[Cross-posted at The Irish Trojan’s blog]

Damn, I wish I could vote for Tony Blair for president:

People in the West ask: why don’t they speak up, these standard-bearers of the new Iraq? Why don’t the Shia clerics denounce al-Sadr more strongly? I understand why the question is asked. But the answer is simple: they are worried. They remember 1991, when the West left them to their fate. They know their own street, unused to democratic debate, rife with every rumour, and know its volatility. They read the Western papers and hear its media. And they ask, as the terrorists do: have we the stomach to see it through?

I believe we do. And the rest of the world must hope that we do. None of this is to say we do not have to learn and listen. There is an agenda that could unite the majority of the world. It would be about pursuing terrorism and rogue states on the one hand and actively remedying the causes around which they flourish on the other: the Palestinian issue; poverty and development; democracy in the Middle East; dialogue between main religions.

I have come firmly to believe the only ultimate security lies in our values. The more people are free, the more tolerant they are of others; the more prosperous, the less inclined they are to squander that prosperity on pointless feuding and war.

But our greatest threat, apart from the immediate one of terrorism, is our complacency. When some ascribe, as they do, the upsurge in Islamic extremism to Iraq, do they really forget who killed whom on 11 September 2001? When they call on us to bring the troops home, do they seriously think that this would slake the thirst of these extremists, to say nothing of what it would do to the Iraqis?

Or if we scorned our American allies and told them to go and fight on their own, that somehow we would be spared? If we withdraw from Iraq, they will tell us to withdraw from Afghanistan and, after that, to withdraw from the Middle East completely and, after that, who knows? But one thing is for sure: they have faith in our weakness just as they have faith in their own religious fanaticism. And the weaker we are, the more they will come after us.

Unlike Bush & co., Blair understands that the Left, for all its flaws, is onto something when it talks about the “root causes” of terrorism. He understands that force alone cannot defeat Islamic extremism, and that we must not let our fear of “letting the terrorists win” prevent us from addressing the legitimate grievances and injustices in the world — problems that we should seek to remedy anyway, because it’s the right thing to do, not because terrorists want us to. (It’s a false choice anyway, because terrorists don’t want us to fix the problems they complain about. They are just using those complaints as a means to a very different end. What they want is a clash of civilizations — a scenario which depends on our showing arrogant disregard for “root causes.”)

But unlike so many liberals — quite possibly including, in his heart of hearts, John Kerry — Blair also understands that force, while not the sum total of the solution, is an inescapable and enormous part of the solution. He understands that we must show the terrorists absolutely no mercy, even as we simultaneously show great mercy and compassion for the innocent people whom the terrorists purport to speak for. We must make the Arab world understand that we are on their side, whereas the terrorists are not.

This is an extremely difficult task — it may even be impossible — but attempting it is our only option, and Tony Blair understands that. Bush doesn’t fully understand the first part, and I fear Kerry doesn’t fully understand the second part. Our choice in November is between two sides of the same coin, neither of which is correct without its flip side. Blair gets both sides, but unfortunately, we’re calling the shots instead of him. (And, just as unfortunately, most of the people in Blair’s own country don’t get it, which seriously imperils his ability to pull off what’s trying to pull off.)

Anyway, read the whole thing.

On a related note, this business of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqis is a very, very bad thing. It will inevitably reinforce all the negative stereotypes and misconceptions of America and our use of military power, on the anti-war left but also, much more importantly, in the Arab world. Although Bush & co. are certainly right that the actions of these few soldiers do not represent the military or the nation at large, it will be extremely difficult to repair the P.R. damage that this will do.

At the same time, though, I think our reaction to this issue also shows something very good about us, if only people would bother to notice. Here we are, the world’s unchallenged superpower, with the physical ability to do pretty much whatever the hell we want, wherever the hell we want, to whomever the hell we want, damn the consequences — and yet, when we discover wrongdoing by our own people, we own up to it, we apologize profusely for it, and we promise to bring the perpetrators to justice. And it isn’t just about scapegoating the little guy: the general in charge of the prison has been suspended, and will probably be courtmartialed. And rightfully so — that’s what accountability is all about.

Our president has expressed “deep disgust” over what occurred — again, rightfully so. None of this goes above and beyond the call of duty; it is exactly what we should do. But for those who claim that we are unaccountable, unilateral thugs out to oppress and conquer, it ought to be a pleasant surprise. Although they will probably focus on the initial misdeeds and draw vindication from them (e.g. Craig Stern’s statement, “Brilliant. Our troops are dumbasses”), they should instead pay more attention to our reaction. If we were an imperial power bent on world domination, we would not be holding ourselves accountable in this way. As ugly and abhorrent as this incident was, our reaction to it proves once again that America is, at core, a fundamentally good nation with fundamentally good intentions. And that is a very, very good thing.

Well, the American media has finally joined the war, on the other side.

All pretense of representing our national interests has been dropped in favor of driving their agenda. The continuous low-brow ridicule of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, anti-Semitic scorn for Wolfowitz, the disgraceful racial coverage of Powell and Rice, and wall-to-wall pro-Democrat reportage was not working quickly enough. So they have now taken an active role in assuring a defeat in the public’s mind, if not fact.

The American media forecast a defeat and they will not be denied schadenfreude.

ABC’s Nightline pious breast-beating while openly using the deaths of service men and women as a blunt instrument with which to beat the Bush Administration is so transparent and repulsive that it will not gain traction. It will be seen as the cheap ploy that it is, the term “media whore” comes to mind, but dishonors the world’s oldest profession.

However, CBS has crossed the line.

Their reportage of the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US military will inflame the Arab street and endanger American lives, both civilian and military in the Middle East, as anti-American propagandists such as Al-Jazeera apply their hatred to the images. This is simply aiding and abetting the enemy as our military is engaged in war.

Don’t get me wrong, US and Allied military personnel involved should be charged, tried and punished to the letter of the law, forthwith, but the dog and pony show presented by CBS denies them the fair trial to which they are entitled. The media cries crocodile tears over enemy combatants captured in battle and those who admit they plot to commit acts of terror, but US military personnel are guilty by their very existence.

Enough! It’s time for Americans to stop sitting passively by, like a herd of well-fed sheep waiting for the knackers truck. Pick up a pen, or fire off an email to ABC, CBS, and more importantly, write to the advertisers. You are underwriting these irresponsible broadcasters, if you disagree, which is our right, then say so, LOUDLY.

No one elected the media; they have no mandate to drive a private agenda. They are not privilege to briefings, classified information or events on the ground. What makes them qualified to influence the outcome of the war in Iraq? They cry “No Plan!” but how long would a plan remain viable if it were revealed to the media? Every scrap of information they can winnow, is broadcast worldwide.

Get off your ass, America or the next calamitous event CBSABCNBCPBSCNN will be lamenting as deserved retribution for our many grievous crimes against humanity may be in your town or city.

As the campaign season heats up, a Kerry surrogate, historian Douglas Brinkley, has reportedly threatened an old Kerry crewmate with a “firestorm” if he went public with his criticisms of the candidate. Via Boston.com News:

- - - - - - -

- - - - - - -

Via Instapundit.

This is a duplicate of the original post at the nikita demosthenes website.

UPDATE:

Of course, being a flack for Kerry - while posing as an “independent” historian - is bad enough. But hopefully Brinkley will not sink to the kind of hate-America-first poison that many on the left are so proud to express. This link is via the apparently quickly recuperating Andrew Sullivan. (Scroll down). Get well soon, Andrew.

Today in the U.S. Senate, New Jersy’s eighty-year-old Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg called Vice President Dick Cheney a “chicken hawk” for receiving four student deferments that kept him from being drafted into the military. Bloomberg reports that Lautenberg continued:

“Chicken hawks — they shriek like a hawk, but they have the backbone of a chicken,” Lautenberg, 80, said. “When it was their turn to serve, where were they? A-W-O-L, that’s where.”

[. . .]

“The reality is that the chicken hawks in this administration are doing a lousy job of bolstering our nation’s defense and supporting the troops,” he said.

Please! An eighty-year-old U.S. senator acting like a young elementary school child, reduced to calling the Vice-President of the United States names. At his age and with his experience, Lautenberg should be able to argue, debate, or campaign by engaging opponents in a meaningful discussion on important issues, instead of resorting to name calling about events which occurred more than thirty years ago.

At eighty, Lautenberg is certainly old enough to better.

I am sick and tired of having to listen to name calling about events from the sixties which have no relevance to the important issues which should be considered in this presidential campaign. I long for a meaningful debate on issues such as how best to defend the country, how to win the war against terror, education policy, and immigration reform.

Cross-posted from California Yankee.

[Parental discretion advised]

A previously covert organization providing support to US troops has now gone public with its own website. Operation Take One For The Country, whose members prefer the military-style acronym OTOFTC, has an unusual mission statement: “To discretely [sic] provide US troops shipping out overseas with the most sensually pleasing departure possible.”

OTOFTC leader Kelly McDonough tells how it all started:

It was back in February of 2003, when a lot of troops were leaving Ft. Benning. My girlfriends and I were partying at a bar frequented by soldiers. At some point one my friend leaves with a young soldier. The next day we questioned her and commented that the soldier didn’t seem her ‘type’. My friend just shrugged and said, ‘Hey, his unit was going to ship out in a few days, so I decided to take one for the country’, I knew right then and there that this was an incredible idea, so I started OTOFTC.

Even before it went public, however, the group aroused heated reaction from other groups. Annette Spargas of the UC Berkeley chapter of NOW spoke to newsletter author John Truman: “These women are really sick, they are prostituting themselves,” Spargas ranted; “they are objectifying their bodies to the killers of the Bush cabals war machine.”

McDonough shrugs off such criticism by pointing to well over 19 “officially unofficial batallions, as we call our groupings, across the United States.” The virtual group, or at least its notoriety, does appear to be growing fast, especially since the website and online store began operations.

a hat tip to Tim Worstall.

This is a post about Australian politics (I can here the yawns now…) But it’s also about Iraq, and the type of debate going on in many countries with troops there at the moment - including the USA.

While Australian PM John Howard has been emulating George Bush with his recent visit to Baghdad on Anzac day, the Australian opposition candidate for PM, John Latham, appears to be emulating John Kerry.

A Quote from the Labor Party’s Defence Spokesman, via The Australian :

Stepping up Labor’s attack, Senator Evans said: “Australia is not providing peacekeepers to help protect the Iraqi people - John Howard is now keeping troops there as a symbolic commitment to George Bush and the alliance.”

And from the Labor Party’s Foreign Affairs spokesman, via the Brisbane Courier-Mail :

Mr Latham also claimed Australia’s role in Iraq was becoming symbolic.
[…]
“When you’re stretching it out for political or symbolic reasons, it’s a big worry in the national interest.”

His comments appear to contradict statements by Labor’s foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd, who said on Sunday that Australia’s current role in Iraq “isn’t just an international legal nicety” but was the legal requirement of an invading force.

“It’s the responsibility Australia took unto itself when it was one of only three states invading Iraq in the first place,” Mr Rudd said at the time.

Today, we have from The Australian again :

“We support the troops,” Mr Latham told reporters in country Victoria today.

”Our argument is with the Howard government and that’s the way in which our comments have been cast.

“There are valuable jobs being performed in the tasks that have been allocated (to Australian troops in Iraq) and that’s important to recognise.

“Our mention of symbolism is political symbolism. It’s a critique of the Howard government’s policy on the political matters. We have nothing but support for the troops.”

They’re just a useless symbolic commitment doing important and valuable work. A useless symbolic valuable job, completely un-neccessary and legally required and it’s important to recognise that, with beans on toast.

I think that what he means is that he supports the troops in the field, while criticising the jerks that sent them there in the first place. The trouble is, his policy is to immediately exit from Iraq, as the troops are just there for show, to support Dubya. But they’re obviously not there just for show (having just rescued a number of wounded US Coast Guards*), so there is a “cognitive dissonance”, otherwise known as “Buried up to the nostrils in your own BS”. This happens all the time to many successful politicians. But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that when you’re in a hole like this, continuing to dig is not the best strategy.

Still, if it works for Kerry…. maybe you can fool all of the people, all of the time. Or at least, enough to get elected.

What Kerry Really Throws is B.S.

Originally published at Hog On Ice.

I am looking over the day’s news. I thought there might be something about Fallujah, but it looks like the big story right now is the one about John Kerry throwing objects over the White House fence.

Apparently, he had both medals and ribbons. A medal or ribbon is a military decoration; there is no important difference between them.* He went to the White House in 1971, sucked in his gut for the cameras, and threw his own ribbons and someone else’s medals over the fence. He kept his own medals, and I am pretty sure the ribbons were replaced later, but I may be wrong. I’m too lazy to look it up.

Anyway, I don’t really care whether he threw medals or ribbons or who they belonged to. He was a posturing liberal wack job, and he threw SOME sort of military decorations over the fence, and some of them were his. Ho hum. That story isn’t going to sell any papers. If you’re conservative, you hate him for throwing ANY decorations, and if you’re liberal, you probably hate him for not throwing MORE of them, but you’ll still vote for him, unless you’re part of the Nader Martyrs Brigade.

The fun part of the story is about the lying Kerry did later. At one point, he said he didn’t throw his own medals because he didn’t have time to go home and get them. And also the dog ate them. Okay, he didn’t say that about the dog, but he might as well have. It’s about as credible. Think about it. He’s suggesting that in order to throw his medals over the fence, he would have to make a special trip, but luckily, he carried his ribbons with him wherever he went. Not even a brownie hound like Kerry is that compulsive.

Kerry has also claimed he kept his own medals because they were important to him. That’s obviously the true story. He got three Purple Hearts for hangnails and dandruff and so on (I kid), and he got the Bronze Star and whatnot, and you don’t just throw stuff like that away if you’re an attention and glory junkie like Johnny Botox.

Does that make him look any better? Well, ask yourself this: how would you feel if you were a fellow liberal wack job, and you had a Bronze Star, and you went to the fence with Kerry and followed what you thought was his brave example by throwing your precious Bronze Star onto the White House lawn? Here’s the answer: you would be mad as hell. Kerry goes home to his mansion, and he still has his medals shining down at him from their Tiffany frame, and you go home to your trailer, where all you have on the wall is Miss January. And to top it off, the cameras focused on Kerry while he threw the bogus medals, and the reporters told you to keep your head down and get the hell out of the frame.

There’s a word that describes this. “Funny.” It’s sad, but it’s also hilarious. I just picture Kerry and all the other Angry Vets, arms linked, singing “Kum Bay Ya,” and they all think he’s a swell guy, and he’s thinking, “PUTZES.”

This reminds me of a story I’ve told here before. When I was at Columbia University, then-President Carter threatened to reinstitute the draft, and a bunch of little pukes decided to protest. One night at a birthday party, an activist named Rick Lazarus (he deserves to have his real name mentioned) told me that while he loudly advised other guys to refuse to register for the draft, he himself had registered, because he felt that the fear of being arrested would make him less effective as an agitator.

Tell me the difference between him and Kerry. Well, he can probably move his forehead. That’s one difference.

What Kerry did is a lot like welshing on a bet. The other guys show up at the poker table, knowing they may take a loss. They fully intend to honor their debts. A guy like Kerry shows up, and he’s relaxed and confident, because he knows he’s not going to lose a dime. Because he has no intention of paying.

The other wack jobs threw their own medals, and they thought Kerry was throwing his, too. Well, now they know different.

The only medal-thrower I ever heard of who deserved respect was Muhammad Ali. As I understand it, he went into a restaurant in Louisville—his hometown—with his Olympic gold medal around his neck, and he was refused service because he was black. So he went to a bridge and threw the medal into the Ohio River. That makes a lot more sense than what Kerry did. For one thing, it was HIS medal. For another, Ali’s act was a proud response to his own mistreatment by a country which had hypocritically held him forth as an honored champion. Ali didn’t wait around for a TV camera, either.

I think the Kerry medal incident and his juvenile waffling in the aftermath prove something remarkable: you can go to war and serve your country bravely and still come back a weasel. Kerry never considers answering a question honestly. He pauses while the rusty wheels turn behind the motionless forehead, and then he spits out whatever answer he thinks will score him the most points on that particular occasion. And then later, the answer returns to bite him in the ass.

Great work, Senator. Keep it up, and this time next year, you’ll be Al Gore’s teaching assistant at West Tennessee Barber College.

*The one difference of which I have been made aware is that ribbons are much more easily replaced.

The first rule of the internet, the very first one, is “don’t believe everything you hear”. That seems simple enough doesn’t it?. After all, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that something you receive in an email, see on a message board, or read on a web page with pictures of Elvis driving a flying saucer on the front page, probably isn’t something you’re going to want to bet the farm on. Only the ignorant, the gullible, or conspiracy theorists are going to be snookered by sources that dubious.

Then there are the biased sources, like Newsmax, The Village Voice, or even Right Wing News ;). Since these sorts of websites don’t try to hide their partisan leanings, the reader can consider himself forewarned that people of a different ideological stripe might have a different take on the same issues. For example, if you went to Eschaton, a left-wing blog, and saw a headline that stated “George W. Bush wants to grind up fluffy kittens to help Haliburton profit margin,” your antennae would go up — because you know this a left-wing blog — and you’d naturally take what you read with a grain of salt.

But, what gets people into trouble are the sources and articles that seem reliable, yet actually are about as trustworthy as the political info you get from your friend’s cousin’s mother’s brother after he finishes off his second pitcher of beer at Pizza Hut. And that’s where I come in.

Yes, I, your humble neighborhood blogger, am an information junkie’s information junky. For years now, I’ve been reading, analyzing, questioning, perusing, and skimming news from across the world in an effort to inform and entertain my readers. During that process, I’ve run across more than a few potholes on the information superhighway that can keep you from reaching your destination. Luckily for you, I’m going to clue you in on when you should get your antennae up so you can steer around those potholes instead plowing over them like I’ve done far too often in the past. Keep an eye out for…

Anonymous Sources: Believe it or not, people often treat quotes from anonymous sources, even controversial quotes, as MORE CREDIBLE than quotes from people who go on the record because they believe they’re getting a scoop from an inside source. But in reality, there are a bevy of reasons to concerned with the veracity of anonymous sources.

First and foremost among them is of course “why are they coming forward without revealing their names”? Are they bitter for some reason and trying to get revenge? Do they want to make an outrageous assertion that they don’t want their names attached to when it’s proven to be untrue? Could they be partisan holdovers from another administration who’d be revealed as biased if they went on the record? Heck, in these days and times when we have reporters like Jayson Blair sitting in New York bars writing “on site” stories that put them in the Mid-West, you even have to question whether the reporter exaggerated or made up the quote from the source. For the most part, anonymous sources are much more appropriate for smut rags like the Enquirer than mainstream papers.

Anecdotal Stories: It doesn’t matter if you assert that the CIA was actually behind 9/11 or that there are 100,000 Chinese troops poised on the Mexican border to invade Texas, you’re going to find at least a handful of people who’ll believe it. That’s why anecdotal stories that feature a few quotes that are supposed to be representative of a larger group are generally worthless. Actually, make that worse than worthless, because anecdotal stories are more often than not misleading.

Judging by how most of the anecdotal stories in the mainstream press seem to play out these days, here’s how you have to figure they’re put together. A reporter comes up with a theme for a story, interviews people until he gets several juicy quotes that support the point he wants to make while discarding contrary opinions, and then he writes a story implying that the people they talked to represent a majority. The mainstream media runs these sort of stories about Iraqis, soldiers, military families, 9/11 victims among others and usually the only common theme you’ll see are that the people quoted don’t accurately reflect the feelings of the group they’re supposed to represent and the articles almost always reflect poorly on the Bush administration. What liberal media, right?

Enemy & Civilian Casualties: When our troops are fighting in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, trying to get an accurate estimate of how many civilian or enemy fighters are killed is nearly impossible. Combatants dressed in civilian clothes fire at our troops from areas inhabited by civilians. Wounded fighters may crawl away after being hit or be dragged away by their compatriots. Women and children are used as human shields — sometimes involuntarily making them civilians — sometimes voluntarily making them members of the enemy force.

On top of that, opposing forces and even the Arab press commonly downplay the number of losses taken by enemy fighters and dramatically inflate the number of civilians killed. Last but not least, in the heat of combat, it’s very difficult for the members of our military to give an accurate count of how many people they’ve killed when they have bullets whizzing around their head and massive explosions going off all around them. So it’s fair to say that any enemy or civilian casualty numbers you hear from the front may be less accurate than Bill Clinton’s explanation to Hillary of why a woman answered his phone at 4 AM.

Foreign Papers: Don’t get me wrong, there are some really superb papers foreign newspapers out there like the Jerusalem Post or the Online Sun (stop sneering you elitist ;). However, there are also legions of unreliable foreign papers that play so fast and loose with the facts that you can’t trust anything you’re reading. That includes all of the government controlled press in the Middle-East, Al-Jazeera, & Russia’s Pravda.

Furthermore, it’s also worth remembering that some of the European newspapers like The Guardian & The Independent slant so far to the left that they have more in common with openly left-wing US websites like The Nation than they do left-leaning papers masquerading as unbiased sources like the Washington Post.

Internet Polls: Few things are easier than influencing the results of an internet poll. All it would take to send tens of thousands of people to a local church website to write in Satan as a choice for a new pastor would be posts on a handful of large message boards and websites. In fact, this has been done so often by the folks over at Free Republic that the word “freep” has come to mean deliberately skewing a poll. Not to say that online polls aren’t entertaining, they can be, as long as you don’t confuse them with some sort of accurate reflection of the public’s feelings on a subject.

Scientists: Understandably, most people tend to pay quite a bit of attention to articles featuring scientists talking about their fields of expertise. However, you must keep in mind that whole image that has been built up of scientists as impartial fellows only interested in the facts and whatever can be proven in the laboratory is pure bunk.

Not only do scientists have political biases that effect their opinions just like the rest of us, they may have large amounts of grant money and years worth of papers and research that can all be riding on coming down a certain way on an issue. For example, if a liberal scientist who has written a book on the existence of global warming, given countless lectures on its existence, & lives off a $250,000 grant to study the subject by an environmentalist group comes to the conclusion that global warming is incredibly overblown or doesn’t exiss, is he really going to say so? Human nature says that under those circumstances some people will come forward, but most people won’t.

Perhaps more importantly, we must remember that there’s often just as much disagreement in the fields that these scientists come from as you’ll see on a typical edition of “Crossfire”. So if you’re not hearing a scientist with a dissenting opinion, do you really know if you’re getting the whole story?

Washington Budget Numbers: Let me tell you a little story that’ll give you an idea of how dishonest the figures tossed around by Washington politicians are. Let us say that there is a proposal to raise the funding for “educating the orphaned children of patriotic Americans who also love fluffy puppies” by a billion dollars a year. But, Senator Phineas J. Taxemall votes for an Amendment to that bill that would only raise spending by 800 million a year. So the good Senator just voted to raise spending for the orphans by 800 million a year, right?

WRONG...well, at least according to the campaign ads the Senator will see the next time he’s up for the election. Those ads will say “Senator Phineas J. Taxemall voted to CUT funding for educating the orphaned children of patriotic Americans who also love fluffy puppies by 2 BILLION dollars! How can any man be so cruel”? So how would his opponent come up with those numbers? Easy. In Washingtonspeak, increasing spending “only” 800 million when you could have spent a billion is a CUT, not an increase. Then you run those numbers over say a 10 year period and sabim, sabam, there’s your 2 billion dollar cut. The same sort of hinky number crunching is done with tax raises, the deficit, & Social Security (the “trust fund” is actually an IOU), so you can’t trust those numbers either.

From The Australian :

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said today the United States must change course in Iraq in order to “be stronger abroad”.

Kerry, who panned President George W. Bush’s “unilateral” foreign policy, told supporters at a rally in his rural state: “Even if we maintain the most powerful military on the world, we need some friends and allies on this earth.

“I will restore America’s influence and respect,” the Massachusetts senator said as he promised to reach out to the world community if he beats Bush, a Republican, in the November 2 presidential election.

Oh dear. Oh deary, deary me.

Dear Senator Kerry:

I’ll try to make things simple for you.

There’s a place, not in the USA, called variously the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England (plus Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). You really should have heard of it. You can see it from Calais on a clear day. Or just go west from Hamburg till you hit land. You can fly Lufthansa - some of their most senior people navigated their way there on a regular basis in 1940-41.

There’s also another place, again not in the USA, called variously Australia, Oz, “the Arse End of the World” and so on. Just look at a Globe - you can’t miss it, it’s an Island about the same size as the USA, stuck in the South-West of the Pacific. It’s the place that Kangaroos come from. Also the Wiggles, Paul Hogan, Salt Water Crocodiles, Funnelweb Spiders, the Australian SAS Regiment and other scary things.

Now look at the definition of the word “Unilateral”. here’s Merriam-Webster’s definition:

done or undertaken by one person or party

One. Not Two, not Three, and certainly not over 60.

Now look at the definition of the word “allies”. Here’s the Cambridge definition:

(Plural of)A country that has agreed to give help and support to another, esp. during a war, or a person who helps and supports someone else

With me so far?

Now this is the difficult bit. I’ll take it slowly for you.

America is at war.

The UK is helping America, in Iraq and Afghanistan (though for that matter, even France, Germany, Canada and New Zealand are helping in Afghanistan)

Australia is helping America, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why even the Prime Minister was in Baghdad yesterday, to express his appreciation for what they’re doing.

1 + 1 + 1 does not equal 1.

And finally… if you think that ignoring our sacrifice of blood and treasure as part of the Coalition will win you our respect, then you are …… mistaken. Whether you’re deeply Ignorant, Thick-as-two-short-planks Stupid, or just contemptuous of the American voting public, and for that matter, anyone outside your coterie, I don’t know. I doubt that it’s stupid though. And you finished Primary school, so it’s probably not Ignorant either. So it must be a deliberate insult. Keep it up and even Australians will start to get moderately peeved.

A word of advice : you don’t start making new friends by pissing off all the old ones.

Of course, it was in our National Interest to de-fang Iraq, we’re just glad the US and UK were around to shoulder the majority of the burden. Much as we value your friendship, we would not have gone to war alongside you had we not perceived a clear and present danger to all of us. 9/11 was enough, we didn’t need Bali as well to make this abundantly clear.

In that spirit, I look forward to the election results, come November.Arsehole.

Regards, Your Friends and Allies in Oz.

This was written by Murray Hill and originally posted here. It is reprinted with permission of the author.

ANZAC Day

Singapore was regarded as a jewel of the British Empire and a strategically significant island much as Gibraltar and Malta. Its fall to the enemy was inconceivable. It quite simply could not happen. It was also the lynch pin of the Commonwealths defensive plans for the Pacific based around the naval base and shipyards as support for a Royal Navy fleet.

On December 7th 1941 the Japanese Imperial Navy launched the war in the Pacific with their attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. This was followed up with attacks throughout the region and in early 1942 they landed in Malaya with the intention of capturing Singapore with its valuable naval base.

From pilots like Geoff Fisken who flew obsolete Brewster Buffalos against Zero’s and Lt. Adnan Saidi of the 1st Battalion the Malay Regiment who lead his men in a fight to the last man the fall of Singapore was marked by individual professionalism failed badly by incompetent leadership.

The brunt of the fighting was borne by the Australian’s. Though they represented only about 10% of the force they suffered 2/3 of the casualties and provided the few successes of a nightmare campaign.

At the highest level however the British Military was quite simply not equal to the task and was completely unprepared for the vigorous operation the Japanese were engaged in.

The “fleet” which was the whole purpose for the existence of the Islands force consisted of only two capital ships, the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Repulse. These ships sortied from Singapore on receiving news of the Japanese landings without air cover. Whether this was because the air force was unable to provide the cover or the navy did not feel the need has been a source of debate for some time. The point is moot as the air cover would have been obsolete Brewster Buffalos and could have little influenced the outcome. Both ships were quickly sunk by determined attack by Japanese aircraft off the Malay peninsular.

This was the first major blow to the complacency of the British administration yet in a deliberate decision to “avoid panicking the population” the Military Command chose not to build additional defenses or set up roadblocks and heavy weapons positions that could have delayed the Japanese advance. The only proactive action seems to have been to issue pamphlets advising the troops of the inferiority of the Japanese fighting man.

As the Japanese advanced down the Malay peninsular they took no prisoners and murdered those that did surrender. Their brutality was not reserved to enemy soldiers. They routinely murdered civilians and non-combatants saving their worst for the Chinese.

The allied forces withdrew from Malaya to the island and was dispersed of the 70 miles of the perimeter. Again it was the Australians who faced the Japanese amphibious assault from the mainland. Already having lost over half their strength in action and spread too thinly they were unable to prevent the landings. In spite of having fresh troops in reserve General Percival elected not to provide any reinforcements.

The evacuation of the island, left far too late was a full-scale panic. Individual ships sailed without escort or air cover. There was none. Many were picked off by Japanese air units, survivors lifeboats were routinely attacked after their ships were sunk.

Within a matter of days the allied force had been pushed back across half the island and on 15th February General Percival surrendered to the Japanese. Australia and New Zealand were now wide open to the unstoppable Japanese. It was a terrible blow to British confidence and Churchill noted that it was the worst shock he suffered in all the war and he was glad that he was alone when he read the news.

The Japanese General himself was both incredulous and extremely relieved that the British commander chose to surrender at this point. The Japanese force was substantially less than the Commonwealth forces and they were extremely overextended and almost out of ammunition. Had the battle continued he has said he would have been forced to withdraw from the island.

Singapore itself is full of reminders of the events of World War Two. Air raid shelters still dotted the area inside the bases. Some peculiar place names for kids to have for their soccer field, execution row. The infamous Changi Prison. All were constant reminders of what had taken place there. The useless guns facing the wrong direction - in actuality they did engage the enemy but there was a shortage of high explosive ammunition - are now a tourist attraction. Much of the infrastructure was prewar as were the some of the staff.

Kranji is like a focus of all these daily prompts and ANZAC Day is the culmination of all that has happened and is made real by the thousands of names on the walls there.

I have attended dawn services for as long as I could remember, from the age of six I was always in one uniform or another.

At the ages of eleven and twelve I attended the ANZAC Day dawn services at Kranji Cemetery in Singapore. Many experiences of Singapore and the two years that I lived there remain vivid but none more so that those two services. For me Kranji will always be an experience more than a place.

Kranji itself is unusually small, only around 4,500 are buried there, many in mass graves. Of the graves only about 850 are named. Yet lining the memorial walls are the names of over 24,000 others who died. To put it another way, Karanji is larger than many of the Allied cemeteries in Normandy but here most of the fallen have no known graves.

The grounds are immaculately kept and on an island where space is at a premium Kranji is open, sprawling, well-boarded tress trees. It is quiet, unusually so for so crowded a country. This lends an atmosphere of peacefulness that reinforces the nature of the place. The ground rises from the gate to the memorial itself which follows the top of the ridge and from there the straights are visible.

Here lay or are remembered Indians, Chinese, Malays, British, Australian’s, New Zealander’s and Gurkha’s.

Attending an ANZAC Day dawn service here is a moving experience. Unlike the services back home that take place at every small town memorial and are attended by organizations and veterans, here the dead are in attendance. Not represented by the names on a wall or monument, but here are their remains. The memorial walls carry the names of more than twenty four thousand who have no grave. Scattered around are other particular memorials, the Chinese Memorial, the General Hospital Memorial and others. Each another chapter to the terrible story told in the simple explanations on the inscriptions.

I was used to a solemn occasion but one that was carried off with a kind cheerful disorganization that betrayed more of the holiday that would follow. Here the full impact of the meaning is inescapable. The service is carried off with military precision and dignity that is compelling. The memorial walls are lined with servicemen of three services and two nations resting on reversed arms and stay like statues. The flags flying together give a real sense of the bond our nations share, not only with each other but also with the region itself.

With tropical reliability dawn arrives and the golden star that tops the memorial is struck by the rising sun.

With the official service over we are free to move about and poppies that would normally be either laid at a memorial or lost later in the day are laid on the graves of the fallen. In some cases the children took some time to find a grave because they were seeking out an uncle or grandfather they had never known.

[Ed note: Thank you, Murray]

Here’s Alan E. Brain’s wonderful tribute from last year.

Potential Peace for a Curmudgeonly Warblogger? I don’t know. Have any of you ever heard of this guy: Prem Rawat aka “Maharaji”? Here’s a portion of an interview from Venture magazine:

- - - - - - -

In a world of accelerating change and turmoil, management theories have become increasingly complex. Bookshelves creak under the weight of books written by business gurus on how to manage a company, how to increase personal potential and to achieve success

Venture caught up with Prem Rawat during a recent return to India. “I’m here for another two and half weeks,” he told us. “Every weekend, there is an event in a different place and sometimes also in the middle of the week. I have just been to eight cities, and there are a few more to go before I return home for Christmas and my son’s birthday. In February, I will come back out to India to visit another 10 or 11 cities; then on to the Pacific, Europe, the United States, maybe South America, Africa and round the world again.”

- - - - - - -

More than a few business and lifestyle gurus claim to offer hope and inspiration, or at least a guide towards beneficial change or success. Prem Rawat’s approach differs in several key respects. “Firstly, mine isn’t just a theory; I don’t just say, ‘Sit down and think nice thoughts’. My approach is much more practical: to actually go within, to take the senses inside and discover that feeling. People have to judge for themselves if they have actually felt it, and that’s what is very, very important here. I offer inspiration, reminding people of the beauty of existence; I remind people that life itself is a gift. I encourage people to know that this is possible and to open windows of understanding, so that they can be fulfilled. I see each human being as complete. Within each one shines a sun so bright that it can make ignorance go away.”

It is a well-known theory that, to succeed in business, executives must fix on an ideal future state and use this vision as an anchor to move forward. “You have to have a vision,’ says Prem Rawat. “Vision is a wonderful thing. The vision should be very broad and as wonderful as you can make it. And in that vision you have to see the manifestation of your life, to see that the fulfilment of your life is there alongside the fulfilment of your career. If we were to say that all we need to do is x, y and z out there in this world, and we did not address anything about our own self, then it doesn’t matter what we have accomplished; something would always be going to feel empty inside of ourselves.”

- - - - - - -

Then there is this from the Prem Rawat FAQ page:

- - - - - - -

If I am interested in the techniques that Prem Rawat teaches to connect within, what can I do next?
There is a period of preparation involved. The process of preparation is not an academic one with a start and a finish, but involves each person making their own inner journey of discovery. Therefore, how long it takes varies from person to person, allowing people to learn and develop at their own pace.

If I would like to speak to someone about all of this, what do I do?
The website www.contact-info.net provides the telephone numbers of information lines in many countries where further enquiries can be made.

- - - - - - -

Here are a couple of photographs from his Inspire newsletter:

Within Each Breath: In this excerpt from an address to an audience already familiar with his message, Maharaji explains that, within each breath, it is possible to find fulfillment. He reminds people of the wealth that can be found within each breath—if one pays attention.

Joy Is Possible: After speaking to more than one million people throughout India, Maharaji held a two-day follow-up event. Each day, over 635,000 people in more than 2,100 centers phoned in more than 1,000 questions.

Any warbloggers (or non-warbloggers) out there ever heard of this guy?

This is a duplicate of the original post at the nikita demosthenes website.

Perhaps this article should be on the Iraq page. The USMC has already used AC/DC records in the battle at Fallujah. Now they’re bringing on something far, far worse. Here it is, quoted in full from the AP, via the Indianapolis Star :

FALLUJAH, Iraq — Amid the clatter of gunfire and explosions that regularly rock this city, an unexpected sound rises over the front line: bagpipes.

Dressed in Marine fatigues with his gun at his side, 1st Sgt. Dwayne Farr, 36, blows into his set of pipes. The plaintive wail is carried by the wind that whips across this dust-blown, war-torn town.

“Playing on the battlefield — I never thought that would happen,” Farr said.

Farr, an African-American from Detroit, learned bagpipes after he saw another player who didn’t match the Scottish stereotype.

“I was at a funeral, and I saw a Marine playing the bagpipes, and I thought, this isn’t a big, burly, redheaded guy with a ponytail and a big stomach. He’s a small Hispanic Marine. I said if he can learn to play the bagpipes, I can learn,” he said, chuckling.

When he is not on the front-line, Farr wears a kilt when playing, and some Marines have been skeptical about a member of one of the toughest fighting forces in the world donning what looks like a skirt.

But Farr is unfazed. He’s looking for a desert camouflage kilt he can wear in operations like these.

“Kilts are something that fighting men wore many years ago, and we know that the Marines are fighting men. So real men wear kilts. And they are pretty comfortable, too,” he said.

Among his admittedly limited repertoire is “Taps,” the tune traditionally played by the military when a service member is killed. Farr has played it several times recently in Fallujah.

Marines say the sound of the bagpipes can be a soothing contrast to the usual sounds of war.

So, any kilt-maker reading this who can get his hands on suitable MARPAT-Desert cloth…. you know what to do.

Michele and I choose to permit comments at Command Post because we believe the ability to participate in journalism is inherent to the nature of our site, and that the ability to exchange and argue over ideas is at the core of a vigorous democracy.

That said, our comments area is not a forum in which anything goes. We believe the democratic way of life, and a better understanding of humanity, are furthered not by any discourse, but by reasoned discourse. Our vision for the Command Post comments is a forum that not only permits the participation in journalism, that not only facilitates the exchange of perspectives, but that does so as a reflection of human civility.

So: We welcome you to post comments at Command Post, and we encourage you take part in our marketplace of ideas, be you left, right, or center; red, blue, or green; Christian, Muslim, or atheist. If you do, our comment policy is very simple. We welcome comments that are:

• Respectable: “Worthy of respect; fitted to awaken esteem; deserving regard; hence, of good repute; not mean.”

• Civil: “Not rude; marked by satisfactory (or especially minimal) adherence to social usages and sufficient but not noteworthy consideration for others.”

It’s a simple policy. It provides an enormous field for the exchange of ideas. It allows vigorous and heated arguments over policy or philosophy. It welcomes the familiar and the arcane, the banal and the compelling, the grave and the humorous.

It is also a policy we will enforce. We will delete comments that we feel do not meet the simple standards of respect and civility, and we will ban the IP address of those posting such comments. If you feel you have been treated unfairly as a result of this policy, we welcome your appeal via email. If your appeal is neither respectable nor civil, it is an appeal we will ignore.

What does the policy mean in application? Where we will draw the boundaries? We don’t know. We suppose our experience will be much as Justice Potter Stewart described the limitation of pornographic speech: we’ll know it when we see it. We can’t guarantee we won’t make bad calls. We can’t guarantee we won’t upset one or more of our readers. But we can guarantee that no deletion or IP ban will ever be because of a point of view; it will always be because a point of view was articulated with neither respect nor civility. We don’t want to engage in censorship, we want to engage in sense.

A commitment to respectable and civil commentary on a weblog. It may sound high minded. It may sound like not much fun. But it’s our forum, and it’s what we’ll allow. Readers disappointed in our perspective are welcome to create their own sites and maintain their own comment forums. Because we choose to believe that most people are reasonable … that they want an intelligent exchange of perspectives … that all things being equal, they’d choose not to engage in an online slugfest of slanderous rubes … we think it’s the right way to go.

So that’s what we’re going to try and create, and if we can’t do so, well, then frankly, we’d prefer not to have comments at Command Post. Because at the end of the day, this is a hobby for us. We derive virtually no economic benefit from Command Post. Our reward, and we presume the reward for our contributors, is intangible—the pride that comes from building something that others value, that is a unique first step for decentralized journalism. Command Post is something Michele and I love, and frankly it’s something of which we want to feel proud. Hateful, biting, insulting commentary does not make us feel proud. It robs us of one of the only rewards we derive from the site … our ability to say, “Look at what we made … it’s good, and it’s a model of what the online exchange of ideas and information can be.”

We will not be robbed. We have anywhere from 15,000 to 120,000 visitors a day to our corner of the blogosphere … we’re more than happy to alienate a handful if it’s the means of creating a forum of civil exchange for the remainder. And deep in our hearts, independent of the fact that such a forum is something we’ll feel better about, something of which we’ll be proud, we also believe such a forum is something the remainder will value, visit, and enjoy.

So, jump on in, but please keep it respectable and civil. It’s all we ask, and thanks for reading The Post.

HERE ARE YOUR ORDERS:

1. Go to this website.

2. Donate whatever you can.

3. Tell your friends and family to do the same.

GO! NOW! MOVE!

Why are you still here?

Not the following-orders type?

Need to be convinced?

OK – step in to my stateroom, grab a cup of joe, and we’ll talk.

Victory in the Battle for Iraq will not be achieved by force of arms alone – it will be won or lost in the hearts of the Iraqis themselves. The First Marine Division recently returned to the region with the slogan “No greater friend – No worse enemy.” We’ve seen the second part of that slogan at work in places like Ramadi and Fallujah. But what about the “No greater friend” part?

You know all of those international aid organizations that one usually finds in war-torn areas? They aren’t on the ground in Iraq – it’s too dangerous. The Marines must do it all themselves. They have to fight the war, and at the same time win the peace.

Spirit of America does not have any staff on the ground in Iraq. Their “staff” is the First Marine Division. The Marines make requests for specific aid, and SoA gathers donations to purchase the items needed. The goods are then shipped to Iraq via military transport.

Spirit of America has no paid employees, and is run entirely by volunteer labor and contributions. They have very little “overhead.” And because they are a federally registered 501c3 public foundation, all contributions are 100% tax deductible.

This organization is the real deal. Back in January, Mrs. Smash and I spent a day at Camp Pendleton, helping pack Frisbees, school supplies, and medical supplies for delivery to Iraq. Major General James Mattis reports that these donations have been very well received.

Because Spirit of America is not a government agency, there’s very little red tape involved in the process. They are able to respond very quickly to specific requests. For instance, last week an editorial in the Wall Street Journal on a Spirit of America request for $100,000 to help establish seven local television stations in Iraq to counter the negative message of al-Jazeera brought immediate results. The funds have been received, and the equipment will be shipped within weeks of the initial request.

You can’t beat that.

But there are other requests that have yet to be funded. And Spirit of America isn’t just helping the Marines, they are also supporting the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

So you want to help with the war effort? Here’s your chance.

What are you waiting for, an engraved invitation?

Or maybe you’re wondering what’s in it for me?

Well, I’ve teamed up with a coalition of military bloggers (and some of our friends), and we’re in competition with a couple of other blogger coalitions to see who can raise the most funds for Spirit of America.

Yes, I want very badly to win. I’m a competitive beast, after all. But no matter who raises the most money, the real winners will be the US Marine Corps, and ultimately, the people of Iraq.

No more yelling. You know what to do.

The headline says it all:

Poll: Terrorists May Be Winning

An AP poll run by the Ipsos News Center points to the ‘fact’ that a majority of Americans think the terrorists in Iraq are winning the war, and particularly the hearts and minds of many throughout the Middle East.

But I have to ask “What makes Americans think that?” The answer is simple:

The news media.

It’s rare that the media reports the good being done by Coalition Forces around Iraq. Instead they focus only on the fighting going on in a few cities, primarily in the Sunni Triangle. Again the media makes it sound like fighting is widespread and has popular support of the Iraqi people. But if you read the Iraqi blogs and read poll results of surveys taken in Iraq, you see an entirely different picture. Most Iraqis know that much of the fighting, particularly suicide bombings, is being done by ‘foreigners’ who could care less for the welfare of the Iraqi people. Many of these foreigners are jihadis - some working for Al-Qaeda. Others are Ba’athists from Syria. Some are Shi’a extremists from Iran. There are also a host of others with axes to grind with America and the Iraqis be damned.

With reporting like this is it any wonder why some in America think the terrorists are winning? They’re being told so by a media more interested in sensationalism than in showing both sides of the story or, heaven forbid, the truth.

Of course it doesn’t help that Arab news agencies like Al Jazeera is all but in control of groups like Al Qaeda. Remember, there have been reports of Al Jazeera reporters paying insurgents to attack Americans, possibly acting as couriers for Al Qaeda. As if the world, and particularly the Arab world, should take anything said by Al Jazeera as the truth. But too many people do, including some in the West.

Are the terrorists winning? Sorry to say they are.

They’re winning the propaganda war.

UPDATE: Here’s an interesting look at the myths of Iraq.

(Crossposted from Weekend Pundit)

In an article about changes for the worse within the American media, Cathy Seipp says:

When did being terrified of everything stop being cause for embarrassment and start being a point of pride?

This could be the opening line of articles ranging from DDT to the war on terror. In my reading of history, Spain was never a country to shrink from a fight, whether it was against Great Britain or the "godless communists". What has changed to make them turn tail and run? America's history, too, is built upon people who took pride in facing and overcoming challenges.

Imagine watching sports under the new model of shrinking away from adversity. "It's third and sixteen, Al. They don't have much of a chance for the first down. And it looks like the coach agrees! The offense is coming off the field and they're setting up to punt." Or, Barry Bonds is in the hole, 0-2. He has a decision to make. Yes! he's walking back to the dugout and will concede the out."

On the upside, I suppose it would make the games quite a bit faster, but you'd lose everything about the competition that is important. The war on terror and the conflict in Iraq are many things, but it's mostly a competition of ideas. If we take our ball and go home, as some would have us do, not only have we lost the ballgame, we've lost the core of everything we're supposed to stand for.

(Cross-posted at Overtaken by Events )

[Please see here for previous story/background details. Also note that the money for the tv station in Iraq has not only been raised, but donations have exceeded what was needed. Any money raised for SOA today goes towards many of their other wonderful projects]

Spirit of America intends to support the Coalition troops - as well as the Iraqi people - by providing the resources needed to turn enemies into allies, and helping our troops and civilians show that we are there to help the Iraqi and Afghan people build their countries toward a peaceful, independent, free future - not to colonize or conquer them. That’s what winning the peace is all about.

The challenge is OFFICIALLY underwway. Any money donated to SOA today under the name of the Victory Coalition is appreciated. Our goal is twofold; to not just raise money for a great cause, but to kick Dean (Liberty Alliance)and John’s (Fighting Fusilleers) collective butts in the challenge to see which blogger alliance can raise the most money in one day.

Please click on the banner below, which will take you to the special page for donating as part of the Victory Coalition. See Wizbang for more details and a list of who is part of our alliance.

Thank you to Kevin for taking over the reigns of the VC when I couldn’t do it. You’ve done a bang-up job, my man.

Please, spread the word. Link, write, scream, call, run through your office building naked. Get your bosses to match your office total. Tell your neighbors.

If you donate in our name today, please let me know so we can count you as a member of our alliance, and thank you properly.

The Victory Coalition and the Spirit of America team thank you in advance for your generosity.

Please remember to use this link when donating.

There has been a big hullaballoo here in the blogosphere today with the Spirit of America fundraisng campaign. Apparently there are three factions vying for your monetary attention for this more than worthy cause. These factions, The Victory Coalition, The Fighting Fusiliers of Freedom and The Liberty Alliance are comprised of a great group of guys and gals, excellent bloggers in their own right, who truly want to make a difference. Who truly want to help our Marines help others.

So I say, in the immortal words of Rodney King, “Why can’t we all just get along?” Why must we be divided? I propose to pool our resources with this very post.

If you want to donate via the Victory Coalition, click here.
If you want to donate via the Fighting Fusiliers of Freedom, click here.
If you want to donate via the Liberty Coalition, click here.

All donations go to the Spirit of America Campaign regardless, so come on, click on any of the above links and don’t even bother scanning the text, just scroll down to the pledge area and give.

Jermaine made the above comment on foreign soil - in the Middle East, no less - in Manama, Bahrain.

I suppose Jermaine’s view is that American Muslims must be horrified that, in the past decade, America and its allies have liberated well over 50 million Muslims in former Yugoslavia, and in Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Thousands of American troops have died trying to liberate Muslims from dictatorial regimes - including during the infamous fire fight in Mogadishu. Indeed, if one didn’t know better, America’s number one foreign policy priority would appear to be “conquer dictatorships in distant lands to aid Muslims who usually hate us anyway.”

I guess Jermaine’s comments are consistent with the “usually hate us anyway” part.

This is a duplicate of the original post on the nikita demosthenes website.

This one comes from the Baghdadee forum, and is cross-posted today on Winds of Change.NET:

“Saddam’s Mosqu’s Khateeb “Shiekh Ali” dies and waits in line at the “Janna” Gates. Just ahead of him is a guy in casual shalwar (the loose outfit worn in the Middle East, Pakistan, et. al.). Malak (angel) addresses this guy, “Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to Heaven?”

The guy replies, “I’m Kaka Ali, Mini Bus driver from Kefri, Iraq.”

Malak consults his list, smiles and says to Kaka Ali, “Enter into the Kingdom.”

So the Iraqi driver enters Heaven and the Sheikh Ali is next in line. He stands erect. Without being asked, he proclaims, “I am Sheikh Ali Imam of Jama in Baghdad for the last 33 years during the Saddam God bless him!”

Malak consults his list and says, “I’m sorry, you’re on the waiting list. You have to pass some tests before you get entry to the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Shikh says, “Just a minute. That man was a Mini Bus driver, and you issued him instant entry! But I have to go through more tests. How can this be? Please double check the names.”

Malak says, “Up here, Imam, we go by results. While you preached, people slept; while he drove, people prayed.”

It is the nature of men that when faced with an impending doom, they will do something, anything, to avert it, even if that brings doom down upon themselves sooner and more surely then if they had done nothing. Such was the case in ancient Greek tragedies. So it was with the World War Two Nazis and Imperial Japanese. So it is now with Iran’s Mullahocracy in their “spoiling attack” on America in Iraq.

Dan Darling, Michael Ledeen, and Wretchard of Belmont Club (here and here) have all recently gone on documenting at length the size and scope of the Iranian and Iranian hired Syrian attacks in Iraq, and in Ledeen’s case what needs to be done about it. What they haven’t done is explain the wider pattern in terms of the Iranian objectives for their spoiling attack.

Read The Rest…

Robyn:

I was a senior about to graduate from the University of Oklahoma on April 19, 1995. I had been up all night studying for an exam, and woke up around 1:30 in the afternoon that day. I later remembered being jolted awake earlier in the morning by what I assumed was a sonic boom from Tinker AFB, but quickly went back to sleep. I decided to get in a workout before work and class — so I hurriedly took a shower, got dressed, and took off in my car without watching TV — completely unaware of what was going on in the backyard of the world around me. I rarely listen to the radio, and had a mixed cassette on in my car that afternoon. I arrived at Tan and Tone America to the most somber atmosphere I had ever encountered. The TVs were all on continuous news coverage, people were crying, and no one was really concerned with their tan or their figure that day. Ironically, six years later when our nation’s next horrific event occurred, I slept through it as well. There are times now when I’m literally afraid to sleep ever again…

A tribute put up by a Catholic church across the street from the memorial [with a] stone wall contains empty recesses, one for each life lost in the bombing. Facing that wall, and turned away from the Murrah building, is a large, white statue of Jesus. His head is in his hands, and a tear marks his cheek. The inscription on the base of the statue says only: ‘And Jesus Wept’. [Time]

My kids were five and three at the time. I clung to them fiercely in the weeks after April 19th. I could not comprehend the loss of so many little lives at one time. And it’s not that I didn’t grieve the loss of the adults as well; but the children…so many helpless, innocent children ripped from their parents in such horrible, brutal manner. It was almost too much to bear.

Yet I stared at the television for days on end. I barely slept, and when I did I only dreamed of crying, dying babies searching for their parents. One night, about a week after the bombing, I dreamed that I had lost my kids in an ocean. I just kept swimming, swimming, calling their names and swimming.

I tried to image myself in the place of those parents who lost their little babies that day. I couldn’t. I could not, in a million years, image what it was like to be them, to see the lifeless bodies of their children carried out of the rubble in the arms of rescuers.

It’s been nine years. How quickly things fade from the big picture. I can find very few news articles about the anniversary. So far, nothing on tv. A Google news search doesn’t bring up much. I wonder how soon 9/11 will become the same - just another date, just another memorial service, something relegated to page 12. I understand the need to not obsess over these things - but I do not understand the need to let it go, or the need to push it away as time goes by.

I’m sure that April 19, 2004 may as well be April 19, 1995 for the families who suffered losses at the Murrah Building. I wish them peace.

Time Magazine OKC coverage
Cato has beautiful photos of the OKC memorial.
Official Oklahoma City Memorial site
National Parks Service OKC memorial site

Charles Hill has more, please read.

April 18-19 is Yom Ha’Shoah, Holocaust Day.

• Harley-riding Rabbi Lazer Brody has a few thoughts - and memories - to share.

• I’ve got a few of my own, too: Shimon’s Story.

Unknown Comic rejects offer from Hamas

BURBANK, CA (AP) - Veteran comedian Murray Langston has rejected an offer by Hamas to become the new leader of their organization in Gaza.

“They thought it was a perfect fit,” said Murray. “Unknown Comic, Unknown Terrorist Leader. But I took off the bag years ago, and people know me. And on top of that, I’ve got a wife and three baggies to think about.”

“Sure I could use the work, but the leader of a terrorist organization? I still have nightmares about Jaye P. Morgan, for crying out loud. I bomb on stage, not buses.”

When asked about Gong Show MC Chuck Barris’ alleged ties to the CIA, Langston had no comment.