Bush warned this would happen in Iraq

Marc Thiessen

Photo Credit: smiteme/Flickr

In 2007, President George W. Bush warned that if America withdrew prematurely from Iraq, American troops would eventually have to return:

To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we are ready … would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaeda. It would mean that we’d be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we’d allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan. It would mean increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous. [EMPHASIS ADDED].

Well just an hour ago, the Washington Post reported:

President Obama said Thursday it is now clear Iraq will need help from the United States as the situation there deteriorates, adding that he wouldn’t “rule out anything,” including drone strikes and air strikes, but not ground troops.

Israel does not need Elvis Costello or Roger Waters to Rock

Michael Curtis

Sir Elton John has never claimed to be the outstanding political commentator of our time. Yet on June 17, 2010, during his concert performance in the Ramat Gan Tel Aviv stadium, he rebuked the hypocrisy, sanctimoniousness and bigotry of the boycotters of the State of Israel with his remark that “we don’t cherry-pick our conscience.” Elton John has refused to bow to pressure from anti-Israeli activists.
Elton John was aware of the real nature of the bigoted and biased boycotters with their violent rhetoric, their ignorance of political reality in the Middle East, and their threats against those who were willing to perform in Israel. He was aware that his fellow performer, Gil Scott-Heron was forced to cancel his concert in Israel as a result of boycotters picketing his concert in London. Even more, he was aware that Paul McCartney had received death threats when he announced he was going to perform in Israel.
It was evident that the boycotters, whether Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Alice Walker, some of the mainstream churches, Roger Waters who appears to be making a second career in pressuring others to avoid Israel, many in the American and European media, or in the American Studies Association, have no real affection for the Palestinian population or knowledge of the desire of Palestinians eager to destroy the State of Israel.

Spare Change

Sultan Knish
Tom Trento and the United West present a video take on my take on the original American Taliban and his short pants. Before there was Bergdahl, there was Johnny...

 





CONTRARY TAKES

- The real winner in Iraq may not be Al Qaeda, but Iran. Ir may just be Jihadist gossip, but ISIS appears to have an interesting working relationship with Assad and now Maliki behind the scenes, despite trying to massacre Shiites. The ISIS assault may be what Iran needs to turn Iraq into a puppet.

- I don't want to dampen any of the Brat celebrations, but that MSNBC interview gave me a Doug Hoffman vibe. Hopefully that's not the case and his district is conservative. As much as I like to see Tea Party candidates beat the establishment GOP, I would like to see them beat the Dems even more.

- I'm not celebrating the Rivlin win in Israel either. Rivlin is being described as a hard-liner and he is, compared to Peres, but he's also often unpredictably liberal. He's a wild card and he's certain to continue the politicization of the presidency and I suspect he'll speak out more from the left...

I hope I'm wrong.



 THE KKK: A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF DEES INC.

Two years ago the Southern Poverty Law Center named me, a bar sign and a brand of gun lubricant as hate groups. It wasn’t the punch line to a joke about a Minister, a Rabbi and a Priest. Instead it was another tribute to the research skills of the country’s wealthiest, dumbest and laziest civil rights group.

Morris Dees began in the mail order business and ended up in the mail order civil rights business. Every month elderly retirees receive envelopes covered with pictures of Klansmen burning crosses. Those photos are the SPLC brand the way that the “swoosh” is for Nike and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Dees had already trademarked the KKK.

The Daily Tip: Pushed on mounting evidence of systematic Iranian sanctions-busting, Obama administration officials offer new rebuttals‏

Pushed on mounting evidence of systematic Iranian sanctions-busting, Obama administration officials offer new rebuttals Palestinian prime minister admits unity government powerless to meet treaty obligations on disarming Hamas Iran pours forces into Iraq, promises "fire will burn... United States and Saudi Arabia will feel the heat soon" Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister threatens to reverse concessions on uranium enrichment

Reuters on Thursday published an extensive evaluation - double bylined by the outlet's veteran U.S. foreign policy correspondent Arshad Mohammed and its energy & environment correspondent Timothy Gardner - conveying new responses from the Obama administration to concerns over what outside experts have evaluated as seven straight months of Iran violating restrictions on its energy exports.

Fatah celebrates massacres against Israel and the "heroes" who murdered civilians

The Munich Olympics massacre (11 athletes murdered),

the Coastal Road massacre (37 vacationers murdered)

were "great operations"

"The world stood still 

in view of the Munich [Olympics] operation"

Suicide bombings by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades

were "quality operations" - 

"the triumphant Brigades excelled"

"The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades 

still have a finger on the trigger.

They have revolutionists and Martyrdom-seekers"

 http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=11700

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Fatah recently posted on its official Facebook page an excerpt from a film produced by its military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. In the film The Revolutionists of the Land, Fatah boasts about its "heroes," honoring arch-terrorists such as Abu Jihad (responsible for attacks that killed at least 125 Israelis) and Abu Iyad (head of the Black September terror organization who planned the killing of 11 Israeli athletes in the Munich Olympics in 1972), "and others who maintained the campaign against the Zionist enemy everywhere."

“Dark Clouds”

 

Credit: NOAA

 

In my last posting I wrote about “rays of light,” and indeed they do exist.  But I would be remiss indeed if I were to convey a simple-mindedly optimistic message.  The somber truth is that we are facing down some exceedingly tough situations.

 

For starters, there is Hezbollah.  I’ve been reporting for some time about the difficulties of this jihadist terror group. Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, lost considerable support amongst the Lebanese when it started sending its fighters into Syria to battle alongside Assad’s troops.  Suddenly, they were killing other Arabs instead of killing Jews as they are “supposed” to do.  This rendered them considerably less popular, especially, when Syrian rebels, angry at being targeted by Hezbollah fighters, began shelling at Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon. 

ISIS spokesman blames Zawahiri for infighting in Syria

Thomas Joscelyn

The spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), Abu Muhammad al Adnani, has released an audio message blaming al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri for the jihadists' infighting in Syria. The ISIS was formally disowned by al Qaeda's general command in February.
Adnani's new message is a response to Zawahiri, who had again called for reconciliation in an address earlier this month. Adnani rejects the overture, including Zawahiri's demands that the ISIS leave the battlefields of Syria and submit itself to a common sharia (Islamic law) court capable of settling its differences with other factions.
The ISIS' animosity for Abu Muhammad al Julani, who heads the Al Nusrah Front, is apparent throughout the message. Al Nusrah is al Qaeda's official branch in Syria. Adnani refers to Julani as a traitor and Al Nusrah's members as "thieves and traitors."

Obama backs the wrong horse, again

Op-ed: No one should be surprised that US is willing to work with Palestinian unity government.
Dan Calic

No one should be surprised the US government is "willing to work" with the new unity government announced by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Nor should we be surprised at US Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement indicating that the "Palestinian government has no Hamas members."

Also unsurprisingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lashed out at the American administration, saying he is "deeply troubled" by the decision to accept the new government. 
The reason we shouldn’t be surprised at any of this is because it’s part of a familiar pattern which has been in place since the Obama administration took office in 2008. 
Obama made it clear from the moment his address became 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that US relations with the Muslim world were going to change. Indeed, his first international speech was delivered in Cairo, where he spoke eloquently about the "sweetest sound on earth," being the Islamic call to prayer in the morning. 

Following European pressure, Israel freezes settlement expansion plans

Israel's Civil Administration to go ahead with only 381 of intended 1,800 homes in West Bank settlements.

By Barak Ravid | Jun. 12, 2014 

 

Following pressure by Western European diplomats, the Civil Administration decided on Wednesday to delay the recently announced plans to move forward on construction of 1,800 settlement homes.
The only plans approved by the Civil Administration's High Planning Council concerned 381 housing units in Givat Ze'ev. Those involving construction in Ariel, Har Bracha, Alfei Menashe, Oranit and other settlements were put off, along with plans in the settlement outpost Al-Matan.
Planning council chairman Daniel Halimi said he received instructions for the delays shortly before the meeting, and a source who attended the session said, "Apparently the decision came from high up."

So Much For Arab Nationality

Eli E. Hertz | June 11, 2014

Rejection of Jewish nationalism from the 1920s, attempted to prevent the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine by violence and defiance of any form of Jewish political power; including any plans to share stewardship with Arabs which crystallized into the expression of Palestinianism. No other positive definition of an Arab-Palestinian people has surfaced. This point is admirably illustrated in the following historic incident:

“In 1926, Lord Plumer was appointed as the second High Commissioner of Palestine. The Arabs within the Mandate were infuriated when Plumer stood up for the Zionists’ national anthem Hatikva during ceremonies held in his honor when Plumer first visited Tel Aviv. When a delegation of Palestinian Arabs protested Plumer’s ‘Zionist bias,’ the High Commissioner asked the Arabs if he remained seated when their national anthem was played, ‘wouldn’t you regard my behavior as most unmannerly?’ Met by silence, Plumer asked: ‘By the way, have you got a national anthem?’ When the delegation replied with chagrin that they did not, he snapped back, “I think you had better get one as soon as possible.”

The Baha'is in Iran

Denis MacEoin

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4347/bahais-iran

It is the Baha'is who apparently represent the greatest threat to Islam.
"Kull al-bid'a kufr," all innovation is unbelief." — Salafi formulation.
Liberalization is a constant threat to today's Islamists.

Anyone who takes an interest in human rights issues in Iran -- and there are many who do -- probably knows about the Baha'is. They are a small religious minority (perhaps as many as 300,000), but nonetheless the largest in the country. The largest, yet painfully small and the most hated. If Jews and Christians have a rough time in Iran, the Baha'i experience has been worse. Over 200 members of the religion, including many of its leaders (there are no priests) have been executed, and others have been and still are in prison.[1] In 1983, a seventeen-year-old girl, Mona Mahmudinezhad, was hanged in Shiraz along with nine older women, mostly in their 20s. Their crime was, apparently, teaching "morality lessons" to Baha'i children who had been expelled from school. All the Baha'i holy places in Iran have been reduced to rubble, including the beautiful House of the Bab, a small treasure of Iranian architecture which the author visited often with its custodian. All Baha'i cemeteries have been dug up and bodies exhumed. No young Baha'i is permitted to enter university. Older Baha'is have had their pensions removed. Jobs are hard to come by. Many linger in prison. There are serious plans to rid the country of the Baha'is altogether.

The destruction of a historic Baha'i cemetery in Shiraz, Iran, by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp. (Image source: Baha'i World News Service)

Jihadis Display 'Power of Islam' on Donkey Victims

Raymond Ibrahim
FrontPage Magazine
ttp://www.meforum.org/4721/jihadis-display-power-of-islam-on-donkey-victims



Very graphic videos recently appeared on Arabic-language media portraying Islamic jihadis in Syria slaughtering donkeys in order to consume them.
The main point made by some of these websites is that the jihadis are hypocrites for (again) violating Islamic law, which bans the eating of domesticated donkeys.
In the words of a fatwa, or Islamic decree, titled "Is it permissible to eat donkey meat?"

Praise be to Allah.
It is permissible to eat the meat of onagers ("wild donkeys") and it is haraam [forbidden] to eat the meat of domesticated donkeys. The first is permitted because of the report narrated by al-Bukhaari (5492) and Muslim (1196) from Abu Qataadah (may Allaah be pleased with him) who hunted an onager and brought a piece of it to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and he ate some of it, and he said to his companions: "It is halaal [permissible], eat it."
With regard to domesticated donkeys, their meat was permitted at first, then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) declared it to be haraam [forbidden] on the day of Khaybar.

Hillary by the Book

Bret Stephens

 Hillary Clinton will likely be the next president of the United States, and why not? We live in an age of choreographed reality, and hers is among the most choreographed of lives. Also, an age of the triumph of symbol over substance and narrative over fact; an age that demonstrates the power of the contention that truth matters only to the extent people want it to matter. Mrs. Clinton's career is testimony to these things as well.

Which brings me to the subject of her book.

I obtained an advance copy of "Hard Choices," her latest doorstop of a memoir, and started reading it before its publication Tuesday. There she is, bitterly regretting her vote to authorize the war in Iraq. There she is again, standing by her actions during the Benghazi debacle, insisting on the relevance of the "Innocence of Muslims" video.
Elsewhere we find her equivocating over her opposition to the Iraq surge (which, as we learned from Robert Gates's memoir "Duty," she privately admitted was purely political), or allowing that the Obama administration's decision to stand silent over the stolen 2009 Iranian revolution was something she "came to regret."

Addressing the Marketing Nation Summit in San Francisco, April 8. ASSOCIATED PRESS

And so on. But to go point-by-point through the prose would be to miss the book's true purpose. Like Victorian children who were supposed to be seen but not heard, this is a book that is supposed to be bought but not read, discussed but not examined, excerpted but not critiqued.

Further Ugly Vibes from the Obama Administration

Isi Leibler
June 10, 2014
http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=5120

The gloves are off. The White House has now unequivocally designated Israel as the scapegoat and is meting out punishment for the disastrous outcome of the peace negotiations it initiated. The process began in March when President Obama publicly lambasted Prime Minister Netanyahu in a brutal and offensive manner the day before their scheduled meeting in Washington. It climaxed last week when the White House reneged on its commitment to Israel, announcing that it would continue business as usual with the new PA government after the merger with the genocidal Hamas, the terrorist organization which remains utterly committed to the destruction of Israel.

A Mosque, a Synagogue, and a Church: What Could Go Wrong?

Joe Herring

The Tri-Faith Initiative in Omaha is a project that raises questions.  The planned co-location of a synagogue, a mosque, and a church on the same campus is a novel enough idea to stir curiosity.  Add in connections between the proposed mosque and groups that have been named as unindicted co-conspirators in the largest terror-financing trial in our nation’s history, and it becomes the lack of questions that should make news.
I have written previously about the links between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Tri-Faith Initiative in Omaha, Nebraska.  Recent developments include my source, Dr. Mark Christian, the executive director of the Omaha-based Global Faith Institute, receiving a "shut up or get sued" letter from the project’s leaders.
While the project was originally conceived with the mosque, a Reform Jewish congregation and an Episcopal Church forming the three legs of the Tri-Faith stool, the Episcopal Church has since gotten cold feet and is bailing out of the project.  Its representatives are actively soliciting another church to take their place and buy out their stake, to the tune of $1.5 million.

Israel no longer a cause that unifies US Jews

RACHEL ZOLL 

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NEW YORK (AP) — Once a unifying cause for generations of American Jews, Israel is now bitterly dividing Jewish communities.

Jewish organizations are withdrawing invitations to Jewish speakers or performers considered too critical of Israel, in what opponents have denounced as an ideological litmus test meant to squelch debate. Some Jewish activists have formed watchdog groups, such as Citizens Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art, or COPMA, and JCC Watch, to monitor programming for perceived anti-Israel bias. They argue Jewish groups that take donations for strengthening the community shouldn't be giving a platform to Israel's critics.

American campuses have become ideological battle zones over Israeli policy in the Palestinian territories, with national Jewish groups sometimes caught up on opposing sides of the internal debate among Jewish students. The "Open Hillel" movement of Jewish students is challenging speaker guidelines developed by Hillel, the major Jewish campus group, which bars speakers who "delegitimize" or "demonize" Israel.

Shin Bet behind refusal to negotiate with Palestinian hunger strikers

Shin Bet head encouraging Netanyahu to take a tough stance over force-feeding at least 100 Palestinian administrative detainees on hunger strike.

By Chaim Levinson, Amos Harel and Jack Khoury | Jun. 9, 2014 

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to negotiate with hunger-striking Palestinian detainees is based on the Shin Bet security service’s recommendation, Haaretz has learned.
Netanyahu has thus far opposed any compromise with the strikers, who are seeking an end to the practice of administration detention. He has also worked to fast-track legislation that would allow the striking prisoners to be force-fed.
There are currently 189 Palestinians in administrative detention, meaning detention without trial. Between 100 and 125 have joined the hunger strike that began on April 24. Palestinian convicts at several prisons have also joined the strike for limited periods as a sign of solidarity with the detainees.
In several discussions on the matter recently, Shin Bet security service head Yoram Cohen has voiced support for the force-feeding bill, saying it would be a suitable solution to the hunger strike. His stance encouraged Netanyahu to support the bill, which has already been approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation and is expected to come up for its first reading in the Knesset in the coming weeks.

PA forces detain 16 Hamas supporters in West Bank

PA forces pictured in Gaza in 2006 (MaanImages/File)

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority security forces detained 16 Hamas supporters and issued summons to seven others across the West Bank, the Islamist movement said Sunday.

The arrests came just days after a Palestinian unity government was inaugurated in Ramallah, based on an agreement between Hamas and the PLO.

In Nablus, PA forces detained 16-year-old Naji Tabouq, 17-year-old Mahmoud al-Anati, Muhammad Tahsin al-Nimir, Zahi al-Dawwaya, Mahmoud Tabouq, Muhammad Antar, Said Abu Lawi, Yasan al-Bahsh, Ali al-Bahsh, Tamir Abhu Shamat, Muhammad Heiron, and Abboud Heiron.

Lapid threatens to bring down gov't that annexes West Bank

Finance minister offers plan to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict by freezing settlement construction, mapping out Israel's future borders.
 
Attila Somfalvi

Amid the halted peace process and Israel's increasing isolation in the international community, Finance Minister Yair Lapid threatened Sunday to bring down the government if it decides to unilaterally annex the West Bank, and called to freeze settlement construction and map out Israel's future borders.
In a document released Sunday, the senior government minister criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, and urges a halt of construction in the West Bank, particularly in areas Israel was not expected to keep in any future peace accord.  
After harshly criticizing his coalition partners, the Yesh Atid leader layed out a plan he formulated of steps he believes Israel must make immediately to help bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - a settlement construction freeze, and mapping out future borders for Israel and a Palestinian state, the latter being one of the more sensitive issues for Netanyahu.

Report: Freed Taliban Commander Vows To Return To War Against US

Pamela Geller
Obama said of his Taliban terror trade:
“I make absolutely no apologies.”
Tell that to our future dead.
Obama “thought trading 5 jihadis for a “deserter” would “encourage moderate Taliban members to take an Afghan-led reconciliation process seriously.”
The dead were unavailable for comment.

“Report: Freed Taliban Commander Vows To Return To War Against US,” Yahoo, June 6, 2014

The deepest concerns of critics of President Obama’s decision to release five Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl may be coming to fruition.
 One of the commanders, Noorullah Noori, has plans to return to Afghanistan to resume fighting against the U.S., according to NBC News which spoke to another Taliban commander.

Idiotic Norwegian "expert" explains why Jewish homes have red tile roofs

Elder of Ziyon

From Tarud's Blog (Norwegian):

How many lies it is possible to get in a single short story? The Palestinians and their friends in Norway have long ago lost any shame in lying about Israel. And the competition is fierce between "friends of Palestine" in Norway about who can find more imaginative liars.

Norwegian People's Aid is one of the organizations that have positioned itself at the forefront in the fight for demonization of Israel. On April 28th 2014 the Chairman of Norwegian People's Aid, Finn Erik Thorsen, held a lecture in Molde. According to one of the spectators at the lecture, Thorsen, who regards himself as a "Palestine expert," told horror stories about "Zionists and the Jewish state that is controlled by the Russian mafia."

One of the most colorful stories was about red roof tiles. He showed a picture of a [settlement] house with red roof tiles and asked a rhetorical question: "Do you know why Palestinians are not allowed to use red roof tiles on their houses in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), and only the (Jewish) settlements use such roof tiles?" And the answer was: "It will be easier for the Israeli bombers to identify Palestinian houses when they bomb them, while they avoid hitting the Jewish houses."

The natural reaction for those who do not know the situation in Judea and Samaria must be one of shock and anger: Poor Palestinians, this sounds pretty awful, does it not? But the correct question should be: how many lies can you find in this tiny anecdote? Here's a list:

Aiden Pink

The biggest problem with the controversial group isn’t its bullying, mischaracterization of opponents, outrageous lobbying positions, or childish huffing and puffing. It’s their implicit rejection of everything Zionism stands for.

Why does the Zionist movement still exist, while the Women’s Suffrage movement has been gone for nearly a century?

Both movements were founded and led by utopian visionaries whose dreams were initially decried—both inside and outside their circles—as unrealistic, if not dangerous to their group’s well-being. Both based their claims on liberalism, dignity, and human rights. And, most importantly, both movements succeeded in their goals. The Jewish people now have a sovereign state of their own, while women have the right to vote in almost every country on earth.

It seems, then, that the questions of women’s right to vote and the Jewish people’s right to a state are both answered. The debates ought to be over. No one would seriously suggest that after nearly a century, women should now be disenfranchised. Similarly, the 66-year existence of a Jewish state is an immutable and irreversible fact, and no mainstream figure is arguing for its abolition. So why, and why now, is the American Jewish community undergoing such a storm of conflict and recrimination over the issue of Israel?

Susan Rice Admits Obama Giving Arms to Al-Qaeda in Syria

• Obama Nation

Weapons are routinely transferred from “moderates” to al-Qaeda affiliates

(Info Wars) – Last week Obama took to his teleprompter to tell the American people the United States will provide lethal aid to “moderate” mercenaries fighting in Syria to overthrow the al-Assad government.

Obama’s declaration was nothing new. In September, the mercenaries said they were receiving weapons from the United States. Obama had promised the arms a few months earlier but the media insisted “U.S. officials are still grappling with what type and how much weaponry to send the opposition forces and how to ensure it stays out of the hands of extremists battling for control of Syria,” the Associated Press reported.

In September IHS Jane’s, a defense consultancy, estimated “there are around 10,000 jihadists — who would include foreign fighters — fighting for powerful factions linked to al-Qaeda.”