Petrified Truth

GWB and Rush

President George W. Bush called in to The Rush Limbaugh Show today. Rush has posted the transcript and the audio (Windows Media).

No girlie man

Arnold Schwarzenegger was rockin' tonight at the RNC. Charisma to spare.

Let me tell you about the sacrifice and commitment I've seen firsthand. In one of the military hospitals I visited, I met a young guy who was in bad shape. He'd lost a leg had a hole in his stomach ... his shoulder had been shot through.

I could tell there was no way he could ever return to combat. But when I asked him, "When do you think you'll get out of the hospital?" He said, "Sir, in three weeks." And do you know what he said to me then? He said he was going to get a new leg ... and get some therapy ... and then he was going back to Iraq to serve alongside his buddies! He grinned at me and said, "Arnold ... I'll be back!"

Ladies and gentlemen, America is back! Back from the attack on our homeland — back from the attack on our economy, back from the attack on our way of life. We're back because of the perseverance, character and leadership of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.

My fellow Americans ...I want you to know that I believe with all my heart that America remains "the great idea" that inspires the world. It's a privilege to be born here. It's an honor to become a citizen here. It's a gift to raise your family here to vote here and to live here.

Our president, George W. Bush, has worked hard to protect and preserve the American dream for all of us. That's why I say ... send him back to Washington for four more years!

Thank you, America — and God bless you all!

Counterprogramming: AMC is airing The Terminator at the same time.

Mainstreaming the unwashed left

Fox's Brit Hume interviewed scholar Larry Sabato concerning deceptive reporting by the mainstream media about the actual nature of the leftist protesters in New York City.

HUME: When I picked up The New York Times this morning, I read about soccer moms, and other nice people, middle class people, people like you and me who had come to express and protest their president, and express their views in a peaceful way. I read complimentary things said about them by the police authorities in New York and I thought what a nice protest. What did you see?

SABATO: I saw a very different protest. I saw lots of obscenities, not just on the banners but also hurled at almost anybody who looked like they might have been a delegate or anybody connected to the Republican convention. And you know, I tell you Brit, I saw much worse on the other major networks. I watched the coverage. They did something called mainstreaming. They were very careful to pick out a couple of Iraq War veterans, a little old lady had who attended her first convention and a married couple. A middle-class married couple who had very moderate things to say. Now that may have been 10 or 20 percent of the protesters, but I can guarantee you, having watched a good part of this demonstration, that was not representative of the demonstrations.

Tip via RatherBiased.com

Check Blogs of War for in-depth, continuing coverage of the protests, and their organizers and sponsors.

Debra Burlingame still courageous

Debra Burlingame spoke along with two other 9-11 widows at the RNC last night.

I'm Debra Burlingame.

My brother, "Chic Burlingame," was captain of American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

To those who knew him, Chic was a legend. U.S. Naval Academy, class of '71. A fighter pilot. And navy reservist who volunteered for the Gulf War. His military experience trained him to be ready for battle.

But I'm certain he never expected to see action in the cockpit of his commercial jet. I know that he and every one of those pilots put up the fight of their lives that day.

Losing Chic on 9/11 was the most difficult thing my family's ever faced. But burden was lessened by the things that ordinary Americans did to help us. I want you to know that we were aware of what you did.

We saw the spontaneous memorials -- the cluster of candles on a front porch, the sign outside the Wal-Mart that said, "Pray for the Families."

We saw the flags on the office buildings, on store fronts and kids' bikes.

We saw the websites.

We read your letters. We received the pictures your children drew.

I'll also never forget the huge flag that was unfurled at the Pentagon, just a few yards away from where the plane went in. I especially remember it lit up against the dark sky in the wee hours of September 12th -- Chic's birthday.

My heart fell into a million pieces as it brought back the sweet memory of my brother as a nine-year-old Cub Scout, selling American flags door-to-door.

I am deeply honored and grateful for the privilege of standing before you so that I can thank you for these tender gestures and for the endless generosity which helped us carry on.

May God bless you.

Learn more about Debra Burlingame's courage here.

UPDATE: June 2005: Ground Zero has been Stolen

RNC - Day One

Rudy Giuliani had high octane stuff at the RNC Monday night. Via Blogs for Bush, my favorite passage:

On September 20, 2001, President Bush stood before a joint session of Congress, a still grieving and shocked nation and a confused world and he did change the direction of our ship of state. He dedicated America under his leadership to destroying global terrorism.

The President announced the Bush Doctrine when he said: “Our war on terror begins with Al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.”

And since September 11th President Bush has remained rock solid.

It doesn’t matter how he is demonized. It doesn’t matter what the media does to ridicule him or misinterpret him or defeat him.

They ridiculed Winston Churchill. They belittled Ronald Reagan. But like President Bush, they were optimists; leaders must be optimists. Their vision was beyond the present and set on a future of real peace and true freedom.

Some call it stubbornness. I call it principled leadership.

President Bush has the courage of his convictions.

In choosing a President, we really don’t choose a Republican or Democrat, a conservative or liberal. We choose a leader.

And in times of danger, as we are now in, Americans should put leadership at the core of their decision.

There are many qualities that make a great leader but having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader. Winston Churchill saw the dangers of Hitler while his opponents characterized him as a warmongering gadfly.

Ronald Reagan saw and described the Soviet Union as “the evil empire” while world opinion accepted it as inevitable and belittled Ronald Reagan’s intelligence. President Bush sees world terrorism for the evil that it is.

John McCain delivered a strong endorsement of President Bush...

As the President rightly reminds us, we are safer than we were on September 11th, but we’re not yet safe. We are still closer to the beginning than the end of this fight.

We need a leader with the experience to make the tough decisions and the resolve to stick with them; a leader who will keep us moving forward even if it is easier to rest.

And this President will not rest until America is stronger and safer still, and this hateful iniquity is vanquished. He has been tested and has risen to the most important challenge of our time, and I salute him.

I salute his determination to make this world a better, safer, freer place.

He has not wavered. He has not flinched from the hard choices. He will not yield.

And neither will we.

... but his delivery was flat as usual. Small wonder that he could never achieve escape velocity as a presidential candidate himself.

The beginning of the end?

Viking Pundit, "the only conservative in Western Massachusetts," predicts that Wednesday, Sept. 1 will be the worst day so far for John Kerry's presidential campaign, and the beginning of end.

I’m basing this prediction on two events scheduled for Wednesday: Kerry’s appearance before the American Legion and Zell Miller’s keynote address at the Republican National Convention.

Tip via PoliPundit.

Good work by the Swiss

Newsweek reports that an important al Qaeda operation has been broken in Switzerland, with global implications.

A little-noticed investigation by Swiss federal police has uncovered the existence of an apparent terror-support network with ties to the upper levels of Al Qaeda—including an operative believed to have played a role in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the May 2003 bombing of a housing complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The discovery of a largely invisible Al Qaeda network in the peaceful alpine nation has gotten virtually no public attention outside of Switzerland.

But criminal charges outlined in a July 30 Swiss prosecutor’s report—obtained by NEWSWEEK—seem to confirm the worst fears of many U.S. counterterrorism officials: that, despite a concerted assault by Western intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, Osama bin Laden’s organization has maintained a resilient operational structure that has a global reach, even larger than had been previously suspected.

Regardless of what is ultimately shown about the precise connections of the suspects to particular Al Qaeda attacks, the true importance of the case may be the evidence of a remarkably efficient transnational terror operation. According to the Swiss report, the Yemeni and Somali document forgers were in contact with confederates literally across the globe—in France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Somalia and the Maldives. The United States isn’t mentioned, but U.S. officials take no comfort in that. They fear that similar rings are still operating within American borders—as yet undetected.

How to prevent another 9-11?

Federal judge Richard Posner casts a sceptical eye on the 9-11 Commission's final report. As usual, insightful and thought-provoking.

The tale of how we were surprised by the 9/11 attacks is a product of hindsight; it could not be otherwise. And with the aid of hindsight it is easy to identify missed opportunities (though fewer than had been suspected) to have prevented the attacks, and tempting to leap from that observation to the conclusion that the failure to prevent them was the result not of bad luck, the enemy's skill and ingenuity or the difficulty of defending against suicide attacks or protecting an almost infinite array of potential targets, but of systemic failures in the nation's intelligence and security apparatus that can be corrected by changing the apparatus.

That is the leap the commission makes, and it is not sustained by the report's narrative. The narrative points to something different, banal and deeply disturbing: that it is almost impossible to take effective action to prevent something that hasn't occurred previously....

To conclude after a protracted, expensive and much ballyhooed investigation that there is really rather little that can be done to reduce the likelihood of future terrorist attacks beyond what is being done already, at least if the focus is on the sort of terrorist attacks that have occurred in the past rather than on the newer threats of bioterrorism and cyberterrorism, would be a real downer -- even a tad un-American. Americans are not fatalists. When a person dies at the age of 95, his family is apt to ascribe his death to a medical failure. When the nation experiences a surprise attack, our instinctive reaction is not that we were surprised by a clever adversary but that we had the wrong strategies or structure and let's change them and then we'll be safe. Actually, the strategies and structure weren't so bad; they've been improved; further improvements are likely to have only a marginal effect; and greater dangers may be gathering of which we are unaware and haven't a clue as to how to prevent.

Read the whole thing. It's important.

Kerrynomics

Changing the subject from medals and such, John Kerry is focused like on a laser beam on the evil federal deficit. He's "relentless." Really.

When Sen. John Kerry’s campaign wanted to refocus attention on the economy this week, officials turned to a group of Nobel Prize-winning economists who warned of President Bush’s “reckless and extreme” fiscal policy. Earlier in the month the campaign put the spotlight on its most prominent supporter from the business world, Robert Rubin, who said the prospect of long-term deficits is at the heart of the nation’s economic troubles.

Kerry’s stump speeches pledge better-paying jobs and relief for stressed middle-class families, focusing on “kitchen table” issues like the cost of health care and college tuition. But the campaign’s relentless focus on the budget deficit reflects the priorities of an economic team dominated by veterans of the Clinton administration.

While the Kerry team may have sound economic reasons for focusing on fiscal issues, not everyone is convinced that concern about the deficit will resonate with voters.

“John Kerry is being the most responsible kid in the class,” said Dan Carol, a Democratic strategist not working with the campaign. “But the focus on fiscal responsibility is crowding out optimistic, exciting investment programs that will pay economic dividends and more importantly will appeal to voters.”

Except, of course, when he's not.

Sen. John Kerry's pledge to reduce record federal budget deficits is colliding with an obstacle that may be growing higher by the week: his own campaign commitments.

A Washington Post review of Kerry's tax cuts and spending plans, in addition to interviews with campaign staff members and analyses by conservative and liberal experts, suggests that they could worsen the federal budget deficit by as much as President Bush's agenda.

If projected savings from unspecified cuts do not materialize, Kerry's pledges could outstrip those of the president, whom the Democrat has repeatedly accused of unprecedented fiscal recklessness.

Final conflict

John O'Neill -- Vietnam veteran, Houston attorney, author of Unfit for Command, and a leader of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- has a challenge for John Kerry.

We have faced assaults on our character, motives, personal backgrounds and honesty. We are told that Mr. Kerry's camp has prepared attack dossiers on the members of our organization. I have been charged with being a Republican shill. But for more than 30 years, I have been non-political, and have voted for as many Democrats as Republicans. In truth, I consider myself a political independent, regardless of how John Kerry and his supporters try to characterize me.

The Kerry-Edwards camp has threatened TV stations with libel suits should they choose to run our ads. Mr. Kerry has filed a complaint with the FEC, seeking to silence us.

How many different ways will John Kerry devise to ask President Bush to condemn our ads and squash our book? Why, Mr. Kerry, are our charges as a 527 group unacceptable to you, while the pronouncements from 527 groups favorable to you are considered acceptable, regardless of stridency and veracity? And we do not have a George Soros, willing to drop millions into our modest group. We control our message. To date, we have received $2 million from 30,000 Americans who have donated an average of around $64.

Mr. Kerry, we ask you not to repeat the same mistake you made when you returned from war: Please stop maligning your fellow veterans. Dealing with us should be easy. Just answer our charges. Produce your Vietnam journal and notes, and execute Standard Form 180 so the American people can see your complete military record--not just the few forms you put on your website or show to campaign biographers.

Another Houston attorney, Herman Jacobs, has prepared a detailed brief. His conclusion:

Yes, it's true that under the strict terms of our long-standing domestic truce, John Kerry was not required to apologize for the things he said 30 years ago, even though he himself had more recently tested that truce with his attacks on George W. Bush's National Guard service. But then in January of this year, to burnish his credentials as a war president, Mr. Kerry's authorized biography reported a story implying that his Swift Boat comrades had fled the scene of an enemy attack while he alone returned to rescue the wounded. Honor being such an insignificant thing to John Kerry, he probably had no idea that--with his biography reviving war crimes accusations and, more specifically, implying cowardice on the part of his fellow Swifties--he had broken the domestic truce.

The truce is over. The Swift Vets and all the other vets John Kerry has freshly maligned are determined that this time around he is not going to have it both ways. Men like Michael Benge, Kenneth Cordier, Joseph Crecca and Jim Warner, who have already lost too many years of their lives to the Vietnam War, would have much preferred that Mr. Kerry had not restarted this fight. But now that he has, they are not going to let it alone.

Swift Boat Veterans speak out on Cambodia

The third Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad is up at Human Events. Topic: Kerry's supposed secret mission to Cambodia, during Christmas 1968. Spokesman: Steve Gardner, former Kerry crewmate.

"I spent more time on John Kerry’s boat than any other crew member.

John Kerry hasn’t been honest, he’s been deceitful.

John Kerry claims that he spent Christmas in 1968 in Cambodia and that is categorically a lie.

Not in December, not in January.

We were never in Cambodia on a secret mission, ever."

The old wounds

Invaluable C-SPAN will air the rancorous "Winter Soldier" testimony that John Kerry delivered to the U.S. Senate in 1971, tonight starting at 8:05 (ET). The most recent ad from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth will be aired immediately beforehand at 8:01 (ET).

C-SPAN has also posted the full transcript of Kerry's 1971 statements.

As noted earlier, former POWs are launching StolenHonor.com to protest John Kerry's anti-war activities. The site is now up, and Blogs of War has the latest developments, along with links to numerous other grassroots anti-Kerry groups that are forming.

Innumerable Vietnam veterans, including many who served with John Kerry, are still bitter about his conduct. The same is true for many refugees from the Communist hellhole of a conquered Vietnam. The old wounds are still raw underneath, and John Kerry ripped them open when he delivered his smarmy "Reporting for duty" salute at the Democratic Convention.

Sweet victory

There was a poignant celebration at the Athens Olympics yesterday. A long time coming.

Gal Fridman closed his eyes and enjoyed a sweet sound never before heard at an Olympic Games — the strains of Israel's national anthem playing in honor of the winner of a gold medal.

Fridman yesterday won the windsurfing competition at the Athens Olympics, giving the Jewish state the first gold medal of the nation's 56-year history. As the blue-and-white flag of Israel was pulled up the flagpole, Fridman and a large contingent of Israelis sang the "Hatikvah" — The Hope.

And when the ceremony was over, Fridman dedicated his victory to some of his countrymen who weren't there — the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches killed by terrorists at the Munich Olympics in 1972.

"I'm sure they're watching us," Fridman said, draped in an Israeli flag. "We think about them all the time. They're always in our mind. When I get home, I will go to the memorial place for them and show them the gold medal."

For 32 years, Israel has competed at the Olympics under the shadow of tragedy. Before each Olympics, Israel's team visits a memorial in Tel Aviv erected in honor of those killed in Munich. It also holds a private memorial service at each Olympics.

This year's service was attended by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge. That is something his long-serving predecessor, Juan Antonio Samaranch, never did — a fact that angered many Israelis.

Since the Munich Games, Israeli athletes have competed at the Olympics with apprehension and under extra security. In Athens, an extra fence protects Israel's 36-athlete delegation in the Olympic Village compound, and the Shin Bet secret service watches over the team.

The Israelis say they have been greeted warmly in Athens.

A boon to America's enemies

John Kerry, U.S. senator and political candidate, in response to the Schlesinger panel report on Abu Ghraib:

"By failing to plan to win the peace, by failing to make sure our troops received the proper training, equipment, reinforcement and command guidance, and by failing to take corrective actions once all of this became apparent, Secretary Rumsfeld did not demonstrate the leadership required from a Secretary of Defense.

"That is why today I am calling on Secretary Rumsfeld to resign effective immediately."

James Schlesinger -- formerly Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Energy and Director of Central Intelligence -- chairman of the independent panel investigating Abu Ghraib:

You've raised the question of the secretary of Defense.

Let me say that his resignation would be a boon to all of America's enemies, and consequently I think that it would be a misfortune if it were to take place.

The secretary set out the policies -- if you read the testimony of General Sanchez and General Abizaid before the Armed Services Committee, they very specifically were asked, "What guidance did you seek from the Office of the Secretary of Defense?" Answer: "We sought no guidance. They provide us with policy. We in the Army implement that policy." So they were not seeking guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

One must recognize that the secretary of Defense gave guidance with regard to policy. He altered that policy in the -- he rescinded that initial policy as a result of the protests that came up from various lawyers in the Pentagon. He adjusted the policy, and I think that his conduct with regard to this issue has been exemplary.

Harold Brown -- formerly president of CalTech and Secretary of Defense -- who co-chaired the independent panel investigating Abu Ghraib:

Clearly the secretary of Defense is -- has a responsibility for everything that happens in the department. But if you look at what Secretary Rumsfeld has done in these matters, he was extremely careful about the issue of treatment of prisoners during interrogation. He instituted very stringent rules. Now, abuses nevertheless occurred, and they occurred, as the others have said, at levels -- at various levels in the department. The military -- uniformed military bear most of the responsibility.

And I think that overall, Secretary Rumsfeld has handled this extremely well. If the head of a department had to resign every time anyone down below did something wrong, it would be a very empty Cabinet table.

John Kerry: opportunist and would-be enabler of "America's enemies." Just like in 1971.

POWs against Kerry

UPI's Richard Tomkins reports that more Vietnam-related opposition to John Kerry is mobilizing.

Sen. John Kerry's anti-war activism following his service in Vietnam is coming under attack by former U.S. prisoners of war and their families, who are launching a Web site and documentary that will likely further fuel election campaign rancor, sources told UPI Tuesday.

The Web site, "Stolenhonor.com." could be online as early as Thursday night or Friday and will feature comments and statements about Kerry, the Democratic Party's nominee for president, by former inmates of North Vietnam's infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison complex, Ken Cordier said.

Among those appearing are Medal of Honor recipients Col. Leo Thorsness and Col. Bud Day, people Cordier called the "stars" of the Hanoi Hilton.

"This is going to be the POW story," he said. "They are going to be telling about the documentary ... and will tell the story about how John Kerry betrayed the POWs, his fellow Vietnam veterans and the country."

Cordier, who spent more than six years in the Hanoi Hilton, said the anti-war activities by Kerry and others were used for communist propaganda and to harm prisoner morale.

Jim Warner, another former POW, told UPI earlier that his interrogator showed him a transcript of Kerry's testimony and clippings from a left-wing U.S. newspaper and said Warner had committed atrocities and would never go home.

This war is about Des Moines

Major Glen G. Butler, USMC, took a break from flying helicopter missions over Najaf to send an open letter to The New York Times. An excerpt is below, but read the whole thing.

Now we are on the verge of victory or defeat in Iraq. Success depends not only on battlefield superiority, but also on the trust and confidence of the American people. I've read some articles recently that call for cutting back our military presence in Iraq and moving our troops to the peripheries of most cities. Such advice is well-intentioned but wrong - it would soon lead to a total withdrawal. Our goal needs to be a safe Iraq, free of militias and terrorists; if we simply pull back and run, then the region will pose an even greater threat than it did before the invasion. I also fear if we do not win this battle here and now, my 7-year-old son might find himself here in 10 or 11 years, fighting the same enemies and their sons.

When critics of the war say their advocacy is on behalf of those of us risking our lives here, it's a type of false patriotism. I believe that when Americans say they "support our troops," it should include supporting our mission, not just sending us care packages. They don't have to believe in the cause as I do; but they should not denigrate it. That only aids the enemy in defeating us strategically.

Michael Moore recently asked Bill O'Reilly if he would sacrifice his son for Falluja. A clever rhetorical device, but it's the wrong question: this war is about Des Moines, not Falluja. This country is breeding and attracting militants who are all eager to grab box cutters, dirty bombs, suicide vests or biological weapons, and then come fight us in Chicago, Santa Monica or Long Island. Falluja, in fact, was very close to becoming a city our forces could have controlled, and then given new schools and sewers and hospitals, before we pulled back in the spring. Now, essentially ignored, it has become a Taliban-like state of Islamic extremism, a terrorist safe haven. We must not let the same fate befall Najaf or Ramadi or the rest of Iraq.

No, I would not sacrifice myself, my parents would not sacrifice me, and President Bush would not sacrifice a single marine or soldier simply for Falluja. Rather, that symbolic city is but one step toward a free and democratic Iraq, which is one step closer to a more safe and secure America.

I miss my family, my friends and my country, but right now there is nowhere else I'd rather be. I am a United States Marine.

Too strange, too stupid

Mark Steyn wonders what in the world the John Kerry campaign is doing.

Right now, it looks like the sanity of the Kerry campaign and its pals in the media that's beginning to unravel.

I said a couple of weeks back that John Kerry was too strange to be President, and a week or two earlier that he was too stuck-up to be President. Since I'm on an alliterative roll, let me add that he's too stupid to be President. What sort of idiot would make the centrepiece of his presidential campaign four months of proud service in a war he's best known for opposing?

How cocooned from reality do you have to be to think you can transform one of the most divisive periods in American history – in which you were largely responsible for much of the divisiveness – into a sappy, happy-clappy, soft-focus patriotic blur without anybody objecting? Most Vietnam veterans of my acquaintance loathe John Kerry, and, if he wasn't aware of that, he's too out of it to be President.

That can happen to rich guys, particularly touchy, thin-skinned rich guys who prefer to surround themselves with yes-men. Kerry was apparently infuriated by the cool reception he got from a veterans' audience last week. But why would he expect anything different?

And even if he'd never slimed his comrades, there's something ridiculous about a fellow with four months in Vietnam running as Ike, the Duke of Wellington and Alexander the Great rolled into one.

Not so bad

National security advisor Condoleeza Rice on the state of U.S.-European alliances:

"You know, I'm tempted to say about the transatlantic relationship what I think Mark Twain apparently said about Wagner's music: it's better than it sounds."

Akhtar indicted

The strange case of Kamran Akhtar continued Monday in Charlotte.

A federal grand jury on Monday indicted a Pakistani citizen who was arrested last month after a police officer spotted him videotaping Charlotte's skyline.

Kamran Akhtar, 35, of New York City, was charged with six counts in the new indictment, but none of them involved terrorism.

Akhtar was charged in the indictment with two immigration violations and four counts of lying to investigators after he was detained by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer on July 20. He could face up to 55 years if convicted on all six counts.

George Miller, an attorney for Akhtar, said the new charges were not much different than what his client had already faced in a criminal complaint.

"There's not a lot of change and there is not a single terror-related charge," he said. "I'm pleased about that and I'm confident there won't be any terrorism charges." Akhtar will plead innocent to all six counts when he is arraigned, Miller said.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Darrel Stephens had to defend Akhtar's detention at a recent community meeting called by the Charlotte chapter of the anti-Semitic Islamic Political Party of America.

Some at the meeting had questioned whether the man was profiled because of his appearance or religion.

"I can say without reservation that the officer who stopped him has no idea what this individual's faith was," Stephens said.

Police have said they responded to evasive behavior, saying Akhtar tried to put the camera away when an officer approached him. Police also said he told the officer he was going to the bus terminal on West Trade Street, though he was walking in the opposite direction.

Stephens said police have investigated reports of 25 to 30 people videotaping buildings uptown in the last 18 months. Akhtar was different only because of his behavior and his inability to answer basic questions.

Read the full text of the federal indictment (PDF)

Thousands of complaints

It would appear that readers are being disenfranchised nationwide. Surely the American Library Association, champions of the "freedom to read," will complain immediately.

Controversial book "Unfit for Command," which fires an election-year salvo at Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's war record, has claimed one unintended victim -- bookstore chain Barnes & Noble Inc .

Barnes & Noble, the world's largest bookseller, on Monday issued a statement saying it had sold out of the book and, in effect, held up its hands in surrender to what it called "thousands of complaints" from both supporters and detractors of the book.

Supporters, Barnes & Noble said, are claiming the bookseller has intentionally not stocked the title or is hiding it, while detractors are asking stores to remove it altogether.

"(Complaints) started in the stores, and the home office has been inundated as well," said a company spokeswoman.

She said the company's statement was meant to "set the record straight." It is not Barnes & Noble's fault, she said, but rather small publisher Regnery Publishing who cut the chain's original order in half.

"We've been put in the difficult position of having to defend ourselves over a title we can't seem to get enough copies of from the publisher," Barnes & Noble chief executive Steve Riggio said in the statement.

Barnes & Noble said it is awaiting additional copies in order to restock its shelves, and it expects more later this week. But even the new order would not be enough to meet demand, the bookseller said.

Termites

More al Qaeda activity is being reported in Latin America, this time in Honduras.

Honduras tightened security at foreign embassies and declared a national terror alert after receiving information that al-Qaida was trying to recruit Hondurans to attack embassies of the United States, Britain, Spain and El Salvador, a government official said today.

The heightened security was implemented three days ago after Honduras' intelligence services received reports of a plan allegedly targeting those countries' embassies here and abroad, Security Minister Oscar Alvarez said.

"We are facing a state of preventative national alert, because our intelligence services report that al-Qaida foreigners have made offers for Hondurans to carry out sabotage both here and abroad," Alvarez said at a news conference.

Some Hondurans reportedly were offered money to carry out attacks, while others were approached on ideological grounds. Honduras has a tiny Islamic community.

"We believe that there are Hondurans who could accept these offers, some for money, and others because they believe in Islam," Alvarez said. "Our best agents are investigating the case and working out a strategy to prevent international terrorists from using Honduras as a base for training terrorists."

Proud John Kerry

John Kerry was typically (i.e., ponderously) effusive as he spoke to the VFW last week.

Thank you. I am proud to be a lifetime member of this organization and grateful for your continued deep commitment to veterans and to the defense and security of our nation. For more than 100 years now, you have had many distinguished veterans come before you – some Republican, some Democrat, some presidents. But as a fellow veteran, I can proudly say that there is one title that is more important than all, and that is patriot. You have all earned that title and I am proud to stand with you today.

However, the Washington Times reports that Kerry and his new friends spoke a bit differently back in the 1970s when leading the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

Mr. Kerry, whose presidential campaign has emphasized his service as a Navy lieutenant in Vietnam, joined VVAW in 1970, after returning from Vietnam and denounced the VFW in a 1971 book.

"We will not quickly join those who march on Veterans Day waving small flags, calling to memory those thousands who died for the 'greater glory of the United States.' ... We will not readily join the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars," he wrote then.

A 1971 VVAW fund-raising letter, titled "Men of Peace" and signed "yours in peace," accused the VFW and the American Legion of promoting an agenda of "world domination."

A copy of the letter, obtained by The Washington Times, is part of an extensive collection of VVAW's papers in the collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in Madison. Records do not indicate whether the letter was sent.

The American Legion and the VFW "were partly responsible for the military attitudes in this country though their unlimited lobbying power — somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 million," the VVAW letter said. "That kind of influence must be confronted and dealt with."

VVAW "could support counteractions that will allow men to exist without the threat of nuclear annihilation or constant military ones," said the fund-raising letter.

The letter suggests that Mr. Kerry's group might replace both the VFW and the American Legion, which it said "have not been able, at the national level in the past five years, to recruit successfully among the younger veterans. These younger veterans are obviously not content with a paramilitary, pro-war organization representing them. We are their answer."

The VVAW letter suggests to potential donors that the dissident group could in time diversify and offer benefits similar what the VFW and the American Legion were offering, "but with a view toward total world peace rather than world domination."

Kerry will speak to the American Legion Convention next week. We can expect the same candor.

527 foolery

John Kerry and his spokesmen demand that President Bush "denounce" the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth; e.g., in this new Kerry ad:

TEXT OF AD:

John Kerry: “I’m John Kerry and I approve this message.”

Narrator: “American soldiers are fighting in Iraq.”

Narrator: “Families struggle to afford health care.”

Narrator: “Jobs heading overseas.”

Narrator: “Instead of solutions, George Bush’s campaign supports a front group attacking John Kerry’s military record. Attacks called smears, lies. Sen. McCain calls them dishonest.”

Narrator: “Bush smeared John McCain four years ago. Now, he’s doing it to John Kerry.”

Narrator: “George Bush: Denounce the smear. Get back to the issues. America deserves better.”

Is Kerry thereby attempting to induce a violation of federal law? Little Green Footballs explains.

I don’t recall Kerry “standing up” and asking Michael Moore to “stop” his over-the-top scurrilous campaign of deception (indeed, he got a place of honor at the DNC next to President Carter), or asking MoveOn.org to “stop” comparing Bush to Hitler.

Perhaps that’s because, according to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law, it would be illegal for the Bush campaign to try to influence a 527 group like the Swift Boat Veterans, either to continue or to stop. Kerry knows this, of course; it’s just another dishonest ploy for sympathy.

Tip via Wizbang, which also notes the facts of "527" campaign activity so far:

Here's the breakdown in a nutshell

Pro-Democrat 527 groups: 17
Pro-Republican 527 groups: 7

Pro-Democrat 527 groups, total receipts: $88,236,434
Pro- Republican 527 groups, total receipts: $5,912,638

Number of the top 25 527 donors who gave to pro-Democratic groups: 24
Number of the top 25 527 donors who gave to pro-Republican groups: 1
Ranking of top pro-Republican donor: tied for 10th

Virtual combat

The U.S. military is getting into the video-game business in a big way, but for training, not mere entertainment. Sci-tech author Clive Thompson writes about it for the New York Times Magazine.

I play video games regularly and, modesty aside, usually do quite well. Though this was my first attempt at Full Spectrum Warrior, the reason that I played poorly was not that I was inexperienced but that the game was not designed solely for entertainment. Full Spectrum Warrior was created by the Institute for Creative Technologies, with help from the Army, to teach soldiers realistic strategies for surviving what the armed forces call ''military operations in urban terrain.'' As a result, the game is unforgivingly precise. The soldiers you command are programmed to respond the way a real soldier would. There are no magic weapons to bail you out. All you have going for you is the real world. ''This is what you'll really see when you're out there,'' said Maj. Brent Cummings, a soldier then stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., who worked as a consultant on the game and walked me through it.

For the past three years, the military has been entertaining the surprising idea that video games, even those that you play on a commerical system like Microsoft's Xbox, can be an effective way to train soldiers. In fact, the Army is now one of the industry's most innovative creators, hiring high-end programmers and designers from Silicon Valley and Hollywood to devise and refine its games. Some of these games are action-packed, like Full Spectrum Warrior. Others, like one that the military's Special Operations Command is currently designing to help recruits practice their Arabic, are less so. All the games, however, speak to the military's urgent need to train recruits for the new challenges of peacekeeping efforts in places like Iraq.

Teaching someone to be an accurate shot is not particularly hard to do. Military trainers have learned that if you put someone through a week of intensive work with a point-and-shoot simulator (not unlike today's commerically available shoot-'em-up video games), he will be reasonably good with a rifle. Teaching judgment, however, is much harder than teaching hand-eye coordination. Today's military is in the market for games that train soliders, in effect, how not to shoot -- how to avoid conflict whenever possible, to recognize danger and find a route around it. As a squad leader in Full Spectrum Warrior, you do not even carry a gun that fires, which makes it the first military-action video game in which the player never discharges a weapon.

All in all, very interesting. One concern seems to have not been thought out very well. (Blame Microsoft.)

The Army made Full Spectrum Warrior in two versions: one for the military and a slightly modified form for the public. The commercial version instantly became a best seller. Today, you can walk into a game store, buy it and get a taste of what it is like to manage troops under Arab fire. (The decision to release the game to the public was driven by an interesting business consideration. Microsoft, which created the Xbox, reserves the right to approve any game that another company creates to run on it, and it charges a fee for each copy of the game that sells. Microsoft will typically only green-light a game with a sufficiently large market -- in the case of Full Spectrum Warrior, one that included not just soldiers but the general public.)

If a game like Full Spectrum Warrior is an accurate representation of Army training, you might wonder about the wisdom of selling it to the public. Real-life terrorists might well use it to learn about the urban-warfare tactics of American soldiers. Granted, the version of Full Spectrum Warrior available to the public is not as precise about military doctrine (ambulances carry ammo, for example), and it has bigger, Hollywood-style explosions. But it turns out that the military-grade version of the game also resides on the disk of the public version. Anyone who can figure out the ''unlock'' code can buy the public game, unlock it and play the military one.

Morons?

Alice Cooper, Republican? Who knew?

In the eyes of Alice Cooper, all the rock stars campaigning for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry are guilty of one thing: treason. The shock-rock legend, a staunch Republican who attends NBA games in Phoenix with Arizona Senator John McCain, was disgusted when he learned of plans by Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, R.E.M. and other bands to hold a series of concerts aimed at unseating U.S. President George W. Bush.

"To me, that's treason. I call it treason against rock 'n' roll because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics," says the 56-year-old Cooper, who begins a 15-city Canadian tour on Aug. 20 in Thunder Bay, Ont.

"When I was a kid and my parents started talking about politics, I'd run to my room and put on the Rolling Stones as loud as I could. So when I see all these rock stars up there talking politics, it makes me sick.

"If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal."

al Qaeda in South America?

As noted earlier, South America, including Venezuela, is growing as a new front in the war on [Islamic] terror. A new Associated Press story provides a current overview.

Governments throughout Mexico and Central America are on alert as evidence grows that al-Qaida members are traveling in the region and looking for recruits to carry out attacks in Latin America - the potential last frontier for international terrorism.

The territory could be a perfect staging ground for Osama bin Laden's militants, with homegrown rebel groups, drug and people smugglers, and corrupt governments. U.S. officials have long feared al-Qaida could launch an attack from south of the border, and they have been paying closer attention as the number of terror-related incidents has increased since last year.

Officials worry the Panama Canal could be a likely target. In 2003, boats making more than 13,000 trips through the waterway carried about 188 million tons of cargo.

In South America, U.S. officials have long suspected Paraguay's border with Brazil and Argentina as an area for Islamic terrorist fund-raising. Much of the focus has fallen on the Muslim community that sprouted during the 1970s, and authorities believe as much as $100 million a year flows out of the region, with large portions diverted to Islamic militants linked to Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Related: the strange case of Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed is set for trial in October here in Houston.

A South African woman whose arrest in McAllen last month raised fears about terrorists crossing the southern U.S. border pleaded not guilty in a Houston court Friday to charges of altering her passport, lying to investigators and illegal entry.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy set an Oct. 12 trial date for Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed, 48, of Johannesburg, who was arrested July 19 at the McAllen-Miller International Airport.

Ahmed's baggage contained $7,300 in different currencies, muddy pants and a South African passport with three pages missing. She is accused of lying when she told investigators she had a U.S. visa, but that it was in New York.

Funding the Left

Money makes the world go round, including for the left-wing protesters gathering to demonstrate (and more) when the Republicans arrive in New York City this week.

Raging against the machine requires some heavy bankrolling, and the fatter coffers of the anti-establishment crowd are easing the strain of battle.

And many of the groups planning protests here during the Republican National Convention next week stand to benefit directly from the blossoming wealth of well-funded, anti-status quo forces.

Such wealth among the so-called counterculture is dwarfed by the billion-dollar megaphones used by the two major political parties, of course. But multimillion-dollar groups such as Pacifica and the American Civil Liberties Union are every bit as politically formidable as a midsized political action committee or a D.C. lobbying firm.

It's the earnest image that often throws the public off.

"Many of these groups are portrayed as ragtag groups, but it turns out that many are heavily financed by people like [billionaire financier] George Soros and the Tides Foundation," says David Martosko, research director for the Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit coalition of restaurants, food companies and citizens advocating consumer choice.

The center also operates a Web site, activistcash.com, that tracks the finances of a number of foundations, nonprofits and government agencies.

"Much of this money comes from nearly 600 big philanthropies that have a net worth well over $30 billion," Mr. Martosko said. "And every year, around 5 percent of that wealth gets passed around to the groups who do these protests."

Related:

• ActivistCash.com profiles a variety of "anti-consumer" groups and their supporters.
• Blogs of War frequently tracks the, well, unusual activities and statements of leftie activists.

WaPo on Kerry

The Washington Post examines some of the disputed facts of John Kerry's Vietnam experience. Their conclusion?

Establishing the facts is complicated not merely by fading memories and sometimes ambiguous archival evidence, but also by the bitterly partisan nature of the presidential campaign.

An investigation by The Washington Post into what happened that day suggests that both sides have withheld information from the public record and provided an incomplete, and sometimes inaccurate, picture of what took place. But although Kerry's accusers have succeeded in raising doubts about his war record, they have failed to come up with sufficient evidence to prove him a liar.

It's a start, but not a definitive settling of accounts. Let's have more.

Clearly an obsession

Blogger Rachel Lucas has some serious yearning going on over the men of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, including one in particular.

Don't judge me. I am a sucker for men in armor and horsetail helms. Men with swords and blades and spears. Men on horses, bellowing from atop hillsides at the first light of dawn, Rohirrim!!! To the King!!! Ahhhhh.

Not that she's lost of sight of the real world.

Anyway, so I'm mad. I'm disgusted! I ask, how can we find out who's a lying bastard and who's not? So of course I turn to my LOTR obsession for answers. And I realized that if only we had some Elves or wizards or something, they could tell us who's a lying bastard and who's not. We need a Galadriel or a Gandalf. Someone who can look into the eyes of a man like Kerry and see that, indeed, he is a lying bastard, and can then smite him.

Alternatively, they can discern that Kerry is a lying bastard and can then call upon, say, the mighty Rohan warrior Eomer to smite him. Oh, yes.

There's more here and here.

Tip via Accidental Verbosity

Hanoi John roundup

Vietnam veterans support John Kerry... at least some living in Hanoi.

HANOI - With the U.S. presidential race taking a decidedly bitter turn over John Kerry's Vietnam war record, U.S. veterans in Hanoi are selling T-shirts supporting his run for the White House.

"It's an effort on the part of a few of us to bring some attention to Kerry's war record to counter some of the allegations and some of the lies being made of his service in Vietnam," Chuck Searcy, who served for a year in Vietnam, said on Saturday.

The T-shirts being sold for $5 have "Americans Overseas for Kerry" on the front and a picture of President Bush's face with a line crossed through it.

Unfortunately for Kerry, his support among veterans living in America has been slipping, according to a new CBS News poll.

The appearance of his fellow Vietnam veterans at the Democratic convention helped John Kerry’s support among veterans, but the recent attacks on his Vietnam service may have moved veterans’ support back toward George W. Bush now. Kerry is running well behind his opponent among veterans; now, 55 percent of veterans back Bush, and 37 percent back Kerry. A few weeks ago, both candidates were tied among veterans.

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have issued a new anti-Kerry ad, focused on his sweeping, savage attacks on the American military during the Vietnam War. Blogs of War has a thorough review of recent events concerning the Swift Boat Veterans.

Meanwhile, a clearly deluded Eleanor Clift writes about the Swift Boat Veterans in Newsweek; James Joyner dismantles her article with little mercy but with an obvious appreciation for the absurd.

Malkin in Houston

Pundit Michelle Malkin is going to speak at the Houston Forum next Friday about her controversial new book, In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror.

Should be fascinating.

Spice it up

This is good news for television watchers, especially those of us here in Texas.

Pace Foods is reviving a popular Texas-themed advertising campaign from the 1980s in which salsa-savvy cowboys make sport of New York. The humorous ads begin running Monday in 21 television markets around the country, the company said.

Pace is a subsidiary of the Campbell Soup Co., based in Camden, N.J., but the picante sauces are made in Paris, Texas.

"We wanted to find a way to connect consumers to our Southwestern roots with a lighthearted touch," Chris Foley, Pace brand manager, said of the two new ads.

Campbell bought Pace, founded in San Antonio, from billionaire entrepreneur Kit Goldsbury in 1995.

The original series of ads from the late 1980s featured a chuckwagon cook threatened with hanging when he tried to foist an unfamiliar brand of salsa onto a group of hungry cowhands.

The well-remembered punchline came when the cowboys found out that the salsa was from "New York City."

The new ads also involve cowboys, one of them an odd-fit novice from New York. In one spot, he uses a car remote to lock up his horse at a hitching post, and in the other he sprays graffiti on a calf instead of using a branding iron.

If memory serves, the old punchline, after the camp cook's salsa was revealed as being from New York City, was "Get a rope."

Pace Foods Inc.

UPDATE: Saludos, Slate salsa afficionados. Despite our affection for Pace as a homegrown everyday salsa, our personal favorite is Arriba! Red. It's spicy and fresh tasting.

As long as you're here, take a minute to visit the Petrified Truth home page and see what else is being discussed. Then come back often. Adiós.

Counterattack

The New York Times counterattacks against the Swift Boat Veterans in a lengthy, page-one story that is focused on the supposed inside story behind the story, rather than the charges themselves.

A series of interviews and a review of documents show a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove.

Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family - one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove's, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush's father's presidential library. A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Mr. Bush's father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group's television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael S. Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Mr. Bush's father faced off in the 1988 presidential election.

Kerry's bogus Cambodia story, his most obvious self-aggrandizing fabrication, is mentioned near the very end, but (of course) only in passing.

One of the Swift Boat Veterans was on the Chris Baker radio program yesterday and stated something like, "When you're catching flak, you must be over the target." Indeed.

UPDATE: Outside the Beltway and the omniscient InstaPundit have good observations and coverage of responses to the NYT's shot.

More McCain

The Bush campaign is picking up energy as the Republican convention nears. John McCain would seem to be an important ally.

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, once courted by Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry, is emerging as a major force in the re-election campaign of President Bush, who vanquished McCain in the 2000 Republican primary.

Republican officials said plans are in the works for McCain to appear with Bush on the campaign trail during the week of the Republican convention in New York that will nominate Bush for a second term. Then the plan is for them to campaign together immediately after the convention.

This comes after the veteran senator traveled with the president last week to Florida, New Mexico and Arizona and spent the night at Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch, where they are said to have gotten along famously.

"It helps having him stand by my side," Bush said during a stop with McCain in Niceville, Florida, last week.

Rick Davis, who was McCain's 2000 campaign manager, said McCain and Bush are getting to know each other better and have spent more time together in the past month than in Bush's entire term.

NPR reported today that the campaign swing through Minnesota and Wisconsin found noticeably large and enthusiastic crowds. Good.

Unfit for Command

The Washington Times is excerpting Unfit for Command, the new book by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi, currently #1 at Amazon.com.