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

Category: Terror War

  • Democrats discuss cut and run again

    Yesterday, I wrote that Admiral Mullen’s statement athat the public support for the war in Afghanistan slipping was actually the White House putting out feelers for a chance to abandon Afghanistan to the Taliban. Last night, Greyhawk sent along a link to the latest proof that Democrats are walking back from the war;

    Sen. Russ Feingold, D-WI, called on President Obama to announce a timetable for withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. “This is a strategy that is not likely to succeed,” Sen. Feingold said about the troop buildup in Afghanistan.

    “After eight years, I am not convinced that pouring more and more troops into Afghanistan is a well thought out policy,” said Feingold. The liberal Democrat said he has expressed his reservations with President Obama, Admiral Mullen, and others inside the administration and he says he has “never been convinced they have a good answer.”

    “I think it is time we start discussing a flexible timetable so that people around the world can see when we are going to bring our troops out,” said Feingold. “Showing the people there and here that we have a sense about when it is time to leave is one of the best things we can do,” he added.

    Yeah, a flexible timeline for withdrawal from Iraq has worked so well, hasn’t it? I guess they can just dust off their old Iraq timeline speeches and change the place names.

    It’s all because they’re losing their base on their domestic agenda and the Democrats want to appease the intellectually vacant MoveOn crowd – with lives. al Qaeda lost Iraq in a humiliating defeat, and I guess the Obama Administration wants to give them a morale raising victory in Afghanistan. All so we can have socialized healthcare. Sweet.

  • Poll numbers vs. National Security

    So, I just think it’s funny (not ha-ha funny) that when Obama’s approval ratings take a precipitous drop, his “non-political” Justice department decides to name a prosecutor and begin investigations into the previous administration’s war against terrorists. What’s even funnier is the LA Times providing cover for the Obama Administration;

    At a time when healthcare and other signature initiatives are in trouble on Capitol Hill and President Obama’s approval ratings are slipping, he now faces the prospect of a long, distracting probe into policies of the Bush administration — policies Obama has already denounced.

    And the furor is likely to be all the sharper because it pits the most liberal elements of Obama’s base against the most unyielding elements of the Republican right.

    Time magazine wants the terrorists to know that help is on the way;

    If the release of the declassified 2004 CIA inspector general’s report fills people with disgust at the use of power drills and mock executions in secret prisons, the Obama Administration wants them to know that Americans need no longer be embarrassed by how their government treats detainees.

    Oh, and buried somewhere in the news, you might have accidentally heard that the Obama Administration used the cover of their announcement to take over interrogations and the investigation into the previous administration to release a Afghan Guantanamo alum back to Afghanistan. That news from DrewM at Ace of Spades. Apparently the guy had been arrested after tossing grenades at Allied troops – hardly a crime, I suppose, worthy of a lifetime of imprisonment.

    In Obama’s defense, though, he promised to put 22,000 more troops into Afghanistan. I don’t remember him saying on which side those troops would be fighting.

    But anyway, it looks like the Obama Administration is once again going to trade our national security for a few points in popularity polls. And the treacherous media, once again, firmly plant their knees on the ground to cover for him.

  • ACLU outing CIA agents to terrorists

    The Washington Post‘s Peter Finn writes this morning about some lawyers investigating detainee abuse at Guantanamo who showed their clients pictures of CIA agents in an attempt to ID perpetrators of the alleged abuse. Some agents were pictured outside of their homes.

    The photos were taken by researchers hired by the John Adams Project, a joint effort of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, to support military counsel at Guantanamo Bay, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry. It was unclear whether the Justice Department is also examining those organizations.

    Both groups have long said that they will zealously investigate the CIA’s interrogation program at “black sites” worldwide as part of the defense of their clients.

    That’s kind of odd, because the ACLU was pretty upset at the supposed “outing” of Valerie Plame by the Bush Administration.

    The ACLU/SC board urges the House of Representatives to investigate impeachable offenses by the President and Vice President, including:

    • Manipulating intelligence before the Iraq War and deceiving the American people about imminent threats they faced. • Authorizing the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other military prisons and handing over suspects to other nations who tortured them (a practice known as “extraordinary rendition”). • Authorizing the firing of federal prosecutors for political reasons and obstructing justice by defying Congressional subpoenas investigating the firing. • Authorizing wiretaps on U.S. citizens without warrants and in violation of the Constitution, and concealing the program from Congress and the public. • Conspiring to disclose the name of Valerie Plame, a covert agent in the Central Intelligence Agency. This action risked her life and the lives of her intelligence contacts.

    Now they’re showing CIA agents’ pictures in front of their homes to honest-to-goodness terrorists? Why, that seems a bit hypocritical doesn’t it?

  • Murderer returns to hero’s welcome

    Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi arrived home in Tripoli, Libya to a cheering crowd after eight years in a Scottish prison for murdering 270 people in Lockerbie, Scotland. Ain’t that nice? (Telegraph link)

    After he left Scottish soil, Megrahi, who has served just eight years of a 27-year sentence, released a statement protesting his innocence and expressing his “sympathy” for the families of the 270 people he was convicted of killing.

    It’s nice that he has sympathy for the victims’ family, too. Of course, it would have been nicer if he’d had sympathy for the victims’ families before he bombed them out of the sky.

    Another Telegraph article reports that President Obama leads the condemnation of the murder’s release;

    Mr Obama said: “We have been in contact with the Scottish government, indicating that we objected to this, and we thought it was a mistake.”

    He added that he is now pressuring the Libyan government to keep Megrahi under house arrest until his death.

    Yeah, that’ll work. You can tell how the Libyans are going to punish him from the looks of his reception on the tarmac in Tripoli;

    Libya Britain Lockerbie

    The Daily Mail describes the scene;

    The US president’s pleas for Tripoli to refrain from idolising Megrahi when he landed on home soil went unheeded.

    Instead, he was greeted by a mob who had descended on Mitiga Airport brandishing placards and cheering.

    Some displayed Megrahi’s face on their t-shirts while others waved Libyan and Scottish flags.

    Yeah, it’s so nice that the world respects us now, ain’t it? The Libyans used to fear us – that’s why they turned over their weapons of mass destruction without us firing a shot at them. If they don’t put Al Megrahi into prison, we ought to reinstate the embargoes against them and put them back on the rogue nation list.

    Yeah, that’ll happen.

  • Elections over in Afghanistan

    The Associated Press reports some violence aimed at voters and polling places resulting in 26 deaths;

    Taliban threats scared voters and dampened turnout in the militant south Thursday as Afghans voted for president for the second time ever. Insurgents killed 26 Afghans in scattered attacks, but officials said militants failed to disrupt the vote.

    After 10 hours of voting, including a last-minute, one-hour extension, election workers began to count millions of ballots. Initial results weren’t expected for several days.

    JD Johannes trolled around Kabul during the voting. His photos and narrative are at Outside the Wire. More pictures at ABC News.

    Eurasiannet reports that the Afghanistan government is claiming the election is a security success;

    Voter turnout appeared to vary widely across the country, with some areas, especially the more volatile southern provinces, reporting low polling. No official polling figures were available and the country’s Independent Election Commission said the actual voter turnout would not be made public for three or four days.

    Preliminary results of the counting process are expected to be available by August 25. The certified results will take much longer, however, and can be released only after the Electoral Complaints Commission has completed its investigation into any complaints it receives.

    My infidel prayers are with them.

    More links at Mudville Gazette.

  • SSDD

    I’ve been reading all day about the wonderful speech that Obama gave at the VFW Convention today;

    obama-difficult

    I wonder who wrote it for him;

    bush-difficult

  • New offensive in Southern Afghanistan

    Fox News’ Greg Palkot reports from the action;

    Am I the only one who wonders why Palkot wears his helmet like that?

  • Uncle Jimbo goes to the source

    There was a lot of chatter yesterday about a Wall Street Journal article that quoted General McChrystal as saying that the “Taliban Now Winning“

    Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive didn’t believe it and went to the Army for the answer. The results of his diligence is at the link.