MUSHARRAF CONFIRMS ZAWAHIRI RELATIVE KILLED IN US AIR-STRIKE

BBC:

Pakistan's president has confirmed that "a close relative" of al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a US air strike in Pakistan last month. Pervez Musharraf also confirmed for the first time that Zawahiri had been expected to be at the house targeted by the US, a military spokesman says. "Five foreigners were killed in the US attack," Gen Musharraf told tribal leaders in north-western Pakistan, the Associated Press news agency reports. "One of them was a close relative of Ayman al-Zawahri and the other man was wanted by the US and had a US$5 million (4.19 million euro) reward on his head."

Shortly after the raid, unconfirmed intelligence reports said three high-ranking al-Qaeda members were among those killed in the raid on a village in the Bajaur Agency region on the border with Afghanistan. They named Egyptian bomb expert Midhat Mursi - information on whose whereabouts carries a $5m US bounty. They also named Abdul Rehman al-Misri al-Maghribi, the son-in-law of Zawahiri and reputed head of the al-Qaeda's media operations. The third person named was Abu Obaidah al-Misri, al-Qaeda's head of operations in Kunar province, just over the border in eastern Afghanistan. US officials have refused to comment on the attack.

I think we will get Zawahiri and Binladen and Zarqawi very soon. Just a feeling... WHY?! I dunno.. it's just that the more and more other militaries start to take over regular old protection duties from us, (as NATO and theIraqis are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively) it means we can devote EVEN MORE resources to the hunt, and EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, it means we will get more and "mo' better" intel from locals. And when these murderous scumbags lose the locals (whose silence protects them): THEY ARE DEAD. Or soon will be. Faster please...

JIMMY CARTER: TRAITOR - A COMPENDIUM AND A CARTOON

VILLAGERS WITH TORCHES has the goods on Carter. And a great CARTOON!

FISA, POTUS, 9/11, CONSTITUTIONALITY - AND COMMON SENSE

BETSY'S PAGE notes that both Carter's and Clinton AG's specifically claimed that the POTUS had CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY as CiC to undertake search, seizure and surveillance of enemy foreign powers. She has linked quotes to back that up. She succinctly concludes:

... it has seemed commonsensical to me that, if the president has an inherent power under the Constitution, that a statute passed by Congress can't override that power. And Carter's Attorney General knew that at the time FISA was passed and, surely, after 9/11, the president's powers would not have decreased since 1978.

It seems to me that the OPERANT PRINCIPLE HERE IS REALLY RATHER QUITE SIMPLE: the Democrats and the Left believe president's inherent constitutional powers as CiC decrease whenever the White House is held by the GOP!

WHO COINED THE TERM "CARTOON INTIFADA"?

Who was the first to use the term? Was it in the blogosphere? Put your guess in the comments section.

FORMER-CIA ANALYST PILLAR MAKES HOLLOW, WEASEL-WORDED CHARGE

I just saw Pillar on THE SITUATION ROOM. He is the former head of the MIDDLE EAST DESK at the CIA. He's making a big splash these days because of an article he wrote that's published in FOREIGN AFFAIRS which is critical of Bush and the Iraq War. Pincus of the WASHPOST also wrote up a big article twisting Pillar's criticial article into a full frontal BDS ATTACK piece.

Well, as I said, I read the articles and just saw Pillar on CNN, and get this: Pillar agreed with clips from Bush and Cheney in which they argued that the USA intel and foreign intel "OVERWHLEMINGLY" concluded that Saddam had WMD stockpiles.

Pillar also greed that the Silberman-Robb Commisssion Report was entirely accurate when they asserted that there had been ABSOLUTLEY NO coercion put on ANY intel analyst to change or alter or spin their opinions; not ONE IOTA.

Pillar claims it was a subtle "politicization." of the intel. THOSE ARE WEASEL WORDS. I wonder if he - like another former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer and Cindy Sheehan - believes we went to war for Israel's securtity, and not ours!? It wouldn't surprise me.

HERE'S THE FRIGGIN BOTTOM-LINE: Saddam had done nothing - as in ZERO, NADA, ZILCH, BUPKUS - to earn the benefit of the doubt. In fact, Saddam had done TONS OF STUFF which made REASONABLE people ALL OVER THE WORLD consider him totally untrustworthy - HENCE, "THE FULL AND FINAL OPPORTUNITY" TO COME CLEAN; AKA: UNSCR#1441. Saddam did NOT come clean. Kay and Duelfer BOTH concluded Saddam WAS IN VIOLATION OF UNSCR#1441. Therefore war was the only answer.

And let me ask Pillar this: did he or his INCOMPETENT comrades in the CIA uncover the FACT that Arafat and his stooges pilfered BILLIONS from the PNA and were ACTIVELY suppporting terror? Nope. In fact, Pillar's career is one of FAILURE after FAILURE. FROM PINCUS:

Pillar, retired after 28 years at the CIA, was an influential behind-the-scenes player and was considered the agency's leading counterterrorism analyst.

In all his years as CHIEF OF THE MIDDLE EAST COUNTER-TERRORISM DESK, did the CIA prevent any terrorist attacks on us!? Or did the CIA allow us to get attacked OVER AND OVER AGAIN! Beirut. The embassies. Khobar. The USS Cole. In other words: Pillar's desk was UTTERLY INCOMPETENT at it's assigned duties, and I for one would never EVER put any value on his opinion on ANYTHING. Pillar is a loser and liar and a weasel. A DISGRUNTLED weasel at that.

And here's the BIGGEST thing WRONG WITH PILLAR: he is NOT a decision maker; he is a service provider. In our DEMOCRACY the ELECTED leaders MAKE POLICY. This seems to upset Pillar - and most LEFTIES: they've always preferred the "POLITBURO" approach to public policy, in which "career bureaucrats" - UNELECTED AND UNACCOUNTABLE INSIDERS, (like other disgruntled WHINERS: Larry Wilkerson and Richard Clarke and Rand Beers) - make policy. And that is un-democratic and bad. Here's EXACTLY what this anti-democratic AS--OLE Pillar recommends (from his FA article):

The community needs to remain in the executive branch but be given greater independence and a greater ability to communicate with those other constituencies (fettered only by security considerations, rather than by policy agendas). An appropriate model is the Federal Reserve, which is structured as a quasi-autonomous body overseen by a board of governors with long fixed terms.

He WANTS A QUASI-AUTONOMOUS SPY AGENCY!? Sheesh. He is EXACTLY WRONG. The people in the CIA need MORE accountability - (because of their countless, nearly constant FAILURES) - not less accountability.

BOTTOM-LINE: Bush was re-elected. And that means that as far as the way we went to war: THE CASE IS CLOSED. Lefties are wasting their time if they think this issue can have any traction or value. It's like arguing about whether FDR knew about the Pearl Harbor attack BEFORE it happened and ALLOWED it to happen to galvanize support for the war. A stupid waste of time.

RIGHT NOW.... we are in a similar situation with Iran: our intelligence services - and that of MOST of the world - indicate that the Iranians are trying to build nuclear weapons. All we know for sure is that they LIED about their nuclear research activities FOR 18 YEARS! And that makes them as trustworthy as Saddam.

And given what's at stake, we cannot afford to err on the side of caution. WE MUST PRE-EMPTIVELY DESTROY IRAN'S NUCLEAR ASSETS AND THEIR OFFENSIVE MILTARY ASSETS. Even if it turns out that Iran has no nuke weapons program. The cost of doing nothing and being wrong is far FAR greater.

Bush has said as much. Bush has said OVER AND OVER again that he will NOT give tyrants the benefit of the doubt. Jerks like Pillar want to. That's why we shouldn't listen to them. That, and the fact that they're NOT elected, and NOT accountable.

UPDATE: BTW, you'd think Pillar never heard of the friggin 1998 Iraq Regime Change Policy Act. Signed by Clinton. Sheesh. I mean to read Pillar, you'd NEVER think that getting rid of Saddam was the friggin offical policy of the USA ever since Democrat Clinton was POTUS. You'd think - from reading Pillar - that it was an idea hatched in Texas by Rove and Cheney and Wolfowitz (while on the phone with their Zionist boss Arik Sharon and their other boss the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and their other bosses at Halliburton).

And to read Pillar, you'd never know that JUST IN ORER TO GET INSPECTORS BACK IN, Bush had to amass 500,000 troops in the region (on land and on ships). And you'd think the inspectors were NOT meeting with any delays or deciet or obfuscation. And you'd think that Saddam's "full and final" report was full and final. And you'd think that it was the inspectors jobs to play "DETECTIVE" and not merely audit the factuality of the "full and final report."

IN SHORT, WHAT PILLAR HAS DEMONSTRATED MOST IN THIS ARTICLE IS WHY THE CIA HAS BEEN AN ABJECT FAILURE FOR THE LAST FEW DECADES. WITH MEN LIKE HIM RUNNING THE SHOW, IT'S A MIRACLE WE WON THE COLD WAR! (And probably we woulda lost that one too, if not for Casey and Reagan!)

UPDATE: (MORE on moron Pillar HERE from WEEKLY STANDARD hat tip NRO.)

UPDATE #3: Three days later and POWERLINE posts a comment which reiterates exactly what I've written here. More proof that TAB scoops the big boys BIGTIME - just about everyday.

PUTIN BREAKS RANKS WITH THE ROADMAP QUARTET: RUSSIA WILL DEAL WITH HAMAS

YAHOO/"Reuters" (hat tip LGF):

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he would invite Hamas leaders to Moscow, opening a crack in a wall of U.S.-led opposition to dealing with the Palestinian election winner until it recognized Israel. ...

At a meeting in London on January 30, Quartet representatives [the official backers of the "Roadmap For Peace"] said the Palestinians risked losing international aid if Hamas did not renounce violence and recognize Israel. Hamas has rejected the demand.

... U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington that the Bush administration had "contacted the Russian government about what their intentions are. ... If there are any contacts between the Russian government and Hamas, we would expect that they would send that very clear message, both in public and private, that is contained in the Quartet statement." A State Department official said Russia had not revealed Putin's plan to invite Hamas leaders at the Quartet meeting.

If Putin does deal with an unchanged Hamas, then we should annouce support for an independent Chechen state. ARE YOU LISTENING AMBASSADOR BOLTON?!

THE CARTOON INTIFADA: TWO GEMS FROM BLOGOSPHERE GREATS!

FROM NO PASARAN:

In a Nutshell
posted by Erik @ 5:45 PM

One can't put it much more concisely than Jane Biran:

One wonders if the Prophet Muhammad would approve of rioting, grievous bodily harm and arson.

If the answer is yes, then a depiction of his followers as violent is justified. If no, then some of his followers are causing offense to him on a daily basis.

AND FROM MY PET JAWA:

Abu Ghraib and Cartoon Jihad

Ladies and gentleman, I am proud to call Dr. Leopold Stotch a good friend:

there are many people in America and elsewhere in the West are making statements about how the media should self-censor and not publish the Danish cartoons that have sparked several days of Muslim rioting. That’s fine, and their argument isn’t completely without merit.

However, it seems to me that these same people are precisely those who said that censoring the Abu Ghraib prison photos would be an unacceptable restriction on freedom of speech and a betrayal of the media’s allegiance to the truth.

Posted by Dr. Rusty Shackleford

Everyone should read these 2 blogs at least twice a day! NP and MPJ.

WHO'S REALLY PLAYING THE FEAR CARD?

Yesterday, Hillary "socialized medicine" Clinton charged that the GOP is playing the "fear card" - as if we shouldn't be afraid of terrorists. She said:

...the GOP election message is: 'All we've got is fear and we're going to keep playing the fear card."

When she makes this charge she's as NUTTY as the LOONY-LEFTIST/DOVES who are now the base of the party, (if not its rank-and-file).

I think it is REASONABLE to be afraid of the terrorists who:

fly jets into skyscrapers; bomb Israeli pizzerias and Muslim weddings and funerals; riot and burn embassies over CARTOONS; blow up bars in Bali; behead charity workers; torch train-cars of Hindu pilgrims; destroy 1000 year old Buddhist monuments and behead Thai Buddhists; murder Russian school-children; condemn rape-victims to hanging; dress up their children as genocidal suicide bombers; deny the Holocaust; bomb subways in London and trains in Madrid; murder filmmakers; put fatwas on novelists; and generally try to establish tyranny and theocratic totalitarianism through intimidation and terror that KNOWS NO BOUNDS, AND ADHERES TO NO CONVENTIONS OF WAR.

On the other hand the list of things the Left is afraid of IS TOTALLY UN-FOUNDED, IF NOT - INSANE! The Left says:

"Man-made" global warming is the biggest threat we face; we're running out of oil and other natural resources; federal bureaucrats deliberately withheld hurricane rescue services to New Orleanians; the NSA is illegally intercepting all of everyone's international phone calls - (all 200+ BILLION yearly minutes worth!); the FBI is intimidating librarians; the pharmaceutical companies, Wal Mart and the oil companies are ripping us off BIGTIME - we have to regulate them more!; that off-shore oil-drilling and oil-drilling in ANWR would be desecrations of the environment; that the Bush Tax Cuts are destroying our economy - (and that Bush has the worst jobs record since Hoover - it's the worst economy since Hoover); that abortion will become illegal and unconstitutional if you vote GOP; and that the GOP will take away your right to have a living-will (even though ALL the Bush's have one!); Bush and the GOP are trying make America into a Christain version of the Iranian religious state.

The list of unreasonable fear-mongering by the Left goes back in time too. Remember these "golden oldies":

Reagan would start WW3; there will be mass global starvation; we're going to run out of oil; NAFTA will ruin our economy; Bobby Kennedy's ol' boss Joe McCarthy was evil personified and Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs were innocent; "ending welfare as we know it" will put millions of people on the streets; the Reagan tax cuts will ruin the economy; that Afghanistan was going to be a QUAGMIRE - (we weren't supposed to defeat the Afghanis since the USSR couldn't); we weren't going to be able to defeat Saddam - because the strategy was wrong - we went in too fast and our supply lines were too strung out.

And so on. EVERY ONE - as in "EVERY FRIGGIN SOLITARY ONE" - of these Democrat/Left charges were wrong. WRONG! As if that wasn't bad enough: There's a whole 'nother humongous list of things the Left said we SHOULDN'T worry about that turned out wrong, too; here's a smidgen:

Don't worry - the Domino Theory is wrong; don't worry if we take away some of your 2nd Amendment rights - gun control will lower crime; don't worry if we take away some of your 1st Amendment rights - we will take BIG MONEY out of electoral politics; don't worry - bi-lingual education and multi-culturalism won't dis-integrate our assimilated society.

AGAIN: wrong every time.

The Democrats and the Left have been IRRATIONALLY fear-mongering for 50 years - they've been TRUMPING UP phoney fears like the true demoagogues they are. YUP: The Left are FEAR-MONGERERS who pedddle PHONEY/TRUMPED UP FEARS (and their "solutions - socialism/dhimmitude/appeasement/disarmament) would actually make our REAL problems WORSE!

BOTTOM-LINE: History has PROVEN that the Left have been wrong every single time. FACT: ALL the things the Left tells us we should be afraid of are nothing but BOGEYMEN!

And when they attack Bush and the war on terror, they are wrong again.

MY ADVICE: if the Left is against it, then you should be for it. If they fear it, then it must be good. The Left has been 180 degrees wrong on just about every issue for the last century. And I see NO signs of that record improving.

OH... there's one other thing (besides jihadoterror) that I am very VERY afraid of: today's Democrats ever taking over the House or the Senate, or the White House. God forbid. Please.

I BLAME BUSH: Cancer deaths fall for first time - EVER

USA TODAY:

"The number of annual deaths from cancer has fallen for the first time in more than 70 years, researchers announced today."

NSA SIGINT PROGRAM HAD MORE OVERSIGHT THAN NORMAL FISA WARRANTS

WASHPOST:

According to government officials familiar with the program, the presiding FISA judges insisted that information obtained through NSA surveillance not form the basis for obtaining a warrant and that, instead, independently gathered information provide the justification for FISA monitoring in such cases.

NOT THAT THIS HAPPENED OFTEN (same article, earlier):

Twice in the past four years, a top Justice Department lawyer warned the presiding judge of a secret surveillance court that information overheard in President Bush's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to obtain wiretap warrants in the court, according to two sources with knowledge of those events.

Sheesh. Only twice!? I was hoping that this intercept program would've yielded more!

BUT WHY SHOULD THE JUDGE BE PREVENTING US FROM USING MILITARY INTEL TO ARREST THE ENEMY?! DIDN'T WE TEAR DOWN "THE WALL" BETWEEN LAW ENFORCEMENT INTEL AND NATIONAL SECURITY INTEL!?

IOW: Why should al Qaeda's jihadoterrorists get a "pass" from our criminal justice system just because we find them through a MILITARY signint program?! THIS IS LUDICROUS!

BUT THEN THERE'S THIS:

The two heads of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court were the only judges in the country briefed by the administration on Bush's program. The president's secret order, issued sometime after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, allows the National Security Agency to monitor telephone calls and e-mails between people in the United States and contacts overseas.

THEREFORE, THE ARTICLE IS ALSO CONFIRMING THAT TWO - YES TWO (2!) FISA JUDGES WERE KEPT INFORMED OF THE NSA INTERCEPT PROGRAM! When you add it all up, you MUST conclude that in many ways the "ABOVE TOP SECRET" NSA intercept program had MORE OVERSIGHT and MORE "checks and balances" than other FISA surveillance.

This NSA program had TWO (2) FISA JUDGES and EIGHT (8) Congressman kept informed EVERY 45 DAYS. Regular old vanilla FISA surveillance warrants ONLY need one (1) FISA judge to approve it (and they can use it un-rerapproved for 90 days) - and Congressmen NEVER EVER SEE THEM!

This just proves that the brouhaha over this program isn't even a "tempest in a teapot"; it's a drizzle in a tea-cup. HECK: IT'S A DROP IN A TEASPOON!

It's time to MOVE ON! If the Dems don't it will blow up in their faces: Americans want to be protected from attacks; we don't want jihadoterrorists protected by lawyers.

WHO IS XENOPHOBIC, THE WEST OR ISLAM?

FAWAZ GERGES ON CNN THIS MORNING:

The most important issue in the eyes of Muslims is that Islamic values, the Islamic identity, and I think in this particular sense the protest reflect what I call a state of mind that senses internal and external danger. It's a besieged state of mind. You are attacking us continuously. This is part of you're [sic: your] war against us, against our Islamic identity....

We need to deepen the cultural, intellectual and social links between Muslim societies and Western societies. And also the war on terror -- the war on terror has done a great deal of damage to the image of the West in the eyes of the Muslim. Because [as] I suggested earlier, in the eyes of Muslim majorities, the war on terror is really a war against Islam and Muslims.

And the question is, how do you link Muslim societies with Christian societies? How do you deepen the links? How do you connect with Muslim societies? And fortunately, the cartoon controversy does not help matters. It exacerbates an already raging fire between the Muslim world and the Christian world.

WELL WHO FRIGGIN IGNITED THAT FIRE, FAWAZ?!

ANSWER: Muslims. So called "radical Muslims."

Gerges - long an apologist for islamofascists - gets it EXACTLY WRONG. This war was declared by the INTOLERANT islamofascists ON THE WEST, and not the other way around. WE ARE JUSTY FRIGGIN FIGHTING BACK!

Religious freedom for all religions is guaranteed in the West, and NOT in all Islamic nations. Harassment of other faiths is routine in Islamic nations; in fact, it is against the law to practice another faith in Saudi Arabia. The islamofascists are the ones trying to enforce their fanatical religious beliefs on us, and not the other way around.

The West would be happy to have Muslims praying 5 times a day in mosques all over our nations if we didn't have to worry that the mosques were really jihadoterrorist clubs planning terror against us!

Today, much of the West is fed up with jihadoterror and the outrageous hypocrisy of apologists for jihadoterror - folks like Gerges (a tenured professor at Sarah Lawrence College in NY). Our tolerance got us into this mess: For way too long we tolerated the intolerance of Muslims. We are sick and tired of hypocrites like Gerges and Abu Laban (one of the 2 Danish imams who trumped up this whole Cartoon Intifada) who berate the West for intolerance while accepting it in Muslim nations - and in Islam itself.

Most Muslims NEVER condemned a single beheading or kidnapping which was done in the name of Islam; when jihadoterrorists beheaded someone on behalf of their faith, or MURDER DOZENS AT WEDDINGS OR FUNERALS, we never heard these apologists say that the jihadoterrorists had slandered Islam. But then, when NON-Muslims publish a few mild CARTOONS, Muslims go on a friggin rampage! Over friggin CARTOONS! And the apologists blame us!

People in the West can ONLY conclude that the rampaging Muslims are absofrigginlutley INSANE - or are jihadoterrorists! And professors who wear suits and appear on CNN should say so, and not argue that we in the West are not tolerant enough, or understanding enough, or that we haven't reached out enough!

LOOKIT: the enemy is attacking us - using violence and intimidation against us because of THEIR xenophobia, not ours.

When Muslim apologists for terror - like Gerges and Abu Laban - go on TV and accuse US OF XENOPHOBIA - when we are merely sticking up for OUR UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND OUR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION and just beginning our counter-attack... why, why, why... IT'S ABSOFRIGGINLUTELY OUTFRIGGINRAGEOUS!

Then again, we should expect this kind of horrifying behavior towards us by some muslims (and also we should expect the amoral defenses of it by other Muslims). After all, we are mere "kafirs", and they are people whose religion says it's sometimes necessary to murder your own daughter to restore "honor" to your family.

PUTTING SEMI-FAILED STATES ON NOTICE: A PROPOSAL FOR AN ADDITIONAL STRATEGY AGAINST JIHADOTERROR

We recently counter-attacked against the jihadoterrorists by using a Predator Drone to launch a missile at a dinner-meeting of al Qaeda in Waziristan. One of the intended targets was Zawahiri, but - evidently escaped death that day; four othe Al Qaedaq biggies were not so fortunate).

The ensuing protests by locals and Pakistanis seemingly put Musharraf in a tight spot: he says he wants to cooperate as much as possible, but says he mustn't be seen as surrendering sovereignity to the USA - (by allowing us into his airspace, or by land over the Afghan-Pakistan border - even when we are in hot-pursuit of the enemy).

Failed regions - are like failed states: they are havens for terrorists. The jihadoterrorists fill the vacuum and assert their own sick tryannical form of authority within the otherwise government-less region.

I think we can CLARIFY this situation by publicly announcing a bold new policy: the USA will no longer recognize the international borders of lawless regions PERIOD. (A lawless region is any zone where the statutory authority with legal jurisdiction isn't enforcing the law.) In the case of Waziristan, the statutory authority is Pakistan, but in fact the Pakistani government has very little control of anything in Waziristan.

My propsoal says to Pakistan; "If you cannot enforce control over the "tribal regions" like Waziristan, you FORFEIT sovereignity over it, and we are free to attack it - at will."

The principle here is simple: If a government cannot rule a region by its own laws, then the protections of international law don't apply to that region. Lawless regions become fair game; it becomes OPEN SEASON on lawless regions and on semi-failed states.

This should also be applied to Somalia, and Gaza and the West Bank - and many other semi-failed/lawless states. We should put all of the semi-failed states and lawless regions (like Waziristan/Pakistan) ON NOTICE: enforce the laws or you will be attacked at a time of our choosing - however we choose.

As the situation now exists, these semi-failed states play a double-game - they claim statehood and yet fail to enforce lawfullness. And this is BS. As I said above: If the Pakistani government doesn't or can't control Waziristan, then Waziristan is de facto NOT part of Pakistan, but is de facto a lawless zone - one that can be attacked at will. Ditto Gaza and the West Bank.

We must get "semi-failed states" which "semi-help us" (states like Pakistan) to ante-up - BIGTIME. This proposal puts them on notice - BIGTIME. Help us... or else. Or else we will operate as we wiosh in your lawless zones - including assassinating the enemy with missiles, or by undertaking secret special operations on the ground.

NOTE: If the USA can assassinate al Qaeda in Waziristan without UN censure -as we recently did - then Israel can certainly do the same to the jihadoterrorists on its right border. But Kofi Anan doesn't think this is Israel's right. NOT SURPRISING: This is just another in a long line of anti-Semitic statements from Kofi, who is nothing but a useless, corrupt, incompetent anti-Semite.]

UPDATE: Let's put YEMEN on the list of semi-failed states! NOW!!

SYRIAN OPPOSITION COALESCING

HAARETZ/"Reuters":

Syrian ex-VP, Muslim Brothers team up in bid to topple Assad

Former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam and the exiled leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood agreed on Wednesday to join forces to topple President Bashar al-Assad.An Iranian Website, close to the Revolutionary Guard, reported that the Syrian republican guard, the elite security force that ensure the stability of regime, was placed on high alert and all leaves were cancelled, following Khaddam's recent statements against Assad's rule.

A source at Khaddam's office said the former official held talks with Ali Bayanouni, head of the Sunni Islamist group, in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday. "There was agreement on a joint vision to save Syria from the crisis that the regime has placed it in," the source told Reuters in Beirut by telephone. "It was also agreed to contact other opposition leaders inside and outside Syria to come up with a joint plan of action."

Assad will fall soon. But before that happens, expect Assad and Iran to get their assorted jihadostooges to create as much havoc as possible - even attempt to ignite an all out Arab-Israeli war. (More HERE from the Arab, GULF DAILY NEWS.)

CARTOON HOAX : DANES :: BLOOD LIBEL : JEWS

The Cartoon Intifada turns out to be nothing more than a premeditated slander against Denmark based on phoney propaganda created by the Islamofascists themselves. The Danes don't owe an apology to Muslims; Muslims owe an apology to the Danes.

1515AD: MICHELANGELO'S "MOSES WITH HORNS" SPARKED HUGE RIOTS IN ROME'S GHETTO!

Only kidding.

The sculpture sits in church of San Pietro in Vincoli on the Esquiline in Rome.

Though it falsely depicts the Jews' greatest prophet (who God spoke with DIRECTLY) as having horns, (a mistake by the artist based on a mistranslation of the Hebrew word for "rays of light" coming from the head of Moses), and though this false depiction may have contributed to the long-held racist myth once believed by many Gentiles that Jews had horns and were satanic, this sculpture has never ever been the object of organized scorn by Jews, nor has it ever been defaced. Jews have never ever even demanded it be altered or taken off of display.

Perhaps Jews were content knowing that this glaring mistake (on this otherwise beautiful sculpture) merely exposes the ignorance of many people regarding the Bible. We see it as a TEACHING moment, as they say.

What is it about so many Muslims that makes them react with violence all the time? I believe it is partly a result of the vehement misogyny, and the polygamy and endogamy which are practiced by Muslims - especially in Arab Muslim nations. After all, if someone is raised to believe that it's okay to murder one's daughter or sister or female cousin in order to restore "honor" to the family, (and that "rape-as-punshment" is okay), then one can certainly do all manner of evil to infidels. Even for disrespectful CARTOONS!

UPDATE: MORE PROOF OF HORRIFYINGLY SICK STATE-SANCTIONED MUSLIM MISOGYNY:

Iran to hang teenage girl attacked by rapists -- Sat. 07 Jan 2006 -- Iran Focus --

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 07 – An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece.

This sickness should NOT be tolerated by THE FREE WORLD. We ended slavery; we MUST end these awful practices against women. Religion is no excuse for - nor can fanatical belief in any religion justify - slavery or murder or rape. [BTW: The Leftie-dove group AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL/USA is also calling attention to the horrific injustice of this rape victim being sentenced to death. Hat tip NRO.]

THE UK BEGINS TO ENACT KNIFE-CONTROL

BBC:

A national knife amnesty has been announced by Home Secretary Charles Clarke in a bid to halt the rise in crimes involving the weapons. Mr Clarke said the project, to allow people to hand in weapons without fear of prosecution, would run for five weeks this summer, starting on 24 May. Police forces throughout England, Scotland and Wales will be involved. ...

The announcement of the latest drive comes nearly a month after the high-profile killing of City lawyer Thomas ap Rhys Pryce, who was stabbed to death in North London on his way home from a night out. Home Office figures released in 26 January showed violent crime in England and Wales rose 4% between July and September last year.

The Home Office says the amnesty is part of a wide range of actions being taken to tackle knife crime, including toughening the law on carrying blades. Other proposals include raising the age at which people can legally purchase knives from 16 to 18 and giving teachers power to search pupils for knives at school.

The Brits recently enacted extremely restrictive gun-ownership laws, and as a result.... violent crime WENT UP! So NOW they're gonna have very restrictive knife-ownership laws! Sheesh! How stupid. If they really want to lower violent crime they should UNrestrict gun-ownership and make sure crooks'n hoodlums know that if they try to pull something on the average citizen, they might vry well get SHOT DEAD! THAT WILL LOWER CRIME. It has in the USA.

ABU LABAN: BLASPHEMER

The MOST "offensive" depiction of Mohammed turns out to have been, in fact, an old AP photo of a Frenchmen competing in a hog-calling contest! (This was discovered by lowly blggers!)

This photo was appropriated by Abu Laban, given a new title and a new context. Appropriation iand re-contextualization is a standard way of making art, and has been since early in the last century.

Therefore, the real artist, the REAL CREATOR of this image was ABU LABAN! He is the blasphemer.

Maybe the Danes should deport him the Saudi Arabia where he can be PROPERLY punished: by beheading! After all Abu Laban is a Muslim himself - one who claims to believe in sharia. He would be getting his just desserts. Deliciously ironic dessert it is, too!

[ASIDE: Amir Taheri, in the WSJ, proves that depicting Mohammed has NOT always been considered a crime to Muslims.]

BUDDHIST BLEG

Can somebody/anybody please send me photos of the Buddhist riots which occured worldwide after the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan?

I'd like to do a post on how the Muslim reaction to the cartoons - which were an unreasonable attack to their faith - is really normal and to be expected.

After all, when the Taliban - (devoutly religious Muslims, they say) - destroyed the 500 foot tall, 1000 year old WORLD CULTURAL SITE WITH TNT in March of 2001, it was also an attack on Buddhism itself.

I think the comparison would be helpful. Thanks. (Sarcasm off.)

FISKING FEINGOLD'S LIES ABOUT BUSH, GONZALES AND THE NSA PROGRAM

The best thing I can say about Feingold is that he seems like a smart man who is ABSOLUTELY blinded by BDS. He blatantly LIED and distorted the truth at the Gonzales hearing, and he lied on the floor of the Senate tonight. Here are a few of them (via of THE RAW STORY):

[1] "... listen to what the President said on June 9, 2005: “Law enforcement officers need a federal judge’s permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist’s phone, a federal judge’s permission to track his calls, or a federal judge’s permission to search his property. Officers must meet strict standards to use any of these tools. And these standards are fully consistent with the Constitution of the U.S.” Now that the public knows about the domestic spying program, he has had to change course. He has looked around for arguments to cloak his actions. And all of them are completely threadbare. "

Well, it cannot be more obvious that the POTUS was referring to LAW ENFORCEMENT officers, and sane people know that the NSA is NOT part of federal law enforcement; they are part of DoD, and they know that this program is part of the WAR ON AL QAEDA (and their affiliates)authorized by Congress in the 2001 AUMF, and not a law enforcement program. Feingold and Clinton and other Leftie Dems may still think the GWOT would be best fought in the courts, but Bush and a majority of Americans think it is a REAL WAR - and we want to FIGHT BACK ACCORDINGLY.

[2] "The Attorney General knew ... about the NSA program when he sought the Senate’s approval for his nomination to be Attorney General. He wanted the Senate and the American people to think that the President had not acted on the extreme legal theory that the President has the power as Commander in Chief to disobey the criminal laws of this country. But he had. The Attorney General had some explaining to do, and he didn’t do it yesterday. Instead he parsed words, arguing that what he said was truthful because he didn’t believe that the President’s actions violated the law."

Well, this one is almost LAUGHABLE because FEINGOLD JUST ABOUT FISKS HIMSELF!

AG Gonzales correctly maintains that the program is LEGAL, and therefore his answer to the Feingold question during his confrimation hearing IS ENTIRELY TRUTHFUL!

Again, it comes down to whether or not you accept the fact that we are really at war, (a fact made UNDENIABLE by the fact that the 2001 AUMF clearly states we are at war! Well, it's undeniable to everyone except those afflicted with BDS, evidently). Bush has NO MORE violated the criminal law by ordering the NSA (part of the DoD) to intercept enemy communications, then soldiers who kill al Qaeda have committed murder. SURE: If a soldier were to shoot an innocent, non-threatening US person in the USA, then he'd be A MURDERER. But the soldiers - and law enforcement officers - who kill al Qaeda in the course of their duly assigned duties are not murderers. The rules of war are different than the rules which govern criminal conduct in peacetime.

[3] "... this administration reacts to anyone who questions this illegal program by saying that those of us who demand the truth and stand up for our rights and freedoms have a pre-9/11 view of the world. In fact, the President has a pre-1776 view of the world. "

This is a minor rhetorical point, but Feingold has used this IDIOTIC RIFF a few times and it MUST be shot down: If Bush's world-view is pre-9/11 in any way, then it is not "pre-1776"; it is "pre-1978" - (the year FISA was signed into law!

And let's remember that FISA is merely a statutary law, NOT an amendment to the constitution! The war powers Bush claims to have, have been claimed by nearly every president since Washington, and certainly by EVERY war-time president. These powers have been repeatedly UPHELD by every court which has ruled on them - including SCOTUS and the FISCR. If Bush is a "King George" than so were Truman and FDR and Wilson and Lincoln and Adams and Washington.

I think Bush is like those presidents and that Feingold, and the leakers and the NYTIMES are BENEDICT ARNOLDS. The extraordinary POTUS/CiC war-time powers Bush has utilized since 9/11 PALE in comparison to what FDR did, but you'll never hear a Leftie say FDR should have been IMPEACHED, do you!?!

[Aside: Remember, assuming a "BENEDICT ARNOLD position" is NOT a novel thing for Leftie Dems DURING WAR-TIME. Remember Genghis Kerry's "Winter Soldier" testimony to the Senate in 1971?! He was a traitor too!]

[4] "The Attorney General yesterday was unable to give me one example of a President who, since 1978 when FISA was passed, has authorized warrantless wiretaps outside of FISA."

Er um... we haven't been in a prolonged war since 1978, Senator - and NEVER before have we been in one anything like this one, one in which THE ENEMY IS HERE, WITHIN THE USA! Sheesh.

[5] The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was passed in 1978 to create a secret court, made up of judges who develop national security expertise, to issue warrants for surveillance of terrorists and spies. These are the judges from whom the Bush Administration has obtained thousands of warrants since 9/11. The Administration has almost never had a warrant request rejected by those judges. They have used the FISA Court thousands of times, but at the same time they assert that FISA is an “old law” or “out of date” and they can’t comply with it. Clearly they can and do comply with it – except when they don’t. Then they just arbitrarily decide to go around these judges, and around the law.

Feingold actually tells a little bit of truth in this quote (maybe it's an accident!?) - but then he distorts the heck out of it! FACT: Bush has used and is using FISA more than any previous president. FACT: Bush uses FISA when FISA applies, and allows NSA to use other means when they apply - SPECIFICALLY, Bush has signed an executive order so NSA can intercept Al Qaeda's international calls to-and-from the USA. This is very-well thought out, and not "arbitrary."

And what is so so SO SO SO bewildering to me, is that the MAJOR Democrat complaint about this NSA program is that it "LACKS THE CHECKS AND BALANCES WHICH FISA PUT IN PLACE."

This is HOGWASH. Under FISA, all Bush has to do is get one (1) appointed judge to approve it - IN SECRET. Under the special NSA terrorist intercept program Bush informs a FISA judge, AND EIGHT (8) ELECTED CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS! Therefore, the NSA program actually HAS MORE OVESIGHT BY MORE PEOPLE THAN A FISA WARRANT! AND OVERSIGHT BY PEOPLE WHO ARE ELECTED LEADERS. AND WHO HAVE SPECIAL EXPERTISE AND GREATER CONGRESSIONAL RESPONSIBLITY, AND EVEN HAVE DIRECT OVERSIGHT FOR THE NSA!

As far as making sure that the communications are intercepted properly and according to the narrow constraints of the presidential order, well.... the same people who make sure a FISA warrant is followed carefully also make sure the presidential order is followed carefully: the I'sG of the NSA. In other words: there is no reasonable basis for fearing any more abuse of the NSA program than of a warrant authorized by a secret, appointed FISA judge.

[6] "I asked the Attorney General about this, he could point me to no court – not the Supreme Court or any other court – that has considered whether, after FISA was enacted, the President nonetheless had the authority to bypass it and authorize warrantless wiretaps. Not one court. The Administration’s effort to find support for what it has done in snippets of other court decisions would be laughable if this issue were not so serious."

FEINGOLD: YOUR ARGUMENT IS LAUGHABLE! The SCOTUS and the FISCR and the FISC and fedeal courts have ruled that the POTUS as CiC HAS GREATER POWERS! SCOTUS just recently ruled (in a decision written by O'Connor) that the POTUS can designate a US CITIZEN an "enemy combatant"; this is far greater power than that of merely intercepting the international communications of US persons. The FISCR and FISC have made similar rulings as have other federal courts. [SEE THIS POST FOR ALL LINKS.] Though these decisions were specifically NOT about intercepts or surveillance, they undoubtedly give great weight to the argument proffered by the Bush Adminsitration.

In fact, I'd argue that these decisions taken together constitute a "SUPER-DUPER PRECEDENT" if you ask me! (Heh.) Therefore, even though it is true that no court has SPECIFICALLY ruled on this matter, the precedents are clear - STARE DECISIS is clear.

[7] "Finally, the president has tried to claim that informing a handful of congressional leaders, the so-called Gang of Eight, somehow excuses breaking the law. Of course, several of these members said they weren’t given the full story. And all of them were prohibited from discussing what they were told. So the fact that they were informed under these extraordinary circumstances does not constitute congressional oversight, and it most certainly does not constitute congressional approval of the program. Indeed, it doesn’t even comply with the National Security Act, which requires the entire memberships of the House and Senate Intelligence Committee to be “fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States.”

Nearly every president has done the same EXACT thing - only inform "the gang of 8" about the MOST secret operations - for the last 65 years! The law permits this in extremely secretive cases. If any of the gang of 8 had thought the program was illegal, then they could have objected - or even filed an official complaint with the NSA IG, (in compliance with the 1998 Intelligence Whistle blower Protection Act." NONE DID. So Feingold's claim that the 1947 Act was violated is INCORRECT.

FINALLY... when Feingold offers up Bush quotes from the Spring and Summer of 2004, he KNOWS that the president was talking about the Patriot Act and LAW ENFORCEMENT, and not his war powers and the AUMF. Using them the way Feingold does is disingenous, at best.

After many more LIES AND DISTORTIONS, Feingold finally yielded the floor. I think I wiped it up with 'im!

UPDATE: ANKLE BITING PUNDITS has more on the hearings. More on the difference between law enforcement surveillance and war-time sigint HERE, (hat tip LAURA INGRAHAM). ANOTHER FISKING HERE AT CONFEDERATE YANKEE.

I think these Fiskings are importnt: Rants like Feingold's may very well become the Dem/Left's mantra this fall - if we don't dispense with it now.

FRENCH ARREST 2 EGYPTIANS CONNECTED WITH ATOCHA BOMBINGS

TV-NZ:

French police have arrested two suspects wanted in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings, a Paris radio station said. France Info radio said two Egyptians were arrested in the Paris region earlier on Tuesday, suspected of having helped another Egyptian, now in prison in Italy, whom Spain suspected of being involved in the Madrid bombings.

Did a newspaper in SPAIN ever print any tasteless anti-Muslim cartoons? Oh, no?!?! Then I guess IT AIN'T ABOUT THE CARTOONS, STUPID!

BIRDS OF A FEATHER - PART 6: CASTRO AND AHMADINEJAD

HINDUSTAN TIMES:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accepted an invitation to visit Cuba from President Fidel Castro, in gratitude for Cuba's support of Iran's nuclear program, the official Granma newspaper said on Tuesday.

Paranoid, anto-American, racist, socialist tyrants stick together.

FISA, THE AUMF AND "SUPER -DUPER PRECEDENTS"

NYTIMES:

The Legal Arguments
In Limelight at Wiretap Hearing: 2 Laws, but Which Should Rule?

It is the sort of problem that judges confront every day. One law forbids a certain activity. The other may allow it. Which one counts?

Well, the NYTIMES of course frames the argumnent in a way which is biased. IN FACT, the argument that the Bush Administration is that the two laws (FISA and the AUMF) are not in conflict and that they are using BOTH laws.

And they further assert that the since constitution TRUMPS both laws, these laws MUST EITHER be read in a way which is consistent with the constitution or they must be ruled un-constitutional and null and void. Since these laws are other wise okay in other respects (and since Bush is using FISA warrants in other areas), the Bush Adminstration argues that FISA and ther AUMF must be interpreted in a way which is both constituional and which is in agreement with other statutes (FISA must be read in a way which allows agreement with the AUMF and vice-versa). THIS IS HOW STANDARD CONSTITUIONALITY IS CONSTRUCTED.

This interpretation of the AUMF and FISA is consistent with EVERY SINGLE COURT WHICH HAS EVER RULED ON THE ISSUE of whether the POTUS has the constitutional authoirty to order intercepts of enemy communications - INCLUDING THE SCOTUS (Keith 1972), THE FISCR (obviously a post-FISA ruling), AND SEVERAL FEDERAL DISTRICT COURTS (also in post-FISA rulings). This is NOT a novel or contemporary interpreation of the POTUS war powers. Presidents Washington, Adams, Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, and Truman ALL did it. As they should have!

Surveillance of the enemy, and interecepting enemy communications has ALWAYS been considered "an essential incident to waging war" and a power of the POTUS as CiC. SCOTUS upheld this power once again in HAMDI - a decision written by centrist O'Connor. The SCOTUS ruled that the POTUS can declare US citizens enemy combatants, and detan them. This power is GREATER than the power to intercept the international calls of al Qaeda with US persons in the USA. It is ludicrous to argue that the POTUS doesn't have the lesser power, when the Supreme Court - and all other precedent - grants him the greater.

Therefore, the Congress does NOT have to - nor should it - spell out in any AUMF that it ALSO is authorizing the POTUS to detain enemy combatants or to intercept enemy communications. IT IS A GIVEN.

So the Bush Administration's interpretation of the AUMF - (that it statutorily mandates the POTUS to intercept al Qaeda communications) - is the only LOGICAL one, and the only legal one BASED ON SCOTUS STARE DECISIS.

In fact, when taken along-side the 1972 SCOTUS Keith decision, the FISCR decision, the FISC decision, and other federal district court decisons regarding al Qaeda - (all of which have links in this post) - I'd argue that it's s "SUPER-DUPER PRECEDENT!"

What is more, it is LUDICROUS to assert - as the Leftie Dems do (and as Specter seems to!) - that intercepting al Qaeda's calls to the USA (or from the USA) is NOT part of the war we are now egenaged in. The enemy can and will attack us here; they SAY they will, and they have already tried numerous times SINCE 9/11.

This is an enemy whose attacks on us are NOT limited to battlefields overseas. We MUST fight them here if we are to defeat them and if we are going to prevent attacks such as 9/11 - OR WORSE. The POTUS as CiC has the authority to wage this war as it must be waged - according to the AUMF, and the constitution - and this is SETTLED LAW. (More settled than even Roe v. Wade!)

(A previous post is HERE.) (NOTE: This post has been updated to deflect arguments offered by Dr. Steven Taylor of excellent POLIBLOGGER. Check out his counter-argument in the comments section!)