Been saying it almost all year: as goes Diyala so goes Iraq. The reason being Diyala is a melting pot of the major Iraqi religous sects. It was one of the last areas to feel the effects of The Surge, so it will trail by months the progress seen in Anbar Province, and it may […]

Maybe it is because we see where endless extremism takes people when we look at the atrocities in Iraq, and maybe we see the zero sum game of political extremism taken to absurd levels in the vacuous results from Comgress, and maybe it is just because we are all tired of the Chicken Little cries […]

Speaker Pelosi has two slots for herself in the history books. First as the first woman Speaker of the US House of Representatives, and one as the biggest failure as Speaker of the US House of Represetatives: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s own party is turning on her, apparently because of a perception among California Democrats […]

Some might have seen the headlines recently from Iraq that seemed to be a reversal in our progress in Iraq in stopping al-Qaeda’s violence. It involved the discovery of 20 beheaded bodies and was played up as some kind of sign things were not improving. Apparently the only thing not improving is the SurrenderMedia’s inability […]

The death toll in Iraq is declining rapidly as the US and Iraqis turn the tables on al-Qaeda and their Islamo Fascist cousins. The numbers are just amazing: Thirty-seven Americans have died in October, the lowest monthly figure since March 2006 when 31 perished, according to the U.S. military. … The number of Iraqi civilians […]

As we come to the end of another month of the Post Surge period in Iraq we see another dramatic drop off in the death toll across the country: At least 34 American service members have died so far in October, nearly a third from non-combat causes. It is the lowest number since 32 troops […]

Yesterday there was news of 11 anti al-Qaeda Sheiks, and today we here that 8 of them (Sunni and Shiite) have been rescued: Iraqi security forces rescued eight of 11 kidnapped Shiite and Sunni tribal leaders Monday, said Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari. “The operation, based on reliable intelligence reports, began this afternoon by al-Rasafa […]

When the GOP led Congress faced the abyss of voter displeasure last year, I was not so sure the Democrats would be able to show much improvement. To be honest I did not think voter frustration was as high as it was, but the voters had other intentions and set about for change in Congress. […]

I am not sad to see firebrand Tom Tancredo take his bow from politics. He was one of those far right GOP types who made be glad to claim I am an independent. His story is a telltale for how badly the GOP has handled the immigration issue by towing the line of its most […]

Just some quick hits this morning (meetings again) – but more this afternoon when I get a break. 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 […]