Austin Bay Blog » Rumsfeld in Iraq/Christmas on the line: "I’m listening to SecDef Rumssfeld’s speech in Mosul. Looks like he’s talking with troops from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Here’s a line stating his central theme: “The greatest leap for human history is for freedom, and we’re on the side of freedom.” "

I want to be on freedom's side, too. Even if it's expensive in lives; the alternative is not free.

David Corn Why are we in Iraq?: "But I pointed out that while I hope these elections lead to a decent and effective government that can serve the people of Iraq--who doesn't like elections?--any realistic analysis would have to include the distinct possibility that the elections may lead to deepening the rift between Sunnis and Shiites and, thus, to intensifying the sectarian violence already under way.

Increasingly, the major issue in Iraq seems to be the Sunni-Shiite split (which predates Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush, and the war on terrorism). Interestingly, during the elections the leaders of the Sunni insurgency were able to turn off the violence."

David is right that the Sunni-Shiite split is the major Iraq issue.

We could be in Iraq to make the "divorce" more velvety.

Dr. Sanity fighting for Christmas: "I only began to get annoyed in the last ten years or so, when the excuse that was always given--by schools, by the Girl Scouts, by just about every institution that I questioned about it--that the reason they could not sing traditional Christmas Carols; could not have a decorated tree; could not call it Christmas vacation; could not risk the possibility however remote, of offending someone; was that they were afraid of getting sued."

Dr. Sanity: "How interesting that the Left then and now should so much fear the imminent implementation of fascism within democracies, but were completely and willingly blind to the rise of fascism in Germany (then) and the dominance of fascism within Islam (now). This is suggestive of a serious detachment from reality secondary to some form of self-delusion."

Dr. Sanity shows the Left against Churchill before WW II; similar to their fear of Bush, today.

Gateway Pundit: "What will the New York Times say about this? He says he has visible signs of the abuse all over his body. Will those marks be splashed on the cover of Newsweek? What will Teddy Kennedy say? That we closed Saddam's torture chambers only to open them up as a Saddam torture chamber?... The only good news out of this is that Saddam continues to keep a great garden despite his beatings."

Saddam complains of torture. What a clown.

Marc Cooper: "One of the 11 judges on the FISA court has now resigned in protest of the President’s secret spying program…
President Bush’s attempt to shut down public debate on illegal domestic spying by calling revelations about the secret program a “shameful act” doesn’t seem to be paying off.

Few, except the very partisan, are willing to buy Bush’s assertion that reporting on the program, let alone criticizing or scrutinizing it, somehow plays into the hands of terrorist enemies."

No mention by Marc of Gorelick and Clinton and the program in 1994. Sometimes Marc is an attack dog against the Dems; but usually it's against Bush and/or Reps -- and all too often those bitten deserve it. But not always; and this looks like one of those cases.

La Shawn Barber’s Corner Intelligent Design: "Secular humanism is the state religion, an actual violation of the Constitution and not the court’s misinterpretation of the Establishment Clause. Its nutty hypothesis that miraculous life was dependent on “random chance,” that man evolved from apes, and the glorious creation we see all around us is simply a well-timed accident, is what kids in government schools are to be taught, with no room for an alternative explanation for our existence."

I hate this State Secular Humanist "religion". And the meaning of life?
Consume mass quantites.

Eric Umansky: The NYT’s Smear of a Pro-Democracy Program (in Afghanistan): "the USAID section was the last and smallest part of a piece about covert information activities, focusing on DOD. USAID was included because its role is also masked to listeners/users in many cases. USAID's explanation for this non-disclosure, from its Afghan director, was included in the piece and speaks for itself. (They told me they asked for and received a waiver from their disclosure policies.) You might seek out the USAID funded poll in Afghanistan last spring that found that the credibility of an openly branded American information product ---the Voice of America--- was very low, about 11 percent I recall, compared to the BBC, somewhere in the mid 50's I believe. That helps explain why contractors talk about their ability to keep the US footprint invisible."

The US shouldn't hide its promotion of the truth -- but it should only promote true stories. It prolly shouldn't pay to get them into print.

The Belmont Club - Bolivia elects anti-American Leftist: quotes Int'l Herald Tribune: " Morales, 46, an Aymara Indian and former coca farmer who also promises to roll back American-prescribed economic changes, had garnered up to 51 percent of the vote, according to televised quick-count polls, which tally a sample of votes at polling places and are considered highly accurate.

Publius Pundit, a blog that closely watches developments in Latin America says it wasn't even close. 'There was nothing fraudulent about it, and voter turnout was an amazing 80%. Bolivians who are celebrating this are happy because Morales is the first-ever indigenous Aymara president the nation has ever had. For people who have been shut out from the existing system, for whatever reason, it’s a great step forward to see one of their own in the highest office in the land.'"

The Belmont Club on disputed Iraq elections: "This was one of the first elections of its type in that part of the world, and it's likely, in my opinion, that there were problems in the voting and the counting. The US will be probably be relied upon by all parties, to keep the level of cheating down to the level where results are acceptable. That probably means that the vote count itself will only be one source of input in a hybrid system that will eventually be (in my view) be a negotiated electoral result. The balance will be correct when nobody rushes out to restart hostilities. That means it's acceptable."

The US presence means the hostilities will NOT restart on a major level. How much will the US support Sunnis against majoritarian Shia?

Austin Bay : "meant to link to this Wall St Journal essay yesterday– a very different take on the military “story scandal” in Iraq. The author makes an interesting point about military intel units and “information operations” (propaganda in this case). I think paying papers to take stories is absurd, unless the papers run it as advertising. Public relations is something else. Every organization engages in PR– and calling attention to stories (then letting journalists decide if they want to cover it) is part of the PR business."

The WSJ author thinks military intel is not fully competent; Austin thinks he's 40 years out of date.

I, too, think "paying" papers to take stories is bad -- but the military should have it's own news website, and offer MilNews in a print format, too.

Achenblog: Daily Humor and Observations from Joel Achenbach: "Deborah Howell got things rolling Sunday with her ombudsman column that aired Post newsroom grievances about Froomkin's column. Howell wrote: 'Political reporters at The Post don't like WPNI columnist Dan Froomkin's 'White House Briefing,' which is highly opinionated and liberal. They're afraid that some readers think that Froomkin is a Post White House reporter. John Harris, national political editor at the print Post, said, 'The title invites confusion. It dilutes our only asset -- our credibility' as objective news reporters.' Howell noted that dot.com boss Jim Brady is considering adding a 'conservative' columnist."

More on this, and why it is important.

Bill Quick on the PressThink - Froomkin "liberal moonbat vs accountability attack dog"
kerfluffle. Bill's "first reaction to this - well, my second, since my first is how little this fraternal spat really matters in the larger scheme of things - is that Froomkin is practicing Mary Mapes/Dan Rather journalism: It doesn't matter if he is biased so far to the left that Walter Duranty is nodding his head in approval down in hell, because Bush deserves it. And since Bush deserves it (left unsaid is why nobody else seems to deserve it, at least not from Froomkin), why, then, the obligation of all good journalists should be to give it to him hot and heavy."

Yep, once it's decided that Bush is evil, nothing else matters as much.

Jeff Weintraub on Paul Berman and Bob Herbert: "what if, in addition to feeling anger at Saddam (and at Sadr in his shroud, and at Mussab Al Zarqawi with his knife, and at Saddam's army, which was organizing suicide terrorists even before the invasion), you have also come to feel more than a little anger at George W. Bush? What if you gaze at events in Iraq and say to yourself: Things did not have to be this way. [....] Here is the challenge: to rage at Saddam and other enemies, and, at the same time, to rage in a somewhat different register at Bush, and to keep those two responses in proper proportion to one another."

First above was Berman, then Herbert:
"There has been some encouraging news lately for those who cherish freedom, democracy and the rule of law.
No, I'm not talking about last week's election in Iraq. I mean the recent developments here at home, in the United States."

Now Jeff:
"Sure, why should he talk about something so trivial as the first real parliamentary election in Iraq in a half-century, which also happened to be one of the most free and possibly consequential national elections in the history of the Arab Middle East--accomplished in the midst of massive social dislocation, ongoing civil war, a savage campaign of terrorism against Iraqi civilians, and credible threats to murder anyone who voted? I might slide over this remark as simply an example of bad taste, except I know that Herbert has consistently advocated that the US simply abandon Iraq, so that the Iraqis who voted last week can be slaughtered by the fascists and jihadis at the heart of the so-called "insurgency." Since Herbert is committed to this position, why complicate it by offering more than a dismissive passing mention of the Iraqi election--just enough to make it clear that no intelligent person should take that nonsense seriously? And now, back to Washington ...."

La Shawn Barber’s Corner: "What upset me was that instead of being proud of the U.S.’ contribution to a significant and long-lasting geopolitical event – namely the successful parliamentary elections in Iraq – the party out of power took a cheap shot at my country’s international prestige by making something necessarily covert sound illegal. Add to this insult that neither the NYTimes nor WaPo would put an effort into uncovering the person who disclosed these secret details with the same fervor as they’ve covered PlameGate … but I digress."

La Shawn is upset at Dems; and media. And rightfully so.

Dean's World -Bush wrong on wiretaps -: "President Bush claims that he is only using this against 'people with known links to al-Qaeda and related terrorist organizations'. This wouldn’t be a huge problem. Indeed, our system gives him the right and ability to do just that—through a law called FISA (Ezra Klein has more). The problem is that Bush has no one looking over his shoulder to make sure he isn’t abusing his power. We have to take the President’s word that he’s being responsible. Taking a President’s own word is using his power justly is the very antithesis of what it means to be an American."

Andrew at Dean's World has a good description of why Pres. Bush is wrong; though he doesn't mention it was Clinton who got the power.

Political folk should expect the opposition to get, and use, the power they support the gov't in having.

Dean's World - -: "Regardless, I think more people should be exposed to books like this. Especially young people. Having recently graduated college I have to say that I was extraordinarily disappointed during my four year journey how little independent thought or critical thinking were really part of the curriculum in the two universities I attended. School today still seems to be mostly a matter of accepting Delivered Wisdom From On High rather than what a liberal education is really supposed to be all about: learning to think for yourself, to question authority, and reason things out."

Dean remains critical of his own college education -- but wisely supports Freakenomics

Media Lies - Third Time's the Charm: "Three times this year the Iraqis have voted. Three times this year the Iraqis have defied the terrorists. Three times this year the Iraqis have defied the haters and the murderers. Three times the Iraqis have stared death in the face and not backed down. Three times. Three times!

Do you understand what that means? Do you have any idea what they have done? Do you realize what courage it took to march to the polls when you knew that you could be murdered? How many times have you voluntarily gone somewhere that you knew wasn't safe? Where you could lose your life and you knew it? Yet you went anyway. How many times? The Iraqis have done it three times!"

Yes, yes, yes. Go democracy. Win!
Really.
End the dictatorships, and THEN we can have Peace on Earth.

Grim's Hall: "Her Girl Scout patch jacket was what she missed the most; and her father's jacket that he'd given her, which he'd worn in World War II. Her cashmire scarf, which was her grandmother's. All lost. Looking again never changed anything, and I never knew why she did. It just meant two days in tears for her, every time."

Seems Grim -- but has a happy, tearful ending.

normblog: "In one area, however, this is [a] big mistake. Cameron has long supported the British deployment in Iraq; at first this did not distinguish him from the reflexive 'back our troops' rhetoric of the Conservative mainstream. But in fact, Cameron, a committed hawk and idealist, has clear and controversial views on the removal of Saddam Hussein and the war on terror."

Norm cites the New Republic, and of course I agree with this. The Dems must embrace democracy promotion or they'll remain very weak.

The quote ends with my own exact thoughts: "In fact, perhaps rather than criticizing Bush for projecting American power too boldly abroad, Democrats should be criticizing him for not projecting it boldly enough - our failure to act in Darfur being a case in point."

BREITBART.COM - Number of electoral democracies reaches 122 as freedom spreads: "The three additions to the list of electoral democracies were the African nations of Burundi, Liberia and the Central African Republic."

BREITBART.COM - Number of electoral democracies reaches 122 as freedom spreads: "The number of electoral democracies around the world rose from 119 to 122 this year, setting a new record as freedom made inroads in the Middle East and Africa, an independent monitoring group said. But in its annual report rating every nation in the world as 'free,' 'partly free' or 'not free,' Freedom House on Monday expressed concern about countries like the United States and France, where it saw 'looming problems' with electoral setups and immigrant integration."

Important progress, but some 3 big steps (Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine?), with some small backward nudges.

Pajamas Media - An Academy Member talks out of school - Part 2: "Now I admit, having lately left the liberal 'church,' my views of this film may be suspect. I did find peculiar, however, (though not surprising) the movie's complete omission or ignorance of newly revealed details from that period, including the discovery of KGB files indicating Hiss, the Rosenbergs, etc., actually did spy for Stalin, passing atomic secrets to a regime that murdered tens of millions of its own people. Although this does not exonerate the repellent and opportunistic McCarthy, it makes for a more complex vision of those times and a much more interesting film."

McCarthy was more right than the McCarthy demonizers would let on.

Marc Cooper Bush’s B.S. against Bush's wiretapping: "Bush’s stated rationale for spying without any oversight by the courts– that this unchecked power was implicitly granted by the 2002 congressional vote to authorize war in Iraq—is absolutely preposterous. And equally dishonest, I might add."

I think Marc will be proven legally incorrect.

David Corn: "Jack Anderson, the crusading investigative journalist who once was the most important independent journalist in the nation, died this past weekend. In 1987, during my first year in Washington for The Nation, I wrote a profile of Anderson that was not complimentary. By that point, he had lost much of his game and had become ensnared in several sleazy business dealings. My aim was to provide some constructive criticism--which came to me mostly from people working with him who had started to fret about him--that might nudge him back toward the path of his former glory days. Of course, it didn't work. The article merely pissed him off royally. Lesson learned (for me): constructive criticism is rarely seen as constructive by the subject of the criticism."

More about Jack, and independence, and investigation. Then on Bono and AIDS

The Anchoress on Advent: "Advent, as no other season, is the season when one feels fully the truth that God stands outside of time - that time is a construct, but nothing real - and that the Incarnation is an Eternal breakthrough between heaven and earth, between Creator and creature. A Parent possessed of a truly incomprehensible love reaches toward us with such tenderness as one cannot say."

The Anchoress wants the Dems to get serious: "There is nothing, of course, indicating that the Dems and the left are serious, still, about national security or the war. All indicators are that the left is serious about only two things: 1) Destroying George W. Bush and 2) attaining power by any means necessary."

The Anchoress a Foto: "A beautiful child being treated with utmost tenderness, and am I the only one struck by how handsome the Iraqi people are?"

The Anchoress on the NYC Transport Workers Strike: "It’s an illegal strike. Writes Thom, “Apparently, the International Union that oversees this local one was against the strike, and advised against it, but the local overruled them. And now there is a lot of legal wrangling going on. The International Union might take way the local’s certification. It’s going to get ugly. The big sticking point seems to be pensions. The MTA wants new hires to fork over 6% of their pay for their pensions.”"

I think it would be best if the MTA declared bankruptcy, and then Bloomberg/ Pataki called in the National Guard. And all workers got fired.

The Anchoress on wiretaps: "In response, Clifford May quotes Jamie Gorelick, the erector of walls between the CIA and FBI:

Gorelick 2005: “The issue here is this: If you’re John McCain and you just got Congress to agree to limits on interrogation techniques, why would you think that limits anything if the executive branch can ignore can ignore it by asserting its inherent authority?”- Jamie Gorelick, former deputy attorney general under President Clinton, in today’s Washington Post, p. A10.

Gorelick: 1994 “The Department of Justice believes, and the case law supports, that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes and that the President may, as has been done, delegate this authority to the Attorney General.

“It is important to understand, that the rules and methodology for criminal searches are inconsistent with the collection of foreign intelligence and would unduly frustrate the president in carrying out his foreign intelligence responsibilities.” - Jamie Gorelick testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 14, 1994, as quoted by Byron today elsewhere on NRO.

May says: Gorelick is making a simple point: The rules are different when there is a Democrat in the White House. What about that don’t you understand?"

---
There's a little fire in this smoke; and now the program will end. I really hope Bush pushes a special prosecutor to FIRE the CIA staff/ Dem staff, who leaked this info.
If somebody can go to jail for illegally leaking info about Plame, they should be going to jail about this.
Rove should have it as a high priority.


The Anchoress rightly concludes: "The left is still not serious."

neo-neocon: Holocaust denial: it's catching: "But Holocaust denial has spread to Arab countries, and of course to Iran. The reasons are not completely clear, but it seems to go with the territory of anti-Semitism itself. After all, if one desires to hate Jews and to blame them for all manner of evil, and at the same time one imagines there's a need to be sympathetic to victims (and to elevate the Palestinians as victims extraordinaire), then the Jews have to be discredited as victims. They must have no sympathy whatsoever in order to become the villains of the piece. And to do that one must deny that the Holocaust ever occurred--so that their re-victimhood may be safely contemplated, and with a clear conscience."

Neo's post notes more details about the Holocaust, its denial, and the films made by the Brits to "prove" the unbelievability of what was done.


-- as a sufferer of Holocaust Fatigue, I'm saddened and tired by the deniers. And sad for the "never again" LIE, when applied to Cambodia, to Rwanda -- and to Sudan, today.

Holocaust Denial today is actually LESS BAD than anti-Vietnam war protesters who denial supporting commie victory, and thus commie genocide.

Grim's Hall on Martial Arts: "This spiritual sword is used to cleave away the parts of yourself that weaken your spirit, so that you are more easily dominated. As it happens, those are the same parts that we tend to think of as being vices. What remains are the parts we think of as virtues. You must learn to strike down the desire for ease, and train instead. You must learn to strike down the desire for excess food, so that you can manage your weight. "

The social and spiritual function of the martial arts, in a concise, brief form.

Gateway Pundit - Deeyah is Under Threat: "Deeyah, praised by her fans around the world as the Muslim Madonna has teamed up with Young MayLay who stars as CJ, the lead role in Grand Theft Auto. The new single will be released on January 16th and will deliver a powerful statement expressing Deeyah’s beliefs regarding the rights of women from all faiths and cultures-- to speak out about social issues, sexuality, empowerment-- and to lead their lives the way they choose without the fear of reprisals or judgment by religious or cultural fanatics.

Shot in India and LA, Deeyah’s new video features the images of many women including those from her own Islamic faith who have endeavored to lead their lives with freedom of expression, particularly in the way they dress and speak. Every image in the video has a story behind it, and in some cases, the ending is very shocking."

One of the empowered women was murdered in her own home; prolly because of the way she dressed, and talked.

The anti-war feminists have to be crazy to be against the Liberation of Muslim women by President Bush -- but most seem to suffer from that.

Gateway Pundit: Charting the Iraq War: "This number of civilian(?) casualties lost during war, as sad as it is, is at a rate less than when Saddam was in power and filling his mass graves.

This shows how Iraq War Casualties compares to other American Wars:"

Fine set of graphs on the death rates (fatalities) of various wars. The US Civil War, at 562 000 is still the worst American war, worse than WW II at 408 000.

Those against the war should be asked two questions:
1) Is it good that Saddam is gone, after violating 17 UN Sec. Council resolutions?
2) How many Americans would have died in a "competent, well planned" war?

And perhaps a third) where has it ever been done better in history?

Michael J. Totten: Nasser’s Biggest Crime: Michael is talking to the Egyptian Big Pharaoh " 'Nasser’s biggest crime was not establishing democracy when he took over,' he said. 'Back then, Egyptian people were liberal. It would have worked then. But not now.'

Progress is a funny thing. We Westerners like to think it moves in a straight line. In America that’s pretty much how it is. No serious person would argue that American culture was more liberal and tolerant in the 1950s than it is now. But Egypt, amazingly, moved in exactly the other direction."

Michael's theory is that Muslim countries will have to experience Islamism, like Iran, Afghanistan, & Algeria, before they learn to reject it in practice.

I think there is a window of opportunity for Westerner's to invest in Egypt, rather than give aid, and give hope thru jobs. Not politics.

There is also a possibility for devolution of central power to the cities/ states, so that some can be more Muslim than others? Not sure such a Federal model can work in Egypt, where Big Pharaoh says Egyptians are a "flock, a herd, following a shephard."

Gateway Pundit: Even with Hocking the Louvre, France Looks to Go Bust: "This week, France woke up to a report into its astronomical public debt, which is now higher than E2000 billion ($3210billion), or 200 per cent of GDP.

'Our state is bankrupt,' wrote Pascal Gobry, of the French Institute of Actuaries, in Le Monde.

'Even if it would sell to the Japanese the Palace of Versailles at a high price, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, all of our patrimony, the French state could not honour her commitments for retirees or salaries. The king is completely nude.'"

As France continues to print money/ deficit spend, rather than reform, their debt will break the Euro.
Neither Slovakia nor any other state should enter the Euro until France and Germany fulfill their Stability Pact commitments.