The latest example is Mr. Chirac's determination to have French and other European weapons manufacturers arm Communist China as part of what he has called "a necessary rebalancing of the 'grand triangle' formed by America, Europe and Asia." (Read more)
"Those who are so opposed to [Christmas] feel that the tide is turning now, once again, against them," Cardinal McCarrick said. "I think that might be because those who are so opposed to it feel that they're caught in a corner.
"I believe there is a real revival of religion in our country, not just of Christianity, not just of the traditional religions, but of people who really believe in God and may not be able to express it in the words of present-day religion," the Catholic cleric told "Fox News Sunday."
[...]
Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, was asked during her own appearance on Fox about the political correctness of banning Christmas trees and depictions of the Nativity.
Mrs. Cheney said it began with an honest effort by Americans to be polite and considerate and say "season's greetings" or "happy holidays" because those they greet might not celebrate Christmas.
"But in our effort to be nice ... we let the pendulum swing too far," Mrs. Cheney said. "It is one thing to be sure to be inclusive. It's another thing entirely to exclude Christmas."
More than 60 nations -- including Russia and France, two key opponents of the Bush administration's policy toward Iraq -- are supporting the 19-month-old Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). The global effort to halt arms proliferation has also gained favor from the United Nations.I admit I might have missed this story - but it does seem to be big news since the criticisms of the Bush administration failures(?) to do anything to stop North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs - seems Bush policies not only struck a blow but was supported by those countries that supposedly hate us. (Store here)
[...]
The one action made public was the Oct. 4, 2003, seizure of the German-flagged ship BBC China that was on its way to Libya with equipment for Moammar Gadhafi's covert nuclear-arms program.
A U.S. warship forced the ship to divert to Italy. On board, investigators found containers of uranium-enrichment equipment. That discovery led to the unraveling of the covert nuclear supplier network headed by Pakistani Abdul Qadeer Khan that stretched from Germany to South Africa to Malaysia.
The network had supplied nuclear-weapons materials to Libya, Iran, North Korea and others.
PSI, launched by President Bush in May 2003, was an outgrowth of the administration's effort to prevent weapons of mass destruction from reaching terrorists.
Its core participants include the governments of the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and Britain.
GEN. SPEAKES: Very, very good question. The first point is that you'll recollect that one of the questions was the status of the 278 ACR; in other words, the date that we had the visit by the secretary of Defense, we had a question about their up-armoring status. When the question was asked, 20 vehicles remained to be up-armored at that point. We completed those 20 vehicles in the next day. And so over 800 vehicles from the 278 ACR were up-armored, and they are a part now of their total force that is operating up in Iraq.
Q On the 278th, can you repeat this? At the time the question was asked, the planted question, the unit had 784 of its 804 vehicles armored?
GEN. SPEAKES: Here is the overall solution that you see. And what we've had to do is -- the theater had to take care of 830 total vehicles. So this shows you the calculus that was used. Up north in Iraq, they drew 119 up-armored humvees from what we call stay-behind equipment. That is equipment from a force that was already up there. We went ahead and applied 38 add-on armor kits to piece of equipment they deployed over on a ship. They also had down in Kuwait 214 stay- behind equipment pieces that were add-on armor kits. And then over here they had 459 pieces of equipment that were given level-three protection. And so when you put all this together, that comes up with 830.
Q At the time of the question -- summarize this, now -- that unit that the kid was complaining about was mostly armored?
GEN. SPEAKES: Yes. In other words, we completed all the armoring within 24 hours of the time the question was asked.
Q If he hadn't asked that question, would the up-armoring have been accomplished within 24 hours?
GEN. SPEAKES: Yes. This was already an existing program.
He deployed the four-letter word that got Vice President Cheney in hot water, using it as a noun. Chase called the prez a "dumb [expletive]." He also used it as an adjective, assuring the audience, "I'm no [expletive] clown either. . . . This guy started a jihad."Yes the word deployed involved a "F". Further the reporter tells us:
People for the American Way distanced itself yesterday from the actor's rant. "Chevy Chase's improvised remarks caught everyone off guard, and were inappropriate and offensive," Ralph Neas, the liberal advocacy group's president, said in a statement. "It was not what I would have said, and certainly not the language People for the American Way would ever use in discussing any president of the United States."Mr. Neas, what exactly did you expect? You were honoring Alex Baldwin and Susan Sarandon, two of the most outspoken Hollywood Bush bashers and asked Chevy Chase to host. Sir you are aware that during the John Kerry party where "people reflecting the true values of America"(?) attended Mr. Chase said "this guy is as bright as an egg-timer" of this President of the United States - I ain't buying what your selling Mr. Neas..
FNC was watched by an average of 5.9 million viewers between 10 and 11 that Wednesday, easily outstripping NBC's 4.5 million, ABC's 3.3 million and CBS's 2.6 million.
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 14 - The first charges will be filed next week against former members of Saddam Hussein's government, starting the long-awaited effort to bring its leaders to justice, Iraq's interim prime minister announced Tuesday......
What you hear these days is not liberalism. It's conspiracyism. It's the belief that the Bushite corporate cabal is going to do to domestic programs what the Bushite neocon cabal did in the realm of foreign affairs. It's the belief in malevolent and shadowy forces that will grab everything for their own greedy ends. This is Michael Moore-ism applied to domestic affairs, and it will leave the Democrats only deeper in the hole.
[...]
The outline of the problem is clear. When the Social Security program was created, there were 42 workers for each retiree. Now there are about three workers per retiree, and in 2030 there will be two.
The White House is heading toward a reform plan that would tie the benefit levels to prices rather than wages, which is a serious benefit cut. It would then use the power of the markets to compensate retirees for those cuts and to create a reserve fund to make the system solvent. (Please read more)
Flew said that the latest biological research “has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce (life), that intelligence must have been involved.”Although Mr. Flew is not there yet he has moved in the right direction! (Hat tip: David Limbaugh)
[...]
“I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian,..."
KERRY: We didn't guard 850,000 tons of ammo. That ammo is now being used against our kids. Ten thousand out of 12,000 Humvees aren't armored. I visited some of those kids with no limbs today, because they didn't have the armor on those vehicles. They didn't have the right body armor.Please noticed also included in this debate on October 7 we hear about the 850,000 tons of ammo that was such a surprise - Sunday, October 26th - regurgitating old news in an effort to produce "new" bad news has been common practice for the media during the last eighteen months or so. Simply added a new twist - get a solider to do it.
I've met parents who've on the Internet gotten the armor to send their kids.
There is no bigger judgment for a president of the United states than how you take a nation to war. And you can't say, because Saddam might have done it 10 years from now, that's a reason; that's an excuse.
GIBSON: Mr. President?
BUSH: He complains about the fact our troops don't have adequate equipment, yet he voted against the $87 billion supplemental I sent to the Congress and then issued one of the most amazing quotes in political history: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.
To the chagrin of Democratic leaders, Mr. Boyd broke party ranks on Tuesday by showing up at a press conference to support a bill aimed at partially privatizing Social Security, a key component of the president's planned reform. The legislation was written by Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona.
"Look, if you're going to have meaningful reform, you've got to get past this notion that we attack them for every position or idea they float out," Mr. Boyd said.
[…]
Mr. Boyd is not the only Democrat demonstrating a willingness to work with Mr. Bush just weeks after he and his party trounced Democrats after an acrimonious campaign. On Tuesday, Rep. Jane Harman of California praised Mr. Bush's leadership after House passage of an intelligence-reform bill.
[…]
Meanwhile, the White House announced yesterday that Mr. Bush has asked Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, a Democrat who was also a member of President Clinton's Cabinet, to stay for a second term. The president also asked several Republicans to remain in his Cabinet. (Read here)
(Read here) Hat tip: Flying Yangban
Magdlena Sroda says: It is a structure based on patriarchal domination of God the Father and the less important role of women can be seen for example in the letters of Saint Paul.Here is a little of what Paul had to say about how to treat wives:
Ephesians 5:25 (New International Version) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for herHow can it be said this teaches abuse and "killing"?
Denver, for example, refused to allow a Christian church float in the city's holiday parade, because "direct religious themes" were not allowed. Homosexual American Indians, Chinese lion dancers and German folk dancers, however, were welcome.God help us!
The mayor of Somerville, Mass., issued a formal apology this week to anyone offended by a press release "mistakenly" issued from his office that called the town "holiday party" a "Christmas party."
School districts in Florida and New Jersey have banned Christmas carols altogether, and an "all-inclusive" holiday song program at a Chicago-area elementary school included Jewish and Jamaican songs, but no Christmas carols.
Down in Kentucky, local officials rejected the offer of Grace Baptist Church to stage a live Nativity scene in a public square.
In 1997, a Government Accountability Office report noted that management is in disarray, projects are poorly managed and take years to complete, spending data isn't maintained by office, program, or function and the agency's policies and procedures are unclear. GAO couldn't even verify project spending because of the commission's indecipherable record keeping.UPDATE: Decmeber 8th: Berry steps down.
The GAO's 2003 review of the commission showed that the commission had also failed to comply with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. The civil-rights commission has not updated its strategic plan since 1997.
[...]
Just last week she released a deeply flawed and biased report critical of the Bush administration's civil-rights record, despite the fact that such report had been rejected by the commission at its November 12 meeting (the report was originally scheduled for release just days before the presidential election but Republican commissioners succeeded in tabling it, noting that the report on the Clinton civil-rights record wasn't released until after his second term, expressly to avoid politicization). Why even vote on reports if the chairman will simply issue them as she sees fit?
"I don't think we'll get all the facts as long as Mr. Annan is remaining at the helm," Mr. Wicker said.
Nineteen Republicans and one Democrat -- Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi -- had signed the resolution, as of late yesterday.
Calls for Mr. Annan to step down already have come from Sen. Norm Coleman, the Minnesota Republican who is heading the main congressional inquiry into accusations of fraud, bribery and corruption in the United Nations' administration of the Iraq oil-for-food program.
A separate group of Republicans led by Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican and member of the House International Relations Committee, yesterday pushed legislation that would tie the United States' U.N. funding to the organization's cooperation with investigators.I believe either is a start and worth looking into - it is understood saying something has to be done. (Read more)
The corruption accusations have prompted numerous investigations, including several congressional inquiries, a U.S. Treasury Department investigation and a U.N.-commissioned inquiry conducted by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
But Mr. Flake and other Republicans say the United Nations is not cooperating with investigators, is withholding information, and has denied Mr. Volcker's investigation any subpoena power to get information.
[...]
Under Mr. Flake's bill, which has 77 co-sponsors, Congress would withhold 10 percent of its U.N. funding in fiscal 2005 and 20 percent in fiscal 2006, until President Bush certifies that the United Nations has agreed to certain standards laid out in the bill. The bill calls for full disclosure of documents related to the oil-for-food program, asks U.N. officials to waive diplomatic immunity, and asks any U.N. official who benefited from the program to reimburse the full amount that was improperly received.
I hope I'm not alone in gently suggesting to those considering coming to Canada: Stay home, you pathetic whining maggots.
Particularly celebrities. Canada has suffered enough without having to put up with any of the Baldwin brothers or -- heaven forfend! -- Barbra Streisand.
And frankly, I don't know if we can afford to feed Michael Moore.
Bad enough that Canada became a haven for the gutless wonders of the 1960s who fled the Vietnam draft. I sometimes think that the draft dodgers welcomed by the Trudeau government were a political virus that invaded our body politic, and we still suffer the lingering effects of that illness. (Read it)
These researchers use a clever statistical technique to construct an objective measure of conservative or liberal bias in the news coverage of major U.S. television and radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. Their main finding is that the liberal inclination of the mainstream media is clear. Among 20 major outlets, Fox News and the Washington Times emerge as conservative, but the other 18 range from slightly to substantially left of center.Before you jump on the hate Fox bandwagon lets look further.
On the conservative end, the only two outlets below 50 were the Washington Times (35) and Fox News Special Report with Brit Hume (40). Although right of center, these ratings are much closer to the centrist position of 50 than to congressional Republicans' average position of 16.
The other 18 outlets are on the liberal side of 50. Particularly striking are the high liberal ratings for the New York Times and CBS Evening News (both 74), not too far below the average score of 84 for Democratic members of Congress. The news programs of the other two traditional television networks are closer to the center--62 for NBC Nightly News and 61 for ABC World News Tonight. (Read more)
“There must be a balance between the need for media coverage and the difficult and complex missions being carried out by our brave troops,” Jones wrote. “I pray that a Marine or soldier in the future will not lose their life because they hesitated due to concerns that their action would be recorded by the media, reported out of context and scrutinized by public opinion before all of the facts are presented.” (Read more)I agree that cameras should not be present and would question the justification for reporters at all on some missions - the American people do not realize how this can jeopardize military personal just by their presence not to mention adding another loophole to security
"I am doing it because of him," said Spc. Chad Mobley, pointing to Spc. Josh Soelzer. "He's like a brother to me."Interesting fact: "The Army says 58,446 soldiers over all re-enlisted in the year ending Sept. 30, 2,000 more than the goal."
"I think it is a sense of duty," added her camouflage-clad husband, who will be serving his second tour in Iraq. "I decided I owed it to my boys. I am very proud of being in the Army."
"I wanted to do my part in protecting the nation and the future of my children. I just love the Army. I can't picture myself doing anything else," he said as his 3-year-old son, Dontay, watched from a stroller.
the secretary general said that the allegation (originally reported in The Sunday Telegraph in London) had been "thoroughly investigated" by the U.N. and there was "nothing to it."Now a Scotsman.com News article has Annan saying:
[...]
statement in April about the contract award: "Neither he nor I had anything to do with the contracts for Cotecna."
Asked to react to news that his son took the money and had not disclosed it, Annan said: “Naturally I was very disappointed and surprised.”Well which is it "nothing" or nothing that involves you? This man has got to go!
[...]
Annan said his son “is an independent business man. He is a grown man, and I don’t get involved with his activities and he doesn’t get involved in mine.”
According to Sen. John Edwards, “I’d say if you live in the United States of America and you vote for George Bush, you’ve lost your mind.”You have to agree with Mr. Leo's title, because these statements are truly "Over the Top". The sad fact is there are many more statements that could have been placed in this article.
Hollywood people who used the “F” word but weren’t talking about the president, the winner is Tim Robbins for “F - - - compassionate conservatives!”
In the sour-grapes department, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann said “Fox News is hated because they’re elitist and the worst winners television’s ever seen.” Also referring to Fox News, he said “Shallow, phony patriotism will always draw a crowd, like dogs humping in the street.”
Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite said he is inclined to think that Rove “probably set up bin Laden” to deliver his latest tape. Maybe he set up Florida’s hurricanes, too.
In the category of saying nice things about terrorists, Michael Moore wins for comparing the insurgents in Iraq to the American Minutemen....(Good read here)
Developing countries are seeing their economies expand by 6.1 percent this year - an unprecedented rate - and, even if you take China, India and Russia out of the equation, developing world growth is still around 5 percent. As even the cautious folks at the World Bank note, all developing regions are growing faster this decade than they did in the 1980's and 90's.
[...]
Just once, I'd like to see someone like Bono or Bruce Springsteen stand up at a concert and speak the truth to his fan base: that the world is complicated and there are no free lunches. But if you really want to reduce world poverty, you should be cheering on those guys in pinstripe suits at the free-trade negotiations and those investors jetting around the world. Thanks, in part, to them, we are making progress against poverty. Thanks, in part, to them, more people around the world have something to be thankful for. (Read here)
Patricia Hamza, a lawyer working with an Ivory Coast presidential mission in Brussels, said a suit against France would be lodged with the International Court of Justice, the UN's highest legal body, in The Hague.(Read more)
Spain's leading anti-terrorism judge, Baltasar Garzon, said in an indictment handed down in September 2003 against 35 al-Qaida suspects - including Osama bin Laden and Setmariam - that the Tarragona meeting was used to decide last-minute details of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, including the exact date.
Investigators in Spain and the United States have long said Spain was a key staging ground for Sept. 11, along with Germany.
LAKE BUTLER, Fla. - A newspaper's review of ballots cast in three north Florida counties where registered Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans showed just what officials reported: the counties' voters did on Election Day as they often do here, they voted for a Republican for president.
The review of ballots by The Miami Herald shows that people really did mark their ballots in larger numbers for President Bush than John Kerry, debunking Internet-fed rumors questioning whether there was some sort of conspiracy against Kerry in those counties. (Read more)
Many of these stories evaporate when they are looked at more closely," he told the mainly student crowd. "The chances [that the laboratory could produce weapons] are, I think, relatively small. I would be surprised if it was something real.Is this wishful thinking or insightfulness - I believe it to be the former.
BEIJING Nov 26, 2004 - A man with a knife broke into a high school dormitory and killed eight students in the deadliest of a series of knife attacks at Chinese schools in recent months, the government said Friday.
It was the fourth knife attack reported since August at a Chinese school or day care center. The earlier assaults left one child dead and a total of 42 people injured.(Read more)
Iraqi troops searching suspected terrorist hideouts in Fallujah discovered a laboratory with manuals on how to manufacture explosives and toxins — including anthrax....(Read more)I agree with Mr. Limbaugh; let's not ruin the antiwar establishment's holiday weekend - we can tell them Monday.
A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God - including the Declaration of Independence.
Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian.
"It's a fact of American history that our founders were religious men, and to hide this fact from young fifth-graders in the name of political correctness is outrageous and shameful,"
WHEREAS, It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor;
WHEREAS, Both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted' for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
--George Washington - October 3, 1789
The government of France illegally attacked Ivory Coast and the U.N. Security Council sanctioned the illegal action with the adoption of Resolution 1572 on Monday, in what appears to be an imperial plot for regime change in the embattled country.
On Nov. 6, France became a party to the conflict by destroying at least two military aircraft in the tiny Ivorian air force in response to an alleged friendly fire incident in which government fighter jets bombed a French military encampment while attacking rebel positions in the northern town of Bouake, the rebel stronghold, killing nine French soldiers and one American civilian.
Under traditional international law, peacekeeping forces are supposed to be impartial, lightly armed, not to use force except in self-defense and function with the consent of the host state. From this background, the French bombing of the Ivorian air force would be illegal and in breach of Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter prohibiting states to attack one another unless in self-defense. (Read more)
THE MOTTO of the US Marine Corps is Semper Fidelis, or “always faithful”. And faith is exactly what the Western media eschew in their relentlessly cynical coverage of the American Armed Forces
[…]
Their determination to portray the Americans as trigger-happy louts and the Iraqi terrorists as mere “rebels” slanders the former, sanctifies the latter and betrays everybody who trusts journalists to be objective. (Read more)
From: [omitted]@us.army.milThe problem here is that either Mr. Moore is lying or the so called veteran is - you see if he had been discharged in August he would not have an @us.army.mil email address three (3) months after his ETS (end tour service) - of course I have pointed out flaws like this before. Therefore, the point of the letter is moot!
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 11:57 PM
To: Michael Moore
Subject: soldier to hippie
Mr. Moore,
My name is Kellen Cook and I am an Army veteran. I got out of the Army in August...
Mexico is ready for expanding ties with Iran on all areas, notably in economy and trade, the deputy of Mexico's foreign ministry for economic affairs, Irma Avriana said on Friday.Mr. President, I know you got a larger percentage of the Hispanic vote, God bless them, but don't let loyalty blind a greater good for our nation.
Maryland public school students are free to thank anyone they want while learning about the 17th century celebration of Thanksgiving — as long as it's not God. And that is how it should be, administrators say.
[…]
"We teach about Thanksgiving from a purely historical perspective, not from a religious perspective," said Charles Ridgell, St. Mary's County Public Schools curriculum and instruction director. (Read more)
To be fair the Time Online does question some statements and actions by US Military and the acting Iraqi government; however, the fact that they can question some actions and statements and tell positive accounts of the US Military action demonstrates something the American MSM hasn’t; non bias!A previously unknown rebel group last week threatened to behead Dr Allawi's cousin, his wife and their heavily pregnant daughter-in-law unless the assault on Fallujah was stopped.
Such is the fear that the heavily armed militants held over Fallujah that many of the residents who emerged from the ruins welcomed the US marines, despite the massive destruction their firepower had inflicted on their city.
A man in his sixties, half-naked and his underwear stained with blood from shrapnel wounds from a US munition, cursed the insurgents as he greeted the advancing marines on Saturday night."I wish the Americans had come here the very first day and not waited eight months," he said, trembling. Nearby, a mosque courtyard had been used as a weapons store by the militants.
Another elderly man, who did not want his name used for fear the rebels would one day return and restore their draconian rule, said he was detained by the militants last Tuesday and held for four days before being freed. He described how he had then sought refuge in a friend's house where they had huddled together clutching Korans in silent prayer for their lives as the massive US bombardment put the insurgents to flight.
"It was horrible," he told an AFP reporter."We suffered from the bombings. Innocent people died or were wounded by the bombings.
"But we were happy you did what you did because Fallujah had been suffocated by the Mujahidin. Anyone considered suspicious would be slaughtered. We would see unknown corpses around the city all the time." (Read more)
The UN staff union, in what officials said was the first vote of its kind in the more than 50-year history of the United Nations, was set to approve a resolution withdrawing support for the embattled Annan and senior UN management.
[…]
The latest crisis comes as Annan faces unprecedented calls to resign over the burgeoning scandal about "oil-for-food," a UN aid scheme that US investigators say allowed Saddam to siphon off billions of dollars.
[…]
"Kofi Annan is surrounded by corruption, a gang of criminals responsible for some of the worst things that happened to mankind in the 20th century," said one angry staffer, referring to the Rwanda massacres."It's possible that he doesn't know directly what has gone on," said the employee, who has worked for the United Nations for two decades. "But that's no excuse." (read more)
Based on intelligence that shows Fallujah was an enemy command center, Gen. Sattler asserted, "We feel right now that we have ... broken the back of the insurgency, and we have taken away this safe haven."How might they be able to spin this in a negative light? I am sure liberals will find away. But in the interest of being fear I will add and excerpt that should give us cautious in our optimism.
[…]
Gen. Sattler said the insurgency, in losing Fallujah, has lost "your location and your means for command and control, you lose your lieutenants, which we have taken out of the Zarqawi network over the course of the last almost three months on a very precise basis. ... And you also lose the turf where you're operating, the town that you feel comfortable moving about in, where you know your way about. Now you're scattered."
[…]
In a separate press conference at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, the deputy chief of U.S. Central Command, said Pakistan's unprecedented decision to deploy forces in the border region has dealt a blow to bin Laden and top aide Ayman al-Zawahri. (read more)
Some Pentagon officials say privately that they do not share Gen. Sattler's optimism.
They said this week that the countrywide insurgency has shown itself to be an adaptable band of dedicated killers that likely will be able to recruit new members and sustain some level of violence for years, not just months.
The amazing, perhaps historic, battle of Fallujah has come and gone, and the biggest soldier story to come out of it is the alleged Marine shooting. There must have been hundreds of acts of bravery and valor in Fallujah. Where will history record their stories? – Daniel Henninger “We Won’t Have a Draft”Why is it that the MSM only discusses the negative stories? Why would they not promote the positive actions of our brave men and women? Is their hatred of George Bush so great that they must attempt once again to turn a generation against it’s country.
The election's one, ironic nod to the nature of the troops in Iraq was the controversy over the draft. Michael Moore traveled to 60 college campuses saying Mr. Bush's opposition to restarting the draft was an "absolute lie." Shortly after, a senior saluted the jolly Hollywood misanthrope and wrote a column for Newsweek denouncing the draft. "We have no concept of a lottery," she wrote, "that determines who lives and who dies." But not to worry, dear. The military brass, to the last man and woman, doesn't want you. Not ever.
[…]
Today recruits take the Armed Forces Qualification Test. It measures arithmetic reasoning, mathematics knowledge, word skills and paragraph comprehension. The current benchmark is the performance levels of recruits who served in Operation Desert Storm in 1990. The military requires that recruits meet what it calls "rigorous moral character standards."
After his August report on Abu Ghraib and U.S. military detention practices, former Defense Secretary Jim Schlesinger told a writer for The Wall Street Journal's editorial page: "The behavior of our troops is so much better than it was in World War II." And more. Unit cohesion, mutual trust in battle, personal integrity and esprit all are at the highest levels in the nation's history, right now, in Iraq. Indeed, the U.S. armed services may be the one truly functional major institution in American life. (Read more)
The Left HATES America! I no longer accept their tired argument that it is a patriot’s duty to criticize the government whenever it strays off the constitutional path or from the “American way”.
don’t take conciliation that 45% of the vote in red states went to Kerry. Those people are not like you. They do not hate America as you do. They are Democrats, who want a different path, but do not hope for our defeat at every turn, as you do. You are the idiot fringe, not only in America, but within your own party too. We(I) have
no use for you anymore. We(I) want no part of you. I hope you all move to Europe or Canada. You will not be missed. (Read more)
" They are not providing access to U.N. personnel, not providing access to U.N. internal audits," Coleman told FOX News.
Sevan has promised to cooperate with investigators and has denied any wrongdoing. But he has yet to agree to testify before congressional panels. (read more)
"On the campaign bus," Newsweek reports, "there had been constant talk of marital spats between the candidate and his wife…
Kerry was both "cranky" and more indecisive than he was portrayed by the media. "I couldn't get the man to make decisions," said former campaign manager Jim Jordan.
Kerry "never did learn how to deliver a speech" and was privately counseled by Washington speech coach Michael Sheehan on shifting to "a more conversational style." (Read more)
