Petrified Truth

Movie magic?

Unquestionably the best film of the year, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" is nominated for 11 Academy Awards. If it doesn't win Best Picture, an army of fans with swords and axes can be expected to surround the arena.

UPDATES:

• Art Direction WINNER!
• Costume Design WINNER!
• Writing (Adapted Screenplay) WINNER!
• Visual Effects WINNER!
• Sound WINNER!
• Music (Song) WINNER!
• Music (Score) WINNER!
• Make-Up WINNER!
• Film Editing WINNER!
• Directing WINNER!
• Best Picture WINNER! WINNER! WINNER!

Per John Hood at NRO's The Corner, "Lord of the Rings is on track to sweep pretty much everything it's up for, thus reinforcing one's faith in justice and the cosmic order." Glad it came true.

Setting the record straight

Always informative Power Line has an interesting entry today related to Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks," and an attempt to finally give credit where credit is due, thirty years after the fact.

"Blood on the Tracks" has been re-mastered. Maybe time to go shopping.

Old friends

Libya's dictator is sure talking the talk.

Declaring the nuclear arms race "crazy," Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi said on Saturday that Libya abandoned its quest for weapons of mass destruction because it exposed Libya to "danger" and was no longer needed.

He urged other nations with nuclear capabilities to renounce their programs, too. "Any national state that will adopt this policy cannot protect itself. On the contrary, it exposes itself to danger," Gadhafi told African leaders at the end of a two-day summit on water, agriculture, and defense issues in the Mediterranean town of Sirte.

"The nuclear arms race is a crazy and destructive policy for economy and life. We would like to have a better economy and an improved life," added Gadhafi.

However, if he talks too much, the mullahs of Iran are preparing to take him down.

Iran is trying to prevent Libya from disclosing incriminating details of Teheran's top-secret nuclear weapons programme, by threatening to unleash Islamic fundamentalist groups opposed to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Western intelligence specialists have learned from interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects, captured close to Afghanistan's border with Iran, that a militant group of Libyan extremists is being protected and trained by terrorism experts from Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

The Libyan Combat Islamic Group (GICL) was expelled from Libya by Gaddafi in 1997 after it was implicated in attacks against government targets. At first the group relocated to Afghanistan, where it became closely involved in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation.

After the war in Afghanistan in 2001 the Libyan group was given a safe haven in Iran, together with other North African terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda. Now the Iranians have agreed to provide the Libyan dissidents with expert training to enable them to attack Libyan targets and intensify their campaign to overthrow Gaddafi.

The Iranians have told Libya of the group's presence in Iran, but promised to restrict its activities to al-Qaeda operations elsewhere so long as Gaddafi does not reveal details of Iran's secret nuclear activity.

Follow the money

A lengthy investigative story in today's New York Times about the U.N.-run Iraqi "oil for food" program is only the beginning of understanding the full scope of the corruption that embodied Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Ground zero was the U.N. headquarters, and it reached capitals and halls of commerce throughout the world. Excerpts:

In its final years in power, Saddam Hussein's government systematically extracted billions of dollars in kickbacks from companies doing business with Iraq, funneling most of the illicit funds through a network of foreign bank accounts in violation of United Nations sanctions.

Millions of Iraqis were struggling to survive on rations of food and medicine. Yet the government's hidden slush funds were being fed by suppliers and oil traders from around the world who sometimes lugged suitcases full of cash to ministry offices, said Iraqi officials who supervised the skimming operation.

Iraq's suppliers included Russian factories, Arab trade brokers, European manufacturers and state-owned companies from China and the Middle East. Iraq generally refused to buy directly from American companies, which in any case needed special licenses to trade legally with Iraq.

"You had cartels that were willing to pay kickbacks but would also bid up the price of goods," said Ali Allawi, a former World Bank official who is now interim Iraqi trade minister. "You had rings involved in supplying shoddy goods. You had a system of payoffs to the bourgeoisie and royalty of nearby countries.

"Everybody was feeding off the carcass of what was Iraq."

Roger Simon has the best response so far:

Since this may be among the Biggest Heists of All Time, if not the biggest, we need to know as many facts as possible.

The UN supervisors of this mega-crime claim not to have known what was going on. Whether they are lying or were unconscionably stupid or stupefyingly lazy (or a combination of the three) we do not know yet, but one thing is clear. For the preservation of the United Nations, the books of all transactions under all United Nations programs henceforward must be open—that is, immediately and entirely open and available to all on the Internet. That cartels of Russian Mafiosi, Syrian fascist thugs, Iraqi ruling gangsters, Swiss bankers and who knows who else were able to profiteer to the tune of billions off money that was supposedly meant for medicine for Iraqi children is beyond disgusting. Anyone who thinks that the overthrow of Saddam was not a good thing for this reason alone ought to examine his or her morals.

Tip via the omniscient InstaPundit

Suffer the children

The brutal destruction of Zimbabwe by its meglomaniacal dictator Robert Mugabe continues apace, on a scale that boggles the imagination. This tortured nation, once a breadbasket of Africa, is reverting to an almost pre-human condition. Murder, torture, and rape of the young are now instruments of the state.

President Robert Mugabe's government has set up secret camps across the country in which thousands of youths are taught how to torture and kill, the BBC has learned. The Zimbabwean government says the camps are job training centres, but those who have escaped say they are part of a brutal plan to keep Mugabe in power.

Former recruits to the camps have spoken to the BBC's Panorama programme about a horrific training programme that breaks young teenagers down before encouraging them to commit atrocities.

In accounts gathered by BBC Panorama from dozens of youths, it appears that for many of them the training in the camps begins with rape.

President Mugabe has visited the camps. Ministry insiders have told Panorama that his government knows what goes on inside them. Food is often scarce. Youths are beaten until they succumb to orders. They are taught that their mission is to keep President Mugabe in power.

Mugabe does have one fervent admirer: dictator-in-the-making Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. They got together for some mutual admiration recently. Birds of a feather always hang... together.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez praised Zimbabwe's embattled President Robert Mugabe as a "freedom fighter," bestowing the visiting African leader with a replica of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar's sword.

"I give you a replica of liberator Simon Bolivar's sword," Chavez said Thursday after the two leaders signed an energy co-operation agreement.

"For you, who like Bolivar, took up arms to liberate your people. For you, who like Bolivar, are and will always be a true freedom fighter," Chavez said. "He continues, alongside his people, to confront the pretensions of new imperialists."

Mugabe, who was in Venezuela for the February 27-28 summit of the G-15 group of developing nations, grinned as he unsheathed the sword and swung it about.

Space

NASA shows us a spectacular image of Saturn from the Cassini probe and a martian sunset in blue via the Opportunity rover. But more management problems in the International Space Station program have been revealed. Robots ascendant; manned missions still down.

Engaging Africa

Glad to see that the U.S. is adopting a more active security posture towards Africa -- often forgotten but of great long-term importance.

The United States is scaling up its military presence in Africa as concern mounts over terrorist threats - both immediate and future - on the continent, the deputy head of American forces in Europe said Friday.

"The threat is not weakening, it is growing," Air Force Gen. Charles Wald said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Luanda, Angola. "We can't just sit back and let it grow."

The focus on Africa is part of major restructuring as U.S. forces in Europe reposition for the war against terror.

Africa is a growing strategic interest to the United States because of its terror links and its oil, which is seen as a possible alternative to Middle East fuel.

European Command is not looking to station large concentrations of troops on the continent, Wald said. But it intends to make its presence felt through joint exercises, training initiatives and other exchanges. U.S. forces have also negotiated access to a number of sites, including air strips in Angola and Gabon, that can be used for stopovers, refueling, or to position troops and equipment.

Wald said this will allow U.S. forces to respond with light, mobile troops - whether for peacekeeping, crisis response or a specific terrorist threat. "We're actually going to get more capability with less force because of our ability to move around fast," he said.

The al-Qaida terror network has already staged deadly attacks in East Africa, bombing U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and a Kenyan hotel in 2002.

Western military and security officials also worry about possible terrorist activity along ancient Sahara trading routes linking Arab and African nations. They suspect terror groups have already set up training camps in the remote deserts of Mali and Niger.

Of particular concern is the Algeria-based Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which allegedly has ties to al-Qaida. The group was blamed in the kidnapping of 32 European tourists in the Sahara last year.

The United States is helping train and equip four Sahara nations - Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad - to better guard their porous borders against terrorists, arms and other trafficking. There are also agreements to conduct exercises and training in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, Wald said.

Further south, the United States wants to protect oil supplies in the Gulf of Guinea, where it gets 15 percent of its oil.

"Coffee shop conscription”

Always-interesting DEBKA in Israel has a provocative report today about al Qaeda, its targeting of Europe for future attacks, and an active program to recruit and train tens of thousands of jihadist terrorists: a "Euro army."

DEBKA says its report is based on "a joint defense department-CIA inquiry ordered by the US President." If authentic, this would have immense strategic implications for the War on Terror.

al Qaeda is discovered to be recruiting manpower in Europe at a brisk pace in a push into the continent personally advocated by Osama bin Laden. The Saudi-born terrorist has thus gained the upper hand in a debate within his organization’s top leadership over its next focal arena. Bin Laden urged fostering the war on the “far enemy” (Europe) as against concentrating the movement’s fury on the “near enemy” (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, South Asia).

The European arena, often neglected by American counter-terrorism agencies, is showing a dangerous dynamism. Data assembled for a preliminary assessment show al Qaeda in the process of evolving from terrorist networks and cells into a professional fighting force with military features.

According to French counter-intelligence, al Qaeda has recruited in France alone between 35,000 and 45,000 men and is organizing them into military-style units. They meet regularly for training in the use of weapons and explosives, combat tactics and indoctrination and are controlled from local and district command centers under the organization’s national French command.

In Germany, Al Qaeda has recruited 25,000 to 30,000 men. The British domestic intelligence agency MI5 estimates 10,000 faithful have joined up in Britain.

Recruitment across Europe continues apace and in greater secrecy than ever as a result of a switch to new recruiting techniques and appeal to fresh target-populations for building the Euro army. According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s counter-terrorism sources, the authors of the interim report found that al Qaeda, intent on beating surveillance and penetration by intelligence services, no longer selects combatants at its usual hunting grounds in mosques, Islamic culture centers and Muslim immigrant neighborhoods. Instead, native Europeans freshly converted to Islam are targeted.

Greenspan knows

Fed chairman Alan Greenspan is upbeat and confident about the short-term prospects for economic recovery.

As you know, the U.S. economy appears to have made the transition from a period of subpar growth to one of more vigorous expansion. Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose briskly in the second half of last year, fueled by a sizable increase in household spending, a notable strengthening in business investment, and a sharp rebound in exports. Moreover, productivity surged, prices remained stable, and financial conditions improved further. Overall, the economy has lately made impressive gains in output and real incomes, although progress in creating jobs has been limited.

The most recent indicators suggest that the economy is off to a strong start in 2004, and prospects for sustaining the expansion in the period ahead are good. The marked improvement in the financial situations of many households and businesses in recent years should bolster aggregate demand. And with short-term real interest rates close to zero, monetary policy remains highly accommodative. Also, the impetus from fiscal policy appears likely to stay expansionary through this year. At the same time, increases in efficiency and a significant level of underutilized resources should help keep a lid on inflation.

However, he's quite worried about the deficits, especially because they are caused by the enormous increases in government spending that started in the 1990s, a trend that started under Bill Clinton and has, unfortunately, continued under George W. Bush.

For a time, the fiscal stimulus associated with the larger deficits was helpful in shoring up a weak economy. During the next few years, these deficits will tend to narrow somewhat as the economic expansion proceeds and rising incomes generate increases in revenues. Moreover, the current ramp-up in defense spending will not continue indefinitely. Merely maintaining a given military commitment, rather than adding to it, will remove an important factor driving the deficit higher. But the ratio of federal debt held by the public to GDP has already stopped falling and has even edged up in the past couple of years--implying a worsening of the starting point from which policymakers will have to address the adverse budgetary implications of an aging population and rising health care costs.

For about a decade, the rules laid out in the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, and the later modifications and extensions of the act, provided a procedural framework that helped the Congress make the difficult decisions that were required to forge a better fiscal balance. However, the brief emergence of surpluses eroded the will to adhere to those rules, and many of the provisions that helped to restrain budgetary decisionmaking in the 1990s--in particular, the limits on discretionary spending and the PAYGO requirements--were violated more and more frequently and eventually allowed to expire. In recent years, budget debates have turned to choices offered by those advocating tax cuts and those advocating increased spending. To date, actions that would lower forthcoming deficits have received only narrow support, and many analysts are becoming increasingly concerned that, without a restoration of the budget enforcement mechanisms and the fundamental political will they signal, the inbuilt political bias in favor of red ink will once again become entrenched.

In view of this upward ratchet in government programs and the enormous uncertainty about the upper bounds of future demands for medical care, I believe that a thorough review of our spending commitments--and at least some adjustment in those commitments--is necessary for prudent policy. I also believe that we have an obligation to those in and near retirement to honor what has been promised to them. If changes need to be made, they should be made soon enough so that future retirees have time to adjust their plans for retirement spending and to make sure that their personal resources, along with what they expect to receive from the government, will be sufficient to meet their retirement needs.

Wisely, Greenspan is also wary of using the deficits as an excuse to raise taxes -- not when spending is the problem.

I certainly agree that the same scrutiny needs to be applied to taxes. However, tax rate increases of sufficient dimension to deal with our looming fiscal problems arguably pose significant risks to economic growth and the revenue base. The exact magnitude of such risks is very difficult to estimate, but they are of enough concern, in my judgment, to warrant aiming to close the fiscal gap primarily, if not wholly, from the outlay side.

Via the Federal Reserve

Prepare

Today is Ash Wednesday. Keep it in your heart.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption.

Following the example of the Nine vites, who did penance in sackcloth and ashes, our foreheads are marked with ashes to humble our hearts and reminds us that life passes away on Earth. We remember this when we are told

"Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return."

Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice.

Where things stand

CIA director George Tenet testified publicly today about the status of the War on Terror. Here's what he called the "stark bottom-line:"

The al-Qa`ida leadership structure we charted after September 11 is seriously damaged—but the group remains as committed as ever to attacking the US homeland.

But as we continue the battle against al-QA`ida, we must overcome a movement—a global movement infected by al-QA`ida's radical agenda.

In this battle we are moving forward in our knowledge of the enemy—his plans, capabilities, and intentions.

And what we've learned continues to validate my deepest concern: that this enemy remains intent on obtaining, and using, catastrophic weapons.

Then he said this:

But al-QA`ida is not the limit of terrorist threat worldwide. Al-QA`ida has infected others with its ideology, which depicts the United States as Islam's greatest foe. Mr. Chairman, what I want to say to you now may be the most important thing I tell you today.

The steady growth of Usama bin Ladin's anti-US sentiment through the wider Sunni extremist movement and the broad dissemination of al-QA`ida's destructive expertise ensure that a serious threat will remain for the foreseeable future—with or without al-QA`ida in the picture.

A decade ago, bin Ladin had a vision of rousing Islamic terrorists worldwide to attack the United States. He created al-QA`ida to indoctrinate a worldwide movement in global jihad, with America as the enemy—an enemy to be attacked with every means at hand.

There's a lot more. Read the whole thing for yourself via the Central Intelligence Agency before the media spin it for you.

Hollow = empty

Canada has been starving its military of the funding needed to operate effectively and uphold the nation's treaty obligations. Now word is getting out to the Canadian public about the implications of hollowing out their armed forces.

Canada's army, navy and air force are facing a funding shortfall of up to half a billion dollars, defence sources told the National Post, and the military is recommending drastic measures to make up the difference, including closing some of the largest bases in the country.

The federal government is stalling the release of internal documents that outline the looming financial crisis, but military sources said the reports indicate that in the fiscal year beginning on April 1, the air force expects to be $150-million short of funds needed to fulfill its commitments, the navy will be $150-million shy of its needs and the army will be as much as $200-million short.

The military sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the reports foresee a situation so dire that they recommend curtailing operations, dry-docking ships and mothballing vehicles or aircraft and closing at least four Canadian Forces bases.

This news is consistent with the predictions made in a provocative study issued last year.

The Canadian air force, as well as either the army or navy, could cease to exist within five years unless the new government under Paul Martin greatly boosts defence funding, warns a study from Queen's University.

The bleak study, entitled Canada Without Armed Forces?, says years of penny-pinching has left the Canadian Forces on the brink of collapse, and the problem is so bad it could take an entire generation to recover.

"There is not much Canadians can do to save this situation, at least not in the term of the next government or even the government after that," says the report, released Wednesday.

"The descending slope is too steep and it will take too long to turn it upwards for tomorrow's government to benefit from altered policies."

"The problem will rapidly disarm foreign policy as Canada repeatedly backs away from international commitments because it lacks adequate military forces," says the report.

Canada was there at D-Day and many other tough battles on behalf of freedom. We'll miss having them at our side in the future. Maybe Canada's voters would like to do something about this?

Remarkably negative tone

Former state governor Marc Racicot, now campaign chairman for the Bush-Cheney re-election effort, issued a fair challenge to thin-skinned John Kerry over the weekend. Kerry won't accept, since there's nothing fair about a knife fight anyway.

As we debate these issues, I also ask you to elevate the remarkably negative tone of your campaign and your party over the past year. Your chief surrogate, Senator Edward Kennedy has said that the war to remove Saddam Hussein was “made up in Texas.” The chairman of your party has accused the President of being “AWOL.” During the first days of combat in Iraq, you yourself called for “regime change in the United States.” Of the $6.95 million that your campaign has spent on television ads, 74 percent of those ad dollars have funded a direct attack on the President.

We intend to run a campaign on the issues and each candidate's record on those issues. We hope that in the future you and your surrogates will do the same. Each candidate's record on defense, on national security, on the War on Terror and on the economy is central to his vision for the future and will be central to this debate.

Close to Zarqawi

Lots of interesting news tonight from Iraq, courtesy of Fox News.

The top bomb-maker for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed in Fallujah, Fox News learned Monday. The bomb-making lieutenant, whose name wasn’t released, died in a gun battle at a terrorist safe house late last week, military sources told Fox.

The military officer's death is significant because Al-Zarqawi is the man believed to have masterminded a number of recent attacks against the coalition in Iraq.

Civil affairs soldiers were passing out election pamphlets in Fallujah, just west of Baghdad, when someone began shooting from a nearby house, sources told Fox. That’s when Task Force 121, part of U.S. Special Forces, was called in. After a short gun battle, two people were killed — including the Zarqawi lieutenant and one of the soldiers passing out the brochures. A handful of others were captured.

Inside the terrorist safe house, sources said the military found a passport belonging to Zarqawi, fake identification and other information.

In another weekend raid — this one initiated by American troops over the weekend in Baghdad — a detailed map of U.S. headquarters turned up in the Iraqi capital, military sources told Fox.

The sources said a terrorist cell is believed to have been using the map of Camp Victory to plan an attack there. Sources told Fox they suspect an Iraqi contractor is helping terrorists, and they've launched a full investigation into who the culprit might be.

Meanwhile, defense officials say that a copy of a letter believed to have been penned by Zarqawi has turned up in Saudi Arabia. The copy was discovered with Saudi financiers whom Defense officials believe were being solicited to fund terrorist operations inside Iraq, sources told Fox.

The U.S. military recently intercepted the original from Al Qaeda member Hassan Ghul. The letter is significant because of its message to the terrorist network's command structure in the mountains along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan calling for help in Iraq. Defense officials told Fox they are convinced that there is a communications link — a sharing of tactics — among Al Qaeda-tied groups in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In another find that could prove the Afghanistan-Iraq connection, three Afghans were arrested over the weekend as they entered Iraq from Turkey carrying tens of thousands in U.S. dollars and large quantities of Iranian currency, military sources told Fox.

American soldiers have recovered millions of U.S. dollars in recent weeks inside Iraq — crisp, new bills that officials believe came directly from an unidentified bank.

Back to the future

Drayton McLane really, really wants to go to the World Series this year, and sell a lot of tickets along the way. Now he's lured Nolan Ryan back to help the Houston Astros, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Astros owner Drayton McLane and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan spoke today, finalizing the terms of a five-year special services agreement, people close to the situation have told the Chronicle. The Astros have called a news conference to announce the deal at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Minute Maid Park, and Ryan will be present.

McLane has been adamant about bringing Ryan back into the Astros' fold, and he has landed his man yet again in what has been the best stretch of recruiting in Astros history.

No longer overlords

Essential Victor Davis Hanson, long-time close observer of immigration in California, identifies the "force multipliers" of illegal immigration, and says we need a better strategy than that outlined by President Bush.

Illegal immigration cannot be looked at in a vacuum in an age of growing ethnic chauvinism that sees unassimilated and often exploited foreigners in the shadows as an oppressed constituency needing group, rather than individual, representation. Ethnic studies, separate college graduation ceremonies predicated on race, bilingual education, state-supplied interpreters and groups like La Raza ("The Race'') are all force-multipliers to massive illegal immigration, and thus present us with a litmus test of the viability of the melting pot itself.

Instead of arguing over piecemeal legislation in an election year, rolling amnesties or the return of bracero, we might as well bite the bullet and return to an immigration policy that worked well enough for some 200 years for people from all over the world. We can set a realistic figure for legal immigration from Mexico. Then we must enforce our border controls, consider a one-time citizenship process for current residents who have been here for two or three decades, apply stiff employer sanctions, deport all those who now break the law and return to social and cultural protocols that promote national unity through assimilation and integration.

Under such difficult reform, we of the American Southwest might initially pay more for our food, hotel rooms and construction. Yet eventually we will save far more through reduced entitlements, the growing empowerment of our own entry-level workers (many of them recent and legal immigrants from Mexico), and the easing of social and legal problems associated with some 8 millioon to 12 million illegal residents.

More importantly, our laws would recover their sanctity. Without massive illegal immigration, Americans would rediscover their fondness for measured legal immigration. At a time of war, our borders would be more secure. And we all could regain solace, knowing that we are no longer overlords importing modern helots to do the jobs that we, in our affluence and leisure, now deem beneath us.

Risky business

Israel is learning the hard way about the perils of trans-border collaboration on national security matters.

A national scandal is brewing in Israel over security breaches in the country’s missile defense programs. In an expose featured in its February 13th edition, the influential Ma’ariv newspaper has revealed that the advanced Arrow Theater Missile Defense system, as well as other components of Israel’s “Homa” national missile defense architecture, could be infected with a potentially fatal “Trojan horse” virus. Apparently, recent work on the system by the IBM Corporation has included collaboration between software engineers in the company’s Tel Aviv and Cairo branches, giving Egyptian programmers critical access to the “Motif” software that runs Israeli missile defenses. Officials in Jerusalem are now scrambling to find and eliminate software “bugs” that might have been planted as part of this collaboration, the Israeli daily reports.

Via the American Foreign Policy Council

Street truth

Scholar Michael Ledeen says the elections in Iran were violent and entirely fraudulent, and that Western media and governments are not only ignoring the truth but actively covering it up. Tough questions.

Oddly, the wild distortion of the real results does show something that the mullahs do not want us to know. They fear the Iranian people, knowing how deeply the people hate them, and they believe they must continue to tell a big lie about popular support for the regime. But the people know better. Thus, the demonstrations.

The regime clearly intends to clamp down even harder in the immediate future. Hints of this were seen in the run-up to the election, when Internet sites and foreign broadcasts were jammed, the few remaining opposition newspapers shut down, and thousands of security forces poured into the major cities.

For those interested in exposing hypocrisy, it is hard to find a better example than all those noble souls who denounced Operation Iraqi Freedom as a callous operation to gain control over Iraqi oil, but who remain silent as country after country, from Europe to Japan, appeases the Iranian tyrants precisely in order to win oil concessions.

Meanwhile, the only Western leader who consistently speaks the truth about Iran is President George W. Bush, and the phony intellectuals of the West continue to call him a fool and a fascist.

He doesn't let President Bush off the hook either.

Finally, perhaps our enterprising journalists could ask the administration how it can be, three years after inauguration, that we still have no Iran policy. Yes, Virginia, there is still no National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) on Iran, even though Iran is the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, and we claim to be in a war against the terror masters.

Solidarity redux?

With the recent hijacked elections in Iran now over, it's time to ponder what's next. As noted here earlier, there are parallels between the current political struggle in Iran and Poland during the 1980s when Solidarity helped throw off the dregs of Communism there. Two Hoover Institution fellows elaborate on that theme today, and offer some advice to the West.

Contrary to common perception, Iranian society is today one of the most pluralist, and the Islamic regime one of the most fragile, in the region. Even after the election, the prospects for a democratic breakthrough are greater there than elsewhere in the Middle East. Iran occupies the same place in its neighborhood as Poland did in communist Europe in the 1980s. Like Poland then, Iranian society is organized, hostile to the regime, pro-democratic and pro-American, while Iran's rulers--like their Polish counterparts 20 years ago--have no legitimacy, are deeply corrupt, and seem ready to use any means necessary to survive. At the risk of stretching the analogy, last Friday's "coup" in Iran is the equivalent of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski's crackdown against Solidarity. Just as in Poland after December 1981, inside Iran the era of compromise and negotiation is now over.

However, the coup in Iran today and the one in Poland are different in one critical respect: the West's reaction. In contrast to the concerted efforts in the '80s to aid Solidarity, few in the West--including the Bush administration--have shown much solidarity with Iran's democrats. This policy, or the lack of one, needs to change.

Bastards

More death and heartache was heaped on long-suffering Israel today.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade on Sunday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Egged bus No. 14, in which six men and one woman were killed and sixty-six people were wounded Sunday morning.

One of the seven people killed in the blast was identified Sunday as Lior Azulai, 18, who studied at the Gymnasia Rehavia high school in the capital. Nine other school pupils were wounded in the attack.

A statement released by the militant group, associated with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, named the bomber as Mohammed Za'el, 23, from the village of Hussan near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and made a reference to the security fence being built by Israel.

The attack came just a day before the International Court of Justice in The Hague is to begin hearings on the West Bank separation fence Israel says is crucial for keeping out bombers.

The blast took place at around 8:30 A.M. in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Rehavia, near Liberty Bell Park. The bus, travelling to the Beit Hakerem neighborhood, is usually very crowded at this time of day.

Eyewitnesses reported a grim scene.

Mahmoud Abu Snein, a Palestinian working at a gas station near the site of the attack said he was at the station making coffee when the bus exploded. "The bus exploded in front of me, and pieces of glass and body parts flew into the gas station," he said.

"It was like an earthquake," Ora Yairov, who was at the gas station during the explosion, told Channel One television. "The station was filled with shattered glass and pieces of flesh."

Many of the wounded, as well as one of the dead, were students on their way to school.

Lior Azulai, 18, was a 12th grader at the Gymnasia Rehavia high school in Jerusalem and lived in the city's Bak'a neighborhood. Azulai was on his way to school when he was killed in Sunday's suicide bombing. He is survived by his parents and an older sister.

Azulai majored in Bible studies and communications. His friends and teachers said he was one of the funniest and most social students in his class. He was also a talented forward for his school's soccer team.

Lior's aunt Iris Azulai was killed in a terror attack in Jerusalem 12 years ago.

One of my daughters turned 18 last Thursday. She's funny and sociable too. Thanks to President Bush, our brave military and many others, we don't worry too much about one of her bus rides becoming a terrorist charnel house.

By the way, Yasir Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his "efforts to create peace in the Middle East."

Stifled

No word yet on whether the American Library Association will blame this on Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft or not. But of course ALA won't be open until Monday -- I guess we'll see then.

A Palestinian militant group accused American and Israeli groups Saturday of hacking into its Web site and destroying it. Islamic Jihad, which has carried out suicide bombings in Israel, said the unidentified groups had destroyed the site to silence "the Palestinian voice."

In a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Beirut, the group said: "In an attempt aimed at silencing the Palestinian voice - which speaks for the resistance and defends the Palestinian people's right - hostile and malevolent Zionist and American quarters have struck the official Web site of Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement."

The statement said it was trying to restore the Web site. It said this was not the first time its site had been attacked by unidentified "Zionist and American quarters."

"Auschwitz is your country, the ovens are your home"

Eminent scholar Amitai Etzioni is pondering the alarming rise in anti-Semitism, especially in Europe, and the ongoing denials by many public officials, intellectuals, and (apparently) publishers to admit that there is a problem. He's right, and it's more evidence of the West's decaying moral vision.

I have published over 1600 op-eds and essays during my lifetime. Never before have I found a door as firmly shut as when I tried to publish the following text. You be the judge as to whether this op-ed deserves to be read, and if so -- please do pass it on:

Anti-Semitic sentiments are about to be put to a test. On Ash Wednesday, Mel Gibson’s controversial film, The Passion of The Christ, will be released. The film depicts, in gruesome detail, the last 12 hours of Christ’s life, and includes scenes in which Jews encourage and celebrate the Crucifixion. Some, like columnist Robert Novak, say the movie is merely “a work of art.” Others, including a group of scholars commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, fear that it may provoke some of the millions who merely hold anti-Semitic attitudes – to act on them. In either case, what troubles me is how unwilling many spiritual and political leaders are to acknowledge how widespread the dryrot of antisemitism is, especially overseas, which is an essential first step to dealing with this problem.

The Council on Foreign Relations recently conducted a meeting in Washington, DC on the future of the European Union. (Unlike most meetings of the Council, this one was on the record, so I am free to quote what was said at this gathering of the most distinguished foreign policy group in the country.) The speakers covered many facets of the changing attitudes among Europeans towards the United States and much else – but they did not address antisemitism.

Hence, during the Q&A period, I remarked: “As a Jewish child who was chased out of Germany by the Nazis, and who lost most of his extended family in the concentration camps, I am particularly sensitive when soccer hooligans in Italy shout, ‘Auschwitz is your country, the ovens are your home.’” I then added: “One may say that they are merely hooligans. However, antisemitism is rising again all over Europe. What are the causes? What can one do about them?”

Radek Sikorski, a former Polish deputy foreign affairs minister, answered that he was unaware of any such data, and that most of what I was referring to was just talk. Whatever violent incidents have taken place, he said, were the acts of Muslims. These, in turn, reflected of their feelings about Israel. You know, he elaborated, Europeans see Israel differently than Americans. In response, I promised to send him data that show that the problem extends far beyond the small Muslim minority, which amounts to about 5 percent of the European population (15 million out of 300 million).

In a recently released survey of nine Western European countries, conducted by a leading Italian newspaper, 40 percent of respondents agreed that Jews have “a particular relationship with money,” a standard anti-Semitic cliche. Almost 50 percent responded that Jews were “different,” which led many of them to feel that Jews should not be considered “real” compatriots. 35 percent held that Jews should stop “playing the victim” of the Holocaust. Other surveys carried out by a variety of research groups have found similar results. Thirty-five percent of Italians believe that Jews secretly control finance and the media; in the United Kingdom, nearly one in five Britons say that they would not want to have a Jewish prime minister and that Jews have too much influence in their country; and in Switzerland, a 2000 poll found that when presented with three well-known stereotypes about Jews, 60 percent of respondents believed at least one.

As to just talking, I agree with Eli Weisel, who said, “ We have antennas and when we tell you to beware, there is danger, believe us. And I'm telling you, our antennas tell us that there is a moral danger to humanity today.” Rising and repeated expressions of prejudice, whether they are anti-black, gay, or anyone else, should serve as warning signals because all too often they are preludes to violent action, even if only by a small minority of those who believe such stereotypes. And action need not be violent to be troublesome; denying jobs and housing or denigrating people should also be of concern.

I am not saying that people who harbor such feelings should be denied the right to speak. Those who seek to ban hate speech only leave hate to simmer in the dark. However, we should view such expressions as a clarion call for intensive public education campaigns. But these will not be undertaken if, again, as was the case when Hitler was just warming up, public leaders ignore that antisemitism is widespread and continuing to spread further.

When the Council meeting closed, a former state department official approached me and waved his finger in my face as he exclaimed, “Shame on you. You should admit that these are anti-Israeli, not anti-Semitic, feelings.” Upon leaving the meeting, I ran into a friend and told her how taken back I was by this claim. At that point, an author and regular contributor to the American Prospect, who happened to be listening in, responded that indeed what I and others were calling anti-Semitism were merely anti-Israeli sentiments.

True, many Europeans believe that Israel is a great threat to world peace. But I was not referring to these data. What do taunts like, “Auschwitz is your country, the ovens are your home” have to do with hatred of Israel? The anti-Semitic prejudices about Jews’ cleanliness, preoccupation with money, and so on, existed long before Israel was born, and have long been used as excuses to slaughter Jews.

There is no magic cure for anti-Semitism (or other prejudice). However, we know that public education campaigns help when they make people aware that they are blaming Jews (or other minorities) for whatever frustrates them – massive unemployment, defeat in war, or political treachery by their leaders. We also know that it is best to start early with such education, in high school at the latest, and that face-to-face meetings between people of different backgrounds, if properly constructed, may be of service. However, for such programs to be undertaken on the necessary scale, public leaders must first acknowledge that anti-Semitic attitudes are widespread and may be converted into violent action. I fear that in the coming months, following the release of Mel Gibson’s highly provocative movie, we shall see plenty of evidence to this effect.

I have rarely wished so strongly that I would be proven wrong.

Tip via RealClear Politics

Tag, you're it

The RFID trend, driven first by purely economic interests, would seem to be of more concern for privacy worries than anything John Ashcroft is up to. Something to start watching.

Here's another scenario: You're going on vacation in Las Vegas, and while you're in that same mall, you buy a book on card counting. Unbeknownst to you, it, too, has an RFID tag impressed into the binding. RFID tags along with their antenna are already part of paper labels attached to shipping containers. It is no stretch to think how unobtrusive they might yet become.

Now as you enter the hotel/casino, an unobtrusive RFID reader tells management that you have in your possession a book on counting cards. The book has a unique serial number associated not with your credit card -- that would be illegal -- but with a customer ID, name, and address. The casino, in turn, subscribes to a service, maybe from Amazon, with a database of every book in print.

In a world of zero latency, as you passed through the doors, your photo was also taken and now it is distributed to every casino on the strip, so that every time you try to enter a casino, your image is matched to the database as a possible card counter, and two guys with closely cropped hair and tight-fitting sports jackets politely ask you to leave.

These very possible tableaus come courtesy of Hal Etterman, an expert on data encryption and surveillance systems at MindForce Consulting.

There is no doubt that RFID tags will be sewn into the lining of every item of clothing manufactured. Current RFID prices are about 16 cents each on orders of 10 million tags, with the price expected to reach a nickel a tag in a year or two.

By using RFID in clothing, not only will companies be able to discourage shoplifting, they'll also be able to spot other frauds, such as counterfeit brand names or buyers who purchase an item at a discount outlet and then try to return it for the retail price at a regular store. Warranties can now also be easily tracked to date of purchase.

With those benefits to the supply chain, the question is, will the store really want to turn off the tag after the item is purchased, and how can you, as a consumer, tell? "What if you have some strange hobbies you'd like kept private?" Etterman asks.

It is certainly a small step from deploying RFID tags, which have a reach of only about three feet, to putting the readers in public places that already have hot spots. The combination is potent. Suddenly, the information in the tag can be transmitted over the Wi-Fi network and associated with all kinds of other data by all kinds of organizations, such as insurance companies. Or, you may be on the Most Wanted list at your local public library. Why shouldn't they have a piece of you, too?

Via InfoWorld

Normality

Eloquent Peggy Noonan got to be in the room with President Bush recently, and she has some thoughts about his mood, his opponents ("Broken Glass Democrats"), and what may turn out to be GWB's secret weapon: his normality. As always with Peggy Noonan, read the whole thing.

Mr. Bush is the triumph of the seemingly average American man. He's normal. He thinks in a sort of common-sense way. He speaks the language of business and sports and politics. You know him. He's not exotic. But if there's a fire on the block, he'll run out and help. He'll help direct the rig to the right house and count the kids coming out and say, "Where's Sally?" He's responsible. He's not an intellectual. Intellectuals start all the trouble in the world. And then when the fire comes they say, "I warned Joe about that furnace." And, "Does Joe have children?" And "I saw a fire once. It spreads like syrup. No, it spreads like explosive syrup. No, it's formidable and yet fleeting." When the fire comes they talk. Bush ain't that guy. Republicans love the guy who ain't that guy. Americans love the guy who ain't that guy.

Someone said to me: But how can you call him normal when he came from such privilege? Indeed he did. But there's nothing lemonade-on-the-porch-overlooking-the-links-at-the-country-club about Mr. Bush. He isn't smooth. He actually has some of the roughness and the resentments of the self-made man. I think the reason for this is Texas. He grew up in a white T-shirt and jeans playing ball in the street with the other kids in the subdivision. Barbara Bush wasn't exactly fancy. They lived like everyone else. She spoke to me once with great nostalgia of her early days in Texas, when she and her husband and young George slept in the same bed in an apartment in Midland. A prostitute lived in the complex. Barbara Bush just thought she was popular. Then they lived in a series of suburban houses.

George W. Bush didn't grow up at Greenwich Country Day with a car and a driver dropping him off, as his father had. Until he went off to boarding school, he thought he was like everyone else. That's a gift, to think you're just like everyone else in America. It can be the making of you.

The sword

China is telling Hong Kong how things really stand regarding that messy democracy stuff: forget it, and just go back to making money. As long as Beijing gets its cut and there's not too much of that freedom claptrap, all will be well. Otherwise...well, Hong Kong hungers for democracy, but it hasn't forgotten 10,000 dead and wounded protesters in 1989 at Tiananmen Square either.

A warning from Beijing that it would intervene if democrats gain control of Hong Kong in this year's limited elections has sent tremors through political circles in the territory.

China has made it clear that it has no intention of allowing Hong Kong to move to fully elected government. The message is being interpreted as meaning that Beijing regards most of Hong Kong's opposition politicians - and the half-million people who demonstrated against a draconian security law last July - as "unpatriotic" and therefore not fit to rule.

After Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, withdrew the security bill in the face of massive popular unease, attention turned to a promised review of Hong Kong's basic law or constitution for broadening the voting franchise in 2007, the 10th anniversary of the handover from British rule.

Beijing's muted response to the security law rebuff encouraged hopes of flexibility on the part of China's recently appointed generation of leaders around President and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao. The appointment of fifth-ranking party leader and Vice-President Zeng Qinghong to head Beijing's top policy committee on Hong Kong added to the optimism. Mr Zeng has a track record of effective diplomacy with the US and other democracies.

This optimism has now been shattered. Mr Tung is looking even more a lame-duck leader out of touch with Hong Kong's increasingly politicised 7 million people. And elections in August for the territory's parliament - the Legislative Council, known as the "Legco" - could worsen the divergence between Beijing and Hong Kong if democrats increase their representation.

In a briefing for selected pro-Beijing journalists in Hong Kong on Sunday, a senior Chinese official is said to have warned that Beijing might use emergency powers to dissolve the Legco if democrats won control.

"I have a sword," the official said, quoted in the Beijing-controlled paper Wen Wei Po on Monday. "Normally, I would not use it. Now it is the democrats who force me to use it."

Remember, these are the folks whose military is headed to the Moon before we do, if they can just pull it off, with the profits from billions in sales to Wal-Mart.

Absolutely right

Military historian John Keegan has been watching a new BBC program on the extraordinary evacuation of the British military from Dunkirk at the outset of World War II. He likes what he's seen, and helps us remember the real history.

The BBC's drama-documentary on Dunkirk, the first episode of which was shown last night, got mixed previews. Unfairly. Having watched all the episodes on video, I am struck by how fair a picture of that extraordinary episode it conveys, how accurate the history is, and how well judged is the script as drama.

Preliminary reviews were alarmist - that the mood was fashionably debunking, that traditional elements of the saga were belittled. I detected none of that.

It was said that the story of the "little ships" - the fishing smacks and pleasure steamers crossing the Channel to bring off soldiers from the beaches - was reduced to a quarrel over who was going to pay. The regional accents were a bit overdone, so that the fishermen's conversation was difficult to follow.

In fact, they merely seemed to be discussing what recompense they would get if they lost their means of livelihood. Perfectly realistic; contemporary critics seem to forget that working people in 1940 lived from hand to mouth. They had no savings and no familiarity with a compensation culture. The truth is that the crews of the little ships went, at great risk to themselves and their precious boats, and played a small but eternally inspiring part in the great rescue.

A more striking anomaly was the casting of the soldiers, particularly those of the 2nd Royal Warwicks, who are shown being shot as prisoners by the SS. The atrocity undoubtedly occurred and the perpetrators were tried for war crimes after 1945.

What jarred was the victims' appearance. The actors were products of 60 years of prosperity and state welfare - tall, strong young men with smooth cheeks, fresh complexions and good teeth. The private soldiers of 1940, only in their twenties, might belong to a different race - pasty, stunted, gap-toothed and ill-fed.

By contrast the casting of the politicians was superb. Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, an advocate of negotiation with Hitler, was almost a lookalike. So was the moribund Neville Chamberlain. Jack Fortune, who played Anthony Eden, was entirely convincing.

Yet in a superior class altogether was Simon Russell Beale as Winston Churchill. Not only does Russell Beale resemble Churchill, in size, physique and colouring. He also transmits his strength of character and force of personality. When he enunciates the warning - as Churchill did in the War Cabinet on May 28 - that "nations which went down fighting rose again but those who surrendered tamely were finished", drama stopped and reality took over.

He delivered the same effect when he reproduced Churchill's challenge to the full Cabinet a few minutes later: "If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground."

Churchill recorded later that his colleagues, Conservative, Labour and Liberal alike, responded by jumping from their seats, seizing his hand and pummelling him on the back. "Had I at this juncture faltered in leading the nation, I have no doubt I should have been hurled out of office."

Via The Telegraph (UK)

A signal?

When I first heard on the radio about the massive train explosion in Iran, my first thought was "sabotage." But of what? The Israeli pundits at DEBKA say they know. Very plausible but likely as not we'll never know.

Little credence is given in Tehran to the official claim that the colossal train explosion which killed at least 300 people and razed five villages in the northeastern Khorassan province Wednesday was caused by colliding wagons carrying industrial chemicals and fertilizers, as well as diesel fuel and cotton. Such flammable freights are usually shipped separately in Iran.

DEBKAfile’s sources note that Iranian officials, two days before a highly controversial parliamentary election, are doing their best to play down the disaster outside Neyshabur which rocked houses 50 miles away in Mashad. The Islamic Republican News Agency tried to blame an earth tremor of 3.6 magnitude, but the US Geological Institute in Colorado said no seismic activity was recorded in the area.

DEBKA’s sources in Tehran have heard unconfirmed reports that the disaster was no accident, but possibly sabotage carried out by anti-government forces in Khorassan province, which borders on Afghanistan. This report ties in with another that claims the train was not carrying innocent industrial cargoes but hundreds of tons of explosive materials Iran was smuggling into Afghanistan via the Shiite city of Herat to be used by Iranian saboteurs and agents for guerrilla attacks on US troops and the forces of President Hamid Karzai, as well for supplying the Taleban in their Kandahar stronghold.

DEBKAfile’s sources report that there were a series of blasts; the first inside the Neyshabur train station was powerful enough to trigger a second explosion in the remote station of Khayyam. There, it set ablaze another train carrying fuel and other flammable material.

Iran has long used Khorassan province as a conduit for smuggling thousands of its agents into Afghanistan. But the province is also home to nearly two million Afghan refugees, some of whom hire out as agents to the Kabul government or the US military. The suggestion is that a group of these agents were ordered to blow up the train when it pulled into Neyshabur. Their mission: to deter the Iranians from further meddling in Afghanistan.

21st century work

The world economy is reshaping the prospects for employment at breakneck speed, without regard for what any politicians want to do about it.

The nation's future work force will be smaller and more diverse, more mobile and more vulnerable to global competition, according to a study conducted for the Labor Department.

Shifting demographics, advances in technology and increases in global trade are the strongest forces shaping the world of work, with big changes on the horizon for workers and employers, said the study by Rand Corp., a think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif.

"These trends have important implications for vital aspects of the future workplace and work force and for the U.S. economy," said Lynn Karoly, a Rand economist who led the study.

American workers should brace for continued global "offshoring" of manufacturing jobs and high-skilled, white-collar service jobs — a touchy political issue this election year. Offshoring refers to outsourcing or the loss of American jobs to overseas markets.

The inexpensive and rapid exchange of communication and information are breaking down trade barriers and hitting sectors of the economy that were once insulated from global competition.

Economists concede that globalization will continue to have "a favorable effect on income, prices, consumer choice, competition and innovation in the United States," the report said.

Report via RAND

A cry of agony

Pro-democracy elements trapped inside the Iranian theocracy have gone out even farther on a limb to advance their cause. This feels a bit like watching Poland when Solidarity was making its daring moves, inch by inch, to erode the authority of Polish Communism.

In a daring protest described Tuesday as a "cry of agony," more than 100 reformist lawmakers accused Iran's supreme leader of allowing freedoms to be "trampled" and rigging upcoming parliament elections in favor of hard-line backers.

The attack -- in a letter sent to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- raised political dissent to levels unimaginable just a few weeks ago and shattered taboos about public criticism of Iran's unchallenged political and spiritual authority.

The letter struck right at a core complaint: that Khamenei's regime has corrupted the spirit of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled a Western-backed monarchy. His supporters believe he is incapable of error and answerable only to God.

"The popular (1979) revolution brought freedom and independence for the country in the name of Islam. But now you lead a system in which legitimate freedoms and the rights of the people are being trampled in the name of Islam," the legislators said in the letter, made public Tuesday -- a day after being sent to Khamenei.

The missive also underlined a new and aggressive form of defiance by liberals booted from the political process. Critics call Friday's parliamentary elections a charade after the disqualification of more than 2,400 pro-reform candidates.

"It is a cry of agony for what's happening to our country," said Reza Yousefian, a letter supporter and parliament member who has joined appeals for a mass boycott of the balloting. "We may see a strong social backlash."

They remember

John Little at National Security Blog notes a new and passionate political alliance: Americans and Vietnamese who remember John Kerry all too well.

Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry (V.V.A.J.K.) today announced a national coalition with Vietnamese Americans for Human Rights in Vietnam.

"We represent hundreds of thousand of American veterans who do not want to see John Kerry any where near the Oval Office," said Ted Sampley, founder of V.V.A.J.K, and a U.S. Army Green Beret and veteran of two combat tours in Vietnam.

Said Sampley, "I have personally dealt with John Kerry on the issue of US POWs left behind in Vietnam. Kerry is not truthful and is not worthy of the support of US veterans. Many Vietnam vets have been duped into thinking Kerry is their friend. He is not. To us, he is ‘Hanoi John’"

Dan Tran said speaking as a member of Vietnamese Americans Against John Kerry, "On behalf of tens of thousands of Vietnamese-Americans, we are determined to demonstrate against Senator Kerry all across this nation."

Dan Tran, a NASA engineer and president of the Vietnam Human Rights Project, said, "John Kerry aided and abetted the communist government in Hanoi and has hindered any human rights progress in Vietnam."

Announcement via Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry

Spring thaw

There are stirrings on the Afghan/Pakistan front as spring approaches and conditions for military operations improve, including an official disclosure:

The commander of American-led forces in Afghanistan said Tuesday that the military had adopted new tactics to combat Taliban and Al Qaeda militants in the country.

The officer, Lt. Gen. David W. Barno of the Army, said that in the past three months, American units down to the level of 40-soldier platoons had been dispatched to live in villages where they can forge ties with tribal elders and glean better information about the location and activities of guerrillas.

In the past, he said, American forces typically gathered intelligence about hostile forces, carried out focused raids for several days against those targets, then returned to base to plan and prepare for their next mission.

"What we're doing is moving to a more classic counterinsurgency strategy here in Afghanistan," General Barno told reporters at the Pentagon in a videoconference from his headquarters in Kabul, the capital. "That's a fairly significant change in terms of our tactical approach out there on the ground."

The approach, he said, will give soldiers "great depth of knowledge, understanding, and much better intelligence access to the local people in those areas by owning, as it were, those chunks of territory."

There's also an interesting tidbit reported from an Arab-language newspaper in London, according to ABC News:

Pakistani tribal sources told Al Hayat newspaper that eye witnesses saw American forces being dropped in Kohat airport near Peshawar, close to an area where al Qaeda members are believed to be hiding. They also said there's U.S. movement in Banu in the middle of the tribal areas. There's speculation that this may be in preparation for a spring offensive against al Qaeda elements which the Pentagon had announced.

Guts

Donald Sensing finds much to admire amidst the chaos of the recent brutal attack on an Iraqi police station -- specifically, the steadfast men who refused to back down even when the odds were stacked against them.

These Iraqi heroes did not flee even when their ammo ran out and 23 of their comrades had been slain. These policemen never felt they were outclassed by the jihadi attackers. They were only outgunned. They declined the offer of troops from nearby American paratroopers. They did not need Americans to bleed for them. They were more than willing to bleed for themselves.

All they asked the Americans to do was send them more ammunition. We did, and these men held their ground.

"Rap-crap" and more

Sen. Zell Miller (D-Georgia) wants action about coarsening content on television, and he has a few choice words about the Super Bowl halftime show. Just when you thought there was nothing more to say....

The Culture of Far Left America was displayed in a startling way during the Super Bowl’s now infamous half-time show. A show brought to us courtesy of Value-Les Moonves and the pagan temple of Viacom-Babylon.

I asked the question yesterday, how many of you have ever run over a skunk with your car? I have many times and I can tell you, the stink stays around for a long time. You can take the car through a car wash and it’s still there. So the scent of this event will long linger in the nostrils of America.

I’m not talking just about an exposed mammary gland with a pull-tab attached to it. Really no one should have been too surprised at that. Wouldn’t one expect a bumping, humping, trashy routine entitled ‘I’m going to get you naked’ to end that way.

Does any responsible adult ever listen to the words of this rap-crap? I’d quote you some of it, but the Sergeant of Arms would throw me out of here, as well he should. And then there was that prancing, dancing, strutting, rutting guy evidently suffering from jock itch because he kept yelling and grabbing his crotch. But then, maybe there’s a crotch grabbing culture I’ve unaware of.

But as bad as all this was, the thing that yanked my chain the hardest was seeing that ignoramus with his pointed head stuck up through a hole he had cut in the flag of the United States of America, screaming about having ‘a bottle of scotch and watching lots of crotch.’ Think about that.

This is the same flag that we pledge allegiance to. This is the flag that is draped over coffins of dead young uniformed warriors killed while protecting Kid Crock’s bony butt. He should be tarred and feathered, and ridden out of this country on a rail. Talk about a good reality show, there’s one for you.

The Kurds are watching

Al Qaeda's local Iraqi franchise is apparently behind the latest wave of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks in Iraq. It's unfortunate we weren't able to take out more of them last year when the Ansar stronghold in northern Iraq was cleaned out -- maybe if the 4th Infantry Division had been allowed passage through Turkey there would have been sufficient forces to better seal off the area.

A terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida that escaped a U.S.-led attack in March has reconstituted itself and is involved in the recent wave of car bombings and other suicide attacks that have killed and wounded hundreds in Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

In much the same way that Osama bin Laden escaped from a U.S.-led offensive in Afghanistan, some members of Ansar al Islam fled into Iran from their enclave in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq in March as U.S. and Kurdish troops closed in. Now they're returning to become a terrorist threat in postwar Iraq.

U.S. and Kurdish officials believe Ansar has regrouped in small Iranian towns near the border. Members have been quietly returning to Iraq singly and in pairs to train local Iraqis not only in the tactics of building bombs, but also in their extremist brand of Islam that advocates suicide bombings, the officials said.

The Kurdish officials said they based their assessment in large part on intercepted phone calls, interrogations of captured Ansar members and documents confiscated from detainees.

A high-ranking U.S. Army official in Baghdad, who spoke on the condition that his name not be used, confirmed that the U.S. military suspects that Ansar has been involved in bombings across Iraq, including one in August that killed more than 80 in the southern city of Najaf, and most of the recent suicide bombings in and around Baghdad. "We've seen elements of what we think are Ansar Islam throughout Iraq," he said.

The Ansar fighters have formed alliances of convenience with local Saddam Hussein loyalists, providing them with training and expertise in making improvised bombs and conducting guerrilla warfare, said Hikmat Mohammad Karim, a top Kurdish politician who goes by the name of Mullah Bakhtiar. In return, the Saddam loyalists provide safe houses, weapons and money.

Via the Houston Chronicle

"They Are Killing These People"

Word is trickling out of Fidel Castro's prison nation about the conditions under which he and his jailers are holding uncounted prisoners of conscience. No word yet from the Hollywood smart set, the American Library Association, or other apologists for Castro about these cruel reports. Danny Glover, call your local library -- your sense of shame is overdue.

At least 20 Cuban dissidents, part of a group of 75 journalists, librarians and economists arrested nearly a year ago, are seriously ill in Cuban prison cells where they are being held under inhumane conditions, according to their wives, friends and human rights activists in Cuba.

They are killing these people," said Miriam Leiva, whose imprisoned husband, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, is suffering from advanced cirrhosis of the liver. Espinosa, 63, an economist sentenced to 20 years for criticizing Fidel Castro's economic policies, is being held in a cell on the grounds of a military hospital in Havana, Leiva said. She said his cell had no windows or running water and the lights were kept on 24 hours a day. He has lost 40 pounds, is unable to eat and has a fungal infection covering his legs, she said.

"The situation is getting worse every day," Vladimiro Roca, a dissident writer released from prison in 2002, said from his Havana home. "When I was a prisoner, the conditions were inhuman, but it's nothing compared to what they are going through now."

Elizardo Sanchez, who heads the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said about half of the 75 activists remain in "punishment cells," which he said are about three feet wide and six feet long, have no windows, little ventilation and no running water. He said prisoners are subjected to extreme heat in the summer and year-round infestation by insects and rats.

"These jails are like concentration camps," Sanchez said. "There is no doubt that this is a deliberate policy of extreme cruelty on the part of the state."

Roca, Sanchez and leading activist Oswaldo Paya said that about 20 of the jailed dissidents were suffering from such serious health problems as kidney disease, diabetes, cirrhosis, hypertension, heart disease and extreme weight loss. The State Department and human rights groups have appealed to Castro's government to immediately release the most gravely ill prisoners, "but it's been a complete stonewall by the government on this issue," said Eric Olson, the Americas advocacy director for Amnesty International in Washington.

Via the Washington Post