Iraq - The battlefield extends to the courtroom

Whenever allegations of soldier misconduct are alleged, they need to be thoroughly investigated, tried if need be and if convicted, punished.

When such allegations are made, the media go on a feeding frenzy trying the case in the media. The Communist led anti-war movement hold rallies and give speeches denouncing the "war crimes" and Islamists are given more ammunition.

But, again and again our troops are found innocent of any wrongdoing. But it's too late, the damage is done. The media have already used the story to attack our troops. The Communists and Islamists will ignore the facts and will continue to use the incidents to attack our troops. Some of the innocent soldiers will leave the service out of fear of future prosecutions. Worse, soldiers on the battlefield may hesitate during combat putting themselves and others in harms way.

When the allegations are made and the trial is underway, the media spend a lot of time dwelling on the subject and put out many stories. When our soldiers are found innocent, usually one story is put out, the issue is dropped and our soldiers are forgotten.

Here are some reminders.

Marine Cleared in Shooting Death of Iraq Ambassador's Relative

However, Maj. Douglas Powell, a U.S. military spokesman, said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service determined that the Marine "acted properly in self defense in response to unexpectedly encountering a man pointing an AK-47 at him."

British Troops cleared over Iraq drowning

One of the four Iraqis, Aiad Salim Hanon, said he had been beaten repeatedly by the soldiers before being driven to the canal.

His evidence was questioned by the defence lawyers when inconsistencies arose.

In fact, the only evidence given was by one of the looters himself and after he was offered money to testify.

British Soldier Cleared of Murdering Iraqi

A British soldier was cleared today of murdering an Iraqi civilian after the prosecution offered no evidence against him.

British soldiers acquitted of killing Iraqi teenager

According to the Sky news, a court martial judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict the soldiers.

US Soldiers Cleared of Murdering Iraqi Civilians

According to yesterday's reports, the troops were found to have followed normal operating procedures in using force in approaching the house.

Attacked on the battlefield, attacked in the media, attacked by the left, attacked by Islamists and attacked in the courtroom, is it any wonder our troops feel like punching bags?

Have some of our troops committed misdeeds? Yes, and they've been tried, convicted and punished - as they should be. There are other ongoing investigations and we will have to await those outcomes. But it's clear that those that oppose the war, have found a new way to attack our troops. They make an allegation knowing that it will be investigated, the media will trumpet the story and the anti-war movement will capitalize on it. Welcome to the 21st century battlefield.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Islam - "Muslims must bear the grunt of their failure"

This is a Muslim talking in the Middle East Times. We need to have a lot more of this. A lot more.

TORONTO -- Muslim Canadians, as Muslims elsewhere in Western societies, have felt increasingly besieged for some time now, both from outside their community and from within.

This sense of isolation, of being misrepresented and misunderstood, will inevitably deepen as the full story of the arrests of 17 Toronto-area Muslims on terrorism charges unfolds.

But whose fault is this? Let us, Muslims, be brutally honest.

We have inherited a culture of denial, of too often refusing to acknowledge our own responsibility for the widespread malaise that has left most of the Arab-Muslim countries in economic, political, and social despair.

Statistics and intergovernmental reports over the past several decades have documented a gap, perhaps now unbridgeable, between Muslim countries and the advanced industrial democracies in the West.

In a recent "failed states index" published in the May/June issue of Foreign Policy magazine, Pakistan, for instance, is ranked among the top 10 failed states in the world - ahead of Afghanistan.

Pakistan is a Muslim country, a nuclear military power, but it can barely feed, clothe, educate, and shelter its population.

The reports on the Arab countries are a dismal catalogue of entrenched tyrannies, failing economies, squandered wealth, gender oppression, persecution of minorities, and endemic violence.

The cleric-led regime in Iran seeks nuclear weapons and threatens to obliterate Israel, repress domestic opposition, and seek confrontation with the West.

Instead of acknowledging the reality of the Arab-Muslim world as a broken civilization, we Muslims tend to indulge instead in blaming others for our ills; deflecting our responsibilities for failures that have become breeding grounds of violence and terrorism.

Many of our intellectuals in public life and our religious leaders in mosques remain adept in double-speak, saying contrary things in English or French and then in Arabic or Farsi or Urdu.

I've been documenting these same things for over two years now. Refreshing to hear a Muslim admit it. Very refreshing.

The whole article is a must read. Here's this Muslims conclusion.

We Muslims are the source of our own misery, and we are not misunderstood by others who see in our conduct a threat to their peace.

Liberals would like to see this continue as it gives them a reason to exist. If Muslims are allowed to arise above all this and fix their problems, liberals will be robbed of a cause to champion and a reason to attack the right. Thus, as disgusting as it is, liberals will continue to be enablers of Muslims misery.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iraq - Counter-Sniper engagement:Photos

Taking out the bad guys.

Warning! Some photos are very graphic.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - More Democrats caught in corruption

Here's another reason the Democrats have dropped the "Culture of Corruption" meme.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Who's behind "Supporters of Lebanon"

Islamofacists of course.

Notice the sign on the right in this photo.



"ISLAM WILL DOMINATE"

That's what this is really all about.

More photos here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Terror Suspects Plotted Attack on Air Base

Fox News reports.

ATLANTA — Two men already accused of discussing terror targets with Islamic extremists were indicted Wednesday on charges of undergoing paramilitary training in northwest Georgia and plotting a "violent jihad" against civilian and government targets, including an air base in suburban Atlanta.

The new indictment accuses Syed Ahmed, a 21-year-old Georgia Tech student who was arrested in March, and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 19, of traveling to Washington to film possible targets, including the U.S. Capitol and the headquarters of the World Bank, and sharing the recordings with another alleged terrorist based in Great Britain.

Now, I wonder who that could be?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lebanon - A golden opportunity

Charles Krauthammer is right and it would seem even Arabs see the golden opportunity we've been handed by the terrorists.

"Unfortunately we must admit that in such a war the only way to get rid of “these irregular phenomena” is what Israel is doing. The operations of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon are in the interest of people of Arab countries and the international community."

Astounding! Simply astounding!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - Media blamed over Islam's image

Ever notice how Muslims themselves are never to blame?

Look at how this article frames the debate from the start and portrays Muslims as victims.

UK Muslims blame Islamophobia on the portrayal of their religion in the media, a survey has revealed.

The research found that 40% of Muslims blamed anti-Islamic feelings on the media, while 74% of non-Muslims blamed Islamophobia on the 9/11 bombings.

We are not given the survey and therefore don't know how the question was worded. But it's clear the purpose is to establish Islamophobia as a fact and make Muslims the victims of it.

So, who's behind the survey and how was it done?

The internet survey of 1,360 people was carried out by Global Market Insite, Muslim Voice UK, Queens University in Belfast and the University of Liverpool.

The report by Shaista Gohir, from online forum Muslim Voice UK, stated: "The Muslim-West relations have become increasingly strained due to a string of events such as the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Afghanistan war in 2002, the Iraq war, the London bombings in 2005 and the Danish cartoon row.

An internet survey carried out and reported by Muslims finds Islamophobia exists and the media are to blame. I'm underwhelmed.

Now that they've established, at least in their minds and possibly yours, that Islamophobia exists, they have some recomendations.

She sets out recommendations including action by the Muslim community and police; breaking down barriers to integration and misunderstandings; tackling discrimination and Islamophobia; measures to deal with extremism; reviewing foreign policy; protecting human rights and more responsible reporting by the media.

Those last two are priceless! This from a religion that abuses its women, persecutes gays, those that leave Islam and all other religions!!

As for the media, she's lucky the left wing media are on her side. She would just like to see more whitewashing of Islam in the media.

OK. Now that she's tried to establish that Islamophobia exists and Muslims are the victims, she goes on to name those at fault - us infidels.

"It also appears that Islamophobia, Western foreign policy and human rights abuses of Muslims are contributing substantially to the alienation of UK Muslims.

Muslims don't want to integrate, inter-marry, reject western coulture, live in closed societies, abuse their women, abuse gays, persecute all other religions and some how it's our fault?? Bollocks!

Now for a little misdirection.

However, the biggest threat to good Muslim and non-Muslim community relations is the misinformation on Islam in the media."

Actually, "the misinformation on Islam in the media" is the biggest threat to our survival.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - Past as prologue?

This BBC report would seem so.

"The native Britons were genetically and culturally absorbed by the Anglo-Saxons over a period of as little as a few hundred years," Dr Thomas added.

"An initially small invading Anglo-Saxon elite could have quickly established themselves by having more children who survived to adulthood, thanks to their military power and economic advantage.

"We believe that they also prevented the native British genes getting into the Anglo-Saxon population by restricting intermarriage in a system of apartheid that left the country culturally and genetically Germanised.

"This is exactly what we see today - a population of largely Germanic genetic origin, speaking a principally German language."

Sound familiar?

via a reader
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Internet - What's up with the net today?

I'm able to access some sites but not others. I've checked with other net users and they report a similar experience. I notice that Haloscan appears to be down.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

France - French blogger "Dooced"

Sad to see this is happening more and more. I hope she wins her case.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Islam - "Honor" murders go hi-tech

Just in case you thought Muslim so called "honor" killings were carried out by poor, illiterate or backward Muslims alienated from modern society - Think again.

BATMAN, Turkey — For Derya, a waiflike girl of 17, the order to kill herself came from an uncle and was delivered in a text message to her cellphone. “You have blackened our name,” it read. “Kill yourself and clean our shame or we will kill you first.”

Derya said her crime was to fall for a boy she had met at school last spring. She knew the risks: her aunt had been killed by her grandfather for seeing a boy. But after being cloistered and veiled for most of her life, she said, she felt free for the first time and wanted to express her independence.

Few on the left speak out against the religion of peace's abuses of women.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - Why does Britain embrace terrorists?

Why? Is it an extreme form of appeasement? Britain has already made considerable concessions to Muslims by banning books, posters, plays and piglett too.

Downing Street and the British media embrace the Muslim Association of Britain as the moderate voice of Muslims in the UK. And yet the MAB's ties to terrorism are well documented. Search my blog using MAB and MCB.

Dr Azzam Tamimi, of the MAB is often quoted and given print space to by the UK media. As my regular readers will know, these Muslims speakers say one thing to us infidels and the opposite to fellow Muslims.

Here is what Tamimi had to say, via the BBC, at the reopening of the terrorist center, Finsbury Park mosque.

"Dr Azzam Tamimi, of the Muslim Association of Britain, says the plan is to outnumber the extremists to persuade them to stay away.

"For the first few Fridays we will be organising for our members from across London to come and pray here so that we have a strong majority. We will not tolerate anyone who will seek to abuse the mosque," he said.

Here, in two videos, is the same Tamimi calling for the destruction of Israel and praising terrorists. So much for Blair's promise to deport these preachers of hate. And why isn't the police prosecuting him under the new anti-terror laws which made glorifing terror a crime?





Note the support of the Communist led anti-war movement, the Stop the War Coalition, and the support of George Galloway. The left, Communists and Islamic terrorists all united in support of terrorism - all caught on video.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - BBC listening to bloggers

Regular readers of this blog and Biased BBC are aware of the success we've had in affecting the BBC's reporting. It's been a slow, difficult process and a lot more needs to be done.

One thing I advocate, is for people to start their own blogs and report on what they see on the BBC. By raising the public's awareness of the bias and the left wing agenda of the BBC, we can put pressure on the BBC to change. Here the BBC acknowledges bloggers role in changing the BBC's content.

We need a lot more of this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - Foreign Office Muslim Appeasers

Drinking from home has the story.

The government shows no signs of giving up pandering to these Muslim extremists.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - The Democrats have no message

That's according to Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer of New York!!

"We don't have 80 words" to sum up the Democratic agenda, he lamented. "We don't have eight."

Priceless!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Plame suit: BBC twisting the truth

As usual the BBC cares nothing for the truth in its reporting.

This on-going saga began in 2002, when former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson was despatched from Washington to Niger - the White House apparently hoping that he could gather detailed intelligence on reports that Saddam Hussein was attempting to buy uranium from the African country in an attempt to build a nuclear bomb.

But Wilson wasn't sent by the White House. He was sent by the CIA at the urging of his wife who was a CIA analyst at the time.

Next.

Ambassador Wilson's investigation found that those allegations were untrue.

As the Senate investigation revealed and the British Hutton report notes, Wilson's findings actually bolstered the case that Saddam was seeking "yellowcake" from Africa.

The twisting continues.

His findings were at odds with the administration's expectations and went largely ignored: President Bush and others continued to claim that Saddam Hussein was attempting to acquire uranium from Niger.

Here again, subsequent investigations have proved that Wilson's investigation supported the claim.

And on...

And in this lawsuit Mr Wilson and his wife say that senior administration officials took revenge by leaking her status as an undercover CIA operative to the press.

The BBC fail to inform you that Robert Novak, the reporter at the center of the whole affair, is on record stating that it was he who approached the administration and not the other way around. Furhter, Novak states that he learned of Plame's identity from the book "Who's Who in America". Even more, the prosecutor in the case is on record noting that he knew Novak's contacts in the case included Cheney and Rove and neither are under indictment. In fact, no one has been charged with "leaking" Plame's name.

After two and half years of investigation the only one charged with anything is Libby and he's only charged with obstructing justice.

One last thing the BBC leave out is that Plame is writing a book. That, coupled with this falls elections, is what this is all about. But you wouldn't know any of that thanks to the propaganda from the BBC.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Comedy Central protecting Islam

Dhimmi Watch reports on Comedy Central's continued bias towards Islam by refusing to show a picture of Muhammad. CC had no such problem back in 2001 as you can see here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Newsweek: Bush a dictator

You may recall it was Newsweek that ran a bogus story alleging our troops desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo. The bogus story resulted in Muslim riots around the world, many deaths and did tremendous harm to America - not to mention endangering our troops.

If memory serves me, it was also Newsweek that delcared they could deliver 14 points for Kerry in the last election.

Further proof of Newsweeks bias against the administration, as if more were needed, can be found in this outrageous charge by Newsweek's Eleanor Clift, that Bush is “a dictator who's ineffective".

Clift seems to have forgotten that the American public freely elected Bush twice and the second time with a bigger majority. This in spite of all the vote fraud by the Democrats.

News Busters has more video options and notes this:

"...an incensed Chrystia Freeland, a Canadian native who is the Managing Editor in the U.S. of London's Financial Times, scolded Clift for using the dictator label “so loosely” and inaccurately."

Watch as Clift gets the scolding she and Newsweek deserve.



UPDATE

Nice to see Newsweek linking to what blogs are saying about Clift.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - 16 St. Louis area Democrats convicted

of vote fraud in the last 18 months.

Just another reason the Democrats seem to have dropped the culture of corruption theme.

When new laws are introduced to stop the Democrats from repeating the fraud, the Democrats opposed the laws. Imagine that!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blog updates - Digg This! added

I've added Digg This! to the posts. If you are not familiar with Digg you can read about them here.

Michelle has post about what's going on and some other blog items of interest.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - End of the Plame affair?

It should be. But the truth won't stop the left wing media from backing Wilson.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canada - Terrorist free to fly

The Toronto Sun reports.

The source said that under the proposed regulations, people involved in a terrorist group -- either now or in the past -- could be added to the list only if there were reason to suspect they may "compromise civil aviation, the security of any aircraft or aerodrome, or the safety of the public, passengers or crew."

Seemingly, as long as they don't "compromise civil aviation" on their way to attack their ultimate target, terrorists will be allowed to fly to that target. How convenient.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Stand with Israel rally in New York:video

Atlas Shrugs has photos and a video of the tens of thousands who rallied in support of Israel.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lebanon - What was Israel suppose to do?

David Aaronovitch has some thoughts.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Journalists or Americans?

When asked if they would warn American troops of an impending attack or just cover the story, some journalists said they were "reporters first and Americans second".

Faced with rescuing a kidnapped journalist, these soldiers considered him an American first and a journalist second.

U.S. soldiers freed a kidnapped Voice of America journalist and captured four suspected terrorists in two separate operations in Baghdad July 14, officials in Iraq reported.

Read the rest of Tim's post to see where the New York Times stands on all of this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lebanon - Warning? What warning?

The Sydney Morning Herald seems cofused.

First page, second paragraph:

"The bombs come without warning, day and night, ripping through buildings, roads, offices, homes and refugee convoys."

Second page, fourth paragraph:

"On Thursday Israel dropped leaflets telling its people to flee. Bombs swiftly followed."

via Tim Blair

And, can you spot what's missing from this bit?

"Yesterday morning Hezbollah struck again, killing nine Israelis in a missile attack on Haifa in retaliation for attacks on Lebanese civilians and infrastructure."

This is how the BBC report things as well.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Australia - Lying to the infidels

I've pointed out many times, that undercover investigations in mosques prove that Muslims say one thing to each other and the opposite in public. Further, some of these "prominent" clerics are advisers to their host country's leaders.Here's another.

Here is what "...Sheik Hilali -- the Mufti of Australia and a member of John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group"... had to say to his followers in a sermon about the Holocaust.

"The West say we have freedom and freedom of speech," he told thousands of his followers on February 3. "But journalism stops and shuts up when it discusses the burning of the Jews - the Holocaust -- the Zionist lie and the industry that the West deals in."

And here is what he says in public to us infidels.

"People, myself included, are within their right to question the morality of exploiting the memory of the Holocaust."

A lie to Muslim followers and a memory to us infidels, is how the mufti tells it.

Remember, whenever you hear Muslim leaders speak, you are hearing what they want the infidels to hear. Back in the mosque they are saying the opposite.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - BBC continues support for terrorists

Here's a good example.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel - "A Word About the BBC "

Here's what an Israeli family, who lost a child to Palestinian suicide bombers, think of the BBC.

Experience shows that the editors of the BBC in London are not currently, and not going to be, held to any objective test of how fair, honest and accurate their work-product. (And yes, we are very familiar with the efforts made in the last year to bring them to account, with little meaningful or respectable result.) Given how pervasive their influence is, in the United States no less than in the UK, Asia, Europe and elsewhere, Israel's friends everywhere need to take an even more active role - and especially now - in challenging the way the BBC spins the narrative. There are people hard at work inside the BBC fashioning a message that is hostile to Israel and Israeli interests. It's important for us to recognize this, and to do the things that individuals can do.

Be sure and read the comments. Nice to see more and more people recoganize the BBC for the propaganda machine it really is.

via Biased BBC.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turkey - "Honor" killings to "honor" suicide

The New York Times critical of Islam?

In the past six years, there have been 165 suicides or suicide attempts in Batman, 102 of them by women. As many as 36 women have killed themselves since the start of this year, according to the United Nations. The organization estimates that 5,000 women are killed each year around the world by relatives who accuse them of bringing dishonor on their families; the majority of the killings are in the Middle East.

The defenders of Islam are silent over Islam's abuses.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - "Britain should emulate America"

So says the Observer! And that's saying something.

Read the whole thing but here's the conclusion.

American businesspeople are held to account for their actions, and it makes their businesses stronger. Accountability is good, not bad, for business. The US has a long history of taming business, which springs from republican institutions ... imposing competition, imprisoning fraudsters and breaking up monopolies. Arguably, its economic dynamism comes from this tension between markets and democracy - rather than the usual story that it is a free-market paradise.

One of the worst aspects of last week was the crude anti-Americanism. Where the US gets it wrong - over climate change or Iraq - the criticism should be tough. But over this the US is in the right, as is becoming obvious.

Cold American legal steel going after crime in the City because Britain is too limp-wristed is good news. There is a collective shiver going down the spine of every London financier. It is long overdue.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lebanon - Putting the blame where it belongs

Michelle explains.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lebanon - "Morale bombing"

Wretchard has some thoughts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Afghanistan - Killing the Taleban

by the dozens.

For a change the AP gets some things right and report what's actually going on in Afghanistan.

The assault was part of Operation Mountain Thrust, an anti-Taliban offensive involving more than 10,000 U.S.-led troops.

That's an important point. Most reports from the left wing media portray recent vents as a "resurgence" of the Taleban who have regrouped and are stronger. The truth is coalition forces are now on the offensive to take over former Taleban strongholds. They're killing the Taleban in record numbers while coalition casualties are light. From the report:

More than 40 insurgents were killed Saturday...

On Monday,

The military said the operation killed 40 extremists...

On Wensday,

...Sangin and Wednesday's fighting in nearby Nawzad. At least 29 insurgents died in the two clashes.

And...

Afghan forces killed eight militants in Sangin on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said.

U.S.-led troops and Afghan soldiers also killed an estimated 31 insurgents in firefights Saturday in Uruzgan province's Chora district, said Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick.

The total so far in the operation?

Widespread violence across southern Afghanistan has killed about 800 people, mostly militants, since May

While coalition casualties are very light.

And we continue to kill or capture the Taleban.

In other violence:

- Afghan and coalition soldiers killed two male "foreigners" wearing burqas - the body-shrouding veil worn by many Afghan women - and detained five Taliban in Uruzgan's Dihrawud district Friday, the Defense Ministry said. The foreigners' nationalities were not released. Soldiers confiscated an explosives-rigged vest and 16 roadside bombs.

- In Zabul, Afghan soldiers killed four militants Friday after they attacked their convoy, while a Taliban rocket-propelled grenade attack on a coalition supply convoy killed one bystander and wounded a truck driver, Afghan officials said.

Not quite what the BBC is reporting now is it?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

India - Terror in times of political correctness

This certainly describes Britain.

Speaking of the Mumbai Muslim terror attacks:

The issue is terrorism. Right? The issue is the terrible, needless deaths of 200 people and the awful tragedy of those who will forever be scarred by the murderous act of a handful of evil men. Right? The issue is the failure of our intelligence agencies and our criminal justice system and the inability of our government to understand that terrorism is undeclared war. Right? The issue is India’s security in which both Hindus and Muslims have an equal stake. Right?

Yet, if you watched television coverage of the carnage on Mumbai’s trains, read your newspapers or listened to the speeches of our political leaders, you would think that the only issue was to not hurt Muslim feelings. There were no communal riots after the 1993 Mumbai bombings or after the attacks on temples in Ahmedabad, Ayodhya and Varanasi but there was more talk of communal harmony than terrorism. Hardly anybody mentioned the words ‘jehad’ or ‘jehadi’ or that Islamist terrorist organisations openly talk of their ‘jehad’ against Hindu India.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel - "I STAND WITH ISRAEL"

Michelle has a must read of the day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iraq - Second province handed over to Iraqis

Gateway Pundit has the story.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New addition to blog roll

I've added Guido Fawkes blog to the blog roll. I've been reading him for sometime now and have been meaning to add him.

Here's a recent post that tickled my funny bone.

ring, ring... ring, ring...

Guido : Tom Happold please.

Guardian intern posh product of media studies course : He won't be back until Monday.

Guido : It's Guido, can you tell him Mick Fealty has just emailed me and I've seen the article and there is a lot more to this than has come out if he wants it for the print edition.

Gippomsc : The Guido Fawkes?

Guido : Yes.

Gippomsc : Why don't you post your reply on the website?

Guido : Why don't you come round and cut my grass for free?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UN votes for N Korean sanctions

unanimously

The UN Security Council has unanimously voted to impose sanctions on North Korea following recent missile tests.

The resolution demands UN members bar exports and imports of missile-related materials to North Korea and that it halt its ballistic missile programme.

The move comes after North Korea test-fired seven missiles including a long-range Taepodong-2 - believed to be capable of reaching Alaska.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gaza - BBC covering for Palestinian terrorists

Biased BBC notes a BBC "error" that turns the truth on its head.

In reporting on the Palestinian act of war that triggered the latest round of violence, the BBC originally reported, as this cache copy currently shows, an Israeli soldier was "captured" in Gaza. In fact, the Palestinians, in an act of war, attacked Israel and kidnapped the soldier in Israel. Here is the BBC's initial report.

The operation comes as Israel continues a separate offensive in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli soldier was captured there last month.

Several readers emailed the BBC and pointed out the "error". Did the BBC issue a correction? Not likely. Instead the BBC uses stealth editing and in this case, made a complete balls up of it. Here is what the BBC report now says.

Israel is also continuing a separate offensive in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli soldier was in a cross border raid by Palestinian militants last month.

So, according to the BBC, who we pay millions to and has thousands of employees, an Israeli soldier joined the Palestinians in a cross border raid last month!! Here are the screen shots.



And here's the new stealth edited version.



The pubilc is still in the dark that the Palestinians, in an open act of war, kidnapped the Israeli soldier inside Israel. Just the way the BBC wants it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Decline of the left wing media

From coast to coast left wing radio is going off the air and the left wing newspapers are in steep decline.

All great news. Less and less the left wing's America bashing propaganda is being heard. Less and less left wing politicans can be aided by the left wing propaganda machine. Through it all the left wing media and indeed the entire left wing, just don't get it - blogs have exposed the lies you've been spinning for years. The more people are reading the truth, the faster they are abandoning left wing media. Faced with the facts and the truth, even some on the left are tuning out. For as one announcer put it:

"If all you diehard liberals who whined for Air American programming had bothered to listen to it, none of this would be necessary."

But even this statement shows the left wing media still don't get it. He never questions why "diehard liberals" didn't bother to listen to it. It would seem even "diehard liberals" can't continue to listen to lies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Wilson lied the truth died

CQ has the story.

For those wondering why Wilson has brought this lawsuit when a 2 1/2 year criminal investigation has failed to indict a single person (Libby is accused of obstructing the investigation and not charged with anything connected the original charges), there are two reasons.

First, it helps the left wing media keep the non story alive.

Second, his wife just signed a book deal and will be hosted by the left wing media - to keep the non story alive.

See how well the two dance together?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lebanon - Local bloggers reactions

NZ Bear has an aggregator up.

Glenn has more here.

Note this from someone on the scene.

"The Lebanese people seem to be more than turned off by Hizbollah. Their fears are greater, however, that the Lebanese government would turn entirely against Hizbollah. This lies in the fact that they trust the Israelis to hit fewer civilian targets more than they trust a desparate renegade Hizbollah on their soil. There is a lot of fear over another civil war."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lebanon - Hezbollah used UAV in attack

This is interesting.

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Hezbollah rammed an Israeli warship with an unmanned aircraft rigged with explosives and set it ablaze Friday, Israeli military officials said, after attack jets smashed Lebanon's links to the world one by one and destroyed the headquarters of the Islamic guerrilla group's leader.

The attack on the warship off Beirut's Mediterranean coast - which left four sailors missing - was the most dramatic incident on a violent day in the conflict that erupted suddenly Wednesday and appeared to be careening out of control despite pleas from world leaders for restraint on both sides.

If this is confirmed it will be interesting to see where the UAV came from.

UPDATE

Just as I thought.

"A Hezbollah unmanned aerial drone crashed into an Israeli warship off the Mediterranean coast on Friday, damaging the steering of the vessel. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah claimed the ship had been sunk. The UAV was likely a Mirsad-1, built by the Iranian state owned Qods Aviation Industry. On previous occasions, Nasrallah has boasted that "you can load the Mirsad plane with a quantity of explosive ranging from 40 to 50 kilos and send it to its target."

In 2005, U.S. and Israeli intelligence noted that Iranian soldiers were stationed in southern Lebanon where they operated the Mirsad-1, eight of which are believed to have been given by Iran to Hezbollah."

And Wretchard notes:

An attack at this distance, by night on a warship indicates a very high level of targeting skill. A capability beyond Hezbollah's own limited resources. This suggests that Iranian technical assistance to its client has been extensive and thorough. In some ways, this incident is reminiscent of the use of Saggers and integrated air defense by the Egyptian Army during the Yom Kippur War. Iran had anticipated what Israel would do and prepared for it. It is now not out of the question that Hezbollah may have MANPADs or very long range, perhaps even guided rockets. With what warheads we can only guess, but chemical is not out of the question. The stricken Israeli warship is major combatant on the scale of navies in the area. Although not sunk, it has been mission killed. This is a spectacular naval victory for Hezbollah.

But it also brings Israel and Iran closer to direct combat. With proof that advanced weapons are now in the hands of Hezbollah, it becomes absolutely impossible for Israel to consider Hezbollah in isolation from its armorers. The diplomatic efforts to date are now imperiled by this grave development.

Counter Terrorism Blog reports an Egyptian cruise ship was hit as well.

The Egyptian civilian ship was hit during the same attack on the Israeli warship. "At the same time as the incident took place in which an Israeli ship was hit, a merchant ship was also hit," an Israeli spokeswoman stated, according to Reuters. Initial reports, which as of yet are unconfirmed, indicate the Egyptian vessel may have been a cruise ship.

The fact that two separate ships were struck at the same time, very likely with UAV fired antitank missiles, indicates a level of sophistication far beyond that of Hezbollah. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and Imad Mugniyah clearly have a hand in these operations. The coupling of a UAV with an anti-tank missile requires extensive research, development and testing. It is unlikely Hezbollah conducted these efforts without attracting the attention of the watchful Israelis to their south. And the Iranians possess the technological capabilities; the Raad anti-tank missile is from their arsenal. The use of multiple UAVs over the Mediterranean Sea indicates Hezbollah may have a fleet of these UAVs, which must be maintained.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New addition to the blog roll

I've added Sam Houston to the blog roll. Pay him a visit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Liberal radio going silent

I recently reported that the liberals talk radio, Air America, is falling silent from coast to coast. Seems no one's listening the left's lies and spin - even liberals!

Now comes more good news. Atlanta has joined the growing list of cities turning off Air America.

The decision comes as a letdown for local liberal listeners and Air America execs. Until J.W. Broadcasting purchased its second area station in late January, the 1690 dial had served as the home of Air America, the only liberal AM talk radio in a market saturated by conservative talk show hosts such as Neal Boortz and Laura Ingraham.

Looks like the folks in Atlanta know the truth when they hear it.

I love this line:

"If we carried Air America, we'd get nothing but complaints."

Some of the best is yet to come as Air America loses its flagship radio station in its most important city - New York!

Seems even Soros's billions can't keep the stations on air if no one's listening. Which prompted this from one announcer:

"If all you diehard liberals who whined for Air American programming had bothered to listen to it, none of this would be necessary."

The left are losing their radio stations while bloggers are exposing the left wing media's agenda - faster please!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - UN oil for food scandal conviction

And there will be more.

Tongsun Park, 71, arrested last year, was the first to go on trial in the criminal case stemming from a scandal involving the United Nations, Iraq and a group of alleged conspirators who included Saddam Hussein.

Park could face more than a dozen years in prison for his role in the decade-long conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin set sentencing for Oct. 26.

Park's lawyer, Michael Kim, said Park was "very disappointed" but hopeful that Chin might reverse the verdict and conclude during post-trial motions that there was not enough evidence to convict him.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Miller had told jurors Park had arranged to receive millions of dollars in cash to influence top U.N. officials, including former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Afghanistan - BBC still shilling for Taleban

You may recall on Monday the BBC claimed the Taleban would "fare better" than our troops in Afghanistan. Today, The BBC are at it again. Here's what the BBC report:

Seven attackers were killed and two injured in the initial fighting, with another 12 killed when coalition forces bombed a Taleban vehicle trying to leave the area, the officials said. [...]

Coalition losses have been mounting, despite regular strikes against suspected militants.

Despite? The Taleban are reacting to our forces in Operation Moutain Thrust whose mission is to oust them from their former strong holds.

Note the BBC grim pronouncement that our loses have been mounting. Strangely, the BBC fail to tell us what our casualties were in this engagement. I wonder why? For that we have to, as usual, look elsewhere.

"In the fighting seven Taliban were killed and two police were wounded yesterday," Khan said. "After the Taliban retreated, coalition forces bombed an escaping vehicle carrying 12 Taliban who were all killed."

Now you see why the BBC left that important information out.

In the last six weeks 6 British troops have been killed while over 700 Taleban have been killed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - What Rove told Novak

I read somewhere that "the popping sounds you're hearing are the heads of leftoids" as they read this.

Columnist Robert Novak said Wednesday that a conversation with White House aide Karl Rove that became an important part of the Valerie Plame affair lasted about 20 seconds.

20 seconds! And what was said in that 20 seconds?

Regarding Wilson's CIA-sponsored trip, Novak said he told Rove, "I understand that his wife works at the CIA and she initiated the mission." The columnist said Rove replied, "Oh, you know that, too."

Note, Novak says he told Rove and not the other way around.

Rove says he remembers it as "Oh, you heard that, too".

Notice what else Novak says.

"I took that as a confirmation that she worked with the CIA and initiated" her husband's mission to Africa, Novak said.

"I took" is not quite the same thing as "Rove confirmed" or "Rove was Novak's source now is it?

Further, it was Novak who initiated the contact and not the other way around.

Novak said he called Rove in July 2003 to talk about a CIA-sponsored mission to Africa...

All of which explains why Rove has been cleared.

No Fitzmas for the left.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - BBC backing terrorists

again.

In this puff piece on Hezbollah, not once does the BBC use the word "terrorist". This dispite the fact that Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization by the "... United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, Israel and Australia". Further, "On March 10, 2005 the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly (473 in favor, 8 against, 33 abstain) on a resolution branding Hezbollah in whole as a terrorist organization." And "The EU has also decided to block Hezbollah's Al-Manar television from European satellites..."

What label does the BBC put on Hezbollah?

But pressure on Syria to withdraw its 14,000 troops deployed in Lebanon presented Hezbollah with a serious challenge: how long it could it remain a guerrilla movement without endangering its growing role as a mainstream, albeit religious-based, political party?

The BBC also wants you to believe Hezbollah has widespread support in Lebbanon.

In March, after weeks of unprecedented anti-Syrian demonstrations in Beirut, Hezbollah proved it, too, had people power on its side. Hundreds of thousands of its followers poured on to the streets of the capital in support of Lebanon's historic and strategic relationship with Syria.

What the BBC doesn't tell you is that tens of thousands were bused in from Syria and the Syrians had not left Lebanon at this time. A later demonstration produced hundreds of thousands of protesters against Syria and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah remains a potent force through terror with the backing of Syria and Iran.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - "refused a job because I'm white"

The Telegraph reports.

A history graduate has been rejected for a job in a royal palace because he is white.

Brighton and Hove council told Kieron Keenan he could not apply for the job of trainee museum assistant at The Royal Pavilion because he is not of African, Afro-Caribbean, Asian or Chinese descent.

Mr Keenan, a 23-year-old graduate, said: "It's astonishing. In order to be seen to be less discriminatory towards ethnic groups the council has used a law which is blatantly discriminatory against another ethnic group.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iraq - Status report

from AMBASSADOR ZALMAY KHALILZAD.

I will give my bottom line up front. I believe Americans, while remaining tactically patient about Iraq, should be strategically optimistic. Most important, a major change - a tectonic shift - has taken place in the political orientation of the Sunni Arab community. A year ago, Sunni Arabs were outside of the political process and hostile to the United States. They boycotted the January 2005 election and were underrepresented in the transitional national assembly. Today, Sunni Arabs are full participants in the political process, with their representation in the national assembly now proportional to their share of the population. Also, they have largely come to see the United States as an honest broker in helping Iraq's communities come together around a process and a plan to stabilize the country.

Read the rest.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - al Qaeda: trains and planes

al Qaeda blew up trains in Spain on 3/11, in London on 7/7 and it looks like they were behind yesterdays attacks in India.

It now appears al Qaeda was behind the plot uncovered by the FBI to blow up trains in New York. There's also more information coming out about this case, including the fact that the ring leader, Assem Hammoud, was arrested in Canada in 2001 for trespassing on Montreal's rail system. And note this from the report:

Also yesterday, documents surfaced showing that Hammoud abandoned an $800-a-month, two-bedroom apartment in Montral in March 1996 while he owed three months' back rent. The apartment is one block from where Ahmed Ressam, the "Millennium Bomber," lived.

With the tightening of airport security, it seems al Qaeda finds trains an easier target.

Are cruise liners next?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - Preaching terror openly - video

Here's why they call it Londonistan. Dispite Blair's claim that he would crack down on Muslim preachers of hate in the wake of the 7/7 Muslim terror attacks, this video shows nothing is being done.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Congress Isn't a Criminal Hide-Out

Glad to see the LA Times agrees.

But, once again proving Bush just can't win with the media, the Times has this to say:

District Judge Thomas F. Hogan's decision upholding the search is an embarrassment not only for Congress but for President Bush. The president capitulated to congressional whining by "sealing" Jefferson's records and computer discs for 45 days so the FBI wouldn't have access to them.

So, Bush gave Jefferson's legal team time to pursue the matter in the courts and when the govenment wins, somehow it's an embarrassment for Bush. Note, Bush didn't order the records returned to Jefferson, he ordered them sealed until the legal system had time to act.

Only a left wing media could spin this one.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Novak: Plame's name from "Who's Who in America."

Finally, now we know why no one, including Cheney, Rove and Bush, has ever been indicted for "outing" Plame. According the man at the center of it all, no one "outed" her.

Following my interview with the primary source, I sought out the second administration official and the CIA spokesman for confirmation. I learned Valerie Plame's name from Joe Wilson's entry in "Who's Who in America."

In further proof that Joe Wilsons assertions that the White House was out to get him, note that Novak says it was Novak who "sought out the second administration official and the CIA spokesman for confirmation."

Novak went to them and not the other way around.

And here's more proof it is Joe Wilson who is lying.

I considered his wife's role in initiating Wilson's mission, later confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, to be a previously undisclosed part of an important news story. I reported it on that basis.

Background here and here.

Ed has more.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Daily Kos and the civil war

I love it when liberals fight.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Tunnel Plot Suspects Linked to Al-Qaeda

The Washington Post reports.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US readying crackdown on leaks

Well it's about time!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

India - BBC:Mumbai blasts not a terror attack

Well, that's the way it would seem if you read the BBC. Nowhere in this BBC report, where it's reported that 183 died and 714 were injured in 7 coordinated attacks, does the BBC mention the words "terror" or "terrorists". Likewise in this BBC report.

CNN, The London Times and Fox News, to name a few, have no problem calling it what it is.

What exactly does the BBC consider terror then?

UPDATE

The Times of India reports Islamists are to blame.

Glenn has a great roundup of reports.

UPDATE

The London Times goes further and says "Muslim militants fighting against Indian control in Kashmir are the prime suspects..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Military exceeding recruitment goals

For the 13th month in a row! And this during a time of war.

So much for the broken and demoralized military Murtha talks about.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iraq - Good news roundup

Here's a long one.

Add this to the list.

Gee, I wonder why we don't hear more of this from the BBC?

UPDATE

More here and here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Afghanistan - BBC: Taleban troops will "fare better"

This BBC report is a clear example of the BBC deceiving the public over what's happening in Afghanistan.

International forces in Afghanistan are facing mounting security problems. The Taleban - ousted from Kabul in the 2001 US-led invasion - have regrouped over the last couple of years, and are now a resurgent force in the south and east of the country.

What does the BBC offer as proof of their calim? Absolutely nothing and they even tell you so.

Although there are no reliable estimates of their current manpower, Taleban tactics are nothing new.

This BBC report is absolute nonsense. The "upsurge in violence", as the BBC continually drones on about, is actually a response to the coalitions new campaign to extend Karzai's control over the rest of Afghanistan. That's the stated purpose of the mission. As coalition forces mover ever deeper into the areas that have until now been left to the Taleban, the Taleban are reacting and fighting back.

And get this. The BBC go further and say the Taleban will "fare better" than our troops.

Speed, surprise, mobility and flexibility are integral factors in such cases of 'assymetric warfare'; where a smaller, irregular force faces a far larger, better-armed one. The history of such encounters often shows that the smaller, local force will fare better.

The BBC's proof of their claim?

Their fighters follow exactly the same principles of low-level guerrilla warfare as the mujahedin fighters who inflicted heavy losses on the Soviet army which occupied Afghanistan from 1979-89.

Ah, yes. If my history serves me correctly, I think the Soviets were there for 10 years and lost something like 10,000 troops.

But isn't the BBC leaving out more recent history? The US and British led coalition ousted the Taleban in a few months, killing and capturing thousands while coalition casualties were a fraction of that. I don't think the Taleban would agree with the BBC assesment that they "fared better"

Even more recent history proves the BBC doesn't have a clue what they're talking about. Search my blog using Afghanistan and you'll find several recent postings detaling encounters between coalition forces and the Taleban. In every case, the Taleban suffer 25-65 casualites while coalition forces suffer one and sometimes none.

You don't have to take my word for it. The BBC themselves contradict what they're saying.

On Friday, the US military said coalition and Afghan troops had killed 40 insurgents during air and ground strikes in the eastern Paktika province in an operation on Wednesday and Thursday.

One coalition member had been killed in the fighting, a military statement said.

Likewise from the Telegraph.

Led by troops from 3 Bn the Parachute Regiment, the operation has pushed into villages up to 75 miles north of the British base at Camp Bastion and has killed up to 40 Taliban fighters.

The British suffered one casulty.

In fact, in the last six weeks, 6 British troops have been killed while the Taleban suffered over 700 casulties. While that gives little comfort to the relatives of the brave troops who were killed, it serves to remind that we are winning.

It also serves as a reminder as how low the BBC has sunk. Once the symbol of Britain herself, the BBC has transformed into a propaganda machine for the enemy.

And the goverment foces us to pay for this propaganda.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Miami Jihad? CAIR covering for terrorists

Again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Wake up, Democrats: Ideas do matter

You know things are bad for the Democrats when the LA Times keeps attacking them.

SOMETHING HAPPENS to a political party when it is not just out of power but has had to play on the home field of its opponents for a generation: It loses faith in itself and becomes scared.

Like the 98-pound weakling who lives in fear of the school bully, it will say anything to avoid being stuffed into a gym locker: I don't really believe in anything! I don't stand for anything! Please just leave me alone!

That this has become true in the Democratic Party is clear in listening to the worried words of pundits and political professionals who counsel Democrats to avoid offering any vision or direction for the country — to instead simply wait for voters to so tire of Republican mismanagement that they will turn to more "competent" Democrats to administer a conservative state.

Maureen Dowd, for instance, argued recently that "big ideas" don't matter — "what matters," she wrote, "is the bearer of an idea." James Carville — the architect of Bill Clinton's 1992 victory — told Newsweek that "the American people are going to be ready for an era of realism. They've seen the consequences of having too many 'big ideas.' "

Ouch! That's pretty plain talking.

This in addition to the LA Times charge that the Democrats are bankrupt of ideas.

It's a sad day in America when a Republican can deliver a more coherent agenda in a single paragraph than Ted Kennedy can in a four-page screed."

The LA Times attack on the left doesn't stop there. Far from it. The LA Times even takes on leftist hate monger "screw them" Kos.

And if that wasn't bad enough for Kos and his kool aid drinking kids, The New York Times has been trashing him lately.

No wonder Rove is smiling all the time. The Democrats are attacking each other all on their own. This is just to rich! I'm going to have a few Guiness and savor the moment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iraq - Iraqis won't run

and neither will we.

This report talks about Iraq's "Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to think the unthinkable and come out with a national reconciliation plan", the difficulties entailed and how he's over coming them.

According to sources within the new Iraqi government, sections of the coalition that supports al-Maliki in Iraq's parliament, the National Assembly, were also opposed to reconciliation in any form. At one point last May, two key groups within the coalition even threatened to walk out if al-Maliki insisted on the plan.

Al-Maliki, however, managed to isolate the critics within his coalition with discreet but no less decisive support from Grand Ayatollah Ali-Muhammad Sistani, the primus inter pares of Shi'ite theologians in Najaf. By last week, the only Shi'ite group still opposed to the reconciliation plan was the entourage of Moqtada al-Sadr, a young firebrand mullah with a base in the slums of northeast Baghdad.

What's also not being reported by MSM is how Maliki is taking on Sadr. There is a big push in Baghdad against Sadr with scores of his men killed and his right hand man arrested.

The results have been stunning.

BY LAST week, 22 Arab Sunni armed groups had agreed to join the process initiated by al-Maliki. According to Akram al-Hakim, the minister in charge of national dialogue, the groups that have come on board account for a majority of those who have been fighting in the four Sunni provinces since the autumn of 2003.

And Maliki is finding support from the Arab world.

One way to persuade them of that is to withdraw the massive media, and in some cases political and financial, support that the insurgents have received from several Arab countries. This was the message that al-Maliki took to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during a whirlwind tour of the region last week.

THE VISIT was significant because this was the first time since the creation of Iraq as a state in 1932 that an Iraqi head of government was paying state visits to the three neighboring nations.

Others are starting to realize that the new Iraq is the real deal and is here to stay.

LAST WEEK the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a grouping of 57 Muslim majority countries, ended its boycott of new Iraq by reopening its offices in Baghdad.

The OIC has announced the creation of a committee of the foreign ministers of seven member states to produce a plan for helping new Iraq. It has also agreed to co-sponsor a "national dialogue" on Iraq in Cairo next month.

All of which is sending a clear and strong message to the terrorist - you've lost.

One slogan of the insurgents and their terrorist allies, and those Arab regimes that did not like the liberation of Iraq, was based on the hope that the coming of democracy to Iraq would be a temporary nightmare. The slogan was: "They will run away when the Americans run away!"

Al-Maliki's message to the Arabs last week was simple: Our allies are not running away, and we are here to stay!

There are signs that this message is beginning to be heard across the Arab region.

None of this would have been possible if anyone listened to the Democrats.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - What is Stephanopoulos talking about?

Even he admits he doesn't know.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

North Korea - Kim's Rockets Clear the Air

and how.

That free fireworks display Kim Jong-Il put on for our benefit on July Fourth may prove to have been the best day George Bush has had since Zarqawi went to his eternal reward.

For years, Bush has been trying to persuade world opinion that Kim is a psycho who cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons. By firing off all those rockets into the Sea of Japan, Kim went a long way toward convincing a hung jury that Bush may have a point. Kim has also provided compelling evidence that missile defense may not be such a silly right-wing idea after all.

Do tell.

But then again, some things never change.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK - Media can longer ignore bloggers

And that's a good thing.

This could well be remembered as a watershed week in media coverage of British politics, when John Prescott's career was brought crashing down by a self-styled internet 'anarcho-capitalist' named Paul Staines.

Staines - aka 'Guido Fawkes' - is the most in-your-face of Britain's new tribe of political bloggers. Alongside Iain Dale, a former Tory parliamentary candidate who helped to run David Davis's bid for the party leadership, he has led the way over the past week in churning out a battery of allegations about Prescott's political and private life.

The effect has been extraordinary. By the week's end, the BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, was trading cyber-jibes with the blogging duo. Prescott's biographer Colin Brown wrote darkly in the Independent of a Tory-inspired online plot to bring down the deputy PM. And if there were any doubt that British political blogs had come of age, it was dispelled on two of the old-media preserves of political discourse: the BBC's Newsnight and Radio 4's Today Programme

Newsnight interviewed Dale about the Prezza blogs in mid-week. The next morning, Today's John Humphrys - taking his cue from allegations on Guido's blog - grilled Prescott about claims of further extramarital affairs.

Now, if we could just get the BBC to drop its left wing anti-American agenda.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Russia kills most-wanted terrorist

Another one bites the dust.

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russia's most wanted man, Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, has been killed by the country's special forces, the state security chief has told President Vladimir Putin.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iraq - "singing outside the Arab flock"

Iraq the Model has some interesting and encouraging opinions by Iraqis on what's happening in Iraq and their feelings against the Palestinians. They read over 500 comments on the BBC's Arabic website and report encouraging findings.

Wretchard has lots more including reports on Israel, the Palestinians and Afghanistan.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.N. Nuclear Chief Pulled Inspector at Iran's Request

The New York Sun reports.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency effectively fired his lead Iran investigator this spring at the request of the Iranians, according to a new report in the German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag.

The lead inspector of the 15-man IAEA team in Iran, Chris Charlier, told the newspaper that the IAEA chief, Mohammad ElBaradei, agreed to a request the Iranian government made, and relegated Mr. Charlier, a 64-year-old Belgian, to office work at the organization's Vienna-based headquarters. The Iranian request was reportedly made when Mr. ElBaradei visited Iran in April.

The news could have explosive consequences for America's policy of entrusting Mr. ElBaradei to negotiate an end to Iran's uranium enrichment. In 2004, after intelligence reports found him coaching the Iranians on the intricacies of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, the State Department launched a campaign to prevent Mr. ElBaradei, an Egyptian, from running for an unprecedented third term as IAEA secretary-general. That campaign failed after other countries expressed their support for him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gaza - Is the BBC fabricating reports?

Two recent events seem to indicate that the BBC may be fabricating stories about events that reporters haven't actually witnessed.

On the 24th of June the BBC reported and my screen shots show, that no protesters showed up at Edinburgh Airport to protest about alleged secret CIA flights. The BBC made this flat statement of fact. "Demonstrators at Edinburgh and Prestwick failed to materialise." The BBC didn't attribute that statement to the police, protesters or airport officials. As a result, readers are left with the impression that the BBC actually had a reporter on scene.

The next day the BBC stealth edited, as opposed to a correction, the report which now says: "Demonstrators said that 30 people staged a protest at Edinburgh Airport".

Did the BBC actually have someone at Edinburgh Airport or did they just fabricate that part of the story? If the BBC didn't have anyone at Edinburgh, why state no protesters materialised when they didn't know that was the case? If the BBC relied on others for their information at the airport why didn't they report that? The BBC had no trouble stealth editing the report and attributing the exact opposite report from the demonstrators themselves.

At first glance one might shrug and put it down to sloppy BBC reporting. Given the BBC's abysmal track record it would be easy to let it pass for that. But then I noticed a similar report mentioned by a commenter at Biased BBC. The BBC report in question can be found here. Don't worry, I've got a screen grab I'll post incase the BBC stealth edit it to cover their tracks. As you read the report bear in mind that the BBC reporter, Martin Patience, reports as if he is at the scene. In fact, his report is headed this way: By Martin Patience BBC News, Beit Lahiya

Here is what the report says in para one:

Ali Khatar, 71, opened his front door for the first time in two days to find his kitchen wall completely destroyed and the engine of his minibus sheared off by an Israeli tank.

But in para 5 we are told:

"We were like prisoners. The children were living in fear," says Mr Khatar, standing beside his front door, which is now lying on the side of the road.

Was Martin there? Maybe he was. Perhaps the door was on its hinges when Martin first spoke to the man and as the interview progressed he took the door off and threw it into the street.

In the case of Edinburgh Airport, perhaps there were no demonstrators there during the BBC's visit and they showed up later as the demonstrators claim.

In the past many wouldn't have given a second thought about the BBC's credibility - the BBC reported it so it must be true. The David Kay affair ended that fairy tale. Far from learning from the experience, the BBC's reporting has become increasingly suspect.

Sadly, as a result, many people now approach the BBC's output with suspicion and distrust. Taken on their own, these two reports are not proof the BBC is fabricating reports, but added to fabricated reports in the past they indicate people are justified in their distrust of the BBC.

Here's a screen grab of the latest report.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Australia - Weaving web of hatred

Aussie Muslims using the Internet to spread hate.

MUSLIM extremists in Sydney are using the internet to gather support for making Australia an Islamic state.

The chatrooms reveal a ground swell of support for notorious terrorists such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi among some young Muslims living in the suburbs.

UPDATE

Western Resistance takes a closer look.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Brave New Blogging World

CBS tries to downplay the importance of bloggers. Little wonder since bloggers exposed CBS and Dan Rather's attempts to steal the last presidential election using forged documents. An incident that is interestingly missing from their report.

I won't bother to fisk the article as it's been doen repeatedly. All this shows is CBS is still living in denial.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - USS Green Bay Prepares For Christening

I've been a Packers fan since I was a kid.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Democrats' Bankrupt on Ideas

And that's coming from the left wing LA Times. You have to register here to read it but here's the meat of it.

"It's not often that I reach into my mailbox at home and find a letter from Ted Kennedy, so I was eager to see what was on the mind of the saber-rattling senator from the great state of Massachusetts.

Kennedy, you'll be shocked to know, was also hitting me up for money, in this case for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

As a matter of fact, I do share Kennedy's concern about the Bush administration, and so I was eager to read the four-page letter and other enclosed materials to find out more about the alternative vision being offered up by the Democratic Party.

Page 1, however, contained no such clues. It just fired more bazooka shots at the president and his "extreme right-wing allies," so I figured the fresh ideas from the Dems had to be on Page 2.

Wrong again. Page 2 was nothing but groveling for money for contested races in Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Minnesota. ("It's urgent for each of us to do as much as possible as soon as possible!")

Page 3 suggested the Republicans will burn in hell for sins against humanity ("They've poisoned our air and water"), and Page 4 warned, "They'll never stop unless we stop them. They're shameless!"

It's a sad day in America when a Republican can deliver a more coherent agenda in a single paragraph than Ted Kennedy can in a four-page screed."

We've been saying that for years. It's nice to see the LA Times waking up and smelling the coffee.

More incoherence from the Democrats here.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Window on Islam

Bernard Lews offers valuable insights.

Read the whole thing but here a few that stand out for me.

In the Islamic world, from the beginning, Islam was the primary basis of both identity and loyalty. We think of a nation subdivided into religions. They think, rather, of a religion subdivided into nations. It is the ultimate definition, the prime definition and the one that determines not only identity, but also basic loyalty. And this is quite independent of religious belief.

This is evident in a recent Pew poll.

Lews seems to want to state the obvious but just all before him he backs off just before stating it.

I am familiar with this slogan [the war on terror]. I feel that while we are indeed engaged in a war against terror, it is inadequate and even misleading. If Churchill had informed the country in 1940, "We are engaged in a war against bomber aircraft and submarines," that would have been an accurate statement but not a very helpful one. To say we are engaged in a war against terror is of the same order.

Terror is a tactic. It's a method of waging war. It is not a cause, it is not an adversary, it is not anything that one can identify as an opponent, and I think we need to be more specific in fighting a war. It's useful to know who the enemy is.

But as those before him, Lewis fails "to be more specific". But he gets closer.

The Wahhabi menace is particularly strong among the Muslim communities in Europe and America. And just think, for example, for a Muslim living in Hamburg, Birmingham, Los Angeles or whatever it may be, it is very natural that he should want to give his children some sort of grounding in his religion and culture. So he looks around for evening classes, weekend schools, holiday camps and the like. These are now almost entirely controlled, financed, funded by the Wahhabis, so that you get, among the Muslims in the diaspora more than among the Muslims in Muslim countries, an intense indoctrination from the most radical, the most violent, the most extreme and fanatical version of Islam.

As for the West's response, Lewis hits the nail on the head.

I have often thought in recent years of World War II – you were told earlier that I'm ancient myself. The most vividly remembered year of my life was the year 1940. And more recently, I have been thinking of 1938 rather than of 1940. We seem to be in the mode of Chamberlain and Munich rather than of Churchill.

Londonistan is all the proof you need of that.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nigeria - Stoned for speaking against Islam

That's the religion of peace and tolerance for you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - Democrats culture of corruption

Here's another reason the Democrats have dropped the phrase that so aptly applies to them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US - New York Times Slams Daily Kos and Netroots

Again! I love it when liberals fight.

There are many great things that blogs have achieved but one of the most important we are finding out, is just how vicious and unhinged the far left really are. Blogs are also defining the boundries between what is left and far left. Many thought Kos was just on the left and was embraced by the Democrats. As time goes on and he and his "nutroots" continute to rant, the Demoracts are realizing, hopefully too late, that they've created a monster. Of the 15 candidates that Kos endorsed in the last elections, not a single one was elected.

That's why I let the leftist trolls comment on my blog. With their very own words they prove to the world just how unhinged the left really are. Here is a recent example of how totally unhinged they really are going so far as to threaten another bloggers children.

So, blog and comment away lefties. The world needs to hear your words, peer into your heart and mind and thus enlightened, turn their backs and seek sanity somewhere else.

Similar thoughts here.

UPDATE

Even the left wing LA Times turns on Kos.

Well, OK, some anger is appropriate here. But doesn't this suggest that the whole Lamont crusade has sort of backfired? Although I'm no Karl Rove, it seems to me that turning a rock-solid Democratic seat into a potential Republican pickup represents something less than a political masterstroke.

The whole anti-Lieberman blog campaign has a self-fulfilling quality: They charge that Lieberman isn't a Democrat, they drive him from the party, and they declare themselves to be correct. The more ex-Democrats they create, the more sure of their own virtue they become.

Backfire is the word I've used often to describe the Democrats actions. Nice to see the LA Times agrees.

I say, keep it up Kos, next to Rove you're the best assest the Republicans have. Come to think of it, has anyone ever seen Kos and Rove at the same time? I'm just asking.

UPDATE

More on left turn on Kos and his kool aid drinking kids.

I like this part:

By the way, if Brooks' anecdote is true... how sad is that? How could I entrust a Democratic lawmaker to stand up to al-Qaeda, Iran, North Korea or some other angry extremist, if he or she won't stand up to Daily Kos?

How long before the Democrats kan Kos?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------