Mexican Border and Neojihadist Terror

Jihad Watch has a post on the Mexican border linking to an AP article: "WASHINGTON (AP) - FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress on Tuesday that people from countries with ties to al-Qaida have crossed into the United States from Mexico, using false identities."

I blogged on this huge risk - one that the Mexican government is compounding- HERE on 2/14 and HERE on 2/17 .

IRAN PROVES REAL DEMOCRACY IS THE ANSWER

And Iran PROVES that the Bush Doctrine is CORRECT!

HOW? WHY? Because, IF Iran had a REAL democracy, then the mullahs would be THROWN OUT - (or maybe even HUNG FROM LAMPOSTS!).

Most people EVERYWHERE want liberty and prosperity and peace and the rule of law - as enforced by consensually elected representatives.

When elected officials fail to deliver the goods, when their people suffer: they get tossed from office.

The neojihadist mullahs in Iran are no better than that Confucionary Stalinist in North Korea: they all squash their people under suffocating tyranny as they squander their people's wealth on international terror and WMD programs.

Most of the Iranian and Syrian and North Korean people - who are no different than you or me - want to end their suffering and end the tyranny which is its cause. And we should help them: because they are our brothers and sisters (and deserve freedom as much as we do), and because it will make us safer. When they are free and democratic they will focus on improving their own lives and on holding their own leaders to account - directly. They won't need to mess with us.

MANY LEFTISTS DENY BUSH DOCTRINE WORKING

I've already heard many Lefties argue that Arafat's death and Hariri's assassination were MAJOR factors in the current wave of democracy in the Middle East - and NOT the Bush Doctrine or the Iraq War.

I guess the Lefties believe that Qadafy had a premonition that Arafat was gonna die, and that Assad MISSPOKE when he said - in his speech to his "parliament" - that he "was not another Saddam." And that Mubarak couldn't care less if the US Secretary of State refused to visit him to officially protest the lack of permissable political dissent in Egypt, and that Musharraf was just aching to send 70,000 troops to the lawless tribal areas. And that ... well, you get the idea!

The best response to this Left-wing nonsense, this delusionally dumb deluge of Democrat denial: "YEAH, RIGHT!"

FRIST AND THE FILIBUSTER

Frist holds all the cards in the current judicial nominee Senate confirmation battle; Frist can void the Senate filibuster rule, and bring all of Bush's nominees to the floor for an up-or-down vote - as the Constitution specified.

Frist's move would force the Democrats retaliate by shutting-down the Senate - (something that would probably work as well for them as shutting down the federal government did for Gingrich - in other words: it would be a disaster for the Democrats, and a win for the GOP -- A DOUBLE WIN, since they'd get the president's nominees confirmed, too).

Frist seems afraid to void the Senate rule. Perhaps he thinks it could hurt his chances at being elected president in 2008?

I suggest that Frist be more concerned about how "NOT confronting the Democrats" will make him seem to those of us who voted for Bush in 2004. In other words: if Frist cannot even stand up to the Senate Democrats, then how can ANYBODY expect him to stand up to al Qaeda, or the French and the UN or the Left-wing dominated MSM?!

Mr. Leader, how you handle this crisis will show us your what your made of! Do you have what it takes to BE president? If you cave into the Democrats, then I believe YOU DO NOT!

Hizballah's "Men Only" Demonstration

****UPDATED**** 3/9/05**** SEE BELOW****

What does it say about the neojihadists that their demonstration in Beirut today was a man-only affair?

YUP: that's right: While watching news reports on TV and looking at jpegs at blogs, I couldn't help but notice a HUGE difference between the two sides in Lebanon: on the one hand, the anti-Syria demonstrations in Beirut were obviously, totally PLURALISTIC: men and women; Christians, Druze, and Sunni; and people of all ages; and they were all HAPPILY proclaiming their the occupation of their country by the fear-mongering forces of anger and repression. On the other hand, today's Hizballah demonstration was huge, but exclusively male - and angry looking; even their speakers sounded angry - ESPECIALLY Nasrallah.

I think this says a lot about each side - EVERYTHING, in fact.

Besides explicitly demonstrating their beliefs, each side implicitly demonstrated what kind of nation they would engender: the anti-Syrian side showed that they embody pluralism and democracy - and even "the pursuit of happiness." Hizballah showed that they are sexist, xenophobic, and violent-at-heart. This is a classic "Good versus Evil" match-up, and it's why we must be willing to support the anti-Syrian side with EVERYTHING we got!

AND ANOTHER THING: Were all those angry pro-Syrian men Lebanese?

I find that very VERY hard to believe. HERE'S WHY: news agencies estimated the Hizballah crowd at nearly one MILLION people - THAT'S 25% of Lebanon's population! And since it was a MALE ONLY crowd, that would mean that the total pro-Hizballah population (which after all - like the general population - include an equal amount of women) would account for 50% of the nation's population!

Well, that's MORE than the number of Lebanese Shia! YUP: according to the CIA, Lebanon has about 4 million people, of which only 35% are Shia. If half are male, then there are only 500,000 male Lebanese Shia - which means that maybe HALF of the pro-Syria, pro-Hizballah demonstrators WERE NON-LEBANESE - and were either Palestinian Arabs from the UN run refugee camps, or Syrians!

THEREFORE, I think ONE MUST CONCLUDE that many MANY MANY of the Hizballah men demonstrating were Syrian - or Palestinian Arabs from the UN refugee camps. (AT LEAST HALF!)

That's ANOTHER reason we must support the pluralistic, pro-democracy - LEBANESE side over the pro-Syrian forces!

UPDATE: Welcome ROGER L. SIMON readers! And if you're not one yet - YOU SHOULD BE - - EVERYDAY! And... WELCOME INSTAPUNDIT READERS! Glenn has other links on this issue - including one to a new AP story that suggests some cross-border busing - CHECK IT OUT! UPDATE #2: Welcome all you folks from NRO's The Corner - and thanks KJ! Please y'all check out a few other posts!

UPDATE #3: a few astute commenters - and a more recently filed AP report (cited above in the INSTAPUNDIT link) - relate that perhaps the crowd was ONLY HALF as big as earlier reports: ONLY 500,000 (and NOT 1 MIllion). Further, these more recently filed reports state that the crowd was largely segregated by gender; this may account for the fact that many MANY videos and MOST still photos showed only males.

This adjusts BUT DOES NOT NEGATE the thrust of my argument that: (1) Hizballah's crowd was mostly male; (2) that it was mostly VERY angry; (3) that its staging reveals that Hizballah is very sexist/gender-biased; (4) and that they may have coerced many people to attend. If there were 500,000 Lebanese Shias there, then it was nearly 50% of ALL the Shias in Lebanon! I believe that this is simply NOT LIKELY; therefore, I believe non-Lebanese people made up much of the Hizballah crowd.

Bottom-line: Commies Stalin and Mao got huge crowds. Commie Kim Jong Il still does. These leaders - like Nasrallah I suspect - made their people afraid NOT to show up and wave the flag. Which is another reason why I have more respect for the Christian, Druze and Sunni Lebanese who demontrate each day in Beirut's Martyr's Square: they show up and demonstrate at great peril. Whereas, I suspect that many of those in the Hizballah crowd were people who (like Stalin's and Mao's and Kim's tryannized people) were afraid NOT to demonstrate!

UPDATE: Welcome Dean Esmay readers! And also - welcome leftwing readers of ANTIWARBLOG . (That's right: those Lefties who THINK they're anti-war - but who're REALLY ON THE OTHER SIDE - have linked to this post! I'm glad they did; they are WELCOME to visit today and everyday and to leave comments AS LONG AS THEY ARE POLITE. Dialog is good, and openness to the other side is often an antedote to propaganda; in other words: maybe a few of them will learn something).

****UPDATE - From Jihad Watch:

The giant Hezbollah rally that drew nearly half a million purported supporters of Syria's occupation of Lebanon actually was a staged hoax with non-Lebanese citizens, Syrian workers, students and municipal employees coerced into joining the protest, former Lebanese Prime Minister Michel Aoun told WorldNetDaily in an exclusive interview this morning. "Yesterday's huge protest calling for Syria to stay made it look to the world like a large segment of the Lebanese population actually wants to live under Syrian occupation," said Aoun, speaking to WND from Paris. "But the protest wasn't what it appeared to be. It was an elaborately staged affair."

UPDATE - 3/10: Welcome PUBLIUS PUNDIT readers - and if your not one... YOU SHOULD BE; really: Publius does some AMAZING round-up on very topical events. One of the Best sites around! The above link will take you to his LEBANON round-up. Check it out and then check out the rest. That's an order!

UPDATE 3/12: Welcome to the intrepid and delusional loony-leftie readers of Tiny Revolution. Here's a special note just for you DU-type DOUBTERS -

CBS NEWS REPORTED THE FOLLOWING ON MARCH 8th:

"Many of the people were bused in from Syria and parts of Lebanon that are under Syrian control, reports CBS News' Edward Yeranian. "

DID SGRENA FAKE IT TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE TERRORISTS SHE SIDES WITH?

There are reports that Italy paid $6 MILLION to get the communist reporter released. That's a HUGE WINDFALL for the terrorists - ESPECIALLY now.

And, that's HUGE motivation for this "kidnapping" and for future ones.

DRUDGE is also linking to a report from the WASH TIMES that asserts that the Italians kept the whole mission a SECRET - NO WONDER they got shot at as they SPED toward a checkpoint!

MY PET JAWA is SGRENA SKEPTICS CENTRAL.

BUSH SELECTS BOLTON!

I just watched C-SPAN and saw Condi announce that John Bolton will become our next UN Ambassador, which is GREAT! He's a "no BS" neocon in the tradition of our two best previous UN Ambassadors: Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Daniel P. Moynihan. He'll be a GREAT UN Ambassador at an especially critical time: In the coming weeks, Syria and Iran and North Korea each have dates with the UNSC and DESTINY!

THE POLITICAL DIVIDE IS IDEOLOGICAL NOT SOCIOLOGICAL

Powerline has another must read post on the current political divide in America. The post suggests that the divide is sociological; it relates articles and a book by NYTIMES columnist David Brooks, and a book by David Lebedoff.

Pundits - like Brooks and Lebedoff and Powerline's Hindera - who claim that geography or sociology determine which side of the political divide one is one ARE WRONG. And I am proof of it - because I have crossed the divide. My crossing-over was gradual and predates 9/11; (many MANY others crossed the divide AFTER 9/11 - hence the term "9/11 Democrat. For these people, 9/11 was a life-changing/EYE-OPENING event which changed their entire worldview).

The fact that people move across the divide without changing membership in any sociological groups (wheter elite or plebe or managerial or whatever) proves that the change is not sociological.

Here's my case: I was a Leftie from the 1960's until the Fall of the Wall; (my gradual drift to the center actually began from McGovern's massive defeat - which led me to believe that, (since the lesser of two evils is almost always a good choice), Democrats had to nominate more moderate politicians than McGovern to get, hold, and use power effectively. After the Fall of the Wall and the collapse of OSLO, I looked back and had to admit that Reagan and Thatcher (and Netanyahu and Sharon) had been right all along. I don't feel as if admitting that Reagan was right makes me suddenly "un-educated" - it makes me intellectually honest, and more commited to results than ideology.

Undeniably, in the USA there IS a great Left versus Right divide. The two things which are the BEST predictors of which side of the divide one is on are not sociological; they are better described as philosophical or metaphysical or ideological. They are: (1) how one feels about universalism versus relativism in the moral realm; and (2) how ones feels about individualism versus statism.

Those on the Left are relativists who believe in a strong state, and believe that individuals are defined by which groups they belong to. Those on the Right are universalists who believe that each person is sovereign over himself, and that the State derives its just powers ONLY from the consent of individuals. (This is why Leftists call Right-wingers "selfish.")

Hayek argued - and Thatcher and Reagan (and Teng Xiao Ping in China and Singh in India) proved - that Statism is the "road the serfdom," and that the Free Market is not only the most moral system, but the most efficient, creative and productive one, too.

Eventually, Leftists will be forced to admit this is as true in pension/retirement and health markets as it is in every other market. When that happens their jig is up. (Already sensing that their jig will be up soon, many of the Leftists are already fighting tooth and nail - deperately staving off having to admit they were wrong about everything either by using vicious attacks - as in "Bush is Hitler" or "BUSH LIED!"- or by just putting their head in the sand and denying reality - as when they deny that captialism saved China or that toppling Iraq is causing a klatogenetic explosion of democracy in the Middle East - just as the neocons said it could).

The demographic arguments - that Brooks and Lebedoff and Hindera make - are hollow compared to the ideological battle between what has failed (Leftist policies) and what is working (Rightist policies)!

That more Leftists live in cities - (Blue America is largely urban) - is partly a vestige of Democratic coalition politics and the welfare state - and partly a result of the fact that for too long the GOP never battled for voters in those hardcore Leftist urban centers. As the GOP continues to broaden its appeal to Hispanics and Blacks and Jews - (traditional city-dwellers and, generationally, core members of the Democratic coalition) - this will change.

Also: now that the "McGovern Wing" of the party has once again reasserted control of the party apparatus - (making the more centrist Clinton era seem more like an aberration when copmpared to the post-LBJ party) - they will drive out many of the remaining centrists - either to the GOP or or to official independence. And as a result, the sociological indicators will change - and be less predictive than they seem now.

In addition, as people like David Horowitz (with the unintended help of "Ward Churchillians") wrestle away the control of the Academy from the Leftists, fewer of our youngsters will be brain-washed into Leftist, anti-West, anti-traditional family, anti-American, morally relativist ideologies, (a Leftist program that - up until now - has been in full swing since the 1960's and the advent of "the counter-culture").

And as the Bush Doctrine is vindicated, more Leftists will be forced either to admit they were wrong - or condemn themselves to inane insignificance - the Loony Left.

When all this happens - (when the old Democratic coaliton splinters; when the Leftist Dems drive the rest of the Centrist Dems out of the party; when the Academy is liberated from Leftist control; and when the Middle East is more fully democratized) - the Left will simply fade away, vanish with a whimper - leaving an embarrassing question to posterity: "how could ANYONE have EVER really bought that Leftist CRAP anyhow!"

THIS NEEDS REITERATING: One of the major reasons many educated people "bought that crap" and became are Leftists is that they were BRAINWASHED BY THE LEFTIST ACADEMY. This is NOT hyperbole; it is fact. Here is an example: the "political spectrum" that we were all taught in the Academy places Communism on the Left and Fascism on the Right. BUT THIS IS FALSE. Need proof!? Where do you put ANARCHISM in that spectrum!? NO WHERE!

The TRUE poltical spectrum places communism and fascism on the extreme Left, and anarchism on the extreme Right, and mixed systems in the middle; (the USA system goes just Right of center and the Scandinaviam system goes just Left of center). Not only is this LOGICAL (first, because there is a proper place for anarchism, and second because it allows for a simple continuum of rights from MOST STATIST on the Left, to MOST INDIVIDUALIST/LIBERTARIAN on the Right), but it is HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: Mussolini and Hitler were BOTH SOCIALISTS - as were LENIN AND STALIN. Hilter was a National Socialist (= NAZI) who was ANTI-MARXIST; Mussolini was also a national socialist; the Russians were Marxists. They each had more in common with each other than with FDR or Churchill OR EVEN CHAMBERLAIN! Stalin and Trotsky and Hitler were all socialists - who hated each other as much as they LOVED the state and sought to get inidividuals to subordinate their personal liberty to the will of the state (as determined by an elite).

What does this have to do with BRAIN-WASHING!?!?!? EVERYTHING! The false spectrum was created by the Leftist Academy to make Marxism seem more like the IDEOLOGICAL OPPOSITE and enemy of Hitler and to have more in common with FDR than it did with Hitler - which is COMPLETELY FALSE.

There is another major LIE being foisted on to the students in the academy: that Gorbachev was more responsible for the Fall of the Wall than Reagan. And the reason for this lie is the same as the reason for thie other lie: to protect their FAILED Leftist ideology from utter disrepute.

Fortunately, the truth will win. As will markets that function. And, as will the universal human desire for liberty. Therefore, the Right will win, too.

ENDNOTE: because of the tenure-system, the Academy has become a closed system without the checks-and-balances necessary to prevent it (or any other system) from being taken over one group - and those who "play ball" with that group. This happens in ALL closed systems and is the basic reason why all system need checks-and-balances. Lack of checks-and-balances is also why the Catholic priesthood in America is such a mess. Opening up the Academy to Conservatives and the Catholic priesthood to married men will not only bring each system a balance of perspectives, but a natural and much needed check-and-balance.

ADDENDUM: There's another simple reason why I know that a sociological explanation isn't the best: it's too Marxist; it seeks to explain how individuals think by putting them into heuristic groups - managerial; urban; black; religious; rural - these are all epistemological groups that do not really exist; they have no ontological veracity. NEED PROOF?! A person is a member of many MANY groups/classes; how that person sees himself AT ANY GIVEN TIME is too complex for any prediction. During elections, politicians and pundits often want a people to see themselves - identify themselves - as mostly members of one group over the others - if they think it will help their candidate - but that doesn't make people more one thing or another. Take me as an example, again: I am an urban, Jewish, registered Democrat, graduate school educated person, in the Arts. And I voted BUSH! Like I wrote above: neither the Brooks, Lebedoff or Hindera dichotomies can explain me.

I simply argue that the current political divide is the result of the effects of the persistent bias in certain specific institutions, and the fact this bias is Leftist. (And I didn't even mention the MSM!) These institutions are gradually opening up to a plurality of views - and as a result the Left is losing their monopoly - and more and more people are seeing the Light, and the Left will be left in the shadows... Still Need proof? Look at Congress: it's been getting steadily more Right-wing since 1980. Want more proof? Only centrist southern Democrats have won the presiency since 1964! YUP: The country has been moving Right since at least 1980. And if the Democrat Party moves Left - as they seem to be - they will simply fall off the table, and into the dustbin of history. Where they'll belong.

BUSH'S "LEBANESE SQUEEZE-PLAY" CRUCIAL IN "GWOT"

UPDATE - 3/8: Welcome CHRENKOFF readers (and if you're not one yet YOU SHOULD BE - EVERYDAY! And while you're here, please check out a few other posts.

UPI: ALGIERS, Algeria, March 5 :

Top Syrian official said Saturday the United States asked Syria to disarm the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah guerilla organization. Syrian Information Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah told the government-run Algerian Radio that Washington asked Syria "for many things that have nothing to do with international peace, demanding things we have nothing to do with like disarming the Lebanese resistance," in clear reference to Hezbollah. He insisted this was a purely Lebanese issue and had nothing to do with Syria.

In my opinion, this means that ONLY if Syria pulls out ALL of its forces - military and secret police - can they get "off the hook" for this demand. Which is why it was made: it ramps up the pressure on Syria to withdraw - even if it means they abandon Hizballah (leaving it only a client of Iran).

If Assad withdraws (which - due to the Bush Doctrine - is now LIKELY), then I PREDICT that the Bush Administration will make the following two NEW demands: (a) that Hizballah be kept off the ballot of the impending Lebanese election UNLESS they disarm; (b) that if Hizballah refuses to disarm VOLUNTARILY, that any new Lebanese government forcibly disarms them.

These two demands will be made possible IF AND ONLY IF France and the UK allow the EU and the UN to classify Hizballah as an international terrorist organization - which now, ACCORDING TO THIS REPORT seems likely.

In addition, according to this report from HAARETZ, Israel is now demanding that IRANIAN MILITARY FORCES EVACUATE LEBANON:

Israel's official position is that the Syrian forces deployed in Lebanon are not the only foreign army in that country. Despite the fact that the Syrian force is a large one, and includes numerous units and an extensive intelligence set-up, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards play a significant and negative military role in Lebanon - a role that undermines Lebanese sovereignty.

I predict that (with the help of France - YUP FRANCE, believe it or not) the UNSC will reiterate the demand (already contained within UNSC #1559) that Iran voluntarily remove their forces from Lebanon. And that Iran will do so.

(If Iran won't withdraw NOW, then this will mean MORE SEVERE UNSC SANCTIONS - followed by WAR if Iran continues to keep the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Lebanon AFTER the Lebanese elections. Lebanon will try to expel them, and this could foment another WAR in Lebanon - only this time the Druze, Christians, and Sunnis will have US Joint Forces support against the Shias and the Iranian backed Hizballah, so this time around, the Shia/Iran strongholds will be destroyed much in the way Fallujah was - and just as quickly.)

The strategy behind these moves is CLEAR: By clearing out Lebanon, BUSH would accomplish TWO HUGE THINGS: (1) improve the chances of a peaceful settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs - IMMENSELY; and (2) considerably weaken both Syria and Iran - by hemming them in even more than they are now (because of the presence of USA forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean).

These two accomplishments - a comprehensive Israeli-Arab peace settlement (sans Syria), and further isolation of Syria and Iran - will strengthen our diplomatic efforts at regime change in both Syria and Iran.

Which is why I predict ORANGE REVOLUTIONS in Syria AND Iran by next autumn - with or without war.

IN THE NAME OF THE BUSH DOCTRINE

MARK STEYN (via BETSY's PAGE):

"By the way, when's the next Not In Our Name rally? How about this Saturday? Millions of NIONists can flood into the centers of San Francisco, New York, Brussels and Paris to proclaim to folks in Iraq and Lebanon and Egypt and Syria and Jordan and Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority that all the changes under way in the region are most certainly Not In Their Name. "

HEH!

FOUR APPEASERATI TO MEET IN PARIS 3/18

(AFP) -

The leaders of France, Russia, Germany and Spain are to meet in Paris March 18 for a working dinner designed to accommodate Russian President Vladimir Putin's wish to see a closer EU-Russia dialogue, French officials said Friday. It will be the first time such a meeting will take place, the officials from French President Jacques Chirac's office said. As well as Chirac and Putin, the dinner's guests will include German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

More than any other nations on the world, these four nations now enable and appease the enemy; here are a FEW of their RECENT perfidious acts:

(1) France refuses to allow the UN or the EU to officially recognize that Hizballah is a terrorists group (thereby allowing them to continmue to raise money in Europe), and France recently gave all of ONE soldier to help train Iraqis; (2) Spain recently withheld information about a possible terrorists attack against the USA - and Grand Central Terminal in NY - for 5 months; (3) before the Iraq War, Germany and France twisted Turkey's arm in order to get Turkey to refuse to allow the USA to use its Turkish bases in the war; this prevented the USA military from entering Iraq from the north, and may be WHY the neojihadists and Baathists who were north and east of Baghdad were able to "fade away" and regroup; in other words, because of France and Germany and Turkey, the "insurgents" were given a route of escape, and this lead directly to the strength and persistence of their attacks against Iraqis and the coalition for the last year; (4) Russia is currently arming Syria with missiles and Iran with dual-use nuclear technology, and they're NOT helping us with North Korea at all.

These four appeaserati - Chirac, Schroeder, Zapatero and Putin - are NOT ALLIES; they are truly an AXIS OF TREACHERY. Replacing these four appeaserati with pro-democracy/libertarian leaders is as important to our eventual success in WW4 as getting rid of Assad and Khatami and Kim Jong Il.

LONDON'S SOCIALIST MAYOR LIVINGSTONE PROVES HE IS ANTI-SEMITE SCUM

(1) What Livingstone wrote in the Guradian, 0n 3/4/05: "Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison not in office. Israel's own Kahan commission found that Sharon shared responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila [Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut] massacre."

(2) HAARETZ: These comments were made two weeks after the London mayor controversially likened a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.Livingstone has refused to apologize for his comments, repeatedly emphasising his anti-racist stance and denying that his words were anti-Semitic, the Independent reported.

In Israel, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the mayor's comments "aren't even worthy of an Israeli response."

(3) His comments are unlikely to ease already fraught relations between the mayor and the Jewish community in Britain. Tensions came to light last year when Livingstone invited the Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi to speak at a conference in London, the Independent reported.

Here is my response, and the FACTS:

(4) 1982: Sabra and Shatila Massacres

As discussed on the Palestine Facts topic page on Sabra and Shatila, on September 16, 1982 the Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia entered the Beruit refugee camps looking for PLO fighters. The Phalangist forces, allies of Israel and in an area controlled by the IDF, carried out a 62-hour rampage of rape and murder that left hundreds dead.

In 1983, an Israeli government commission of inquiry, known as the Kahane Commission, determined that Defense Minister Sharon was negligent and should have foreseen that permitting the Phalangist forces to enter the camps carried a potential for catastrophe. They charged that Sharon should have taken precautions against such a massacre. But the commission rejected the idea that Minister Sharon was directly responsible for the crime, an idea that was also rejected by the federal court in New York that heard Sharon's 1985 libel suit against Time magazine who repeated unfounded allegations about Sharon's role. Nonetheless, due to Israeli discomfort with the event, Sharon was forced to resign and face widespread public opprobrium that nearly ended his political career. The matter was therefore lawfully settled in Israeli and US courts with a reasonable conclusion and outcome.

For years, Mr. Sharon's political opponents, in Israel and abroad, along with a host of Arab leaders, have exploited Sabra and Shatila to score moral points against Israel -- even as Syria made an ally of Elie Hobeika, the Phalangist personally responsible for carrying out the massacres. They continue to accuse Sharon of crimes for which he has already been cleared.

MORE FACTS ABOUT SHATILA HERE .

MY POINT:

Only an anti-Semite - like Livingstone - would blame a Jew and an Israeli (like Sharon) for crimes committed by Christian Arabs against Muslim Arabs. Blaming Sharon for crimes committed by the Arab Christian Phalange (like those committed at Shatila) in Lebanon is like blaming Rumsfeld for crimes comnmitted by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. It's simply absurd. It's an absurd charge that reveals MORE about Livingstone than Sharon. It reveals that Livingstone is an anti-Semite.

(5) Yusuf al-Qaradawi [...] condemned the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks but who advocates Palestinian suicide bombers against Israeli citizens as a "legitimate and recommended" means of deterring the Israeli "enemy." Livingstone agrees with - and has publicly praised Qardawi, and so implicitly agrees that neojihadist terror against Jews is okay. THAT'S ANTI-SEMITIC.

Livingstone has also FALSELY charged Israelis with ethnic-cleansing against Muslims and Arabs when the EXACT OPPOSITE is true. TAKE THE GAZA WITHDRAWAL AS AN EXAMPLE: Sharon is ethnically-cleansing Gaza of Jews - while 20% - THAT'S RIGHT TWENTY-EFFING PERCENT - of Israel's VOTING POPULATION is Arab Muslim!

Palestinian Arabs - like the "moderate" Abbas - want "Judenrein" in the West Bank too - by requiring that all Israeli/Jewish setlements be emptied as a condition to a settlement; therefore, IT IS THE ARABS WHO WANT ETHNIC-CLEANSING, NOT THE ISRAELIS!!!!

If these illustrate ethnic-cleansing by Jews against Muslims than Livingstone is Chief Rabbi of Lodz! Of course, Livingstone is NOT chief rabbi of anything; he is an abhorrent anti-Semite - like so many on the Left. Like Senator Byrd, Livingstone's recent tirade has exposed him for what he really is: a bigot.

THE LEFT'S FIXATION ON SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

Barry Lynn (of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State - and one of the Leftists who filed a brief in the "ANTI-TEN COMMANDMENTS" case before the SCOTUS) appeared on C-SPAN today.

Lynn said that, according to his reading of the first amendment - (which reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;) - "the government shall not own or operate or display religious symbols."

That's a DIRECT QUOTE.

I guess that means that he and the ACLU will next sue the Department of Defense to remove all the crosses from Arlington National Cemetery!!! Don't laugh - they'll probably get to it right after they remove the word GOD from our motto our money and our pledge!

WHY IS THIS ANTI-RELIGION EFFORT SUCH AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE LEFT'S AGENDA? Because the Left worships the State - and they want the State run by atheistic socialist intellectuals; therefore traditional religion - and priests and rabbis - are quite simply THE COMPETITION!

PS: Another thing Lynn said today: that "the Ten Commandments is a symbol of just one religion." I wonder which one that is!? The "Judeo-Christian" one?! The Jewish one!? The Protestant one!? The Catholic one!? The Lutheran one!? And so on... IT'S EFFING RIDICULOUS! The constitution says the government shall not establish a religion; it does not say that it may not express or reflect some religiousness or any relgiousity - and the fact that Congress opens each day with a prayer IS PROOF that this is so.

The atheistic socialist intellectual elites have been trying to destroy Western Civilization since they fomented the Counter-Culture Revolution in the 1960's; (I know: I was part of it!). They have the same aim now, only now they're trying to use the courts to accomplish what they could not accomplish by popular revolution.

The Left's basic anti-Western attitude is why they've had such a hard time joining in with Bush and attacking the neojihadists; in the neojihadists the Left saw a powerful ally in their long-standing effort to destroy America, and with America the West and Western traditions. It's also why they would rather align themselves with Third World dictators like Fidel and Chavez and Mugabe ( and Ho Chi Minh and Pol Pot and Mao before them) than with the capitalist/industrialized/God-fearing West: to the Left, cultural and economic colonialism are the "capital crimes" that the West committed against the Third World; they're the reason why the West deserves to die - as far as the Left is concerned.

Here's another illustration of this essentially anti-West attitude: a sign at a "pro-Ward Churchill" rally at UW proclaimed: "Capitalism = terrorism" - (hat tip PRESTOPUNDIT) and this is EXACTLY WHY Churchill argued that the victims of neojihadist terror on 9/11 were "little eichmanns."

Of course the premise of the Left-wing attack on Western Civilization and capitalism and industrialization is preposterous on its face. NEED PROOF!? Well, the First World's excellent wealth and health is a result of capitalism, trade and industrialization; Third World poverty and short life-spans are a result of their LACK OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, TRADE AND INDUSTRIALIZATION.

If the Left truly wanted people in the Third World to have more wealth and live longer healthier lives, then they'd advocate more globalization and more industrialization for the Third World, and not less consumption or less production in the West, in the First World.

The Left, though, remains opposed to capitalism and industrialization - it's basically why they are pro-KYOTO (which is a horrifying "anti-economic/anti-industrial growth" treaty which threatens global economic ruin).

But reality has VERY LITTLE to do with the Leftist agenda; Marxist orthodoxy has EVERYTHING to do with it. And, after all, Marx was anti-religion. And that's basically why Barry Lynn is too. It has NOTHING to do with the First Amendment, and everything to do with Marxist socialism. Take it from me: I used to be a Leftist. Before I saw the Light.

And you can look it up: ALL the founders of the ACLU were Marxists. And their cohorts in the NLG - the National Lawyers Guild - (like CONVICTED NEOJIHADIST COHORT LYNN STEWART) still are!

The Left knows that they could never get any Amercian legislature to ban religious symbols and references to the Creator from all government auspices, events, objects, etc. That's why they've taken the issue to the courts: this is the Left's last chance at inflicting their atheistic, anti-traditional, anti-West program on to all Americans, and if we can defeat them on this issue NOW, then it will be as big a blow to them as the Bush Doctrine has been to tyranny in the Middle East.

I am praying that the SCOTUS does the right thing!

UPDATE - 3/7: Welcome DISSECTING LEFT readers! (And if you're not one - YOU SHOULD BE - EVERYDAY!

SPAIN'S ANTI-AMERICAN SOCIALISTS

ACCORDING TO THE SPANISH DAILY EL MUNDO:

After the horrific ATOCHA bombing in Madrid - (which won the ANTI-AMERICAN socialists the election - JUST as AL QAEDA wanted!) - Zapatero - the newly elected socialist prime minister of Spain - had evidence that AL QAEDA was planning to attack the USA in NYC at Grand Central Station AND WITHHELD IT UNTIL AFTER THE USA ELECTION!

Zapatero probably withheld the info deliberately. Probably because he and his pinko cohorts hoped that an attack by AL QAEDA against the USA between March 2004 and the election in Novemeber would tip the Amercian election to the socialistic Kerry juist as Atocha had tipped the Spanish election to the anti-war pinkos in Spain.

Socialist scum. Like the wise man once said about the Left: "They are not anti-war; they're on the other side."

SUPREME COURT CONTINUES LEFT-WING INFANTILIZATION

The SCOTUS ruled to day that the death penalty may not be applied to anyone under age 18.

Just 17 years ago, in 1988, the SCOTUS said the age limit was 16 and over.

But then - way back in the 1980's 18 year olds could drink, too.

NOW... if you're under 18, you are a JUVENILE - an as of yet un-formed adult - and not allowed to drink booze (legally) and not fully responsible for your actions even if those actions include premeditated murder.

WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE 1988 TO CHANGE THINGS?!

ARE 18 year olds more infantile now than then!?

NO.

What's happened is that a few Leftists on the SCOTUS have succeeded in making 18 year old people LESS responsible for themselves - which is of course at the HEART of the Leftists agenda: they don't want people to be responsible for themselves; they want the state to be responsible for you, instead.

Well, I say: If you're old enough to volunteer for the armed forces, and old enough to vote, then you are old enough to drink booze and to suffer the death penalty if a jury says you deserve it.

If the Left had their way, illegal juvenile aliens (even those convicted of felonies) would have the right to vote, but not to smoke or drink or die for committing murder. HOW EFFING WEIRD IS THAT!? Maybe the Left will RAISE the voting age!? Or do they think that voting requires less thought and responsibility than killing?!

There is NO consisitency or sense to the Left's position EXCEPT as part of a program to make people LESS responsible for themselves - and the State MORE POWERFUL; that is the ONLY context in which this decision makes sense. It's court-ordered nanny-statism at its worst, and - now that the GOP controls the White House and the Congress - it's the ONLY way the Left can stuff their Leftist agenda down our throats.

Which also means it's further proof that the GOP controlled Senate ought to abolish the Senate rule that requires cloture for court nominees, so the GOP can get a few non-Leftist jurists on the court - - jurists who won't legislate from the bench, or aggrandize the state as they infantilize the citizenry.

GERMAN ECONOMY KEEPS SPEEDING IN THE FAST LANE...

... on the road to serfdom, that is!

BBC: More than 5.2 million Germans were out of work in February, new figures show. The figure of 5.216 million people, or 12.6% of the working-age population, is the highest jobless rate in Europe's biggest economy since the 1930s.

WHY IS GERMANY DOING SO BADLY?! Well, Germany is a socialist economy with a socialist government - one allied to environmentalists. Their economy - and Continental Europe's - is doomed unless and until Germany - and France - elect Thatcherite/Reaganite governments which embrace Hayekian principles and cut taxes and reduce the size of government.

THIS IS NOT DOCTRINAIRE; HAYEKIAN POLIICES MAKE ECONOMIES GROW BETTER BECAUSE THEY LIBERATE PEOPLE TO BE MORE INDUSTRIOUS AND CREATIVE!

UPROAR IN THE ARAB STREET

Funny: there're more Arabs protesting in Beirut against Assad and Syria than ever protested in any Arab street ANYWHERE against US "occupation" of Iraq. (Hat tip JOHN GIBSON of FOX NEWS.)

UPDATE 3/1: Hitchens has more to say on the "Arab Street."

THE BELL TOLLS FOR THE LEFT

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. - John Donne

The "me generation" Left, and the anti-traditional counter-culture they fomented, used moral relativism to transform the old laissez faire bromide -"live and let die" - into the isolationist "let me live, and let them die." These Leftists believe that their own state should be their nanny - caring for them from the cradle to the grave - and that we have no business "muddling in the domestic affairs of other nations or cultures." To them it is arrogant, colonialist, and dangerous - because it causes "blowback."

Bush and the neocons are universalists who believe that personal liberty is an innate human right of all humans born anywhere and everywhere, and a basic universal human right which must not be limited by local culture or government - which are both temporal and relative.

Bush and the neocons believe that those of us who are free and rich and strong have a moral obligation to help our brothers and sisters whose basic universal human rights have been taken away from them; we must help them them get their innate rights back, AND we should help them form mutually consensual governments that recognize their rights - in other words - democracies. After all, the self-determination of nations can only be a product of democracy- tyrannies are not in any sense self-determined. And contrary to what the Old Left believes, self-determination can NEVER be "imposed;" rather it is tyranny which is imposed; democracy is the only way a free people can have a limited mutually-consensual self-government; democracy is the absence of imposition.

Bush's aggressive pro-human rights/pro-democracy policy is working - now, at a rate that is truly STUNNING. Georgia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq - even in Arab Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and so on... all becoming more democratic. Because of Bush's policies. Bush's bold polices have rung the bell of liberty and the toll resounds worldwide!

The pealing bell is also an alarm for the Left; it signals that the time has come for the Left to wake up, renounce their moral relativism, shed their isolationism and join the good fight.

If they do shed the vestiges of their failed ideology, they will find the experience very liberating!

BUSH DEMOCRACY AGENDA CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTORY

The Lebanese government has resigned in solidarity with the protesters demanding Syria exit at once.

This is a HUGE victory for Bush. It comes on the heels of other HUGE Bush victories: democracy in Afghanistan; democracy in Iraq; elections in Saudi Arabia; democracy emerging among the Arabs of the occupied territories; Libya's caving in on WMD; election reform in Egypt; and the democratic revolutions in Georgia and in Ukraine.

This is just more proof that the neojihadists and the Left and the euroweenies are on the WRONG side of history, and that Bush and the neocons are on the right side of history: humanity's long hard march toward ever more personal liberty and toward consensually formed and limited government has been and remains humanity's greatest mission.

Iran and Syria and Russia and North Korea and China remain that last great looming obstacles.

They are on notice.

FIRST THEY WHACKED HARIRI; IS ABBAS NEXT?????

The neojihadist/baathist falange (Iran and Syria and al Qaeda and Hizballah and Hamas and IslamicJihad) are attempting to rollback democracy in Iraq by using terror.

They have attempted to forestall democracy and self-rule in Lebanon by assasinating Harriri. And by bombing a disco in Tel Aviv.

They will NOT likely stand idly by and watch the Palestinians become democratic - settlement of the Israeli-Arab conflict and establishment of a democratic sate of Plaestine would be a HUGE blow to the neojihadists and baathists.

As Afghanistan, and Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi - and Mubarak and Qadafy and Lebanon and Arab Palestine each move closer to democracy - the neojiohadist/baathist falange becomes increasingly isolated and at more at risk of collapsing -- as if being painted into a corner, as if CORNERED. And cornered beasts are more likely to lash out - STUPIDLY, as the Hariri assassination and the Tel Aviv disco bombing prove.

SO WHAT'S NEXT? Well, certainly they might try to whack Mubarak AGAIN, but I think that the ripest target they have is ABBAS: he is critical to the success of the Israeli Arab detente.

Each day the Bush Doctrine seems more true and just and right and inevitable - and that means that each day Iran and Syria have less to lose.

That's why we should WHACK Assad's regime in Syria first. As I wrote: The longer we wait to more dangerous the cornered beast becomes... and the greater the likelihood that Assad or Iran will order something stupid, and horrible.

I pray I am wrong... I fear that I am right...

ASSAD TOSSES BUSH "A BONE"

Today we learned that Saddam's half-brother was turned over to Iraqi forces by Syrian forces. This is SUPPOSED to be a "goodwill gesture."

I guess that is something like a "charm offensive."

And to me - it's equally offensive!

Gestures like this are TOTAL BS PROPAGANDA! ESPECIALLY this one! WHY!? Well, do you think that Syria just happened to capture this half-brother in the last day or so? OF COURSE NOT! They have known about him (and let him FREELY OPERATE HIS TERROR-MACHINE in Syria) from the GET-GO, and CONVENIENTLY gave him to us in a BLATANT attempt to buy some time for themselves (now that the HARIRI assassination and the Tel Aviv disco bombing have blown up in their faces)!

WELL, I AM NOT BUYING THIS CYNCAL GESTURE! There're PLENTY MORE like Saddam's half-brother ALL OVER Syria, some who work for "insurgency groups" in Iraq, and others who work for "insurgency groups" like HAMAS and HIZBALLAH. THEY MUST ALL BE HANDED OVER! NOW!! Or we should target them and their assets with CRUISE MISSILES!

Actually, it is LONG PASSED TIME for an OPERATION DESERT FOX-type attack against Syrian Forces in Lebanon, and along Syria's Iraqi border. (Operation Desert Fox was the week-long missile attack against Saddam that was ordered by Clinton in 1998 - WITHOUT U.N. or Congressional or NATO approval - (and without the Left and the euroweenies complaining one iota!)

YUP: it's time to KILL the bad-guys; killing bad guys like Assad and Nasrallah is a GOOD thing: good for peace and freedom and democracy EVERYWHERE - and it's ESPECIALLY good for the emerging democracies in Iraq and Lebanon and in the occupied territories.

BUSH SAID THE RIGHT THINGS IN NEW EUROPE

Regular readers know I have been VERY tough on Bush and Rice's performance on the recent European "charm offensive;" I found it simply OFFENSIVE!

But I just read a speech that Bush gave in Slovakia - to a crowd of 20,000 cheering Slovakians who waited 3 hours in the cold to see Bush. (Hat tip THE CORNER.)

And this speech was 1000% GREAT! I wish the ENTIRE trip had consisted of Bush delivering this kind of speech in Poland and in Denmark and in Italy and in Ukraine and in all the other nations that have stood WITH us, and that Bush IGNORED the pinko appeasers Chirac, Putin and Schroder.

Here's an excerpt:

In recent times, we have witnessed landmark events in the history of liberty, a Rose Revolution in Georgia, an Orange Revolution in Ukraine, and now, a Purple Revolution in Iraq. With their votes cast and counted, the Iraqi people now begin a great and historic journey. They will from a new government, draft a democratic constitution, and govern themselves as free people. They're putting the days of tyranny and terror behind them and building a free and peaceful society in the heart of the Middle East, and the world's free nations will support them in their struggle. (Applause.)

The terrorist insurgents know what's at stake. They know they have no future in a free Iraq. So they're trying desperately to undermine Iraq's progress and throw the country in chaos. They want to return to the day when Iraqis were governed by secret police and informers and fear. They will not succeed. The Iraqi people will not permit a minority of assassins to determine the destiny of their nation. We will fight to defend this freedom and we will prevail. (Applause.)

Victory in this struggle will not come easily or quickly, but we have reason to hope. Iraqis have demonstrated their courage and their determination to live in freedom, and that has inspired the world. It is the same determination we saw in Kiev's Independent Square, in Tbilisi's Freedom Square, and in this square almost 17 years ago. (Applause.)

Slovakia has taken great risks for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. You have proved yourself a trusted friend and a reliable ally. That is why I recently announced a new solidarity initiative for nations like Slovakia that are standing with America in the war on terror. We will help you to improve your military forces so we can strengthen our ability to work together in the cause of freedom. We're working with your government to make it easier for Slovaks to travel to the United States of America. (Applause.)

Hundreds of thousands of our citizens can trace their roots back to this country. Slovak immigrants helped build America and shape its character. We want to deepen the ties of friendship between our people, ties based on common values, a love of freedom, and shared belief in the dignity and matchless value of every human being. (Applause.)

The Velvet Generation that fought for these values is growing older. Many of the young students and workers who led freedom's struggle here now struggle to support families and their children. For some, the days of protest and revolution are a distant memory. Today, a new generation that never experienced oppression is coming of age. It is important to pass on to them the lessons of that period. They must learn that freedom is precious, and cannot be taken for granted; that evil is real, and must be confronted; that lasting prosperity requires freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom of association; and that to secure liberty at home, it must be defended abroad. (Applause.)

By your efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq and across the world, you are teaching young Slovaks these important lessons. And you're teaching the world an important lesson, as well: that the seeds of freedom do not sprout only where they are sown; carried by mighty winds, they cross borders and oceans and continents and take root in distant lands.

Old Europeans must be held to account for their FAILURE to stand with us in Iraq - and to the core values of Western Civilization - or they should be ignored and denied our aid and the free safety of our military defense. In other words, Bush should've said to Putin, Schroder and Chirac: "Old Europe - join us on the front-lines of the Good Fight, or be damned!"