Bloodthirsty Liberal

Maybe poverty does cause terrorism: her student loans alone must be a “daily humiliation”:

After two days of deliberations, a jury yesterday found Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman with MIT and Brandeis degrees, guilty of attempted murder and assault of Americans in Afghanistan.

Following the verdict, Siddiqui, a 37-year-old former Roxbury resident, calmly addressed the spectators in the courtroom.

“This is a verdict coming from Israel, not from America,’’ she said, speaking through a white scarf that covered her face. “Your anger should be directed where it belongs.’’

I’m sorry, did she say Israel?

“This is a verdict coming from Israel, not from America.”

And you went to Brandeis, honey?

Maybe you can use that MIT degree to explain how Israel was responsible for this:

Insisting she had been framed by the US government, Siddiqui said she had been tortured and held for years in a secret US prison.

Oh gee, sweetie, that’s awful. I wonder why they treated you so bad?

The verdict ends a two-week trial in which prosecutors used eyewitnesses - but little forensic evidence - to prove that Siddiqui grabbed a machine gun from an American soldier, who had come to interrogate her, and fired it toward his colleagues but missed. Another soldier testified he barely escaped with his life, and an Afghan interpreter said he tried to wrestle the gun from her. She was subdued when a US soldier shot her in the abdomen.

The jury also heard from an employee of the Braintree Rifle and Pistol Club, who said Siddiqui had taken a 12-hour pistol training course in the 1990s.

Defense lawyers, backed by expert witnesses, countered that her fingerprints were not found on the gun and that there was no evidence it had been fired.

Reasonable objections, I suppose, but the jury didn’t buy them.

I just want to point out that this Pakistani woman who has advanced degrees from America, (allegedly) shot at American troops in Afghanistan—and blames Israel.

So I guess education isn’t the answer to terrorism either.

Jail is one answer, but I have to ask why an assault on US servicemen in Afghanistan is a criminal offense, not a military one.

Well, this is one way to deal with Muslim critics, I suppose:

Following are excerpts from a TV report on a mosque and school in Pakistan, which was destroyed by the Taliban after its imam criticized the Taliban’s conduct.

Anchor: Taliban militants destroyed a mosque and a school in the Charbagh region, in the northeastern part of Swat Valley, after the imam of the mosque criticized the ways of the Taliban. Many students left the school out of fear for their lives, and those who stayed found themselves facing harsh conditions, due to what befell the school. Let’s watch the following report.

Reporter: This is what is left of the Dar Al-’Ulum school and its mosque in Charbagh, after Taliban militants turned it to rubble, in which the students are now digging in search of hope to renew their studies.

Student: There were hundreds of students studying here. The Taliban fighters came and destroyed the school and the mosque. They killed the imam, Sheik Mas’oud Ahmad. They destroyed the furniture, the books, and everything. Most of the students have not yet returned to their studies, out of fear.

…

Reporter: The school principal wonders how they can possibly destroy a mosque and a school in the name of Islam.

School principal: Islam does not permit the killing of Muslims, or the destruction of mosques and schools for any reason. If the Taliban fight for the sake of Islam and the Muslims, wh[y] do they destroy a religious school?

What part of “Taliban” was unclear to him? To call them primitives and savages does a disservice to pre-industrialized societies everywhere. Same goes for calling them animals. They are more like a human ebola virus—with apologies in advance to any viruses in our reading audience—reducing whatever they come across to oozing puddles of blood.

But they are Muslim. They read the same Koran, pray to the same Allah. Same goes for Osama and Zawahiri, Zarqawi and Mullah Omar, Saddam Hussein and Bashar al-Assad—all with Muslim blood all over their dead, dying, or hopefully soon to be so, bodies. I could go on, but you get my point. I doubt the principal does.

I was stopped at a light the other day and noticed a “SEIU for Obama” bumper sticker on the car in front of me. I imagined the innocence and pride the driver must have felt when applying that permanent brand to his ride, and the shame and humiliation (and terror) he must feel today (but probably doesn’t). The sticker might as well say “Fascists for Franco”.

Has his car been keyed, have his tires been slashed? I’m certainly not advocating it, but I wonder if even an adoring population like the one here in the Commonwealth doesn’t look at that marriage of two evils, SEIU and Obama, and want to destroy the evil spawn before it breeds.

Watch her constituent services in action:

Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley attended a fundraiser at the Capitol Hill restaurant Sonoma tonight. After the event concluded, Coakley took two questions from the media but declined to say whether or not she stands by her statement at last night’s debate that there aren’t any terrorists in Afghanistan (and that they’ve all gone to Pakistan or Yemen).

After taking a question from a CNN reporter on the street outside the restaurant, I asked her:

[Weekly Standard]: Attorney General Coakley, you said last night that there are no terrorists in Afghanistan–that they’re all in Yemen and Pakistan. Do you stand by that remark?

COAKLEY: I’m sorry, did someone else have a question?

GRIFF JENKINS, Fox News: I did. Why are you in Washington tonight?

COAKLEY: We planned an event after the primary that would be a unity event in Washington. We’re also in the middle of a very intense campaign […]

After Coakley finished her answer, she began walking away from the restaurant, and I walked behind her asking why health care industry lobbyists were supporting her at the fundraiser. She didn’t reply.

As I walked down the street, a man who appeared to be associated with the Coakley campaign pushed me into a freestanding metal railing. I ended up on the sidewalk. I was fine. He helped me up from the ground, but kept pushing up against me, blocking my path toward Coakley down the street.

He asked if I was with the media, and I told him I work for THE WEEKLY STANDARD. When I asked him who he worked for he replied, “I work for me.” He demanded to see my credentials, and even though it was a public street, I showed them to him.

I eventually got around him and met up with the attorney general halfway down the block.

“Attorney General, could I ask you a question please?” I said. “We’re done, thanks,” Coakley replied. She walked back toward the restaurant, apparently searching for her car. She remained silent as I (politely) repeated my question.

Coakley staffers told me they didn’t know who the man was who pushed me, though by every indication he was somehow connected to the campaign.

One local reporter/radio host says she earned the name “No Comment Coakley” in her time in state government.

BTW: here’s a great still shot to give you a better picture of events:

But we are happy to answer one of the reporter’s questions:

Two U.S. service members died and four Afghan soldiers were killed in separate explosions Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan, an area of the nation rife with violence, officials said.

Nine members of the Afghan National Police were injured Wednesday in other incidents.

NATO said the two American troops died in a bomb blast, but disclosed no other information. Their deaths bring to 12 the number of American troops killed in Afghanistan so far this month; 16 other soldiers from the international coalition have died this month.

This race is below the radar no more. MoveOn.org, Big Labor, and all the usual Democratic machine suspects (some of them criminal suspects) are here.

Scott has his truck and his family.

My money’s on Scott (literally).

PS: So is that of many.

Let’s break this down: Brown raises $1.3 million in a day. Average donation $77.00

Coakley goes to a fundraiser with her “bundlers” raising at least $10,000 per person, and the party is full of registered lobbyists.

And who’s selling out to proverbial devils?

By their words shall ye know them:

The following are excerpts from a video message by triple agent suicide bomber Hamam Al-Balawi (a.k.a. Abu Dujjana), which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on January 9, 2010.

Reporter: … In the film, Al-Balawi is shown firing a gun several days before his attack. Al-Balawi said, in his [recorded] will, which was obtained by Al-Jazeera, that he refused to bargain, and that he was carrying out the operation to avenge the killing of Baitullah Mahsoud, former leader of the Taliban Pakistan movement.

Hamam Al-Balawi: This is a message to the enemies of the nation, from among the Jordanian intelligence and the CIA: someone who emigrates for the sake of Allah does not offer up his religion for bargaining in the market. Someone who wages Jihad for the sake of Allah will never sell out his religion, even if he is offered the sun and the moon.

We will never forget the blood of our Emir, Baitullah Mahsoud. We will continue to avenge his blood in America and elsewhere. This is a pledge taken by all the muhajireen, who were hosted by Baitullah Mahsoud. By Allah, we shall never forget our Emir, Baitullah Mahsoud, who used to kiss the hands of the muhajireen, out of the love he had for them in his heart. We shall never forget our Emir, Baitullah Mahsoud.

We shall never forget that he said that Sheik Osama Bin Laden was not on [Pakistani] soil, but if he were to come, we would protect him. He was true to his word, and he paid the price for these words in his blood. Allah willing, his successor, the Emir of Taliban Pakistan, Hakimullah, will follow the same path, until we are victorious or taste [martyrdom], like Hamza ibn Abd Al-Mutallib.

Well, some of us have already forgotten what’s-his-name. But couldn’t you just light a candle instead of a fuse?

Anyhow, this is Afghanistan and this is the Taliban, President Obama. They’re all yours (and not Bush’s).

Maybe they’ll do this on every American holiday?

Fourteen suspected terrorists died Tuesday night when the bus they rigged with explosives blew up prematurely, police said.

The explosion occurred as the suspects were riding the bus in the province of Kunduz, said police chief Abdul Raziq Yaqobi.

Yaqobi said the suspects wanted to attack Afghan police or foreign soldiers.

Wonder what they’ll do for the 4th of July?

- Aggie

Drones hacked with $26 software

Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.

Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes’ systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.

U.S. officials say there is no evidence that militants were able to take control of the drones or otherwise interfere with their flights. Still, the intercepts could give America’s enemies battlefield advantages by removing the element of surprise from certain missions and making it easier for insurgents to determine which roads and buildings are under U.S. surveillance.

Oops.

- Aggie

How can you tell when a liberal is full of s**t? Pretty much all the time, true, but there are times when liberals are positively brimming with the stuff, runneth-ing over.

Meet James Carroll:

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S Oslo speech could have been titled “the ambiguities of history.’’ That the president spoke with self-awareness from within those ambiguities made the speech important.

“Ambiguity”: that would be a clue. “Nuance” would have been another, but it’s hard to use both in the same piece. You’d need a columnist the caliber of Paul Krugman or Frank Rich to accomplish that feat.

But Carroll soldiers on as best he can:

Those ambiguities were enough to prompt skepticism and even anger, especially from many who opposed the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. I count myself among those so opposed, yet oddly the president’s stance in the thicket of such contradiction gave his remarks resonance.

“Resonance”! Nice touch, James. President Obama oozes resonance from every pore. That may be the reverb dial on the sound system, but there’s no doubt the man resonates (ates-ates-ates).

With just the right mix of ambiguity and resonance, a president might get away with murder.

Literally:

Yet President Obama struck a different note. Having invoked just war, he observed how, precisely from within its tradition, “the capacity of human beings to think up new ways to kill one another proved inexhaustible.’’ After the total wars of the 20th century, “it became clear to victor and vanquished alike that the world needed institutions to prevent another world war.’’ Either humans will put an end to war, in John Kennedy’s formulation, or war will put an end to human beings. Following World War II, institutions of a new order were constructed, yet “a decade into a new century, this old architecture is buckling under the weight of new threats.’’ What is required now, Obama said, is thinking “in new ways about the notions of just war.’’

Okay, I’m not sure what that means. But I suspect I know where he’s going.

Yet Obama’s tough assessment is clear - that the world has not yet advanced to the place where non-violence is a solution to problems of aggression and injustice. “We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes.’’ Yet equally clear is his insistence that we “must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to change behavior.’’ The old dichotomy between realism and idealism no longer applies - exactly because, like the just war theory itself, it reinforces the deadly status quo. More than that, the so-called realist must submit to the judgment of those whom hard men have always dismissed as soft. Obama cited Martin Luther King Jr. to declare that violence never brings permanent peace, and always creates “new and more complicated’’ problems that lead to new rounds of violence. Rulers in the throes of exercising power are traditionally criticized by prophets who stand apart from power. At Oslo last week, a war-making ruler dared to offer his own prophetic self-criticism.

Nope, still not clear. But I think if he were going to criticize Obama (as he so tediously did with Bush), we’d know by now.

In his short presidency, Obama has become a connoisseur of the “ambiguities of history,’’ and his Nobel speech is their catalogue. Ambiguities can seem like contradictions, which destroy coherence and meaning. But ambiguities can also point to paradox, how the expansive truth can contain its own opposite. With King, President Obama concluded that the ambiguities of history are a source not of despair, but of the “continued expansion of our moral imagination; an insistence that there’s something irreducible that we all share.’’ In that “something’’ lies our hope.

I’m sorry. You’ll never get these three minutes back. Take heart in the knowledge that Carroll wasted more than that in writing it (though not much). Typing “ambiguities” so many times can’t be easy (though cut-and-paste would speed things up).

The moral of the story is that when George Bush killed Taliban terrorists, he was a bloodthirsty tyrant; when Barack Obama kills Taliban terrorists, he is a “connoisseur of the ‘ambiguities of history’”.

And I paid money to have that delivered to my front porch.

Or al-Somali?

Pakistani media’s been reporting that the target was Abu Yahya al-Libi, a fish big enough that even a novice like me has heard of him. (He broke out of Bagram prison in 2005 and has been preaching his way up the ranks ever since, reportedly becoming head of the group’s “Libyan wing” and a possible successor to Bin Laden as figurehead.) That’s also the buzz on jihadi web forums. But it’s a red herring, says ABC: The splatter in this case belongs to a top capo named Saleh al-Somali.

According to the U.S. official, Saleh al-Somali was responsible for al Qaeda’s operations outside of the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and formed part of al Qaeda’s senior leadership circle. He is also said to have had “connections with other Pakistan-based extremists.”

Al-Somali was engaged in plotting terrorist acts around the world and “given his central role, this probably included plotting attacks against the United States and Europe,” the official said.

Al-Somali took operations guidance from senior al Qaeda leaders and “translated it into operational blueprints for prospective terrorist attacks,” the official added.

I think I’d like to be called al-Bloodthirstani from now on. Either that, or your eminence.

Anyhow, nice shootin’. President Obama told us he’d be doing more of this, and danged if he didn’t.

Here’s what it might have looked like:

He’s Even Smarter Than The Old Obama!

He is suddenly concerned about small business, winning wars, history…. I wonder if George W. Bush has graciously agreed to write his speeches?

…
The economic speech took place Tuesday at the Brookings Institute, the generally left-leaning think tank in Washington. The president put unusual emphasis on—and showed unusual sympathy for—Americans in business, specifically small businesses. “Over the past 15 years, small businesses have created roughly 65% of all new jobs in America,” he said. “These are companies formed around kitchen tables in family meetings, formed when an entrepreneur takes a chance on a dream, formed when a worker decides it’s time she became her own boss.” This is how Republicans, moderates and centrists think, and talk.

The president claimed success in reducing taxes—”This fall, I signed into law more than $30 billion in tax cuts for struggling businesses”—and announced a new cut: “We’re proposing a complete elimination of capital gains taxes on small business investment along with an extension of write-offs to encourage small businesses to expand in the coming year.” He called it “worthwhile” to create a new “tax incentive to encourage small businesses to add and keep employees.”

All this was striking, and seemed an implicit concession that tax levels affect economic activity. It was as if he were waving his arms and saying, “Hey taxpayer, I’m not your enemy!” The only reason a president would find it necessary to deliver such a message is if he just found out taxpayers do think he’s the enemy. The emphasis on what it takes to start and build a business, seemed if nothing else, a bowing to reality. And if you’re going to bow to something, it might as well be reality.

Phew! Who mentioned to Obama that small businesses employ people? How’d he get the news? He doesn’t have business representatives in his inner circle. As of last spring, he was threatening business leaders (big business) with pitchforks. Now he’s humming a different tune. mm. mm. mm.

On to the war:

Thursday, at his Nobel laureate speech in Oslo, the president used an audience of European leftists to place himself smack-dab in the American center. He said, essentially: War is bad but sometimes justified, America is good, and I am an American. He spoke of Afghanistan as “a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by 43 other countries—including Norway—in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.” Adroit, that “including Norway.” He said he had “an acute sense of the cost of armed conflict” and suggested America’s efforts in Afghanistan fit the criterion of the concept of a “just war.” It continues to be of great value that a modern, left-leaning American president speaks in this way to the world. “The world” didn’t seem to enjoy it, and burst into applause a resounding once.

Hey, I thought we hired him to make friends with “the world”? How’d all the bowing and scraping work out? Do they love us in Ghent?

Our First Dude also discovered Evil sometime between last spring and today. He mentioned it in Oslo, naming Hitler as an example. I can imagine the folks at moveon rolling their eyes, muttering bitterly about “playing the Hitler card again”. But the MSM applauded it. Am I the only one left in America who can recall the nauseating reaction to President Bush when he insisted that there is evil in the world? That was the birth of the future Kerry campaign strategy: NUANCE. There is no evil, only Americans who lack nuance and cannot find the good in everyone.

My guess is that Ft. Hood and the rash of arrests of young Americans allegedly planning terror attacks is unnerving this White House. That and the polling, which once again proves that sh.. runs down hill. Or, as Lincoln said: You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

- Aggie

The Verge

Faced with declining poll numbers among middle class Americans and increasing pressure from the left wing of his party, President Obama yesterday took what administration officials are calling a “a decisive stance of resolute vacillation” on the subject of the war in Afghanistan during his speech at West Point.

In what White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called “the most significant military decision ever,” President Obama simultaneously announced the deployment of 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan and their subsequent withdrawal date of 2011, a tactic insiders are calling “The Verge.”

Gibbs explained the moniker.

“As we kicked around names for this new Afghan initiative,” he said, “we knew we needed something that accurately captured the brilliant dichotomy of build-up and withdrawal, of charge and retreat. And we knew it would be particularly kick-ass if it rhymed with ‘Surge.’ So we are calling it “The Verge.”

Gibbs went on to note: “A multitude of factors come into play when making this kind of decision, factors based not on the painfully outdated notion of ‘realities on the ground’, but on the much more complicated and subtle interplay among human dignity and environmental decency, allocation of political capital, and polling of likely voters.”

The New Nuance…

- Aggie