I'm thankful this holiday season that it appears that U.S. and allied intelligence agencies have succeeded in thwarting terrorist attacks. For once the high state of alert and warnings seemed to be about specific threats, not vague possibilities. Actual flights targeted and cancelled based on hard intelligence.
Impressive.
Some thoughts:
- While the TV media continues to downplay the intelligence value of capturing Sadaam, it seems that the U.S. military in Iraq has rolled up some key cell leaders in the resistance and that will probably snowball as they start talking.
- Likewise in Libya, where Ghadaffi (?) has been giving up the weapons and secrets. Interesting story on World Net Daily today about the tour the Libyans have given of their secret weapons plants and tales of the bio-chem weapons they sold Al-Qeida. In the thousands.
- If you surf the internet news sites this week there are lots of troubling tales of imminent terrorist strikes. I'm hopeful that the intelligence successes continue and the strikes are thwarted.
- Will they catch the pilot of the Air France Flight that was cancelled who was a no-show. Capture him and the whole network goes down with him.
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Happy Holidays
Merry Christmas to you and have a blessed New Year. Thank you for reading. You've been one of my Christmas presents.
Monday, December 22, 2003
...Speak, and remove all doubt
Well, Howard Dean's certainly removed all doubt that he's unfit to be the Commander in Chief of the United States. How? By his statement this week after the capture of Sadaam Hussein that we are no safer now than we were on 9/11 when the planes flew into the buildings.
That is complete undiluted horsecrap. Since 9/11 the U.S. government has:
- deterred every successive attack
- conducted the most massive reformation of government agencies with a role in protecting us into one body - the Department of Homeland Security
- passed laws like the Patriot Act which expand the governments ability to do it's first duty - provide for the security of America
- chased Osama bin Laden into the underground, probably in Iran, where he's had a considerably harder time hitting us again
- captured or killed most of bin Laden's organization
- destroyed the State sponsor (the Taliban) who allowed bin Laden to operate training camps in the open that trained thousands of terrorists. No more camps. Fewer terrorists.
- taken down Sadaam Hussein and a regime that supported terrorists throughout the Mideast. (See recent news stories from the London Telegraph that link Sadaam to Al-Qeida by hooking up Mohammed Atta to train with Abu Nidal in Baghdad.) No more Salman Pak training camp outside Baghdad where they used a jet airliner parked in the desert to train terrorists on how to take over a passenger jet with small handtools.
etc.
And we're not safer?
So why would Dean make such a foolish public statement? Because his followers, on the far left and on college campuses, believe this folly as well. He's speaking to his base and they love him for it. And it's the base that will drive the Democrats of the cliff next November.
Also this week......
Bush's projection of strength in the Mideast to solve the Iraq problem is paying further dividends. This week's announcement that Mummar Qadafi is giving up his WMD programs in Libya to US/British forces vindicates Bush's preemptive war peace-thru-strength model. It's no coincidence at all that Qadafi started negotiations to surrender his weapons back in March, about the time the troops started moving into Iraq. Qadafi's no fool and he see's his future in Sadaam's. And it wasn't the UN that brought him to the table. It was American military strength.
Also...
I saw the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King last night and it was awesome. By far the best movie I've ever seen in my long movie-going career. Basic message, as I said in my last post: evil must be opposed. Even if you have to, against all odds, travel across the globe to take the fight into the heart of the enemy's land.
Same message as the War on Terrorism, George W. Bush style.
I was marveling this week about the application of that message to history. The books were originally written against the backdrop of WWII, in England which was the courage of the British to stand against the world conquering evil of the Third Reich was tested. Here was Gondor (Britain and Western Europe?) under siege with Rohan (America) riding to their aid. Was Sauron an allegory for Hitler? Tolkein always said no, but how can you read it otherwise given the historical context of his writing? And now as the phenomenal cinematic masterpiece re-telling of the story plays across our screens, can we miss the parallels to the sweeping global threat that terrorism represents to the civilized world?
Evil must be opposed, not appeased. Will the liberals who now want to run back to the UN and who criticize American strength at every turn ever get that?
That is complete undiluted horsecrap. Since 9/11 the U.S. government has:
- deterred every successive attack
- conducted the most massive reformation of government agencies with a role in protecting us into one body - the Department of Homeland Security
- passed laws like the Patriot Act which expand the governments ability to do it's first duty - provide for the security of America
- chased Osama bin Laden into the underground, probably in Iran, where he's had a considerably harder time hitting us again
- captured or killed most of bin Laden's organization
- destroyed the State sponsor (the Taliban) who allowed bin Laden to operate training camps in the open that trained thousands of terrorists. No more camps. Fewer terrorists.
- taken down Sadaam Hussein and a regime that supported terrorists throughout the Mideast. (See recent news stories from the London Telegraph that link Sadaam to Al-Qeida by hooking up Mohammed Atta to train with Abu Nidal in Baghdad.) No more Salman Pak training camp outside Baghdad where they used a jet airliner parked in the desert to train terrorists on how to take over a passenger jet with small handtools.
etc.
And we're not safer?
So why would Dean make such a foolish public statement? Because his followers, on the far left and on college campuses, believe this folly as well. He's speaking to his base and they love him for it. And it's the base that will drive the Democrats of the cliff next November.
Also this week......
Bush's projection of strength in the Mideast to solve the Iraq problem is paying further dividends. This week's announcement that Mummar Qadafi is giving up his WMD programs in Libya to US/British forces vindicates Bush's preemptive war peace-thru-strength model. It's no coincidence at all that Qadafi started negotiations to surrender his weapons back in March, about the time the troops started moving into Iraq. Qadafi's no fool and he see's his future in Sadaam's. And it wasn't the UN that brought him to the table. It was American military strength.
Also...
I saw the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King last night and it was awesome. By far the best movie I've ever seen in my long movie-going career. Basic message, as I said in my last post: evil must be opposed. Even if you have to, against all odds, travel across the globe to take the fight into the heart of the enemy's land.
Same message as the War on Terrorism, George W. Bush style.
I was marveling this week about the application of that message to history. The books were originally written against the backdrop of WWII, in England which was the courage of the British to stand against the world conquering evil of the Third Reich was tested. Here was Gondor (Britain and Western Europe?) under siege with Rohan (America) riding to their aid. Was Sauron an allegory for Hitler? Tolkein always said no, but how can you read it otherwise given the historical context of his writing? And now as the phenomenal cinematic masterpiece re-telling of the story plays across our screens, can we miss the parallels to the sweeping global threat that terrorism represents to the civilized world?
Evil must be opposed, not appeased. Will the liberals who now want to run back to the UN and who criticize American strength at every turn ever get that?
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
A matter of Cosmic Timing
OK. I'm going to stretch a parallel a little, but here goes:
We have two big media events coinciding this week:
- the capture of Sadaam Hussein
- the opening of "The Return of the King", the 3rd movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
What do the have in common? Good opposing Evil. One fictional, one very real.
A stretch? I don't think so.
We're going to see in "The Return of the King" one of the greatest cinematic portrayal of good overcoming evil ever. The book certainly lives up to that. The movie will trump it. From a review by Charles Colson, former Nixon operative - now minister:
"According to screenwriters Boyens and Walsh, The Return of the King is ultimately about faith: faith in the need for good to oppose evil; faith in those who join you in that struggle; and faith in a higher power that ensures good’s eventual triumph."
I like the way he said that: "the need for good to oppose evil". Of the large issues of our time - what could be a more important truth? And the hope that Tolkein delivers, rooted in his Christian faith, - "...that ensures good's eventual triumph". Certainly the oppressed people of Iraq who had suffered hundreds of thousands of death at the monster Sadaam's hands needed us to understand that.
And George W. Bush understands the conflict of Good vs. Evil in the post 9/11 world. And all of the hand wringing and caterwauling from his critics won't deter him. It's clear that there are many people in our land, on the left, who can't bring themselves to label a murdering tyrant like Sadaam as "evil". I have no problem with the word. George Bush is clear about it. And we need that clarity to defeat terrorism.
Some saw the pictures this week of the haggard Sadaam getting his medical exam and saw an object of compassion. I understand that. But I don't share it. I saw evil, trapped and caught. And I saw " good's eventual triumph".
We have two big media events coinciding this week:
- the capture of Sadaam Hussein
- the opening of "The Return of the King", the 3rd movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
What do the have in common? Good opposing Evil. One fictional, one very real.
A stretch? I don't think so.
We're going to see in "The Return of the King" one of the greatest cinematic portrayal of good overcoming evil ever. The book certainly lives up to that. The movie will trump it. From a review by Charles Colson, former Nixon operative - now minister:
"According to screenwriters Boyens and Walsh, The Return of the King is ultimately about faith: faith in the need for good to oppose evil; faith in those who join you in that struggle; and faith in a higher power that ensures good’s eventual triumph."
I like the way he said that: "the need for good to oppose evil". Of the large issues of our time - what could be a more important truth? And the hope that Tolkein delivers, rooted in his Christian faith, - "...that ensures good's eventual triumph". Certainly the oppressed people of Iraq who had suffered hundreds of thousands of death at the monster Sadaam's hands needed us to understand that.
And George W. Bush understands the conflict of Good vs. Evil in the post 9/11 world. And all of the hand wringing and caterwauling from his critics won't deter him. It's clear that there are many people in our land, on the left, who can't bring themselves to label a murdering tyrant like Sadaam as "evil". I have no problem with the word. George Bush is clear about it. And we need that clarity to defeat terrorism.
Some saw the pictures this week of the haggard Sadaam getting his medical exam and saw an object of compassion. I understand that. But I don't share it. I saw evil, trapped and caught. And I saw " good's eventual triumph".
Monday, December 15, 2003
"We got him"
Big day yesterday for the U.S. military and the Bush administration! Capturing Sadaam Hussein.
Random thoughts on the day:
- the image of the bedraggled Sadaam, looking like it was a cold night on skid row, is worth a fortune in PR for the U.S. No doubt about it, he's done with. I'm guessing he's not going to have a pleasant week.
- I'd say Sadaam has had it pretty rough since, oh I'd say about March when the U.S. military rode into town. No palaces to live in. No parties. No raping. No murder. No genocide. Only a spider hole to live in. What's a poor ruthless, murdering dictator to do?
- I was struck by the explosive outburst from the Iraqi journalists in the briefing room when the announcement was made. "Death to Sadaam"! And those were the "impartial" journalists.
- Great day for the White House. Big moment for George W. Bush in his speech to the nation. Although I kind of wanted him to look at the camera and say: "Osama, you're next. Whatever hole your hiding in isn't deep enough for us not to find you".
- Big day for the war on terrorism. For you attention-span challenged twenty-somethings running the Howard Dean campaign, take note. In the short span of 9 months the U.S. military has projected force across the ocean in strength, defeated an entrenched army, deposed a standing genocidal government in violation of 12+ UN resolutions, rebuilt schools and infrastructure, aided the formation of a new democratic government with a representative mission to the UN, and hunted down and captured 42 of the 55 most wanted criminal leaders of the deposed criminal Baath party. A stunning, history making, victory on all accounts. Only you leftist know-nothings keep crowing about it being a mistake and a "quagmire". I now count Al Gore in your ranks. His rants about the war in last week's stunning endorsement of Howard Dean will now quickly backfire on him.
- The weasels were in full flight yesterday on the Sunday chat shows. It was priceless watching Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry ducking and jiving on a talk show. "I always said we should get Sadaam Hussein" he said. "I just wanted to do it right, with the help of our UN allies". Stand back Mr. Kerry. George W. Bush will show you how to do it right. As Joe Lieberman said yesterday, "If Howard Dean's policies had been in place, Sadaam Hussein would be in power today, not in prison". Well said Senator Lieberman. The fact is that applies to all the Democratic candidates except Lieberman.
- When will the Democrats figure out that, on the issue of Sadaam Hussein, our "allies" like France, Germany, and Russia weren't our allies. They were Sadaam's allies. They were in business with him in violation of the UN sanctions. That's why they didn't support us in this action. They were Sadaam's allies. What's hard to understand about that? That's why the Bush policy, announced last week, that the countries that did not join the coalition and fight are not eligible to profit from the contracts to rebuild Iraq. Right on. They didn't share in the sacrifice or put themselves at risk. So why are the Democrats crying about the new policy on behalf of our supposed allies?
- The democrats have three mantras about the war
- it was a mistake or a fraud
- it's a quagmire
- we need to "internationalize" the war and bring in our allies. ( the corollary: we've been bad and the world hates us.)
I say: just keep harping on those mantras, Democrats, and it's Bush in '04!
- CNN poll today on "should Sadaam get the death penalty? 60% yes, 40% no - life in prison. What's wrong with you people. Is killing 1 million people not enough to warrant the death penalty? Please tell me that those 40% CNN viewers are not registered voters.
- I only want 2 answers from Sadaam before they shoot him in the public square:
- Where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) hidden?
- Where is P.O.W. Commander Scott Speicher?
I think a few days of sleep deprivation and 24 hour playing of Metallica at full volume should get us those answers. Then you can shoot.
Random thoughts on the day:
- the image of the bedraggled Sadaam, looking like it was a cold night on skid row, is worth a fortune in PR for the U.S. No doubt about it, he's done with. I'm guessing he's not going to have a pleasant week.
- I'd say Sadaam has had it pretty rough since, oh I'd say about March when the U.S. military rode into town. No palaces to live in. No parties. No raping. No murder. No genocide. Only a spider hole to live in. What's a poor ruthless, murdering dictator to do?
- I was struck by the explosive outburst from the Iraqi journalists in the briefing room when the announcement was made. "Death to Sadaam"! And those were the "impartial" journalists.
- Great day for the White House. Big moment for George W. Bush in his speech to the nation. Although I kind of wanted him to look at the camera and say: "Osama, you're next. Whatever hole your hiding in isn't deep enough for us not to find you".
- Big day for the war on terrorism. For you attention-span challenged twenty-somethings running the Howard Dean campaign, take note. In the short span of 9 months the U.S. military has projected force across the ocean in strength, defeated an entrenched army, deposed a standing genocidal government in violation of 12+ UN resolutions, rebuilt schools and infrastructure, aided the formation of a new democratic government with a representative mission to the UN, and hunted down and captured 42 of the 55 most wanted criminal leaders of the deposed criminal Baath party. A stunning, history making, victory on all accounts. Only you leftist know-nothings keep crowing about it being a mistake and a "quagmire". I now count Al Gore in your ranks. His rants about the war in last week's stunning endorsement of Howard Dean will now quickly backfire on him.
- The weasels were in full flight yesterday on the Sunday chat shows. It was priceless watching Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry ducking and jiving on a talk show. "I always said we should get Sadaam Hussein" he said. "I just wanted to do it right, with the help of our UN allies". Stand back Mr. Kerry. George W. Bush will show you how to do it right. As Joe Lieberman said yesterday, "If Howard Dean's policies had been in place, Sadaam Hussein would be in power today, not in prison". Well said Senator Lieberman. The fact is that applies to all the Democratic candidates except Lieberman.
- When will the Democrats figure out that, on the issue of Sadaam Hussein, our "allies" like France, Germany, and Russia weren't our allies. They were Sadaam's allies. They were in business with him in violation of the UN sanctions. That's why they didn't support us in this action. They were Sadaam's allies. What's hard to understand about that? That's why the Bush policy, announced last week, that the countries that did not join the coalition and fight are not eligible to profit from the contracts to rebuild Iraq. Right on. They didn't share in the sacrifice or put themselves at risk. So why are the Democrats crying about the new policy on behalf of our supposed allies?
- The democrats have three mantras about the war
- it was a mistake or a fraud
- it's a quagmire
- we need to "internationalize" the war and bring in our allies. ( the corollary: we've been bad and the world hates us.)
I say: just keep harping on those mantras, Democrats, and it's Bush in '04!
- CNN poll today on "should Sadaam get the death penalty? 60% yes, 40% no - life in prison. What's wrong with you people. Is killing 1 million people not enough to warrant the death penalty? Please tell me that those 40% CNN viewers are not registered voters.
- I only want 2 answers from Sadaam before they shoot him in the public square:
- Where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) hidden?
- Where is P.O.W. Commander Scott Speicher?
I think a few days of sleep deprivation and 24 hour playing of Metallica at full volume should get us those answers. Then you can shoot.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Let the fratricide begin
Wow! Stunning endorsement today of Howard Dean by the reclusive Al Gore. Clearly he's been nursing some grudges.
Slap! Take that oh-so loyal Joe Lieberman. I'm kickin' ya to the curb.
Slap! Take that Bill Clinton. Take your scandal plagued legacy that kept me from being President and slink off to the shame corner of history.
Slap! Slap! Take that Hillary. Take your stalking horse fake candidate Wesley Clark and go back to your "home" state of New York until 2008!
Let the high-profile verbal knife fight begin for real. Democratic candidate fratricide on a big scale.
Oh it's going to be a fun primary season.
Slap! Take that oh-so loyal Joe Lieberman. I'm kickin' ya to the curb.
Slap! Take that Bill Clinton. Take your scandal plagued legacy that kept me from being President and slink off to the shame corner of history.
Slap! Slap! Take that Hillary. Take your stalking horse fake candidate Wesley Clark and go back to your "home" state of New York until 2008!
Let the high-profile verbal knife fight begin for real. Democratic candidate fratricide on a big scale.
Oh it's going to be a fun primary season.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)