Fox News Journalists Freed

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Militants freed two Fox News journalists on Sunday in theGaza Strip, ending a nearly two week hostage drama in which one of the former captives said they were forced at gunpoint to make statements, including that they had converted to Islam.

Correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, of Washington, D.C., and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, were dropped off at Gaza City's Beach Hotel by Palestinian security officials. A tearful Centanni briefly embraced a Palestinian journalist in the lobby, then rushed upstairs with Wiig behind him.

So, these victims were forced to convert to Islam - a foreshadow for the rest of us?

The Palestinian government said they knew who kidnapped these Fox journalists before stating that they did not know the identity of the kidnappers.

Of course, the obligatory coerced anti-western statements made by Wiig were video taped by the kidnappers. I wonder how closely the statements match DNC talking points?

Read the rest of this bewildering story HERE

UPDATE
This didn't take long - Kidnapped Fox Journalists Convert to Islam on Video brought to you from the vaults of the DU. It's all a conspiracy by the neocons and their Zionist masters - Doh!

Posted by: Skye at 09:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 209 words, total size 2 kb.

Early Favorite for an Academy Award

H/T: Little Green Footballs

A note from the illustrator:

The point of the poster isn’t to bring humor from a dead baby - quite the opposite actually. It’s intended to use the same means and exploitation that the MSM use when ‘reporting’ on their stories - mainly photoshopped images and staged scenes.

Again, I have nothing but grief for the innocent lives lost in Qana. That said, I do have a problem with paraded corpses and false photography. Hezbollah has shown nothing but deceit in these recent events and I just thought it would be suitable to throw a little photoshop back in their faces.

Definitely a winner for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Picture. Don't you agree?

Posted by: Skye at 10:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 131 words, total size 1 kb.

Disproportionate Demands

Kidnapped from Gaza City on August 14th, FOX correspondent, Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig were shown on videotape Wednesday to issue statements. From the LA Times:

The purported kidnappers spoke out as well. A heretofore unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades claimed responsibility for the abduction and demanded the release of all Muslim prisoners held by the United States — "everybody without exception" — within 72 hours.

"Release what you have, and we will release what we have," the group said in a statement to reporters. "If you implement our conditions, we will implement our promise; otherwise, you will have to wait, and God will be the judge."

The statement, in elaborately religious language, included references to several Koranic verses, one of which alludes to the exchange of prisoners in wartime. It was not immediately clear whether the statement referred to prisoners in the U.S. or in American facilities in Iraq; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Afghanistan.

Not to devalue the lives of the two kidnapped victims, but how does any terrorist group realistically expect such demands to be met?

I pray for the safe release of Centanni and Wiig, and that they are reunited with their families.

Posted by: Wordsmith at 01:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 203 words, total size 1 kb.

Not Seen on CNN

AbdulSalam Sabbar, 6, waits patiently in his new pediatric wheelchair as CPT Charles Roberts, physician's assistant, 4th Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment, shows his father how to make adjustments to it. Pic: SGT Rachel A. Brune

Picture curtesy of IraqiPictures

What a selfless act of good will these US soldiers are pictured bestowing to an Iraqi child and his father. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of similar photos and stories chronicling the interaction between Iraqi civilians and Coalition forces. In a striking contrast, there is not ONE picture or report of an insurgent terrorist group reaching out to the Iraqi population in such a manner.

It makes one wonder what inspires liberals in their staunch support of the Iraqi resistance? The picture below certainly begs the question "Where are good liberals dead? In the heart or in the head?

Picture curtesy of Zombie

Posted by: Skye at 10:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 153 words, total size 1 kb.

See No Terrorism, Hear No Terrorism, Speak No Terrorism

Old Soldier linked to a great analysis by Seth at Hard Astarboard. This is my comment there:

We often speak of "going on with our daily lives and not living in fear" as the best way to show the terrorists that they have not won. But the reality is, they have changed our way of life, and we have no choice but to do so, in order to protect ourselves from the reality of terrorism.

News must be reported; but everytime a terrorist act is broadcast, it is another victory for the terrorist. Because it means getting their message of violence out into the public consciousness. I sometimes wonder what if we never allowed any terrorist activity any airtime at all. Would it continue? After all, part of the motivation is to garner as much media attention as possible. They want the spotlight; they want the media to be complicit in their propaganda of terror.

If we only showed more resolve and a harder stance, it would minimize the impact terrorists see that they have on us. But when we broadcast our grief, our fears, our internal political bickering and dissention, they know that terrorism is effective..and that it works.

Posted by: Wordsmith at 09:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 218 words, total size 1 kb.

Thankfully, The People In Charge Do "Get It"

By now, everybody has heard about the twarted terrorist plot to blow up as many as twenty airliners bound for the U.S.

These are serious times. We need serious people protecting this country's citizens. We need people who grasp what it is that we are fighting. Pam at Blogmeister USA spells it out for Left-wing fruitcakes who still don't get it:

"For those of you who have difficulty in understanding what's going on, let's make it clear: Hardline Muslims want to kill us. They don't care if you voted for Al Gore in 2000 or John Kerry in 2004. They don't care if you live in a blue state instead of a red state. They don't care if you want Joe Lieberman to lose his independent run for the senate in November. They want to kill so many Americans that we will give up fighting in the Middle East. Their ultimate goal is to spread radical Islam to all four corners of the Earth. And if you don't end up converting to Islam, you are to understand that you will be less than a second-class citizen." [emphasis Pam's]

I wonder how many people are sitting in front of the TV or their computers this morning, taking in this news and thinking "Geez, I'd feel a whole lot better if the Democrats were in charge"?

Posted by: Gary at 10:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 237 words, total size 1 kb.

Remember 7/7/05

In memory of the fifty-two people who lost their lives in the London terrorist bombing one year ago today.

Posted by: Gary at 07:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.

FINALLY! Norm Mineta Leaves Bush Administration

Oh man, the longest serving Transportation Secretary in history will at last be history himself. Look, I'm sure he's a nice guy and all but could there really be any reason the Bush hired him in the first place other than he wanted a Democrat in his cabinet to reinforce his "uniter, not a divider" image?

Norm Mineta was fine in his office until 9/11. Then he instituted the "search everybody at the airports" rules that wasted valuable resources in identifying possible terrorists. Mineta is the reason the average air traveler - who in no way fits the profile of an Islamofascist terrorist - has to be pulled out of line and searched. STUPID PC BULLSH*T!

And why? Because when he was a kid his family, which is of Japanese descent, was interned during WWII. So because he was still smarting from that experience, he made sure that we avoided any appearance of ethnic profiling. Rich Lowry of National Review wrote about this ridiculous policy back in 2002:

Asked on 60 Minutes if a 70-year-old white woman from Vero Beach should receive the same level of scrutiny as a Muslim from Jersey City, Mineta said, "Basically, I would hope so." Asked if he could imagine any set of circumstances that would justify ethnic and racial profiling, Mineta said "absolutely not."

I can think of a justification for focusing on Arab men aged 25-40. All of the terrorists have been Arab men aged 25-40! Any 70-year old ladies? Umm, NO! Duh.

Bush has replaced so many other cabinet members in the last five years, yet he kept this guy hanging around. Mineta should have been shown the door years ago.

Unfortunately, this policy - his legacy - is still in place. Hopefully, his replacement can make some changes. But I'm not holding my breath.

Posted by: Gary at 08:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 313 words, total size 2 kb.

Saddam Lied

OK, so here's my obligatory "WMDs Found" post to serve as but one shovel of dirt on the "No WMDs" meme.

The Left can try to spin this as a non-story on the fact that the 500 chemical weapons found were manufactured prior to Gulf War I all they want. Saddam Hussein claimed that he destroyed them. He didn't. Iraq had WMDs.

The Left can try to spin this as a non-story on the fact that they were found in a state considered not ready to use. They could have been made "ready to use" with minimal effort. They could have been given to terrorists who could have used them to kill innocent Americans (or innocent Europeans, Asians, etc). Saddam claimed he had no such weapons. He did. Iraq had WMDs.

The Left can try to spin this as a non-story on the fact that the 500 weapons represent a much smaller amount of WMDs than the U.S. claimed it had - a claim that everybody else who had access to the intelligence made including the U.N., France, Germany, Bill Clinton, Madeline Albright, Tom Daschle, Nancy Pelosi, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy and John F. Kerry. The 500 weapons containing traces of chemical weapons (specifically, sarin and mustard gas) had sufficient capacity to cause the deaths of thousands if not tens of thousands of people. Saddam claimed he had no such weapons. He did. Iraq had WMDs.

The bottom line here is that Bush didn't lie. SADDAM LIED. And now he is out of power and the Iraqi people are living in freedom and self-determination. And the United States (and every other target of Islamofascist terrorism) is safer.

So, those of you moonbats who've been beating this mantra into the ground have two choices:
1) STFU about "No WMDs", or
2) keep barking this idiocy and prove to the rest of the world how deranged and blind to reality you are.

Posted by: Gary at 10:40 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 324 words, total size 2 kb.

Quote Of The Day

"One day, our grandchildren may ask us what we did when Islamic fascism threatened the free world. Some of us will say we were preoccupied with fighting that threat wherever possible; others will be able to say they fought carbon dioxide emissions. One of us will look bad."

- Dennis Prager, "Why Liberals Fear Global Warming More Than Conservatives Do"

And there's no doubt in my mind who it will be.

Posted by: Gary at 02:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 79 words, total size 1 kb.

Stay The Course

After somewhat contentious debate, the House voted 256-153 to support the current operations in Iraq.

Among it's provisions:
- Praise for U.S. Troops
- Affirmation that Iraq is part of the GWOT
- Establishing arbitrary withdrawal dates are not in the national interest

In other words, victory is the goal and we are committed to the mission. NO "CUT AND RUN"! Every member of Congress is now on record heading into the November elections. We'll be checking back to see how CT's five voted. [UPDATE: As expected, it went along party lines - Simmons (CT2), Shays (CT4), Johnson (CT5): Yea, Larson (CT1) & DeLauro (CT3): Nay. I'm actually surprise that Shays had the grapes to buck his gold-coast, country club Liberal constituency on this one. END UPDATE]

How do ya like them apples, moonbats?

Related: Run Away, Run Away

Posted by: Gary at 11:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 102 words, total size 1 kb.

104 More Dead Terrorists In Iraq...

Let's see that's 104 multiplied by 72 and you get...7,488! 452 raids carried out in the seven days since they greased the Z-man. That averages out to 64.6 raids and 14.9 dead terrorists per day.

Wow, looks like at this rate Allah is going to have round up some more virgins right quick!

Posted by: Gary at 09:41 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 65 words, total size 1 kb.

Al-Zarqawi Dead

Not breaking news or anything but congratulations to the hard and frustrating work that our military have put into finding this piece of shit. Here's the official CentCom press release.

Enjoy your 72 skanks, asshole. In Hell!
- graphic from HotAir.com -

I just want to hear one single Liberal/Democrat blogger admit this is a big psychological blow to the terrorists and a major boost to the free Iraqi people. And maybe...just maybe...offer their congratulations to coalition troops for this successful operation.

Anyone? Didn't think so.

***********************
UPDATE:
Found one! AJ in DC over at AmericaBlog. Good for him.

END UPDATE:
***********************

Expect the official Dem spin to follow one of three courses:

1) It don't mean nuthin'. We're still no more successful in Iraq with Al-Zarqawi dead (denial)

2) Sure, Al-Zarqawi's dead, but how many innocent Iraqis have died in the process. All this means is that there'll be another Al-Zarqawi to take his place (sour grapes)

3) And the most likely, considering what these people are all about: "Retreat and Defeat!" as expressed so eloquently at Democrats.com this morning:

"This is a great opportunity for Democrats. We can now insist that we declare victory in Iraq and bring our troops home."

If we had followed Ol' John "cut and run" Murtha's advise, we would have left without killing Al-Zarqawi, who would be continuing to terrorize the people and the new democratically elected government of Iraq right now. There's work that still needs to be done. These people JUST.DON'T.GET.IT.

Hugh Hewitt has a great round-up.

UPDATE:
NRO's Media Blog has the quotes from the media on this event: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Freaking Quislings at the BBC are the worst!

Doesn't Look So Defiant Now, Does He?

UPDATE DEUX:
I swear the first thing I thought of this morning was the lyrics to "America...F*ck Yeah!" from the "Team America: World Police" movie.

I was debating whether or not to post them, but Vinnie beat me to it. Scroll down (NSFW).

Posted by: Gary at 08:56 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 336 words, total size 3 kb.

Humiliation Is Not Torture

Jeez Louise, the freaking touchy-feely Lefties have their panties all in a twist because the U.S. Army has revised it's detainee rules in its Field Manual.

The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards.

This goes back to the idiocy that was part of the whole Abu Graib story.

Typical that such "outrage" would come from a group of people that despise the brave men and women serving in our military and hurl insults at them as they lay suffering from wounds at Walter Reed Army Hospital. But when it comes to terrorists, don't you taunt them! Don't you humiliate them!!

Here's a clue, you Liberal pussies: When you are detaining enemy combatants who tried to kill Americans and would try again if they were released, hurting their widdow feewings is on the table. That is not torture. We have an enemy that follows NO rules. They lurk in the shadows. They pretend to be just like us. They use our trusting natures against us. And worst of all, they target and murder the innocent.

These are the kind of people that will kidnap someone who never did anything to them and cut off their heads in front of a video camera, for crissakes.

And we're supposed to get squeamish at the idea of making them stand around naked or wear panties on their heads? Please. We live in a new world, and it's a brutal one.

When Liberals get all indignant over the treatment of these murderers they remind voters exactly why they can't be trusted to deal with them.

Posted by: Gary at 04:01 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 307 words, total size 2 kb.

More Aiding And Abetting - The NSA Hysteria

You know very often when a meme like this hits the 'net, I don't put to much effort into posting about it because it's so widespread there's not much I can add to it. But a couple of issues really gall me about this, which I'll get to in a minute.

You can always count on the MSM to blare a provocative headline and bury relevant details in the story. Most people are too busy to look at the details and draw their conclusions from the headline, which are reinforced by the Left-leaning talking heads on TV.

To look at the front page of yesterday's copy of USAToday (a paper they have to give away at hotels to get people to read it) you would never know what the true nature of this program is. It's external data. That is, it's just a bunch of phone numbers. There are no names and addresses assigned to them. Yes, it's easy enough to find that info. Hell, I can do it with a Google search. But it wasn't even requested from the phone companies. 99% of that information is extraneous for what it's used for.

The database is used to find patterns - calls going to the Middle East and calls coming in to the U.S. from the Middle East. If a pattern is identified, the numbers are checked against numbers associated with known and suspected terrorists. If it finds nothing, they move on to the next pattern. The NSA is trying to find Al Qaeda sleeper agents in this country. And I guaranty you it's worked in the past. Bull Moose observes:

"As of yet, there is no evidence that the government was eavesdropping on private conversations of innocent citizens. What we know is that it is a collection of phone numbers that were put into super computers to detect patterns of suspect activity. The Bushies were not using information to destroy their political opponents. The NSA is legitimately obtaining data to thwart terrorists.

Has it been a mere coincidence that the American homeland has not been attacked since 9/11? It is likely that the hard and innovative work of dedicated patriots at the NSA and other national security agencies has kept our nation safe." [emphasis mine]

This type of program has been used before and while it is wider is scope that those in the past, it is far less intrusive that policies of past Presidents - including Democrats like Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Clinton. The most recent example is the ECHELON program.

The emphasis here is national security, which has just been breached. Once again, another Clinton-toady intelligence official has leaked information about how we identify enemy activity. This should be an outrage. But no where outside of the Right blogosphere is that issue even discussed. Michelle Malkin weighes in:

"So what if spilling the beans about all of our highest-level efforts to monitor al Qaeda operatives undermines the War on Terror, eh, fellas? Anyway, all the cool kids in elite journalism are doing it. Why should The Washington Post and New York Times get all the glory, right?

And thus, USA Today tapped its anonymous, loose-lipped, illegally leaking sources and breathlessly disclosed a classified data-collection agreement between private phone companies AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth and the National Security Agency. According to the newspaper's piece (a naked attempt to derail former NSA head Gen. Michael Hayden's nomination as CIA chief):

"The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans - most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews."

Note, please: "This program does NOT involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations."

They're looking at massive amounts of numbers and phone-call patterns, not eavesdropping on teenage lovers' quarrels or your neighbor's pizza order or Susan Sarandon's heart-to-hearts with Cindy Sheehan.

And: "The spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity."

Translation: The counterterror experts at the NSA are - gasp - doing their job. And - to their credit - some American companies are stepping up to the plate to help them."

The most amusing aspect of this whole flap is that so many individual Americans - who do not make or receive calls from known or suspected terrorists - actually believe that the government gives a crap about their phone activity. Please.

When you consider the kind of personal information we regularly provide the Federal Government, it puts this silliness into perspective. As the Media Research Center's Rich Noyes explains:

"Given that another government agency — the IRS — maintains information on American citizens’ employment, banking, investments, mortgages, charitable contributions and even any declared medical expenses, this hardly seems like a major assault on personal liberty.” Ooh! Shocking new report! The IRS has a database with your personal information in it! That story is just waiting to be discovered."

UPDATE: 11:55am
Oh, and apparently even the WaPo has to admit that the majority of Americans support these NSA programs:

"The new survey found that 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort. Another 35 percent said the program was unacceptable, which included 24 percent who strongly objected to it.

A slightly larger majority--66 percent--said they would not be bothered if NSA collected records of personal calls they had made, the poll found."

The same poll shows 51% of respondents approve of the President's handling of these matters. And, considering how skewed to the Left these WaPo polls are, the real number is probably much higher. ABC News has a similar poll with respondents approving of these measures by 2-1. To the MSM, I say "nice try".

Posted by: Gary at 09:06 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1009 words, total size 7 kb.

"Every Year Is Worse Than The Previous Year"

I wasn't going to bother posting on this topic, as some of the "biggie" blogs have it covered. But this is war.

Al Qaeda is sucking wind in Iraq per a transmission intercepted by CENTCOM who's author bemoans the deteriorating situation of the "jihad" movement against the forces of Democracy. Captain Ed has an excellent analysis.

They are unorganized, running out of ammunition and failing in their attempts to manipulate the U.S. media. They are slowly but surely diminishing from a threat to a nuisance. In other words WE ARE WINNING and THEY ARE LOSING. Big Time.

So desperate are these mujahidin thugs that they are resorting to hacking blogs with Denial-Of-Service attacks. Such an attack went after the Mu.nu and Blogspot sites this morning. Dr. Rusty Shackleford has the details.

Nice try, scumbags.

Posted by: Gary at 12:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 150 words, total size 1 kb.

Bush Names Hayden To Head CIA

The President announced today that Tom Hayden Sterling Hayden Hayden Christensen Michael Hayden (that's General Hayden to you) as the new Director of the CIA, replacing Porter Goss.

Hey, I've been paying no attention to this since Friday so I don't know Gen. Hayden from Adam but the folks at Wizbang are high on this appointment:

"General Hayden is a superb choice for several reasons:

1) He used to run the NSA and the terrorist surveillance program, so he is an expert in these areas.

2) His nomination will bring to the surface those lawmakers who are for a strong national security, particularly the terrorist surveillance program, and those who are not. With the November elections approaching, the American people will need to know this information.

3) He is a military man. In spite of the claims from Rep. Pete Hoekstra that this is a problem, many military men have run the civilian CIA. I'm hoping General Hayden can infuse into the CIA two very important things it needs: discipline and loyalty."

Looks good to me.

Posted by: Gary at 12:14 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 186 words, total size 1 kb.

Iraqis Will Overcome

This post by Mohammed at Iraq The Model should be required reading for all of those who can't put aside their hatred of the President to see the importance of his country's fight for their freedom and their future. He recently lost his brother-in-law to a terrorist attack. Please remember him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

"The terrorists and criminals are targeting all elements of life and they target anyone who wants to do something good for this countryÂ…They think by assassinating one of us they could deter us from going forward but will never succeed, they can delay us for years but we will never go back and abandon our dream.

We have vowed to follow the steps of our true martyrs and we will raise the new generation to continue the march, these children of today are the hope and the future.

What a difference between those who work to preserve life and those who work to end itÂ…it's terrorism and crime and there are no other words to describe these acts.

They will keep trying to steal life from us and we will keep fighting back and we will keep exposing them but not with bullets and swords, we never carried arms and we will never do because we are not afraid and because we are not weak unlike those cowards who know no language but that of treason.

April will always be there to remind us of the sacrifice and remind us of the dream we fight for."

Posted by: Gary at 04:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 260 words, total size 2 kb.

Gunning For Rummy

The Left (especially those in the Antique Media) hate Bush and Cheney. But pulling up a strong number three is SecDef Donald Rumsfeld. Now a bunch of retired Generals suffering from a wicked case of "hindsight-itis" - and many with an axe to grind - are running around criticizing Rumsfeld's decisions and leadership style. M'kay.

Hey, it's a free country and these guys are literally "arm-chair Generals" now. But, notwithstanding the Media's attempt to use this meme to somehow force Rumsfeld's "retirement" (which they would see as a major victory on their part against the Administration), the Editors at National Review Online are skeptical about the effectiveness of the nit-picks of these monday-morning quarterbacks.

"...the criticisms of Rumsfeld don’t have much force. Some say he is too imperious. This charge isn’t hard to believe of the strong-willed Rumsfeld, but it is disappointing that generals are apparently so easily cowed that their only recourse when dealing with a muscular Defense secretary is to whine about it after the fact. Others complain about his “micro-management” of the war. It is true that Rumsfeld has exercised a remarkably strong hand in dealing with the military. In planning for the initial Iraq invasion in particular, he was relentless in challenging the work of CENTCOM commander Tommy Franks, driving him to come up with a plan that wasn’t just an unimaginative repeat of Desert Storm. The plan didn’t suffer from Rumsfeld’s intense attention; in fact, the opposite was the case. Even such Rumsfeld critics as Cobra II authors Michael Gordon and Gen. Bernard Trainor credit the innovation and effectiveness of the invasion.

As a matter of principle, micromanagement from a Defense secretary is not a bad thing, even if Robert McNamara gave it a bad name during the Vietnam War. Our system is based on the U.S. military’s taking direction from civilian leadership. There is no reason to think that the assumption behind the micromanagement criticism of Rumsfeld — that if only the generals had been left to their own devices, things would have turned out fine — is true. Rumsfeld should actually be faulted for not micromanaging Tommy Franks enough when it came to planning for postwar operations, in which the general had little or no interest."

The credence that the Media lends to these ex-Generals is fascinating when you consider how they would react if this was a Democrat Administration. You can just bet that they'd be appalled at the idea of any military official thinking they had any right to lecture our civilian-controlled government on foreign policy. When a Democrat is in the White House, the Left sees the military as a bunch of trigger-happy warmongers who think nothing of sending young men and women off to die for their wars of aggression. But when it's a Republican President, they find any General - from Wesley Clarke to John Batiste - willing to criticize him or his Administration and all of a sudden they portray the elected civilians as the ones undermining the military. What a crock!

Posted by: Gary at 11:15 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 509 words, total size 3 kb.

You're Welcome Anyway

Three Christian Peaceniks that were kidnapped and held by terrorists in Iraq were freed today - not through the benevolence of their captors, however. U.S. and British troops risked their own necks in a rescue operation to get them out. A fourth captive had been shot by his kidnappers and dumped in a Baghdad street. The terrorists had threatened the lives of the other three.

But where's the gratitude? Forget about it! In a statement released by the activists' organization, Christian Peacemakers Teams, the rescue by the coalition troops wasn't even so much as acknowledged. Instead, they used the occasion to criticize the forces who saved the sorry asses of their people and give aid and comfort to the scum who kidnapped them in the first place.

"We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end."

No. The "root cause" of their kidnapping was their own naive stupidity. Rather than facilitate peace, they make the mission of turning Iraq back over to its citizens all the more difficult by giving the terrorists bargaining chips and helping create situations that increase the danger to both coalition forces and Iraqi citizens.

If someone is idiotic enough to seek out these animals to try and "reason" with them only to be captured and have their lives threatened then their fate should be left to themselves. Let them "negotiate" their own release rather than risk troops who have a job to do.

Posted by: Gary at 09:26 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 268 words, total size 2 kb.