ARE WE FINALLY CORNERING AL SADR? IS MALIKI FINALLY GETTING TOUGH?

AP:

Two top aides to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr were detained early Thursday by U.S. forces in the southern city of Najaf, a spokesman for al-Sadr said.

Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for al-Sadr who delivers Friday prayers on behalf of the cleric in the nearby city of Kufa, and Muayed al-Khazraji, a leading aide from Baghdad, were taken in a raid by U.S. and Iraqi forces at about 1 a.m. local time, said Muhammed Jamil, a spokesman in the city some 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad.

I hope we and the Iraqi government keep the heat on this Iranian-supported jihadoterrorist bastard. He and his comrades are a major cause of violence in Baghdad.

PROOF THAT MSM-JIHADOTERRORIST COLLUSION GOES BEYOND PROPAGANDIZING

MATZAV:

... foreign reporters' armored vehicles may (may?) be used to ferry terrorists to carry out terror attacks in Israel. ... [YNET]:

Armored vehicles that were given to foreign news agencies operating in the country with the authorization of the State of Israel, may be used by hostile groups to carry out terror attacks against Israel, Director of the Government Press Office Danny Seaman warned in a letter addressed to Shin Bet Head Yuval Diskin.

On August 27 an Israel Defense Forces helicopter hit an armored vehicle that belonged to the Reuters news agency in Gaza. According to Seaman, the incident illustrated the failures in overseeing the use of armored vehicles granted to the foreign media agencies with the permission of the State.

The vehicle's presence in Gaza in itself constituted a violation of its license terms, and moreover, the jeep was carrying only Palestinians – one with links to Hamas who was not a Reuters employee.

Carrying terrorists in these vehicles goes beyond carrying water for the enemy - literally and figuratively. It is direct and palpable collusion in the enemy's Geneva Convention breaking and OSLO busting terror war. It's disgusting. These MSM scum have no scruples, and of course no shame. Their deceit knows no bounds. They are part of the enemy's operations to commit genocidal terror against Jews.

NEW PSYCHOLOGICAL SYNDROME DISCOVERED: "H.I.S.S."

We all know all about BDS. Now there's a new syndrome; it's called H.I.S.S. - "Head In Sand Syndrome." They often go together. Heh. (HISS is also the sound people with BDS make as they slither among our foes. Heh, heh.) And when they rant and rave about BusHitlerburton being the most dangerous man in the world, they're throwing a "HISSY FIT". Heh, heh, heh.

ABBAS AT UN: "UNITY GOVERNMENT WILL RECOGNIZE ISRAEL." HAMAS: "BS! ONLY 10 YEAR HUDNA."

In a bid to get international welfare-checks to the non-"self-sustainable" Palistanis restored, Abbas made a promise on his speech to the UNGA which he cannot keep; BBC:

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said any unity government negotiated with militant group Hamas would recognise Israel and renounce violence. ... Mr Abbas is seeking a government which includes his Fatah movement and Hamas, which won elections in January. ....

A Hamas official responded that there would be no explicit recognition but said it was prepared to agree to a 10-year truce with the Jewish state.

Temporary recognition for the purposes of a temporary truce is not acceptance. And without acceptance there can be no peace, and withiout peace there can be no two-state settlement.

It seems obvious to me tht there will be no peace and no recognition of Israel until the enemies of Israel who deny Israel's right to exist are utterly vanquished and surrender unconditionally. As we did the Nazis and the Japanese.

This means Israel and its allies must fight and defeat Hizballah and Hamas and the other assorted jihadoterrorist groups, and it also means neutralizing the pro-jihadist terror-supporting trgimes in Syria and Iran. And the sooner the better.

MANY IN BLOGOSPHERE NOW URGE BOYCOTT OF CITGO... which I proposed 5 months ago

As of right now about 500 bloggers - including the GREAT Malkin and Babalu - are urging Americans to BOYCOTT CITGO, (because it is a Venezuela state-owned and run corporation, meaning it pays for Chavez and his anti-American, anti-Semitic pro-Jihadist pro-Fidel Marxist antics).

I first suggested this in the Spring. I'm glad the rest of the blogosphere is finally catching up. (Why did I post on it back then? That's when the Chavez Propaganda Machine was embraced by the Kennedy Clan and a few Democrat Congressmen. Read all about it - it's got plenty of good links.)

NEW HORRIFYING TACTIC MEANS THAT THE JIHADISTS ARE RUNNING OUT OF VOLUNTEERS IN IRAQ

NYTIMES/AP:

Insurgents are now using unwitting kidnap victims as suicide bombers -- seizing them, booby-trapping their cars without their knowledge, then releasing them only to blow up the vehicles by remote control, the Defense Ministry warned Thursday. ... first "a motorist is kidnapped with his car. They then booby-trap the car without the driver knowing. Then the kidnapped driver is released and threatened to take a certain road."

The kidnappers then follow the car and when the unwitting victim ''reaches a checkpoint, a public place, or an army or police patrol, the criminal terrorists following the driver detonate the car from a distance." ...

It was unclear from the Defense Ministry's statement whether the insurgents are using kidnap victims because they are having trouble finding recruits for suicide missions. ...

Although roadside bombs are the main weapon used by insurgents, suicide car bombers are often their most effective one -- designed to maximize casualties and sow fear among the population.

If they had volunteers, then they could just steal the cars. This is another sign that the enemy is in it's last throes - if we can keep them from being reinforced by Iran and Syria.

CHAVEZ AND THAT SULFUR SMELL

CHAVEZ SAID THAT THE UN SMELT LIKE SULFUR. ... HE SHOULD CHECK HIS UPPER LIP; IT PROBABLY SMELLS JUST LIKE AHMADINEJAD'S BUTTOCKS.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER - PART 22: THE ACADEMY AND THE TYRANNICAL, MARXIST LEFT - or - "CHAVEZ AT COOPER UNION"

AP:

[After his UN diatribe, Chavez] spoke to hundreds of New Yorkers who filled a college hall Wednesday night...

He drew a standing ovation when he said Bush committed genocide during the war in Iraq. "The president of the United States should go before an international tribunal," Chavez said as applause filled the hall at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.

He compared the Bush administration's actions to those of the Nazis. ...

The Venezuelan has become Latin America's leading voice against the U.S. government, and his speeches were reminiscent of crusading addresses by his mentor Fidel Castro of Cuba and the late Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. ...

He also referred to his past threats that he could cut off oil exports to the U.S. if it tries to oust him.

"Believe me, if I were to decide tomorrow to stop sending oil to the United States ... the price would go up to $150, $200 a barrel. But we don't want to do it, and we aren't going to do it," Chavez said. "We ask only for respect."

... Singer and activist Harry Belafonte introduced Chavez at the event, while former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark also attended, among supporters who waved Venezuelan flags and chanted Chavez's name.

The Venezuelan leader signed autographs as a crowd rushed to him after the speech.

This demonstrates once again that much of the Academy - the folks who're teaching our next generation - are anti-American Leftists. They show love to this Marxist tyrant even as he BRAGS that he can single-handedly decide to cut-off oil supplies to the USA anytime he chooses (which, I shouldn't have to point out, is decidely tyrannical and totally anti-free market).

The tyrant's stage-comrades were apt: Chavez was flanked by flagrant anti-Americans Harry Belafonte and Ramsey Clark - two aged darlings of the extreme Left who've never met an anti-American tyrant they didn't love.

The setting was sadly ironic: Cooper Union is where Lincoln gave the anti-slavery speech that propelled him to the White House. Lincoln must be spinning in his grave that this hallowed ground has once again been used by Marxists - who believe in a failed doctrine which is fundamentally opposed to liberty - to denigrate the USA and aid and abet our enemies.

BETSY has a post which reveals the truth about this Marxist tyrant.

ABC NEWS: THE TACTICS MCCAIN WOULD OUTLAW HAVE BROKEN TERRORISTS AND PREVENTED ATTACKS

HOT AIR has posted VIDEO of Brian Ross of ABC News relating to O'Reilly of FOX the fact that the CIA's use of harsh tactics - like water-boarding (which McCain and Graham and their Leftie comrades would ban) - broke all 14 of the top al Qaeda terrorists in secret prisons, including Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh; the information they gave was invaluable and saved lives. Maybe tens of thousands. Not to mention perhaps trillions of dollars of damages and a surge in unemployment, (if the attacks they stopped were anything like 9/11).

MORE LINKS HERE AT MEMEORANDUM.

I believe that McCain is a hand-wringer who is trying hard to attain a "holier than thou" position - with regard to the jihadists and his own political opponents. This is insane and dangerous. Dr. Sanity properly diagnosed attitude:

Let me be perfectly clear. We are morally superior to the animals we fight. They are the ones who have no respect for human life, human dignity, or human freedom; and they demonstrate this in their behavior on a daily basis.

Maudlin handwringing and suicidal agonizing as a response to their reckless hate and unyielding determination to kill or enslave us would not seem to be a very effective strategy. In fact, it is a sign of complete moral irresponsibility and a betrayal of all that we value.

If McCain and his comrades succeed in making it tougher for us to get the intel' we need, then they will be responsible for the next attack.

FORMER ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY DEFENDS POPE AND SLAMS ISLAM

LONDON TIMES - VIA MEMEORANDUM:

THE former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey of Clifton has issued his own challenge to “violent” Islam in a lecture in which he defends the Pope’s “extraordinarily effective and lucid” speech.

Lord Carey said that Muslims must address “with great urgency” their religion’s association with violence. He made it clear that he believed the “clash of civilisations” endangering the world was not between Islamist extremists and the West, but with Islam as a whole.

“We are living in dangerous and potentially cataclysmic times,” he said. “There will be no significant material and economic progress [in Muslim communities] until the Muslim mind is allowed to challenge the status quo of Muslim conventions and even their most cherished shibboleths.”

... Lord Carey, who as Archbishop of Canterbury became a pioneer in Christian-Muslim dialogue, himself quoted a contemporary political scientist, Samuel Huntington, who has said the world is witnessing a “clash of civilisations”.

Arguing that Huntington’s thesis has some “validity”, Lord Carey quoted him as saying: “Islam’s borders are bloody and so are its innards. The fundamental problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is Islam, a different civilisation whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power.”

Lord Carey went on to argue that a “deep-seated Westophobia” has developed in recent years in the Muslim world.

BRAVO! RTWT.

IN UN SPEECH, MUSHARRAF CALLS FOR A BAN ON DEFAMATION OF ISLAM. BUT WHO REALLY DEFAMES ISLAM?

VIA PASTORIUS AT INFIDEL BLOGGERS:

PAKISTANI President Pervez Musharraf today called for a ban on the "defamation of Islam" in a speech to the UN General Assembly in which he took a veiled swipe at Pope Benedict XVI for his remarks linking the Muslim faith to violence.

"We also need to bridge, through dialogue and understanding, the growing divide between the Islamic and Western worlds," General Musharraf told the 192-member assembly.

Okay, fine.. I agree. BUT, WHO IS REALLY DEFAMING ISLAM: THOSE WHO COMMIT ATROCITIES IN THE NAME OF ISLAM, OR "NON-BELIEVERS" WHO REACT NEGATIVELY TO ISLAMIC TERROR?

If the islamoterrorists are not perverting Islam, then the "non-believers" cannot be defaming it.

I TELL YOU WHAT, PERVEZ: When a leading "non-believer" (like Benedict) can criticize Islam and NOT be met with violence or the threat of violence, then-and-only-then might I believe that Islam deserves ANY respect at all. Until then I shall consider it a vile, evil martial creed which inculcates violence and ignorance and genocide and misogyny.

IOW: Islam's best defense against defamation is Muslim's behaving well, tolerating criticism or responding to it with reason - and not with violence, and combatting terrorism committed in their religion's name!

Without that, what Pervez calls defamation is just the truth, baby. And sometimes: the truth hurts.

As Truman said: "I'm not giving them hell; I just tell the truth, and they think it's hell!"

GRAPHIC PHOTOS OF CIA TORTURE METHODS

HERE. Heh.
UPDATE: SHOCKING VIDEO! HEH!

THAI COUP HAIKU

AN ARMY LED COUP
IN THAILAND TAKES CONTROL AND
THE CURRENCY DROPS.

Seriously... the frightening thing is that the coup is led by a Muslim general who wants to appease/negotiate with the Muslim rebels in the south who have murdered 1700 Thai's in the last two years. (This fact was not mentioned by the NYTIMES or the BBC. I wonder why?!)

The severe currency drop could cause a severe financial crisis in Thailand, but right now many experts doubt it could spread to the region - at least according to those interviewed by Bloomberg (link above)..

Tomorrow, the junta will announce their new policy. STAY TUNED...

EVEN MORE PROOF THAT SOCIALIZED HEALTHCARE SUCKS

SAY ANYTHING: ...a socialized medicine bureaucrat over in the UK opts to [PAY FOR!] a hip replacement through a private health care provider [insead of waiting nearly a year for a free one]...

GMA/ABC USED FAUX-REPUBLICANS TO GENERATE FAUX-NEWS

Fakes news - otherwise known as propaganda - doesn't just come from the Middle East: NEWSBUSTERS found this - right here on the MSM:

Friday's Good Morning America featured a segment with Robin Roberts in Memphis with three Southern women, identified as Republicans, who are all supposedly "having second thoughts about their party" and now plan to vote for Democrats. But a quick Internet search found that two of the three have backgrounds which raise questions about their fidelity to the GOP.

IOW: they are Democrats! RTWT for details.

MY QUESTION IS: Just how did ABC/GMA "find" these fake Republicans!? Did the fakers hoodwink ABC? Or was the GMA segment producer in on it? If so HE SHOULD BE REPRIMANDED AND DEMOTED.

I think using fake guests is a HUGE scandal, something that wouldn't be - and hasn't been - condoned on the Jerry Springer Show. HAS ABC NEWS AND GMA SUNK LOWER THAN SPRINGER?! Are they that partisan. I guess so.

BUSH ON IRAN AT UN

THE POTUS:

To the people of Iran: The United States respects you; we your country. We admire your rich history, your vibrant culture, and your many contributions to civilization.

You deserve an opportunity to determine your own future, an economy that rewards your intelligence and your talents, and a society that allows you to fulfill your tremendous potential.

The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism, and fuel extremism, and pursue nuclear weapons.

The United Nations has passed a clear resolution requiring that the regime in Tehran meet its international obligations. Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.

Despite what the regime tells you, we have no objection to Iran's pursuit of a truly peaceful nuclear power program.

We're working toward a diplomatic solution to this crisis. And as we do, we look to the day when you can live in freedom -- and America and Iran can be good friends and close partners in the cause of peace.

IOW: It's your choice, Iranian mullahs: be good or we will bomb the hell out of you! (Unless the people can free themselves of your evil tyranny first.)

UPDATE: MORE HERE.

THE GRAND MUFTI ADMITS MUSLIMS ARE LIKE WIFE-BEATERS WHO BLAME THEIR WIVES

HAARETZ:

The mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Hussein, urged Palestinians to stop their attacks on churches, but held the pontiff responsible for the outpouring of Muslim anger.

This is exactly like the wife-beating husband who blames his wife for his violent rages: "It was her fault, officer! She doesn't effin' listen!"

Natch: Muslim men are raised by a creed which hallows wife-beating and "honor"-killing. And any religion which hallows wife-beating and "honor"-killing can never be expected to be peaceful to those it considers infidels.

HAARETZ, contunued:

Seven churches in the West Bank and Gaza were attacked following Benedict's comments. Damage was minor and no one was hurt, but it unsettled the small Christian minority, which accounts for about 2 percent of the 3.4 million Palestinians.

Much much more of the local population was once Christian. Most have left since Arafat and his Palistani islamothugs took over. COINCIDENCE!? Yeah, right.

AND GET THIS: Arafatistan was once the 4th fastest growing economy in the world - BEFORE Arafat. THAT'S RIGHT: from 1967-1990 - UNDER ISRAELI "OCCUPATION". Which proves that islamothuggery is the violent road to poverty, ignorance, and chaos.

DETAINEES AND THE MARQUIS OF QUEENSBERRY

Sowell/via Dr. Sanity:

When you enter a boxing ring, you agree to abide by the rules of boxing. But when you are attacked from behind in a dark alley, you would be a fool to abide by the Marquis of Queensbury rules. If you do, you can end up being a dead fool.

RTWT. BOTH OF THEM.

CHAVEZ BRINGS AHMADINEJAD AND ANTI-SEMITISM TO VENEZUELA

JPOST:

Already, graffiti is appearing on the Mariperez synagogue with increasing frequency. As a safety precaution, Levy skipped out on an office visit to the synagogue last Monday to avoid colliding with a pro-government march.

Critics claim that Chavez owes his anti-Semitic credentials to his late mentor, Norberto Ceresole, an Argentine ideologue who was well-known for his neo-Nazi views. But Chavez has only recently aimed his vitriol at Israel as he seeks friends in the Middle East, especially in Damascus and Teheran, both of which he visited in the last two months.

The recent wave of anti-Semitism has Venezuelan Jews, used to acceptance, rather nervous. Some even accuse Chavez of bringing in Hizbullah to indoctrinate Wayuu Indians in the west of the country.

"The government has adopted an anti-Semitic policy," explained Eppel.

More on Hizballah in Venezuela here. (Of course, Hizballah is a part of the Iranian jiahdist machine - which Chavez and Fidel have embraced, literally and figuratively.)

9/29/06 - UPDATE: Gateway has more.

IS ANOTHER WAVE OF EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION TO THE USA ON THE HORIZON?

IT'S AN OLD PATTERN: IMMIGRANTS FROM EUROPE COMING TO THE USA TO ESCAPE PERSECUTION BY RELIGIOUS BIGOTS.

This was the case for the Pilgrims in the 17th C, and for the Jews in the 19th and 20th C - and for many in between.

It's happening again - but this time the religious bigots are islamic, aided and abetted by Leftist appeasers. First Ayaan Ali Hirsi fled Europe. Now, Theo Van Gogh's only son is under serious threat. Will he be forced to flee, too?

If those who speak out against islamofascism are all targeted, and then flee, all that will SOON be left in Europe will be the Muslims and their cowering, apologizing dhimmis, (like Benedict, it sadly seems).

UPDATE: proof of an economically motivated emigration boom beginning HERE. VIA DISSECTING LEFTISM.

Many are already fleeing Europe's high taxes - brought on by the Left. Soon many more may flee dhimmitude, also brought on by the Left.

More HERE and HERE - on the confluence of dhimmitude and taxes of the Left in France.

The Myth of Containment

Many on the Left argue that it was wrong to attack Saddam - despite his obvious violations of 17 UNSCR's - because he was "contained".

And many of these same people now argue that we can contain a nuclear-armed Iran, too.

They use the containment of the USSR as the foundation of their argument, saying - in effect - that "if we could contain the USSR, then we could've continued to contain Saddam"; and therefore, the war was unnecessary, and unnecessarily upset the Islamic world (creating new jihadis where there might have been none) and diverting our resources away from al Qaeda."

This argument is deeply and entirely flawed.

First, the USSR was never contained. From 1945-1980 Soviet hegemony grew in geographical and demographical domination every single year; in fact, until Reagan, many analysts thought that the Soviet system was proving itself better than the free market.

REAGAN PROVED THEM WRONG, and systematically began the assertive pushback which culminated in the end of the USSR and the liberation of nearly a billion people living under Marxism, (more if one includes China - no longer a Marxist nation during Reagan's time in office). Reagan also revitalized the USA economy - proving that a free market is more efficient and creates more propserity than a centrally directed market.

Reagan did this in a few ways: by ramping up the defense budget to levels the Soviet economy could not sustain, and by preventing the Soviet Union from gobbling up any more nations/economies - in order to use their asset to pay off their debt - (as a mismanaged conglomerate might). Reagan did this by challenging the Soviets in Afghanistan and Granada and Nicaragua and elsewhere. It worked; they caved.

Saddam was contained about as well as we contained the USSR - which is to say, he not very well contained at all. He actively and openly supported Jihadoterrorism in Gaza and the West Bank. He gave shelter to al Qaeda leadership - even publicly offering it to Bin Laden. He shot at US military forces nearly everyday - an act of war. And he committed genocide and torture against millions of Iraqis. And he devasted the marshes. His presence required that we keep troops in Saudi Arabia (to enforce The Carter Doctrine) - a major recruiting tool of al Qaeda, which wanted us out of the Kingdom. And he had completely corrupted the Oil For Food Program. He was in flagrant violation of the Armistice which ended the 1991 Gulf War - his secret missle program, and the 700 sarin and mustard gas shells found there since 2003 prove this beyond any reasonable doubt. Violating an armistice is a casus belli.

In other words, the status quo was not as good as the containment crowd wants you to believe.

Now this crowd wants you to believe that we can contain a nuclear Iran. As if we HAD contained the USSR and Saddam. As if we COULD contain a theocratic tyranny which has direct ties to the worst terrorist organizations in the world, especially to Hizballah - which, until 9/11, had killed more US citizens than any other tterrorist group in the world.

Iran cannot be deterred by M.A.D. - because they love their martial creed more than they love life - and they cannot be prevented from giving their nukes to jihadoterrorist cells anywhere in the world. (BTW: THIS IS A THREAT SADDAM USED IN 1990 - TO TRY TO DETER A US RETALIATION FOR HIS INVASION OF KUWAIT.)

Therefore, arguing that we can contain a nuclear Iran is delusional on every level. It undeservedly aggrandizes containment, and it undeservedly credits Iran with a sense of self-preservation. The mullahs are only interested in the supremacy of their brand of Islam, not in the survival of Iran - or any other part of the world.

That's why we must preemptively neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat - BEFORE it fully matures. When it has fully matured, it will be too late.

That's why I hope Bush doesn't waste too much more time with the UN. Chirac has effectively vetoed sanctions (nevermind war), so there is little the UNSC can really do.

We must ACT. If the USA doesn't act in time, the whole world will suffer for generations to come.

Anti-Bushies create a new crime: "Conspiracy to Commit a Non-criminal Act"

Apparently, that was what Fitzgerald was investigating - since he knew that leaking Plame's name and job was NOT a crime - at least according to JUST ONE MINUTE, and his excellent analysis of the brilliant assault on Wilson and Corn and Fitzgerald by Victoria Toensing. RTWT.