsement of the war. In Cambridge, anyway. At least if such support is solicited around places where civic minded people go to exercise their right to vote. A right defended by soldiers for 231 years. The executive director of the city’s election commission apparently agrees. Where on earth do these people come from? (READ MORE)
Michelle Malkin: Sedition in Olympia: Anti-war mom drops baby human shield as anarchist kiddie shields watch - On Monday, I blogged about the human kiddie shields being used by anti-war thugs in Olympia to block military shipments. This afternoon, an Olympia reader e-mailed some new, exclusive photos and a first-hand report of the mother’s reckless behavior. First, the photos: The reader, B., works at the Port of Olympia. Here’s what he witnessed: (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Operation Spin Ghar: Uruzgan gets ugly - Fighting has rekindled in Uruzgan province, a mountainous area in central Afghanistan where Dutch and Australian forces have faced a well-established Taliban support network since 2005. Recent IED and suicide bomb attacks, one of which killed an Australian soldier in October, prompted a major response from the International Security Assistance Force and Coalition forces stationed there. Coalition forces in Uruzgan unleashed Operation Spin Ghar (White Mountain) on October 25, the largest security operation launched in that province to date. (READ MORE)
Amy Proctor: Obey Belittles Comment by Grieving Army Mother - Bottom Line Up Front: Democrats say they support the troops but continue to belittle their efforts with condescending arrogance. During debate on the floor of the Congress last night on the $50 Billion War Funding Bill that required troop withdrawal from Iraq, Democratic Congressman David Obey belittled a comment by a grieving mother of a fallen U.S. soldier in Iraq. The bill passed 218 - 203 and is sure to be vetoed by the President (HOOAH). Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas gave this statement on the floor: (READ MORE)
Little Green Footballs: (Video) Palestinian Terrorists Take Classes from the Red Cross - Wow. Talk about a mind-bending video. This slice of propaganda comes from the sanitized, slicked-up English version of Al Jazeera, as masked Palestinian terrorists attend International Humanitarian Law and First Aid training classes run by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Al Jazeera tries to show us the human side of a gang of remorseless murderers. Without taking off the masks, of course. (READ MORE)
Knee Deep In the Hooah!: When your son goes to war - I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of my son for his 18 days of leave. I am already braced for the time because I know it will all happen fast and furious, and I will be saying good-bye before I am ready. As if a mom is ever "ready" to say good-bye when her son is leaving for a battle zone. I have been thinking long and hard about him the past few days. Well, really since he left for Iraq back in April, but more so recently. I talked with him on a pretty regular basis when he first arrived in Iraq. The first few months seemed almost "normal" in a very weird way. (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Al-Jazeera Smackdown - Quote of the week: “As you know, these voters are a bunch of people misled and numbed by the proselytizing, generalized, deceptive, romanticized discourse, which promises them black-eyed virgins and boys in Paradise, and such things … If those voters had managed to get a job and a visa to America, none of them would have voted, and nobody would have watched your show. You would be fired from Al-Jazeera and would be left jobless.” Read on as anti-Islamist, anti-Arabist Nidhal Na’isa wipes up the floor with al-Jazeera and an Egyptian cleric. Favorite part: history lesson re “colonialist Bedouins.” This part’s in contention for quote of the millenium: (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: New Jihad Watch: The Islam is Peace Campaign’s Government Angle - In Part 4 of Robert’s look at the UK’s “Islam is Peace” campaign, he takes on the third point: “To call upon the government to create a just and lasting peace…” A close look reveals that the campaign is really focused on achieving the same ends that the jihadists seek, just with different means. (READ MORE)
Gribbit’s Word: Getting Beyond the Religious Divide Within Christendom - Recently I encountered anti-Catholic discrimination at its worse. I was recently terminated from an association that I had with a group made up almost entirely of fundamentalist Evangelicals who consider themselves Christian but have no idea how their religion survived the past 2000 years. I was told that the Catholic Church is not a Christian church. I have never read, yes I said read, anything more absurd in my life. The person who told me this once told me that he as a Baptist. A member of a church founded by Roger Williams in 1639. How does this person believe that the teachings of Christ survived 1600 years if the Catholic Church is not a Christian Church? (READ MORE)
Gateway Pundit: Boy Scouts Donation Boxes Removed For Being Too Pro-War! - After spending $1,500 of their own money, printing out 25,000 fliers and getting approval from the Election Commission twice, the scout's donation boxes were removed from the polling stations because they were "too pro-war." One person, an election worker (guess the party), complained that the scouts were being too pro-war by collecting goods for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Massachusetts...The scouts had an idea and spent $1,500 of their own money to help those serving overseas. (READ MORE)
The Hatemonger's Quarterly: Debate This, Feminists - As of this writing, dear reader, the Democratic contenders for the presidency of these here United States of America are soon to take their podiums and begin some high-minded partisan mud-slinging. And we, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” think that this is desperately unfair—at least in one particular case. Allow us to elaborate, if you will. Perhaps you know that Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-Whitewater) finds herself amongst the Democratic candidates. Further, you may well recognize that her rivals’ purported “ganging up” on Sen. Clinton in a previous debate caused a fair amount of feminist hand wringing. Gee: Feminist hand wringing. That must be the only example of that phenomenon in recent memory. After al, feminists are always so blissfully content. (READ MORE)
Dr. Sanity: Moral Insanity and a Compulsion to Lose The War at any Cost - Victor Davis Hanson, who just yesterday was one of the honorees receiving the National Medal of the Humanities from the President (see photo below) sees the Democrat's Iraq "debate" shifting: “Now that the Democrats suspect that the U.S. is not only not losing Iraq, but may well ‘win’ - victory being defined by stabilizing the country with a radical cessation of violence - expect the critique suddenly to morph as well. We will soon hear that the war, while granted that it may be winnable, was not worth the commensurate cost, from liberal critics who have embraced much of the realist and neo-isolationist creed of the past (at least apart from Darfur). That is a legitimate debate—as long as opponents accept that it is a fallback position, and Harry Reid was mistaken when he announced the war ‘lost’.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Hollywood conservatives - Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Republican Party? Joseph Curl of the Washington Times today noticed that Republicans in Hollywood are not very vocal. I don’t blame them. For the last 40 years (maybe longer) conservatives in Hollywood have been assigned to the action-movie ghetto as the socialists try to re-educate the dumb masses with such fare as “Redacted.” Gee, war sucks. Who knew? I think the last conservative to win an Oscar was James Stewart. Curl’s story is amusing. Hollywood conservatives are backing Rudy Giuliani. He listed Adam Sandler and Kelsey Grammar as Rudy contributors. (READ MORE)
Noah Shachtman: U.S. Enlists Arab Bloggers for Info War (Updated) - It's no secret that, for a long time, the iihadists were kicking American ass in the information war -- especially online. Slowly, slowly, the U.S. government is starting to push back, just a little. The new arsenal of the propaganda campaign: Arab-language bloggers, podcasts, "webchats" -- and maybe even Second Life and cell phone games, too. That's the word from Duncan MacInnes, who works in the State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs. He's testifying today before the House Armed Services Committee's panel on terrorism, where chairman Adam Smith is holding hearings into this issue of strategic communications right now. (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express: Connecting the Dots Between Murtha and the Haditha Prosecutions - For the past 2 years, I've been digging around trying to find a connection between Murtha and those involved with the investigations of the Haditha Marines. I think I found it tonight... Sec of Navy Donald Winter was sworn in January 2005. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Winter served as a corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector. In that position he oversaw operation of the business and its 18,000 employees, providing information technology systems and services; systems engineering and analysis; systems development and integration; scientific, engineering, and technical services; and enterprise management services. Dr. Winter also served on the company's corporate policy council. (READ MORE)
Confederate Yankee: Getting it Wrong... Again - You've got to love our intrepid media covering the war in Iraq. Even eye-to-eye with their subjects they can still drastically misunderstand the situation. Such was the case last Saturday, Nov. 11, when Ghaith Abdul-Ahad wrote about a commander of former Sunni insurgents (now "concerned citizens") Abu Abed in the Guardian. Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl, the U.S. Battalion Commander that works with Abu Abed and the citizens of Ameriyah felt that the Guardian article was inaccurate enough to warrant a written response, duplicated below. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Maliki Approves Trial For Shi'ite Militia Leaders - Nouri al-Maliki passed another small milestone in reconciliation yesterday, and the New York Times noticed the progress. Despite predictions that Maliki would protect his allies, the Iraqi Prime Minister approved the trial of two high-ranking Shi'ites in the Health Ministry for running sectarian militias that kidnapped and killed hundreds of Sunnis. The action will help bolster the Maliki government's reconciliation efforts by meeting another key demand of Sunni leaders for accountability among Shi'ites (via Big Lizards): “Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq has approved the trial of two Shiite former officials who are accused of killing and kidnapping hundreds of Sunnis, according to American advisers to the Iraqi judicial system. The case, which could come to trial as early as this month, would be the first that involved bringing to trial such high-ranking Shiites for sectarian crimes.” (READ MORE)
The Captain's Journal: Window of Opportunity in Iraq - In the spirit of The Strong Horse in Counterinsurgency, Victor Davis Hanson, who recently won the National Humanities Medal, observed of the turning of the Anbari tribes to the U.S.: “… the US military has eliminated a large number of terrorists, insurgents and general terrorists since 2003. Given the noxious fumes of Vietnam-era ‘body-counts’ we don’t mention this. But many of the sheiks suffered horrendous losses among their tribes to the US in the past four years that led to some demoralization and the simple absence of their more skilled and veteran fighters. So, when they weighed the odds—increasing oil-generated wealth on the one hand versus being mowed down by the US on the other—the choice was to join us.” I we have said previously, “the insurgency was defeated for a number of ancillary and contributing reasons, including tribal cooperation, security, money and largesse paid directly to concerned citizens and the sheikhs, and other factors. But the primary reason that the U.S. forces have succeeded was that they were the stronger horse. The Iraqis saw this and sided with a winner.” (READ MORE)
Blonde Sagacity: ACLU Watch - ...I feel as if it's been far too long since I ragged on the ACLU, so let's go see what they've been up to: "...A court filing here yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union could open the way for a South African scholar accused of having links to terrorism to meet with scholars at Columbia University, the World Bank, and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. The case of Adam Habib, deputy vice chancellor at the University of Johannesburg, is being taken up by the ACLU, the American Sociological Association, the American Association of University Professors, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, among other groups. Mr. Habib has written about his case on the Huffington Post Web site..." (READ MORE)
Blue Crab Boulevard: Denial Is Not A River In Egypt - …But it is the state Democrats are living in these days. The mantra, repeated endlessly, is that America has alienated allies everywhere; that only the Democrats can mend those broken ties. Charles Krauthammer begs to differ: “Like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, who insist that nothing of significance has changed in Iraq, the Democrats are living in what Bob Woodward would call a state of denial. Do they not notice anything? France has a new president who is breaking not just with the anti-Americanism of the Chirac era but also with 50 years of Fifth Republic orthodoxy that defined French greatness as operating in counterpoise to America.” (READ MORE)
Dafydd: Iraqis Pass Test: Top Shiites Will Be Tried for Mass Murder - A few days ago, we posted Iraq in the Balance: Will the Shia Prosecute Their Own?, that asked the question -- Will the majority Shia be willing to prosecute their own officials who commit a horrific string of human sacrifices... or does "retributative justice" apply only to Sunni terrorists? We noted the mass-murder cases against two Shiite militia heads (Sadrites) who happened to be high muckety-mucks in the Ministry of Health: Former Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili, and Brig. Gen. Hamid al-Shammari, head of the Health Ministry security force. ("Happened to be," my eye; Muqtada Sadr demanded they be given those positions, presumably for the very task or murdering helpless Sunnis in hospital.) (READ MORE)
Richard Landes: Gambling with a Lie: Enderlin pulls a Rosemary Woods - I must admit, many people told me that Enderlin would doctor the tapes, and I didn’t believe them. “No,” I thought, “it’s one thing to lie to me and others in his office, but to the court, where he would surely get caught? He would not be that reckless…” Not. Today Charles Enderlin presented in court the “rushes” of Talal abu Rahmah which the Judge had requested from him. And he presented an edited version in which he took out at least three minutes, and several scenes that I distinctly remember seeing. In the United States that’s called tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, and perjury. In France, we’ll find out what it’s called. I’ll let Nidra tell the detailed account since I was one of two people who, having seen the rushes, were placed in an advantaged position to see and check that they were, indeed, what I had seen earlier, so I was unable to take notes. (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: Operation Dreamseed: Going ‘Above And Beyond’ For The Kids of Afghanistan - We’ve often said that one of the most important things our Troops do, when they’re deployed to war-torn countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, is the work they do to help the local citizens. Not only does this help the people of those areas to live a better life, but it also goes a long ways in developing relationships with these people, which in turn makes it easier for our Troops to conduct their missions. In Iraq and Afghanistan, our Troops are doing everything possible to improve living conditions for the citizens of these countries. For many, with children of their own at home, seeing the children living in these conditions really tears at their hearts and they strive to do whatever necessary to help these children. Building that trust and rapport with the local citizenry, showing them that the American Troops can be trusted to help them, also helps with the mission, when it comes time to gain information about the enemy. This in turn, could save the lives of both local citizens and the Troops. (READ MORE)
The Armorer: All politics is war, and all war is politics - The game of budget chicken continues. Guess who is in the middle? Dangit - As a defense contractor, *I* could be in the middle. But that's the least important aspect of it. In Case You Missed It: “Sec. Gates: War Funding Uncertainty ‘Will Have Many Real Consequences’ ‘I … strongly urged the Congress to pass a global war on terror funding bill that the President would sign. With the passage of the Defense Appropriations Act, there is a misperception that this department can continue funding our troops in the field for an indefinite period of time through accounting maneuvers, that we can shuffle money around the department. This is a serious misconception.’” (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: Obama's Turn To Squirm - Which is it Senator Obama? Do you or do you not support providing licenses to illegal aliens? Simple question. The answer? Well, he's got to go through contortions to make sure it hits every demographic and focus group just in the sweet spot, which means he muddles his way through and makes the same mistake that Hillary did a few weeks back. Far from using the issue to slam Hillary with a concise response that every candidate on the dais had to know was going to rear its ugly head at this debate given the way that Hillary spun furiously and then cajoled and threatened Blitzer over how to manage the "debate", Obama all but hands the issue back to Hillary. (READ MORE)
Patrick Lasswell: Large Unprofessional Military a Bloody Mess: Congressional Report - According to a fas.org the US military lost more troops each year through accidents in the early 1980s than were lost each year in Operation Iraq Freedom, indicating that underpaid and under qualified troops are a greater menace to themselves than terrorist action. The drop in fatal accidents is most notable after the Reagan era budget increases and the attendant increase in professionalism. Increasing accuracy in the military anti-drug initiatives were not specifically cited, but have to be considered as part of making military service safer. (READ MORE)
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