3. Go Mecca: Deal “head on” with the heart of the conflict, by amending the U.S. Constitution to bring it into compliance with Islamic Sharia law.

Huh?

I think there are aliens amongst us.

I think there are aliens amongst us.

Que?

Flatten Mecca!

What you bet that CAIR starts financing Scrappleface ?
It will take them some time to understand the meaning of PARODY.

It's coming down fast.

Ringo the Gringo (#1),

Scott Ott is satire.

When did Karen Hughes move to the Pentagon?

I should have noticed the key word; "parody"....before I clicked the link.

Doh!

I have been thinking that sometimes the high ranking Pentagon official is just cover for the member of Congress or their staff who is leaking this stuff. There are no background checks or polygraphs for any of them.

They might as well have built the Pentagon out of glass.

#10 taxfreekiller

What Alan Keys has to do with them I do not know. My feeling on them is after readng through the site last night is, wolves in sheeps clothing, baa baa baa aaaaaaa-oooooo. Wave away.

Sorry, early OT: (via Drudge)

Iran Urges Summit With Iraq and Syria
Nov 20 11:17 AM US/Eastern
By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq

Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Tehran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hash out ways to cooperate in curbing the runaway violence that has taken Iraq to the verge of civil war and threatens to spread through the region, four key lawmakers told The Associated Press on Monday.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has accepted the invitation and will fly to the Iranian capital Saturday, a close parliamentary associate said.

All the power to the mad mullahs !
Will the Ayatollah Murthayini be present ?

I love scrappleface. Love it.

New Israeli killer bionic hornets!

Any suggestions for a brand name?

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is using nanotechnology to try to create a robot no bigger than a hornet that would be able to chase, photograph and kill its targets, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday.

The flying robot, nicknamed the "bionic hornet", would be able to navigate its way down narrow alleyways to target otherwise unreachable enemies such as rocket launchers, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth said.

It is one of several weapons being developed by scientists to combat militants, it said. Others include super gloves that would give the user the strength of a "bionic man" and miniature sensors to detect suicide bombers.

The research integrates nanotechnology into Israel's security department and will find creative solutions to problems the army has been unable to address, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told Yedioth Ahronoth.

Now that the MSM has successfully defeated Bush, they'll back off these virulently Anti-American screeds leaking national security secrets to the enemy. At least that's what we were told.

bleh.

Make the US constitution Sharia compliant? You... MUST... be... joking!

Go Nuke Mecca: Deal “[war]head on” with the heart of the conflict, by amending the U.S. Constitution to bring it into compliance with Islamic Sharia law.

Fixed that for ya :-)

Where would we be without a mainstream media that eagerly leaks every national security secret and war plan?

In a far better position, both strategic and tactical, I should think.

/time to top off the magazines, lads.....

BTW- if you can call me a paranoid old crank in 5 or even 1 year from now, I'll be happy to wear the label

On a more serious note, Iran is hosting a terrorist leader summit this Saturday and I think we need to send Slim Pickens out the belly of a bomber to deliver them a surprise a la Dr. Strangelove. Yeah, I know he's dead, but we should do it anyway. A little duct tape and he's good to go. Let's take out the trash before they get silly with Israel.

See this:

Terror and the Media: New Research

...Terrorism exists only for one reason. The Mainstream Media (MSM) has created and maintains a battleground on which it can fight an unequal battle with the West. Because the MSM’s image of itself is that it should be “unbiased” and “objective” on matters of politics and philosophy, the media insists on letting itself be used everyday and in every way to spread terrorist propaganda free of charge and free of criticism. There is no terrorist, dictator, or mass-murdered evil enough for the media to make moral judgments about their actions. Certainly the media doesn’t see itself as taking a moral or philosophical stand against any behavior, as long as that evil-doer is not a part of its own elected government.

#19 Iron Fist: That's what I thought he meant to say.

Poitiers, you beat me to it.

to hash out ways to cooperate in curbing the runaway violence that has taken Iraq to the verge of civil war and threatens to spread through the region,

How about start with not arming, financing and training shiite militia, Al-Sadr, Al-Queda etc.?

This is a direct result of independents and repubs voting for or enabling dems in this last General Election.

In ‘88, Pelosi Voted to Impeach Hastings — Will She Support Him Now?

...One of the newcomers to the House was the future Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had been in office a little more than a year. She voted to impeach Hastings.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the future Majority Leader, also voted to impeach. And so did the lawmakers who will soon chair powerful House committees. Rep. Conyers, now in line to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, voted to impeach. Rep. Charles Rangel, soon to chair the Ways and Means Committee, voted to impeach. Rep. Barney Frank, in line to head the Financial Services Committee, voted to impeach. Rep. Henry Waxman, next chair of the Government Reform Committee, voted to impeach. Rep. John Dingell, in line to chair the Energy and Commerce Committee, voted to impeach. Rep. George Miller, soon to head the Education and the Workforce Committee, voted to impeach. Rep. David Obey, in line to chair the Appropriations Committee, voted to impeach. Rep. Ike Skelton, next chair of the Armed Services Committee, voted to impeach. Rep. John Spratt, next in line for the Budget Committee, voted to impeach. Rep. Howard Berman, next head of the Ethics Committee, voted to impeach. Rep. Tom Lantos, in line to chair the International Relations Committee, voted to impeach. And Rep. Louise Slaughter, next chair of the Rules Committee, voted to impeach.

So did other well-known Democratic lawmakers like Rep. John Lewis, Rep. (and later Sen.) Barbara Boxer, Rep. (and later Sen.) Charles Schumer, Rep. (and later Sen.) Richard Durbin, Rep. Ed Markey, Rep. Ron Dellums, Rep. Julian Dixon, and Rep. Richard Gephardt.

In fact, just about everybody in the House voted to impeach Judge Hastings: the vote was 413 to 3. ...

...Hastings, who was convicted in the Senate but not barred from holding future office, ran for Congress himself in 1992, winning a seat from Florida’s 23rd District. And now, because incoming Speaker Pelosi has apparently ruled out the appointment of next-in-line Rep. Jane Harman to chair the House Intelligence Committee, Hastings appears to be headed toward the top position on that panel — one of the most sensitive and responsible posts on Capitol Hill.

The question of whether Hastings should be put in charge of the Intelligence Committee is not as clear-cut as the vote to impeach him years ago. For one thing, these days the 43-member Congressional Black Caucus is solidly behind Hastings, who is black. That’s a much different situation from 1988, when Conyers, a founding member of the CBC, voted against Hastings, along with fellow founders Rangel, Dellums, William Clay, and Louis Stokes. (In fact, all the founders of the CBC who were in the House in 1988 voted to impeach Hastings.)

Late last week, the CBC sent a letter to Pelosi affirming the group’s support for Hastings “The CBC sent a letter to Ms. Pelosi just to let her know that the CBC is behind Mr. Hastings 100 percent,” CBC spokesman Myra Dandridge told National Review Online Friday. CBC officials declined to release the letter itself, but Dandridge said it was sent after CBC members discussed the Hastings issue at their weekly meeting on Wednesday.
...

Oh, the dilemmas.

Go to mecca means to go here:

21º27' N.
39º49' E.

To go with what?

I will leave it to the reder's imagination.

#16 Yishai

Any suggestions for a brand name?

"Little Debbie", of course.

note: Debbie, dim. of Deborah, fr. Heb. Devorah (hornet, bee)

23 doppelganglander
Scrappleface knows that a victory solution would be too controversial.

#27 taxfreekiller

The press is evil complete, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, FOX, PBS, the Mags who gag, the newsliepapers, all of them now work to defeat America

See [Link: artofwarplus.com...]

TFK - I don't know if you saw this or not on the dead thread. This is for you and all the Vietnam Vets:

Wish I could give all of you a great big hug of thanks for Thanksgiving.

I'm OK with the MSM publishing our top secret war plans.

Where can I go to read Iran's, Syria's, and Hizbullah's secret plans? Does WaPo carry those? If not, who?

Check this out from the U.S. Department of Defense website "For the Record" section.
Number Confusion

Nov. 16, 2006 — This page is dedicated to correcting and clarifying errors of fact and perception about Department activities—which includes errors of our own.

We would therefore like to extend our appreciation to the Washington Post and particularly columnist Al Kamen for alerting us to an issue related to “Six Years of Accomplishments with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.”

In that compilation, which reflects on the Department’s accomplishments over the past six years, it is noted that the U.S. military has liberated 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan. It then stated that 31 million Afghans and 27 million Iraqis were liberated. Adding those two numbers together yields 58 million.

This was obviously confusing. The original 50 million was based on approximate estimates of the populations of Iraq and Afghanistan at the time of their respective liberations. The latter numbers referred to estimates of those populations today.

The document has been updated to reflect this clarification.

Scrappleface is one of the few comedy sites that picks the Dems to shreds thouroughly and repeatedly. His recent victims included John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, the minimum wage, and the election results. I check his site at least twice a week, usually in the morning with a cup of coffee. Take my advice for it, it is best to keep the coffee far away from the keyboard and swallow before reading.

Rangle, Biden and Levin - Yo America, ya gets what ya votes for (or stay home and don't vote, even more responsible).

28

Reader's imagination PIMF

#29 taxfreekiller
I have only an opinion, I have not done research.
I will do it if you want me to though.

MSM Bias 101

#33 mama winger - Didn't see it on the Dead Thread, just looked at it now. Thank you for that.

Round up the reporters and shoot them.

Go read every other link on the Scrappleface home page. And smile.

Iran probably has germ weapons

Well, they've been using the sperm weapon, haven't they?

The real threat is the Democrat Party

Not always. I see Tancredo agrees with me:

'Bush doesn't think America should be an actual place'

"People have to understand what we're talking about here. The president of the United States is an internationalist," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "He is going to do what he can to create a place where the idea of America is just that – it's an idea. It's not an actual place defined by borders. I mean this is where this guy is really going."

Tancredo lashed out at the White House's lack of action in securing U.S. borders, and said efforts to merge the U.S. with both Mexico and Canada is not a fantasy.

"I know this is dramatic – or maybe somebody would say overly dramatic – but I'm telling you, that everything I see leads me to believe that this whole idea of the North American Union, it's not something that just is written about by right-wing fringe kooks. It is something in the head of the president of the United States, the president of Mexico, I think the prime minister of Canada buys into it. ...

42 Kragar

Well yes, or at least arrest them and put them on trial. What is wrong with the leadership in this country, of whatever party? We are at war, fer Chrissakes, & this leaking puts us all in more danger, and any jury would see it.

There is only one exit strategy for Iraq, build up their institutions and enforce the rule of law to the point where they are self supporting and standing.

Otherwise the US will be back there in 5, 10 or 15 years.

#45 Fjordman

make it three

are these the "V"s

C3PO advocates talking with Darth Vader, why can't we?

realwest...

Amen to that comment...

Sadly we get what we vote for... Well, I didn't vote for it...but at least I can complain...

#50 taxfreekiller
Ok.
I'll be back to this thread with it.

#16

Hornet brand-name: Martyr Makers!

#33 mama winger
A week ago I walked the terraces of Mt. Herzl (Israel's National Cemetary), where one of my son's comrades now rests. One has the same feeling there that you experience at Arlington- in front of you is the true price of freedom.

/a toast- to absent comrades

#14 Poitiers-Lepanto

Iraq has seen the writing on the wall and will now it's best to ingratiate itself with the winning side.

Option 4 was never revealed: A Time Machine.

With a Time Machine we could go back in time, turn Iraq into a black smear from the get-go, turn terrorist strongholds into craters (yes, that means civilian casualties like dead babies and old people without their medicine), forcefully implement a be-secular-or-else government, and be talking about the war in Iraq in past tense. Bush becomes a hero because of a decisive victory, Iraq joins the 21st century at gunpoint, Iran helplessly looks on, crapping their pants, yadda yadda.

I don't believe publishing the so-called "options" as a security leak. It's more like common sense put in print. Really, without a Time Machine, those are the only available options in any war: win, leave, or surrender. Now this is some kind of secret that somehow compromises our position? Good grief.

If the MSM said Bush was building a Time Machine, that would be a security leak.

Realwest and American Soldier

There is no way I could ever say thank you enough. If you were here, I would make you all some homeade soup and pie.

TFK -

Some wounds are better left un-picked-at. My heart hurts at the thought of your pain, then and now.

Also on the Department of Defense website in #35 above:
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM
Official Website of the Multi-National Force - Iraq
Interesting reading.

TFK
I now have a list of the Board of Directors
All of them from NY
off to research them
Be back

MSM starting to stand for MoneygrubbinSecretleakinMotherf--kers.

I may go to Washington and toss my rusty J-School B.A. right over the WH fence in disgust.

TFK

1) they bring alot of lawsuits.

2) here is something interesting already

#56 Rancher

I agree, and iran behaves as the regional superpower that we are allowing it to become.

What makes me laugh (figure of speech of course, there is absolutely nothing to laugh about here) is that the demonrats cannot see that their cut-and-run policy will ONLY cause a bigger, bloodier, longer, more terrifying war in the (near) future.

How blind !
How irresponsible !

#59 mama winger
I'll take a raincheck. Thanks. May G-d bless you and Young Winger.
/no thanks for the video- too many tears shed in the past week. Getting overly sentimental in my old age.

/off to meatspace; later, all

I would not be surprised if the heads of the wire news services (UPI, AP, Reuters) turned out to be Hizballah and Palestinian stingers.

#64 Poitiers-Lepanto,

You are assuming they care. If you look at what the Democrats have consistantly done over the last 40 or so years, and you posit that they don't want what is best for America, but would rather see America taken down several pegs, their actions make more sense.

And yeah, I do question their patriotism.

The palestinians are Ewoks.

Too bad the secret options don't include
1.Go big
2.Go to Iran, to Syria, and to Southern Lebanon
3.Go let Iraqi Sunnis and Shia fight it out.
4.Go home.

#67 Iron Fist

And yeah, I do question their patriotism.

Bro- they have none to question.
/last comment- really

#64, Poitiers-Lepanto
(Arkansas)?

#69,
And one for the leakers:
Go to hell.

TFK
a radio interview with Robert Shulz

#67 Iron Fist

Exact !
But the idiots don't understand the depth of the islamofascist threat, they think they can play the game you mention ("make America weaker") without finding in the end the barbarians at the doors of the Republic !

I foresee a future in which demonrat politicians will BEG for a greater, more powerful Army !
Not "to save America"...to save their own skin !

Black clouds of beheaders on the horizon !

Robert Spencer on Prager

TFK
Scroll till you get to the highlighted name of Shulz

#67 Iron Fist

That's unfortunately, absolutely correct. You see it in the response of Hazel O'Leary, for example, who said after the Chinese stole the nuclear secrets something to the effect that it's not fair that the US has an advantage.

They are traitors. I also question their patriotism.

#59 mama winger I'd druther have the hugs, thank you (not that I wouldn't want the soup and pie, mind you, but I'm now off to an oral surgeon to have an extraction which needs be done under general anesthesia, so I can't eat anything right now)! LOL!

If they had any patriotism,they wouldn't print classified leaks and they would notify the FBI.

Anything less is collusion with the enemy.

#71 Tradewind

#64, Poitiers-Lepanto
(Arkansas)?

Sorry, I really don't get it !

/I have asked for the new decoder ring WEEKS ago ! And the check is late too !

via The Corner

Angels Out of SFO [Stanley Kurtz]
Honor; Courage; Commitment: These are the virtues proclaimed on the opening page of the official website of the Blue Angels, the magnificent official flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy. Honor; Courage; Commitment: each of these has been shamefully and repeatedly besmirched, abandoned, and shirked by the city of San Francisco, which has wiped the name of the city’s famous Army Street off the map, refused docking rights to the historic World War II battleship Iowa, passed a ballot measure calling for the exclusion of military recruiters from public high schools and colleges, and now banned the Junior Reserve Officers Training Program from the city’s schools. (For more, see Jeff Jacoby’s “Antimilitary bigotry,” and my “San Francisco to Army: Drop Dead.”)
The freedom the city of San Francisco takes for granted depends upon the protection, sacrifice, honor, courage, and commitment of the men and women of America’s armed forces. Up to now, San Francisco has been getting a free ride: insulting and expelling our military while taking advantage of its protection–and even taking advantage of military spectacle when that spectacle adds to the city’s prosperity. Now it’s time for this bad bargain to stop. There is something that can be done–small in itself perhaps, yet large in significance–to begin the process of exposing San Francisco’s free ride.

The Blue Angels need to stop going to San Francisco. With but one or two exceptions, the Angels have performed in San Francisco for over 20 years. About 135 communities across this country request the Navy’s finest each year. Yet only around 34 communities actually see the Blue Angels perform. The city of San Francisco has had the distinct honor of being one of the few fixed, yearly appearance sites of the Blue Angels. This is so, even though many far more supportive communities across the nation–communities that offer much better recruiting opportunities–go years between visits from the Blues. Just this past October, the Blue Angels were a featured attraction at San Francisco’s Fleet Week. As I understand it, the 2007 Blue Angels schedule is now in the chain of command for approval, with the results likely to be announced at the International Council of Air Shows Convention in the first week of December.

San Francisco needs to be permanently removed as a Blue Angels destination. That should not change until the JROTC is brought back to the city, and until Measure I (the “College Not Combat” call to bar military recruiters from schools) is rescinded. True, the public in Northern California as a whole should not be deprived of the opportunity to honor our military during fleet week. Fleet week should go on. Yet San Francisco must pay a price for its grievous insult to our military by seeing its last of the Blue Angels.

The withdrawal of the Blue Angels from San Francisco should be only a part of that price. Congress needs to expand the Solomon Amendment, and the recruiting provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, to see to it that universities and high schools that block ROTC and JROTC lose their federal funding. ...
...
With only a couple of weeks left until the likely announcement of the Blue Angels 2007 schedule at the International Council of Air Shows Convention, the public needs to communicate its views to the Navy without delay.

I also hope the MSM realizes that the minute there is another attack on American soil that used leaked security info from a major news source,the American people will burn them out like in the movie Johnny Mnemonic.

TFK

In other words: we have the devil we know, vs the devil we don't know, and we also have some serious questions as to whether or not there is any connection between you personally and the Rockefeller Foundation. Could you be trying to usher in either a national sales tax or a flat tax, neither of which are constitutional?

LINK

Hey lizards, FOX just broke some more "secret" news. Mr. Dinnerjacket had asked the students at Iranian Universities to rat out the "unIslamic" professors. The students did NOT do this, according to FOX, but the professors were all fired anyway. I guess THREATS ON ACADEMIA get the MSM all fired up.

Charlie Wrangels antics sure have focused the eyes of the MSM on something other than Pelosi-Alcee Hastings. Not by accident though. Ah I hear Wrangels bullshit on the airwaves this very second. Where is the news of the Pelosi-hastings flockfest?

#64 Poitiers-Lepanto

Ironically, I predict that the violence will drop dramatically when we leave. Syria will tighten up the border and supplies and personell for the insurgence will dry up. Iran will reign in the militias, especially Sadr’s, and the new wave of violence will die down after serving the Mullahs their victory. That does not bode well for us or the Iraqis, especially the Kurds and Sunnis but also the Shia who will get the thugocrasy they seem to want.

TFK

They guy has been ambitious a long time for a political carreer.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

#85 zombie,

You get all the fun hate mail. Wah.

:-)

#85 zombie

I see. Having exposed the fraud, we now learn that the same is irrelevant.

TFK

look to the right highlighted by name

I think Wrangel is trying to set up a "gotcha".

The second he gets even one Republican to back his proposal,we'll hear "see I told you so" from Charlie the Tuna.

If it gets past congress even without Republican support,he will say "see I told you so".

and if ,heaven forbid,the President signs it into law,Charlie the Tuna will shout "see I told you Bush wanted the draft" from the Capitol rooftop.

Pretty transparent if you ask me.

D'ya guys mean Charlie Rangel, or is there some inside joke I've missed?

#64 Poitiers-Lepanto

Ironically, I predict that the violence will drop dramatically win we leave. Syria will tighten up the border and supplies and personell for the insurgence will dry up. Iran will reign in the militias, especially Sadr’s, and the new wave of violence will die down after serving the Mullahs their victory.

#45 Fjordman

I certainly concur with Tancredo's sentiments. El Presidente Jorge Arbusto would like to see a European-Union-style scheme enacted for the Americas. It is a massive betrayal. Just because we support fighting Islamic extremism is no reason not to keep our eye on the Bush administration in other regards. In fact, he is clearly only half-committed to fighting terrorism, barely committed to fighting Islam extremism, and not at all committed to protecting our borders.

There is a new VDARE piece out today talking about why we should be more concerned with eliminating illegal immigration than with minimum wage hikes.

A little off-topic unrelated humor

Happy Thanksgiving Lizards !

Damn I just double posted. Sorry, I should confine my blogging to three or four sites.

TFK

Before he discovered "V" he seemed to be on a Wizard of Oz kick.

WTF is Project Toto?

#85 Rancher

In the last few days, both Charles and Jihad Watch have published stories about the alqaedas being ALREADY moved away from Iraq to Britain...the next job will be in Europe (and in Israel). And in America of course (as soon as the border will go from wide open to not-existent at all).

Peace will reign over Iraq.
The usual kind of peace that the policies of the demonrats create: killing fields of silence and bloody absolutism.
Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam...

the true progress: from
ALL THE POWER TO THE COMMIES
to
ALL THE POWER TO THE ISLAMOFASCISTS

And they paint themselves "nuanced" and "great souls"...[LONG SERIES OF EXPLETIVES DELETED]

Dems raise over 1/2 million dollars for Hamas front group....
First Muslim Congressman Addresses CAIR Banquet

Sold-Out Event Raises More Than $620,000 for Civil Rights Work

The event raised more than $620,000 to support CAIR's civil rights and advocacy work on behalf of the American Muslim community. (Another dinner held by CAIR's Southern California chapter (CAIR-LA) over the weekend raised more than $430,000. Some 1,800 people attended that event.)

Elected officials who spoke at the sold-out event included Representative- elect Ellison (D-MN), as well as Reps. Mike Honda (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Albert Wynn (D-MD). Ellison and Jackson Lee offered their addresses by video. Saqib Ali, who was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates (District 39) on November 7, was also in attendance.

To view Keith Ellison's address, go to:
[Link: www.cair.com...]
To view Jackson Lee's address, go to:
[Link: www.cair.com...]

#87 Iron Fist 11/20/2006 10:23AM PST
#85 zombie,

#88 pat 11/20/2006 10:23AM PST
#85 zombie

#85 Rancher

#95 Rancher 11/20/2006 10:28AM PST
Damn I just double posted.

Hey -- my comment disappeared!

Poof!

We're having a comment #17 situation here all over again!

Bizarre.

64 Poitiers-Lepanto

iran behaves as the regional superpower that we are allowing it to become.

Iran was the regional superpower before Jimmah Carter's disastrous foreign policies.

#91 Spiny

Yeah we mean Charlie Rangel(the Wrangel(/i)-er)

#92, Rancher. Syria is for all intents and purposes an Iranian puppet state. Web search "Shia Crescent" and Pipes,Syria. I do not agree with your assessment in any particular. I see no basis for your speculation.

#98 Killgore

I thought I had seen where Ellison had decided not to speak at the CAIR thingy-dingy.

Guess I was wrong or he lied.

TFK:

I am stopping here unless you want me to continue.

Which One World
Koom Bah Yah
fasting
Ba'al worshipping
MFer
are we supposed to side with?

None of the above.
I still go with my original assesment.

#98 Killgore Trout

From your link:

Other speakers included Special Agent in Charge Joseph Persichini, Jr. of the FBI's Washington Field Office, Fairfax County Police Chief Col. David M. Rohrer

I smell something...
Something like Amerabia...

Brown University bans evangelical organization of students

98 Killgore

From your story:

Other speakers included Special Agent in Charge Joseph Persichini, Jr. of the FBI's Washington Field Office

Grrr.

#92 Rancher

Ironically, I predict that the violence will drop dramatically win we leave. Syria will tighten up the border and supplies and personell for the insurgence will dry up. Iran will reign in the militias, especially Sadr’s, and the new wave of violence will die down after serving the Mullahs their victory.

On the other hand, the threat of takeover by Baathist Syria/Fascist Iran may scare many Iraqis enough for them to actually get their act together.

I really need new glasses. I thought the headline said "Secret Penguin Study..."

/Emily LaTella

#99 zombie,

You were uncommented. Scary!

;-þ

Must be that famous LGF echo chamber, eh PL?

See, this is all because we Jews have control of the media.
/sarc

Nuke and pave.

#106 Babba

It is obvious from the article that the University dug up some small technicality to erase this Christian body from the community.

Kind of like Soviet Russia.

#111 Dead Sea Squirrel

It's the famous

GREAT MINDS...

/or was it GREAT LIZARDS ?

#114 mama winger
Yup. Hello!

And the option we will probably pick:

4. Go home, let Islamofacism rule the day and Iran become a regional superpower, keep our heads in the sand until we lose 1 to 3 US cities to nukes couresty of Islamicists, and then explode in a bloodbath directed at large parts of the ME the likes of which you can only find described in one place: The worst parts of Revelations.

#66 Yank in the EU

I would not be surprised if the heads of the wire news services (UPI, AP, Reuters) turned out to be Hizballah and Palestinian stingers.

I keep calling for a grass-roots investigation of the wire services, including the use of out own infiltrators, but nobody listens.

#85 Rancher

I agree and disagree with you.

If we leave, there will be a surge in violence (nation-wide) as Sectarian violence gets ramped up in the free-for-all that follows the "Stability Vacuum" we'll create on our exit. Every Tom, Dick and Mohammed will vie for their slice, a la Saddam-style, in an effort to recreate his Dictatorship in their own style. This will go on as Syria and Iran work to slowly "re-occupy" the land that was "their's in the first place." Namely, the Oil Fields.

The UN will blame America for all of it and millions will die, starting first with the people who supported America during their "occupation."

Once the dust settles, violence will subside... publicly, at least. The Wall will come up and we'll be getting news reports from CNN reporting on Baghdad from Saudi Arabia.

Humble opinion. It wouldn't be in Syria and Iran's best interest to close their borders. It would be smarter to move in during a weakened Iraq.

The best outcome is an Iraqi military surprise much like the 6-Day War... underdog smites thine enemy thanks to American technology. Who knows...

We could organize a fund raising banquet too !
Imagine what Charles could do with 1 million bucks !

Politicians, radio shows hosts, the crowd of the Lizards.
750 a head, 1500 persons.

Six months of work to organize it and then BOOM !

How about this?

4. Go nuclear.

#69 paul

one more:

#) Go military. As in, change the rules of engagement over there so the military can do its job.

This "go big" option doesn't make sense to me -- more soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines to not shoot looters, not capture al-Sadr, not keep insurgents incarcerated, not maintain checkpoints if al-Maliki wants 'em down, not engage with terrorists who are shooting from mosques, etc.

I s'pose some of these nots have been taken care of, but I bet new ones will just keep popping up like gophers as long as our pc sensibility won't let us commit to principles of effective warfare.

#113 MoleOnABull

Sure thing, MoleOnABigel.....

I've said that before as well (not on lgf), sounds like the end times to me as well. Not get all alarmist, but it looks to me like something I don't want to be around for.

106 BabbaZee

Someone needs to do a major story on the cascade of scare literature, and even film, that is convincing LLL's that evangelical Christians are not just as dangerous, but far more dangerous than the radical Isalmists. Forget Osama, its James Dobson that makes them wet themselves. Our own dear Gordon is firmly caught up in this fantasy.

#124 was referring to #117

Sorry.

#99 zombie

So it wasn't my imagination, I looked to find my post and didn't so posted again. Charles can really mess with our minds like that. Last week he took down an entire thread. I thought I had gon nuts.

#127 Rancher
A Dingo ate some of my posts too

124 mole

Not Revelations, just Revelation. Singular.

Pet peeve, sorry.

I'm afraid we've all taken our eye off the ball.

The current situation in Iraq is made-to-order by the terrorists for MSM consumption, to weaken our resolve. Those devils play the MSM like a fiddle, and the MSM is glad to pander to them, and almost never publishes anything about the good that's been done in Iraq.

The MSM are directly responsible for most of the murders and mayhem now ongoing in Iraq. If they did not publishe the daily body counts, the terrorists would not be doing what they're doing anywhere near as much.

MSM leaders are, in effect, accessories to murder and genocide.

#125 dead sea squirrel
It is all part of the agit-prop to achieve the intended goal -
remove the Judeo-Chiristian ethic and all it's representatives from public life.
Last time Stan tried it 6 million died.
Nodrog is caught up in many fantasies, LOL

#123 Earth2moonbat
Was that whack-a-mole-on-a-bigel?
LOL!

Legendary editor Harold Evans warns that journalists are making it too hard to discuss the truth about jihadists, in Don't mention the (jihadist) war

Something similar happened at this year’s Hay-on-Wye festival, sponsored by the Guardian, where a five-person panel discussed “Are there are any limits to free speech?” One of the Muslim panelists said if anyone offended his religion, he would strike him. A lawyer, Anthony Julius, responded that Jews had lived as minorities under two powerful hegemonies, Christian and Muslim, and had been obliged to learn how to deal nonviolently with offense caused to them by the sacred scriptures of both. He started by referring to an anti-Semitic passage in the New Testament — which passed without comment. But when he began to list the passages in the Koran that denigrate Jews, describing them as monkeys and pigs, the panelists went ballistic. One of them, Madeline Bunting of the Guardian, put her hand over the microphone and said words to the effect, “I am not going to sit here and listen to any criticisms of Muslims.” She was cheered, and not one of the journalists in the audience from right or left uttered a word about free speech — not hate speech, mind you, but free speech of a moderate nature.

#125 dead sea squirrel

Someone needs to do a major story on the cascade of scare literature, and even film, that is convincing LLL's that evangelical Christians are not just as dangerous, but far more dangerous than the radical Isalmists. Forget Osama, its James Dobson that makes them wet themselves. Our own dear Gordon is firmly caught up in this fantasy.

That's because Islamofascists are generally pretty far away right now, whereas evnagelical Christians are nearby and could stop the LLL from doing its unfettered boinking and other acts of moral terpitude in the near term.

If I desired to live life as an unfettered slimeball, I'd be more concerned right now about the Christian Right than the Islamofascists too.

#92 Rancher

Ironically, I predict that the violence will drop dramatically win we leave. Syria will tighten up the border and supplies and personell for the insurgence will dry up. Iran will reign in the militias, especially Sadr’s, and the new wave of violence will die down after serving the Mullahs their victory.

You keep drinking that KoolAid, buddy.

The Scrappleface plan seems what to close to what some want to do.

131 Babba

Yep.

134 sss111

Whatever the motivation, they've worked themselves into a fine lather. If you want to see an amusing example, check out David Byrne's review of Jesus Camp. The artistic genius behind Talking Heads expects to see evangelical suicide bombers and 9/11-type attacks in the name of Jesus. I always liked Byrne, and I used to think he was pretty intelligent.

This pentagon press release is an information leak?

LGF has officially jumped the shark.

Then get the fuck out of our water.

White House brushes off CIA draft on Iran: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House dismissed a classified
CIA draft assessment that found no conclusive evidence of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program, The New Yorker magazine reported.

The article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said the CIA's analysis was based on technical intelligence collected by satellites and on other evidence like measurements of the radioactivity of water samples. ...

...White House spokeswoman Dana Perino did not respond directly to Hersh's assertions, but said the article was another "error-filled piece" in a "series of inaccuracy-riddled articles about the Bush administration."

"The White House is not going to dignify the work of an author who has viciously degraded our troops, and whose articles consistently rely on outright falsehoods to justify his own radical views," she said on Monday. ...

Sssssmmmmmack!

Let's surprise the jihadists by leaving!

Charles has lost it.

Sum total of google news links on John Bolton's recent anti-UN statement:

UN slams Israel over Beit Hanun strike, okays probe
Ha'aretz, Israel - Nov 17, 2006
By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service. The UN General Assembly on Friday night overwhelmingly passed a resolution ...

Bolton is Israel's secret weapon, says Gillerman
Malaysia Sun, Malaysia - Nov 18, 2006
After a staunch defence of Israel on Friday night in the UN General Assembly, John Bolton, the US Ambassador to the UN, has been described by his Israeli ...

ISRAEL CONDEMNS RESOLUTION CONDEMNING ISRAEL
uruknet.info, Italy - Nov 18, 2006
Since it's inception as a 'State', Israel has ignored every resolution passed by the United Nations which in any way criticised them or their actions. ...

US Calls Resolution Against Israel Biased
Arutz Sheva, Israel - Nov 18, 2006
(IsraelNN.com) United States UN Ambassador John Bolton called the draft resolution against Israel unbalanced and biased. As a result ...

Bolton in extraordinary outburst against United Nations
Malaysia Sun, Malaysia - Nov 17, 2006
The US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, launched a scathing attack on the United Nations Friday. Bolton was furious over the adoption ...

UN General Assembly carries Arab condemnation of Israel on Gaza by ...
DEBKA file, Israel - Nov 17, 2006
Cited was Israel’s Nov. 8 artillery misfire on Beit Hanoun which killed 19 civilians, but no mention was made of systematic Palestinian ...

John Bolton alone
Power Line, MN - Nov 19, 2006
Like Mark Steyn's book (discussed below), John Bolton has a message. Indeed, it's a message that would resonate with the readers ...

UN slams Israel, okays probe
B92, Serbia and Montenegro - Nov 18, 2006
NEW YORK -- The UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the errant shelling of a Beit Hanun house which killed some 20 Palestinians. ...

I want to know:

Where is the choke point where coverage of stories like this gets squelched? Who is responsible?

That person or persons need to be exposed.

#102 gymnast

I know Assad is Iran's stooge, that's why he will stop supplying the insurgents, assuming they haven't already left as post #97 suggests. It will be in both Iran's and Syria's best interest to have a stable Iraq and to quell the threat of civil war. Control of the Shia militias, which I think Iran has, can bring this about. Once the Saddamist insurgents realize the Syrian help is gone they will either leave Iraq and go to Syria with their Baathist buddies or stay until the Shia get around to squashing them. A stable Iraq also will allow allot more material for Hezbollah to be sent overland through Iraq rather than flying it all to Syria.

#108 sss111

On the other hand, the threat of takeover by Baathist Syria/Fascist Iran may scare many Iraqis enough for them to actually get their act together.

And do what? If they were afraid to dismantle the Mahdi army when we had them dead in our sites at that damn graveyard they sure as hell won't do anything once we leave.

#119 Noam Chumpski

Every Tom, Dick and Mohammed will vie for their slice, a la Saddam-style, in an effort to recreate his Dictatorship in their own style.

They may try but my money is with Sadr. I really think he will quickly solidify his victory by taking over Iraq with the full backing of the Mullahs.

TFK
this is for you & all nam vets...
'to an unknown grave'
[Link: music.download.com...]

#48 Canadian Imperialist Running Dog 11/20/2006 09:47AM PST

"There is only one exit strategy for Iraq, build up their institutions and enforce the rule of law to the point where they are self supporting and standing.

Otherwise the US will be back there in 5, 10 or 15 years."

this cannot be done because they have NO history of any real "freedom". having never been able to live w/out a constant fear of death from their 'Prophet' & a constant inculcation to HATE...democracy is tantamount to a psychotic episode.

#142 sss111

I think the googlebots must be stuck in Charles' new googlebot filter.......

I recently read an article by a conservative columnist (don't remember who) advocating withdrawing from Iraq. It kinda made sense to me, though.

His position was that if we withdrew, Iran would send money and people in to support the Shiites. Seeing that, Saudi Arabia and Syria would send in support for the Sunnis. Syria would stop supporting Hezb'allah, and Iran would be diverted from their nuclear program, and Saudi Arabia would be less able to fund the global jihad. That was it in a nutshell. The drawback as I see it would be that we couldn't leave the Kurds hanging. For ordinary Iraqis it would be hell, but I don't see them stepping up to fight for themselves now.

Please don't flame me, I'm just repeating what I read and it seemed intriguing.

#146 IowaInfidel

His position was that if we withdrew, Iran would send money and people in to support the Shiites. Seeing that, Saudi Arabia and Syria would send in support for the Sunnis.

You don't know squirt about Syria, do you?

#135 Kenneth

You keep drinking that KoolAid, buddy.

I am just trying to get a handle on where we will stand after we run. I certainly don’t think we will be better off, far from it. As to Iraq being better off just because the level of violence diminishes, again far from it. It would go badly for the Iranians should Iraq become an ungovernable mess such as Lebanon became after the Israeli withdraw, and Iran is far better prepared to step in than Syria was. But who will support the Sunnis? They are a minority, a lot of their ordinance has been captured or used on us, and Syria is in bed with Iran. Think the new congress will support them? Saudi Arabia might, but not in any great way. Iran will quickly gain control of the situation, the Sunnis will start to be slaughtered, but then they bear a great portion of the responsibility for the current situation. Iraqi Shia will be the ones who will fare best but they will be living under a repressive gov. all the same. The ones I really will cry for are the Kurds. They will be set upon from both sides, Syria and Iran both are occupiers of parts of Kurdistan and will work to finish the job Saddam started. Our best friends in the region, the Kurds and Israelis may not survive our defeat.

I see a new thread is up so I'll just say one last thing. Eventually Saudi Arabia, as well as Egypt and Turkey will be getting their own nukes. If they are smart they are scrambling already to do so. This Sunni Shia crap that Iran has been doing its best to inflame just might come back and flame out the entire ME. Once the oil is radioactive we'll be able to leave the region to its own destruction.

#148 Rancher

Ok, I see where you are coming from. So skip the KoolAid and have beer. ;)

But I'm not so sure we will see a stable, quiet Iraq. The pissed-off Sunnis will go ape-shit. The pro-Iranian and not-so-pro-Iranian Shia factions will fight it out. The Kurds will want out & so will declare independance, drawing Turkey into invading. Then Kuwait, Saudi Arabia & Jordan will back the Sunni Arab rump as a last ditch barrier against the Shia crescent. The Iranian's will be happy with Iraq under their thumb as the drive by tank to Jerusalem will be much shorter.

Chaos will result, which is exactly what Amhadinejad & his cult want.

Isadore

It was a secret study.
Nothing in the original story says the study was meant to be released officially.
(If you read Charles' link carefully, you will notice that the sourced statements are not directly about this study. The story then continues with a spun version of the leaked info.)

In fact, I read the story this morning in the Washington Post - front page, above the fold - and it specifically said that their sources requested anonymity because they were not allowed to make any of their deliberations public.

So if there has been a press release now, it is only because the information had already become public, and those in charge are trying to do damage control.

Go jump your own shark.

#149 Rancher

Science fiction: nuclear war in the Middle East won't make the oil, which is deep under ground, go radioactive.

#152 Kenneth

He may be referring to the urban legand that they will deliberately poison the well with radioactive material. Which is also bunkum.

It will make it alot more expensive at least.

#143 Rancher

I hear ya... Sadr is definitely on my short list of contenders. Revolutionary politics is messy though and I wonder if Iran would see him as a threat in a destabalized, Post-American, Iraq. Whereas now they view him as useful and sexy.

Politics aside... that man is one ugly fella. His video announcements make me as queasy as watching a man's balls being operated upon on a Medical Cable Channel...

#150 Kenneth

The Iranians will be happy with Iraq under their thumb as the drive by tank to Jerusalem will be much shorter.

They already own Syria, unless you're alluding to them taking Jordan. Jordan could be a real battleground. I don't think SA would want to allow them to take Jordan. I think the lines might end up with the Arabian empire including Jordan and Kuwait, and the Persian empire including Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. And the Egyptian empire, and the Ottoman empire, all surrounding the Hebrew empire. Could get ugly.

#151

"their sources requested anonymity because they were not allowed to make any of their deliberations public"

And now, as a result of this near treasonous pentagon-LLL-MSM complicity-nexus, the jihadists are aware that leaving Iraq is one of 3 main super-secret options. We are doomed.

"Go jump your own shark."

Oh, snap.

This really is beyond parody.

#154 Rancher

It will make it alot more expensive at least.

More expensive oil will be the least of our problems.

#156 Earth2moonbat

They already own Syria, unless you're alluding to them taking Jordan. Jordan could be a real battleground.

It's hard to predict into which camp each state will fall, etc, but it will be a bloody mess. I see a major regional war taking shape, with nuclear, chemical & biological weapoins in the hands of apocolyptic madmen. Nightmare sccenario, to put it mildly.

I mean really: where's the secret? Increase the troop levels, decrease the troop levels, or leave. What's been left out? Keeping things exactly the same? Hardly a breach of security.

Timmy, it's a done deal, we will run, now or later. If a pullout is going to happen maybe the earlier the better. Should we hope for a mess like Kenneth thinks will result or a calm (relatively) ME where Iran can solidify its gains and look toward more gains? Pretty lively deadthread, I'll stick around.

#161 taxfreekiller

So, of note is the coming weeked in Iran, with Syria, Iraq, and Iran meeting to talk over things, Pres. Jala Talabani of Iraq will fly to Iran on Saturday to hold the three way sumit

I hope what I posted re: your question helped.

#162 taxfreekiller
Anytime, Killa.

Our "leadership" is filled with traitors, sellouts, fools, and asshats.

Between this, the NAFTA "superhighway", Islamists in our own government, WTF? Are we truly seeing the end of our nation? Do we have twn years? Five years? One year?

Why the hell do we have secrets, then? If secrets don't mean shit, then why safeguard them? Open the nuclear vaults, visit the B-52 and B-2 hangars and bomb depots, we have no secrets with our enemies! Let's open up the borders altogether! Why not? Everyone is just looking for work? Feed their children! Looking for a better life! Screw what they are doing to our nation!

Between Islam, illegals, our "leadership" of both parties, the idiots that make up the Left, and the MSM, what in God's name is making these "people" do this to America? They hate what we stand for, who and what we are, and that we ARE the world's superpower. They all want to see the USA Balkanizized into several Third World shitholes, like those they admire so much.

You know what, to all I mentioned in the previous paragraph --- FUCK YOU! That's all you deserve and probably all you can understand. Fuck you. I mean that.

#148, Rancher. Do you consider yourself to be a serious person and knowledgeable about the subject at hand? Have you spent any time in the area under discussion? I am curious.

Ok. This is weird. On my machine, every comment from 102 on is in italics. Is anyone else seeing this, or is my computer on LSD?

147 Earth2moonbat

#146 IowaInfidel

You don't know squirt about Syria, do you?

Um, if you read carefully, I never claimed to. Please enlighten me about Syria...

#167 Earth2Moonbat -

Mine too. I thought I'd hit the wrong button or something.

...

I don't know why it's in italics.

#172 penitentman

Wow. Two posts total, and they are identical. That's got to be a first. Couldn't come up with an original thought? Blew it all on the first one?

And if you have been following Charles saga of the AP and Reuters fauxtography and faux captioning, you would not be so limited in your knowledge of the enemy nature of major parts of the MSM.

Welcome to LGF. You are about to be educamated.

172 penitentman

Just plain wrong. No conscious, organized "conspiracy" is needed to explain the MSM leftward tilt. It's groupthink, and all surveys show that journalists are well to the left of the general public. They think they're telling the truth, but they're blind to their own biases. Read Goldberg's book. Read the well-documented cases Charles provides week after week. If you think you can find comparable examples of rightward bias in comparable quantity, let's see them.

Put up or shut up.

mama winger

i suggested penitentman post this here rather than on a way older thread that no one was paying any attention to. so that's the reason for the duplicate post.

kirly

yeah penitentman, like i've been telling you for over a year now, prove these assertions or stop making them.

to make things simple, try proving one paragraph at a time. start with this one:

MSM professionals are ordinary folks trying to make a living. There are a few bad apples in every industry, and those in the MSM occasionally provide instances of an apparent leftist bias, instances which conservatives loudly and lamely celebrate as proof of their assertions--as if there aren't occasions of right-wing bias out there too. The bias-example-of-the-week approach to characterizing the vastness of the media is futile.

just a few links. g'head!

172 p-man,

Wow, fella. I actually agree with much of what you said -- and it is correct -- but gee whiz. You wrote a book, and then posted it twice!

#172 penitent man ---

Step away from the Kool-Aid. Back away, slowly...

You are a fool if you actually believe your own words. Have you tried listening and looking around you lately, since, oh, 1968, maybe?

penitentman --- You said -

What MSM financial manager would green-light the extraneous and recurring costs of accommodating the activities of an indigenous leftist crusade, complicating the already-demanding tasks of gathering and reporting news?

Pleeease! The TV "news" divisions are run by the entertainment divisions, or are at least under their umbrella, at the major networks. Look at how much time they spend with absolute shit like Tom Cruise's wedding, PC3 game availability, and that kind of crap! Real news? They wouldn't know real news if it bit them in the ass! "Coverage" of Katrina is a perfect example of that!

The 3 options mentioned all involve the military. But what if the main problem is not simply military, but involves the Maliki regime?

Krauthammer weighs in on why Iraq is crumbling.

[Link: jewishworldreview.com...]

The world's dumbest General speaks.

Now we know precisely what NOT to do in Iraq.

There is a fourth option: Bomb it flat and build a Wal-Mart.

#172 penitentman 11/20/2006 06:22PM PST

It's a fascinating notion really, a persistent, entrenched, and widespread left-wing media bias, but the implied logistical requirements make it unlikely, even far-fetched. As chillingly described by many outspoken conservatives, this purported bias would require organization, conspiracy.

'scuse the language, but bullshit. Most of the MSM is one big left-leaning echo chamber. They reinforce each others' views day in and day out. They think they are in the middle and so coloring the news with their viewpoint is seen by them to be fair. It's groupthink, plain and simple.

Besides, if you were not postulating a vast left-wing conspiracy, then we would suppose there is no organized effort to insult conservatism, and be forced to conclude most if not all MSM journalists and executives just happen to be (1) left-leaning,

Might want to check your facts, buddy. This is provably the case. For example, look here re: MSM journos and their voting paterns. (The cited study if by George Washington University.)

and (2) inclined to unethically taint their work with their personal beliefs.

See above re: groupthink. They don't think that it is because of the echo chamber in which they live.

so Pman, let's see you debunk #85! I think you better bookmark that link for future reference.

re #182

But the problem here is Iraq's particular political culture, raped and ruined by 30 years of Hussein's totalitarianism.

What was left in its wake was a social desert, a dearth of the trust and good will and sheer human capital required for democratic governance. All that was left for the individual Iraqi to attach himself to was the mosque or clan or militia. At this earliest stage of democratic development, Iraqi national consciousness is as yet too weak and the culture of compromise too undeveloped to produce an effective government enjoying broad allegiance.

Last month American soldiers captured a Mahdi Army death squad leader in Baghdad — only to be forced to turn him loose on order of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Two weeks ago, we were ordered, again by Maliki, to take down the barricades we had established around Sadr City in search of another notorious death squad leader and a missing American soldier.

This is no way to conduct a war. The Maliki government is a failure. It is beholden to a coalition dominated by two Shiite religious parties, each armed and ambitious, at odds with each other and with the ultimate aim of a stable, modern, democratic regime.

Is this America's fault? No. It is a result of Iraq's first democratic election. The United States was not going to replace Saddam Hussein with another tyrant. We were trying to plant democracy in the heart of the Middle East as the one conceivable antidote to extremism and terror — and, in a country that is nearly two-thirds Shiite, that inevitably meant Shiite domination. It was never certain whether the long-oppressed Shiites would have enough sense of nation and sense of compromise to govern rather than rule. The answer is now clear: United in a dominating coalition, they do not.

Fortunately, however, the ruling Shiites do not have much internal cohesion. Just last month two of the major Shiite religious parties that underpin the Maliki government engaged in savage combat against each other in Amarah.

There is a glimmer of hope in this breakdown of the Shiite front. The unitary Shiite government having been proved such a failure, we should be encouraging the full breakup of the Shiite front in pursuit of a new coalition based on cross-sectarian alliances: the more moderate Shiite elements (secular and religious but excluding the poisonous Sadr), the Kurds and those Sunnis who recognize their minority status but are willing to accept an important, generously offered place at the table.

Such a coalition was almost created after the latest Iraqi elections. It needs to be attempted again. One can tinker with American tactics or troop levels from today until doomsday. But unless the Iraqis can put together a government of unitary purpose and resolute action, the simple objective of this war — to leave behind a self-sustaining democratic government — is not attainable.

re #182
Krauthammer's suggestion re Iraq:

The unitary Shiite government having been proved such a failure, we should be encouraging the full breakup of the Shiite front in pursuit of a new coalition based on cross-sectarian alliances: the more moderate Shiite elements (secular and religious but excluding the poisonous Sadr), the Kurds and those Sunnis who recognize their minority status but are willing to accept an important, generously offered place at the table.

John Burns and Daniel Pipes also conclude that regime change in Iraq is needed.
[Link: www.danielpipes.org...]
The suggestion is for the return of a strongman like Allawi at the head of the government, who could bring security. And security is needed before democracy, it is suggested.

Could a New Strongman Help?"

That's the title of an article by John F. Burns in the New York Times today, reporting from Baghdad, and it recapitulates themes I have been arguing for since April 2003 – that Iraq needs stability before it can make moves to build democracy. Burns begins by reporting that "in the rudderless nightmare Iraq has become," many Iraqis crave "a strong leader, able to forge a nation from the country's fractious ethnic and religious groups, and to end the current wave of sectarian bloodletting."

"[John Burns:]It is something ordinary Iraqis say with growing intensity, even as they agree on little else. Let there be a strongman, they say, not a relentless killer like Saddam Hussein but somebody who will take the hammer to the insurgents and the death squads and the kidnappers and the criminal gangs who have banished all pretense of civility from their lives. Let him ride roughshod, if he must, they say, over the niceties of due process and human rights, indeed over the panoply of democratic institutions America has tried to implant here, if only he can bring peace."

This sentiment, however, continues to be ignored in Washington.

"[John Burns:]The closest anyone with the White House's ear has come to suggesting anything short of democratic rule, let alone an authoritarian model typical of other countries in the Middle East, are leaks from the bipartisan commission headed by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, which is charged with suggesting a new American approach to Iraq; some of its members have said that the group has considered recommending that stability, rather than democracy, should become the principal objective there."

I note with special interest that Iraqis have in mind the same person I had suggested (at "U.S. Needs To Learn Patience [in Iraq]," "Iraq's Leader Asserts Strongman Powers," "Thoughts on the Forthcoming Iraqi Elections," and "Middle East Update") for this role:

"[John Burns:]The leading candidate for strongman, among secular Iraqis, at least, would be Ayad Allawi, whom the Americans named prime minister in the first post-Hussein government, in 2004. Mr. Allawi, though Shiite, has strong ties with Sunnis, and a reputation as a hard man that goes back to his time as a young Baathist enforcer."

Comment: Years later, will the Bush administration finally understand, along with Voltaire, that "le mieux est l'ennemi du bien" (the better is the enemy of the good)? Security and stability must precede the gradual move toward democracy. (November 12, 2006)

#172 penitentman

Until you can embrace the possibility that bias in the MSM is other than a conspiracy you are lost.

All sentient beings have opinions and therefore have biases. The question before us is whether we can trust those who claim to have no opinons or who claim that their "ethics" require them to hide their opinions.

The former are simply telling a falsehood and are therefore either too dumb or too dishonest to be trusted. The latter demonstrate an unwillingness to acknowledge the obvious. Those are not the sort of people who you can trust to report the truth.

The other problem with claiming "no bias" is that you are telling us that all the quacking does not indicate the presence of ducks.

Here is some remedial reading for you on that: [Link: www.mediaresearch.org...]