Some interesting tidbits in a basically slow week.

Pakistan looks to be close to extraditing a key Taliban warlord to Afghanistan, which could open the door to some major intel:

U.S. ally Pakistan captured at least four Afghan Taliban leaders, including top military strategist Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, early this year. The Afghan government has asked Islamabad to hand them over.

But Khalid Khawaja, a former Pakistani intelligence officer turned campaigner for Islamist causes, petitioned the Lahore High Court seeking to block their extraditions, which it did in February, pending its final decision on the petition.

However, the court on Tuesday threw out the case following the death of the petitioner.

The poor sap who petitioned the court was taken hostage by the Taliban and killed. I guess that’s what you get for trying to help.

Why is this important? Marc Theissen explains in the WaPo:

On Sunday, Obama administration officials, including counterterrorism chief John Brennan, declared that the Taliban was behind the attack and that Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber, had “extensive interactions” with Taliban leaders in Pakistan. Yet just a few months before Shahzad attempted to blow up a car bomb in the heart of Manhattan, U.S. and Pakistani officials captured the highest-ranking Taliban leader ever detained in the war on terror — Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. This raises a critical question: Could Baradar have warned us about the Times Square attack?

Baradar was detained in Karachi, Pakistan, in late January — the same city where several of Shahzad’s associates were just detained. Shahzad left Pakistan on Feb. 3, just days after Baradar’s capture, which means he was meeting with Taliban officials while Baradar was still at large. Why did Shahzad flee right after Baradar was taken into custody?

Baradar is second only to Mullah Omar in the Taliban hierarchy. Newsweek described him as “arguably the most important terrorist suspect captured since the detention of Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed in spring of 2003.” But unlike KSM, Baradar has not been taken into American custody for interrogation by the CIA. Instead, he has been held and questioned by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Excellent questions. Along with the rumor that Mullah Omar was captured not long after Baradar, it seems we have had some huge progress in bringing the Taliban to justice. Is this why the US is all of a sudden scrambling to find other ‘lone wolf’ terrorists trained in Pakistan and holding US or EU passports?

On a completely different note it seems the anti-government fever taking hold across the nation is growing, not easing. Jay Cost notes the ‘thunder on the mountain’ raging in the electorate:

And yet for all this, the people do indeed rule. While their power is limited, it is nevertheless unconditional where it exists. Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi need the assent of the people of the United States to govern this country. But the people don’t need any such thing. In the limited sphere where they rule, they are supreme.

This is easy to forget because it is rare to see the people actually wield their power in its full force. Between 1954 and 1994, the Democrats controlled the House, whether they deserved to or not. The Republicans controlled it from 1994 to 2006, again regardless of merit.

…

This kind of stability can give the impression that the people do not rule. We so rarely see the full force of their power that it is easy to think that the real bossess are the decades-long denizens of the prestige committees, the high-powered lobbyists, the king-makers in both party establishments, or the plugged-in Beltway journalists. We see them all the time, preening about their power and influence. They seem like they’re really in charge.

…

This is the thunder on the mountain, the early warning that something bad is about to blow through the District of Columbia. I don’t think there’s anything anybody there can do about it. The people have a limited role in this government – but where the people do possess power, they are like a force of nature. They cannot be stopped.

That’s bad news for the establishment this year. They’re going to wake up on the morning of November 3rd and be reminded of who is actually in charge of this country.

The vaunted Political Industrial Complex has been a rolling failure and joke for the last 20 years or so. The media enablers along with the political consultants have been packaging up idiots and zealots as leaders – and the country has seen through the deception with the coming of the internet age. The internet has given voice to millions of people who are every day Americans, leaders in their respective areas, independent of the power mad denizens of the Political Industrial Complex.

In 2010 Americans will take back their country again. News media corporations are failing, network TV is failing. Their stranglehold on information completely broken now, people can investigate issues for themselves, make their own conclusions.

And the big conclusion this year is that government has grown way outside its usefulness and is now the greatest threat to the individual’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Which explains a lot about what just happened in Maine with the Tea Party’s infection of the GOP platform:

Conservative activists backed by “tea party” groups have rejected the Maine Republican Party’s proposed platform, replacing it with a document praising the tea-party movement and calling for a number of potentially radical changes, such as the sealing of borders.

Let me stop here and say the article notes a huge problem with the tea party – and that is the fine edge needed when dealing with illegal immigrants. We are not going to close our borders, we are going to protect them. But this is the one item out of many excellent points being put forth:

Maine, the newly adopted GOP platform outlines various changes, although its ambiguous language leaves the meaning of many sections open to interpretation. There’s a call to restore “Constitutional Law as the basis for the judiciary,” to “reassert the principle that ‘Freedom of Religion’ does not mean ‘Freedom from Religion,’ ” to “return to the principles of Austrian Economics,” and to remove “obstacles created by government” to the private development of natural gas, oil, coal, and nuclear power.

Other parts are clearer: a rejection of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, elimination of the US Department of Education and the Federal Reserve, and a freeze and prohibition on stimulus spending. Healthcare is “not a right” but “a service” that can be addressed only by using “market based solutions.”

Nothing wrong here. The message is very clear – scale back the federal cancer and put Americans back in charge of their daily lives. Let the direction of the country grow organically from the myriad of American dreams being played out across this land every day. No more dictating from fools in DC.

Update: Drudge has the best example I’ve seen yet of a dysfunctional government in all its glory:

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold hearings Wednesday on the “Potty Parity Act,” a bill that seeks to address the shoddy restroom facilities for women in federal buildings.

The bill would require any federal building constructed for public use to have similar toilets in women’s and men’s restrooms.

Jeez! Just upgrade the damn toilets!

Update: And no, I could care less if the Elena Kagan is gay. Personally the entire invasion of her privacy disgusts me.

More troublesome, in my mind, is the continued oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I find it hard to believe is there was no fail safe on the system to cap off the tap well below the water’s surface. I also find it ironic the well was being drilled by the UK’s BP Oil Company.  BP acts as if it is the greenest of green companies, the European arrogance about US industry is now being shown to be so much posturing.

And of course our young president has waved his rhetorical wand and claimed he will make it all right.

Anyway, look forward to reading the comments from our readers.

Anyway, some interesting reading. Rasmussen now shows the GOP has the lead in all major issues. They lead by:

• 4% on Healthcare (46-40)
• 14% on the Economy (49-35)
• 23% on National Security (54-31)
• 19% on Iraq (50-31)

I as shocked to see the GOP even ahead on education, abortion and immigration! Clearly the Dems have destroyed their credibility by failing to address the rising unemployment. Their vaunted liberal experiment in economic stimulus through government spending has been an abysmal failure. And their efforts to ration health care through a government takeover if health insurance is way beyond the comfort level of most voters.

Iraq is also not much of a surprise. After crying “failure, failure, failure” and then have victory show up the Democrats started out looking incompetent. Americans can’t stand quitters.

A post crossed my way about the situation in southern Afghanistan. It seems things are going better than expected. I would be wary on banking the good news just yet, but the truth is the bad guys are running out of bad guys. Not only have they been decimated over the years, their recruiting is drying up as the Muslim Street turns sour on the Islamo Fascists. Moreover, the Pakistanis are about to knock down the door on the main sanctuary of the Taliban and al Qaeda, and I would suspect all hands are back in Southern Waziristan trying to defend the core leaders:

Pakistani aircraft attacked Taliban in the South Waziristan region on Sunday a day after the army said it had captured a strategic town on an approach to the militants’ main base area.

Interestingly, sanity seems to be breaking out when it comes to Global Warming. I plan to post on and argument I made to Charles Johnson at LGF, because the debate I was having over their enlightened me to new aspects of the debate. But before that happens, it is interesting to note in the latest poll on GW only a small minority believe the current warming (sort of an oxymoron there) is caused by human activity:

Only about a third, or 36 percent of the respondents, feel that human activities — such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles — are behind a temperature increase. That’s down from 47 percent from 2006 through last year’s poll.

A decade of cooling can have that affect.

• I thought Time Magazine has put out a pretty well balanced review of the current polarizing political environment being driven by the left and right purity wars:

Trust is a toxic asset, sitting valueless on the national books. Good faith is trading at pennies on the dollar. The old American mind-set that Richard Hofstadter famously called “the paranoid style” — the sense that Masons or the railroads or the Pope or the guys in black helicopters are in league to destroy the country — is aflame again, fanned from both right and left. Between the liberal fantasies about Brownshirts at town halls and the conservative concoctions of brainwashed children goose-stepping to school, you’d think the Palm in Washington had been replaced with a Munich beer hall.

• Everyone should find it sadly ironic that the stimulus bill jobs at DHS are now going to be delayed because of unfair selection of companies and incoherent, wasteful spending.

The criticism peaked Wednesday when a senior Senate Democrat, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, said that, despite Napolitano’s assurances, he felt Homeland Security was treating the economic stimulus plan like a “bottomless pit” of taxpayer money. It was unusually pointed criticism from a member of the president’s own party about how the administration is handling economic recovery spending.

“There’s no common sense at all to a requirement that says you’ve got to put up a $15 million facility for a small port of entry that’s host to about five vehicles an hour,” Dorgan, whose state stood to receive $128 million for checkpoint improvements, said in a telephone interview.

Within hours, Napolitano promised not to begin any new border construction projects and set up a 30-day review of how the projects were selected.

• To understand how bad it is for President Obama, here is an article from the extreme left predicting Obama’s failure as a President:

A president has only so much capital to expend, both in tax dollars and public tolerance, and Barack Obama is dangerously overdrawn. He has tried to have it all on three fronts, and his administration is in serious danger of going bankrupt. He has blundered into a deepening quagmire in Afghanistan, has continued the Bush policy of buying off Wall Street hustlers instead of confronting them and is now on the cusp of bargaining away the so-called public option, the reform component of his health care program.

Those are not happy sentences to write for one who is still on the e-mail list of campaign supporters urged to back the president in the face of attacks that are stupidly small-minded. But to remain silent about his errors, just because most of his critics are so vile, is hardly an example of constructive concern for him or the country.

• Finally, we have the real bad news for the DC liberals – a Gallup compendium poll on the major issues. Gallup also tips their bias towards the left here by sorting and spinning the data in a manner that attempts to blunt the news. Obama’s best issues are on top. But those issues most important to the nation show up near the bottom. On the economy Obama is in the hole with the American people -5% [46-51%]. On health care it is even worse at -9% [43-52%]. Over half of the nation disapproves of his handling of this key issue. Most people have insurance, are happy with it, and will eject any fool in Washington DC who messes with it.

 

As many have noted another high profile Hillary Clinton supporter has jumped to the McCain-Palin camp, and that would be Donald Trump. I actually heard the announcement on Larry King and suffice it to say King did not seem happy.

The Washington Times did a great piece on Sarah Palin, comparing her to Teddy Roosevelt. I think the comparison is apt in many ways.

There seems to be a shift in the Jewish vote in NY City towards McCain, which wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

And now for some polls. Democracy Corps came out with a poll with analysis on the state of the race as seen from democrat consultants. The analysis covers national and 7 battleground states and is extensive. What I found interesting was this summary statement:

Though these results are challenging, this is still an election that Obama has at least an even chance of winning. In the battleground states, he is running 3 points ahead of Kerry’s performance in 2004, and thus, he is very much in the position to put together the majority he needs to win the Electoral College.

Read it with the realization they are applying lipstick to the current situation.

And PEW has a poll out as well, showing how Obama’s 5 point lead in July shrunk to 3 in August and now is completely gone in a tie. It also shows why things have tightened up, and the internals again seem too large to only result in a 5% change in the bottom line. From August to now McCain-Palin have increased their support +16 with Conservative/Republicans, +17 with Moderate/Liberal Republicans, and +9 with independents (Obama went +1, 0, -1 in these categories).

This is evident in a graph (which I sadly don’t have the time to post up) showing independents preferring Obama by 16-18 points all YEAR, and now McCain-Palin leads by 1. The shift in independents is most heartening – because that is the group which will determine the election. And I have seen many polls now with McCain-Palin leading in that group.

First, there is a conflict brewing between the militant Taliban and the local government and pro-government tribes. The stage is set for a major crackdown by the government as the militant Taliban have grown tired of being controlled and are anxious to begin full Jihad against Afghanistan, NATO, America and now possibly the new Pakistan government.

This article describes a coordinated effort with Saudi Arabia to establish moderate groups in the Pak Tribal Areas. It is quite enlightening.

This article talks about how foreign fighters are entering the region via Iran.

This article discusses how the local government of the North West Frontier Province is standing up and promising to (a) negotiate a peace but (b) meet violence with military action.

This article covers a major US actions in successfully taking out a large number of militants, and capturing a good number too (which will generate intel on future targets no doubt).

This article notes how Pak government forces are massing in the Swat region of the NWFP, portending a coming clash with the militants in that area.

If I get a chance I will try and update this later with any breaking news out today.

Update: More news coming out of the region today.

This article notes recent Pak military actions in the NWFP near the Afghan border, which pushed out the Taliban.

This article reports on the capture of a very senior Taliban leader in Afghanistan’s Helmund Province (more intelligence forthcoming no doubt).

This article outlines how the Taliban have increased their suicide bombing activities in Pakistan using young men and boys as their weapon delivery system.  This is not sitting well on the Pakistan public.

It is now established that al Qaeda introduced suicide bombing in Pakistan. Such desperate acts of violence were previously unknown in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Even Taliban did not use human bodies as weapons against their rivals – the Northern Alliance. It is also claimed by the militants that their targets are the Americans and their allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Their objective is only to expel what they call foreign occupation forces from Afghanistan and prevent any government in Pakistan from pursuing a pro-US policy. However, this is not their real agenda. Their real agenda is to prevent the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan from exercising their democratic right of electing a government of their free choice. The militants have openly declared that their ultimate aim is to establish in Pakistan and Afghanistan a system of government based on shariat as defined by them. The most deplorable aspect of the militancy in Pakistan and Afghanistan is the use of our young generation in this bloody war. This generation is our most precious asset and we should condemn, discourage and oppose all such activities that are promoting such evil things.

Echos of an Awakening it would seem to me.

First off is a disturbing tale of potential terror that broke a few years ago across our northern border in Canada:

The so-called Toronto-18 is not the first group of suspected terrorists to have fallen off the public radar screen.

The final fate of “Toronto 19” members was explored in former Congressman Curt Weldon’s book, Countdown to Terror.

“Most of the Toronto 19 were from, or had connections to, Pakistan’s Punjab province noted for Sunni extremism, and had studied at the same madras, a school notorious for teaching militant Islam,” Weldon told Canada Free Press (CFP) in March of 2006.

…

All entered Canada before September 11, 2001, the last just six days before al Qaeda’s attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“Like the September 11 terrorists, the “Toronto 19” lived together in groups, kept to themselves, did not attend classes, pursued no other occupations, and lacked visible means of support. Yet, with no identifiable source of income, one of them had over $40,000 in the bank.

…

“Two members of the “Toronto 19” were arrested for trying to penetrate the perimeter of the Pickering Nuclear Reactor at 4:00 in the morning. They claimed they wanted to walk on the beach,” Weldon wrote in Countdown to Terror.

“One member of the group was training to get a commercial pilot’s license for multi-engine jets, and practiced flying over the Pickering Nuclear Reactor.

This is disturbing in many ways, but the part I don’t get is what Canada did with these terrorists:

Canada elected to deport most of the “Toronto 19” as illegal immigrants, rather than prosecute them as terrorists.”

What? If all the evidence is so clear and damning why let them go to try again some other day? And let’s be clear here – this is the type of group we want the NSA listening to and passing leads to the FBI when they cross our borders. And still Congress dawdles on putting back in place the processes and procedures we have lived attack-free under since 9-11.

Canada is planning on using GPS guided munitions in their fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The higher precision comes at a high cost, but the saving of collateral life and limb would seem to worth just about any price.

The Chicago Tribune ran a good story yesterday on how Iraq has changed since the Surge and Awakening drove out al-Qaeda from most of the country:

In the video, branches are thrown into a pit, then doused with kerosene and ignited. The camera pans to three blindfolded men, kneeling, mouths sealed with tape. Six armed men in black masks stand behind. One declares: “These three men fought and killed Al Qaeda. We will punish them according to Islam.” The masked men then kick the three into the burning grave.

Al-Zobaie angrily turned off the video. “How can we show mercy to those people?”

Al-Zobaie, 51, knows the nature of the men in black masks. He is a former insurgent. Now, as the police chief, he has turned against the insurgency, especially Al Qaeda in Iraq. The U.S. military showcases Fallujah as a model city where U.S. policies are finally paying off.

…

To fight back, al-Zobaie ordered his force of 1,200 men to monitor car mechanic shops to deter bombmaking. He ordered oxygen tanks inside hospitals counted daily because the canisters were often used for bombs. Backed by U.S. troops, his men staged raids and detained scores of Al Qaeda in Iraq members. He also has launched a citywide network of intelligence operatives that was the backbone of Hussein’s security apparatus, police officials said.

“He made very brave and difficult decisions,” said Maj. Mohammed Fayadh al-Esawi, police commander in the city’s Andalus neighborhood. “He proved that in a critical era, he was the right person, at the right time.”

al-Qaeda’s brutality is so repulsive to the human spirit it will not garner a huge following anywhere. The only thing following AQ these days are Western and Muslim security forces trying to hunt them down for their vicious crimes.

Clearly the Democrat party is imploding – as I predicted it would given the Clinton’s lust for power. I find myself actually agreeing with Maureen Dowd today as she notes the imploding Dem opportunities as I have been noting for weeks. But she adds an interesting twist (H/T RCP):

Even some Clinton loyalists are wondering aloud if the win-at-all-costs strategy of Hillary and Bill — which continued Tuesday when Hillary tried to drag Rev. Wright back into the spotlight — is designed to rough up Obama so badly and leave the party so riven that Obama will lose in November to John McCain.

If McCain only served one term, Hillary would have one last shot. On Election Day in 2012, she’d be 65.

Why else would Hillary suggest that McCain would be a better commander in chief than Obama, and why else would Bill imply that Obama was less patriotic — and attended by more static — than McCain?

The fact is both camps are getting way too sensitive and acting all the victim over the slightest challenge. How can these candidates favorably compare themselves to their opponent without making their opponent look bad (relatively speaking)? So we go from ridiculously thin skin to wild conspiracy theories. Where Dowd is spot on is simply noting how self consumed and power happy the Clintons are:

After all, the Clintons think of themselves as The Democratic Party. When Bill and Dick Morris triangulated during the first term, it was what was best for Bill, not the party. In 1996, when Bill turned the White House into Motel 1600 for fund-raisers, it was more about his re-election than the re-elections of his fellow Democrats in Congress; in 2000, the White House focused its energies more on Hillary’s Senate win than Al Gore’s presidential run.

It has taken the liberals nearly 16 years to figure out the Clinton’s are power hungry and could give a damn about the party, let alone the country. Geez!

The interesting thing is whichever candidate wins could lose a good chunk of their opponents supporters to John McCain – according to Gallup This is not the first poll to show this effect (see here).

Depending on who you listen to in Pakistan either the new government is not going to listen to America and fight terrorists or they would like to offer some carrots with those sticks we have been seeing used in order to keep a broad uprising from erupting. I understand the second approach because it is what we are doing in Iraq with the Awakening and Surge. But what I see is a split coming in this new government as Sharif and his anti-American group go too far away from American and Pak interests when it comes to terrorism. Sharif is an appeaser, and all that will bring is more terrorism as al-Qaeda and the Taliban signal the people of Pakistan to stay in line with them and to demonstrate how impotent leaders like Sharif are.

Speaking of Pakistan, I found it interesting to see US envoys were in the tribal areas:

Senior U.S. envoys visited Pakistan’s northwest frontier Wednesday to promote lavishly funded plans to boost security and development in a region that could be harboring Osama bin Laden.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday to meet leaders of its new government, which plans to review its role in Washington’s war on terror.

On Wednesday, the two diplomats were in North West Frontier Province for talks with officials responsible for the tribal areas near the Afghan border where militant groups hold sway.

They were visiting “security and development sites” and holding talks with officials including the provincial governor, said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Kay Mayfield.

While Mayfield provided no details, local TV channels said the pair met with tribal leaders and commanders of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force that Washington plans to train and equip to fight militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

That is some high powered people visiting and probably applying pressure. We’ll see which side wins out, but given the fact we send a lot of money to Pakistan I am pretty sure which way it will all end up.

Saudi Arabia’s top cleric has decreed giving to the ‘evil’ al-Qaeda is not good for Islam:

Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority warned Saudis against giving money to charities and organizations financing “evil” groups, a top local daily reported Saturday.

The warning by Grand Mufti Sheik Abdul-Aziz Abdullah al-Sheikh comes just days after police found an audio from al-Qaida No.2 Ayman al-Zawahri, exhorting his followers to collect money for needy families in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“It is bad to give funds to just anyone who asks, and to parties with shabby reputations or unknown backing,” the mufti said in a statement published in the daily al-Okaz, which is deemed close to the government.

“It’s even worse to give it to an organization that’s known for its evil and for hurting Islam and its followers,” he added in an apparent reference to al-Qaida, which has carried out attacks on foreigners in Saudi Arabia.

Coming from the top religious figure in the country that kind of statement carries some weight. In addition the government has warned people who received a cell phone message from AQ’s number two Zawahiri for fundraising that they have a limited time to come forward before they face serious consequences. Clearly one doesn’t want to be on AQ’s ‘friends’ list.

Someone in Canada sees the elections in Pakistan, where religious militants took a beating at the polls, as an indicator things will be getting better in Afghanistan. Here’s to hoping he is right.

For those who think we will never find WMDs in Iraq note this news of another mass grave being found, along with a treasure trove of plane engines:

A force from the 5th division of the Iraqi army found the cache in the Uthmaniyah area containing 29 plane engines, four of which are unused, and 90 containers full of TNT explosives, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) quoted a statement by the Iraqi military news agency as saying.

29 plane engines is not a small amount of equipment (even small plane engines). The fact is we will be discovering things about Saddam Hussein’s Iraq for years to come – especially the human toll.

A female suicide bomber has sadly taken out one of our allies in the fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq. No word yet if she was in her right mind – but most can figure that one our on their own.

And if you want to read up on how our forces are doing on the front in Iraq AFP has a short piece out as a day-in-the-life story. Sort of interesting.

And there is some hope the militancy can be shed from Pakistan, as they try and remove the violence from their religious schools:

Young Osama rises from his knees to stand before his classmates and teachers. Wearing a faded, thin shirt-dress and white skullcap, he closes his eyes and begins to sing verses from the Quran, a book he is memorizing in a language he does not understand.

For the next two years, this will be Osama Abdul Rahman Azad’s schoolwork at the Jamia Salfia madrassa.Almost since Osama was born 11 years ago, the government of Pakistan has tried to root out extremism and bring a modern syllabus into the medieval religious schools known as madrassas. Government decrees, supervisory boards, presidential speeches and offers of money failed to sway the madrassa leadership.

Dialogue and respect are finally bringing change. In the past year, nearly 15,000 madrassas have pledged not to teach or promote militancy or religious hatred. The mainstream madrassas, including young Osama’s Jamia Salfia, are starting to teach math, science, social studies and even English.

Illiteracy and not being trained to survive, let alone succeed, in the modern world leads to poverty and then to hate and anger. Education is one weapon against al-Qaeda and the Islamo Fascists. Something we all need to remember. With that said, denial of the threat is not a weapon, it is surrender.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Top of the list is the neutering of the far left’s attempts to pull out of Iraq and destroy our currently fragile progress that was so hard fought for (and sacrificed for) this past year. That neutering is in the negotiations between Iraq and the Bush administration on the long term role the US will have in Iraq. See here, here and here for the basics, the point is the far left cannot turn down a request by a Muslim/Arab nation to help protect it from al-Qaeda and other extreme Islamist terror outfits. The far left will implode over these steps, and the Democrat presidential candidates will find all their proposals for Iraq usurped and meaningless. The UN may run out on Iraq, but the US will not.

The wave of what is happening in Iraq is finally hitting the SurrenderMedia. For today’s dose reality you can go here, here and here.

The political fall out from the change in Iraq is weeks from settling in (we still have month’s more of good news to come out of Iraq). But you can see some early indicators here and here, and it is not good news for the dems of course (which is probably why they are slipping in the presidential polls). I think this person summed up the precarious position the Dems are in when they call for political progress in Iraq. Given their horrible track record they have no room to demand progress from any other legislative body.

Finally, the progress in Iraq is due to the efforts and sacrifices of US forces and Iraqi forces and Iraqi citizens. You can see more of this progress here, here and here.

Have a great day!

Turkey has a man in jail who claims to have trained the 9-11 hijackers. While this could be faux bravado or some effort to divert attention, the man does seem to have the characteristics one would expect in a top level, heavily funded terrorist:

He was travelling under the Turkish name Erkan Ozer – one of his 16 false identities – when he was arrested in the southeastern town of Diyarbakir in August 2005. His downfall was as a result of a nighttime explosion that caused a fire in his apartment a week earlier. When fire-fighters reached the blaze they found a do-it-yourself bomb factory with vats of hydrogen, bags of aluminium powder and 6kg of plastic explosives.

Sakka had been planning to sink Israeli cruise ships off the Turkish coast using motorised dinghies. Despite having plastic surgery to disguise his face, he was easily identified by the Turkish authorities.

16 different useable identities – with papers one would assume? Plastic surgery at 34 years of age? Trained in brewing plastic explosives? He has all the trappings of a top member of some terrorist organization.

The Surrendercrats are going to be facing a tough time at home this Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday as Americans sit around enjoying their families, giving thanks for what they have, while worrying about those doing their duty in Iraq and Afghanistan all the time knowing the Democrats have left our military high and dry this holiday season. Instead of thanking them for their sacrifices and celebrating their successes, the Democrats sent our forces a nasty “Scrooge You” by not funding their needs on the front lines. The lame reason for turning their back on our brave men and women was supposedly because they wanted our troops home. Well that BS ain’t going to stand the smell test now that they ARE coming home because of all their great work and sacrifice:

The first substantive drawdown of American troops in Iraq has begun, as the first members of a brigade in Diyala Province have started to leave, American military officials in Baghdad said Saturday.

…

The replacement soldiers are already in Diyala and are taking over their new jobs, Colonel Sutherland said. The replacement brigade, which had worked in Salahuddin Province, which is to the north and west of Diyala, will leave quieter areas of that province to the Iraqi Army and concerned local citizen groups, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, spokesman for the multinational division forces in Baghdad.

These troops are coming home and not being replaced with state-side troops because they earned it in victory. But the Democrats seem hell bent on them coming home under a cloud of failure (that’s what the rhetoric says clearly). America is NOT going to give the Dems any credit for trying to make our success into a retreat. And they will be punished if it is decided that they are holding our forces still on the front line hostage simply so they can spin the nature of the pending withdrawals. Since a victory would create the desired force reduction no one is going to buy the Surrendercrats emotional need to make the Bush success look bad for their own CYA efforts. Our troops did well and helped change the course of this war, and THEY deserve to spin the results – not those lazy, cowering pols back in DC appeasing their base.

Speaking of victory, Jeff Jacoby has a good piece out on the sea change in Iraq and the shock of success rippling through the SurrenderMedia. Definitely a good read if you have been a supporter of the Iraq effort, our troops and President Bush.

The changes in Iraq are so dramatic that even al-Qaeda forces are surrendering and looking for a way to fit back into Iraqi society:

One the U.S. says is succeeding beyond their own expectations.

“We have al Qaeda coming to our checkpoints, coming to a volunteer saying, ‘Can you let me talk to the commander, we want to quit, but how do we do this?’” said Lt. Col. Kurt Pinkerton of the 1st Cavalry Division.

“And what do you say?” asks Logan.

“We take very slow steps with them,” said Pinkerton.

Al Qaeda terrorists are not allowed to join the “volunteers” manning these checkpoints, says the top U.S. commander in Baghdad.

But Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil’s men also don’t turn these terrorists away, instead giving them other jobs like road or sewer repair.

That’s a remarkable turnaround for an area that until recently served as an important base of operations for al Qaeda.

The NY Times, no less, notes the shifting sands in Iraq are changing the political dynamics in the Surrendercrat presidential primary:

As violence declines in Baghdad, the leading Democratic presidential candidates are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on Iraq: acknowledging that success, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress there, and highlighting more domestic concerns like health care and the economy.

…

But the changing situation suggests for the first time that the politics of the war could shift in the general election next year, particularly if the gains continue.

…

This is a delicate matter. By saying the effects of the troop escalation have not led to a healthier political environment, the candidates are tacitly acknowledging that the additional troops have, in fact, made a difference on the ground — a viewpoint many Democratic voters might not embrace.

What a “Duh!” epiphany by the NY Times. Their only hope is to pretend it did not happen (i.e., focus on anything but Iraq like ‘domestic concerns’) and pray Americans have no recollection regarding the biggest issue of the last 5 years! Not likely. Everyone knows the left cannot support our troops or Iraq because it would make them wrong. And the left cannot face being wrong. If the left continues to deny success and how resisting destroys their credibility, they will simply implode in 2008 – possibly never to return to parity with the GOP.

The Surrendercrats, with the help of the SurrenderMedia, will be trying to spin their years of defeatism into some lame claim of always been supporting success in Iraq (even though they have to admit they could not envision HOW to succeed, only how to lose). One way they like to do this is to pretend GOP success is equivalent to Democrat success – or, in the case of one leftward biased DC based journalist, how Bush is just as much a failure as Clinton:

For most of my time covering presidential elections, I shared the view that there was a direct correlation between the skills needed to be a great candidate and a great president. The chaotic and demanding requirements of running for president, I felt, were a perfect test for the toughest job in the world.

But now I think I was wrong. The “campaigner equals leader” formula that inspired me and so many others in the news media is flawed.

Case in point: Our two most recent presidents, both of whom I covered while they were governors seeking the White House. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are wildly talented politicians. Both claimed two presidential victories, in all four cases arguably as underdogs. Both could skillfully serve as the chief strategist for a presidential campaign.

But their success came not because they convinced the news media (and much of the public) that they would be the best president, but because they dominated the campaign narrative that portrayed them as the best candidate in a world-class political competition. In the end, both men were better presidential candidates than they were presidents.

This is a Surrendercrat, working in the SurrenderMedia, facing the abyss of being completely wrong about Bush and Iraq. Bush has had two of the most successful Presidential terms in history. He is a war time president who is on the verge of vanquishing our enemies. The economy is doing very well, in spite of 9-11 and two wars. And his legislative agenda was a huge success, with only the very tough and divisive items like Social Security and Immigration Reform left on the table. Every President leaves work undone, Bush left issues that would stymy anybody in time of peace and optimal conditions.

But Mark Halperin simply deflates Clinton to a failure in order to avoid the obvious conclusion – Bush is a successful President. This is how deep the denial has gone in the far left. They would sacrifice the Clinton legacy to avoid admitting Bush was a success. Thankfully history will be its own judge and not rely on biased reporters for its guidance (in fact history tends to ignore the views of the time in making its determinations).

Finally, when not making up all sorts of delusional excuses on why what is happening in Iraq is not happening, the far left can get downright ugly when their fantasies are being destroyed. And as much as the Democrat presidential candidates want and need to appease to the broader America which would celebrate an Iraq success, the far left will work to destroy any candidate who even hints there is a worthy battle to be won in Iraq:

Is Hillary Clinton the hawk masquerading as the dove? Some Democrats who know her security advisers fear her war in Iraq will be just as bloody as George Bush’s.

Party critics foresee an aggressive Clinton administration pressing the fight in Iraq – and possibly in Iran, too.

Their dark concerns stem from the stable of hawkish advisers Clinton has recruited for her war council, who helped craft her recent saber-rattling over Iran and Iraq, as well as from her muscular voting record on national security.

Clearly 2008 will be about two futures for America. One will be the defeatist left’s wish we will accept Islamo Fascism and all its atrocities as punishment for being an imperfect (yet free and successful) society. And the then there will be the GOP’s optimistic view of America as a positive force that can and is vanquishing one of humanity’s worst horrors. If this narrative continues I don’t think it will be much of a contest, especially given the historically low support for Congress at this moment.

OK, one more last thought. Notice how when people cannot inflict their own imperialistic desires on humanity to make it conform to their view of what life should be like they lash out at those forces that are a barrier to their desires and call THEM imperialistic? Well some power hungry folks from the last Empire (that would be the British Empire) are upset America stands in the way of the creation of the new ‘world order’. And so they call us “imperialistic”, even though if we were truly imperialistic one of our subject holdings would be the UK itself. When the folks of Britain are pledging allegiance to the American Flag and their silly monarchy has been disbanded then they can call us imperialistic – because we will then have our empire and it will be under our benevolent control!

One of the most interesting articles I ran across was a historic perspective on al-Qaeda. It seems one of the largest events to influence and initiate al-Qaeda was, of course, a terrorist attack in 1979 which briefly took over Mecca:

On November 20, 1979, scores of armed militants — some say, numbering in their hundreds — took over the holiest of mosques, the Grand Mosque, in Mecca. Their objective — to force the Saudi royalty, who they hated, out of power and install an Islamist government in Riyadh.

In a startling new book, The Siege of Mecca, The Wall Street Journal reporter Yaroslav Trofimov has penetrated the veil of secrecy the Saudi authorities has cast over the horrifying episode all these years and revealed how that militant operation came to inspire Al Qaeda [Images] and bin Laden, who founded his International Islamic Front, as a reaction to the Saudi monarchy’s decision to invite the American military into the kingdom before the first Gulf War.

The articles explains how spreading and supporting Wahhabism became the price the Saudi Kingdom had to pay to regain control of Mecca. It is an eye opener.

Interestingly, another story that is coming out in stages (and which I noted before) is the release of a new Jihadists handbook by one of the founding fathers of the modern Jihad which is shaking the world of Islamic Extremism. The new handbook renounces al-Qaeda’s tactics in Iraq because they killing more innocent Muslims than anyone else. It joins a rising chorus of rejection of al-Qaeda in the Muslim community.

In fact, there is a story out this week which is covers the experience of one disillusioned al-Qaeda supporter from Saudi Arabia which I also noted before:

A young Saudi, who was brainwashed to fight in Iraq where he narrowly escaped death and suffered scarring to his face and hands in a failed suicide attack, recently called on young Saudis not to follow in his footsteps and be wary of militant groups in Iraq.

Ahmad Abdullah Al-Shaie, a young Saudi from Buraidah who describes himself as a victim, told Al-Riyadh newspaper that he was brainwashed into going to and fighting in Iraq. “The Iraqis who were supposed to train me and prepare me to fight the occupation tried to kill me by making me an unwilling suicide bomber,” said Al-Shaie, who was tricked into driving a truck full of explosives.

As with many things in Iraq this year, I suspect we may start seeing a lot more of these kinds of stories, the disillusioned and lied to Muslims who step up to condemn al-Qaeda and further destroy its credibility in the Muslim communities of the Middle East.

In Iraq our efforts to dismantle and destroy al-Qaeda are moving apace. We have more AQI leaders in custody along with some large weapons caches. Even more good news here. It is this day-by-day dismantling of AQI which, in my opinion, is chipping away at the terrorists and shrinking their forces to the point Iraq can finally work its final way to victory.

But extremists never learn the lesson that extremism will fail when faced by the forces of freedom. It is not a hard choice in terms of preference, it is a question of how much time does it take the oppressed to become so fed up with the oppressors they will rise up and destroy them. Somehow the Iraqi Shiites militants have concluded they can succeed were al-Qaeda failed. It seems these Shiite militants are responsible for the latest round of bombings in Iraq. I think they will find themselves at the end of a rope for their actions – a Shiite rope.

A few bombings cannot change the momentum of 25 million people dedicated to a bright future. It’s just not possible to shift human forces of the size taking shape in Iraq with such small incidents. You can raise the ire of the masses and become rapidly extinct if you poke at them, but you can’t make the change course or follow your cause if they are adamant about going in an opposite direction.

To understand the situation in Iraq look at who the Iraqis fear upon their return to Iraq as refugees. It is not the American military, as some liberal reactionaries might conclude in a moment of biased conjecture:

Those returning make up only a tiny fraction of the 2.2 million Iraqis who have fled Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. But they represent the largest number of returnees since February 2006, when sectarian violence began to rise dramatically, speeding the exodus from Iraq.

Many find a Baghdad they no longer recognize, a city altered by blast walls and sectarian rifts. Under the improved security, Iraqis are gingerly testing how far their new liberties allow them to go. But they are also facing many barriers, geographical and psychological, hardened by violence and mistrust.

Days after she returned from Syria, 23-year-old Melal al-Zubaidi and a friend went to the market on a pleasant night to eat ice cream. It was a short walk, yet unthinkable only a month ago for a woman in the capital. Still, her parents were nervous, and Zubaidi wore a head scarf and an ankle-length skirt to avoid angering Islamic extremists.

Iraq is not going as anyone expected. Some of us had views extremism, once tasted, would be spat out by the broader Muslim community. But even we underestimated the brutality of al-Qaeda and how it would sow rejection through its atrocities on Muslims. Their brutality is a driving force, just not driving people in the direction the expected.

I find the fact that Alexander Litvinenko WAS a MI6 paid ‘consultant’ (at his salary of 2,000 pounds (~$3500) a month he was probably just an informant) a very interesting and telling twist to the Polonium smuggling story. Clearly Litvinenko (and Berezovsky) were working closely with British intelligence. But the question is are their heavy ties to Chechen rebels a front so as to become chummy and get intel on terrorism, or were they playing the double agent game – playing up to MI6 so they could operate in support of terrorism. Their public faces clearly indicate the latter – which strengthens the argument for the former of course. But here is the rub – Lugovoi still had close ties to Litvinenko and Berezovsky. So whatever was happening they apparently were in it together until the Po-210 spilled and killed Litvinenko. Was MI6 trying to frame Russia by smuggling Po-210 into Russia, or trying to frame Lugovoi? Possible. Or were the three Russians moving Po-210 to Chechen or terrorist buyers under the nose of MI6? I still don’t buy the assasination story – makes no sense. But a smuggling ring gone bad that ALSO makes MI6 look like buffoons or some out of control rogue operation DOES make sense. It makes sense why things are going the way they are. MI6 had Po-210 smuggled onto its home turf. Either it supported it or missed it, so blaming Russia makes a great diversion.

The war for the heart of Islam is raging in Iraq right now. al-Qaeda’s enemy Number 1 are ‘moderate’ Muslims who have turned on al-Qaeda and sided with the Iraqi government and their American allies. We have the Muslim civil war we needed to turn the Middle East region from a anti-western jihadists enclave to a forward looking, modern region of democratic reforms. al-Qaeda is hoping to make the area home base to a Islamo Fascist wave that will take over the planet (if not areas bordering the Mediterranean Sea). We have enlisted allies in opposing this view – allies who are puting their lives on the line (as we see with the 10 Sheiks who oppose al-Qaeda being kidnapped). By attacking Muslims al-Qaeda has let their peace loving, for-the-good-of-Islam mask fall. Their atrocities against Muslims are now legend. Which is why we get news out of Baghdad that al-Qaeda is severely weakened in Iraq:

The threat from Al Qaeda in several former strongholds in Baghdad has been significantly reduced, but criminals who have established an “almost mafia-like presence” in some areas pose a new threat, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Sunday.

The commander, General David Petraeus, stressed, however, that the terror organization remained “a very dangerous and very lethal enemy” – a comment underscored by the abduction Sunday in Baghdad of 10 Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders who had joined forces against Al Qaeda.

“Its presence has been significantly reduced, and its activity and freedom of action have been degraded,” Petraeus said at a U.S. base near Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, 130 kilometers, or 80 miles, north of Baghdad.

He singled out success in what had been some of the most volatile Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad, including Ghazaliya, Amariya, Azamiya and Doura.

But, he said, “Al Qaeda remains a very dangerous and very lethal enemy of Iraq. We must maintain contact with them and not allow them to establish sanctuaries or re-establish sanctuaries in places where they were before.”

The Nazis remained brutal and dangerous until they were completey crushed in Berlin. And then even some pockets tried to stay relevant after the end of WW II. We will not kill every terrorist. But as the Muslim street turns against terrorism, will not tolerate it amongst them, then Islamic terrorism will have no resources or safe havens to grow upon. They will remain stilted and impotent.

If I have time later today I hope to do some catching up on things in Pakistan. It seems there has been a lot of action there the last few days (see here and here for examples). I still think we shall see the center of action in the war on terrorism shift towards Pakistan as more and more of Iraq is lost to al-Qaeda due to its brutality against fellow Muslims.

Finally, Valerie Plame claims she is not going away. My response to her is “Valerie who?” Sorry dear, you two had your shot and lost. No one cares anymore – unless you want to come clean on you and your husbands ties to the Kerry campaign. Now THAT would sell some books!

Hope everyone has a great day!

On the politics front the GOP is being given a sign that Rudy Giuliani is more than capable of taking down Her Hillaryness in 2008. Assuming Texas stays GOP and CA stays Dem in the electorial college (remember, this is not a popularity contest) then FL and NY become pivotal. And Giuliani has NY:

t’s the middle of October and Rudy Giuliani is still leading the race for the Republican nomination. His old enemies in New York can’t understand it.

“It’s totally unbelievable,” said Charles Rangel, the dean of the New York Congressional delegation and a longtime adversary of Mr. Giuliani. “I refuse to believe that this could possibly happen to our country. I have too much confidence in our country to believe that this could really happen.”

…

But now, with Mr. Giuliani up nearly 10 percentage points in national polls and unexpectedly competitive in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, a mixture of nervousness and disbelief is running through the ranks of his old antagonists.

These career politicians and political hacks know something folks. They know The hero of 9-11 in NY City will be the two term, carpet bagging Illinois Senator from New York. Even if he did not take NY he would force Clinton (or Obama) into some serious spending to protect NY, NJ and PA (to some extent).

OK, off the 2008 race and onto the Democrats FISA debacle. First, the Washington Times – which apparently broke the story on how FISA paralyzed search and rescue efforts for kidnappend soldiers in Iraq – provides more details on how the Dems plans are dangerous:

The case of the three soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division based in Ft. Drum, N.Y., who were ambushed by al Qaeda operatives in May, has become a clear and present danger to the RESTORE Act.

Briefly, here are the facts (reported on this editorial page weeks ago and more recently picked up by other news organizations): Three U.S. soldiers were kidnapped May 12 south of Baghdad in an al Qaeda attack that killed four of their colleagues. As U.S. soldiers searched for the men May 13 and May 14, intelligence officials learned about jihadist communications that were possibly related to the ambush. On May 15, more than nine hours elapsed while U.S. intelligence officials discussed the need to obtain a FISA court order to monitor these communications and obtained authorization to do so.

We had a possible lead, and because of a series of decisions by one liberal judge on the panel (which could be overturned by the FISA Review Court – but that takes weeks to go through) made ‘adjustments’ that led to doubt. As the Washington Times points out it was the threat of a Congressional show trial on this matter that forced people to be so cautious we lost three of our own:

On May 15, U.S. intelligence officials — fully aware that the legal ground justifying the ability to conduct warrantless searches was shifting beneath their feet — did what they had to do to prevent the likes of Silvestre Reyes and John Conyers from hauling them before their committees for allegedly “violating the rule of law”: They jumped through all manner of bureaucratic hoops before eavesdropping on the terrorists who kidnapped the three American troops (one of whom was found dead, while the other two remain missing.)

This is what happens when you misuse power. The Dems have show they are interested in one thing and one thing only. Show trials for their paranoid conspiracy theories and cirppling the war effort in Iraq. That is why they have gotten absolutely nothing done. What must residents in NJ be thinking as Dems cripple the government’s efforts to monitor the potential terrorists in their midsts?

Federal counterterrorism officials in New Jersey told the Record of Bergen County that agents have disrupted their activities and deported several.

Click here for the full story in Record.

“There are many people who are like-minded who want to commit acts of terrorism and have just not taken that extra step,” Kevin Cruise, the director of the bureau’s 100-member task force in Newark, N.J., told the Record, calling the individuals “facilitators.”

Every major terrorist organization in the world, except the Taliban, has contacts in northern New Jersey, the paper reports.

Not to worry New Jersey, the Dems are watching out for the rights to privacy for the possible terrorists among you! You will an experiment in the price of civil libery paranoia.

And speaking of crippling the war in Iraq, the Democrats’ attempts to destroy our relations with an ally of the Iraq war – so we cannot get material and supplies to our troops readily – is falling apart as the rank and file dems realized the kind of traitorous action the vote on Armenian genocide truly was:

Worried about antagonizing Turkish leaders, House members from both parties have begun to withdraw their support from a resolution supported by the Democratic leadership that would condemn as genocide the mass killings of Armenians nearly a century ago.

Almost a dozen lawmakers had shifted against the measure over the last 24 hours, accelerating a sudden exodus that has cast deep doubt over the measure’s prospects. Some representatives made clear that they were heeding warnings from the White House, which has called the measure dangerously provocative, and from the Turkish government, which has said House passage would prompt Turkey to reconsider its ties to the United States, including logistical support for the Iraq war.

This was a back stabbing attempt to cripple our forces on the ground in Iraq. Why else wait nearly a century before bringing this up now? It would be like Congress in WW II passing legislation to make the UK (Europe) or Australia) (Pacific) break the Alliance against Japan and the Nazis. Watch the roll call on this one folks. These will be people so obsessed with tearing down this country they would even vote to cripple a key national ally and hurt supply trains to our troops.

Want to know how sick these liberal nuts are? One liberal blogger is calling the dead soldier who was caught up in that FIS mess above ‘a poster child’:

Alex Jimenez As FISA Poster Boy

If some conservatives have their way, Alex Jimenez will become to an expanded domestic-spying program what Graeme Frost became to the expanded S-CHIP program: A human face on a contentious political issue.

This kind of disparaging remark is when a simple mind tries to connect to irrelevant issues, uses Malkin as an example of behavior and tries to do her one better by making fun a man who died at the hands of al Qaeda – after enduring real torture know doubt. This juvenile attempt at humour is the best of the left right now.

Let me end this overly long Fly By with some news from Iraq. While Sunni and Shiia extremists are targeting the other’s innocent civilians to insight a bloody civil war (and thus shows the drepravity of al-Qaeda’s visions for the future of Islam) the leaders of said innocent communities are reaching out to each other.

To understand the vector Iraq is on one story is quite enlightening. It is how Iraqi forces have apparently taken out another al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, this one in the Northern region near Mosul. What is great about this story is how they identified the terrorists as they drove off, gave chase, engaged in a deadly gun battle and killed the terrorists. That is what al-Qaeda faces now – not sanctuary among Iraqis from which to attack the US and Iraqi government. They are being hunted.

And finally Strategt Page has something on the apparent crumbling of al-Qaeda and suspicous deaths of key members, pointing to possibly severe in-fighting and implosion.

Anyway, that and some unfinished work leaves me only time for a Fly By for the moment. So let’s start cruising through the news.

Iraq’s President Talabani thinks most of our troops will be able to depart Iraq within a year.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s president said at least 100,000 U.S. servicemembers could return home from Iraq by the end of 2008.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in an interview aired Sunday on CNN, proposed that several U.S. military bases stay in Iraq.

Talabani said he envisioned faster U.S. troop reductions than U.S. commanders have discussed in public, but he emphasized that the pace of withdrawal was up to those commanders.

“I think it is possible at the end of the next year that a big part of the American Army will be back here,” said Talabani, who gave the interview during a trip to the United States. “More than 100,000 (troops) can be back by the end of the next year.”

Of course this differs from the Surrendercrats plan to fold and run in that we would be leaving as victors and there would be a stable, democratic Iraq in place as our ally in the Middle East. The optimism is grounded in the fact things are changing rapidly and radically on the ground. So much security should be the norm soon and political progress will follow. Al Qaeda is the enemy of Iraqi Muslims across all three sects now. The war could be proceeding to a rapid end.

Clarice Feldman notes notes a website that is covering the Marine investigative report on Haditha that should have been obvious to many (at least I thought it was obvious). She notes that the Haditha attack was a PR stunt by al-Qaeda to hook gullible and naive liberal Democrats into calling for surrender in Iraq.

Buried in the mountain of exhibits attached to the once secret Haditha, Iraq murder inquiry prepared by US Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell is an obscure Marine Corps intelligence summary (see pdf) that says the deadly encounter was an intentional propaganda ploy planned and paid for by Al Qaeda foreign fighters.

The fact there is evidence to this effect should be interesting grist when Mad Rep Murtha has to testify on libel charges after he stated, as fact, the guilt of the Marines involved before they even went to trial. Murtha is going to be an indicator if the left is guilty of spineless ignorance, or something much, much worse. If he tries to fight off the charges he was duped by a PR stunt, then many could conclude the left may not have been duped after all.

Iraqi forces are definitely becoming stronger and more competent because they are foiling more and more al-Qaeda efforts to regain some ground. In some reporting that SHOULD be headline news in the US Iraqi forces stopped an al-Qaeda offensive to retake Tikrit.

Iraqi forces have foiled an al-Qaeda plot to seize control of the city of Tikrit, security officials said Monday, while a Polish soldier was reportedly killed in a separate incident in Diwaniyah.

The al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist network was planning to attack numerous targets in central Tikrit, 175 kilometres north of Baghdad and the capital of Salahaddin province, in order to control the city and link it to the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaeda affiliate, according to the officials.

The plan involved assaulting the relatively stable city from the south, the west and the east, avoiding the northern part where US troops are based in a former air force facility, the source added.

Director of the Salahaddin National Security Centre Colonel Jasssem Hussein Mohammed said that Iraqi security forces had managed to raid the militants’ dens, arresting dozens of gunmen, killing scores of others and confiscating large amounts of explosives and weapons.

Among those killed were Saudi national Abu Obada, who headed al- Qaeda in the north Tigris area, and Ali Youssif al-Jabouri, the mufti of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, said Major Ahmed Sobhi of the Salahaddin police command anti-terrorism unit.

This is a major setback for al-Qaeda. It would be akin to French or Italian forces finding and routing out a Nazi force attempting to retake some ground before we had entered Germany in WW II. The fact is Iraqi Muslims just took out what has to be one of al-Qaeda’s last fighting forces. This is a clear sign of a major shift in our fortunes in Iraq – as well as the fortunes of Iraqis themselves. The more of these large attacks that are foiled the more impotent al-Qaeda becomes. This should be big news, but so far it is not making many headlines.

And to underscore the lunacy of the liberal left we have this gem of a thought about what is going on in Iran:

If this is true, then why has the United States not already declared war on Iran? In what alternative universe would Washington allow another nation to direct attacks that kill U.S. troops without responding? To revert to the Hitler-era analogy that the Bush Regime is so fond of evoking in regard to Iran, what would the United States have done in 1938 if Nazi Germany had been arming, training, funding and directing deadly assaults on American troops from, say, Mexico?

…

And hey: “Qods” sounds a lot like “al Qaeda,” doesn’t it? That gives you extra traction in the echo chamber — more bang for the propaganda buck.

This ace detective (pun intended) must of not realized we do not name our enemies, they name themselves. I guess the idea of giving Iran the option to pull back and behave before we are forced to take a lot of needless lives never crossed this poor chap’s mind. He likens those who understand that there is more to this situation than similar sounding names “knuckledraggers”, seems he has a lot of mirrors in his house. The left is imploding in a burst of egomaniacal denial. They have so much vested in losing Iraq the entire world is now one big conspiracy theory out to save the evil Bush. They are seriously losing it! al-Qaeda sounds like Qods? You can’t make this stuff up.

No word on whether this Inspector Clouseau of the leftward fevered swamps thinks the student protests going onin Iran right now are actually a plot by the College Republicans to throw a bad light on President Ahmedinejad and help Bush. I am sure there is a rhyme to this reason as well! Maybe Iranians just feel the Mad Mullahs are dangerous???

To further underscore the lunacy of the leftist media, we have a report out today that is a lie of contradictions. The headline (and the soundbite-bottomfeeders who don’t read beyond the headline) claim Iraq is against reconciliation. But when you read the statements by Iraqis it is clear what we have is a false headline – not one that is even close to simply being ‘inaccurate’:

Top Iraqis Pull Back From Key U.S. Goal
Reconciliation Seen Unattainable Amid Struggle for Power

For much of this year, the U.S. military strategy in Iraq has sought to reduce violence so that politicians could bring about national reconciliation, but several top Iraqi leaders say they have lost faith in that broad goal.

…

Humam Hamoudi, a prominent Shiite cleric and parliament member, said any future reconciliation would emerge naturally from an efficient, fair government, not through short-term political engineering among Sunnis and Shiites.

“Reconciliation should be a result and not a goal by itself,” he said. “You should create the atmosphere for correct relationships, and not wave slogans that ‘I want to reconcile with you.’ ”

…

Some politicians remain hopeful. Hashimi, the Sunni vice president, recently drafted what he calls the “Iraqi National Compact,” a 25-point statement of principles that condemns all types of extremism and sectarian discrimination.

This is nitpicking taken to the absurd. The Iraqis are really saying we can and will resolves this. They are ALL confident they can work through the power struggles (part of the problem) and the insecurities and mistrust (most of the problem). The WaPo is so desperate to hold onto their dream of a failure in the US they have twisted the words and intents of these people to present a charade, a fantasty. Somehow it is amazing the SurrenderMedia still thinks their stories can create reality in Iraq. The fact is Iraq will go its way no matter how well or how badly the news media reports on them. We will see major political progress in Iraq, and all the reporting will be about what a surprise breakthrough it was! LOL! The media is always ‘surprised’ when they have been caught misreporting. No one else is, but they sure are. Always the last to get a clue it seems.

To the surprise (actually, ‘dismay’ would be a more accurate word) of the liberal media the results of The Surge are still paying dividends. The death toll in Iraq dropped by around 30% since just August and is down around 2006 levels.

And if any thinks the military is just sitting on its rations waiting for the political tide to turn in Iraq they are naive. The second phase of The Surge is going full steam – and that is the diplomatic surge that will create the security and stability to hold the areas cleansed of al-Qaeda’s butchers.

Here in Iraq’s dusty Sunni Arab hinterland, teams of US diplomats, soldiers, aid experts and Iraqi-US advisers are rumbling about country roads in convoys of armoured Humvees to listen to the concerns and grievances of Iraq’s much neglected local governments.

They are part of an inter-agency effort known as the Provincial Reconstruction Teams, or PRTs, and represent a philosophy of development that differs from the early post-invasion years – rather than spend billions to build infrastructure, it aims to increase Iraq’s capacity to spend its own money.

While our death toll is heading downward, the death toll on the side of our enemy is heading upward as the snowball of intelligence starts rolling. 60 militants were killed in Iraq over the weekend. The snowball is growing because of tips from locals turning on al-Qaeda and from information found when we uncover their hideouts.

Don’t forget to read my earlier post on 30,000 Iraqi volunteers ready to destroy al-Qaeda!

Everyone who knows what is going on in Iraq is panning the ridiculous idea put forth by the Democrat led Congress to divide Iraq into ethnic states. That includes both Iraqi Sunni and Shiites. For one, there are two many integrated areas to do this kind of carving. But the idea the US Congress can dictate how another democracy should be architected is the epitome of arrogance. The plan is going nowhere except the trash can – where it belongs.

al-Qaeda has not been able to penetrate one of the world’s larger Muslim communities. It turns out Indian Muslims are just not flocking to al-Qaeda’s call and are more likely to resist the Islamo Fascists. I would guess years of terrorism over Kashmir have taught the Indian Muslims what a waste of humanity Islamo Fascism is.

It seems those groups affiliated with al-Qaeda are losing support across the Middle East. In this reporting a Lebonese group tied to al-Qaeda is being shunned by other Sunni groups, even by other radical Sunni groups. al-Qaeda’s massacring of Muslims may finally be astrocizing them from the broader Muslim community.

And finally, al-Qaeda is now forced to dress in drag to get their suicide bombs on target. The burqa wearing bomber seems to be the new fashion trend in the cowardly al-Qaeda warriors arsenal. Before burqas were only used by al-Qaeda ‘leaders’ to sneak away from coalition forces. No news yet on whether al-Qaeda will also be donning sheep skin, pig hide, or dog fur to hide out among the rest of the animals. But one has to wonder if dressing as a woman will void all access to the 70 virgins clause in the Koran? Maybe these folks get 70 male virgins for the burqa bomb approach?

Hope everyone has a great day!