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I smell blood in the water after Obama's stop in South Dakota yesterday and I've been giving the surrender monkeys on Youtube some major hell. Sorry Freepers, I like to argue. Here are all my comments. Feel free to adopt them as your own. I probably stole them from guys far smarter than me anyways! This first bit is all me though; This may be the most brilliant political trap I’ve ever seen. In a few short remarks, Bush has completely shifted all focus to the discussion of appeasing terrorists. Obama took the bait. And he’s self destructing before our...

David Brooks, writing in the NYT under the title Obama Admires Bush reports on his interview with Obama. Barack Obama issued a statement in response. He called on “all those who have influence with Hezbollah” to “press them to stand down.” Then he declared, “It’s time to engage in diplomatic efforts to help build a new Lebanese consensus that focuses on electoral reform, an end to the current corrupt patronage system, and the development of the economy that provides for a fair distribution of services, opportunities and employment.” Boy, is that ever tough talk. Obama acts like he invented the...

"That's enough. That – that's a show of disrespect to me." That was Barack Obama, a couple of weeks back, explaining why he was casting the Rev. Jeremiah Wright into outer darkness. It's one thing to wallow in "adolescent grandiosity" (as Scott Johnson of the Powerline Web site called it) when it's a family dispute between you and your pastor of 20 years. It's quite another to do so when it's the 60th anniversary celebrations of one of America's closest allies. President Bush was in Israel the other day and gave a speech to the Knesset. Its perspective was summed...

"Frankly, I can be wrong, but I do not think that America can carry to the presidency a candidate as on the left as Barack Obama." Norman Podhoretz, May 14, 2008 Check the link for the complete interview on Iraq, Iran, the WoT, neoconservatism and US presidential elections.

The Tehran-Berlin Axis May 15, 2008 The Wall Street Journal Matthias Küntzel Flipping last week through the online itinerary of the German Near and Middle East Association (honorary chairman: Gerhard Schröder), I found the following entry: "April 16, 2008, Meeting with the Iranian Vice Foreign Minister S.E. Mehdi Safari in Berlin." I couldn't find anything in the German press about this visit. I turned to Iranian media. It reported that Mr. Safari was in Berlin for three days at the invitation of the German government. He met with officials at the foreign, interior and economics ministries, as well as with...

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama fired back at President Bush yesterday, accusing him of an "appalling attack" for suggesting that the Democratic presidential hopeful wanted to appease America's enemies. "Now, that's exactly the kind of appalling attack that's divided our country and that alienates us from the world," Obama said. "And that's why we need change in Washington. That's part of the reason why I'm running for president of the United States of America." Speaking before the Israeli Knesset earlier this week, Bush laced into those who believe that the United States should negotiate with leaders of terrorist states. Last summer,...

‘That’s enough. That — that’s a show of disrespect to me.” That was Barack Obama, a couple of weeks back, explaining why he was casting the Reverend Jeremiah Wright into outer darkness. It’s one thing to wallow in “adolescent grandiosity” (as Scott Johnson of “Powerline” called it) when it’s a family dispute between you and your pastor of 20 years. It’s quite another to do so when it’s the 60th-anniversary celebrations of one of America’s closest allies. Last week, President Bush was in Israel and gave a speech to the Knesset. Its perspective was summed up by his closing anecdote...

Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama made his most substantive comments on foreign policy with respect to the Middle East in an interview with the New York Times yesterday. Here’s an excerpt: “The debate we’re going to be having with John McCain is how do we understand the blend of military action to diplomatic action that we are going to undertake,� he said. “I constantly reject this notion that any hint of strategies involving diplomacy are somehow soft or indicate surrender or means that you are not going to crack down on terrorism. Those are the terms of debate that...

On Israel 60th Birthday Bush Tells Iran, Syria, No Appeasement On Terrorism By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem ----- May 17, 2008 ....... US President George W. Bush will leave Saudi Arabia this morning for Egypt after having visited Israel for its 60th birthday celebrations. Upon his historic arrival at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport, Bush stated: "Israel is our strongest friend and ally in the Middle East. Our two nations both faced great challenges when they were founded. And our two nations have both relied on the same principles to help us succeed. We built strong democracies to protect the...

NEW DELHI: India has deployed an additional 6,000 troops in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) following the incidents of firing and alleged infiltration attempts into India by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC). While the army is reported to have deployed 5,000 additional troops in Kupwara sector, the Border Security Forces (BSF) has also moved 1,000 troops to maintain a presence in Samba sector in the Jammu region. Army sources said the troops moved to strengthen the 28th division currently in Kupwara are part of the reserve force of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps. They will be posted to Tangdhar, Keran,...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq – Special Groups criminals fired an 82 mm mortar at a Coalition force base that missed its target and landed near a market in the Karadah security district of Baghdad at 11:32 p.m. May 13. Approximately 30 minutes after the initial attack, the market near the impact of the criminal’s attack burned down. It is not known at this time if the incidents are related; however, Coalition force officials from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light), are investigating an Iraqi National Police report attributing the cause of the fire to faulty electrical wiring...

BALAD — The Iraqi Army captured a mid-level Special Groups cell leader in Husayniyah, responsible for coordinating improvised explosive device, rocket and small-arms fire attacks against Iraqi Security and Coalition forces, approximately 30 km north of Baghdad, May 15. Iraqi Army soldiers conducted the operation to capture the Special Groups cell leader whose cell conducted attacks against the ISF and CF as recent as April 22. These criminals emplaced explosively-formed penetrators and conducted indirect fire attacks against static Coalition force positions. Three additional suspects were detained. “The capture of this cell leader will likely affect the ability of Special Groups...

Washington and Tel Aviv vow to take 'tangible action' to prevent Iran from acquiring 'nuclear weapons', an Israeli spokesman says. Israeli premier Ehud Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said on Friday that the diplomatic efforts to exert pressure on Iran to give up its uranium enrichment have so far been insufficient. "It is clear that additional steps will have to be taken," he continued. "We are on the same page. We both see the threat... And we both understand that tangible action is required to prevent the Iranians from moving forward on a nuclear weapon," said the Israeli spokesman. Regev then...

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2008 – Coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained 19 suspects during a series of operations targeting al-Qaida in Iraq operatives in central and northern Iraq today, military officials said. -- Coalition forces killed one insurgent and captured another during an anti-al Qaida operation near Khan Bani Saad, about 20 miles north of Baghdad. -- In Baghdad, coalition forces detained one suspected terrorist. -- In Mosul, coalition forces captured an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq financier and seven other suspects. -- In Tikrit, coalition forces detained four suspected terrorists. -- Near Balad, coalition forces detained five suspected terrorists...

"They entered and they carried out the plan. But who did they liberate Beirut from?" wondered Mohammed Zaghloul, 41, who roasts nuts for a living... Zaghloul's question is key for Lebanon's future and could have implications for the entire Middle East... Flags of Hezbollah and Amal flutter on the streets in predominantly Sunni areas of Beirut seized by the two Shiite groups in recent fighting. Some pictures of the late prime minister Rafik Hariri, the Sunnis' icon, have been spray-painted over. "It is strife already," said top Sunni leader Saad Hariri, whose Muslim West Beirut residence is guarded by the...

Lebanon is legendarily fractious, and some observers claim Hezbollah, too, will have trouble running the country. That is perhaps why they decline to try: They'll leave to Siniora and others the chores of seeking foreign aid, caring for the non-Shiite population, and so on. But we saw this week what happens when the caretaker government interferes with Hezbollah's preparations against Israel. Iran and its proxies are in the ascendant all across the Middle East. Foolishly, President U.S. George W. Bush still refuses to negotiate with Iran, or with Syria, and that can't help.

Today on Covert Radio our guest is Iranian Ex Pat and Analyst Banafsheh Zand Bonazzi she shares with us her amazing insight into Iran. In this episode find out about the Gangster nature of the Mullahs, The Ayotollah Khomeni’s beliefs on nuclear weapons, the ongoing plight of the Iranian people, the Apocalyptic worldview of Ahmedinejad and the struggle by one of Iran’s ethnic minorities, who have been persecuted in a brutal fashion- the Baluchis. All of this plus, Ban’s take on President Bush’s speech in Israel and the damage being wrought by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Want to get a taste of what is happening in the Middle East when Sunnis broke with al-Qaeda, when Shiites broke with Sadr and the Mahdi Army, when Afghans broke with the Taliban. There is nothing more shattering than to have the belief system that underpins your life and soul shattered. There is nothing like learning people you supported and trusted would kill you without any thought to further themselves. What the eiltes in this country cannot fathom is losing everything to heartless killers and thugs you once thought were saviors and an army of angels. If you want to...

Pictures and annotations from the Upcoming 2010 Peace Conference: Whew...this guy is tough! Breakthrough! PEACE IN OUR TIME! IT WILL LEAD TO THE SAME PLACE

(IsraelNN.com) Sources in the Prime Minister's Bureau estimated Friday that the United States may act against Iran before President George W. Bush's term is over, Army Radio reported. The sources said that in the closed door meetings between Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the two discussed the possibilities of action against Ahmadinjad's regime, among other subjects. According to the sources, President Bush said that the Iranian problem had to be met with a "radical solution" – one that will have a beneficial effect upon the entire Middle East, and bring about a change in the behavior patterns of Hizbullah...

Sen. Barack Obama is a foreign policy disaster just waiting to happen. Consider Obama's evolving stance on Iraq. In 2002 he was a staunch opponent of the war. Then in his book The Audacity of Hope, he confessed that he "began to suspect" that he "might have been wrong" about the war. In 2003 he told CNN that he absolutely wanted "to make sure that the troops have sufficient support to be able to win." During the DNC convention in 2004, the junior Senator stated that failure in Iraq would be "a disaster and a betrayal of the promise that...

An Iranian Embassy convoy came under fire in Baghdad, wounding four people, including three Iranians and an Iraqi, a spokesman said Friday. Teheran issued an angry response blaming the United States for encouraging attacks against Iranian interests in Iraq with its rhetoric against the Islamic republic. The US military said it "condemns any attack on guests or visitors of any country." It was not clear who shot at the convoy. An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Iraqi soldiers exchanged fire with guards in an argument that broke out when members of the convoy failed to produce identification cards. Iranian Embassy...

The United States and Israel agree on the need for "tangible action" to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman said Friday, after a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush. "We are on the same page. We both see the threat ... And we both understand that tangible action is required to prevent the Iranians from moving forward on a nuclear weapon," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said. Regev described diplomatic efforts so far to exert pressure on Iran as "positive", but added: "It is clearly not sufficient and it's clear that additional steps will have...

The blowup over President Bush's remarks to Israel's parliament equating talks with rogue regimes to appeasement will be front and center another day. Barack Obama, who saw himself as the target of Bush's criticism, is expected to directly rebut the president later today at a campaign event in South Dakota. His top foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, said this morning on MSNBC that Obama will deliver a "very vigorous response to what was an outrageous, unprecedented, and divisive attack from President Bush yesterday which was patently dishonest." She argued that Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan, have talked to renegade countries....

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will not negotiate with anyone about its right to nuclear technology, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday, hours before talks aimed at defusing an atomic row with the West were to start in Rome. Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to build an atomic bomb, a charge Tehran denies, insisting it only wants to master atomic technology so it can make electricity and save its huge oil and gas reserves for export. "We are in favor of talks but we will not negotiate with anyone about our right to nuclear technology," Ahmadinejad was quoted as...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama accused rival Hillary Clinton of saber rattling toward Iran on Sunday and compared her approach to that of unpopular President George W. Bush. "I think it's language that's reflective of George Bush. We have had a foreign policy of bluster and saber rattling," Obama said of Clinton's threat to "totally obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel. "It is important that we use language that sends a signal to the world community that we're shifting from the sort of cowboy diplomacy, or lack of diplomacy, that we've seen out of George Bush," the...

BAGHDAD - An Iranian Embassy convoy came under fire in Baghdad, wounding four people, including three Iranians and an Iraqi, an embassy spokesman said Friday. Tehran issued an angry response blaming the United States for encouraging attacks against Iranian interests in Iraq with its rhetoric against the Islamic republic. The U.S. military said it "condemns any attack on guests or visitors of any country." It was not clear who shot at the convoy. An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Iraqi soldiers exchanged fire with guards in an argument that broke out when members of the convoy failed to produce identification...

The Austrian oil and gas company OMV signed a huge energydeal with Iran to develop its energy resources in 2007. This was so despite many other European companies who have chosen of their own volition (encouraged by America) to forego deals with Iran. American companies do not do business with Iran's energy sector as a consequence of sanctions being imposed by Congress years ago in response to Iranian violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Pact, and a nuclear program that most analysts perceive as being geared towards developing a nuclear arsenal. This, combined with repeated Iranian threats to destroy Israel, has...

The video shows the arrest of a girl in Tehran for not wearing appropriate islamic clothing. The girl resists arrest and the Gasht Ershad, the special branch of the Iranian police that monitors the nation's strict dresscode, beat her up.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has warned Beijing over reported use of Chinese weapons by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the Asian giant's continued sale of arms to Iran, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Thursday. He said he conveyed the concerns personally to Chinese officials during his visit to Beijing this week. "Just the other day, Monday, when I was in Beijing, this was one of the issues I raised -- concern about Chinese weapons or Chinese-designed weapons showing up in some of these battle areas, be it Iraq or Afghanistan," he told a...

BALAD, Iraq – Iraqi Special Operations Forces captured a terrorist in western Mosul, Iraq, May 15.The ISOF conducted the operation to capture a member of the Islamic State of Iraq, a front organization for al-Qaeda in Iraq, responsible for improvised explosive device emplacement and providing information to the ISI about the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police. Six other suspects were detained in the operation.This operation is expected to disrupt the ISI cell’s terrorist activities and diminish future attacks on IA and Coalition forces in western Mosul.“Iraqi Special Operations Forces, partnered with Coalition forces, will continue to pursue terrorists who threaten...

NEW YORK — Six Bahá’í leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison yesterday in a sweep that is ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Bahá’í leaders were summarily rounded up and killed. The six men and women, all members of the national-level group that helped see to the minimum needs of Bahá’ís in Iran, were in their homes Wednesday morning when government intelligence agents entered and spent up to five hours searching each home, before taking them away.The seventh member of the national coordinating group was arrested in early March...

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2008 – A preview offered to Iran of details in a yet-to-be-released Multinational Force Iraq report about its meddling in Iraq appears to have had no effect, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today. However, that may change when the report goes public, he added. The report, prepared under Army Gen. David H. Petraeus’ leadership, documents how Iranians have been supplying, training, equipping and financing extremist Shiite groups within Iraq, Morrell told reporters during a Pentagon news briefing. Petraeus has called these so-called “special groups” the biggest threat to the Iraqi government’s stability. Information from the...

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2008 – Coalition forces killed two terrorism suspects and detained 21 others during operations across Iraq today. Fifteen miles west of Baghdad, coalition forces targeted an individual suspected of managing vehicle-bomb attacks. Two were killed and three were caught at the compound. Forces recovered a rifle and a case of hand grenades. Forces captured a man suspected of smuggling illegal weapons into Iraq and three others in the Mansour district in Baghdad. Forces first nabbed the man, and he then gave up the location of the others. Coalition and Iraqi forces joined to target terrorist elements in...

I just got off of another teleconference with John McCain. Here are my notes, not quotes, from the teleconference. McCain's Opening Statement I gave a speech this morning about how I would want America to look after my first term in office in 2013. I want people to see what I want to do. By 2013, I think we will have won in Iraq. There may be sporadic fighting or attacks by Jihadists, but the Iraqi military would have control of the country and American troops would be out of harm's way, even though we may still have our troops...

MILAN, May 15 (Reuters) - Italy's new foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said he wanted his country to join the United States and other European powers in being "very firm" on Iran. In an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday, he also said he wanted Italy to become a "facilitator" between Iran and the United States to improve dialogue between the two countries. "Italy will push forwards to be really in the club on Iran," he was quoted as saying. "Italy will not be left isolated by a restricted group of European partners plus the United States." The five...

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Democrats on Thursday condemned President Bush's insinuation that they would be appeasing terrorist states by holding talks, with one going so far as to call his remarks "bulls**t." Joe Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that if the president disagrees so strongly with the idea of talking to Iran, then he needs to fire his secretaries of state and defense, both of whom Biden said have pushed to sit down with the Iranians. "This is bulls**t. This is malarkey. This is outrageous. Outrageous for the president of the United States to go to...

And Democrats are outraged!You can usually tell when President Bush hits the bullseye of truth. Democrats erupt into childish fits. They don’t like it when the President points out how little they have learned from the lessons of history and how dangerously misguided liberal policies are.When President Bush told the Israeli Knesset “Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,” Obama and friends went into attack mode.Obama made a statement stressing the need for tough diplomacy (talk). Nancy Pelosi (whose visit to Syria...

Thomas Friedman is one of the few commentators that has a thorough understanding of the political dynamic of the Middle East. Because of our differing political philosophies I frequently disagree with his recommendations, but it’s rare that I take issue with his assessment of what’s really going on. He also has the gift of getting to his point without any unecessary rhetoric, and he’s done so once again on the current situation in the Middle East: For now, Team America is losing on just about every front. How come? The short answer is that Iran is smart and ruthless, America...

Obama attacks Bush over Iran barb Mr Obama accused Mr Bush a "launching a political attack" Barack Obama has accused George W Bush of attacking him after the US president compared those in favour of talking to terrorists to Nazi appeasers. The White House has denied that the remarks - from a speech to the Israeli parliament - were aimed at Mr Obama. Mr Obama, who is the frontrunner to become the Democrats' presidential nominee, has argued in favour of negotiating with the Iranian regime. But he has ruled out talking to militant organisations like Hamas. 'False comfort' "Some...

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama accused President Bush on Thursday of launching a "false political attack" with a comment about appeasing terrorists and radicals. The Illinois senator interpreted the remark as a slam against him but the White House denied that Bush's words were in any way directed at Obama, who has said as president he would be willing to personally meet with Iran's leaders and those of other regimes the United States has deemed rogue. In a speech to Israel's Knesset, Bush said: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will tell Israel's parliament on Thursday that letting Iran acquire nuclear weapons would be an "unforgivable betrayal of future generations." "America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions," Bush will tell Israeli legislators on the second day of his visit to the Jewish state, according to an advance copy of a speech he was due to deliver later in the day. Bush was in Israel to celebrate the Jewish state's 60th anniversary and try to shore up the faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In his speech to the Knesset, he planned...

Wassit, May 14, (VOI) - Security forces on Wednesday seized a communication network operator and arrested two wanted persons and during two separate operations conducted in Wassit. “Security forces captured two wanted persons in al-Suwairiya district, 135 north ofkKt, for involvement in terrorist operations against innocent civilians in Wassit province,” a security source in Wassit’s information and national investifation department, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). The source added “the arrest was based on intelligence information.” Elsewhere, the same source said “a national investigation force seized a communications network operator used for military purposes...

The presidential hopeful opposed the Iraq war and spoke sense about Iran, but expect business as usual on the Middle East Now that Barack Obama is almost certain to be the Democratic party’s nominee, in spite of Tuesday night’s expected Clinton victory in West Virginia, those who want to believe he may change America’s foreign policy should turn to his pre-campaign biography. I don’t mean the recent and obviously self-serving Audacity of Hope, but Dreams From My Father, which he wrote in his early 30s. In four tight pages, before the main section about the dilemmas of being a person...

Muslim women of the Middle East and beyond are shielded, clothed, and occulted away through a series of archaic dress rituals, collectively known as the Hijab, that subjugates and entraps them to an ossified code of conduct, which long ago, should have been abandoned. The Abbaya, Burqa, and Niqab, function as baggy drapes of cloth, which render Muslim women formless, invisible to her surroundings, a non-entity outside the domestic sphere, and should be viewed as a transgression against God's wishes...I present to you, the Beautiful and Vivacious Ladies of Iran, unhijabbed and free...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's government cancelled measures on Wednesday that angered the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and triggered the worst internal conflict since the country's 1975-90 civil war. ADVERTISEMENT The U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a statement after a meeting that it was taking the step in line with a request by the Lebanese army to preserve civil peace and promote an Arab League mediation effort to end Lebanon's 18-month-old political crisis. "The cabinet decided to agree on the suggestion of the army commander ... which includes the cancellation of the two decisions," the statement, read by...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he thought more visits to Iran by private American citizens might help bridge differences between the two countries. But Gates, who in 2004 advocated greater diplomatic engagement with Iran, said Wednesday he believed it would not be useful now to negotiate with the government headed by President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. "We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage with the Iranians and then sit down and talk with them," he said in a talk at the American Academy of Diplomacy, referring to general US relations with Tehran.

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2008 – So-called “special groups” terrorists operating in Iraq apparently are receiving training, arms and funding from Iranian sources, a senior U.S. military official posted in Iraq said today. “Over the course of the last several months, we have publicly discussed numerous times, and shown numerous times, the evidence on four separate occasions on what we have found and continue to find: Iranian-made weapons in the hands of criminals in Iraq,” Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner told reporters during a Baghdad news conference. U.S. officials previously have discussed evidence that indicates some Iraqi militants “are being trained...

BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki took personal charge Wednesday of a military operation to rout al-Qaida in Iraq in what the U.S. has described as the terror group's last major stronghold, even as a tenuous cease-fire took hold over Baghdad's Sadr City slum. The campaign in the northern city of Mosul was the third by al-Maliki in two months as he attempts to stamp out Shiite militants and Sunni extremists across the country. Also Wednesday, a suicide bomber killed 22 people and wounded 40 in an attack on a funeral tent in a village west of Baghdad, Iraqi police...

Hizbullah's successful overthrow of the pro-democracy forces in Lebanon this past week was eminently foreseeable. But that doesn't make the violent overthrow of the forces of freedom in that country any less of a tragedy. And the fact that Hizbullah's coup was predictable does not mean that it was inevitable. A great many forces had to turn their backs on Lebanon's democratic forces in order to enable Hizbullah's easy triumph. A great many actors had to turn a blind eye to Hizbullah's Iranian and Syrian-financed rearmament over the past two years. A great many actors had to ignore and so...