Monday, February 28, 2005
Another Domino to Fall?
I'm always skeptical about the disconnect between words and actions in the Middle East, but reports say that the pro-Syrian government in Lebanon has "resigned". Publius has the best round-up.
It looks like Freedom is on the March. Hmmm, where have I heard that before?
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Too little, too late
As far as I'm concerned, America has been at war with Syria for about 2 years now, due to their not-so-secret support of the Iraqi insurgents. But Captain Ed finds that Syria may be getting the message:
Iraqi officials said Sunday that Syrian authorities had captured Saddam Hussein's half-brother and 29 other officials of the deposed dictator's Baath Party in Syria and handed them over to Iraq in an apparent goodwill gesture....Somehow I doubt that Syria just now stumbled across these 30 Saddamites. So why now? Maybe they've decided America isn't as "overextended" as they once thought, and they're looking for a way out.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
End the Occupation
Syrian forces should withdraw from the quagmire of Lebanon. Only then will Beirut know the peace of the "safest city in Iraq", Fallujah.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Friday, February 11, 2005
Down Syndrome Bomber
Chrenkoff links to an article concerning the Down Syndrome child used as a
Accustomed to living on charity, [the Zubaidis] were not surprised when, 10 days before the election, two men arrived saying they were from the local Sunni mosque and wanted to help Amar. Ms Zubaidi was overjoyed.Comments from his family:
'They said they would organise a sickness pension from the new government, that they were arranging with the Red Crescent for a block of land on which we might build a house, and they gave me $300 for stock for the shop.
'They said that they would take Amar to a special school, and each day they collected him and drove away. They gave him sweets and clothes and cigarettes - he loved them. Sunnis had helped us before, so I didn't think it strange'.
The election was meant to be so exciting. But we've had to give Amar as a present for the new Iraq and we just hope that it will get better as a victory for Amar and all the people.My question is, what is happening to these sub-human terrorist animals as they are caught by the Iraqi authorities? When do we get to read about the horrible punishments they receive?
Breaking Rumor
Market rumor is that there was a coup in North Korea. Stand by for updates....
Update
Rats! Seeing as how there have been no follow-up news reports, I'm afraid this rumor probably wasn't factually based.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Elections sweep Middle East!
Via Little Green Footballs, the BBC reports on elections. In Saudi Arabia!
Voters have gone to the polls in Saudi Arabia's first nationwide municipal election, as the kingdom's government aims to bring in elements of democracy.Granted this is a small step, but in the past 6 months we've seen elections in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority and Saudi Arabia. I think this is largely due to President George Bush's influence, and his refusal to drop the topic of Democracy. Does anyone think this would have happened if Gore had defeated Bush in 2000?
The first phase was held in and around the capital, Riyadh, with later rounds to be staged elsewhere over two months....
Voting was initially slow but the numbers arriving at polling stations in Riyadh and its suburbs increased as the day went on.
"This was a wonderful moment," Badr al-Faqih, a 54-year-old geography professor, told AP after casting the first ballot at one polling station. "This is a first step towards more elections."
"This is patriotic participation," he said. "I want this campaign to succeed...."
A US state department spokesman said the polls were "a sign that Saudi Arabia is not immune to the reforms sweeping the region."
More Tipping?
Earlier I said I thought the Iraq election would be a tipping point towards stability in Iraq. Tim Blair links to a Washington Post report with some evidence to support that.
In the week since national elections, police officers and Iraqi National Guardsmen said they have received more tips from the public, resulting in more arrests and greater effectiveness in their efforts to weaken the violent insurgency rocking the country.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Rather Biased?
Paul Mirengoff applies standard courtroom practices to determine if CBS News was politically biased in RatherGate:
THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW PANEL which investigated CBS News's faked memos found no basis to accuse Dan Rather or Mary Mapes of political bias in connection with their roles in the offending 60 Minutes story about President Bush's National Guard service. In its report the Panel characterized the very question of whether a political agenda could play a role as "subjective" and "difficult." And panelist Louis Boccardi later explained that "bias is a hard thing to prove."Verdict: Guilty as charged!
Yet questions about motivation lie at the heart of many garden-variety legal disputes, most notably cases involving issues of unlawful discrimination under various civil rights statutes. Recognizing that very few employment decision-makers will admit to bias, the Supreme Court quickly developed a construct for inferring the existence of bias through "indirect" evidence. Proving bias thus became no more difficult than proving other allegations of fact, a state of affairs consistent with Chief Justice Rehnquist's comment that the state of one's mind is just as much a factual issue as the state of one's digestion.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Talking Down the Economy
President George Bush's economic plan has brought America through one of history's worst economic bubbles, such that unemployment now stands at 5.2% (far lower than it was when Clinton was reelected due to his "miracle economy") and more than 2.2 million jobs were created last year.
So let's read how CNN is still reporting this amazing recovery:
Jobs still can't get in gearTheir own chart belies their spin:
The job market started the new year in much the same way as it finished out the old -- posting disappointing job growth.
The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. payrolls grew by 146,000 jobs in January, up from a revised 133,000 in December. But that was below the 200,000 new jobs economists were looking for, on average, according to a survey by Briefing.com.
January marked the seventh time in the last eight reports that economists had overestimated the number of jobs the economy created.
The unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent from 5.4 in December, but that came mostly from a drop in the size of the labor force, not due to strong employment gains. Economists were looking for an unchanged reading.
"Some of the signals pointing to job market improvement simply did not bear fruit this month," said Robert Brusca of FAO-Economics, who had forecast a gain of 225,000 jobs. "The report makes the economy look even less like it is building a head of steam."
Those numbers look very solid to me. Somebody needs to inform CNN that the election is already over.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Corruption at UN Documented
I'd like to say this is shocking, but it isn't.
A senior U.N. official solicited and received allocations of oil from Iraq for a trading company while directing the U.N. oil-for-food program, a key investigative report said on Thursday.
The official, Benon Sevan, engaged in conduct that was "ethically improper and seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations," said the report by Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve (news - web sites) chairman. Volcker was appointed by the United Nations to lead a probe of the now-defunct $67 billion program....
"Mr. Sevan repeatedly solicited allocations of oil under program [sic]. Iraqi officials provided such allocations for the purpose of obtaining Mr. Sevan's support on several issues" such as funds for repairing Iraq's crumbling oil facilities, said the report....
But since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, documents have emerged that show Saddam Hussein skimming funds from the program, selling oil illegally outside the program, often with the knowledge of big powers on the Security Council, and bribing a variety of officials around the world.
Volcker also said that U.N. officials ignored procurement procedures and safeguards from the very start of the program.
Investigators found "convincing and uncontested evidence" that the selection process was tainted by irregularities for each of the first three contractors selected -- the French bank Banque Nationale de Paris, the Dutch firm Saybolt Eastern Hemisphere BV and the British Lloyd's Register Inspection Ltd, the report said.
Why John Kerry Lost
In my opinion, the Democratic Party leadership (but not all Democrats) has one goal for the Iraq War: That it be remembered as a failure, as the Vietnam War is usually remembered.
Then the Presidency of George Bush, whom they despise, will be remembered as a disaster, and the Democrats will be regarded as the sages who warned America of the impending debacle, thus restoring their prestige and winning future votes as the only party with enough wisdom and foresight to be trusted with the power of the Presidency.
What's more, the left-wing of America has dug themselves such a big hole with their overbearing and unconstructive criticisms, that if Iraq turns out to be a success, they will look completely ridiculous. So Democrats find themselves in an uncomfortable position -- every piece of good news out of Iraq is cause for alarm and consternation.
Today's WSJ editorial captures a succint example:
On Sunday, some eight million Iraqi citizens risked their lives to participate in parliamentary elections--as vivid and moving a demonstration of democratic ideals in action as we've seen in our lifetimes. Whereupon Senate Democrats Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry took to the airwaves to explain that it was no big deal and that it was time to start casting about for an "exit strategy."To be blunt, the Democratic Party as a whole has no interest in the Iraq War succeeding. They need failure. They want failure. (Failure meaning simply bringing the troops home before success is assured.)
Mr. Kerry: "No one in the United States should try to overhype this election.... It's hard to say that something is legitimate when a whole portion of the country can't and doesn't vote."
Mr. Kennedy: "While the elections are a step forward, they are not a cure for the growing violence and resentment of the perception of American occupation. . . . The best way to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that we have no long-term designs on their country is for the Administration to withdraw some troops now . . ."
Minority Leader Reid: "We need an exit strategy so that we know what victory is and how we can get there. . . . Iraq is clearly important, but there are so many bigger threats to our national security . . ."
So what is the Democratic Party's message on this inspiring exercise in Iraqi self-determination? First, that the election's legitimacy is questionable. Second, that its effects will be minor. Third, that America's presence in Iraq is doing more harm than good by generating terrorism and anti-Americanism where none previously existed. Fourth, that the U.S. has better things to do. Fifth, that American sacrifices in Iraq are best redeemed not by victory, but by the earliest feasible departure.
In November 2004, enough Americans intuitively understood this that they did not hand over the reins to John Kerry who, at least subconciously, was looking for defeat in Iraq. And so George Bush defeated John Kerry in a relative land-slide.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
The Most Trusted Name in News
After admitting that CNN knowingly and intentionally covered up the crimes of Saddam Hussein (in my opinion, as great a media scandal as Dan Rather's debacle), the head of CNN allegedly claimed publicly at Davos that US soldiers were intentionally targeting members of the media in Iraq.
Shameless and disgusting. Fair and Balanced he is not.
