About Solomon
'On the Right Side of History Since aught-Three.'
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THIS BLOG HAS MOVED - ADDRESS CHANGE

The switch to Movable Type is complete! Please don't reply to anything here. Everything has been ported over to the new blog.

Please update your links and visit us there!

http://www.solomonia.com/blog

Posted by Solomon @ 10:11 PM EST [Link]



Monday, April 28, 2003

Things May Be Getting a Bit Dicey

I'm about to try exporting all my entries here in my Greymatter blog over to the new Movable Type blog. As part of the installation, I've got to temporarily screw around with the templates here, so things are going to look odd for a bit. Bear with me.

And in the mean-time, why don't you bookmark the new URL...but don't look too much yet, it's not quite ready.

Posted by Solomon @ 07:35 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Sunday, April 27, 2003

Light Blogging Ahead For The Next Couple Days

I'm going to dedicate a lot of my "Solomonia" time to tinkering with templates as I try to get my Movable Type installation up and running over the next couple days. I'm going to have a little button displayed over at John Hawkins' Right Wing News website starting on May 1, so ideally I'd like to be completely switched over by then. I'll probably post a bit in the mean-time, but it will be more and more likely to be a quick headline with no commentary (not that that's that unusual).

Posted by Solomon @ 08:29 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Dossier Shows France Briefed Iraq on U.S. Plans

FOXNews.com

BAGHDAD, Iraq - France gave Saddam Hussein's regime regular reports on its dealings with American officials, documents unearthed in the wreckage of the Iraqi foreign ministry have revealed.

The first Iraqi files to emerge documenting French help for the regime show that Paris shared with Baghdad the contents of private transatlantic meetings and diplomatic traffic from Washington.

The information, said in the files to have come partly from "friends of Iraq" at the French foreign ministry, kept Saddam abreast of every development in American planning and may have helped him to prepare for war. One report warned of an American "attempt to involve Iraq with terrorism" as "cover for an attack on Iraq".

Another, dated September 25, 2001, from Naji Sabri, the Iraqi foreign minister, to Saddam's palace, was based on a briefing from the French ambassador in Baghdad and covered talks between presidents Jacques Chirac and George W Bush.

Chirac was said to have been told that America was "100% certain Usama bin Laden was behind the September 11 attacks and that the answer of the United States would be decisive."

The report also gave a detailed account of American attitudes towards Saddam amid anxiety in Iraq that the country might soon become a target of American reprisals.

"Information available to the French embassy in Washington suggests that there is no intention on the part of the Americans to attack Iraq, but that matters might change quickly," said the document from folders marked France 2001 found by The Sunday Times.

"According to French information, a discussion about Iraq is going on in Washington between [secretary of state] Colin Powell and the Zionist [Paul] Wolfowitz [the deputy defense secretary]. Powell was against a military attack on Iraq whereas Wolfowitz was in favor of a strong military operation against Iraq."[...]

Posted by Solomon @ 11:21 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Saturday, April 26, 2003

The proof that Saddam worked with bin Laden

Telegraph | News | The proof that Saddam worked with bin Laden

The Telegraph scores another coup pawing through the rubble.

Iraqi intelligence documents discovered in Baghdad by The Telegraph have provided the first evidence of a direct link between Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terrorist network and Saddam Hussein's regime.

Papers found yesterday in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq's intelligence service, reveal that an al-Qa'eda envoy was invited clandestinely to Baghdad in March 1998.

The documents show that the purpose of the meeting was to establish a relationship between Baghdad and al-Qa'eda based on their mutual hatred of America and Saudi Arabia. The meeting apparently went so well that it was extended by a week and ended with arrangements being discussed for bin Laden to visit Baghdad.

[...]

Posted by Solomon @ 07:20 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



JMCC POLL: Palestinians continue to support attacks on Israeli civilians - violence seen as positive

IMRA - Friday, April 25, 2003 JMCC POLL: Palestinians continue to support attacks on Israeli civilians - violence seen as positive

This is not very optimism-inducing.

JMCC POLL: Palestinians continue to support attacks on Israeli civilians -
violence seen as positive
[IMRA: Contrary to the "common wisdom" expressed by various politicians and
roadmap supporters, the most recent poll of Palestinians by the JMCC
demonstrates that only a small minority of Palestinians (15.2%) believe that
a violence free approach best serves the Palestinians. The overwhelming
majority (65.3%) support continuing the Intifada, 60.5% support military
operations inside the Green Line and 59.9% support suicide bombing
operations against Israeli civilians.

Why are so many politicians, journalists and analysts so out of touch with
the true feelings of the Palestinian street? A mixture of wishful thinking
and selective exposure. Some try to mold reality to meet their needs while
others mistakenly assume that their multilingual Palestinian contacts are in
fact telling them what the Palestinian street thinks instead of what these
Palestinians believe serves Palestinian interests for the politicians,
journalists and analysts to think the Palestinian street thinks.

It should be noted that there is every indication that the respondents are
expressing their true views. A poll in Syria would no doubt find 99.9%
trusting Assad most while this poll finds only 21.1% trusting Yasser
Arafat the most and 36.1% not trusting anyone. ]

The specific questions and responses follow. Will responses change should conditions change? Time will tell.

Posted by Solomon @ 04:38 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



The Notice-Me Nation Blusters Some More

North Korea's Threats A Dilemma for China (washingtonpost.com)

[...]U.S. officials say that during a break in the talks, a North Korean delegate pulled aside the senior U.S. official and declared that his country has nuclear weapons and might export them or conduct a "physical demonstration." Though it was not clear whether the North Koreans truly had such weapons, the statement caused an uproar in Washington; President Bush responded that the North was "back to the old blackmail game."

North Korean officials also asserted they had nearly completed the reprocessing of 8,000 spent fuel rods into weapons-grade plutonium, a fact not yet confirmed by U.S. intelligence.[...]

Amazing how North Korea's behavior is classically leftist on the macro scale. Their own decisions and actions have lead them down a path to absolute backwardness and ruin, and rather than changing course themselves demand to be provided for by people who have earned something they want.

Looks like the US won't be fooled again, and that's a good thing.

Posted by Solomon @ 09:31 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Friday, April 25, 2003

The Expulsion That Never Was

Heheh...Martin Kramer reminds us of that other group of people who were wrong and ought to apologize for their ridiculous pre-war predictions. Remember that group of over 1000 "academics" who wrote an open letter warning against Israel's supposed plan to transfer the Palestinians out of the West Bank and Gaza? Never did happen did it? Personally, I thought they might take the opportunity to transfer Arafat, and Arafat alone, but they didn't even bother with that.

Among the predictions about the war that didn't pan out, there is one that hasn't been subjected to post-war ridicule, but that very much deserves it. This is the December letter, signed by over 1,000 academics, predicting and warning against Israel's possible "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians in the "fog of war." The letter ended with this recommendation: "We urge our government to communicate clearly to the government of Israel that the expulsion of people according to race, religion or nationality would constitute crimes against humanity and will not be tolerated."

The United States made no such communication to the Israeli government, yet lo and behold, no expulsion took place. In the "fog of war," the Palestinian street demonstrated wildly for Saddam, Palestinian politicians jockeyed for position, and Israel prepared with gas masks and duct tape, like a proper ally/client of the United States. All of this was completely forseeable by anyone with an iota of expertise, experience, and common sense. It was not foreseen by many of America's leading Middle East "experts," who put their names to this ridiculous letter, and who in fact seem to have initiated it.[...]

Posted by Solomon @ 01:42 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



VDH: Time Is on Our Side

Victor Davis Hanson on War on National Review Online

Victor Davis Hanson is feeling bullish on the future as his says that time is on our side in Iraq.

[...]Iran may think it smart to use its fundamentalist agents to undermine the American achievement in Iraq. But look at the newly constituted map, where it suddenly finds itself surrounded by reformist movements. The omnipresence of the United States, twenty years of failure inside Iran, and the attractions of American popular culture will insidiously undermine the medieval reign of the mullahs faster than it can do harm to the foundations of democracy in Baghdad.

What will the theocracy do when Internet cafes, uncensored television and radio, and free papers spring up across the border in Iraq? How, after all, do you fight such a strangely off-the-wall culture as our own, which turns the villainous Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf into "Baghdad Bob," with his own website and a cult following, replete with T-shirts and coffee mugs — or prints out thousands of decks of playing cards decorated with the names and pictures of Iraqi fascists?

In the surreal world of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia talks of the need to banish Americans liberators from Iraq to ensure "democratic government" there. But it can do all of us a favor by first expelling Americans from Saudi holy soil, and then bringing some public transparency to the labyrinth of billions of dollars (800 and counting?) that has been sequestered in foreign banks by the royal family.

True, most of the Arab street may curse infidels in Baghdad, but a sizable minority will acknowledge the freedom there and ask, "If there, why not here?" Or: "Don't our own kleptocrats have lavish, glittery palaces of extortion just like Saddam did?" Nothing has been more pathetic in the last few days than listening to in-house Arab "intellectuals" damning the United States, ridiculing the "liberation" of Iraq, and railing at the old bogeyman of "colonialism" — even as they watch demonstrations and a freedom in Baghdad impossible in their own police states. What a burden they must carry: supporting the old Arab nationalist status quo ensures the continual absence of their own independence. Nothing is more fatal for an intellectual than complicity in his own censorship.[...]

Posted by Solomon @ 09:50 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Thursday, April 24, 2003

I'm Going to Move to Movable Type - Help needed!

OK, I've decided to make the move from Greymatter over to Movable Type for the blog. Greymatter is good and all, and I've invested a lot of time getting over the learning-curve, but MT has some features like trackback and such, as well as a more active user-base and continuing updates that I'd like to take advantage of.

I'm slowly puzzling through the process of setting up MT. I'd like to get MT totally set up with the same look as I have currently here with GM and then move over as seemlessly as possible.

Trouble is, I have fairly limited HTML skills, but I've been slogging through the MT style-sheet, bringing stuff in from my current style-sheet and forming the main index template for MT. I'll take it one template at a time, starting with the main index template, getting that set up totally before moving on to the next.

First question! If someone can tell me why the table is screwed up on this page (the new MT blog): http://www.solomonia.com/blog/, I would be ever so appreciative. Specifically, why is the G@%$@DAMN left margin so frickin' fat, and the other two cells so screwed as well? As far as I know, it's supposed to be 150px wide and that's it. The page is supposed to look exactly as this one does (leaving aside some of the colors and fonts - I can handle fixing that).
Further, why aren't the two entries showing up?

As I say, if any HTML and/or MT gurus out there can help, I'd appreciate it. Reply in comments or email me.

Thanks!

Posted by Solomon @ 09:59 PM EST [Link] [4 comments]



Best if the Web: Upcoming Iranian Student Protest and Iraqi Humanitarian Crisis Overstatements

A couple of interesting items in today's Best of the Web:

General Strike Set in Iran In Bid To Topple Mullahs

This is a NY Sun story about a large Iranian student protest scheduled for July 9th. The questions are, how big will this one be, and how much should the USA be overtly involved? These types of events are a big opportunity for us. It's difficult to know from this distance how meaningful an event this really is, although the article certainly makes it sound promising. If it's worth it, we should be giving all the moral support we can.

WASHINGTON — Mark the date: July 9. That’s when opponents of the Iranian regime have called a general strike that they hope will expand to topple the government there and bring freedom and democracy to the Iranian people.

The strike is being organized by profreedom student groups to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the last student uprising in Iran that saw thousands of students take to the streets against the Islamic Republic’s ruling mullahs.

The planned event — indeed, the Iranian freedom movement as a whole — could take on a new dimension now that Iran’s western neighbor, Iraq, is free from Saddam Hussein’s tyranny.

Policy experts have speculated that a liberated Iraq could embolden Iranian freedom fighters to rise up and mount a serious challenge to the ruling mullahs.

The July 9 strike is also putting Washington on the spot, as policymakers scramble to decide how the American government should respond. [...]

Also, Taranto has several links to what amount to admissions by AFP and BBC that maybe the massive anti-American protests and the supply disaster in the Baghdad hospitals weren't all they were cracked up to be. Go to the Best of the Web feature here and scroll down to the heading "Repent. The End Isn't Nigh."

[...]Remember all the hysteria about looting of hospitals? Now Agence France-Presse reports (you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the dispatch to read it) that according to Médecins Sans Frontières there is "no large-scale health crisis" in Iraq. "MSF has not found any reason to justify a major humanitarian medical program in Iraq," MSF international president Morten Rostrup tells the wire service.

And what about those revolting Shiites who've been all over the news the past couple of days? "Shias Stage Anti-US Protest" reads a BBC.com headline from yesterday. You have to read to the 10th paragraph to learn that "the anti-US demonstrations were small-scale, involving only a few hundred people."[...]

Posted by Solomon @ 04:19 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



International Bill of Wrongs

FrontPage magazine.com - International Bill of Wrongs By Ben Johnson and Michael Tremoglie

Another one for the "beware of good intentions" file. This time concerning the International Bill of Rights Project. It seems to me that a small group of people could distill about a paragraph's worth of a statement defining a set of universal rights. Anything more than that and one has to wonder if someone's confusing "rights" with "goals."

[...]Article 2, Section 1 (Free Speech) is representative of the nebulous terms and limitations imposed upon human behavior in this utopian manifesto:

"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to see, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of borders. No one may be coerced into expressing his or her views and convictions or into renouncing them. The only exception is that the urging of violence against individuals or groups based upon race, religion or sex is impermissible."

This language, which recalls the restrictive P.C. speech codes of ultra-leftist universities such as Boyd’s alma mater of Berkeley, brings to mind another, similarly limited constitution: Brezhnev’s Soviet Constitution of 1977. That Orwellian deception (which, coincidentally, also guaranteed "free, qualified medical care" to all citizens) promised endless rights, limited by this phrase: "Enjoyment by citizens of their rights and freedoms must not be to the detriment of the interests of society or the state, or infringe the rights of other citizens." With such restrictions, the Soviets could legally deprive the guaranteed "enjoyment" of these rights to such giants as Aleksandr Solzenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov.[...]

Posted by Solomon @ 11:22 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Amnesty for Iraq

FrontPage magazine.com - Amnesty for Iraq By Christopher Archangelli

Archangelli tales on Amnesty International's political bias. Dovetails well with this USS Clueless item. Both items serve as a worthwhile reminder that one should credit organizations with what they "are," rather than what they call themselves (humanitarian, non-partisan, etc...). It's not that AI is not a worthwhile organization that does some good work, but one should be cognizant of the fact that they also have their own agenda. Worth checking out.

Add Amnesty International to the growing list of organizations that have recently been exposed as anti-American and anti-war. Founded in 1961 as an organization "dedicated to freeing prisoners of conscience, gaining fair trials for political prisoners, ending torture, political killings and ‘disappearances,’ and abolishing the death penalty throughout the world," Amnesty International has proven that since the start of the war it is firmly against the United States and its allies in the quest to liberate Iraq. Despite rhetoric that proclaims neutrality in the war and a non-partisan and non-political stance, Amnesty International has taken a firm stand against the Bush and Blair administrations while turning a blind eye to the atrocities of Saddam Hussein and his sadistic Baathist government.[...]

Posted by Solomon @ 10:56 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Neocons = Conservative Jewish Hawks To The Kooks?

John Hawkins of Right Wing News has a nice, concise response to the Neo-Cons=Da Jews canard using that recent Arab News piece, "Protocols of the Elders of Neocons" as a jumping off point. Very worthwhile reading.

I probably wouldn't even bother to comment on this article from "Arab News" entitled, "Protocols of the Elders of Neocons" if I hadn't seen the sentiments in it slipping into mainstream leftist and Paleocon thought. But, since there are some people out there who buy into this sort of garbage (probably more so than many of them are willing to admit in front of a camera), I thought it was worth shooting down. Here's the opening paragraph that gives a good general idea of what the writer is trying to get across...

Posted by Solomon @ 12:25 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Garner's Media Woes: When Will They Learn

Garner's Media Woes: When Will They Learn - Austin Bay's Iraq War Diary

Austin Bay on the "political quagmire" nay-sayers.

According to his critics, Jay Garner is already Tommy Franks. No, I don"t mean the Gen. Franks of April 2003, but the Gen. Franks of March 2003 and -- for that matter -- of October 2001.

Garner's reconstruction effort is already in trouble with media fingerwaggers. Never mind that gunfire continues to sputter. Why, Garner lacks sufficient personnel, there's infighting at the Pentagon -- shucks, his plan is flawed.

Heard it before? Sure, track back three weeks with the likes of The New York Times' R.W. Apple excoriating Central Command. Reconstructing Iraq has barely begun, but the critical piling-on is already in progress. One horror among the usual cranks is Garner has oil industry contacts and he's retired military. Of course, anyone with a knack for the obvious knows both knocks are welcome assets, given Iraq's petroleum reserves and the iffy security situation. The cranks appear to prefer Garner be a Marxist sociology prof with a 'stop the war" tattoo on his tongue.[...]

Excellent!

And be sure not to miss Kanan Makiya's War Diary entry from April 18th. He was at the Ur gathering of Iraqi leaders.

A couple of his comments:

[...]2. The much-vaunted divide between the so-called "exiles" and the so-called "authentic Iraqis" who never left Baathist Iraq, never materialized, as the near-unanimity on the de-Baathification question demonstrated. This was contrary to years of soi disant expert analysis from the State Department and the CIA. It turned out that many of the "internals" knew who Kanan Makiya was, and even, God forbid, liked a thing or two that he had to say. Why, they even mentioned his name in pleasant tones from the podium.

3. There was a general sense that the maintenance of law and order inside Iraqi cities and the rapid emergence of an all-Iraqi authority for political reconstruction was the paramount task of the moment. No disagreement on this score at all.

4. Garner was an enormous hit with the Iraqis present at the meeting. He wisely stayed very much in the background, judging that the key task at hand was having Iraqis speak to one another, rather than having them hear speeches from representatives of the U.S.-led coalition. When Garner did finally speak, it was to make a direct, honest, straight-from-the-heart appeal to the participants that won them over instantly. He said, simply, that his role was to support Iraqis in the reconstruction of their country, and that he plans on leaving as soon as Iraqis themselves find it appropriate. "He really means it," a businessman from Mosul said to me after the conference. "This man is the genuine article."[...]

Posted by Solomon @ 12:14 PM EST [Link] [2 comments]



Goebbels would have liked this

canada.com network - Goebbels would have liked this Randy Shapiro For the Calgary Herald (Via Israpundit)

Interesting commentary/review on the Pal-Prop film, "Jenin Jenin."

The last time I was at the University of Calgary, almost 10 years ago, I was invited to a movie series where a professor presented various Nazi films produced in the 1930s.

In these films, Jews were depicted as "foreigners" (they weren't "real" Germans or "real" Europeans; they were an "alien" element on European land), Jews were analogized to parasites (they were pictorially juxtaposed to rats running through the sewers), and Jews were depicted as hateful, inhumane, and cruel people, while the Germans, of course, were depicted as peace-loving.

Of course, the good professor showed these films not because she endorsed the message. Rather, she showed them to demonstrate the pernicious results of insidious hate propaganda.

That was 10 years ago.

Last week, I attended the first part of another film series at the University. Talk about deja vu!

In a propagandistic film called Jenin Jenin, a film which could have easily been directed by Joseph Goebbels himself, "Jews" were depicted as cruel and inhumane; Jews were analogized to parasites (mice, in particular); and once again, Jews were depicted as "foreigners" and an "alien element," but this time in the Middle East -- which, of course, is nothing short of an insult to the last 5000 years of history. Mind-probing questions were also raised in the film such as how God could ever create a people such as the Jews.

Unlike the propaganda films I viewed 10 years ago, which were intended to admonish, this propaganda piece -- presented by the Palestinian-Canadian Student Society (PCSS) and the Calgary Coalition for Peace and Anti-Racism -- was intended to persuade.

And make no mistake, the message in Jenin Jenin was not only directed against Israelis or Zionists, or any other popular euphemism to describe today's Jewry; it was simply directed against all Jews.

In the Middle East, this kind of vitriol is not uncommon. It is, however, an entirely different story when organizations import this kind of hate into Canada -- a country built upon a core value of multicultural and racial tolerance.

Unfortunately, I have found that every time I attend an event sponsored by the PCSS, I end up convinced that tolerance and peaceful co-existence are simply not on the agenda. In fact, the only discussion I have heard about peace at a PCSS event has centered on the dismantling of the Jewish state, a suggestion which was not only seriously entertained, but greeted with widespread applause.

In this context, it is not surprising that the PCSS chose to present the film Jenin Jenin -- a highly distorted presentation of second-rate propaganda -- to open their film festival. It was a logical springboard for the continued de-legitimization of the Jewish state, as well as a vehicle for a not-so-subtle attack on Jews themselves.

Aside from the palpable undertow of anti-Semitism, the film Jenin Jenin centers around Israel's incursion into Jenin last year. The film simply parrots and re-packages all the allegations made last year by Arafat's Palestinian Authority -- allegations which have since been proven patently false by the very human rights organizations that the PCSS selectively rely upon in their own Jenin "fact" sheets.

The PCSS is desperately hoping that we buy this newly re-packaged propaganda, which the PCSS beguilingly describes as an "unbiased" account.

They are hoping we forget deep embarrassment caused to the Palestinian Authority when the international media broadcasted pictures of fake funerals where corpses miraculously walked away.

They are similarly hoping we forget that Israel only entered Jenin after seven straight days of bloody and unparalleled terrorists attacks in which scores of innocent Israeli civilians were deliberately and systematically slaughtered.

Finally, they are hoping we forget that Jenin was proudly known to be the "suicide capital" as well as the undisputed territory of Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- terrorist groups whose express goals include the immediate liquidation of the Jewish state.

For those who remember, the real story behind Jenin was that Israeli troops engaged in hand-to-hand, door-to-door combat, in narrow streets, where houses were booby-trapped by terror organization. At the end of weeks of intense fighting, there were 21 Palestinian civilian casualties, which -- although every death is a tragedy -- testifies to the scrupulousness of the Israeli army, which lost 23 soldiers, precisely because it wanted to avoid the civilian casualties that normally come with aerial assaults.

In fact, Jenin is one of the only battles in recent history where more troops lost their lives than innocent civilians.

Of course, facts and context will never get in the way of organizations which cling tenaciously to ideas that are just as unpalatable today as they were in the 1930s.

Randy S. Shapiro is a Calgary Lawyer and spokesperson for Stand With Israel, a multi-faith coalition of young Calgary professionals.

Posted by Solomon @ 11:14 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Garner on the Shiites - Powell on France

CNN.com - Garner downplays Shiite discontent - Apr. 23, 2003

Garner isn't so worried about the apparent anti-American Shiite demonstrations in Karbala of the past few days.

[...]"I think ... a majority of the people realize that we're only going to stay here long enough to start a democratic government for them, and we're only going to stay here long enough to begin their economy ... and we're only going to stay here long enough to get their oil running ... and the revenues to people," Garner said.

Garner said that he did not believe that the chants of "Death to America, death to Israel" by crowds in the Shiite pilgrimage to Karbala reflected the feelings of most Iraqis.

"A month ago they wouldn't have been able to demonstrate, and demonstrations are one of the properties of freedom," Garner said.

"I've had many, many Iraqis in Baghdad and the south tell us they're glad we're here, so I think what you see right now is some staged demonstrations," he said.[...]

Sounds reasonable to me, although they need to track down and get rid of any Iranian infiltrators:

WASHINGTON, April 22 — Iranian-trained agents have crossed into southern Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein and are working in the cities of Najaf, Karbala and Basra to promote friendly Shiite clerics and advance Iranian interests, according to defense and other United States government officials.

The officials cited intelligence reports that said the agents include members of the military wing of an Iraqi exile group that operates from Iran with that government's training and support. Known as the Badr Brigade, the militia is the armed force of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shiite group with headquarters in Tehran.

Other agents who have crossed into Iraq may include irregular members of a special unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the officials said.

They said the infiltration from Iran was not unexpected, but they described it as a matter of significant concern at a time when outside powers are jockeying for influence to fill the political vacuum in Iraq. They said it suggests that Iran, which stayed on the sidelines during the American-led war in Iraq, may be trying to take a more assertive role in shaping developments in southern Iraq, whose population — like that of Iran — is composed overwhelmingly of Shiite Muslims.

"They are not looking to promote a democratic agenda," one military official said.[...]

In the same CNN item, Powell shows consistency and a laudable ability not to forget past wrongs:

[...]U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed the fallout over prewar negotiations in the Security Council on "The Charlie Rose Show," saying it was no secret the United States believed that "France was not playing a helpful role."

"We have to look at all aspects of our relationship with France in light of this," Powell said, according to a transcript of the interview the State Department provided.

Powell said France would face consequences for standing up to the United States, but he did not elaborate.

I love it when Powell talks firm.

Posted by Solomon @ 10:55 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Mark Steyn on Burk, the NY Times and CNN

Heheh...entertaining Steyn piece (as usual) worth reading in full (requires registration). Israel News : Jerusalem Post Internet Edition - Page One obsessions and a little something bottled up, By Mark Steyn

[...]The Times had no position on war with Iraq but by golly it knew where it stood on the burning question of Augusta's sexism, and it hammered it home by every means at its disposal.

Well, last weekend we finally got to see the results. According to some newspapers, the big protest, led by Martha Burk of the National Council for Women's Organizations, attracted two dozen supporters, outnumbered five to one by the press.

According to USA Today, she had 40 supporters, outnumbered more than two to one by the cops.
Let's be generous and call it 40. Four-zero? That's it? In the last nine months, the New York Times has run 95 stories on Martha Burk and Augusta.

So, aside from being outnumbered by police and reporters, Burk's 40 supporters were outnumbered more than two to one by New York Times stories on Burk. Every time the Times mentioned this allegedly raging furor, it attracted approximately another 0.4 of a supporter to her cause.[...]

Posted by Solomon @ 10:28 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Arafat and Abu Mazen agree on makeup of new cabinet

Well, it was coming down to the wire, and up till just hours ago we heard the whole thing was a failure, but it seems like a last second agreement may be in the offing as every world leader including a Martian delegation has put pressure on Arafat to give up on a little of his power.

Article Static

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and his prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) reached an agreement Wednesday on the composition of the new cabinet, a Palestinian official said. The agreement is a major step toward the presentation of the U.S-backed road map to Middle East peace.

"Arafat and brother Abu Mazen have sorted out their differences," said Tayeb Abdul-Rahim, a senior aide to Arafat, after last-minute mediation efforts by a senior Egyptian envoy.

Abdul-Rahim said that under the deal, Abu Mazen will serve as interior minister and Mohammed Dahlan, the former Gaza security chief whom Arafat did not want in any executive position, will be in charge of security affairs.

Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) said he was informed by Abu Mazen and Arafat that the new cabinet has been formed and that the list of ministers is ready for presentation to the parliament.

"We were asked to call for a special session of the Palestinian legislature to vote confidence in the new government," Abu Ala told The Associated Press. "I will call for a session... within a week."

The announcement of the agreement comes after the head of Egyptian Intelligence, Omar Suleiman, placed heavy pressure on Arafat to find a solution to the dispute with Abu Mazen over the composition of the new cabinet.

Arafat had objected to the would-be prime minister's nomination of Dahlan for the head of the new government's security services, and Wednesday presented his own three-strong short list of candidates.

But Suleiman, sent Wednesday by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, urged Arafat to give up his demands, Israel Radio reported. The Egyptian envoy assured Arafat that he would remain leader of the Palestinian nation, but pressed him to rescind his demands over the formulation of the cabinet, the radio said.

Abu Mazen, who had not met with Arafat since Saturday, arrived at Arafat's Ramallah headquarters Wednesday afternoon, along with Suleiman and Dahlan.[...]

One wonders what kind of agreement they came to concerning security arrangements and disarming Fatah. Same day's Ha'Aretz:

Arafat rejects plan by Abu Mazen to disarm Fatah militia:

The dispute between Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and Palestinian prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) over the formation of a new government centers around the latter's plans to dismantle Fatah's Al Aqsa Brigades and his intentions to deal with the other armed factions in the territories.

Most reports have focused on Abu Mazen's plan to make Mohammed Dahlan, the Gazan strongman and former head of the Preventive Security Services in the Gaza Strip, head of the new government's security services. However, Palestinian sources said the dispute actually revolves around the premier-designate's plans for establishing a new PA security policy, and whether he must win Arafat's approval for every decision he makes.

The sources said Abu Mazen's plans to disarm the underground armed wing of Fatah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and how he will confront Hamas and Islamic Jihad are at the heart of the dispute.

Abu Mazen insists that he be granted sole authority over the disarming of armed factions, while Arafat rejects the demand, fearing that the disarming of the Al Aqsa Brigades would lead to a civil war. The two also have not reached an agreement as to how to deal with the other armed factions.

Despite massive international pressure, including phone calls from European leaders to Arafat, the dispute has come down to the wire. To meet his deadline, Abu Mazen must present his government to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) by tonight. However, as of late, a majority of the PLC, which gave a sweeping mandate to Abu Mazen to form a government just two months ago, has consolidated around Arafat. As a result, it is doubtful that the prime minister-designate can win the council's vote of confidence unless he reaches a deal with Arafat.

The pressure on Arafat has been so great, according to Palestinian sources, that at one point Arafat slammed down the phone on a senior European statesman.

Although Arafat and Abu Mazen reached an agreement that 12 to 14 of the PA's former ministers will remain in a 24-to-26-member government, as favored by Abu Mazen, the dispute over overall strategy - and Arafat's role in setting that course - has superseded their apparent compromise. The dispute, therefore, appears to be threatening not only an Abu Mazen government, but also the international road map intended to renew political negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Posted by Solomon @ 10:06 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Tuesday, April 22, 2003

The Latest PA Child-Abuse Ad

Check it out at Palestine Media Watch through this link at Arutz Sheva - Israel National News.

Posted by Solomon @ 10:48 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Ralph Peters: Palestinian Reality

Peters puts down the straight dope on the future of Palestinian statehood and Middle East peace. Is this the pesimistic or the realistic view?

NYPOST.COM Post Opinion: Oped Columnists: PALESTINIAN REALITY By RALPH PETERS

[...]The Arab world is as addicted to blame as any junkie was ever addicted to heroin.

There may be some meaningful efforts to place new limits on terrorist operations from the soil of states such as Jordan and Egypt. But the terrorists will find ways around any restrictions. They are so consumed with the vision of Israel annihilated that many will never be able to tear themselves away from the delicious comforts of hatred, blame and slaughter.

The best hope for peace would be a regime change in Syria and the expulsion of all terrorist organizations from Lebanon. That may happen. Operation Iraqi Freedom provided the spark that could ignite the entire region, leading to the eventual collapse of one illegitimate government after another.

Anti-Israeli terrorism will never cease entirely - it's simply too alluring to the spiritually dispossessed of the Arab world - but the transformation of surrounding governments into states even moderately observant of human rights, the rule of law and the popular will would seriously hamper terrorist operations.[...]

The link is via LGF. Speaking of which, Charles has a roundup on various Mullah's contributions to world peace.

Posted by Solomon @ 10:26 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Newt On State

Newt Gingrich has been making the news today with his speech at the American Enterprise Institute. He's calling out the State Department in a big way - calling for major reform and the disollution of USAID. Here's the transcript. Worth reading. Is he being unfair in this case? Maybe, even probably. But I can certainly buy into the idea that State is in major need of reform and purge.

The last seven months have involved six months of diplomatic failure and one month of military success. The first days after military victory indicate the pattern of diplomatic failure is beginning once again and threatens to undo the effects of military victory.

The diplomatic highpoint for the United States was President Bush's speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 12, 2002. At that point, the case had been made emphatically that the burden was on the UN Security Council. The Iraqi dictatorship had violated UN resolutions for 12 years--it was the United Nations that was under scrutiny because it was obvious that the regime of Saddam Hussein had failed. As President Bush said, it was time to "choose between a world of fear and a world of progress."

The State Department took the President's strong position and negotiated a resolution that shifted from verification to inspection. This was in part done because of internal State Department politics because verification would have put the policy in the hands of people who disagreed with the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs' propensity for appeasing dictators and propping up corrupt regimes. [...]

Posted by Solomon @ 07:25 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



The Man Who Helped PFC Lynch

Here is a picture of "Mohammad" - the Iraqi lawyer who helped the Marines to rescue PFC Lynch. There's also an interesting story of C-130 crews at work. (Via One Hand Clapping)

Posted by Solomon @ 03:57 PM EST [Link] [2 comments]



Ledeen Warns About Iran's Machinations

Michael Ledeen on Iran, Iraq, and Shiites on National Review Online

Ledeen is worried that Iran will cause us to lose the peace, and proposes a couple of solid courses of action. Let's hope someone is listening:

[...]Our best strategy consists of two programs, one defensive and one offensive. The first is to support pro-Western, pro-democracy mullahs in Najaf and Karbala. They have sent a message to me (roughly two dozen of them), offering to help us in exchange for physical protection and money to give as charity to followers. Most Iraqi people do not like the Iranians, but only their own religious leaders can credibly expose the Iranian operation. They will not believe our radio or television broadcasts, or speeches from American generals, but they will listen to their own religious leaders. Similarly, it is next to impossible for us to identify the Iranian-backed terrorists, but the Iraqi Shiites can do it, once they are convinced that their real salvation lies with us. That is why the battle for the minds of the Iraqi Shiites is so crucial.

The second program is to support the anti-regime forces inside Iran. That insane regime is now very frightened, both of us and of their own people. The ayatollahs know that the Iranian people long to be free, and the regime has intensified its repression during the run-up to the war. There are several pro-democracy groups in Iran (student and teacher organizations, trade unions, workers? group, especially in the oil and textile sectors) that can organize an insurrection in Tehran and other major cities. They need money (a fraction of what was squandered in the CIA’s failed program to induce an insurrection in Basra), satellite phones, laptop computers, and the like. At the same time, we should support the pro-American Persian language radio and TV stations in Los Angeles, that are the principal source of information for most educated Iranians.[...]

Posted by Solomon @ 02:07 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Dr. Daniel Pipes and His Critics

FrontPage magazine.com Robert Spencer takes on the Pipes critics in this supportive piece. Have you written your Senator yet?

Posted by Solomon @ 11:36 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]



Horowitz on the "Neo-Comms"

FrontPage magazine.com

David Horowitz turns his spotlight on the neo-communists of the collegiate left and analyses their motives.

[...]What the prologue to the war and its aftermath reveal is that the facts of the war are not the issue for the “anti-war” left and neither is the war itself. The so-called “anti-war” left is a Neo-communist movement that was launched forty years ago under the pretense of being a “new left,” and it has been at war with the “American empire” ever since. During these years of struggle with Communists in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, China, Southeast Asia, Africa and Central America, and in the aftermath of America’s liberation of a billion inhabitants of the Communist empire, this left has been impervious to every good deed America has done and every bad deed its Marxist and now Islamo-fascist enemies have committed. Instead, this “antiwar” left relentlessly attributes the bad deeds of America’s enemies to America itself – hence the search for “root causes” every time America is attacked.

The Neo-communist left opposes America’s efforts to promote freedom and supports (sometimes “critically”) America’s declared enemies not because of what America does, but because of what they think America is. The Neo-communist left is impervious to facts because it is a political messianism, in essence a religious movement. Its delusions of social redemption are fed on a rich diet of anti-American myths. These myths were once generated in institutions funded by the Communist Party and other marginal radical sects. But that has all changed with the long march of the left during the last thirty years through America’s institutions of higher learning. The Neo-communist left is now entrenched on the faculties of America’s elite universities, where it is a “hegemonic” force. It has converted America’s elite universities into a political base for its radical and anti-American agendas. In the present war with radical Islam, this poses a problem Americans can continue to ignore only at their own peril, and which sooner or later they must address.

Posted by Solomon @ 09:47 AM EST [Link] [No Comments]






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