It seems Muqtada al-Sadr, the fiery Iraqi Shiite cleric with ties to Iran and filled with anti-US denunciations, has been basically de-fanged by the ruling Shiia forces:
KARBALA, Iraq - Posted at the door of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s office recently, a flier denounced the arrest of his followers. Up and down the barricaded street, soldiers [...]

It seems the final stage of the war is on, given the fact al-Qaeda has taken credit for the killing of Benazir Bhutto (and gave information about the bomber only the planners would know):
An al-Qaeda leader based in Afghanistan formally claimed responsibility for the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whom he described [...]

I am more than a little pissed off with my web hosting provider. They lost a disk and did not back up our data since December 25th - which means we lost two days of posts and comments. Sorry for this, no one is madder than I am. If someone has an [...]

I noted a couple of times recently (most recently here) that this year political activists probably made a huge mistake by pushing the nation’s first primaries right on top of Christmas - a time to forget the blood sport of DC and focus on families, friends and hope. It seems I am not the only [...]

The Democrats took over Congress last year with the expectation they would out perform their GOP rivals. And looking back over 2007 we can see that they have excelled over the GOP - they were much worse and created an even more dysfunctional congress than the last one (which was turned out on its ear). [...]

Conservatives need to sit down before reading the latest from Newsweek on Iraq - it is a stunning story of success from one of the most ardent of the SurrenderMedia. Liberals may want to lay down to make sure they really don’t hurt themselves!
A year ago Shura Chamal-Eit (Elizabeth Street) in downtown Fallujah was a [...]

Attempting to repost lost posts - LJ
Well, for all her reaching out to Islamists in Pakistan Benazir Bhutto’s efforts were answered by bombs and bullets:

Pakistan former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has died after a suicide bombing that killed at least 14 of her supporters, ex-government spokesman Tariq Azim Khan and Pakistan’s primary television networks said.
Bhutto [...]

al-Qaeda is on a two month bombing effort to demonstrate to Iraqis they must succumb to al-Qaeda’s will or else. It is a desperate act which will strengthen the Iraqi Muslim opposition to al-Qaeda - reaffirming their status as enemy of Islam, not its future. The brutality and the atrocities committed by al-Qaeda in Iraq [...]

Folks, it is hard to fathom how any polling firm or news organization can give credence to polls taken over Christmas. It is the one time of year (like Thanksgiving, but even more so) that the country as a whole takes time from work and life and focuses on family and friends. If summer polls [...]

There are some interesting articles out that give insight into the forces working inside Pakistan. Clearly there is a movement inside that country to go full Jihad, and that movement seems to have a series of optional leaders - which we should watch. I have noted previously how ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto has been a [...]

We here at the Strata-Sphere want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas. We hope your coming days will be filled with the cheer and warmth of family and friends. I want to thank everyone who takes time out of their busy days to come by and read my ramblings [...]

The SurrenderMedia has a tough choice to make this Christmas season - what kind of behavior will they reward with their attention (which is reflected in headlines and stories in their precious limited bandwidth)? For the first part of 2007 the media obsessed over every bombing to illustrate their preferred story line that Iraq [...]

America has been through a brutal six and half years. We began President Bush’s first term with the attacks on 9-11, then went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and through all of this saw taxes reduced and major policies enacted (prescription drugs for seniors, education reform, etc). But all through these efforts we [...]

It is Christmas and many people rethink their lives and plans around this time of year. And many people switch paths all year long. And so some Reuters reporters have a story out today creating a myth for the gullible that there is massive self deportation of illegal aliens:
The couple are among a [...]

The news of the ridiculously simple escape by a terrorist suspect in Pakistan struck me as very bizarre in every detail, as I noted in my first post. I tend to not want to speculate too much because some possible scenarios have interesting potential for our side. But reporting in the UK Times [...]