Iraq War Updates

Through a series of weekly updates from the Institute for the Study of War(ISW), ISW will keep you informed about vital defense issues, including the ongoing mission in Iraq.

Following a two week visit to Iraq that spanned the entire country, ISW President Kimberly Kagan co-authored a Wall Street Journal Opinion piece that considers the "New Reality in Iraq".

The New Reality in Iraq (The Wall Street Journal)
July 16, 2008
Kimberly Kagan

By Frederick W. Kagan, Kimberly Kagan, and Jack Keane

All of the most important objectives of the surge have been accomplished in Iraq. The sectarian civil war is ended; al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) has been dealt a devastating blow; and the Sadrist militia and other Iranian-backed militant groups have been disrupted.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has accomplished almost all of the legislative benchmarks set by the U.S. Congress and the Bush administration. More important, it is gaining wider legitimacy among the population.

The attention of Iraqis across the country is focused on the upcoming provincial elections, which will be a pivotal moment in Iraq's development.

The result is that we have an extraordinary – but fleeting – opportunity to advance America's security and the stability of a vital region of the world.

Read the rest at the Wall Street Journal.

This week, Kimberly also wrote a cover story for the Weekly Standard on "The Future of Iraq" (below)

The article describes her visit to the headquarters of a small,secular political party preparing for Iraq's upcoming provincial elections, and the competition among Iraq's leading political parties in advance of this potentially watershed event.

The security situation in Iraq has improved over the last several months as the Iraqi Security Forces, supported by the Coalition, have gained control of the former militia safe-havens in Sadr City, Basra,and Amarah. News reports state that many leaders of the Iranian-backed Special Groups have returned to Iran.

Likewise, many formerly violent militia leaders and fighters have dispersed or gone to ground. The lingering networks of the Special Groups nevertheless remain a serious, potential threat to the security of Iraq and the stability of its government. ISW's interactive map provides a great visual understanding of the level of activity in the country by and againstthe Iranian backed Special Groups.

The Future of Iraq (The Weekly Standard)
July 21, 2008
Kimberly Kagan
Baghdad

I have made four trips to Iraq since May 2007. I have walked through markets in Baghdad escorted by U.S. soldiers, visited the outposts where they live with their Iraqi army partners, talked with school children playing soccer in the street, seen newly renovated housing in war-torn neighborhoods, and eaten in the homes of local and tribal leaders who have helped our soldiers fight Al Qaeda in Iraq.

This morning, a weekday in July 2008, I am doing something I have never done before: visiting the headquarters of a small Iraqi political party to learn about its campaign for the upcoming provincial and national elections.

The visit was not on the original itinerary of the group of military analysts with whom I am traveling. The party's leader, a member of parliament whom we met several days ago, invited us to his headquarters, our schedule permitting. We have cancelled a morning's worth of meetings in order to see something new.

Read the rest at The Weekly Standard.

Finally, ISW has also updated the Iraq Statistics Reference for July.

The updated statistics show a significant drop in the number of attacks against Iraqi infrastructure, bombs (IEDs and Mincs), sniper and other small arms attacks, and mortar and rocket attacks. Since May 2007, the total number of attacks has dropped from nearly 1600 to just over 200. The new statistics also show the level of ethno-sectarian violence in Baghdad, as well as the number of weapon caches found andcleared by Coalition Forces.

Iraq Statistics Reference - July 2008
For updated information on trends of insurgent organization and activity, cache discoveries, casualty rates and trends of violence, including graphs and charts released by MNF-I and MNC-I, access the July 2008 Iraq Statistics Reference here.

Map of Special Groups Activity in Iraq

Updated as of July 11, 2008, this document maps Multi-National Force-Iraq press releases on activity by and against Special Groups. The press releases are plotted by the location of the incident in reverse chronological order. Efforts have been made to plot the data points with as much accuracy as possible. Approximate placemarks are noted in the description.

Incidents with unspecified locations in Baghdad are placed in Sadr City, Baghdad, as this area is a known hub of Special Groups activity.

Red placemarks represent incidents of explosively-formed penetrator (EFP) detonations or other attacks with probable links to Special Groups.

Yellow placemarks indicate discoveries of caches containing weapons associated with Special Groups.

Green placemarks identify detainments of suspected Special Groups criminals.

Purple placemarks label precision strikes against Special Groups by coalition aerial weapons teams and other aerial resources. The mapped list includes all MNF-I press releases that indicate confirmed or probable Special Groups involvement. It does not include reports from other sources.

Fact Finding or Fraud? Pay Up Barry O

By Boaz
July 25, 2008

A fact finding trip? I think not!

Campaign signs on the police barricades at the Western Wall in Jerusalem would seem to me to point toward a very different agenda for the Barry O. And those signs would point to a need for the Barry O campaign to pay for the trip instead of the American Taxpayer.

As a fact finding junket trip it's up to every American to pay for the trip for Barry O. (The New American Aristocracy world travel perk)

But if this is in fact just another sort of grandstanding for his campaign, which of course we all know it is, then it is up to the Obama campaign to pay for the trip.

Obama is a very ballsy type of guy, flaunting his obvious campaign trip as a fact finding tour, mingling with world leaders - (getting in the way of the current Liberal Administrations relations with foreign dignitaries.) And just generally making a fool of himself on the world stage with his inability to stand behind a podium without a teleprompter telling him precisely what to say. Extemporaneous expostulations are not his bag it seems.

And then of course he isn't just running for President of the United States, he apparently want to be World President. A quote from a Fox News source shows the thought of being a world citizen.

"I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before, although tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for president, but as a citizen — a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world," Obama said from his perch next to the Victory Column in Berlin.How exceedingly distasteful Barry O is while he does the glaringly obvious attempt to show his credibility as a statesman for the consumption of the American Public. In hopes of course the Obamanites at home will be captivated and enthralled by his World Class Stature, and his gravitas, of which he has none.

Obama needs to confess this apparent crime of political pandering on a world stage at the expense of the American public, and then allow his campaign to pay back that American Public for the cost of his posturing on the world stage. Or show that the campaign has paid for every single mile travelled on his tour.

If there is one person out there who really believes this trip was nothing more than a fact finding trip - bad enough in its own right, instead of a political stunt for his campaign, I strongly recommend you stop drinking the kool-aid now, and call your local mental health facility because you are in dire need of professional help.

Federal Judges Prohibit Praying "IN JESUS' NAME"

HT to Norm Hooben.

Faith Under Fire

O'Connor: City properly excluded Christian prayer

Ex-Supreme Court justice: Banning 'Jesus' is fair way not to disparage particular faith

Posted: July 24, 2008, 12:00 am Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Excluding anyone who prays "in Jesus name" from a rotation of officials who open city business meetings is a fair and reasonable way "not to exclude or disparage a particular faith," according to former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who wrote a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion on the dispute.

Her reasoning left former U.S. Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, who was removed from the military over the issue of praying "in Jesus name," wondering how that conclusion had been reached.

"Justice O'Connor showed her liberal colors today, by declaring the word 'Jesus' as illegal religious speech, which can be banned by any council who wishes to ignore the First Amendment as she did.

Councilman Rev. Hashmel Turner should run for mayor, fire the other council members, and rewrite the prayer policy. And if he appeals to the Supreme Court, I pray he will win, in Jesus' name," he said.

The dispute arose when Turner, a resident of Fredericksburg, Va., and a member of the town council, was part of a rotation of council members who took turns bringing a prayer at the council meetings. He ended his prayers "in Jesus name."

That, however, offended a listener, who prompted the involvement of several activist groups that threatened a lawsuit if the elected Christian council member continued to be given the same rights to choose how to pray as other council members.


The city then adopted a non-sectarian prayer requirement, imposing a ban on any reference to "Jesus."
"Turner was not forced to offer a prayer that violated his deeply-held religious beliefs. Instead he was given a chance to pray on behalf of the government," O'Connor wrote.

Not so, said Klingenschmitt.

"Actually he was directly forced to conform or face the punishment of
exclusion," he said. "Actually he was denied the change to pray on behalf of
that government."

The case was handled by the Rutherford Institute on behalf of Turner, who sought to have his beliefs recognized just as the beliefs of other council members.

John Whitehead, the founder and chief of the Rutherford Institute, told WND at the time arguments were made that freedoms of speech and religion are burdened in the U.S. today with a politically correct atmosphere that endorses or at least allows any sort of religious acknowledgement, except for Christians.

O'Connor wrote: "The restriction that prayers be nonsectarian in nature is designed to make the prayers accessible to people who come from a variety of backgrounds, not to exclude or disparage a particular faith."
Klingenschmitt's statement said: "Ironically, she admitted Turner was excluded from participating solely because of the Christian content of his prayer."

"The Fredericksburg government violated everybody's rights by establishing a nonsectarian religion, and requiring all prayers conform, or face punishment of exclusion," he said.
WND previously reported when the appellate panel heard arguments, O'Connor stated the case was black and white in favor of the city.

"It is government speech, and the rule seems perfectly reasonable," she opined.

The ban on "in Jesus name" came in 2005 after Turner already had delivered about 100 prayers, many including those words, over four years.

Whitehead said then the case might be forwarded to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Because he wants to pray to a particular God, he's not being treated equally," he told WND.

The Soldier Voting Scandal

By Robert D. Novak
July 24, 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rep. Roy Blunt, the House Republican whip, on July 8 introduced a resolution demanding that the Defense Department better enable U.S. military personnel overseas to vote in the November elections. That act was followed by silence. Democrats normally leap on an opportunity to find fault with the Bush Pentagon. But not a single Democrat joined Blunt as a co-sponsor, and an all-Republican proposal cannot pass in the Democratic-controlled House.

Analysis by the federal Election Assistance Commission, rejecting inflated Defense Department voting claims, estimated overseas and absentee military voting for the 2006 midterm elections at a disgracefully low 5.5 percent. The quality of voting statistics is so poor that there is no way to tell how many of the slightly over 330,000 votes actually were sent in by the absentee military voters and their dependents and how many by civilian Americans living abroad -- 6 million all total.

Nobody who has studied the question objectively sees any improvement since 2006, and that is a scandal. Retired U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Charles Henry wrote in the July issue of the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings:

"While virtually everyone involved ... seems to agree that military people
deserve at least equal opportunity when it comes to having their votes counted,
indications are that in November 2008, many thousands of service members who try
to vote will do so in vain."

Henry, now an independent broadcast journalist, has personal experience with this enduring scandal. While serving as a Marine at sea off Iran, he received his 1980 presidential ballot too late to count. President Harry Truman said of troops fighting in Korea, "The least we at home can do is to make sure that they are able to enjoy the rights they are being asked to fight to preserve." But the U.S. military that has so perfected the art of war over the past half-century is at a loss to enable soldiers to vote.

A combat officer has enough to do without handling the votes of troopers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. A Defense Department Inspector General's report in March last year recommended "appointment of civilian personnel" as "voting assistance officers." The Pentagon brass rejected the idea.

I reported four years ago that the problems of 2000 overseas military voting had not been corrected for the 2004 presidential election. At that time, Under Secretary of Defense David Chu was put in charge of the problem. During massive turnover at the Pentagon, Chu remains in place -- best known among critics of the military vote problem for his chronic failure to return telephone calls.

Congressional attention to the problem has been scattered and limited mostly to Republicans such as Sen. John Cornyn, who earlier this year decried "a lack of will" at the Pentagon to solve the voting problem. Democratic interest about tackling the problem might be tempered by apprehension that soldiers will cast too many Republican votes.

Nevertheless, at least one prominent Democrat -- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer -- described himself to me as eager to deal with this problem. (Hoyer's home state of Maryland is one of the worst offenders, with ballots of only 4.1 percent of overseas voters counted in 2006.) Hoyer and Blunt, who have become friendly adversaries in a bitterly partisan Congress, conferred several weeks ago and agreed in principle on co-sponsoring a resolution aimed at getting the Defense Department moving.

Hoyer wanted the resolution to cover expatriate Americans as well as the military, and Blunt did not object.

They turned the issue over to their staffers and went about the business of major legislation. Blunt had instructed his staff to seek agreement with Democrats but, if not, to introduce a resolution applying only to the military, which was the outcome.

One presidential staffer who is familiar with the situation privately dismisses the Pentagon bureaucrats as "hopeless." In a lame-duck administration counting the days before a troubled eight years finally end, American fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan deprived of their right to vote constitute the least of White House worries.


Unbelievable!

Once again the anti-Military DemoRats are at it. You may remember the quote from Al Gore Jr. in 2000;

"The first lesson is this: take it from me, every vote counts. In our
democracy, every vote has power."

Uh-huh right you are junior, all votes count unless of course they are for a Republican or other than a DemoRat.

DemoRats did it again in November, 2006 ; E-Mail Ballots for Military QuestionedThursday.

Military stationed overseas and civilians can go to FVAP for voting assistance.

Nobama's Civilian National Security Forces Explained?

Cross posted from ANewtOne. HT ~Snooper~.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

HT goes to the JPA Live BTR Show and Danger Girl for an article in Military Times, which is owned by Gannett which also publishes the USA Today newspaper.
I called your attention to the MT's affiliation because the MT in no way and by no means whatsoever is linked to the "official" military news outlets. All "official" news outlets of the military are either .org or .gov. Any alleged military news outlet which has a .com or a .net designator should be taken with a grain of salt - or something of a lesser value.

This, however, does not apply to blogs or bloggers for the obvious - even to the oblivious - reasons. To perform a back-check, please visit this site.

Now that the disclaimer has been provided, we will now take a look at this interview by USA Today staffers with Barack Obama, giving the inference that the military is interviewing Barack Insane Hussein Obama. Scurrilous does not even come close to the implications here, does it?

In this interview the following question was asked:

Q: You said you don't want to rob Peter to pay Paul, so how are you going to pay
Paul? Troop increases are an enormous expense.

To arrive at the full intent and the presented answer - if you can call it that - one will have to read the entire interview. This interview is a near prefect case study for a pretty verbiage explanation as to how the would-be First Czar of the newly formed USSA (with a "k") will decimate the now United States Armed Forces. He claims that he wants to expand the military but what he doesn't say is that he intends on taking the punch our military has away from them. We will have a bigger military with a lesser punch. This sounds counter productive to me.

In conjunction with this and before we continue with this interview by USA Today staffers, please recall this statement: (where he mentions AmeriCorps and Peace Corps as the "civilians")

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the
national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian
national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well
funded."

That statement alone is scary but having it placed in context is frightening. Barack, in this interview, has placed it in context. One of the partners here at A Newt One, Loki, has stated that if Barack intends to utilize AmeriCorps and Peace Corps personnel to fill vacancies in embassies and missions "that have been boarded up", he certainly doesn't understand the United States Constitution that he has purported to have once been an instructor thereof. However, it gets worse than that. This has grown beyond the pale of frightening.

Behold:

[...] I should add, by the way, that part of the change that I want
when it comes to Army and Marine structures is the mix of training that we're
providing and mix of personnel that are in these forces. One of the things I
have been so impressed with is the heroic job that our men and women in uniform
have done basically on the fly having to train themselves on the spot to
function as engineers or function as social workers or function as translators
or political consultants. There's just been a whole bunch of work that has been
done that we haven't prepared people for. They learn on the job, but if anything
Iraq should have given us a template for the kinds of skill sets that we're
going to have to provide to our military. And that's true in Iraq. That's true
in Afghanistan. That also means, by the way, that we're going to have to, I
believe, reconfigure our civilian national security force. In a way that just
hasn't been done.

I mean, we still have a national security apparatus on the civilian
side in the way the State Department is structured and [Agency for International
Development] and all these various agencies. That hearkens back to the Cold War.
And we need that wing of our national security apparatus to carry its weight.
When we talk about reinventing our military, we should reinvent that apparatus
as well. We need to be able to deploy teams that combine agricultural
specialists and engineers and linguists and cultural specialists who are
prepared to go into some of the most dangerous areas alongside our military.
[...]

Parse that.

This interview was published on 08 JUL 08, 6 days after his speech in Colorado Springs. However, he makes no mention of AmeriCorps or Peace Corps personnel but he does say this:

[...] Absolutely, but the only problem with soft power is the term itself
makes people think it's not as strong as hard power. And my point is that if
we've got a State Department or personnel that have been trained just to be
behind walls, and they have not been equipped to get out there alongside our
military and engage, then we don't have the kind of national security apparatus
that is needed. That has to be planned for; it has to be paid for. Those
personnel have to be trained. And they all have to be
integrated and that is something that we have not accomplished yet, but
that's going to be what's increasingly important in our future to make sure that
our military has the support that it needs to do what it does the best,
which is fight wars. [...]

And there you have it. He is going to arm State Department Personnel so they can fight along side the United States Military. He is going to utilize AmeriCorps and Peace Corps Personnel to go into areas the US Military does to be the Agents of Change. Case closed and checkmate.

Excuse me Barack but the US Military Special Forces already handle such activities. Does the Anbar Awakening ring a bell? Our military, in special detail, has the training you are babbling about and making it sound like this is a new concept and making it sound like a good idea because you thought of it. Sorry. The US Military has already been doing this for years and decades.

Previous posts in regards to the Enemy of The State running for President of the USA

AUDIO OF BARACK'S VERSION OF THE OBAMA YOOTS OF AMERIKA.

We Live In Upside Down LandThe Obama Youth: What's Next?

Barack's Civilian Army Just Keeps Getting More and More Interesting
Obama Youth: The Lame Stream Deafly Silent
The Obama Youth: The Saga ContinuesObama Youth: The Gift That Keeps On Taking
Barack's Storm Troopers - The Obama Youth Corps

The Aspirants To The Presidency Say A Lot Of Things, But...Obama's Brown Shirts Faux Pas Gains More Scrutiny

Op-Ed: Sith Lord Obama and His Civilian National Security Force

What Does Barack Obama Intend? (video snippet) (You Tube)

Pat Dollard: Pissed Off And Wants Blood

Baracks' Civilian National Security Force - Continuing Saga Unfolding

Sith Lord Obama: Another Gaffe?

Obama: The Subtleties of A Dictatorial Tyrant

Barack Obama To Be Protected By Terror Group

When A Duck Wadddles, Does It Look Like A Barack?

The Anti-American Fraud

ELECTION 2008

American flag disappears from Obama campaign jet
Candidate's trademark 'O' replaces stars and stripes

Posted: July 21, 2008
6:31 pm Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

As part of a month-long aircraft makeover, a painted American flag was removed from the tail of Sen. Barack Obama's official campaign airplane and was replaced with the presidential candidate's trademark "O" symbol.

The refurbished 757 was unveiled to members of the news media today, 41 of whom boarded the craft and took off to meet Obama in Amman, Jordan, where the presidential candidate will stop as part of a Middle Eastern and European tour.

Obama traveled to the Mideast earlier this week on board a separate airplane.

Fox News blogger Bonny Kapp, traveling on Obama's new airplane, reported:

"The North American jet that flew Obama and his traveling crew around for much of the primary season was refurbished with new seats and power for each passenger a must on the campaign trail. And the plane that once had an American flag on its tail now sports the Obama 'O.'"

Obama's 'O' symbol is red, white and blue.

Most official U.S. government aircraft, including Air Force One, have U.S. flags on their tails.

Both Fox News and the Chicago Sun-Times posted pictures of the Obama campaign's redressed airplane, which does not have an American flag or any other U.S. national symbols on the section that sports the airplane door from which Obama and his team will enter and exit.

The airplane boasts Obama's anthem, "Change We Can Believe In" and the candidate’s website address.

The aircraft also has required identification numbers and a U.S. flag to identify the nationality of the aircraft.

According to Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet, the refurbished Obama aircraft features a "first class" section for the candidate and his closest advisors; several "business class" seats, and a large coach section, usually meant for the traveling press corps.

Sweet reported fruit and cheese platters greeted reporters on board the flight. Dinner options offered were beef medallions, baked tilapia or eggplant parmesan.

She wrote the Obama campaign provided overnight kits for the flight that include toothbrush, mouthwash, socks, Neutrogena body lotion and lip moisturizer, Scope mouthwash, ear plugs and a blindfold for sleeping.

Media Bias: New York Times Refuses To Run John McCain Article

Cross posted from Assoluta Tranquillita. HT to Spree at Wake Up America.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Drudge is reporting that the New York Times is refusing to run an article about Iraq written by John McCain, to counter the article they willingly ran for Barack Obama.

In a previous piece we showed how a plurality of Americans believe that reporters and the media are trying to actively help Barack Obama win the November elections.

The New York Times has just proven they are one of these outlets that America believes this about.

According to an email that NYT Op-Ed editor David Shipley sent the McCain campaign, he states, "It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq."

So begins a post up on Wake Up America. None of us are ever surprised at the bias shown by the msm towards all matters relating to our troops, but this one is so blatant. However, never fear, the blogs are on it. The NY Times may not want the public to know what Senator McCain has written, but Wake Up America (and others) are printing it for wide circulation. Just as the NY Times is quite within their rights to decide what they will not print, so are we bloggers within our rights to choose what we WILL print.

Senator McCain's piece begins:

In January 2007, when General David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation “hard” but not “hopeless.” Today, 18 months later, violence has fallen by up to 80% to the lowest levels in four years, and Sunni and Shiite terrorists are reeling from a string of defeats. The situation now is full of hope, but considerable hard work remains to consolidate our fragile gains.

Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,” he said on January 10, 2007. “In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

Now Senator Obama has been forced to acknowledge that “our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence.” But he still denies that any political progress has resulted.

Perhaps he is unaware that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has recently certified that, as one news article put it, “Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress.” Even more heartening has been progress that’s not measured by the benchmarks. More than 90,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis who once fought against the government, have signed up as Sons of Iraq to fight against the terrorists. Nor do they measure Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s new-found willingness to crack down on Shiite extremists in Basra and Sadr City—actions that have done much to dispel suspicions of sectarianism.

Courtesy of Drudge Report, via Wake Up America, you can read
the whole thing here. Check it out.

WE don't need the NY Times.

Run For The Fallen

Cross posted from Miss Beth's Victory Dance. HT to Brat.


If it's Monday, Run for the Fallen must be in Longton, KS.

Since June 14, 2008, Flag Day, a dedicated team of runners has been running across America from Fort Irwin, CA to Arlington National Cemetery, one mile for every Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, and Marine killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. For ten weeks, team members are marking each mile with an American flag and signcard in an apolitical reflection of remembrance of each service member.

The run is a living memorial for every one of our fallen heroes. This is an opportunity for all Americans to get involved in honouring every single hero killed in the War on Terror.




Read the story here.

Islam Is Not A Victim

Infamy

HT to Ben at ANewtOne.

Note: Embedded links provided by Dean for clarification.

I was a new oleh(Immigrant to Israel) when the PFLP and two Germans hijacked a plane full of Israelis to Entebbe. I remember well those nail-biting days, the moral dilemma of freeing dangerous terrorists for live hostages; the idea that negotiations would just lead to more hijackings. But what other choice did we have? After all, they were in Uganda, so far away.

We found a way.

I will never forget the morning of July 4, 1976, waking up to the news. Our soldiers had gone in, at great personal risk. They had saved almost everyone, and killed the terrorists. We were not helpless victims anymore, the Jews. No, we were clever, and resourceful and courageous. We showed the world how to behave.

We led the way.

I wake up this morning of July 16, 2008 with quite another feeling. Our soldiers, kidnapped on our own land, not across any international border, are brought back to us in caskets after two years of sadistic playfulness with the hearts of their families by Hezbollah terrorists, who led us to believe they were alive.

And in exchange for dead bodies, we turn over a despicable baby-killer, Sami Kuntar.

Oh, you will hear the boosters of the Israeli government sigh.

What can we do? We are civilized and they are not. We care about our soldiers and their families.

No, I'm afraid you do not. If you cared, then you would have a death penalty for people like Kuntar, so that they too can be released in caskets. And if you cared, you would be intelligent enough, seeing our soldiers brought back to us dead, to have put a bullet through Kuntar and then turned him over to his friends.

Civilized is a euphemism for weak and helpless. Civilized is not a moral value, because we all know what Western civilization is capable of. Concentration camps. Civilian round-ups, the gassing of children. All this under the banner of laws and policemen and governments. On the other hand, the moral thing to do to a tried and convicted murderer like Kuntar is to spill his blood, because he has spilled the blood of others. That may not fit in with current civilized niceties, but let no one say it is immoral.

When it comes to immoral, to release Kuntar to a hero's welcome and the opportunity to murder others is on the top of the scale. My government, the Israeli government, arranged this. They let it happen. They oversaw it and implemented it.

I am deeply ashamed to be an Israeli today. And I'm not very proud of being a Jew either, if this is how a Jewish country behaves. To lead the world in ever more despicable acts of appeasement is nothing to be proud of. The torch we always carried, the "light unto the nations" has been blown out by the hot-air of our politicians.

If we cared about our soldiers, we would not be showing our enemies that kidnapping and terrorism pay. We would not be setting the stage for the next murderous terrorist raid and hostage standoff. We would be passing laws with a mandatory death penalty for convicted terrorists with blood on their hands, as well as their accomplices. We would be making these laws retroactive. Then, we would be cutting off all water and electricity to Gaza until Gilad Shalit is released. If that didn't work, we'd begin executions within one week, increasing the number convicted terrorists facing firing squads with each passing day until Gilad is returned to us safe and sound. And if that didn't work, we would begin daily bombings of Gaza, with the same number and frequency of attacks that our own city Sderot has suffered over the past three years from the Gazans. Not civilized? Perhaps. But moral. Extremely moral.

My fantasy is that Israelis will rise up and overturn the political system which has left them with the dregs of their nation as leaders- a bunch of self-serving crooks and sycophants who will do anything to stay in office; an electoral system in which a party like Kadima, with its collection of felons and moral imbeciles , who got only 23% of the vote, is allowed to rule us into the ground. We have Mr. Olmert, and Ms. Livni, and Mr. Peres, and Mr. Ramon (a convicted sex offender, who is now in line to take over from Olmert) and many, many others to thank, for creating this day of infamy.

May G-d redeem us from them.

Link for Abu Abbas and Sami Kuntar(Kuntar pictured below).

Purported Obama Birth Certificate a fraud

Cross posted from ANewtOne. HT to Sonlit.

Our friend Tech Dude has supplied a report to our other friend Pam Geller that Obama's alleged birth certificate is an undeniable, certifiable fraud. Pam states;

Techdude delivers a final report that exceeds my wildest expectations. It is irrefutable, empirical evidence - Obama's birth certificate is a forgery. Why? Why a COLB forgery? That is the question.
My deepest thanks and appreciation for Techdude's unwavering commitment to the truth despite the threats and harassment, the slashed tires and the dead animal on his porch. Insofar as "techdude's" credentials, he is an active member of the
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, American College of Forensic Examiners, The International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners, International Information Systems Forensics Association - the list goes on. He also a board certified as a forensic computer examiner, a certificated legal investigator, and a licensed private investigator. He has been performing computer based forensic investigations since 1993 (although back then it did not even have a formal name yet) and he has performed countless investigations since then.

Tech Dude's conclusions;

During the course of my analysis several calls were made to various departments in the Hawaiian State Government in an attempt to better understand the process and procedures used to create, print, and distribute copies of the COLB form. While I was brushed off or hung up upon by almost all of the people I contacted I did manage to talk with a computer technician who was familiar with the computers and printers used by the Department of Health and the clerk's offices. He was unwilling to give any specific details but did provide enough information to work with. The COLB certificates are printed directly in the clerk's office at the time they are requested. The system uses a standard laser printer and the border is printed at the same time as the text and other images on top of preprinted security paper. He stated the border is a vector image and would appear crisp and defined. When asked if a COLB can be printed off center he said it was not possible and any misfeed would simply jam in the printer. When asked if he had seen the images on-line he replied that he had - and that there is "no way" they had printed something that looked like that which further backed up my conclusions. Now let's start to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The KOS image security border pattern does not match any known specimen from any known year. It does not match the pre-2006 nor does it match the post-2006 certificate patterns. The placement of the text in all of the pre-2006 and post-2006 certificates are almost identical pixel location matches while the image's text placement does not match any known specimen from any known year. The shape and kerning of the fonts used in the 2006 through 2008 certificates are identical while the shape and kerning of the fonts used in the image does not match any known specimen. The KOS image shows clear signs of tampering such as the mismatch in RGB and error levels, visible indications of the previous location of the erased security border, easily detectable patterns of repeating flaws around the new security border, EXIF data that says the image was last saved with Photoshop CS3 for Macintosh, and finally a technician from Hawaii who confirms it just looks wrong.

There are two obvious scenarios used to create the image that can be ascertained from evidence. Either a real COLB was scanned into Photoshop and digitally edited or a real COLB was first scanned to obtain the graphic layout then blanked by soaking the document in solvent to remove the toner. After rescanning the blank page to a separate image the graphics from the previously obtained scan could then be easily applied to the blank scan after some editing and rebuilding. It would also explain why date stamp bleeds through the paper and the various bits of toner located around the image as well as the remnants of the previous location of a security border.

So as I have been saying repeatedly since I first compared the KOS images to the Decosta image using the same tests and measurements, the image is a horrible forgery.

Kos...you have officially been b***h slapped.

~Sonlit

The Treacherous Patriot

Cross posted from Roger Gardners RADARSITE.

A note from Radarsite:

Warning: The following article is unfair and unbalanced.

If you are looking for a gentlemanly debate on the morality of America, or on the moral justification of American national or foreign policy you should probably stop right here. There are a great number of sites out there that will be more than happy to accomodate you. But this isn’t one of them.

Our mission here is simple, clear and unequivocal: we support our great nation. This means that whatever we do here on these pages is done to promote the cause of American victory in this great Clash of Civilizations which we call the Global War on Terror. We love our country. We do not devote all of our talents and energies seeking to undermine her credibility. We do not seek to discredit, dishonor or embarrass her. We will do everything in our power to honor and strengthen her.

Our obvious enemies, the blood-soaked Islamists, the relentless Communists, and this world’s brutal petty potentates are generally clear and open in their statements of hatred; there is little that is ambiguous about their opinions of us, or their intentions toward us. Their mission, too, is simple, clear and unequivocal: they wish to destroy us or subjugate us.

But we have other, perhaps even more dangerous enemies, enemies who live amongst us; indeed they are us. They are that part of us who hates us. They are the Treacherous Patriots. You know who they are. They are our friendly next door neighbors and our good-hearted relatives, they are are children’s school teacher or perhaps the young girl at the supermarket checkout counter.

Above all, they will tell you, they are all patriotic Americans, loyal Americans who sincerely believe that somehow by burning our flag they will save our country. They eagerly remind us daily of our supposed misdeeds, our long, self-centered, ruthless history of oppression of the weak and powerless of this world. They love America so much that they are willing to see us defeated in order to change our misbegotten ways. They thoroughly believe in their mission, too; they thoroughly believe that they know better. You see, they have the inside scoop. They’ve read the articles and listened to their professors. They watch tv and they know the score. They will not be misled by war-mongering racists or xenophobic right-wing Christian zealots.

To support their bleak assessment of America they patiently sift through the detritus of our shameful history, searching for the incontrovertible evidence of our manifest crimes. They are convinced that the only way to heal these grievous self-inflicted wounds is to heed the admonishments of our enemies. We must, they say, be willing to learn from our adversaries, and, most importantly, we must be willing to learn from our own past mistakes. That great long litany of dreadful mistakes which comprise the awful history or this flawed nation. We must learn from the unmitigated and unnecessary horrors of our Hiroshimas and Nagasakis, from our murderous Vietnams and Kent States. We must learn from our horrific ethnic cleansing of our noble Native Americans and the brutal enslavement and continuing subjugation of our down-trodden African-Americans.

Perhaps, they are willing to concede, we were noble once, perhaps long ago, but not lately. Certainly not now. Whatever we started out to be, somewhere along the way we lost our bearings and now we have become the enemy of the world. The oppressor of mankind. The Great Satan.

They are proud of their enlightenment and eager to share it with us. Here is one of them now:

I predict that America’s military action in the Middle East will enter the canons of history alongside Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Holocaust, in kind if not in degree. The Bush administration’s war on terror marks the age in which America has again crossed a line that many argue should never be crossed. Call it preemption, preventive war, the war on terror, or whatever you like; there is a sense that we have again unleashed a force that, like a boom-a-rang, at some point has to come back to us. The Bush administration argues that American military intervention in the Middle East is purely in self-defense. Others argue that it is pure aggression. The consensus is equally as torn over its impact on international terrorism. Is America truly deterring future terrorists with its actions? Or is it, in fact, aiding the recruitment of more terrorists?

The last thing the United States should do at this point and time is to violate yet another state’s sovereignty. Beyond being wrong, it just isn’t very smart. We all agree that slavery in this country was wrong; as was the decimation of the Native American populations. We all agree that the Holocaust and several other acts of genocide in the twentieth century were wrong. So when will we finally admit that American military intervention in the Middle East is wrong as well?

So, there you have it. The voice of the Treacherous Patriot. This is their grave message to America: You were wrong when you woke up in the morning, and it’s been going downhill since then. Not quite hopeless, though, not quite yet. There’s still time to change our ways, still time to heed their dire warnings. There’s still November. There’s still that Change we can believe in.

I don’t know about you, but I cannot, I will not tolerate this pompous and ignorant bulls**t any longer. I will ignore it, I will delete it, but I will not debate it. I will no longer just agree to disagree with them. I will no longer allow these saboteurs a place at my table. This is the enemy within. This is the deliberate and shameless perfidy of the Treacherous Patriot.

Vets For Freedom: "Four Months, For Victory"

HT to Spree at Wake Up America.

Vets for Freedom has launched our "Four Months, For Victory" media and grassroots campaign. The effort will last for the next four months, and will culminate on Veterans Day (November 11). The campaign is intended to inform the American public, and key lawmakers, about the undeniable success that our troops have achieved as a result of the surge, and the importance of ensuring victory in Iraq, Afghanistan and the overall Global War on Terrorism.

Below are the first two video's released July 06, 2008 and July 16, 2008 respectively.

The Obama Iraq Documentary: Whatever The Politics Demand

Dust In The Wind..........

HT to Snooper at ANewtOne.

Energy? Who Needs It.

This is from email sent by Cassy.

Please visit the web site of John Boehner 8^th District of Ohio here for more.

From John Boehner;

The Bureau of Land Management today made land available to companies to lease for oil and gas exploration in the northeast portion of Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A). This action is expected to pave the way for a major lease sale this fall. The lands made available for leasing under this arrangement could result in the production of as much as 8.4 billion barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas.

Now we need to remove other government barriers to environmentally responsible drilling in the desolate Alaskan coastal plain, remote federal lands, deepwater energy zones far off U.S. coasts and other sources of American-made energy while promoting conservation and accelerating the development of alternative fuels as part of an "all of the above" energy strategy.

While we work to remove government barriers, it's critical that we not build new barriers. The House yesterday approved an unfortunate bill that would designate parts of a Massachusetts river as "wild and scenic," which would provide federal protection against development. However, development on this portion of the Taunton River includes a planned liquefied natural gas facility that would increase energy supplies to residents of the Northeast and help reduce home heating costs. It's ridiculous in this time of skyrocketing energy costs that Congress would disingenuously designate an industrialized part of a river as "wild and scenic" to block the construction of a natural gas facility that offers a responsible way to get affordable new energy to millions of Americans.

This photo is of the portion of the river that would be designated "wild and scenic:"

On Friday, I will begin the American Energy Tour that will take me to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and to Alaska's remote North Slope. This trip will highlight meaningful solutions to help reduce gas prices and break our dependence on foreign sources of energy.

Policies not widely embraced when gasoline was $2 per gallon – such as oil exploration on a tiny patch of Alaska's vast North Slope – now enjoy the American people's overwhelming support in the face of $4 per gallon gas. That is why I am heading to the Arctic Coastal Plain: to learn about the abundance of American energy held hostage below the tundra by the Democrats in charge of Congress, and to promote the environmentally-safe exploration of those resources on behalf of families and small businesses alike. At the same time, the future of American energy is in alternative and renewable fuels, which is why we must encourage new and emerging technologies, such as those developed at the renewable energy lab we will tour outside of Denver.

READ MORE:

7/15/2008 COLUMN: We Need an "All of the Above" Energy Strategy

7/10/2008 PRESS RELEASE: Boehner Announces American Energy Tour

Energy Scorecard

Read more about the Republican "All of the Above" Energy Plan

Fall River, Mass., Taunton River This is a scenic, wild river?

The article above generated a few noteworthy comments shown below.

NJ_GOP; The problem with this is not what they did, but the timing. It definitely is disingenuous to deliberately block this construction when I'm sure they don't care much about the scenery at all.

That being said, I think it is very sad that the natural beauty of America is being blighted by development. That may not sound very "Republican"; but the truth is, Republican principles of punishing crime, giving school choice, cutting taxes etc. will have the natural effect of slowing down suburban sprawl. If our cities are safe, and people can pick their own school, and if taxes were lowered so that industry would move back to the urban centers then nobody would want to live 50 miles away and our countryside would still be countryside.

Sounds simple? It is. South Jersey exploded with development immediately following the race riots of the 60s when people fled Philadelphia, Chester and Camden as fast as they could. When the cities jacked up the taxes on business to make up for the lost revenue, the businesses moved to the burbs. When the businesses and the people moved to the burbs, they had to build shopping centers and big highways and schools and hospitals .... all with no public transportation infrastructure.

South Jersey used to be beautiful peach farms. It's now a shopping center. All because Democrats ran Phila and Camden for 50 years.

Cassy L; When I was at the hospital the other day I overheard a man talk about drilling

for our own oil, he said this:

He don't care where they drill for the oil but they better do it.

NJ, I just don't think God put the oil here for us just to sit and do nothing. If that be the case we wouldn't of had a man on the moon.

Of course that was a dem Prez.

Environmentalists are going too far, it seems they think we can just live by looking pretty.

I agree the timing of this is suspect.

The dems feel they can talk us to death, there I agree with Ann Coulter.

If this was about their pay raises they'd be falling all over themselves to vote YES.

We can have both IF they'd listen to experts. Right now they think THEY are the experts.

I'd say gore is laughing all the way to the bank.

Congress acts as if we are their children and they are the parents that hand out allowances.

Dean; Oil companies in this country are the most heavily regulated in the world. They can't fart without signing affidavits and agreeing to pre-fart inspections.

ANWR is flat, barren, no mountains or tree's, just barren land despite what the enviro-whack jobs want you to believe. Nothing there except ice in the winter and tundra in summer. The North Slope of Alaska is another barren region. The whacko enviro's would have you believe the land around ANWR is scenic beauty when in fact it is not.

The Caribou don't seem to mind ANWR. In fact, they seem to be thriving.....apparently.

Would we rather have our own oil companies drilling in the OCS (Outer Continental Shelf) where we know there are vast amounts of oil or give it up to China and Venezuela who have few regulations?

Read this this article from Gateway Pundit. Here for more about Venezuela and others. And here for a little rant Drilling For Oil? Whoopee!

Russians have recently completed drilling for oil in deep wells, 40,000 feet+, where they say there is an almost limitless supply of oil. This may be a myth though who really knows with any certainty except the Russians.

In our case, there is enough oil in the North Slope of Alaska alone to provide oil for 200 hundred years or more based upon our projected growth.

While I agree we should be developing alternative fuel and energy sources like wind, sun and nuclear power, I disagree we should suspend drilling now. The fact is we aren't there yet and still need oil...we will always need a certain amount of it regardless of alternatives.

There is no pollution from nuke plants whereas coal fired plants kill 20 to 30 thousand people a year directly related to the pollution from coal emissions.

Enviro's say we will have a Chernobyl if we have nukes. BS. The Russians didn't have the safe guards we do. Even when 3 Mile Island had it's problem there has been no significant evidence of an increase in health related issues among people living near or around the plant and take my word for it that has been studied for years by scientists and health experts.

Enviro's also claim transporting nuke waste is hazardous to us all. Where is the proof? There have been no accidents in transporting this stuff and again just like the oil companies this hazardous waste is the most heavily regulated in the world.

They fear a terrorist attack could cause problems with nuke waste as a target. Not likely but then anything is possible. Please go here here to read a compelling argument for Nuclear Power from a former ‘No Nukes’ protester Gwyneth Cravens .

Nuke waste currently requires approximately an area the size of a football field to store. It is kept and maintained in containers that are nearly bullet proof in an underground facility in New Mexico, regularly inspected.

I agree we should all be cognizant of our environment, and respect and preserve it, but a little common sense goes a long way.

I may have a few details wrong so feel free to correct me, but that's my $0.02.

To review please follow the links:

You Have Been Lied To

Let's Really Look At 'Unused Oil Leases'

Guest OP-ED: Energy Cause And Effect

Which One Is The Real ANWR?

Photo Gallery of ANWR

ANWR.org

My Polar Bear Rant

Email From Adrian Herrera

There are more articles you can look up in the archives.

The Ever Expanding, Bloviating AlGore

By boaz, 07/17/08

Physics be damned. Al Gore wants all energy from renewables in ten years. Today I heard that moron speaking on the radio about how much energy can be gotten from the sun. He stated "enough energy falls on the earth every forty minutes to supply the whole planets electricity for a full year"
Moron One suggested taking some of that energy and using it would save mankind from a fate worse than losing the Presidency or being eaten by very small rodents, or eating small rodents.

Problem: The earth happens to need the energy, which falls on it. One of the reasons we tap into stored energy (oil, coal, nuclear, hydro, candle tables, the residue left over from Al Gores last liposuction) is the lack of effect it has on the energy balance of the planet as a whole.

Certainly we could tap into the solar energy splaying itself over the oceans of the world where the population pressures are non-existent, but has any of the knuckleheads who continue to tout the advantages of solar power considered what might happen to the weather if we disrupt the solar infusion of warmth to the oceans? Nope.

So then we move the solar panels to the land masses, still plenty of land mass unused, except for the places where humans tend to congregate is where the weather tends to be at least moderately pleasant - and sunny more often than cloudy, and warm more often than abominably cold.

So then we have people living where they do, and needing electrical power, OK we move the solar farms away from the people and make power. Then the power has to be routed to the electrical grid and sent to where the people are, except power can only be sent just about so far and then the line loss is more than the amount we can push through the lines. Damn, there go those pesky old laws of physics again.

Ever wonder why all of the coal fired, natural gas and nuke powered electric plants are so close to the areas that need the power? The laws of physics control that issue. Legislate all you want too and the laws of physics just sit there laughing at the morons trying to pass laws in contravention of the laws of physics.

But I have digressed somewhat, back to the Moron Majority Leader Al Gore, Solar energy is needed for plants and critters to survive, is PETA and the Sierra Club going to allow humans to rob nature of the available solar power for out own benefit/ Or will they just tie it up in court the way they do the nuke plants, new refineries and new coal fire power plants?

And as far as wind power goes, the Moron Majority Leader suggest there is enough wind flowing through the Midwest Corridor everyday to meet 100% of the electrical needs of the good old US of A, except then what happens to the Spotted Owls, Peregrine Falcons, Bald Eagles, California Condors and maybe a duck or two who get confused and fly into the windmills? PETA and the Sierra Club again - see above.

Then there is geothermal power, not content to drain the oil out of the earth and let the bearings freeze up from lack of lubrication and maybe have the entire planet stop turning on it's axis, Al Gore now wants us to drain the heat system of the planet and take all the hot water we can from deep inside the bowels of the earth. Even to a Conservative Planet Raper such as myself the idea seems a bit risky to just take the plunge (so to speak) and start removing vast amounts of heat from the mantle of the planet on a commercial or industrial scale.

In the transcript of the Moron Majority Leader is the following quote:
· To those who argue that we do not yet have the technology to accomplish these kinds of results with renewable energy, I ask them to come with me to meet the entrepreneurs who will drive this revolution. I've seen what they're doing, and I have no doubt that we can meet this challenge.
In that quote, he doesn't come right out and say it, but what he's talking about is the UFO ride he took with Dennis Kookcinich and ELRon Paul to the planet Nebulon where all facts are very nebulous and are able to be twisted in ways we have yet to even conceive of on Earth.

My thought is that I wish the three of them had stayed there and done their best to channel Shirley Mc Claine to the planet with them.
Last and perhaps least, one last quote from the Moron Majority Leader, Al Gore:

· I do not remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously.
Al baby, the reason you can't remember a time when this much has been wrong is because YOU didn't get elected as President of the United States, if you had, I assure you what you're looking at today would have been so much worse you might not recognize the country.