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)
McCain advisers tied to foreign lobbying - Two of Sen. John McCain's top advisers and fundraisers are among several Republican and Democratic presidential campaign officials whose lobbying firms have been paid more than $15 million by foreign governments since 2005. (READ MORE)
Republican's stance veers from Bush on Olympics - Sen. John McCain yesterday distanced himself from President Bush by saying he would boycott the Summer Olympics' opening ceremonies in Beijing and delved into relatively unfamiliar domestic territory by proposing a new federal program to help distressed homeowners. (READ MORE)
Mugabe supporters attack foes in rural Zimbabwe - Brigades of youth militia, and older men claiming to have served in the civil war of the 1970s, have descended on rural areas of Zimbabwe, beating villagers and burning their homes, according to eyewitnesses reached by phone. (READ MORE)
Bush Backs Petraeus on Indefinite Suspension of Troop Pullout in Iraq - President Bush ordered an indefinite suspension yesterday of troop withdrawals from Iraq this summer but promised that the war "is not endless" as he braced for a new election-year showdown with Congress over the conflict's economic cost and long-term future. (READ MORE)
U.S., Iraq Negotiating Security Agreements - The Bush administration is negotiating two accords with the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to replace the U.N. mandate for a multinational military presence there that expires at the end of this year. (READ MORE)
U.S. Ready to Ease Sanctions on N. Korea - The United States is prepared to lift two key economic sanctions against North Korea under a tentative deal reached with that country this week, which requires Pyongyang to acknowledge U.S. concerns and evidence about a range of nuclear activities, U.S. and Asian diplomats said yesterday. (READ MORE)
Sadr City Fighting Leaves 10 Dead - BAGHDAD, April 10 -- Clashes in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City left 10 people dead Thursday, according to local representatives of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, but the level of violence in the area appeared to subside. (READ MORE)
Olympic Chief Vows Free Speech Defense - BEIJING, April 10 -- Calling freedom of expression an absolute human right, the president of the International Olympic Committee said that athletes at the Summer Games in Beijing would be allowed to speak without restriction at some Olympic sites and that he had insisted that Chinese officials begin fully enforcing a new media law that promises journalists full access in China. (READ MORE)
Gaza's Fuel Is Cut Off After Palestinian Attack on Terminal - JERUSALEM, April 10 -- Israel said Thursday it had suspended fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip a day after Palestinian gunmen infiltrated Israel and shot dead two civilian workers at a distribution center that supplies all the fuel for Gaza's 1.5 million residents. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Patrick J. Buchanan: Petraeus Points to War With Iran - The neocons may yet get their war on Iran. Ever since President Nouri al-Maliki ordered the attacks in Basra on the Mahdi Army, Gen. David Petraeus has been laying the predicate for U.S. air strikes on Iran and a wider war in the Middle East. Iran, Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, has "fueled the recent violence in a particularly damaging way through its lethal support of the special groups." These "special groups" are "funded, trained, armed and directed by Iran's Quds Force with help from Lebanese Hezbollah. It was these groups that launched Iranian rockets and mortar rounds at Iraq's seat of government (the Green Zone) ... causing loss of innocent life and fear in the capital." (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh: National Security is THE Issue - While there is plenty of room for robust debate about Iraq, what concerns me is that the direction of this discussion has, ironically, taken our eyes off the real ball, which is our national security. Don't get me wrong. I believe the Iraq war has everything to do with our national security. How we proceed -- whether we maintain sufficient forces there to ensure the nation's long-term stability or prematurely withdraw with reckless disregard for the consequences -- is critically relevant to our national security. But instead of focusing on the national security implications, we are perennially bogged down in quibbling over the partisan flash points of whether we should have attacked Iraq in the first place or whether we're being perceived as liberators or imperialists. (READ MORE)
Michael Reagan: Congressional Democrats: The Other Insurgents - There must have been times when Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker thought they were back in embattled Sadr City when they faced Democrats on Capitol Hill this week -- no Iraqi insurgents or al Sadr militiamen could have been more hostile. No wonder. The goals of the Democrats and both al Qaeda and al Sadr insurgents are the same: the defeat of the United States in the war in Iraq. From the opening statement by Sen. Carl Levin -- a vitriolic tirade against the war -- to the less vehement but equally unfriendly statements by the Clinton woman and her rival for their party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrats made no secret of their burning desire to see the United States humiliated by a defeat in Iraq. (READ MORE)
Donald Lambro: McCain Exposes Obama's Al Qaeda Blind Spot - WASHINGTON -- John McCain had one goal in mind when his turn came to question David Petraeus about the Iraq war: to show that Barack Obama didn't understand the dire threat Al Qaeda posed to that country's survival. After some preliminary questions before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week about the performance of Iraqi forces and the threat to the Green Zone by rocket attacks from Sadr City, the Arizona senator began a series of inquiries about Al Qaeda's role in the war. "There are numerous threats to security in Iraq and the future of Iraq. Do you still view Al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?" McCain asked the war commander. "It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was, say, 15 months ago," Petraeus replied. (READ MORE)
Diana West: Was Soldier Jailed to Appease Iraqi 'Allies'? - Recently, I opened an e-mail and read: "I am Sgt. Evan Vela's father. I do no not know if you have followed my son's case but some people have drawn similarities between the Luttrell situation and Evan's." The father was referring to Marcus Luttrell, whose best-seller "Lone Survivor" tells of four Navy SEALS, Luttrell among them, whose secret mission in Afghanistan was compromised when two Afghan goatherds discovered them hiding deep in Taliban territory. I've written before about the perverse but likely prospect of legal prosecution back home that weighed heavily on the Americans' decision not to save their own lives and their mission by killing the two unarmed Afghans -- a "crime" in PC la-la-land, even when "unarmed" still means deadly. (READ MORE)
Cliff May: A Hundred Years of War? - A growing number of Democrats have falsely accused Sen. John McCain of “promising” 100 years of war in Iraq. In fact, McCain’s point was that the presence of American forces promotes stability. That’s been the case in Europe and Asia where Americans have been stationed for more than half a century. It’s been true in the Balkans since the 1990s when President Clinton sent troops there. America’s military plays a beneficial role when it eliminates America’s enemies; it does so also when it stays on to prevent those enemies from reemerging. But there is a hard truth that McCain did not state: A hundred years from now Americans might still be fighting militant Islamists in Iraq and other places. What could be worse than that? A hundred years from now America and the West could have been defeated by militant Islamists. (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: Airline Woes Continue But Unanswered Questions Remain - American Airlines continues to ground flights after failing to inspect hundreds of planes for serious defects. They're not alone as other airlines are checking their MD-80s for problems as well: “Other carriers operating similar aircraft also left passengers scrambling for alternatives as they also grounded flights to inspect the wire bundles at the heart of a renewed safety crackdown by the Federal Aviation Administration. Alaska Airlines canceled 11 more flights early Thursday as it continued to inspect its nine MD-80 jets. Spokeswoman Caroline Boren in Seattle said that follows 28 cancellations on Wednesday and three on Tuesday. The airline was working to accommodate affected passengers, she said.” (READ MORE)
A Newt One: War News: Sadr Did Lose And So Did Iran - I know. The Truth hurts and the anti-Americanists are so bloody - no pun intended - upset about Sadr's defeat. They were so hoping that "SOMETHING" would happen to cause the United States to lose the War In Iraq. That way, they could be able to exonerate themselves from being on the wrong side of this war for political gain and for political power only. Amir Taheri wrote for the NY Post and he explains how the sinisteristic (I like inventing new words) Iran was busted and busted hard. “A GAMBLE that proved too costly. That's how analysts in Tehran describe events last month in Basra. Iran's state-run media have de facto confirmed that this was no spontaneous ‘uprising.’ Rather, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tried to seize control of Iraq's second-largest city using local Shiite militias as a Trojan horse. Tehran's decision to make the gamble was based on three assumptions:” (READ MORE)
krakatoa @ Ace of Spades: Man bites Dog: NYT writes an unbiased article on Iraq - With Sistani explicitly giving Maliki the Shia cover he needs to execute militarily against the Madhi army, Sadr City is squarely in the sights of an army hungry to earn the trust of its citizens, and the respect of the American forces who trained them. And somehow, the NYT online has seen fit to publish an Iraq article that doesn't bash the US military, Bush, or Maliki. I'm thinking Michael Gordon's career will be a short-lived one with the Times, since he obviously is a retard incapable of making the connection between battlefield pigeon-killing and the inevitable PTSD rampages by war-weary vets suffering from the atrocities they visited upon little brown people and the birds they love. Enjoy his article while it's up. (READ MORE)
Donald Douglas: Focus on the War We Are Winning Today - Michael Yon, at the Wall Street Journal, argues that the Iraq debate in Congress this week focused on the conventional wisdom of 2004-06, when violence was on the rise and the mission was truly at a dangerous risk of collapse. That's changed over the last year, but war critics continue to yammer away with the meme of the war's a "fiasco." As such, continual talk of troop withdrawals misses the point. We've achieved a phenomenal turnaround, and we should be thinking of ways to consolidate and preserve it: “I may well have spent more time embedded with combat units in Iraq than any other journalist alive. I have seen this war – and our part in it – at its brutal worst. And I say the transformation over the last 14 months is little short of miraculous.” (READ MORE)
Big Dog: Maryland Continues Pork Futures - The Democratic governor of the state of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, called for a special legislative session last fall to address a budget shortfall in the state. The shortfall was the result of decades of Democratic rule and out of control spending. O’Malley and the legislature tried to put the blame on former governor Robert Ehrlich but it is the hugely Democratic majority in the legislature with its veto proof numbers that passed the bills that spent the money. During that special session the legislature raised taxes on more items and to higher rates more than any other state in the history of the union. The elected leaders of the state assured us that this was necessary to bring our fiscal house in order. (READ MORE)
Blogmeister: Benedict Arnold, Meet Jimmy Carter - It’s bad enough that Carter could, conceivably, be considered the worst president of the 20th Century. Does he have to be the worst ex-president as well? Richard Nixon earned the grudging respect of his critics in his post-presidential years. Carter would have done well to take a page out of his book. But the die has been cast. Not only could Carter be considered an anti-Semite and coddler of terrorists, but his post-presidential years are chock full of slaps in the face to American foreign policy and America in general. Behold the wonder: (READ MORE)
Crazy Politico: Killing American Jobs, Pelosi Style - Nancy Pelosi has taken a big step towards killing a bunch of good paying, union jobs in the US, with the backing of the union's who's workers are going to be hurt. What she's doing is changing the rules (midstream) on trade agreements. Over the last few years Congress and the Bush administration have agreed that any trade agreement sent to Congress gets an up or down vote within 90 days. Pelosi has decided to change that rule to kill the Columbian Free Trade Agreement. Pelosi's stand is that she's protecting American workers from having cheaper Columbian goods come to the US under the agreement. That might be good if it were the truth, but it's a lie. (READ MORE)
Dr. Sanity: NO "GET OUT OF WAR" CARD - Michael Ledeen reminds us that even if the Democrats succeed in surrendering Iraq, it will not get us out of war. He quotes from The Mesopotamian, an Iraqi blogger: “The solution of the Iraqi situation cannot be helped by trying to find scapegoats and excuses to run away and escape. The formulae expounded by the Democrats amount to nothing but defeat and escapism. The problem is that this is a situation where defeat is fatal. If anybody thinks that the U.S. can run away this time, and sits safely and happily in tranquil isolation between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, is in grave error. Solutions can be found to reduce casualties and expenses, but the strategic involvement of the U.S. in Iraq is a necessary and sufficient condition to avert a disaster the scale of which boggles the mind. A disaster that is infinitely more serious and dangerous than the aftermath of the Vietnam defeat.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Coup de pork - Add The Hill to the list of insider publications reporting that they are trying to kick Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd to the curb as appropriations chairman. First Politico. Then Roll Call. Now The Hill reports on the coup de pork. “Sen. Patrick Leahy is privately indicating interest in taking over the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee from an ailing Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) if necessary, four Democratic sources said Thursday,” reported Taylor Rushing of the Hill. Publicly, Leahy said: “Oh hell no. Good God, no. I don’t know where that rumor started. I will support the seniority system. I will support Senator Byrd as long as he wants to be chairman. I will vote for whoever is next in line.” (READ MORE)
Euphoric Reality: EXCLUSIVE: Pendleton 8 Exposed, Part 4 - The conclusion of the Pendleton 8 timeline. This chapter is comprised of additional information that you need to understand before we move into the documents behind the case. If you’ve come this far, go farther. The truth is far more dirty, far more shocking, than you could ever hope to believe. In the book Fiasco, Lt. General Mattis, convening authority in the Pendleton 8 case, stated ; “‘By our every act and statement, Marine leaders must set a legal, moral, and ethical model that maintains traditional Marine Corps levels of discipline.’” The Corps’ senior leaders encouraged the platoon and squad to be more aggressive, to take the fight to the enemy, to do their jobs…and then prosecuted them for it. Where are the ethics? Where are the morals, the legal models? (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: Olberman Favors Tiger Woods Over Iraq War Veterans - Just when you think Keith Olbermann can’t get anymore politically biased, he and MSNBC make a deliberate effort to paint comments from an Iraq War veteran as a racist for commenting that heroism deserves more respect, admiration, and recognition in America than athletes; specifically Tiger Woods. David Bellavia is a Silver Star recipient, has been nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor, and (here’s where he undoubtedly earned the disdain of Olbermann) is running as a Republican for Congress. The other day he was at a speaking event and introduced Sen McCain-describing him as a hero. A hero introduced a hero, and that’s racist because he said, “Tiger Woods” instead of some white athlete. (READ MORE)
Baron Bodissey: Submission in Our Time - In 1914, on the eve of the Great War, German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg — referring to Britain’s treaty guaranteeing Belgian neutrality — expressed his astonishment that Britain would go to war over “a scrap of paper”. Today President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, presumably without a hint of irony, echoed Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg when he described UN resolutions concerning his country’s nuclear program as “scraps of paper”. While he was at it, he offered Iran’s nuclear expertise to all other Muslim countries. And, to top it all off, he explicitly declared his intention to force regime change on all the corrupt infidel countries. (READ MORE)
GayPatriotWest: Norman Podhoretz & John Bolton Offer Essential Books on Struggle Against Islamofascism - In the first few months of this year, I have read broadly, to prepare to write my dissertation, to sate my own intellectual curiosity and to understand the forces at play in the world as our nation responds to the ever-increasing threat of Islamofascism. As part of that last quest, I have recently completed the second of two books, each essential to developing responses to that threat and recognizing the challenges to implementing those responses. The first (and easier read of the two) was Norman Podhoretz’s, World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism. In this relatively short book (just over 200 pages), he looks how the challenges have changed as we move from success in the Cold War (which he dubs World War III) to the challenges of the struggle against Islamofascism (World War IV). (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Long-range missile sites found in Iran - Anyone wondering why President Bush has been so insistent on missile defense, and why NATO embraced it in its new defense doctrine, will have those questions answered in today’s Times of London. Long-range missile sites have been spotted through satellite imagery in Iran, and the construction shows potential capabilities for a 4,000-mile range. That easily puts eastern Europe within Tehran’s sights, and explains why Poland and the Czech Republic seem so enthusiastic about becoming an integral part of the defense umbrella: (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Unbelievable: Clinton lies shamelessly about Hillary’s shameless Tuzla lie; Update: More lies - So shamelessly, in fact, that you’ll spot the lie immediately if you followed the story with any degree of closeness. This sort of thing simply has to be compulsive for him. In no rational world does it make sense to reintroduce this subject, lie about it, and lie about it so clumsily that the press would have to rub his face in it even if they didn’t want to. Which, thanks to Obamania, they do. “A lot of the way this whole campaign has been covered has amused me. But there was a lot of fulminating because Hillary, one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995.” (READ MORE)
THE MESOPOTAMIAN: NEW NOTES - Hi, I was watching the Interrogation of General David Petraeus and the ambassador. What struck me most was the attitude and words from some of the Democratic senators. It seemed as though the enemy for these ladies and gentlemen was not Al-Qaeda, the terrorists or people like that. All the venom and harsh words were directed against the Iraqi government and poor Al-Maliki, these seemed to be the more hated foes for them. Not long ago we used to hear complaints that the Iraqi government was Shiite dominated and unwilling to take action against Shiite Militias and such groups as the Mahdi Army. Well when Al-Maliki at last moved decisively against such groups, it seems that the move did not please much these critics. Although in Iraq itself almost all the political blocks excluding the so called Sadrist Current, expressed their total support for the move against the outlaws, and indeed a marked improvement of the political atmosphere between the factions has clearly taken place. (READ MORE)
Amy Proctor: Why Weren't Obama, Clinton at Medal of Honor Ceremony? - At yesterday’s Medal of Honor ceremony for Petty Officer Michael Monsoor when President Bush acknowledged guests and dignitaries, several names were noticeably absent. John McCain was the only presidential candidate to attend and pay his respects. President Bush acknowledged the dignitaries and politicians: “THE PRESIDENT: I welcome the Vice President. Secretary of Defense Gates, thank you for coming. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Peake; Secretary Don Winter of the Navy; Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and wife, Deborah; General James Conway, Commandant of the Marine Corps, and Annette; Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations, and wife, Ellen; Senator John McCain; Congressman Ed Royce; Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez. Previous Medal of Honor recipients, thank you for joining us. I appreciate Chaplain Burt; Navy SEALS — the finest warriors on the face of the Earth; the Monsoor family, and everybody else.” And everybody else…. (READ MORE)
Hillel Fradkin: Who does speak for Islam? - Who speaks for Islam? This question forms the title of a new book authored by John L. Esposito, director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, and Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. The book is meant to answer it. According to the authors, their aim is to settle important disputes regarding the attitudes and opinions of contemporary Muslims on a range of pressing questions. Of course, the most important dispute is whether terrorists, like Al Qaeda and other radicals, speak for contemporary Muslims and for Islam itself. According to the authors, understanding this issue—”understanding extremists and the nature of extremism”—”requires a global perspective that extends beyond conflicting opinions of experts or anecdotes from the ‘Arab street.’” (READ MORE)
Right Truth: Here we go again ... - Should test scores of school children be broken down by race? Think about it before you answer. There was a time when some believed that non-Whites could not learn, were not as intelligent, as Whites. There were 'studies' to support both sides of the argument. Then that became so politically incorrect that any identification of the race of students taking tests was forbidden. BUT WAIT! There came a time when non-Whites complained that they were not being treated fairly. They felt that Whites had an advantage when taking tests. It was argued that Blacks did not have the same background, culture, ... thus they were disadvantaged when it came to test-taking. In short, they wanted special treatment. (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped: Jimmy Carter and Unconscious Hate - Manifest behavior is always the summation of competing wishes and inhibitions, most of which are unconscious. When someone makes a great show of his personal piety yet his manifest behavior is often damaging to others, it is worth wondering if he is expressing forbidden unconscious wishes in ways that are disguised and acceptable to himself. Jimmy Carter, our nation's worst ex-President, offers an excellent case in point. Carter describes himself as a friend of Israel, only interested in Peace in the Middle East and the world. Yet he is now planning to meet with Khaled Meshal, one of the leaders of Hamas, an agent of genocide, in Damascus, the capital of a terror supporting and enabling state which oppresses its own people in ways that the left's fantasies of the Bush administration's tortures cannot even approach. (READ MORE)
The Sundries Shack: Who is Richard Warman and Why Isn’t Someone Photoshopping His Face Into a Bazillion Embarassing Photographs? - I’d like to introduce you to a jumped-up little jackanape named Richard Warman. Warman was once an investigator for the Canadian Human Rights Commission and his duty was to prowl around and look for people who violated the sinister-sounding Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Generally, this was a lonesome job (since very few Canadians ever decided it w2as smart to sue their friends and neighbors for saying mean things). That had to have given Warman a horrible case of “Solitaire Elbow” because he decided to drum up some business by suing people himself and, on occasion, investigating his own complaints. Ezra Levant, who has often felt Warman’s tantrums, has the chapter and verse on Warman and his various abuses of the ridiculous law. (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: They. Just. Don't. Get. It. - What IS it about the Democrats that they can't seem to disagree with Republican presidents without attacking the military? Let's start with John Kerry. After his abbreviated tour of duty inViet Nam, he leveraged his medals (and Boston Brahmin status and accent) to gain a leadership position in the anti-war movement. And from there, he used it to give very undeserved credibility to the absolutely bogus allegations of wholesale atrocities: "They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war…” (READ MORE)
Soccerdad: Not just motive - Elder of Ziyon made an important point yesterday about the atttacks at Nahal Oz. On the surface it seemed illogical for an attack against the entry point for gas to Gaza. He points out the terror attack with the complicity and active involvement of Hamas took advantage of an opportunity. The terrorists could strike, so they did. “The terrorists hit wherever they can. Certainly they might try to abduct rather than kill Israelis, but for the most part they will kill any Israeli in the Middle East that they can. Thanks to Israeli defenses, they don’t have the luxury of choosing targets based on perceived symbolic value; they will choose the weakest point they can find and kill whomever they can, not caring if the victims are women, children, Arabs or Jews, and cause all the damage and panic they can.” (READ MORE)
This Ain't Hell: Winter Soldier coverage has FAIR’s panties bunched - Winter Soldier didn’t turn out so well. The stories were weak and pedestrian. The testimony didn’t cause the national outrage that the prima donnas of the anti-war had hoped. The IVAW had convinced the other bands of merry protesters to suspend plans for their protests in Washington so as not to distract the media from their antics at the National Labor College - that move may have affected the turn out for the anti-war protest later that week. Well, of course, it must be someone’s fault that Winter Soldier fizzled, right? Well, the Left has decided that it’s the New York Time’s fault. They’ve enlisted the leftist media watchdog organization Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) to get to the bottom of why the Grey Lady didn’t bother to cover the Winter Soldier theater. (READ MORE)
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