Month: March 2008

The Wright Place at the Wrong Time

Is America ready for a black president? You bet. Is america ready for a socialist president supported by anti-american kooks? Never again — we already tried that with Jimmy Carter.

As the Wright revelations ricochet round our political landscape it’s not time to duck for cover as many might think. Certainly Barack Obama can’t run and hide at this point, and today he will make a speech to deflect the criticism over the insane oratory made by his Pastor, the Reverend Wright for 20 years. He has to counter the position his associations with that pastor and church for twenty years have put him in, and he has to do that against a backdrop where people are already questioning his love of this country.

What is troubling however is that the speech is being billed as a speech about race, and that worries me. Wright’s problem isn’t that he’s black — it’s that he’s subscribed to several highly anti-american conspiracy theories, and he’s put them forth cloaked in gospel and black identity populism to his congregation every Sunday for 20 years. One of our future presidential candidates was sitting in the pews sometimes. While Wright has woven some identity based ravings into his sermons that are simply mirror image to Don Black’s Stormfront rants and racialist theories, they are really secondary to hating America.

The theory that the US was responsible for 9/11 abrogates personal responsibility, absolving a murderous  ideology and their adherents of murdering close to 3,000 Americans that horrid day. Here’s a hint for the Reverend since he’s highly focused on Black Identity populism: the people in the World trade center towers that day weren’t all white. The firefighters and police who died trying to rescue people weren’t all white.

So this isn’t about race at all – it’s about Wright’s willingness to believe in “they.” You know about “them” for “they” are talked about all the time. You know “they” are keeping us down. “They” are responsible for all the ill in the world. When I hear this stuff I know I’m dealing with someone who’s shirking responsibility, for as the wonderful Walt Kelly quipped: ” ‘They’ is us. ”

The buzz around the country right now isn’t about Wright and blackness, it’s about the kook-punditry he puts forth. Barack Obama’s campaign is in free-fall at the moment for  the same reasons that Ron Paul’s revolution deflated.

It’s never ok to attack america based on conspiracy theories of nutballs, regardless of your background. Just as Ron Paul doesn’t get a pass because “he’s a strict constitutionalist”, Barack Obama’s church doesn’t get a pass because they are black. Just as Vlaams Belang doesn’t get a pass for identity politics because they say they are “conservatives and anti-jihad”, Barack Obama doesn’t get a pass because he says he is a “uniter.”

As a contrast think about whether President Bush could have been selected and elected twice if he were from say, the Westboro Baptist Church.

In the end regardless of what people tell you, we select our candidates, and we elect our representatives, senators, and presidents. So if you think some hidden cabal is controlling america, go stare in the mirror and you will see one of the cabal members.

Is America ready for a black president? You bet. Is america ready for a socialist president supported by anti-american kooks? Never again — we already tried that with Jimmy Carter.

Post Speech UPDATE:

This will be a bit of a ramble as I am on a call, however I just listened to Senator Barack Obama’s speech and want to question some things he said.

First impression: He won over the press with this, said a few stirring things that will win back some who have faded, and this will save his candidacy.

He also tried to resurrect the Reverend Wright. Keyword which you will hear every commentator repeating endlessly “caricature”. In other words Reverend Wright isn’t really anti-American, he’s just “venting” He’s not a bigot, he’s just “angry’ and that’s ok.

Update: h/t itellu3times: Obama esentially outed himself on a lie in this speech. Previously he denied hearing these sorts of things in the church to CNN and Fox News, in this speech he admits it.

The worst part of this speech is that it made racial venting ok. Whether you are black or white. I don’t think it a good idea to excuse, forgive, or to stand by bigots. The basic theme of the speech is that in the US we have great promise, but we are all victims. In the speech he simply reframed The Reverend Wright’s “Them” to the standard evils Socialists see in the world. He widened the array of victims beyond just blacks, and wants to make us all victims.

To paraphrase:

It’s those lobbyists (forget for a moment that your 401K has lobbyists, forget for a moment that your Church has lobbyists, forget for a moment that one of the biggest lobbies in Washington is the Environmental lobby. Forget for a moment that everyone in America has special interests.)

It’s those evil corporations (forget for a moment that both your job and your retirement depend on those corporations, and their boards are elected by stockholders, if you have a 401K you own part of the corporations he attacks, they are American as apple-pie, yes a few have strayed onto evil ground, just as Reverend Wright did — when that happens corporations, execs, and shareholders get punished.)

It’s those “forces of divisiveness” (forget for a moment that making a speech that retreads historic wrongs to renew the anger does not aid that, forget for a moment that the “forces of divisiveness” he speaks of now originated in the Democrat Party, his party.)

He talked stirringly of our Revolution and how we overthrew tyranny, but in other speeches he doesn’t think Iraq should have the same opportunity. (Without the aid of France we would still be British subjects, without our aid the Iraqi’s would still be Sadaam’s subjects.)

The speech was all about victimhood and glossing over bigotry – so while it might have been stirring in parts, I’m going to respectfully disagree.

We are not a nation of victims, we are instead the land of the free, the home of the brave, the land of opportunity, and the leader for the world in the great challenges and responsibilities before us in the first half of this century.

We can’t throw Iraq under the bus and switch to Sudan. We can’t ignore tyrannies and hope they will go away – they won’t. We can’t put US interests at the mercy of Euro-socialist direction, and we certainly can’t forget that we have enemies out there who would kill us in a heartbeat were they but given the chance.

To sum up, it’s not ok for pastors to piss on america from their pulpit, never will be.

It’s also not ok to speak to the opportunity of America, and and then turn to rip on the institutions and mechanisms that make that opportunity possible.

Remaining question: If everyone in America is a “victim” then who the heck is “THEY”? I think Walt Kelly knows: They is us.

I say screw victimhood, because in 42 short years there will be 9 Billion humans on this planet — we seriously do not have time for whining and whinging.

New Pakistani Parliament Meets

The new Parliament of Pakistan has assembled for the first time post-election, and they have an ambitious list to tackle. Some of the priorities are:

  1. Ask for a UN probe to investigate the Asassination of Benazir Bhutto
  2. Strip President Musharraf of the power to dismiss Parliament and the new Prime Minister
  3. Re-instate the Judges Musharraf dismissed and put in detention

 This is political, and items two and three are ways to limit Musharraf. They make sense, and most in Pakistan support them, with the likelihood being that Musharraf’s Presidency will be called into question if the Wardi, or Uniform case against him is brought back.

I would say the parliament needs to focus on other urgent things immediately as well:

  1. energy
  2. Al Qaeda / Taliban insurrection
  3. Rising food prices
  4. Trade Agreements and other Economic stimuli

Behind the scenes you still have factions and frictions within the largest party of the ruling coalition, the PPP. Note this.

UPDATE:

[Note about the government in flux: post-election designation of the PM candidate for PPP has caused a schism in the party between Zardari and Fahim factions over who’s going to which position, as Zardari’s corruption cases are set aside it appears more likely that Fahim will be set aside. There’s also behind the scenes jockeying — if the Justices are re-instated, then it’s possible that Musharraf could be removed from the presidency, thus opening another position. Handicappers on what’s going on here are all over the map.] UPDATE TO POLITICAL NOTE: Fahim Scuppered.

Also note this interview with Musharraf – it comes close to a “setting up a legacy” discussion, a possible sign that he might resign in good faith before all of the above comes to a head.

This article paints the grim picture of how Pakistan is learning to live as a state under siege from extremists.

Adil Najam has excellent analysis here, I agree with most of what he says but for one thing.

The two greatest living enemies of the US and their organization are hosted in Pakistan. Either Pakistan needs to get them, or we will, and that’s the end of that discussion. We will neither forget or give up, and this isn’t going to go away if you ignore it until 2009.

Taslima Nasreen to Leave India

Taslima Nasreen, an exiled Bangladeshi writer, says she will leave India. She’s grown tired of living in hiding after publication of her sixth book caused muslim riots and issuance of a death fatwa against her.

Taslima Nasreen, an exiled Bangladeshi writer, says she will leave India. She’s grown tired of living in hiding after publication of her sixth book caused muslim riots and issuance of a death fatwa against her. From Malaysia Sun:

Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on Monday told Indian officials that she is planning to leave India.

“I could not endure it anymore,” Nasreen said from her undisclosed location where she has been given shelter by the Indian Government following violent protests against her in Kolkata last year.

“I am leaving because there is no other option left for me,” she said after a meeting with External Affairs Ministry officials.

It’s a sad state of affairs if your faith is so weak that you must kill people who disagree.

Waziristan Strike Updates and Corrections

There’s a bit more information out on yesterday’s strike, so here’s an update on facts accompanied with my usual speculations/musings. Don’t worry, I will always let you know when I am making wild-assed guesses before I do to separate that from the facts.

Stratasphere has a write up here with more details, and I’m going to politely & respectfully disagree with AJ in a couple of areas.

First things first, there are two Rahims. The Wiki entry pointed to is a captive who has been in custody at Guantanamo since at least 2004 when the wiki entry states he had a tribunal hearing that he refused to attend. 

Our new guy has a new wiki entry with his name mis-spelled as “Muhammed” Rahim which contains only scant information. The new entry uses the standard Pakistani spelling for Mohammed instead of the particular way our perp spells his name: “Mohammad.” This might be an Afghanistan variation, I don’t know, but I’m sticking with it because that’s the way it is in all newspaper accounts.

From my previous post you can also see that he was captured by Pakistani authorities on 8/7/2007 in Lahore, and you can see the picture I believe to be his from the Afghanistan “12 Most-Wanted” poster.

In my previous post I said that this is the third strike, but that’s wrong. This is now the fifth strike in Pakistan this year. Previously I did not count the cross border artillery strike, and this operation turns out to be two strikes on two separate walled compounds. (Typical for Tribal leaders in the area.)

The other correction is to the original reports from Pakistan – they stated this was “two Kilometers” south of Wana, new reports have it “five Kilometers” south of Wana. The Google-earth pic I posted still fits the area, and the difference could be “as a crow flies” vs “by road”.

UPDATE: From Dawn, an interesting article where they’ve interviewed multiple people from the area, so you have conflicting tales:

 Sunday’s attack targeted the house of Mohammad Yousuf who had rented it out to Arabs about a year ago. The house was completely destroyed.

Initial reports said that three missiles fired from an aircraft had destroyed the house. These reports also said that 18 people had been killed and 14 injured.

Most of the victims were non-locals and belonged to Arab countries, an official said, adding that the house was being used as a training camp for militants. There were no women or children in the house.

Witnesses said that militants cordoned off the area immediately after the attack. Eight charred bodies were taken out of the rubble of the house.

“Parts of bodies were stuffed into bags and buried in a nearby graveyard by local militants,” a tribesman said.

One of the injured told a local doctor at the hospital that some 42 people had been in the house at the time of the attack.

Our Tank Correspondent adds: A spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud on Sunday warned of fresh attacks if the government did not stop military operation in the region.Maulvi Umar described suicide attacks in Lahore and Islamabad as a reaction to the ongoing army operation in the area and said that security forces should halt the operation.

Here comes some speculation: The US stated that missiles were not fired from “military aircraft.” This statement carries just enough truth to mislead. AJ speculates on Predators, but… both Predators and Reapers are military aircraft.

Which then leaves us with a new variety of GLCMs (very unlikely,) or ship-fired TLAMs. The turbofans from TLAMs would also explain the villagers reporting that they heard drones. Wana and the rest of Pakistan is in easy range for TLAMs fired from the Arabian Sea. (One other potential would be non-nuclear ICBM’s, but that’s not likely and doesn’t explain the “drone noise” reported.)

On who we got in each of these last four strikes – it’s going to remain a mystery awhile, but I would wager this as an attempt or hit on Baitullah Mehsud and his commanders rather than Zawahiri or Bin Laden. In the previous post I linked above I state why, remember that it’s a logical stack of flaming pixy sticks, I could be wayyyyyy wrong.

Matt Dupee also has a good write-up at The Long War Journal, it contains the details of whose house was hit, etc. One other note: In the picture accompanying the newstory Matt links to there are a lot of clean-shaven faces.

UPDATE: Interesting note for intel types here from the Malaysia sun, Jihadis shifting to Sufi Khanqahs

UPDATE: Daily Times reports that we did not get Maulvi Nazir. Also note that Daily Times doesn’t mind designating Taliban as Taliban.

Spring Buds

spring-buds.jpg

Spring Pools

These pools that, though in forests, still reflect
The total sky almost without defect,
And like the flowers beside them, chill and shiver,
Will like the flowers beside them soon be gone,
And yet not out by any brook or river,
But up by roots to bring dark foliage on.
The trees that have it in their pent-up buds
To darken nature and be summer woods —
Let them think twice before they use their powers
To blot out and drink up and sweep away
These flowery waters and these watery flowers
From snow that melted only yesterday.

— Robert Frost

Third Missile Strike in South Waziristan Kills 20

missile-strike-south-of-wana.jpgTwenty 16 were killed in a three to seven missile strike two kilometers south of Wana in Pakistan’s South Waziristan Tribal Region. The strikes hit in the village of Shahnawaz Kheil Dhoog,  in the South Waziristan region near the Afghanistan border.

Click on the thumbnail for a google-earth snapshot of the area I believe the missile struck. The Wana airport is at the north middle edge of the picture.

This is the area Baitullah Mehsud and Tehreek-e-Taliban operates from, and some believe leaders from Al Qaeda are also in this area. At this time it’s unknown who was hit, but some “foreign nationals” are reported as dead. This will be billed by some locals as civilians regardless of who was struck.

Baitullah Mehsud is suspect #1 for the assasination of Ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and it’s also usual at this time of year for extremists and militants of all stripes to gather in the region for cross-border strikes into Afghanistan.

Reuters is reporting that “Eight Foreigners and four of their supporters” were killed.

BBC Update states 16 killed, and that “militants” have cordoned off the area to collect bodies. Like the last strike, they will quickly bury the dead in hidden locations and we probably will not get a confirm on who was killed.

Yesterday’s blast at the restaurant in Islamabad could have upped the stakes, and it’s clear that with the government of Pakistan in flux that the ISAF forces to the North are taking the opportunity to hit the enemy when and where they can.  More on the restaurant bombing at The Nation. 

[Note about the government in flux: post-election designation of the PM candidate for PPP has caused a schism in the party between Zardari and Fahim factions over who’s going to which position, as Zardari’s corruption cases are set aside it appears more likely that Fahim will be set aside. There’s also behind the scenes jockeying — if the Justices are re-instated, then it’s possible that Musharraf could be removed from the presidency, thus opening another position. Handicappers on what’s going on here are all over the map.] UPDATE TO POLITICAL NOTE: Fahim Scuppered.

Update: Reuters alertnet now reporting seven 12 “militants” killed.

More from Reuters:

Up to three missiles struck a house in a Pakistani region known as a safe haven for al Qaeda and Taliban militants on Sunday, killing 12 people including eight foreign militants, officials in the area said.

The attack took place in the village of Shahnawaz Kheil Dhoog, near the town of Wana in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border.

“Eight foreigners and four of their supporters were killed,” said a district government official, who declined to be identified.

The nationality of the foreigners was not known but some residents of the area said Arabs were among the dead.

Initial report From NDTV:

At least 20 people were killed and several others injured on Sunday in a missile strike on a home in Pakistan’s restive South Waziristan tribal area where the military is battling the local Taliban.

At least seven missiles hit the residential compound at Shahnawaz Kot village, located about two kilometres from Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan.

State-run PTV said 20 people were killed in the attack. Some of the dead were believed to be foreign nationals. Reports said some bodies were still trapped within the rubble and the death toll could rise.

Local residents said the missiles might have been fired from neighbouring Afghanistan or from a pilotless drone. They also said they had heard an aircraft flying over the area when the missile strike occurred.

This is the third strike this year, and it’s still unknown who we got in the previous strike here, or which “Egyptian Fugitive” was killed. In the earlier strike we got Al Libi.

Follow-Up on the restaurant blast:

US forces have cordoned off the Hospital since between 7-11 injured US citizens are being cared for there. From the Nation:

ISLAMABAD- American security personnel cordoned off the Shifa International Hospital after 11 US nationals injured in the Saturday evening blast were reportedly admitted there.
Although there was no official confirmation about the number of injured US nationals as the US Embassy could not be contacted. despite repeated attempts by The Nation, the other diplomatic sources placed the number falling between 7 and 11.

More on the Restaurant blast at Long War Journal

Obama and Clinton Vote to Raise Middle Class Taxes

In the midst of the Spizztzer scandal and The Revisionist Wright Revelations a very important Senate vote went largely unoticed. The Democrat budget blueprint just voted on in the Senate would repeal the Bush tax cuts, effectively raising taxes on the middle class.

In their campaign rhetoric the dems speak of taxing the rich but to the Democrats, the middle classes of the US are the rich. Under the budget blueprint individuals making more than $31,850.00 and couples making more than $63,700.00 would see tax increases. From Boston Herald:

WASHINGTON – Presidential candidates John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton interrupted their campaign schedules to return to the Senate for votes on taxes and spending likely to become key points of contention in the race for the White House.

Votes on tax cuts and on a one-year ban on pet projects topped the Senate’s agenda before an expected late-night vote yesterday to pass a $3 trillion Democratic budget blueprint. The nonbinding plan predicts a balanced budget in four years and promises generous increases for many domestic programs, but achieves those goals only by assuming major tax increases when President Bush’s tax cuts expire in about three years.

Obama(D-Ill.) and Clinton (D-N.Y.) both promise to reverse Bush’s tax cuts for wealthier taxpayers, but the Democratic budget they’ll be voting for would allow income tax rates to go up on individuals making as little as $31,850 and couples earning $63,700 or more.

Obama is attacking McCain for reversing his stance on the Tax-cuts, however calling for a tax raise whether on capital gains or the middle class at a time when we are in a slowdown is ridiculously stupid.

Hitting capital gains and adding new middle class taxes steals from the middle class both coming and going — one tax hits your 401K, the other takes directly from your paycheck.

Both Democrat candidates have clearly demonstrated by their vote what the average american can expect from them. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

 In email I got a correction, which I always appreciate:

Hey Thanos – I didn’t want to leave a comment about this on your blog.  There’s a misstatement in your post about the nonbinding Democratic budget blueprint.  The Senate didn’t vote to repeal the tax cuts; the tax cuts will expire at the end of 2010 (a provision that was in the tax cut bill) unless Congress passes a bill to extend them.  The end result is the same:  it’s tax and spend under the guise of “fairness”; but our ideological opponents often seize upon even the slightest inaccuracy to call into question our integrity. 

For the record I *always* appreciate correction of facts that are incorrect here, it doesn’t damage our credibility. Please if you do see something wrong here, always leave a comment because I get to those much faster than I do email.

The email is correct, which is why in other comments and places I was calling this a “stealth attack”. It’s a senate straw poll/trial budget balloon to see if they have enough nays to kill a bill or ammendments to the budget to extend the Bush tax-cuts. If they can keep it from coming to the floor, or vote the extension down then in effect they raise taxes. The concern is noted, but a vote even on this non-binding resolution lets Americans know exactly where Obama and Clinton stand on raising taxes.

Captured Al Qaeda High Value Target Now in Gitmo

Authorities declined to say when and where Muhamad Rahim was captured, but The Nation seems to know, this from last August:

Al-Qaeda and Taliban have received another setback when their two important aides were arrested from different places in Pakistan, sources said Wednesday.
Muhammad Rahim was arrested few days back from Lahore while Sheikh Ilyas Khel was netted from the general bus-stand in Peshawar, the sources maintained. According to them, Rahim was Osama bin Laden’s special aide, hailing from Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, while the other had worked for Laden as translator and guide during his stay in Afghanistan. Rahim was chief of Qaeda’s team, which was engaged in negotiations with the Afghan govt-nominated commanders including Hazrat Ali in early 2002.
Ilyas Khel was an active commander of late Maulvi Younas Khalis of Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan. 

Jammie Wearing Fool has an Update here. 

Ed at Hot Air has an update Here

Fox News article Here 

The Long War Journal has an update here.

Reuters Article here with more details on Rahim

USA Today article here.

Authorities also grabbed Sheik Ilyas Khel, also an AQ HVT. Left a mystery still is what Egyptian(s) were killed in this Strike.

Worthy of Note:

More at Free Republic

Liveblogging the IVAW Circus

This ain’t Hell but you Can See it From Here is livelblogging the “Neo-Winter Soldier Circus” IVAW anti-war event. I wonder if jennnngisss khaan will come up during the hearings?

Please stop by frequently through the weekend, there will be entertaining lunacy throughout the freakshow parade of idiots I am certain.