Under the Confluence
Wouldn't the smart thing be for the White House to announce Harriet Miers' withdrawal at the same time that Patrick Fitzgerald announces his indictments?
Apocalyptic
We don't know it now, living as we do with the daily news of death and destruction in Iraq, but the day is coming when a vastly more destructive event will transfigure the Middle East. The mullahcracy of Iran will be severely crippled in what Harry Truman once called "a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this Earth." Because this is what too many Iranians invite.
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's new president has repeated a remark from a former ayatollah that Israel should be "wiped out from the map," insisting that a new series of attacks will destroy the Jewish state, and lashing out at Muslim countries and leaders that acknowledge Israel.
The remarks by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- reported by Islamic Republic News Agency -- coincide with a month-long protest against Israel called "World without Zionism" and with the approach of Jerusalem Day.
World without Zionism is a nationwide event the planners intend to hold annually, and Ahmadinejad made the remarks during a meeting with protesting students at the Interior Ministry.
Ahmadinejad quoted a remark from Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, who said that Israel "must be wiped out from the map of the world."
The president then said: "And God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism," according to a quote published by IRNA.
These are quiet and peaceful days we are seeing in the Middle East, my friend, compared to what must come. The Jewish people will not permit themselves to be threatened like this. And we Americans will have nothing to say about it when they make their move against Iran.
I don't make this observation lightly or to wax dramatic. I say it with absolute certainty: the Israeli people will some day use nuclear weapons against Iran. And, when they do, it will rewrite their history amongst the Muslim world.
More on Kristof
One of the commenters at a certain ban-happy blog I visit has helpfully reproduced the whole of Nicholas Kristof's op-ed in today's New York Times so that us working class stiffs won't have to pay the Sulzbergers for the privilege.
It's pretty amazing ---and pissing off the Left to no end:
[...] I find myself repulsed by the glee that some Democrats show at the possibility of Karl Rove and Mr. Libby being dragged off in handcuffs. It was wrong for prosecutors to cook up borderline and technical indictments during the Clinton administration, and it would be just as wrong today. Absent very clear evidence of law-breaking, the White House ideologues should be ousted by voters, not by prosecutors.
"Borderline and technical indictments." That must be the Hutchison Defense. But Kristof even gives us some news (at least, on the latter point, to me):
The C.I.A. believed that Mrs. Wilson's identity had already been sold to the Russians by Aldrich Ames by 1994, and she had begun the process of switching to official cover as a State Department officer.
I knew that first part because it's come up before that she was withdrawn from her assignments in Europe after it was realized that Ames had done a lot of damage. Very interesting.
But all of that is topped by the sheer nerve of saying the following (emphases mine):
There is, of course, plenty of evidence that White House officials behaved abominably in this affair. I'm offended by the idea of a government official secretly using the news media -- under the guise of a "former Hill staffer" -- to attack former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. That's sleazy and outrageous. But a crime?
I'm skeptical, even though there seems to have been a coordinated White House campaign against Mr. Wilson. One indication of that coordination is that, as I've reported earlier, I received a call at the same time, in June 2003, from yet another senior White House official, who chided me for two columns in which I discussed Mr. Wilson's trip to Niger but didn't use his name.
Is Kristof kidding? He's "offended" by officials "using" reporters to make their shots ---and has the balls to mention his own published stories in which Joe Wilson was using him to propagandize the readers of the New York Times?! Ha, ha, ha! I mean, what the fuck?
Go on, Kristof. Tell us who was feeding you information about these yellowcake claims.
Raised Eyebrows
I was quite surprised at this post on the CBS News blog "Public Eye," in which Vaughn Ververs discusses the news that Dick Cheney was the one who told Lewis Libby about Valerie Plame. After pondering this revelation, though, Ververs isn't so sure that getting the number of the Beast is such a great idea. And neither, he tells us, do John Tierney and Nicholas Kristof. In an op-ed in today's New York Times, Kristof writes:
To me, the whisper campaign against Mr. Wilson amounts to back-stabbing politics, but not to obvious criminality. And if indictments are issued for White House officials on vague charges of revealing classified information, that will have a chilling impact on the reporting of national security issues. The ultimate irony would come if we ended up strengthening the Bush administration’s ability to operate in secrecy.
The reason this remarkable observation is significant is because Kristof was one of the first tools Joe Wilson used when he began the roll-out on his Nigerien vacation story.
Read every word of what Kristof just wrote, wankers. Considering his own role in these matters, as well as that of the paper he works for, his concerns are extremely interesting.
Answer to a Correspondent
One of my commenters, who goes by a pseudonym for obvious reasons, is suggesting that the perfidious Jews are the actual perpetrators of the assassination of Rafik Hariri. Oddly enough, that's exactly what a lot of crazy Arab Jew-killers are saying. On the topic of the Mehlis Report:
At a Saturday news conference in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Riyad Dawoodi also condemned the report as politically biased, based upon “presumptions and allegations,” but “no proof.”
“There’s a presumption taken by the (UN) commission that the very presence of Syrian troops and the Syrian security organs in Lebanon is something which should imply so and so and so,” he said. “You cannot put any weight on the idea (that) because you are present in Lebanon, everything happening in Lebanon ... should be done according to your knowledge and you know about it.”
Is this moron actually claiming that 30 years of Syria's occupation of Lebanon are irrelevant to the question of their knowledge of such a massive plot? This wasn't a fucking pipe bomb planted by an unemployed cabbie, you know. This was a major operation that killed a dozen or more people and left a crater in the middle of the street.
The foreign minister continued: “The report has a conclusion that this operation, the assassination of late Prime Minister Hariri, cannot be done without a means, a very sophisticated means which belongs to a highly equipped security organ. And you just look around you, who is very, very well equipped?”
While Dawoodi did not elaborate, the statement reflected suspicions within the region that the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, may have organized the assassination in order to destabilize both Lebanon and Syria and create the conditions for US military actions against the Damascus regime.
And the Syrians don't have "highly equipped security organs"? What crap. Syria is a police state and a major sponsor of terrorist organizations. I think they've probably got sufficient experience and knowledge to pull off the odd episode of mass murder.
But what's most interesting to me is the protestations from the anti-war/pro-terrorist element in our own country that the Mehlis Report is going to be used to threaten Bashar al-Assad and his Ba'athist government. What demo are these mindless shitheads trying to appeal to with that argument? Mehlis is a German investigator with the United Nations ---two factors that become qualifications for integrity and anti-American wonderfulness under normal circumstances, but not here? Why?
I haven't yet read the Mehlis Report, but why should I be concerned if the UN and France are behind its conclusions? Isn't that The Standard, comrades? Aren't they the imprimatur that makes resolutions stick?
Let this investigation draw the Europeans into finally contributing to the success of the War for Iraq by demanding that the Syrians stop stirring things up next door. Let's have sanctions and make the Syria Accountability Act mean something after all. Let's demand justice for Lebanon, too. They are, after all, the home of the Protest Babe ---and that is not to be dismissed.
Senatorial Moments
Did you catch any of Meet the Press yesterday? Tim Russert was interviewing, among others, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and New York Senator Charles Schumer when Hutchison let slip that she doesn't want to see any petty or overly technical charges brought against anybody in the White House this week when Patrick Fitzgerald will (probably) hand up his indictments in the Plame Unpleasantness.
[...] I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. So they go to something that trips someone up because they said something in the first grand jury and then maybe they found new information or they forgot something and they tried to correct that in a second grand jury.
Hoo boy. I suspect that a few "neocons" are going to be in trouble here in the next few days, but surely they won't want to turn to Hutchison for any legal ---or political--- advice.
But, then, on the subject of the War for Iraq, Schumer made a very interesting reply to Russert that doesn't seem compatible with the gibberish his party has made its name on lately. To the question of whether he regretted his vote in favor of the War for Iraq, Schumer said:
Well, no, Tim, because my vote was seen and I still see it as a need to say we must fight a strong and active war on terror.
Hmmm. Did Schumer mean to go off-script like that? Isn't the party line from both Democrats and their Big Media propagandists that the War for Iraq is an unrelated and unnecessary distraction from the real "war on terror"? Isn't it dangerous to confuse the anti-war dhimmis with the view that Iraq and terrorism are directly linked?
Oh, well. I'm sure Hutchison and Schumer will be revising and extending their remarks today.
Now, See, That's a Big Surprise. The Jews Also Control the United Nations? Huh! Who Knew?
We learn from the Persian Journalthat the "mullah-run" newspaper Kayhan International has declared the Mehlis Report just another Jewish plot to impugn the good character of Lebanon's true ally, Syria.
Kayhan International here Sunday commented on the report provided by a German magistrate on the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, calling on Muslim states to protest against the "dictated" story.
"The German Magistrate (Detlev Mehlis) has merely struck to the script dictated to him by those whose vested interests in the region warranted the physical elimination of Hariri," said 'Kayhan International'.
It further criticized the report by saying that Mehlis "has tried to implicate Lebanon's staunch and only dedicated Arab ally, Syria, in his report", which the editorial described as a "yawning tale".
The logic's hard to follow, but let's try: the United Nations, which has routinely sponsored forums and resolutions which explicitly call Zionism a racist policy, is actually controlled by the Jews. Sure. Why not?
The infantilization of the Arab mind is astonishing. As far as default settings go, blaming the Jews for everything and all the time is just incredibly lame. What children!
Interference Running
The Gateway Pundit brings us the picture you see below, as well as the attached Reuters caption:
Coffins of Kurdish people killed during former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's rule are seen during a ceremony at Arbil's airport, northern Iraq, October 17, 2005. The bodies of some 7,500 members of the Kurdish Barzani tribe, who were made captive and then executed were buried in mass graves at the border between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, were brought to Arbil on Monday for reburial.
I wouldn't say that Bush the Elder and Baker and Cheney and Powell and Scowcroft and Schwarzkopf are the ones who murdered these Kurds, but they allowed to live the monster who did. Because there was no mandate from the United Nations to remove him from power. Because they didn't want a "power vacuum." Because "stability in the region" is code for letting tyrants and murderers oppress their own people because it's easier to obtain cheap oil that way.
Did you know about these mass murders from the summer of 1983? I didn't. I was in junior high. Back then, all I would have known of Iraqis was that they were not those awful Iranians. I knew to hate them because they had taken our fellow citizens hostages and humiliated us. But what did I know or care about what was happening next door in Iraq? Nothing. America didn't care about the Iraqi people, either, or about the man who was brutalizing them because at least Saddam Hussein was a thorn in the Ayatollah's side. Good for him. We weren't ones to interfere in their internal matters, anyhow.
Pretty soon, though, came the incident with the USS Stark and the invasion of Kuwait. We would soon know that you don't stay friends with the enemies of your enemies forever. You move to act with moral clarity. You punish those who murder their own citizens. You punish those who murder and plot to murder the leaders and former leaders of other nations.
History won't care to remember that Bush the Younger didn't genuflect before the French or Kofi Annan or that wretched dwarf Gerhard Schroeder. But History will record that this President went to Iraq and helped to correct the errors his father made. I believe that Dick Cheney knew that he, too, had a chance to do the right thing this time. And they are doing it, however ugly it is.
Boghopper Survives to Drink Again
The anti-American Irish journalist Rory Carroll was released a day or so after he was taken captive by pro-Sadr gangsters this past week. So much for my Schadenfreude.
It is interesting to note, however, that the BBC report linked to above fails to mention the fact that Carroll was first released into the custody of Ahmed Chalabi, the hated manipulator of the entire Western world and professional Gavrilo Princip impersonator. Why should that be? Any guesses?
Views of Syria
The Christian Science Monitorsays that we don't have the military strength right now to correct the Syrian problem, but I think that might only be true if we're talking about ground troops and occupation. I don't think that's what we're talking about, though.
A possible American military incursion into Syrian territory to chase Iraqi insurgents would send a threatening signal to the regime. But as France, Saudi Arabia, and many other nations now appear willing to alter the regime's bad habits through UN sanctions, such a bold US step right now would be unwise.
As a matter of fact, an "incursion" into Syria is a great idea. I say we find and present to the world the evidence that's out there of the Syrians' involvement in Iraq (just as there certainly is ---now--- of their involvement in Hariri's assassination in Lebanon). Syrian-sponsored terrorists are in Iraq killing American soldiers and Marines. We have every right to respond to these threats against ourselves and our Iraqi allies.
The Lebanese people, like the Iraqis, are currently shoring up their democracy. Preventing Syria from harming that course should be the focus of the US and the UN far more than trying to force democracy on Syria.
Who's talking about forcing democracy on Syria? I just want to see us bombing the ratlines that essentially run between Damascus and al-Anbar. Maybe that would focus Assad's attention.
International economic sanctions would send a message to the regime as well as to Syrians that they, too, can help lift the Arab world by relying on ballots instead of bombs.
Sounds great. But we need immediate action. Like this week. The sooner we can get the international community to take the side of justice and democracy for Lebanon, the sooner we'll get the Syrians to end their support of murderers in Iraq.
Co-opt Assad like we co-opted Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan. I'm not necessarily equating the two men, but we have had more success in Afghanistan ---by some measures--- because of how we first secured Pakistan's cooperation. That is an unsung achievement in the War against the Terrorists. We need the same "deal" in Syria if we ever want Iraq to be able to stand on its own.
CNN: Not Even Pretending to Care Anymore
Why am I not surprised that there's some hair-do sitting in for Larry King tonight that's interviewing Ashlee Simpson? I mean, what the fuck is that?
Temerity Russert
Check out this useful and interesting post by the oddly attractive Arianna Huffington on what nerve NBC newsman Tim Russert has in not explaining his role in the Plame Unpleasantness.
Here is how Russert handled the latest developments in Plamegate (the question is addressed to Michigan Senator Carl Levin):
"The
New York Times today publishes a lengthy article about the CIA leak investigation. Judith Miller, the Times reporter, writes that she had at least three meetings with the vice president's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, in which they talked about Ambassador Joe Wilson's trip to Africa regarding uranium and also some discussions about Wilson's wife. What is your reaction?"
That's it. Not a single mention of his own conversation with Libby. What does NBC think about this? As Judith Miller herself might say, "I don't know." Huffington then provides a great timeline of Russert's involvement and how often he fails to take the opportunity to explain himself. Good stuff.
Read the Pretext on the Wall
I am borrowing the photo you see from Michael J. Totten, who took it in Beirut yesterday in the aftermath of the release of the Mehlis Report.
Considering the suckfest that's been pro-war America the past few weeks, it sure would be nice if President Bush would insist on a very strong response by both ourselves and the international community to the Syrian problem. And as soon as possible. We not only need a distraction from the bad news for conservatives here, but an affirmative change for the Lebanese people.
Use it or lose it, I say. Don't let the UN fritter away the anger against the bullies in Syria. We need to punish Assad now and pressure him into stopping the incursions into Iraq. He'll do it if we threaten him hard enough. Impose hard sanctions now. I'll bet even some of the Euro-wankers would sign off on that.
THE United Nations withheld some of the most damaging allegations against Syria in its report on the murder of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, it emerged yesterday.
The names of the brother of Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, and other members of his inner circle, were dropped from the report that was sent to the Security Council.
The confidential changes were revealed by an extraordinary computer gaffe because an electronic version distributed by UN officials on Thursday night allowed recipients to track editing changes.
The mistaken release of the unedited report added further support to the published conclusion that Syria was behind Mr Hariri’s assassination in a bomb blast on Valentine’s Day in Beirut. The murder of Mr Hariri touched off an international outcry and hastened Syria’s departure from Lebanon in April after a 29-year pervasive military presence.
But if you thought that a UN led by the extremely corrupt Kofi Annan was finally going to be useful in the fight against Arab and Islamofascism, try again:
Mr Annan had pledged repeatedly through his chief spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, that he would not change a word of the report by Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor. But computer tracking showed that the final edit began at about 11.38am on Thursday — a minute after Herr Mehlis began a meeting with Mr Annan to present his report. The names of Maher al-Assad, General Shawkat and the others were apparently removed at 11.55am, after the meeting ended.
I don't know if Annan is involved in those changes or not, but the UN's a dirty organization that has to be forced to matter. Looks like they've failed again.
Unless, of course, this can be made into the excuse we need to bomb Damascus.
Torture to Me Ears (An Open Letter to Bush the Younger) Mood: irritated
Dear Mr. President:---
Please stop talking. Now.
Sincerely,
A Respectful Citizen Who Is Violently Opposed to the Very Idea That Harriet Miers Might Become a Justice on the Supreme Court for the "Reasons" You Have Given
Succinctitude Mood: on fire
I read this essay by Jacob Weisberg earlier today and decided he has made the finest distillation yet of what the Plame Unpleasantness is all about:
You need a pretty low opinion of people in the White House to imagine they would knowingly foster the possible assassination of CIA assets in other countries for the sake of retaliation against someone who wrote an op-ed they didn't like in the New York Times.
That's what it's all about right there. The first and last person who says this fucking thing was about revenge against Joe Wilson is Joe Wilson himself. Interestingly enough, he is the one who has committed the crime which he attributes to his and his wife's enemies. If that isn't clear to you yet, don't worry. I'll help you out.
Mmmmm. Kahk.
Although it's something like adulteration, looks like The Simpsons have gone Arabic:
After 17 seasons of entertaining U.S. audiences, "The Simpsons" can now be seen on Arab television. While U.S. foreign policy is not always a hit overseas, there is a huge audience for American popular culture.
So the Arab satellite network MBC is bringing the cartoon saga of Springfield to the heart of the Arab world. "The Simpsons" has been exported overseas and is now called "Al Shamshoon."
The new take on the cartoon classic debuted this month, just in time for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
With Omar instead of Homer, and Badr substituting for Bart, MBC hopes to win coveted young viewers. After all, 60 percent of the Arab world is 20 years old or younger.
See, this is all part of our imperialistic plan to corrupt Mo with democracy, whisky, and sexy.
My favorite bit is this, though:
Homer Simpson's ubiquitous Duff beer will now be soda in the Arab version of the show.
Hot dogs will become Egyptian beef sausages, and donuts will become popular Arab cookies called "kahk." Moe's Bar has been completely written out of "Al Shamshoon."
No (More) Comment
As Lisa Simpson once observed as her brother rightly got his ass beat down, "It's funny how two wrongs sometimes make a right."
So it is with the news that Irish journalist Rory Carroll has been kidnapped by "armed men in Iraq."
Rory Carroll, you ask? Why, he's the anti-American sack of wet stools who accuses American soldiers of crimes against humanity in the pages of the Guardian Unlimited. Take some of his work for a spin. Go on. He won't mind:
Since the 2003 invasion US forces have killed at least 18 media workers in incidents for which no one has been charged or punished. "Whitewashes. There have been no satisfactory investigations that we know of," said Rodney Pinder, director of the International News Safety Institute (INSI), a Brussels-based advocacy group.
Angry and frustrated, several radio and television networks, agencies and newspapers, including the Guardian, met last week to chart a joint response to the crisis. The gathering agreed to form a foreign correspondents' association and to jointly lobby the US military and state department.
This guy, if he's ever found alive, could get a job stunt-doubling for Eason Jordan.
In addition to shooting them, US forces have a habit of detaining journalists without charge. Weeks can pass before a bureau is able to confirm that an employee has been arrested, possibly injured, and held incommunicado in Abu Ghraib or another prison. A driver for the Guardian, accredited with the US authorities, was held without explanation for five days.
At stake is not only the existence of independent media, says Alastair Macdonald, Reuters' Baghdad bureau chief, but the credibility of US claims to be fostering democracy. "The American ambassador recently called us the fourth estate, a pillar of the democracy, but we're not being allowed to do our job here."
Oh, y'all could do your jobs if the mundane details of a recovering Iraqi society mattered to you. But, instead, you become an instrument of al-Qaeda and the other jihadi psychopaths in Iraq. You report on death and destruction to the near-exclusion of stories of triumph and positive change. Don't ever forget that, you Euro-wankers. I don't care how much I sound like Spiro Agnew: you are the problem.
I wouldn't say that Bush the Elder and Baker and Cheney and Powell and Scowcroft and Schwarzkopf are the ones who murdered these Kurds, but they allowed to live the monster who did. Because there was no mandate from the United Nations to remove him from power. Because they didn't want a "power vacuum." Because "stability in the region" is code for letting tyrants and murderers oppress their own people because it's easier to obtain cheap oil that way.
And as soon as possible. We not only need a distraction from the bad news for conservatives here, but an affirmative change for the Lebanese people. 
irritated
celebratory
on fire