Month: November 2005

Cable news television loves to put on the ‘former’ U.S. government official who is now an expert in opposition of the war in Iraq and has just happened to have written a new book exposing the Bush administration as evil incarnate. Chris Matthews had one of these bozo’s on last night.

Michael Scheuer served as chief of the CIA‘s bin Laden unit.  His book is, ‘Imperial Hubris, why the West is losing the war on terror.’

 

 

MATTHEWS:  Michael, just to think outside the box, would we be better off with Saddam Hussein still running tyrannically that country of Iraq, right next door to Jordan?  Would Jordan be more secure in that environment?

SCHEUER:  No doubt about it, sir.

MATTHEWS:  No doubt?

SCHEUER:  There‘d be many more dead—many fewer dead Americans, and we would have many more resources available to annihilate al Qaeda, which is what we have to do.  Without a doubt, in the war against al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein was one of our best allies.

MATTHEWS:  How so?

SCHEUER:  He was not going to permit Iraq to become a base, as it is today, for Sunni fundamentalists.

MATTHEWS:  Why did he let them come in for that training, that chemical training, whatever the hell they did up north?

SCHEUER:  They didn‘t control the area, so that was in the no-fly zone.  They were in an area that was in Kurdistan.

MATTHEWS:  OK.

This is complete nonsense, yet there is Chris Matthews, acknowledging Scheuer’s twisted notion with a simple “O.K.” He lets outright lies like this flow unfiltered. Yet when a Republican (and not McCain, Chris’ favorite flavor) comes on armed with the truth, he either muffles the discussion with his blasted crosstalk technique or he shuts the conversation down altogether.  

And what about this idea that Saddam Hussein was one of the best allies the U.S. had in the war against al Qaeda? This is leftist propaganda dished up to be adopted and amplified by others who believe that Bush went after the wrong guy. Poor Saddam was after all, a bad guy, but a bad guy who could have been made good with a few simple diplomatic meet-ups and pressure from the United Nations. HEH!

I’m sick and tired of the attempts by the left to rewrite history so they can dress it up in a way that fits their political agenda. 

The war on terror continues.

AP – Suicide bombers attacked three hotels frequented by Westerners in the Jordanian capital Wednesday night, and at least 23 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the near-simultaneous explosions, police said.

Maj. Bashir al-Da’aja said officials believe all three blasts were carried out by suicide bombers. The explosions indicated the involvement of al-Qaida, which has launched coordinated attacks on high-profile, Western targets in the past, a police official said.

One explosion occurred in a wedding hall where 300 guests were celebrating.

UPDATE: At least 57 dead.

MORE: CNN | MSNBC | The Daily Telegraph (Australia) |

Judith Miller is no longer a reporter for the New York Times.

The New York Times and Judith Miller, a veteran reporter for the paper, reached an agreement today that ends her 28-year career at the newspaper and caps more than two weeks of negotiations.

Ms. Miller went to jail this summer rather than reveal a confidential source in the C.I.A. leak case. But her release from jail 85 days later and persistent questions about her actions roiled long-simmering concerns about her in the newsroom.

“We are grateful to Judy for her significant personal sacrifice to defend an important journalistic principle,” said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The New York Times. “I respect her decision to retire from The Times and wish her well.”

In a memo sent the Times staff at 3:30 p.m. today, Bill Keller, the executive editor, wrote, “In her 28 years at The Times, Judy participated in some great prize winning journalism.”

So, now she’s free to write her tell all book including behind-the-scenes tidbits of her time in the big house. Good for Judy. But why is this such big news? Yeah, she was embroiled in a controversy that the Left tried to dress up into a full-blown White House cover-up, but that pig hasn’t yet flown, so…

We complain about the elitism which permeates the MSM. The very fact that this news is getting so much play today sustains the fantasy. And in a weird way, I’m contributing by merely blogging the story. It’s that dilemma that conflicts me even now as I write this.

Oh well. It is what it is.

MORE: Bill Keller’s memo to NYT staff members.

But I did.

Michele Catalano has shut down ‘A Small Victory’. She’s going to do other things now…like write a book. That’s cool. I’ll miss the music surveys though, and her unique perspective on life ‘stuff’.

Good luck Michele.

Former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, angry and unrepentant as ever, still hasn’t learned anything.

In her first interview since being fired, former CBS News producer Mary Mapes maintains that her controversial “60 Minutes II” story on President Bush’s National Guard service was “true” and that “no one has proved that the documents were not authentic.”

Mapes says she is continuing to investigate the source of the controversial documents whose authenticity was seriously questioned by the CBS panel.

And just as soon as O.J. hunts down and captures the real murderer of his ex-wife Nicole and her buddy Ron, Mary will follow suit with the results of her tireless quest to find the actual source of the Rathergate documents.

Of course there is that problem of the average human life span being only 77 years, but hey.

The French are upset at the way the world’s media characterize the rioting. Well, boo-hoo.

A barrage of critical world media reporting on the violence in its rundown suburbs is rubbing nerves raw in France, which is more used to hearing praise for its food, its countryside and its opposition to the Iraq war.

In tones ranging from outrage to rueful agreement, French media are now reporting daily on the harsh terms that foreign television stations and newspapers choose to describe the unrest among France’s angry youths of Arab and African origin.

France laughed off “freedom fries” — as French fries were renamed in Washington — and other anti-French sentiment in the United States at the start of the Iraq war in 2003, but its reaction to the riot reporting carries a between-the-lines admission of hurt pride.

“From Italy to South Africa, Poland to China, from CNN to al-Jazeera, the newspaper headlines and television commentaries set against a background of blazing cars are really hyping it up,” the popular daily Le Parisien complained.

The Foreign Ministry has criticised some foreign reports as excessive and at least one cabinet member, Labour Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, has hinted the critical reporting was meant to hit back at France for opposing the U.S.-led Iraq war.

Heh, that’s a good one. The U.S. somehow controls the world media and can influence it to write negative sounding (albeit accurate) headlines in order to punish France.

If only.

If there was ever a reason to arrest someone…

Thomas DeFrank writes in today’s NY Daily News that the relationship between George W. Bush and Dick Cheney is tenuous, at best. Don’t believe it.

The CIA leak scandal has peeled back the veil on the most closely held White House secret of all: the subtle but unmistakable erosion in the bond between President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Multiple sources close to Bush told the Daily News that while the vice president remains his boss’ valued political partner and counselor, his clout has lessened – primarily as a result of issues arising from the Iraq war.

“The relationship is not what it was,” a presidential counselor said. “There has been some distance for some time.”

This is exactly what the Democrats want moderates and leftward leaning Republicans to believe. They’re counting on a ‘snowball’ effect in order to bring just enough doubt into the thinking of swing voters (if there is still such a thing). Their goal, of course, is to propagate a notion that the GOP is on the brink of destruction, and that voters will regret reelecting Republicans in 2006, and extending our stay in the White House past 2008.

Meanwhile, has anyone heard any new ideas from the Democrats?

As far as I’m concerned, they can keep up this effort. Go ahead lefties – use the willing media to push the lie that George and Dick are enemies. Use Democratic ‘consultants’ to regurgitate talking point after talking point about how George and Laura are ‘on the rocks’ (a rumor that I’m betting will surface sometime soon). Exhaust all your resources to dish the dirt. It won’t bring you power. It won’t get you elected.

As long as Republicans can lead the dialog on solutions to today’s problems and ideas for tomorrow’s problems, we’ll stay in the majority, and we’ll stay in the White House. Americans want leaders who work at moving forward. They don’t want a party who’s primary objective is to relive the ‘90’s.

Blogs for Bush is two years old today. Go over and send your well wishes to Matt and the gang.

Two guys set a new ‘stupid’ standard.

Reuters: A hand grenade being used instead of a ball in a game of catch exploded early on Saturday killing three youths in this Bosnian town, police and news agencies said.

Two youths aged 19 and 20, one of them from neighboring Croatia, were killed instantly while a 20-year-old woman died on her way to hospital, police said. Her sister was slightly injured but two other youths suffered serious injuries.

Not your average game of pickup.

If these guys were 9 and 10 years old, I might be able to understand this, but 19 and 20? Jeez.

Now, lest you think they had all of their 10 brain cells working when this happened, the story goes on to mention that this tragedy occurred at 2:00 AM, which makes it likely that the grenade wasn’t the only thing loaded at that hour.

h/t Ace