The Seattle Times Shills for the Enemy

Today the Seattle Times published one of the most ridiculous excuses for surrender in Iraq that I've ever seen. Using this single photgraph ((c) 2007, Seattle Times), seemingly without context, they opined:

The image in Tuesday's newspapers was of a sea of Iraqi flags, as tens of thousands of Iraqis paraded in Najaf against the occupation of their country by the United States. If anyone were looking for an Iraqi answer to the "surge," it is in that photo.

There are those in America who still believe that a measured increase in manpower could bring about order and safety in Iraq. To them, we say: Look at the photos from Najaf. There is what they think of your idea. Ponder that crowd. See how many flags are in it. Think of the last time you saw American flags flying everywhere — what event had just happened. That was 9/11. Recall how people felt then. That is Najaf now. "Death to America," the crowd said. Thousands said it.

There is no arguing with a force like that.

The piece went on to argue that leaving with our tails between our legs was perfectly honorable, and not a surrender at all because we weren't giving our troops up as prisonoers.

Daring to, in fact, "argue[] with a force like that," I wrote the following letter to the editor. I've included links in this version.

Editor, The Times:

Your absurd editorial, “The Flags of Najaf,” represents perfectly the complete disconnect between the reality of Iraq and the head-in-the-sand leftist media vision of it.

You paint a picture of a popular uprising, a spontaneous demonstration from everyday people who just want America to leave so they can get back to their lives and businesses. Nothing could be further from the truth. First, you claim there were “tens of thousands” of demonstrators, when in reality, the numbers were closer to 5 – 7,000. Even the protesters themselves only were able to claim 10,000 – at most half of your claim. Either this is a sloppy oversight or flat dishonesty.

Second, you fail to mention that the demonstration was orchestrated by murderer Muqtada al Sadr from his hiding place in Iran, likely with logistical support and funding from Iran itself. This demonstration is actually a profound sign of this villain’s weakness, not strength. When the best he can do is get a few thousand people to waive flags as opposed to besting joint American/Iraqi forces in the field, things are definitely looking up. This was a failed attempt at enemy propaganda, and it takes a willful blindness to see it as anything other than that.

Finally, you laughably argue that leaving on a timeline demanded by those who have sworn to destroy our nation is not a surrender, as if Iraq is locked away in its own little hermetically sealed bubble. No serious person believes that leaving Iraq won’t have deadly consequences for the brave Iraqis still risking their lives to form their democracy, or for the safety of the United States itself. Iran’s fingerprints are all over the Najaf “protest” – does anyone seriously believe they aren’t a threat to us?

I urge the Times to stop going out of their way to shill for the enemies of America. Your readers deserve facts, not false jihadist propaganda.

I'm looking forward to their correction, of course.

Update: Shockingly, the Seattle Times didn't print my letter, or even include it in the "online only" letters. Oh, well. I suppose I understand, though - they had to make room for the guy informing us all about "Halliburton and the other fattening merchants of war" and "The unborn generations of Americans whose future has already been mortgaged by the Bush administration".

Journalism at its finest.

Iran to Monitor Iran's Nuclear Program

That's right. The UN - that "gravely concerned" international body charged with keeping world peace and dedicated to nuclear disarmament - has elected Iran as one of the vice-chairs of the UN Disarmament Commission.

In celebration, Iran once again threatened to wipe Israel off the map.

The most ardent foe of the United Nations couldn't make this kind of thing up. How is it that anyone thinks we should entrust our sovereignty or security to this organization? Does ANYONE seriously think the UN is in any way effective in keeping peace, preserving freedom, or saving lives?

Iran probes, the West retreats. They commit an act of war/piracy in another nation's territorial seas. As a result, they lost nothing and gained a humiliated Great Britain, some of the combatants they'd sent into Iraq to kill coalition soldiers back, and a cessation of any Royal Navy interdiction operations in the entire Persian Gulf. They openly pursue nuclear weapons, and are met with tepid concern from an international organization they (or oil customers who count on them) control - an organization known for doing nothing, at that. They attack Israel via Hezbollah, and even the United States accuses Israel of overreacting. They attack the United States in Iraq, and for fear of "starting" a war that they've waged against us for 28 years, our press and our government say nothing. In fact, with the full knowledge that Iran is the sole reason the insurgency is still able to exist (funding, training, etc.), our Congress is now attempting to surrender to Iran and their Iraqi fighters - fighting hard to accede to the demands of our enemy.

Perhaps they should save us all a lot of time and start drafting Constitutional Amendments that will conform with Sharia law.

And now, because both of them are heavily invested in an American failure in Iraq, Nancy Pelosi wants to once again violate the Constitution and the Logan Act, and visit Ahmahdinejad in Iran, further signalling that he can act at will with no reaction from the west save surrender.

When are liberals going to understand that the enemies we face, despite their shared hatred of George Bush, are not fellow liberals who just want to sit around, smoke weed, and like, get aLONG, man? That they aren't acting in good faith? That they are using our international institutions and press against us? That they already "understand us" just fine, and don't want to live in peace with us?

The genteel Europeans have already given up. British teachers have stopped teaching about the Holocaust because muslim students are offended. Scandinavian women wear headscarves and dye their hair black in many public areas to prevent the sometimes violent rape and harassment of the Islamic "youths" (who we are assured aren't radicalized, because some of them listen to rap - as if angry teens should follow some kind of consistent philosophy). Meanwhile, their governments cover up these crimes for fear of not being multi-cultural or tolerant enough. The intifada in France goes on, and typically, France is losing.

Are we to join them?

Iran has already determined that the west is doomed. The only question for them is whether the global caliphate with be Sunni or Shi'ite. And no western nation is doing anything to disabuse them of their assumptions.

80 years from now, when our great grandchildren are studying the history of this war, they will read about these events with the same incredulity as modern students have for the world's appeasement of Adolf Hitler in the 1930's. The only question is going to be how much damage we'll take before we decide to fight for our civilization. Or if it will survive at all.

Choices and War

Exactly.

It's frustrating that we've lost sight of who has what choices in this war. We didn't choose to fight it. We CAN'T choose NOT to fight it, except by surrendering and converting wholesale to Shariah Strength Islam. ("Peace" activists take note - if "peace" is the absence of fighting, and that "peace" is the ultimate "good," then this is the option for you. Enjoy your gay marriages and nose rings under Shariah. But for my part, I would rather be a free man at war than a slave and a prisoner at peace, as would most Americans. Some things are more important than "peace," and far worse than "war.")

The only choices we have are where, when, and how we fight. We currently control those three factors absolutely - we can set our table anywhere we please, but we have to set it. If we refuse to make a choice, we'll merely be surrendering that choice to our enemies.

After 9/11, we absolutely made the correct choice on the when. It was now, or it was later - and it wasn't going to be cheaper later. After every Jihadist attack prior to 9/11, we kept choosing "later" - and the result was a MORE entrenched enemy with MORE recruits who had seen us run away time after time. Iraq may rally new jihadists to the cause, but no more so than did Somalia, the first WTC attack, Khobar Towers, Beirut, USS Cole, or even our unfinished business in Gulf War I. For some odd reason, we're turning to the same geniuses who kept choosing "later" as the Jihadists grew in strength until they could attack us here at home, and once again, those "realists" are saying "later." What are they waiting for? A dirty bomb in LA?

Indeed, if Iraq is in fact a cause celebre that attracts more fighters, it is only because of the perception that we are losing and on the brink of running again - helped in no small part by the defeatist left and their anti-Bush media enablers who have been declaring "Quagmire!" from the beginning. This report itself is already rallying them on with its hung-headed hand wringing and non-solutions to the cancer of Global Jihad.

The where was tougher - Afghanistan was the obvious choice, but with so many local governments eager and willing to keep supplying our enemies, we couldn't simply stay holed up in Central Asia. You can't win "Whack-A-Mole" with a single mallet. And so our choices were Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, the Sudan, etc. - or the United States. It could be that Iraq wasn't the best option in 2002-3, although I still think it was. Today, we seem intent on choosing the United States, for if we pull back behind our borders with our tails between our legs, that is where we will fight it. Anyone who seriously doubts this, and thinks our enemy will adopt a "live-and-let-live" policy, simply hasn't been paying attention.

But it is the how that is the most crucial. From the start, we have fought hobbled. Afraid of what dictators, Europe (who has abrogated their military responsibility in the world to us while surrendering their cultures at home), or corrupt UN officials might say about us, we refused to shoot looters, refused to fire on mosques that are being used as firing towers, and released detained terrorists who must then be re-captured on the battlefield. We ignored Iran and Syria's active involvement against us. We were RE-active. Against a culture which above all respects strength, we chose to be weak and half-hearted. Worse, that's the AGGRESSIVE half of our government - the rest worked as hard as they could to feed the enemy propaganda, assure them we could not win if only they would be a little more patient...

The American People were right last month to repudiate our tepid how of warfighting (which would change very little even if we followed the Baker-Hamilton report to the letter). Do this for real, or don't do it at all, they said, and as usual, the wisdom of the electorate is worthy of our ear. But unfortunately, we cannot chose to simply not do it at all, which leaves only to DO IT RIGHT. We must unequivocally crush the enemy first, and only then rebuild his cities and governments.

There is no exit strategy but through total victory, no "peace" until every last Jihadist is dead or captured and Islamo-Fascism is as universally repudiated as Nazism. To accept less is to ensure an "Iraq" every ten years or so, each time leaving us weaker and our enemies stronger, until our culture and freedoms are lost to attrition after millions are slaughtered in the name of "pure" Islam both here and abroad. The liberal refrain has been how evil we were to support Afghani mujahadeen or Iraq in the 80s (ignoring the more severe threat at the time from the USSR), and how it led to today's problems. Those same liberals who now demand we adopt the Baker plan have apparently changed their minds, demanding we support Iran and Syria if they'll help up "stabilize" the region. What will they say in 10 years when we're battling a nuclear armed Iran? You guessed it - it'll be Bush's fault for not listening.

Unfortunately, if we adopt the Baker "plan," we choose less - along with the consequences that go with it. And we will have given our remaining choices to our enemy. Be certain they well care far less about UN protocol or NGO admonitions on human rights violations, and that they will not give anything less than their all. It must be admitted that this choice is indeed a path to peace, but not a peace worth having.

UN: Israel Still Bad Guys For Daring To Defend Themselves

Hezbollah, with the help of Syria and Iran, is using the time granted by the UN's cease fire to smuggle arms into southern Lebanon and re-arm. This is not a surprise, as Hezbollah has promised they would do exactly that. It is also not a surprise to anyone who has observed the level of respect given to such documents by Islamofascists in times past.

Despite the awe that should have been inspired by the 49 French troops that landed yesterday promising to shield them from harm, the Israelis correctly decided to protect themselves, and raided the fascists arms cache.

Now - if two sides sign a peace treaty, and the historical aggressor begins secretly re-arming to once again attack their victim, which side has violated the agreement?

But in the Bizarro World of the UN, it is those defending their homes who are guilty. Kofi Annan predictably berated the Israelis for violating the cease fire, despite the fact that the agreement allows Israel to still defend herself.

Annan will go down in history as the Neville Chamberlain or the Jimmy Carter of our time - a craven appeaser that unleashed untold death, suffering, misery, and evil on the world under the banner of "Peacemaker." Fascists and mass-murdering dictators cannot do their evil work without the cooperation of world "leaders" willing to look the other way - or worse, who will blame the victim. The blood of millions is on his hands. And when the Fascists once again attack Israel (and look for that to come sooner rather than later), the blood of the innocents who will die in that conflict will be upon his head as well.

Bush's foreign policy -- a dismal failure

President Bush and his team have consistently, and smugly, indicated that they care nothing for current domestic or international appraisals of the effectiveness of the administration's foreign policy; they will wait, they say with an air of informed tolerance, for the verdict of history. I don't know about the verdict of history, but after five years of watching his deft hand at foreign policy, its impossible to come to any conclusion other than that it's been an abject disaster.

The President has had the right impulses. His decision to attack Iraq was probably the right one. He recognized the danger posed by North Korea and Iran early. He's made articulate and compelling speeches about the role freedom and democracy can play in the middle east.

The problem is that his foreign policy has been, to borrow a Texan phrase, all hat and no cattle. He's made all the right noises, given the grand Churchillian speeches, employed all the gestures appropriate to a no-nonsense, straight-shooting, straight-talking man who gets things done. Unfortunately he really has n't got things done.

His incompetence and laziness have hurt this country, and have hurt the chances of there being a lasting peace in the middle east.

Gerard Baker of the Times of London has an excellent article on Bush's foreign policy failures.

I look forward to a spirited debate with Orrin :-) ...

Holocaust Rising

Iran is about to pass a law that requires Jews to wear yellow strips of cloth. Other minority religions, like Christians, have their own designated colors. Think about that for a minute, and what it means. It chilled me right down to my bones. And then this reaction frightened me even more:

Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again," he said. "It's state-sponsored religious discrimination."

Stunned? STUNNED?!?!? Why the hell are you stunned, Mr. Farber? Why is anyone surprised in the least? Iran has been promising to exterminate Jews and other assundry infidels for years now. When will we learn to take these people at their word?

This isn't a government that can be persuaded by diplomacy, or stopped with sanctions Russia and China aren't willing to participate in (or will surely subvert to meet their energy needs, just as they along with France did all through the 90s with Iraq).

I don't know what the answers are for Iran. But I do know that the longer we wait, the fewer options we will have. There is simply no serious person who can honestly believe they are not developing nuclear weapons. They are more than willing to sponsor terrorism and kill as many innocents as they possibly can. They are desperately trying to subvert the infant Iraqi democracy, and if we leave, they will succeed. When Ahmadinajad promises to wipe Israel off the map, he's serious.

And I know that the longer we hide our heads in the sand, rely on the UN for anything, and pretend that they're a rational government that values peace and international comity, the harder it will be to stop them, and the more people will die before it ends.

After the Holocaust, we said "Never Again." I used to think we meant it.

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UPDATE: There are some who are expressing skepticism over whether or not this story is true, because it hasn't been independently confirmed yet. But we DO know that the Iranians passed a very strict "Muslim uniform" law, which will identify the non-Muslims just as easily. And the story isn't being denied by Iran, either. The fact still remains that anyone who thinks it's somehow unrealistic to think the Iranians would do such a thing simply hasn't been paying attention.