war on terror

A reminder than the War on Terror is very real indeed appeared in Connecticut newspapers today. One of our better sons gave his life for freedom in Afghanistan

An Army reservist and native of Hamden who worked to provide clean water to villages in Uganda was killed while on patrol in Afghanistan Friday.Benjamin Sklaver, 32, son of Laura and Gary Sklaver of Hamden, was one of two soldiers killed in an ambush, his mother said Saturday.“We were told that his team was on patrol on foot in a town and they were ambushed by a suicide bomber,” Laura Sklaver said. 

I suggest one read the whole article to appreciate the sorts of people who are in our military today putting their lives on the line trying to improve the lives of people who have suffered under tyranny and despotism. Hopefully it should dispel the idea that we are fighting the war against Al-Queuda by bombing villages from a bomber cruising @40,000 feet.

This hits me personally because in a prior job I had the occassion to do a number of closings with Captain Sklaver's mom, who is a very well respected real estate attorney in Connecticut. My prayers tonight are with the Sklaver family, who mourn the loss of a life cut tragically short.

I'm not going to get into partisan politics on this, except to mention the the meeting the President had with the U.S. commander for Afghanistan Friday means a lot more to me than whether Chicago gets to play host to the Olympics.  Maybe its time we put things in perspective, folks

I recall that candidate Obama insisted that closing Gitmo was essential to restoring America to being held in high esteem in Europe/

Hmmm, maybe not.  

I am delighted to hear that I am not the only person in this country who thinks that the €430,000 per year which will be spent on protecting the Guantanamo Bay suspects in Ireland is an absolute disgrace, as per Neil McGonigle (Letters, July 31).

Once again, it is an indication of a Government worried about its international reputation instead of unemployment levels and the fact that it is going broke

Note to President Obama and the Left. Sure Europe likes to complain about U.S. foreign policy. But what in Wicca's name made you think they wanted to do anything about the problem here themselves?

Hey, it's not like the Irish don't have their own problems to deal with these days

Question to the foreign policy brain trust. Name me one country where we were able to relocate Gitmo detainees where the local government wasn;t excoriated by its own populace for signing on?

Maybe we should blame Bush for the fact that the rest of the world sorta covertly likes a unilateral America that mops up the world's messes by itself, while allowing everyone else to complain about the janitor. Bottom line to the "reality based community". No one else wants to pick up a mop. 

Franklin Roosevelt famously said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"

Might've made a great pep talk at the depths of the Great Depression, but it's lousy reasoning.  There are always plenty of things to fear.

Of course, being down on fear seems to be what the cool kids in class are into these days. Take this sunday newspaper columm.

Now President Obama has joined the bandwagon.

 our government made decisions based upon fear rather than foresight.....

Perhaps in the relaxed light of today's hindsight, Bush & Cheney made prompt decisions which we are not fully satisfied with now. Then again, when lower Manhattan was covered in ash Professor Obama was nearly a thousand miles away deconstructing the Consitution for his pupils. 

Fear is an acknowledgment of reality.  When we describe someone as "fearless", often it is a synonym for "foolhardy".  Of course, an absence of fear can yield inertia as well as impulsiveness. One who lacks fear may get smug, arrogant or fall into the trap of "paralysis by analysis" since the perceived danger seems far off and the discomfort of an effective response quite immediate.

The Obama team may argue our foreign policy was driven by fear. But in its most controversial aspect--the war in Iraq--it is hard to argue the ultimate decision was one made rashly or impulsively, as the run-up to war was lengthy and deliberate.    

Revisionism by the President today will not change the fact that among those who voted for war were  Joe Biden, Harry Reid and Chris Dodd.  . Does the President suggest these "leaders" are easily frightened?

No. this is a rhetorical flourish designed to appeal to those in the chattering classes who think sleep deprivation of a terrorist is a brilliant strategy grounded in behavioral science when a Democrat uses it, and is a descent into unspeakable barbarity when it is employed by a Republican.

Let's face it. President Obama is eager to trade in the currency of fear when he thinks it will buy him something he wants.

Consider the stimulus bill 

Obama painted a bleak picture if lawmakers do nothing.

 

In an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, the president argued that each day without his stimulus package, Americans lose more jobs, savings and homes. His message came as congressional leaders struggle to control the huge stimulus bill that's been growing larger by the day in the Senate. The addition of a new tax break for homebuyers Wednesday evening sent the price tag well past $900 billion.

"This recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse," Obama wrote in the newspaper piece

 

 or what his allies say about global warming.

Now it is a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid

Hmm, can we waterboard an oil refinery and get it tell us how to stop greenhouse gas production?

No, it appears some fear is more equal than others.

The sad thing is that if one argues American's foreign policy over the past decade was driven by fear, our economic system was marked by the removal of fear. Which removed accountability and restraint.

I turn to Robert Rodriguez's prescient article in the summer of 2007.

My talk today, Absence of Fear, is a follow up and expansion of the Special Commentary section that appeared in my March 31, 2007 shareholder reports. It will focus on the concept of RISK since there appears to be little concern about risk in the financial markets currently. My goal is not to scare or sensationalize, but to get investors to consider various risks and ask the basic question, "Am I being sufficiently compensated for these apparent risks?" ..

We are concerned that, after many years of an excessively easy monetary Fed policy, a bubble of massive proportions has been created in the housing market. Many experts believe that the housing cycle is at or nearing a trough or at least is at a stable level. We are not of this opinion. We do not believe you inflate prices and demand over at least a decade and then this over stimulation is corrected in barely 18 months. We are of the opinion that this bubble has infected many areas of the financial economy. I will detail more of this in the fixed income portion of my speech.

This article continues to describe the various iterations of the bubble and its bursting. But one thing is apparent. None of the participants were sufficiently fearful of the market. Home buyers assumed prices would increase forever. and that the refi window could never close. Mortgage brokers assumed they could always sell their paper. Rating agencies assumed that A paper circa 2005 was like A paper circa 2000.  Holders of mortgage bonds assumed their losses could always be covered by credit default swaps.  Rodriguez points to one systemic problem built into the process that turned out not to remove risk, but to conceal it.

We are of the opinion that the distancing of the borrower from the lender has contributed to the development of lax underwriting standards. Each participant, in the securitization/origination process, takes their ounce of payment, but no one truly worries about the underlying credit quality since the loan will be sold.....Finally, the securitization market and the multiplicity of products that have been created have never been truly tested in a major credit contraction like that of 1990-94. This is because most of today's securitization products did not exist back then

(Note: Evidently word of this information failed to reach Banking Committee Chairman Dodd at his campaign HQ in Des Moines)

Warren Buffet is credited with the line " be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others were greedy".  Seeing people lose their homes in the midst of the great real estate bubble I fully bought into this myself in the past decade. Alas, the entire financial economy pushed fear to the exits in the headlong pursuit of profit. In trying to create mechanisms to diffuse risk, they encouraged more of it.  

And lest this be thought of as an anti-capitalist rant, the politicians who brought you the Community Reinvestment Act  had no fear at all that our economy could absorb a virtually unlimited amount of subprime lending without adverse results. And the politicians all prided themselves with having a "light touch" as to regulation 

What would have happened if our private sector economy had been as driven by fear in the past decade as our foreign policy?  I would suggest we wouldn't be facing the debacle we stumbled into because we lacked fear.

President Obama wants to correct this situation. He wants to banish both greed and risk from the commercial marketplace.  There is an unpleasant word for this. though.

Socialism. 

On the main page, Jon Henke offers a template for Republican mea culpa that should allow us to move forward.  I agree with the assessment that we owe the American people an explanation of where we went wrong AND (let's not forget) where we went right over the past eight years.  That said, such a mea culpa has to concentrate on the issues where we actually WENT WRONG as opposed to the one major issue where George W. Bush sacrificed his personal popularity to lead the United States (and the entire world) to a better tomorrow.

On that note, these are the seven legitmate issues for a Republican Mea Culpa:

1) Terri Schivao

2) Harriet Miers

3) TARP and Bailout Nation.

4) 2002 and 2008 Farm Bills

5) Duke Cunningham, et. al.

6) 2005 Highway Bill

7) Continuing and expanding Carter/Clinton "affordable housing" policies.

Things that have NO PLACE on this list: IRAQ, Medicare Part D, Katrina, Missle Defense, or ANYTHING related to the War on Terror.

Agnostic: No Child Left Behind, Immigration.

Thoughts/Suggestions?!?

Having quoted Rush earlier today, I can't help coming up with my own self-indulgent 35 undeniable truths of life:

1) The New York Yankees represent everything that is right with America.

2) The Chicago Cubs represent everything that is wrong with America.

3) The Greatest Threat to World Peace comes not from a strong America, but from a weak America.

4) The only way to acheive real Peace is by having superior firepower vis a vis our enemies.

5) Conservatives revere the United States Military.  Liberals are, at best, ambivalent.  At worst, liberals express outright contempt for the U.S. Military.

6) Karl Rove was right: After 9/11, liberals offered therapy to our enemies; conservatives prepared for war.

7) The Prision at Guantanamo Bay has (quite literally) saved American Lives.

8) Liberals are more concerned with conferring rights upon terrorists and criminals than with protecting decent people.

9) Over the Long Run, dictatorships kill far more people than the wars that end dictatorships .

10) Iraq proves undeniable truth # 9.

11) Since 2003, more people have been killed in Iran, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Burma than have been killed in Iraq.

12) There are only two ways to end wars: Victory or Defeat.

13) The Man who threw his shoe at George W. Bush would never have done that to Saddam Hussein.

14) Persons who whine about alleged U.S. torture have no idea what real torture is.  Such persons will whine about anything the U.S. Miltary does to give meaning to their insignificant lives.  They are best ignored.

15) Israelis are morally superior to Palestians. 

16) Palestinians cannot be trusted until they suffer overwhelming military defeat.

17) Free-Market Capitalism is the best, and only, path to prosperity.

18) The American Consumer is the greatest force for good in human history.  The American Military is second.

19) Free Trade creates jobs and prevents wars.

20) Taxes are not too low; government spending is too high.

21) When Investment Tax Rates are lowered, the government collects more tax revenue.

22) Joe the Plumber knows more about economics than President Obama.

23) Paul Krugman is a pathological liar.

24) When politicians talk about "investments," they're coming for your wallet.

25) Targeted Tax Cuts are a euphemism for welfare.

26) Reprductive Freedom is a euphemism for murder.

27) Medicare Part D is the model for all future entitlement reform.

28) Californians ruined California.

29) Rudy Giuliani personally saved New York City.

30) Motley Crue is the Greatest Band of All Time.

31) Dave Matthews sucks.  If you listen to Dave Matthews, you suck.

32) See undeniable truth #31; ditto Jack Johnson, John Mayer, The Killers, or Fallout Boy.

33) Instant Replay is Good for the NFL; Major League Baseball should incorporate it.

34) Any country that allows fans of the New York Mets to marry already practices Gay Marriage.

35) Liberals want to make America more like Cuba.  Their reason for wanting this will always baffle me.

by Lance Thompson

The new occupant of the cornerless office wants to close the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay. At last, here is an issue I agree with him on.

Guantanamo Bay is a terrible place to imprison terrorists who want to kill Americans. It’s a tropical paradise with great food, comfortable accommodations and culturally sensitive religious services. It’s cleaner and more pleasant than the countries of origin of any of the inmates, and is far too good for them.

If we’re really looking for an appropriate place to house terrorists, I nominate Amchitka. This Aleutian island in the ice-dotted Bering Sea is United States territory, but less temperate than the Caribbean paradise that is Guantanamo. There are 100-mph winds called williwaws that blow from every direction and were strong enough to bend steel runway mats into pretzel-like modern art during World War II. When the wind dies down, the rocky, treeless volcanic island is shrouded in freezing fog or pelted by rain or hail. There are American military bases nearby, but escapees are not a concern. Even if an enterprising fence-hopper could swim ten miles through the frigid waters of the Bering Sea to the nearest land, it would simply reach aptly-named Rat Island where unchecked rodents have devoured the sea birds that once nested there. Amchitka has already served the United States as a military base and a location for underground nuclear tests, so it would be the perfect home away from home for unrepentant jihadists.

If the island of the midnight sun sounds too chilly for our sensitive prisoners of the terror war, sun-baked California and Nevada deserts also offer perfect locations for detention. Both states have large desolate regions designated as military test ranges, where our armed services practice firing their precision munitions. A sturdy dormitory in the center of one of these bombing ranges would offer a warmer climate, if somewhat noisier than Amchitka. Our military pilots and air controllers would be able to sharpen their skills by obliterating targets all around the facility, thus making escape a “you-bet-your-life” proposition. Of course, if the inmates’ housing facility were inadvertently leveled by a miscalculation, then obviously that soldier, sailor or Marine would require further training.

The tourist attraction of the abandoned federal prison on Alcatraz Island has also been mentioned as a possible Gitmo stand-in. It already has prison buildings and infrastructure, though it is cold and drafty, and I personally wouldn’t want to drink any water provided by the century-and-a-half-old plumbing. The facility is famously escape-proof, although I believe Clint Eastwood pulled it off once in the late 70's. A devout Islamic terrorist would never dare escape from the island to the city of San Francisco, lest that city’s well-known tolerance of sexual deviants precipitate an encounter that would disqualify him from his eternal reward.

I also understand that Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona volunteered to take the Gitmo homeless terrorists. But putting prisoners in tents, issuing them pink underwear, denying them cable television and internet connections, and forcing them to eat pbj sandwiches and apples for lunch like common criminals would probably be considered torture under the new rules, so I assume that possibility has been shelved.

Nonetheless, 250 terrorist prisoners, properly employed, could be a real boost to our economy. There are many worthwhile projects that have incredibly not been included in the stimulus bill that are awaiting manpower. For example, the Grand Canyon is inconveniently located in Arizona, favoring residents of the West. Gitmo grads could be put to work installing a new, man-made Grand Canyon at a more convenient site–perhaps in the featureless plains of the Midwest. With government-provided shovels and supervision, I’m sure the prisoners could make a good start long before their indefinite sentences expired.

Likewise, we are almost certain to experience another brutal hurricane season on the Gulf Coast. The Gitmo guys could be put to work building a levee from Texas to Florida, again with proper supervision. As an alternate, they could use their inherent familiarity with the desert to perform a related function–filling sand bags. Both of these projects would provide fresh air, exercise and also serve to make the prisoners too weary to escape.

So I join the President in looking forward to the closing of Guantanamo Bay. It is time we stopped coddling the enemies of this country, call off their government-subsidized vacations, and put them in facilities that properly reward their efforts. At least until their rooms are ready in the infernal regions.

http://www.lowdowncentral.com/feature-article/2009/2/2/close-gitmo-open-amchitka.html

Iraq's provincial elections go off without a hitch.  Money quote:

BAGHDAD —  Iraqis passed through security checkpoints and razor-wire cordons to vote Saturday in provincial elections that are considered a crucial test of the nation's stability as U.S. officials consider the pace of troop withdrawals. There were no reports of major violence.

Polls closed at 6 p.m. (9 a.m. CST) on Saturday — an hour later than planned — after millions of voters cast ballots for influential regional councils around most of Iraq.

Officials said counting would begin Sunday with preliminary results not expected before Tuesday.

Click here for photos.

Voting ended with no reports of major violence, though voters at some polling stations complained that their names did not appear on lists. Balloting was extended for one hour

This successful election moves us one step closer to George W. Bush's vision of a free and democratic Iraq, at peace with it's neighbors, that is an ally in the War on Terror.  For midwifeing this day, George W. Bush deserves tremendous credit for three monumental decisions:

1) The Initial Liberation -- Six years ago, Iraq was enslaved to one of the worst tyrants in human history.  In addition to his (documented) support for Al Qaeda, said tyrant was involved in all sorts of nefarious activity.  George W. Bush quite rightly realized that said situation was unacceptable on both security and moral grounds; where others offered talk, George W. Bush acted.  In removing Saddam Hussein from power, George W. Bush did more to advance American security interests in the Middle East than any President in American History.

2) Making Democracy Central -- Following the success of the initial liberation, George W. Bush could have taken the easy way out and installed a pro-American dictator.  Many on the right urged George W. Bush to do just that.  Unlike his father, George W. Bush understood that backing a new tyrant would be counterproductive in the long run.  George W. Bush realized  previous American support for tyrants was the only legitimate greivance the terrorists could claim.  Courageous decisions like making democracy central from courageous leaders like George W. Bush make days like January 31, 2009 possible.

3) The Surge -- This might have been the greatest act of Presidential Leadership in the past century.

 In January 2007, the odds against success in Iraq appeared overwhelming to everyone except George W. Bush and his core political supporters.  The fact that the consequences of defeat would have been catastrophic for the United States didn't register in the public consciousness.

Following his public repudiation in November 2006, George W. Bush could have spent the final two years of his Presidency cowering under the bed apologizing for liberating 25 million men and women; the drive-by media might have praised George W. Bush for "growing in office," his poll numbers might have even gone up.  Instead, George W. Bush told the Washington D.C. wizards of smart to go Blagojevich themselves and George W. Bush adopted a new strategy.   Like Lincoln in 1864, George W. Bush finally found his General Grant and General Sherman.  Like 1864, the turnaround was swift and dramatic.

Bush (43's) Iraq Policy (in it's final interation) was so successful it made Iraq irrelevant to the contest to pick his successor.

All in all, a job well done by our underappreciated 43rd President!

http://theinvisiblehand.typepad.com

Everyone preparing for the next presidential election, and that includes you Sarah, get ready for this "gotcha" question, "So can you explain in your own terms the OBAMA DOCTRINE?" Well, Mr. Gibson, the Obama doctrine is the USA's foreign policy toward rogue nations and it goes like this: Step One: Extend a open hand; Step Two: Do an Interview on the station with ties to that rogue nation and explain why America is wrong; Step Three: Write a letter filled with hope, love and a heartfelt apology to that Nation's leader; READ FULL STORYStep Four: Sit Down and have a Coke with the leader of that rogue nation; Step Five: Sing the Coke Song;

Finally, Step Six: World Peace!!!You got that you potential Presidential Nominees, There is now no WAR ON TERROR, only the OBAMA DOCTRINE, learn it, live it, & love it.-LEX REX

The MSM, reporting from Gaza City is once again showing its bias against Israel. By reporting an Israeli reaction to an act of violence at the beginning of an article, the intent is to cast the IDF and Israel in the worst possible light. The roadside bomb which killed an Israeli soldier and wounded three others, mentioned initially in the second paragraph without explanation and then in the third paragraph where you finally see for the first time that the air strike, the lead idea in the report, was in response to an attack on an Israeli patrol.

The writer of the article then attempts to place a few doubts in the reader's mind as to the true nature of the exchange. First, the reader is told that Israel threatened responses to violations of the cease fire. This is written specifically to label one party "Israel" and not label the other party so that the accountability falls on Israel. Since withdrawing its troops, Israel has threatened to retaliate hard for any violations of the truce. Notice the way that a fact {Israel withdrew her military and will try to enforce the cease fire} is mangled into a statement breeding mistrust - a play on the sneaky Jew mythology. It seems to say, "those Israelis are just looking for an excuse to attack".

The reader then moves on to ...Gazans struggle to resume normal.... The reader is supposed to think, if only the Israelis would leave alone the peace loving arabians in Gaza, they would be able to re-build their homes and cities that were shattered by Israeli bombardment. No mention is made of Israeli cities trying to recover from bombings and shellings. Renewed warfare would return a wave of rockets into Israel.

After an attempt to rehabilitate Hamas as a reputable organization that would never think of confiscating money sent by donors to relieve the non-combatant population {never mind this was going on during the conflict} a minuscule attempt to remind the reader that Hamas is a terrorist organization with a wanted leader (Ismail Haniyeh) is easily overlooked given the drama of the article itself.

The writer's bias is on display as an attempt to sub-consciously remind the reader of the slant that Israel used "dis-proportionate" force is found in the next part of the report

After Tuesday's bomb blast, heavy gunfire was heard along the border in central Gaza and Israeli helicopters hovered in the air firing machine gun bursts, Palestinian witnesses said. An Israeli jet set off a loud sonic boom over Gaza City not long afterward, possibly as a warning.

For one measly little road side bomb, an IED after all, the IDF responds with overwhelming force and executes collective punishment. Oh, those evil Jews.

Its one thing to write the normally biased report and to write badly. Its another to report half facts and to ignore facts.

In the days immediately following the cease-fire there was shelling by Israeli gunboats and some gunfire along the border — including the killing of two men Palestinian officials identified as farmers — but there were no serious clashes until Tuesday.

Somehow forgotten was Hamas rocket attacks against Israel http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480445,00.html after the cease fire. See also http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2009/01/video-hamas-rocket-launcher-between-two.html  Israel Matzav report and video.

Moving right along the reporter makes no effort to tell the reader that he is about to quote a major arabian death cultist. We are just supposed to assume he is another member of the respected and beloved religion of peace:

Although there was no claim of responsibility, Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas leader, said Israel was to blame for continuing to fire into Gaza. Al-Masri said his group had not agreed to a full cease-fire but only to a "lull" in fighting."The Zionists are responsible for any aggression," he said.

Masri believes the cease-fire is a hudna. Hamas just needs some time to catch its breath, reload, rearm and rest a little while the international world gleefully rests on it laurels of once again interfering with the Israeli right of self-defense.

Masri is merely labeled "a Hamas leader" in the McPaper article. In http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019182.php  a December 2007 article he is quoted as reported by JihadWatch as speaking to a Hamas rally,  

In another speech to the rally, senior Hamas official Mushir al-Masri warned Israel to expect many casualties if troops invade the coastal territory in an attempt to stop almost daily rocket firing by militants into Israel.

"Jews, go back, because we have already dug graves for you," Masri said. Israel carries out regular raids on Gaza and has killed dozens of militants in the past month.

Finally, we have the summary paragraph: 

Israel wants an end to Hamas rocket attacks and guarantees that Hamas will be prevented from smuggling weapons into Gaza from Egypt. Hamas has demanded that Israel and Egypt reopen Gaza's border crossings, which have been largely closed since Hamas took power. The crossings are Gaza's economic lifeline.

See the problem? Hamas, the terrorist organization with stated goals to kill Jews and destroy Israel has had it's border crossings legitimately shut off by Israel(not necessarily so successfully). <i>The crossings are Gaza's economic lifeline</i>. Since when has Hamas attempted to build any economic system? The first thing that happened when Israel withdrew from Gaza was the destruction of the business infrastructure that existed. Yet, this "factoid" in the article remains unquestioned. Worse, this false statement is meant to be the fulcrum's center point against Israel's demand that cities inside Israel should be free of random rocket and mortar fire. The writer is attempting to equate denial of weapons to terrorists with the use of those same weapons against civilian populations. In the mind of the antiJew, the Jews are just as guilty as their harassers - moral equivalency must reign. Both sides must come to terms.

original article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-01-27-israel-gaza-tuesday_N.htm

The best evidence that a very quick final status treaty may well follow an Israeli victory over Hamas is the attempt by Hamas to move against the internal opposition. Fatah, which ironically can condemn the attack (a false show of solidarity) on one hand and be a significant beneficiary on the other will be enhanced both politically and strategically in Gaza even if Hamas is not destroyed. From a pure tactical perspective, destroying Hamas is not in Israel's interest. Balancing out the facts on the ground between Hamas and Fatah is. Hamas's does not count in its goals a political victory against Israel, only one soaked in Jewish blood chas v'shalom.

more