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

Category: Terror War

  • First Army Nurse since Vietnam War killed

    Captain Maria Ines Ortiz was killed in Iraq on the 10th of July according to a Defense Department press release. She was my wife’s close friend and I thought she deserved notice by my readers. She’s the first Army nurse to be killed in action since the Vietnam War. According to the Washington Post, she was killed by cowards firing mortars at the hospital in the Green Zone while she was finishing up her PT session. Also according to the Post;

    At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where Ortiz served from 2001 to 2003 as a dialysis nurse, Medical Command officials are considering whether to honor her by naming a building or clinic in her memory.

  • General Clinton demands OpPlan

    Apparently while I was asleep last night, Hillary Clinton (who acts too much like a man for either me or Elizabeth Edwards) was granted a commission in the Armed Forces and immediately promoted to six-star general (for your information, there has been only one six-star general in our history – George Washington who was promoted to that rank in 1975 – that’s on the test, by the way). But anyway, newly commissioned General Clinton has demanded an operational plan for withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The response from the Pentagon;

    In a stinging rebuke to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responded to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces.

    A copy of Edelman’s response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

    “Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia,” Edelman wrote.

    He added that “such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks.”

    Of course, Mr Edelman is right. There’s a contingency plan for every movement the military might make – including the defense of Syracuse, NY from invading multi-tentacled aliens on hover bikes. For Clinton to think [s]he’s getting out ahead of the Pentagon on this one is just laughable. And besides that, it’s none of h[er] business. [S]he just helps the other 99 Senators write checks for the military, [s]he’s not in charge of overseeing the drafting of Operational Planning.

    But, [s]he thinks [s]he has a campaign issue;

    She said Edelman had ducked her questions and “instead made spurious arguments to avoid addressing contingency planning.”

    “Undersecretary Edelman has his priorities backward,” Clinton wrote, calling his claim “outrageous and dangerous.”

    She repeated her request for a briefing – classified if necessary – on the issue of end-of-war planning.

    The senator’s spokesman Philippe Reines said: “We sent a serious letter to the Secretary of Defense, and unacceptably got a political response back.”

    No, you got that backwards, Junior – you sent a political letter and got a serious response back. Considering how leaky the Senate has been lately, I wouldn’t give them the plans to install new soda machines in the E-Ring snack bar.

    From Day by Day

     

     

  • July; tough month to be a Democrat

    It takes the courage of a lion to be an admitted Democrat this month. Things just seem to be falling about their ears. First, the hopes of seeing Scooter Libby in shackles being led to the Tower dungeon were dashed by the President.

    Then good news starts trickling out of Iraq that al Qaeda is the primary enemy we’re fighting there, in conjuction with Iraqis – both civilian and Army types.

    Now, the Congressional Democrats’ big “sleep-over” turns out to be nothing more than political theater and forces the Democrats to sit down and shut up while the nutroots take up their fight.

    If all of that isn’t embarrassing enough, a judge has now tossed out Valerie Plame’s (sh-h-h-h, be vewy, vewy quiet) lawsuit against the Bush Administration;

    “The alleged means by which defendants chose to rebut Mr. Wilson’s comments and attack his credibility may have been highly unsavory,” [Judge John D.] Bates wrote. “But there can be no serious dispute that the act of rebutting public criticism, such as that levied by Mr. Wilson against the Bush administration’s handling of prewar foreign intelligence, by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants’ duties as high-level Executive Branch officials.”

    D’oh! Of course, any reasonable person could see that all of these things were going to happen to Democrats eventually. They’ve hung their collective hat on intangibles – what with Democrats being idealists and all – and having no firm grasp of reality beyond winning elections.

    They claim they won the Congress on an anti-war platform last Fall. I knew it wasn’t true, most of America knew it wasn’t true. The Democrats have been doing the bidding of their squeakiest wheels – unfortunately, their squeakiest wheels are all turning the opposite direction from the rest of the country. Americans don’t want to lose in the Middle East no matter how much the Democrats want to lose in the Middle East.

    They’ve wanted a Bush Administration official to frog-march out of court – but, no one has done anything really wrong. Plame wasn’t a covert secret squirrel, so how could anyone go to jail for outing a clerk? No one was fired illegally from their jobs at the Justice Department – no matter how hard Democrats wish stuff, it won’t necessarily come true. This is reality not a fairie tale.

  • Senate Democrats: Victory is not an option

    Yesterday, the Senate Democrats surrendered to the will of the American people, temporarily – pledging to be a yammering pack of goofballs in the Fall, after they’ve rested up from accomplishing nothing this year. From the Wall Street Journal’s David Rogers;

    Senate Democrats abruptly postponed further debate on the Iraq war, betting that time and grass-roots pressure over the August recess will bring them the Republican votes they now lack to begin the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

    I guess hatin’ is hard work for the players. Since they ca’t do the business of the American people, the Democrats are going to let idiots like MoveOn and Code Pink do their job for them according to the Washington Post;

    But Reid’s decision pleased antiwar groups, which have pressed Democrats to bring the war to a close. “I think Senator Reid took an important step toward confronting Republican obstructionism and ending the war,” said Tom Matzzie, a strategist for MoveOn.org.

    Matzzie said his group’s efforts are concentrated on “forcing the entire Republican Party to look over the side of the cliff” at the political consequences of continuing to stand by Bush. Antiwar groups are focused in particular on Senate Republicans up for reelection next year.

    “Ultimately, we end the war by creating a toxic political environment for war supporters like the Republicans in the Senate,” Matzzie said.

    I wonder if Matzzie and the mindless minions of the Left have given a thought to the fact that Congressional Democrats are nearing single-digits in approval rating polls because most Americans don’t like the surrender chatter coming from the Democrats? 

    The Senate [sleepover in-] action took place as a Zogby poll released yesterday showed that 14 percent of likely voters rated Congress’ performance as excellent or good — 20 points below Mr. Bush’s 34 percent and the lowest ever recorded by the pollster.

    Of course not. It’s the Democrats who aren’t listening to the American people inside their echo-chamber. From the Washington Times’ Sean Lengell and Christopher Dolan;

    But Democrats, responding to their anti-war base, vowed to keep applying pressure.

    “We believe that with time, when we come back to this bill as soon as we possibly can, that we’re going to pick up even more support when the American people see who has voted to change course and who did not,” said Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat who authored the measure.

    Added Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat: “We’re not going to stop until we get to 60.”

    See? “Responding to their base” – not “responding to the American people” or “responding to the terrorist threat” – responding to their base. There’s nothing in this that bolsters our national security or makes our soldiers safer – it’s all pure politics. Politics of the anti-American Left.

    And they can stop calling MoveOn.dorks an anti-war group, by the way. they’re an anti-Bush group that grew out of a Clinton defense group. They’re anti-Republican – it’s just that shallow and pointless.

    So all of that bluster the other night got the Senate Democrats one more surrender vote;

    “At the end of this debate, we’re all a little bit weary, but we’re one vote closer to ending this war,” said Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat. “Many senators who’ve gone home and said they’re opposed to the war voted to continue the war today. They’ll have to answer to the voters.”
     

    Three other Republicans — Sens. Gordon H. Smith of Oregon and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, critics of the war, and Susan Collins of Maine — voted with 47 Democrats. Miss Collins said she supported providing an up-or-down vote on the measure but did not support the legislation.

    One vote. All of that taxpayer money for 1 stupid vote. From a RINO, no less. If the Democrats are in such a hurry to surrender, they should surrender to common sense for a change.

  • NIE: SSDD

    The latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) seems to have all of the anti-war deepthinkers in knotted knickers. The Washington Post acts like this is truly news;

    The White House faced fresh political peril yesterday in the form of a new intelligence assessment that raised sharp questions about the success of its counterterrorism strategy and judgment in making Iraq the focus of that effort.

    Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush has been able to deflect criticism of his counterterrorism policy by repeatedly noting the absence of any new domestic attacks and by citing the continuing threat that terrorists in Iraq pose to U.S. interests.

    But this line of defense seemed to unravel a bit yesterday with the release of a new National Intelligence Estimate that concludes that al-Qaeda “has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability” by reestablishing a haven in Pakistan and reconstituting its top leadership. The report also notes that al-Qaeda has been able “to recruit and indoctrinate operatives, including for Homeland attacks,” by associating itself with an Iraqi subsidiary.

    Anyone shocked? Nope, me neither. Terrorists will continue to regenerate as long as there’s a chance they can get their enemies to let them have the run of the world. The Left and the anti-war-at-any-cost crowd give them hope for that chance. But anyone who is surprised that terrorists are still trying to terrorize need to go back and read the dictionary definition of terrorist.

    From Washington Times’ Bill Gertz;

    “Although we have discovered only a handful of individuals in the United States with ties to al Qaeda senior leadership since 9/11, we judge that al Qaeda will intensify its efforts to put operatives here,” the report stated.

    Retired Vice Adm. Michael McConnell, the director of national intelligence whose office produced the NIE, said the United States will face a “persistent and evolving terrorist threat” in the next three years.

    What a waste of Bill Gertz’ talents – that “bug duh” moment. As long as  it’s possible that the US Left divides the country for purely policitical reasons, the terrorist threat will always evolve to take advantage of their naivete`.

    Contrast these two views from the Gertz story;

    “It is deeply troubling that more that nearly six years after 9/11, al Qaeda maintains a safe haven, an intact leadership and the capability to plan further attacks,” said Sen. Barack Obama, Illinois Democrat and 2008 presidential candidate. “It is time to act to correct those mistakes, and the first step is to get out of Iraq, because you can’t win a war when you’re on the wrong battlefield.”

    House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said the NIE shows that the United States must keep up the fight against terrorists.

    “Retreat is not a ‘new way forward’ when the safety and security of future generations of Americans are at stake,” Mr. Boehner said.

    Instead of deciding that fighting harder and more united is the answer young Barack decides that getting out is the answer. That’s just cowardly…and partisan. AT least we have John Boehner to call them wimps to their faces.

    Meanwhile, my new buddy Robin at Chickenhawk Express delivers deadly blows to that [d]ick Clarke’s “analysis” of the NIE.

  • Political theater; employing the unemployable

    Last night, while no one watched or cared, I guess the Senate tried to pull an all-night exercise in insanity – voting on the same measure again-and-again each time, amazingly, having the same result. Of course the Washington Post thought it was really good and important stuff;

    Earlier in the day, Reid had ordered cots to be set up in a ceremonial room off the Senate floor, and reporters were alerted when the beds, along with pillows, were delivered in the afternoon.

    The office of Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) dispatched interns to buy toothpaste, toothbrushes and deodorant for delivery to GOP leadership offices, with a note offering the “supplies for your sleepless night.” It added: “Help us bring an end to this war.”

    “Will the all-night session change any votes? I hope so,” said Reid. “Because it will focus attention on the obstructionism of the Republicans.”

    Not “it will end terrorism in our time” or even “we’re going to show those terrorists we mean business”, but rather “it will focus attention on the obstructionism of Republicans” – because, as we know, those Republicans are a dangerous bunch. They’re capable of killing millions of Americans while they sleep if it weren’t for the brave souls of the Democrat Party frantically waving their white flags in front of TV cameras.

    Sean Lengell from the Washington Times reports that;

    Some Democrats left the session temporarily to attend a candlelight antiwar rally across from the Capitol.

    Majority Leader Harry Reid said the unusual session was necessary because Republicans refused to agree to a simple majority to pass the bill and were intent on filibustering an amendment that called for pulling most troops out of Iraq by April 30.

    “If Republicans insist on blocking change of course in Iraq, we have no alternative but to keep them in session to have them explain their obstruction,” the Nevada Democrat said. “Republicans will need to choose whether they want to protect the president or protect our troops.”

    Yeah, if the Republicans insist on making Congress keep its word to wait until September, the Democrats will make them stay up all night. If Harry Reid cared a whit for the troops, he’d shut his chickenshit mouth for a minute and let them do their jobs.

    And all the while the grotesque hags of Tickled Pink and the assorted malcontents of the Left stood outside and chanted like the screeching harpies they are. From the Post, again;

    The group VoteVets.org called in Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans to spend the night in the Senate gallery. MoveOn.org organized “counter-filibusters” in which protesters outside Senate offices and in other public places read firsthand accounts from Iraq war veterans and military families. “We’ll send a clear message to senators and the media that this isn’t about partisan games — it’s about people’s lives,” the group said.

    Yeah, it’s not about partisan games is it MoveOn.dorks – wasn’t it Move On that led the charge against Lieberman because he disagreed with their BDS-driven agenda?

    No mention, however, of the group Vets for Freedom who made the rounds of Congress all day yesterday urging Congress to wait until September like they promised. I wonder why? Probably because they wore boring tan polo shirts instead of garish pink boas and they didn’t chant mindless drivel or wave idiot signs.

    This was pure political theater – it was so Democrats could prove to their tiny minority of “anti-war at any price” crowd that Democrats are listening to their squeakiest wheels.

    Anyone for a minute think that Joe Six-pack gives a tiny rat’s ass that a hundred pampered people and their pampered staffs stayed awake one night? Nope the only people who care are the breathless hundreds who blogged all night about this non-event.

  • CAIR: US causes terrorism (UPDATED)

    Audrey Hudson and Sara Carter of the Washington Times report that CAIR spokeman Parvez Ahmed told an audience at the National Press Club that its Bush’s fault that Americans are mistrustful of Islam;

     A Muslim civil rights group yesterday blamed the Bush administration for promoting “Islamophobia” and said the “war on terror” won’t stop terrorists.

    “The new perception is that the United States has entered a war with Islam itself,” said Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the national board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

    “Terrorism is a tactic. You cannot eradicate it by declaring a war against it. The war on terror is causing us infinitely more harm than the terrorists could have ever imagined.”

    Yeah, that’s the ticket. Let’s ignore the dozen or so attacks on Americans and our interests throughout the world over the past decade-and-a-half. It wasn’t until we declared war on terrorists that people became aware of the plots against us – aware of the war Osama bin Laden declared against us a decade ago. Maybe there’s a perception that we’re fighting Islam because organizations like CAIR refuse to condemn terrorist attacks against the US. Think?

    “It is important to bear in mind that terrorists cannot destroy America,” he said[….]  The U.S., he said, is too powerful and too resourceful for terrorists to defeat.

    So we should just sit back and let the terrorists have at us…like we did from 1993 to 2001. Yeah, no problem with that, I guess. Well, except for the people who get killed in the interim.

    I guess the fact that CAIR thinks we should stop fighting the war against terrorists is enough reason to continue fighting the war against terrorists.

    UPDATE: I’m listening to the Chris Core Show on WMAL (about 10 AM), and apparently Audrey Hudson, one of the writers on this Washington Times story was escorted from the press conference – she claims she was warned in advance that she wasn’t welcome. Probably because of the bang-up job she’s been doing on the Flying Imams story.

    Isn’t it odd that a journalist is barred from a news event at the National Press Club – probably a news event held in the prestigious First Amendment Room on the top floor, too. 

    Hudson anounced that CAIR doesn’t tell her what her “news beat” is and she’ll continue to cover CAIR whenever the Times assigns her. Sara Carter, Hudson’s co-author of this story, just made her bones on this, her first story. Let’s see how long before CAIR bars her from their propaganda sessions.

    Of course, CAIR disagrees with Hudson’s story (she says she missed only a few minutes of the end of the conference) but they refused to come on Core’s show and explain what was inaccurate about the Times story. Wonder why? 

  • “History will judge us, my friend”

    Apparently, Senator from Virginia and turncoat Reaganite, opportunist extraordinaire Jim Webb, possibly the largest cranium in the US Senate, faced off with Momma’s boy Lindsey Graham on Meet the Press yesterday. I dunno, I haven’t watched Russert’s Democrat-lovefest since he had useless-ass John Kerry on the show to talk about different the world would be if we’d only had foresight to elect Kerry two years earlier instead of someone who could do the job without advice from Jabba the Kennedy.

    Anyway, according to the Associated Press writer Calvin Woodward, Webb found it particularly easy to be the cool one for a change when his opponent is linguine-spined Lindsey Graham;

    “Just wash your hands of Iraq,” an animated Graham said to the war critics, including the Democrat seated to his immediate right. “History will judge us, my friend.”

    “It’s been a hard month, Lindsey,” Webb commiserated, wearing a tight smile. “You need to calm down, my friend.”

    “Lindsey’s had a hard month,” Webb repeated.

    “It ain’t about Lindsey having a hard month,” Graham snapped.

    “History will judge us, my friend”. Just like History has judged the anti-Vietnam crowd of being wrong in the thirty-plus years since the end of that war. The dominos did fall in Southeast Asia, just like it was predicted – but it only cost a couple of million asian lives. As long as it’s only brown people, it doesn’t matter that much to the Democrats like Webb, I suppose.

    Of course Associated Press couldn’t help but throw in a reference to Webb’s Vietnam service (while at the same time ignoring the fact that Graham is currently in the Army Reserves). And Graham, to his credit, confronted Webb on his observations and decision-making from his Ivory Tower;

    “Have you been to Iraq?” Graham demanded.

    “I’ve covered two wars as a correspondent,” Webb said. “I have been to Afghanistan as a journalist.”

    Graham: “Have you been to Iraq and talked to the soldiers?”

    Webb: “You know, you’ve never been to Iraq, Lindsey.”

    The Republican pointed out he’s been there seven times.

    “You know,” Webb said dismissively, “you can see the dog and pony shows. That’s what congressman do.

    Dismissively. As if there was nothing to see in Iraq, that relying on the AP is probably a better idea than going to see for Webb’s self. Especially since Webb can’t seem to believe his lyin’ eyes anyway.

    Graham tried to ease the tension. It didn’t work.

    “Let’s—something we can agree on,” he said, placing his hand on Webb’s arm. “We both admire the men and the women in uniform. ”

    “Don’t put political words in their mouth,” Webb interrupted.

    The exchange ended with Graham praising the troops: “God bless them and let’s make sure they can win because they can.”

    And Webb getting the final, combative word:

    “I’ll let them judge what you said.”

    The implication, of course, is that Webb speaks for the troops better than Graham. Webb references polls and history as if he reads either. History has always judged anti-war activists hashly. From the Civil War-era draft riots, through today’s misguided misfits of the anti-war, History has proven time-and-again that war is a necessary evil, and that avoiding war only leads to greater, more destructive wars.

    The anti-war movement, and apparently the naive and unread James Webb, is simply an opportunistic movement to elect otherwise unelectable candidates to office. Someone as ignorant of history, and unwilling to seek his own answers to complex problems as Webb appears, never would have been elected to his office by a responsible constituency.