October 28, 2005

Danes Arrest Muslims in Terror Plot

(Copenhagen, Denmark) Four male Middle Eastern Muslims, aged 16 to 20, have been arrested in Denmark on suspicion of planning a suicide terror attack in Europe.

From the BBC:

The arrests were linked to a recent inquiry in the Balkans in which arrests were made and large quantities of explosives were found, police said.

No details were given of the intended target of the group's alleged plot.

"We suspect the four young men of being participants in preparation of terrorist acts somewhere in Europe," said police spokesman Joern Bro.

The suspects are closely linked to three men arrested previously in the Balkans for planning an attack on the British or American embassies in Sarajevo. A tipster in an unnamed Balkan nation led to the arrests.

Notably, most of the reporting on this story is referring to the suspected terrorists as 'men.' In my opinion, 16-year-old boys are not men and at least one of the suspects is 16. The thought of having boys running around Europe with terrorism on their minds is frightening. Boys usually can mingle anonymously in society since they are not old enough to have graduated from school, nor to have a work history, nor to have been in the government or military. Typically, there are no photographs nor fingerprints. Spooky.

Companion at Interested-Participant.

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October 27, 2005

Welcome To The Sandcrawler

Everyone, give a warm welcome to Jane from Armies of Liberation to the Jawa Report staff.

And if any members of the Yemeni Islamofascistpricktocracy care to monitor her here like they do there, bear in mind that she is now even more carefully watched by her Uncle.

And you don't want to mess with Uncle.

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Dhimmification Denied

Stein hoist to uber-kafir Patrick for this:

TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A Florida school district has decided that students will get no religious holidays from school after a debate over which religion should get the days.

Hillsborough County School Board members approved the 2006-2007 school year calendar with only three holiday days off -- Labor Day, President's Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Tampa Tribune reports.

Ahmed Bedier of the Council on American-Islamic Relations had hoped for a day off of school for the Muslim holy day of Eid Al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.

Bishop Chuck Leigh of the Florida Council of Churches said the board made a mistake in not granting the Muslim holiday.

But school board attorney Tom Gonzalez told the board that it was wrong to close the school for any religion.

Students who miss class for a religious holiday will not be penalized.

Wow, I was all set to do a throwdown on this school district, because at first glance it appears that they're inconveniencing everyone just to appease CAIR. Typically, that's how these things tend to work. See: 10 Commandments monuments, et.al.

But then I took a look at my kids calendar for school, where no CAIR member dare to tread, and here are the single day holidays:

Labor Day
Martin Luther King Day
President's Day
Memorial Day

So I thought, hm, they've axed Thanksgiving to appease CAIR, but then I dug out the (PDF alert!) school calendar mentioned in the article, and there it was.

What about Christmas? Still off, because it falls under the politically correctly monikered Winter Break.

So, we can give this school district kudos for telling CAIR to shove it, albeit in an offhand way. All they did was put out a press release saying that they're going to keep the same days off that they did before, but, by adding the religious angle, they get CAIR off of their backs.

There is a dark side to the tale, however. I took a look at the calendar for (PDF alert!) this school year, and compared it to the one for next, and there was a single day holiday eliminated.

Veterans Day. (if you're wondering about Memorial Day, a look at the calendar shows these schools let out before then)

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Stop Attacking the American Journalist

Thats the title of an article in the Yemen Times defending me by Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, the Yemeni editor the bloggers helped me circulate a petition for. He was granted amnesty a week later (this was back in March.) Sometimes payback is not a beeyotch.

It discusses the Yemeni regime's attempts to contact me before they decided to start calling me a Zionist and numerous other nasty names in the governmental papers.

So this line is pretty funny: The question, which has been raised, is that how is it possible for the PresidentÂ’s journalist Mr. Sanabani to meet a Zionist writer.

Is that snark? Translated from Arabic it still comes through as snark.

Jane

Update: me bud d-rod asks the eturnal question Why? Maybe its my articles like this one about the criminal activities of the Yemeni president or maybe this one about attacks on the Yemeni journalists. My articles also get translated into Arabic and published in Yemen, so I'm blowing their propaganda in the West and inside Yemen.

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Multinational Force Spokesman: Media Being Manipulated by Terrorists

Stating a blindingly obvious point that has somehow escaped the Western media, Army Major General Rick Lynch today said:

"Half the battle is in the battlefield of the media. The terrorists will use the media as a combat multiplier to hide their limited capabilities."
It's a shame that the General has to spoonfeed the press like this, but with the massive egos occupying the brainpans, especially in television news, of reporters there just isn't much room left over for analytic ability and common sense.

Common sense should have told even the dullest newsperson in the Palestine Hotel that it had no intrinsic military value other than as propaganda, yet each network dutifully carried water for the terrorist insurgency by replaying the "spectacular explosions" over and over.

Odd, given the broadcast media's fascination for brilliant flashes of light and shiny things that there has been an embargo of images from the 9/11 attacks for years. The excuse given is that they don't want to "inflame" the American public. Unfortunately, there seems to be no equivalent concern about inflaming the ignorant, bloodthirsty, and illiterate buffoons who make up the bulk of the "Arab street". more...

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A Little Help, Please

Who is this "Harry Etmyers" that everyone keeps talking about?

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Beheading Terrorists Killed in Mosul Raid of Safe House.

Good news, the last time we saw this guy he was personally helping to behead people. IÂ’ve inquired about which specific beheadings this now very dead man was involved in. When I find out IÂ’ll pass that along to you. We got his buddy too.

CENTCOM:An al-Qaeda terrorist cell leader who personally assisted in at least three videotaped beheadings and his assistant were killed during a Coalition raid of a suspected safe house in Mosul Oct. 22. Nashwan Mijhim Muslet (aka Abu Tayir or Abu Zaid) was a senior operational al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist cell leader who operated specifically in the Mosul area. His cell was known as the primary beheading cell for Abu Talha, the al-Qaeda in Iraq Emir of Mosul who was captured in June, 2005, and Abu Zubayr, second in command to Talha and later Emir of Mosul after Talha was detained. Zubayr was killed in August, 2005.

Good riddance I can only hope it was a slow and painful death and he was very aware he was dying the whole time. Click for photos of his ugly mug and his buddy below.

more...

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Miers Withdraws as Supreme Court Nominee

President Bush announced the withdrawal of Harriet Miers as a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. The President reluctantly accepted her letter of withdrawal. No links yet. Developing ...


[Update 0950 EDT]

It's being reported that Miers talked to President Bush last night and asked if she could withdraw.

From the Chicago Tribune:

President Bush said he reluctantly accepted her decision to withdraw, after weeks of insisting that he did not want her to step down. He blamed her withdrawal on calls in the Senate for the release of internal White House documents that the administration has insisted were protected by executive privilege.

"It is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House -- disclosures that would undermine a president's ability to receive candid counsel," Bush said. "Harriet Miers' decision demonstrates her deep respect for this essential aspect of the constitutional separation of powers -- and confirms my deep respect and admiration for her."

Washington is stunned by the news since the withdrawal of a nominee is quite unusual. It has occurred with only seven of 150 nominees in the history of the Supreme Court.

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Judge Orders Release of Gitmo Records

Lawyers representing hunger-striking Guantanamo Bay detainees have convinced U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler to order the government to inform detainees' defense lawyers at least 24 hours before any force-feeding and to provide the lawyers with medical records weekly.

Julia Tarver, a lawyer for three of the detainees, asserted in court papers that when she visited her clients she found them weak and sometimes able to speak only with difficulty because of throat lesions they said were caused by having the feeding tubes forced in. Ms. Tarver said one detainee, Yousef Al-Shehri, told her that a feeding tube had been roughly inserted through his nose into his throat, causing him to spit up blood.
Notably, without the forced-feeding, the detainees likely would have died and, according to the government, none have.

Judge Kessler acted on an emergency petition because it was "deeply troubling" that detainees had feeding tubes inserted without sedatives or anesthesia.

"If the allegations are true - and they are all explicitly, specifically and vigorously denied by the government - they describe the conduct of which the United States can hardly be proud," the judge wrote.
Although Kessler directed the government to provide notifications and records, she denied the request for the lawyers to have immediate telephone access to the detainees.

It seems that Judge Kessler's decision is based exclusively on the adequacy of the medication administered to the detainees prior to inserting the feeding tubes. Her ruling indicates that the detainees are not sufficiently drugged before having a tube shoved up their noses and down their esophaguses. I must assume that there have been past cases where judges have determined the amount medication to be administered. I'm personally uncomfortable with the idea. In my estimation, no amount of legal training and experience prepares a judge to practice medicine.

Nevertheless, ordering the release of medical documents will surely prompt the detainees' lawyers to start searching for other issues to litigate. The latest wrangling over the medication issue is part of an ongoing campaign by human rights advocates to force the government into giving the detainees more legal rights.

It's unknown whether the government will appeal.

Companion at Interested-Participant.

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Iran to launch recon satellite

I know a few things about Iran but I was not aware that they had a space program. Well, actually, they are shooting a Chinese "Sina" satellite on top of a Russian rocket from a Russian launch pad. So they outsourced it. But pretty soon they'll have an eye in the sky--several, actually, with more launches planned.

Why are they doing this? Iran's embassy in Moscow "said Sina would be capable of monitoring natural disasters and urban growth."

Oh, right. Sure. Got it. Mmmhm. Yep.

If you believe that's what it's for, you probably just can't wait for that peaceful, energy-generating Iranian nuclear program to come on line.

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October 26, 2005

Jawa Hath Ith Privilegeth

One of the joys of being a Jawa Report poster is being on the inside, being in the know, ever mindful of the fact that yes, one day, I may too become an anonymous high ranking official who asked not to be named.

And the icing on the cake is being the blogson. Being the blogson gives me access to Rusty that even Howie can only dream of.

What is the point of all this? Well, I have excellent news. Because of my special relationship with my blogfather, I am the only blogger here who has seen the fruits of his labors, the sweat of his brow, the baby that he is soon to deliver with all the pain and agony that birthing a masterpiece entails.

I have the first page of the first chapter of the book that Rusty is putting his final touches on, and I have been granted permission to post it here.

So without further ado, because he who hestitates, well, you know the rest... more...

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Kerry: Bring 20,000 Troops Home from Iraq

The irrelevent one speaks. Odd position considering it wasn't long ago he was screaming for more troops. Obviously been hanging at the Waffle House again.

Sen. John Kerry says President Bush should bring home 20,000 troops from Iraq over the Christmas holidays if the December parliamentary elections there are successful.

Defeated by Bush last year and a potential candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, Kerry called for a "reasonable time frame" for pulling back troops rather than a full-scale withdrawal advocated by some Democrats. He said it could be completed in 12 to 15 months.

"It will be hard for this administration, but it is essential to acknowledge that the insurgency will not be defeated unless our troop levels are drawn down, starting immediately after successful elections in December," Kerry said in a speech prepared for delivery Wednesday at Georgetown University. Excerpts of the speech were obtained by the Associated Press.

Now that's what I call some seriously contorted reasoning.

Companion OpiniPundit

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Another Al Qaeda Smithereen Commando Suffers Premature Evisceration

From an American Forces Press Service news release we learn that an Al Qaeda suicide bomber managed to blow up his suicide vest while still in the car with his accomplices:

Three people were seen in the vehicle before it exploded, officials said. One bomber was wearing a suicide vest, which apparently detonated early, killing the bomber and another occupant, while a third terrorist jumped from the moving vehicle in time to avoid being killed. Iraqi Police arrested the surviving insurgent. Iraqi explosive ordnance experts later cleared the scene.
It is believed that, because of his incompetence, Allah will not provide him with the traditional 72 raisins:
But Manji says recent research shows all that virgin stuff was based on an erroneous translation of the Koran: what awaits in heaven are 72 raisins. What? Could 54 people really have been blown up for a bag of raisins? “Well in 7th century Arabia raisins were so exalted as to be promoted to paradise.”

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

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A Note to Fellow Academic Bloggers: Follow Chomsky's Lead

I'm just checking in to let you all know that I am alive. I appreciate the work Howie, See-Dubya, Vinnie, Mike Pechar, Traderrob, Chris Short, Bluto, & the Demosophist have been doing in my absence. It looks like my book project may go a little longer than I anticpated, but only by a couple of weeks. I will be back, so please have patience.

What have I learned from writing this thing? Absolutely nothing. Oh, except, never write a book-length manuscript before submitting chapters to your editor. Trust me on this one.

On another topic, Spoons says goodbye to blogging. Wait, you mean Spoons was a lawyer? I never knew that.

This reminds me of a bit of advice I've been meaning to relay to academic bloggers: follow Chomsky's lead.

Follow Chomsky, you say, why that's an odd bit of advice coming from the Right?

Indeed it is. What I mean by that is you need to separate your academic work from your polemic work. Chomsky, as you may know, is a noted linguist. But, is Chomsky famous because he is a linguist? No. Please name his linguistic theory? He is famous because he is a critic of U.S. foreign policy. He is not an IR specialist nor does he have any training in political science. His tenure at MIT is based on his linguistic work, not on his foreign policy analysis. His foreign policy analysis is basically a polemic shaped by an ideology and world view. It is blogging before the advent of blogs.

If you are an academic blogger, follow Chomsky's lead and do not blog on your field of expertise. This may come as quite a shock to some of my readers, but I am not an IR specialist nor is my academic work related--even peripherally--to the Global War on Terror and Islamofascist ideologies.

In my role as a blogger I am just like you: I am a citizen journalist.

So, note to fellow bloggers in academia: leave the "expert opinions" to the peer reviewed journals. As for your blog, keep it simple, know its limitations, and do not tout your academic credentials in order to give some authority to your pontifications.

As for that last recommendation, do not follow Chomsky's lead. I'm not sure that it's Chomsky's fault that his followers rely on the logical fallacy of resorting to authority when quoting him. You can't say Chomsky's theories are stupid, they say, Chomsky works at MIT. As if the fact that Chomsky works at MIT as a linguist gives his theories on why U.S. foreign policy is (and has always been) bad mmmmmkay, some extra credibility.

The truth is that I started blogging using the name "Dr. Rusty Shackleford" as a joke. Give Dale Gribble a Ph.D. and this is what you get. Only recently have I begun to realize how much faith people put in that "Dr." aspect of my fictional name. Ultimately, the validity of this blog rests not on my education level or my professional activitiy, but on the quality of the posts and the facts or theories presented therein.

I don't post on my academic area of expertise for the very same reason Chomsky does not lecture outside of MIT on his: I know the difference between peer reviewed theories put under academic scrutiny and theories about world politics driven by my ideology. Hopefully, the latter--my opinions about the war on terror--are accurate. What they definitely are not, though, are rigorously thought out analysis in the same manner as my academic work is. None of my posts--as far as I can tell--has ever produced a hypothesis that any one -- as far as I can tell -- has tested.

So, to fellow bloggers in academia remember what your blog is and what it is not. It is a place to post random thoughts and observations. It is a place to stroke your own ego. It is a place to editorialize. It is a place to say inane, meaningless, and occasionally offensive things. It is a place where on a rare occasion you might just get an important point across. However, it is not a place to further your academic career nor is it a place that your credentials have any meaning.

Blogs are the great levellers of our day. Whether auto-mechanic or nuclear physicist, the opinions of both are of equal importance in the blogosphere. Blogs have made Chomskys of us all. And that, believe it or not, is a good thing.

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Iran says, “Israel, Wipe Them Out”

IranÂ’s new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dropped the Mr. Nice guy lately.

Yahoo News: Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury, any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world," Ahmadinejad said. Ahmadinejad also repeated the words of the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the destruction of Israel. "As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Ahmadinejad, who came to power in August.

So Mr. Ahmadinejad just how do you propose to do that with all peaceful nuclear technology you are working on that you just transferred to your military? The radical shift in Iran shows how much pressure having two democratic states on their borders added to the domestic cry for freedom is having. They must paint everyone as an enemy of Iran and create a struggle to maintain enough support to stop freedom. Current political problems in the US have left an opening for other nations to pour on pressure. Several have been taking advantage this week including Canada on timber and NAFTA.

Others : Captains Quarters and Jihad Watch.

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Islamic Army in Iraq New Video

This week on Infovlad a new and old video were posted from Islamic Army in Iraq. So what is the big deal? IÂ’ll tell you, the new video lacked a header, singing voices and all the other post production details and fancy bells and whistles. Also after Al-Qaeda announced a weekly news program they have failed to deliver the goods. Add to that the capture of their main webmaster and you see why. See itÂ’s not so much the machines but the people to run them as well.

Then terrorists attacked the Palestine hotel attempting to capture journalists or possibly take the building for a 1970's Olympics style operation. They failed, while they killed some people the IraqiÂ’s and Americans they had much bigger plans. Also think about the not so obvious targets there equipment, producers and technicians. So while they are bound to pop up the 2 month drought combined with the low quality release make this Jawa feel pretty good.

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WTW Cube Farm Living at Ground Zero.

A while back I told you about having to make our cubicles all neat and stuff. I had to take down the tower of stupidity. I gave some big speech how it was going back up. Well there have been some problems. First the tower was deconstructed leaving a large empty area in my cube. The teenage mutant frogs and the lizards were in charge of grounds keeping and damaged two philodendrons. While I’m nursing them back to health Aussie decides to put his apple core in there for fun. Killed them suckers dead. Then Quailman and Johnny Bravo who were in charge of the redesign and construction can’t decide how many spires go on top or if the base is protected against flying “yogurt lid of death” projectiles. This has resulted in weeks of delay and haggling, meanwhile the empty spot just sits there. Roy looks so lonely up there on his magnet without characters in the Tower of Stupidity to keep him company. It just doesn’t feel right. On other news Jack Frost visited Bumfuct Egypt for the first time day a full 10 days late. I siphoned off a fifth of that home made wine last weekend. Had to be tested you know. Good stuff, I’ll bottle err uh plastic jug that this weekend.

Here are your White Trash Wednesday bloggers


more...

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Wal-Mart Attacked

In an effort to reduce employee health care costs and enhance profitability, a memo recommending the hiring of more part-time workers and discouraging the hiring of unhealthy people was drafted for submittal to the Wal-Mart Board of Directors. In draft form, the memo was intercepted and anonymously sent to Wal-Mart Watch, a union-backed activist group, which claims that a 'secret memo' was uncovered. On the other hand, it appears that Wal-Mart just considered the memo to be an internal document which was freely released in updated form when it was asked for.

Nonetheless, the union-backed team at Wal-Mart Watch is attempting to demonize Wal-Mart in its seemingly reasonable attempt to develop ideas and methods to reduce health care costs. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see anything wrong with part-time workers or discouraging the hiring of unhealthy workers. Nor do I see anything wrong with trying to enhance profitability.

Without scrutinizing the Wal-Mart memo, it's impossible to determine the reasonableness of the proposed changes. On the surface, it appears to reflect nothing more than a day in the operation and administration of a business. Unfortunately, and I've witnessed it already, the mainstream media have been characterizing the memo as an indication of a sinister and evil conspiracy to discriminate and subjugate. more...

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October 25, 2005

The Battle of Surigao Strait

Sixty-one years ago on this date three American destroyers, Hoel, Heermann and Johnston, hurled themselves at a Japanese force of 4 battleships and 8 cruisers. Terriers attacking a wolfpack. The Hoel and Johnston, along with the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts were sunk, but the carriers they had been protecting were saved. October 25th, 1944 was the ninetieth anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

dd533-hoelsm.jpg

During the Battle of Leyte Gulf (of which the Battle of Surigao Strait was a part), from 22-27 October, 1944 - six days - the United States suffered 3,000 men killed in action.

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

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Drooling Banjos *Updated*

The MSM continues to monitor the body count in Iraq like some warped type of fantasy sports game.

Witness this excerpt from an Associatedantiamerican Press article concerning the Islamotard attack on the Palestine Hotel today:

But the toll among American service members killed in the Iraq war reached 1,997 with the announcement of a Marine killed Sunday during fighting in western Iraq.

Since the beginning of 2005, at least 465 vehicle bombings, including suicide car bombs and vehicles exploded by remote detonations, have killed at least 2,250 people in Iraq.

Too bad these idiots lack any sense of historical perspective, much less decency.

The following are from The Chronology Of World War Two: The Day By Day Illustrated Record 1939-1945:

Military and Civilian Casualties (Allies only)

Killed in action or died of wounds: 11, 237,793

Wounded: 4,015,536

Captured or missing: 7,391,433

Civilian deaths: 35,240,523

The U.S.A. alone:

Killed in action, or died of wounds: 292,131

Wounded: 671,801

Captured or missing: 139,709

Civilian deaths: 6,000

Yes, you read that right. More American civilians died in WWII than have died in the GWOT, which has now gone on longer than WWII, and will continue for many years.

I could care less anymore if the MSM is anti-war or pro-war, but in struggles of freedom vs. tyranny, at least they could offer some balanced perspective.

Fat chance, that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They got their wish, the gleeful gibbering has begun:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The American military death toll in the Iraq war reached 2,000 Tuesday with the announcements of three more deaths, including an Army sergeant who died of wounds at a military hospital in Texas and a Marine and a sailor killed last week in fighting west of Baghdad.

The 2,000 mark was reached amid growing doubts among the American public about the Iraq conflict, launched in March 2003 to destroy Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction. None was ever found.

The media is doing its level best to demoralize this nation by ruthlessly tallying up the number of dead. They know that the historical knowledge of the average citizen is woefully inadequate. They feed on it, in an attempt to convince them that this war is Vietnam The Sequel.

Therein lies their folly. By assuming that you and me are too stupid to make any connection to the past, they beat the drum of despair.

They shriek 2000 dead!!!! For nothing!!!!!! No WMD!!!!!

Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, and Romania had no WMD, either, yet this country sacrificed 292,000 of its best and its brightest to defeat the Axis.

If the media is going to use the same tactics in this war that they used to help turn public opinion against the Vietnam war, by magnifying the bad while ignoring the good, then I believe it's up to us bloggers to use history in order to provide some balance to this misinformation.

This post was not about numbers, it was not about "playing bingo" with the dead. I did this post to provide a historical perspective as to what this country was once willing to pay in order to secure its freedom and continued existence. Without that perspective, we run the risk of letting the propagandists of the other side form the picture in people's minds of what this war is about.

And it is more than apt to compare this conflict with WWII. Islamofascism and Nazism are nearly identical in their respective quests. It's even apt to compare this conflict with Vietnam, given that both are rife with spectacular Allied military victories that are twisted and spun to make them seem like defeat.

We owe our knowledge of the truth about Vietnam to diligent historians. Militarily, the United States crushed the enemy. North Vietnam suffered over 1 million casualties in that war. That truth wasn't consumed by the pubic at the time, they ended up demoralized, and were unwilling to see the victory through to the end.

We no longer have the luxury of time, my friends. History needs to be written now, in the face of this hostile media, a political party that no longer stops playing at the waters edge, and a public that consumes it's news in 30 second sound bites.

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