If a Republican Congressman Had LedThe Assault Against Osama's Hideout

Justice

Personally I would have liked to have seen bin Laden's body tied to a NYC fire truck and dragged through the streets of Manhattan.

Is That a Drumstick in Your Pocketor Are You Just Happy to See Me?

As we approach the busiest U.S. travel days of the year, there is a massive controversy brewing over the searches conducted at airports. There are rumors that some protesters will go as far as to deliberately slow down the system.

What is wrong with people? Would you rather undergo a rigorous pat-down or increase your odds of getting blown out of the sky by some guy with exploding underwear? If you want to gamble, fine, go to Vegas. Just don't gamble with the lives of everyone else on the plane. That is NOT your right, but it's exactly what you're doing with these protests.

This story is nothing more than the product of more overblown obsessive media hype. It's this month's equivalent of a mosque at Ground Zero or a missing blond in Aruba.

Time to Bring the Troops Home

When John Kerry suggested a few years ago that the key to fighting terrorism was law enforcement, the Bush crowd ridiculed him. Yet this past week, three terror plots were uncovered using not torture, or waterboarding, or military operations in some desert half way around the world, but with good old fashioned police work right here on American soil.

And the same with that plot to blow up those airliners a few years ago: It was solid police work by Scotland Yard that foiled the terrorists.

Fighting them THERE so we don't have to fight them HERE? That ship has sailed. It's time for us to catch up to it by ending the nonsense in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Three Wrongs Make a Right

Plane Truth

Someone in the U.S. government evidently decided this would be a good time to stage a photo-op using a low flying presidential 747 and a fighter jet. And where to do this? Well, why not over New York city?

The result was panic in lower Manhattan yesterday. Skyscrapers on both sides of the Hudson River were evacuated and frantic callers flooded 911 lines. Even Wall Street took a temporary hit. This is an understandable reaction for a city still raw over the September 11th attacks.

Part of the problem was that the FAA, in its eternal wisdom, decided that for security reasons only a limited number of agencies were to be notified of the event ahead of time. Consequently the public wasn't expecting it.

The purpose of the fly-by of the Statue of Liberty was to update stock photos of Air Force One. The old one had the plane flying over Mount Rushmore, so why not do one of the presidential jet flying by Lady Liberty?

Evidently whoever thought this up has never heard of Photoshop.

Anyway, it should be noted that President Obama was not on the plane, nor did he know about the fly-by beforehand. The White House issued an apology later in the day.

Winning Hearts and Minds....And Certain Other Organs

With the U.S. hopelessly bogged down in Iraq for much of the last five years, the war in Afghanistan has been neglected. As a result, many of the gains against the Taliban made early on have been eroded.

However, it seems we may have finally discovered a winning strategy in winning back the country's citizens. And no, it has nothing to do with the deployment of more troops, or increased air power, or (sorry to disappoint Mr. Cheney) the use of "enhanced methods of interrogation."

Rather, it has to do with Viagra.

Yep, the CIA has found that bribing village elders--often shouldered with the responsibility of satisfying several wives--gladly surrender information on Taliban movements in exchange for those little blue pills.

October 23, 1983

It was 25 years ago today that the United States got a rude invitation to the age of terrorism. A truck bomb crashed through the gate of the Marine barracks in Lebanon and made its way into the lobby of the building. Then its cargo of 12,000 pounds of TNT exploded. 241 American soldiers died.

Shortly afterward President Ronald Reagan made the decision to withdraw from Lebanon. Osama bin Laden would later say that Reagan's move convinced him that if the U.S. gets its nose bloodied, it will retreat. That image was further reinforced by the U.S. experience in Somalia.

Here's an account of the attack by some survivors, and the ramifications of that terrible day.

New Threat?

Who the hell is Bicycle Laden, and is he related to bin Laden?

Some Reassurance About Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal

Comparing Balls

The political situation in Pakistan continues to deteriorate. Late word is that a top member of the country's Parliament has given President Pervez Musharraf 48 hours to resign or face impeachment.

You know, it's a damn shame when the Pakistani Parliament has more balls than the United States Congress.

Baby Steps

Did a Forgery Lead Us into War?

I still encounter people who, in defiance of all reality, think that Saddam was somehow behind the 9-11 attacks. Just six months ago I noticed I was getting hits from some site I had never heard of. Upon checking it out, the author had written something along the lines of "Another liberal who's forgotten we were attacked on 9-11." Which, needless to say, I found infuriating for a couple of reasons.

First, I'm only a liberal if you also believe Barry Goldwater was a liberal. I consider myself a conservative, but a conservative who favors a smaller Federal government. George W. Bush and the Republican party of the last 20 years have forgotten their conservative roots, and done more to destroy the movement than any number of gay weddings ever could. There is nothing "conservative" about increasing the power of government to control our daily lives. Chipping away at people's personal freedoms is NOT what the conservative movement used to stand for.

Secondly, what do the 9-11 attacks have to do with Iraq? Not a damn thing. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, which is an American ally. The group's leader was from Egypt, also a friendly nation. Two more were from the United Arab Emirates, also an ally. The remaining one was from Lebanon, which at the time was largely under the control of Syria. If the 41% of Americans who continue to believe Saddam was somehow behind the attacks would simply take their heads out of their asses long enough to look for themselves, they might finally realize they were duped into this war.

It remains to be seen what effect--if any--the new book from Ron Suskind will have on public opinion. Unfortunately, I'm guessing none.

Suskind, a Pulitzer winning investigative journalist, alleges in The Way of the World, that the Bush White House ordered the CIA to forge a letter linking Saddam's government to Al Qaeda in order to justify the attack on Iraq. If true, this is nothing short of a criminal action that justifies impeachment.

The existence of this letter has been known for years. It first surfaced in late 2003 and treated as a genuine article at the time. Over the coming months it soon became apparent that the letter was actually a fake, but its origins remained unknown.... Until now.

But does it really matter at this point? No, and don't look for Congress to suddenly grow balls and seriously pursue these allegations. Besides, in another six months Bush will be gone, and by then he will have pardoned pretty much everyone in his administration--including himself.

War? What War?

The Rand Corporation, a nonpartisan private think tank, has come out with an interesting new study. Bottom line: The so-called "War on Terror" is a failure because it has failed to significantly hurt Al-Qaeda's capabilities.

However, it has failed not because of any particular lack of military strategy. Rather, according to the report, it has failed because combating terrorism can't be done by the military. In other words, terrorism needs to be thought of as a law enforcement issue. "Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors," according to the report's authors.

This is not that far-fetched. Keep in mind that the terrorist plot to bomb airliners in 2006 was thwarted not by brilliant military tactics on a battlefield, but rather by good old fashioned police work by Scotland Yard.

The report goes on to suggest that especially in Muslim countries, there should be a "light U.S. military footprint or none at all" since the presence of American troops serves to increase terrorist recruitment.

Going Home for a Spin

An Italian architect has proposed building an 80 story "rotating" skyscraper. Each floor would be secured to a central concrete column, but then slowly rotate independent of one another depending on the wind. And since each floor would have a different design, the effect would be a building that constantly changes shape.

Sounds good. Maybe a moving target will be harder for terrorists to hit.

Audacity

President Bush, in an effort to fire up the Republican fear mongering machine, has predicted that the election of a Democratic President would "eventually lead to another attack on the United States."

Um.... Has anyone told Bush that the 9-11 attacks happened on his watch, and that he's a Republican?

Maybe someone should also remind our fearless leader that he was warned during an intelligence briefing a month before the attacks that >the FBI had detected "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings," and that he did absolutely nothing about it.

Has anyone bothered to explain to the President that it was he who appointed Condoleezza Rice as National Security Advisor, and that prior to 9-11 she repeatedly ignored Richard Clarke's warnings about Al Qaeda?

And people ask me why I drink....

Well, As Long As They Don't Also Travel Back In Time...

Here's something new to worry about: Killer robots.

A British terrorist expert warns that as robots become more sophisticated and cheaper to build, they may become the weapon of choice for militants. Already, a GPS guided drone can be put together for less than $500.

No word as yet from Osama bin Laden on how that whole virgin thing will work with robots sent on suicide missions.

Why No One Has Ever AccusedBush Of Being Good In Geography

According to the annual threat assessment released by National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell this week, a resurgent Al Qaeda is increasingly becoming a greater threat to the United States and other nations. According to the report, the terror group is making use of camps in Pakistan where it can train new operatives to launch attacks against Afghanistan, "the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the United States."

Well, good thing the war in Iraq--located three countries over from Pakistan--has made us safer.

Who's Unpatriotic Now?

Former Michigan congressman Mark Deli Siljander has been arrested for aiding a so-called Muslim charity that was secretly funneling money to Al Qaeda. He was paid $ 50,000 by the group to lobby on their behalf.

Siljander served in Congress from 1981 to 1987. He was also appointed by then President Ronald Reagan to serve as a delegate to the United Nations. But what really makes this case bizarre is the fact that Siljander is a REPUBLICAN!!!

Well, I'm certainly confused as hell. Haven't Bush and Cheney spent the last seven years telling us that it's the Democrats who are supposedly unpatriotic?!?!?