Thursday, December 31, 2009

The Other McCain Gets It Right Again

Robert Stacy McCain, "the other McCain" has a searing piece on Obama and liberals. They care far less about terror than they care about their own political reputations. And those are the ones that care about terror at all.

From the American Spectator:

Anti-Anti-Terrorism

When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate an explosiveaboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, liberals were quick to warn against the clear and present danger.

It wasn't the threat of al Qaeda-trained bombers blowing up Detroit-bound planes that concerned them. Rather, liberals feared that Americans might blame the Obama administration for failing to protect them from terrorists or -- perhaps even worse -- demand action against the violent extremists who want to kill us all.

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/12/28/anti-anti-terrorism

Obami’s Anti-Terror Policies Necessitate Stonewalling

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/205242

By Jennifer Rubin

One has to marvel at the opening graph of this Politico story:

Growing evidence that the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a commercial airliner as it landed in Detroit Friday spent time in Yemen and may have been fitted with customized, explosive-laden clothing there could complicate the U.S. government’s efforts to send home more than 80 Yemeni prisoners currently at Guantanamo Bay.

Yes, reality is complicating the Obama administration’s war on terror policies. It must be maddening to the Obami that they are presented once again with inconvenient evidence that their insistence on emptying Guantanamo of dangerous people is mind-bogglingly inane. It is not surprising that Republicans were quick to point this out:

David M. Phillips: The myth of Israel's illegal settlements

Posted: December 29, 2009, 9:30 AM by NP Editor

Read more: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/12/29/david-m-phillips-the-myth-of-israel-s-illegal-settlements.aspx#ixzz0bIwceCB5
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The conviction that Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal is now so commonly accepted, it hardly seems as though the matter is even open for discussion. But it is. Decades of argument about the issue have obscured the complex legal question about which a supposedly overwhelming verdict of guilty has been rendered against settlement policy. There can be no doubt that this avalanche of negative opinion has been deeply influenced by the settlements’ unpopularity around the world and even within Israel itself. Yet, while one may debate the wisdom of Israeli settlements, the idea that they are imprudent is quite different from branding them as illegal. Indeed, the analysis underlying the conclusion that the settlements violate international law depends entirely on an acceptance of the Palestinian narrative that the West Bank is “Arab” land. Followed to its logical conclusion — as some have done — this narrative precludes the legitimacy of Israel itself.

These arguments date back to the aftermath of the Six-Day War. When Israel went into battle in June 1967, its objective was clear: to remove the Arab military threat to its existence. Following its victory, the Jewish state faced a new challenge: what to do with the territorial fruits of that triumph. While many Israelis assumed that the overwhelming nature of their victory would shock the Arab world into coming to terms with their legitimacy and making peace, they would soon be disabused of this belief. At the end of August 1967, the heads of eight countries, including Egypt, Syria, and Jordan (all of which lost land as the result of their failed policy of confrontation with Israel), met at a summit in Khartoum, Sudan, and agreed to the three principles that were to guide the Arab world’s post-war stands: no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and no negotiations with Israel. Though many Israelis hoped to trade most if not all the conquered lands for peace, they would have no takers. This set the stage for decades of their nation’s control of these territories.

The attachment of Israelis to the newly unified city of Jerusalem led to its quick annexation, and Jewish neighbourhoods were planted on its flanks in the hope that this would render unification irrevocable. A similar motivation for returning Jewish life to the West Bank, the place where Jewish history began — albeit one that did not reflect the same strong consensus as that which underpinned the drive to hold on to Jerusalem — led to the fitful process that, over the course of the next several decades, produced numerous Jewish settlements throughout this area for a variety of reasons, including strategic, historical and/or religious considerations. In contrast, settlements created by Israel in the Egyptian Sinai or the Syrian Golan were primarily based initially on the strategic value of the terrain.


Read more: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/12/29/david-m-phillips-the-myth-of-israel-s-illegal-settlements.aspx#ixzz0bIvsv5S7
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Monday, December 28, 2009

Debka: Iran reels toward popular-religious uprising amid spiraling bloodshed

Debka has an exclusive report on the Iranian uprising http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1416 covering the key players of the insurgency, the death tolls and the various sides. One question that comes to mind reading all of the information on the resistance movement (not Debka) is whether extremists are trying to hijack the resistance movement. After all, Mousavi was a Revolutionary leader of the last Ayatollah.

From the Debka Report:

"The current upsurge of violence across Iran is the most dangerous yet because for the first time demonstrators are turning round to attack security forces, the Revolutionary Guardsmen and Basijj paramilitaries.


DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report that the protesters are snatching their tormentors' nightsticks and other weapons as well as hurling firebombs.


To fend off the furious masses, whose numbers are swelling into tens of thousands and more, security forces are firing live bullets and tear gas in the crowds since Sunday, Dec. 27."


View the entire report at http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1416.


CFNS Conference - Jan. 17th

Citizens for National Security, no relation to this group other than our admiration and mutual goals, is hosting a conference in mid-Jan. in Boca.

Here's the announcement:

“ISLAMIST EXTREMISTS WITHIN THE UNITED STATES”

When: Sunday, January 17, 2010 • 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

What It’s About: While the military component of the global Islamist insurgency is obvious and recognized by the West, the insidious political wing goes generally unnoticed. It is, however, well established and very active in the United States, and now joined by the recent emergence of homegrown jihadists with terrorist mind-sets.

The overall focus of this presentation is on the characteristics of this extremism, both as a protracted “political war” that has been waged without opposition in America since 1964, and as a militant insurgency. Registrants will get an in-depth, inside look at the mission, goals, organization, operation methods and implications of these movements within our borders; and, learn about the failure of our government to recognize - let alone take measures to address - this extraordinarily malicious assault on our multicultural society.

Lead Instructor: Dr. Peter Leitner, who has a career that includes 31 years in federal government, 21 of them in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as senior strategic trade advisor. He has provided intelligence and anti-terrorism training to thousands of state and local investigators, law enforcement personnel, the CIA, FBI, Marine Corps and other national agencies through the Higgins Counterterrorism Research Center that he founded. Dr. Leitner, who holds a Ph.D. from USC, and four Master degrees, has served on the faculties of University of Northern Virginia, Mount Vernon College, Southeastern University, and George Mason University in its National Center for Biodefense. He has been a Senior Fellow with George Washington University's Center for Advanced Defense Studies, an Advisor on Terrorism with New York University's Law School, a member of the Center for Security Policy's Military Advisory Committee, and is President of the Washington Center for Peace and Justice.

Registration Fees (per person)
General Public: $50.00 Tax-Deductible Donation
Members of Citizens for National Security:
Basic: $35.00 Chairman’s Roundtable: Complimentary

Refreshments, parking and handouts included. Advance registration required.

For further information, and to register, please go to www.CFNS.US or contact us at:
Tel. 561-483-6430 • FAX 561-483-9698 • E-mail: info@CFNS.US

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Islamic attacks on our airline industry

http://homelandsecurityus.com/?p=3334

"14 December 2009: Once aboard the plane, they spoke loudly in Arabic. They changed seats without authorization. They roamed the plane over the objections of the flight attendants, entering the first class area without permission or legitimate purpose. They moved their stowed luggage from the overhead bins for no apparent reason. One even attempted to open the cockpit door, explaining that he mistakenly thought it was the lavatory. Their behavior was described as disruptive and suspicious, which so alarmed the flight crew that the Muslim passengers were removed from the airplane by order of the captain."

(Politico) Hoekstra: Obama has understated terror threat

Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday the Obama administration has understated the threat Islamic terrorists pose to our nation’s security.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/1209/Hoekstra_Obama_has_understated_terror_threat.html?showall#

Napolitano Incompetent

Great blog post from the web:

(WND) Congressman: Why is Obama stifling Hasan investigation?


Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., expressed his concern in a recent commentary, saying, "There has been a troubling refusal by Obama officials to acknowledge that the shooting likely was an act of homegrown terrorism."

WND: Hasan asked Islamic leader about killing U.S. soldiers

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=120005

Radical imam tells news service of exchange with Fort Hood suspect


"Al-Awlaki told the interviewer Hasan initiated the e-mail exchange, and he "was asking about killing American soldiers and officers. [He asked] whether this is a religiously legitimate act or not," he said, according to the report"