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Weekly Standard : Robert Frost said of liberals that they're incapable of taking their own side in a fight. We will see how deeply a degenerate form of liberalism has penetrated our souls. Will we anguish? Or will we fight?

Posted by: Howie at 11:58 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Jaber (Gaber) Al-banna (Elbaneh), one of the Lackawanna, New York al-Qaeda cell is in the wind with the (now twice escaped) Cole bombers and the Lindburgh tanker bombers. Elbaneh had a 5 million dollar pricetag on his head before he turned himself in in Yemen in January 2003.

Other interesting facts about the escape:
The mosque they tunneled to is one where Judge Hamoud al-Hittar regularly preaches. al-Hittar is the judge in charge of Yemen's Dialog program which aims to rehabilitate AQ through dialog, and over 200 have been released from jail under this program. Only a few have shown up in Iraq with Zarchawi after that.

The prisoners were in the custody of the Political Security Organization (which answers directly to President Saleh) at a high security prison in the middle of the capital city, Sanaa.

News Yemen "there were previous reports received by the prisonÂ’s outside guards pointing out to hearing sounds of digging at unknown places and intermittent times."

The tunnel was one and a half times the size of a football field, took two months to build and required nearly two tons of earth to be removed.

The Yemen Times reports today that some of the terrorists may have been recaptured in Yemen.

Why I'm not surprised: lots of preliminary indications of al-Qaeda support at the upper levels of the Yemeni government, either from sympathy or corruption.

Posted by: JaneNovak at 08:52 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Before you take away my right to blaspheme, I suggest that you had better take away my right to own a gun first. Because if you come to confiscate my computer to stop me from mocking your Prophet, you had better be armed. Heavily.

The head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research and president of the International Association of Muslim Scholars Sheikh al-Qaradhawi responds to allegedly blasphemous cartoons printed in Danish newspapers. MEMRI:

The governments must be pressured to demand that the U.N. adopt a clear resolution or law that categorically prohibits affronts to prophets - to the prophets of the Lord and His messengers, to His holy books, and to the religious holy places. This is so that nobody can cause them harm.

As I have been trying to argue for some time, the problem is that Islam offers a competing vision of society which is distinct from the Western Liberal tradition. As such, it is an ideology which we are fighting. Al-Qaradhawi is not necessarily advocating that individual Muslims engage in violence against those who blaspheme the Prophet, rather, he is advocating that governments ought to punish those that blaspheme the Prophet. He is also advocating that Muslim governments ought to punish those governments which insist that freedom of speech includes the right to call Muhammed a butcher on par with Ivan the Terrible and Genghis Khan. more...

Posted by: Rusty at 04:26 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
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Howie will be missing until Feb 14th. In the mean time, click here and give Mr. Allah and ThirdEE a bit F*ck Yeah!!!!

Posted by: Howie at 10:41 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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When is overstating your population by 1.5 million people a big deal? When your actual population is only 2.41 million. That's an overstatement of 62%! That would be kind of like the U.S. claiming it had 453 million people instead of 280.

Worse, the numbers built of phony assumptions grow the error rate over time. Thus, the PA actually overstates its future population far more than it is already overstating it today. They overstate the number of Arabs expected to be living in Israel and the West Bank by over double!

So, what incentive could the Palestinian Authority have in lying about their population? The Officer's Club:

The report has the ability to bust a legion of myths perpetuated by pro-Palestinian factions. It disproves notions that Arabs outnumber Jews in Israel and the occupied territories, it reveals a Jewish majority in Arab East Jerusalem, and cements the dominant Jewish majority (4-1) within Israel's pre-1967 borders.

This affects the Israeli-Arab conflict on every level. The PA has long used these bogus head counts to generate sympathy for their cause on the international stage. It impacts Arab claims to the entirity of the West Bank, and blows the whistle on millions -perhaps billions- of dollars worth of international aid donated to help people that never actually existed (and in reality was probably directed into the coffers of Islamic Jihad or the now reigning Hamas).

Click the image below for larger view.

Posted by: Rusty at 03:24 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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See Vonski's weekly roundup of positive news from Iraq.

According to the above article, the statistics indicate that the number of attacks in Iraq are declining. To those who say things are getting worse, not better, I would like to respectfully disagree.

This outrage is developing into (surprise!) threats of kidnapping and violence against those responsible for the blasphemies. In Islam, it is forbidden to produce or view any sort of depiction of Muhammad to discourage idolatry.

A commenter left the following message twice on my blog now tonight, one of which timed in at February 2, 2006, 20:25 my time.

Commenter's name:
MUHAMMAD AWAIS

Email address:
MOEK007@YAHOO.COM

to all the non muslims.... u think by publishing these kind of things u can win or dreaming of conquering islam. let me tell you.. this is an attempt of the satanic followers who have no belif n faith... they are the misguided n rejected people of this world. if u dare to do this again a wor! ld wide holy war will be declared on you bastards. i believe that you the europeans are afraid of losing their ground against islam. and that is evident .. the world is turning to believe in islam... so such miscreants try to diverge their attention... a lost hope. i must say. did you (satans ) ever saw any muslim saying anything about ur religion..never...dont try our nerves .. you will have more to see in future.....if you would have been infront of me... i would have cut your throat right tere n then.... the ill-legitimate sons n daughters of the americans,,,and jews.....clinton himself a gay...who gives a shit to him... a bad character ex-president. you are the biggest hypocrate of the time.. God gives you true direction(hidayat). ask forgiveness from ALLAH THE ALMIGHTY....AND APOLOGISE TO THE MUSLIM UMMAH... OR YOU WILL BE PAST.

Hat tip Michelle Malkin for posting the Secular Blasphemy link.

Possibly related to cartoons "day of outrage"?

Investigators are trying to determine if a string of fires at churches in central Alabama were started by an arsonist, a state official said on Friday...One of the churches has a predominantly black congregation and the other four are predominantly white, officials said.

Update: That's six churches Burned in three hours. All on 02/03 the "day of outrage".

Posted by: Howie at 01:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Good Speech, despite some lady in a red suit sneering through the whole thing. Who was that?

President George W. Bush, Via FOXNEWS: No one can deny the success of freedom, but some men rage and fight against it. And one of the main sources of reaction and opposition is radical Islam - the perversion by a few of a noble faith into an ideology of terror and death. Terrorists like bin Laden are serious about mass murder - and all of us must take their declared intentions seriously. They seek to impose a heartless system of totalitarian control throughout the Middle East, and arm themselves with weapons of mass murder. Their aim is to seize power in Iraq, and use it as a safe haven to launch attacks against America and the world. Lacking the military strength to challenge us directly, the terrorists have chosen the weapon of fear. When they murder children at a school in Beslan ... or blow up commuters in London ... or behead a bound captive ... the terrorists hope these horrors will break our will, allowing the violent to inherit the Earth. But they have miscalculated: We love our freedom, and we will fight to keep it... ...There is no peace in retreat. And there is no honor in retreat. By allowing radical Islam to work its will - by leaving an assaulted world to fend for itself - we would signal to all that we no longer believe in our own ideals, or even in our own courage. But our enemies and our friends can be certain: The United States will not retreat from the world, and we will never surrender to evil.

Amen and may God bless America!

Link with unedited Podcast of speech via the mysterious newslinker. Who also notes that the "no t-shirt rule was applied fairly". This is a formal event, I expect anyone who fails that code would asked to leave.

Entire text and more links below the break hat tip RNC:

more...

Posted by: Howie at 09:58 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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All this talk of Lobby reform is OK. But we do have a check that is supposed to balance corporate and special interest money against the interest of the people. That check is the representative or Senator that the people elect, pay, provide the greatest heath care plan on the planet, pay their staff and give them a very, very cool place to work. I think Tom Coburn (R rep. OK) said it best on NPR last week.

Until we change the motivation that the next election is more important than the next generation we wonÂ’t solve problems, the problem is us.

The Filthy Report : Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): "Law-Enforcement Authorities And Others Said The [Abramoff] Investigation's Opening Phase Is Scrutinizing ... Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat ..."

FOXNEWS : WALLACE: So if we find — and I just want to — we have to wrap this up. But if we find that there were some Democrats who wrote letters on behalf of some of the Indian tribes that Abramoff represented, then what do you say, sir?
DEAN: That's a big problem, and those Democrats are in trouble, and they should be in trouble. And our party, if the American people will put us back in power in '06, we will have on the president's desk things that outlaw all those kinds of behaviors. Right now it's a Republican scandal. Maybe they'll find that some Democrats did something wrong, too. That hasn't been the case yet.

Hmm I wonder which group of scoundrels I would vote for or if there was no one else and he had at least some brains and some talent maybe. But not the nutty bunch. Or even the new nutty bunch over the old nutty bunch.

Hat Tip: Instapundit.

More Blender on "high" links for your reading pleasure.

Good news From Iraq Roundup From Vonski.

I missed posting on this topic last week, so I apologize if you came by last Friday hoping to find the article up. CNN didn't report on my failure to produce, so I must be somewhat safe.

Michael Yon at USA today. Don't miss Michael's new site here!

Captain Ed single-handedly saves Canada from certain ruin! But we knew he could.

RockyMountainNews : Morrissey then published reports on his Captain's Quarters Web site. Canadian media continued to obey the publication ban, but Canada's CTV reported on the existence of Morrissey's site, which soon was attracting hundreds of thousands of readers daily.

ABCÂ’s Bob Woddruff injured in roadside bomb attack.

ABCNEWS : Woodruff, Vogt and their four-man team were traveling in a convoy with Iraqi security forces in Taji, Iraq. They had been embedded with the 4th Infantry Division and were in a mechanized vehicle when the explosive went off. The explosion was followed by small arms fire.

Powerful clicking action from Powerline.

So there we have it: just another routine morning of Bush-bashing in the liberal press. There are too many Ahabs to count, all single-mindedly hunting the same whale.

I did my taxes yesterday.

Democratic Tax Cut : They tell you it is a tax cut. You have two lawyers, a tax accountant and spend another 78 hours and 500 dollars documenting your right to said tax cut. Then attach schedule A to for B with notarized copies of all supporting documents. Retain copies in triplicate and lawyer for 27 years, put aside bail money.

Republican Tax: Enter amount in Box 12 on line x. kaching!

Posted by: Howie at 02:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I ran into this post at Rightwingnuthouse and I can tell you itÂ’s not nutty at all. Damn good post, damn good questions.

Rightwingnuthouse : For almost three years, the conventional wisdom regarding Iraq WMDÂ’s prior to our invasion was that Saddam never had them, we knew it, Bush lied, and we invaded anyway because we wanted their oil, or to establish military bases, or because George Bush is a meany, or because the Jews told us to, orÂ…just because America is eeeevilÂ… Â…But something always bothered me about this conclusion, a nagging itch at the back of my mind. And that is the overwhelmingly belief by the worldÂ’s best intelligence agencies that Saddam did indeed have stockpiles of WMD in the six months leading up to the war. The French, the British, the Germans, The IsraeliÂ’s, the United Nations (UNSCOM and IAEA), not to mention the CIA, DIA, and most politicians here in this country... Â…ThatÂ’s quite a number of people to be dead wrong about such a huge issue.

more...

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Al-Jazeera has aired portions of an audiotape they claim is from Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden claims that America will be attacked and have not attacked the US because they are not ready.

(AP via Breitbart) :"because there are operations that need preparations, and you will see them,"

Based on what I have said, it is better not to fight the Muslims on their land," he said. "We do not mind offering you a truce that is fair and long-term. ... So we can build Iraq and Afghanistan ... there is no shame in this solution because it prevents wasting of billions of dollars ... to merchants of war

BBC reports there is some disagreement as to the identity of the speaker.

CNN has more detailed quotes.

Others: Flopping Aces, In the Bullpen, Stop the ALCU, and Michelle Malkin.

Update: CIA confirms voice on tape is indeed Bin-Laden.

Posted by: Howie at 10:43 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I really can't bring myself to pollute Rusty's post with this link but

NYT:The third man believed to have been killed was a Moroccan, Abd al-Rahman al-Maghrebi, who is the son-in-law of Mr. Zawahiri, the officials said. Mr. Maghrebi was in charge of Qaeda propaganda in the region..

Posted by: Howie at 09:30 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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According to ABC News, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar--also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri--was killed in last week's bombing of al Qaeda targets in Pakistan. The U.S. had issued a $5 million dollar reward for the terrorist bombmaker.

This is the same bombing that has outraged so many in Pakistan, because as everyone knows, there is no such thing as a Muslim terrorist in Pakistan. And all those people who just happened to have high ranking members of al Qaeda over to their houses for dinner were all innocent civilians.

According to the FBI's Rewards for Justice Website:

Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar AKA Abu Khabab al-Masri, is an explosives expert and poisons trainer working on behalf of al Qaeda.

He operated a terrorist training camp at Derunta, Afghanistan where he provided hundreds of mujahidin with hands on poisons and explosives training. Since 1999, he has proliferated training manuals that contain recipes for crude chemical and biological weapons. Some of these training manuals were recovered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The exact whereabouts of Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar are unknown at this time, though he may be residing in Pakistan. It is highly probable that he continues to train al Qaeda terrorists and other extremists.

Posted by: Rusty at 02:56 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
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1 Who gets to collect the money on a claim like that? I know there is a clause in the military that prevents us from doing so. Bet there are some happy Paki villagers just out of sight in the photo - dreaming about opening a Quicki-Mart in Cleveland. What a world we live in! Ya can't make this stuff up!

Posted by: hondo at January 18, 2006 03:20 PM (3aakz)

2 Wait, so an Egyptian terrorist was amongst the dead of the village 'tea party' where there were 'no foreigners' and only 'civilian casualties' ? Those Pakistani's really need to get their stories straight.

Posted by: dave at January 18, 2006 04:08 PM (CcXvt)

3 With respec to Bayan Jabr's sister: "He said the government was trying to secure her release through legal means, but he said that if those failed, he would have to resort to "tribal law." He did not specify what that would mean, but some tribal groups have staged retaliatory kidnappings." NYT The article also describes Iranian and Iraqi forces skirmishing in the Shatt al Arab waterway. One wonders how often have they been coming to blows.

Posted by: Lydia at January 18, 2006 04:17 PM (4w1UC)

4 I'm sure that Al Masri wasn't a terrorist, but merely a misguided aspirin manufacturer of a very pious nature.

Posted by: Graeme at January 18, 2006 04:24 PM (wp49D)

5 "misguided aspirin manufacturer of a very pious nature" LMAO! Yep, I just bet he was in Pakistan to cure headaches. Or maybe cause them. Good riddance to the sorry bastard, I say.

Posted by: jesusland joe at January 18, 2006 04:43 PM (rUyw4)

6 Graeme - can I - plagiarize that? That one is just toooo good!

Posted by: hondo at January 18, 2006 05:02 PM (3aakz)

7 Y'all do know that he he was a Bush Created Terrorist, right? And now he is one dead terrorist, a martyr in the liberal minds.

Posted by: William Teach at January 18, 2006 05:18 PM (TFSHk)

8 It's also being reported that Khalid Habib and Abu Ubeida al Masri were killed in the strike as well. Pakistani intelligence agents released that information at the same time they released the info about Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar. Khalid Habib, if anyone remembers, was the appointed Al-Qaeda chief in Afghanistan according to a few Al-Qaeda posts on terrorist websites. Abu Ubeida al-Masri was an Al-Qaeda provincial commander in Afghanistan. Looks like the strike that killed "innocents" wound up being much more than a missed opportunity.

Posted by: Mad Man at January 18, 2006 06:10 PM (K6g1B)

9 When I saw the photo, I said to myself - the only thing missing is the Baby Milk Factory sign (in English no less). Always watch how they try to spin it. Its sometimes key to judging how successful the mission actually was.

Posted by: hondo at January 18, 2006 06:18 PM (3aakz)

10 Be my guest Hondo. There isn't any copyright.

Posted by: Graeme at January 18, 2006 06:46 PM (wp49D)

11 But there ought to be, Graeme, as that is one of your best ones yet, and you already had some pretty good ones, my friend. Are you interested in that Karl Rove gig I offered you?

Posted by: jesusland joe at January 18, 2006 08:12 PM (rUyw4)

12 Am I the only one who ever bothers to run googles on good news ? When I googled the name of the supposedly lately departed I find that he was reportedly captured in Pakistan last November . http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9909169/ This "capture" was reported by "two US officials" So what do you believe ??? That we captured him in Nov. ? Or zapped him in Jan. ? HABEAS CORPUS !!! This whole episode reeks between the unfired 155mm artillery round and now the death of a man captured 2 months ago it is well .... confusing.

Posted by: john Ryan at January 18, 2006 10:19 PM (TcoRJ)

13 It could be worse John! We could be at war with Sikhs - where everybody has the same last name, a turban and a beard!

Posted by: hondo at January 18, 2006 11:21 PM (3aakz)

14 The round wasn't unfired John, the photo on Michelle Malkin's blog shows rifling marks on the brass band, and instead of a lifting ring in the nose, it has a crushed fuse. It's probably from the India/Pakistan dispute over Kashmir, and it's a dud either because the fuse was bad, or some DAGB forgot to arm it.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at January 19, 2006 09:29 AM (0yYS2)

15 the bad news? it only took killing 18 women and children to do it. pat yourselves on the back Amerikkka- job well done! -puke-

Posted by: Jawa Sucks at January 19, 2006 10:10 AM (n3EHA)

16 "pat yourself on the back Amerikka-job well done" Thank you, puke boy, thank you very much! And I hope you have your friend al-Zawahiri over to dinner soon. Another congratulation might be in store. Here's hoping, Mr. Puke!

Posted by: jesusland joe at January 19, 2006 10:31 AM (rUyw4)

17 IM I thought that in your post in which you said that you were in artillery that the round was unfired ? I my memory may be mistaken, I was unable to find that post about your past service.

Posted by: john Ryan at January 19, 2006 11:07 AM (TcoRJ)

18 Yeah I said that, but before I saw a larger resolution pic, in which the rifling marks and fuse were more clearly defined. In the low-res pic, it looked unfired, and the crushed fuse looked like a lifting ring.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at January 19, 2006 02:01 PM (0yYS2)

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Muslim extremists are always outraged when the Infidel-Christian-Zionist-Crusader dogs kill fellow Muslim extremists. So, when the U.S. launched an airstrike aimed at killing al Qaeda leader a Ayman al-Zawahiri, naturally the Islamazoids were outraged that we would have the audacity to try and kill the man responsible for murdering thousands of Americans. In fact, al Jazeera noted that Zawahiri would be a victim of the U.S. attacks, had the attacks succeeded.

Tell me this: why are civilians considered innocent when they have high-ranking members of al Qaeda over for dinner? Is it just me, or doesn't that make them guilty under the Bush doctrine of treating terrorists and those that support them the same? It's not just the Bush doctrine, though, it's common sense. In order for terrorists to survive they must have supporters. that enable them. The only innocents killed by the U.S. aristrike are the children who were forced to wash up for dinner so they could have the honor of eating dinner with members of al Qaeda. I hope their parents rot in hell.

Further, why is it that only the foreigners killed in the attack are deemed terrorists by the Pakistanis? Oh, because, by definition, there are no Pakistani terrorists. You notice how that works?

It's not just the Pakistanis, it seems that the media is quick to differentiate too. As if an IED set off by a native is somehow different than that of a foreigner. For instance, in Afghanistan, we are told, there are Taliban rebels and foreign al Qaeda terrorsts. In Iraq there are native insurgents and foreign al Qaeda terrorists.

Forbes:

At least four foreign terrorists died in the U.S. airstrike purportedly aimed at al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, the provincial government said Tuesday.

A statement by the administration of Bajur, the Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan, also said that 10 to 12 foreign extremists had been invited to dinner at the village hit in Friday's attack.

Pakistani intelligence officials have said Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, had been invited to a dinner in the targeted village of Damadola to mark an Islamic holiday but did not show up and sent some aides instead.

The statement was the first official confirmation by Pakistani authorities that foreign militants were killed in the attack, which officials have said also killed innocent civilians...

"Four or five foreign terrorists have been killed in this missile attack whose dead bodies have been taken away by their companions to hide the real reason of the attack," the statement said, citing the chief official in the Bajur region where Damadola is located.

"It is regrettable that 18 local people lost their lives in the attack, but this fact also cannot be denied, that 10-12 foreign extremists had been invited on a dinner," it said.

UPDATE by Howie: Rusty and Howie posted at precisely the same time, so the editors of The Jawa Report decided just to combine their two posts.

While the spin has been how many innocents were killed in the attempt on Zawahiri, today we have confirmation of a terrorist dinner party.

CNN:A statement by the administration of Bajur, a Pakistan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, also said that 10 to 12 foreign extremists had been invited to dinner at the village hit in Friday's attack.

Pakistani intelligence officials have said Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, had been invited to a dinner in the targeted village of Damadola to mark an Islamic holiday but did not show up and sent some aides instead.

CNN : "Four or five foreign terrorists have been killed in this missile attack whose dead bodies have been taken away by their companions to hide the real reason of the attack,"

UPDATE: Confederate Yankee and Rusty Shackleford: two heads, one mind.

Posted by: Rusty at 09:08 AM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
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The perception is that the war in Iraq was “bigger or more deadly” for the US in 2005 than 2004. Nope.

USA Today : The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq fell by more than a quarter in 2005 from a year earlier,Â… Â…Army Maj. Gen. William Webster, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said the number of suicide car bombs and roadside bombs fell by half during 2005. Only about 10% of insurgent attacks cause injuries or damage now, down from about 25% a year agoÂ…

Â…U.S. military leaders say that one of the biggest changes was in the number and quality of Iraqi forces. About three dozen Iraqi battalions, each with about 700 soldiers, are taking the lead in battling insurgents, said Army Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of multinational forces in Iraq. There were no such battalions in early 2005, he said.

However deaths were only down by one at 844. Hard fought steady progress I reckon.

Also See Captain Ed :

This belies the notion spread by Democrats such as Jack Murtha that Americans have been increasingly targeted by insurgents and terrorists in Iraq.

Posted by: Howie at 09:03 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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Just a glimpse of what life may like if no one stands against Iran. Oh look there he is right above me.

CNN : "There will be a conference that will research the topic of the Holocaust and all its dimensions in the future," according to a statement on the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

In other words once the Caliphate is established we will dump the Holocaust down the Islamic Information Hole. I suggest he take this class.

The Uk has been negotiating for 14 months and every bit of co-operation has been used as an opportunity to advance our defeat! The hope is that we will all get to come home. The truth is that no matter how much we want that the enemy wants war even more. What choice has the world been left with?

Via Rusty Via Ace Via Allah via Iran focus: Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday evening that the Islamic Republic’s 1979 Islamic revolution was a great movement and a stepping stone to a final “great event” in the world. Speaking to a crowd in the southern city of Roudan, Hormozgan province, Ahmadinejad said, “The Islamic Republic is the continuation of the path of the prophets which came to begin a great movement and the final occurrence”.

$Set Sarcasm

Surely the Right is just overreacting. Surely the left can afford to sell out our Nation to get the White House itÂ’s not really treason.

$Pop Sarcasm

Well maybe you wonÂ’t have a White House to win. IÂ’ve never heard of Muslims really hot to join the Democratic Party as a means to get there.

Mirror UK : Abu al-Hamza "Once you are in the place of authority, you have to think who are the most immediate enemies. This requires the setting up of a "buffer zone" which then becomes a 'control zone'. "This continues so on and so forth, until you see the caliph sitting in the White House ruling from there."

Yes you heard him right, “Sitting in the White House”.

more...

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Various news sources report that al Qaeda's #1 man Ayman al-Zawahiri, is dead. One more Islamofascist prick dead. Dead. DEAD! I'd say it's definitely true, except I don't want to jinx it (knock on lots of wood).

Since Osama bin Laden is either dead, out of the loop in a cave, or meditating in Africa, this would be the most important al Qaeda kill to date.

To quote Ice Cube, today was a good day. Indeed.

Red at Scared Monkeys cautions that these reports have proven false in the past. True. But I have a good feeling about this one (fingers crossed).

UPDATE: AL Jazeera Zawahiri is "VICTIM" of U.S. attacks. Reports 30 dead, claim U.S. military denying involvement.

ABC News:

A U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeted al Qaeda's No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri but it was unclear if he had been killed, CNN quoted U.S. sources as saying on Friday.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 figure in al-Qaida, was the target of a CIA-ordered strike that killed at least 17 people in Pakistan, according to broadcast reports.

At this time, it is unclear whether al-Zawahiri is among the dead in a remote tribal village named Damadola along the border with Afghanistan

U.S. officials told NBC News on Friday that American airstrikes in Pakistan overnight Thursday were aimed at the No. 2 man in the al-Qaida terror organization — Ayman al-Zawahri.

One official said intelligence indicated a strong possibility that Zawahri was in the Pakistani village at the time of the airstrike, but there is no confirmation that he was killed.

Pakistani officials say U.S. aircraft, apparently CIA Predator drones, fired as many as 10 missiles at the residential compound.

A CIA airstrike on a building in Pakistan may have killed Osama bin Laden's most-trusted aide, sources said.

The building where Ayman al-Zawahiri was thought to be is in Damadola, a small village near the Afghan border.

There has been no confirmation that al-Zawahiri was killed in the attack Friday. However, sources say there was intelligence suggesting he was in the building at the time of the strike.

Pakistani officials were at the scene of the strike, trying to determine if Al-Zawahiri was killed.

A doctor in the area told The Associated Press that at least 17 people were killed in the attack, but other witnesses at the scene said the death toll was higher.

Pakistan's The News newspaper said the dead had been buried after a mass funeral led by Maulana Faqir Muhammad, a cleric wanted for giving shelter to suspected al Qaeda members.

UPDATE: Daily IntelBriefing reminds us that an F-16 fighter wing was just dispatched to the area. Reports seem to speculate that this was a CIA hit, using a drone, but if 10 bombs were dropped that doesn't seem likely. See our Jan. 10th post Military Readying for Air Strikes in *undisclosed* Southwest Asian Country Update within an update via his moongodishness' Link Mecca. NY Times (emphasis mine):

"I was awakened from deep slumber by the noise of the drone and then, together with thousands others who too had been woken up by the plane's noise, saw jets targeting the area," he said. [ie, it wasn't the drones that fired the missiles if this can be believed] "One plane circled the area and dropped illuminating flares and the other planes fired missiles. There were loud explosions."

He said the planes' [plural] targets were three houses, all belonging to jewelry dealers. "The houses have been razed to the ground," said Mr. Rashid, who said he had visited the scene. "There is nothing left. Pieces of the missiles are scattered all around. The impact of the explosions have been huge. Everything has been blackened in a 100-meter radius."

REACTIONS

Lord Blogfather: Pushing Up Daisies?

Jawa sith apprentices agree, Keep your fingers crossed.

Paduan learner says: Keep your fingers crossed.

Yipes! from Vinnie: Associatedantiamerican Press in Full Denial mode, therefore, increasing the likelihood that it may be true.

Little baby jawas: good news if true

Satan, meet thy next bitch. (via Vinnie)

More Zawahiri information that you can shake a camel's turd at. (via Malkin)

Lord, please!!!

I hope that al-Zawahari and other al Qaeda members are now finding out that the 72 virgins are instead 72 fat sows with no teeth, bad halitosis, and a strong resemblance to the offspring of Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan or Ted Kennedy and Barbara Streisand. Heh.

I hate to see that women and children were killed and if there is to be a justification for their tragic deaths, it is that Zawahiri met his death as well. Sad, but true.

Even if we missed him, we got others

Has he gone to join the martyr farm?

Hopefully he's dead this time, permanently!

GOOD - letÂ’s hope it is al-Zawahiri

Personally IÂ’m not going to celebrate until DNA testing comes back positive

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let it be true.

God I hope we got him... and find out what happened to Ben Laden too!!!!!!!!!

al-Kaboomiri

Do cats go to hell with Zawahiri?

these guys have a way of not being quite as dead as we think they are

If we got him, this hurts. Hurts bad.

The world should be so lucky on this Friday 13th as to finally nail this dog of dogs

even if it is a false alarm, the idea of Ayman spread thinly over a substantial surface area is a pleasing one indeed

It always struck us as odd, that people like Ayman al-Zawahiri encouraged others to become martyrs, but they themselves were in never a great hurry, often hiding among innocents.

If true, Yipee! If not, it's a matter of time.

rot in hell you son of a bitch

Tin foil patrol: US intelligence people may have decided that Zawahiri has been making too much noise and that starting a rumor that he may have been killed will hurt his charisma at least in the short term.

"it's time to bring them home." --John Murtha

Posted by: Rusty at 07:21 PM | Comments (42) | Add Comment
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1 Dang, thought I had the JR scoop on this. I even checked to see if anyone had posted before I did. Oh well, that's the way the blogosphere bounces.

Posted by: Vinnie at January 13, 2006 07:33 PM (Kr6/f)

2 Going by our recent track record of targeted killings like this, I have serious doubts that we got him...

Posted by: Ariya at January 13, 2006 07:46 PM (uxW3N)

3 Shut up, Ariya, it's been years since I had a good bottle of Perrier Jouet. So you just shut UP! ;-)

Posted by: Vinnie at January 13, 2006 07:47 PM (Kr6/f)

4 Maybe they got Dean at the same time

Posted by: Filthy at January 13, 2006 07:48 PM (uxn8Q)

5 Hope I can be first in line to piss on his grave.

Posted by: greyrooster at January 13, 2006 07:58 PM (AWtJU)

6 I just reported the same on my blog. Let's keep our fingers crossed Bush has kept his promise to bring those responsible for Sept. 11th to justice, dead or alive. If it's true, it's a good day to be American, regardless of political affiliation.

Posted by: Mad Man at January 13, 2006 08:01 PM (K6g1B)

7 Sounds good - wait and see. Doubt if site is accessible and would require being secured first. Body recovery/identification is a bitch - especially if its grounded up chop meat - ID is a bitch - DNA, Dental and Medical records, fingerprints are great - if this was Las Vegas ala CSI - but its not - its bumfuck nowhere and we don't exactly have these records on all the 6 billion people on this planet. Nay sayers like Ariya want a recognizable body & documentated proof beyond a shadow of a doubt - they are either being deliberately cute or totally ignorant of the reality on the ground in a distant combat zone. Ignore him - if proof available it will be found - otherwise wait for videos and recordings and analyse them for authenticity and time lag. How many years did it take to prove Hitler was actually dead?

Posted by: hondo at January 13, 2006 08:05 PM (3aakz)

8 That big old maggot infested bump in the middle of his forehead made for a whopping good target!!!

Posted by: Wendy at January 13, 2006 08:14 PM (NE9xf)

9 Fiday 13th -- Unluck day fo Ben Ladin and Al-Zawahiri deep-cover reports out of Pakastan suggest both Ben Ladin and Al-Zawahiri killed on Friday - 13 Jan 2006. break a mirro for me, too!! cc

Posted by: Marine 'til I die at January 13, 2006 08:21 PM (JV1Qy)

10 Remember, he is the bad guy. No whining from liberals about due process, his feelings, his family, his disability, his whatever, or why we need to get to the root cause of his problem. He and his demented philosophy are and were just as corrupt as Joseph Stalin, Marx, Japs in WW II, Hitler, Mousolini, et al. One more, UBL !

Posted by: Chief RZ at January 13, 2006 09:12 PM (Fqid7)

11 Just be dead. I guess this makes pervert Zarqawi #1 unless UBL jumps up from limbo. One down. I was wathing the airstrike story today there was a lot of whining at fist that we crossed to border & hit a house. I was wondering what it was. Good deal.

Posted by: Howie at January 13, 2006 09:21 PM (D3+20)

12 Oh, they'll whine. And whine and whine. Ted Kennedy the girl murderer and Jessie Jackson, the thief will both claim Bush is a bad guy for giving us our revenge. Only the she monster Clinton bitch will keep her stupid mouth shut. That is if it's not allready full of you know what.

Posted by: greyrooster at January 13, 2006 09:24 PM (AWtJU)

13 Hahaha.. it'll be pretty funny if it's true. Al Qaeda's main man reduced to a dirty village in the middle of bfe, and then taken out by CIA aircraft. Score!

Posted by: MidnightSun at January 13, 2006 09:58 PM (Rs5sH)

14 I'd be happier with Kennedy.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at January 13, 2006 10:19 PM (0yYS2)

15 I want Zawahiri's rifle. What is all that stuff on the forearm? A grenade launcher, perhaps.

Posted by: jesusland joe at January 13, 2006 11:37 PM (rUyw4)

16 Never mind, people, Zawahiri was just seen pumping gas into his pink cadillac at a truck stop outside of Glenwood, IA. See the Weekly World News for updates.

Posted by: Vinnie at January 13, 2006 11:46 PM (Kr6/f)

17 I wish but I doubt he was there. Ayman is unfortunately alive and well. I bet Ayman is laughing at us from his hideout.

Posted by: George Ramos at January 14, 2006 07:51 AM (5E0ex)

18 False alarm, folks. The self-loathing Libs got their wish. He's not dead.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at January 14, 2006 11:24 AM (8e/V4)

19 Yes, unfortuantely the psychopath is still alive. I knew all along he was.

Posted by: George Ramos at January 14, 2006 12:12 PM (5E0ex)

20 No zawahiri still alive, cia had "bad intelligence" yet again, but hey not all is lost the US military incinerated up to 30 innocents, including women and children, i am sure their relatives will be ok with this and not join the "terrorists". good job fighting terror indeed. ya cant just kill people and figure they are backwards because they cannot understand your oppulence...Bush and his supporters are only making the situation worse. ernie

Posted by: ernie at January 14, 2006 12:23 PM (X4Dyg)

21 LOL, Maxmimus is going to love fucking with you. While I am a moderate and support Bush. He could do a better job catching Osama, Ayman and Zarqawi. This blast did kill a lot of civilians. And Ayman is laughing at us. This wouldn't have happened if Clinton had killed Osama when he had the chance.

Posted by: George Ramos at January 14, 2006 02:16 PM (5E0ex)

22 I thought one of the only countries that had Zawahiri's dental records would have been Egypt, where he was incarcerated as a dissident (I believe shortly after the assassination on the Egyptian President.) unless those have already fallen into the hands of the CIA I wonder how soon the CIA could tell his body was not amongst the dead? Do we have his DNA on file? it might be to early to be making an assumption he is not dead. It is unsurprising that women and children are amongst the dead, their culture much like our own, keeps their family close. It is however unlikely Zawahiri would have done this, because he already had one family members killed in a bombing of his residence. Greenlighting a drone strike like this, by the CIA is bad practice these guys are notoriously unreliable, as are their sources. This sort of action should be done by CIA special operations [CSO's] who could engage and ensure civilian casualties are at a minimum. Mistakes in intelligence is only going to make sure Pakistan no longer authorizes any action in it's boarders, and we already have a strained relationship with them as it is. Ernie, I'm glad you are not disappointed he is dead or anything. I'm sure if he was confirmed you would have been here posting joyously? I didn't think so.

Posted by: dave at January 14, 2006 03:04 PM (CcXvt)

23 He is disappointed. He's just upset innocent civilians died. Collateral damage is unavoidable in war. I wish those civilians didn't die but it happened. I never thought Zawahiri was dead. The bastard is too smart. We will never get him. I hate the fact he got away. He's as slippery as an eel.

Posted by: George Ramos at January 14, 2006 04:07 PM (5E0ex)

24 again you fail to notice how a drone aircraft firing on civilians is a WAR CRIME. The USA, had it been anyone else doing this, would call this a WAR CRIME. But agfain, the tactical strategies of the Bush admin are counterproductive and is making the terrorist problem much worse. Every one of these civilians killed now has very angry reltaives hell bent on martyrdom. now about "being disappointed" or not about zawahiri means nothing to me. Al Queada is not a hierarchical centralized unit that runs everything, but an ideology. Kill zawahiri wont mean much about stopping terrorism. Alos, i know in the SAfe ole USA i am much more likely to be killed by a teenage girl talking on the cell phone while driving or being murdered by a handgun from a good american citizen (about 17,000 per year i might add) rather than an agent of osama. so in short i dont quiver in fear all day long as Bush wants us too, sorry, but statistics and probabilities do matter. ernie

Posted by: ernie at January 14, 2006 04:11 PM (X4Dyg)

25 george ramos, would you accept your argument if it was put forth from al queada regarding 911 "oh well, collateral damage happens...." ididnt think so. ernie

Posted by: ernie at January 14, 2006 04:13 PM (X4Dyg)

26 If the CIA is inept, as they surely are, then we have none other than Dhimmi Carter and Bubba Klintoon to blame, as they were the ones who systematically gutted the CIA, and both should be shot. Hell, I'd pay any price to be on the trigger for either of them.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at January 14, 2006 04:33 PM (0yYS2)

27 again you fail to notice how a drone aircraft firing on civilians is a WAR CRIME. Please show me the text of which you speak, as far as I know it is only a war crime when civilians are specifically targetted directly -- knowingly. please only quote convention articles not any DU interpretations etc. I'll be glad to read, and thus educate myself if I have made a misunderstanding. Thanks!

Posted by: dave at January 14, 2006 04:48 PM (CcXvt)

28 Great post.... I sure the heck hope we got him along with some other top MUJA...... AubreyJ.........

Posted by: AubreyJ at January 14, 2006 05:26 PM (84Xxa)

29 Well: Now U.S citizens and U.S have to hunker down because this will bring a mayor hit, as a retaliation, what a sad way of life.

Posted by: Dan at January 14, 2006 05:31 PM (Tfvvl)

30 dave, you really think the US KNEW that there werent civilians in that group of "terrorists" they fired at, or they didnt care? reality will help you. ernie

Posted by: ernie at January 14, 2006 06:09 PM (X4Dyg)

31 Is that your way of saying you know of no such conventions? Bravo. See ernie, I gave you a chance to prove your point, and do so factually. I see you cannot. now head back over to DailyKos, chicken little.

Posted by: dave at January 14, 2006 07:14 PM (CcXvt)

32 read the geneva conventions dave. but no, this isnt my way of saying that killing civilians is a war crime, it is saying that the US military doesnt care. this is obvious. and yes your trite little arguments have led to the deaths of 100,000 iraqis 2200 US soldiers and cost the USA 1 trillion dollars (stiglitz) Take that to the bank. ernie

Posted by: ernie at January 14, 2006 09:10 PM (X4Dyg)

33 and the very fact i have to mention that killing civilians, without care, is at the very least unethical and you cannot "get it" says much about you. do you need a piece of paper to say killing is wrong? i kno, i know, in your violent and trite littel world of inadequacy killing is a part of duty. sorry you have no soul...and we wonder why america is fucked. ernie

Posted by: ernie at January 14, 2006 09:12 PM (X4Dyg)

34 >>>and the very fact i have to mention that killing civilians, without care, is at the very least unethical ernie. Was it unethical that civilians were killed when we assaulted Fortress Europe and drove the Nazis back to Berlin? Lots of civies killed. Tons of them. They died by the boatload. Unethical? No? I guess that pretty much shoots your tired Leftwing memes to hell.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at January 14, 2006 09:59 PM (8e/V4)

35 Poor Ernie, now he has to fall back to personal attacks because he cannot back up his rhetoric. Carlos: Hitler is ernie's idle. There isn't a dictator he wouldn't support over America. Ernie: Show me specific section(s) of the Geneva convention or Hague convention that states that killing civilians that were not the intended victim, is a war crime? This isn't DU if you're going to say it, back it up.

Posted by: dave at January 14, 2006 11:31 PM (CcXvt)

36 >>>sorry you have no soul Sorry you have no brain. Honest....you have no brain.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at January 15, 2006 01:48 AM (8e/V4)

37 dave, you just dont get it. its not about law, its about your honor. obviously this concept escapes you. Now, if you need an intl agreement to tell you that collateral damage is wrong then we have nothing else to talk about. Sadly, given death threats to my life on this blog, i have to report it because i ahve a feeling thsoe making the threats are real dangers to their communities (i think they are committing violent crimes, they sound insane). so i have to turn in this blog for direct threats over the net, sorry didnt want to, but i have to, ITS MY PATRIOTIC DUTY. improblimus maximus needs to be checked on i have a feeling with his temperment he is committing crimes near his home. so anyway dave, i wont be back. sorry the fun and debate had to end, but when people start opening perosnal threats of death over the net...that is a crime...and i m not going to worry about addressing the exact stature for that, i will allow the appropriate authorities in court deternmine that. bye all, thanks for the debate while it lasted. ernie

Posted by: ernie at January 15, 2006 04:09 AM (X4Dyg)

38 Al Qaeda is not a legitimate army. They simply love killing Americans and any other person who collaborates with them.

Posted by: George Ramos at January 15, 2006 08:44 AM (5E0ex)

39 Al Qaeda is not a legitimate army. They simply love killing Americans and any other person who collaborates with them. They don't care about innocent people dying.

Posted by: George Ramos at January 15, 2006 08:45 AM (5E0ex)

40 No Ernie, You don't get it. You didn't say "It's a crime against humanity" or "civilian casualties make the baby Jesus cry" you said it was a "war crime" [with emphasis I might add.] That is a very specific charge, that pertains to international law, and the American people. Now you're magically saying it's about "honor", before it was about me being unhuman -- I think if you read my first thread, I am against air strikes, and drones ran by the CIA in particular because of their unreliable nature and the threat to civilians. Next time when you charge the Government with a "WAR Crime" you'll have the balls to follow it through, and quote an article -- however I feel it will be the first time you've ever read either articles on the ethics of War, just to attempt to tarnish America -- I believe you called yourself a Patriot once? [A Marine first?] both sound hollow now.

Posted by: dave at January 15, 2006 09:11 AM (CcXvt)

41 >>>you said it was a "war crime" [with emphasis I might add.] Words/terms have no meaning to the Left. They are used purely to further their agenda, even if it means wringing every last drop of truth from those words. Look how they have taken words/terms that we all once agreed upon and turned those words on their head so that they have become all but useless-- like "fascism", "nazi", "torture", "gulag", "war crimes", "hate", "tolerance", "extremist", etc., and the list is growing.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at January 15, 2006 10:43 AM (8e/V4)

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Damn Rusty beat me.
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Posted by: Howie at 11:17 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Image via Link Mecca

Another haj, another stampede. Or, as Charles Johnson is deeming it, the "annual human sacrifice". Here is what al Jazeera has to say about the annual incident:

Hamad bin Abdullah al-Manei, Saudi Arabia's health minister, said: "So far, the number of confirmed death is 345 and the number of injured in hospital is 289."

Al-Maneh said the stampede was caused by "unruly pilgrims, and a problem of luggage."

"Today, just after sunset, there was a big rush among the pilgrims which led a group of them to be killed or wounded."

Posted by: Rusty at 11:49 AM | Comments (40) | Add Comment
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Honour thy father and mother that thy days be long in the land which the Lord gives thee.

MEMRI:

Sheikh Abd Al-Aziz Fawzan Al-Fawzan, a professor of Islamic law at Al-ImamUniversity, who frequently appears on Saudi TV recently made anti-Christian comments on Saudi Al-Majd TV. He told his audience to hate anyone "who worships Christ, son of Mary" and added that "whoever says 'I don't hate him [i.e. a Christian]' is not a Muslim..."

"But if this person is an infidel - even if this person is my mother or father, God forbid, or my son or daughter - I must hate him, his heresy, and his defiance of Allah and His prophet. I must hate his abominable deeds. Moreover, this hatred must be positive hatred. It should make me feel compassion for him, and should make me guide and reform him."

Posted by: Rusty at 08:57 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature?

"She just radiates good feeling. She looks you in the eye. She is smiling now. She is cooing in the most delightful little way," he said.

Rusty has written several posts on winning the propaganda war. I won't pile on.

But it should be noted that Zarqawi isn't fixing Iraqi babies with spina bifida. Nor is Mookie al-Sadr, or the Ba'athists and fedayeen remnants. Neither is Sistani, for that matter. The surgery wasn't performed in any of the oil-rich nations of the ME, either.

The soldiers who found this kid didn't care about p.r. The people who arranged the trip didn't, neither did the doctors who performed the surgery.

I do care, though, because it's stories like these, published to a worldwide audience, that shows we are something that our enemies aren't.

Human beings.

Posted by: Vinnie at 11:10 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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