JOHN LEO: "the Deaniacs are today's McGovernites"

John Leo of USNEWS has a great column recapping and analyzing Beinart's critique of the "new New Left's" resurgence within the Democratic party. IT'S A MUST READ. here's an excerpt:

In a lecture at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, Peter Beinart said the mostly young Internet activists are clearly taking over the party. If so, this would be the first ray of sunshine for conservatives and Republicans in almost a year - [my emphasis! reliapundit]. The McGovern movement severely damaged the party, pushing it toward four presidential defeats in five tries, until Bill Clinton won by dragging the party back to the center in 1992. If the Internet people had prevailed in 2004, Howard Dean would have won the nomination and then been buried in an enormous landslide, just like George McGovern.

I can only add this: if the current crop of Dems ever got control of the Congress or the White House, I am sure they'd do to the Afghanis and the Iraqis and the Lebanese (and soon the Syrians!) what they did to the South Vietnamese and the Contras: abandon them to tyranny. ANYHOW: use the link and RTWT!

MORE PROOF OF EVIL IRANIAN-SYRIAN AXIS

LONDON TIMES: IRAN has promised a reward of $10,000 (£5,600) to Islamic Jihad if the militant group launches rockets from the West Bank towards Tel Aviv, a senior Palestinian intelligence official said last week. Speaking in his Ramallah office, the official produced a fat wad of $100 notes which he said had been confiscated from a pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad activist. The money was said to have gone from Iran to Damascus, the Syrian capital, from where Ibrahim Shehadeh, Islamic Jihad’s head of overseas operations, transferred it to the West Bank. ... Israeli intelligence officials said that Iran was threatening the country on three fronts: through long-range missiles based in Lebanon; through terrorist networks around the world; and through the new arsenals of the West Bank.

When we neutralize and or liberate Damascus and Tehran, we will finally bring peace to the Middle East.

EXPLOSIONS IN NEW DELHI

BREAKING NEWS/BBC: "An explosion has taken place in a crowded market in the heart of the Indian capital Delhi. Unconfirmed reports speak of more blasts in other parts of the city. - UPDATE: Police say the first occurred in Paharganj, in the heart of the city. The second took place in Sarojini Nagar, south of the city centre. Rescue teams and police have rushed to the scenes. The markets were crowded with people shopping ahead of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. There are also unconfirmed reports that there has been a third blast in another part of Delhi.It is not clear what caused the blasts although police suspect they were bomb attacks. "

JIHADOTERROR? Maybe; India suffers the most jihadoterror attacks of any nation on Earth. (And they have NOTHING to do with Bush or Israel or Iraq.) STAY TUNED...

MORE PROOF THIS IS WW4: four Danish-Arabs arrested in Denmark for plotting European attack linked to plot uncovered in Bosnia!

AUSSIE-ABC:

Their arrests are connected to an alleged terror plot uncovered in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, where three other men were arrested. Police say they feared an attack on the US or British diplomats in the Balkans. Explosives and weapons armed with silencers were discovered in Sarajevo, along with alleged email correspondence with the four in Denmark. Police in Copenhagen have taken as evidence computers, address lists and religious leaflets. ... Racial tensions have escalated in Denmark recently with a radio station banned for calling for the extermination of fanatical Muslims.

Islamofascism is the enemy. And its tentacles are global. It's long passed time the Left abandoned their BDS and joined the good fight!

UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE: MORE PROOF THIS IS WW4, (and has NOTHING to do with Bush, Libby, Rove, Israel, Halliburton): BBC: "Three girls have been beheaded and another badly injured as they walked to a Christian school in Indonesia.They were walking through a cocoa plantation near the city of Poso in central Sulawesi province when they were attacked. This is an area that has a long history of religious violence between Muslims and Christians. "

THIS ATTACK SHOULD EXPOSE - ONCE AND FOR ALL - EXACTLY WHO OUR ENEMY IS: jihadoterrorists who would attack: children, little girls; beheading them; because of their faith. This enemy must be defeated, utterly. And everywhere. We can best do this if the Left would stop carping and appeasing and join us. WE'RE WAITING!

UPDATE #2: More arrests over Denmark 'plot'--- Danish police say the group may have been planning its own attack --- Two more young men have been remanded in custody in Denmark in connection with a suspected terrorist cell. The arrests bring to six the number arrested in a case said to have links to Bosnia.

WE'RE TURNING UP THE HEAT ON ASSAD, AND HE AND HIS ALLIES ARE FEELING IT

Two news items provide more evidence that "the Syrian front" in WW4 is getting VERY ripe:

(1) BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hizbollah resistance group said yesterday it would stand by Syria, blasting the United Nations for what it said was political incitement against Damascus over the killing of a Lebanese ex-premier. Tens of thousands of Lebanese attended an anti-Israel Hizbollah parade in Beirut’s southern suburb in a show of force by the resistance group facing US-led pressure to disarm in line with a 14-month-old UN resolution. “We say clearly that we stand by Syria, leadership and people, in the face of its targeting by the Americans and Zionists and attempts to punish it politically for standing by Lebanon and its resistance,” Hizbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told the rally.

Hiz b'Allah is also a client of IRAN.

(2) WASHINGTON: The United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union called on Friday for Syria to immediately expel the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad from its territory. “The quartet urges the Syrian government to take immediate action to close the offices of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and to prevent the use of its territory by armed groups engaged in terrorist acts,” said a statement by the international group read by US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. The statement by the international quartet, which is working toward Middle East peace, came two days after a deadly attack in northern Israel claimed by Islamic Jihad.

Every chance we get, we are going to turn up the heat on Assad. Until he caves. Then we can deal with Iran.

BTW: Nasrallah's speech and the latest genocidal hate-filled racist speech by Iran's president are examples of the reactionary policy of the Axis of Evil: with their backs getting closer and closer to the proverbial wall, they step up their attacks against Israel thinking that it will stir up support as much as it diverts the attention of their citizens from their own failures. And, if they can get an Israeli-Arab regional war to break out, they can divert US and coalition forces from attacking THEM!

(IMHO: It won't work. The Israelis - like the Iraqi Shias and Kurds - won't allow the jihadoterrorists to dictate the pace and tenor of the conflict. Neither will the USA. The combination of USA offenses in Iraq, and targeted assasinations by the IDF in Gaza and the West Bank SHOULD be able to prevent the enemy from getting the level of attacks up to the tipping point of war.) STAY TUNED!

UPDATE (as I predicted): ABCNEWS: this morning, in response to continued rocket-launching from Gaza and the recent jihadoterrorisy attack inside Israel -- AND THE LACK OF ANY EFFECTIVE RESPONSE FROM ABBAS OR THE PNA -- Israel INTENSIFIED its counter-attacks/preemptive assassinations in Gaza.

A MILEPOST: UNSCR UNANIMOUSLY CONDEMNS ANTI-ZIONIST REMARK BY IRANIAN PRESDIENT

This is attributable to what I'll dub "The Bush Effect": BBC:

The UN Security Council has issued a statement condemning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his call for Israel to be "wiped off the map". It follows similar criticism by several countries and a rare rebuke from United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. Israel had called for the UN session, and welcomed the unanimous statement. President Ahmadinejad however stood by his remarks, dismissing the criticism as invalid at an anti-Israel rally in the Iranian capital, Tehran. The UN statement said: "The Security Council condemns the remarks about Israel attributed to Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of the Islamic republic of Iran." Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat has distanced the Palestinian leadership from the Iranian position. "What we need to be talking about is adding the state of Palestine to the map and not wiping Israel from the map," he told the BBC News website. Egypt said Mr Ahmadinejad's outburst "showed the weakness of the Iranian government" while Turkey urged the president "to display political moderation". Meanwhile, the Vatican expressed "great concern" about the "particularly grave and unacceptable comments denying the right to existence of Israel".

If the UNSCR continues to show this kind of moral clarity, then they will become a useful ally of the Free World in WW4 rather than what they have been - a tool of the enemy and their appeasers. BRAVO!

***UPDATE: BBC: Iran acccepts rebuke as Foreign Ministry rescinds and explains the Iranian president's genocidal comments: "Iran says it has no intention to attack Israel despite a call by its president to have it "wiped off the map". Iran's foreign ministry said Tehran respected the UN charter and had never used or threatened to use force.

Until thee is regime change in Iran all sane observer must assume the president was truthful but stupid: he should have never PUBLICALLY announced what their REAL policy is.

ONLY LIBBY INDICTED FOR PLAMEGATE LIES

Fitzgerald only indicted Libby, and only for lying to the FBI and the grand jury, and NOT for violating either the IIPA or the Espionage Act of 1917. THESE ARE SERIOUS CHARGES. If he did it, and the prosecutor proves he did it, then Libby should do hard time. But - as POWERLINE concludes: it's not as bad as it might have been for Bush.

I think the pathetically sad truth of the whole mess is that the AD HOMINEM attack which Libby used against Wilson was stupid and UNECESSARY. It was entirely pointless and un-germaine to debunking all of Wilson's FALSE CHARGES.

BOTTOM-LINE: as to whether his wife sent him or not: WHO CARES!?

The Veep's office could and should have merely : (1) just denied Wilon's claim that they sent him (which is true); and continued to argue that all of Wilson's charges were false - as a US Senate Intel' Committee would state in an official report, and as the British "Lord Butler Report" also avowed.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, THIS ENTIRE "SCANDAL" IS POINTLESS: Bush NEVER referred to Wilson's Niger trip in the SOTU in question; Bush referred to British intel, as I mentioned above: intel which the Brits still stand behind. In addition, the SOTU in question was delivered three months AFTER Bush was authorized to go to war against Saddam, so the infamous 16 words - (none of which is either NIGER, or YELLOWCAKE, or BOUGHT) - could NOT have influenced one single solitary Congressional vote. Therefore, the 16 words could NOT have misled anyone in any material way. EVEN WITHOUT THE NUCLEAR ARGUMENT.

This of course won't stop the Lefty doves and so-called "realists (like lifelong failure Scowcroft, [see KRAUTHAMMER below]) from arguing that this indictment somehow proves that "Bush lied, and people died."

But in fact, all the indictment proves is that leaking classified data and making AD HOMINEM attacks is dumb.

[ASIDE: Libby will obviously try to prove that he did NOT know that Plame was covert, and that since he did not know that, he had no MOTIVE for lying to anyone, but was just "misremembering." The jury will have to decide if that's more credible than what Fitzgerald alleges: that Libby was told Plame was CIA MANY times through OFFICIAL CHANNELS and that when Libby TESTIFIED that he did NOT know Plame was a CIA agent came a day after Ari Fleischer testifed he was told of same by Libby. Either Fleischer is misremebering the date or is lying, or Libby is lying. I feel that Fleischer probably has contemporaneous notes, or Fitzgerald wouldn't have cited this instance.

Which is why I think Libby will be convicted. He will be convicted for lying about a stupid and pointless leak which served no purpose - (he was trying to explain who sent Wilson and why Wilson - a otherwise UNQUALIFIED MAN - was sent on this important mission to begin with). Libby could have discredited Wilson and his trip by using Wilson's own words - ALWAYS the most effective way to destroy another person's argument.]

KRAUTHAMMER NAILS SCOWCROFT

AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ!

I CAN ONLY ADD THAT IT IS SAD AND WRONG THAT LIBERALS TODAY (THE "POST-MODERN LEFT") ARE ANTI-NEO-CON. TODAY'S LEFT WOULD HAVE CONDEMNED FDR, TRUMAN AND JFK AS NEO-CONS. DONT BELIEVE ME? READ FDR'S FOUR FREEDOMS SPEECH AND JFK'S INAUGURAL SPEECH; THEY EPITOMIZE TODAY'S "NEO-CON" AGENDA, AND BUSH'S POST 9/11 FOREIGN POLICY.

THE UNDERLYING REASON THE POST-MODERN LEFT HAS TURNED ITS BACK ON FDR AND JFK'S FOREIGN POLICY IS THAT THE POST-MODERN LEFT IS NOW DOMINATED BY MORAL AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM. RELATIVISM DICTATES THAT ALL INDIGENOUS CULTURES ARE FUNCTIONALLY EQUIVALENT, AND THAT NO CULTURE HAS THE RIGHT TO IMPOSE ITS VALUES ON ANOTHER CULTURE OR NATION.

THIS IS A MORALLY BANKRUPT POSITION BECAUSE IT PROVIDES NO MORAL BASIS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION TO STOP SLAVERY, INFANTICIDE, OR GENOCIDE. WHICH IS WHY TODAY'S LEFT ONLY FAVORS INTERVENTION TO STOP ONE OF THESE EVILS WHEN AN INTERNATIONAL OR CROSS-CULTURAL CONSENSUS IS ARRIVED AT AT A MUTLINATIONAL ORGANIZATION - LIKE THE U.N. THIS IS WHY THE LEFT OVERVALUES MULTILATERALISM.

THIS IS ALSO WHY THE POST-MODERN LEFT CHARACTERIZES BUSH AS AN IMPERIALIST, BECAUSE THEY FEEL THAT HE IS USING THE RAW MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES TO IMPOSE RELATIVE VALUES (CULTURALLY/NATIONALLY NORMATIVE VALUES) ON TO ANOTHER CULTURE.

THE POST-MODERN LEFT FEELS THAT DEMOCRACY AND LIBERTY ARE NOT EVERYONE'S INNATE RIGHT, BUT MERELY CULTURALLY RELATIVE NORMS. NOT ONLY IS THIS MORALLY BANKRUPT, IT CAN ONLY LEAD TO APPEASEMENT OF OR SURRENDER TO OUR ENEMIES - WHO ARE ACTUALLY ARCH-CULTURAL IMPERIALISTS WHO ACTUALLY FORCE PEOPLE UNDER THEIR TYRANNY TO ADHERE TO THEIR NARROW AND EXTREME SECTARIANISM OR DIE.

HUMAN HISTORY IS NOTHING IF IT HAS NOT BEEN A LONG MARCH TO GREATER INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY AND THE WIDESPREAD PROSPERITY WHICH ONLY LIBERTY CREATES.

THIS IS WHY THE POST-MODERN LEFT IS NOT JUST MORALLY WRONG AND POLITICALLY IMPOTENT; THEY ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY.

ROSA PARKS TO LIE IN STATE

BBC: The body of civil rights icon Rosa Parks is set to lie in honour in the US Capitol Rotunda - the first time that a woman has received the tribute. The US Senate voted on Thursday to allow the move and Congress is set to approve the decision on Friday.The text of the Senate resolution said that the honour should allow US citizens "to pay their last respects to this great American."

The House must concur. I hope they do; this would be a fitting, moving and wonderful tribute.

ECOLOGISTS WERE WRONG THEN; THEY'RE WRONG NOW

Remember when "EARTH DAY" started? Well, back then the ecologists were making all kinds of dire predictions - including predicting mass starvation, the end of oil, and "global cooling!" EUROTA has compiled the facts and laid out a stunning little post comparing the predictions to REALITY. CHECK IT OUT!

BY THE WAY: was the Left ever RIGHT about ANYTHING!? Nope. They weren't. In fact, most of the scary scenarios that the eco-Left predicted would occur DIDN'T happen precisely because China and India and eastern Europe became MORE like the USA, not less. The major reason the world is better fed and richer now than it was then is because Rao in India and Teng Tsiao Peng in China both stepped AWAY from statism/socialism/Leftism and introduced free-markets. The precise thing the Left BLAMED for causing their "phantom fears" and false predictions (starvation, natrual resource depletion, etc) was what actually PREVENTED IT. The Left wasn't just wrong; they were 180DEGREES WRONG! They are on most things.

MIERS WITHDRAWS - proving elections count!

Miers withdraws. My polling always showed that her nomination was weak within Bush's base; 35% of the GOP base was DEEPLY OPPOSED; a president cannot govern effectively without a third of his base. IN OTHER WORDS: Her withdrawal proves that ELECTIONS COUNT! When an elected leader fails to satisfy the folks who elected him they will NOT be happy. And elected leaders need to keep their supporters happy; that's DEMOCRACY IN ACTION.

I hope Bush nominates a stellar JUDGE and constitutional SCHOLAR who will satisfy the base who ELECTED HIM TO DO JUST THAT! (Just as I would expect that Hillary would nominate liberals - just as her husband BJ Clinton did.)

IDF RE-ENTERS JENIN

The miltary conflict between Israel and Syria, Hiz b'Allah and other jihadoterrorist groups sponsored by Iran and Syria (including Zarqawi's group) - which I have been predicting since September - is getting closer:

BBC: Israeli PM Ariel Sharon has vowed "wide-ranging and ceaseless" operations against Palestinian militants after the first suicide bombing in two months. Five Israelis died in an attack claimed by the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in the northern Israeli town of Hadera on Wednesday. The group said it carried out the attack to avenge the killing of one of its leaders by Israel on Monday. As Mr Sharon spoke, Israeli forces were entering the West Bank town of Jenin.

I also predicted that as the rate of anti-Israeli attacks increase, attacks in Jordan will begin. WHY? Because, as Iran and Syria and al Qaeda get their backs pushed up against the wall, they are responding with ever more desperate measures; now they need to start a regional war in order to fend off the encroachment of democracy and liberty (in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon). Things will get worse before they get better. But we will win; the forces of liberty always have. Stay tuned...

UPDATE: BBC: Israel launches Gaza air strike -

Policeman seeks to keep order after Jabaliya attack Israel has carried out a missile attack on the Gaza Strip, killing seven Palestinians, a day after a suicide bombing in northern Israel. A leading member of Islamic Jihad and three other members of the militant group were among those killed. Hours later, Israel fired missiles into an area which the army said was used by militants to launch rockets. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had pledged action in response to the bomb in Hadera which killed five Israelis.

Things are heating up on all fronts. STAY TUNED...

VOLCKER REPORT REVEALS RAMPANT CRIMINAL ABUSE AIDING SADDAM

NYTIMES: More than 4,500 companies took part in the United Nations oil-for-food program and more than half of them paid illegal surcharges and kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, according to the independent committee investigating the program. The country with the most companies involved in the program was Russia, followed by France, the committee says in a report to be released Thursday.

No wonder the Russians and the French were so opposed to the war! Does anybody doubt that Germany will be in the top five? And Canada?

The Left charges that Bush went to war for the oil, for the oil profits. THE EXACT OPPOSITE IS TRUE: the countries which opposed the war did so for the slimy oil profits. As long as their nation's oil companies made money (and some of their connected pol's got commissions), Russian and France and Germany and Canada thought it was JUST FINE if Saddam continued to shed Iraqi blood (and Israeli blood, because he financially supported jihadoterror against Israel). They also didn't give a hoot about the fact that Saddam was firing on USA and UK jets all the time. Or that he was sheltering international jihadoterrorists like Zarqawi and Abu Nidal BEFORE THE WAR.

Kofi must go. Chirac must go. (Schroeder is GONE!!! YEAH!) And Pooty-toot!? Sheesh. We gotta longer wait. But he will be gone, too.

ISRAEL PUTS IRAN ON NOTICE

BBC: Israel regards Iran as "a clear and present danger", Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has said. His comments came after the Islamic republic's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map". Ahmadinejad warned Muslim leaders not to recognise Israel. Ahmadinejad warned leaders of Muslim nations who recognised the state of Israel that they "face the wrath of their own people". He added: "Anyone who signs a treaty which recognises the entity of Israel means he has signed the surrender of the Muslim world."

When one nation states that another nation is a "clear and PRESENT danger" that nation is officially putting the threatening nation on notice that their threat is recognized and will be dealt with at any time and in any manner the threatened nation chooses. The clock is ticking on Iran. On Assad, too (no matter how what Putin says or does).

Assad is ou first target - he could fall in a month or so - unless he succeeds in fomenting a regional conflict. Once Assad is gone, then Iran's nuclear program could be neutralized - perhaps as early as next summer. In which case it will be a very hot summer. the enemy knows this. So, between now and then the enemy will try to pin us down in Iraq - make it hard for us to deploy/redploy assets to Syria and/or Iran. And they will step up attacks against Israel. Rather than slug it out with them in a war of attrition, I suggest we kill the enemy at their roots: by moving any and all assets we need to in order to take down Assad and neutralize Iran's nuke assets (and its military assets, too). When these poisonous roots are dead, then the leaves will drop and the limbs wither - all over the Middle East.

BTW: Israel is buying 500 "bunker-buster" bombs from the US that could be used to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities.

MORE PROOF WE ARE WINNING IN IRAQ

NYTIMES:

"Leaders of three Sunni political parties joined together today to compete in the parliamentary elections on Dec. 15, suggesting that the country's embittered Sunni minority might play a more active role in the democratic process."

In spite of what the dem/left/doves say, we are winning.

ASSAD, IRAN AND HIZ B'ALLAH STIRRING UP TROUBLE IN ISRAEL

There has just been a jihadoterrorist "islamikaze-genocide" bombing inside Israel - in the north, on the coast in the city of HADERA - NOT FAR FROM Hiz b'Allah's stronghold in southern Lebanon.

I PREDICTED THIS WOULD LIKELY HAPPEN IN A POST DATED SEPTEMBER 25, 2005.

HERE'S WHY I PREDICTED IT:

Not content to help jihadoterrorists SPREAD havoc in Iraq, NOW - in a desperate attempt to foment ENOUGH regional instability (the kind of chaos in which he might survive) - Assad is, IN MY OPINION, stirring up trouble INSIDE ISRAEL in an attempt to start anoither Arab-Israeli war - during which Assad would even try to REOCCUPY LEBANON!

Iran, Syria and Hiz b'Allah (and Hamas and the PFLP and other jihadoterrorist groups) have all wanted Israel to be destroyed anyway - (the president of Iran just reiterated this in an interview; more HERE). Assad's crisis and the impending defeat of the "insurgency" in Iraq) is making these evil-doers MORE DESPERATE: Assad is barley holding on to power, and Iran KNOWS it's SURROUNDED.

SEVERELY COMPLICATING MATTERS: Putin has announced that Russia will BLOCK any sanctions against Syria! This means we will have to find OTHER MEANS to topple Assad - probably using border skirmishes and Iraq infiltration as an excuse - (maybe even getting the Iraqi parliament to declare war on Syria).

WHY IS PUTIN PROTECTING SYRIA AND IRAN?! IMO: Because Putin is a LEFTIST - as are Assad's Baathists and Iran's mullahs. And because they are leftists - like most leftists, and LIKE THE FRENCH - they want to diminish the power of the USA ABOVE ALL ELSE. The Left thinks they are using the islamists, and vice versa. ALSO: they are united by a deep and abiding ANTI-SEMITISM. WHAT IS MORE: leftists and islamists are "kindred souls": they each have a deep affinity for strong states that tyrannize individuals, and neither loathe or fear or see as foes nations ruled by tyrannical governments; in fact, they BOTH advocate elitist government in order to implement "utopianist" policies. They are two sides of the same coin: STATISM (politically) or TYRANNICAL ZEALOTRY (ideologically). UPDATE: The SANCTIONS being proposed by the USA and the UK and france are targeted against the perps and NOT the nation, so Russia MAY be forced to abstain! STAY TUNED!

For liberty and peace and prosperity to flourish the Axis of Evil must be defeated.

UPDATE: MORE PROOF SYRIA AND IRAN AND HIZ B'ALLAH ARE STEPPING UP EFFORTS AGAINST ISRAEL - from the NYTIMES - U.N. Reports Rising Flow of Arms From Syria Into Lebanon :

Lebanon is facing an "increasing influx of weaponry and personnel from Syria" to Palestinian militia groups, a United Nations report said yesterday. The report, the second of two United Nations investigations into Syria's interference in Lebanon, said there had been a remarkable turnabout from Syria's long domination there. Damascus removed its troops last spring after 30 years of occupation following mass demonstrations and international pressure over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Still, the report says, Lebanon has not achieved "tangible results" in disarming the Palestinians and the Shiite Hezbollah militia or in exerting full control over its territory. The situation remains "volatile," the report warned, citing "a number of worrying developments affecting the stability of Lebanon, particularly in the form of terrorist acts and the illegal transfer of arms and people across the borders into Lebanon."

The Axis of Evil doesn't just want to use these weapons against the anti-Syrian Lebanese; they're also to attack Israel. Stay tuned! Tick... tick... tick....

GRIM MILESTONE IN IRAQ...

.... 2000 KILLED since war began. Each death is sad. But none were in vain.

Predictably, the Leftie Dems are wringing their hands and ponying up to the well of the Senate, for instance, and proffering phony laments - as if they really cared. Durbin, Kennedy. Reid. Lautenberg. Scum. If they DID really care, then they wouldn't have voted AGAINST nearly every increase in the defense budget from the year 1! And all their BS about there "not being a exit strategy" is too sickening for me to stomach! THERE IS AN EXIT STRATEGY, YOU IDIOTS: training the Iraqis to take over; as Bush has said OVER AND OVER AND OVER: "as they stand up, we will stand down." It doesn't get much simpler than that.

Here's what the president said earlier (hat tip KJ):

Some observers also claim that America would be better off by cutting our losses and leaving Iraq now. This is a dangerous illusion, refuted by a simple question: Would the United States and other free nations be more safe, or less safe, with Zarqawi and bin Laden in control of Iraq, its people, and its resources? Having removed a dictator who hated free peoples, we will not stand by as a new set of killers, dedicated to the destruction of our country, seizes control of Iraq by violence.

I'm with him. We gotta stay until the JOB IS DONE.

AND HERE'S SOME PERSPECTIVE: We have lost 2000 of our bravest and best in Iraq - IN 2.5 YEARS. On 9/11 we lost 3000 - in 2.5 hours. NOT CONNECTED!? Sure they are; 9/11 changed everything. After 9/11, sensible people realized that we couldn't tolerate the kinds of risks we'd tolerated BEFORE 9/11. ESPECIALLY with regard to Saddam and islamoterror. Never forget, that Saddam said the following words to our Ambassador in 1991:

"We know that you can harm us although we do not threaten you. But we too can harm you. Everyone can cause harm according to their ability and their size. We cannot come all the way to you in the United States, but individual Arabs may reach you."

No sane, responsible and patriotic president could have ignroed that statement or let that statement fall by the wayside in the post-9/11 world. Bush didn't. I frankly - AND SADLY - do not trust a single Democrat to be resolute enough to make the same kind of tough call in the future. In spite of the overwhelming evidence that the strategy is working: Iraq has a constitution - in RECORD TIME; and since the Iraq War, Libya caved, Lebanon is freed, and Syria is on the ropes. All good. All worth the sacrifice of our best and bravest. Their sacrifices are reshaping the world, making it better and freer. And that will lead to a better peace for all the world in the years ahead. God Bless them all, and may God Bless their familes - and the United States of America.

MORE HERE (hat tip Michele Malkin).

THE NIGER URANIUM CHARGE: THE WASHINGTON POST REPEATS LEFTIST LIE AT CORE OF PLAMEGATE

FROM TODAY'S WASHINGTON POST/DANA MILBANK AND WALTER PINCUS - THESE TO BUSH BASHERS ARE UNABASHED PROPAGANDISTS - AND BLATANT LIARS - AND IN THIS ARTICLE THEY LIE ABOUT THE CENTRAL CHARGE IN PLAMEGATE:

'Wilson's central assertion -- disputing President Bush's 2003 State of the Union claim that Iraq was seeking nuclear material in Niger -- has been validated by postwar weapons inspections.'

THIS IS A LIE. BUSH NEVER EVER EVEN MENTIONED NIGER IN THE SPEECH. HERE'S WHAT HE SAID:

"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

HERE'S WHAT THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT SAID ABOUT THAT INTEL' - AFTER THE WAR/AFTER THE POST-WAR INSPECTIONS WERE DONE (FROM A SUMMARY BY THE BBC):

Uranium from Niger - British intelligence on the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger was "credible". There was not conclusive evidence Iraq actually purchased the material, nor did the government make that claim.

NOR DID BUSH. BUSH'S STATEMENT WAS TRUE THEN, AND IT'S TRUE NOW.

AND HERE'S WHAT THE SENATE INTEL' COMMITTEE SAID ABOUT WILSON'S CHARGE:

WASHINGTON - A Senate report criticizing false CIA claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction at the same time provides support for an assertion the White House repudiated: that Iraq sought to buy uranium in Africa.

A Friday report from the Senate Intelligence Committee offers new details supporting the claim. French and British intelligence separately told the United States about possible Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in the African nation of Niger, the report said. The report from France is significant not only because Paris opposed the Iraq war but also because Niger is a former French colony and French companies control uranium production there. Joseph Wilson, a retired U.S. diplomat the CIA sent to investigate the Niger story, also found evidence of Iraqi contacts with Nigerien officials, the report said.

THE SENATE REPORT ALSO INDICATES THAT WILSON LIED ABOUT WHAT HE REPORTED TO THE CIA ABOUT NIGER IN HIS INFAMOUS NYTIMES OP-ED ARTICLE. WILSON'S REPORT ACTUALLY BUTTRESSED THE SUSPICION THAT SADDAM WAS INTENT ON RESTARTING HIS NUKE PROGRAM.

FOR THE WASHINGTON POST TO CHARACTERIZE THIS FALSE CHARGE AS HAVING BEEN VALIDATED NOW IS ANOTHER OUTRAGEOUS LIE. AND THEY KNOW IT.

I DEMAND A CORRECTION. NOW.

UPDATE: it cannot be repeated often enough: the SOTU in question was delivered in January of 2003; the Congress gave Bush authority to wage war against Saddam in October of 2002; therefore, the Brit intel claim COULD NOT HAVE influenced/"misled" a single Congressman. Even IF that Brit intel claim was false - WHICH IT ISN'T! - there were plenty of other reasons to oust Saddam, and they are ALL listed in the Congressional Resolution. [TEXT HERE.]

GREAT ARTICLE HERE - hat tip POWERLINE.

ROSA PARKS

A COURAGEOUS PERSON WHO HELPED CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER.
A TRUE AMERICAN HERO. MAY SHE REST IN PEACE.

BUSH ON SYRIA: HE USES THE "F" WORD!

FORCE, that is = as in military("Reuters"):

President George W. Bush said military action was a last resort in dealing with Syria and he hoped Damascus would cooperate with a probe into the killing of former Lebanese premier Rafik al-Hariri. "A military (option) is always the last choice of a president," he told Al Arabiya television ... "I am hoping that they will cooperate. It (military action) is the last -- very last option," he said. "But on the other hand, you know -- and I've worked hard for diplomacy and will continue to work the diplomatic angle on this issue." Bush said Syria had to meet a set of demands from the international community, including expelling Palestinian militant groups, preventing insurgents from crossing its borders into Iraq to fight U.S. forces, and ending Syrian interference in Lebanon. "Nobody wants there to be a confrontation. On the other hand, there must be serious pressure applied," he said.

The propect of Syria being put under sanctions, and of Assad and his murderous henchmen being charged with murder - and being overthrown - like the withdrawal of Syria from Lebanon - is a direct result of the Iraq War - in which Bush demostrated high ideals, tough talk, and followed it up with tough actions and resolve. And it's more proof Bush was right in his September 2002 speech to the UN general Assembly: ("The people of Iraq can shake off their captivity. They can one day join a democratic Afghanistan and a democratic Palestine, inspiring reforms throughout the Muslim world. These nations can show by their example that honest government, and respect for women, and the great Islamic tradition of learning can triumph in the Middle East and beyond. And we will show that the promise of the United Nations can be fulfilled in our time. ")

More HERE.

ISLAMOTERRORISTS ATTACK PALESTINE HOTEL IN BAGHDAD

WITH THREE BIG BOMBS.

I GUESS THAT MEANS THAT THE ISLAMOFASCISTS HAVEN'T SURRENDERED YET. (SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE. SARCASM OFF]. AND, I KNOW THAT MEANS THAT LEFTISTS WILL ARGUE THAT THEREFORE WE SHOULD SURRENDER! (Although they use the term "withdraw.")

Well, realists like Bush have known for a long time that this "insurgency" is going to last around a decade - like ALL others. So we're NOT surprised that the ENEMY is still attacking us and our allies whenever they can, and attacking whatever targets they think will get them a HUGE headline. The hotel they bombed mostly housed journalists, so they picked a good target - FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW!

IS BUSH'S ADMINISTRATION MORE CURRUPT THAN CLINTON'S?

Howeird Dean is at it again: The Bush White House is the most corrupt administration in U.S. history since President Warren G. Harding's, said Howard Dean during his first visit to Maine as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. ... "I'm tired of the ayatollahs of the right wing," Dean said.

WELL: Is it true? Is the Bush Adminstration "corrupt?" Is it the "most corrupt in history?" Is it even more corrupt than Clinton's? NO. Not by a mile. To date, there has not been a single indictment of ANY Bush Administration member. By comparison:

"According to our best information, [A] 40 government officials were indicted or convicted in the wake of Watergate [NIXON]. [B] ... there was a total of 31 Reagan era convictions, including 14 because of Iran-Contra and 16 in the Department of Housing & Urban Development scandal. [C]47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes with 33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself. There were in addition 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges. [AND] 14 persons were imprisoned." [Including Web Hubbell - crony. And don't forget Jimmy Carter crony Bert Lance and BCCI!] UPDATE: (for Clintonistas) - do the names Cisneros and Espy ring a bell? If not, then GOOGLE them!

THEREFORE: Even IF Fitzgerald indicts a few adminstration officials, it will STILL mean that George W. Bush has run the cleanest adminstration in HALF A CENTURY!

UPDATE: Welcome DAILY PUNDIT readers and Blogs For Bush readers!

NYTIMES: FITZGERALD HASN'T DECIDED YET

Okay, let's get this straight: after a year of grand jury testimony - sometimes calling the same withnesses over and over and over again, Fitzgerald STILL hasn't decided that there's proof that a crime was committed. And let me remind all of you that the threshhold for an indictment is really rather low - grand jurors, (I was on on a special narcotics grand jury for a month - so I know), are asked to vote for an indictment if they feel that it is reasonable to think that a crime might have been commited; there is NO need for that feeling to be "beyond a reasonable doubt;" you may have some doubts, and still vote for an indictment.

SO... if Fitzgerald still has HIS doubts, then I doubt that a grand jury will indict. Of course, grand jurors only hear one side of the case - the prosecutors, so anything is possible. But still I doubt there will be any indictments. Fitzgerald doesn't strike me as a Ronmnie Earle type of prosecutor. (Then again, if he does indict, his "personal stock" goes way WAY up, and he has nothing to lose - except a case!)

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO SCOTT RITTER'S FEDERAL SEX CHARGE?

NY DAILY NEWS (Originally published on January 26, 2003):

Sources familiar with the case said Ritter, now 41, used the Internet handle "onexhibition" as he arranged a meeting with the teen - actually an undercover cop - and proposed that she watch him masturbate. The case was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal, meaning that if he stayed out of trouble for six months, the charges would be erased and the case sealed.

SO... did this guy keep it in his pants for six months?! And if so, is he allowed within 100 feet of schools? Just asking...

IN A DEMOCRACY, WHO'S DA BOSS?

One of the constant refrains from the anti-Bush/Left is that the Bush Adminsitration has run rough-shod over bureaucrats in the State Department, the CIA and the Pentagon.

The Left has made this charge about the Iraq War strategy, the Bolton nomination, the decision to isolate Arafat, the WMD debate, and troop deployment levels in Iraq - too name just a few.

Let's put aside, for a moment, that these charges probably emanate from disgruntled bureaucrats who don't like the Admnistration's policies. Let's just consider the nature of the attack. The attck presupposes that BUREAUCRATS should have supercedence over the ELECTED LEADERS OF THE GOVERNMENT. This is fundamentally undemocratic. In a democacy the elected leaders LEAD! It's no coincidence that this type of charge is almost always leveled by the Left - because they're fundamentally elitist and anti-democratic; (hence their propensity for politburos, fillerbusters, and panels of experts, AND their distrust of markets; the Left deeply believes that if we only put power into the hands of "our best and brightest" that they would then certainly do a better job managing the economy, for example, than free-markets or the general population. And the Left believes that career bureacrats are "our best and brightest.").

In a functioning democracy the generals, the spymasters and the bureaucrats should report to the elected representatives of the people. Generals must defer to the SecDef and the Commander in Chief, and they must obey ALL legal orders. When they don't, it ain't a democracy anymore!

The Wilkerson's and the Wilson's - and the disgruntled brass in the Pentagon (who ALWAYS want more ground troops, and who oppose "jointness" and Pentagon restructuring) and the disgruntled Arabists at State (who think we should NOT support Israel) and the disgruntled realpoliticians at the CIA (who got nearly EVERYTHING since WW2 WRONG: the USSR's strength; Saddam's WMD programs; Pakistan's bomb; etc.) - are the enemies of democracy. The only reason we hear from them at all is because they take advantage of an MSM which salivates at the prospect of bashing Bush, and RUNS RUNS RUNS with any story which even only has a marginally anti-Bush slant. This is why we've had so much sloppy anti-Bush reporting (from the Gulf Coast to Gitmo to Iraq): if it reinforces their anti-Bush bias, then the MSM runs with a story before they have even checked it out.

Sadly, a lie repeated often enough and loudly enough often gets believed - like Wilson's BOGUS Niger charges, which are not only FALSE, they're absolutely IRRELEVANT to the Iraq War; (Bush's SOTU did NOT refer to Niger, or cite CIA intel; it referred to Africa and British intel - intel which Britain maintains is accurate. IN ADDITION, this SOTU was delivered THREE MONTHS AFTER the Congress gave Bush autority to make war on Iraq; it couldn't have influenced ONE SINGLE SOLITARY VOTE IN CONGRESS!).

Yet the Left - and many in the fickle center - act as if Bush lied about Saddam's nuclear ambitions, and as if this "LIE" misled us into war! This is false. And no matter how many people Fitzgerald indicts - or if he indicts no one, or the Veep or Miller or Russert- or Wilson, himself - nothing will change this fact. Or the fact that ousting Saddam has already had extremely positive effects: Egypt has had a major infusion of democracy (as have some other Arabs nations - like Kuwait and Qatar); Lebanon is free; Iraq has a constitution; Saddam is on trial; Syria is on the verge; and Iran is surrounded.

That Leftists ignore these FACTS and instead focus on the lies and distortions of partisan bureaucrats is testament to the Left's reactionarieness and their uselessness.