2007.09.08 Politics and National Defense Roundup
Contributed by Bill Faith
Quick hits:
- Peaceniks: stay in Iraq
Don Surber: A government report calls for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq until at least 2012. Does the report to be released on Sunday come from A.) the Pentagon, or B.) the U.S. Institute of Peace? Of course the answer is B, a little-known government agency founded at the behest of the late Sen. Jennings Randolph, D-W.Va. ...
- Iraq Study Group: Surge Is Working
Da Riehl: If you support our troop's efforts in Iraq, you're likely to have concerns clicking on an article on Iraq that names the Iraq Study Group (ISG) and the US Institute for Peace (USIP) as sources. Don't. This may strip the last bit of cover left for surrender-crats in Congress. Yes, it calls for a fifty percent troop reduction - in three years, which is a lifetime in US politics. But it also calls for mostly a hard line on Iran. Cafeterias may or may not be in vogue in Washington, DC - but there's enough room for Bush to pick his way through the menu to see the Surge through to a successful conclusion. The Dems did and do support the ISG and USIP, right? I mean, how can they not? ...
- Video: Osama uncut
Allahpundit (H/T): Thanks as always to the King Jawa for delivering the jihadi video goods. Here’s the full 25-minute version, although you’re better off skipping it and sticking with the transcript: not only does it take a fraction of the time to read but, very curiously, the video actually switches to a freeze frame of Bin Laden at the 1:55 mark and stays that way for the rest of the clip with only the audio still playing. I can’t imagine why they’d do that unless they thought he looked ill — which he sort of does — and wanted to omit the visual evidence of him fading as the speech wears on. ...
- Osama bin Scheuer
- Not Osama’s Best Work
- British General: Coalition Can't Leave Iraq In The Lurch
Ed Morrissey: Last week, the world press reacted with delight when British commander General Sir Mike Jackson ripped Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush administration for its post-invasion planning for Iraq. Today, Jackson continued his criticism of Rumsfeld, calling his planning "intellectually bankrupt", but underscored the need to stay in Iraq and insisted that critics have prematurely declared the mission a failure: ...
- Sunnis Return To Iraqi Assembly
Ed Morrissey: With the focus on political progress heightening in advance of the testimony of General David Petraeus, the Iraqi National Assembly has come under pressure to start approving legislation from the agreement two weeks ago between the leaders of the various factions on reform. That effort got a boost today when the Sunnis ended the final political boycott of the Assembly: ...
- Advanced Russian Air Defense Missile Cannot Protect Syrian and Iranian Skies
DEBKAfile’s military experts conclude from the way Damascus described the episode Wednesday, Sept. 6, that the Pantsyr-S1E missiles, purchased from Russia to repel air assailants, failed to down the Israeli jets accused of penetrating northern Syrian airspace from the Mediterranean the night before. The new Pantsyr missiles therefore leave Syrian and Iranian airspace vulnerable to hostile intrusion. ... [BF: and Russia?]
- Presenting A Bill For Terrorism
Ed Morrissey: A US court entered a judgment against Iran for the terrorist attack in Lebanon that killed 241 Marines, awarding victims and their families over $2 billion in damages. The judge found the mullahcracy "legally responsible" for actions of Hezbollah, based on the Iranian financing for the terrorist organization: ...
- The McCain mini-surge
Paul Mirengoff: After this week's Republican debate in New Hampshire, I suggested that we might see John McCain surge in that state. Two astute reporters who are on the scene in New Hampshire have sensed the same thing I did from my arm chair in Maryland. David Broder writes that McCain's debate performance has "rais[ed] at least faint hopes of his revival in the state where he defeated George W. Bush in 2000." And Stephen Hayes, after touring with McCain in New Hampshire, found that the Senator "is having fun on the campaign trail--more fun than he did last spring when he was one of the frontrunners, and certainly more fun than during the summer of trouble. He is more carefree, more feisty, and more effective. Voters in New Hampshire seemed to notice." Hayes concludes that "It is far too early to start writing the McCain comeback narrative. But it is equally early to be writing his political epitaph." ...
- Hsu and the Shrimp Boy; Update: Hsu’s business records show huge money transfers to other Clinton donors, says NYT
- What Made Norman Hsu Run?
... Much about Mr. Hsu remains a mystery, most notably the source of the money for the donations that made him a favorite in Democratic circles. ... [BF: I gotta go with Russ Vaughn's take here; The Chicoms have been using Hsuboxes full of money to buy political clout in the US.]
- Fugitive fundraiser Hsu 'freaked out' on train, witness says
Fugitive political fundraiser Norman Hsu was behaving erratically as he fled the Bay Area on Amtrak's California Zephyr, at one point stripping off his shirt and shoes, before paramedics were called to take him off the train in western Colorado, passengers said Friday. ...
- Hsu On The Other Foot
Ed Morrissey: Most of the focus for Norman Hsu's dubious fundraising has fallen on Hillary Clinton, who benefited enormously from Hsu's efforts. Less attention has been given to Hsu's connections to her main rival Barack Obama, but the Washington Post reports that Hsu did a little walking for the candidate who claims to want a different kind of politics. Hsu brought Obama one of his biggest fundraisers: ...
- A closer look at the NJ Democrat corruption case
Michelle Malkin: I mentioned the big political bust in NJ that snagged 11 Democrats two days ago. A sham company set up by the FBI paid bribes to the officials. It’s worth taking a closer look at the case and the criminal complaints, which the USAO’s office in NJ has made available online. In a nutshell, the corruption arrests of nearly a dozen public officials “continues to scratch the surface of the problem we have here in New Jersey,” U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said at a press conference announcing the sting. “I thought I could no longer be surprised by a combination of brazenness, arrogance and stupidity,” Christie said, “but the people elected in this state continue to defy description.” ...
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