Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

QUICK TAKES

    ** On Iraq - Historian Victor Davis Hanson on the Iraq war    The sort of serious analysis and reporting never seen found in mainstream writing (which incidentally throws Trump down from his pedestal)  UPDATE 3/15/16 -  Jay Nordinger's audio interview with Victor Davis Hanson

 

    ** Evangelical leaders on picking a Presidential nominee - Interesting "inside" stuff 

 

    ** Andrew C. McCarthy (the sharpest and most reliable mind around when it comes to Islam and terrorism) writes:  "Why Closing Gitmo is still a terrible idea."

 

    ** Charles Cooke - electing Trump would be "an unmitigated, unalloyed, potentially unsalvageable disaster"  Cooke says Trump must be stopped:  

 

The anti-Trump forces that still make up the majority of the Republican coalition must begin an expedited Manhattan Project, the sole aim of which is to bring down the front-runner piece by unpleasant piece. “If not us, who?” Ronald Reagan asked in the heat of the 1981 budget battle. “If not now, when?” Time to go nuclear, chaps.

AMERICA SHAMEFULLY ABANDONS IRAQIS WHO HELPED AMERICANS DURING THE WAR

Is American honor gone forever?  Have we abandoned our Iraqi allies and interpreters even more egregiously than we did our Vietnamese allies? Here is an account of America's outrageous disregard for the lives of our Iraqi allies and here is the testimony of an American soldier who served two years in Iraq.   With anguish we must admit it is true what others have said, "It’s dangerous to be a friend and ally of the United States."

Short version of the first post can be found here.  Excerpt:

Our withdrawal from Vietnam was ignominious, but we were not completely without honor: For example, Dorothy Martin, the wife of our ambassador, left her personal suitcase behind so that one more Vietnamese woman could squeeze onto the chopper beside her.

President Obama has amnestied, or is about to amnesty, millions of illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America, who came here for better economic opportunities, as is understandable. Do we not have room in this vast country for a couple of thousand Iraqis who helped us in the war and now, because of that help, are threatened with murder by monsters? Who are we?  [my emphasis]

-- Looking into the future, "Kabul, the next Saigon?

U.S. State Department won't allow Sister Diana into the country to tell Americans about ISIS persecution of Christians.

  Nina Shea reports:

Why is the United States barring a persecuted Iraqi Catholic nun — an internationally respected and leading representative of the Nineveh Christians who have been killed and deported by ISIS — from coming to Washington to testify about this catastrophe?

Earlier this week, we learned that every member of an Iraqi delegation of minority groups, including representatives of the Yazidi and Turkmen Shia religious communities, has been granted visas to come for official meetings in Washington — save one. The single delegate whose visitor visa was denied happens to be the group’s only Christian from Iraq.  . . .  [More...]

Update:  Nina Shea stands by her story in the face of State Department intimidation.

. . .  As an articulate, English-speaking Iraqi Christian, who is not only personally a victim of ISIS but also an aid worker with a broad perspective on the suffering of the Christian community there, Sister Diana would make an exceptional witness.

Whether conscious or not of her high value in that regard, those who decided to block Sister Diana from entering this country on a visitor visa acted in a manner consistent with the administration’s pattern of silence when it comes to the Christian profile of so many of the jihadists’ “convert-or-die” victims in Syria, Libya, Nigeria, Kenya, and Iraq. In typical U.S. condolence statements, targeted Christians have been identified simply as “lives lost,” “Egyptian citizens,” “Kenyan people,” “innocent victims,” or “innocent Iraqis.”

Me:  It's certainly true that the Obama administration cares not a fig about religious persecution around the world, but in addition to that, it has developed a particularly strong animosity toward reporting atrocities and persecutions committed against Christians.   I have almost finished reading the remarkable story of Bob Fu [God's Double Agent], who as a Chinese advocate for religious freedom secured wonderful cooperation from the George W. Bush White House and President George Bush himself.  The contrast between Presidents Bush and Obama could not be more dramatic.  GWB put religious freedom high on his list of foreign policy concerns.  From all the evidence, the current occupant of the White House despises Christians.

MYRIAM'S STORY AND SONG

Myriam is an Iraqi Christian whose family had to flee their home near Mosul when ISIS took control of their town in mid 20014. They fled to Irbil, in the relatively safe area of the autonomous region of Kurdistan where they live as refugges. She told her story to Essam Nagy, the presenter of one of SAT-7 KIDS' most popular programmes called 'Why is that?', when he visited Irbil at Christmas 2014. Read story:http://www.wazala.org/2014-02-letters..

 

ISIS SWALLOWING IRAQ: "THEY'RE BEHEADING CHILDREN"

 CBN News provides a complete report including an interview with Ret. Gen. Paul Vallely who pulls no punches in stating what he would do if he were commanding operations.

 

ERBIL, Kurdistan -- Islamic terrorists in Iraq are beheading children and burying people alive, and it won't stop there. They have a message for America: "We're coming for you."

Over the past week, the army of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), also known as IS (Islamic State), swallowed up swaths of Iraq like a pervading darkness.

In just one day, tens of thousands of Christians fled from towns like Qaraqosh and Bartilla, about 25 miles away. Most came to the town of Erbil with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

"America is at a crossroad," says Retired Gen. Paul Vallely, who has more than 15 years of experiencce in special operations and other military ops. He shared his insight on the chaos in Iraq and how it will impact America, on The 700 Club, August 11.

"They take everything from the house, from the store, everything," one refugee told CBN News. "They hate Christian especially. We don't know why."

The choice was leave or die.

Krauthammer - "Why in God's Name Will Not Obama Arm the Kurds?"

 

From National Review Online:

Charles Krauthammer cannot understand why the Obama administration is unwilling to provide arms to Kurds battling ISIS in Iraq: “The Kurds are allies of the U.S. They have a civil society, they’re pro-American, and they fight really hard. But they’re essentially using javelins and harpoons here, and we have not given them anything.”

The White House has claimed that all American arms must go through the Iraqi government, an obligation at which Krauthammer scoffed: “The Iraqi government — that’s Maliki, that Shiite chieftain — has cut off all aid to the Kurdish area [of Iraq] since December of last year.” None of the arms the U.S. has sent through the Iraqi government have arrived, says Krauthammer.

“Why in God’s name we don’t resupply or supply our allies who can hold back ISIS is beyond me.

CHRISTIANS FLEEING FOR THEIR LIVES IN IRAQ

** Update: Al-Queda rebels take Tikrit; force 500,000 to flee Mosul

** Original post: Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom reports the terrible news:

The government of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, fell overnight to the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, also called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Mosul’s panic-stricken Christians, along with many others, are now fleeing en masse to the rural Nineveh Plain, according to the Vatican publicationFides. The border crossings into Kurdistan, too, are jammed with the cars of the estimated 150,000 desperate escapees.

The population, particularly its Christian community, has much to fear. The ruthlessness of ISIS, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, has been legendary. Its beheadings, crucifixions, and other atrocities against Christians and everyone else who fails to conform to its vision of a caliphate have been on full display earlier this year, in Syria.

As Corner readers will remember, in February, it was the militants of this rebel group that, in the northern Syrian state of Raqqa, compelled Christian leaders to sign a 7th-century dhimmi contract. The document sets forth specific terms denying the Christians the basic civil rights of equality and religious freedom and committing them to pay protection money in exchange for their lives and the ability to keep their Christian identity.

Since 2003, Iraq’s Christian community has suffered intense religious persecution on top of the effects of the conflict and, as a result, it’s shrunk by well over 50 percent. Mosul, the site of ancient Nineveh of the Assyrians, who converted to Christianity in the first century, has become the home of many Christians who remained. Considered by Christians the place of last resort inside Iraq, Mosul and the surrounding Nineveh Plain has been home to many Christian refugees driven out of Baghdad and Basra. Mosul has the only university, the best hospitals, and the largest markets serving the Christian towns and villages of the Nineveh Plain. The plain, itself, is now at grave risk of direct jihadi attacks and the possibility of being cut off from an essential city.

CHRISTIANS FLEE IRAQ... NO PROTECTION OFFERRED

Nina Shea, writing in National Review Online, notes that the New York Times has finally decided to cover the story.  (Where have they been all these years???)  Shea writes:

The obliteration from Iraq of its ancient Christian presence — and with it the reality of religious freedom and pluralism — is an unintended consequence of the U.S. invasion but has never been factored in as a U.S. strategic concern. There is no Obama policy, not even a safe-haven or refugee policy, designed specifically to help Iraq’s Christians as they confront religious cleansing.

Similarly, Mindy Belz, writing in World Magazine, asks, "Why has U.S. war strategy left out religious minorities in the Middle East?" She writes:

[...] It's always been curious to me that the successful strategy to stamp out sectarian violence somehow did not extend to protecting Iraq's minorities, particularly a Christian population that stretched back nearly 2 millennia and numbered up to 1.5 million under Saddam Hussein. By December 2007, church leaders estimated, that population had been halved through death and displacement to somewhere under 700,000.  . . .

THE TRAGEDY OF IRAQ'S CHRISTIANS

 The full title of the article to which I am linking is actually "The Tragedy of Iraq's Christians is that it doesn't interest anyone." No, it doesn't.   As I noted before, media outlets in the U.S. ignore the plight of Christians in Muslim-dominated lands.  As Marisol, the writer of this piece says,

we noted the silence of CNN's website in the midst of another wave of jihadist attacks against Christians in Iraq. Dancing with the Stars merited a mention, along with Sarah Palin on baking cookies and other human interest pieces. Another escalation in the latest violent campaign to convert or expel non-Muslims from the Middle East? Not so much

WHY IS THE AMERICAN PRESS SO DERELICT -- SO RELUCTANT -- TO REPORT PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS?

- Update 11/4/10 - Pamela Geller provides additional commentary and photos.  Gruesome.

- (Original post) - I don't know, but the failure is shameful and inexcusable.    The BBC and the German press are much more responsible.  Charles Colson reports: 

On Sunday, October 31^st, Islamic terrorists set off a car bomb and then took dozens of worshippers hostage at Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church in Baghdad. A few hours later, at least fifty-eight people were dead.

Most of the news reports, at least here in the United States, treated it as just another instance of Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence. It wasn’t, and we shouldn’t permit it to be interpreted that way.

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ

From the Family Research Council:

Two Christian brothers were gunned down on Monday as they were being led in chains from a Pakistani courthouse. The two were on trial for blasphemy against Islam. This latest incident once again highlights the intense persecution of Christians in the Middle East, persecution that is taking place with the tacit support of the government. This is happening under the very government that the U.S. helped establish in Iraq.

FRC senior staff met with several Iraqi Christian leaders (Catholic, Protestant, and Assyrian Orthodox) to learn more about the very troubling situation facing Christians in their country. Clearly, the situation has deteriorated for Christians since the fall of Saddam. Their population of over 1.1 million prior to U.S. military intervention in 2003 is now down to around 400,000 and decreasing daily. Many are having difficulty finding employment and sometimes experience active persecution from Muslim extremists. In recent months, conditions for Iraqi Christians have gotten so severe that many have fled to other countries for fairer treatment, and of the Iraqi Christian refugees who have found their way to the U.S., many are struggling financially.

FRC is urging the U.S. government to call upon the governments in these Islamic countries to recognize the right to religious freedom that even the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights acknowledges. This is especially important in Iraq where our young men and women have shed their blood to bring freedom to all Iraqi citizens. A number of U.S. Congress members have recognized the importance of saving the Christian communities of Iraq and have taken action toward this end, including Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Frank Wolf (R-Va.), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and Chris Smith (R-N.J.). Please write Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to urge her to work with them and fight for Iraq 's Christians. It is critical that the investment of U.S. resources and troops in Iraq not end with the elimination of Iraq 's Christian communities.

CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ ARE BEING OBLITERATED

Breakpoint - Stepping over the Bodies

Nina Shea -  'Obliterating' Iraq's Christians  Washington Post On Faith  May 14, 2010

Reuters -Bus Bombings Show Plight of Christians in Iraq  May 13, 2010

THE TRAGIC PLIGHT OF CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ LEFT UNPROTECTED BY THE U.S. AND THE WORLD

John F. Cullinan offers the sad report.  Before posting the entire article, I wish to highlight a couple of sentences:  (my bolding)

U.S. officials have deliberately refused to take any steps to safeguard Iraq’s persecuted Christians — or even to acknowledge their plight — for fear of being seen as aiding unpopular and unfashionable religious minorities. . .   The U.S. government’s consistent policy of studied and shameful indifference forms rare common ground between the Bush and Obama administrations. It is an indelible stain on American honor that two administrations did nothing to assist, much less protect, a beleaguered religious minority. Such was not the case in the Balkans a decade ago, when the Clinton administration came to the aid of embattled Muslim minorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo with decisive military force in similar circumstances.

The entire article follows:

Spare a thought — and perhaps also a prayer — for Iraq’s beleaguered Christians, who yesterday observed the somber Feast of the Holy Innocents. Perhaps nowhere else does this particular occasion cut closer to the bone: In Iraq, Christians mourn their friends, the most recent martyrs for the faith, on the same day that

Phony Statistics Used in Leftist Propaganda Against Iraq War

Ed Morrissey headlines a blog post: "Discredited Lancet study gets even more discredited."  He writes:

The British medical journal Lancet published a study of civilian casualties in 2006 that estimated Iraqi civilian deaths at more than 2% of Iraq’s pre-war population, around 655,000.  Later studies produced numbers of less than a quarter of Lancet’s totals, and the authors of the study were largely discredited.  Now a research association has publicly rebuked Gilbert Burnham for not disclosing his methodology, and Burnham may face action from his employer, Johns Hopkins  [more . . .]

Morrissey's post goes on to say that George Soros was involved:

Last year, the Times of London revealed that George Soros provided almost half of Burnham’s funding for the study.  Soros shoved millions of dollars into his highly vocal opposition to the war and George Bush, funding Democrats and the Democratic Party in their efforts to unseat Republicans over the last three election cycles.

WHY IS CHINA PUMPING IRAQI OIL AND NOT THE U.S.?

Mainly because of three Democrat United States Senators: Chuck Schumer, Sen. John Kerry, and Sen. Claire McCaskill.   Frederick W. Kagan explains.

Victor Davis Hanson - "Why Do Europeans Love Obama?"

VDH answers the question here.

ALL IS NOT WELL IN IRAQI KURDISTAN

I was saddened and discomfited to read this report. 

Christopher Hitchens - "Stop Pitting Iraq Against Afghanistan"

Clear thinking found here.

PERSECUTION AND MURDER OF IRAQI CHRISTIANS BY MUSLIMS

John F. Cullinan penned an important article today. It begins:

A church of martyrs on the cusp of annihilation. That’s the grim reality that Iraq’s beleaguered and vanishing Christian community faces. And it’s no secret, especially after two pillars of establishment journalism — the New York Times and CBS's 60 Minutes— produced truly shocking accounts of savage persecution right before the Fourth of July.

The June 26 Times piece is one of the most thorough treatments yet of the ubiquitous practice of “protection money” (jizya) being extorted from Iraq’s surviving Christians on pain of death, exile, or forced conversion to Islam. And the June 29 60 Minutes segment recounts in chilling detail how "iraqi Christians are being hunted, murdered, and forced to flee--persecuted on a biblical scale."

Later in the article he writes:

AL QUAEDA'S LAST MAJOR CENTER IN IRAQ GETTING CRUSHED

Michael Yon in his book Moment of Truth in Iraq (see my previous post here) wrote that Mosul was the last major al Quaeda stronghold.  Today Andy McCarthy titles his post "Victory in Iraq... Yawn."   It's all about major events currently taking place in Mosul. McCarthy writes:

"Al Qaeda's being crushed in Mosul, its last holdout in Iraq.  You need to go to the British press to learn about it.  Here's from the Times of London [h/t TigerHawk]:

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.

After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul. 

MICHAEL YON - REPORTER EXTRAORDINAIRE IN IRAQ

A wonderful friend came visiting with his wife and son last week.  He gave me a copy of Michael Yon’s book, Moment of Truth in Iraq.  The book had moved him, and he, generous soul that he is, gave me his copy.  Michael Yon is well known to those who have been following the independent reporting of the Iraq war on the internet.  On Amazon.com the book has garnished 88 five-star reviews and 8 four-star reviews. Be sure to read the publisher's letter at the Amazon site.  I totally agree with him when he wrote:

Just wait until you read the Chapter "High Noon" (my favorite), the story of the American soldiers who have to arrest a corrupt but politically popular Iraqi police chief we had put in office in the first place because he had been a real hero in fighting the terrorists. He had to be removed by Americans to show the Iraqis we really did believe in the rule of law. The whole thing could have blown up into a one-town civil war with hundreds dead on both sides. Won't tell you how it ends, but you will be amazed and very proud.

Here are some excerpts that I marked as I read.  (I have not included excerpts from the "High Noon" chapter just mentioned -- that's for readers of the book) :

On the American soldier’s thirst for mail:

Mail is more important then even hot showers or hot food…  People at home probably have no idea how much their little cards, letters, and goodie bags boost morale.  Countless walls around Iraq are wallpapered with cards and letters. Soldiers and marines especially love the cards from kids.  There is nothing better over here than reading two-dozen cards from kids who can barely hold a crayon.  If a kid sends a card, rest assured that card will be stuck on a wall somewhere, and it will bring a smile to many a soldier and marine.  (pp. 24-25)

The American soldier is the most respected warrior on earth but also the most gentle:

Part of counterinsurgency is soldiers letting themselves be Americans in the most romantic sense of the word.  The American soldier is the most dangerous man in the world, and the Iraqis had to learn that before they would trust or respect us.  But it was when they understood that these great-hearted warriors. . . are even happier helping to build a school or to make a neighborhood safe that we really got their attention.  (74)

On the American soldier as an example to the Iraqi soldier and policeman:

Iraqi forces that used to flee would now stand and fight, partly because their American trainers would stand and fight with them. The Iraqis were amazed that American officers and sergeants would lead from the front into the worst situations.  .. Seeing how American officers and sergeants behaved, the Iraqi jundis (soldiers) began to hold their own leaders in contempt.  Iraqi soldiers might be a lot of things, but cowards they are not.  (217)

DAVID HOROWITZ - WHY THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS UNFIT TO OCCUPY THE WHITEHOUSE

Update 6/10/08 - Horowitz and Ben Johnson say they are offering "$500 to any critic of the war who has written for a reputable publication and wants to challenge our thesis." Contact [email protected] to sign up.

- If anyone can refute the major points David Horowitz makes in the article below I would be glad to read those arguments.  If no one can refute Horowitz's points, then the Democratic party has gotten away with snookering the nation, and most assuredly has no right to the White House, or the control of Congress.  Herewith selections from Horowitz's article with my emphases:

. . . In the last five years the Democratic Party has crossed the line from criticism of war policy to fundamental sabotage of the war itself, a position no American party has taken until now.

Starting in July 2003, just three months into the war in Iraq, the Democratic National Committee ran a national TV ad whose message was: “Read his lips: President Bush Deceives the American People. This was the beginning of a five-year, unrelenting campaign to persuade Americans and their allies that “Bush lied, people died,” that the war was “unnecessary” and “Iraq was no threat.” In other words, for five years, the leaders of the Democratic Party have been telling Americans, America’s allies and America’s enemies that their country was an aggressor nation, which had violated international law, and was in effect the “bad guy” in the war with the Saddam Hussein regime.

The first principle of psychological warfare campaigns is to destroy the moral character of the opposing commander-in-chief and discredit his nation’s cause. Yet this is a perfect summary of the campaign that has been waged for the length of this war by the entire Democratic Party leadership, Joe Lieberman being an honorable exception who was driven out of his party as a result.

The one saving grace for Democrats would be if their charges were true – if they were deceived into supporting the war, and if they had turned against it only because they realized their mistake. But this charge is demonstrably false.

In fact, the claim that Bush lied in order to dupe Democrats into supporting the war is itself the biggest lie of the war. Every Democratic Senator who voted for the war had on his or her desk before the vote a 100-page report, called “The National Intelligence

Arther Berman - "Democrats and the Killing Fields"

Berman's recent article reminds us again of America's shameful flight from Southeast Asia and the killing fields that resulted.  It seems the Democrats are willing to do it again (this time Iraq) if given the chance.

Berman wrote earlier this year on "The Lies of Tet" demonstrating again how media misreporting has devastating consequences.  - For more on the Vietnam era and its relevance to current foreign policy, see my earlier posts here. 

LARRY KUDLOW: COST OF THE IRAQ WAR MINISCULE

Larry Kudlow puts the cost of the Iraq war in perspective:

Surprise, surprise. Having failed to penetrate General Petraeus’s story about the great improvements on the ground in Iraq, liberals are now trying to make the case that the cost of the Iraq war may have somehow undermined the economy, and even caused the current slowdown. What complete and utter nonsense.

First point: The U.S. has spent roughly $750 billion for the five-year war. Sure, that’s a lot of money. But run the numbers and the total cost works out to a miniscule 1 percent of the $63 trillion GDP over that time period. It’s miniscule.

More important, the real question we ought to be asking ourselves is what is the cost of freedom? While the Left refuses to acknowledge it, the undeniable fact is that the United States homeland has not been attacked since September 11. Meanwhile, over in Iraq, al Qaeda and other extremist terrorist groups have been utterly routed by U.S. forces. It’s another fact the Left hates to acknowledge.

WE CAN'T TRUST MSM REPORTING ON THE ALLEGED NON-LINK BETWEEN AL QAEDA AND SADDAM HUSSEIN

I find it disconcerting that truthfulness in reporting no longer can be assumed.  In fact, we must now treat news organs the way Russians had to treat "Pravda," i.e. as instruments of propaganda. Consider Andy McCarthy's revelation over at "The Corner:"

As several of us have noted countless times, there are influential elements of the Intelligence Community who are unmovably vested in the absence of a meaningful relationship between Saddam Hussein's regime and radical Islam.  By some calculated leaks to friends in the mainstream media, they've once again managed to put an Orwellian spin on an important study, claiming the new Pentagon report on Iraq's terror shows, as the New York Times and ABC put it, "no link" between Saddam and al Qaeda.  They are trying to write the narrative before anyone can read what the report actually says.

What it says is breathtaking.  Today's required reading should be Steve Hayes's post over at the Weekly Standard's blog and Eli Lake's article in the New York Sun. There is simply no doubt that there were serious ties between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda elements — most especially, Egyptian Islamic Jihad (run by al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri, who merged formally EIJ into al Qaeda in 1998).

VIOLENCE ESCALATES FOR CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ

Christians in Iraq need our prayers.  The U.S. government, while it has a military presence, needs to insure their safety.  From OneNewsNow:

John Eibner, who heads a worldwide Christian human rights group, says although the U.S.-led military surge is reducing violence overall in Iraq, the situation for Christians is still tense and dangerous.

A Catholic archbishop was recently kidnapped in eastern Mosul, and his two bodyguards -- who were both Christian -- were shot and killed. This is the latest in a long line of violent acts targeting Christians throughout Iraq. Since the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, more than 400,000 Christians have been forced to flee the country.

Dr. John Eibner, CEO of Christian Solidarity International, encourages believers in the U.S. to call on the government to ensure that Christians in Iraq are protected. "We have a special responsibility because we are in a position to make a difference," says Eibner. "It's now or never, and we have to pull out all stops if we're going to fulfill our obligations as members of the body of Christ, to help the other parts of the body that are suffering."

Christians are not simply caught in the middle of the crossfire, notes Eibner, but are actually targeted for death, and are also discriminated against on a regular basis. He says some Christians even receive letters that demand they convert to Islam or face death.

Eibner believes as long as U.S.-led forces are still in the country, it is the responsibility of the United States to ensure that Christians and other religious minorities are safe.

IS A REVOLT DEVELOPING AGAINST THE CLERICS IN IRAQ?

Andrew Strattaford posts this fascinating excerpt from an article in the New York Times (my emphases):

After almost five years of war, many young people in Iraq, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach. In two months of interviews with 40 young people in five Iraqi cities, a pattern of disenchantment emerged, in which young Iraqis, both poor and middle class, blamed clerics for the violence and the restrictions that have narrowed their lives...Atheer, a 19-year-old from a poor, heavily Shiite neighborhood in southern Baghdad, said: “The religion men are liars. Young people don’t believe them. Guys my age are not interested in religion anymore.”...Professors reported difficulty in recruiting graduate students for religion classes. Attendance at weekly prayers appears to be down, even in areas where the violence has largely subsided, according to worshipers and imams in Baghdad and Falluja. In two visits to the weekly prayer session in Baghdad of the followers of the militant Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr this fall, vastly smaller crowds attended than had in 2004 or 2005.Such patterns, if lasting, could lead to a weakening of the political power of religious leaders in Iraq. In a nod to those changing tastes, political parties are dropping overt references to religion. . .

U.S. SOLDIER VIDEO TRIBUTE

This soldier video, "If I Die Before You Wake," is a fitting tribute to the men serving overseas and to their families that await their return.  Highly recommended.

TWO DOWN SYNDROME WOMEN USED IN TODAY'S BAGHDAD SUICIDE BOMBINGS

Morally sick.  Story here.    (HT: Drudge)

Good News in Iraq Creates Problems for Democrats

Victor Davis Hanson recapitulates the Democrats' poll-watching frenzy and analyzes where it leaves them now.

Ralph Peters - We're Winning Baghdad

Did Saddam have WMD's?

John Loftus sifts the evidence.  Opening paragraph:

Finally, there are some definitive answers to the mystery of the missing WMD. Civilian volunteers, mostly retired intelligence officers belonging to the non-partisan IntelligenceSummit.org, have been poring over the secret archives captured from Saddam Hussein. The inescapable conclusion is this: Saddam really did have WMD after all, but not in the way the Bush administration believed. A 9,000 word research paper with citations to each captured document has been posted online at LoftusReport.com, along with translations of the captured Iraqi documents, courtesy of Mr. Ryan Mauro and his friends.  (more) 

Take a Minute to Say Thanks

James S. Robbins posts:

Want to show your appreciation to service member overseas? Stop by the "Let's Say Thanks" website, sponsored by Xerox. You can send a card with a pre-printed message or one of your own — it takes only a minute and it is free! You will brighten the day of someone overseas, and that's something you can feel great about too.

Dems Waffle/Refuse to Fund the Iraq War: I'm Getting Disgusted

Click here for the latest summary of Democratic Congressional budgetary malfeasance.  I think it is time to crank up demonstrations against the Democratic Party's negligence to support our troops.

Sen.MitchMcConnell( R-Ky):

"While our troops are quelling violence and defeating terrorists in Baghdad and throughout Iraq, Democrats in Washington are trying to choke off funds for our troops in the field," he said.

Iraqis Have Developed A Positive, Upbeat Mood

Update 11/12/07 - Kimberly Kagan explains "How They Did It: Executing the Winning Strategy in Iraq."

**
Hugh Hewitt talked with Michael Yon who reports  a remarkable new, upbeat mood now enveloping the country. 

HH: Tell us what the Iraqis are telling you about this lull or peace or improvement. What do they think is going on here, and how long will it last?

MY: I don’t believe this is a lull. I believe this is the real thing. I believe that we’ve seen lulls before, and I’ve always been very circumspect on taking a chance and saying hey, this is the real thing. But I’ve seen a change in the mood of the people, and it’s remarkable. . .  I can tell you, I can see it every day I’m out now, or week by week, month by month now, I really believe that, I’ll be the first to say it and take a chance, I really believe five years from now, I’m going to be back here with my camera and my longest lens shooting bird photos. I just feel that it’s coming. You can sense the change in the people. The Iraqi people actually really tend to like Americans. . .  (more)

Osama's Errors You Won't Read About in the MSM

Cliff May notes the new reality taking place in Iraq and underreported  (if at all) in the U.S.

Abdel Bari Atwan is the editor of the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper. I’ve debated him on TV and radio shows a number of times. Let’s just say we don’t often see eye to eye.

But we do today. He is now acknowledging that Americans have been winning “the trust of certain tribal leaders” in Iraq and that “for the Iraqis the enemy has become al-Qaeda and not the occupying [American] forces.”

In his most recent audio tape, Osama bin Laden implies the same thing. Atwan calls that tape "possibly the most important message" in al-Qaeda's history. "It is the first time that bin Laden recognizes the error committed by  

Christians in Iraq being Wiped Out by Sunni and Shi'ia Alike

Update 8/31/07 - Chuck Colson ccomments on Shea's article and includes other links.

Update 8/27/07 - Nina Shea offers a comprehensive assessment of the situation.

**
From Archbishop Cranmer's blog:

Christians are being cleansed from their ancient neighbourhoods and villages by roving bands of terrorists and criminals. Muslim families swiftly move into the abandoned homes. According to Major General Benjamin Mixon, commander of US forces in northern Iraq, ‘this is an act of ethnic cleansing…almost genocide’. While Sunni and Shi’ia may be blowing each other up, they are united in targeting the Christians, and seek to cleanse them from Iraq in accordance with their respective interpretations of political Islam.

The irony of their situation is that Assyrian Christians are perceived by the ignorant Sunni and Shi’ia as being agents of the West; collaborators with the occupying forces. In fact, their presence in the region predates Islam by some 700 years. Assyrians are Semitic cousins of

 

President Bush Compares Deserting Iraq to Abandoning Vietnam: Anti-War Leftists Howl

I hope I shall not be violating blogger ethics by reposting so much material from two bloggers below, but links have been provided, and I invite readers to view the posts in their original setting as well as here.  I wish to have the material consolidated here so one can understand as clearly as possible what is at stake should we abandon Iraq prematurely. 

From Peter Wehner:

No More Vietnams (or Cambodias)

Peter Wehner - 8.23.2007 - 10:23AM

In his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars yesterday, President Bush reminded us of the agony and genocide that followed the American retreat in Vietnam:

In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge began a murderous rule in which hundreds of thousands of Cambodians died by starvation and torture and execution. In Vietnam, former allies of the United States and government workers and intellectuals and businessmen were sent off to prison camps, where tens of thousands perished. Hundreds of thousands more

Victory Caucus - What's Really Going On in Iraq

The redesigned Victory Caucus website tracks developments in Iraq, complete with maps, metrics, documents,  news, and on-site bloggers.  Mission statement:

Deliver the perspectives and news on the war effort which the mainstream media neglects to help the American public understand the nature of our conflict and its true progress  [more]

Beliefs (abbreviated):

We support victory in the war against radical Islamists.  We supported the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and we believe victory is necessary in both countries for America's self-defense.    

We believe that the radical regime in Iran, while not

The New York Times Surrenders - Victor Davis Hanson responds

Click here for a point-by-point rebuttal to the New York Times' editorial.   VDH's article begins

On July 8, the New York Times ran an historic editorial entitled “The Road Home,” demanding an immediate American withdrawal from Iraq. It is rare that an editorial gets almost everything wrong, but “The Road Home” pulls it off. Consider, point by point, its confused—and immoral—defeatism.

VDH's rebuttal.

Remembering America's Shameful Failure to Stand By Allies And Keep Promises

Michael Gerson, noting that Democrats in a rush to get out of Iraq offer no plan to deal with the chaos that would result down the road, offers a painful reminder in his article, An Exit to Disaster. 

In 1974, a weary Congress cut off funds for Cambodia and South Vietnam, leading to the swift fall of both allies. In his memoir, "Years of Renewal," Henry Kissinger tells the story of former Cambodian prime minister Sirik Matak, who refused to leave his country.

"I thank you very sincerely," Matak wrote in response, "for your offer to transport me towards freedom. I cannot, alas, leave in such a cowardly fashion. As for you, and in particular for your great country, I never believed for a moment that you would have this sentiment of abandoning a people which has chosen liberty. You have refused us your protection, and we can do nothing about it. You leave, and my wish is that you and your country will find happiness under this sky. But, mark it well, that if I shall die here on the spot and in my country that I love, it is no matter, because we are all born and must die. I have only committed this mistake of believing in you [the Americans]."

Eventually, between 1 million and 2 million Cambodians were murdered by the Khmer Rouge when "peace" came to Indochina. Matak, Kissinger recounts, was shot in the stomach and died three days later.

Realism Required On Iraq and Radical Islam

Andy McCarthy over at the Corner sums up the situation depressingly well:

Unlike the foreign policy establishment, however, I have spent many years dealing with real live jihadists.  Fact:  They really do think they can and will win.  They don't need a lot of hope to carry on -- people willing to kill themselves in order to kill you are already pretty motivated.  But they derive great hope from what they (rightly) see as our surrenders and our ambivalence -- compared to their own great certainty and confidence. 

I am not a fan of how the war has been directed, and I believe expending our time and effort on the democracy project rather than on defeating our enemies in Iraq and elsewhere will go down as one of history's great blunders.  But with all that said, I note with the heartache of one who has seen it all too many times before:  We will rue the day we leave Iraq without routing radical Islam.  What we have not killed, we have made stronger.

Assyrian Christians Flee Iraq

Paul Isaac explains why:

A militant Islamic group in Iraq recently issued a fatwa, or religious edict, to the Assyrian Christian residents of the Baghdad suburb of Dora: Convert to Islam within 24 hours, or face death. At the same time, Muslim neighbors were instructed, over the loudspeakers of local mosques, to confiscate the property of Christians and enforce the edict.

The response was as swift: The majority of Assyrians remaining in Dora immediately gathered whatever they could carry and fled the city.

Iraq's Assyrian Christians know quite well that these latest threats are not empty promises. Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, over 25 churches across Iraq have been bombed, in highly symbolic and coordinated manners. The Islamic group claiming responsibility for the bombing of four churches in August 2004 issued a warning. "To the people of the crosses: Return to your senses and be aware that God's soldiers are ready for you. You wanted a crusade and these are its results."

Several priests have been abducted and beheaded, one in apparent retribution for the pope's public musings about Muhammed and the nature of Islam in October 2006. In March, two elderly nuns were reportedly stabbed to death in Kirkuk. Several Christian women have been beheaded or doused with chemicals for failing to wear the veil. And last October a 14-year-old Assyrian boy was crucified near Mosul.

For the Islamists, the violence has certainly had the desired effect: The massive exodus of Assyrian Christians from Iraq. The UN High Commission for Refugees estimates that as many as a third of the 1.8 million refugees now outside Iraq are Christian.  (more)

CIA'S George Tenet: Self-Serving Man with a Bad Memory

Christopher Hitchens:   "George Tenet's Sniveling, Self-Justifying New Book is a Disgrace.    (HT: Michelle Malkin)

William Kristol reports on Tenet's serious memory problems here.

Michael Ledeen has little good to say about Tenet or the CIA.  Concerning a meeting that Tenet reports on in his book which Ledeen attended, Ledeen:

His account is repeatedly wrong. He is wrong about the Iranians, wrong about the Americans, wrong about what was discussed, and wrong about the official status of the meeting.

On a more positive side, and the failure of the MSM to report it, read on (from Cliff May) :

The controversy over Tenet’s book is instructive. As Brit Hume has pointed out, the most consequential point that the former CIA director made is that

Whose War Is it Anyway?

From Cliff May -

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said:

But like it or not, George W. Bush is still the commander in chief — and this is his war."

Actually, like it or not, it's America's war.

Reid is like a sailor who thinks if his ship sinks, only the captain will drown.

Or maybe it's worse than that. Maybe he thinks that if America's defeat can bring partisan benefit, the trade-off is a good one. If so, that's shameful. See this related piece by Reuel Marc Gerecht.

(Hat tip: Andrew Apostolou.)

Just How Horrible Will Nancy Pelosi's Visit to the Middle East Turn Out To Be? Potentially Catastrophic

Amir Tahiri's informed analysis will leave you feeling ill.  At least it did me.  I now see Pelosi's visit as not only dumb and stupid and egocentric, but as potentially catastrophic.   This is a MUST READ article.   (Tahiri is an Iranian-born journalist based in Europe.)

What Newt (As British Prime Minister) Would Do If Iran Doesn't Release the Brits Pronto

From an interview with Hugh Hewitt:

HH: Now let’s get to the first major issue of the day, which is Iran. Mr. Speaker, if the United Kingdom feels obliged to use force, if diplomacy fails to get their people back, will you applaud?

NG: I think there are two very simple steps that should be taken. The first is to use a covert operation, or a special forces operation to knock out the only gasoline producing refinery in Iran. There’s only one. And the second is to simply intercede by Naval force, and block any tankers from bringing gasoline to Iran…

HH: Would you do, would you urge them…

NG: And say to the Iranians, you know, you can keep the sailors as long as you want, but in about 30 days, everybody in your country will be walking.

HH: So how long would you give them, to give them that ultimatum, the Iranians?

NG: I would literally do that. I would say to them, I would right now say to them privately, within the next week, your refinery will no longer work. And within the following week, there will be no tankers arriving. Now if you would like to avoid being

Dennis Prager: Iraqi "Insurgency" Represents a New, Undreamed of, Form of Evil

Click here.

Democratic Party Arguments On Iraq Don't Hold Up

William Kristol and Frederick W. Kagin explain why.   

Gathering of the Eagles Supports the Troops

** Update 3/19/07 - Michelle Malkin provides a full video report on The Gathering of Eagles.  She says:

Many highlights there, but take special note of the face-off at the 6:00 minute mark. As you can see, we spent most of the day covering the march on the Eagles' side of the fence. Why? Because almost all of the news camera crews we spotted--the ones that bothered to show up, that is--gathered around Cindy Sheehan and the anti-war freak show--and then left. We didn't see any of them covering the long lines of Eagles waiting to get through security to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Didn't see them covering the speeches and performances by the vets and pro-military activists. Reporters mingled comfortably on the moonbat side, except to shoot drive-by photos casting pro-troops counterprotesters in a negative light. Bloggers continue to rip old media whitewashing of the historic event.  (Click through for links and more commentary).

** 
Here's a Washington Rally you probably didn't hear about, or if you did, you received a slanted version.   (The MSM coverage is unconscionable!) Michelle Malkin reports:

It was a breath-taking, historic, and emotional day in Washington, D.C. You won't know it if you tune in to the usual MSM channels. But new media--bloggers, conservative documentarians, Internet activists, FReepers (giant thread here), citizen journalists, photojournalists, and talk radio hosts--turned out in full force to participate and cover the Gathering of Eagles counter-protest. Thousands upon thousands turned out despite freezing temperatures and hairy travel conditions. We met bikers who drove up all night from Huntsville, Alabama; a retired NYC firefighter who arrived here at 2am; college students who traveled from Massachusetts; a Vietnam veteran's wife who bought plane tickets at the last minute from San Francisco; and countless participants who arrived as part of Move America Forward's cross-country caravan.

A pure, grass-roots effort, the Gathering of Eagles' volunteers matched the massive Soros-funded anti-war machine sign for sign, chant for chant, and marcher for marcher. The contrast was most stark right before the entrance to the Memorial Bridge, where Eagles gathered with a field of American flags--while anti-Bush, 9/11 conspiracy nuts wrapped themselves in a figurative blanket of yellow "Out of Iraq" placards. Several of the vets shouted, "Yellow! How appropriate!" in between spirited chants of "U.S.A! U.S.A!" While the classless Cindy Sheehan ranted profanely, the Eagles raised their voices in polite, but roaring disapproval and raised their American flags in answer to the ANSWER socialists' Che banners and peace pennants.

Why did the Eagles come? One common refrain: Vietnam veterans, some fighting back tears, told us they came to show the kind of support for the troops that they did not receive when the surrender lobby marched on the Pentagon 40 years ago today.

Mission accomplished. 

Click through for updates and links not shown above.

Saddam or the al Qaeda Terrorists: What Would Gandhi Do?

Fred Thompson answers the question:

At what point is it okay to fight dictators like Saddam or the al Qaeda terrorists who want to take his place?

It turns out that the answer, according to Gandhi, is NEVER. During World War II, Gandhi penned an open letter to the British people, urging them to surrender to the Nazis. Later, when the extent of the holocaust was known, he criticized Jews who had tried to escape or fight for their lives as they did in Warsaw and Treblinka. “The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife,” he said. “They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.” “Collective suicide,” he told his biographer, “would have been heroism.”

The so-called peace movement certainly has the right to make Gandhi’s way their way, but their efforts to make collective suicide American foreign policy just won’t cut it in this country. When American’s think of heroism, we think of the young American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, risking their lives to prevent another Adolph Hitler or Saddam Hussein.

Gandhi probably wouldn't approve, but I can live with that.

Me:  So can I.