Category — Syria

You have to applaud her moonbat positions. She shows a unbelievable lack of intelligence in international affairs. From visiting Syria to this debacle she proves she can bite the sandwich.

Pelosi Makes Political Misstep in Reversal on Armenian Genocide

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) — The two meetings House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended before a vote on a resolution labeling the massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey a genocide foreshadowed the biggest political misstep of her speakership.

In the hours before a House panel approved the resolution Oct. 10, Pelosi was told in a tense meeting with Turkey’s ambassador that the vote would endanger his country’s alliance with the U.S. She had a warmer session with an Armenian cleric and representatives of Armenian-Americans, who have a large presence in her home state of California. In both, she made clear she intended to bring the resolution to a full House vote.

Since then, Pelosi, 67, has been in retreat. [snip]

Treason In Syria, Dennis Kucinich’s new mouth

Whether it’s because of the war in Iraq, Bush Dementia Syndrome, or just general foolishness, the Left is sinking deeper and deeper into an abyss of crazy on the foreign policy front.

For example, take Dennis Kucinich, a sitting Congressman who’s running for President. He went on TV — in SYRIA!!!! — a hostile foreign nation that’s allowing terrorists to come into Iraq to attack our troops, and said that, ” “I feel the United States is engaging in an illegal occupation.” [snip]

The only people who think this is OK are the moonbats of Soros/Pelosi/Reid ilk. Pelosi started this foreign travel, lets beat up the US trash with her going A-rab in Damascus earlier this year. The Cleveland Bankrupter won’t be out done by Pelosi when vying for votes in the moonbat wards. He can feel the presidency reaching out to him; so Dennis brushes up on his international diplo dance.

It would be nice if they Pearled him.

Does this sound different from North Vietnam and Victor Charley?

Iran fighting ‘proxy war in Iraq’

Washington - Iran is fighting a “proxy war” through Shi’a militias against the Iraqi state and United States-led forces in the war-torn nation, US war commander General David Petraeus said on Monday.

“It is increasingly apparent to both coalition and Iraqi leaders that Iran, through the use of the Quds force, seeks to turn the Iraqi special groups into a Hezbollah-like force to serve its interests and fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq,” Petraeus said.

Petraeus was testifying at a crucial hearing of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees seen as a key moment for US strategy on Iraq.

Samo-samo stuff! Another proxy war, we give sanctuary to opponents where they take R&R. Once more, we’re battling another states cat’s paw. Syria and Iran deserve some serious pain. Any state offering client services and hospitality needs to get an intro course in “War, our way-101” with section 102 available for imbeciles.

Petraeus hearing starts with Democratic criticism

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus appeared before the U.S. Congress on Monday to give testimony in which he was expected to argue against withdrawing the bulk of U.S. forces from Iraq for now.

Appearing with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, Petraeus listened to deep skepticism from the Democrats who seized control of Congress last year largely because of the profound discontent with the war among American voters.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat, began the hearing by telling Petraeus the Iraq war had left the United States unable to confront other challenges.

“The troops in Iraq are not available for other missions; to go into Afghanistan to pursue Osama bin Laden” whose al Qaeda militant group attacked the United States six years ago on Tuesday, Skelton said. [snip]

I never knew we had so many Congressmen of Flag Grade capable of running a war. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, Donk-CA is now on the tube expounding upon what the country needs to do, to wit: CUT & RUN. She must be a real terror in the card game “War.”
All the antiwar bloviators know is get out. Nothing of the consequences that follow makes any difference. The dhimmi position appeals to them; groveling is their natural state.

MoveOn.org Ad Takes Aim at Petraeus

[snip] In addition to liberal activist groups such as MoveOn.org, Democrats in both the House and Senate have impugned Petraeus’ testimony today…[snip]

Per usual, the moonbats try theater. Since large puppet heads don’t reach enough people, they fall back to the NY Rag, which cheerfully took their money! Killing the messenger does not alter the message.

    DENNIS KUCINICH IN SYRIA, BLESSES EVERYONE BUT AMERICANS

Eligible bachelor, pacifist hunk and Ohio Representative, Dennis Kucinich was in Syria last week cuddling the region-stabilizing Bashar Assad for his open-door policy to Iraqi refugees.   The population-expanding meddling in the Iraq War of the Syrian and Iranian regimes has encouraged Iraqis friendly to both countries to take refuge across their borders.   

Experts here conclude that these population-expanding and stabilizing policies were met with approval by the impish hair-dye tester and apple-doll head model, Dennis Kucinich (D-Emented).  Syria and Iran both seek to redress the population imbalance by sending terrorists to Iraq to stop the sectarian violence by killing Iraqis,  a “fair” policy almost certain to meet with Kucinich’s endorsement.

Assad’s intimidation, murder and assassination policies in nearby Lebanon have enabled the American left’s much-admired and peace-oriented Hezbollah to threaten the destabilizing Israeli state to the south.   This reporter believes that Kucinich endorses murder, assassination, and Islamic totalitarianism as a means to continue the  “peace-process”  slaughter, and to promote stability in the region as long as it is legal.

Experts here also believe that American forces, claimed by liberals to be already short on the necessities of  war, lacked the disinfectant supplies that would be needed after Kucinich hand-shaking.  Legal scholars and compassionate conservatives here believe that Kucinich’s blessing of American forces would almost certainly violate Constitutional restrictions on religious expression, and that Kucinich wished to avoid offending Islamist Al Qaeda beheaders worldwide.

WorldNet Daily Online  (Sep 6, 2007) had this to say:  

After praising Syria following a meeting in Damascus with President Bashar Assad, Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich declared he will not visit troops in Iraq during his Middle East tour because he considers the American military presence in Iraq to be illegal.

“I feel the United States is engaging in an illegal occupation….I don’t want to bless that occupation with my presence“,   Kucinich said in Lebanon according to the Associated Press. “I will not do it”…

It is not known when Representative Kucinich will slither back to Washington, DC.

          HAWAII SURFER DONATES BOARDS FOR GAZANS

From Yahoo News Online, August 21, 2007, Dateline Jerusalem.

An 86-year-old Jewish surfing guru from Hawaii is bringing good vibrations to the impoverished Gaza Strip.

Dorian Paskowitz, a retired doctor who has been surfing for 75 years, donated 12 surfboards to Gaza’s small surfing community on Tuesday in a novel gesture to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

“God will surf with the Devil if the waves are good”, Paskowitz said.  “When a surfer sees another surfer with a board, he can’t help but say something that brings them together.”

Tanned and shirtless, Paskowitz emerged grinning at the Israel-Gaza border crossing after handing over the dozen boards to Palestinian surfers waiting on the other side.

He said he was inspired after reading a story about two Gaza surfers who could not enjoy the wild waves off the coastal strip because they had only one board to share between them.

….He described his mission as a “mitzvah”, Hebrew for a “good deed”.

During his visit, Paskowitz said he wanted to “do something spectacular”, like getting all the surfers and paddling around the waters of Gaza”.  But those plans were scuttled by security concerns.

Arthur Rashkovan, a 28-year old surfer from Tel Aviv, said Paskowitiz’s project was part of a larger effort called “Surfing for Peace,”, aimed at bringing Middle Eastern surfers closer together.  He said eight-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater, who is of Syrian descent, is expected to arrive in Israel in October to take part in the drive……

                                               * * * * * * * * * *

The account of this blinding idiocy continues for several more paragaphs.  Being of a certain age, I’ve paddled in the hot pools of the sybaritic lifestyle that has boiled Paskowitz’s brain to cream cheese; I know that he means well, but still have a rough time conjuring a Jam-wearing Yassar Arafat shooting the curl, unless it involved a pistol and a Hasidic Jew.

Paskowitz’s effort is the moral dead end of upper-middle class fancies, the place where the trimmed hedges conceal the despair and devolution of the Palestinians, whose unemployment, choked ambitions and hatreds will never be washed away by blue water, health drinks and bikinis.   Kelly Slater, of Syrian descent, probably does not live in Syria.

Finally, when surf bunnies go looking for a gnarly dude, do they have an 86-year-old in mind?  Probably not.  Go back to Hawaii, you dope.

 

The unintentionally funny and nearly defunct LA Times reported on July 15th that about “45% of all foreign militants in Iraq……are from Saudi Arabia”.  15% are from Syria and Lebanon, with 10% from North Africa.  The stats came from “US military figures, and were made available to the Times by the senior officer”.   Nearly half of the 135 detainees in US military custody are Saudis. 

What can we deduce from a sample of 135 cage-hangers?  Thousands of troublemakers are in Iraqi custody, many of whom might even lie about their names and country of origin. So the LA Times report is based on a sample of 135 guys, half of whom have Riyadh Planet Hollywood ID cards.  I have information from a reliable participant in the war that Chechens even fall out for morning terrorist formation, and stray Pakistanis, Westerners and lots of others.   Iranians, too, are a small but vocal minority shouting  “HERE!”.

The same enigmatic “US military figure” said that 50% of all  Saudi fighters in Iraq go there as suicide bombers.  An interesting statistic, to say the least. To derive it, one needs to poll all of the free-range “Saudi fighters” about their life plans, and whether they have round-trip tickets.   It’s fair to say they don’t show up for interviews.

But the Times  raised two worthy questions, probably intentionally.  We are “allied” with the Saudis in the inaptly-named War on Terror, and Bush Herbert Walker and Bush George Dubya are unashamedly friendly with figures in the disgusting monarchical House of Saud.  Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the royal’s “national security advisor” is a pal of the House of Bush, as is King Abdullah.   

Then there’s The Carlyle Group, in which Bush Herbert Walker is a  prospering partner.  Those interested can investigate it on their own.  It’s the most powerful ethical missile in the left’s arsenal of accusations about the Bush family’s relationship with the Saudis.   The Carlyle Group has wide access to Saud investment funds.  There’s also Herbie’s lecture tours in Arab lands, paid for by the Saudis, and generous gits to his Presidential Library for scholarships to Andover, Dubya’s prep school.

It is, at this point, obligatory to mention that 15 of 19 hijackers on 911 were Saudis. Bin Laden is a Saudi.  Saudi Arabia has lots of sand and oil (although the oil power might be shaky).  Saudi Arabia is profligate with walking-around money, and has a national strategy of buying off enemies and buying up friends.  There’s a lot more, none of which is particularly damning for the Bush family, but appearances are everything.   The Saudis are low, self-seeking, and devious; relationships are contaminated by their presence in them, and our leaders should know it.

True, the Saudis have been fighting Al Qaeda, but for reasons of personal survival.   The ethical issues associated with advancing Wahabbism by subversion and Madrassa remain.  True, also, that the Saudis are troubled by Dubya’s strategies, worred about their extensive Iraq border and Persian ambitions.  This is a convergence of interests, ours and theirs.   They are not our friends. 

The reality is this:  We are allied with a vicious, reactionary, repressive Arab regime in our pursuit of liberalization of the Middle East.  We should be troubled by the first proposition in that last sentence, because they Saudis are troubled by the second.  The two can’t come together, and Dubya appears not to know it.

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Congress is keeping Andrews Air Force base plenty busy this year ferrying lawmakers all over the globe at taxpayers’ expense. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi took his wife, nine Democrats and two Republicans - Reps. Dan Lungren of California and Mike Rogers of Alabama - on a whirlwind tour of the Caribbean last week. After stops in Honduras and Mexico, they stopped in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the delegation stayed at the five-star Caneel Bay Resort.

In a separate trip to the Caribbean last week, Rep. Eliot Engel of New York squired his wife and four Democratic members to Grenada and Trinidad. [snip]

All told, the military flew at least 13 congressional delegations to various destinations during the Easter recess — at an estimated rate of $10,000 or more per flying hour.

The congressional delegation trips, known as CODELs, are paid for by taxpayers. They are supposed to be directly related to members’ official duties, and House guidelines also stipulate that delegations include members of both parties to qualify for military planes — a requirement that Speaker Nancy Pelosi waived for Engel’s group and two other delegations. [snip]

In their successful campaign to win control of Congress last fall, Democrats accused Republicans of extravagant travel paid for by lobbyists. Some of these trips carried a strong whiff of influence peddling. The worst that can be said of CODELS, and critics often say it, is that they’re junkets. [snip]

Not the Dims, they wouldn’t have this culture of taxpayer abuse; that’s the GOP rip-off.

Thompson’s office said he toured the Caribbean because he now chairs the Homeland Security Committee and wanted to see vacation hot spots to “examine border security and port security.” Three other members of the delegation also brought along their spouses.

It is well known that the Caneel Bay resort hires terrorist pool boys; Grenada and Trinidad are bomb making factories and free fire zones.

Since al-Qaeda has taken over the US Virgin Islands, Iowa and Kansas have become nightly targets for terrorist attacks. The three other members said they took their spouses along to prove the resort isn’t as bad as the media makes it out to be.

At the Caneel Bay resort, where room rates reach $1,100 per night, the spokeswoman said Thompson and his wife paid the “government rate.” But, according to the reservations department, Caneel Bay doesn’t “offer any government rates.” [snip]

The Caribbean trip led by Engel, who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, explored the “best practices for emergency disaster relief” and energy policy, according to his office.

Traveling with Engel and his wife were Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Tex., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who went to Belgium in a delegation led by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., earlier in the week, also joined Engel’s Caribbean trip. She brought her husband with her.

Frank’s trip to Belgium and London was related to his work as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, according to his office. The trip, which also included Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., was designed “to further understand the interrelationship between various issues related to the financial services regulatory structures” of the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, according to Frank’s office.

Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., also led a trip to Belgium over the two-week Easter recess. In February, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, took a delegation there.

They were investigating methods of international currency exchange, habitually called shopping.

“We’re at war with Iraq and Afghanistan, but apparently our members see Belgium as our most urgent international destination,” scoffed one Republican member of Congress.

Last week, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., defended Congressional travelers after a trip he took to Syria came under intense White House criticism.

“Members of Congress are not simply potted plants, though the White House apparently would like them to be,” he [Lantos] told reporters after his return. [snip]

I see Congress as a much more coherent body similar to a vegetable garden: cabbages, rutabagas, parsnips, okra…

Speaker Pelosi claims that her Middle Eastern trip didn’t undermine the president’s foreign policy, but don’t we know better?  The Syrian visit signaled Democrats’s willingness to deal with rogue regimes and was meant to counter the president’s policies.  And even if you believe she communicated a consistent foreign policy message, Democratic insistence on an Iraq withdrawal date for further funding can’t be interpreted as anything but a vote of no confidence.  Pelosi’s denials are a tacit admission that Democrats realize they are stepping outside the normal boundaries of Congress’s foreign policy role.

Some House members are disappointed by Speaker Pelosi’s decision to ignore the British/Iranian crisis:

“I believe it’s important for us as Americans to show our solidarity with the Britons,” he added in a phone interview Friday. “The British are our closest allies, and I think we have to stand next to them in a moment like this.”

Sadly, Nancy did show solidarity with the British by rolling over since that’s what they are in the process of doing. And don’t forget that she’s visiting Syria this week. She’ll be far too busy bowing and scraping to show a spine.

The administration’s Iraq policies can be described with one word—tardy. Every move they make seems to be 2 to 3 years late. For example, Iraq needed a troop surge several years ago. Give John McCain credit for steadfastly calling for more troops despite the administration’s repeated denials.

Unfortunately, Pentagon proof that Iran is supplying the insurgency falls into the tardy category too. We’ve known about Iranian and Syrian meddling for quite awhile. Why is the administration just getting around to dealing with it? These are all ongoing issues that needed to be dealt with a long time ago.

They’ve really missed a golden opportunity by waiting until the deck is stacked against them to make changes. With a hostile Congress and a militia friendly Iraqi prime minister, the odds that Iraq becomes a stabilizing regional influence are dramatically cut. The president is throwing the Hail Mary; I just hope somebody is in the end zone to catch it.

Some things change and others don’t.  For example, we have a different war, but the same old John Kerry spreading the enemy’s propaganda in hopes of advancing himself politically:

“He offered some very direct and concrete ways in which they could be helpful in Iraq,” Kerry said in an interview conducted by telephone from Damascus. “I came away with a distinct feeling that there are opportunities here. There are fronts in which we can work together if people are inclined to.”

Syria could help today if they’d tighten their borders and stop aiding the insurgents.  And this isn’t some charitable favor either.  It’s what any responsible regional country should be doing, but John Kerry makes Bashar Assad look like a statesman.  Kerry has been the enemy’s propaganda clown in almost every war we’ve fought since Vietnam.  Way to represent our state with pride, John!

President Bush sounds a bit like Deval Patrick when he starts talking about surrounding countries “shared responsibility” for stabilizing Iraq.  What incentives do the countries arming, financing, and facilitating the violence with open border policies have in helping Iraq’s nascent democracy?  If I were running a theocracy, the last thing I’d want is a strong neighboring democracy as a continual thorn in my side.

Flying while Muslim will cease to be a cause of airline passenger upset. “Unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and it’s one that we’ve been addressing for some time,” council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said. We have a solution, carpets, lots of them.

Through CAIR, the six imams removed from the plane in Minneapolis, are looking to set up a Muslim boycott of US airlines. According to the imams, Muslims praying around aircraft shouldn’t cause consternation among passengers. Another thing, what is the American’s problem with blind Imams?

CAIR also stated that the news from Bali, France, Syria, the Netherlands, and Iran etc. is inflammatory western rhetoric. Christian politician Pierre Gemayel’s demise in Beirut occurred when he decided to jump in front of playfully discharged rounds. “How would we know he would do that, Infidels are very strange.”

The decision by CAIR has deeply upset the American traveling public. Now there is no distraction from bad movie choices and airline food. And late arrivals. And lost luggage.

Is anything left of President Bush’s original foreign policy? Chief-of-Staff Josh Bolten signaled a new willingness to talk with Iran and Syria about the future of Iraq today. Many called Democrats the “cut-and-run” party, but President Bush is giving them a good run for their money now as he licks his wounds from last Tuesday’s election. The political tides are lining up for a speedy exit from Iraq no matter how much it damages our national security.

So what brought us to this point? You can certainly make a case for the media and Democrats cheerleading defeat, but President Bush must take the majority of the blame. He ran the war to please the NY Times and Washington Post. Remember all the hand-wringing over firing into mosques where snipers were firing at our troops? Or perhaps you remember the bogus story about looted national treasures? Or you might recall the decision not to arrest Muqtada al-Sadr early in the occupation?

What the American people want is progress, and the White House ran a politically correct war instead of focusing on winning. American troops should have taken out snipers no matter where they were physically located. This administration didn’t and won’t take the actions necessary to turn this war around. That’s why we are losing, and that’s why President Bush got “thumped” at the polls.

Selected excerpts from Brigitte Gabriel’s speech delivered at the Intelligence Summit in Washington DC, Saturday February 18, 2006

Search the web by her name or by book title, Because They Hate for the entire speech.

I was ten years old when my home exploded around me, burying me under the rubble and leaving me to drink my blood to survive, as the perpetrators shouted “Allah Akbar!” My only crime was that I was a Christian living in a Christian town. At 10 years old, I learned the meaning of the word “infidel.”

[snip]

I was amazed when I saw Americans waking up on September 12, 2001, and asking themselves “Why do they hate us?”

[snip]

Simply put, they hate us because we are defined in their eyes by one simple word: “infidels.”

Under the banner of Islam “la, ilaha illa allah, muhammad rasoulu allah,” (None is god except Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) they murdered Jewish children in Israel, massacred Christians in Lebanon, killed Copts in Egypt, Assyrians in Syria, Hindus in India, and expelled almost 900,000 Jews from Muslim lands.

[snip]

Political correctness forms the shackles around our ankles, by which Islamists are leading us to our demise.

[snip]

According to Gabriel, there are about 1.2 billion (1,200,000,000) Muslims in the world. By her numbers, 15% are radicals. That’s a terrorist army of 180,000,000! Lets cut that number by a third saying she is wrong. That’s 10% or 120,000,000 wearing Semtex underwear! If only 10% of the 10% try to come here, that’s 12,000,000.

I feel better with the lower number, don’t you?

Anyway, it’s something to chat about besides your omega-3 rich diet.