CHINA RUSHES $100 BILLION DEAL WITH IRAN: TIME IS NOT ON OUR SIDE

WASHPOST:

SHANGHAI, Feb. 17 -- China is hastening to complete a deal worth as much as $100 billion that would allow a Chinese state-owned energy firm to take a leading role in developing a vast oil field in Iran, complicating the Bush administration's efforts to isolate the Middle Eastern nation and roll back its nuclear development plans, according to published reports.

The completion of the agreement would advance China's global quest for new stocks of energy. It could also undermine U.S. and European initiatives to halt Tehran's nuclear plans, possibly generating friction in Beijing's relations with outside powers.

China and Russia - 2 tyrannical socialist countires - are actively aiding and abetting states that OFFICIALY suppport terrorism and genocide: North Korea and Iran and Syria and Zimbabwe and the Sudan - to name just a few.

Russia and China should BOTH be sanctioned for this. If we were REALLY intent on defeating the enemy we would be seeking to penalize EVERY nation which aids and abets and trades with anyn of these pariah states. BOTTOM-LINE: Bush is wimp who is pussy-footing around needs to get MUCH tougher than he has been of late. If FDR or Truman were the POTUS right now we'd be A LOT MORE aggressive!

It's time to force Assad out NOW, and then to attack Iran and North Korea SIMULTANEOUSLY (and for the same reason: they have violated their agreements with the IAEA and international law, and have sought nuclear WMD while pursuing policies which embrace genocide).

Waiting only will make it tougher for us to do what must be done. Time is NOT on our side.

HAMAS TAKES OVER: THE PEACE PROCESS IS OFFICIALLY DEAD

THE OSLO ACCORD - though I supported it at the time - was a horrific mistake: Arafat used it as a Trojan Horse; it opened up Israel to Arafat and jihadoterrorism. The so-called "occupied territories" went from being one of the fastest growing economies in the world (as measured by the UN, from between 1967 and 1992) to the most rapidly declining place on earth - next to Zimbabwe, and for the same reason: corruption and socialism. PLUS "PALESTINE" HAS HAD VIRULENT JIHADOTERRORISM: since 1992 all Arab Palestinian children have been raised as racist, genocidal jihadoterrorist fodder, and these legions of genocidal maniacs wil presentthe West with a major problem for decades to come.

THE ROAD MAP was a last ditch effort to save a negotiated settlement. It died with Abbas's refusal to disarm and dismantle the jihdoterrorists or confront Hamas. This failure on Abbas's part led Sharon to accept the fact that there was NO "PARTNER FOR PEACE" and to embrace the security fence and unilatertal separation - in order to make Israel utterly and totally impenetrable/defendible and defensible against the onslaught that most certainly will occur in the time immediately following the Free World's inevitable preemptive attack on Iran.

THE ELECTION AND SWEARING-IN OF HAMAS ends the so-called "peace process", and marks the beginning of the war process. Brace yourself.

RUSSIA'S NEWEST SATELITE: PUTIN REPORTEDLY READY TO ARM HAMAS

JIHAD WATCH:

Russia plunged deeper into the maelstrom of Middle Eastern politics yesterday, saying it might sell arms to the Palestinians after talks with Hamas in Moscow early next month. The announcement by Russia's Chief of General Staff, Yuri Baluyevsky, will outrage Israel.

LET'S LOOK AT PUTIN'S RECORD: Putin is arming Syria and Iran with its most advanced anti-aircraft missiles, and helping Iran build its nuclear assets. Russia is also a major ally of North Korea. ALSO REMEMBER THAT SADDAM WAS A CLIENT STATE OF THE USSR, AND THAT PUTIN'S RUSSIA WAS AN ALLY OF SADDAM'S, PILFERING MONEY FROM AND BRIBES FROM THE "OIL FOR FOOD" PROGRAM. (And also, remember that it was reportedly the Russians who helped Saddam get his WMD to Syria.)

Just add it up: Iran, Syria, Noth Korea and NOW HAMAS. Just what is Putin assembling here?! I'LL TELL YOU WHAT: A true axis of evil - one led by the NEW KGB. YUP: Russia is a very VERY bad actor on the world stage, and Putin is an emerging tyrant who must be countered. We must do something about this before Putin has finished arming his NEW SATELITES and it's too late.

The best way to counter these aggressively anti-US/anti-Free World moves by Putin is to topple Iran and Syria and North Korean regimes as rapidly as possible. This is truly a race against time.

BILL CLINTON ATTACKS EUROPEAN FREE SPEECH IN PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN'S DAILY TIMES (HAT TIP MY PET JAWA):

Former US president Bill Clinton on Friday condemned the publication of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) caricatures by European newspapers and urged countries concerned to convict the publishers. ...Talking to reporters after meeting Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad, Clinton said he disagreed with the caricatures and that the publication was against religious and ethical norms. He said the people’s religious convictions should be respected at all costs and the media should be disallowed to play with the religious sentiments of other faiths. He said the media could criticise any issue including governments and people, but nobody had the right to play with the sentiments of other faiths.

Okay then, let's get this straight - ACCORDING TO CLINTON: we have free speech, but only about certain topics. SHEESH! That's idiotic!

This new utterance by Clinton is therefore HORRIFIC for two reasons: he encourages THE ENEMY who would have us become DHIMMIS, and he thinks it's okay to limit free speech.

I'd like to hear what Hillary thinks of this. If she agrees publicly then she becomes unelectable. Which is another reason why Bill's utterance is so dang mystifying. WHY DID HE SAY THIS?! WHAT CAN HE GAIN!? CAN HE POSSIBLY THINK IT MAKES OUR EFFORTS AT DEFEATING THE ENEMY EASIER!? WHY WOULD HE WANT THINGS TO GET WORSE!?

Ah. That's it: he wants things to get worse - so Hillary can claim that Bush and the GOP can't win the GWOT. This isn't unlike the fact that Dems hate good economic news and always seem to be wishing for bad economic news.

WHY ARE THE DEMS SO NEEDFUL OF BAD NEWS!? Well, since they don't have a positive platform, they can only hope to gain power if everything falls apart.

US SOLDIERS IN EUROPE AND TURKEY ARE WARNED ABOUT A POSSIBLE VIOLENT BACKLASH FROM A NEW ANTI-AMERICAN MOVIE

The movie - "VALLEY OF THE WOLVES: IRAQ" - is blatantly anti-American, resembling a vile Iranian rant or an al Qaeda diatribe more than reality. As a result, the Pentagon has warned soliders that:

"... [this movie] has a number of scenes depicting US troops in Iraq in a poor light, showing them abusing prisoners, shooting innocent civilians and even being involved in the illegal trade of organs. ... Apart from recommending US troops stay away from cinemas where the movie is being screened, the order also stressed the military personal should “not to discuss the movie with anybody they do not know.” "

It co-stars Gary Busey and Billy Zane as evil Americans.

This movie - a Turkish movie - is sadly just one of long line of anti-American movies, nit just made by foreigners, but made by the Leftie doves of Hollywood - (this Turkish movie has 2 beens, but this applies to Hollywood's two major Leftie megastars Michael Moore and Clooney). These folks actually produce anti-American propaganda for the enemy, and then have the audacity to blame Bush for our nations bad PR image among foreigners, as if HE was the problem. He isn't; their euroleft-pandering, jihdoterrorist-pandering, back-stabbing self-loathing is.

NEED PROOF? I don't see anyone in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Ukriane, or Georgia thanking Hollywood for their freedom and democracy. They ALL thank GEORGE BUSH and the USA.

Rightly so! By the Way: Can ANYONE imagine Hollywood producing anti-American propaganda during WW2!?!? And FDR INTERNED 50,000 citizens and was FIRE BOMBING civilian targets! But the Left supported him and the USA then. WONDER WHY? Well, I think for three reasons: (1) the studios were owned by 1st generation Americans who had themselves fled tyranny and LOVED America; (2) the Hollywood Left loved FDR - despite his excesses - (excesses which were WORSE than W's and the current Pentagon's) - because FDR was a socialist; and (3) in WW2, the USA was an ally of the USSR, and they LOVED the USSR.

If socialists Schroeder, and Putin, zuh chic frahnshman Jacques Chirac and the UN had suppported Bush's agggressive pro-democracy moves, then I am sure the Lefties in Hollywood would have, too. The Left feels that anything done by ANYONE on the Right - without the imprimatur of socialism - MUST BE FOR EVIL CORPORATIONS, or evil fundamentalist Christians (whom they also fear, and fear MORE than al Qaeda - except for "good" Christians like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and Jimmy Carter and Teddy Jo Kennedy and Genghis Kerry. What makes these "good" Christians? THEY SUPPORT ABORTION).

These Leftie propagandists are dupes and useful idiots. Their propaganda is a threat to our troops and the security of our nation. But a threat we can and will surmount.

MORE HERE AND HERE.

WHO ARE THE REAL PURVEYORS OF HATE? WHO IS REALLY TRYING TO USE FEAR?

JIHAD WATCH:

To claim that those [like Jihad Watch] who oppose the ideology that led to 9/11, 7/7, 3/11, the Bali bombings, and hundreds of other terror attacks are just "haters" ["Islamophobes"] is to have the telescope the wrong way round; the real haters are those who are perpetrating such attacks, and planning new ones today, in the name of Islam.

... The resistance to jihad is a struggle to defend the human rights of those who would lose equality of rights under the kind of regime jihadists would like to establish -- particularly women, non-Muslims, and ex-Muslims.

Jihadoterrorism is, BY DEFINITION, meant to inflict paralyzing fear in order to convert non-believers into Muslims, or cow them into dhimmitude. Bringing focus to this and fighting back is not fear-mongering, but self-defense, and defense of universal human rights. RTWT.

HALF MILLION RALLY IN BEIRUT TO COMMEMORATE HARIRI

500,000 demonstrate in Lebanon. For Hariri and democracy.
6,000 in Pakistan against cartoons, (a few hundred violently).
We're winning.

Don't let the hand-wringing, appeasing doves if the Left, or the rampaging cartoon hoaxers get you down: WE'RE WINNING.

And despite a Fifith Column made up of the Left-wing dominated MSM (that LOVED printing the Abu Ghraib photos but FEAR reprinting the CARTOONS) and BDS afflicted partisans - who're more fearful of the NSA than they are of al Qaeda - WE WILL WIN.

TALIBAN : AFGHANISTAN : : HAMAS : GAZA/WEST BANK

The Taliban were an islamofascist group which - not long after taking power - became the pariah of the entire world - "de-recognized" by every nation except Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. WHY? SIMPLE: They allowed jihadoterrorism to flourish - UNCHECKED. 9/11 resulted.

The ascent of Hamas will lead the Palestinians down the same path. WHY? Because Hamas harbors jihadoterrorists, (in the guise of their OWN "military wing"). If the West has any balls, then Hamas should become as isolated as the Taliban were: The world must give them no aid - AND NO SYMPATHY - unless and until they reform.

If they don't reform then they'll become another FAILED STATE - mired in poverty; trapped in chaos, and under the thumb of the ruthless tyranny of islamofanaticism.

(IN THIS CASE - unlike the case of Afghanistan - it'll be a failed state behind a wall. And if the Jordanians and Egyptians have any smarts, then they'll build walls of their own!)

WHAT'S THE REMEDY? We have to make them renounce terror and accept Israel. It's their choice. Co-existence - or a gradual, inexorable decline into "no existence."

I have NO REASON TO BELIEVE that Russia - or anyone else - will make Hamas change their ways. I think Hamas will reject reform and take their people down the path of the Taliban. The election of Hamas will mean the talibanization of the Palestinians. And we know what it took to topple them.

I feel this conflict is inevitable - with the last remnants of Baathism, with Hamas and with Iran. WHY? Well, islamo-totalitarianists who proudly use jihadoterrorism won't ever voluntarily coexist with libertarian secular pluralists. The islamofanatics know that their creed can ONLY spread by intimidation, and that it can't win in any free and open competition with the West. So they know they have no choice BUT to fight, and that it's a fight to the death. WHEN?! Probably... 2007.

GORE SLANDERS WHILE AMERICA IN ARABIA: what ever happened to "speaking truth to power"?!!?

Gore went to ONE OF THE MOST REPRESSIVE Arab nations in the world, one which is the literally and figuratively the very heart of ISLAMIC EXTREMISM, and he had nothing better to say than essentially “Sorry Abdullah; America sucks".

And he said that while USA is under assault because of a CARTOON HOAX. Essentially, Gore is jumping on the Islamothug's anti-West bandwagon. AT BEST, it's an example of despicable pandering.

I thought Lefties were fond of “speaking truth to power"?! If they truly were, then Gore would've taken the opportunity to tell the POWERFUL Saudis to quit their support for all islamo-extremism. Instead he pandered - to the Arabs and the Left.

All Gore and Clinton and Carter and Schroeder and the rest of the Left do is blame America (or the West) first. They all complain about US behavior and not one said BOO about Islamothuggery and Islamic mainstream SILENCE in the face of OUTRAGEOUS Islamothuggery.They're either dupes, a willing Fifth Column, or hard up for $auid money - or all three.

Either way: these leftie Dems ought NEVER to be trusted with the national security of this nation or the Free World ever again. EVER. And I’m a lifelong Democrat (1st registered in 1974!) who supported Clinton because he promised to drag the party back from the McGovernite Left-wing and toward the Scoop Jackson center. At the time - BELIEVE IT OR FRIGGIN NOT - picking Gore was part of how Clinton proved he was a centrist. Sheesh. Now, they have BOTH proven that the heart and soul of the Democrat Party is firmly in the Left and firmly controlled by DOVES.

FDR and Truman and JFK and LBJ and Scoop are SPINNING in their graves.

Guys like Gore (and Henry Wallace before him) are why good FDR Democrats like Reagan left the party.

Since 1989, I have been moving to the center - crediting Reagan for all his accomplishments and rethinking ALL the hogwash I was raised on; (my parents were commie doves). Since 2001, I have been ashamed I was ever a Clinton-Gore supporter. Now I am sickened. Truly sickened. The Corettea Scott King funeral and now this. It all adds up. Pardon my English but: these folks - Carter, Clinton, Gore (and their chic euroweenie comrades: Schroeder and Chirac) are scum. Utter scum. [Other reports HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.]

TALIBAN DECLARE WAZIRISTAN IS THEIRS

JIHAD WATCH/TIMES OF INDIA: NEW DELHI:

After taking "virtual control" of the entire North Waziristan province of Pakistan, Taliban and Al Qaeda have recently "declared" the establishment of an 'Islamic State' in the area and gained a major base for their operations against the US-led forces in Afghanistan, media reports said.

I think we should immediately tender an ULTIMATUM to the Pakistanis/Musharraf: if you do not gani control over this 'tribal region" we will OFFICIALY RECOGNIZE it as the independent state of Waziristan.

And then attack it with everything we've got.

UPDATE/REMINDER: I first posted on the "emerging failed states" and what must be done about them LAST WEEK.

ISRAEL WARNS PUTIN: HAMAS AIDS CHECHENS

JPOST:

[Israeli] Government officials are circulating a document showing Hamas's links to Chechen terrorists in an attempt to influence Russian public opinion against President Vladimir Putin's overtures to Hamas. ...

One poster pictured in the document shows a picture of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin next to those of Ibn al-Khattab, a Chechen leader killed in 2002, Osama bin Laden and Shamil Basayev, a Chechen warlord who claimed responsibility for the Beslan school massacre in September 2004. Underneath the pictures are the words "Chechnya, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Kashmir, Palestine and Lebanon," as well as a quote attributed to a companion of Muhammad who said Islam would "continue to exist in those regions of the world where Muslims are a minority living in a hostile environment."

Russian officials traditionally bristle at attempts to compare Hamas with the Chechen terrorists, saying that while the international community recognizes Chechnya as an integral part of Russia, the world has never recognized the West Bank as part of Israel.

I think that this effort will fail because (1) Putin doesn't give a rats ass about Russian public opinion - tyrants rarely do. And (2), because Putin sees more to gain by "winning over" the Arabs and isolating the USA. To accomplish this, Putin is (among other things) arming Iran and Syria with Russia's latest anti-aircraft missiles, and building Iran's nuclear facilities. If Putin was inclined to be a neutral force then he would do neither. Therefore - despite the fact that Russia is part of the QUARTET which sponsored "The Roadmap For Peace" - his meeting with Hamas can hardly be seen as positive. Russian is simply NOT a positive force in the world, right now. They ONLY operate out of short term self-interest.

Only a nationalist tyrant like Putin - himself a "former" KGB agent - would play such a dangerous high-stakes game. (REMEMBER THE KGB is the agency which trained Arafat and Carlos the Jackal!) Putin thinks he can control the Chechens no matter what Hamas - or any other jihadoterrorist group - may try to do there. IN FACT: he probably thinks that he can make Israel into this century's Sudatenland. IOW: Putin probably believes that he can buy peace with the Islamofascists (even his own in Chechnya) by helping them win "the sacrifice Israel".

PAKISTANI AL QAEDA DOCTOR WHACKED

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -

Gunmen on a motorcycle Monday killed a Pakistani doctor who spent six months in jail on suspicions of harboring al-Qaida suspects. Some in this eastern city blamed the United States for the shooting of Ahmad Javed Khawaja. A protest of about 500 people erupted shortly after the killing, with many shouting ''Death to America!'' as they blocked a street and set tires on fire. Khawaja was attacked while walking to his clinic after morning prayers at a mosque, said Mohammed Ali, a Lahore police official.

I hope it was us - or our allies - that got him. Or maybe it was al Qaeda - if they believed he "RATTED" on them, (like gave up Zawahiri's dinner party plans)?!

"LEFTSPEAK": WHAT THEY SAY... AND WHAT THEY REALLY MEAN

WILLISMS TRANSLATES A COUPLA DOZEN KEYWORDS LEFTIES USE.
IOW: When they say_______, they mean_______.
It's deadly accurate and hilarious. Check it out.

THE HYSTERICAL BLINDNESS OF BEING... THE MSM

DR. SANITY:

Like a patient with a case of hysterical blindness, the mainstream media, blunders along in its reporting of the Iraq War. Determined to be blind to anything postive or even barely suggestive of the slightest deviation from the quagmire template; the media continue to hype the negative--without context; without the slightest knowledge of military culture or tactics.

In their willful denial of reality, the media have only two acceptable formulas with which to write about military personnel: They are either (a) helpless victims of an oppressive military heirarchy who sends them into battle without training; without armor; without hope; so as to maximize their deaths; or (b) ruthless, homicidal psychopathic oppressors who mistreat women, children, prisoners and kill for the fun of it.

RTWT! She's got more insightful analysis and many links to back it up! The doctor does, most everyday!

SAGE ADVICE ON "THE LONG WAR" FROM THE SEVEN SAMURAI

I re-screened the classic film SEVEN SAMURAI last night. I came away as amazed as ever about this movie - simply one of the best ever made. (It was the basis for the western movie, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN).

The movie takes place in rural 16th Century Japan. Early in the movie there's a scene in which a few of these poor peasant farmers - long the victims of raiding bandits who steal their crops and rape their women - worry about being beseiged by bandits again - AND SOON: as soon as their new crop comes in! They argue about whether to suffer, or to fight back - by hiring some samurai to help them defend themselves. To settle their debate, they seek the advice of "GRANDAD" - the venerable old man of the village who has seen it all. As they present their cases to GRANDAD, one fearful skeptic who doesn't want them to hire samurai says (paraphrasing), "I am against hiring any samurai, because - even though the samurai might indeed fend off the bandits - our daughters admire samurai so much, we might lose some to the samurai!"

The old man - GRANDAD - ponders a moment, and then scratches his unshaven, whiskered chin and says: "What's the use of worrying about your beard when your head's about to be taken?"

I think the Left should take this sage advice: stop worrying about whether the NSA is listening to your international calls with a secret FISA court approved warrant, or directly under an executive order signed by the POTUS himself; (that's your beard!). Worry about al Qaeda; (they might take off your head!).

THE CARTOON INTIFADA: "BLAMING THE CARTOONS IS LIKE BLAMING THE RAPE-VICTIM FOR WEARING A SHORT SKIRT"

I just watched CNN's RELIABLE SOURCES. They played a clip of an interview with the editor of the Danish newspaper which first published the cartoons in September of last year- Flemming Rose of Jyllands Posten. He said (paraphrasing), "that blaming the newspaper for the riots is like blaming the woman who wears a short skirt for being raped."

Absolutely CORRECT. I have written before that the Muslims reflexive use of violence and their reflexive insistence on blaming others for their violence is EXACTLY like the wife-beater who blames his wife.

And when the Left appeases them and agrees with them - like when (a) Clinton and Carter and Schroeder who say these cartoons should NEVER have been published, and (b) when CNN and others in the MSM who WON'T publish these cartoons, (but who couldn't wait to publish the ABU GHRAIB photos even though the CJCS Meyers begged them not to, and who are NOW suing to publish even MORE Abu Ghraib photos) - it's like EXCUSING the RAPIST and the WIFE-BEATER!

WORSE: it's like begging for more. EVEN WORSE: it's DHIMMITUDE. In fact it's nothing more than surrendering to the enemy.

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?!