Troop Surge in Iraq: NY Times Admits Bush, Cheney “got this one right”

NY Times: The Bush Paradox By DAVID BROOKS

10 Concerns about Barack Obama

NRO: 10 Concerns about Barack Obama By William J. Bennett & Seth Leibsohn

A Positive Story From Iraq! Roadside Bombs Drop by Almost 90%

Yes, believe it! USA Today somehow wrote and published a positive story involving the situation in Iraq!

USA TODAY: Roadside Bombs Decline in Iraq by Tom Vanden Brook

Roadside bomb attacks and fatalities in Iraq are down by almost 90% over the last year, according to Pentagon records and interviews with military leaders.

In May, 11 U.S. troops were killed by blasts from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) compared with 92 in May 2007, records show. That’s an 88% decrease.

Boumediene v. Bush and Judicial Hubris

Wall Street Journal: We’ll Rue Having Judges on the Battlefield By ANDREW MCBRIDE

The Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush is being hailed in many quarters as a great victory for civil rights and the rule of law. It is not. In fact, it is a watershed in judicial hubris, and in the continuing trend in our society to convert every form of decision making into a lawsuit.

For the first time in our history, the Supreme Court has rejected the considered judgment of both the Congress and the president on an issue of national security.

Suicide Among Soldiers and the Liberal Media

No one needs to be reminded that suicide is a serious matter, whether among soldiers or civilians. But the media have managed to create the impression that it is military service overseas which is the cause of suicides among American troops, when civilians of the same ages and other demographic characteristics are committing suicide at an even higher rate at home. — Walter Williams

Not surprisingly, the fools at Time think they’re in a position to play doctor with soldiers on the other side of the planet.

A letter to the pseudo-psychiatrists at Time:

Dear Editors:

Mark Thompson’s June 5th cover story, “America’s Medicated Army,” reflected the general sense of unease and lack of understanding that persists around mental illness and treatment. Even while Thompson observed the efficacy of anti-depressants, the story insisted on questioning the military’s response.

A reader might be left with the impression that if a soldier is experiencing symptoms of mental illness, they’re best left unmedicated. Certainly Time would not express the same doubts if a soldier experienced a physical injury.

For decades, the American media has either portrayed the U.S. soldier as a criminal or a victim. It would be refreshing for once if journalists like Thompson would treat our soldiers as the devoted heros they are.

The Supreme Court, the Most Dangerous Branch

Two-hundred and twenty years ago, Alexander Hamilton wrote:

“Whoever attentively considers the different departments of power must perceive, that, in a government in which they are separated from each other, the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them.” — The Federalist No. 78, June 14, 1788

If only Hamilton were alive today…

Not only are the decisions of Boumediene v. Bush and Odah v. United States constitutionally illegitimate, both trampling on the Executive and Legislative branches with amazing arrogance, they will undoubtedly place all Americans (and non-Americans) at greater risk.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote:

America is at war with radical Islamists. The enemy began by killing Americans and American allies abroad: 241 at the Marine barracks in Lebanon, 19 at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, 224 at our embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, and 17 on the USS Cole in Yemen. [...]  On September 11, 2001, the enemy brought the battle to American soil, killing 2,749 at the Twin Towers in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon in Washington, D. C., and 40 in Pennsylvania. [...] It has threatened further attacks against our homeland; one need only walk about buttressed and barricaded Washington, or board a plane anywhere in the country, to know that the threat is a serious one. Our Armed Forces are now in the field against the enemy, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Last week, 13 of our countrymen in arms were killed. The game of bait-and-switch that today’s opinion plays upon the Nation’s Commander in Chief will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.

[...]

In the long term, then, the Court’s decision today accomplishes little, except perhaps to reduce the well-being of enemy combatants that the Court ostensibly seeks to protect. In the short term, however, the decision is devastating. At least 30 of those prisoners hitherto released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to the battlefield. [...] Some have been captured or killed.

[...] But others have succeeded in carrying on their atrocities against innocent civilians.

[...]

And today it is not just the military that the Court elbows aside.

[...]

Congress, at the President’s request, quickly enacted the Military Commissions Act, emphatically reasserting that it did not want these prisoners filing habeas petitions. It is therefore clear that Congress and the Executive—both political branches—have determined that limiting the role of civilian courts in adjudicating whether prisoners captured abroad are properly detained is important to success in the war that some 190,000 of our men and women are now fighting. [...]

But it does not matter. The Court today decrees that no good reason to accept the judgment of the other two branches is “apparent.” “The Government,” it declares, “presents no credible arguments that the military mission at Guantanamo would be compromised if habeas corpus courts had jurisdiction to hear the detainees’ claims.” What competence does the Court have to second-guess the judgment of Congress and the President on such a point? None whatever. But the Court blunders in nonetheless. Henceforth, as today’s opinion makes unnervingly clear, how to handle enemy prisoners in this war will ultimately lie with the branch that knows least about the national security concerns that the subject entails.

– Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. at 1-5 (2008 ) (Scalia, J. dissenting).

[emphasis added]

Justices Kennedy, Breyer, Souter, Stevens, and Ginsburg: the enemies of America wish to thank all 5 of you for making murder more convenient.
Townhall: A Supreme Error By Fred Thompson

The Undeniable Success of the Troop Surge

It is unquestionable that Bush has made this country safe by keeping Islamic lunatics pinned down fighting our troops in Iraq. In the past few years, our brave troops have killed more than 20,000 al-Qaida and other Islamic militants in Iraq alone. That’s 20,000 terrorists who will never board a plane headed for JFK — or a landmark building, for that matter.

[...]

According to a CNN report last week, for the entire month of May, there were only 19 troop deaths in Iraq. (Last year, five people on average were shot every day in Chicago.) With Iraqi deaths at an all-time low, Iraq is safer than Detroit. . .

Al-Qaida is virtually destroyed, surprising even the CIA. Two weeks ago, The Washington Post reported: “Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaida, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.”

It’s almost as if there’s been some sort of “surge” going on, as strange as that sounds.

— Ann Coulter

From The Religion of Peace Files

Guardian: Mother who defied the killers is gunned down — Five weeks ago Leila Hussein told The Observer the chilling story of how her husband had killed their 17-year-old daughter over her friendship with a British soldier in Basra. Now Leila, who had been in hiding, has been murdered — gunned down in cold blood. by Afif Sarhan Caroline Davies

IHT: Couple charged in Norway over genital mutilation of 5 daughters

All Africa:
Algeria: Four Condemned to Prison for Becoming Christian

How the Religion of Peace Responds to Cartoons

ABC: Denmark: Al-Qaida Likely Behind Bomb in Pakistan — Danish intel: Al-Qaida or affiliate likely behind bomb near embassy in Pakistan that killed 6 By ASIF SHAHZAD

More Inconvenient Truths for Dems

Reuters: Iraq hits milestones on U.S. troop deaths and oil By Ross Colvin

U.S. troop deaths in Iraq fell to their lowest level last month since the 2003 invasion and officials said on Sunday improved security also helped the country boost oil production in May to a post-war high.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Iraq’s oil minister credited better security for the two milestones, which illustrated a dramatic turnabout in the fortunes of a country on the brink of all-out sectarian civil war just 12 months ago.

Now can someone notify the conveniently-in-denial Democrat Party?

General David Petraeus is looking more and more like a genius. Naturally, Dems will never give him nor the Commander-in-Chief any credit.

General David Petraeus still not getting credit he has earned.

Associated Press Concerned About Gender Imbalance — in Al Qaeda

The Associated Press has officially lost its collective mind.

The mainstream Marxist media routinely shovels stories regarding gender, race, or class, but never like this. Now the AP devotes an entire article, which is then carried by CNN, on “al Qaeda’s refusal to include — or at least acknowledge — women in its ranks.”

Has there ever been AP story clearly and unequivocally condemning al Qaeda’s murder and mayhem?

Also note the stellar headline. As if al-Qaeda ever engages in any kind of “debate.”

CNN: Al Qaeda faces gender debate

Muslim extremist women are challenging al Qaeda’s refusal to include — or at least acknowledge — women in its ranks, in an emotional debate that gives rare insight into the gender conflicts lurking beneath one of the strictest strains of Islam.

In response to a female questioner, al Qaeda No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said in April that the terrorist group does not have women. A woman’s role, he said on the Internet audio recording, is limited to caring for the homes and children of al Qaeda fighters.

His remarks have since prompted an outcry from fundamentalist women, who are fighting or pleading for the right to be terrorists. The statements have also created some confusion, because in fact suicide bombings by women seem to be on the rise, at least within the Iraq branch of al Qaeda.

These poor Muslim women can’t do drive, can’t work, can’t vote, can’t leave the house without a male relative. They can’t even murder innocent people. What can an aspiring female jihadist do?

The Associated Press has the answer.

The Internet is the only “breathing space” for women who are often shrouded in black veils and confined to their homes, “Ossama2001″ wrote. She said al-Zawahiri’s words “opened old wounds” and pleaded with God to liberate women so they can participate in holy war.

Another woman, Umm Farouq, or mother of Farouq, wrote: “I use my pen and words, my honest emotions … Jihad is not exclusive to men.”

Such women are al Qaeda sympathizers who would not feel comfortable expressing themselves with men or others outside their circles, said Dia’a Rashwan, an expert on terrorism and Islamic movements at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo.

“The Internet gives them the ideal place to write their ideas, while they’re hidden far from the world,” he said.

[...]

Women bent on becoming militants have at least one place to turn to. A niche magazine called “al-Khansaa” — named for a female poet in pre-Islamic Arabia who wrote lamentations for two brothers killed in battle — has popped up online. The magazine is published by a group that calls itself the “women’s information office in the Arab peninsula,” and its contents include articles on women’s terrorist training camps, according to SITE.

Isn’t that nice of the AP? Now these women know where to turn to for terrorist camaraderie. Imagine Sex and the City but for terrorist lunachicks.

Even the U.N. Sees Progress in Iraq

Now can someone notify the conveniently-in-denial Democrat Party?

BBC: Iraq ’stepping back from abyss’ — UN chief Ban Ki-moon has praised progress in Iraq at a UN forum in Sweden on the situation in the country.

You Don’t Say!

Iran may be withholding info needed in nuke probe By GEORGE JAHN

The War on Terror Fought in Wonderland

But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.

‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: ‘we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.’

Author Lewis Carroll didn’t need to invent a fantasy world. Were he alive today, he could merely watch some of the things America is doing in conducting a battle against murderous terrorists. Whether it is fretting over labeling our enemies for what they are, or concern over international opinion, or having a media which trumpets the crimes of one or two soldiers while ignoring the bravery of 160,000, or the misguided Americans who care more about the comfort of murderers, Carroll would have been surprised. In the biggest battle of our time, Wonderland can be found in the United States of America.

Via Sweetness and Light, below is some evidence of just how mad things have become.

For example, the enemies in our midst and how they’ve become close to our leaders:
Accused Gitmo Spy Is Now Obama Delegate

Some liberals in America and abroad appear more concerned about the welfare of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Surely those prisoners are falsely accused and don’t belong in prison, right?

Released Gitmo Terrorist Helped Kill 7 Iraqis

Yes, those prisoners are just Muslim angels.

Prisoners Attacked Gitmo Guards 440 Times

But even if we release Muslim prisoners who really DO belong behind bars, Muslim countries ensure that these people are in fact innocent before releasing them, right?

Saudis Often Free Returned Gitmo Detainees

This war against terror,  atleast the battle in Iraq, could have been won long ago. It certainly should have been won long ago.  It will not be so long as our priorities continue to be misplaced and we continue to bow to liberal pressure groups.

BREAKING NEWS: Killing Terrorists Reduces Terrorism!

Iraq figures distort terrorism statistics: study by Louis Charbonneau

A study released on Wednesday reports a decline in fatal attacks of terrorism worldwide and says U.S. think-tank data showing sharp increases were distorted due to the inclusion of killings in Iraq.

“Even if the Iraq ‘terrorism’ data are included, there has still been a substantial decline in the global terrorism toll,” said the 2007 Human Security Brief, an annual report funded by the governments of Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and Britain.

For example, global terrorism fatalities declined by 40 percent between July and September 2007, driven by a 55 percent decline in the “terrorism” death toll in Iraq after the so-called surge of new U.S. troops and a cease-fire by the Shi’ite militant Mehdi Army, the brief said.

“We have concluded that the expert consensus (on terrorism) is probably misleading,” Andrew Mack, director of the Human Security Report Project, told a news conference.

What would we do without experts?

al-Qaida in Iraq is at its Weakest

AP: Commander: al-Qaida in Iraq is at its weakest by ROBERT BURNS

“Our forces and the Iraqi forces have certainly disrupted al-Qaida, probably to a level that we haven’t seen at any time in my experience,” said [Army Lt. Gen. Martin] Dempsey, who served in Iraq in the initial stages as a division commander and later as head of the military organization in charge of training Iraqi security forces.

“Indiana” Barack and the Temple of Naivete

Jerry Holbert

Missile Attack on al-Qaeda Leader

BBC: US confirms Somali missile strike

The US military has confirmed that it carried out a pre-dawn missile strike which killed a senior leader of an Islamist militant group in Somalia.

Report: Saddam’s WMDs Moved to Syria

THE JERUSALEM POST: Report on Sept. 6 strike to show Saddam transferred WMDs to Syria’

An upcoming joint US-Israel report on the September 6 IAF strike on a Syrian facility will claim that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein transferred weapons of mass destruction to the country, Channel 2 stated Monday.

Furthermore, according to a report leaked to the TV channel, Syria has arrested 10 intelligence officials following the assassination of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh.

Michael Monsoor, Hero

On September 29, 2006, Michael Mansoor

sacrificed his life to save his comrades by throwing himself on top of a grenade that Iraqi insurgents tossed into their sniper hideout. He had been near the only exit to the rooftop when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor. Never taking his eyes off the grenade, his next move was to throw himself down, holding it against his body to absorb the blast, saving the lives of his fellow servicemen.

Today at the White House, Mansoor was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Rest in Peace