H/t to Ed Morriseey at Hot Air
Here’s a part of the definition of patriotism that Barack Obama seems to have forgotten in his speech the other day: Patriotism is celebrating the defeat of those who have killed and want to continue killing Americans and who want to destroy the American nation. But Barack shouldn’t really feel that bad; apparently most of the msm and the Democratic party as an entity have also forgotten.
According to this story, Read the rest of this entry »
Nothing like cutting through the B.S.
From the New York Times.
Foreign terrorism suspects held at the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba have constitutional rights to challenge their detention there in United States courts, the Supreme Court ruled, 5 to 4, on Thursday in a historic decision on the balance between personal liberties and national security.
“The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the court.
The ruling came in the latest battle between the executive branch, Congress and the courts over how to cope with dangers to the country in the post-9/11 world. Although there have been enough rulings addressing that issue to confuse all but the most diligent scholars, this latest decision, in Boumediene v. Bush, No. 06-1195, may be studied for years to come. Read the rest of this entry »
What idiots. From the BBC: (h/t Weasel Zippers)
Islamic terrorists want war. They want suffering – among others and their own people alike.
They would surely surmise that McCain will give them what they want. Bin Laden himself intervened with what many thought was the effect of keeping President Bush in power in 2004 with that weird tape just before the poll.
I think al-Qaeda would back McCain – that is not an argument for or against America backing him, but it seems to me that the vague assumption that the terrorists would back a lefty is lazy thinking.. Read the rest of this entry »
Hard to believe an article at The Huffington Post is worthy of mentioning as a good piece but here it is. It’s by Michael Shermer about the nuts in the 9/11 twoofer movement and how he has been hounded by them after a article appeared in the magazine he edits, The Skeptic, which delved into that crazy movement:
What’s going on here? As Bill Maher discovered one day during the taping of his HBO series “Real Time,” their goal is just to be heard–in any venue at any time under any circumstances. In spring of 2005, for example, I gave a lecture at the Los Angeles Public Library, after which I was buttonholed by a documentary filmmaker with Michael Mooreish ambitions of exposing the “truth” about the 9/11 conspiracy, and he wanted to know if he could interview me. I responded, “you mean the conspiracy by Osama bin Laden and his nineteen Al-Qaeda operatives to fly planes into buildings?”
“That’s what they want you to believe,” he said.
“Who is ‘they’,” I queried.
“The government,” he whispered in hushed tones, as if “they” might actually be listening in at that very moment.
Gotta agree with Bob Owens on this one here, how the mighty have fallen:
Two women thought to suffer from Down’s syndrome may have been unwilling suicide bombers in twin blasts that killed up to 73 people at pet markets in Baghdad today.
The first bomber instantly killed 45 people at a packed pet market in Baghdad in the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in six months.
A separate attack shortly after killed 20 people and wounded scores at a bird market in southern Baghdad…
A rare sight over Iraq, Air Force F-16’s and B-1 bombers:
U.S. warplanes unleashed one of the most intense airstrikes of the Iraq war Thursday, dropping 40,000 pounds of explosives in a thunderous 10-minute onslaught on suspected al-Qaida in Iraq safe havens in Sunni farmlands south of Baghdad.
The mighty barrage-recalling the Pentagon’s “shock and awe” raids during the 2003 invasion-appeared to mark a significant escalation in a countrywide offensive launched this week to try to cripple remaining insurgent strongholds.
But it also fits into the endgame strategy of last year’s U.S. troop buildup, which seeks to regain control of Baghdad and surrounding areas as a buffer zone for the capital. U.S. commanders are now attempting to subdue the last insurgent footholds around Baghdad before the Pentagon faces a possible reduction in troop strength.
Some of the additional 30,000 troops have been pulled out and the remainder are expected to depart by June, military officials have told The Associated Press. With insurgents still holding pockets south of the capital in the north-including areas around the key northern city of Mosul-the military apparently wants to take the remaining four months or so to use the expanded military muscle against al- Qaida.
We’re not talking about a run of the mill strike here folks. 40,000 pounds of explosives were dropped over a 10 minute period. Which tells us that while al-Qaeda is definitely on the run, the military isn’t just letting them recoup. We know our intelligence has gotten better since almost everyone hates AQ in Iraq now which would lead me to believe we killed lots of them in this strike. Which also begs the question, what the hell was al-Qaeda thinking bunching up like that?
Michael Goldfarb may have the answer:
While I haven’t had the time to ping my comrades out in theater, I’m tentatively drawing the following conclusions here. Al Qaeda is running out of places to hide. That means what’s left of the group can’t spread out like they used to, and are forced to gather in what few sanctuaries they have left. That makes them easy to target and eliminate, which brings us to yesterday’s operation.
Air ops are often a precursor to ground ops, and AQI is still very much a presence in the fertile crescent, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw some serious Diyala-style bug hunts in the near future.
Good news!
(The movie above is NOT footage from the latest offensive. Just something for your viewing pleasure.)
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