May 08, 2003

Thanks toThe Inscrutable American, we have this marvey-poo new map of the Middle East!
[Due to constraints of size, the new state of Afghabama had to be left out of this map on the right hand side.]

May 07, 2003

The divinely twisted Jim Treacher wants to rename SARS.
Go vote in his poll.
Myself, I can't decide which I like better: Tienamen Scare, Torontorrhea, Chopsick or Coughing Tiger, Bedridden Dragon.

US moves to end Iraq sanctions

The United States is to present a draft resolution to the United Nations calling for an end to sanctions against Iraq.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the motion - co-signed by Britain and Spain - is likely to be put to the Security Council this week.

The resolution is also expected to map out a role for the UN in rebuilding Iraq.

US President George W Bush said he was getting the ball rolling by suspending a 1990 US law imposing sanctions on Iraq, as well as lifting some economic sanctions - a move announced earlier on Wednesday.

"The regime that the sanctions were directed against no longer rules Iraq," Mr Bush told reporters in Washington, alongside Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
[...]
But the BBC's Jon Leyne in Washington says Russia and some other council members are reluctant to relinquish their control over Iraq's oil, exercised under the sanctions regime.

Mr Powell, speaking after discussing the measure with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York, said the US was working to include Germany, France, Russia and China in the new resolution.

"Whatever happened in the past is in the past," he said.

The BBC's correspondent in Washington, Justin Webb, says the draft resolution is understood to call for the immediate lifting of sanctions and the phasing out over four months of the oil-for-food programme.

The resolution, he says, would create an international advisory board, including the UN secretary general, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to audit the spending of Iraq's oil revenue and ensure it was being used to benefit the Iraqi people.

Restrictions the US has eased include:

-rules which will allow the thousands of Iraqis resident in the US to send up to $500 a month to family and friends in Iraq.

-allowing humanitarian aid supplies to be sent to Iraq

-authorising any activity paid for by the US Government, including reconstruction moves by contractors

-permitting privately-funded humanitarian activities by US-based organisations.

However, restrictions on the export of goods which are controlled for national security purposes will remain, with a special government license being required for such trade.

housands of Iraqis living abroad have struggled since the sanctions were imposed to get money to loved ones back home.

Rubar Sandi, chairman of the US-Iraq Business Council in Washington DC, has been sending money to relatives for years - and has been among those who have led the lobbying to allow remittances and humanitarian assistance.

"This is the most fantastic news," he told BBC News Online shortly after the announcement."

"We've been pushing for this for a long time, so we can get to work back in Iraq."

I imagine that the Weasel Powers--especially France and Russia--will do a bit more whining about lifting these sanctions:
they know to doing so will not only reveal them to be the wrong-sided, appeasment-loving losers they are, but in that the Iraq oil-for-food program is the UN's biggest cash cow (with Putin's and Chirac's governments making untold millions on the side), Kofi and his homies don't wanna see their primary source of revenue go up in smoke.
But Kofi baby, the one thing you don't know or at least don't wanna admit is that it's gone!

Almost a week later, the whining, moaning and carping continues about President Bush's heroic and studly landing on the U.S.S. Lincoln, where later that night, he humbly, but strongly proclaimed that the U.S. had "turned the tide" in the War on Islamist Terrorism with our victory"Mission Accomplished" in Iraq:
Democrats Question Cost of Bush's Sea Landing
Administration defends Bush flight to carrier
Explanation for Bush's Carrier Landing Altered

The Liberal Media and their masters the Dims are leaving out 2 things when they bitch about this (other than it being the obvious success it was for Bush!):
* As Junk Yard Blog rightly reminds us, you can compare and contrast Bush's visit to the Lincoln last week with Bill Crinton's looting trip to the U.S.S. Roosevelt in 1993:
Bush's Carrier Visit Contrasts with Clinton's

The left is livid at the political master stroke that was President Bush's visit to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on Thursday - with some complaining it was a cynical misuse of military personnel and equipment.

But Bush isn't the only president to attempt to use the powerful imagery of a flight deck lined with saluting troops to burnish his image as commander in chief.

In fact, Bill Clinton tried to do the same thing in March 1993, when he and his White House entourage visited the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

However, instead of creating the inspiring image of a commander in chief adored by his troops, the Clinton gang managed to leave just the opposite impression, by looting the Roosevelt for souvenirs as if it were a cheap motel.

"I think I need to be here because I'm commander in chief," Clinton told reporters as his aides ventured below decks and swiped towels, bath robes and other Navy accoutrements embossed with the Roosevelt's name and call letters.

"The trip supplied television footage of Clinton in a green flight jacket watching fighter jets catapult off the carrier, of Clinton saluting a guided missile destroyer as it sailed by, of Clinton in a USS Theodore Roosevelt cap addressing the crew on the hangar deck," reported the Washington Post the next day.

It also supplied Clinton aides with a treasure trove of priceless military memorabilia - taken in the same spirit, no doubt, that Clintonistas would invoke eight years later when they trashed the White House on their way out the door.

Even before it became known that Clinton aides had helped themselves to everything that wasn't nailed down, the Roosevelt's crew sounded less than impressed by the president's visit.

"Maybe we can call this his military service," the carrier's Cmdr. Bill Gortney told Newsweek. "Three hours is more than he had before."

So, the Left's memory always dims when it comes to their idols, Bill and, of course, Hill.
*The second factor that the Left won't talk about ever is highlighted by the cheeky and hilariously right Mark Steyn in his May 5 column
"What counts is what a guy does when he's not talking":

Speaking of horse-like aspects, a significant sub-set of the above group have emailed me photos of the flight-suited jock and drawn attention to the presidential lunchbox, the most prominent political package since Al Gore appeared in tight bluejeans on the cover of Rolling Stone with his thumbs in his belt loops to hoist his gusset tighter. Having spent most of the 42nd presidency discussing the distinguishing characteristics of the executive branch, I think we need to "move on".

Over on the Left, meanwhile, it's business as usual: "Oh, sure, he 'flew the plane'. He flew the easy bits - the straight part in mid-air. Anyone can do that - look at Mohammed Atta. Bush didn't do the tricky tailhook landing, did he? And we're still not winning the hearts and minds in Iraq - did you see that anti-American demo the other day?

"Okay, it was about a tenth of the size of the one in Berkeley, but that just shows you how bad things are going. And don't give me that hung-like-a-stallion stuff. That's just the way they design those army suits, to ease the sexual insecurities of the impotent white American male - see Norman Mailer, at great length. You want a real strong horse? Check out the guy second from the left in the New York City Ballet..."

Oh, Mark...don't ever change!
You are a riot!
(You should see some of the reader mail he got on that one! Ladies, I am shocked.
Shocked, I tell you.
I, for one, as a patriot who is respectful of my President refused to check out the CiC's package, I'll have you know!
OK, I peeked a bit...Talk about your "Top Guns!" Whoo-Hoo! First Lady Laura must be one happy woman. But I digress.)
Anyway, suffice it to say that the Donks may have lost more than a few "soccer mom" voters (and some gay male ones, too--sorry!) with this "Top Gun" coup!

May 05, 2003

Tel Aviv bombers had tea with foreign 'peace activists'

Foreign volunteers in the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement said Monday they had tea with two Britons later involved in a Tel Aviv suicide bombing, but said they had no idea at the time of the assailants' intentions.
[...]
On April 25, five days before the Tel Aviv bombing, Sharif and Hanif toured the Gaza Strip, including the Rafah refugee camp. At one point, they met with members of the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group that sends volunteer to serve as buffers between Israeli troops and Palestinian civilians.
[...]
After 15 minutes of drinking tea, the group attended a memorial service for Rachel Corrie, an ISM volunteer crushed to death last month as she stood in the path of an Israeli bulldozer to try to prevent a house demolition in Rafah.
[...]
On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz revealed that the two British bombers entered Israel several weeks ago from Jordan with the explosive devices hidden inside a copy of the Quran, the Muslim holy book. They crossed to the West Bank and then to Israel. Mofaz told the Cabinet that after entering Israel, the two moved into the Gaza Strip for talks with local Palestinian militants.

Mofaz said that the two men apparently were recruited by a Syrian-based terror group while they were studying Arabic in Damascus.
It was the first suicide attack carried out by a foreigner during 31 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

According to its own literature, the International Solidarity Movement is an organization which supports terrorism: "As enshrined in international law and UN resolutions, we recognize the Palestinian right to resist Israeli violence and occupation via legitimate armed struggle."

There is no "legitimate armed struggle" by the "Palestinians"--only the cold-blooded Islamist murder of (Israeli) Jews.
And the "Palestian peace activist" myth dies another death, too.
Looks like those 2 Brit homicide bombers were trying to make Monty Python's "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch" into the real deal sneaking their bombs into the Koran...

While people in America seem to have settled in and settled down about our decisive and effective conduct of the War on Islamist Terrorism, the British public is now bumping from one outrage to another.
A "fortnight" ago, it was the MP George Galloway's involvement in the "oil for fool" program with Saddam's regime. This past week, it's been the ongoing revelations about those 2 Brit suicide bombers in Tel Aviv.
The story has roots and scares deep in the heart of Britain, like this one: Bomber in ricin plot link

A BRITON on the run after a terror bombing bid may be linked to a Muslim cell plotting to use deadly poison ricin, cops said last night.
Anti-terrorist officers fear Omar Sharif, 27, was recruited by the Algerian group behind the ricin factory found in London in January.
Their worries were revealed as it was claimed that up to FIFTY young British Muslims are ready to die as martyrs.
Islamic radical Hassan Butt said: “They are aged 17 to their late 30s.”
Security chiefs fear the extremists’ could even strike in Britain, despite being born here.
Israel has issued an official plea for Britain to crack down on fanatics after last week’s bombing.
The runaway suspected bomber may be linked to the ricin plot discovered after a raid on hate preacher Abu Hamza’s notorious Finsbury Park mosque.
An Algerian is charged with producing a chemical weapon after the raid in Wood Green, North London.
Special Branch sources confirmed that wanted Sharif, of Derby, had connections with Algerian fanatics.
[...]
Special Branch officers quizzed Sharif’s Algerian-born wife and five others last night about his switch to Muslim extremism.
Officers are investigating Sharif’s links with a group called Hizb Ut Tahir — Islamic Liberation Party — an extremist political group.
They have recruited a number of disaffected young Muslims on university campuses. Friends of Sharif told how he changed dramatically after attending King’s College in London.
Hanif and Asif smuggled explosives into Israel inside copies of the Muslim holy book the Koran, Israeli security sources said yesterday.

Well, this is what happens when you make your country a "tolerant haven" for Islamist radicals, Britain.
I think they dodged more than a few domestic bullets by what they've discovered from these Tel Aviv bombers.
Heads up, Brits--you know what you have to do.
Get to work!

Euro would mean end of free NHS - European Central Bank

BRITAIN will be forced to scrap the National Health Service if it joins the euro, Gordon Brown was told yesterday.

The European Central Bank, which manages the single currency, gave warning that free health care would have to be restricted to emergency services only, otherwise the cost would overwhelm European economies and lead to soaring inflation. Britain has one of the biggest tax-funded health services in the EU, with only a tiny proportion of treatments paid for privately.

The report, in the Frankfurt-based ECB’s monthly bulletin, said that Britain’s ageing population would make state pensions, tax-funded health services and long-term care unaffordable in the future.

These EUroweenies get more outrageous by the day!
To point out Britain's "ageing" population--which is news to me--as if France and Germany didn't have bigger problems with this demographic than their friends across the Channel!
If this doesn't kill the drive for the EUro in Great Britain, I don't know what will! (except for their love of national sovereignity, history and tradition).

First, there's been the fall of Ashley Banfield:
Ashleigh Banfield's Career No Longer Seems to Shine as Bright
Ash Ban's very public criticism of NBC's/MSNBC's war coverage didn't help her career, but the one who got in the real licks was Conservo pundit and fellow MSNBC on-air personality Michael Savage:
An Explosive Story

"Let me see if I've got this straight. Right-wing homophobic talk-show host Michael Savage, in his 'book,' The Savage Nation, jokes that MSNBC stands for 'More Snotty Nonsense By Creeps,' and refers to MSNBC reporter Ashleigh Banfield as 'the mind-slut with a big pair of glasses that they sent to Afghanistan.'

"So how did MSNBC executives respond? Why, they hired him, of course. And when he called Banfield a 'slut' on the air for daring to interview loyalists to Saddam Hussein, his bosses reacted with silence.

I haven't read Savage's book yet, but I love him on his show and like everything he's been saying.
This remark about Banfield in particular is hilariously correct!
For months after 9/11, Banfield used her hour-long show to be a shameless apologist for Islamofascist terrorist killers and "mind slut" describes her perfectly!
Now comes news from Drudge that Jesse Ventura, former WWF champ, star of "Predator" and ex-MN Governor, once seen as the Great White (Independent) Hope of the network, "isn't working out:"
JESSE VENTURA TV SHOW ON ICE

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura's planned MSNBC show is mired in preproduction difficulties, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
"[Ventura] has been having just a terrible time," says a source with direct ties to the project. "The rehearsals have been extremely trying. It doesn't look good.

Of course, Ventura's show doesn't look good!
The man is hopeless as a talkshow/newsshow host and no-one with any sense would have thought otherwise! (Only the almost brain-dead execs at NBCs would be so crazily desperate for ratings that they would consider it!)
Where MSNBC is starting to go right (Right?) is in their hiring of former GOP Congressman Joe Scarborough (who is a TV natural!) and of WSJ op ed diva Peggy Noonan:

Right Move: Noonan Joins MSNBC


MSNBC Continues Conservative Shift With Noonan

If only MSNBC would really get a clue and can DNC poster boy Chris Matthews, who carries the water of their ideological Leftist Liberal preferred agenda.
He's the one (Press and Buchanan aren't helping, however) who kills the development of a loyal Conservative viewing audience.
Big time, as VP Cheney would say.

Say Lynch has amnesia

Rescued POW Jessica Lynch doesn't remember anything about her time in captivity in Iraq, according to reports.

Lynch, 19, who was snatched by Special Forces from an Iraqi hospital April 1, suffered severe injuries but has been unable to tell investigators how she was injured and whether she was mistreated, Fox News said.
[...]
She basically has amnesia, and has mentally blocked out the horrible things we strongly believe she went through," a U.S. official said. Lynch is being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Poor Jessica.
I guess we should still keep her on the daily prayer list.
I'm not worried about the U.S. having enough material to try certain Iraqis for war crimes, but I know that unless and until Private Lynch deals with these memories--as awful as I'm sure they are--she won't heal mentally or be able to get on with her life.
God Speed in your healing,Ms. Lynch.
May He give you the inner strength to deal with what the evil ones did to you and your fellow soldiers--it wasn't your fault.

May 04, 2003

Caption:Buddhist monks look on as a Marine honor guard carry the casket of Marine Cpl. Kemaphoom Chanawongse, of Waterford, Conn., during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Monday, April 28, 2003. Chanawongse was killed on March 23 during operations on the outskirts of Nasiriyah, Iraq. For the first time in memory, a Buddhist monk presided over an Arlington National Cemetery burial ceremony.

President George W. Bush on Operation Iraqi Freedom

Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our Coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.

In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace of the world. Our nation and our Coalition are proud of this accomplishment — yet, it is you, the members of the United States military, who achieved it. Your courage, your willingness to face danger for your country and for each other, made this day possible. Because of you, our nation is more secure. Because of you, the tyrant has fallen, and Iraq is free.

Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out with a combination of precision and speed and boldness the enemy did not expect, and the world had not seen before. From distant bases or ships at sea, we sent planes and missiles that could destroy an enemy division, or strike a single bunker. Marines and soldiers charged to Baghdad across 350 miles of hostile ground, in one of the swiftest advances of heavy arms in history. You have shown the world the skill and the might of the American Armed Forces.

This nation thanks all the members of our Coalition who joined in a noble cause. We thank the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland, who shared in the hardships of war. We thank all the citizens of Iraq who welcomed our troops and joined in the liberation of their own country. And tonight, I have a special word for Secretary Rumsfeld, for General Franks, and for all the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States: America is grateful for a job well done.

The character of our military through history — the daring of Normandy, the fierce courage of Iwo Jima, the decency and idealism that turned enemies into allies — is fully present in this generation. When Iraqi civilians looked into the faces of our servicemen and women, they saw strength and kindness and goodwill. When I look at the members of the United States military, I see the best of our country, and I'm honored to be your commander in chief.

In the images of falling statues, we have witnessed the arrival of a new era. For a hundred of years of war, culminating in the nuclear age, military technology was designed and deployed to inflict casualties on an ever-growing scale. In defeating Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Allied forces destroyed entire cities, while enemy leaders who started the conflict were safe until the final days. Military power was used to end a regime by breaking a nation.

Today, we have the greater power to free a nation by breaking a dangerous and aggressive regime. With new tactics and precision weapons, we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians. No device of man can remove the tragedy from war; yet it is a great moral advance when the guilty have far more to fear from war than the innocent.

In the images of celebrating Iraqis, we have also seen the ageless appeal of human freedom. Decades of lies and intimidation could not make the Iraqi people love their oppressors or desire their own enslavement. Men and women in every culture need liberty like they need food and water and air. Everywhere that freedom arrives, humanity rejoices; and everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.

We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We're pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime, who will be held to account for their crimes. We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated. We're helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself, instead of hospitals and schools. And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by, and for the Iraqi people.

The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our Coalition will stay until our work is done. Then we will leave, and we will leave behind a free Iraq.

The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 — and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men — the shock troops of a hateful ideology — gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the "beginning of the end of America." By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have failed.

In the battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the Taliban, many terrorists, and the camps where they trained. We continue to help the Afghan people lay roads, restore hospitals, and educate all of their children. Yet we also have dangerous work to complete. As I speak, a Special Operations task force, led by the 82nd Airborne, is on the trail of the terrorists and those who seek to undermine the free government of Afghanistan. America and our Coalition will finish what we have begun.

From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of Africa, we are hunting down al Qaeda killers. Nineteen months ago, I pledged that the terrorists would not escape the patient justice of the United States. And as of tonight, nearly one-half of al Qaeda's senior operatives have been captured or killed.

The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We've removed an ally of al Qaeda, and cut off a source of terrorist funding. And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because the regime is no more.

In these 19 months that changed the world, our actions have been focused and deliberate and proportionate to the offense. We have not forgotten the victims of September the 11th — the last phone calls, the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble. With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States. And war is what they got.

Our war against terror is proceeding according to principles that I have made clear to all: Any person involved in committing or planning terrorist attacks against the American people becomes an enemy of this country, and a target of American justice.

Any person, organization, or government that supports, protects, or harbors terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent, and equally guilty of terrorist crimes.

Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups and seeks or possesses weapons of mass destruction is a grave danger to the civilized world — and will be confronted.
And anyone in the world, including the Arab world, who works and sacrifices for freedom has a loyal friend in the United States of America.

Our commitment to liberty is America's tradition — declared at our founding; affirmed in Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms; asserted in the Truman Doctrine and in Ronald Reagan's challenge to an evil empire. We are committed to freedom in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in a peaceful Palestine. The advance of freedom is the surest strategy to undermine the appeal of terror in the world. Where freedom takes hold, hatred gives way to hope. When freedom takes hold, men and women turn to the peaceful pursuit of a better life. American values and American interests lead in the same direction: We stand for human liberty.

The United States upholds these principles of security and freedom in many ways — with all the tools of diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence, and finance. We're working with a broad Coalition of nations that understand the threat and our shared responsibility to meet it. The use of force has been — and remains — our last resort. Yet all can know, friend and foe alike, that our nation has a mission: We will answer threats to our security, and we will defend the peace.

Our mission continues. Al Qaeda is wounded, not destroyed. The scattered cells of the terrorist network still operate in many nations, and we know from daily intelligence that they continue to plot against free people. The proliferation of deadly weapons remains a serious danger. The enemies of freedom are not idle, and neither are we. Our government has taken unprecedented measures to defend the homeland. And we will continue to hunt down the enemy before he can strike.

The war on terror is not over; yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide. No act of the terrorists will change our purpose, or weaken our resolve, or alter their fate. Their cause is lost. Free nations will press on to victory.

Other nations in history have fought in foreign lands and remained to occupy and exploit. Americans, following a battle, want nothing more than to return home. And that is your direction tonight. After service in the Afghan — and Iraqi theaters of war — after 100,000 miles, on the longest carrier deployment in recent history, you are homeward bound. Some of you will see new family members for the first time — 150 babies were born while their fathers were on the Lincoln. Your families are proud of you, and your nation will welcome you.

We are mindful, as well, that some good men and women are not making the journey home. One of those who fell, Corporal Jason Mileo, spoke to his parents five days before his death. Jason's father said, "He called us from the center of Baghdad, not to brag, but to tell us he loved us. Our son was a soldier."

Every name, every life is a loss to our military, to our nation, and to the loved ones who grieve. There's no homecoming for these families. Yet we pray, in God's time, their reunion will come.

Those we lost were last seen on duty. Their final act on this Earth was to fight a great evil and bring liberty to others. All of you — all in this generation of our military — have taken up the highest calling of history. You're defending your country, and protecting the innocent from harm. And wherever you go, you carry a message of hope — a message that is ancient and ever new. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "To the captives, 'come out,' — and to those in darkness, 'be free.'"

Thank you for serving our country and our cause. May God bless you all, and may God continue to bless America.

Four days later, I'm still in "shock and awe" at how wonderful and moving this speech of President Bush's is and was.
It's hard to put into words how this makes me feel, but in the difficult days, weeks and months since 9/11, Bush and his fine Administration, aided by the U.S. military, have made being an American a spiritual experience for me as well as a beautiful reality that I affirm and live every day.
I don't know how to thank my President, his Cabinet and our troops for this in words, but please accept my humble gratitude for what you all do all day, every day and I can only pray that the little bit I do contributes to that living legacy of Liberty that we're all building just by living and cherishing our free lives together!
May God continue to bless America and her citizens and pour out His grace on President Bush.