December 21, 2005

"I was tortured", Saddam Whimpers in Court

From MSNBC:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein interrupted his trial Wednesday to allege he had been beaten and tortured while in U.S. custody and still had the marks on his body.

"I have been hit by the Americans and tortured," he said during his trial on charges of crimes against humanity. "I have been beaten on every place of my body, and the signs are all over my body."

Thank you to all those whose short term political goals have so watered down the definition of torture that this senile old mass murderer thinks wearing the same underwear for three days qualifies.

Evidently, the marks are all on the back of his body.

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto, famous for ugly dictator cheesecake photos.

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Lebanon Refusing to Hand Over Navy Diver's Murderer

Reuters reports that Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is "questioning" US requests to extradite Mohammad Ali Hammadi. Hammadi spent a "life" sentence (18 years) in Germany for his role in the cowardly 1985 murder of US Navy diver Robert Stethem, committed during an aircraft hijacking.

"Originally they (the U.S. government) could have requested that Germany hand him over. Why are they asking us?" Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told reporters.
That would be because the Germans, who are so piously against interfering in other countries' sovereign affairs when it suits their purposes, refused to extradite Hammadi because he might have faced the death penalty in the US. And, of course, if they had extradited him, he wouldn't have been available to use as ransom for the release of German hostage Susanne Osthoff.
At his trial, Hammadi confessed to helping stage the 17-day hijacking to help win the release of 700 Lebanese detainees held by Israel, but he denied any role in killing Stethem.

But according to witnesses, Hammadi and an accomplice took the 23-year-old to the cockpit and beat him. Then they shot him and threw his body out of the Boeing 727 plane.

I disagree with those in Washington who are seeking Hammadi's extradition. This POS should just be taken out, Mossad-style.

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

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WTW Papa Bear Loves Winter

Happy winter solstice!!!!!

Reward for Little Bear. Parents around the globe cringe in terror as toddlers run to the TV with this tape or DVD. Therefore he must be “taken Care of”. My son played this tape at least 10,000 times. Amazing how little ones can watch the same tape over and over. Now I’m permanently damaged. I keep hearing “Happy Winter Solstice” and “Papa bear loves winter” over and over. My conclusion, I would pay 100 bucks for little bear’s pelt or it would make a splendid Christmas Gift the pelt that is.

Hat tip: cube neighbor Brian.

Here are your White Trash Wednesday bloggers.

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Self-Appointed Public Agents in Light of the Pentagon Papers (Updated)

One of the current arguments for the McCain "anti-torture statute" is that if there were ever a "ticking bomb" scenario the people in charge of interrogation would have the option of sacrificing their careers and futures for the common good, choosing to disobey the law in order to save thousands (h/t: Dan at WoC). Although I see some problems with this argument, especially in marginal cases or situations where the interrogators don't know there's a ticking bomb, it seems somewhat convincing. But in the analogous case where an individual deliberately chose to break a national security law "for the good of all" (Daniel Ellsberg's leaking the Pentagon Papers) the authorities chose not to prosecute. This was a mistake, regardless of whether you think Ellsberg's actions justified. I'll explain why.

more...

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Taliban Johnny, A Thesis Regarding Expletives

Michelle Malkin, a very outspoken, considered by some (not this citizen journalist) a "controversial" figure, not to mention a racistsexistbigotedhomophobe, clues us in on this:

American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh has asked President Bush again to reduce his 20-year prison sentence by an unspecified amount, Lindh's attorney said Tuesday.

In deference to Michelle Malkin, and her longstanding friendship to the Jawa Report, I will place my reply under the fold, in the manner normally prescribed to graphic images.

Let that be your warning. more...

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It's Time To Relax Now

It's the Christmas season, a time for joy, frivolity, and gift giving.

In that spirit, let's all enjoy a little gratuitous cleavage, shall we?

Q: "Hey Vinnie, why you posting so much all the sudden?"

A: "Good question, I just found this new toy called Performancing for Firefox 1.5, and I'm playing with it."

Q: "Another quick question if I may, why are you sitting in front of a computer Performancing while your wife plays with toys in the bedroom?"

A: ...

A: ...

A: "I highly recommend Performancing to my kin in the Sandcrawler. Wait for me, honey!"

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Breaking: Daily Kos, MoveOn open Baghdad Office

Replaying Florida, December 2000, Tikrit-style:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Sunni Arabs and a key secular party charged Tuesday that parliamentary elections were tainted by fraud, and demanded an inquiry into preliminary results showing the governing Shiite religious bloc with a larger than expected lead.
Or izzat Ohio 2004, Ramadi style? Beats the hell out of me.

For decent Iraqi election thoughts, read it from the people who live there.


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December 20, 2005

Arabs See US Press as Supporting Bush Administration

The Daily Star (Lebanon) discusses a study of US newspapers by Dr. Ghazi Falah of the University of Akron, who focuses on the way Arabs and Muslims are portrayed by the American news media. Dr. Falah makes some astute observations, but draws some questionable conclusions.

With the vast majority of stories and photographs appearing in Western media from the Arab world pertaining to, or insinuating an environment of violence and conflict, readers are left with these impressions of the region.
This is true of US media, but it's not an attempt to portray Arabs negatively. First, blood sells. It's in the nature of journalism to hype the drama, not to describe peaceful, everyday events. Second, the American mainstream media have made a point of deliberately emphasizing negatives, particularly in Iraq, hoping to politically benefit their preferred party, the Democrats. The resultant biased view of Arabs is just collateral damage.
"It is striking how much the editorial policies of the foreign [American] newspapers consulted for this study overlap with U.S. government positions and its geo-political interests in the Middle East."
I'm not sure what other newspapers Dr. Falah was studying, but I would ask him this question: if these newspapers are so supportive of the Bush administration, why has there been an embargo on images of the 9/11 attacks? And why does MSM coverage of Iraq focus only on Coalition deaths, while ignoring our soldiers' daily successes?

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

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Tookie's Revenge

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has quietly released a Hizbollah member
jailed for life for the murder of a U.S. Navy diver, disregarding
Washington's desire that he either be extradited or remain behind bars,
officials said on Tuesday.

That's what you get for executing an innocent children's book author, you filthy Amerikaner!


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Honoring Mike Stokely


I saw this today and I just had to post it. Mike Stokley was a soldier that gave his all in Iraq this year. His father expresses his thoughts over at The Mudville Gazette.

Robert Stokely : For whatever reason, the last few days what Cindy Sheehan said "Casey didn't die for a just cause" has been on my mind... ...My response is that Mike didn't die for a "just cause", he died JUST BECAUSE - just because he loved his country enough to want to serve it since the time he was in middle school; just because he loved his family enough to want to protect them; just because he loved his friends enough that he would rather fight a war "there" than here; just because he believed in our order of government whereby the civilian government rules and the military obeys, and when the President, with lawful authority, calls upon soldiers to go and fight, he believed it was not only his duty, but his honor to go; just because he wouldn't let his fellow soldiers - his guys - go it alone; and just because he wanted to do for others - the Iraqi people - what he would do for his own country.
Robert Stokely, Lucky and Proud to be the Dad of SGT Michael "Mike" James Stokely, KIA Operation Iraqi Freedom 16 Aug 05 2nd Platoon, E Troop 108th CAV 48h Brigaded GA NATL GUARD 15 miles south of Baghdad near Yusufiyah / IED

Let’s remember all the other “Mike Stokelys” this week because this is just one name of many. Remeber the gifts they have given us already this year.

Others: Miltary Outpost, Hugh Hewitt, and Sistertoldjah

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Luuuuucy, You Got Some Splainin To Do

WTF?

BAGHDAD, Iraq — About 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein's regime, including a biological weapons expert known as "Dr. Germ," have been released from jail...

Got me, I don't understand it either.

As far as deeming some of these people as no longer a security threat, you mean to tell me that "Dr. Germ" wouldn't be welcome to ply her trade in any number of Middle East Jew-hating dictatorships?

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The Wonders of Socialized Medicine

From Sky News:

Hospital bosses have apologised after maggots were found crawling in and out of an unconscious patient's nose.

Christine Ellison was in intensive care when her daughter, Nyree Ellison Anjos, made the revolting discovery.

"I thought there was something not quite right so I had a closer look and I could see maggots crawling in and out of her nose."

The maggots turned out to be fly larvae.

A statement from Gloucestershire NHS Foundation Trust said: "We would like to offer our sincere apologies to the family of Mrs Ellison for any distress caused by this incident.

"We can confirm that a very small number of maggots were found.

"The incident was incredibly rare and we took immediate steps to prevent it from happening again."

Yes, rare. So rare in fact that the hospital has gone nearly two months since their last maggot episode:
Maggots found in hospital treatment room

A hospital trust has been criticised after one of its treatment rooms had to be fumigated when maggots were found feeding on a discarded sandwich.

A corridor and room at the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital was sealed off after the maggots were discovered on October 25, hospital officials said.

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto, now maggot-free.

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December 19, 2005

Heads We Win, Tails You Lose

Arab leaders are calling for the Middle East to be free of nuclear weapons. The only problem is that they would have the ban enforced only against Israel.

From The Daily Star (Lebanon):

Gulf Arab leaders called on Monday for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East, but singled out only Israel, not Iran, despite having voiced alarm at Tehran's nuclear ambitions at the end of their two-day summit.
Somehow I don't see Israel going along with this idea.

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BBC Warns on Use of the Word 'Terrorism'

The staff at the BBC has been issued new management guidance regarding the use of the terms 'terrorist' and 'terrorism.' The BBC's governors believe that the Internet has eliminated differences between domestic and overseas audiences and, therefore, it's essential that the terms be used carefully.

From MediaGuardian.co.uk:

The new guidance has been sent out internally and tells journalists: "The guidelines do not ban the use of the word. However, we do ask that careful thought is given to its use by a BBC voice. There are ways of conveying the full horror and human consequences of acts of terror without using the word 'terrorist' to describe the perpetrators."
So, apparently it's okay to describe the terrorism as long as the word 'terrorism' isn't used. Also, whoever is responsible for bad stuff that happens shouldn't be described as 'terrorists.' Therefore, instead of stating, "A terrorist bombed the crowded school bus," it's more appropriate to state, "A man created full horror and human consequence on a crowded school bus." And, the guidance continues.
"Careful use of the word 'terrorist' is essential if the BBC is to maintain its reputation for standards of accuracy and especially impartiality ... that does not mean we should emasculate our reporting or otherwise avoid conveying the reality and horror of what has occurred; but we should consider the impact our use of language may have on our reputation for objective journalism amongst our many audiences ... we must be careful not to give the impression that we have come to some kind of implicit - and unwarranted - value judgement."
Blah ... blah ... blah. That last paragraph reads like gibberish. However, that's not all there is.
The edict reminds BBC staff of the existing BBC editorial policy, which states: "The word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier rather than aid to understanding. We should try to avoid the term without attribution. We should let other people characterise while we report the facts as we know them."

"We should not adopt other people's language as our own. It is also usually inappropriate to use words like 'liberate', 'court martial' or 'execute' in the absence of a clear judicial process. We should convey to our audience the full consequences of the act by describing what happened. We should use words which specifically describe the perpetrator such as 'bomber', 'attacking', 'gunman', 'kidnapper' 'insurgent' and 'militant'."

The new guidance suggested using words such as "bomb attack" instead, or "bomber" or "assassin". [sic all]

Boiled down, the substance of the new policy is to avoid using the term 'terrorist' and practice hedging the wording of all reports. My interpretation? "Forget accuracy, be political."

Of course, this announced new guidance begs the question of what exactly is different from the way the BBC currently reports the news?

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

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New CSIS Report on the Iraq War

Tony Cordesman, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies has a new report on the Iraq War (h/t: Dan, at WoC). Some key excerpts:

The insurgency so far lacks any major foreign support other than limited amounts of money, weapons, and foreign supporters. It does not have the support of most Shi'ites and Kurds, who make up some 70-80% of the population. If Iraqi forces become effective in large numbers, if the Iraqi government demonstrates that its success means the phase out of Coalition forces, and if the Iraqi government remains inclusive in dealing with Sunnis willing to come over to its side, the insurgency should be defeated over time -- although some cadres could then operate as diehards at the terrorist level for a decade or more.

Apparently he didn't get the memo about the conflict being unwinnable, but he does genuflect in that general direction:

To succeed, the US must plan for failure as well as success. It must see the development or escalation of insurgency as a serious risk in any contingency were (sic) it is possible, and take preventive and ongoing steps to prevent or limit it. This is an essential aspect of war planning and no Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, service chief, or unified and specified commander can be excused for failing to plan and act in this area. Responsibility begins directly at the top, and failures at any other level pale to insignificance by comparison.

Well I don't have the endowments of Cordesman, but let me offer a few observations. First, one must assume that he's not suggesting we "plan to fail," although some will probably accuse him of that. Rather, what he suggests is that our war planning is too infused with "happy talk," and is therefore not realistic about the capabilities of this enemy. Although I have a great deal of confidence in our military, it's possible that Cordesman is right and we aren't taking the threat of "failure" seriously enough. Which raises the next issue.

There's a lot of difference between "planning for failure" in the sense of having contingencies should Iraq, or the Ummah, descend into civil war, and addressing the specific set of conditions that could lead to civil war. Conflating the two is like saying that knowing what you intend to do after the divorce is the same as dealing with the marital difficulties that could lead to divorce. Cordesman seems to imply the second meaning, but the first is also important. After all, Victor Davis Hanson doesn't think a civil war in the Middle East necessarily the worst that could happen. And if Hanson is right then what we ought to consider is what role we might play in such a war, since the consequences are probably not something we could just afford to ignore. Whether or not we "fail" in that sense isn't entirely up to us. The onus rests partly on the Iraqis.

But finally, the phrase "planning for failure" just doesn't strike this reader as appropriate to war strategy or tactics. I'm fairly certain that Eisenhower considering Project Overlord, and Grant when he made the right turn to steal a march on Lee, were both fully cognizant of the risks and contingencies involved. But I'm also pretty sure they never used the phrase "planning for failure" to describe how they dealt with those contingencies. The words don't seem to emerge from the lexicon of military planning, but from the world of diplomacy. And if we're in a war then diplomacy has already failed in the first instance. So what we're really talking about is not "failure" but cascading failures, and whether the cascade can ultimately be halted before reaching the third conjecture.

And that's the whole point behind going into Iraq in the first place. The next plateau in the cascade would be a civil war, but even that's not as bad as it gets.

[Update: The link to Three Conjectures has been corrected. Apparently the old links I had to that series have been degraded as a result of some sort of Blogger glitch.]

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President: Patriot Act Obstruction 'Inexcusable'

The President came out swinging at his press conference this morning, singling out Congressional Democrats and RINOs for obstructing the Patriot Act, and offering no apologies for authorizing NSA monitoring of international phone calls and emails involving suspected terrorists.

Here are some highlights from a Washington Post transcript of the press conference: more...

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The ACLU Loves Islamists

The ACLU, whom advocate completely open borders, is taking the the Department of Homeland Security to Court over detaining interrogating, fingerprinting and photographing American citizens at the border because they attended a radical Islamic conferences that has hailed Bin Laden as a hero, and used in the past to provide cover for pro-terrorist operatives.

The two-day conference in January 2003 advertised Sheik Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais as the main speaker. The previous year, al-Sudais, the chief cleric of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, reportedly prayed to Allah to "terminate" the Jews whom he called "the scum of humanity, the rats of the world, prophet killers ... pigs and monkeys." The sheik also has characterized Jews as "evil," "evil forefathers," a "continuum of deceit," and full of "tyranny" and "treachery." Due to logistical problems, the sheik, the headliner of the event, missed the conference. Jeewan Chanicka, media relations director for the Toronto conference, called the sheik's absence "unfortunate."

The same conference featured Zulfiqar Ali Shah, the former president of the Islamic Circle of North America, an organization linked to Jama'at-I-Islami, a fundamentalist Pakistani group that calls bin Laden the "hero" of the Islamic world and raises millions of dollars for global jihad.

Mokhtar Maghroui, who spoke at an event featuring suicide-bombing supporters, also was a speaker at the last two RIS conferences.

The 2003 RIS conference featured William W. Baker, who was outed as a neo-Nazi by the Orange County Weekly. Via WND

Of course the plaintiffs in the case are claiming that they were detained simply for their religious beliefs.

"I was treated like a criminal for no other reason than because I was Muslim," said Dr. Sawsan Tabbaa, a Buffalo orthodontist.

Catherine Kim, ACLU staff attorney, argued the government "cannot criminalize American citizens for their religious beliefs."

"Americans need to know that they can practice their religion and attend religious conferences without fear of government reprisals," she said.

The ACLU can never see past their absolutism. Border control is paramount in our war against terrorism, and questioning people who wish to attend extremist religious conferences advocating pro-terror causes is not religious persecution. The ACLU are claiming....wait for it...(gasp!!!)..."some of the Muslims detained last year were held overnight for as long as six and a half hours"....Oh the horror!

I'm sure there will be some that disagree, however, questioning people crossing our borders to attend "religious conferences" that have been used as terrorist cover needs to happen. I agree with commentator, Daniel Pipes, on this one. He argues, "Were the plaintiffs to prevail in this case, attending religious conferences would instantly become the favored method for terrorists and other Islamists to cross the American border without hindrance."

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

Posted by: Chris Short at 10:32 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Islamic Army Of Iraq Posts Video Of Ronald Schulz Execution (Updated)

21896.jpegDEBKAfile is reporting that the Islamic Army of Iraq posted a video on the Internet claiming the execution of American security consultant Ronald Shulz who was abducted Dec. 8. The 8 second video shows gunmen shooting a kneeling blindfolded figure whose face is hidden. We have the video and it will be available shortly.

The murdering Islamothugs have once again committed yet another, atrocity. Of course we've heard not a peep of this from the mainstream media - only that the U.S. abuses it's prisoners by making them uncomfortable or hurting the feelings. How does that compare to murdering prisoners?

Update: Here is the video, now on our server.

Update: BBC News is also reporting the execution.

Originally posted at Hyscience

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80% Solution

I've been kind of demoralized recently for a number of reasons, so haven't been posting very much. Not the least of those reasons is the mind-numbingly aggressive schadenfreude of the so-called "democratic" party as it tries to drum up any excuse it can to shove it to the Commander in Chief. For instance, Fred Barnes has a piece in the Weekly Standard suggesting that the Iraqi poll item that has become the favorite talking point of the cut-and-runners is probably not very informative, for three reasons (h/t: Protein Wisdom):

1. We don't know the "internals," so we don't know whether the poll was representative.
2. The poll results don't reflect other polls that ask an analogous question about support for US presence in Iraq (most of which suggest that the proportion who oppose US presence is much smaller, and their views are also more conditional).
3. The specific wording of this question is ambiguous: “Do you support the presence of coalition forces in Iraq?”

The general rule in designing a survey instrument is that if a question elicits a response frequency in the neighborhood of 80-90 percent then the question is probably too crude to be useful. At the very least you have to ask follow-up questions so that you can cross-tabulate. For instance such follow-ups might try to determine what the respondent defines as "support," and under what conditions that support might change. It also might be interesting to find out what the response to such an ambiguous question might be in S. Korea, Japan or Germany. If similar (and it probably would be similar in S. Korea) would the Democrats now be demanding that we pull out of those countries?

The essence of the issue here, if I might be so bold, is the distinction between democracy (power of the people) and demosophia (wisdom of the people). For, to have a robust democracy able to defend itself and make wise decisions about what course to chart through an uncertain and dangerous future "the people" have to be well-informed. It is therefore ironic that the core case the Democrats make is that the Bush administration misled the American people about the threat posed by Iraq. That's ironic because the present situation seems to remove all doubt that deception within the context of a war that threatens the very security of civilization is central to the Democrats' agenda. They know what's best, so whether "the people" are able to make wise and informed decisions is of little importance provided they can be herded in the "correct" direction.

And it's likely to get worse, because the stakes could not be higher. As Wretchard observed a few weeks ago:

The problem with using words to trump reality is that it wagers everything on a monumental bluff. The mesmerist must carry all before him or be humiliated. A King must be obeyed or lose the throne. There is no middle ground.

And each time the bet is raised the potential loss becomes more catastrophic. Already the public has begun to suspect that things aren't going as badly in Iraq as they've been led to believe, and it's possible for most people to see that the stakes for the US outweigh any wager laid down by the Democrats or MSM. They're a long way from throwing in the towel, though.

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Media Bias Quantified By UCLA Study

A UCLA study linking news media reporting to Americans for Democratic Action political scorecards found a "significant" bias to the left:

"I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are."
Editorials were excluded from the study, to gauge the effects of bias on news gathering:
Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.
The Dread Pundit Bluto would like to modestly propose a solution; an Affirmative Action program to help media outlets balance their staffs in order to represent political orientation fairly. Unfortunately, given the state of media bias found in the study, that means most news organizations won't be able to hire any more liberal reporters for probably twenty years or so.

Via The Drudge Report.

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