July 08, 2005

Italy to Start Iraq Troop Pullout in Fall

Italy plans to begin withdrawing some of its troops from Iraq in September, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Friday.

Speaking at the end of the G-8 summit, Berlusconi said the withdrawal plans could change because they depend on security conditions on the ground and denied it was linked to any terrorist threats against Italy.
[...or that yesterday's attacks in London had scared him into it?--Jen]
[...]

Berlusconi indicated that the intention to start pulling the troops out was not the consequence of threats against Italy or himself that appeared recently on the Web, saying that he had "grown used to them, even though I do not underestimate these threats."

It doesn't bode well for anyone that Berlusconi chose today, the day after London's horror, to make this announcement.
The terrorists may be led to believe that if they could Italy to withdraw some troops by attacking London, then they could get Italy's leader to pull out all their troops with a hit on Italy.
For shame, Silvio--this looks like Spanish cowardice!

Amid Condemnations of the London Bombings, Arabs Debate Where to Place the Blame - from TBO.com

Islamic leaders condemned the London bombings, though many on Friday insisted the United States and Britain, with their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are ultimately to blame for fueling militant violence. Increasing voices, however, say the Arab world has to stop adding "but" to its denunciations of terrorism.
[This can't be said enough times!--Jen]

Thursday's attack came as a double shock in the Middle East, occurring the same day that al-Qaida militants announced they had killed Egypt's top diplomat in Iraq after kidnapping him and judging him an "apostate" for his country's support of the United States.
[As the ambassador to Iraq, he was also a representative of Mubarak, who's been allowing democratic, anti-sharia reforms into Egyptian government and elections.--J.T.]

The bombings also targeted a city with enormous influence in the Arab world: London is home to some of the most widely read Arab-language newspapers and to many Arab exiles - including Islamic fundamentalists.

"This is a disaster, but even disasters can bring good things. It's a chance for Muslims to show they want to live together" peacefully with Westerners, Tunisian Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi, who lives in exile in London, told Al-Jazeera, one of the Middle East's most popular satellite channels.
[Clearly, it was NOT a chance to show that Muslims want to live together peacefully with Westerners, or there wouldn't have been any attacks!--Jen]
"Extremism and violence cannot resolve any issue."
"If the British government committed crimes in Afghanistan or Iraq, that doesn't mean the British people are fair targets," he said.
[The British government has not committed any crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, but even if they had, that's still no excuse for murder.
"They made me do it." should have disappeared from these peoples' lives when they turned the age of 4, but it hasn't.
For some ungodly reason, too many otherwise intelligent and reasonable people among us accept the Muslims' excuses for random mass killing and let them escape blame for what is nothing but blood lust and a global blood feud grudge match that they've invented out of thin air.
Even animals don't kill each other for no reason whatsoever, but we give these people a pass due to their religion?]

The chain of blasts in central London, claimed by an al-Qaida-linked group, once again had Arabs walking a fine line: denouncing bloodshed and terrorism while trying to explain the presence growth of Islamic militancy.

"We are not trying to justify, only to analyze," wrote Abdel-Bari Atwan, who lives in London and is editor-in-chief of the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper. "We or any of our family members or friends could have been among the victims in London."
[And if they had been, they would have been thought of as "apostate collaborators" with the West, which is what they're not going to say in the Western press.]
"But we must emphasize that the wars being waged now against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestine are the best way to recruit more terrorists and to expand the circle of armed attacks in the entire world," he said.
[Don't believe it for a moment!
What war were we waging against the Muslims when they attacked us on 9/11?
As a matter of fact, we were fighting on the side of Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo on 9/11.
If they can't point to something like the WOT, they'll make something up.
OBL's still mad that the "Crusader" Spaniards kicked the Muslims out of Spain in 1492!]

That stance was exactly what Khaled al-Huroub, a Palestinian writer living in Cambridge, England, said Arabs must avoid.
"It's wrong even to say this is a crime we condemn but we must understand the reasons behind it - this could be seen as a justification," he wrote in the London-based Arab daily Al-Hayat.
He called for "a clear-cut position, with no 'buts', calling a crime as it deserves to be called."
[Yes, he's right, but I'm afraid he's in the minority when it comes to how the Religion of Pieces feels about jihadi murder.]

The mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheik Abdulaziz al-Sheik, condemned the attacks, saying the bombings violated the tenets of Islam forbidding the killing of innocents.
[As I said above, they don't really think that their fellow Muslims are "innocents" if they collaborate and join in with the lives of the infidels while in the Dar al Harb.]
"The family of Islam must act and show the truth ... that Islam is the religion of reform and goodness," said al-Sheik, the highest religious official in the kingdom.
[I've seen very little evidence of this whatsoever.--Jen]

However, the Friday prayer sermons at Saudi Arabia's main mosques in Mecca and Medina made no mention of the bombings.

In Jerusalem, prayer leader Yousef Abu Sneineh urged the West to "rethink their policies toward Islam and toward the issues of the Islamic people."
[Oh, that's already happening, but not in the way you'd like!]
"Where was the American civilization - and that of its allies - when they attacked Iraq and Sudan?
[I don't know what he means here...Except when Bill Clinton bombed the aspirin factory in Khartoum, we haven't "attacked" Sudan!
In fact, the current war in Sudan is being waged by Muslims against Christians and animists and even other Muslims.]
Where was the Russian civilization when it attacked Chechnya?" said Sneineh at the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest shrine in Islam.
[I don't know why we tend to leave out Chechnya as part of the WOT, because this is also strongly linked to Al Queda and OBL.
The Pankisi Gorge in Georgia was one of their biggest training and plotting grounds after Afghanistan.
As Ethel Fenig at the American Thinker points out, Chechen attacks on the Moscow theatre in 2002 and the horrible siege of schoolchildren in Beslan in 2004 were some of the most disgusting and horrifying attacks of a growing list of atrocious jihadi terror slaughters, a list that was made larger by one yesterday.]
Others were more direct with their condemnations and sympathies for the victims.
In Gaza City, worshippers left the Ze Noran mosque after hearing a sermon decrying violence in the name of their faith.

"God taught us to be wise and He teaches us that Islam is a religion of mercy and wisdom," said Khaled Salah, a 45-year-old teacher. "No doubt that many (British) committed crimes against us, but nothing can justify random killings."
[To reiterate, neither the British nor the Americans have "committed crimes" against any of these people!
Learn it. Love it. Live it.]
Egypt's biggest newspaper, the state-run Al-Ahram daily, ran a banner headline proclaiming a "black day of terrorism," with lead stories on the London bombings and the slaying of diplomat Ihab al-Sherif, who was abducted in Baghdad late Saturday.

During a prayer sermon at Cairo's Sayeda Zainab mosque, Egypt's mufti Ali Gomaa called al-Sherif a "martyr," saying those who killed him were "thugs" who will "spend eternity in hell.

Here we have the phenomenon of one group of Muslims called al-Sherif a "martyr" and another group calling him an "apostate."
I give up.
Islam is the beast that spawns radicalized, militarized and murderous Islamist violence.
Unless and until they begin to separate themselves out from the jihadi killers, we must assume that all Muslims either condone, support or outright participate in these terrorist attacks.
While this may seem unfair that a small percentage determine how billions of followers should be regarded, it is nonetheless true that although not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslim.
Something's gotta give and we know it's not going to be us and a lot of nice talk about condemning the attacks and saying that "murdering innocents is wrong" while London's first responders are still taking out bodies isn't going to get 'er done.
Today being the Muslim Sabbath, every mosque on the planet should have heard a sermon utterly condemning any Muslim connection to yesterday's bombings in London--but, except for a few like the one in Gaza where the worshippers walked out--they did not.
This speaks volume about the culpability of all Muslims and also that the attacks are instigated from the Muslim "pulpit."
If the attacks originate at the pulpit, they could also be stopped starting there, too.
We've been waiting for those sermons here in America since 9/11, at least...now, Britain joins us.
One of these days, we might quit "Waiting for Godot," i.e. waiting for what will never come, and realize that God helps those who help themselves.
It's long past time for waiting for the crazy jihadists to "see sense" and high time to kill them (or at least stop, arrest and incarcerate them) before they kill more of us, regardles of the "reasons" they do it.

(Charles Moore of the Daily Telegraph asks "Where is Islam's Ghandi or Martin Luther?" and has more thoughts and questions about the problem here.

Here's the Times of London with a good basic article on yesterday's London jihadi bombings:
London bombs
I was so shocked and upset that I wasn't able to blog about the London bombings yesterday, so if that makes me a bad blogger, I have no defense except that I've lived in London, used the Underground every day to reach my classes at the University of London and actually had to visit Tavistock Place (where the bus bomb exploded) and I could only too easily imagine myself as one of the victims.
If you're able to hang with me, I'll blog more later, but suffice it to say that my prayers, love and support have been with the people of Great Britain since 4:00 Dallas time yesterday morning.
In this war as in the last 3, we are with you and stand with you shoulder-to-shoulder against the foe.
But we both have a lot of work to do after the tears for the innocent victims are shed.

July 05, 2005

Bush Cool to Blair on Climate

As world leaders prepared for a major summit, President Bush said Monday that he would not substantially change his stance on global warming to reward British Prime Minister Tony Blair for his support of the war in Iraq..
[You've gotta believe that the MSM put the question to President Bush this way--what a setup!--Jen]

"I really don't view our relationship as one of quid pro quo," Bush said. "Tony Blair made decisions on what he thought was best for keeping the peace and winning the war on terror, as I did."

Reiterating his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol that mandates targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, Bush told Britain's ITV1 channel that he would reject any measures that "look like Kyoto." The United States is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, but Bush has rejected the treaty because its provisions, he said, would "wreck the U.S. economy."

Trust the President on this one!
The man knows...and "global warming" is a crock of hooey!
(Read Michael Critchon's "State of Fear" for the delicious 4-1-1.)
Bush wouldn't be in this PR quagmire with the Libs if Bill Clinton hadn't gotten it into to his head to sign Kyoto (or did Slick get Algore to sign if for him?), because Congress overwhelmingly voted it down and would do so again, I dare say.
Kyoto is just another attempt to try and cripple globalization and capitalism and the countries that are good at it, especially the U.S.A.

July 04, 2005

Read these words again and celebrate the American idea that was timely in 1776 and is still vibrant now, 229 years later:
Declaration of Independence
Thank you, Founding Fathers, for giving birth to the greatest nation on God's earth!
Let Freedom Ring!
I want to wish our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan defending Freedom a special Happy Independence Day: Freedom isn't free, so thank you for paying the price to keep it--you're the best and we love you and are grateful and so very proud of you.
You know it must have actually hurt the lying Left MSM to report this:
Poll: U.S. patriotism continues to soar