Saddam’s ally, Tariq Aziz, switches sides

From The Times

PROSECUTORS seeking to convict Saddam Hussein for war crimes believe they have made a significant breakthrough after Tariq Aziz, the former dictator’s right-hand man, agreed to give evidence against him.
Aziz, now the star witness, is understood to have agreed to “co-operate fully” with American interrogators in return for leniency. Until he made the deal Aziz, the former deputy prime minister and the only senior Christian member of the regime, was facing the death penalty.

Aziz is now expected to testify that Saddam was personally responsible for war crimes, including the slaughter of thousands of innocent Kurds and Shi’ites. In 1988 5,000 people died in a single day in the Kurdish town of Halabja after a gas attack which Saddam claims to have been an accident.
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As you may notice from Chris Muir, of Day by Day comics, he is taking some time off due to some in his family suffering from cancer.

May I suggest we all hit the donate button on Chirs' site and donate what we can to help Chris out and show our support.

You can donate here on Chris' site on the top left.
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Kerry admits the Iraq war is part of the war on terror

From The Boston Globe

''Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq; more than 1,000 of America's sons and daughters have now given their lives on behalf of their country, on behalf of freedom, the war on terror,'' Kerry said as he arrived in Cincinnati on a campaign stop.
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Kerry, Kansas City, and the FBI files

From The American Thinker

By now you’ve probably heard that John F. Kerry attended a meeting of his Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) group in Kansas City in November 1971, where they considered a proposal to murder top governmental leaders. You have probably even heard that Kerry met at least once in May, 1970, and maybe several times subsequently, with the North Vietnamese and Vietcong Peace Delegation in Paris, and that he went on to aggressively agitate around the country and even before the US Senate for accepting their terms.

Not that long ago, the notion that John Kerry could have been involved in such activities was so unthinkable that when I first stumbled upon this information back in January, I could not find any journalists in the news media to take these stories seriously.

For even though the information is briefly touched-upon in a couple books on the anti-war movement—a passing reference to the assassination proposal in Gerald Nicosia’s Home To War, a photograph of the VVAW’s delegation in Paris in Richard Stacewicz’s The Winter Soldiers—the putative historians downplayed these events to such an extent you could almost believe they were trying to protect John Kerry’s reputation.

Indeed, Kerry supporter Nicosia even went so far as to portray Kerry as resigning from the VVAW after a melodramatic showdown with Al Hubbard months before the Kansas City meeting took place. All of which is pure fantasy, as the witnesses who have since come forward testify, and more compellingly, the FBI files (which Nicosia had then-unique access to) so clearly reveal.

Read the whole thing!
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KERRY LIED . . . while good men died

It will be interesting to see how this demonstration turns out.

A gathering of Vietnam veterans from across America
Where: Upper Senate Park, Washington, D.C. It is easy to get to, shady and pretty, with a great view of the Capitol dome in back of the speaker's platform. THIS IS A NEW LOCATION AS OF 7/17/04

When: Sunday, Sept 12, 2004 2:00-4:00 PM (EDT)

Why: To tell the truth about Vietnam veterans.
To counter the lies told about Vietnam veterans by John Kerry
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Saddam to go on trial within weeks

From Reuters

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Iraq's toppled leader Saddam Hussein and his top aides will go on trial within weeks, Iraqi Minister of State Kasim Daoud says.

Daoud told a news conference in Kuwait City on Sunday after talks with top officials that "Saddam Hussein and his band will stand trials within a period of weeks."

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Kerry on Iraq: Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Kerry said this while on the campaign trail today.

But recently Kerry "said he would have voted to give Bush the authority to use force if necessary against Iraq even if he had known at the time that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) had no weapons of mass destruction, has struggled to draw clear contrasts with the president. "

And back in Oct. 2002 Kerry said this:

"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force-- if necessary -- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002."

I guess his policy depends on which day you catch him on - a flip or a flop.
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BBC: Saddam Almost Got Nuke from A. Q. Khan

From LGF

A new BBC miniseries has a bombshell revelation, in every sense of the term: shortly before the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein came “within a whisker” of purchasing a complete, off-the-shelf nuclear device from Abdul Qadeer Khan’s Islamic nuclear black market. This ought to be huge news. But it isn’t. It’s a tiny blip in a BBC show mostly about Libya.

There’s no transcript online, but you can listen to the audio here: Dirty Wars.

Iraq's attempt to buy a nuclear weapon is mentioned at about 18 mins into the recording.
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John Kerry's missing medical records

Do I smell a rat?

First Clinton has some heart problems. I guess this is true, can you fake something like this?

As Just One Minute points out “Dick Cheney needs to send Bill Clinton a thank-you note; if the heart attack came a week earlier, wouldn't Cheney have gotten the pink slip?”

And I heard Clinton on the radio say, “the Republicans are not the only ones who want four more years”. Could this open up the questions about Cheney’s health? Or, continue the health insurance issue, for as Hilary said, “thank God we have health coverage”.

Second, CNN reports “Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, was taken to a Mason City, Iowa, hospital Saturday evening for tests after she complained of an upset stomach, but left after a series of tests, a Kerry campaign spokeswoman said.”

Seems like the poll numbers are making some high-ranking Democrats awfully ill.

Or, is this a new part of the strategy? Use the publicity from these events to get off the war on terror theme and back on the domestic agenda.

If I were on the Republican campaign team, I would use these issues to ask Kerry to release his medical records.

The American Thinker has some serious questions about Kerry’s medical records. If the Kerry campaign wants to make health part of the campaign debate, then Kerry’s medical records are fair game. No?

As Daniel Aronstein and Thomas Lifson point out in the article, the Democrats have already used mental health issues in this campaign.

“To answer these questions, Kerry MUST release his complete medical records.

According to the New York Daily News, the Kerry campaign considers mental health to be a perfectly valid subject of controversy, at least when it concerns one of their political opponents. James Zumwalt, son of illustrious Adm. Elmo Zumwalt, is said to be the subject of a dossier compiled by campaign opposition researchers, because he testified in support of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. He is said to have attempted to kill himself with an overdose of prescription drugs," after the murder of his ex-wife's fiance, John Kowalczyk, according to the dossier.

Blogger Ed Morrisey aptly comments:

at least the Democrats have agreed in principle that medical records should be released as a basis for public debate in this presidential cycle. Bush released his, now Zumwalt's are out in the open -- so where are Kerry's?

Where indeed?
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Democrats put election before homeland security

Captains Quarters has an amazing article about the Democrats extorting endorsements from the Massachussetts state police.

CQ reader Bill Shrumm points out an article in today's Boston Herald which emphasizes the point Zell Miller made regarding his extreme dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party -- their repeated hijacking of national-security and homeland defense issues for partisan political advantage. Ann Donlan reports on the Massachussetts' state troopers union push to endorse George Bush in the upcoming election and the thinly-veiled threats coming from state Democrats as a result:

The state troopers' union is seriously considering an endorsement of President Bush, a vote that would be an embarrassment for Sen. John F. Kerry and a risky move for the union, according to government and law enforcement sources.

"It would be embarrassing for the senator that the state police in his own state aren't supporting him," said one law enforcement source. ...

The SPAM union, which represents about 2,000 troopers and sergeants, endorsed Republican Gov. Mitt Romney when he ran for governor in 2002. Its president, John Coflesky, who has a close relationship with high-level Bush staffers, already has cast a vote to endorse Bush in a national troopers' union for which he serves as an executive board member.

No doubt, having first responders in Kerry's home state would generate some embarrassment for the Senator, who has tried to make the case that he would do more to strengthen local response. However, Kerry can't win every endorsement -- and even if he could, it doesn't appear to have that much effect on the overall numbers. No one has seen a huge endorsement from labor for George Bush, and two polls have him up by eleven points.

Don't tell that to Bay State Democrats, though. Apparently all of their concern about first responders and homeland security only applies when the police and fire unions toe the (Democratic) line. Once they wander off the reservation, though, the Democrats have no problem threatening them with hostile legislation including, one assumes, funding cuts and tossing other obstacles in their path:

If the endorsement materializes, there likely would be a political backlash among Democratic legislators, who have voiced distaste for the prospect of a Bush endorsement in the wake of their support for state police spending priorities, according to legislative and law enforcement sources.
"It is like physics," said one high-ranking State House Democrat. "For every action, there is a reaction."

Really? Why would the union's political endorsement change the legislature's assessment of law-enforcement and homeland security needs? Perhaps the Democrats are making a tacit admission that having George Bush in office inherently makes Massachussetts safer, or at least that electing John Kerry as president requires more money to guard Massachussetts against attack. More likely, the Democrats threaten to engage in the same crass political maneuvering on security issues in which Max Cleland and Tom Daschle engaged -- putting union issues and political paybacks ahead of homeland security.

I understand that the Democrats have reached the desperation stage of the Kerry campaign as he continues to implode, but extorting endorsements from police unions by threatening them with legislative attacks crosses the line. Perhaps the time has come for the people of Massachussetts to understand that the Democrats consider their safety and security as bargaining chips with which to buy off or extort union leadership -- and maybe not just in Massachussetts. The best response is to ensure that they do not control the legislatures so that such threats never materialize.
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Revealed: how 'war hero' Kerry tried to put off Vietnam military duty

From The Telegraph

Finally, Finally, the British press are looking more closely at John Kerry's claims. Now if they will just look more closely at what the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are saying.

Senator John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is trading on his Vietnam war record to campaign against President George W Bush, tried to defer his military service for a year, according to a newly rediscovered article in a Harvard University newspaper.

He wrote to his local recruitment board seeking permission to spend a further 12 months studying in Paris, after completing his degree course at Yale University in the mid-1960s.

The revelation appears to undercut Sen Kerry's carefully-cultivated image as a man who willingly served his country in a dangerous war - in supposed contrast to President Bush, who served in the Texas National Guard and thus avoided being sent to Vietnam.

The Harvard Crimson newspaper followed a youthful Mr Kerry in Boston as he campaigned for Congress for the first time in 1970. In the course of a lengthy article, "John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress", published on February 18, the paper reported: "When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy."
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The Associated Press fabricates a story about Bush

From Powerline

I've long said that the Associated Press is the nation's worst source of media bias. But this one, frankly, blows me away. It was first noted, I think, by Freepers and followed up on by Swimming Through the Spin, linked to by InstaPundit.

The AP ran this story:

WEST ALLIS, Wis. - President Bush (news - web sites) on Friday wished Bill Clinton (news - web sites) "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery." "He's is in our thoughts and prayers," Bush said at a campaign rally. Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them. Bush offered his wishes while campaigning one day after accepting the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in New York. Clinton was hospitalized in New York after complaining of mild chest pain and shortness of breath. Bush recently praised Clinton when the former president went to the White House for the unveiling of his official portrait. He lauded Clinton for his knowledge, compassion and "the forward-looking spirit that Americans like in a president."

A number of people who were at the rally and didn't hear any boos sent angry emails to the AP, which resulted in a rewrite of the story. If you follow the link to the original story, this is what you get. Nothing.

The AP put up a revised version which is exactly the same as the original, except that it omits the two sentences about the crowd booing and Bush "doing nothing to stop them." No explanation and, as of yet, no apology.

Meanwhile, someone came up with an audio of the President Bush's speech, which is linked to by Drudge. Listen to it here. The audio is stunning. When the President says that he's just received word that Clinton had been hospitalized, you can hear the crowd react with sympathy and dismay. When Bush goes on to say that President Clinton is in our thoughts and prayers, and we send him our best wishes for a speedy recovery, the crowd applauds and cheers enthusiastically. No booing. None.

Note that the AP didn't say "there were scattered boos" (there weren't) or even "one guy booed." The AP reported, falsely, that "Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed." That isn't spin; it's a flat-out lie. And the AP writer added the malicious embellishment that Bush did nothing to stop the (nonexistent) booing.

Is this the most astonishing example of media bias I can remember? Offhand, yes. It is sheer, malicious fabrication and slander--of President Bush and of Republicans generally--in what purports to be a brief, factual account of Bush's speech.

What this shows, I guess, is that the establishment media are in a full panic mode over John Kerry's prospects. Any semblance of professionalism, or even basic honesty, in this instance, is gone.

Here is the contact information for AP. Complain to them.

Mr. T. Lee Hughes
Bureau Chief
Associated Press (NS-310V)
Milwaukee

918 N 4th St
Milwaukee, WI 53203-1506

Media Phone Number: (414) 225-3580
Media Fax Number: (414) 225-3599
Editor Email: tlhughes@ap.org

Mr. Scott Lindlaw
Associated Press (NS-300I)
White House Reporter

2021 K St NW
Ste 600
Washington, DC 20006-1003

Editor Phone Number: (202) 776-9494
Media Fax Number: (202) 776-9570
Editor Email: slindlaw@ap.org

Ms. Sandy Johnson
Associated Press (NS-300I)
Bureau Chief

2021 K St NW
Ste 600
Washington, DC 20006-1003

Editor Phone Number: (202) 776-9435
Media Fax Number: (202) 776-9570
Editor Email: sjohnson@ap.org

Let them know how you feel about this outrageous incident.

Taliban 'Billy The Kid' Killed

From CBS News

Roze Khan. His name means nothing to most Americans who have never heard it mentioned. But thousands of miles away from the United States, in the dry south of Afghanistan, it is a name that resonated across dirty brown mountains and remote, dusty villages, sometimes in fear, sometimes in awe.

And when he was killed by U.S. Special Operations forces last week, it was news that spread like wildfire, across the mountains and arid plains and over the Afghan border into Pakistan where it was surely greeted with dismay among the communities of Taliban members and supporters who continue to base themselves in that country’s semi-autonomous tribal areas.

“He was like 'Billy the Kid' in these parts,” one American soldier told me, “We’ve been after him for more than two years and he’s escaped twice before so this feels really good.”

And it should. Roze Khan was the top Taliban commander based in southern Afghanistan, and the American forces here believe he recruited and organized both Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, financing them from Pakistan. In fact, almost $10,000 in U.S. currency and a huge wad of Pakistani rupees was found on his body to support that belief.
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United States Navy to investigate John Kerry's medals

From The New York Sun

Senator Kerry no longer has a problem with just the 35-year-old recollections of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that are questioning his military records. He now has to deal with the United States Navy.

Mr. Kerry’s campaign Web site, which may be viewed at www.johnkerry.com, lists a Silver Star with a Combat V on his DD214. This form issued by the Department of Defense summarizes a serviceman’s career. It is always signed and authenticated as accurate by the individual, in this case Mr. Kerry. But according to a Navy spokesman it is “incorrect.”The Navy has never issued a Combat V at any time for the Silver Star.

This is a serious issue. The chief admiral of the Navy, Jeremy Michael Boorda, committed suicide over questions raised about his right to wear a Combat V by Newsweek magazine in 1996. Boorda stated in his suicide note to his sailors that the questions raised about those he wore caused him to take his life. And that was only a Bronze Star, not the Navy’s third highest decoration.

At the time, Mr. Kerry told the Boston Globe that Boorda’s conduct was “sufficient to question [Boorda’s] leadership position.…If you wind up being less than what you’re pretending to be, there is a major confrontation with value and self-esteem and your sense of how others view you.”

The Navy also questioned the listing on Mr. Kerry’s Web site of a DD215 form listing four bronze campaign stars for his service in Vietnam. According to its records, the Navy credits Mr. Kerry with two campaigns.That is sufficient for the wearing of the Vietnam Service Medal for one campaign bearing one campaign star for the additional campaign — not four.

Perhaps most puzzling of all is Mr. Kerry’s display of a citation for his Star signed in 1986 by the Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman. Mr. Lehman, who recently completed his service on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, finds this “[a] total mystery. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me.”
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