tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61184382007-04-16T10:13:24.858-07:00Iraq Action Onlineseshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1095054713293950042004-09-12T22:22:00.000-07:002004-09-12T22:51:53.293-07:00IRAQIS FOR KERRY - Ali from Iraq the Model doubts that the anti-Democracy forces in Iraq will be stumping for Bush this November:
"There is however another factor *this time* that will have an influence on this from now on. It’s the American’s elections and their effect on the Iraqi issue. I don’t think there are plans for a terrorist attack on America, because they ( the enemies of America’s seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1094710047301191232004-09-08T22:15:00.000-07:002004-09-08T23:11:40.090-07:00NUMBER CRUNCHING - The complaint that the US should not have gone to war to depose Saddam because we armed him in the first place was never persuasive even taken at face value (after all, shouldn't we strive to correct our mistakes?). Others may disagree on this: to them I suppose a forgein policy change after several decades proves hypocrisy, and hypocrites shouldn't wage war. What happens seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1094276321607673182004-09-03T21:34:00.000-07:002004-09-03T22:38:41.606-07:00GETTING A CLUE - The good news is that so far, France is not backing down on the head scarf ban (and some French Muslims are rallying to support the government). I fear though that the majority in Europe still don't understand the enemy we are fighting:
"Yet with this week's hostage crisis, residents say they are slightly disbelieving that the country is suddenly involved in Iraq's troubles.seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1093413967981111012004-08-24T23:00:00.000-07:002004-08-24T23:28:11.183-07:00LOW MORALE? - Apparently not in this National Guard unit (link via Instapundit):
"The largest Alabama Guard unit to return from Iraq, the 877th Engineer Battalion, had its first weekend drills earlier this month at its northwest Alabama armories. And at those drill sessions, only 19 of the 555 soldiers who attended said they wanted to hang up their helmets or were seriously considering it...
seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1092984116263781472004-08-19T23:13:00.000-07:002004-08-19T23:41:56.263-07:00NICE PICTURE - Check out this snapshot from Athens.... (link via Iraq the Model)
seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1092633191829413452004-08-15T22:05:00.000-07:002004-08-15T22:54:19.806-07:00"ACCIDENTAL THEORY" - Jonathan Lipow on Krugman and Iraq (link via the Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid):
"Since he began writing regular op-ed columns for The New York Times, however, Krugman has become increasingly difficult to take seriously. In his columns, Krugman repeatedly imagines that his conclusions simply emerge from the facts. They don't.
For example, Krugman has argued seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1092200210731895992004-08-10T21:08:00.000-07:002004-08-10T21:56:50.730-07:00STILL MUDDLED - I'm sure glad Kerry finally "clarified" his position on Iraq! Now we know that Kerry agrees with Bush that the war was necessary (missing stockpiles notwithstanding). We know that in Kerry's mind, Bush erred in "rushing" to war on faulty intelligence, while Kerry was correct in voting to allow him to do it. We know Kerry will reduce US troop levels in Iraq within 6 months of seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1091858098893231452004-08-06T21:58:00.000-07:002004-09-08T22:15:32.283-07:00WELL, WELL, WELL... - Apparently, the information that made the arrests of two terrorist-aiding Albany men possible didn't come from meticulous and mutually affirming dialogue between the Bush Administration and diplomats from each and every one of the UN General Assembly member countries, but rather, the tip off came from intelligence gathered by US soldiers on the ground IN IRAQ! Funny that seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1090389062134309102004-07-20T22:39:00.000-07:002004-07-20T23:42:53.680-07:00THE BIG PICTURE - A little perspective from Victor Davis Hanson:
"The catastrophes did not end after the Normandy campaign. More Americans were killed between December 1944 and January 1945 — when we wrongly pushed back the bulge by confronting it head-on rather than slicing it off far to its rear — than all those lost previously in the months since the D-Day landings. Germans had heavy seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1089786488969701472004-07-13T22:56:00.000-07:002004-07-13T23:30:09.750-07:00THE TRUTH HURTS - As if the "Bush lied" folks weren't feeling deflated enough these days...now along comes the Senate Intelligence report on prewar intelligence. From Opinionjournal:
"A few apologies would seem to be in order. Allegations of lying or misleading the nation to war are about the most serious charge that can be leveled against a President. But according to this unanimous study, seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1089609315980511492004-07-11T21:14:00.000-07:002004-07-11T22:27:47.286-07:00BALANCE - We all know that good news from the disaster-zone that is Iraq is virtually non-existent. If this were not the case the mainstream press would run more than the occasional positive story on that impoverished, U.S.-hating, suicide-bomber infested country that's (in case you missed it on the news) teetering on the brink of civil war. Nevertheless blogger Chrenkoff has somehow managed toseshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1089349721763542262004-07-08T21:35:00.000-07:002004-07-13T22:38:45.026-07:00A NON-NUCLEAR IRAQ - So, if the "peace" activists had had their way, Hussein would have had easy access to 1.8 tons of enriched uranium. We all know Saddam would have been all over the supply the nano-second the crumbling sanctions regime died for good (read this for a historic example of the obedience inspired by those dreaded "U.N. seals"). Thanks to the Coalition of the Willing we need notseshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1088659711275212702004-06-30T21:15:00.000-07:002004-06-30T22:47:22.433-07:00IRAQI SOVEREIGNTY - While the cynics at home try to spin the power transfer as a negative, ordinary Iraqis celebrate: Ali from Iraq the Model purchased a cake to share with coworkers to commemorate the historic event. He had the following to say about Bremer's departing speech:
"The speech was impressive and you could hear the sound of a needle if one had dropped it at that time. The most seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1087278982700450292004-06-14T21:51:00.000-07:002004-06-14T22:56:22.700-07:00JOINT OPERATIONS - I guess this story was a yawner for the mainstream press: no bombs exploding, no heavy American casualties, no "crowds" dancing around charred remains of murdered Westerners...Just Iraqi and American soldiers quietly working side by side to successfully beat back anti-democracy forces:
"Portions of Iraqi Private Imad Abid Zeid Jassim's citation for bravery reads: "...[A]s seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1086931839347307242004-06-10T21:24:00.000-07:002004-07-06T23:25:25.106-07:00HITCHENS ON CHALABI - Christopher Hitchens thinks the recent Chalabi-bashing is unwarranted:
"Even if you assume the worst to be true -that the INC's "defectors" were either mistaken or were conscious, coached fabricators - the fact remains that the crucial presentation of the administration's case on WMD and terrorism was made at the United Nations by Secretary of State Colin Powell, with CIAseshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1086067510469420472004-05-31T21:33:00.000-07:002004-05-31T22:40:27.466-07:00SADDAM AND AL QAEDA - Stephen F. Hayes is still convinced that there was in fact a link between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda. Hayes brings out some interesting tidbits of information, but he overstates in his conclusion. So, by the way, do those who claim that they are certain that no link ever existed. We simply don't have enough information at this time to prove either side positively correct seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1085118216896667682004-05-20T21:57:00.000-07:002004-05-20T22:45:26.560-07:00THOSE PESKY WMDS - A former Iraqi nuclear scientists thinks the recent discovery of sarin nerve gas (and don't forget the mustard gas found a few weeks ago) in Iraq is just the beginning:
"Gazi George, a former Iraqi nuclear scientist under Saddam's regime, told Fox News he believes many similar weapons stockpiled by the former regime were either buried underground or transported to Syria. He seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1084519294429951492004-05-13T23:48:00.000-07:002004-05-20T22:46:40.503-07:00SOME PERSPECTIVE - The abuse at Abu Ghraib does not change the fact that good news continues to percolate out of Iraq (link via Instapundit):
"JUST IN THE OFF CHANCE THAT THE EVENT doesn't attract much attention from the print media, sovereignty passed today from the CPA to Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This makes the Foreign Ministry the eighth Iraqi ministry to quietly, and seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1083903505104954032004-05-06T21:18:00.000-07:002004-05-07T22:47:30.670-07:00FINISHING THE JOB - Jonah Golberg compares Iraq reconstruction to open heart surgery:
"...the important thing to keep in mind is that in a major operation - on a person or a nation - the patient is the most vulnerable, and looks the most horrible, halfway into the procedure, not at the beginning or the end. And if, in your horror, you screamed, "Stop what you're doing right now!" you'd be seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1083474922622517432004-05-01T22:15:00.000-07:002004-05-01T22:34:32.466-07:00CONSISTENCY PLEASE - So far, the knee-jerk Bush-bashers haven't seemed troubled when shrieking that "Bush lied about WMDs" without providing a shred of evidence to support this claim. Now that Bob Woodward has put this particular slander to rest in his tell-all book I'm sure all those who have accused Bush of lying will apologize with haste...Since we know that these same folks consider the seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1083306645419605382004-04-29T23:30:00.000-07:002004-04-29T23:49:34.340-07:00REALITY CHECK - In another great piece for NRO Victor Hanson Davis explodes some of the more popular myths spread by the anti-war crowd:
"Myth #1: America turned off its allies. According to John Kerry, due to inept American diplomacy and unilateral arrogance, the United States failed to get the Europeans and the U.N. on board for the war in Iraq. Thus, unlike in Afghanistan, we find seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1082438982733747222004-04-19T22:29:00.000-07:002004-04-19T23:44:58.890-07:00THE SAUDI CONNECTION - Stephan Schwartz thinks tensions in Fallujah stem from Wahhabist tendencies more than Baathist sympathies:
"A more significant ingredient in the stewpot of Fallujah's discontent, however, is local adherence to Wahhabism, the extremist Islamic sect that is the state religion in neighboring Saudi Arabia and whose purest expression is al-Qaeda. Here and there, Western seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1082095285940497122004-04-15T23:01:00.000-07:002004-04-19T21:42:19.763-07:00U.N. NO PANACEA - Those who call for a UN take-over in Iraq as a quick and easy fix may want to consider the performance of this esteemed peace-keeping organization in recent years. Let's see now.... allowing the massacre in Srebrenica, hand - wringing and pontificating while genocide was raging in Rwanda, coddling dictators (like, um, Saddam Hussein)...I certainly wouldn't want the UN in chargeseshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1081403211437169982004-04-07T22:46:00.000-07:002004-04-07T23:44:24.186-07:00FLUSHING THEM OUT - I generally agree with blogger Cavalier's take on al Sadr: he and his Islamo-fascist cronies need to be eliminated:
"It's possible that closing his hate-spewing newspaper Hawza and arresting his aide Mustafa al-Yacoubi (accused of knifing al-Sadr's rival Abdel-Majid al-Khoei to death) were specifically done to drive al-Sadr into action now. It's critically important to seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118438.post-1080627326908337752004-03-29T22:15:00.000-08:002004-03-29T23:01:55.780-08:00IT WAS A LIBERATION (DAMMIT!) - David Gelernter comments on the indifference to the liberation of Iraq in some (mostly Democratic...) quarters:
"Turning away is not evil; it is merely human. And that's bad enough. For years I myself found it easy to ignore or shrug off Saddam's reported crimes. I had no love for Iraq or Iraqis. Before and during the war I wrote pieces suggesting that seshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13845231998213670039noreply@blogger.com