Happy Independence Day, Iraq!
May the Iraqi people live in peace, prosperity, freedom, and happiness from this day forward.
Are we there, yet? Are we there yet?
The Cassini spacecraft, which has been travelling toward Saturn for nearly seven years, is
scheduled to arrive on June 30. It will then enter orbit around the ringed planet, and begin a mission that has been planned to last four years, but may endure for up to ten. Scientists expect that the spacecraft will be able to beam back as many as 500,000 images during the mission. It is planned to have encounters with all of the major moons, especially Titan, where in December it will launch the Huygens probe, which will make a parachute landing on the moon's surface.
Mustard gas reported to have been used in Baghdad
WorldnetDaily is reporting that mustard gas has been used by terrorists in Baghdad. According to
Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin (subscription required), a chemical attack was launched inside Baghdad's Green Zone one day after Charles Duelfer, the head of the CIA weapons inspection team, warned that terrorists were trying to get into Saddam's chemical WMD stash.
On Thursday, Charles Duelfer, the head of the CIA weapons inspection team, said terrorists in Iraq are seeking chemical arms and expertise left over from the Hussein regime for possible use against U.S. and allied troops. He added that his team has so far found as many as a dozen chemical-filled bombs – far more than previously reported. (my emphasis)
Also:
Duelfer said his inspection team has uncovered bombs filled with blistering mustard gas or the nerve agent sarin.
"We're not sure how many more are out there that haven't been found, but we've found 10 or 12 sarin and mustard rounds," he said. "I'm reluctant to judge what that means at this point, but there's other aspects of the program which we still have to flush out."
(Hat tip:
Backcountry Conservative)
Fritz Hollings is an embarrassment for South Carolina
I am thoroughly embarrassed to be "represented" in the Senate by Ernest F. Hollings. Thankfully, he will no longer be a Senator as of next January 3. He has already been there far too long.
Yesterday, Hollings had
this column published in The State - part two of "Why we are in Iraq".
Part one was seething with anti-semitic blather and untruths about President Bush. Now Senator Hollings has inflicted part two on us. Let us examine some of his claims:
Iraq, as a threat to the United States, was all contrived.
Seems that this point (that he took from Ted Kennedy) was dramatically refuted by Vladimir Putin just last week. (I guess Fritz wasn't paying attention.) The point was also refuted by the 9/11 Commission, who, in spite of what the liberal media reported, cited evidence of contact between Iraq and terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, going back many years. (He should be embarassed that his column was refuted even before it was published.) As in the first part of this column, Hollings would rather cite Richard Clarke's discredited book, "Against All Enemies".
President Bush must have known that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We have no al Qaeda, no weapons of mass destruction and no terrorism from Iraq; we were intentionally misled by the Bush administration.
First, the co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission have already stated that President Bush never misled us. The "imminent threat" claim, the argument that Saddam was involved with 9/11, that liberating and democratizing Iraq would be easy, are all straw men set up by the President's opponents to give them something to argue against, since they have very few cogent arguments against anything the President actually said.
All of us knew that there
were WMD's in Iraq. Hussein used them on the Iranians and the Kurds, and they have recently been found, including the sarin shell used as a road side bomb, and among the scrap metal exported from Iraq. (Old arguments, so Fritz should already know about them.) We still haven't searched Syria and Lebanon for the missing WMD's.
Saddam Hussein had a long history of doing everything he thought he could get away with. If he hadn't already, it was only a matter of time before he would have provided WMD's to a terrorist group to use in the USA. Meanwhile, he would have continued colluding with the UN to enrich himself off of the "Oil for Food" fiasco, while the Iraqi people continued to suffer.
Putin already pointed out that Saddam was planning terror attacks against the US. Saddam also provided a safe haven for terrorists, like Abu Abbas, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and Abu Musab Zarqawi. He also provided training facilities for terrorists. And don't forget about Saddam's gifts of $25,000 (later $50,000) to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers for killing innocent Israeli women and children. "No terrorism"? I guess in Hollings' mind, Iraq under Saddam Hussein was a Utopia on Earth, with Iraqis frolicking carefree in their happy day to day existence, until the evil USA destroyed it for them.
As a result, our troops are hunkered down, going out to trouble spots and escorting convoys.
Fritz, like the media, focusses exclusively on the bad news in Iraq, and ignores all of the good work we have done there (restoring infrastructure, rebuilding schools, restarting Iraq's oil industry).
In the war against terrorism, we’ve given the terrorists a cause and created more terrorism.
This is patently false. The conversion of the whole world to radical Islam is their cause, nothing less will satisfy them. They need no further cause to kill "infidels".
By removing Saddam, we have removed a safe haven for terrorists, shown Moammar Qadhaffi what would happen to him if he didn't cooperate, and by drawing terrorists into a battle with our Marines and Army in Iraq, have managed to kill many of them. By continuing the war on terror in Iraq and on other fronts, we have significantly weakened Al Qaeda and have so far managed to avoid any more attacks on our own soil.
...both Richard Myers and John Abizaid, saying we can’t win.
Actually it's the media and idiotic Democrats like Hollings who have been saying that we can't win, even while we have in fact been winning. A transition government is in place, ready to take over on June 30, and start planning elections. Zarqawi and the terrorists are using more and more desperate measures, because they know that they are losing. Hollings cites the cover of "The New Republic" magazine, and their editorial, "
Were We Wrong?" but apparently he didn't read the editorial. TNR wonders if one of their justifications for supporting the war (WMD's) was wrong, but they still support our efforts on a moral basis, and still believe that Iraqis can create a free, democratic society that will cause a ripple effect of freedom throughout the region. So, in his argument against the war, Fritz cites an editorial that actually still supports the war.
Unfortunately, the peoples of the world ... are still against us. Heretofore, the world looked to the United States to do the right thing. No more. The United States has lost its moral authority.
(Remember that this is the same Fritz Hollings who said that African potentates liked to come to Europe for a good meal once in a while, to take a break from eating each other, the same Fritz Hollings who was Governor of SC in 1962, presiding over a state with a 100% Democrat bicameral legislature that originally hoisted the Confederate flag over the statehouse dome, who now wants to lecture us on moral authority.)
By this statement, I gather that Fritz supports two things: selling out our national security to the control of the (horribly corrupt) UN; and that the US was wrong to topple Saddam Hussein. That he should still be the President of Iraq, and should still by using
actual torture at Abu Ghraib, and still be filling mass graves. That Uday should still be abducting and raping any woman on the street that strikes his fancy. That Qusay should still be making his father's political opponents "disappear", never to be seen again. That ordinary Iraqis should still be living every day in fear of being executed by slow torture for saying the wrong thing to the wrong person.
That Fritz Hollings, while occupying high office in our government, should so blatantly place crass partisanship over our efforts to bring freedom and democracy to tens of millions of people, just sickens me.
Kerry supporters hire convicted felons for door to door voter drives
America Coming Together, a group working for the election of John Kerry, has hired
drug dealers, sex offenders, and other convicted felons to come to YOUR door to register you to vote for John Kerry.
Next time someone sporting a John Kerry button appears on your stoop, don't let your daughter answer the door...
(Hat tip:
Blogs for Bush)
UPDATE: It seems that Arizona Democrats have
filed a lawsuit to prevent Ralph Nader from appearing on their presidential ballot in November. It seems that one of their arguments for doing so is that
Nader used convicted felons to collect petition signatures. I kid you not:
[One of the lawyers handling the suit, Andy] Gordon also charged that some of the signature gatherers used by the Nader campaign in Arizona were convicted felons and therefore not eligible to collect signatures.
Such blatant hypocrisy from the left. So, what else is new?
(Hat tip:
Punic Treachery.)
President Putin provides justification for our invasion of Iraq
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that
Russia warned the US that Saddam Hussein was planning terrorist attacks against Americans in the US and abroad after 9/11 but before our invasion. President Putin opposed our invasion, but allowed his intelligence agency to inform us of this threat anyway. For this I thank him.
It will also be interesting to watch the left squirm to find a way to explain this away.
A Democrat slams the media for misrepresentations
Congressman Lee Hamilton (D-IN), chair of the 9/11 commission, is slamming the news media for misrepresenting the commission's report on the ties between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, as in
this headline from my local paper. From
Newsmax:
"The sharp differences that the press has drawn [between the White House and the Commission] are not that apparent to me," Hamilton told the Associated Press, a day after insisting that his probe uncovered "all kinds" of connections between Osama bin Laden's terror network and Iraq.
Hamilton also says, "There are all kinds of connections. And it may very well have been that Osama bin Laden or some of his lieutenants met at some time with Saddam Hussein's lieutenants."
There is apparently no limit to how much the press will distort the truth in order to get their man Kerry elected. It is also another example of why the media's credibility has dropped enormously since Walter Cronkite was "the most trusted man in America".
Senator Biden can't be this ignorant, can he?
ABC News just showed footage of Senator Joe Biden grilling Attorney General John Ashcroft about an alleged memo from the Justice Department advocating torture of prisoners in Iraq. While Ted Kennedy was still trying to get political mileage out of the Abu Ghraib photos, Biden was lecturing Ashcroft about the purpose of international treaties dealing with the treatment of prisoners. This is an obvious point, but the point that Biden glaringly misses is that the terrorists we are fighting don't give a damn about international treaties. All they care about is killing infidels, especially Americans and Israelis.
As I said in an earlier post, Abu Ghraib had nothing to do with Nick Berg's death. Zarqawi was going to kill him no matter what. (An American Jew in the custody of Islamofascist fanatics? He had no chance.) Abu Ghraib was just convenient propaganda for Zarqawi (and Kennedy).
I do not advocate torturing anyone. But Biden's rant about an alleged memo from Justice putting his son (a Guardsman) in more danger is just asinine.
UPDATE: According to
Jonah Goldberg, Biden's son is a military lawyer serving in the US, not overseas, as he implied while lecturing Ashcroft about putting his son in danger. Meanwhile, Ashcroft's son
has served in Iraq. Despicable grandstanding from Biden.
Ronald Wilson Reagan 1911-2004
I was saddened to learn last night of the passing of the greatest president of the 20th century, Ronald Wilson Reagan. His is a legacy that will not soon be forgotten.
President Reagan was my Commander-in Chief during my years in the US Navy. I was certainly proud to serve under such a courageous leader. Much maligned by the liberal networks and press during his years in office and after, he nevertheless boldly saw through his vision of a world without the tyranny of the Soviet Union, and without the constant fear and danger of the Cold War years.
My deepest sympathy and condolences go out to Mrs. Reagan and his children.
Mr. President, you will certainly be missed, but never forgotten. God bless you sir.
Another new month, another batch of good ecenomic news
From
The State (Columbia, SC):
U.S. manufacturing activity expanded for the 12th consecutive month, and construction spending rose to its highest level ever, providing fresh evidence that the economy is picking up steam as it heads into summer.
Some individual points:
The Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday that its manufacturing index advanced to 62.8 in May from 62.4 in April. The latest reading was the highest since 63.6 posted in January and was well above the 61.5 that analysts had expected.
the Commerce Department said construction spending registered its best month on record in April. The value of buildings put in place rose 1.3 percent in April from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $970.4 billion.
The employment index showed growth for the seventh consecutive month with a 61.9 reading in May, the highest since it hit 62.6 in April 1973, according to the group, which is based in Tempe, Ariz. The employment reading in April had been 57.8.
It mystifies me that the Democrats still think they can use the economy in their campaign against George Bush. It should be clear to anyone who is paying attention that we are in a strongly recovering economy. Bush inherited from Clinton an ecenomy heading into recession. It has turned around completely under his leadership, in spite of 9/11. Any Democrat who says that George Bush has mismanaged the econemy is being either ignorant or disingenuous.
This is just one of the many reasons we need to return President Bush to the White House for a second term. You can
volunteer or
donate to help achieve that goal. Bloggers can join the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, listed in the left column.
