April 10, 2004

US won't withhold loans on account of fence

The US will not withhold loan guarantees to Israel on account of the security fence, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate Appropriations Committee late Thursday.

Well, this should make for a happy Pessach in Israel!
IIRC, this is an about-face in our policy, where previously we'd said that we would deduct from the loans because of our disapproval of the fence...and the Israelis built it anyway.
Nice to see this formal acknowledgement that the fence is a good thing and that we're behind Israel's need for it.
(And the sooner we officially recognize that Israel is one of our most critical allies in the WOT and that the Intifada was the first 9/11 attack that launched the Islamists war against the West in the 21st Century, the better I'll feel and the more effectively we can fight the IslamoFascists.)

U.S. Increases Military Strength in Fallujah

Hundreds of reinforcements joined Marines besieging Fallujah on Saturday, and the U.S. military said it would move to take the city if cease-fire talks fail. Fighting raged through the center of the country, killing 40 Iraqis and an American airman.

In what could be a step toward quelling the violence, the rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is negotiating with several members of the Iraqi Governing Council to end the Shiite uprising in the center and south of Baghdad, a member of the council told Reuters.
[Wise move, Moqtada! The secret is to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em and you ain't got squat!--Jen]
[...]
Gunfire crackled in the city, even as Iraqi government negotiators met with Fallujah leaders to persuade them to hand over militants who killed and mutilated four Americans in here on March 31. Insurgents offered to call a truce if U.S. troops leave Fallujah — a condition the Americans appeared unlikely to accept.
[These terrorists are almost hilarious!
"Even though we're getting badly creamed, we demand you stop kicking our butts and give us what we want!"
Too funny!--j.t.]

Nearly 60,000 Fallujah residents, about a third of the population, have fled over the past two days, a Marine commander said.
[...]

Elsewhere, militants hit a U.S. air base with mortars in Balad, north of Baghdad, killing an airman. Other fighters attacked government buildings and police stations in Baqouba, setting off firefights in which about 40 Iraqis were killed. Several U.S. troops were wounded, said Capt. Issam Bornales, spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade.

Insurgents also fought U.S. troops in Baghdad's northern, mainly Sunni neighborhood of al-Azamiyah.

Masked gunmen caused havoc on the road between Baghdad and Fallujah, a key supply route, rocketing a second fuel convoy in the area in as many days. Nearby, guerrillas hit a U.S. tank with an rocket-propelled grenade, setting it ablaze.
[...]
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt called on Fallujah's insurgents to join a bilateral cease-fire. But he said a third battalion of Marines had moved to the city — joining two battalions totaling 1,200 troops and a battalion of nearly 900 Iraqi security forces.

Kimmitt warned that if talks between city leaders and members of the Iraqi Governing Council failed, the military would consider renewing its assault on Fallujah. Marine commanders were skeptical negotiations would succeed.

"The prospect of some city father walking in and making 'Joe Jihadi' give himself up are pretty slim," said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Batallion, 5th Marine Regiment.

"What is coming is the destruction of anti-coalition forces in Fallujah ... they have two choices: Submit or die," he told reporters.
[...]

Kimmitt said Marines were respecting a unilateral halt in offensive operations called Friday but said gunmen continued to fire on troops, who were responding.

"Were we not at this point observing suspension of offensive operations ... it could well have been that we would have had the entire the city by this point," Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad.

Asked what he hoped from the negotiations — in which U.S. officials were not taking part — Kimmitt said: "We would like to hear that they will lay down their arms ... (and) are prepared to turn over the perpetrators of the attacks on the Americans."

He said 60 insurgents have been captured in the Fallujah campaign so far, including five foreign Arabs.
[...]
In the south, the militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr remained in control of Karbala and nearby Najaf and Kufa.
[But we retook Kut yesterday!] Braced for an American assault, hundreds of militiamen with assault rifles roamed the streets and guarded makeshift checkpoints.
[...]
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are in Karbala and other Shiite cities to mark al-Arbaeen, the end of the mourning period for a 7th-century martyred Shiite saint. Ceremonies last until Sunday night.
[The Muslims can't stand it that we have Easter and Passover so they dreamed up this one to get in on the holiday.]

U.S. forces continued to fight gunmen in Kut, where hundreds of troops moved in Friday to wrest the city from the control of al-Sadr's militia. An AC-130 gunship and helicopters blasted militia positions as the Americans seized police stations and government buildings, Kimmitt said.
[...]
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, meanwhile, made a surprise visit to Italian troops in the southern city of Nasiriyah, which saw fighting with al-Sadr followers earlier in the week but has largely become quiet in the meantime.

"I bring you the embrace of the Italians," he told the troops. "Your actions are in support of peace, for the fight against terrorism, and in defense of democracy."

What a great guy Silvio is! Bravo!

So the battle goes apace...and we will win, of course.
I can't believe the partisan Left (both media and pols) whining about how Iraq is "Vietnam" and a "quagmire" and opining that we might even lose to the Mahdi army! Unbelievable.
This is the U.S. military, my friends...and the troops of her fine allies.
Lose? Fuggedaboutit.
These guys couldn't stop our march up to Baghdad a year ago when they were an "organized" army.
Their 8-year war with Iran in the '80's was a draw.
And they're now looking down the guns of the leanest, meanest, fighting machine on the planet!
Even with clear superiority, you can tell that Brig. Gen. Kimmit is holding the Marines back to minimize casualties.
If the jihadis insist, we will kill them.
If they're smart (which I don't think they are), they'll surrender.
But we will win the day and the victory and then we can go back to peacefully establishing democracy in Iraq without the interference and murder instigated by Islamist theocratic wannabe dictators like al-Sadr and his little band of killing fanatics.

April 09, 2004

RICE THRIVES IN THE COOKER

Condoleezza Rice aggressively defended the White House yesterday, insisting that President Bush was alert to the possibility of domestic terror attacks but lacked specific information about 9/11.

During a dramatic three- hour appearance before the federal commission investigating the attacks, a poised and firm Rice said the White House didn't have a "silver bullet" that would have prevented Sept. 11.

"The problem is that the United States was effectively blind to what was about to happen to it," Rice, the national security advisor, testified under oath.

"One of the problems here was there really was nothing that looked like it was going to happen inside the United States."

The threats pointed to possible targets overseas, Rice said, adding, "We weren't on war footing."

Rice's nationally televised remarks - aimed at rebutting recent harshly critical statements from former counterterror czar Richard Clarke - generally won praise from a politically mixed Post panel of six New Yorkers.

"I think she did very well," said Post panelist Morgan Friedman, 28, a political independent who's a computer programmer from Brooklyn.

Disputing claims by Clarke, Rice insisted in her testimony that Bush "understood the threat [from terrorism] and he understood its importance."

Clarke, interviewed on ABC[For whom he now works...!--Jen], complimented Rice for a "very good job" in her testimony, and challenged her on only one factual point.

He said he had asked "several times" before the Sept. 11 attacks to brief Bush on terrorism, while Rice said he had not.

Former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey, a commission member, slammed Rice for her statement that Bush was waiting to strike bin Laden because he was tired of "swatting at flies" and wanted a more comprehensive approach.

"We only swatted a fly once, on the 20th of August 1998. We didn't swat any flies afterwards. How the hell could he be tired?" said Kerrey, referring to the missile strikes in Sudan and Afghanistan ordered by Clinton in 1998.

Rice responded, "It was simply a figure of speech."

She turned the tables on Kerrey and seemed to fluster him by citing a speech he had given in which he called for military action against Saddam Hussein.
[Woohoo! You go, Condi!--j.t.]

Relatives of those killed in the 9/11 attacks, many with photos of their smiling loved ones pinned to their jackets, listened intently in a packed hearing room as testified.

After her testimony, Rice shook hands with some family members and embraced several others.

Rosemary Dillard, whose husband was on the plane that hit the Pentagon, hugged Rice, although she said she wasn't completely happy with her answers to the panel.

"I don't know if we'll ever find out what genuinely happened," Dillard said.

Widow Beverly Eckert, who took copious notes throughout the hearing, said, "I don't think the commission made any progress whatsoever.

"The witnesses have made it very difficult for the commission to do its job."

Another widow, Kristen Breitweiser, could barely contain her anger while listening to members of the commission commend Rice as a strong witness.

"I wanted her to be more forthcoming, more concise in her answers," Breitweiser said.
[Ah, yes, Ms. Breitweiser, the ubiquitous basher of the Bush Administration, always ready to give a sound byte to the Lying Liberal Left media!]

Questions from some members of the commission - made up of five Republicans and five Democrats - were at times sharp, and Rice clashed with them over how the administration had handled a rise in terror-threat warnings during the summer before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Lawyer Richard Ben-Veniste, a Democratic commission member, pressed Rice to say whether she ever revealed to Bush that Osama bin Laden's terrorist sleeper cells were active in the United States.

"Did you tell the president?" he asked.

Rice started to answer, but Ben-Veniste cut her off and the two bickered before she conceded: "I really don't remember, commissioner, whether I discussed this with the president."

In another tense exchange, Ben-Veniste asked Rice to identify the title of a presidential daily brief given to Bush in Aug. 6, 2001, while he was on vacation at his Texas ranch.

"I believe the title was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States,' " Rice said, trying to elaborate before Ben-Veniste again cut her off.

"No, Mr. Ben-Veniste . . . I would like to finish my point here," Rice responded.

"I didn't know there was a point," Ben-Veniste shot back.

Rice said the Aug. 6 memo contained historical threat information about the domestic danger of al Qaeda, but no specific terror threat warnings that pointed to an upcoming strike.

"It did not warn of attacks inside the United States," she said. "It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no new threat information."

The White House plans to declassify the presidential brief so that it can be made public.

The commission yesterday also heard from former President Bill Clinton behind closed doors.

Hmmm. I almost wish I could have been a fly on the wall for Slick's explanation for how he blew 12 opportunities to get OBL, but then again, I'm sure Bubba had some elaborate and long-winded excuses at the ready. What a POS.

As for Condi, I've been a fan of the NSA "Warrior Princess" for a long time and yesterday, she didn't disappoint--stating her case firmly, decisively and knowledgeably.
In fact, watching her in action with those Dem snakes on the 9/11 commission made me want to hear from her a lot more often, say as President Condi in 2008!

Tender moment ... US Marines pray over fallen buddy

Prayers for dead buddy

GRIEF-stricken US Marines huddle together in prayer over the body of a dead pal yesterday.

For a few precious moments of mourning the tough troopers turned from the fury of battle at Fallujah to bid him farewell.

The Marines had fought hard to keep their buddy alive. They had bound his head wound after he was hit by shrapnel, then defied enemy fire to carry him to a first-aid post. But nothing could save him.

The casualty was among more than 40 Americans killed so far this week. At least 480 Iraqi rebels died in the same period.

The bodies of some Americans have yet to be recovered. An official said: “We dare not reach them because of the fighting.”

The photo says it all: these are the kind of fine young men (and women) who fight for us and our freedom and security. Thank you, Lord.
May God rest those who fell this week and comfort their bereaved family and loved ones.
I mourn with all my heart every life lost in Operation Iraqi Freedom--would God that we didn't have to lose anyone-- but at times like this, these great good men and women in uniform realize that there are some things worth fighting and even, if it comes to that, dying for.
God bless them even more for their sacrifice.
"Greater love hath no man than this, than that he would lay down his life for his friend."
I just want our Marines and soldiers to know that your friends and fellow Americans, like myself, here on the homefront are praying for your safe and victorious return home someday soon.
May God keep you from harm and go before you into battle.

April 08, 2004

Japan Says It Has `No Reason' to Withdraw Iraq Troops

Japan has "no reason'' to withdraw its troops from Iraq after Qatar's Al-Jazeera television station reported kidnappers are holding three Japanese journalists, a spokesman for the Pacific nation said.
[This, even in spite of the fact that the terrorists were threatening to "burn them alive."--Jen]
[...]
In Italy, the government said it had no intention of withdrawing its 3,000 soldiers from Iraq after three days of clashes in which 15 were injured. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, who declined to be named, repeated defense Minister Antonio Martino's assurance Wednesday that Italian troops would remain.

Ukraine to keep troops in Iraq

UKRAINE vowed Thursday to keep its force of some 1,600 soldiers in southern Iraq even though mounting violence forced them to retreat from the volatile town of Kut to their base.

A senior Ukrainian military figure confirmed that Ukrainian soldiers had left Kut "because they did not have the means to engage in combat."

"Peacekeepers are not meant to get involved in battle," Interfax quoted Deputy Chief of Staff Oleg Sibeshenko as saying.

Could we get these Ukrainians some guns or ammo and whatever else they need to get the job done or will that be a problem?

April 05, 2004

I'll be taking a few days off from posting while I move house, so wish me well and as Ahnold would say, "I'll be back."
Check out Belmont Club, Rantburg or Lucianne for war news while I'm away.