Finally someone in the entertainment industry delivers some effective propaganda about A'jad. - not that there is anything wrong with that. Maybe he came to NY to defect?
And the song is catchy too.
05 October 2007
Did A'jad predict Armageddon at the UN?
Isn't this an anuual event?
a Holocaust survivor was quoted when asked what they learned from it all. "When somoneone says they are going to kill you...believe them.
a Holocaust survivor was quoted when asked what they learned from it all. "When somoneone says they are going to kill you...believe them.
A Quiet Triumph May be Brewing
There are signs that the global Islamic jihad movement is splitting apart, in what would be a tremendous achievement for American strategy. The center of the action is in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the very territory which is thought to harbor Usama, and from which Al Qaeda was able to launch 9/11. Capitalizing on existing splits, a trap was set and closed, and the benefits have only begun to be evident
The September scorecard in Iraq
The vermin we have scratched in September alone.
Someone tell Harry Reid, Tom Harkin, and Dick Durbin about this- they may have some "'splaining to do Lucy"
Someone tell Harry Reid, Tom Harkin, and Dick Durbin about this- they may have some "'splaining to do Lucy"
Lebanon's military taking our left flank
Great, encouraging developments from the under reported (no shock there) story of Lebanon's military battling and defeating not only al-Oaeda but Iranian-backed Hezballoh forces as well.
Kaplan on our military
On the Editorial Page BY ROBERT D. KAPLAN
Our soldiers like what they do. They want our respect, not pity.
Our soldiers like what they do. They want our respect, not pity.
CIA vs. Bush
Incredible new book by Kenneth Timmerman
(He is the - the premeire invetstigation journalist on terror and national security. Read the opening passage's beginning:)
Some have called it the CIA's greatest covert operation of all time.
It involved deep penetration of a hostile regime by planting a network of agents at key crossroads of power, where they could steal secrets and steer policy by planting disinformation, cooking intelligence, provocation, and outright lies.
It involved sophisticated political sabotage operations, aimed at making regime leaders doubt their own judgment and question the support of their subordinates.
It involved the financing, training, and equipping of effective opposition forces, who could challenge the regime openly and through covert operations.
The scope was breathtaking, say insiders who had personal knowledge of the CIA effort. All the skills learned by the U.S. intelligence community during the fifty years of the Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union were in play, from active measures aimed at planting disinformation through cutouts and an eager media, to maskirovka--strategic deception.
It was war--but an intelligence war, played behind the scenes, aimed at confusing, misleading, and ultimately defeating the enemy. Its goal was nothing less than to topple the regime in power, by discrediting its rulers.
Many Americans believe this was the CIA's goal during the 1990s, when the Agency had "boots on the ground" in northern Iraq, working with Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein. Most patriotic Americans probably hope that the CIA today has such an operation to overthrow the mullahs in Tehran, or North Korean dictator Kim John Il.
But the target of this vast, sophisticated CIA operation was none of them.
It was America's 43rd President, George W. Bush.
(He is the - the premeire invetstigation journalist on terror and national security. Read the opening passage's beginning:)
Some have called it the CIA's greatest covert operation of all time.
It involved deep penetration of a hostile regime by planting a network of agents at key crossroads of power, where they could steal secrets and steer policy by planting disinformation, cooking intelligence, provocation, and outright lies.
It involved sophisticated political sabotage operations, aimed at making regime leaders doubt their own judgment and question the support of their subordinates.
It involved the financing, training, and equipping of effective opposition forces, who could challenge the regime openly and through covert operations.
The scope was breathtaking, say insiders who had personal knowledge of the CIA effort. All the skills learned by the U.S. intelligence community during the fifty years of the Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union were in play, from active measures aimed at planting disinformation through cutouts and an eager media, to maskirovka--strategic deception.
It was war--but an intelligence war, played behind the scenes, aimed at confusing, misleading, and ultimately defeating the enemy. Its goal was nothing less than to topple the regime in power, by discrediting its rulers.
Many Americans believe this was the CIA's goal during the 1990s, when the Agency had "boots on the ground" in northern Iraq, working with Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein. Most patriotic Americans probably hope that the CIA today has such an operation to overthrow the mullahs in Tehran, or North Korean dictator Kim John Il.
But the target of this vast, sophisticated CIA operation was none of them.
It was America's 43rd President, George W. Bush.
Ahmadinejad and a Murder in Vienna
Ahmadinejad and a Murder in Vienna: An Interview with 'Witness D'
14 September 2007
MOVEON'S SMEAR: A VILE NEW LOW
It's not hard to imagine that if something like this occured in WW2 or Korea that an angry mob would descend upon Move On and delivery some justice. Call it whatever you want but it's treason and there have been no consequences.
18 August 2007
What Petraeus has wrought
KILLING FOR CONGRESS
By RALPH PETERS
[Great run down of Gen Petreaus' work so far and the results we are seeing]
By RALPH PETERS
[Great run down of Gen Petreaus' work so far and the results we are seeing]
In defense of Dick Cheney
[ Not that Dick Cheney needs defending but it's worth reading what he did to insure our nation's security]
The Cheney Imperative
The surveillance and interrogation programs he helped implement have prevented further attacks.
The Cheney Imperative
The surveillance and interrogation programs he helped implement have prevented further attacks.
On the brink with Iran?
[I don't know where this mythical brink with Iran is but I welcome it's arrival- 1979 would've been better but better late than never]
Washington is a wonder with Iran
by Michael Ledeen
"There are many reasons for the respect of Iraqis for our fighters, starting with the fact that the military is currently the best institution in America, and our military men and women are several notches above the politicians, intellectuals and journalists in moral fiber and bravery. You can see that in the way the military deals with the Iranian intrusion in Iraq and Afghanistan. The politicians, diplomats, and spooks downplay the Iranian role, reshaping the facts to fit their desire for a “negotiated solution” they know in their heart of hearts will never be accomplished. But our military officers, whose troops are being blown up by Iranian explosives or Iranian-trained suicide bombers or gunned down by Iranian-trained snipers, are laying out the facts for anyone who cares to know what’s going on. Happily, at least some folks are listening (thank you, Senator Lieberman). Most Iraqis know the truth; it’s the Americans who need the education."
Why the Democrats hope we fail in Iraq
[Of course you can't question their patriotism, that would be wrong.]
Successful Surge Is Dems' Dilemma
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
"Democratic senators visiting Iraq have seen for themselves that President Bush's surge strategy is working. But their party has so much invested in losing this war, they're muffling the good news."
Successful Surge Is Dems' Dilemma
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
"Democratic senators visiting Iraq have seen for themselves that President Bush's surge strategy is working. But their party has so much invested in losing this war, they're muffling the good news."
Foolish myths about al-Qaida in Mesopotamia
Fighting the "Real" Fight Foolish myths about al-Qaida in Mesopotamia.
By Christopher Hitchens
"Over the past few months, I have been debating Roman Catholics who differ from their Eastern Orthodox brethren on the nature of the Trinity, Protestants who are willing to quarrel bitterly with one another about election and predestination, with Jews who cannot concur about a covenant with God, and with Muslims who harbor bitter disagreements over the discrepant interpretations of the Quran. Arcane as these disputes may seem, and much as I relish seeing the faithful fight among themselves, the believers are models of lucidity when compared to the hair-splitting secularists who cannot accept that al-Qaida in Mesopotamia is a branch of al-Qaida itself."
Peggy Noonan predicting 9-11
Old column by Peggy Noonan about Bill Clinton's classless departure from office that I remember reading, but forgot about this passage
"Bill Clinton's last speech? We can only hope.His second point, and a long one it was, was that global poverty "requires more than compassion." I think a deconstruction of this thought is: It requires programs, i.e., liberal programs. In other words: When Osama bin Laden and his henchmen blow up an American city, it won't be my fault, it will be President Bush's. "
"Bill Clinton's last speech? We can only hope.His second point, and a long one it was, was that global poverty "requires more than compassion." I think a deconstruction of this thought is: It requires programs, i.e., liberal programs. In other words: When Osama bin Laden and his henchmen blow up an American city, it won't be my fault, it will be President Bush's. "
10 August 2007
Inside Iraq
{awesome article from Bill Kristol pointing out the obvious (to us) about how our military are and will be in the future the best leaders of our nation. The Greatest Generation produced a long line of real leaders in our communities, state, and nation and you just know this generation will do the same.}
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1651505,00.html
Inside Iraq
By William Kristol
I spent a week in Iraq recently, and here's what impressed me most: the Americans. In particular, the quality and character of the American soldiers and Marines who are fighting there and trying to help rebuild the nation. I don't mean to slight, in some ethnocentric way, the steadfastness and courage of the Iraqi people. But it was meeting and watching the American soldiers at work that I found most interesting.
I've served in government, and I'm familiar with Washington, and I'm not an uncritical cheerleader for the American military. Indeed, I'd say that some of our general officers--until this past year, when General David Petraeus and Lieut. General Ray Odierno took over--haven't particularly distinguished themselves. But the brigade and battalion commanders and the company and platoon leaders I saw in Iraq are really impressive.
'Get It Done'
This is a really "Paul Harvey" type of story about Gen Petraeus
http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010448
How the media promote false pessimism about the economy.
Fair but Unbalanced
How the media promote false pessimism about the economy.
{ Of course this is what happens when the stupidest kids in college find their way to "Journalism". I would be willing to bet that your average Junior Acheivement kid could outperform these dolts when it come to understanding business }
How the media promote false pessimism about the economy.
{ Of course this is what happens when the stupidest kids in college find their way to "Journalism". I would be willing to bet that your average Junior Acheivement kid could outperform these dolts when it come to understanding business }
NARCO-INSURRECTION
NARCO-INSURRECTION
By RALPH PETERS
August 9, 2007 -- IMAGINE if our country were so ravaged by drug cartels that the president sent the military into a third of the states to break the terror.
That's where Mexico is today. We all pay the price.
Home Searched In Probe of Wiretap Leak
Under the files of "It's about freakin' time"
Report: Home Searched In Probe of Wiretap Leak
Under every leak to sabotage our national security you'll find a liberal bureaucrat/lawyer doing what socialists always do - weaken our Nation.
Report: Home Searched In Probe of Wiretap Leak
Under every leak to sabotage our national security you'll find a liberal bureaucrat/lawyer doing what socialists always do - weaken our Nation.
Jan Mickelson vs. Mitt Romney video
Watch Jan Mickelson bait Mitt Romney - telling him "off the air" when there was a video camera running with full audio. Romney for someone not knowing he was being recorded conducted himself quite well. Mickelson is somone who is full of crap but makes rational arguements, but nonetheless he is still full of crap.
It goes on for 20 minutes but worth it.
It goes on for 20 minutes but worth it.
Rational Optimism on Iraq
Rational Optimism on Iraq
Max Boot - 8.7.2007 - 4:06PM
The evidence of gains being made on the ground in Iraq continues to pile up.
That doesn’t mean it’s prudent to wash our hands of Iraq, or give up on the surge. Cordesman’s report, making the case for "strategic patience," has it right. But even the most ardent backers of General Petraeus should not let their hopes run out of control. Given how bad the situation was by the time Petraeus took over, there is still a possibility he could do everything right and fail.
Max Boot - 8.7.2007 - 4:06PM
The evidence of gains being made on the ground in Iraq continues to pile up.
That doesn’t mean it’s prudent to wash our hands of Iraq, or give up on the surge. Cordesman’s report, making the case for "strategic patience," has it right. But even the most ardent backers of General Petraeus should not let their hopes run out of control. Given how bad the situation was by the time Petraeus took over, there is still a possibility he could do everything right and fail.
GRAY LADY HEDGES
GRAY LADY HEDGES
By RAPLH PETERS
August 1, 2007 -- SOMETIMES where a thing is said is bigger news than what was said. That happened on Monday, when The New York Times ran a guest op-ed detailing the progress in Iraq.
By RAPLH PETERS
August 1, 2007 -- SOMETIMES where a thing is said is bigger news than what was said. That happened on Monday, when The New York Times ran a guest op-ed detailing the progress in Iraq.
The hinge of fate in Iraq
The hinge of fate in Iraq
By Tony Blankley -
On June 25 the following resolution was tabled in the House: "That this House, while paying tribute to the heroism and endurance of the Armed Forces... in circumstances of exceptional difficulty, has no confidence in the central direction of the war." That would be June 25, 1942. The House would be the House of Commons in London, England. And the government in which no confidence was expressed was that of Winston Churchill.
By Tony Blankley -
On June 25 the following resolution was tabled in the House: "That this House, while paying tribute to the heroism and endurance of the Armed Forces... in circumstances of exceptional difficulty, has no confidence in the central direction of the war." That would be June 25, 1942. The House would be the House of Commons in London, England. And the government in which no confidence was expressed was that of Winston Churchill.
02 August 2007
"What we still don't understand is why you Americans stopped the bombing of Hanoi. You had us on the ropes. If you had pressed us a little harder, just for another day or two, we were ready to surrender! It was the same at the battles of TET. You defeated us! We knew it, and we thought you knew it. But we were elated to notice your media were definitely helping us. They were causing more disruption in America than we could in the battlefields. We were ready to surrender. You had won!"
- General Giap, North Vietnam (memoirs)
24 July 2007
The Blood Boiling Link of the Year
Here's the blood boiling link of the year ( That is saying a lot) respected Pentagon correspondant Rowan Scarborogh's new book about the CIA's treachery in overtly sabotaging our war effort. The links to the book exerpts are worth reading.
This reminds me of my "Intelligent Observations" list which includes the intelligent observation that only liberals aspire to work for the government. Anyone else wants to do well in the private sector, but Liberals crave being the Cardinals and Arch Bishops of the Government at any level.
This reminds me of my "Intelligent Observations" list which includes the intelligent observation that only liberals aspire to work for the government. Anyone else wants to do well in the private sector, but Liberals crave being the Cardinals and Arch Bishops of the Government at any level.
Solider surprises his son at school
I dare you not to tear up watching this, thank God for our Military and their families
This little boy has more moral courage than 95% of Congress
This little boy has more moral courage than 95% of Congress
The Surge Succeeds
{Great breakdown of what has happened in a very short amount of time}
The Surge Succeeds
By J.R. Dunn
The Surge Succeeds
By J.R. Dunn
Opening passage:
"God looks after children, drunkards, and the United States of America" - Otto von Bismarck
It's now quite clear how the results of the surge will be dealt with by domestic opponents of the Iraq war.
They're going to be ignored.
The 9/11 Generation - Better than the Boomers
The 9/11 Generation - Better than the Boomers
{Anyone who signs up / re-ups since 9-11 knew what they were getting into that is why they are to be roundly commended. If this is the future of our country then we will e in good hands. Think about it, these kids are bombarded constantly by every form of media and academia with negative messages and publicity and they sign up anyway. }
{Anyone who signs up / re-ups since 9-11 knew what they were getting into that is why they are to be roundly commended. If this is the future of our country then we will e in good hands. Think about it, these kids are bombarded constantly by every form of media and academia with negative messages and publicity and they sign up anyway. }
Look who's holding hostages again..
The indespensible Mark Steyn with reality right between the eyes
Opening passage:
How do you feel about the American hostages in Iran?
No, not the guys back in the Seventies, the ones being held right now.
What? You haven't heard about them?
Odd that, isn't it? But they're there. For example, for two months now, Haleh Esfandiari has been detained in Evin prison in Tehran. Esfandiari is a U.S. citizen and had traveled to Iran to visit her sick mother. She is the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, which is the kind of gig that would impress your fellow guests at a Washington dinner party. Unfortunately, the mullahs say it's an obvious cover for a Bush spy.
Opening passage:
How do you feel about the American hostages in Iran?
No, not the guys back in the Seventies, the ones being held right now.
What? You haven't heard about them?
Odd that, isn't it? But they're there. For example, for two months now, Haleh Esfandiari has been detained in Evin prison in Tehran. Esfandiari is a U.S. citizen and had traveled to Iran to visit her sick mother. She is the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, which is the kind of gig that would impress your fellow guests at a Washington dinner party. Unfortunately, the mullahs say it's an obvious cover for a Bush spy.
Don't play the Vietnam card with me, John Kerry.
Old article from 2004 with great relevance today.
A Shameful Past - Don't play the Vietnam card with me, John Kerry.
A Shameful Past - Don't play the Vietnam card with me, John Kerry.
13 July 2007
Diane Sawyer's brush with reality
Thursday's edition of Good Morning America featured a Diane Sawyer anecdote that revealed the low opinion Americans have of journalists. After wrapping up a 7:30am segment on people who avoid jury duty, the ABC co-host laughingly recounted the "hurtful" experience she had in a courtroom: "You know, I wanted to sit on a jury once and I was taken off the jury. And the judge said to me, 'Can, you know, can you tell the truth and be fair?' And I said, 'That's what journalists do.' And everybody in the courtroom laughed. It was the most hurtful moment I think I've ever had."
The New York Times Surrenders
Historian Victor Davis Hanson puts a beat down on the idiotic pull out yesterday editorial
http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2007-07-12vdh.html
12 July 2007
Al-Qaeda Barbarism in Iraq Ignored
Great Rush monologue asking (and answering) why Al-Qaeda barbarism in Iraq Ignored
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_070907/content/01125110.guest.html
Check out Victory Caucus and the Al Qaeda assistance act of 2007
Great resource for Patriots right now- http://www.victorycaucus.com/
Click for story about HR 2956 which wants to begin withdrawal in four months (AKA: the Al Qaeda assistance act of 2007)
HR 2956 is being introduced "To require the Secretary of Defense to commence the reduction of the number of United States Armed Forces in Iraq to a limited presence by April 1, 2008" --- in other words, to mandate a cut-and-run strategy.
Worse than the April 1 deadline, the bill requires that "The Secretary of Defense shall commence the reduction of the number of Armed Forces in Iraq beginning not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act." So less than five months after the Surge has truly been implemented, we'll be giving up -- regardless of the facts on the ground.
{Congress to Al Qaeda: "Don't give up- help is on the way"}
Bin Laden search frustrates officials
{ What phenomenal insight from the " CIA Director for Intelligence" John Kringen "his agency thinks bin Laden is alive and "probably in the tribal areas of Pakistan." Thank goodness they are on top of it- I feel better. I realize there is immense calculus here with Pakistan having nukes and thinking Musharraff is better than the alternative, but I have to think sending in teams to hunt/kill these maniacs would win us more respect/fear from them then playing this State Dept balance of power geo-political academic exercises - they don't fear us and that emboldens them. There is no price to pay for shielding Bin Laden I know there are some Wild Bill Donovans still out there, but obviously not in decision making }
11 July 2007
Dubya's end
DUBYA'S END
By JOHN PODHORETZ
June 29, 2007 -- PRESIDENT Bush's disastrous second term has not been without its moments. Unfortunately for him, these moments have come primarily when members of his own party have risen up against him to defy his wishes.
Listen to what the armed forces have to say about Iraq.
Soldiers’ Voices Listen to what the armed forces have to say about Iraq.
Money quote:
"The troops’ number-one frustration has consistently been the media reporting. The way the press mishandled Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo had a tremendous negative effect on us. It inflamed the Iraqis at a time when we were making great progress in their support and willingness to help.”——Major Eric Egland, U.S. Air Force
Money quote:
"The troops’ number-one frustration has consistently been the media reporting. The way the press mishandled Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo had a tremendous negative effect on us. It inflamed the Iraqis at a time when we were making great progress in their support and willingness to help.”——Major Eric Egland, U.S. Air Force
Britain's war against . . . well, you know
Britain's war against . . . well, you know
Terrorists targeting the West populate a virulent strain of Islam. Skirting that unfortunate truth — as the new prime minister seems apt to do — will only prolong the battle and embolden the enemy.
By Melanie Phillips
Congress to Terrorists: "Don't lose heart, we'll save you!"
THE 'QUIT IRAQ' CAUCUS: By RALPH PETERS
July 11, 2007 -- EVEN as our troops make serious progress against al-Qaeda-in-Iraq and other extremists, Congress - including Republican members - is sending the terrorists a message: "Don't lose heart, we'll save you!"
Tony Blankley editorial calls out the traitors in Congress
Tony Blankley editorial calls out the traitors in Congress
The Senate: chamber of shame
Key Passage:
"But the debate today in Washington is about none of these strategic concerns. It is exclusively about Washington's political timetable and when the president will bend to such political necessity. For self-admitted politics — rather than national security — to be driving decision making in wartime Washington is not only an unpatriotic disgrace — it is a national menace. "
09 July 2007
An unspeakable tragedy
The tragic consequences of the unhinged left. A better man killed for serving his country. What has become of these people. Words don't do justice
From LGF and Michelle Malkin
You won't read the truth anywhere else.
From LGF and Michelle Malkin
You won't read the truth anywhere else.
07 July 2007
Happy Birthday America! from San Fran-sicko
4th of July - San Francisco style! (warning: graphic images/language- of course)
Meet Joe Biden's hairline
It doesn't matter how long you grow it in the back, we all know what's happening up top (and in the back).
Aging Hippie Liberal
Look up aging hippie liberal in wikipedia and this guy should be there. Makes me want to join Team Obama. (yes, there is a pony tail in the back, no picture though- I was trying to keep my kids from making eye-contact)
05 July 2007
Meet the Artic Monkeys
{I don’t know what they sound like, but based on their comments alone I am a fan }
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070705025637.vyh5u7g0&show_article=1
Rock group Arctic Monkeys have become the latest music industry stars to question whether the performers taking part in Live Earth on Saturday are suitable climate change activists. "It's a bit patronising for us 21 year olds to try to start to change the world," said Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders, explaining why the group is not on the bill at any of Al Gore's charity concerts.
"Especially when we're using enough power for 10 houses just for (stage) lighting. It'd be a bit hypocritical," he told AFP in an interview before a concert in Paris.
Large parts of the band's hometown of Sheffield were flooded at the end of last month after a deluge of mid-summer rain that some blamed on global warming. Two people were killed.
But the band wonder why anyone would be interested in the opinion of rock stars on a complex scientific issue like climate change.
"Someone asked us to give a quote about what was happening in Sheffield and it's like 'who cares what we think about what's happening'?" added Helders.
"There's more important people who can have an opinion. Why does it make us have an opinion because we're in a band?"
03 July 2007
"Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor"
A must read before the 4th of July
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/folder/american_who_risked_everything_1.guest.html
02 July 2007
Jumping the Fence by Mark Steyn
Hilarious rendition of what transpired in the Senate last week. You can't help but think it was a significant turning point in American politics.
http://www.nysun.com/article/57664
The New Strategy in Iraq
Great analysis of past successes and failures and what Gen Petraeus is putting to work
The New Strategy in Iraq
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=28987
Latest Michael Yon post
If you have never heard of Michael Yon, you owe it to yourself to read his dispatches from Iraq. This guy is a one-man show living with our guys in Iraq and reporting what is happening warts and all. Here is his latest.
http://michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm
I first heard of Michael Yon from a dispatch where he assisted Soldiers from 2-4 Cav in taking out the enemy by firing a weapon- something that could've had him booted out of the theater. He is not a "trained" journalist, he's former SF that started blogging and made his way to Iraq to cover the war out of his own funds.
Bookmark michaelyon-online.com
28 June 2007
Introducing Rage Boy
This guy is deservedly getting ridiculed all over the world. There is something about making fun of the enemy that gives people a great outlet. Make up your own caption, mine is "Freebird"
Understanding General Petraeus's Strategy
Excellent article from Fredrick Kagen who was instrumental in pushing for the surge strategy. This is his testimony to Congress.
In Petraeus we trust
In Petraeus we trust
21 June 2007
TB - brought to you by NAFTA
"The percentage of positive cases is believed to be high because many of the plant's employees come from other countries where the disease may be more prevalent, said agency spokesman Thom Berry."
Let's translate from the Orweillian truthspeak. What "because many of the plant's employees come from other countries where the disease may be more prevalent" actually means is "a new American", no that's not it, maybe an "eventual American working here without all the i's dotted and t's crossed"
Vaclav Klaus in 2008
{Could the Czech President run for the Senate? Let's let him telecommute and participate via C-SPAN?}
Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, argues in the Financial Times that ambitious environmentalism is the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity.
Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, argues in the Financial Times that ambitious environmentalism is the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity.
WINNING ON OFFENSE
By RALPH PETERS
HALLELUJAH! For the first time since Baghdad fell, our military in Iraq has a comprehensive, integrated plan to defeat our enemies. Until now, our efforts have always been piecemeal, stop-start affairs. Even our success in the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004 went unexploited.
20 June 2007
Bush weighs reaching out to Muslim Brotherhood
FDR weighs reaching out to Nazis (1942)
Bush weighs reaching out to Muslim Brotherhood (2007)
The Bush administration is quietly weighing the prospect of reaching out to the party that founded modern political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood
Bush weighs reaching out to Muslim Brotherhood (2007)
The Bush administration is quietly weighing the prospect of reaching out to the party that founded modern political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood
Father of the Iranian revolution - Jimmy Carter
Author Michael Evans puts Jimmy Carter in proper historical prespective.
Analysis of immigration bill
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/wm1513.cfm
From the conclusion:
"The bill offers alien terrorists new pathways to obtain legal status, which will make it easier for them to carry out deadly attacks against American citizens."
Read it all
19 June 2007
Smugglers set fires at border areas
{Ok, now they have done it - now Al Gore will have to come out in favor of the fence to save the planet.}
http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20070619-121814-2527r
U.S. Border Patrol agents seeking to secure the nation's border in some of the country's most pristine national forests are being targeted by illegal aliens, who are using intentionally set fires to burn agents out of observation posts and patrol routes.
In the Coronado National Forest in Arizona, with 60 miles of land along the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. Forest Service firefighters sent in to battle fires or clear wild-land fire areas are required to be escorted by armed law-enforcement officers.
"graduation ceremony"
{Hint- they aren't Methodists. Surprisingly it does not mention what the US has done to make them do this, I am sure the New York Times will cover that angle}
ABC News has a videotape showing the perverted “graduation ceremony” of teams of newly-trained suicide bombers supposedly sent to attack the US and Britain.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25901_ABC-_Suicide_Bomb_Teams_Sent_to_US_Europe&only
Iraqi Orphanage Nightmare
{Just another example of how cheap life is deemed in other countries, it's disgusting, It's moments like these where I know America and the American Military serve a higher purpose}
U.S. Troops Discover And Rescue Orphan Boys Left Starving, Chained To Beds
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/18/eveningnews/main2946007.shtml
18 June 2007
father of scientific climatology, considers global warming a bunch of hooey
{Leave it to an 87 year old Climatologists to call it like it is. Where are we going to be when these guys are gone and the hippies are the Professor Emeritus' of the world.}
http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/197613
Key passages:
Reid Bryson, known as the father of scientific climatology, considers global warming a bunch of hooey.
"There is a lot of money to be made in this," he added. "If you want to be an eminent scientist you have to have a lot of grad students and a lot of grants. You can't get grants unless you say, 'Oh global warming, yes, yes, carbon dioxide.'"
Bryson didn't see Al Gore's movie about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth." "Don't make me throw up," he said. "It is not science. It is not true."
Pace is out - another victory for spineless liberal Democrats over a spineless White House
http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20070616-121131-5604r
Key passages:
A Vietnam veteran, Gen. Pace indicated in his Norfolk comments that his experience in that war colored his decision not to quit voluntarily.
"The other piece for me personally was that some 40 years ago I left some guys on the battlefield in Vietnam who lost their lives following Second Lieutenant Pace," he said. "And I promised myself then that I will serve this country until I was no longer needed -- that it's not my decision. I need to be told that I'm done.
"I've been told I'm done."
Gen. Pace confirmed that Mr. Gates had told him he preferred to keep him as chairman but in mid-May began to see signs of opposition on Capitol Hill.
"This is a man who thinks nothing of himself. He has always put the military first," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "The president was very reluctant to accept the recommendation of the secretary of defense, but he respects [Mr. Gates] and agrees with his assessment."
This is sickening to me, when you give a bum like George Tenant the Medal of Freedom, and go to the mattresses over AG Gonzalez, but at the first sign of anything being "contentious" the White House throws an honorable and decent Man under the bus, a Man that that has served with distinction and honor for 40 years. Notice how the WH spokesgal puts this on SecDef Gates.
As Sarge would say in "Beetle Bailey" this is a bunch of &$@#%.
Semper Fi
Email the Marines - I am not asking.
Great interview at BlackFive with a Marine Colonel in Anbar province. Worth reading the whole interview here. His major request was that You drop an email to express your support for the Marines. As the Colonel mentioned, they watch the same news we do, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to do what they do and watch this propaganda.
Article link is here:
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/06/roundtable_with.html
Email address to the Marines in Anbar is here:
RCT-6lettersfromh@gcemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil
16 June 2007
From the desk of Gen. Chuck Yeager
From the desk of Gen. Chuck Yeager:
November 20, 2006
To my Fellow Americans,
Congressman Duncan Hunter is the best candidate for President of the United States of America that I know - he has integrity, tenacity, courage, and diplomacy. He is intelligent and thoughtful, does his research, and acts on it.
I have known Congressman Duncan Hunter for over 35 years. Duncan served his country in the Army and is a Vietnam vet. In Vietnam, he served in one of the most dangerous outfits - the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 75th Army Rangers.
Duncan Hunter is the former and very effective Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and I am proud to be the Honorary Chair of the Congressman Duncan Hunter for President Committee.
Chuck Yeager
Please check out more at Duncan Hunter's website
November 20, 2006
To my Fellow Americans,
Congressman Duncan Hunter is the best candidate for President of the United States of America that I know - he has integrity, tenacity, courage, and diplomacy. He is intelligent and thoughtful, does his research, and acts on it.
I have known Congressman Duncan Hunter for over 35 years. Duncan served his country in the Army and is a Vietnam vet. In Vietnam, he served in one of the most dangerous outfits - the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 75th Army Rangers.
Duncan Hunter is the former and very effective Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and I am proud to be the Honorary Chair of the Congressman Duncan Hunter for President Committee.
Chuck Yeager
Please check out more at Duncan Hunter's website
Reid attacks General Petraeus
This loser knows no lows, Harry Reid couldn't carry Gen. Petraueus' jock but yet here he is taking shots at the most important Commander in the war. Reid and his ilk can't wait for the US to lose in Iraq, they are practically salivating over it.
15 June 2007
Huckabee link added
Great resource for those looking at Mike Huckabee. Look for a surge here in Iowa the more he gets around. I predict a big showing at the straw poll in Ames.
http://mikehuckabeepresident2008.blogspot.com/
http://mikehuckabeepresident2008.blogspot.com/
Pakistan's soldiers 'huddling in their bases' in tribal regions
The Pakistani army is paralysed by the growing Taliban threat and some retired officers are covertly aiding the militants, according to a former CIA officer.
Soldiers posted to Waziristan, a tribal area that hosts an estimated 2,000 al-Qaida fighters, are "huddling in their bases, doing nothing", said Art Keller, a CIA case officer who was posted to Pakistan last year.
"Their approach was to pretend that nothing was wrong because any other approach would reveal that they were unwilling and unable to do anything about Talibanisation," said Mr Keller, who has visited Waziristan.
Huckabee looks to break from second-tier pack
Mike Huckabee has been stellar in the debates, he's one of those guys that the more people see of him the better he is going to do. I am a Duncan Hunter man right now, but Huckabee is right there.
Best Quote:
Check out the youtube video of his awesome response to the media ingrate asking him about his stance on evolution. It's a Grand Slam response..
US military prepared for 'worst' with China
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070614/wl_asia_afp/uschinamilitary
Their game since 9-11 is to conduct massive build-ups and grow more aggressive & brazen knowing our attention is focused elsewhere.
Don’t forget the E-3 incident in April 2001?
14 June 2007
Rockford
Bookmark the counterterrorismblog.org - great resource
They have a link to a .pdf about the attempted terrorist attack in Rockford, IL. (remember that one?) You won't if the media has it's way. They've done a great job of 9-11 so far-is there even footage of 9-11 still in existence? , so how would anyone remember Rockford, Seattle, Ft Dix, San Francisco, LAX, JFK, Sears Tower, Salt Lake City, Chapel Hill, NC………...
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/06/nefa_series_target_america_the.php
Military officers now targets on Hill (aka Liberals hate the military)
Unfortunately this is what happens when:
1. The administration cedes leadership and self neuters themselves - I would think Gen Pace deserves a more rigorous defense than AG Gonzalez is receiving
2. Political correctness is applied to national security
3. Liberals show themselves for their true feelings of uniform personnel
4. Democrats are elected
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070614/D8POHGRO0.html
Military Officers Now Targets on Hill
Key passages:
- On Friday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the stunning announcement that he would not recommend Pace to serve a second two-year term as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Marine Corps four-star general had not been a target previously of Democrats' ire on the war, but Gates said lawmakers made it clear the confirmation process would be ugly.
- Tauscher, D-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Pace lost standing among members in March when he said homosexual acts were immoral and that the military should not condone the behavior by allowing gays to serve openly. He later apologized, including in a personal letter to Tauscher, for expressing what he said were his personnel views.
- Tauscher said his comments on gays "showed his ignorance" and "had to be deeply discounted because they came from a man who had presided over a war that we got into on a lie and what I consider to be a serious dereliction of duty in having our troops and our readiness so destroyed by the policies of this administration."
Freedom, not climate, is at risk By Vaclav Klaus
{ The President of Czech Republic has been the only world leader other than John Howard of Australia that has shown any backbone about this snake-oil hysteria of man-made global warming. It's rare, but it's enjoyable to read something from a leader with courage and simple common sense}
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/9deb730a-19ca-11dc-99c5-000b5df10621.html
Freedom, not climate, is at risk
By Vaclav Klaus
Published: June 13 2007 17:44 | Last updated: June 13 2007 17:44
We are living in strange times. One exceptionally warm winter is enough – irrespective of the fact that in the course of the 20th century the global temperature increased only by 0.6 per cent – for the environmentalists and their followers to suggest radical measures to do something about the weather, and to do it right now.
In the past year, Al Gore’s so-called “documentary” film was shown in cinemas worldwide, Britain’s – more or less Tony Blair’s – Stern report was published, the fourth report of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was put together and the Group of Eight summit announced ambitions to do something about the weather. Rational and freedom-loving people have to respond. The dictates of political correctness are strict and only one permitted truth, not for the first time in human history, is imposed on us. Everything else is denounced.
The author Michael Crichton stated it clearly: “the greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda”. I feel the same way, because global warming hysteria has become a prime example of the truth versus propaganda problem. It requires courage to oppose the “established” truth, although a lot of people – including top-class scientists – see the issue of climate change entirely differently. They protest against the arrogance of those who advocate the global warming hypothesis and relate it to human activities.
As someone who lived under communism for most of his life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism, not in communism. This ideology wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a sort of central (now global) planning.
The environmentalists ask for immediate political action because they do not believe in the long-term positive impact of economic growth and ignore both the technological progress that future generations will undoubtedly enjoy, and the proven fact that the higher the wealth of society, the higher is the quality of the environment. They are Malthusian pessimists.
The scientists should help us and take into consideration the political effects of their scientific opinions. They have an obligation to declare their political and value assumptions and how much they have affected their selection and interpretation of scientific evidence.
Does it make any sense to speak about warming of the Earth when we see it in the context of the evolution of our planet over hundreds of millions of years? Every child is taught at school about temperature variations, about the ice ages, about the much warmer climate in the Middle Ages. All of us have noticed that even during our life-time temperature changes occur (in both directions).
Due to advances in technology, increases in disposable wealth, the rationality of institutions and the ability of countries to organise themselves, the adaptability of human society has been radically increased. It will continue to increase and will solve any potential consequences of mild climate changes.
I agree with Professor Richard Lindzen from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who said: “future generations will wonder in bemused amazement that the early 21st century’s developed world went into hysterical panic over a globally averaged temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree, and, on the basis of gross exaggerations of highly uncertain computer projections combined into implausible chains of inference, proceeded to contemplate a roll-back of the industrial age”.
The issue of global warming is more about social than natural sciences and more about man and his freedom than about tenths of a degree Celsius changes in average global temperature.
As a witness to today’s worldwide debate on climate change, I suggest the following:
■Small climate changes do not demand far-reaching restrictive measures
■Any suppression of freedom and democracy should be avoided
■Instead of organising people from above, let us allow everyone to live as he wants
■Let us resist the politicisation of science and oppose the term “scientific consensus”, which is always achieved only by a loud minority, never by a silent majority
■Instead of speaking about “the environment”, let us be attentive to it in our personal behaviour
■Let us be humble but confident in the spontaneous evolution of human society. Let us trust its rationality and not try to slow it down or divert it in any direction
■Let us not scare ourselves with catastrophic forecasts, or use them to defend and promote irrational interventions in human lives.
The writer is President of the Czech Republic
13 June 2007
When lawyers run wars.....
I trust these lawyers volunteer their time to assist the Men who have lost limbs and families of those who have lost lives because of their decsion.
In 2004, CIA operatives in Iraq believed that they had identified the signatures of 11 bomb makers. They proposed a diabolical -- but potentially effective -- sabotage program that would have flooded Iraq with booby-trapped detonators designed to explode in the bomb makers' hands. But the CIA general counsel's office said no. The lawyers claimed that the agency lacked authority for such an operation.
In 2004, CIA operatives in Iraq believed that they had identified the signatures of 11 bomb makers. They proposed a diabolical -- but potentially effective -- sabotage program that would have flooded Iraq with booby-trapped detonators designed to explode in the bomb makers' hands. But the CIA general counsel's office said no. The lawyers claimed that the agency lacked authority for such an operation.
09 June 2007
Police, FBI Plan To Examine Iran Links in JFK Plot
Police, FBI Plan To Examine Iran Links in JFK Plot and now back to Paris Hilton coverage......
29 May 2007
Rosie's "greatest hits"
http://www.mrc.org/Profiles/odonnell/welcome.asp
This is "greatest hits" rundown of Rosie's most delusional. Great exchange in 1999 with Tom Selleck at the bottom
25 May 2007
ISU: Christians need not apply
Shockingly the most hostile campus to Christians in Iowa recently is not Iowa City but Ames ?!?!?
C'mon ISU, I count on you to balance out the hippies in Iowa City and Grinnell. First Dr. Gonzalez is targeted by a "petition" for daring to be a Christian. As we all know from the Duke Lacrosse story "petitions" are always beyond reproach. I have to say that only in academia would signing a "petition" be viewed as an acceptable reaction, what a bunch of wusses.
Considering this is a school that had not too long ago "In the year of our Lord" inprinted on it's diplomas, It's fair to say the hippies have won another one and have once again proven they have no intention of being educators but indoctrinators.
Of course this could all go away with a University President with a spine, but I might as well be asking for a Leprechaun to appear. Also don't forget ISU's Softball team refusing to stand at a Baylor game during the pre-game prayer. Gotta love that tolerance.
By the way, why doesn't the Register mention that religious studies professor Hector Avalos is an atheist and faculty adviser (aka Chaplain??) to the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society.
C'mon ISU, I count on you to balance out the hippies in Iowa City and Grinnell. First Dr. Gonzalez is targeted by a "petition" for daring to be a Christian. As we all know from the Duke Lacrosse story "petitions" are always beyond reproach. I have to say that only in academia would signing a "petition" be viewed as an acceptable reaction, what a bunch of wusses.
Considering this is a school that had not too long ago "In the year of our Lord" inprinted on it's diplomas, It's fair to say the hippies have won another one and have once again proven they have no intention of being educators but indoctrinators.
Of course this could all go away with a University President with a spine, but I might as well be asking for a Leprechaun to appear. Also don't forget ISU's Softball team refusing to stand at a Baylor game during the pre-game prayer. Gotta love that tolerance.
By the way, why doesn't the Register mention that religious studies professor Hector Avalos is an atheist and faculty adviser (aka Chaplain??) to the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society.
Blood of Iraqi Martyrs
Blood of Iraqi Martyrs
By Kenneth R. Timmerman
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 25, 2007
There is another tragedy taking in place in Iraq on a daily basis, far from the front pages and the TV news. It does not involve the kidnapping of U.S. troops, nor even the fire-bombing of Muslim shrines by other Muslims, both of which by now are familiar to most Americans.
This is a tragedy taking place in a total media vacuum. Even our government has remained silent as it continues.
Perhaps it’s because the victims are Christians. Indeed, members of the most ancient Christian communities in the world.
Over the past three years, Iraqi Muslim extremists have targeted Christians in systematic attacks, aimed at driving them from their homes, their work places, and their churches.
Just last week, a group of armed Muslims set fire to St. George’s Assyrian Church in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, completely decimating what remained of a church already hit by a deadly fire-bombing in October 2004.
The Christians of Iraq include Chaldeans, Syriac Orthodox, and Assyrians. All trace their roots to the early church and use a liturgy still written and sung in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus.
Read it all here:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28448
22 January 2007
If We Fail.Been there, done that.
If We Fail…Been there, done that.
By Victor Davis Hanson
Read it all:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODk0NDc4ODYyOGM1YzA0MTc3YjgwMjY5Mjg4OGY5MmE=
18 January 2007
3,000 Christians added daily in China
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53808
3,000 Christians added daily in China
Faithful undefeated by beatings, arrests, confiscations and destruction of churches
osted: January 18, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Worship services are being broken up by baton-wielding police officers, participants arrested, Bibles confiscated and Christian church buildings demolished. But still, an estimated 3,000 people every day come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ in China.
The report comes from Voice of the Martyrs, a U.S.-based Christian group that works specifically to help those members of the persecuted Christian church worldwide.
The most recent arrests happened just a few days ago, when a house church meeting in Henan province was broken up and 11 people arrested, the organization said.
(Story continues below)
"Police from Yongfeng township police station in Xiuwu county, Henan province, raided a Christian meeting in a home in Chencun village. Eleven Christians were arrested, two were released the next day and nine remain in jail," the report said.
"Police broke in and proclaimed the gathering a cultic and illegal activity," the report said.
Legal and financial help is being provided to those people during their detention.
However, VOM said that a more than 50-year campaign to eradicate Christianity from China has left that nation with the equivalent of a new mega-church being added each day.
"Chairman Mao Zedong declared the Peoples Republic of China in 1949 and quickly sought to purge society of anything religious, causing China's people to endure great hardship ever since," a VOM analysis of the nation said. "Mao's Great Leap Forward in the late '50s and the Cultural Revolution in the '60s and '70s left millions of his countrymen dead or victimized.
"Today, with its policies of forced abortion and sterilization, China's human rights record is one of the worst in the world. Authorities reportedly sell the organs of executed prisoners to meet the demand for transplants. It system of 're-education through labor' detains hundreds of thousands each year in work camps without even a court hearing. China's 'strike-hard' policy, presented as a crackdown on criminals, is hardest on Christians, putting more believers in prison or under detention than in any other country. The confiscation of church property and Bibles continues – even Bibles officially printed by the government," the report said.
"Yet the church grows: an estimated 3,000 Chinese come to Christ each day. China's house church movement, which comprises approximately 90 percent of China's Christians, endures unimaginable persecution, yet stands on its commitment to preach the gospel no matter the cost."
Two of the people in the latest raid by police were released a day later, but nine remained in jail, according to VOM and China Aid Association, which also reported on the arrests.
Among those still being held in detention for worshiping in the home were Ju Xiang, 48; Liu Xiaoduo, 42; Wang Shegin, 40; Fu Juyi, 36; Hong Xia, 37; Xue Xianghuo, 49; and Xue Xiaona, 34, officials said.
VOM said the persecution is having little effect on the desire to know more about Christ. "In the past year, we received more requests for Bibles and Christian books from Chinese believers because they wanted to share the gospel with others," a VOM source within the restrictive nation said. "The Communist government of China does not see Christ as the most important person in an individual's life. Christians count it a privilege to believe in and suffer for Jesus Christ."
The contact said Christians simply adjust to the persecution at hand – including arrests, demolished buildings and confiscated materials.
VOM currently is supplying Bibles and copies of other Christian books, including "Tortured for Christ" by VOM founder Richard Wurmbrand, to Christians in China.
"American Christians have also mailed more than 107,310 New Testaments to China through Bibles Unbound (www.BiblesUnbound.com)," VOM said. "Pray God will protect believers in China and give them strength and courage to continue their faith in him."
VOM is a non-profit, interdenominational ministry working worldwide to help Christians who are persecuted for their faith, and to educate the world about that persecution. Its headquarters are in Bartlesville, Okla., and it has 30 affiliated international offices.
It was launched by the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, who started smuggling Russian Gospels into Russia in 1947, just months before Richard was abducted and imprisoned in Romania where he was tortured for his refusal to recant Christianity.
He eventually was released in 1964 and the next year he testified about the persecution of Christians before the U.S. Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee, stripping to the waist to show the deep torture wound scars on his body.
The group that later was renamed The Voice of the Martyrs was organized in 1967, when his book, "Tortured for Christ," was released.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The secret for which Sandy risked his all
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53812
If not the most skillful of embezzlers, Samuel "Sandy" Berger is a far more formidable character than the media would have us believe. When he made his now-storied sorties into the National Archives, he risked his career and his reputation in so doing, and he knew it. Rest assured, he would not have done so were the secrets to be preserved not worth the risk of pilfering them.
True to form, the major media refuse to even ask the most fundamental question: Just what secrets would justify so much personal exposure? Having read the report on Berger by the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, I am more confident than ever that I know the answer.
As the House report makes clear, Berger did not exactly welcome this assignment. This confirms my suspicions. The archivists told the committee, in fact, that Berger "indicated some disgust with the burden and responsibility of conducting the document review."
Apparently, he did not have much choice in the matter. Former President Bill Clinton had, according to the report, "designated Berger as his representative to review NSC documents." Berger was Clinton's go-to inside guy.
In his first term, Clinton had hired this millionaire trade lawyer and lobbyist to be deputy national security adviser, not because of Berger's foreign policy experience, which was negligible, but because of his political instincts, which were keen and reliable. Clinton entrusted Berger with some very sensitive assignments, particularly in relationship to China, and rewarded him for his trust with the job of national security adviser in his second term. This job does not require Senate confirmation. It is unlikely that Berger could have gotten any job that did.
As we now know, Berger made four trips to the National Archives. He did so presumably to refresh his memory before testifying first to the Graham-Goss Commission and then to the 9/11 Commission. Berger made his first visit in May 2002, his last in October 2003.
As we now know too, he stole and destroyed an incalculable number of documents during these four visits. "The full extent of Berger's document removal," reports the House committee, "is not known and never can be known."
As the report clarifies, "Archives staff would have no way to know" if any part of a given National Security Council document was removed. Further, had Berger removed papers from a Staff Member Office File – these more loosely enumerated than the NSC documents – "It would be almost impossible for the Archives staff to know."
Among his more flagrant acts of criminal mischief, Berger purloined some highly classified documents and stashed them "at a construction site where they could have been found by anyone." This behavior does not exactly classify as "inadvertent," the media's original characterization of Berger's motivation.
As the House report also establishes, the FBI never questioned Berger about those first two visits nor submitted him to a polygraph about any of the visits as his plea deal required. The Department of Justice's only source of information about possible theft during Berger's first two visits was the man himself, and Berger has proved almost comically unreliable.
In fact, Berger has changed his story about the documents as often as his boss did about Monica, in both cases to adapt to the emerging evidence. Berger even refused to be interviewed by the House committee, the one honest enterprise in the whole investigation.
We know too that on his first visit, according to Archives staff, "Berger was especially interested in White House terrorism adviser Richard Clarke's personal office files." Again, this confirms my suspicions. According to the committee, "Had Berger seen 'a smoking gun' or other documents he did not want brought to an investigatory panel's attention, he could have removed it on this visit."
The much-discussed Millennium After Action Review was hardly the gun that smoked. In fact, the DOJ saw the Millennium Review as "beneficial to the Clinton administration" in that it made them look "engaged" in the war on terrorism.
The Millennium Review made the news only because it was the first document Berger got caught swiping, then on his third visit. The benign nature of this review led the DOJ to conclude that Berger took the documents for his "personal convenience," and the media predictably played right along.
To understand what that "smoking gun" might have been and how it involved Clarke and Berger, let us turn to the fateful summer of 1996. At that time, Col. Buzz Patterson carried the "nuclear football" for President Clinton. Given his security clearance, Patterson was entrusted with any number of high-security assignments. One morning in "late-summer," Patterson was returning a daily intelligence update from the Oval Office to the National Security Council when he noticed the heading "Operation Bojinka."
As Patterson relates, "I keyed on a reference to a plot to use commercial airliners as weapons." As a pilot, he had a keen interest in the same. "I can state for a fact that this information was circulated within the U.S. intelligence community," Patterson writes, "and that in late 1996 the president was aware of it." The president's handwritten comments on the documents verified the same.
The Philippine police had uncovered plans for aerial assaults as early as January 1995 and shared those plans with the FBI almost immediately. The man responsible for those plans was Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing and very possibly an Iraqi contract agent. His accomplice was Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9-11 and allegedly Yousef's uncle.
Understandably, the 9/11 Commission was very concerned about who knew what when in regards to the use of planes as bombs. Bush National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was asked on her first real question: "Did you ever see or hear from the FBI, from the CIA, from any other intelligence agency, any memos or discussions or anything else between the time you got into office and 9-11 that talked about using planes as bombs?"
Rice said no. She was likely telling the truth. Clarke had acknowledged as much during his earlier testimony. He admitted that the "knowledge about al-Qaida having thought of using aircraft as weapons" was relatively old, "5 years, 6 years old." He asked that intelligence analysts "be forgiven for not thinking about it given the fact that they hadn't seen a lot in the five or six years intervening about it."
Before the summer Olympics of 1996, in fact, Clarke had warned security planners about the possibility of Islamic terrorists hijacking a 747 and flying it into Olympic Stadium. Two days before the start of those Olympics, on July 17, Saddam's National Liberation day, with the U.S Navy on the highest state of alert since the Cuban missile crisis, TWA Flight 800 blew up inexplicably off the coast of Long Island.
The fact that the president was reviewing Bojinka plans soon after the destruction of TWA Flight 800 makes the versions of those plans with his handwritten notes on them all the more critical. If found and revealed, they would, at the very least, acknowledge that the Clinton administration had a keen interest in the possible use of planes as bombs five years before Sept. 11.
That interest obviously died, and Clarke served as chief assassin. Among other roles, it fell upon this Clinton sycophant to devise the "exit strategy" that transformed a seeming aeronautical assault on TWA Flight 800 into a "mechanical failure." In his book "Against All Enemies," he takes full credit for this bit of aviation alchemy.
Clarke was likely also responsible for getting the CIA and FBI to breach the storied "wall" and work together on the creation of the notorious "zoom-climb" animation. This animation showed a nose-less 747 rocketing vertically 3,200 feet into space and confusing onlookers. The FBI used it to discredit all 270 of its eyewitnesses to an apparent missile strike.
The media swallowed the zoom-climb as uncritically as they had the "mechanical failure." The New York Times did not bother to interview any of the 270 relevant eyewitnesses. Say what you will about former Timesman Jayson Blair, but he at least would have made one up.
Berger played a key role in the TWA Flight 800 sleight-of-mind as well. On the night of July 17, 1996, Berger was among the scores of staff summoned to the White House for an emergency meeting – a first for a domestic airplane crash. Col. Patterson was there as well but was kept fully out of the loop. When I asked Patterson if anyone was holed up in the family quarters with the president, he could tentatively identify only one person. And that person was Sandy Berger, then just the deputy national security adviser. Berger's boss, the less "reliable" Tony Lake, was relegated to his own office.
A logical deduction from existing evidence is that Clarke put the "planes-as-bombs" talk on hold for the five or six years after the TWA Flight 800 disaster lest such talk evoke unanswered questions about that fateful crash. Berger's task, I surmise, was to make sure all references to Bojinka, planes-as-bombs, and/or TWA Flight 800 were rooted from the Archives, especially any documents with handwritten notes that led back to co-conspirators Berger, Clarke and Clinton.
On Friday April 1, 2005, the Department of Justice announced its embarrassingly lenient plea deal with Berger. The timing was more than fortuitous. On March 31, Terri Schiavo had died. On April 2, Pope John Paul II would die. DOJ could not have chosen a day better calculated to give a casually indifferent media an excuse for ignoring a bombshell of a story.
"It remains unclear," asked the Washington Post about the Berger story line as it existed in April 2005, "why he destroyed three versions of a document, but left two other versions intact."
As I responded at the time, the answer to this question was too obvious to ask –handwritten notes on a document make one version entirely more dangerous than an identical document without those notes.
The Wall Street Journal, among other media, did not take kindly to ruminations like mine above. I will flatter myself that its editors had me at least somewhere in mind when they opined April 8, 2005, "Some people won't let a bad conspiracy theory go."
The Journal continued in full hauteur, "We're referring to those who loudly assert that former NSC adviser Sandy Berger was trying to protect the Clinton administration when he illegally removed copies of sensitive documents from the National Archives in late 2003."
The Journal cited chief of DOJ's Public Integrity Section, Noel Hillman, who claimed that "no original documents were destroyed, and that the contents of all five at issue still exist and were made available to the 9/11 Commission."
According to the Journal, the "confusion" stemmed from the "mistaken idea" that Berger destroyed handwritten notes by various Clinton administration officials in the margins of these documents. This, said Hillman, was simply an "urban myth."
As we know now, the only urban myth in play was that presumed Republicans like Hillman were, as Berger claimed, trying "to assassinate his character to pursue their own ends." In fact, they were covering for him. "Nothing was lost to the public or the process," said Hillman of Berger's theft in April 2005. This was transparently false.
The House Committee found the DOJ to be "unacceptably incurious" about investigating Berger's time in the Archives, especially his first two visits. Although Hillman would publicly claim that Berger "did not have an intent to hide any of contents of the documents or conceal facts from the [9/11] commission," Hillman had been told on at least four prior occasions that the opposite was true.
According to the House report, "The 9/11 Commission was specifically interested in the office files of White House terrorism advisor Richard Clarke, and never was told that Berger had access to Clarke's original office files on May 30, 2002, and July 18, 2003."
If not exactly apologizing to us humble conspiracists, the Journal has at least admitted its error. Hillman was indeed dissembling, Journal editors acknowledged last week: "Mr. Berger was in a position to remove documents from Mr. Clarke's files, and thanks to lax security, breaches of protocol and undue deference on the part of Archives staff, we may never know whether Mr. Berger took documents other than the five he's admitted to removing."
The media will assuredly "never know" for one good reason: They refuse to look. If they do, they will discover a rat's nest of conspiracy that will make Watergate seem as consequential as a Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction.
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