Biden Said What About Obama?

From the New York Observer:

Mr. Biden is equally skeptical—albeit in a slightly more backhanded way—about Mr. Obama. “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

I won't even try to parse this. We'll just watch it be dropped from the mainstream press faster than Bubba's pants at a Miss Pert and Chubby Page pageant.

This Sergeant Has Finally Had Enough

US troops who've served and/or are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan usually don't tell you exactly how they feel unless you're family or a good friend.

Well, here's a staff sergeant, serving in Afghanistan, who leaves no doubt about his opinions. And he's told Black Five to go ahead and publish them; here's an excerpt:

I am tired of Democrats who tell me they support me, the soldier on the ground, and then tell me the best plan to win this war is with a “phased redeployment” (liberal-speak for retreat) out of the combat zone to someplace like Okinawa.

I am tired of the Democrats whining for months on T.V., in the New York Times, and in the House and Senate that we need more troops to win the war in Iraq, and then when my Commander in Chief plans to do just that, they say that is the wrong plan, it won’t work, and we need a “new direction.”
...I am tired of CNN claiming that they are showing “news,” with videotape sent to them by terrorists, of my comrades being shot at by snipers, but refusing to show what happens when we build a school, pave a road, hand out food and water to children, or open a water treatment plant.

Go to Black Five and read the whole thing. I especially liked the part where he refers to the Nebraska Cornholer as an "oxygen thief."

Thanks to larwyn.

Pagans Publish Two Books of Heresy

From the Drudge Report:

Two powerful new books say today’s global warming is due not to human activity but primarily to a long, moderate solar-linked cycle. Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years, by physicist Fred Singer and economist Dennis Avery was released just before Christmas. The Chilling Stars: A New Theory of Climate Change, by Danish physicist Henrik Svensmark and former BBC science writer Nigel Calder (Icon Books), is due out in March.

Singer and Avery note that most of the earth’s recent warming occurred before 1940, and thus before much human-emitted CO2. Moreover, physical evidence shows 600 moderate warmings in the earth’s last million years. The evidence ranges from ancient Nile flood records, Chinese court documents and Roman wine grapes to modern spectral analysis of polar ice cores, deep seabed sediments, and layered cave stalagmites.

Not since Copernicus have such unholy ideas been circulated. Hath not Brian Williams of holy NBC declared that the Global Warming argument is over as confirmed by signs in the heavens and the wrath of the scourge Katrina? Hath not the High Priestess of The Weather Channel called for the punishment of the apostates?

Burn the heathens and burn their books, before the gods of Climate Change bring a righteous judgement down upon all of our heads.

Troops to Aging Hippy Traitors: "Eff You"

They're more polite than that, of course, but that's the message to the people working for an American defeat in Iraq. People like Jihad Jane Fonda.

A Tall Fat Tale and Juicy, Juicy Steak

Many thanks to Sig94 of the blog Signal 94 for organizing lunch Monday with Cookie of The Cook Shack--Gab & Grub and LC Jackboot, Imperial Correspondent for the The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler. Special kudos are in order for LC Jackboot - the guy drove from Connecticutt to Upstate New York for lunch, then drove back! That's dedication, folks.

Cookie, Sig94, and I have done this blogger lunch thing a couple of times before; today was a first for LC Jackboot. Poor Sig94, at the last minute he discovered that the restaraunt he'd chosen was closed for a funeral and had to scramble to find another while LC Jackboot was still on the road, driving into the teeth of a Central New York lake effect snowstorm.

We'd barely been seated before Cookie discovered that LC Jackboot was a fellow "bubblehead." That's submariner to and me. And therein lies a tale that Sig94, LC Jackboot, and yours truly are demanding that Cookie post on his blog. It involves the succulent cuisine available to the Silent Service, a diving submarine, and poor Cookie stuck in the conning tower beneath a portly sailor wedged in the hatch. Cookie almost died that day, so it's only fair that he get to tell the whole story.

Speaking of succulent cuisine, a dental issue kept Cookie from enjoying what the rest of us did at lunch today - steak. I'd like to be able to tell Cookie that it was tough and chewy, but, damn, they cooked it perfectly and you could have cut it with a butter knife. Sorry, Cookie, hope your porridge was good, too.

Oh yeah, the four of us were able to find solutions for all of the world's problems during the course of the lunch and will be posting them later.

Freedom Journal Iraq #571

• Baghdad Reconstruction Team
• New Health Clinic in Baghdad

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

250 Insurgents Meet Allah

The Iraqi government says that 250 insurgents have been killed in a battle in Najaf:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S.-backed Iraqi troops on Sunday attacked insurgents allegedly plotting to kill pilgrims at a major Shiite Muslim religious festival, and Iraqi officials estimated some 250 militants died in the daylong battle near Najaf. A U.S. helicopter crashed during the fight, killing two American soldiers.

That's eighteen thousand perpetual virgins, or white raisins, depending on which translation you prefer.

Even stranger than the AP reporting an apparent successful battle in Iraq is the United Nations actually condemning insurgent terrorism:

Mortar shells, meanwhile, hit the courtyard of a girls' school in a mostly Sunni Arab neighborhood of Baghdad, killing five pupils and wounding 20. U.N. officials deplored the attack, calling the apparent targeting of children "an unforgivable crime."

Then again, with the UN, "an unforgivable crime" may just mean that they haven't figured a way to turn a profit from it.

Sunday Funny

From the Dry Bones Blog.

Google Regrets Being Evil in Red China

But Google's founders don't regret being evil because of moral principles. It's about the bottom line [emphasis added]:

Google's decision to censor its search engine in China was bad for the company, its founders admitted yesterday.
Google, launched in 1998 by two Stanford University dropouts, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, was accused of selling out and reneging on its "Don't be evil" motto when it launched in China in 2005. The company modified the version of its search engine in China to exclude controversial topics such as the Tiananmen Square massacre or the Falun Gong movement, provoking a backlash in its core western markets.

Asked whether he regretted the decision, Mr Brin admitted yesterday: "On a business level, that decision to censor... was a net negative."

So, they don't regret being evil because they've helped a communist regime oppress their people, they regret being evil because it affected their profit margins.

No word yet on whether Google regrets being evil by supporting jihadi propaganda and suppressing American counter-propaganda on their popular YouTube subsidiary. Maybe they'll decide after YouTube's next profit and loss statement.

George H.W. Calls a Spade a Spade

Republican leaders need to step up to the plate and out the partisans masquerading as journalists as the President's father has:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's father accused the news media of "personal animosity" toward his son and said he found the criticism so unrelenting he sometimes talked back to his television set.

"It's one thing to have an adversarial ... relationship -- hard-hitting journalism -- it's another when the journalists' rhetoric goes beyond skepticism and goes over the line into overt, unrelenting hostility and personal animosity," former President George Bush said.

It's not just George W. Bush who is a target, of course; the mainstream media has pretty much cast aside the mask of objectivity in reporting from the Middle East and Israel as well, and the Washington Post ran a virtual campaign to get Jim Webb elected in Virginia. The New York Times, among its multiple acts of treason exposing classified government programs, ran a diagram showing terrorist insurgents exactly where to shoot American troops for the best chance to make a kill.

The time for treating the mainstream media "journalists" with diplomacy has passed. Non-DNC candidates should be challenging the Press at every opportunity.

Send a Message of Support by Pledging No Support For Wafflers

UPDATED AND BUMPED: Already, more than 18,500 people have signed this pledge. Go here to add your name to the list.

Hugh Hewitt and N.Z. Bear have organized a petition drive to let people express their displeasure with Republican Senators who choose to stab our military in the back by voting for Joe Biden's shameful resolution condemning the commitment by President Bush to supply General Petraeus with the additional troops he has requested.

As Ragnar at The Jawa Report astutely notes, we elected one Commander-in-Chief, not 100.

You can help transplant some spine to wavering Senators by signing this pledge:

If the United States Senate passes a resolution, non-binding or otherwise, that criticizes the commitment of additional troops to Iraq that General Petraeus has asked for and that the president has pledged, and if the Senate does so after the testimony of General Petraeus on January 23 that such a resolution will be an encouragement to the enemy, I will not contribute to any Republican senator who voted for the resolution. Further, if any Republican senator who votes for such a resolution is a candidate for re-election in 2008, I will not contribute to the National Republican Senatorial Committee unless the Chairman of that Committee, Senator Ensign, commits in writing that none of the funds of the NRSC will go to support the re-election of any senator supporting the non-binding resolution.

This petition should be of special interest to the Nebraska Cornholer, Chuck Hagel, and any other Republican Senator who feels tempted to join Senate Democrats in providing aid and comfort to the enemy and endangering our troops for the sake of political expediency.

President Peanut Issues Kerryesque Non-Apology

After fifteen of his staffers resigned over Carter's new book, "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid," America's worst president has apologized for "improper and stupid" wording.

From the Washington Times:

"I apologize to you personally and to everyone here," Mr. Carter said when asked about the passage by a student during his appearance at Brandeis University on Tuesday. After explaining that the passage was "worded in a completely improper and stupid way," Mr. Carter said he has asked publisher Simon & Schuster Inc. to change the wording in future editions of the book.

Carter's own "botched joke" justified Palestinian terrorism against Israelis. But the Carter Center staffers who resigned did it because of the entire book, not just selected passages.

Meanwhile, President Peanut's friends in the mainstream media have been doing their best to keep this on the downlow.

Freedom Journal Iraq #570

• Soldiers Train for Emergencies
• New Year's Run in Iraq

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

Page Accuses SD State Senator of Groping Him

But the alleged fondling isn't the only story:

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A Statehouse scandal in which a lawmaker is accused of fondling a page has transfixed South Dakota, with many people following the case on TV and the Web as if it were a Hollywood reality show.
Sen. Dan Sutton, 36, is accused of groping the young man last year while the two shared a motel room at the start of the youth's weeklong stint in the Legislature. The young man was 18 at the time.

The other story is that, unlike the pre-election coverage of the Mark Foley scandal, Senator Sutton's political affiliation isn't mentioned until the sixteenth paragraph - the last paragraph in the story. Sutton is a Democrat.

US Forces Engage Mahdi Militia

Long overdue.

Your commentator is more...colorful and engaged...than the typical MSM windbag. And there's no question of which side he's pulling for.



Mahdi asses being handed to them courtesy of Hydra 70 rockets.

Via The Jawa Report.

Chinese and US Lefties Agree on Dangers of Free Internet

Hu Jintao wants to purify the internet:

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Jintao has vowed to "purify" the Internet, state media reported on Wednesday, describing a top-level meeting that discussed ways to master the country's sprawling, unruly online population.

The Chinese are pikers next to America's liberals, who are taking aim at not only the internet, but cable TV and talk radio, too, using the so-called "Fairness Doctrine."

Slingshots Issued to Mexican Police

No, really:

TIJUANA, Mexico — The police department has issued about 60 slingshots to officers in the violent border city of Tijuana, where soldiers confiscated police weapons two weeks ago on allegations of collusion with drug traffickers.

Thanks to The Dutchman.

Freshman Senator Raises Bar For DemSpeak, Creates New Military Tactic

Democratic senator Jim Webb has set a brilliant new standard for doubletalk in his reply to President Bush's State of the Union speech:

"Not one step back from the war against international terrorism. Not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos," said Webb. "But an immediate shift toward strong regionally based diplomacy, a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq."

So, Senator Webb would have a "withdrawal" that is not "one step back." We are to withdraw forward by retreating but not taking one backwards step while shifting away from the front. It's called the "moonwalk."

As our military performs this unique evolution, our politicians are to speak loudly while flagellating themselves with small sticks.

Freedom Journal Iraq #568

• Doctors Help National Police
• Coalition Provides Veterinary Services

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

600 Members of Mahdi Army Captured

The US also says that 33 Sunni cell leaders were captured in Baghdad.

From Agence France Presse:

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi and US forces have captured more than 600 fighters loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the US military said, while violence across the country claimed another 31 lives...

There are currently over 600 illegal Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) militia in detention awaiting prosecution from the government of Iraq," a statement said.

It said Iraqi and US forces had also detained 16 high-level militiamen and killed one commander in a series of operations against the Mahdi Army, known for its fierce anti-US stance...

Combined Iraqi and US forces have carried out 52 operations in the past 45 days focused on the Mahdi Army as well as 42 operations that targetted Sunni extremists, it said.

The operations against Sunni extremists led to the capture of 33 cell leaders in Baghdad, the statement said, charging that the detainees were mainly involved in facilitating the entry of foreign fighters into Iraq.

I suppose this news comes from a French news agency because the American ones are busy with the Oscars, not because they have a politically motivated embargo on any positive news from Iraq for political reasons or anything.

President Peanut a Holocaust Denier?

A National Review Online article examining the questionable contributors to America's worst president's Carter Center includes this tidbit [emphasis added]:

Even in Carter’s long history of post-presidential grandstanding, this book sets fresh standards of irresponsibility. Purporting to give a balanced view of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, Carter effectively shrugs off such highly germane matters as Palestinian terrorism. The hypocrisies are boundless, and include adoring praise of the deeply oppressive, religiously intolerant Saudi regime side by side with condemnations of democratic Israel. In one section, typical of the book’s entire approach, Carter includes a “Historical Chronology,” from Biblical times to 2006, in which he dwells on events surrounding his 1978 Camp David Accords but omits the Holocaust. Kenneth W. Stein, the founder of the Carter Center’s Middle East program, resigned last month to protest the book, describing it in a letter to Fox News as “replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments.” As this article goes to press, more protest resignations, this time from the Carter Center’s board of councilors, appear to be in the works.

The Holocaust doesn't rate a mention in a chronology of events leading up to the current unrest in the Middle East? I suppose that means Carter didn't bother to mention the SS brigade that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem raised for Hitler, either.

Top Five Terrorist Organizations Hoping for a Failed Iraqi State

5. Al Qaeda - a new base of operations to replace Afghanistan is just what the Doctor (Zawahiri) ordered.

4. Hamas - since sugar daddy Saddam's necktie party, the brave jihadi babyhunters of Hamas could use some support.

3. Hezbollah - Hamas' Lebanese cousins would welcome a nice training/recruitment site.

2. The Mainstream Media - reporting from Iraq is expensive; the sooner the MSM can begin ignoring the inevitable Vietnam/style bloodbath they've worked so hard to bring about, the better for their profit margins.

1. The Democratic Party - ever an organization to sacrifice truth, justice, and the American way on the altar of political expediency, the donkeys haven't had so much fun since the glory days of the Ku Klux Klan.

Freedom Journal Iraq #567

• Coalition Forces evaluate checkpoints
• Medics collect platelets

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

93 Terrorists Killed in Iraq

From Reuters:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Monday 93 rebels were killed and 57 captured in a 10-day operation against al Qaeda-linked insurgents northeast of Baghdad.

In an unusually detailed video news conference broadcast to journalists in Baghdad from Diyala province, Colonel David Sutherland said Iraqi troops had fought well in the operation and were improving their capabilities every day.

I'm sure it pained the Reuters stringers to see so many of their comrades falling against the Yankee/Zionist imperialists.

Al Qaeda in Iraq Planned US Terror Attacks

From ABC News:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2007 — Mimicking the hijackers who executed the Sept. 11 attacks, insurgents reportedly tied to al Qaeda in Iraq considered using student visas to slip terrorists into the United States to orchestrate a new attack on American soil.

Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, recently testified that documents captured by coalition forces during a raid of a safe house believed to house Iraqi members of al Qaeda six months ago "revealed [AQI] was planning terrorist operations in the U.S."

Freedom Journal Iraq Double Feature

#565
• A Helping Hand
• Working Together in Mosul



#566
• Mechanics in Diyalah
• Combat Cooks in Fallujah

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

Muqtada No Longer a Made Man

Evidence from US intelligence sources has convinced Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army has been infiltrated by death squads. Al-Maliki has reportedly ended his protection of al Sadr:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister has dropped his protection of an anti-American cleric's Shiite militia after U.S. intelligence convinced him the group was infiltrated by death squads, two officials said Sunday.

In a desperate bid to fend off an all-out American offensive, the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr last Friday ordered the 30 lawmakers and six Cabinet ministers under his control to end their nearly two-month boycott of the government. They were back at their jobs Sunday.

Al-Sadr had already ordered his militia fighters not to display their weapons. They have not, however, ceded control of the formerly mixed neighborhoods they have captured, killing Sunnis or forcing them to abandon their homes and businesses.

It's time for al Sadr and the rest of the scum in the Mahdi Army to begin performing useful services. Like inspiring watermelons.

Bush Blamed In New Orleans Loss

President Bush is seen by some to have contributed to the New Orleans Saints' 39-14 drubbing at the hands of the Chicago Bears this afternoon.

"Anyone could see they was in trouble," New Orleans mayor Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin remarked, "It's an indictment of the current administration that no help whatsoever was forthcoming."

Singer Kanye West believes that the Saints can't count on support from the President because there are too many African Americans on the team.

"The fact that Chicago has an African American coach just gives the buckra in the White House cover," said the artist.

Sunday Funny

From the Dry Bones Blog.

Pelosi, Dems Still Working for US Defeat in Iraq

Despite having won a majority in Congress, Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic Party leaders are still determined to provide aid and comfort to America's enemies as a means to their political ends. Like Hezbollah, once in power, they have no idea what to do with it, other than maintain their hold by any means necessary. It's no longer possible to pretend that the Left isn't deliberately engineering another Vietnam-style humiliation to help them consolidate power.

The things that Pelosi and her accomplices in the Democratic Party and the mainstream media are still saying and said throughout their shameful campaign are intended to weaken America's position in the Middle East. The only enemies that Democrats really acknowledge are George W. Bush and the Republicans.

Tokyo Rose's crimes were not protected by the Constitution. Neither should Pelosi's be:

"The president knows that because the troops are in harm's way that we won't cut off the resources," Pelosi, head of the Democratic-led House, told ABC's "Good Morning America. "That's why he's moving so quickly to put them in harm's way."

Saying Democrats were waging a "sound-bite war," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino fired back: "Questioning the president's motivations and suggesting that he for some political reason is rushing troops into harm's way is not appropriate, it is not correct and it is unfortunate."

It's clear to anyone with at least two brain cells to rub together that the Democrats want the US to be defeated and humiliated in the War on Terror. Victory would not accrue to their political advantage.

Meteorologist: Follow the Money in Global Warming Hype

Alabama ABC-affiliate meteorologist James Spann had all he could take when The Weather Channel's Heidi Cullen proposed de-certifying any meteorologist who dares speak heresy against the theology of man-made global warming.

Spann writes:

*Billions of dollars of grant money is flowing into the pockets of those on the man-made global warming bandwagon. No man-made global warming, the money dries up. This is big money, make no mistake about it. Always follow the money trail and it tells a story. Even the lady at “The Weather Channel” probably gets paid good money for a prime time show on climate change. No man-made global warming, no show, and no salary. Nothing wrong with making money at all, but when money becomes the motivation for a scientific conclusion, then we have a problem. For many, global warming is a big cash grab.

*The climate of this planet has been changing since God put the planet here. It will always change, and the warming in the last 10 years is not much difference than the warming we saw in the 1930s and other decades. And, lets not forget we are at the end of the ice age in which ice covered most of North America and Northern Europe.

With the Drudge Report linking to him, expect Spann to be crucified by the Global Warming Inquisition.

New Saddam Video

If you look very closely, you can see the pattern of the noose on his neck.

Freedom Journal Iraq #564

• Camp Echo Medical Team
• Marines Respond to IEDs

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

Reyes Does 180 in Order to Oppose President

Shades of John Kerry's Flipper impression. New House Intelligence Committe chairman Silvestre Reyes was for the troop surge before he was against it.

From the Washington Times:

...Mr. Reyes "said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a 'stepped up effort to dismantle the militias.' "

"We have to consider the need for additional troops to be in Iraq, to take out the militias and stabilize Iraq," the Texas Democrat said to the surprise of many, "I would say 20,000 to 30,000."

Then came President Bush's expected announcement last week, virtually matching Mr. Reyes' recommendation and argument word-for-word -- albeit the president proposed only 21,500 troops.

Wouldn't you know, hours after Mr. Bush announced his proposal, Mr. Reyes told the El Paso Times that such a troop buildup was unthinkable.

"We don't have the capability to escalate even to this minimum level," he said.

Reyes, who thought that al Qaeda was a Shia, rather than Sunni group, and who apparently thinks that Hezbollah is a Mexican boy band, is a curious choice to head any House committee.

Israeli News: President Peanut Tried to Save SS Guard

In 1987, Jimmy Carter, America's worst president, tried to intercede on behalf of a former Nazi SS concentration camp guard who had been documented as murdering at least one Jew, according to this report in Arutz Sheva:

Neil Sher, a veteran of the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigation, described a letter he received from Carter in 1987 in an interview with Israel National Radio’s Tovia Singer. The letter, written and signed by Carter, asked that Sher show “special consideration” for a man proven to have murdered Jews in the Mauthausen death camp in Austria...

...in the spring of 1987, we deported a series of SS guards from concentration camps, whose names nobody would know. One such character we sent back to Austria was a man named Martin Bartesch.”

Bartesch, who had immigrated to the U.S. and lived in Chicago, admitted to Sher’s office and the court that he had voluntarily joined the Waffen SS and had served in the notorious SS Death’s Head Division at the Mauthausen concentration camp where, at the hands of Bartesch and his cohorts, many thousands of prisoners were gassed, shot, starved and worked to death. He also confessed to having concealed his service at the infamous camp from U.S. immigration officials.

“We had an extraordinary piece of evidence against him – a book that was kept by the SS and captured by the American armed forces when they liberated Mauthausen,” Sher said. “We called it the death book. It was a roster that the Germans required them to keep that identified SS guards as they extended weapons to murder the inmates and prisoners.”

An entry in the book for October 10, 1943 registered the shooting death of Max Oschorn, a French Jewish prisoner. His murderer was also recorded: SS guard Martin Bartesch. “It was a most chilling document,” Sher recalled.

Having since given up on the Nazis, the former president contents himself these days with encouraging Palestinians to find a final solution to the Jewish problem.

Bottom Five Professions Ranking Above Mainstream Journalist

With the spate of fake and staged news coming out of the Middle East, all designed to undermine the United States and its allies in the War on Terror, a new South Hamilton Institute of Technology poll shows American Journalists sucking hind teat to more respected occupations.

The last five ranking above "Journalist" are:

5. Crack Whore
4. Male Crack Whore
3. Crack Whore Pimp
2. Keith Olbermann's Fluffer, Raoul
1. Boil Sucker

Freedom Journal Iraq #563

• Troops Conduct Raids by Boat
• Coalition Forces Make Life Difficult for Insurgents

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

Freedom Journal Iraq #561 & 562

#561
• Scouts search the desert
• Soldiers help Iraqi Police stay safe


#562
• Iraqi Police Training
• Soldiers in Baghdad Executing New Plan

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

And We're Back...

...now that a bad cable modem, complicated by bad weather making the techs run late, has been fixed.

Freedom Journal Iraq Double Feature - #559 & #560

• Soldiers take to rooftops
• Iraqis learn trades in Irbil


• Navy's Black Stallions
• Patrolling the Euphrates River

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

Pop! Goes the Weasel

Someone must have gotten a bit too enthusiastic with the length of the drop for Saddam's half-brother. That's a shame. From MSNBC:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein’s half brother and the former chief of Iraq’s Revolutionary Court were both hanged before dawn Monday, but the half-brother's head was severed by the noose — leading to outrage from Sunnis who claim the body was mutilated.

Nothing a little needlework can't fix; meanwhile, the names of the "outraged Sunnis" should be noted for future reference.

Unstable Journalists

The press (in this case, Drudge, colluding with Sixty Minutes) continues to show their ignorance and disingenuity:

The president concedes that his decisions have led to more instability in Iraq. President Bush made the admission in an exclusive interview with Scott Pelley at Camp David yesterday (12), his first interview since addressing the nation about Iraq. It will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Jan. 14 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Thankfully, Sixty Minutes wasn't around in 1945 to force an admission out of Harry Truman that his and Roosevelt's policies had made Germany, Italy, and Japan more unstable by several orders of magnitude.

Sunday Funny

From the Dry Bones Blog.

Terrorists Using Google Earth to Identify Targets in Iraq

From the Telegraph:

Terrorists attacking British bases in Basra are using aerial footage displayed by the Google Earth internet tool to pinpoint their attacks, say Army intelligence sources.

Documents seized during raids on the homes of insurgents last week uncovered print-outs from photographs taken from Google.

The satellite photographs show in detail the buildings inside the bases and vulnerable areas such as tented accommodation, lavatory blocks and where lightly armoured Land Rovers are parked.

Written on the back of one set of photographs taken of the Shatt al Arab Hotel, headquarters for the 1,000 men of the Staffordshire Regiment battle group, officers found the camp's precise longitude and latitude.

While the terrorists apparently do seem to be smart enough to use common internet tools to their advantage, any AP or Reuters executive will assure you that there's absolutely no chance that terrorists have infiltrated western wire services in order to present their propaganda to western audiences as "news."

Let the Good Times Roll: Dead Jihadis

Let it buffer and skip through the first couple of minutes if you're pressed for time; it's mostly the terrorists planning their attack with toy cars. The payoff comes after the attack, when the good guys pop them and the cameraman.

WARNING: Graphic images. Not as graphic as I'd like to see, but possibly upsetting for some folks, especially liberals sympathetic to the cause of jihad - people like Dick Durbin and Teddy Kennedy.



Via The Jawa Report.

Coalition Raids Iranian Consulate in Iraq

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander; from the Washington Post:

U.S. troops raided an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq late Wednesday night and detained several people, Iran's main news agency reported today, prompting protests from Tehran just hours after President Bush pledged to crack down on the Islamic Republic's role in Iraqi violence.

The Iranians are not pleased. Tough titty, the Iranians gave up all claims to civilized status and thus, diplomatic treatment when they took American diplomats hostage in Tehran during the Carter administration. Many even think that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was directly involved in the incident.

The really interesting question will be which of Iran's allies in the Democratic party will be first to condemn the US for arresting the Iranians, who were pretty clearly coordinating supplies for those attacking Coalition troops.

Via Dan at Riehl World View.

Storage Company Screws Soldier After ID Theft

While Army Reserve Specialist Patrick Rogalin was serving a year in Iraq, an identity thief was trying to clean out his bank account. Fortunately, Bank of America noticed the unusual activity, put a stop on the account and set up a new one for him.

Unfortunately, Public Storage of Glendale California sold off all of Rogalin's belongings in the interim. Then they offered the soldier twenty-five cents on the dollar for his things. Take or leave it.

Thanks to blonde sagacity, who has the email addresses of Public Storage's executives handy.

Via Kim Priestap, who also blogs at Wizbang!.

Freedom Journal Iraq #558

• Coalition Forces support local governments
• Soldiers conduct civil military operations

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

ACLU Sues Police Over Arrest of Illegal Aliens

So this Rhode Island state trooper pulls over a van for failing to signal a lane change and finds it packed with 14 people who don't speak any English and don't have any proof of US citizenship. Punchline: the ACLU sues the cops for "racial profiling."

From The Providence Journal:

PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday filed a federal lawsuit against the state police, alleging racial profiling and violation of the constitutional rights of 14 Guatemalan nationals during a July traffic stop that led to their detention by immigration officials.

Besides the money, which the parasites in the ACLU love to suck from US citizens any chance they get, the ACLU is hoping to encourage local and state law enforcement officers to disregard Federal laws:

Brown said, “To their credit, many police departments across the country have rejected the opportunity to enforce those laws for a number of reasons. I think first they recognize they don’t have the expertise with these laws … also, that doing so undermines trust in the communities that they serve. People in immigrant communities are going to think twice before they contact police if they’ve been victims of a crime, if they think they’ll be the ones who end up on trial.”

This is as much as admitting that the lawsuit is intended to intimidate police who have the audacity to perform their duties concientiously.

Via Stop the ACLU.

Freedom Journal Iraq #557

• Soldiers roll over
• Iraq celebrates Army Day

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

Whoops: New York Times Outs Its Own Political Bias

In a story about politically indexed mutual funds the Gray Lady notes:

Two funds started recently by Blue Investment Management, a New York fund company that is less than a year old, will limit their holdings to companies that donate the majority of their political contributions to Democrats...

But what really sets the Blue funds apart is their exclusion of companies that make less than 51 percent of their political donations to Democrats.

What isn't mentioned is that one of the companies that the Blue Fund finds slanted far enough to the Democratic side of the aisle to invest in is...the New York Times Company (CBS, too, but that's hardly a surprise since the Dan Rather scandal)!

In other words, the NYT has just outed itself as a politically biased news organization pretending to be impartial.

Via The Jawa Report.

Freedom Journal Iraq Double Feature

• MPs visit IP station
• Marines clear IEDs


• Cleaning up Samarra
• Bringing healthcare to Ramadi

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

UK's Sunday Times: Israel Plans to Nuke Iranian Nukes

The Sunday Times reports that Israel has plans in place to use tactical nuclear weapons to take out Iran's nuclear program, and that the plans have moved beyond the contingency phase into training and rehearsals:

ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.

Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.

Expect an extravagantly boneheaded response from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Israel has repeatedly said that they will not tolerate Iranian nuclear weapons. The question is, are the Israelis scared enough to go through with an attack using tactical nukes? Probably; Ahmadinejad is stupid and crazy enough to scare anyone.

Sunday Funny

From the Dry Bones Blog.

Saddam Hussein Still Dead

And here's the uncut, uncensored, banned camera phone video footage of Saddam Hussein's hanging that resulted in the videographer's arrest.

Just in case you missed it.

Boxer Rescinds Award to CAIR member

From the Los Angeles Times:

California Sen. Barbara Boxer has rescinded an award her office gave to a Sacramento Islamic activist after criticism that the group he represents—the Council for American Islamic Relations — holds extremist views and has ties to international terrorist organizations

Of course, from CAIR's point of view, it's all semantics. Just because Islamophobes in the US State Department choose to label organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas as "terrorist" is no reason for CAIR not to recognize the worthy acts accomplished by Hezbollah and Hamas...in between vicious, barbaric suicide attacks on innocent civilians.

Barney Frank Accuses President of "Ethnic Cleaning"

Poor audio quality, but Barney Frank does accuse President Bush of using "ethnic cleansing" to make New Orleans more Republican after Katrina. This is the most grossly irresponsible public political slur in recent memory. Frank should either apologize or resign. Immediately



You can call Congressman Frank's office at (202)225-5931.

Along with Bryan at Hot Air, I've made my own copy of this video in case Matthew Stoller, who posted it, decides to delete the original.

Via Michelle Malkin.

Global Warming Fear Mongering at USA Today

Despite cautions from climatologists about assigning too much importance to short term weather events, USA Today is shrieking that the current mild winter is a sign of the end times on planet Earth, and they're using a loaded chart as a prop.

Below is the alarming chart that heads USA Today's Drudge-linked story. "Warm Winter Wreaks Havoc."



The alarming caption reads, "The Earth's surface temperature has risen by more than 1°F since accurate measurements began in 1860."

What USA Today doesn't mention is that the phenomenon known as "The Little Ice Age" ended around 1850. Surface temperatures were about 1°C lower during this period, or a bit more than 1°F.

Mexicans Attack and Overrun National Guard Unit

A group of gunmen attacked a National Guard unit stationed along the border in Arizona in an area noted for drug smuggling. Not being allowed to return fire by their rules of engagement, the Guardsmen were forced to retreat.

From the NBC Phoenix affiliate, 12News:

The Border Patrol will not say whether shots were fired. However, no Guardsmen were injured in the incident.

The Border Patrol says the incident occurred somewhere along the 120 mile section of the border between Nogales and Lukeville. The area is known as a drug corridor. Last year, 124-thousand pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated in this area.

The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico.

Fences? We don't need no stinkin' fences!

AP Reports Jamil Hussein Does Exist

Iraq's Interior Minister has conceded that a Captain Jamil Hussein is currently on the Iraqi police force, and that he is now subject to arrest for unauthorized leaks to the media.

From the Associated Press:

Ministry spokesman Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, who had previously denied there was any such police employee as Capt. Jamil Hussein, said in an interview that Hussein is an officer assigned to the Khadra police station, as had been reported by The Associated Press.

The captain, whose full name is Jamil Gholaiem Hussein, was one of the sources for an AP story in late November about the burning and shooting of six people during a sectarian attack at a Sunni mosque.

The U.S. military and the Iraqi Interior Ministry raised the doubts about Hussein in questioning the veracity of the AP's initial reporting on the incident, and the Iraqi ministry suggested that many news organization were giving a distorted, exaggerated picture of the conflict in Iraq. Some Internet bloggers spread and amplified these doubts, accusing the AP of having made up Hussein's identity in order to disseminate false news about the war.

The "burning six" story that brought Hussein to prominence is still very much in doubt, however, with Hussein as the only named source who hasn't recanted.

AP's stonewalling and shenanigans in refusing to produce their source, once the story came into serious doubt, remain unexplained.

The Final Collapse of Civilization is Imminent

The ancient Mayan calendar sets the date as December 21, 2012. They may have been too optmistic.

Taliban Leader Hasn't Seen Osama Since 2001

In an email interview in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, Mullah Omar, one of the surviving fugitive Taliban leaders, reveals that he hasn't had any contact with Osama bin Laden since 2001:

Q: Have you met Osama bin Laden since the Taliban were driven out of power in 2001?

A: I have neither seen him nor have made any effort to do so, but I do pray for his health and safety.

The longer Ayman al-Zawahiri continues to be the mouthpiece for al Qaeda - without a peep from Osama, the more credence this story, about rumors of Osama's ignominious death from typhoid, gains.

Omar reveals the mind of a weasel in other parts of the interview, refusing to admit that by granting asylum to bin Laden the Taliban ensured their own downfall, and blaming their troubles on "conspiracies of the infidels":

Q: Looking back, what mistakes do you think the Taliban made when they ruled Afghanistan -- mistakes that you would not want to repeat?

A: You know that our [Taliban] movement came to power at a time when Afghanistan was in a war-like situation. Though the Taliban had established its writ in areas that they had conquered but we were still fighting our enemy [the Northern Alliance] in other parts of the country. We could have formed a real government had we achieved full and total control over the entire country and we did manage to run the government in an organised manner with the blessings of shariah and divine laws. But if there were problems, those were largely because of the conspiracies of the infidels and foreign enemies. For instance, the imposition of sanctions on the Taliban, strengthening of anti-Taliban forces and preparing them to fight the mujahideen.

Without doubt, had there been no such difficulty, we would have overcome those problems. But still I can say this with confidence that the way we managed to form a peaceful government, it could not have been done by anyone else.

Q: Do you think that your stand on giving refuge to Osama bin Laden before the US invasion of Afghanistan was a mistake. Do you regret it now?

A: Our stand to grant refuge to Osama bin Laden was based on principles. If there were people who were opposed to us giving refuge to him, they should have used logic and reason. They should not have used threats.

Q: Your refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden distanced Afghanistan from two of its allies, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia? Do you think it was the right decision?

A: I had never agreed to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States. If someone says that I did, then they must have been dreaming. If we had wanted to hand over Osama, we would not have given such a big sacrifice.

Freedom Journal Iraq Double Feature

#553
• Protecting Kirkuk pipeline.
• Celebrate Christmas with British.


#554
• Favorite stories of 2006.
• Behind the scenes at FJI.

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

Reuters Posts Pictures of the Year

Reuters has selected their 206 pictures of the year. While that may seem like a large number of photos, think about all the world-shaking events that occurred in 2006, and you can see that Reuters' editors had their work cut out for them. It's certainly no small task to characterize the history of the world for an entire year in only 206 snapshots.

Reuters has taken on a solemn task, the sort of job that only a well-respected global news agency can be trusted to perform. With such a small number of selections, each and every photo chosen reflects the experience of the seasoned news pros at Reuters.

Here's one of their picks:

PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2006 Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a transvestite from India, looks at a dress made of condoms by Brazilian artist Adriana Bertini at the International AIDS conference in Toronto August 17, 2006.

Update: Video of more condom dresses and their designer, who looks like Rosie O'Donnell with tattoos. Thanks to Dumb Ox.

Iraqi Official Arrested For Saddam Hanging Video

The person who made this uncensored camera-phone video of Saddam Hussein's execution was reportedly arrested on Wednesday:

The adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, did not identify the person. But he said it was "an official who supervised the execution" and who is "now under investigation."

"In the past few hours, the government has arrested the person who made the video of Saddam's execution," the adviser said.

The video has caused outrage over the treatment of the twisted, sadistic, mass murdering tyrant, mainly among the effete chattering classes who were content to deal with Saddam through impotent UN resolutions.

North Korean Party Animals Greet New Year in Wild Style

Pity the poor souls stuck in dreary Times Square as 2007 was rung in. The real action was in Pyongyang!

From the Korean Central News Agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea comes this vivid portrait of the festivities in Beloved Leader's land:

The New Year's Day of Juche 96 (2007) has come. From the early morning, streams of the Korean people visit statues of the great President Kim Il Sung, the eternal sun of Juche, with floral baskets and bunches of flowers to make a New Year's bow to him.

Officers and men of the Korean People's Army, working people of all strata and school youth and children in Pyongyang visit his statue on Mansu Hill with the pride of having adorned the year 2006 with great labor successes. They are full of optimism and firm resolution to perform feats in the hopeful New Year.

Pyongyang is garbed in festive attire.

The streets of the city are festooned with such large slogans as "We Extend New Year's Greeting to the Great Leader Comrade Kim Jong Il", "We Sincerely Wish the Great Leader Comrade Kim Jong Il Good Health" and "Let Us Add Brilliance to the Korean-style Socialism with Might of Single-minded Unity" and celebration boards including "New Year 2007" and others. Fluttering on flag poles are the flags of the DPRK.

And how's this for a New Year's resolution?

The working people of all walks of life, school youth and children in the capital city are hardening their mind to vigorously advance forward toward a new victory under the Songun revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong Il this year, too.

So there.

AP Still Defiant Over Discredited Source

With Eason Jordan at Iraqslogger questioning the Associated Press' credibility over the Jamil Hussein fake news scandal, the once respected wire service continues to stonewall, according to this story in Editor & Publisher:

NEW YORK A long-running dispute between The Associated Press and critics over one of its Iraqi sources show no signs of abating, despite at least two lengthy rebuttals by the news organization. The new IraqSlogger web site, founded by former CNN news chief, Eason Jordan, is out with a fresh challenge, after failing to resolve the issue in its own detective work. This has not set off a new round of examination by the AP, apparently.

Kathleen Carroll, AP executive editor, told E&P today that she had not read Jordan's latest item, posted Monday, and likely would not. But she stood by the news organization's previous statements backing the existence of an Iraqi police captain, Jamail Hussein.

Carroll can hardly dismiss Jordan as just another scruffy blogger. He was, after all, forced to resign from his position as chief news executive at CNN after bloggers revealed remarks he made accusing US troops of targeting journalists in Iraq. Carroll's refusal even to read Jordan's story is stunning in its arrogance.

Freedom Journal Iraq #552

*Soldiers go on convoys.
* Meeting community leaders.

Courtesy of The Jawa Report.

Dems Already Decide to Break First Campaign Promise

In a bid to generate headlines of success, Congressional Democrats have decided to exclude Republicans from participating in new legislation.

From the Washington Post:

But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.

So much for Democratic promises of bipartisanship, if anyone really believed them.

But the new Congress will feature something that has been absent from the legislative branch since Republicans took both Houses in 1994 - a loyal opposition.

CENTCOM Roundup - New Year's Day Edition

The stories that Reuters and the AP pretend didn't happen, so their co-conspirators clients at the NYT, the LAT, WaPo, et. al. don't have to report them.

SIX DETAINED IN JOINT OPERATION

YUSAFIYAH, Iraq - A joint operation of Iraqi and coalition troops resulted in the capture of six individuals Dec. 31.

Soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI) and a squad from the 4th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division conducted a joint search-and-attack operation near the village of Al-Thobat, Iraq, approximately four kilometers southwest of Yusufiyah.

The operation targeted three separate objectives in the vicinity of the village, where improvised explosive device cells were suspected of operating and finding safe haven.

Elements of Company C, 4-31st and Troop A, 2nd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment paired with the Iraqi Army squad to detain the suspects. Two of the men were wanted for their connection to IED operations in the area. The other four individuals were detained for their belligerence when the two wanted men were confronted.

FIVE TERRORISTS KILLED DURING BAGHDAD RAID

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Coalition Forces killed five terrorists and detained one suspected terrorists during a fierce firefight Monday morning in Baghdad.

Intelligence reports indicated the targeted location was used as a possible safe house for al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists to conduct operational planning.

While approaching the targeted area, Coalition Forces received heavy automatic weapons fire and hand grenades from the top of several nearby buildings. Coalition Forces returned fire killing two terrorists.

Several armed men fled to a third building.

Coalition Forces received fire from the top of the third building and they returned fire. Coalition Forces were able to establish a foothold in one of the adjacent buildings.

Due to the heavy amount of enemy fire received two buildings caught on fire.

While receiving heavy automatic weapons fire from many directions, Coalition Forces managed to kill four more terrorists and detain one.

One of the buildings from which Coalition Forces received heavy enemy fire, including grenade launches, was later identified as belonging to Dr. Salih al-Mutlaq al-Dulaymi, the Chairman for the Iraqi National Dialogue Council.

CALVARY TROOPS FIND 3 WEAPONS CACHES

CAMP TAJI, Iraq - While conducting cordon and search operations, Soldiers from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment discovered a large weapons cache and the dead body of a local Iraqi national near the town of Al Wadud, Iraq, Dec. 30 in a suspected improvised explosive device factory.

Explosive ordnance disposal personnel and a weapons exploitation team assessed there was more than 2,000 pounds of explosives at the site.

In another incident nearly 12 hours later, Company B discovered two more cache sites.

All three sites yielded numerous finds to include a large amount of wires, multiple pressure plates, several initiators for IEDs with batteries, a night-vision scope, cutting torches, rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, mortars and mortar rounds. EOD personnel destroyed the explosives during controlled detonations.

One local Iraqi was detained for further questioning.