This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Foreign Policy

  • How do we win?

    Exactly how do Democrats think that playing politics with funding for the war will end well for this country? S.A.Miller and Jon Curl of the Washington Times write today;

    The House last night ignored a veto threat and passed a bill to ration war funds, hours after President Bush for the first time offered to negotiate Iraq benchmarks with the Democrat-led Congress.
        The bill, which would fund the war in two-month installments and sets up a possible troop withdrawal in August, passed in a 221-205 vote, with Democrats backing the bill by 219-10 and Republicans opposed by 195-2.

    With incremental funding, how do the Iraqis know they can depend on us to protect them while they build a fledgling government? How can Democrats think this helps?
    Elsewhere in the Times, Sharon Behn writes that the troops are working hard to convince Iraqis that giving US forces information on terrorists is a safe practice;

     “We’ve seen a small increase of individuals willing to talk to us on what they perceive as terrorists. That has led to a couple of people being captured or put into Camp Cropper,” he said, referring to a detention center located on one of the U.S. bases. “The tips we’ve been getting seem better.”
        In one instance, during a several-hour-long patrol in a largely Shi’ite community, U.S. soldiers were called back to a house down a side alley to speak to a man who said he had been beaten by members of the Mahdi Army militia. Deep purple bruises covered his legs, and he said they had tortured him with electricity on his feet.
        After a lot of reassurance, the man gave the soldiers the location of a Mahdi militia member, although it was clear he was terrified.

    How long can the Iraqis trust our troops to stay when they’ve watched us pull out before? We left the Iraqi Shi’ites to Saddam’s henchment in 1991, the Somalis in 1993, the Haitians in 1996 and on-and-on. Why should the iraqis trust to stay and help them when the Left is so bound and determined to surrender to Code Pink and the jihadists? Why would an Iraqi stick his mortal neck out to provide the troops with vital information when we might not be around in a few months and the guys he rats out come back for revenge? Why should they trust us to stay when we’ve given the world no reason to believe we’ll see a war through?

    The Washington Post reports today that Democrats are still under the mispreception that they’re doing the work of the American people;

    “The president has brought us to this point by vetoing the first Iraq Accountability Act and refusing to pay for this war responsibly,” declared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). “He has grown accustomed to the free hand on Iraq he had before January 4. Those days are over.”

    The final tally came just an hour after antiwar Democrats mustered 171 votes for far tougher legislation that would all but end U.S. military involvement in Iraq within nine months. The 255 to 171 vote against that measure meant that nowhere close to a majority backed it, but the fact that 169 Democrats and two Republicans voted for it surprised opponents and proponents alike.

    “I didn’t think I was going to get anywhere near 171 votes,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the withdrawal bill’s chief author. “This is proof that the United States Congress is getting closer to where the American people already are.”

    If the American people were ready to surrender, the President couldn’t veto – there’d be throngs of everyday guys like me outside the White House. We ain’t out there, Jimbo, so you’re delusioned into believing that all of America thinks like your idiot constituents. If that were true, if we thought like your idiot constituents, we’d be talking about President Kerry right now. 

    I understand the old saw that the “squeaky wheel gets the oil”, but in this case the squeaky wheel is a bunch of morons in pink feather boas – shouldn’t we take that into account when our legislature tries to formulate half-baked foreign policy?

  • Diplomacy by other means

    Some Republicans warned President Bush that they don’t have the testicular fortitude to defeat terrorists, according to the Washington Post this morning;

    House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in Iraq is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months.

    But the meeting between 11 House Republicans, Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, White House political adviser Karl Rove and presidential press secretary Tony Snow was perhaps the clearest sign yet that patience in the party is running out. The meeting, organized by Rep. Charlie Dent (Pa.), one of the co-chairs of the moderate “Tuesday Group,” included Reps. Thomas M. Davis III (Va.), Michael N. Castle (Del.), Todd R. Platts (Pa.), Jim Ramstad (Minn.) and Jo Ann Emerson (Mo.).

    “It was a very remarkable, candid conversation,” Davis said. “People are always saying President Bush is in a bubble. Well, this was our chance, and we took it.”

    A bubble? The President lives in a bubble? After the grillings he gets from the press corps and the media’s 24/7 coverage of every malcontent in the country protesting Bushitler? Well, I could tell these linguini-spined Republicans were RINOs as soon as they placed the Party before our national security. That’s what Democrats have been doing for the last five years. It only stands to reason that RINOs would begin caving soon. Gutless cowards.

    Meanwhile, the Washington Times reports that Defense Secretary Gates told Congress that the debate over Iraq is aiding al Qaida (as if Congress didn’t know that already);

    Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday told Congress that al Qaeda will establish a stronghold in Iraq’s Anbar province if U.S. troops pull out prematurely and that the group is reacting to the war debate in Washington by stepping up attacks.
        Furthermore, the entire war effort will be disrupted unless Congress quickly passes an emergency funding bill acceptable to President Bush, he said.
        Mr. Gates’ testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee preceded today’s scheduled House vote on a bill that the White House promises to veto because it rations war spending and sets up a July vote to cut off funds if progress in Iraq is inadequate.
        “If we were to withdraw, leaving Iraq in chaos, al Qaeda almost certainly would use Anbar province as another base from which to plan operations not only inside Iraq, but first of all in the neighborhood and then potentially against the United States,” Mr. Gates told the committee.

    But Congress is only concerned about it’s members job security.

    The Washington Times also tells us that Bahrain is warning against our withdrawal from Iraq;

    The U.S.-led war in Iraq has damaged America’s image in the Arab Middle East, but a premature withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq would make the situation worse, Bahrain’s information minister, Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar, said yesterday.
        “We all know the situation is not easy, but militarily speaking it is not wise now simply to withdraw from Iraq,” Mr. Abdul Ghaffar said during a luncheon with editors and reporters at The Washington Times.
        He acknowledged growing questions over the U.S. commitment in Iraq after the Democratic takeover of Congress in November, but said Iraq’s various factions and ethnic groups still need time to create a workable national government.
        “There is still much work to do on real national reconciliation, and without reconciliation we will not have a stable Iraq,” he added.

    If a third world backwater country can recognize the importance of staying the course in Iraq, why can’t the over-educated members of Congress? It’s also a view that Mohammed of Iraq the Model shares;

    We must keep fighting those criminals and tyrants until they realize that the freedom-loving peoples of the region are not alone. Freedom and living in dignity are the aspirations of all mankind and that’s what unites us; not death and suicide. When freedom-lovers in other countries reach out for us they are working for the future of everyone tyrants and murderers like Ahmedinejad, Nesrallah, Assad and Qaddafi must realize that we are not their possessions to pass on to their sons or henchmen. We belong to the human civilization and that was the day we gave what we gave to our land and other civilizations. They can’t take out our humanity with their ugly crimes and they can’t force us to back off. The world should ask them to leave our land before asking the soldiers of freedom to do so.

    Meanwhile Hugo Chavez, the self-proclaimed new Simon Bolivar, is urging the Latin world to support Iran;

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is encouraging his Latin American allies to expand ties with Iran, which is offering trade concessions and financial incentives and winning influence in the region.
        During two recent visits to Venezuela, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signed more than $17 billion worth of economic agreements with Mr. Chavez.
        Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega last month received Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki while Bolivian President Evo Morales announced a new trade deal with Iran.
        “The struggle for justice and truth in the framework of economic development is the principle objective of the government in Nicaragua and of our friends in Iran,” said Mr. Ortega when Mr. Mottaki arrived after stopping in Venezuela for talks with Mr. Chavez.
        Mr. Ortega called Iran a “victim” of the U.S., which he accused of “supporting terrorism.”

    Hezbollah in Paraguay, anyone?

    So weak-kneed Republicans who put party before our national survival, pick this point to start looking to jump ship. The Administration has stopped several attacks on our soil mainly because the terrorists are disjointed and not able to coordinate support for cells abroad due to al Qaida’s focus on Iraq and Afghanistan. Terrorists have had a decade to build their support structure from Afghanistan unhindered and it’s crumbling into a few weak attempts like a guy trying to light a bomb in his shoes with wet matches.

    We are provably winning worldwide with small steps forward, but apparently the politicians don’t have the wherewithall to see it through to the end. They don’t have the guts to write our future like the politicians in our past have had. Can you imagine today’s RINOs during the years of steady losses during our Revolution? I doubt they’d have the courage to even sign the Declaration of Independence.

  • Congratulations, France

    I’m glad France has decided to live in the community of nations again and in the 21st century (as opposed to living in the mid-19th century). But, as of nearly 11:00 am, only European and African news services are being halfway honest and reporting the anti-Sarkozi riots there. Neither Reuters nor AP are saying a word. A Yahoo search of news “France+riots” turned up this.

    367 evil cars were burned by “youths” in Paris according to the Daily Mail. So, I guess we should admire their restraint since nearly everything is a reason to burn the evil parked cars in Paris these days. I hope they begin cleaning up France by deporting the youths they catch burning private property.

    From USAToday;

    French president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy plans to waste no time making France a friendlier place for business — and a less inviting place for criminals and would-be immigrants….

    And I hope they let their wealthy people live in the country again and provide job opportunities to deserving workers. 

    In related news, the newly conservative government of Germany rejected clemency for Red Army Faction leader Christian Klar according to the AP;

    The office of President Horst Koehler did not say why he had rejected Klar’s bid for early release. Mr. Koehler, who met with Klar last week, considered the positions of courts, prosecutors and others, and had held talks with relatives of the victims, his office said.
        The request from Klar, 54, had met with fierce opposition from many German conservatives, who argued that a former terrorist who had shown no public remorse did not deserve mercy.
        Their stance hardened after he sent a message to a left-wing conference earlier this year that seemed to indicate he had not lost his revolutionary fervor. Klar talked of “completing the defeat” of capitalism “and opening the door for a different future.”

    Funny how conservatives don’t like terrorists very much.

  • Spy funds to be spent on manbearpig research

    I remember recently that Democrats were campaigning on the fact that we had faulty intelligence on Iraq which is why they were mislead into voting for the use of force in Iraq. Now, according to Christina Bellantoni of the Washington Times, Democrats want to divert intelligence funding into climate change research;

    Senior House Republicans are complaining about Democrats’ plans to divert “scarce” intelligence funds to study global warming.
        The House next week will consider the Democrat-crafted Intelligence Authorization bill, which includes a provision directing an assessment of the effects that climate change has on national security.
        “Our job is to steal secrets,” said Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
        “There are all kinds of people analyzing global warming, the Democrats even have a special committee on this,” he told The Washington Times. “There’s no value added by the intelligence community here; they have no special expertise, and this takes money and resources away from other threats.”

    With the growing influence of radical Islam, the proliferation of weapons worldwide, does it make any sense to spend intelligence funds to analyze the effect of a degree of temperature change? It seems to me that since the immediate threat are large bands of global thugs running around with bombs strapped to their undernourished toros we should probably do something about that for the time being. But what do I know – I don’t depend on wealthy contributors and PACs for my livelihood. 

    Update: Reading the WashTimes story gave American Thinker’s Clarice Feldman nightmares.

  • Another thing that’s the US’ fault

    According to the AP (via Fox news and the Washington Post) some Cuban Army soldiers tried to hijack a charter flight to the US last night. They were thwarted and a Cuban Army colonel was killed. All very sad and I sympathizes with all of the people involved. However, halfway down the story, I find that it’s the US’ fault;

    “The responsibility for these new crimes lies with the highest-ranking authorities of the United States, adding to the long list of terrorist acts that Cuba has been the victim of for nearly half a century,” it said.

    Havana says U.S. immigration policies giving most Cubans almost guaranteed residency encourages them to risk their lives to get to the United States, and says that American officials have long tolerated — even encouraged — violence against the communist-run country.

    So it’s the US’ fault that Cuba kills it’s own citizens because they want a life in the 21st Century?

    Cuba also blames the US for it’s economic woes because we stopped buying their sugar, their rum, their fruit and (sadly) their cigars. Well, I remember when Coca-cola was made with sugar and I miss it. I’ve smoked Cuban cigars with Cuban rum and it’s a delight – one of my greatest delights. I sorely wish that the US would start trading with Cuba once again. But to imply that Cuban Communism doesn’t work because the US capitalists won’t trade with it is just insane and hypocritical.

    The same goes for US immigration policy towards Cuban refugees. It’s the same policy that West Germany had for East Germans who escaped – would the Left complain about that policy?

    I guess it all boils down to the fact that if Cuba wasn’t a repressive dictatorship that kept it’s people in the 1950s living in tarpaper shacks on unpaved streets and if Cuba allowed US companies to reclaim their properties and their businesses and pay decent wages, maybe the people wouldn’t be trying to hijack planes and riding innertubes to Florida.

  • Me? I’ll vote for any Republican.

    I’ve heard, and read, so many Republicans complain about certain members of the Republican field of candidates and declare “I wouldn’t vote for that guy under any circumstances!” Well, I “feel” the same way sometimes. There are none of the top three or four that excite me to action. But the alternative is frightening.

    Reading the websites of the Democrat candidates is like looking through a tear in time and space.

    Apparently Barack Obama has been busy during his two years as a Senator;

    Reaching across the aisle, Obama has tackled problems such as preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and stopping the genocide in Darfur.

    I’m sure the folks in Darfur are grateful that Obama has stopped the genocide being inflicted on their population. I suppose they all live on peaceful cul de sacs now that the genocide has ended. And I suppose Obama personally went to Libya and disarmed Gaddafi – what a brave soul.

    As far on the war against terror goes, Obama, apparently had intelligence that no one in the federal government had;

    In 2002, then Illinois State Senator Obama said Saddam Hussein posed no imminent threat to the United States and that invasion would lead to an occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.

    How did that youngster know about the status of Hussein’s weapons when the entire world thought he had weapons? And President Bush said the same thing about the length of time and the cost, didn’t he?

    Energy? Obama is a “leader”;

    Senator Obama has been a leader in the Senate in pushing for a comprehensive national energy policy and has introduced a number of bills to get us closer to the goal of energy independence.

    Does that mean that he’s for drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf or opening the reserves in Alaska? Of course not;

    By putting aside partisan battles, he has found common ground on CAFE, renewable fuels, and clean coal.

    Yep, that’s the ticket – half-assed, feel good, “progressive” non-solutions. A fine candidate , indeed.

    But, try to find out what Hillary Clinton’s issues are. You have to slog through through her biography to find…nothing;

    Hillary has not wavered in her work to expand quality affordable health care to more Americans…

    Her strong advocacy for children continues in the Senate…

    Hillary has been a powerful advocate for women in the Senate…

    Hillary is strongly committed to making sure that every American has the right to vote in fair, accessible, and credible elections….

    Nothing disagreeable there. So she’s a bland candidate with nothing to offer Americans except bland platitudes – and don’t forget to sign up to have a Hillary Party in your home or hand over some cash – these webs sites ain’t free ya know.

    And my personal favorite, John Edwards – I’d vote for him in a primary because he’s so fricken transparent in his hypocrisy.

    On his web site Edwards claims he wants to end our dependence on foreign oil – no, not by drilling our own oil, by;

    …investing in clean, renewable energies like wind, solar, and biofuels to create a new energy economy, developing a new generation of efficient cars and trucks, and putting new energy-saving technologies to work in buildings, transportation, and industry.

    Of course if we don’t drill our own oil, we’ll still be buying foreign oil for those “efficient cars and trucks”, won’t we? But not to worry, Edwards will be leading us to energy independence because his mega-mansion and his campaign are “energy neutral“. Apparently just by declaring that in public makes it so.

    But that ain’t all! Edwards is going to eliminate poverty;

    Every day, 37 million Americans wake in poverty.

    Yeah, they wake up about noon, roll over and turn on “The View” and grab the “Cheetos” bag next to the bed from the night before. Do any of these 37 million people have families that can start haranguing them about looking for work? Nope, but they’ve got John Edwards;

    We can reach that goal by creating and rewarding work, strengthening families, helping workers save and get ahead, transforming our schools, expanding access to college, breaking up areas of concentrated poverty, reaching overlooked rural areas, and expecting people to help themselves by working whenever they are able.

    It’s just that simple – just expect people to do better, and they will. Why hasn’t anyone else thought of this?

    And on the overarching issue of our time, our war against terrorism? Well, Edwards wants to restore our moral leadership in the world. How you ask? By surrendering and pulling our troops out of the war;

    …immediately withdrawing 40,000-50,000 troops from Iraq, with the complete withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq within 12-18 months — allowing the Iraqis to assume greater responsibility for rebuilding their own country. It also means working to restore our legitimacy by leading on the great challenges before us like the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the genocide in Darfur, extreme poverty, and living up to our ideals in the fight against terrorism.

    I guess Edwards didn’t hear that Obama already ended genocide in Darfur.

    I’ll grant that none of the Republicans look particularly vote-worthy, but compared to what’s on the other side, they look like gems to me. For the best liveblogging of the Republican debate last night, see Sister Toldjah, for the best wrap-up see Rick Moran at the Rightwing Nuthouse.

  • Pelosi’s a hit – with Syrians

    Betsy Pisik writes in the Washington Times about Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s new constituency – in Syria;

       The California Democrat warmed Syrian hearts with her trip last month to Damascus, an event that people still share with visiting Americans as conversational currency.
        “Nancy Pelosi is good, yes?” asked a Damascus laborer who found himself sitting next to an American at a greasy gyro stand this week. “Nancy Pelosi, good American?”

    No, my friend, she’s not a good American. She’s a good Democrat which means, how you say, she talks a good game but she’s an empty suit. For example she made peace overtures to Syria from Israel which were lies and unsolicited. She did it to make nice with your slick-ass President and to embarrass ours as pointed out in this Washington Post editorial;

     Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that “Israel was ready to engage in peace talks” with Syria. What’s more, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to “resume the peace process” as well. Having announced this seeming diplomatic breakthrough, Ms. Pelosi suggested that her Kissingerian shuttle diplomacy was just getting started. “We expressed our interest in using our good offices in promoting peace between Israel and Syria,” she said.

    Only one problem: The Israeli prime minister entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such message. “What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel,” said a statement quickly issued by the prime minister’s office. In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that “a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel.” In other words, Ms. Pelosi not only misrepresented Israel’s position but was virtually alone in failing to discern that Mr. Assad’s words were mere propaganda.

    She not only took it upon herself to presume to speak for the American people, she also presented herself as a messenger of the Israeli government. If the Syrians like that, they don’t deserve a democracy.

    But back to the Pisik/WashTimes article;

        “She was enormously popular here, a hero,” said one such resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “This is the best thing that has happened here, if it proves [Mr. Assad] was right not to give concessions.” 

      Along with recent visits by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and officials from the European Union, the resident added, Mrs. Pelosi’s trip “bolsters the regime with the Syrian people, and it shows that isolating Syria won’t work.”

    See? By concessions, Syrians mean stopping Hezbollah attacks on Israel and infiltrating support to the anti-government forces in Iraq. In other words, Syrians think Pelosi gave them permission to continue to support terrorists. Pelosi is not a good American. 

    Mrs. Pelosi said she raised substantive issues with Syrian leaders, urging them to stop insurgents from entering Iraq, help win the release of Israeli soldiers thought to be held captive by Lebanese and Palestinian militias, and end Syria’s support for terrorist groups. 

    I’m pretty sure that if Pelosi did bring up those issues in her “private” meeting with Bashur, it was in such convoluted double-speak popular with elitist diplomats that only confuses the intended recipient.

    But this Iraqi woman kind of sums it all up;

      “She is a different face of America, but she does not have ideas, any solutions,” the Iraqi woman said. “I watch TV all day, and I know that only the faces change.” 

    I guess she fooled the Syrians, but the folks who have to bear the brunt of the results of her insolent posturing can see right through her.

     

  • Chavez, oil, banks and Gore

    Within the last few hours, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s answer to the question never asked, announced that he was seizing operational control of the Orinoco Belt oil reserves. From Reuters;

    The importance of this is that we are taking back control of the Orinoco Belt which the president rightly calls the world’s biggest crude reserve,” said Marco Ojeda, an oil union leader before a planned rally to mark the transfer.

    The four projects are valued at more than $30 billion and can convert about 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy, tarry crude into valuable synthetic oil.

    This comes the day after Venezuela announced it was pulling out of the IMF and the World Bank. From the AP;

    President Hugo Chavez announced Monday he would formally pull Venezuela out of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, a largely symbolic move because the nation has already paid off its debts to the lending institutions.

    “We will no longer have to go to Washington nor to the IMF nor to the World Bank, not to anyone,” said the leftist leader, who has long railed against the Washington-based lending institutions.

    Well, that’s all jim dandy. But it all comes just a few days after Al Gore snubbed Columbian President Alvaro Uribe at a climate change conference in Miami. From Wall Street Journal’s Mary Anatasia O’Grady (may require subscription);

    Al Gore may not have known that he was taking the side of a former terrorist and ally of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez when he waded into Colombian politics 10 days ago. But that’s not much consolation to 45 million Colombians who watched their country’s already fragile international image suffer another unjust blow, this time at the hands of a former U.S. vice president.

    The event was a climate-change conference in Miami, where Mr. Gore and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe were set to share the stage. At the last minute, Mr. Gore notified the conference organizers that he refused to appear with Mr. Uribe because of “deeply troubling” allegations of human- rights violations swirling around the Colombian government.

    It is not clear whether the ex-veep knows that making unsubstantiated claims of human-rights violations has been a key guerrilla weapon for more than a decade, along with the more traditional practices of murdering, maiming and kidnapping civilians. Nor is it clear whether Mr. Gore knew that the recycled charges that caught his attention are being hyped by Colombian Sen. Gustavo Petro, a close friend of Mr. Chávez and former member of the pro-Cuban M-19 terrorist group. What we do know is that Mr. Gore’s line of reasoning — that Colombia is not good enough to rub shoulders with the righteous gringos — is also being peddled by some Democrats in Congress, the AFL-CIO and other forces of anti-globalization. The endgame is all about killing the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

    I find it difficult to believe that Al Gore didn’t know that he was interferring in one of the President’s most successful programs in bringing our hemisphere’s neighbors and allies closer and a real attempt at trying to stem the illegal immigration flow at it’s source.

    I’m also pretty certain that Chavez moved against the oil companies and the banks secure in the knowledge that he has the tacit support of Al Gore and the Leftists in this country. Afterall, as long as Chavez remains anti-Bush, he’s in good company with the Democrats, Iran and al Qaida.

    Gore’s refusal to meet with the leader of our closest Latin American ally in the war against terror, and one of our few allies that won’t kowtow to Chavez’s attempt to become the next Simon Bolivar was probably puposely orchestrated to embarrass Uribe and to punish him politically for standing with Bush, despite the benefit to his own countrymen and the region.

    Manbearpig is just a childish, immature halfwit.

    Thanks, again, Florida.Â