Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Chemical caches found in Fallujah, Iraq

ABC AU is reporting more chemical caches have been found in Iraq.

US forces say they are continuing to find large caches of arms in the city of Fallujah several weeks after they gained total control of the former insurgent stronghold.

Army commanders say they are continuing their house-to-house searches in the devastated city.

They say they have made about 500 large weapons discoveries.

[ mostly in mosques by the way .ed]

But Major General Richard Natonsky says they have made other more sinister finds as well.

"We found - and I've been in one of them - but I know we've found at least two or three chemical caches," he said.

"I know cyanide was part of it, glycerin."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chemical caches found in Fallujah, Iraq

ABC AU is reporting more chemical caches have been found in Iraq.

US forces say they are continuing to find large caches of arms in the city of Fallujah several weeks after they gained total control of the former insurgent stronghold.

Army commanders say they are continuing their house-to-house searches in the devastated city.

They say they have made about 500 large weapons discoveries.

[ mostly in mosques by the way .ed]

But Major General Richard Natonsky says they have made other more sinister finds as well.

"We found - and I've been in one of them - but I know we've found at least two or three chemical caches," he said.

"I know cyanide was part of it, glycerin."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iranian Bloggers Behind Bars

From Michelle Malkin

in Iran. Reporters Without Borders is keeping on top of the story:
"The government is now attacking blogs, the last bastion of freedom on a network that is experiencing ever tighter control," said the worldwide press freedom organisation. "At the same time, an Iranian delegate is sitting on a UN-created working group on Internet governance. The international community should condemn this masquerade," it added.


Send your protests to the U.N Working Group on Internet Governance, care of Edoardo Bellando. E-mail: bellando@un.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swift Boat Veteran needs help

Recently I posted about Swift Boat Veteran Steve Gardner and how he got fired for not supporting John Kerry.

Powerline has the information on how to help an old sea dog and patriot, Steve Gardner.

Here's the info I have from Steve. He has a paypal account through his email: sgardner5@carolina.rr.com; there's also a snail-mail address: P.O. Box 908; Clover, SC 29710.

Let's show those left wing nut jobs they can't treat our Veterans like this.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iraq - "In the red zone" by Steven Vincent

Chrenkoff reviews Vincent's insightful book on post war Iraq.

Here are just a few interesting tidbits on how the media are covering, er making up, events.

"...Sometimes, the Western media is difficult to distinguish from the activists:

"Haider, for example, told me of acting as a translator for a German TV crew working outside Baghdad in the summer of 2003. The crew, he recounted, filmed a village trash heap, then reported , over his protests, that the smoldering compost was once 'fertile farmland destroyed by Coalition bombs'. In September, He accompanied a French photographer as she wandered through Baghdad looking for a scene that would dramatize Iraqi suffering resulting from war. Unable to find a suitable tableau, she paid an Iraqi woman to kneel in the debris of a partially demolished building and raise her arms to heaven as if imploring Allah to strike down the American infidels. 'The photographer had me ask the woman to remove her wristwatch so she wouldn't look too wealthy,' Haider related. Mohammad recalled watching an Al-Jazeera film crew pay men loitering on Saddoun Street to throw rocks and light a car on fire. 'Within a few minutes, Al-Jazeera made their own "anti-American" demonstration,' he said."


We'll have to take his word for it that it was Al Jazeera and not the BBC.

From Chrenkoff,

You can get Vincent's book in all good bookshops, or better still, order it straight from the publisher and save 50% on the cover price.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slow blogging

Sorry for the slow blogging but something seems amiss at Blogger. Things seem to be running sloooooooow over there today. I can hardly post or edit.

Oh, well, must not complain it is free after all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iraq health care 'in deep crisis'

So claims The BBC in another anti-war hit piece.

Iraq's health system is in a far worse condition than before the war, a British medical charity says.

Two things jump out from the first paragraph.

First, the BBC does not know that "Iraq health care 'in deep crisis'", they say "a British medical charity says" so. That doesn't stop the BBC from using the scare headline which fits nicely with anti-war sentiment. The BBC hopes this will stop you from questioning their source. Besides the "source" is after all a "British medical charity" and who would question them?

Me.

Second, the source is called Medcat and who are they you may and should ask?

Medcat

Medact was formed by a merger of two older organisations in 1992. The first, the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, was founded by Sir Richard Doll, Horace Joules, Lionel Penrose and others in 1951 during the Korean War as a medical lobby for peace. The second, the Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons, was founded in 1980 and was instrumental in undermining the idea that nuclear war was "survivable". Medact's work on war and weapons continues today, and is now complemented by action on the health impacts of poverty and environmental change.

Things that make you go, hmmmm. "Medact's work on war and weapons continues today". What does this statement mean? Well since Medcat is a merger of two well known former anti-war groups, the answer is anti-war work. But hey, it fits the BBC's anti-war and by extension, anti-American crusade.

Medcat has been in the firing line before.

Deep down in the story we are at least given a snippet of the Iraqi governments position.

However, an official at the Iraqi health ministry, Dr Shakir al-Ainachi, said that in the past year the interim government had made a lot of progress in repairing the health care system.

He said government warehouses were full of medical supplies and were being distributed by the lorryload every day.


Readers wanting to balance out the never ending "the sky is falling" from the BBC and other MSM, might want to check out Cherenkoff's site where he does an outstanding job of providing a great round up of good news from Iraq, Afghanistan and the Islamic world.

UPDATE: It just keeps getting better and better.

MSNBC has the story and offers this insightful tidbit the BBC left out.

The report, which is based on interviews in Jordan with Iraqi civilians, relief organizations and health professionals who worked in Iraq, called for Britain to set up an independent commission to investigate civilian casualties and to provide emergency relief and a better health system.

Got that? "Iraq health care 'in deep crisis', says the BBC, who heard it from Medcat, who heard it from some people in Jordan!!

We know Medcat is an anti-war organization but who are these "Iraqi civilians, relief organizations and health professionals who worked in Iraq"? We are not told.

The BBC heard it from an anti-war group who heard it from someone else and so that is good enough for the BBC to run with the scare headline.

I want my BBC tax money back!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The UN and what to do about it

Writing in the New York Times, William Safire is even calling for Koffi Annan to resign over the UN oil for food scandal.

And now The New York Sun reports "Annan's Son Took Payments Through 2004"

Recently Reuters reported The United Nations (news - web sites) is investigating about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by U.N. civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them recorded on videotape, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.

The UN makes a habit of investigating itself and then finding nothing amiss.

Then there are the failures in Rawanda and the Sudan.

It's no wonder UN staff to vote on no-confidence motion against Annan? Especially after this.

The lawyer for a United Nations staff member who brought sexual harassment charges against Ruud Lubbers, the high commissioner for refugees, said Friday that Secretary General Kofi Annan's admission that he had overruled his own investigators in clearing Mr. Lubbers would support an appeal against the ...

The vote passed but stopped short of condemning Annan by name but did condemn senior management.

And the hits just keep coming. Today LFG is reporting "that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which administers UN services in the Palestinian territories, has accepted millions of dollars in funding from groups that openly support international terrorism."

All of this and more have prompted CONGRESS EYES U.N. FUND CUT

It has been done before.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Writer Says Media is Election's Big Loser: 21 Times

NYU gathers up some pundits thoughts on how the Presidential election was the downfall of main stream media (MSM).

One has to wonder just how much more Bush would have won the election by if MSM had not tried to defeat him and elect Kerry.

I don't think MSM have learned their lesson yet and that is a pity. Even though that will give bloggers plenty to write about, I don't think it is a good thing. MSM need to get back to the basics of just reporting the facts and let us make up our own minds.

Here is an example from The Corner

Note the differences between how AP introduces the nominee for Commerce vs. how the NYT does.

Here's the AP:

"WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Monday chose Carlos Gutierrez, a native of Cuba who rose from truck driver to chief executive officer of Kellogg Co., to be secretary of Commerce. "

Here's the Times, or at least what goes out to the Times News Service:

"BUSH FILLS FOURTH SLOT IN SECOND TERM CABINET
" (For use by New York Times News Service clients.)
" By STEWART M. POWELL û
" c. 2004 Hearst Newspapers û

" WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday named multimillionaire Carlos Gutierrez, the Cuba-born head of the $9 billion-a-year Kellogg cereal company, to join his 15-member Cabinet as secretary of commerce in a continued shake up for the second term.


Now I don't know what you got out of those two different headlines, but here is what I got.

The AP headline tells me Gutierrez lives the American dream, he rose from humble Cuban truck driver to a Cabinet position.

The Times headline tells me Bush appointed one of his rich corporate buddies to a Cabinet position.

That is the power of the blogsphere. Some might see the NYT headline and some might see the AP headline, in the blogsphere you can see them both side by side. MSM would do well to learn this lesson.

By the way, as I understand it, Kellog's profits rose 131% under Gutierrez, which might just have a bearing on why Bush chose him for Secretary of Commerce.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Al-Qaeda deputy tape and Bush visits Canada - any connection?

Just prior to President Bush's official visit to Canada, a video tape from Al Qaeda is released.

Is the tape a signal to Al Qaeda operatives in Canada to mount some kind of attack?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, November 29, 2004

How John Kerry whistleblower suffered for truth

The Sun Times reports "How Kerry whistleblower suffered for truth".

This is the story of a military veteran whistleblower. He spoke out against someone he thought was dangerous for the nation, talked to local newspapers, and appeared on talk shows. In return, he was vilified by reporters, threatened by a political operative, fired by his company, and now he's broke.

His name is Steve Gardner. He's also known as "The 10th Brother," as in Band of Brothers. He's one of two members of Sen. John Kerry's 12 Vietnam swift boat crew members who refused to stand with Kerry at the Democratic Convention. The other man remained silent.

"They said I had a political agenda. I had no and have no political agenda whatsoever. I saw John Kerry on television saying he was running for the Democratic nomination for president, and I knew I couldn't ever see him as commander in chief -- not after what I saw in Vietnam, not after the lies I heard him tell about what he says he did and what he says others did."


So what happened to him?

Twenty-four hours later, Gardner got an e-mail from his company, Millennium Information Services, informing him that his services would no longer be necessary. He was laid off in an e-mail -- by the same man who only days before had congratulated him for his exemplary work in a territory which covered North and South Carolina. The e-mail stated that his position was being eliminated. Since then, he's seen the company advertising for his old position. Gardner doesn't have the money to sue to get the job back.

"I'm broke. I've been hurt every way I can be hurt. I have no money in the bank but am doing little bits here and there to pay the bills," he said.

All the millions of dollars raised by Gardner and his fellow Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and all the proceeds from John O'Neill's book, Unfit for Command, go to families of veterans, POWs and MIAs.

And, even though Gardner is broke and jobless for speaking out, the husband and father of three says he'd do it all over again. He says it wasn't for politics. It was for America.


I'm not sure if this site is for the same Millennium Information Services that Gardner worked for but use the contact link at the bottom of the page to email them and find out.

UPDATE: Here is Mr. Gardner's email address if you want to show your support.

sgardner5@carolina.rr.com

via Powerline
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7 Suicide Cars Found in Iraq Mosque

AINA News is reporting "A mosque raided by security forces in southern Baghdad contained a workshop to rig suicide car bombs, with seven vehicles ready for terror attacks, an Iraqi Defense Ministry official said Sunday."

National Guard forces raided the Sunni Muslim Al-Yassen Mosque in the Baghdad area of Abu Dshir on Saturday, said Gen. Saleh Sarhan. In addition to the seven cars, guardsmen found 30 rocket-propelled grenades, high-powered rifles, mortars and remote control detonators, Sarhan said.

He said the mosque leader and 18 other people were detained.

Anti-U.S. guerrillas used about 60 mosques in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, to stockpile weapons and provide cover during a U.S.-led offensive in the city earlier this month, the U.S. military said. One of the mosques was described as a general arms depot capable of equipping guerrillas across much of Iraq.


I'd say it was well past time to search all the mosques.

Hat tip Rantburg
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BBC bias - reply to a commenter

"It strikes me that you're obsessed with non-existant bias in the BBCs coverage of the Iraq invasion"

My blog is dedicated to exposing the BBC's bias and anti-American crusade. Just go to the top of my blog, http://www.ussneverdock.blogspot.com/ and scroll down. Also read the archives and you will find all the proof you need of BBC bias.

Also, visit the blogs under "BBC Unspun" on the left.

"The BBC's job is to report news, its not propaganda or an 'attack on America'"

The BBC is failing in its' job and my blog contains the proof of their propaganda and attacks on America.

"Indeed if the BBC really reflected the feelings of many Britons it wouldn't be nearly as objective as it is."

Actually, it is precisely due to the BBC's bias and anti-American crusade that many Britions feel the way they do about America. I know, I'm an American living in Britain.

"You've lived in Britain, right? Then you'll know that few people believe the spin that both the Bush government and our own put on the events in Iraq."

The spin is coming from mainstream media like CBS news who used forged documents in an effort to defeat Bush. And the New York Times who teamed up with CBS to air the fabricated story of missing explosvies in Iraq. The BBC does the same things in the UK.

Remember, Bush was reelected with an overwhelming majority, Republicans gained seats in the Senate, House, and Governorships.

I'd say the American public saw through the media spin.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More BBC bias

Stephen Pollard has some thoughts.

I don't normally repost someone else's entire post but Stephen's is not that long but to the point.

A correspondent informs me that the headlines on the PM programme today included this priceless piece of bias:

Marwan Barghouti, who was jailed by Israel for leading the Intifada, has announced that he will stand for President of the Palestinian Authority.

The statement that Barghouti was jailed "for leading the intifada" is not merely wrong, it is so completely wrong that it can only signal an ignorance so profound that its author has no place anywhere near news scripts - or a bias which is equally profound.

As my correspondent puts it:

Marwan Barghouti was not jailed by Israel for "leading the Intifida". He was jailed for the murder of five civilians, for involvement in four terror attacks, given 20 years for attempted murder and another 20 for membership of a terrorist organization. Barghouti was found guilty for his role in three attacks that killed a Greek Orthodox monk near Ma'aleh Adumim in 2001; an Israeli near Givat Ze'ev in 2002; and three people at a Tel Aviv restaurant in 2002.

The more the BBC pumps out these misstatements, the more they enter public consciousness as the truth. After all, if it was on the BBC, it must be right, eh?

No. If it's on the BBC, and it concerns Israel, chances are it's entirely wrong.

[ If it's on the BBC and concerns terrorism or America chances are it's entirely wrong or biased .ed]

UPDATE: This post originally said the headline was broadcast on Five Live. In fact it was on PM (although I'd be amazed if that form of words wasn't used across the BBC).


No need to be amazed, the BBC are happy to oblige.

Barghouti opts out of election

Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti will not run in the Palestinian presidential election, an official says.

Can't you just feel the sympathy dripping from the BBC webpage? How about "Jailed convicted murderer and terrorist Marwan BArghouti..."?

The jailed activist was said to be considering challenging Mr Abbas in January's presidency elections.

"the jailed activist"!!! Barghouti is a convicted murderer and terrorist!!

Arrrrgh!! "Jailed Palestinian leader", "Jailed activist", what next BBC - "Jailed Saint"?

Through its' propaganda, lies, baseless attacks and spin, the BBC are directly responsible for some of the terrorism in the world today. The BBC provide aid and comfort to the enemy, support to terrorists and a mouthpiece for their propaganda. This is why the BBC's charter should not be renewed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BBC reports "Journalists' safety is top priority"

The BBC reports "By some counts, more than 1,200 journalists and media workers have been killed in the past 10 years, more than two thirds dying in their own countries."

So, why post about this article from the BBC?

Note, according to this article, more than 1,200 journalists and media workers have been killed. Which one out of the more than 1,200 do you think the BBC chose to use a photograph of?

Journalist Mazen Tumeisi - killed by US missiles in September

Maybe they used Tumeisi because it just happened in September or maybe because it happened in Iraq - kind of a two for one - America kills journalist and America kills journalist in Iraq.

A small point? Not when taken in context with the BBC's relentless attack on America and the BBC's outright support of terrorists.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BBC continues pro terrorist propaganda

Look at this BBC headline,

Israelis kill three Palestinians

How does it make you feel? Angry? Repulsed?

What did you think? Damn Israelis killing innocent Palestinians again? Why doesn't someone do something to stop the murdering Israelis?

That's what the BBC want you to feel and think.

The BBC hopes you are like most people, too busy getting on with your life to stop and read the article. The headline is all you need to know. "Israelis kill three Palestinians", now move along, just more of the same from murdering Israelis, move along now.

Hang on just a damn minute here. Just who was killed.

Not until the sixth paragraph of the story are we told,

Correspondents identified the two dead in Hebron as members of the Hamas militant organisation.

[make that "terrorist organisation" ed]

Witnesses said one of them was a local Hamas chief called Murad Qawasmeh.


The correct headline should be something like "Palestinian terrorist leader killed"?

It's not just Palestinian terrorists the BBC support, heck no, al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq get the backing of the BBC as well.

Aid reaches Falluja's citizens - truth escapes BBC

Here is an article exposing the BBC's rigged anti-American poll and using a well known anti-war activist as a source for reporting in Falluja in April 2004.

After I emailed my complaint over the Falluja story the BBC retracted it and wrote me an apology. The BBC should have posted an apology on the BBC website. How many people still believe the bogus BBC story?

As always, the BBC online complaint form is on the left. Use it often, I do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope for Muslims to save Islam?

Is the tide starting to turn?

On his latest video tape, bin Laden bemoans his failure in Afghanistan and to change America after killing nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children.

Likewise, on his latest tape Zarqawi bemoans his failures in Iraq.

Then we have,

The Arab News is reporting "Over 2,500 Muslim intellectuals from 23 countries have signed a petition to the United Nations calling for an international treaty to ban the use of religion for incitement to violence."

And,

British Muslims push to integrate

Members of Britain's growing Muslim population are working to repair an image tattered by homegrown radicals - and to find a place in mainstream society.

In America,

U.S. Muslim Cable TV Channel Aims to Build Bridges

The station will differ from popular Arabic satellite channels like al-Jazeera in that it is focused on life in America, in English and backed by U.S. money, he said.

We shall see, we shall see.

It will be a long hard road and take years. I wonder if Muslims realize just how much damage bin Laden did to Islam? And how long before Muslims realize that jihad is not the way forward?

A while it would seem.

I recently posted a link to a The New York Post article about Europe's coming civil war with Muslim extremists.

And the Asia Times then reported "...most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh" and "In Germany, most of the country's Muslim groups refused to take part in this past Sunday's Muslim demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence.

While Fox News reports on "Islamic Recruiters Target Potential Jihadees".

In France, with more Muslims (search) than any other European nation nearly 6 million that recruitment often starts in the mosque and the ethnic ghettos that ring the capital. [...]

On Fridays before prayers, the Imam trolls the housing projects, looking for followers among the weak who may some day be ready to kill in the name of jihad.


Yes, a long road indeed.

Hat tip to Jihad Watch

UPDATE:

Daniel Pipes thinks "Bridges TV" may be off to a bad start.

Were Investors in "Bridges TV" Misled? The Buffalo News carries a puff-piece today on the Nov. 30 opening of "Bridges TV," a new cable channel aimed at American Muslim viewers. Its founder and chief executive officer, Muzzammil S. Hassan, 40, says he chose the name because its purpose is "to build bridges of friendship and understanding." It all sounds great until one learns that the project's $5-$10 million in backing from more than fifty investors seems to be based on an error: "Hassan was able to sell investors," the Buffalo News's Jay Tokasz reports, "on key demographics for the nation's estimated 7 million Muslims." A more accurate population figure of U.S. Muslims would be less than half that large.

It is hard to imagine that hard-headed investors would put their funds into an operation premised on the mythical but faulty figure of 7 million Muslims in the United States, but if they really did, then I suspect it won't be around very long. (November 26, 2004)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stop Terror Sheikhs, Muslim Academics Demand

If true, this could be good news but the devil may be in the fine print.

The Arab News is reporting "Over 2,500 Muslim intellectuals from 23 countries have signed a petition to the United Nations calling for an international treaty to ban the use of religion for incitement to violence."

Nablusi said hundreds of Arab writers and academics were collecting more signatures and hope to have “tens of thousands” by next month. Among those collecting signatures are Jawad Hashem, a former Iraqi minister of planning, and Alafif Al-Akdhar, a leading Tunisian writer and academic. Most of the signatories are from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states plus Iraq, Jordan and Palestine.

The signatories describe those who use religion for inciting violence as “the sheikhs of death”. Among those mentioned by name is Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian preacher working in Qatar. The signatories accuse him of “providing a religious cover for terrorism.”

Last year Qaradawi raised a storm when he issued a fatwa allowing the killing of Israeli pregnant women and their unborn babies on the ground that the babies could grow up to join the Israeli Army. Last September, Qaradawi in a fatwa in response to a question from the Egyptian Union of Journalists said killing “all Americans, civilian or military” in Iraq was allowed.


Nice fellow this Qaradawi and you may remember him from his visit to the UK.

The BBC reports,

Home Secretary David Blunkett was asked earlier this week to ban the Egyptian from entering Britain because of his provocative views, including alleged support of suicide bombers and the beating of women.

["alleged"? The BBC's defence of terrorists never ends. Qaradawi issued Fatwas calling for the killing of innocent people including pregnant women. ed]

He has said the cleric will be closely monitored but that preaching at a mosque that had completely reformed itself did not make him a threat.


Riiiiight.

The signatories of the petition also want the UN to order its member states to stop broadcasting the “mad musings of the theologians of terror.”

Are they referring to the BBC or Al Jazeera? Oh, my bad, they are one and the same.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Media puts the heat on the UN and Koffi Annan

After more than a year of ignoring the biggest financial scandal in the world involving the UN, main stream media take notice - now that Bush won.

Writing in the New York Times, William Safire is even calling for Koffi Annan to resign.

This marks the end of the beginning of the scandal. Its end will not begin until Kofi Annan, even if personally innocent, resigns - having, through initial ineptitude and final obstructionism, brought dishonor on the Secretariat of the United Nations.

While I am glad to see big media finally start to cover the story, they should be ashamed of sitting on it until after the elections in a clear move to help John Kerry.

Here is a link to an earlier post on the UN scandal with links to BBC and Sunday Times articles.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran Group Signs Up Suicide Volunteers

The AP reports this is a "clear indication of at least tacit support from some within Iran's government."

TEHRAN, Iran - The 300 men filling out forms in the offices of an Iranian aid group were offered three choices: Train for suicide attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites), for suicide attacks against Israelis or to assassinate British author Salman Rushdie.

It looked at first glance like a gathering on the fringes of a society divided between moderates who want better relations with the world and hard-line Muslim militants hostile toward the United States and Israel.

But the presence of two key figures — a prominent Iranian lawmaker and a member of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards — lent the meeting more legitimacy and was a clear indication of at least tacit support from some within Iran's government.


Sooner or later...

Via Ace of Spades
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, November 28, 2004

No flaw is found in Bush's Florida state win

The Miami Herald reports "Some critics have alleged that Florida's majority vote for President Bush was flawed. The Herald counted the votes in three North Florida counties and found little discrepancy."

They just can't help themselves, can they? Make that no discrepancy.

LAKE BUTLER - Since George W. Bush captured Florida and the White House again, critics have fixed their sights on northern pockets of the Sunshine State and asked: How did the Republicans win so heavily in counties stocked with Democrats?

Some wondered whether Florida's tally was corrupt, with one Internet site writing: ``George W. Bush's vote tallies, especially in the key state of Florida, are so statistically stunning that they border on the unbelievable.''

Last week, The Herald went to see for itself whether Bush's steamroll through North Florida was legitimate. Picking three counties that fit the conspiracy theory profile -- staunchly Democratic by registration, whoppingly GOP by voting -- two reporters counted more than 17,000 ballots over three days.

The conclusion: No conspiracy.

The newspaper's count of optical scan ballots in Suwannee, Lafayette and Union counties showed Bush whipping Sen. John Kerry in a swath of Florida where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-1.


So, why the cavet, "little discrepancy"? Why not just a straight up no discrepancy? They just can't help themselves, can they?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aid reaches Falluja's citizens - truth escapes BBC

The BBC continues its' anti-American crusade with this hit piece on Falluja.

Let's start with the caption under the photograph of aid being delivered to Falluja.

"The US prevented aid entering the city for weeks"

Yes, that's right, the mean old US of A wanting to prevent aid getting to needy people. Maybe they didn't want the aid workers, you know, uh, kidnapped like the lady that was in charge of CARE. And maybe, just maybe, they didn't want the supplies falling into terrorists hands.

Next we are told,

But a spokesman says it is feared more than 6,000 people could have died in the assault and thousands of families are in critical need of assistance.

Notice is says more than 6,000 are "feared" to have died. No mention of how this figure was arrived at nor how many of the dead are terrorists. But hey, it works for the BBC's anti-American propaganda machine.

Also notice the "thousands of families are in critical need of assistance". That is strange because the same group the BBC use in this article says the opposite
in this article, scroll down to this,

Iraqi Red Crescent team delivers small number of supplies inside Fallujah, guarded by multinational force--estimates less than 200 families remained through fighting—spokesman Muhammad al-Nuri says bodies everywhere—IRCS President, Dr. Said Ismael Haki says no houses standing in Fallujah;

Then we are told this,

According to the Red Crescent, 60 people came out to get assistance in one street alone.

Does that sound like "thousands of families are in critical need of assistance"? I'm sure there are people who need assistance but how about a fair and balanced report BBC? Because the BBC are relying on Iraqi "stringers" instead of it's own reporters to do the story. Not that it would make a lot of difference mind you.

And then we are meant to be outraged.

"Bodies can be seen everywhere and people were crying when receiving the food parcels. It is very sad, it is a human disaster," Mr Nuri reportedly said.

Since, by their own estimate, only about 200 families remained in Falluja, the "bodies that can be seen everywhere", can be presumed to be terrorists and in that case no, it is not very sad and not a human disaster.

Where is the outrage BBC, over the 20 or more torture chambers that were found? Where is the outrage over the Iraqis found chained to walls and tortured? Where is the outrage over the hostages that have been beheaded?

Where is the outrage over the BBC masquerading as a news organization and spreading propaganda for the terrorists?

The online BBC complaint form is on the left under UK Media complaints.

UPDATE:

I missed this part.

"Bodies can be seen everywhere and people were crying when receiving the food parcels. It is very sad, it is a human disaster," Mr Nuri reportedly said

Get that? Mr. Nuri "reportedly said". The BBC didn't even talk to the guy!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Britain discovers UN oil for food scam

Last week I noted how the BBC had woke up to the UN oil for food scandal and true to form set about blaming the US for the scandal. This despite the fact that the program was designed and run by the UN over many objections by the US.

Now the UK's Sunday Times has "discovered" the UN scam.

British media, much like US media, have done all they can to bury the biggest financial scandal the world has ever seen. And when they are forced, mainly by bloggers, into reporting on it, they waste no time in trying to spin blame on the US.

The UN oil for food scandal is a UN owned and managed scandal, plain and simple. Saddam used the oil money that was meant to alleviate the suffering of his people to bribe permanent members of the UN security council, specifically France, Russia and China.

Finally the story is getting too big for main stream media to ignore and instead of focusing on the US they should be focusing on the UN and Koffi Annan.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Muslim Extremist Leader Dies in Shootout


AP is reporting "Munap Manialah, also known as Commander Munap, was shot dead late Saturday in a firefight with Philippine army and navy troops in southern Basilan island's Isabela city, Philippine army spokesman Maj. Bartolome Bacarro said in a statement. A trooper was slightly wounded in the shootout."

And in an encouraging development that is being repeated over and over where ever terrorists try to operate, AP reports,

Soldiers raided Manialah's hideout after civilians tipped off the military about his presence in Isabela's remote village of Menzi, Philippine navy spokeswoman Lt. Nancy Pastor said.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The latest from the Ukraine

The Command Post has a great round up of links from webcams to bloggers to the latest news. Check it out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Biased media attacks on Bush

Next week will be one month since the US Presidential elections. Looking back on how, the biased main stream media and the Democrats, mounted attacks on Bush in order to help elect Kerry, one has to wonder at what happened to all of those "shocking" stories.

You know the ones, the ones that were flashed all around the globe on TV and in newspapers. The "sky is falling" type stories.

Stories like al Qaqaa. Surely you remember al Qaqaa. Kerry spent an entire week just before election day talking about nothing else. Mainstream media said it was proof Bush had totally mismanaged the war in Iraq. CBS news, having failed to bring down Bush with their forged documents story, conspired with The New York Times to run the al Qaqaa story on election eve.

Oh, the al Qaqaa story, what was it about? It was about 1/10th of 1 percent of some "possibly" missing explosives in the biggest arms dump in the world, a place called Iraq. The big guns were all over it at the time but now, for some reason, it is not so important. That reason is Bush won.

Then there is Bush's National Guard scandal. What scandal you ask. You know the one that CBS has been working on for over 5 years, the one that has forced Dan Rather to resign and CBS to launch an internal investigation on how to handle forged documents in the future. That scandal. I know, I know, now that the election is over the "eureka moment" for the media doesn't seem to matter any more.

Well what about all of those allegations of a coke snorting Bush in Kitty Kelley's book "The Family : The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty"? Well, what about them? Kelley's book went on sale at $30 but you have it now for $9 and it is currently ranked 560 on Amazon. Hey, Bush won so what would be the use of promoting Kelley's book now?

And on it goes. Amazing how "earth shattering" these revelations were when the Democrats, aided by the left controlled media, thought they had a chance of defeating Bush and electing Kerry. Now that Bush has won and won mightily, these stories don't seem so important after all. In fact you can bet CBS and Dan Rather would hope you will forget all about Rathergate.

But we won't.

Now about Koffigate, you know, this UN oil for food scandal presided over by Koffi Annan. Haven't you heard? Now there's a story! I mean we are talking billions, billions of dollars and it goes right to the top at the UN. Hell, even the Secretary General's, Koffi Annan's, son is implicated, along with some foreign governments and some in the media. You haven't heard of UNscam, Koffigate, or the UN oil for food scandal? Don't you find that revealing?

UPDATE:

And what about the military Draft? The Democrats and the media went to great lengths to try and scare young voters with the threat of a Bush military draft. The silence is deafening now, isn't it?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senior NCO Jordan decides to stay with his team in Iraq

Fayetteville Online reports "Command Sgt. Maj. James R. Jordan asked to stay in the Army for a year beyond his mandatory retirement date so he could complete a deployment to Iraq with the 35th Signal Brigade."

''We are currently at war,'' Jordan said. ''We are doing things, and it requires leaders to do certain things. That's what I am, a leader.'' [...]

Command Sgt. Maj. Jordan and about 500 soldiers of the brigade are scheduled to depart today for a year in Iraq.

Under normal conditions, the 47-year-old Jordan, who entered basic training in June 1975 and had three assignments in Korea, would start winding down his Army career in the spring as he approached the 30-year mark.

His colonel promised to support whatever decision he made, but Jordan had no intention of getting on an airplane April 29, flying home and leaving his brigade.

''That's not the way you want to end a 30-year career,'' Jordan said.

''People ask, 'Why?''' said Col. Bryan Ellis, the brigade commander. ''The answer is, he is completely selfless. We all want to see it go well.''


So, what's the big deal about an old war horse who wants to stay with his men?

Answer, this old war horse is the older brother of retired basketball star Michael Jordan. I doubt he is doing it for the money.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to End the Iraq War

Just how unhinged are the left in America?

If the Democrats want to know why they lost the Presidential election, more seats in the House and Senate and more Governorships, they need look no further than people like Tom Hayden and Michael Moore.

Listen to Tom Hayden.

The anti-war movement can force the Bush administration to leave Iraq by denying it the funding, troops, and alliances necessary to its strategy for dominance.

Well Tom, maybe we should put Saddam back in power, say we are sorry and put everything back the way it was - I'm thinkning not.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Truth About CAIR and Terrorism

Front Page reports on their continuing struggle against the terrorist linked Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Iran dug tunnel for military nuclear work-magazine

Wow! Al Reuters is reporting on a German magazine article about Iran cheating on nuclear agreements. Will wonders never cease?


BERLIN, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Iran is working on a secret nuclear programme for military purposes despite promising the European Union it would halt all activities related to uranium enrichment, the news magazine Der Spiegel said on Saturday.

The magazine said it had obtained documents from an unnamed intelligence agency showing that Iran had dug a secret tunnel near an Isfahan facility preparing raw uranium for enrichment, even though operations there had been stopped.

Iran, which has repeatedly denied trying to develop nuclear weapons, promised the European Union on Nov. 14 it would halt all activities related to uranium enrichment, a process that creates atomic fuel for power plants or weapons.

It then demanded an exemption for some 20 enrichment centrifuges for research purposes, a move Western diplomats argued could torpedo the whole deal. They said Iranian officials in Vienna dropped the demand on Friday, but were waiting for a final decision from Tehran.

Der Spiegel, in an advance release of a report due to appear on Monday, said the secret underground facility near Isfahan could soon be ready to produce large amounts of uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6). Centrifuges that spin at supersonic speed can produce enriched uranium from UF6.

The magazine said that according to the intelligence documents, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei personally issued a directive at the start of October to build the secret tunnel.


Of course this is no surprise to anyone except the UN.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mainstream British media discover blogs

Finally, finally! The London Times discovers bloggers!

What is...Pajamahadeen?

LAST WEEK the veteran American news anchorman Dan Rather stepped down from his post at CBS. Though the demotion was sweetened by his resuming a reporting role, few doubted the sequence of events. During the election campaign, CBS had reported allegations about President Bush's military service that turned out to be based on fraudulent documents, easily identified as such. Rather had defended the veracity of the report with an indignation touched by hubris.

The denouement was hastened by a varied group of conservative bloggers. A blog (a contraction of weblog) is a running commentary posted on the internet about whatever takes the author's interest. It is a valuable medium for those with a cause to ventilate, and who fancy that the print and broadcast media are biased against them.

["hastened"??? it would not have happened if not for the bloggers!!!...ed]

An uncomfortable Rather had denounced his blogging nemeses as "partisan political operatives", but it was left to another television executive, Jonathan Klein, to inspire a resonant image appropriate to this series on buzzwords. Surveying the bloggers, he declared: "You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances (in television news) and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing."

[a "resonant image appropriate"...I'd bet Rather doesn't see it that way now...ed]

Given a sense of history, Klein might have realized that a considered and satisfying sneer is infuriatingly liable to be appropriated with pride by its target. Methodism and neoconservatism both started life as terms of abuse. The guys in pajamas likewise speedily adopted for themselves the felicitous collective term "Pajamahadeen".


It is high time we took back the press.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 'blog' revolution sweeps across China

Remember the old saying, you can fool some of the people some of the time, and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all the people all the time.

The New Scientist reports on "The 'blog' revolution sweeps across China".

It took a chance online encounter between a software engineer from Shanghai and a teacher in a remote province of China to start shaking up the power balance between the people and the government of the world’s most populous nation.

Try as they might Chinese censors are no match for bloggers.

Blog services are now sprouting all over China. By the end of October 2004, China had more than 45 large blog-hosting services. A Google search for bo ke will return more than two million results, from blogs for football fans to blogs for Christians.

And while the larger hosting companies have become subject to censorship regulations, smaller companies and individuals do not face the same pressures. Any tech-savvy user can download and install blogging software themselves, bypassing the controls.


They have even discovered "moblogging".

Meanwhile blogging seems set to grow as a national hobby for the younger generation. Providers of China’s 300 million mobile phones are beginning to provide “moblogging” services, with which users can send text and photos directly from their phones to their blogs. For now, most blogs are personal, but their potential for building networks of people and disseminating news cannot be underestimated.

The original inventors (and that does not include Al Gore), had no idea they would so totally revolutionize the world let alone communications.

Hat tip InstaPundit
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Islamic Recruiters Target Potential Jihadees

I recently posted a link to a The New York Post article about Europe's coming civil war with Muslim extremists. That article said in part:

"ON Nov. 2, Van Gogh, a grandnephew of the painter, was shot as he cycled to work. He managed to get up and stagger across the street to his building where he collapsed. The assailant followed him and slit his throat before pinning to his chest with a knife a five-page manifesto that called on Muslims to rise against the "infidel enemies" in the West"

And

Hundreds of thousands of young Muslims in Europe are potential jihadis, according to European intelligence chiefs speaking not for publication. They have been warning their political masters about the tinderboxes that many Muslim communities have become. Jihadi volunteers are known to have left for Iraq from a number of Muslim slums on the outskirts of major European cities.

The Asia Times then reported "...most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh" and "In Germany, most of the country's Muslim groups refused to take part in this past Sunday's Muslim demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence. ..."

Fox News reports on "Islamic Recruiters Target Potential Jihadees".

PARIS In a Paris suburb, four young men watch a video where a man is about to get his throat cut.

It takes his killers two minutes and five seconds to saw off his head. In the small, dark living room where it's being watched, no one even flinches.

This is a recruitment video screened by a French convert to Islam (search) who is looking to bring holy warriors into the fold.

It's a scene increasingly common across Europe young Muslims being tapped to fight U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, a secretive process that can take months.
[...]

In France, with more Muslims (search) than any other European nation nearly 6 million that recruitment often starts in the mosque and the ethnic ghettos that ring the capital.

The battle over Islam, some scholars say, will not be fought in Iraq or Ramallah but right here, in the suburbs of London or Paris. And the failure to integrate second-generation immigrations into European society could have deadly consequences.
[...]

On Fridays before prayers, the Imam trolls the housing projects, looking for followers among the weak who may some day be ready to kill in the name of jihad.

A commenter took offense at my earlier post where I pointed out that the left leaning liberal press is starting to recognize the threat.

To that commenter I would say, read the articles I linked to and note "...most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh", German Muslims refused to join a "...demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence" and notice how the recruitment starts in the Mosques by the Imams.

To that commenter note that all over Iraq mosques are being used for terrorists recruitment, arms dumps, staging places for attacks on coalition forces and sniper positions.

additionally, Mosques all over the world are being used to recruit Islamic terrorists while so called moderate Muslims stand by and do nothing.

I would also point out two excellent sites that follow the threat, Jihad Watch and Daniel Pipes.

UPDATE: Oh, and read this.

She inspires both admiration and rage, and has become one of the most familiar faces on the backbench of Holland’s parliament.

Now, women’s rights advocate Ayaan Hirsi Ali has gone into hiding after a death threat against her was pinned to the body of murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

Hirsi Ali’s path from Somalia to parliament has been marked by a willingness to say and do things others never dared. But she has also incurred the wrath of many Muslims insulted by her message.

She describes herself as a “lapsed” Muslim, and says Islamic culture needs to become more modern.

“Mohammed says that a woman must stay inside, wear a veil, not do certain kinds of work, not have the same inheritance rights as her husband, and should be stoned if she commits adultery,” she said in a 2003 interview with newspaper Trouw.


Ah, the religion of peace.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zarqawi network appeals for help in first signals of defeat

The World Tribune is reporting the terrorists are facing defeat.

BAGHDAD — Sunni insurgents backing Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi have expressed alarm at the prospect of a defeat by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

An audio tape said to be from Al Zarqawi charged Muslim clerics with letting down the insurgency "because of your silence."

On Wednesday, Al Zarqawi, with a $25 million bounty on his head, was the target of a major manhunt in the Sunni Triangle, Middle East Newsline reported. Iraqi military sources said Al Zarqawi was said to have been seen in an area south of Fallujah.

Islamic sources said that for the first time in more than a year the Tawhid and Jihad group led by Al Zarqawi appears to have lost control over many of its insurgents in the Sunni Triangle.

The sources said Iraqi and U.S. assaults on major insurgency strongholds in such cities as Baghdad, Fallujah, Mosul, Ramadi and Samara have resulted in heavy insurgency casualties and a break in the command and control structure.

Over the last few days, Al Zarqawi supporters have appealed for help from Al Qaida and related groups. The sources said Al Qaida's allies, including the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call, have sought to increase recruitment of Muslim volunteers to fight the coalition.

The Internet has also reflected the growing concern that Islamic insurgents would be routed in Iraq. A message posted on an Islamic website appealed for help from Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority.


Hey, it worked against Sadr.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UN scandal update: Annan's Son Took Payments Through 2004

The New York Sun reports "Annan's Son Took Payments Through 2004"

BY CLAUDIA ROSETT - Special to the Sun
November 26, 2004

One of the next big chapters in the United Nations oil-for-food scandal will involve the family of the secretary-general, Kofi Annan, whose son turns out to have been receiving payments as recently as early this year from a key contractor in the oil-for-food program.

The secretary-general's son, Kojo Annan, was previously reported to have worked for a Swiss-based company called Cotecna Inspection Services SA, which from 1998-2003 held a lucrative contract with the U.N. to monitor goods arriving in Saddam Hussein's Iraq under the oil-for-food program. But investigators are now looking into new information suggesting that the younger Annan received far more money over a much longer period, even after his compensation from Cotecna had reportedly ended.

The importance of this story involves not only undisclosed conflicts of interest, but the question of the role of the secretary-general himself, at a time when talk is starting to be heard around the U.N. that it is time for him to resign, and the staff labor union is in open rebellion against "senior management."

"What other bombshells are out there being hidden from the public and U.N. member governments?" asked an investigator on Rep. Henry Hyde's International Relations Committee, which has held hearings on oil-for-food.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday, November 26, 2004

Iraq and Misplaced Metaphors

Victor Davis Hanson on why the current metaphors the left use about Iraq are misplaced.

Here is just a sample, be sure to read the whole thing.

One of the more curious aspects of the commentary on this war has not been the bias of the mainstream media but the cynical punditry that somehow ends up as the conventional wisdom among our New York and Washington elites. Here is a small sample of misplaced metaphors, allusions, and conventional wisdom of the last three years.

THE POTTERY BARN RULE

"You break it, you bought it" — so we were told ad nauseam throughout the war in Iraq. Bush and his Team America posse supposedly barged into an upscale store, rashly knocked over items, and now, quite startled, must stay on and pay the tab for the mess they made. How deep.

In truth, it was the wrong metaphor even before becoming hackneyed. The Pottery Barn image doesn't work for a variety of reasons. First, Saddam's Iraq was not a pristine, upscale shop. It was, rather, a trash heap of broken shards — its power, water, sewage, and garbage all fractured and scattered in pieces; its people both brutalized and often brutalizers as a result of three decades of institutionalized mass murder; its leadership a choice between Soviet-era killers and Dark Age jihadists.

Second, unlike the naïve buyer who takes umbrage that he must pay for something he inadvertently knocked over, we went into Iraq with the explicit intention of fixing things. Indeed, we announced quite openly that we did not want a repeat of Lebanon, Afghanistan of the 1980s, Mogadishu, or the first Gulf War, when we let the locals murder and bomb after we pulled out.

Third, the peeved naïf of the metaphor is left shelling out money for something that is permanently ruined. But we are mending the ware that others smashed, hoping to ensure that what we leave behind is far better than what was there when we arrived.

A final, darker thought: I don't think when Sherman went into Georgia, or Patton crossed the Rhine, or the Marines hit the caves of Okinawa, our elites warned them — or they would have much cared to hear — "Be careful folks: You break Georgia, Germany, or Japan, you buy it."

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Palestinian economy in decline - update

After complaining the BBC did some stealth editing.

In an earlier post on this subject I quoted the BBC thusly,

According to the report, Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis: An Assessment, there is a close link between the number of border closures and Palestinian economic problems.

I pointed out that the report the BBC cite actually says the opposite of what the BBC said.

[Actually the report says the opposite, "While any short-term recovery will depend on the lifting of closures, this will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path." ed.]

In response to my email complaint the BBC maintained their position. Yet for some strange reason they felt the need to stealth edit the webpage thusly,

According to the report, Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis: An Assessment, there is a close link between the number of closures - both border closures and internal closures between cities - and Palestinian economic problems.

The closures arranged by Israel restrict the movement of Palestinian people and goods, slowing down trade.


I've bolded the changes. Notice how in the second paragraph they specifically cite Israel and the Palestinians, as if to bolster their case.

The cache copy of the original article is here.

The new stealth edited webpage I referred to in my original post is here.
The Muslim threat - the world wakes up

The left leaning liberal press is starting to recognize the threat.

The New York Post recently wrote about Europe's coming civil war.

The International Herald Tribune reports "Europe pays the price for cultural naïveté ".

People around the world are hopefully starting to wake up as well. In Indonesia, Megawati was replaced by a more hardline candidate, Australia reelected John Howard and America reelected George Bush. It looks like Tony Blair will be reelected in the UK. While Pakistan has been cracking down on Islamic terrorists and forging closer links with the US.

The liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq will further halt the spread of Islamic terrorists.

It will not be easy and it will take years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Falluja secrets revealed

The Belmont Club is a must read blog. Just start at the top and scroll down.

Here is just one insight into Falluja and what really goes on in mosques in Iraq.

The New York Times' Robert Worth has a fascinating article on the battlefield archaeology of Fallujah centering on the contents of a mosque just to the north of the main east-west road through the city, Highway 10. (Hat tip: FreeRepublic) The murdered Blackwater contractors must have driven just yards from it on their way to the bridge.

The mosque, in a residential area just north of the main east-west artery known as Highway 10, included at least a dozen brick outbuildings packed with bombs, guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and ammunition. The diversity of the weapons surprised the officers here: in the street outside, a ship mine stood in a puddle. Just inside the mosque compound was an aluminum shed full of mortars and TNT. Like many weapons depots in Falluja, it had been wired to explode, and had to be carefully dismantled by an American explosives team. Inside the compound was a document explaining how to destroy tanks using rocket-propelled grenades. General Natonski picked up a white pilot's helmet among the mortars and gazed wonderingly at it. "Did you find any Darth Vader helmets?" he asked the marine captain next to him.

One of the more interesting artifacts was a very special kind of ice-cream truck, probably driven by a laughing, mustachoied gentleman of the sort one would never suspect.

In the back of the compound was an ice cream truck, its sides colorfully decorated with orange, red and blue popsicles. Inside it was packed with rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making materials. "This was probably a traveling I.E.D. factory," General Natonski said, using the military term for improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs.


I hope the troops over there are "thinking outside the box" and are checking things like ice cream trucks, hearses and any other unlikely vehicle for explosives.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Falluja's atrocities in pictures

Here is a slide show of the horrors of Falluja.

Pictures of Mosques used for ammo dumps and firing positions, torture chambers, torture victims and ammo dumps are included.

Graphic warning.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help the troops in Iraq

If you would like to help the troops in Iraq there are several ways.

Support a Squaddie - if you would like to support a British soldier.

Books for Soldiers - you can support a British or American soldier here.

There are many more and I'll update this list soon.

UPDATE

Operation AC - Started out sending air conditioners to the solders but now sends just about anything and has an Adopt-A-Soldier program.

UPDATE II:

InstaPundit has a great roundup of sites where you can support the troops.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
100,000 Iraqis have died since the war - False

finally, the media reports what bloggers have reported ever since the report came out.

The Herald Sun reports "A recent claim that 100,000 Iraqis have died since the war in Iraq, mostly at the hands of Americans, is misleading, statistical junk."

Note the timed release of the study.

JUST days before Americans voted for a president, Britain's Lancet medical journal rushed out a survey with the best bad news from Iraq any activist could want.

Hmm, we had CBS use forged documents to smear Bush, CBS and The New York Times collaborated on a mythical missing explosives in Iraq story, The UK's Guardian newspaper tries to influence Ohio's voters to vote for Kerry and Britain's Lancet releases a bogus survey, just before the election and still Bush wins by a huge margin. And let us not forget Moore's smear movie.

While the Bush attack was underway, main stream media were busy covering up for John Kerry and the UN. The Swift Boat Veterans were dismissed, Kerry never did release all of his Navy records, and the UN oil for food scandal went unreported.

One can only wonder at how much greater Bush's margin of victory would have been if none of this had happened.

If you have heard or read the 100,000 deaths in Iraq bull, you owe it to yourself to read the Herald's repudiation.

The Lancet owes America and the world an apology.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

China, Korea visit Cuba on the same day

Coincidence?

Chinese president meets with Castro

HAVANA -- Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Fidel Castro Monday for talks focusing on the broadening ties between Cuba and China, which has become the island's third-largest trading partner.

Hmmm, so what does China get out of the deal?

Listening post in Cuba still crucial to Kremlin

HAVANA — Just south of the Cuban capital’s Jose Marti airport—and clearly visible to passengers on final approach—is a little known Russian military base, one without weapons systems but with scores of antennas and satellite dishes straining to hear some of America’s closest held secrets.

NEARLY 28 miles square, Russia’s “Radio-Electronic Station/Cuba” near the abandoned Cuban village of Lourdes is the largest and most productive spy station the Russians ever built, a base that specializes in “telephone espionage.” It is the last and most valuable jewel in their electronic crown, the Russian version of “Echelon,” a worldwide spy network that includes bases inside Russia and overseas — a network that is reportedly called “Dozor.”


Now that the Soviets have lost the cold war, maybe time for some new clients for all that intelligence.

Anyone else interested?

North Korea's top military officer visits Cuba

The North Korean delegation will also visit Cuban military units on the Caribbean island.

Seems Cuba is getting a lot of attention lately.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Palestinian economy in decline

And the BBC puts the blame squarely on Israel despite the fact that the very report they cite finds the exact opposite. Side note, the link to the report on the BBC's webpage does not work, wonder why? I've provided another one.

The BBC reports "Unemployment stood at 25%, compared with 10% before the uprising against Israeli occupation four years ago."

There is a picture of some Palestinian children with this caption "Nearly half of Palestinians live below the poverty line"

While Arafat's kid will live like a queen for the rest of her life.

Suha to receive $ 22m. a year from PA

$22 million a year would help a lot of Palestinian children.

Meanwhile, the US gives direct aid to the Palestinians.

Charging the Palestinian Authority led by Yasser Arafat was corrupt, the Bush administration this year used the United Nations and other private aid groups to direct $127 million in U.S. assistance to the Palestinians.

Last year the Bush administration gave $20 million directly to the Palestinian Authority under former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, which was "fully accounted for and used in the way it was intended."


So what is the cause of all this bad economic news?

According to the report, Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis: An Assessment, there is a close link between the number of border closures and Palestinian economic problems.

[Actually the report says the opposite, "While any short-term recovery will depend on the lifting of closures, this will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path." ed.]

Border closures restrict the movement of people and goods, slowing down trade.

Closures hit trade

"Closures are a key factor behind today's economic crisis in the West Bank," said Nigel Roberts, World Bank country director for the West Bank and Gaza.


The BBC fails to point out that there is also a "close link between the number of border closures" and the significant drop in suicide bombings. Further "Border closures restrict the movement of people and" suicide bombers. Likewise, "Closures are a key factor behind today's" dramatic drop in suicide bombings.

The BBC also fails to mention that this same report by The World Bank reports:

While any short-term recovery will depend on the lifting of closures, this will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path. The Paris Protocol, which formalized the de facto customs union with Israel that has existed since 1967, has proven extremely costly -- and not only because of the closures that interfered with its implementation. In a structural sense, the long-term growth potential of the Palestinian economy has been stunted by the upward pressure on domestic Palestinian wages created by wages paid to Palestinian workers in Israel. Domestic wage increases have exceeded any underlying growth in productivity, and have undermined Palestinians’ ability to export competitively-priced goods to the rest of the world. Bank analysis shows that a proactive policy of export development, in which a more open and less discriminatory trade regime is adopted, would result in higher incomes by 2010 than a return to previous levels of employment in Israel.

Interesting how the BBC focused on the "closure" aspect of the report while the World Bank concluded that lifting closures "will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path".

Feel free to use the BBC complaint form on the left under the blog roll.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hunt for Zarqawi focuses north of Baghdad

Middle East Online is reporting "National guard officer says there is concrete information Iraq's most wanted man is heading to Baquba."

KIRKUK, Iraq - Security forces were Tuesday focusing their hunt for Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on an area in north-central Iraq after receiving a tip-off, an Iraqi national guard officer said.

"We received concrete information from very reliable sources that Zarqawi was transferred today to Tuz Khormatu and is heading to Baquba," Staff Brigadier General Anwar Hamad Ameed, the national guard chief in the northern city of Kirkuk, said.


Let's hope we get him.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
150 Sex Abuse Charges against UN Congo Peacekeepers

Compare that headline with the one used by Al Reuters.

UN: 150 Sex Abuse Charges in Congo Peacekeeping

Note the subtle difference? Note the use of the "UN:", as if the UN are reporting the story. Also note the "in Congo Peacekeeping", Al Reuters is doing its' best to minimize the UN involvement, in the headline at least.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations (news - web sites) is investigating about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by U.N. civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them recorded on videotape, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.

Great, just great, the UN is once again investigating itself. No doubt they will be as swift and thorough as they have been so far in their Iraqi oil for food scandal.

In May the United Nations reported some 30 cases of abuse among peacekeepers in the northeastern town of Bunia, where half of the more than 10,000 soldiers are stationed.

Oh well, guess not.

The accusations include pedophilia, rape and prostitution, said Jane Holl Lute, an assistant secretary-general in the peacekeeping department.

Lute, an American, said there was photographic and video evidence for some of the allegations and most of the charges came to light since the spring.


Hmmm, and the importance of pointing out Lute's nationality is?

But surely this is an isolated case. No?

The revelations of peacekeeping abuses is usually kept quiet at the United Nations until reporters or individual countries disclose the news, as happened in Cambodia in the early 1990s and later in Somalia, Bosnia and Ethiopia. But in this case the world body released some details.

No.

About that keeping quiet bit, is that what happened in the UN oil for food scandal?

Annan on Friday expressed outrage at the abuse, saying, "I am afraid there is clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken place."

Then why didn't you stop it all the other times, Annan?

"I have long made it clear that my attitude to sexual exploitation and abuse is one of zero tolerance, without exception, and I am determined to implement this policy in the most transparent manner," Annan said.

Can you say bullshit with a capital B?? How do you explain UN staff to vote on no-confidence motion against Annan?

Staffers said the trigger for the no-confidence measure was an announcement this week that Annan had pardoned the UN's top oversight official, who was facing allegations of favouritism and sexual harassment.

The union had requested a formal probe into the official, Dileep Nair, after employees accused him of harassing staff and violating UN rules on the hiring and promotion of workers.


But surely there was an investigation.

Top UN spokesman Fred Eckhard announced on Tuesday that Nair had been exonerated by Annan "after a thorough review" by the UN's senior official in charge of management, Catherine Bertini.

Oh, right, I forgot only the UN investigates the UN. But they only use top officials to investigate, right?

They noted that Riza, UN undersecretary general for information Shashi Tharoor and other top officials had served directly under Annan at least since 1994, when he was head of UN peacekeeping operations.

At the time, the United Nations was widely criticized for failing to stop the Rwanda genocide that left 800,000 people dead, even though UN peacekeepers were on the ground -- a catastrophe for which Annan has publicly apologized.


Man, what's that smell?

"Kofi Annan is surrounded by corruption, a gang of criminals responsible for some of the worst things that happened to mankind in the 20th century," said one angry staffer, referring to the Rwanda massacres.

Yeah, that's what I thought I smelled.

Genocide ignored, sexual harassment at the UN, rape by UN peacekeepers in the field, and the biggest financial scam in the history of the world by the UN, time for Annan to go and time for major changes at the UN.

UPDATE: More here.

The lawyer for a United Nations staff member who brought sexual harassment charges against Ruud Lubbers, the high commissioner for refugees, said Friday that Secretary General Kofi Annan's admission that he had overruled his own investigators in clearing Mr. Lubbers would support an appeal against the ...

So, even when they investigate and find something, Annan covers it up, just like the oil for food scandal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, November 22, 2004

Nations Back Fight Against Iraq Insurgents

That's the good news, the shocking news is that this report is being reported by The Guardian!! Someone must be asleep over at the Guardian.

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) - Leaders meeting on Iraq's future plan to give strong backing to the interim government's war against insurgents, but won't set a deadline for withdrawing U.S.-led forces from Iraq - despite a push by France and some Arab countries.

The draft communique for the conference that began Monday, obtained by The Associated Press, also says the interim Iraqi government should meet with its opponents to try to persuade them to take part in the general elections scheduled for January.


It was the Sunni's who walked out in protest over Falluja, and now we know why. Heh, who knows, after a good ass kicking Sadr seems to have got the message.

Quite a diverse group that's putting out this communique.

The meeting brought together Iraq's six neighbors - Iran, Syria, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia - as well as Egypt and several other Arab countries, China and regional bodies such as the Group of Eight, the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Which had some interestng things to say about the terrorists in Iraq.

For all its bloodshed, the insurgency enjoys a certain support in the Arab world, where many regard the U.S. and other troops as occupiers.

In a clear rebuff to such sympathies, the draft communique says the participants condemn ``all acts of terrorism in Iraq'' and call for ``the immediate cessation of all such acts in order to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people.''


Maybe we could call this the Falluja Effect.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saudis, Arabs Funneled Millions to President Clinton's Library

Excuse me, Mr. Moore, Mr. Moore, did you confuse Bush with Clinton? Sir? Sir, I can't understand you with that double bacon cheeseburger, tomato, lettuce, onions, bacon (yeah, more (hehe) bacon, he asked for extra bacon!), ketchsup, mustard and extra, extra bacon, in your mouth.

The New York Sun reports "President Clinton's new $165 million library here was funded in part by gifts of $1 million or more each from the Saudi royal family and three Saudi businessmen."

The governments of Dubai, Kuwait, and Qatar and the deputy prime minister of Lebanon all also appear to have donated $1 million or more for the archive and museum that opened last week.

Democrats spent much of the presidential campaign this year accusing President Bush of improperly close ties to Saudi Arabia. The case was made in Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11," in a bestselling book by Craig Unger titled "House of Bush, House of Saud," and by the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Kerry."This administration delayed pressuring the Saudis," Mr. Kerry said on October 20. "I will insist that the Saudis crack down on charities that funnel funds to terrorists... and on anti-American and anti-Israel hate speech."The Media Fund, a Democratic group whose president is a former Clinton White House aide, Harold Ickes, spent millions airing television commercials in swing states with scripts such as, "The Saudi royal family...wealthy...powerful...corrupt. And close Bush family friends."

Perhaps as a result, the Saudi donations to the Clinton library are raising some eyebrows. Mr. Unger said he suspects that the Saudi support may have something to do with a possible presidential bid by Senator Clinton in 2008.


I bet the Republicans are already making the commericals.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EUROPE'S CIVIL WAR?

While Europe was busy fighting America fighting Islamic terrorists, Islamic terrorists were busy building a new home in Europe.

Will Europe wake up in time? The New York Post doesn't sound hopeful.

But for years the government was in denial about Islamist extremism in what is otherwise a well-managed society. Dutch Muslims, repelled by the freewheeling lifestyle, sought solace with radical imams in the mosques. There men outnumber women. And women are relegated to a part of the mosque where they can be neither seen nor heard.

What Dutch filmmaker and columnist Theo Van Gogh saw as the shabby treatment of females throughout the Muslim community led him to produce documentaries that portrayed Muslim men as tormentors of women, especially their wives. One recent scathingly critical Van Gogh film carried the message that Islam promotes violence against women.

ON Nov. 2, Van Gogh, a grandnephew of the painter, was shot as he cycled to work. He managed to get up and stagger across the street to his building where he collapsed. The assailant followed him and slit his throat before pinning to his chest with a knife a five-page manifesto that called on Muslims to rise against the "infidel enemies" in the West. [...]

COULD the Netherlands be a curtain- raiser for a wider clash of civiliza tions in the old continent?

Hundreds of thousands of young Muslims in Europe are potential jihadis, according to European intelligence chiefs speaking not for publication. They have been warning their political masters about the tinderboxes that many Muslim communities have become. Jihadi volunteers are known to have left for Iraq from a number of Muslim slums on the outskirts of major European cities.

Recruitment posters come on regular European and Arabic news programs — from the Abu Ghraib prison pictures to the battle of Fallujah.


UPDATE: From Asia Times via Roger Simon

As a matter of record, most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh. During a November 19 radio interview, for example, Zahid Mukhtar, head of the Islamic Council of Norway, refused to condemn van Gogh's murder, creating a scandal out of proportion to Norway's small Muslim population. A Moroccan-born member of the Belgian Senate, Mimount Bousakla, received death threats after remonstrating with the umbrella organization of Belgian Muslims for its refusal to denounce the van Gogh murder. She since has gone into hiding.

In Germany, most of the country's Muslim groups refused to take part in this past Sunday's Muslim demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence. In fact, the Turkish government organized the 20,000-person demonstration without support from local Muslim organizations. Its sole sponsor was DITIB, the Turkish government's Muslim association headed by an appointee from Ankara. DITIB "already had tried in vain to organize a common declaration by all German Muslims against Islamist terrorism", noted Der Spiegel Online on November 19.


Seems The New York Post has good reason to be skeptical.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What's Next For Fallujah?

Here is a report from someone who was on the ground during the rebuilding of Mosul.

If you want more good news from Iraq, scroll down to my link to Chrenkoff's Good News Iraq Part 15.

Once it became obvious that this operation was working, Division Headquarters decided to step things up. We were soon authorized to draw $250,000 at a time (usually about one draw every two weeks- and the maximum withdrawal amount continued to grow), and spend up to $10,000 on a single purchase (more if we obtained the CG's approval).

MG Petraeus (the CG) then decided to split up responsibilities, to avoid duplicating our efforts. My brigade (the 159th AVN BDE) was told to focus on the University, since we had already built up a habitual relationship with them. Our umbrella of responsibility soon began to include all Higher Education through out Mosul (the University, 3 technical schools, and 1 private school). My brand new Brigade Commander, COL Harrison, arrived at about this time (mid-June). At COL Harrison's in brief, the CG told him that Higher Education in Mosul was our #1 priority, not flying helicopters (we had 102 Black Hawks and 34 Chinooks). COL H ordered me to put together about 30 teams, each led by officers from within the brigade, to increase the work effort. Each team had a specific responsibility, i.e. one team was in charge of the Medical College, another was in charge of the Library, another took on the College of Science, etc.

Each team would go out twice a week, arrange projects with their Iraqi counterpart (usually a Dean or a professor), and I would make the payments as required. We held weekly meetings where teams would submit their project requests, and I would prioritize them and approve them based on the amount of money I had left to spend. When I drew more money, I'd approve more projects, get bids on the contracts, hire labor forces, etc. We continued on like this until we left in January of '04. Other units within the 101st did the same thing, but within their own areas of responsibility. The Artillery BDE was in charge of rebuilding security, the Support Brigade was in charge of Lower Education (schools for kids), the 2nd Infantry Brigade was in charge of rebuilding buildings and industries within the City of Mosul, etc. This is how we implemented what came to be known as the Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP).


There's lots more.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Brain Bliss