Okay, so maybe it wasn’t ten guys. But he fought like ten guys.
I’m referring to what I consider a genuinely unfortunate incident in the Warrendale community of Detroit, immediately adjacent to Dearborn, in which a homeowner was very badly beaten up either by a neighbor or a friend of a neighbor with whom he had a disagreement. According to what Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said at his press conference on the victim’s doorstep on Tuesday, the beating was a hate crime. Walid alleged “that a group of 10 white men repeatedly swore at victim Shafik Shoaib and told him “go back to where you came from.”
As Walid described it, “They beat an American citizen like a dog in front of his children. There is no excuse.”
We at DU do not condone the beatings of homeowners, nor, for that matter, do we condone the beating of dogs. But nothing in the press coverage of this incident anywhere suggests that anyone was making any excuses for what happened to Mr. Shoaib. In fact, the police promptly arrested a suspect. Within a few hours of the original story the young suspect was charged with two felonies exposing him to up to thirty years in prison. Based on the rather gruesome photos and descriptions of Mr. Shoaib’s injuries, there is no doubt that whoever attacked him, for whatever reason, is a savage, and belongs in jail for a long time.
I just don’t care (no pun intended) for the way CAIR jumps in and tries to turn everything into an example of “Islamophobia,” or worse, make an irresponsible statement that could well incite to further violence.
The only question for me is the level or irresponsibility in Dawud Walid giving a press conference in which he puts out the outrageously incredibly story that ten “white” guys beat up Mr. Shoaib while calling out ethnic slurs. It is irresponsible in the style of Al Sharpton and his shameless lies about the pretend attack on Tawana Brawley.
Within hours of Walid’s press conference it was reported that the prime suspect, Ernest Domenech, 19, of Detroit, was arrested and charged on Wednesday “with home invasion in the first degree and assault with intent to do great bodily harm.”
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy described what happened as “an extremely ugly neighborhood dispute that culminated in the defendant becoming violent. The primary motive for the home invasion and the brutal attack was because the defendant became upset about some words the victim allegedly said."
Mr. Shoaib’s neighbor, Kelly DuVall, (whose daughter is girlfriend of Domenech), stated that Mr. Shoaib started an argument with her because she was smoking on her front lawn near his children. Ms. Worthy is declining Walid’s demands that Domenech be charged with ethnic intimidation (the closest charge available to the “hate crime” charge CAIR wanted), because "while the evidence shows there were some ethnic insults uttered during the assault they do not support the two-year misdemeanor charge of ethnic intimidation."
Apparently, the cops are looking at a possible second suspect. But so far there has been no evidence supporting Walid’s wild charge that there were “10 white men” who attacked Mr. Shoaib simply because he was an Arab.
I repeat, I have no sympathy with the kind of lawless violence leading to a homeowner being beaten nearly to death in his own yard, for any reason. If it’s true, as Kelly DuVall claimed, that the fight started over some harsh words on one side or another, that is no excuse for the violence done to Mr. Shoaib. Nor is it an excuse if there is any truth that Mr. Shoaib was attacked merely because he was an Arab, a scenario I find almost impossible to believe. If the attacker was just one man, or even two, I hope they go to jail for a long time.
If Domenech is the kind of guy who works out his conflicts by committing mayhem, he is clearly a bad guy and a menace, and should be locked up. But the last thing that worries me about guys like him on the streets is his intolerant views about civil rights, or what unexamined prejudices surface during his tantrums. When guys like that slip into attack mode it’s the kicks and punches you need to worry about, not the insults.
This was a vicious assault in a tough neighborhood in a tough town that sees a pretty steady parade of such crimes by violent offenders every single day, often accompanied by the shouting at victims of insensitive insults on the subject of their race, sex, weight, relationship with their mothers, etc., etc. Walid is right that there is no excuse for the violence done to Mr. Shoaib, which is why our society treats things like this as crimes.
But how to excuse Dawud Walid’s cold decision to show up and commit the ethnic equivalent of shouting “fire” by announcing in the midst of a heavily Arab community that there was a gang of “10 white guys” out there with Arab blood on their hands? That makes Walid a menace, too. Fortunately, regardless of Walid’s careless announcement, there has been no sign of a neighborhood uprising in Warrendale of angry Arabs seeking revenge, which is a credit to the good sense of the Arab neighbors, and no credit at all to Walid.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Powder Keg Denied Release for Now
"This community is angry. Something is going to happen. We're going to seek justice. This is a powder keg waiting to go off."
No folks, that’s not Dawud Walid complaining about the reaction of the Arab Street (known locally as Warren Avenue) to the latest outrageous examples of Islamophobia. Those lines were contained in a note confiscated from Sisaye Dinssa, the unemployed young man arrested November 14 with $80,000 in cash he was smuggling through Metro Airport. As mentioned earlier, the bust was facilitated by a sniffer dog.
A federal grand jury indicted Dinssa for bulk cash smuggling, making false statements and criminal forfeiture. US District Judge Marianne O. Battani ruled that he must remain in detention because, his “ominous note and materials detailing nuclear power and how to commit suicide…raised ‘red flags’ in a post-Sept. 11 era”, as reported by the Associated Press.
That’s exciting for two reasons. One, I’m glad to hear there are still flags being raised around here that aren’t white. And I’m gratified that Judge Battani recognizes we’re still in a post-9/11 era.
Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer, who had first crack at locking Dinssa up, was going to let him vanish into the immigrant underground by means of an unsecured bond. Scheer was undoubtedly convinced that Dinssa was probably not a flight risk, since the Ethiopian-born US citizen lied to customs officials, then said he had come in from Kenya where he has a wife and family, via Amsterdam, and was on his way to Phoenix before traveling onto his taxi business in Dallas. But District Judge Paul Borman, who outranks Scheer, put the kibosh on that. After Dinssa was formally charged by the grand jury Judge Battani denied Dinssa’s motion for release on bond.
Allegations of national-security violations contained in the government's original complaint were not part of the grand jury's indictment, but US Attorney Leonid Feller "said the government was still investigating suspected child pornography e-mails found on Dinssa's laptop and articles on nuclear power, using cyanide and other means to commit suicide, and the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks."
Dinssa may be guilty of nothing more than being a criminal smuggler of cash untainted by terrorists connections. Lord knows what we read in the papers can't be relied on for accuracy, nor do prosecutors release all the facts. But I am curious about what this guy was doing here in Detroit, which no one seems to be talking about.
But articles about nuclear power, suicide by cyanide, the anniversary of September 11, and notes about angry communities seeking justice ought to raise a red flag when you're busted under these circumstances. And in this case, I'm glad they did.
No folks, that’s not Dawud Walid complaining about the reaction of the Arab Street (known locally as Warren Avenue) to the latest outrageous examples of Islamophobia. Those lines were contained in a note confiscated from Sisaye Dinssa, the unemployed young man arrested November 14 with $80,000 in cash he was smuggling through Metro Airport. As mentioned earlier, the bust was facilitated by a sniffer dog.
A federal grand jury indicted Dinssa for bulk cash smuggling, making false statements and criminal forfeiture. US District Judge Marianne O. Battani ruled that he must remain in detention because, his “ominous note and materials detailing nuclear power and how to commit suicide…raised ‘red flags’ in a post-Sept. 11 era”, as reported by the Associated Press.
That’s exciting for two reasons. One, I’m glad to hear there are still flags being raised around here that aren’t white. And I’m gratified that Judge Battani recognizes we’re still in a post-9/11 era.
Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer, who had first crack at locking Dinssa up, was going to let him vanish into the immigrant underground by means of an unsecured bond. Scheer was undoubtedly convinced that Dinssa was probably not a flight risk, since the Ethiopian-born US citizen lied to customs officials, then said he had come in from Kenya where he has a wife and family, via Amsterdam, and was on his way to Phoenix before traveling onto his taxi business in Dallas. But District Judge Paul Borman, who outranks Scheer, put the kibosh on that. After Dinssa was formally charged by the grand jury Judge Battani denied Dinssa’s motion for release on bond.
Allegations of national-security violations contained in the government's original complaint were not part of the grand jury's indictment, but US Attorney Leonid Feller "said the government was still investigating suspected child pornography e-mails found on Dinssa's laptop and articles on nuclear power, using cyanide and other means to commit suicide, and the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks."
Dinssa may be guilty of nothing more than being a criminal smuggler of cash untainted by terrorists connections. Lord knows what we read in the papers can't be relied on for accuracy, nor do prosecutors release all the facts. But I am curious about what this guy was doing here in Detroit, which no one seems to be talking about.
But articles about nuclear power, suicide by cyanide, the anniversary of September 11, and notes about angry communities seeking justice ought to raise a red flag when you're busted under these circumstances. And in this case, I'm glad they did.
Flying While Still Remembering 9/11
The story of the 6 imams pulled off the Minneapolis flight last week was successfully mythologized as “flying while Muslim” almost immediately. It makes it so much less nerve-wracking to fly when you know that terrorists exist only in the fevered imaginations of Islamophobes—or perhaps in the UK, where they're actually catching these guys and then charging them.
Fortunately, the more information comes out about what really happened in Minneapolis, the clearer the picture gets.
Did you know, for example, that the mere fact that these guys were saying their prayers before boarding had nothing to do with why passengers and crew became alarmed? As explained by Audrey Hudson in the Washington Times, there was much more to it than that:
“Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks -- two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.
“’That would alarm me,’ said a federal air marshal who asked to remain anonymous. ‘They now control all of the entry and exit routes to the plane.’
“A pilot from another airline said: ‘That behavior has been identified as a terrorist probe in the airline industry.’”
Now don't you find that interesting? First, one simply has to wonder what these gentlemen were up to. And then, don’t you just want to know more about what these “terrorist probes” in the airline industry are?
While the imams, CAIR, and Reps. Sheila Jackson-Lee and John Conyers are trying to make it illegal to look too closely at a Muslims, I’m glad to see that some law enforcement authorities are swimming against the mind-control tide for the sake of security:
“Federal air marshals and others yesterday urged passengers to remain vigilant to threats.
“’The crew and passengers act as our additional eyes and ears on every flight,' said a federal air marshal in Las Vegas, who asked that his name not be used. "If [crew and passengers] are afraid of reporting suspicious individuals out of fear of being labeled a racist or bigot, then terrorists will certainly use those fears to their advantage in future aviation attacks.’”
Read the rest of “Marshals decry imam’s charges” in the Washington Times.
Fear of being called, or fear of feeling you deserve to be called, a racist or a bigot can make it pretty hard to see things clearly. The path of least resistance makes it so much easier to simply go along with the hand-wringers blathering that what happened in Minneapolis was some kind of “flying while Muslim” case of abuse. Never mind what it cost the airline to sit on the tarmac for an extra hour while these clowns are being investigated, burning fuel and getting behind schedule. Never mind how many thousands of Muslims fly on US airlines every single day without being bothered at all. Never mind that everybody—and I mean everybody—who makes homeland security decisions these days expects regular supervisory visits from CAIR and the ADA, and that when a Muslim is occasionally detained, it becomes an instant national story and a guaranteed ten minutes of free air time for Muslim spokespersons to browbeat dhimmi interviewers on the cable news channels.
To cut through all that misplaced righteousness Townhall columnist Ben Shapiro breaks it down in a way almost anyone can understand: “Would you let your child take this flight?"
It's too bad the point has to be personalized that way to get it across. But it does appear that, even if we figure it isn't worth it to make a sane remark at a holiday gathering, at least when we're getting ready to trust our lives or those of our loved ones to commercial air travel, self-preservation wins out over political correctness. Which means that terrorists can't count on US passengers any more to sit back, relax, and enjoy being turned into missiles for the jihad.
Which means guys who hate us have to work that much harder to get their hands on our planes. Which means they have to probe the line where tolerance ends and aroused wariness takes over. So far, passengers faced with genuinely suspicious behavior (and that doesn't mean just praying), have chosen wariness over tolerance. It is remarkable how well Minneapolis authorities, especially the flight crews who have to fly all the time, have refused to cave in on this one.
These 6 guys were up to something, and no mistake. I don't believe these 6 "holy men" intended to hijack or blow up that plane. They were merely scouting the way for the guys who are intending to hijack or blow up a plane. Which makes them no better than Mohammed Atta to me.
They aren't going to stop trying. Based on this incident I'm sure meetings will be had to explain that barking out the name of Allah at a baording gate and making defiant political comments before taking up carefully choreographed guard positions throughout the cabin is definitely going to trigger suspicion from a planeload of travel-weary Kafirs. As long as passengers keep flagging down flight attendants and sending notes up to the cockpit, the bad guys aren't going to get things quite the way they need them to be to carry out their plans.
Which is why it would be a really big help to our enemies if some useful idiots in Congress could pass some laws requiring prior restraint on anyone in authority daring to even think of noticing anything suspicious about guys as bodaciously suspicious as the 6 imams. Maybe John Conyers can introduce a bill outlawing the instinct of self-preservation.
Fortunately, the more information comes out about what really happened in Minneapolis, the clearer the picture gets.
Did you know, for example, that the mere fact that these guys were saying their prayers before boarding had nothing to do with why passengers and crew became alarmed? As explained by Audrey Hudson in the Washington Times, there was much more to it than that:
“Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks -- two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.
“’That would alarm me,’ said a federal air marshal who asked to remain anonymous. ‘They now control all of the entry and exit routes to the plane.’
“A pilot from another airline said: ‘That behavior has been identified as a terrorist probe in the airline industry.’”
Now don't you find that interesting? First, one simply has to wonder what these gentlemen were up to. And then, don’t you just want to know more about what these “terrorist probes” in the airline industry are?
While the imams, CAIR, and Reps. Sheila Jackson-Lee and John Conyers are trying to make it illegal to look too closely at a Muslims, I’m glad to see that some law enforcement authorities are swimming against the mind-control tide for the sake of security:
“Federal air marshals and others yesterday urged passengers to remain vigilant to threats.
“’The crew and passengers act as our additional eyes and ears on every flight,' said a federal air marshal in Las Vegas, who asked that his name not be used. "If [crew and passengers] are afraid of reporting suspicious individuals out of fear of being labeled a racist or bigot, then terrorists will certainly use those fears to their advantage in future aviation attacks.’”
Read the rest of “Marshals decry imam’s charges” in the Washington Times.
Fear of being called, or fear of feeling you deserve to be called, a racist or a bigot can make it pretty hard to see things clearly. The path of least resistance makes it so much easier to simply go along with the hand-wringers blathering that what happened in Minneapolis was some kind of “flying while Muslim” case of abuse. Never mind what it cost the airline to sit on the tarmac for an extra hour while these clowns are being investigated, burning fuel and getting behind schedule. Never mind how many thousands of Muslims fly on US airlines every single day without being bothered at all. Never mind that everybody—and I mean everybody—who makes homeland security decisions these days expects regular supervisory visits from CAIR and the ADA, and that when a Muslim is occasionally detained, it becomes an instant national story and a guaranteed ten minutes of free air time for Muslim spokespersons to browbeat dhimmi interviewers on the cable news channels.
To cut through all that misplaced righteousness Townhall columnist Ben Shapiro breaks it down in a way almost anyone can understand: “Would you let your child take this flight?"
It's too bad the point has to be personalized that way to get it across. But it does appear that, even if we figure it isn't worth it to make a sane remark at a holiday gathering, at least when we're getting ready to trust our lives or those of our loved ones to commercial air travel, self-preservation wins out over political correctness. Which means that terrorists can't count on US passengers any more to sit back, relax, and enjoy being turned into missiles for the jihad.
Which means guys who hate us have to work that much harder to get their hands on our planes. Which means they have to probe the line where tolerance ends and aroused wariness takes over. So far, passengers faced with genuinely suspicious behavior (and that doesn't mean just praying), have chosen wariness over tolerance. It is remarkable how well Minneapolis authorities, especially the flight crews who have to fly all the time, have refused to cave in on this one.
These 6 guys were up to something, and no mistake. I don't believe these 6 "holy men" intended to hijack or blow up that plane. They were merely scouting the way for the guys who are intending to hijack or blow up a plane. Which makes them no better than Mohammed Atta to me.
They aren't going to stop trying. Based on this incident I'm sure meetings will be had to explain that barking out the name of Allah at a baording gate and making defiant political comments before taking up carefully choreographed guard positions throughout the cabin is definitely going to trigger suspicion from a planeload of travel-weary Kafirs. As long as passengers keep flagging down flight attendants and sending notes up to the cockpit, the bad guys aren't going to get things quite the way they need them to be to carry out their plans.
Which is why it would be a really big help to our enemies if some useful idiots in Congress could pass some laws requiring prior restraint on anyone in authority daring to even think of noticing anything suspicious about guys as bodaciously suspicious as the 6 imams. Maybe John Conyers can introduce a bill outlawing the instinct of self-preservation.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Come One, Come All
San Francisco continues to blaze its trail for the rest of us back to the 60's. As an example, a 76-year old peace activist named Donna Sheehan, (no relation to Cindie), and her 55-year-old boyfriend, Paul Reffell, are proposing the "Global Orgasm for Peace" to be held(?), or is that staged(?), or anyway, occuring on the first day of winter, December 22. According to the AP:
"'The orgasm gives out an incredible feeling of peace during it and after it," Reffell said Sunday. "Your mind is like a blank. It's like a meditative state. And mass meditations have been shown to make a change.'"
Which does help explain the recent elections.
Reffell explained that he and his 76-year-old girlfriend
"have studied evolutionary psychology and believe that war is mainly an outgrowth of men trying to impress potential mates, a case of 'my missile is bigger than your missile,' as Reffell put it.'"
So this is how "evolutionary psychology" explains war? At least it isn't something dumb like Intelligent Design. And wasn't all this "my missile" stuff what JFK meant when he warned us about a missile gap? And why he kept calling Marilyn Monroe?
But speaking of missile envy, we're all hoping that Kim Jong Il, Hassan Nasrallah, and Hamas intend to participate. They're all totally missile crazy, and we can all use a day off.
"By promoting what they hope to be a synchronized global orgasm, they hope to get people to channel their sexual energy into something more positive.
'The dream is to have everyone in the world (take part),' Reffell said. 'And if that means laying down your gun for a few minutes, then hey, all the better.' "
But not laying down your missile, eh, Paul, you sly dog!
I found it curious that nowhere does the AP story contain a single quotation from Ms. Sheehan, (who, I repeat, is 76, and, one would assume, is the ostensible, immodest feminine figurehead of the global orgasm). We refuse to speculate as to how she may have been occupied during the interview that she was unable to get a word in, or out, although we're sure it involved peace, meditation, and a blank mind.
"'The orgasm gives out an incredible feeling of peace during it and after it," Reffell said Sunday. "Your mind is like a blank. It's like a meditative state. And mass meditations have been shown to make a change.'"
Which does help explain the recent elections.
Reffell explained that he and his 76-year-old girlfriend
"have studied evolutionary psychology and believe that war is mainly an outgrowth of men trying to impress potential mates, a case of 'my missile is bigger than your missile,' as Reffell put it.'"
So this is how "evolutionary psychology" explains war? At least it isn't something dumb like Intelligent Design. And wasn't all this "my missile" stuff what JFK meant when he warned us about a missile gap? And why he kept calling Marilyn Monroe?
But speaking of missile envy, we're all hoping that Kim Jong Il, Hassan Nasrallah, and Hamas intend to participate. They're all totally missile crazy, and we can all use a day off.
"By promoting what they hope to be a synchronized global orgasm, they hope to get people to channel their sexual energy into something more positive.
'The dream is to have everyone in the world (take part),' Reffell said. 'And if that means laying down your gun for a few minutes, then hey, all the better.' "
But not laying down your missile, eh, Paul, you sly dog!
I found it curious that nowhere does the AP story contain a single quotation from Ms. Sheehan, (who, I repeat, is 76, and, one would assume, is the ostensible, immodest feminine figurehead of the global orgasm). We refuse to speculate as to how she may have been occupied during the interview that she was unable to get a word in, or out, although we're sure it involved peace, meditation, and a blank mind.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Hezbollah Step By Step
As recognized here at DU since September, Hezbollah is determined to topple the legitimate government of Lebanon. Progress on this front was reported today by the Associated Press:
Hezbollah calls for mass protests to oust Lebanon's Western-backed government
By HUSSEIN DAKROUB Associated Press Writer
(AP) - BEIRUT, Lebanon-Hezbollah's leader urged his followers to prepare for mass demonstrations to topple the government if it ignores the militant group's demand to form a national unity coalition.
In a speech broadcast Sunday, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah railed against U.S. President George W. Bush's administration, calling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a "bloodsucker" and claiming the current Lebanese government is a puppet of Washington.
He did not set a date for the anti-government protests, which he said should be nonviolent. But he told supporters and political allies to get ready to take to Beirut's streets for days or even weeks to force the resignation of the government.
"We, all of us, must be psychologically and morally ready to take to the streets. It is one means for the required movement," Nasrallah said in a speech Saturday which was aired Sunday on Hezbollah's TV station Al-Manar.
"We do not want riots ... We must respect private and public property. We will not allow any clashes even if (anti-Syrian groups) stage a counter street demonstration," he said. "We are capable of taking to the street and staying there for a day, two, or three, or a week, or two or three weeks, or for more or less until we eventually impose by our peaceful, civilized and democratic means the toppling of an illegitimate and unconstitutional government."
Political and sectarian tensions have been mounting in Lebanon as a result of a power struggle between rival factions intensified by Hezbollah's 34-day war with Israel this summer.
The Shiite guerrilla group, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has demanded the formation of a national unity government that would essentially give it and its allies veto power over major decisions. But negotiations among groups broke down last week, and six Cabinet ministers, including two from Hezbollah, resigned.
Shortly after Nasrallah's speech was broadcast, the sounds of gunfire and fireworks reverberated across Beirut's predominantly Shiite southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold heavily bombarded by Israel during the fighting in July and August. Al-Manar said Nasrallah delivered the speech on Saturday in the southern suburbs.
Nasrallah accused the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, which is backed by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, of falling under the influence of the President Bush's administration. He said the government had become "illegitimate" and "unconstitutional" after the ministers resigned.
"This is the government of Feltman and not the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora," Nasrallah said, referring to the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman who has repeatedly reaffirmed his country's support for the Saniora government. The remark drew applause and chants of "Death to America" from Nasrallah's audience made up of Hezbollah members charged with organizing the protests.
"We want to liberate our country from the hegemony of Ambassador Feltman and the bloodsucker Rice," he said.
Hezbollah has accused Rice and the Bush administration of foiling Arab efforts in the U.N. Security Council to arrange an early cease-fire in Israel-Hezbollah war, claiming Washington wanted to give Israel time to try to destroy Hezbollah's military infrastructure. The fighting ended with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire resolution on Aug. 14 and more than 1,000 people died on both sides of the border.
Lebanon's political crisis has deepened since late October when Nasrallah began threatening mass protests unless Hezbollah's demand for a national unity government was met.
Saniora, backed by the anti-Syrian coalition, has vowed to stay in power and refused to give veto power to Hezbollah and its allies.
Nasrallah repeated his demand for the unity government to include Christian leader Gen. Michel Aoun's faction, a Hezbollah ally, as a way out of the current political deadlock. The move would also reduce the sectarian appearance of the exclusively Shiite group's bid for greater political power.
"We have two options to break the political deadlock: formation of a national unity government in which the country's major political forces participate in an effective way, or early parliamentary elections," he said.
But Nasrallah insisted he was not trying to cause radical change. "Come let's form a national unity government. ... Nobody is raising arms, nobody is making a coup or popular revolution," he said.
The demonstrations are not aimed at changing the ruling system or causing a "radical political coup" in Lebanon, he said. "All we want is to have a national government that will not make Lebanon an American or an Israeli tool."
Nasrallah ruled out civil war, undermining Lebanon's stability or Sunni-Shiite strife, all of which he said were "red lines" Hezbollah would not cross.
Washington has accused Hezbollah backers Iran and Syria of seeking to topple the Saniora government and attempting to block the formation of an international tribunal to prosecute the suspected killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Both Iran and Syria have denied the charges.
The Lebanese government last week approved the draft agreement for the tribunal's formation, and the U.N. Security Council was expected to discuss the draft on Monday. Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud opposed the Cabinet's decision, saying it lacked legitimacy after the ministers resigned.
Hariri was killed with 22 others in a suicide truck bombing in February 2005. The assassination sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Syria denies it was behind the killing.
Almost everything Nasrallah, (know locally here in Dearborn as “Our Leader”), says is a lie. But give him a moment and he always admits what he really intends. For instance, he no sooner calls for demonstrations that “respect private and public property,” than he admits his intention is to demonstrate “until we eventually impose by our peaceful, civilized and democratic means the toppling of an illegitimate and unconstitutional government." We don't want a "radical political coup" in Lebanon, he says. "All we want is to have a national government that will not make Lebanon an American or an Israeli tool." In other words, he wants a Lebanon that is an Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah tool.
Nasrallah has no interest whatever in civilized, democratic, constitutional government. His only interest is in turning Lebanon into a regional staging ground for the coming war against Israel. And he doesn’t care how many Lebanese he gets killed in the process.
Hezbollah calls for mass protests to oust Lebanon's Western-backed government
By HUSSEIN DAKROUB Associated Press Writer
(AP) - BEIRUT, Lebanon-Hezbollah's leader urged his followers to prepare for mass demonstrations to topple the government if it ignores the militant group's demand to form a national unity coalition.
In a speech broadcast Sunday, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah railed against U.S. President George W. Bush's administration, calling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a "bloodsucker" and claiming the current Lebanese government is a puppet of Washington.
He did not set a date for the anti-government protests, which he said should be nonviolent. But he told supporters and political allies to get ready to take to Beirut's streets for days or even weeks to force the resignation of the government.
"We, all of us, must be psychologically and morally ready to take to the streets. It is one means for the required movement," Nasrallah said in a speech Saturday which was aired Sunday on Hezbollah's TV station Al-Manar.
"We do not want riots ... We must respect private and public property. We will not allow any clashes even if (anti-Syrian groups) stage a counter street demonstration," he said. "We are capable of taking to the street and staying there for a day, two, or three, or a week, or two or three weeks, or for more or less until we eventually impose by our peaceful, civilized and democratic means the toppling of an illegitimate and unconstitutional government."
Political and sectarian tensions have been mounting in Lebanon as a result of a power struggle between rival factions intensified by Hezbollah's 34-day war with Israel this summer.
The Shiite guerrilla group, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has demanded the formation of a national unity government that would essentially give it and its allies veto power over major decisions. But negotiations among groups broke down last week, and six Cabinet ministers, including two from Hezbollah, resigned.
Shortly after Nasrallah's speech was broadcast, the sounds of gunfire and fireworks reverberated across Beirut's predominantly Shiite southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold heavily bombarded by Israel during the fighting in July and August. Al-Manar said Nasrallah delivered the speech on Saturday in the southern suburbs.
Nasrallah accused the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, which is backed by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, of falling under the influence of the President Bush's administration. He said the government had become "illegitimate" and "unconstitutional" after the ministers resigned.
"This is the government of Feltman and not the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora," Nasrallah said, referring to the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman who has repeatedly reaffirmed his country's support for the Saniora government. The remark drew applause and chants of "Death to America" from Nasrallah's audience made up of Hezbollah members charged with organizing the protests.
"We want to liberate our country from the hegemony of Ambassador Feltman and the bloodsucker Rice," he said.
Hezbollah has accused Rice and the Bush administration of foiling Arab efforts in the U.N. Security Council to arrange an early cease-fire in Israel-Hezbollah war, claiming Washington wanted to give Israel time to try to destroy Hezbollah's military infrastructure. The fighting ended with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire resolution on Aug. 14 and more than 1,000 people died on both sides of the border.
Lebanon's political crisis has deepened since late October when Nasrallah began threatening mass protests unless Hezbollah's demand for a national unity government was met.
Saniora, backed by the anti-Syrian coalition, has vowed to stay in power and refused to give veto power to Hezbollah and its allies.
Nasrallah repeated his demand for the unity government to include Christian leader Gen. Michel Aoun's faction, a Hezbollah ally, as a way out of the current political deadlock. The move would also reduce the sectarian appearance of the exclusively Shiite group's bid for greater political power.
"We have two options to break the political deadlock: formation of a national unity government in which the country's major political forces participate in an effective way, or early parliamentary elections," he said.
But Nasrallah insisted he was not trying to cause radical change. "Come let's form a national unity government. ... Nobody is raising arms, nobody is making a coup or popular revolution," he said.
The demonstrations are not aimed at changing the ruling system or causing a "radical political coup" in Lebanon, he said. "All we want is to have a national government that will not make Lebanon an American or an Israeli tool."
Nasrallah ruled out civil war, undermining Lebanon's stability or Sunni-Shiite strife, all of which he said were "red lines" Hezbollah would not cross.
Washington has accused Hezbollah backers Iran and Syria of seeking to topple the Saniora government and attempting to block the formation of an international tribunal to prosecute the suspected killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Both Iran and Syria have denied the charges.
The Lebanese government last week approved the draft agreement for the tribunal's formation, and the U.N. Security Council was expected to discuss the draft on Monday. Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud opposed the Cabinet's decision, saying it lacked legitimacy after the ministers resigned.
Hariri was killed with 22 others in a suicide truck bombing in February 2005. The assassination sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Syria denies it was behind the killing.
Almost everything Nasrallah, (know locally here in Dearborn as “Our Leader”), says is a lie. But give him a moment and he always admits what he really intends. For instance, he no sooner calls for demonstrations that “respect private and public property,” than he admits his intention is to demonstrate “until we eventually impose by our peaceful, civilized and democratic means the toppling of an illegitimate and unconstitutional government." We don't want a "radical political coup" in Lebanon, he says. "All we want is to have a national government that will not make Lebanon an American or an Israeli tool." In other words, he wants a Lebanon that is an Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah tool.
Nasrallah has no interest whatever in civilized, democratic, constitutional government. His only interest is in turning Lebanon into a regional staging ground for the coming war against Israel. And he doesn’t care how many Lebanese he gets killed in the process.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Next Time, Try Setting it on 'Vibrate'
Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch blog had this interesting post, providing a valuable lesson on how not to smuggle a cell-phone:
A SELF-proclaimed British multi-millionaire named Mohammed Islam who was arrested on the Gold Coast with almost $120,000 in cash is under investigation as to whether he has terrorist connections. Queensland police yesterday refused to comment on their investigation into the man, 22, but at this stage there is reportedly no evidence to link him with terrorist activity.
Islam allegedly had $118,000 in $50 notes in a suitcase and a mobile phone concealed in his rectum when he was arrested at a Surfers Paradise bus station on Thursday night.
A SELF-proclaimed British multi-millionaire named Mohammed Islam who was arrested on the Gold Coast with almost $120,000 in cash is under investigation as to whether he has terrorist connections. Queensland police yesterday refused to comment on their investigation into the man, 22, but at this stage there is reportedly no evidence to link him with terrorist activity.
Islam allegedly had $118,000 in $50 notes in a suitcase and a mobile phone concealed in his rectum when he was arrested at a Surfers Paradise bus station on Thursday night.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Pay Lots of Attention to Those Men Behind the Curtain
Certainly one of the most discouraging thing about politicians is the number of them who have been in office for decades in spite of having flunked high school Civics and never having read the US Constitution. Or if they have, they have sold out every principle they may have learned for the sake of the interests of a special-interest constituency—in this case, CAIR and other pro-jihadist pressure groups who have political leaders such as John Conyers and Nancy Pelosi in their pockets. As an example, take a look at H. Res. 288, introduced by Michigan Representative John Conyers last year, the man who is going to be the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives condemning bigotry and religious intolerance, and recognizing that holy books of every religion should be treated with dignity and respect.
Whereas believers of all religions, including the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, should be treated with respect and dignity;
Whereas the word Islam comes from the Arabic root word meaning “peace” and “submission”;
Whereas there are an estimated 7,000,000 Muslims in America, from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, forming an integral part of the social fabric of America;Whereas the Quran is the holy book for Muslims who recite passages from it in prayer and learn valuable lessons about peace, humanity and spirituality;
Whereas it should never be official policy of the United States Government to disparage the Quran, Islam, or any religion in any way, shape, or form;
Whereas mistreatment of prisoners and disrespect toward the holy book of any religion is unacceptable and against civilized humanity;
Whereas the infringement of an individual’s right to freedom of religion violates the Constitution and laws of the United States:
Now, therefore, be it 1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives–
(1) condemns bigotry, acts of violence, and intolerance against any religious group, including our friends, neighbors, and citizens of the Islamic faith;
(2) declares that the civil rights and civil liberties of all individuals, including those of the Islamic faith, should be protected;
(3) recognizes that the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as any other holy book of any religion, should be treated with dignity and respect; and
(4) calls upon local, State, and Federal authorities to work to prevent bias-motivated crimes and acts against all individuals, including those of the Islamic faith.
Like the silly resolution sponsored, in part, by Dearborn’s state representative to the Michigan Legislature, Gino Polidori, Conyers’s resolution has nothing to do with promoting freedom of religion. Instead, it is an explicit endorsement of one particular religion, Islam, and one particular holy book, the Quran, as deserving of protection from criticism or “intolerance,” a term conspicuously absent from, and nowhere prohibited in, the US Constitution.
Anyone who pays attention to recent trends in the law and popular culture knows there is a huge wave of animosity towards religion in general, and the Christian religion in particular. In its most simplistic form, (and it never rises far above a most simplistic argument), the good guys want a secular government, by which they mean one with policies cleansed of the influence of repressed persons who believe in kooky supernatural law-givers like Yahweh, Jesus, or Moses, and their wacky laws about honoring your parents, and not committing murder or stealing. (You can enjoy a “faith-tradition” in private, as long as you keep it at home, and ensure your public, political acts are always inimical to that faith tradition as a remnant of a bygone pre-enlightened era).
The bad guys are “theocrats,” a term that is scrupulously never defined by the people using the insult. One commentator I heard described Thomas Jefferson as a “secularist,” and John Adams as a “theocrat.” The description of Jefferson as a secularist is at least imaginably accurate, but tarring John Adams as a theocrat is nothing more than petulant ignorance.
But the really fascinating thing about these secularists is that, as much as they fear theocracy (whatever they mean by that), they never have a negative thing to say about the world’s biggest, most belligerent, and probably only, actual theocracy—Islam.
Anti-Christian secularists distinguish Islam as harmless, because, after all, Islam is all about “peace.” When they are forced to remark on Islamic violence, it is always as a defensible response to Christian and Jewish provocation and persecution. While secularists take it as dogma that Christianity especially has been responsible for war after war and massacre after massacre at some ill-defined point in the murky past, current and numberless examples of vast populations ground under the bloody heel of the Islamic theocracies go by without comment.
For those of this secularist ilk, James Dobson’s views on queer marriage are a clear and growing danger to America, while there is no threat at all from Islamic clerics and leaders of genuine theocratic dictatorships, like Iran, who are promising to force their religion on us, or kill us in the process.
I wish my only point was that the people who have adopted the secularist vs. religion model being popularized today simply can’t be taken seriously as thinking people. That doesn't mean they aren't dangerous, because silly people in high places make very powerful tools. (Could anyone be sillier, for example, than Jimmy Carter, and yet still such a handy weapon for our enemies? And silly me, I voted for him. Twice).
It's the people behind these useful idiots who are serious, and skillfully use these dupes as useful tools. In fact, it makes the tools more dangerous, because they can influence national policy. Of course John Conyers didn't draft this resolution on his own! it was dictated to him by his jihadist puppeteers. That means John Conyers is not just a very silly man. He is a very silly man with a powerful Congressional committee under his control, and who himself is under the control of someone no American ever voted for.
And though already dull, these tools will not rust from lack of use.
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives condemning bigotry and religious intolerance, and recognizing that holy books of every religion should be treated with dignity and respect.
Whereas believers of all religions, including the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, should be treated with respect and dignity;
Whereas the word Islam comes from the Arabic root word meaning “peace” and “submission”;
Whereas there are an estimated 7,000,000 Muslims in America, from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, forming an integral part of the social fabric of America;Whereas the Quran is the holy book for Muslims who recite passages from it in prayer and learn valuable lessons about peace, humanity and spirituality;
Whereas it should never be official policy of the United States Government to disparage the Quran, Islam, or any religion in any way, shape, or form;
Whereas mistreatment of prisoners and disrespect toward the holy book of any religion is unacceptable and against civilized humanity;
Whereas the infringement of an individual’s right to freedom of religion violates the Constitution and laws of the United States:
Now, therefore, be it 1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives–
(1) condemns bigotry, acts of violence, and intolerance against any religious group, including our friends, neighbors, and citizens of the Islamic faith;
(2) declares that the civil rights and civil liberties of all individuals, including those of the Islamic faith, should be protected;
(3) recognizes that the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as any other holy book of any religion, should be treated with dignity and respect; and
(4) calls upon local, State, and Federal authorities to work to prevent bias-motivated crimes and acts against all individuals, including those of the Islamic faith.
Like the silly resolution sponsored, in part, by Dearborn’s state representative to the Michigan Legislature, Gino Polidori, Conyers’s resolution has nothing to do with promoting freedom of religion. Instead, it is an explicit endorsement of one particular religion, Islam, and one particular holy book, the Quran, as deserving of protection from criticism or “intolerance,” a term conspicuously absent from, and nowhere prohibited in, the US Constitution.
Anyone who pays attention to recent trends in the law and popular culture knows there is a huge wave of animosity towards religion in general, and the Christian religion in particular. In its most simplistic form, (and it never rises far above a most simplistic argument), the good guys want a secular government, by which they mean one with policies cleansed of the influence of repressed persons who believe in kooky supernatural law-givers like Yahweh, Jesus, or Moses, and their wacky laws about honoring your parents, and not committing murder or stealing. (You can enjoy a “faith-tradition” in private, as long as you keep it at home, and ensure your public, political acts are always inimical to that faith tradition as a remnant of a bygone pre-enlightened era).
The bad guys are “theocrats,” a term that is scrupulously never defined by the people using the insult. One commentator I heard described Thomas Jefferson as a “secularist,” and John Adams as a “theocrat.” The description of Jefferson as a secularist is at least imaginably accurate, but tarring John Adams as a theocrat is nothing more than petulant ignorance.
But the really fascinating thing about these secularists is that, as much as they fear theocracy (whatever they mean by that), they never have a negative thing to say about the world’s biggest, most belligerent, and probably only, actual theocracy—Islam.
Anti-Christian secularists distinguish Islam as harmless, because, after all, Islam is all about “peace.” When they are forced to remark on Islamic violence, it is always as a defensible response to Christian and Jewish provocation and persecution. While secularists take it as dogma that Christianity especially has been responsible for war after war and massacre after massacre at some ill-defined point in the murky past, current and numberless examples of vast populations ground under the bloody heel of the Islamic theocracies go by without comment.
For those of this secularist ilk, James Dobson’s views on queer marriage are a clear and growing danger to America, while there is no threat at all from Islamic clerics and leaders of genuine theocratic dictatorships, like Iran, who are promising to force their religion on us, or kill us in the process.
I wish my only point was that the people who have adopted the secularist vs. religion model being popularized today simply can’t be taken seriously as thinking people. That doesn't mean they aren't dangerous, because silly people in high places make very powerful tools. (Could anyone be sillier, for example, than Jimmy Carter, and yet still such a handy weapon for our enemies? And silly me, I voted for him. Twice).
It's the people behind these useful idiots who are serious, and skillfully use these dupes as useful tools. In fact, it makes the tools more dangerous, because they can influence national policy. Of course John Conyers didn't draft this resolution on his own! it was dictated to him by his jihadist puppeteers. That means John Conyers is not just a very silly man. He is a very silly man with a powerful Congressional committee under his control, and who himself is under the control of someone no American ever voted for.
And though already dull, these tools will not rust from lack of use.
STILL THINK THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ISLAM?
11/16/06 – Metro Airport
A
Sisayehiticha Dinssa was arrested at
According to the court records, when questioned about the information on his laptop, Dinssa said that he was "interested in learning about cyanide and nuclear materials."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leonid Feller said the man is a potential risk to the community and federal agents want to get a warrant to search his computer more thoroughly.
8/9/06 -
Deputies stopped Osama Sabhi Abulhassan, 20, and Ali Houssaiky, 20, (Dearborn Citizens) and found:
- 12 tracphones *
- a map with locations of Wal-Mart stores in 5 different states
- Airplane passenger lists and information on airport security checkpoints
- They admitted buying about 600 phones in recent months
- $11,000 Cash.
*Note about these phones – ABC News reported in January 2006: Federal agents investigate the purchase of large quantities of disposable cell phones by individuals from the Middle East and
The initial terrorism charges were dropped but, the case is still under investigation.
9/10/06 Airport Knife Scare
Mohammed Ghanem, 21, of
Nabih Ayad, Ghanem’s attorney, said someone had carved out the inside of the book and placed the knife inside it, but that his client had no idea where the knife came from. Local Muslims insist he is a gentle, peaceful, person who would never hurt a fly. Local Islamic leaders insist this has nothing to do with terrorism. They also insist we are Islamaphobes for even asking.
FACTS:
- Court documents in the
Brief list of HEZBOLLAH TERROR ATTACKS –
- March 16, 1984: CIA Station Chief William Buckley kidnapped
- Sept. 20, 1984: Bombing of U.S. Embassy annex northeast of
- Dec. 3, 1984: Hijacking of
- June 14, 1985: Hijacking of TWA Flight 847
- October 1985: - January 1986Hijacking of cruise ship Achilles Lauro;
Bombing of Rome,
- April 5, 1986: Bombing of La Belle Discotheque
- December 21, 1988: Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
- March 17, 1992: Hezbollah bombs the Israeli embassy in
- July 18, 1994: Hezbollah bombs the Jewish community center in
- July 12, 2006: Hezbollah attacks
Still think it has nothing to do with Islam?
Still think Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization?
Here are a few questions to consider –
- How many Presbyterians have been caught at airports with weapons, with large amounts of cash, or with suspicious intelligence information all related to airplanes and bombs?
- Why does Osama Siblani, the publisher of
- Why did Siblani tell the Detroit News, he's not alone: "If morally supporting Hezbollah or associating with Fadlallah is a crime, 'there is not going to be enough buses to haul the people out and take them to jail.”?
Any sympathy or ties to Hezbollah contradict and are anathema to the security and freedom of US citizens.
Friday, November 17, 2006
ACLU Sues Government Dog for Profiling
Okay, that didn't really happen. But if it weren't for the dog we all know this guy would have gotten right through. This from the Detroit News:
Man with laptop, $80,000 cash arrested at airport
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
A man arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport carrying nearly $80,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide will be held in custody at least until Monday, a U.S. magistrate judge ruled Wednesday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leonid Feller said Sisayehiticha Dinssa, 35, is a potential risk to public safety and federal agents want to get a warrant to search his computer more thoroughly.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer ordered Dinssa held pending a detention hearing Monday.
Feller said Dinssa, who gave a Texas address, arrived in Detroit from Nigeria by way of Amsterdam and was headed for Phoenix.
The government considers Dinssa a potential flight risk and a potential "risk of harm to the community based on the material found in his computer," Feller said.
Dinssa, a U.S. citizen who is unemployed, was charged with currency reporting violations after he was arrested at the airport Tuesday. An affidavit filed in court said a dog found the scent of narcotics on cash Dinssa carried.
Dinssa told Customs agents he was only carrying about $18,000.
The joke about the dog comes from Democrats' stated intention to make it all but illegal for airport screeners to stop Muslims. For an example, listen to Robert Spencer describe some of Nancy Pelosi's recent comments here.
Man with laptop, $80,000 cash arrested at airport
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
A man arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport carrying nearly $80,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide will be held in custody at least until Monday, a U.S. magistrate judge ruled Wednesday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leonid Feller said Sisayehiticha Dinssa, 35, is a potential risk to public safety and federal agents want to get a warrant to search his computer more thoroughly.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer ordered Dinssa held pending a detention hearing Monday.
Feller said Dinssa, who gave a Texas address, arrived in Detroit from Nigeria by way of Amsterdam and was headed for Phoenix.
The government considers Dinssa a potential flight risk and a potential "risk of harm to the community based on the material found in his computer," Feller said.
Dinssa, a U.S. citizen who is unemployed, was charged with currency reporting violations after he was arrested at the airport Tuesday. An affidavit filed in court said a dog found the scent of narcotics on cash Dinssa carried.
Dinssa told Customs agents he was only carrying about $18,000.
The joke about the dog comes from Democrats' stated intention to make it all but illegal for airport screeners to stop Muslims. For an example, listen to Robert Spencer describe some of Nancy Pelosi's recent comments here.
Iran Pleased with "New Direction" in US Foreign Policy
I've been more or less avoiding all the commentators and columnists going on and on about the recent elections and what they mean. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in what our enemies think the recent elections mean. Do you remember when Quaddafi gave up his nuclear program because he was afraid of George Bush? To show how things have changed, here's what Ayatollah Khameini said last Friday: "With the scandalous defeat of America's policies in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan, America's threats are empty threats on an international scale." This from Reuters:
Khamenei calls U.S. elections a victory for Iran
By Jon Hemming
TEHRAN, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called U.S. President George W. Bush's defeat in congressional elections a victory for Iran.
Bush has accused Iran of trying to make a nuclear bomb, being a state sponsor of terrorism and stoking sectarian conflict in Iraq, all charges Tehran denies.
"This issue (the elections) is not a purely domestic issue for America, but it is the defeat of Bush's hawkish policies in the world," Khamenei said in remarks reported by Iran's student news agency ISNA on Friday.
"Since Washington's hostile and hawkish policies have always been against the Iranian nation, this defeat is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation."
The Democrats wrested control of both houses of Congress from the Republicans in this week's mid-term elections, partly because of voter concern over the war in Iraq.
Khamenei, a senior cleric in power since 1989, has the last word on matters of state in Iran's complex system of Islamic rule, while the government, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in charge of day-to-day decision making.
"The result of this election indicates that the majority of American people are dissatisfied and are fed up with the policies of the American administration," the IRNA state news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Khamenei said military manoeuvres in the Gulf this week in which Iranian forces tested new missile systems showed Iran was ready to face any threat.
But, he said: "With the scandalous defeat of America's policies in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan, America's threats are empty threats on an international scale."
Khamenei condemned Israel for its artillery attack on Wednesday in Gaza which killed 18 civilians, and also the "silence" of Western nations over "this great oppression".
The daily crimes by the savage Zionists in Gaza once more prove that holding talks with this occupying regime is of no use."
What this means is that Iran intends to increase its challenges to American policies in "Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan," and, of course, Israel. You may notice there are growing demands from jihadists that we abandon our alliance with Israel. The psychological war has already led to a bending (I'm not quite ready to say breaking) of the American will to win in Iraq. The jihadists are only going to increase the pressure now.
There is no way that Congressional leadership such as Nancy Pelosi, Dick Durbin, Harry Reid, and John Conyers are going to have backbone enough to stand up against threats with anything but hapless talk about problems "to be resolved." Today former President Hashemi Rafsanjani "also warned the US not to consider military intervention in Iran, saying Washington's 'iron fist policy' has failed." Why does he say "failed"? We're still in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't we?
But for how much longer? These guys know the history of the Democrats better than we do. They don't even have to wait until we pull out of Iraq to start kicking sand in our face again.
It is not possible that what Khameini and Ahmadinejad consider a victory for one of our bitterest enemies can possibly be a victory for America as well. And it is not.
Khamenei calls U.S. elections a victory for Iran
By Jon Hemming
TEHRAN, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called U.S. President George W. Bush's defeat in congressional elections a victory for Iran.
Bush has accused Iran of trying to make a nuclear bomb, being a state sponsor of terrorism and stoking sectarian conflict in Iraq, all charges Tehran denies.
"This issue (the elections) is not a purely domestic issue for America, but it is the defeat of Bush's hawkish policies in the world," Khamenei said in remarks reported by Iran's student news agency ISNA on Friday.
"Since Washington's hostile and hawkish policies have always been against the Iranian nation, this defeat is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation."
The Democrats wrested control of both houses of Congress from the Republicans in this week's mid-term elections, partly because of voter concern over the war in Iraq.
Khamenei, a senior cleric in power since 1989, has the last word on matters of state in Iran's complex system of Islamic rule, while the government, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in charge of day-to-day decision making.
"The result of this election indicates that the majority of American people are dissatisfied and are fed up with the policies of the American administration," the IRNA state news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Khamenei said military manoeuvres in the Gulf this week in which Iranian forces tested new missile systems showed Iran was ready to face any threat.
But, he said: "With the scandalous defeat of America's policies in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan, America's threats are empty threats on an international scale."
Khamenei condemned Israel for its artillery attack on Wednesday in Gaza which killed 18 civilians, and also the "silence" of Western nations over "this great oppression".
The daily crimes by the savage Zionists in Gaza once more prove that holding talks with this occupying regime is of no use."
What this means is that Iran intends to increase its challenges to American policies in "Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan," and, of course, Israel. You may notice there are growing demands from jihadists that we abandon our alliance with Israel. The psychological war has already led to a bending (I'm not quite ready to say breaking) of the American will to win in Iraq. The jihadists are only going to increase the pressure now.
There is no way that Congressional leadership such as Nancy Pelosi, Dick Durbin, Harry Reid, and John Conyers are going to have backbone enough to stand up against threats with anything but hapless talk about problems "to be resolved." Today former President Hashemi Rafsanjani "also warned the US not to consider military intervention in Iran, saying Washington's 'iron fist policy' has failed." Why does he say "failed"? We're still in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't we?
But for how much longer? These guys know the history of the Democrats better than we do. They don't even have to wait until we pull out of Iraq to start kicking sand in our face again.
It is not possible that what Khameini and Ahmadinejad consider a victory for one of our bitterest enemies can possibly be a victory for America as well. And it is not.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Speaking of Sending Messages...
Last Tuesday Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, ((known locally here in Dearborn as “Our Leader!”), gave an “ultimatum” to the legitimate government of Lebanon that it must form a “unity” government with Hezbollah as a member, or else face “street protests.” Why does he want it? Because “Such a cabinet would give the Islamic militants and their allies veto power over key decisions.”
We at DU predicted something like this would happen only a few weeks ago. Not that it was exactly a challenging call, sort of like walking through a mall on the day after Halloween and predicting “Christmas is coming.”
This move was inevitable, since the cease-fire that Hezbollah loudly disclaimed any interest in being a party to is providing cover for the world’s only charitable organization with 33,000 missiles to augment its war-making capacity.
(Compare Hezbollah as a charitable insitution with, say, the Salvation Army, which has re-sale shops, uniforms, and brass bands).
In the same speech Nasrallah inadvertently admitted that Hezbollah’s plan all along had been war against Israel: “For six years, we were preparing... or rather, anticipating a war some day - a vicious, large-scale, and dangerous war.” (Oopsie! Not to worry, Sheikh. No one is listening but the UN!).
Moreover, Hezbollah partisans are not content to spread around other people’s money to fund rebuilding projects for the region of southern Lebanon they helped destroy. Hezbollah wants to reduce Lebanon to a military base for attacking Israel. Now Syria is trying to get its own Hezbollah-style group, and the Israeli Defense Force are predicting that Hezbollah and Syria, (with Iranian help) will start a war with Israel within 10 months.
On November 7, "Syria's Foreign Minister, Walid Moallem, said he hopes a Middle East peace process can be launched next year that would include Israel's relinquishing of the Golan Heights to Damascus. But Moallem warned if negotiations don't commence and yield results within months 'the countdown will begin for a new Syrian-Israeli war.'
It's always good to start peace talks with a countdown to war. But the Golan Heights are a phony excuse, anyway. Israel isn’t going to surrender the Golan Heights and Syria knows it, for the precise reason Israel was forced to take them away in the first place: because Syria refused to stop using the Heights to shell Israeli villages. (For those of you keeping a “cycle of violence” file, you will note that, since 1973, Israel has not used the Golan to shell Syria).
As if that isn't enough, the “military wing” of Hamas has decided to get into war-threatening against the USA. (The “military wing” of Hamas is one of those useful descriptors, like the "hamburger-making" wing of Burger King. It is intended to distinguish from the “political wing” of Hamas, which sponsors, assigns, and funds strictly political rocket and suicide attacks against Israel).
According to the AP,
“Signaling a change in tactics, Hamas' military wing on Wednesday called on Muslims around the world to attack American targets after an apparent misfiring of an IDF artillery shell in the Gaza Strip.
‘America is offering political, financial and logistic cover for the Zionist occupation crimes, and it is responsible for the Beit Hanoun massacre. Therefore, the people and the nation all over the globe [Islam, that is] are required to teach the American enemy tough lessons.’”
And here I thought teaching America a tough lesson was the job of disappointed Republicans who voted Democrat on Tuesday.
Either way, we're all in for the same lesson now, and these guys don't grade on a curve.
We at DU predicted something like this would happen only a few weeks ago. Not that it was exactly a challenging call, sort of like walking through a mall on the day after Halloween and predicting “Christmas is coming.”
This move was inevitable, since the cease-fire that Hezbollah loudly disclaimed any interest in being a party to is providing cover for the world’s only charitable organization with 33,000 missiles to augment its war-making capacity.
(Compare Hezbollah as a charitable insitution with, say, the Salvation Army, which has re-sale shops, uniforms, and brass bands).
In the same speech Nasrallah inadvertently admitted that Hezbollah’s plan all along had been war against Israel: “For six years, we were preparing... or rather, anticipating a war some day - a vicious, large-scale, and dangerous war.” (Oopsie! Not to worry, Sheikh. No one is listening but the UN!).
Moreover, Hezbollah partisans are not content to spread around other people’s money to fund rebuilding projects for the region of southern Lebanon they helped destroy. Hezbollah wants to reduce Lebanon to a military base for attacking Israel. Now Syria is trying to get its own Hezbollah-style group, and the Israeli Defense Force are predicting that Hezbollah and Syria, (with Iranian help) will start a war with Israel within 10 months.
On November 7, "Syria's Foreign Minister, Walid Moallem, said he hopes a Middle East peace process can be launched next year that would include Israel's relinquishing of the Golan Heights to Damascus. But Moallem warned if negotiations don't commence and yield results within months 'the countdown will begin for a new Syrian-Israeli war.'
It's always good to start peace talks with a countdown to war. But the Golan Heights are a phony excuse, anyway. Israel isn’t going to surrender the Golan Heights and Syria knows it, for the precise reason Israel was forced to take them away in the first place: because Syria refused to stop using the Heights to shell Israeli villages. (For those of you keeping a “cycle of violence” file, you will note that, since 1973, Israel has not used the Golan to shell Syria).
As if that isn't enough, the “military wing” of Hamas has decided to get into war-threatening against the USA. (The “military wing” of Hamas is one of those useful descriptors, like the "hamburger-making" wing of Burger King. It is intended to distinguish from the “political wing” of Hamas, which sponsors, assigns, and funds strictly political rocket and suicide attacks against Israel).
According to the AP,
“Signaling a change in tactics, Hamas' military wing on Wednesday called on Muslims around the world to attack American targets after an apparent misfiring of an IDF artillery shell in the Gaza Strip.
‘America is offering political, financial and logistic cover for the Zionist occupation crimes, and it is responsible for the Beit Hanoun massacre. Therefore, the people and the nation all over the globe [Islam, that is] are required to teach the American enemy tough lessons.’”
And here I thought teaching America a tough lesson was the job of disappointed Republicans who voted Democrat on Tuesday.
Either way, we're all in for the same lesson now, and these guys don't grade on a curve.
Back In the Hands of America’s Children
We at DU are disappointed, but not surprised, at the election results that have returned Congress to the Democratic Party. Or, as Nancy Pelosi described it, "The gavel of the speaker of the House is in the hands of special interests, and now it will be in the hands of America's children.” By “special interests” she was referring to those incorrigibles like me whose ballots are still cast with an eye on the security of the nation. By "America's children" she literally meant America’s most childish party, the Democrats.
Children are fine in their place, but that place doesn’t mean behind the steering wheel. Historians often refer to America as still a young country. I’d say we are about the equivalent of teenagers, who live off mom and dad, couldn’t manage a moment without them, but think everything they think, do, and say, is irredeemably stupid and self-evidently wrong. With kidslike that you give them cell phones, not Congress. We are now going to have to all watch as Washington is transformed into the most obnoxious Sweet 16 party of all time.
Meanwhile, while the election may be over, the war is not. Al-Jazeerah aired a recent speech by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, ((known locally here in Dearborn as “Our Leader!”), in which he had this to say about Iraq and Vietnam:
"When I talk about an [American] failure, I'm not saying that the Americans' plan for the region has collapsed, and that they are packing up their things and leaving, like what happened in the final days in Vietnam. But I would like to tell you clearly... I am one of those people who see a very clear picture. In our childhood... When we were young boys... I cannot forget the sight of the American forces leaving Vietnam in helicopters, which carried their officers and soldiers. Some Vietnamese, who had fought alongside the Americans, tried to climb into these helicopters, but the [Americans] threw them to the ground, abandoned them, and left. This is the sight I anticipate in our region, but I am not saying it will happen in months. It will take years. The Americans will gather their belongings and leave this region - the entire region. They have no future whatsoever in our region. They will leave the Middle East, and the Arab and Islamic worlds, like they left Vietnam. I advise all those who place their trust in the Americans to learn the lesson of Vietnam, and to learn the lesson of the South Lebanese Army with the Israelis, and to know that when the Americans lose this war – and lose it they will, Allah willing - they will abandon them to their fate, just like they did to all those who placed their trust in them throughout history."
This was before the election. I'm sure he'll pep the speech up now.
But America could ditch Vietnam and still pretend we were safe, because the North Vietnamese weren’t going to come after us here. They were content to slaughter, imprison, and reeducate their brothers to the South, satisfied with being lords in a peninsular Hell without ambitions for a global one.
If you think the jihadists trying to take over Iraq feel the same, you are mistaken. If you are the next Speaker of the House and you feel the same, you are a positive menace. Madame Speaker Pelosi said only a week or two ago, “The jihadists (are) in Iraq. But that doesn't mean we stay there. They'll stay there as long as we're there."
Yes, Madam Speaker. And as soon as we leave, they’ll still stay and solidify their gains, because they don’t need a free, democratic society to survive, and in fact thrive on instability. It was the instability we were over there to cure, not WMD, if you had been paying attention to the President in 2003, which you weren't. And then the jihadists will use Iraq the way they used Afghanistan, as a base for waging jihad on America and Western interests. But with this advantage—they’ll know we’ve had enough.
I think Nancy Pelosi has the same fond memories as Nasrallah of America’s shameful departure from Vietnam, though she wasn’t exactly a child when it happened, or at least, not in years. Maybe she drew inspiration from TV news footage of American warriors pushing Hueys over the sides of our aircraft carriers to make room for the escaping Americans crowding the flight deck. Maybe that’s when she first developed her shiny, thousand-yard stare.
Like the children that they are, Pelosi, and Levin, and Conyers, and Leahy, have no higher capacity for government than children who want re-live the raw delight of a child for whom a foolish old Uncle Sam dislocates his back trying to entertain them with some stunt or other. And like all children, there must always be a repeat performance. The loss of Vietnam was the stunt the Left, now controlling Congress, have wanted to see Uncle Sam repeat for more than 30 years. That was their idea of the high point in American foreign policy. So watch now as these children, re-armed with Congressional authority and a lust for revenge, begin clapping their hands excitedly and calling to their Uncle Sam,
“Oh, can you do it again? Oh, please, please do it again!”
Children are fine in their place, but that place doesn’t mean behind the steering wheel. Historians often refer to America as still a young country. I’d say we are about the equivalent of teenagers, who live off mom and dad, couldn’t manage a moment without them, but think everything they think, do, and say, is irredeemably stupid and self-evidently wrong. With kidslike that you give them cell phones, not Congress. We are now going to have to all watch as Washington is transformed into the most obnoxious Sweet 16 party of all time.
Meanwhile, while the election may be over, the war is not. Al-Jazeerah aired a recent speech by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, ((known locally here in Dearborn as “Our Leader!”), in which he had this to say about Iraq and Vietnam:
"When I talk about an [American] failure, I'm not saying that the Americans' plan for the region has collapsed, and that they are packing up their things and leaving, like what happened in the final days in Vietnam. But I would like to tell you clearly... I am one of those people who see a very clear picture. In our childhood... When we were young boys... I cannot forget the sight of the American forces leaving Vietnam in helicopters, which carried their officers and soldiers. Some Vietnamese, who had fought alongside the Americans, tried to climb into these helicopters, but the [Americans] threw them to the ground, abandoned them, and left. This is the sight I anticipate in our region, but I am not saying it will happen in months. It will take years. The Americans will gather their belongings and leave this region - the entire region. They have no future whatsoever in our region. They will leave the Middle East, and the Arab and Islamic worlds, like they left Vietnam. I advise all those who place their trust in the Americans to learn the lesson of Vietnam, and to learn the lesson of the South Lebanese Army with the Israelis, and to know that when the Americans lose this war – and lose it they will, Allah willing - they will abandon them to their fate, just like they did to all those who placed their trust in them throughout history."
This was before the election. I'm sure he'll pep the speech up now.
But America could ditch Vietnam and still pretend we were safe, because the North Vietnamese weren’t going to come after us here. They were content to slaughter, imprison, and reeducate their brothers to the South, satisfied with being lords in a peninsular Hell without ambitions for a global one.
If you think the jihadists trying to take over Iraq feel the same, you are mistaken. If you are the next Speaker of the House and you feel the same, you are a positive menace. Madame Speaker Pelosi said only a week or two ago, “The jihadists (are) in Iraq. But that doesn't mean we stay there. They'll stay there as long as we're there."
Yes, Madam Speaker. And as soon as we leave, they’ll still stay and solidify their gains, because they don’t need a free, democratic society to survive, and in fact thrive on instability. It was the instability we were over there to cure, not WMD, if you had been paying attention to the President in 2003, which you weren't. And then the jihadists will use Iraq the way they used Afghanistan, as a base for waging jihad on America and Western interests. But with this advantage—they’ll know we’ve had enough.
I think Nancy Pelosi has the same fond memories as Nasrallah of America’s shameful departure from Vietnam, though she wasn’t exactly a child when it happened, or at least, not in years. Maybe she drew inspiration from TV news footage of American warriors pushing Hueys over the sides of our aircraft carriers to make room for the escaping Americans crowding the flight deck. Maybe that’s when she first developed her shiny, thousand-yard stare.
Like the children that they are, Pelosi, and Levin, and Conyers, and Leahy, have no higher capacity for government than children who want re-live the raw delight of a child for whom a foolish old Uncle Sam dislocates his back trying to entertain them with some stunt or other. And like all children, there must always be a repeat performance. The loss of Vietnam was the stunt the Left, now controlling Congress, have wanted to see Uncle Sam repeat for more than 30 years. That was their idea of the high point in American foreign policy. So watch now as these children, re-armed with Congressional authority and a lust for revenge, begin clapping their hands excitedly and calling to their Uncle Sam,
“Oh, can you do it again? Oh, please, please do it again!”
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Saddam to Iraq: "Let's Make Up"
“Depend upon it, sir,” Samuel Johnson famously said, “when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
Saddam Hussein has more time than a fortnight left, but he’s already working on his concentration. Now that his own neck is being fitted out for a noose, he's urging the survivors of the Kurds and Shiites he once executed by the thousands to move beyond old grudges.
After citing Mohammed and Jesus, "who had asked for forgiveness for those who opposed them," Saddam had this to say to the country he formerly ran as his personal terror prison: "I call on all Iraqis, Arabs and Kurds, to forgive, reconcile and shake hands."
DU has been unable to confirm reports that Saddam's apology was inspired by the example of late humanitarian "Tookie" Williams.
If not, we still find both men's apologies equally credible.
Saddam Hussein has more time than a fortnight left, but he’s already working on his concentration. Now that his own neck is being fitted out for a noose, he's urging the survivors of the Kurds and Shiites he once executed by the thousands to move beyond old grudges.
After citing Mohammed and Jesus, "who had asked for forgiveness for those who opposed them," Saddam had this to say to the country he formerly ran as his personal terror prison: "I call on all Iraqis, Arabs and Kurds, to forgive, reconcile and shake hands."
DU has been unable to confirm reports that Saddam's apology was inspired by the example of late humanitarian "Tookie" Williams.
If not, we still find both men's apologies equally credible.
Friday, November 03, 2006
All the Lies That Fit the Page
What media bias? This is how the New York Times quoted Kerry’s “botched joke”/insult to the troops, the idiotic remark millions of us have seen on tape for ourselves:
“Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.”
Well, except he didn’t say that, did he? Not exactly, as the NYT had to admit next day, probably after an angry phone call, or two, or two thousand. We directly quote the NYT’s botched apology:
Correction: Nov. 3, 2006
A Political Memo article yesterday about the fallout for Senator John Kerry over what he called a “botched joke” referred incompletely to the differences between prepared remarks and what he actually said about the Iraq war to students at Pasadena City College in California on Monday. Mr. Kerry not only dropped the word “us,” but he also rephrased his opening sentence extensively and omitted a reference to President Bush. Mr. Kerry’s aides said that the prepared text read: “Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.” What he said: “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Read it for yourself here.
“Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.”
Well, except he didn’t say that, did he? Not exactly, as the NYT had to admit next day, probably after an angry phone call, or two, or two thousand. We directly quote the NYT’s botched apology:
Correction: Nov. 3, 2006
A Political Memo article yesterday about the fallout for Senator John Kerry over what he called a “botched joke” referred incompletely to the differences between prepared remarks and what he actually said about the Iraq war to students at Pasadena City College in California on Monday. Mr. Kerry not only dropped the word “us,” but he also rephrased his opening sentence extensively and omitted a reference to President Bush. Mr. Kerry’s aides said that the prepared text read: “Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.” What he said: “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Read it for yourself here.
Smart Audiences Do Get Democrat Jokes
DU is not in a joking mood, as we have an idea how much is at stake during next week's elections. But for anyone still dithering between the two political parties, please be aware that jihadists are not among the "Undecided."
Terrorist leaders "urged American citizens to vote for Democratic candidates." This from WorldNetDaily:
"Many Democratic politicians and some from the Republican Party have stated a withdrawal from Iraq would end the insurgency there.
In a recent interview with CBS's '60 Minutes,' House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, stated, 'The jihadists (are) in Iraq. But that doesn't mean we stay there. They'll stay there as long as we're there.'
Pelosi would become House speaker if the Democrats win the majority of seats in next week's elections....
Pelosi's remarks [were] read to the terror leaders, who unanimously rejected her contention an American withdrawal would end the insurgency.
Islamic Jihad's Saadi, laughing, stated, 'There is no chance that the resistance will stop.' "
Read the rest of it here.
Terrorist leaders "urged American citizens to vote for Democratic candidates." This from WorldNetDaily:
"Many Democratic politicians and some from the Republican Party have stated a withdrawal from Iraq would end the insurgency there.
In a recent interview with CBS's '60 Minutes,' House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, stated, 'The jihadists (are) in Iraq. But that doesn't mean we stay there. They'll stay there as long as we're there.'
Pelosi would become House speaker if the Democrats win the majority of seats in next week's elections....
Pelosi's remarks [were] read to the terror leaders, who unanimously rejected her contention an American withdrawal would end the insurgency.
Islamic Jihad's Saadi, laughing, stated, 'There is no chance that the resistance will stop.' "
Read the rest of it here.