October 20, 2006

Web Reconnaissance for 10/20/2006

A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.


In the News: (Registration may be required to read some articles)
White House rejects Iraq partition plan “The White House yesterday rejected partitioning Iraq into three sections based on ethnicity and religion and took issue with reports that President Bush now views the 3-1/2-year-old Iraq war as similar to the war in Vietnam.” (READ MORE)

Hamas charities thrive despite U.S.-led fund freeze “A U.S.-led funding squeeze, which has paralyzed the Hamas-led Palestinian government, has had the unintended effect of bolstering the militant group's network of schools, hospitals and alms societies.” (READ MORE)

General's comment no help to Blair “A top general's retreat from a call for an early exit from Iraq has done little to ease the damage to Prime Minister Tony Blair, with public pressure building for the early withdrawal of British troops.” (READ MORE)

Conservatives hit for 'whining' over turnout “Republican Party supporters yesterday accused fellow conservatives of "whining" in response to complaints from activists worried that grass-roots Republican voters are disillusioned and will stay home on Nov. 7.” (READ MORE)

Major Change Expected In Iraq War Strategy “Political pressure will soon force the Bush administration to abandon its open-ended commitment to the war, officials acknowledge.” (READ MORE)

Shiite Militia Takes Over Iraqi City “The Shiite militia run by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized total control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by one of the country's powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said.” (READ MORE)


On the Web:
Kobayashi Maru writes Simplistic Progressives “I don't ordinarily spend much time reading book reviews, but Harvard Psych Professor Steven Pinker ("The Blank Slate") has written a sharp-tongued, far-reaching doozy well worth reading in his a take-down of George Lakoff's new book, "Whose Freedom...". It's a rare and funny view into how a few intellectually honest Democrats (e.g., Pinker) try to tell their ranting far-left wacko cohorts to please, please shut up lest conservatives be proved right.” (READ MORE)

Allahpundit writes Hoekstra suspends House staffer over possible NIE leak “We’ve been waiting for the Great Leak Crackdown of ‘06 since, literally, the day this site debuted. This ain’t it, but it’ll do for now: ‘House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra has suspended a Democratic staff member because of concerns he may have leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to The New York Times last month.’” (READ MORE)

Jay Tea of Wizbang writes Running against the ultimate empty suits “As the election draws nearer, I think I have discovered the Democrats' secret plan for winning: they're going to run against people who aren't running, and therefore hope to win by default. For some time now, the Democrats' big strategy has been to try to tie every Republican to President Bush, and bash Bush as best they can. They seem to think that if they keep the Republicans who are actually running for office as close to Bush as they can and then throw mud on Bush, some will surely have to splash them as well.” (READ MORE)

Dafydd writes Jonah and the Wail: the Virtue of Ignorance “This is one of those rare moments when I must vehemently disagree with Patterico, one of the people who got me into blogging in the first place (quite literally: Patterico's Pontificaitons was the first of two sites that allowed me on as a guest blogger). He gives a one-handed round of applause to neocon columnist Jonah Goldberg -- who now reverses himself, arguing that going into Iraq was ‘a mistake.’ Interestingly, Goldberg, and by extension Patterico, make a pretty big whopper of a mistake themselves. Here is Goldberg, as linked by Patterico:” (READ MORE)

Captain Ed writes CAIR Execs Defend Ellison Against Their Endorsement “Keith Ellison, the DFL candidate for Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District, has had his connections to CAIR and to the Nation of Islam criticized on Twin Cities blogs such as mine and especially Power Line, and CAIR's executives have had enough. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, which has done nothing to cover Ellison's connections to both groups, runs an op-ed piece by CAIR executive director Nihad Awad and CAIR board chair Parvez Ahmed that basically calls us racists:” (READ MORE)

Omar of Iraq the Model writes Censorship and freedom of speech in Iraq: The Azzaman case. “Perhaps one of the hottest debates in the media community and its surroundings in Iraq these days is the one that was sparked by a controversial call from the speaker(s) of the parliament to the government to shut down al-Sharqiya channel. The fury among the parliamentarians behind this call was apparently a reaction to the way the channel and its sister newspaper Azzaman covered and handled the story of the federalism law that was instated by the parliament last week.” (READ MORE)

Dan Riehl writes Jonah (Goldberg) And The Whale “Jonah Goldberg has apparently concluded that the war in Iraq was a worthy mistake. Unfortunately for Goldberg, that is something which simply cannot be true. No mistake is worthy if it results in the loss of 3,000 American lives. So, if the war were truly a mistake, it was a most unworthy one, at that. I don't believe that to be the case, not even close. How nice that Goldberg chooses to comfort himself with this surprising admission now, too bad it wouldn't comfort a single family member of those lost in Iraq, excluding Cindy Sheehan, of course.” (READ MORE)

Red Hot Cuppa Politics writes Flags For Our Fathers - But None For You, Sonny-Boy!
“There are times when I think our entire nation is like one huge dysfunctional family at dinner time. You've been there. Grandpa is at the head of the table, regaling everybody with tales from his hugely successful past, and we all listen politely, since his accomplishments are genuine, he's old, and everybody likes him. Even though you've heard the stories a million times, they're cool and you don't want to hurt his feelings.” (READ MORE)

Dadmanly writes An Intelligent Op Ed “Phillip Carter, who normally blogs with intelligence as good as it is voluminous at Intel Dump, scored an Op Ed in the Sunday New York Times. It’s a terrific must read, from a soldier just back from Baquba with the 101st Airborne Division. Here’s how Carter starts his analysis: ‘THE military’s new counterinsurgency manual offers a great deal of wisdom for those who will wage the small wars of the future. Its prescriptions and paradoxes — like the maxim that the more force used, the less effective it is — make sense. However, having spent the last year advising a provincial police headquarters in Iraq, I know it’s far easier to write about such wars than to fight them.’” (READ MORE)

Blonde Sagacity writes Are P.C. Americans Doomed to Lose? “On August 17th I wrote a post asking readers "Will the U.S. Ever Win Another War?" and yesterday Ralph Peters wrote a similar piece for the New York Post. ‘...HAVE we lost the will to win wars? Not just in Iraq, but anywhere? Do we really believe that being nice is more important than victory? It's hard enough to bear the timidity of our civilian leaders - anxious to start wars but without the guts to finish them - but now military leaders have fallen prey to political correctness. Unwilling to accept that war is, by its nature, a savage act and that defeat is immoral, influential officers are arguing for a kinder, gentler approach to our enemies.’” (READ MORE)


One Amazing Story and its follow-up!
Captain B writes WE HAVE A MISSION! “Hello Captain B, let me introduce myself to you and then I have a little story for you to read about my exceptional daughter. My name is Cathy, I am a housewife/ part time caterer with 2 wonderful children. Taylor Grayce, age 12 and Tanner Shay, age 9. Now earlier, I said I had a little story, but that is not really the case. I hope you have time because I am going to probably make your eyeballs cross by the time this is done.” (READ MORE)

Captain B writes What a way to end the day “Any Marines in here? As I knocked on the special room where Taylor was staying. No answer until a small girls head peaked around the door. I then asked, do you have any idea who I am? She said nope. I asked if she ever heard of Capt B or Maj Pain? (being that she has followed my tribulations through my deployments on AnySoldier she knew those names) she said yes, I’ve heard of him, then I said, that’s me!” (READ MORE)

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