Bill’s Blog

“Not for the politically correct.”

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DrudgeReport.com

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The Soviets used this approach in World War II, and other Communist regimes, such as Communist China and Communist Vietnam may have used it as well.

This is a crude approach to motivating soldiers.

For Private Abass Shomail the war in Iraq ended before it had even begun. Two days ago Abass slipped away from his sentry post and started running in darkness across the muddy frontline. He stumbled past the newly dug trenches designed to protect Iraq's conscript army from American bombardment.

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Morale was very low, he said, both among his fellow conscripts and among civilians. “We want America to attack because of the bad situation in our country. But we don't want America to launch air strikes against Iraqi soldiers because we are forced to shoot and defend. We are also victims in this situation.”

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The Kurdish fighters or pershmerga (“those who do not fear death”) who took Abbas into custody interrogated him for a day to establish he was not a spy. Yesterday he was still wearing his olive Iraqi army overcoat and woolly balaclava. His new home was a small heated room with a TV set tuned to the Arabic station al-Jazeera.

Conditions back in the Iraqi trenches were not so good, he said. “We have two blankets for every soldier, but they are very thin and don't keep us warm. The officers beat us. And the food is disgusting. I'm only paid 50 dinars [about £3] a month.”

What would have happened if he had been caught trying to run away? “I would have been executed.”

Neutralizing the mobile Scuds was the biggest unsolved problem of the Gulf War. We may see if the “loitering” weapons already in service will be the solution.

In the Gulf War, U.S. forces were unable to find and strike a single Iraqi mobile Scud missile launcher, a failure that has catalyzed a slew of new military technology aimed at narrowing the delay between spotting and destroying a target.

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OpinionJournal.com

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Hitchens shows that he hasn’t freed himself of socialist sensibilities in this column. He portrays France as two entities: the “good” France of the French Revolution and the “bad” France of colonialism and Vichy.

He errs in claiming that the “good” France aided the American Revolution; the Bourbon monarchy did this.

He also disparages French colonialism in Indochina, even though the Communist regimes which replaced it have been far more repressive.

Here, also, is a positive monster of conceit. He and his foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, have unctuously said that “force is always the last resort.” Vraiment? This was not the view of the French establishment when troops were sent to Rwanda to try and rescue the client-regime that had just unleashed ethnocide against the Tutsi. It is not, one presumes, the view of the French generals who currently treat the people and nation of Cote d'Ivoire as their fief. It was not the view of those who ordered the destruction of an unarmed ship, the Rainbow Warrior, as it lay at anchor in a New Zealand harbor after protesting the French official practice of conducting atmospheric nuclear tests in the Pacific. (I am aware that some of these outrages were conducted when the French Socialist Party was in power, but in no case did Mr. Chirac express anything other than patriotic enthusiasm. If there is a truly “unilateralist” government on the Security Council, it is France.)

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FrontPageMag.com

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The FBI said he was sending North Korea documents and had recruited a person to work in the Los Angeles DA’s office.

A refreshing reminder that America isn’t powerless; it’s a good antidote to North Korean saber-rattling.

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Detainees at Guantanamo Bay are designated by the US Government as "unlawful combatants" - not prisoners of war - meaning they are not entitled to rights under the Geneva Convention.

Compared to the treatment of American prisoners by the Vietnamese Communists, the detainees are well off. In spite of being a signatory to the Geneva Convention, the Vietnamese Communists treated American prisoners of war as criminals. Most were tortured.

This is a more honest way to determine whether we have a war with Iraq. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, but Congress hasn’t exercised it since December 8, 1941 (the day after Pearl Harbor). Unfortunately, Rep. DeFazio doesn’t say whether “voting for war” means a declaration of war.

U.S. Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced a resolution that would repeal the vote Congress took last October giving Bush the power to wage war. A handful of liberal Democrats joined Paul and DeFazio, claiming the administration has consistently failed to make its case.

By repealing last fall's resolution, Congress would be asking Powell and other administration officials to again seek permission to use military force against Iraq. Supporters of Paul and DeFazio's measure said Powell presented little new evidence during Wednesday's U.N. presentation.

“If you believe the United States should have a war, then be willing to vote for war,” DeFazio said. “The president should be willing to come to Congress and make a case for war because that is indeed what this is about.”

The study, released by the American Textbook Council, said a rosy treatment of Islam may arise from the lobbying of the Council on Islamic Education on national publishers.

“When any dark side [of Islam] surfaces, textbooks run and hide,” said the report, “Islam and the Textbooks,” by Gilbert Sewall, a former professor who directs the council.

“Subjects such as jihad and the advocacy of violence among militant Islamists to attain worldly ends, the imposition of [Shariah] law, the record of Muslim enslavement, and the brutal subjection of women are glossed over,” the 35-page study says.

This contrasts, the report suggested, with the candor in textbooks over such events of Western history as the Crusades, the Inquisition, slavery, imperialism, Christian fundamentalism and women's suffrage.

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Jewish World Review.com

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According to Al Sharpton, the behavior of Al Sharpton is synonymous with the cause of civil rights, and therefore any criticism of Al Sharpton is, by definition, an attack on racial justice. By running for president, Sharpton is effectively asking the Democratic Party to bless that proposition. He knows that, by treating him as a legitimate candidate, the party is ratifying his self-coronation as the leader of black America. And, if the Democratic Party and the media accept him as the leader of black America, the post-Martin Luther King Jr., post-Jesse Jackson civil rights movement will become, in effect, whatever Sharpton says it is.

For example, before we put our boys and girls in harm's way, perhaps we can use the Ebay auction diplomatically to get rid...

SADDAM HUSSEIN - Bid now and receive a YASSAR ARAFAT at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE.

I mean, some wealthy, good Samaritan out there who could make a decent offer, then whisk Saddam away to somewhere who cares.

Thanks to political correctness Farenheit 451 is here. These types are so caught up with Twain’s use of the “N-word” that they forget that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an anti-slavery novel.

This column says that The Boston Globe is owned by The New York Times.

The Democrats can’t repeal the immigration statutes, so they’re trying to nullify them with backdoor legislation like this.

I believe that she won’t run unless Bush looks beatable. Of course, if the Democrats win in 2004 progress in the war on terrorism will halt.

It is important to remember that Hillary is an extreme Left-winger who demonstrated in favor of the Communist victory in Indochina during the Vietnam Era.

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Two candidates — Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York, the only black candidate — have said they would honor the boycott.

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A good part of the European moaning is really a psychological crutch to draw attention away from weaknesses at home--what the French writer Jean-François Revel called “weapons of mass distraction.” Europeans cannot muster the political will to develop their own military, so they recoil from any use of force. We cannot be constrained by these apologies for impotence when we face dangers that metastasize almost daily. …

There is a real difference between being kicked by a mule and reading about being kicked by a mule. We know. That is why terrorism is viewed by 91 percent of Americans as the top threat to us compared with just 64 percent in Europe. We cannot tolerate the prospect of Islamic fundamentalists getting their hands on weapons of mass destruction. They are immune to civilized political process, motivated not so much by a specific grievance as by a generalized hatred of the West. Not only are they prepared to commit suicide in service of their hatred; they have no bases or cities or assets we can destroy and thereby deter them. We have to pre-empt them.

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Yet too many people are still fixated on finding a smoking gun. Is there one? Even as "smoldering guns" emerge, the question misses the more crucial point. The answer is not in a detail but in a very large series of facts. Iraq is located in the midst of a region that has been a hotbed of global terrorism, including Shiite Islamists, personified by their ruling mullahs in Iran; Sunni Islamists of al Qaeda, funded primarily by Saudi Arabia; and Baathists from Iraq. They all have America in their gun sights. They would all be inspired if Saddam is allowed to flout the U.N. resolutions and erode America's credibility. They would all be less constrained if Saddam could get away with his deception. They would all be encouraged to overcome the psychological impulses not to use such weapons.

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Insight on the News Magazine

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But, contrary to popular belief and the clear intent of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which guarantees equal protection under the law, some people are being treated as if they were above the law. Among these are Mexican nationals illegally residing and working in the United States. Because their numbers are so great -- now estimated at nearly 4 million -- U.S. authorities have looked the other way as Mexican officials have issued them identification cards to be used as credentials in the United States. Meanwhile, Mexican officials actively lobby city officials throughout the U.S. to accept this document, called a matrícula consular, as legally valid identification. The card is issued at Mexican consular offices in the United States upon the payment of $29 and presentation of a birth certificate and photo ID.

This article points out that:

• It is a crime to be an illegal alien

• It is a crime to employ illegal aliens

• It is a crime to transport or harbor illegal aliens.
• It is illegal for financial institutions to provide bank accounts without proper identification, such as a Social Security number.

It cites the statues for these crimes.

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vndemo@fva.org

I want to mold poems into bullets
To shoot into the hearts of the ones responsible
Those who squander the blood of the people
Like they squander money with no value!

Within two months of the publication of these powerful verses, Ho Chi Minh signed an edict curtailing freedom of the press in North Vietnam. Those in the leadership recognized themselves as the individuals depicted by Phung Quan and could not tolerate such dissent.

Thich Quang Do Secretary-General of the National Executive Council Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam

Vietnamese Canadian Federation

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