Australia - No Ham for Christmas

Muslim appeasement isn't limited to Britain.

A WA hospital has scrubbed baked ham from its Christmas menu, fearing Muslim patients could be offended.

It has also overhauled its entire menu so that all meals are now halal – containing only meat and other food prepared according to Muslim customs.

But Port Hedland Regional Hospital staff and many non-Muslim patients are outraged, saying it is a case of political correctness gone mad.

Kitchen staff are so angry that they have organised a petition demanding ham be put back on the Christmas menu.

Other WA hospitals are also introducing halal dining, though the Health Department says Port Hedland is the only one to convert its entire menu to suit Muslims.

Looks like they're following the Islamization of Britain.
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Iraq - Pelosi: "Time For a New Direction"

Just how out of touch with America are the Democrats? A lot it would seem.

"Tonight the President acknowledged more of the mistakes he has made in Iraq, but he still does not get it. Iraq did not present an imminent threat to the security of the United States before he began his war of choice. The President's speech tonight was further evidence that after almost three years, he still does not understand that crucial fact.

Well, Nancy, for starters President Bush never said Iraq was an imminent danger.

Secondly, it would seem the vast majority of Americans agree with President Bush.

WASHINGTON - A solid majority of Americans oppose immediately pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, citing as a main reason the desire to finish the job of stabilizing the country, an Associated Press-Ipsos poll found.

About 57 percent of those surveyed said the U.S. military should stay until Iraq is stabilized, while 36 percent favor an immediate troop withdrawal. A year ago, 71 percent of respondents favored keeping troops in Iraq until it was stabilized.

The AP is being a little coy with the numbers here, for further down we read:

In the poll, when people were asked in an open-ended question the main reason the United States should keep troops in Iraq, 32 percent said to stabilize the country and 26 percent said to finish the rebuilding job under way.

Only one in 10 said they wanted to stay in Iraq to fight terrorism; just 3 percent said to protect U.S. national security.

And as someone pointed out:

#1 32 percent said to stabilize the country
26 percent said to finish the rebuilding job
one in 10 [10 percent]said to fight terrorism
3 percent said to protect U.S. national security

*drumroll* So the internals reveal that actually 71% of those questioned see important reasons to remain engaged in Iraq, ie no change since a year ago. Good!

Pelosi rants on.

"President Bush persists in pursuing a flawed policy that has not made the American people safer nor made the Middle East more secure. It is time for a new direction in Iraq -- not more of the same."

Hmmm. So what's the Democrats policy on Iraq? They don't have any. Hey, those are not my words but Pelosi herself talking.

"There is no one Democratic voice . . . and there is no one Democratic position," Pelosi said in an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors.

But that's not true Nancy and you know it. Twice now you Democrats have voted overwhelmingly to keep our troops in Iraq.

Taken together with last month's House vote against immediate withdrawal, the two resolutions were meant to show the troops they have the support of Congress and to force Democrats to take a position.

Pelsoi's response? We have no position.

Priceless!

Keep it up Pelosi, you're the best thing to happen to Republicans since Michael Moore.
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Iraq - Iraqis Cheer Americans

The Telegraph reports.

More remarkably, the approach of an American military convoy brings people out to wave and even clap, something not seen since the invasion of spring 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Even the Sunnis are starting to warm to Americans.

Dec. 18, 2005 (UPI delivered by Newstex) -- Sunni Muslim leaders in Iraq's violent Anbar province say they are ready to cooperate with the United States.
[...]

"We now believe we must get on good terms with the Americans," Hemaiym said.

And in Pakistan there's been a surge in support for America.
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Pakistan - Support For America Up Sharply

More good news that the lying liberal media don't want you to know about.

The number of Pakistanis with a favorable opinion of the U.S. doubled to more than 46% at the end of November from 23% in May 2005. A similar picture is evident in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Since May, the percentage of Pakistanis who feel terrorist attacks against civilians are never justified has more than doubled to 73% from less than half, while the minority who still support terrorist attacks has also shrunk significantly. There's been a similar increase in the number of Pakistanis disapproving of bin Laden, which rose to 41% in November up from only 23% in May.

The important point is that direct contact with Americans on a humanitarian mission, including military personnel, has a positive impact on how Muslims view America. In Pakistan, 78% of those surveyed said that American assistance has made them feel more favorable to the U.S. America also fared much better in the opinion of ordinary Pakistanis than the other Western countries that also provided aid, or even local radical Islamist groups that made a much-publicized effort to provide earthquake relief.

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Iran President's Bodyguard Dies in Ambush

Damn, missed him.
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America - Today's Toons

Lots more here.
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Iraq - The word on the Arab Street is good

Strategypage has the details.

This relentless progress of democracy is causing quite a commotion throughout the Arab world. While it is fashionable to denounce the American presence in Iraq, and what the Americans were doing, the Arab language buzz on the net is going in unexpected directions. Because of al Jazeera and the Internet, young Arabs everywhere are not only able to observe what it happening in Iraq, but to discuss it with young Iraqis. These discussions are not noted much in the West, because they generally take place in Arabic, and often via email and listservs. The non-Iraqi Arabs are impressed at the proliferation of media in Iraq, and the eagerness of Iraqis to vote, and make democracy work. The economic growth in Iraq is admired, and is already attracting entrepreneurs from other Arab countries. The more cynical non-Iraqis believe that it will all come to nothing, and that another Saddam will eventually emerge and shut down all this democratic nonsense, as is the case in most of the Arab world. But the pessimists appear to be in the minority. Arabs are tired of dictators, economic stagnation, the corruption and living in a police state. Moreover, there’s a nimble quality in Arab thinking that allows them to simultaneously blame the Americans for going into Iraq, and praising the result.

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Britain - BBC's Bias by Omission Costs Us

Costs us not only in being denied the truth but in real money as well.

Over the following five years, Mr Sylvester’s tragic death in these circumstances became a matter of great public controversy in London and nationwide. It received considerable publicity in the media. In particular, on Friday 15 December 2000 the BBC broadcast the programme which is the subject of this claim. In the Nicky Campbell Show, broadcast that morning to a large audience, the BBC conducted a live interview with members of Mr Sylvester’s family, and a campaigner supporting them. Neither the Metropolitan Police, nor any of the officers, were given the opportunity to take part in the programme. In the course of that programme, the relative of Mr Sylvester made very serious allegations about the conduct and motives of the eight police officers, which amounted to an accusation of unlawful killing against them. Although the officers were not expressly named, they were rightly concerned that previous publicity meant that they were likely to be identified by people who knew them. The allegations caused the police officers great distress at a very difficult time for them.

The officers have always strongly maintained their innocence in respect of the death of Mr Sylvester. His death has been the subject of extensive inquiries and legal proceedings, which culminated in the November 2004 decision by Mr Justice Collins holding that "no jury would be likely to convict any officer of manslaughter" and that a verdict of unlawful killing "would not be a just verdict."

The BBC has never maintained, in its defence of these proceedings, that there was any truth in the family’s allegations, which it allowed to be broadcast, and through its [counsel/solicitor] today accepts the findings of Mr Justice Collins. The BBC has agreed to pay each officer substantial damages, and their legal costs, and apologises unreservedly for having broadcast these allegations.

Defendant’s Counsel/Solicitor

My Lord, on behalf of the BBC I accept everything my friend has said. The BBC accepts responsibility for what is said in its programmes, by its own staff or outside contributors. On the BBC’s behalf I apologise unreservedly to the officers for this programme, as well as for the distress it caused them.

If someone would investigate the Case Against the BBC, the BBC would go broke.

HT to a reader.
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America - How Media Lied About Katrina

Instapundit has a round up.

Surprisingly, the LA Times exposes one of the big myths about Kartrina. Of course they don't admit their part in spreading the lies.

The well-to-do died along with the poor, an analysis of data shows. The findings counter common beliefs that disadvantaged blacks bore the brunt.

By Nicholas Riccardi, Doug Smith and David Zucchino, Times Staff Writers

The bodies of New Orleans residents killed by Hurricane Katrina were almost as likely to be recovered from middle-class neighborhoods as from the city's poorer districts, such as the Lower 9th Ward, according to a Times analysis of data released by the state of Louisiana.

The analysis contradicts what swiftly became conventional wisdom in the days after the storm hit — that it was the city's poorest African American residents who bore the brunt of the hurricane. Slightly more than half of the bodies were found in the city's poorer neighborhoods, with the remainder scattered throughout middle-class and even some richer districts.

Yes, but it became conventional wisdom because the lying liberal media wanted to smear Bush instead of reporting the truth.

Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.

And note this from the Times report:

New Orleans was the site of most of Katrina's fatalities; the state reported that 76% of storm deaths statewide occurred in the city. Of the 380 bodies from New Orleans that have been formally identified, a moderately disproportionate number are white. New Orleans' population was 28% white, yet 33% of the identified victims in the city are white and 67% black.

"The affected population is more multiracial, multiethnic and multicultural than one might discern from national media reports," said Richard Campanella, a Tulane University geographer who has studied which parts of the city were hit the worst by flooding. His research showed that predominantly white districts in the city were almost as likely to flood as predominantly black ones.

But you wouldn't know that thanks to the lying liberal media.
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America - Spreading Democracy

Instapundit notes this:

GOOD NEWS YOU MIGHT MISS: Afghanistan's first elected national assembly in 30 years is meeting. Murdoc Online has more, and observes: "If, at the end of September 2001 you had said that both Iraq and Afghanistan would have elected new democratic national governments by the end of 2005, I would have said you were a bit too optimistic. I'm glad to be proven wrong. Why are some people so disappointed that things are going so well?"
Why, indeed?

Because the lying liberal media and the Left don't want America to spread Democracy around the world.
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America - 90% of Media Lean Left: Report

A new report proves what we've known all along, the lying liberal media is real.

While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.

[...]

Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.

It's not that they just "lean left" in their reporting, hell, they flat out lie to you.

The bias and lying in the media isn't limited to America as my Case against the BBC proves.

How much better off would the world be if liberal media stopped lying and the people knew the truth?

If you're reading this blog and don't have a blog of your own, start one and start spreading the truth about the lying liberal media.

Instapundit has more.
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Iraq - Sunnis say they want to work with US

Now why do you suppose MSM are ignoring this story?

Dec. 18, 2005 (UPI delivered by Newstex) -- Sunni Muslim leaders in Iraq's violent Anbar province say they are ready to cooperate with the United States.

[...]

"We now believe we must get on good terms with the Americans," Hemaiym said.

More proof we are winning in Iraq.

How much longer before someone turns Zarqawi in?
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Iraq - Analysis of Bush's Speech

Forget MSM and follow these links.
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Iran - Destruction of Israel Gov. Policy

And if the West doesn't like it, they just have a different opinion.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran dismissed international criticism of anti-Israeli remarks by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, urging the West on Sunday to show greater tolerance for differing points of view.

Last week, Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a ``myth'' and said if Europeans insist it did occur, then they should give some of their own land for a Jewish state, rather than the one in the Middle East. The comments came just two months after the hard-line president called for Israel to be ``wiped off the map.''

The remarks sparked outrage in Israel and the United States, and European leaders warned Saturday they would consider sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday the international reaction was overblown.

``The West had a very emotional attitude about Ahmadinejad's comments. Westerners have to learn to tolerate other's opinion,'' Asefi said at a news conference.

He dismissed the European sanctions threat as ``baseless and illogical'' and said Ahmadinejad was simply articulating Iran's position toward Israel.

A fellow member state of he UN continues to call for the destruction of another member state and the UN does nothing.
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America - Democrats call for investigation

Does anyone else find it strange that the Democrats never call for an investigation into who leaks highly classified information to the media? Or why John Kerry adviser, Sandy Berger, stole and destroyed highly classified documents during the last Presidential election?
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Australia - Sydney police claim beach success

Since the beaches were deserted, I'd say the Muslim terrorists won.

You'll notice the BBC leave out any mention of Muslims harassing women on the beaches or the gang rapes.

And note this from the BBC: "The violence was apparently sparked by an attack on two lifeguards." What the BBC doesn't tell you is who attacked the lifeguards and why. They were Muslims and the guards were attacked when they tried to stop Muslims harassing women on the beach.

Covering for Muslims has become a hallmark of the BBC.
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Spain - Anti-War Protest Fizzles

Maybe this is why the moonbat is crying.

MADRID, Spain - Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan led a small protest Saturday outside the U.S. Embassy to denounce the war in Iraq.

About 100 protesters carried banners criticizing President Bush.

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Syria behind Hariri's murder

That's what the head of the UN investigation says.

Asked by the daily, "Do you believe unequivocally that Syria was behind Hariri's assassination?" Mehlis responded, "Yes".

The paper then asked: "Do you mean by that the Syrian government?" Mr Mehlis replied, "That is to say, the Syrian authorities."

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Islam - Lying is part of Jihad

Back in July I posted about the subject of Muslim leaders saying what the media and the West wanted to hear and saying the opposite to Muslims.

Ilana Mercer writes

Since two-facedness is both a way of life and a political strategy, there's nothing extraordinary about the countless Muslim leaders who pose as moderates, forswear terrorism, and then do what the Quran commands: "instill terror in the hearts of unbelievers" (8:12). Both Serge Krifkovic (author of "The Sword of the Prophet") and Paul Sperry ("Infiltration") have traced the trajectory of these "moderate" Muslims, as they've gone from "the White House to the Big House." Embraced by American presidents, Sami Al-Arian, Abdurahman M. Alamoudi and Muzammil H. Siddiqi, to name but a few, represent a sample of the crème de la crème of "moderate" Islam in America. The first now awaits trial for heading the U.S branch of Islamic Jihad. The second "pleaded guilty of plotting terrorist acts with Libya." The third is a dyed-in-the-wool radical (or simply true to The Faith), advising Muslims to work to establish Shari'a in the U.S.

Western Resistance reports on Malaysia's "moderate" Muslim leader Mahathir Mohammad's use of this tactic.

KUALA LUMPUR: A global network of pro-peace and anti-war movements has been proposed to bring together all non-governmental organisations with similar objectives to drive changes in countries that advocate war.

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in making the proposal, said it was necessary that a permanent secretariat be set up and located where it would be most effective.

"With all NGOs working together in ensuring that peace becomes the main issue in all democratic elections everywhere, it is quite possible that those who advocate warlike policies would not be elected," he said in his keynote address at the Perdana Global Peace Forum yesterday.

"It may take time. It is not easy. But all that is needed is just one major success for the peace campaign to gain momentum."

This isn't about peace as Mohamad claims to the media, this is about waging war on the West.

Speech by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad

It cannot be that there is no other way. 1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews. There must be a way. And we can only find a way if we stop to think, to assess our weaknesses and our strength, to plan, to strategise and then to counter attack. As Muslims we must seek guidance from the Al-Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. Surely the 23 years' struggle of the Prophet can provide us with some guidance as to what we can and should do.

We know he and his early followers were oppressed by the Qhuraish. Did he launch retaliatory strikes? No. He was prepared to make strategic retreats. He sent his early followers to a Christian country and he himself later migrated to Madinah. There he gathered followers, built up his defence capability and ensured the security of his people. At Hudaibiyah he was prepared to accept an unfair treaty, against the wishes of his companions and followers. During the peace that followed he consolidated his strength and eventually he was able to enter Mecca and claim it for Islam. Even then he did not seek revenge. And the peoples of Mecca accepted Islam and many became his most powerful supporters, defending the Muslims against all their enemies.[...]

Be sure and read this entire post for more.

Read these posts for more on the war we are engaged in.

Anti-war Groups Exposed
Islam's War Plan
The Case Against CAIR
Muslim Crimes Against Christians
The Islamization of Britain

How can anyone doubt that we are war with Islam for our very existence?
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Iran - Policy on Israel

Iran's interior minister says Iran's policy on Israel and the Holocaust has been "misunderstood".

Speaking on the sidelines of an Athens, Greece, immigration conference, Pourmohammadi said: "Actually the case has been misunderstood. (Ahmadinejad) did not mean to raise this matter."

But Iran's Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, says the Holocaust "myth" was the official Iranian government's position on the issue.

Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Friday that remarks made earlier this week by the country's president that the Nazi mass murder of Jews during World War II was a "myth" was the official Iranian government's position on the issue. "The words of [president] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the Holocaust and on Israel are not personal opinions, nor isolated statements but they express the view of the [Iranian] government," Mottaki said. Ahmadinejad made the Holocaust remarks on Wednesday while it was in October he said Israel should be "wiped off the map."

Seems pretty clear to me.

Meanwhile, the AP thinks Iran is just riling Israel.

Well, like yeah, call for your country to be "wiped off the map" would piss most people off.

via LGF.
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Iran Could Be Sanctioned for Riling Israel

Riling Israel?!? That's the AP headline.

I'd say calling for Israel to be wiped off the map of the world is a bit more than "riling".

Did the reporters parents also have a sense of humor?

By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer

Like as in Coke or Levi's?
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America - Intelligence Scandal

The real scandal is, who is leaking all this highly classified intelligence.

Michelle has a very comprehensive post.

Michelle notes why the program was set up in the first place.

What the agency calls a "special collection program" began soon after the Sept. 11 attacks, as it looked for new tools to attack terrorism. The program accelerated in early 2002 after the Central Intelligence Agency started capturing top Qaeda operatives overseas, including Abu Zubaydah, who was arrested in Pakistan in March 2002. The C.I.A. seized the terrorists' computers, cellphones and personal phone directories, said the officials familiar with the program. The N.S.A. surveillance was intended to exploit those numbers and addresses as quickly as possible, the officials said.

In addition to eavesdropping on those numbers and reading e-mail messages to and from the Qaeda figures, the N.S.A. began monitoring others linked to them, creating an expanding chain. While most of the numbers and addresses were overseas, hundreds were in the United States, the officials said.

So, were they successful in stopping additional al Qaeda attacks on American citizens? Yes.

As a result of the NSA program, buried down in the 11th paragraph, we learn that the terrorist plot involving convicted al Qaeda operative Iyman Faris was uncovered--possibly saving untold lives, not to mention New York bridges and possibly Washington, D.C. trains.

Here is some info about Faris's activities not included in the Times' piece, via the Justice Department's October 2003 press release upon Faris' sentencing to 20 years in prison for providing material support to terrorists:

We are at war people.
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Iraq - Democrats Vote To Stay in Iraq

For the second time.

The House yesterday voted against setting timetables for withdrawing troops from Iraq, marking the second time in recent weeks Republicans have forced a vote on U.S. policy in Iraq.

Taken together with last month's House vote against immediate withdrawal, the two resolutions were meant to show the troops they have the support of Congress and to force Democrats to take a position.

But the Democrats say they have no position on Iraq.

Pelosi said Democrats will produce an issue agenda for the 2006 elections but it will not include a position on Iraq. There is consensus within the party that President Bush has mismanaged the war and that a new course is needed, but House Democrats should be free to take individual positions, she sad.

"There is no one Democratic voice . . . and there is no one Democratic position," Pelosi said in an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors.

The Democrats vote twice to stay in Iraq, state they have no position on Iraq and yet claim they have some secret "plan" for Iraq.
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Iraq insurgents say election truce won't last

Yes, you read that correctly - truce.

FALLUJA, Iraq, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Iraqi secular insurgents and Islamist militants said on Friday they would soon resume attacks on U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies, saying they had only observed an election truce to let fellow Sunni Arabs vote.

Since the security plan for the elections was such a stunning success, what else could they do but delcare a de facto truce?
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America - Gang Leader's Memorial

This is just sick.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A memorial service for Stanley Tookie Williams, the convicted killer who was executed earlier this week at San Quentin Prison, has been scheduled for Tuesday.

Among the guests invited to the public service are the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and rapper Snoop Dogg, according to a statement by Williams' supporters.

Williams, the 51-year-old co-founder of the Crips street gang died by injection early Tuesday for the murders of four people in two 1979 Los Angeles County holdups.

Now you know why these guys are called race pimps. When asked to name Williams victims, Jackson couldn't and his minders roughed up the reporter who asked the question.
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Iraq - Dems: We Have No Position On Iraq

That's what Pelosi says.

Pelosi said Democrats will produce an issue agenda for the 2006 elections but it will not include a position on Iraq. There is consensus within the party that President Bush has mismanaged the war and that a new course is needed, but House Democrats should be free to take individual positions, she sad.

"There is no one Democratic voice . . . and there is no one Democratic position," Pelosi said in an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors.

If you have no position you have no plan. So shut up already.
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Iraq - Zarqawi Capture Old News

While the rest of the world's media are on an Iraqi keystone cops case,al Reuters reports what we already knew.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi deputy interior minister said on Friday a report that Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been briefly detained and then released was many months old and there was no new information.

"More than a year ago the Iraqi police in Falluja captured Zarqawi but released him after three or four hours because they did not recognize him," Hussein Kamal told Reuters.

Flashback to Powerline on Jan. 4, 2005.

Now there are indeed rumors, apparently originating with news sources in the Emirates and in Kurdish Iraq, that Zarqawi has been captured.

Now why do you suppose the world's media choose the day of Iraq's elections to rehash this old news? To make the Iraqis look bad.

And in America, after sitting on the story for a year, MSM decide to report on NSA's spying internally, on the same day. To make Bush look bad.

Coincidence? I think not.
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Iraq - Democrats in Disarray

I love it when the Democrats open their mouths, they dig a deeper hole. Listen to Pelosi.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said yesterday that Democrats should not seek a unified position on an exit strategy in Iraq, calling the war a matter of individual conscience and saying differing positions within the caucus are a source of strength for the party.

Er, so what happened to the Democrat's great Iraq war plan?
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Iraq - "Then Bush has said it correctly"

Tigerhawk notes something interesting in the New York Times.

Another thing many Sunnis seemed to agree on was the possibility of a reconciliation between the Americans and the Sunnis, and a distancing of the Sunnis from some of the Al Qaeda-linked insurgent groups. Many were critical of American troops, saying, as Mr. Saleh did, that "they came as liberators, but stayed on as occupiers." But pressed on the question of an American troop withdrawal, most seemed cautious, favoring a gradual drawdown.

"Let's have stability, and then the Americans can go home," said Mr. Sattar, the store owner. Told that this sounded similar to President Bush's formula for a troop withdrawal, he replied: "Then Bush has said it correctly".

He has a good smackdown of Juan Cole, the BBC's favorite "Middle East Expert".
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UK - Biased Broadcasting Corporation: BBC

So I was just checking my Sitemeter to see who was currently viewing my blog and I came accross someone at the BBC.

Here is the referring URL that brought this BBC person to my site. Notice the search criteria? "biased broadcasting corporation".

Now that's funny.
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Islam is the problem

Something I've been saying for a long time.

"The thing is, Mr. Tabtabai is absolutely correct on his assessment. It is illegal to build new places of worship that are not Islamic (or to repair old ones) under Islamic law. The biggest problem is not the "minority of extremists" that "distorts" Islam, but that Islam itself, as proclaimed by Mohammad, is imperialistic, intolerant and violent to the core. There is simply no way of dancing around this fact."

No, there isn't.
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Iraq - MSM Ignoring Election

CQ notes some big American newspapers are ignoring Iraq's historic elections.

Now I wonder why that would be?
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Iraq - "They Can't Do It"

More defeatism from the Democrats.

"We've got nation building by the U.S. military, and that's not a mission for the U.S. military," Murtha said. "I've said this over and over again: They're not good at nation building. You've given them a mission which they cannot carry out. They do the best they can, but they can't do it."

I love it! I hope all the Democrats keep on the defeatist bandwagon. It's exactly what they'll get at the next elections - defeat.

And listen to this:

Before the speech, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said 41 Democratic senators had sent a letter to Bush "to show that we need to get things right in Iraq after these elections."

Reid overlooks the fact that we got "things right" in the first place which saw the ouster of Saddam and 3 elections within one year. All of which gave Iraq a new president, a constitution and now a parliament.

Some quagmire, eh? The Democrats sound more and more like the boy who cried wolf.
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UK - Terrorism charge plumber remanded

That's right, the BBC calls him a plumber terrorist, not a Muslim terrorist but a plumber terrorist.

Kazi Rahman, 28, from Newham, who was arrested in Hertfordshire in November, will appear again on 17 February.

Musn't offend Muslims you know.
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Afghanistan - New Parliament Meets

Iraq is not the only country that President Bush has brought democracy to. But look who al Reuters gives credit to.

KABUL (Reuters) - Four years after the overthrow of the Taliban, a new Afghan parliament will meet for the first time on Monday in the culmination of an international plan to bring democracy to the country following three decades of conflict.

If the UN had its way the Taleban would still be in power.
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Spain - Terrorists Rounded Up

Spain's appeasement of Muslim terrorists doesn't seem to be working out so well.
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Iran's Armageddon

While we rejoice in Iraq's new found freedoms, let's not forget we have more work to do.

"So a Holocaust-denying, virulently anti-Semitic, aspiring genocidist, on the verge of acquiring weapons of the apocalypse, believes that the end is not only near, but nearer than the next American presidential election. (Pity the Democrats. They cannot catch a break.) This kind of man would have, to put it gently, less inhibition about starting Armageddon than a normal person. Indeed, with millennial bliss pending, he would have positive incentive to, as they say in Jewish eschatology, hasten the end."

And

"It gets worse. After his speech to the U.N. in September, Ahmadinejad was caught on videotape telling a cleric that during the speech an aura, a halo, appeared around his head right on the podium of the General Assembly. ``I felt the atmosphere suddenly change. And for those 27 or 28 minutes, the leaders of the world did not blink. ... It seemed as if a hand was holding them there, and it opened their eyes to receive the message from the Islamic Republic.''

Negotiations to deny this certifiable lunatic genocidal weapons have been going nowhere. Everyone knows they will go nowhere. And no one will do anything about it."

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Iraq - AFP Spreading the Lies

They just can't help themselves.

After reporting all the good news surrounding the historic Iraqi elections, the AFP repeat this lie:

The costly 2003 invasion and its aftermath has killed around 2,155 US soldiers. Bush admitted Wednesday that the war had been based on faulty intelligence after estimating that 30,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed.

The truth is, Bush never said any such thing.

Q Since the inception of the Iraqi war, I'd like to know the approximate total of Iraqis who have been killed. And by Iraqis I include civilians, military, police, insurgents, translators.

THE PRESIDENT: How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war? I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis. We've lost about 2,140 of our own troops in Iraq.

The figure quoted includes military, police and insurgents.
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Russia - Blast rocks nuclear plant

From the AP.

MOSCOW - An explosion ripped through a smelter at a nuclear power plant in northern Russia but radiation levels were normal, Russian media reported Friday.

The news agency RIA-Novosti, citing the state nuclear agency Rosenergoatom, said the blast occurred on Thursday in the northern Leningrad region, whose chief city is St. Petersburg.

It said that the smelter was located in the plant's second unit. A unit generally contains a reactor. Radiation levels were normal, the news agency said.

And we should believe them because...?
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Iraq - Elections: The Left are not happy

While most of the (sane) world celebrates with the Iraqis to commenorate their historic vote, the unhinged left are not happy. From Michelle:

I am in no mood to dive into the moonbat cesspool on this historic day, but other bloggers have intrepidly surveyed the Defeatocrats' reaction to the Iraqi elections:

Decision '08: Top Ten Kos Kidz Reactions to Today's Elections in Iraq.

The Officers' Club rounds up the sourpusses.

All Things Conservative takes a look.

Smile!

One major unexpected result of the war in Iraq is that it has truly exposed the left for the evil they represent.
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Iraq - What Biased Media?

Michelle notes this from a biased AP reporter.

President Bush hailed Thursday's voting in Iraq as "a major milestone" in establishing a democratic ally for the United States in the Middle East and moving toward the day when American troops can come home.

The appearance of a buoyant Bush in the Oval Office alongside six smiling young Iraqis displaying purple-stained fingers was an attempt to capitalize on any positive news in Iraq.

Read the rest.
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Iraq - March towards Democracy

Gateway Pundit has a great round up of links to the historic Iraqi elections.

Despite the best efforts of the Democrats, anti-war moonbats, the lying liberal media and all those on the left, Iraq is now the beacon of democracy in the Middle East.

The words of Martin Luther King are appropriate here, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
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Iraq - 'This is stability, at last'

Excuse me while I clean the coffee off my computer screen.

Read that headline again. "This is stability at last". Do you know whose headline that is? The BBC!! I kid you not.
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Gaza - Four Terrorists Killed

But look how AFP whitewash the episode.

Here is AFP's headline: "Four dead in Gaza air strike " and the first paragraph says:

"GAZA CITY (AFP) - At least four people were killed and three others wounded in an Israeli air strike on their vehicle in the Gaza Strip. "

It's not till later in the article that we learn:

Palestinian witnesses said that an unmanned drone had fired two missiles at the vehicle, which was carrying members of the Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella militant organisation.

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Australia - Muslim Riots Spreading

The Australian reports.

FOUR churches in Sydney's southwest have been attacked in 24 hours as the city's riots spread from race to religion.

A community hall linked to a Uniting church was burned to the ground early yesterday, carol-singers were spat on and church buildings peppered with gunfire.

In response, members of the Arab Christian and Arab Muslim communities have called for a curfew for all Lebanese youths over the weekend.

Police believe the attack on the hall, in the suburb of Auburn, was intended to destroy the Uniting church next door, while nearby StThomas's Anglican Church, which has a primarily Chinese congregation, had all its front windows smashed. Three of the attacks were on churches within minutes of each other. The night before, Molotov cocktails were used in an attack on an Anglican church in Macquarie Fields in the city's far southwest.

Just as in France, most of the media want to ignore these Muslim riots.
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Terrorism - The Race for Miss al Qaeda

Rantburg has the story.
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Sweden to cut Iran ties

Good for them.

The Swedish parliament ceased all bilateral contacts with the Iranian parliament Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The move follows a letter Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin sent asking parliaments worldwide to express their support for Israel. The letter, which was sent to more than 80 parliaments, called for an international response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call in October to "wipe Israel off the map."

"In recent years Iran has not merely settled for verbal attacks on Israel, Zionism and the Jewish people. It has been unrelenting in its efforts to achieve nuclear military capability and has funded, supplied and provided operational guidance to several major terrorist organizations," Rivlin wrote in the letter. "I strongly feel that due to the severity of this statement, a worldwide parliamentary reaction is called for."

So, why isn't the UN doing anything about it? Oh, yeah, the UN is on thier side. In fact, the UN honours them.
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UK - BBC's obsession with America

Scott has some thoughts.

If you've never been to Scott's site, have a look and just start scrolling.
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UK - Pro Palestinian BBC Promotes Murderer

Here is what the BBC say about the Palestinian elections.

The rebel list is headed by a jailed activist, Marwan Barghouti, under the new name al-Mustaqbal (the Future).

"Jailed activist"? Barghouti is a convicted murderer.

He was convicted on May 20, 2004 of five counts of murder, one of the victims being a Greek Orthodox monk, resulting from three attacks, one north of Jerusalem, one in Tel Aviv and one in the West Bank. He was also found guilty of one count of attempted murder resulting from a failed suicide car bomb.

We know the terrorist backing BBC won't use the word terrorists, but calling a convicted murderer an "activist" is beyond the pale.

via Biased BBC.
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Jordan - Has the Islamic Reformation Begun?

This may be a start.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Jordan's new prime minister vowed Wednesday to wage a "pre-emptive" war against Islamic extremists, saying his government planned to fight terrorism by reforming religious teaching and granting greater freedom.

Speaking to parliament, Marouf al-Bakhit said the suicide bombers who killed 60 people in three hotels on Nov. 9 "only made us more determined to move forward in our pre-emptive war against terrorism and the 'takfiri' culture."

'Takfiri' is the ideology of militants who regard their Muslim opponents as infidels.

It's not just the "ideology of militants", Islam teaches that non-Muslims are infidels.

The government also would devise a strategy for religious teaching to stress "moderation and tolerance," he said, adding that Muslim clerics would be "retrained and rehabilitated."

Sounds good but will it work? We'll see.
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Iran's 'ministers of murder'

The Telegraph reports.

Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has packed his government with former security and intelligence officials responsible for serious human rights abuses, including the killing of thousands of dissidents in Iranian jails, a leading human rights group said yesterday.

After Mr Ahmadinejad caused renewed international outrage by calling the Nazi Holocaust of Jews a "myth", a report by Human Rights Watch, based in New York, took aim at his hardline cabinet - in particular the new interior minister, Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi.

[...]

Western diplomats familiar with Iran say the two men have long been regarded as leading members of hardline factions that have tried to roll back political reforms promoted by the former president Mohammad Khatami. "If either of them were to turn up in Europe for medical treatment there would be a case for arresting them on the precedent of Gen Augusto Pinochet," said one European official.

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America - Bombshell To End Clinton's Career?

If the Barrett report gets published her career could be over.

Yet, as published reports have indicated, he soon discovered that he was onto something much bigger. He found unsettling evidence that Justice Department officials were actively interfering with the probe and even conducting surveillance of Barrett and his office. Worse, there were indications that Team Clinton was using key players at the IRS and Justice to harass, frighten and threaten people who somehow got in the former president's way.

The pattern was set early on, when the White House sicced the FBI on Billy Dale, who had served as the director of the White House Travel Office since the days of John F. Kennedy. They mounted a baseless probe of Dale's finances, while chasing after his daughter, his sister and others. Dale was guilty of holding a job coveted by presidential pal Harry Thomasson. But rather than simply firing Dale, the Clinton White House chose to destroy him.

By all accounts, the 400-page Barrett report is a bombshell, capable possibly of wiping out Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential prospects. At the very least, it would bring to public attention a scandal that would make the Valerie Plame affair vanish into comical insignificance.

No wonder the Democrats are moving heaven and earth to bury the report.

This careful and continuous monitoring of the report explains why Sens. Byron Dorgan, Dick Durbin and John Kerry took the highly unusual step earlier this year of trying to slip into an Iraq-war spending bill an amendment to suppress every word of the Barrett report. (Every other independent counsel finding has been printed in its entirety, with the exception of small sections containing classified material.)

And they may get away with it.
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UN pulls out Eritrea peacekeepers

The BBC reports.

Tell me again, what is the UN good for?
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Iran's Holocaust slur provokes fury in US and Israel

Why is the Times (UK) singling out the US and Israel when the article says: "Capping a day of worldwide condemnation provoked by Tehran’s latest anti-Israel gibes,..."

The whole world should condemn Iran's president for his remarks and continued attacks on Israel.
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Iraq - Even in Fallujah votes beat bullet

The Times (UK) reports.

And yet Fallujah, the insurgent stronghold that just 12 months ago was in flames after an all-out assault by US Marines, is today likely to act as a beacon for participation by Sunnis across the troubled Anbar province. Sunni participation will give this election — and subsequent government — a legitimacy impossible for the January poll, which saw widespread Sunni boycott.

Then a tiny percentage of Anbar voted. But, after a change of heart by clerics and political leaders who saw themselves marginalised in the resulting Shia-led Parliament, participation in October’s constitutional referendum increased to 30 per cent across the province, with more than 90 per cent in Fallujah itself. Iraqis expect even greater numbers to turn out in Sunni areas today. Southeast of Fallujah, in the “triangle of death”, Iraqi election officials who risked being run out of polling stations in January now report a surge in demand for election materials.

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Iraq - 30,000 Dead "Urban Legend"

MSM are all over Bush's words on the number of Iraqi "citizens" killed in Iraq. Some going so far as to misquote Bush as saying 30,000 "civilians" have been killed.

Here is the actual question and answer.

Q Since the inception of the Iraqi war, I'd like to know the approximate total of Iraqis who have been killed. And by Iraqis I include civilians, military, police, insurgents, translators.

THE PRESIDENT: How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war? I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis. We've lost about 2,140 of our own troops in Iraq.

And while the BBC are not as blatant they still mislead their readers.

Responding to a question from the audience, Mr Bush said he estimated 30,000 Iraqis have died during and after the 2003 invasion.

Note the BBC don't point out that the number includes military and insurgents.

Michelle has more and notes that some MSM are correcting their stories based on bloggers input.
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Iraq - Voter has message for Democrats: Video

and all those on the left. Check out the video.

“Anybody who doesn’t appreciate what America has done and President Bush, let them go to hell”

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Iraq - Elections Underway: BBC Gloomy

After noting all the good things associated with Iraq's historic elections, including how it has split the insurgency to the core, the BBC just can't help themselves and try to throw a wet blanket over everything.

It is just possible that this could be the beginning of the process of driving a wedge between hardline insurgents, who will never compromise, and Sunni Muslims who might be brought into the political process. But if it happens at all, it is going to take a very long time.

Really? It's only taken 3 years to liberate the country, hold elections for President, draft their first constitution, elect a parliament and split the insurgents. All of this in an area of the world that has never seen the like before.

Oh well, that's the BBC for you.
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America - Army recruiting tops new goals

And yet Rep. John Murtha says the Army is "broken, worn out".

So how does he explain this.

The Pentagon yesterday said the Army signed up 5,856 recruits in November, 5 percent above its goal. It previously announced the Army also exceeded its target in October, the first month of the 2006 fiscal year.

The Army has that hit its recruiting mark for six straight months, a promising development for the Bush administration.

Seems Murtha, like most Democrats, is just plain wrong. No surprise there.
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Nigerian women ignore Islamic bike ban

Now remember, we are constantly told the Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance - unless you're a woman.

Women in the northern Nigerian state of Kano are ignoring a ban stopping them travelling on public motorbike taxis.

On Monday religious authorities began implementing the ban passed earlier this year.

In accordance with Sharia law, men and women are not allowed to travel together on public transport.

The women say there are not enough public transport alternatives in the state that adopted Sharia law in 2000.

The BBC's Ado Sale Kankiya in the city of Kano says some 9,000 religious marshals are on the streets to implement the ban.

Why doesn't the women's movement speak out against Islamic persecution of women?

Why do people continue to defend this barbaric religion?
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America - BIANCA THE TORTURE EXPERT

Seems you can't be for human rights unless you're anti-American.

Having swallowed my anger, I gave the "UNICEF Ambassador" a piece of my mind. She seemed surprised. No one had ever told her such things, especially not in a polite society of dinner jackets and long robes. "Is Ganji the same as the alleged terrorists in Guantanamo Bay?" I asked.

"Well, yes, I mean no, I mean yes," she mumbled. "But they are all prisoners, aren't they?"

Having witnessed the verbal altercation, a colleague from the BBC filled me in on the background of the "UNICEF Ambassador." It seems that she had once been married to a British pop singer. And that, of course, is enough to qualify you as a "UNICEF Ambassador" touring the world, attacking Western democracies and flattering the tyrants of Tehran, Damascus and Havana among others.

Well, it had been a good evening. In the end, however, as the lady's husband had once crooned: I could get no satisfaction.

You never can from the Left.
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Britain - London's Mad Mayor Still on Charges

His firing is long overdue.
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Iran - Human rights deteriorating: EU

No surprise there, given the maniac that's running the place now.

“The deteriorating human rights situation and the absence of action by the Iranian authorities to reform laws and official practices, which allow human rights violations to occur, cast serious doubt” on Iran’s intentions to respect fundamental freedoms of their citizens, it said.

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UK - BBC Covers for Muslims - Again.

What's missing from this BBC article? One word - Muslim.

Now, why do you suppose that is?

via Biased BBC.

And the Islamization of Britain continues.
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Iraq - BBC's Simpson Channeling the Democrats

Scott shows how the BBC allow veteran gas bag, John Simpson, to channel the Democrats. They make a lovely couple.
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Sweden Aiding Terrorists?

How else do you explain this?

STOCKHOLM - A 39-year-old Swede accused of terrorism by the United States has been arrested in Prague, Swedish tabloid Expressen reported.

The man, who was not identified, is wanted by the US Central Intelligence Agency spy agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which accuse him of being terror mastermind Osama bin Laden's "man in Sweden", Expressen wrote.

The US has tried to obtain his extradition for several years, accusing him of setting up Al-Qaeda training camps in the US state of Oregon in 1999, but Sweden has refused to hand him over, the paper said.

Even though there was an international warrant for his arrest.

The arrest followed an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol," ministry spokeswoman Sofia Karlberg said.

Could the man be "...Oussama Kassir, a Lebanese-born Swede, who was convicted of weapons violations in Sweden in 2003."

Note he was "convicted". So, Sweden just let him go?

"Aswat and Kassir traveled to the high desert area of Oregon in 1999 to check out property Ujaama identified as suitable for a training camp because it was on terrain comparable to Afghanistan's and could be used to store guns, ammunition and bunkers, the indictment said. "

Guess who sent them to Oregon? Britain's Hamza the hook.

An intrigued Hamza sent a pair of operatives to evaluate the Bly property. They were Oussama Kassir, a Lebanese Sweed who claimed to be a hitman of Osama bin Laden, and Haroon Aswat, a British Indian.

A "Lebanese Sweed" eh? That would explain this unidentified man's destination then.

The man was on a Czech Airlines flight from Stockholm to Beirut on Sunday, but never got there after stopping over in Prague, the paper said.

Could it be that Sweden is afraid of its Muslim population? It certainly looks that way.

And take a look at the results of this Google search.

They rioted in France and Denmark, they're rioting in Australia, they've put up a new Berlin Wall in Germany and the Islamization of Britain continues unabted.

Wake up people, wake up.
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UK - Cindy Sheehan Caught Lying

Disgraceful Sheehan continues to tread on her dead son's memory to further her own agenda.

Here is what Sheehan told the Sunday Herald.

"It’s true that Sheehan had met Bush in early summer 2004, along with her husband and children – but the meeting took place just a few weeks after they’d buried their son. “By the time we left the meeting,” she says, “we felt worse than when we went in. We didn’t think properly of what we wanted to say as we were still in shock. If I’d been able to meet him at Crawford it would have been a lot different."

And yet here is what she said just after meeting President Bush.

"The trip had one benefit that none of the Sheehans expected.

For a moment, life returned to the way it was before Casey died. They laughed, joked and bickered playfully as they briefly toured Seattle.

For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again.

"That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together," Cindy said."

Not content with lying, moonbat Sheehan jumps the shark.

Suddenly, Sheehan laughs at what seems to be the most inappropriate moment. “Bush later kissed me on the right cheek,” she says. “The next day – and I’m not kidding – my right eye swelled up to the size of a golf ball. I told everyone he’d given me some Republican disease.”

Riiiiiight. Best keep taking those meds, moonbat.
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Europe - EU Lied About CIA Flights

Why a I not surprised by this?

The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.

The EU agreed to give America access to facilities - presumably airports - in confidential talks in Athens during which the war on terror was discussed, the original minutes show. But all references to the agreement were deleted from the record before it was published.

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US - Katrina: Gov Purposely Kept Blacks in N.O.?

That's what this sounds like.

"You send that many black folks out of state, we will have a perception problem," Blanco assistant chief of staff Johnny Anderson wrote in a September 2 e-mail.

"Word is already that we are only sending blacks out of this state," Anderson wrote. "We are make (sic) a strategic error. FEMA will not have to answer to the people, we will."

Is that why the buses weren't used?

Now that the demographics are out, it's interesting to note that the racial profile of the dead was 48% black vs 41% white. Especially when you consider that N.O. was 67% black and 28% white.
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Britain - Jail for 'honour killing' family

Tell me again how Islam is a religion of peace.
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Iraq - Voting Has Begun Amid High Turn Out

Gateway Pundit has the story complete with pics.

Another nail in Zarqawi and al Qaeda's coffin.
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Iraq - Iraqis turn in Nr 3 al Qaeda

This is becoming more common.

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi citizens turned over a high-ranking Al Qaeda member known as "the Butcher" to U.S. forces in Ramadi Friday a military statement said.

Amir Khalaf Fanus was No. 3 on the 28th Infantry Division's High Value Individual list for Ramadi, wanted for murder and kidnapping in connection with his affiliation with Al Qaeda in Iraq. [...]

According to Pool, Iraqi and U.S. Forces "have witnessed increasing signs of citizens fighting the terrorists within Ramadi as the Dec. 15 National Elections draw nearer."

And terrorists have issued a warning to Zarqawi.

FALLUJA/RAMADI Iraq (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein loyalists who violently opposed January elections have made an about-face as Thursday's polls near, urging fellow Sunni Arabs to vote and warning al Qaeda militants not to attack.

In a move unthinkable in the bloody run-up to the last election, guerrillas in the western insurgent heartland of Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

Graffiti calling for holy war is now hard to find.

How long before someone turns Zarqawi in?

Things have gotten so bad for Zarqawi, that even the BBC say Bush is right. The BBC's Paul Reynolds reports on the latest poll from Iraq.

"The findings are more in line with the kind of arguments currently being deployed by US President George W Bush, he says."

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Australia - France and now Australia

Ace reports on the race riots in Australia complete with video.

Is Britain next?
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America - Pays Palestinian Terrorists

Well, that's what Abbas is doing with the money we give him.

Abbas gave his approval just six days ago, a day before a suicide bomber struck the HaSharon Mall in Netanya, killing five Israelis and wounding scores of others.

The legislation refers to the suicide terrorists as shahids (martyrs), a term generally applied to a person who dies in an operation fighting against Israel. [...]

The budget of the Palestinian Authority is largely subsidized by grants from European nations and the United States.

I guess Abbas felt he had to take up the slack since Saddam is in jail and can't pay them anymore.

We need to stop funding the PA.
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Syria - New Hariri report 'blames Syria'

That would be the same Syria that George Galloway is defending.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has received the second report into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The report is said to detail Syria's alleged role in the murder.

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Iraq - Terrorists Issue Warning to Zarqawi

This is bad news for Zarqawi and al Qaeda.

FALLUJA/RAMADI Iraq (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein loyalists who violently opposed January elections have made an about-face as Thursday's polls near, urging fellow Sunni Arabs to vote and warning al Qaeda militants not to attack.

In a move unthinkable in the bloody run-up to the last election, guerrillas in the western insurgent heartland of Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

Graffiti calling for holy war is now hard to find.

And here's more bad news for al Qaeda.

More bad news for Zawahiri: "Moderate Muslim clerics in about half a million mosques across Bangladesh on Friday preached that suicide bombers are the enemy of Islam." Heh. Indonesia isn't looking so good for him either: "Volunteers from Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation will guard churches across the world's most populous Muslim nation on Christmas amid fears of terrorist attacks on those places, the group said on Friday."

No wonder Iraqis are feeling happy.

Interviewers found that 71% of those questioned said things were currently very or quite good in their personal lives, while 29% found their lives very or quite bad.

When asked whether their lives would improve in the coming year, 64% said things would be better and 12% said they expected things to be worse.

It's not just the Iraqis that feel happy, the Afghans are quite happy with thier new freedom as well.

All of which has made Zawahiri start to sound like he's surrendering.

CAIRO, Egypt, Dec. 11, 2005 (The Canadian Press delivered by Newstex) -- Osama bin Laden's deputy, in a new tape that surfaced Sunday, urged all Muslims to take up arms and said their refusal to join the fight against "the Cross and Zionism" was a "malignant illness" that would only lead to the defeat of militant Islam.

Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri said the global Islamic community had "no hope for victory" until all Muslims signed on to the al-Qaida-led jihad.

"As long as this malignant illness continues to survive within us, there is no hope for victory and there can only be more defeats, tragedies, disasters and betrayals," al-Zawahri said.

al Qaeda have lost, they just don't know it yet.
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Iraq - 71% of Iraqis are happy

and only 10% want the US to leave. That's according to this BBC report. Yeah, I know, the BBC. Which only goes to prove that pigs can fly.

Interviewers found that 71% of those questioned said things were currently very or quite good in their personal lives, while 29% found their lives very or quite bad.

When asked whether their lives would improve in the coming year, 64% said things would be better and 12% said they expected things to be worse.

Who knew you could be this happy in a "quagmire"?

It's not just the Iraqis that feel happy, the Afghans are quite happy with thier new freedom as well.

And who made these 50 million people so happy? George Bush.

UPDATE

ABC News has more on the poll.

Surprisingly, given the insurgents' attacks on Iraqi civilians, more than six in 10 Iraqis feel very safe in their own neighborhoods, up sharply from just 40 percent in a poll in June 2004. And 61 percent say local security is good — up from 49 percent in the first ABC News poll in Iraq in February 2004.

Recently I had the pleasure of giving Robert Fisk a good fisking. Here is what Fisk had to say last week.

"Not really. Most Iraqis are just trying to survive. They have no electricity and very little money to pay for fuel. They are desperate to protect their families, womenfolk and children from being kidnapped for money."

A few minutes with Google is all I needed to debunk that nonsense. Now here's more from the poll.

Average household incomes have soared by 60 percent in the last 20 months (to $263 a month), 70 percent of Iraqis rate their own economic situation positively, and consumer goods are sweeping the country. In early 2004, 6 percent of Iraqi households had cell phones; now it's 62 percent. Ownership of satellite dishes has nearly tripled, and many more families now own air conditioners (58 percent, up from 44 percent), cars, washing machines and kitchen appliances.

Some "quagmire", heh?

Why does anyone listen to Fisk anymore?

UPDATE

I should have highlighted this from the BBC poll article.

The findings are more in line with the kind of arguments currently being deployed by US President George W Bush, he says.

Wow! Paul Reynolds said that and the BBC printed it! Amazing.
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Britain - The Sheehan Circus Comes to Town

And the Guardian is already spreading the lies.

Scott has the details.
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UK - Christmas Terror threat to 'crowded areas'

This should be getting a lot more attention.

"SCOTLAND YARD has issued a nationwide alert that Islamist terrorist cells may be plotting a Christmas bombing campaign.

The warning was distributed to police chiefs nine days ago by the Yard’s anti-terrorist branch. It follows a series of operations by police and MI5 aimed at disrupting possible attacks by terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda.

The latest warning was sent to the chief constables of the 51 forces in Britain on December 2. It said there was evidence to suggest that Islamist terrorists were planning to carry out bomb attacks against “crowded areas” such as shopping centres, football grounds and train stations.

Senior officers say the alert is not routine and are to increase patrols and searches of potential suspects."

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Reuters Questions Holocaust

There's no permalink to this Wall Street Journal post, so I'll post the whole thing.

"Yesterday we noted that a Reuters dispatch, titled "Iran's President Questions Holocaust," included this sentence: "Historians say six million Jews were killed in the Nazi Holocaust." A later version of the dispatch, however, deleted the words "Historians say" and presented the Holocaust as fact: "The Nazis killed some 6 million Jews during their 1933-1945 rule."

But today, Reuters has a new formulation:

Historians say six million Jews were killed in the Nazi Holocaust. Regarding this widely-accepted view, Ahmadinejad was quoted by the official Iranian news agency IRNA . . .

Reuters, of course, famously forbade its "reporters" from referring to the Sept. 11 attacks as an act of terrorism. "We're trying to treat everyone on a level playing field," said Stephen Jukes, the "global news editor," in September 2001. Apparently Reuters thinks Holocaust deniers are entitled to a "level playing field," even if that means downgrading a historical fact to a "widely accepted view."

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Iraq - Hypocrite Muslim world unites to beg

for the lives of anti-war activists.

I disagree with their views and what they're doing, but I don't want to seem them killed. However, I find it hypocritical of the Muslim world to "unite" and call for their release while remaining silent on all the other hostages who have been kidnapped, tortured and beheaded.

"THE head of the world's oldest Islamic movement has called for the immediate release of British hostage Norman Kember, whose kidnappers have said they will carry out their threat of execution today.

Mohammed Mahdi Akef, president of the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, is the latest leading Muslim to urge the kidnappers to release their captives. In a message broadcast on al-Jazeera, Mr Akef said kidnapping innocent people was against the principles of Islam. "

Well, Muslim hypocrite, why aren't you calling for the release of all hostages and condemning all Muslim terrorists as un-Islamic?

And former hostage Terry Waite takes the biscuit. Listen to this bull:

"As far as other people go, I would say it is probably quite unwise at this stage of the peace campaign to go into the middle of that situation, for the simple reason that the situation is so polarised and in a polarised situation you really don't stand much chance."

Ah, so long as they are "peace campaigners" (anti-war activists to you and me) you'll make the effort but everybody else can just go to hell.

Al Qaeda must take great comfort in this.
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UN watchdog to accept Nobel prize

"They are being recognised for their efforts to contain the spread of nuclear weapons."

I'm not kidding!! That's what this BBC article says.

Pakistan's Khan had a world wide nuclear arms market and North Korea broke the UN seals and resumed work on their nuclear program. Iran did the same and has told the world and the IAEA to stick it while the man accepting the prize, ElBaradei, confirmed Iran will have nukes "in a couple of months".

Efforts? What efforts? The UN and IAEA are doing more harm than good as I see it.
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Canada - BBC Fakes Kyoto Story

Michael Gill catches the BBC faking quotes in thier Kyoto story.

The BBC headline for the story is: "Canada turns climate focus on US" and it contains this quote:

“Canada's prime minister has urged the US to ‘listen to its conscience’ and take further steps to reduce emissions linked to global warming.”

Note the reference to the US with the quotes "listen to its conscience". Problem is, Canada's PM never said that in refernece to the US.

See Michael's post for the rest of the story.

See here for two of my posts on the BBC white washing Kyoto.

So, just how bad and widespread are fake stories in the media? This bad.
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America - College Liberal Attack Backfires

Students at UConn are up in arms at the liberals who attacked Ann Coulter during her speech, forcing her to cut it short. They heckled Coulter for being intolerant when they showed they were the intolerant ones. Hey, it happens all the time.

Congrats to the students who had the guts to stand up and put these liberals in their place.

So how did the Republicans act when anti-war protester, Cindy Sheehan, who has been using the death of her son to push her own agenda, spoke. They were well behaved and let her rant.

You'll find this is usually the case. It's the left that always accuses the right of being intolerant and violent. But when you look at the facts it's always the reverse.

More blowback here.

So, why didn't security boot these moonbats out?
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Iraq - Iraqis continue to turn in terrorists

More good news from Iraq that MSM don't want you to know about.

BAGHDAD – Iraqi security forces and Task Force Baghdad Soldiers continued to scour the streets of Baghdad during operations Dec. 3-7, hunting down terrorists, disabling roadside bombs and seizing stockpiles of weapons.

Some of the success of these operations can be attributed to tips received from concerned citizens who approached Iraqi and U.S. forces with information about the whereabouts of terrorists and weapons caches.

While Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment were on patrol in south Baghdad Dec. 3, they were approached by two Iraqi citizens who said they knew where suspected terrorists were located. When the U.S. Soldiers went to the residence in question, they found six individuals — two of whom were known for terrorist activity. All six suspects were detained for further questioning.

Another patrol operating in west Baghdad Dec. 3 was stopped by an Iraqi woman who told the Soldiers about an improvised explosive device which had been planted in the area.

The woman pinpointed the location of the IED on a map for the Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment. When the patrol went to the location, the Soldiers found a 155-millimeter round with a radio device attached to it. An explosive ordnance disposal team was summoned to the site and the IED was rendered safe.

There's more.
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Iraq - Zarqawi Fears Coming Elections

The mere fact that Zarqawi has to resort to these sorts of tactics shows just how desperate his situation is.
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Iraq - Kerry Flip Flopping - Again

The more the Democrats open their mouths, the more incoherent they sound.
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Iraq - The Democrats Surrender: Video

Here's a video of the Democrats surrendering Iraq.

Gota love it!
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UK - Qaradawi's Links to Terrorism

London's mad mayor, Red Ken Livingstone, is a staunch advocate of terrorist supporter, Yusuf al-Qaradawi (just search this blog using Qaradawi).

Now we learn that Qaradawi has direct connections to funding al Qaeda.

No doubt mad Red Ken will stand by his man.
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UN investigator claims Annan lied

Why is Annan still at the UN?

Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, lied about what he knew of his son's business activities at the time of the Iraq oil-for-food programme, according to the senior investigator charged with examining his conduct.

A report published by the US Congress also alleges that senior members of the UN's separate Volcker inquiry into the programme resisted printing any conclusion which might have forced Mr Annan's resignation.

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