Howdy! I finally caved in and decided to join bloggerdom. I will endeavour to be as prolific and insightful a poster as the current 'hawk line-up has proved to be. Thank-you gentlemen, and David in particular, for inviting me.

Pyongyang is getting in over its head The recent statement by North Korean officials that they do indeed have nuclear weapons comes as no shock to anybody, merely confirms US intelligence. While there is indeed a large US force in South Korea which would serve as proxy soil for an attack by the North (I don't put much creadance in North Korean ICBMs), the North Koreans have to realize that any form of Nuclear excahnge would result in their total destruction. The medium range wareheads pionted at them from Japan, not to mention any sub based missles, strategic bomber fleets or ICBMs that could all be hurled agianst them at a moments notice are nothing to be scoffed at by Pyongyang . So the notion that North Korea thinks that they can black mail the US with a few weapons is absurd.


The real threat is the possibility that they sell nukes to some sort of terrorist body. That is a concern, however I don't think after we have now invaded Iraq they can any longer count on the peace camp in the US to create a Vietnam-era domestic conflagration. In the end we should engage the North Koreans, but only on our terms, and only multilaterally. Further Pyongyang has to realize that they have wittingly or unwittingly entered into a conversation over the very validity of that government's existence. Their nuclear weapon should and do scare us, but our nuclear weapons should scare them more. Did that sound mad???? wow that was a bad pun........

Even Weasels can have a change of heart I found this off the WSJ's best of the web.......apparently some Frenchmen have some second thoughts about supporting a Fascist Totalitarian Dictator....go figure. This statitstic makes me smirk:

"Until three weeks ago, 84 percent of the French were opposed to the war. Last week only 55 percent were still of the same opinion, according to a poll in the French Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche."

Dixie Pricks whine some more:Check out this article in which the Dixie chicks are upset that people are still angry that they insulted a standing President on forieghn soil in a time of war........excuse me Ms. Maines but who the hell do you think listens to country music...yeah thats right.....

Capt. Michael Scott Speicher: initials carved in wall of an Iraqi jail: CNN.com reports that the initials of Downed Gulf War I pilot Capt. Michael Scott Speicher were found in a prison in Baghdad. One can only pray that he is still alive.

The Gaul of Galloway! Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Reynolds have been blogging about this all day, I waited a bit, but I couldn't fight the urge to chime in. For those of you who don't know the British Daily Telegraph broke a story this morning in London, claiming that George Galloway, the Labour backbencher (in the British Parliment) apparently was being paid by Saddam to further Galloway's anti-war agenda. And to add sleazyness to sleaze the money came out of the oil-for food program (read: leftist scum sells out his nation to get rich off of the money that should be used to feed starving babies).

Of course Galloway Denies the Charges and call the Arabic documents found in Iraq that said essentially "lets pay this guy because he supports us" a fruad. Yeah and I am the tooth fairy...

Senator Santorum should resign his leadership post over his anti-homosexual remarks Apparently Santorum in an interview with the AP said the following:


"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to do anything,"


This is over the top and it is blatant bigotry. He can now proudly join Lott and Moran in the "how could you be so stupid as to say that in front of reporters?" club. I give him two weeks tops.

NOW Nonsense This story from the Morris County, NJ Daily Record really pissed me off. The president of the Morris County chapter of the National Organization for Women, one Mavra Stark, "is opposing a double-murder charge in the Laci Peterson case, saying it could provide ammunition to the pro-life lobby." The body of Peterson, who was 8 months pregnant when she disappeared on Christmas Eve, was recently found when it washed up on a California beach. Police plan on charging Peterson's husband, Scott, with the murder of both his wife and his unborn son. According to Ms. Stark, "if this is murder, well, then any time a late-term fetus is aborted, they could call it murder." No, Ms. Stark, the fetus in this case wasn't aborted. He was killed when his mother was murdered. Now, we don't know exactly when the unborn child died, but an eight month-old fetus is capable of surviving outside the mother's womb. Therefore, it is highly possible that the fetus was still alive after the mother died, but expired shortly thereafter because he was not given the appropriate neonatal care. I'm no lawyer, but I do know that in some states there are so-called fetal homicide statutes on the books which say that once a fetus reaches a certain age it can be considered a person in the eyes of the law (I think in NY it's 24 weeks). Being such, if the fetus dies due to the reckless actions of another person, pre-meditated or not, that person can be charged with murder, depending on the circumstances. Obviously, abortion is not one of those circumstances because the Supreme Court said so. However, as I said before, the unborn little boy in the Laci Peterson case was NOT aborted; therefore, the statutes covering abortion do not apply. I'm sure if Scott Peterson is charged with double homicide it will be in concordance with California law. Does Ms. Stark really think that siding with a man who most probably killed his pregnant wife will bolster her cause and that of her organization, especially when the woman in this case, Laci Peterson, had no choice in whether her baby (not to mention herself) lived or died? I don't think so.

Clueless Arabs Check out this story from Islam Online about the plight of some non-Iraqi Arab jihadi who went to Iraq to fight the "Great Satan," but were instead "betrayed" by their Iraqi brethren. I found this excerpt especially entertaining:

'"The battle was so ferocious and we lost 26 martyrs, all Arab volunteers," asserted Othman.

He said that the Iraqi regular forces pulled out of the area in large and organized numbers and donned civilian clothes.

"This left the situation on the ground as intense," he bitterly remembered.

Talk about betrayal by some Iraqi army members were also rumored among the thick palls of smoke that turned reality of the situation there as blurry.

"Arab volunteers were put in the frontlines while the Republican Guard units were in the back in the battle around Baghdad's Saddam International airport," said Al-Assad Jirad in disgruntle, adding 400 Arab volunteers breathed their last during the fighting.

We were stun-founded when a Yemeni was about to "fire on a U.S. Apache helicopter gunship only to be ordered by an Iraqi officer 'Do not shoot . . . it is an Iraqi aircraft,' " he recalled.

To add up to the plight of people leaving their country for the defense of another, the inhabitants of southern town of Nassiriyah welcomed Arab volunteers with nothing but gunfire.

"We were fired at by the town residents, who killed three of us. They just shouted asking us 'why you are here? Did you came to defend Saddam?' " Emad, another volunteer, asserted.'

"Stun-founded" indeed.

Arab news outlets:paranoid, dellusional and hate-ridden While I have often times blogged about progressive writers in the Middle-Eastern press, such as Amir Taheri, and Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid the Arab press as a whole has become a tool for nationalistic oppertunism and the propegation of global myths. Glenn Reynolds posted a piece in arabnew.com by Dr. Abdulhamid Al-Ansary entitled Arab Media’s Conduct During War Indicative of a Deeper Malaise which was very poignant and really forced its readership to ask some very tough questions. While I applaud Al-Ansary, the same publication today published another article entitled: Israel’s Role in the Invasion of Iraq, by Hassan Tahsin. Tahsin is the prime example of the type of secterian fabrications that Al-Ansary rails against. The following is the ruminations of a paranoid ill-informed deceptionist:


"...a new US-made Iraq could be a friend to Israel and present the opportunity for an axis, with Iraq, Jordan and Israel becoming a natural geographic unit. This would in turn cause the Arab union to fall apart and could pave the way for a Greater Israel from the Euphrates to the Nile."


A "greater Israel".......? Is this man insane? Does he really believe that Isreal, a tiny nation occupying one tenth of one percent of the entire Middle-East has desighns on it all? And it is exactly this type of sentiment--rooted in hatred and self-deception--that prolongs a meaningful peace process by lying to the Arab world and denying Israel's true yearning for peace.Tahsin then makes the following ridiculous statement:


"It became apparent that the war project was put into place by three extremist Jewish Americans, and they are Richard Perle, the defense ministry advisor who lately resigned for a conflict of interests, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith. The three jointly drafted the aims of the war and pushed President Bush to choose war over any alternative."


Not only is this blaringly ant-semetic, reaking of the insidious Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the Russian Czarist forgery that spawned waves of anti-semitism in Europe, but it is compelty factually incorrect. We went to War because Saddam posed a threat to us, and was oppressing his people in a brutal fudalistic manner, not because the "Jews" told Bush to do it. This type of extremist thought, full of conspiratorial nonsense is perhaps one of the greatest impedments for Arab nations to Join the first world. Perhaps Tahsin should adress the lack of democracy, human rights, civil liberties, equality of the sexes and persecution of religious minorities and homosexuals in his own society. Then perhaps he could garner a better understanding of the world around him.

Liberalism of convenience: Clifford D. May writes very cogently in todays NRO. May points out the hypocrisy of the anti-war cult and their relativistic stance vis-a-vis the lotting of Baghadad's musuems. He knocks off a real zinger with the following:


"American and European intellectual elites were not moved to action when 182,000 Kurds — a people who trace their history back more than 3,000 years — were slaughtered by Saddam Hussien. The chattering classes hardly flinched when Saddam drained the wetlands of southern Iraq, destroying the environment of the Marsh Arabs and, with it, a 5,000-year-old way of life. But now they’ve got their dander up: Iraq’s antiquities have been vandalized."


Perhaps we should put the Baathist back in power, then we can reinstall the torture chambers, the kinder-prisons, the rape rooms...and oh yeah maybe that will make the musuems safe again.....not all the musuems in Iraq are worth the suffering of a single Iraqi. I cannot understand people who think we should kill looters who have emerged truamatized from 24 years of dictatorial tyranny because some pretentious liberals are upset that the illegal spoils of Saddam's regime will no longer be avialable for them to write papers about, and discuss at dinner parties.

Saddam: Practical Fisherman This is insane...apparently Saddam used to use grenades to go fishing with. At least the guy had class........

Tariq A-Sleaze Tariq Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minster of Saddam's regime is apparently not too loved by his family. The Times ran a rather interesting story today about his aunt and her not so kind words for him. The highlights were when asked if he had done anything to help her or their Christian community (Aziz was part of the Christian minority) she replied: "Zero. Zero. He's very, very bad." I suppose family diners musn't have been too pleasant.......

Arms Scientist Says Iraq Destroyed Chemical and Biological Weapons Just Before the Attack and Reports Iraqi Links to Al Qaeda Let's assume that this newest report is true and as of five days before the U.S. attack on Iraq, Iraq was free of illegal weapons. I think it would be truly laughable if people then say this shows the war was unneccessary. In fact, if this latest report is true, it only underscores just how dangerous this regime was and how dangerous it would have been in 5-10 years.

Blair's Popularity on the Rise. Good to see some our British friends coming to their senses. Although by no means an excuse for their previous level of opposition, I will say better late than never, something that can't be said for the French. More importantly, it's good to see Blair on stronger footing again. He is a truly principled leader and a great friend of the U.S.

Academics against Bush Almost every academic I speak to has a rather vociferous hatred of Bush and his policies. This weekend I ate lunch at the house of a prominent Dean of an elite graduate school here in Manhattan. I deeply repsect this man and he is extrodinarily intelligent. Not so shockingly, he was agianst the war. What I found interesting was that he firmly believed that Bush instigated this war solely to get oil and to out-do his father. What suprised me about this argument was the furvor with which it was made; however no real evidence or facts were given to support this assertion. It is true that historically leaders have destroyed nations over personal issues and for petty reasons.... but this in and of itself, is not a valid reason to assume that is what is occuring with our President and Iraq. I tried to articulate to him (as well several other academics present who shared his beliefs) that if we wanted oil why not invade Venezuala, or do what the French and Russians did by obtiaining lucarative oil contracts with Saddam?


To spend 80 billion plus to invade a country for its natural resources, to me, seems counter-intuitive. In the end I found that as many valid points as I made, these academics could not escape contextualizing the war within the bounds of their own ill feelings towards Bush. Specifically the idea that he was an illegitimate president (which completely obscures and misgauges the very fabric of represenative democracy) was justification for being against his policies. In any case it was nice to debate someone on the left who was articulate and cogent .....alright time to go endulge in the hedonism that is Saturday night in manhattan.....

Amir Tehari: Published in Saudi's Arabnews.com and NRO on the same day. Iranian author Amir Taheri published two cloumns today. One entitled The Iraq War: Winners and Losers which appeared in Arabnews.com, a Saudi based, English Daily that is moderate for the Middle East (as opposed to the Teheran Times which has run editorials claiming that the US, UK, and Russia are colluding with the Baathists), but still rather anti-West. The second article, Iran&Syria@Work A campaign against democracy appeared in America's flagship conservative publication: the National Review online. It is fascinating that two such diverse publications could publish the same author's commentary on the same day. While the NRO piece was a scathing rebuke of the Iranian and Syrian axis of anti-democracy; the Arabnews.com piece was notably less inflamatory but still resonated with a pro-Western slant; detailing the positive aspects for the Arab World at the ending of the Baathist regime. Both are interesting articles and I appluad Taheri's daftness in being able to bring such a cogent argument to the Arab press, while at the same time contextualizing it positivley.

What the hell are these people thinking? North Korea, on the virtual eve of multilateral talks with the US and China, announced that it will be using spent fuel rods to make nuclear weapons. This is of course spitting in the face of the US. The North Koreans are playing a very dangerous game, and they should be very careful as to test our good will. It is not resonable for a militaristic dictatorial state to posses nuclear weapons, especially a nation that has an unfortunate propensity for invading its neighbors. I understand the North Korean's need to regain face after agreeing to multilateral talks in the wake of the fall of Iraq, however they should tread softly because such antics make a diplomatic solution less and less likely.

Is it Saddam? The new Saddam tape has everyone up in a roar....So what? You can't be positive when it was filmed nor by who, nor when. The only question that matters in the long run is who is running Iraq. That being said it would be nice to capture him and allow a new free Iraq to put him on trial.

Muslim groups angered over Rev. Graham's planned appearance at the Pentagon I think its a bit ridiculous that the Pentagon is inviting a man to speak at a prayer service who has called Islam "a very evil and wicked religion." I mean lets get serious here, this isn't what Americans are about.

Master Terrorist Abbu Abbas, perpetrator of the Achille Lauro massacare, captured in Iraq I just saw this on msnbc.com. And of course Iraq doesn't harbor or sponsor terrorists......I wonder what else we are going to find, oh and they caught him on his way to the Syrian border...shocking.

Columbia University:Bastion of anti-Israel hatred and propoganda I know this phenomenon all too well. As an undergrad at Cornell University studying the Near East I was constantly confronted by professors and students who would openly endorsed Palestinian terror tactics. Inherent to this mentality is a dehuminization of the "Zionists" (read Jews) and a romaticizing of barbaric terrorists and the atrocities they commit. In today's NRO Jonathan Calt Harris, managing editor of Campus Watch exposes the immense institutilization of anti-Israel hatered at Columbia University. How the Left, which espouses to idealistic humanitarianism, allows itslef to be a vessel for hatred, racism and disinformation is beyond me. There is legitimate criticism of Israel--as there is with any democracy--calling for its destruction and liquidation of its Jewish population is not one of them. Stupidity.

Loopy Frenchmen I found this synopsis of a recent poll in the French newspaper Le Monde (via blogger Iberian notes). It goes as follows:


"Anyway, out of these folks, 47% said they thought the Iraqis saw the Americans as an army of occupation, not liberation; 57% think humanitarian goals are not of concern to the Coalition forces; 56% say the Coalition should not have intervened militarily in Iraq; 64% say Chirac did not err in his diplomatic efforts; 43% of them say they totally disapprove of the intervention and another 19% somewhat disapprove; and, get this one, 52% see the United States as a danger to the world, as against 29% who see the US as protection against dangerous countries and 18% more who say the US is neither one nor the other. Fifty-two percent of any survey, even a self-selected one like this, is pretty significant, I submit."


I am glad to see that the French are particularly adroit at gauging the geopolitical landscape. Perhaps intervention is only good when you are liberating them from the Nazis they collaborated with? Wow that was harsh.

French President Jacques Chirac loves Dictators! I found this via instapundit on the Travelling Shoes blog. It just goes to show you that the French love not only Woody Allen and Jerry Lewis but Fascist Dictators as well! Freedom fries anybody?

This gives one hope In Baghdad, there is a very small Jewish Population that was apparently defended and saved from the looting of the past few days by their Muslim and Christian countrymen. This gives one immense hope as to what the true nature of a free and democratic Iraq will be like.

Syria is playing a very dangerous game Bashar Assad, the Syrian dictator is playing a very dangerous game. It seems as if the US and the UK are playing a form of good cop, bad cop with his regime. Bashar went to school in the UK and has close ties to the Bristish government. This will not result in War (unless he is harboring the big S himself, which is doubtful) but Syria is suspected of Harboring many Baath party members (which Debka has been reporting for weeks). In any case what can you expect from a man whos only previous political experience was running the national internet program, in Syria no less! There was his computer, the one at the palace and the one at the summer home......