The highest ranking member of our fine military killed in Iraq died today. He was killed by a cowardly bomber. Col. Wood died in the line of duty leading his men.

CNN: Wood, based at Forward Operating Base Falcon in the northern province of Babil, had responded to a roadside bomb Thursday and was giving orders to his men as they secured the area when a secondary explosion blew him backwards into a canal, killing him instantly, the military said.
Wood, 44, was based at Fort Stewart, Georgia. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

Thanks for your service and sacrifice Mr. Wood and Family our prayers are with you and with all our men fighting so hard this week.

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Posted by: Howie at 04:52 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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France wasn't always filled with cheese eating surrender monkeys.

In October of 732, Charles Martel ("The Hammer") and his Frankish horde stopped cold the onrushing cavalry of Allah's finest, halting Islam's desire to break out from Spain and subjugate the rest of Europe.

Creasy argues also that the Martel victory "preserved the relics of ancient and the germs of modern civilizations ." That is, in a Moslem Dominion, the ferment of the Middle Ages, which sparked the Enlightenment with all of its scientific, economic, and political fruits, would never have occurred. Look at the modern Islamic world: backward, unfree, poor--in sad fact, scarcely modern at all. This could be the state of all humankind if not for a Europe where, as Strauss notes, "church and state were [often] at loggerheads," helping form a culture that was, "compared to Islam, decentralized, secularized, individualistic, profit-driven."

Half-educated Christophobes who think the faith contributed nothing but superstition and inventive torture to the human story should ponder Strauss' words. So should modern zealots who would happily marry church and state.

Without the victory at Tours, there would be no suds-swinging Oktoberfest, no Halloween (because no All Hallows Eve), indeed little fun now or at any other time of the year under a Shari'a, or religious law, not noted for winking at petty vices.

Victor Davis Hanson notes the Battle of Tours, or Poitiers, as he refers to it, as one of the landmark battles in Western civilization in his book "Carnage and Culture."

Pray for Europe. But save a few prayers, too, for a band of bearded, coarse, but faithful men who stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a cold dawn and faced proven death galloping full-speed toward them--only to unhorse that grim rider and break his bones to bits.

Which is to say that if in the next life you can't find the Pearly Gates, just follow the sound of the loud German drinking songs. You'll get to the right place.

So when you're out running around having a fun Halloween, stop for a moment, look up, and thank a Frank.

Stein hoist to Clarity and Resolve.

Posted by: Vinnie at 10:45 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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Up to 70 terrorist supporters and insurgents were killed today by airstrikes prompting immediate whining about the targeting of civilians.

CNN

"[They] were not terrorists -- they were only a bunch of civilians whose curiosity prompted them to gather around a destroyed Humvee," said Dr. Dhiya Fahdawi, who treated people at a hospital in Ramadi. In the Abu Faraj region, north of Ramadi, about 50 insurgents were killed in operations surrounding a suspected insurgent safe house, the military said

OK so you will forgive me if I don't buy that. If you are dancing on top of our dead boys like you were last month I find it hard to scrape up much sympathy for you. In fact all I can think of right now is Hell Yeah!!!! Last month I saw you on FOXNEWS dancing and grinning, not that FOX feels like posting that video to the net but they had a momentary lapse of judgement and I saw you on WTVW.

Posted by: Howie at 12:01 PM | Comments (34) | Add Comment
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ABCNEWS:

According to sources in intelligence, emergency services and police headquarters, when three Iraqi insurgents were arrested several days ago during a raid by a joint FBI-CIA team, one of those caught disclosed the threat. .

This is a breaking story. While there is a lot of doubt precautions are being taken.

Department of Homeland Security sources told ABC News they are very doubtful the threat information is credible, though NYPD sources said the information continues to come in and is disturbing.

Also FOXNEWS:

Confederate Yankee has live coverage of the breaking news. Also GOP & The City , Counterterrorism blog, Terrorism Unveiled live-blogging. Chad at ITB following.

Updated: It now appears the same intelligence that led to the NYC subway alert today also resulted in a raid South of Baghdad.

CNN:The highly classified operation involving the U.S. intelligence community and the U.S. military was carried out against suspected al Qaeda operatives south of Baghdad, CNN has learned from a well-placed U.S. military official. "Significant intelligence was also gathered in this raid, along with al Qaeda operatives who were rounded up," CNN's Jamie McIntyre reported... ...But the official said the raid was the result of the same intelligence about the threat to New York's subway system.

To this story, there will be more.

Posted by: Rusty at 05:17 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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