alphabet city

2007-11-30T01:03:00.000-05:00

Break in Blogging: Update; Cafe Open

Sorry, folks, my restaurant in Brooklyn is opening next week so there's little time for blogging right now. I plan to be back posting to alphabet city in January.

I'll put up the information after the grand opening in case any of you ever find yourselves in Sunset Park.

Happy holidays to all. Be safe out there people.

Update, Feb 3, 2008: Well, I'm officially a restaurateur, folks. It's called Cafe Miguel at 5017 6th Ave (corner 51st street across from PS 94) in Brooklyn.

American and Spanish cuisine along with a pizzeria.

The food is outstanding, as is the service.

2007-11-24T23:21:00.000-05:00

A Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

I'm in upstate NY (cold, cold, cold) since Wednesday night and unable to get to a keyboard until now. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. And to US servicemen and women everywhere, Thank You.

Back to blogging on Monday.

2007-11-21T03:14:00.000-05:00

Fox News: Discovery of Zarqawi "Baghdad Belts" Map a Key Turning Point in War Against Al-Qaeda in Iraq

Transcript here. Pat Dollard has the video here.

WASHINGTON — A key turning point in the U.S.-led war against the Iraqi insurgency came even before last winter's troop surge, FOX News has learned.

A map drawn by Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — who was killed last year by U.S. forces — turned up last December in an Al Qaeda safe house and essentially gave U.S. war planners insight into the terrorist group's methods for moving explosives, fighters and money into Baghdad.

Click here to see the map, which was obtained by FOX News (.pdf).

"The map essentially laid out how Al Qaeda controlled Baghdad. And they did it through four belts that surrounded the city, and these belts controlled access to the city for reinforcements and weapons and money," said Maj. Gen. Bob Scales, a FOX News contributor who recently visited Iraq.

"And [U.S.-led forces] simply made the decision to reduce these belts one at a time, and essentially what that did was it choked off Al Qaeda's access to the city. And once that was done, Al Qaeda had no alternative but to leave the city, to leave the belts and to retreat into the city of Baquba," Scales said.

It's a crude looking thing, the map is. But hey, one can't expect the likes of the Enigma machine from freaks who want to take the world back to the 7th century can one?

Question: Was the discovery of the map a Eureka! moment for the US military or an important confirmation of what was suspected? In other words, did US military planners have any knowledge of AQI's "belts" strategy before the map was captured? If not, its capture would be the turning point of a war we are now winning.

2007-11-21T01:41:00.000-05:00

"The epitome of what a soldier should be"

Just hours afer being seriously wounded in an Iraq IED ambush that killed two of his fellow soldiers, Spc. Christopher Hoyt re-enlists for four more years.

2007-11-21T00:01:00.000-05:00

NPod: 'God Help Us All'

In attempting to make the case that the Khomeinist regime in Tehran is a rational actor on the geopolitical stage, Andrew Sullivan and The Economist have challenged the veracity of a single quotation attributed by Norman Podhoretz and Amir Taheri to Ayatollah Rudollah Khomeini in which the late Iranian supreme leader endorses the destruction of Iran and the mass "martyrdom" of its citizens "provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world."

NPod's response: The burden of proof of the Khomeinists' sanity does not rest entirely upon a single utterance by the founder of Iran's Islamic Revolution and foreign policy realists who stake American and Israeli security and regional stability on hopes "the jumper can be talked down from the ledge" are just as irrational and dangerous as the "jumper".

Since the case I make both in my COMMENTARY article and in my book rests on much more than the two quotations from Khomeini and Rafsanjani, it would still stand even if those quotations were in fact “bogus” or “fabricated.” But the truth is that Khomeini and Rafsanjani did say what I said they said. Not that this will silence the growing number of foreign-policy establishmentarians who—having finally recognized that Iran’s nuclear program cannot be stopped by diplomacy and sanctions, but having ruled out military force even as a last resort—are now desperately trying to persuade us that “we can live” with an Iranian bomb. God help us all if the counsels of these apologists and appeasers disguised as “realists” should in the end prevail.

2007-11-20T03:02:00.000-05:00

"As a result, for the first time in nearly two years, people are moving with freedom around much of this city."

The flagship newspaper of the SurrenderMedia finally surrenders to the stunning truth: The "surge" is working.

The security improvements in most neighborhoods are real. Days now pass without a car bomb, after a high of 44 in the city in February. The number of bodies appearing on Baghdad’s streets has plummeted to about 5 a day, from as many as 35 eight months ago, and suicide bombings across Iraq fell to 16 in October, half the number of last summer and down sharply from a recent peak of 59 in March, the American military says.

As a result, for the first time in nearly two years, people are moving with freedom around much of this city. In more than 50 interviews across Baghdad, it became clear that while there were still no-go zones, more Iraqis now drive between Sunni and Shiite areas for work, shopping or school, a few even after dark. In the most stable neighborhoods of Baghdad, some secular women are also dressing as they wish. Wedding bands are playing in public again, and at a handful of once shuttered liquor stores customers now line up outside in a collective rebuke to religious vigilantes from the Shiite Mahdi Army.

If only the New York Times editorial board would bother looking at its own newspaper's front page: "It has been two long months since Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, cowed Congressional Democrats into silence, championing President Bush’s misguided course on the war. We’re pleased to see that the effects of his briefing are finally wearing off. The bad news, as ever, is that Mr. Bush and his Republican allies continue to resist reason."

Blog buzz at Memeorandum.

Update: Before the "surge", there was a soldier and a shaykh: Army Captain Travis Patriquin and Shaykh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha. Their friendship seeded an awakening that is exploding across Iraq like kudzu.

See here also.

2007-11-19T23:26:00.000-05:00

Seth Swirskey: 'While Bush Fights for America, The Democrats Fight Bush'

Hit songwriter, bestselling author and former liberal Seth Swirskey wades into the moonbat cesspool at Huffington Post and slams the Dems for placing party before country and hatred for George W. Bush before common sense and reason.

We're in a difficult battle in Iraq. There is plenty of room for honest debate about the merits concerning the administrations actions post 9/11 in Iraq. But, when it's abundantly clear that the president's "surge" strategy has been stunningly effective - to the point of turning the war around in our favor - you would think the Democrats would hail that victory.

But, no! Because the "surge" could make the president look wise, and in Democrat circles, that's the ultimate no-no.

While the president fights to beat al-Qaeda and the spread of Islamofascism in Iraq and Afghanistan, Democrats fight Bush.

Seth's "mugged-by-reality" moment is here. Looks like he's "pressing charges" with this HuffPo piece.

2007-11-19T21:28:00.000-05:00

A New Low: Congressional Dems, Who Wanted Out Months Ago, Now Claim to Be "Only Ones" Working for Victory in Iraq

Well, what do you know, they didn't come right out and say the "surge" is working, but four liberal-media heavyweights today acknowledged progress in Iraq without adding the sneering aside of "US Says" to their headlines.

Even the United Nations admits progress.

Violence in Iraq Continues to Drop - Cara Buckley & Michael Gordon, New York Times
Life Has Gotten Better in Baghdad - Rod Nordland, Newsweek
Baghdad Residents Return, Warily - Charles Crain, Time
Sects unite to battle Al Qaeda in Iraq - Doug Smith and Said Rasheed, Los Angeles Times
U.N. official says Iraq showing progress - UPI

But, while the mainstream media have seen fit to report recent progress...(Latest numbers: Terrorist attacks in Iraq are at the lowest level since January 2006. Since June, civilian casualties in Iraq down 60 percent. The numbers are even better in Baghdad, where there's been a 75 percent decrease during the same period. And attacks against Iraqi security forces are down by 40%.)...leading Democrats continue to push the narrative of defeat and retreat.

Jim Hoft at Gatway Pundit links to a New York Times report from today ("must...grunt...subvert that...grunt...[mostly] positive piece") which quotes Democratic presidential candidate Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut saying that Congress should defund the war. Cut-and-run while winning. I'm sure Al-Qaeda high command is hoping for exactly that.

And here's one I haven't seen before: Congressional Dems, who never supported the "surge" and who - if they'd had their way - would have had us out of Iraq months ago, are unwilling to get behind the stunning turnaround in Iraq but yet are positioning themselves as having been solely responsible for victory in Iraq if we win (stability, reconciliation) or having been the only ones to have truly tried to prevent defeat in the event it all falls apart.

Some [Democrats], including Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the Democratic conference chairman, argue that Congressional Democrats are the only ones putting real pressure on the Iraqi government to end sectarian violence and stabilize the country.

There are ten's of thousands of Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq fighting bravely alongside the US military and Iraqi Army to take back their lives and their country from terrorists. I'm sure, if given a chance, they wouldn't hesitate to deliver a few choice words to Democratic Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois. For that matter, I imagine our servicemen and women, military commanders and Congressional Republicans would also take issue with Rahm Emanuel's disgustingly transparent display of opportunistic conceit.

2007-11-19T11:43:00.000-05:00

Suicide Bomber Foiled in Kabul

Amazing video of Afghan police arresting a Taliban suicide bomber who was trying to board an Afghan army bus in Kabul. Nail-biting moment at 03:34.

AFP:

Earlier on Monday, Afghan soldiers foiled an attempted bus bombing in the capital Kabul, preventing a would-be suicide bomber detonating his explosive-laden jacket, the Afghan defence ministry said.

Soldiers became wary when a man they did not recognise tried to get on an Afghan army commuter bus, ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi told AFP.

"They realised that an unfamiliar person was trying to get on the bus," he said.

Some of the worst suicide bombings in Afghanistan have been on security forces' buses in the capital.

On September 29, a suicide bomber in an army uniform blew up a military bus in an attack that killed about 30 people and wounded many more.

A similar explosion on a bus taking police trainers to the police academy in mid-June killed 35 people.

2007-11-18T23:41:00.000-05:00

Variety: Redacted Colossal Flop

The weekend numbers are out and DePalma's anti-warporn is about as popular with Americans as Al-Qaeda is in Iraq's Anbar province. Ouch.

Brian De Palma's Iraq war drama "Redacted" debuted at $27,475 from 14 theaters in key markets for a per-screen average of just $1,962, underscoring again that auds are resisting politically themed fare this fall. Film is distribbed by Samuel Goldwyn Films/IDP.

Ten bucks a pop for a ticket works out to less than 30,000 viewers nationwide (2,000 per screen) over a three day period. At five screenings per day, that works out to 133 asses in seats per screening.

Think the numbers devastating? Check out Michael Medved: "I honestly was close to vomiting when I saw the film." Newsbusters has the audio and transcript of Medved's review.

Libertas Blog also has some numbers: "America, we are now 5 for 5 in the hurry-up-before-we-win films being humiliated department, and it just doesn’t get any better than that."

2007-11-18T23:13:00.000-05:00

Is there an Historical Equivalent in US History to the Turnaround in Iraq?

You betcha. Several, in fact.

Victor Davis Hanson:

we may be witnessing one of those radical, unforeseen reversals in America's wars that have often changed our history.

The White House was burned by British forces in late August 1814; a little more than four months later, the British were routed at New Orleans. During the Civil War, the Union army was on the ropes in July 1864 yet outside Atlanta by September. The Germans were driving through France in March 1918, but fleeing toward the Rhine by August. The communists took Seoul in early January 1951, yet were pushed back across the Demilitarized Zone a little more than three months later.

Of course, we don't know the final outcome in Iraq, given the remaining problems of Shiite militias and diehard al-Qaidists - and the question of our own remaining resolve.

The U.S. Army and Marine Corps may well soon stabilize the Iraqi democracy once deemed lost. Or perhaps, in the manner of Vietnam between 1973-5, the public may have become so tired of Iraq - despite the improvement - that it simply wants it out of sight and out of mind.

Either way, history is now being made while we sleep.

Behold the somnambulism of the New York Times editorial board.

Update: Jack Kelly, columnist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, writes that Iraq is indeed a quagmire...for al-Qaeda.

2007-11-18T19:18:00.000-05:00

Sunday Evening Link Dump

Trailer: The Kite Runner
Powerline: The Kite Runner: Thumbs up, a thousand times over
Trailer: Charlie Wilson's War
Afghanistanica: Charlie Wilson's War in Afghanistan
Threats Watch: RapidRecon: As-Sahab Media: American Holocaust #3
Abu Muquwama: Petraeus Picks the Next Generation
Small Wars Jounal: Ohio State Selects Petraeus Aide as Military History Chair
Long War Journal: Sunni clerics turn on Association of Muslim Scholars
Pat Dollard: Iraq Civilian Casualties In Baghdad Down 75%
Iraq Pundit: The Torn Ultimatum
Markedmanner: Saudi Court Increases Jail Time For Rape Victim
Western Resistance: Saudi Arabia: More Muslim Injustice
Wahaudi — Wahhabi/Saudi Watch: Muslim World benefits from Iran Saudi ties, Saudi official
Commentary Magazine Blog: The UN’s Last Chance
Terror Finance Blog: Shari'a Finance
Islam in Europe: Switzerland: First court case of genital mutilation

2007-11-17T02:30:00.000-05:00

Fox News Video of Amiriyah's Famous Abu Abed

(Big thanks to Amy Proctor for the vid)

One man's thug is another man's hero.

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's Nov. 10, Gaurdian piece "Meet Abu Abed: the US's new ally against al-Qaida" first introduced Abu Abed to the world as the crazed, paranoid, short-tempered leader of the "Ameriya Knights"; a group of US-backed concerned local citizens (militia) that, alongside American soldiers, recently killed Al-Qaeda in bunches and reclaimed Amiriyah.

You're looking at 00.43 into the clip for our hero-slash-thug describing how he killed an Al-Qaeda leader known as the "White Lion".

Can't explain why Ghaith describes him as squat and chubby. The Fox News Abu Abed is skinny and wiry.

Ghaith gets other features right though; close-cropped hair, thin goatee and moustache, wraparound sunglasses.

Heh. Somebody get this man to the Abu Risha finishing school for former insurgents turned Al-Qaeda fighters.

Sorry, Ghaith, but counterinsurgency ain't pretty.

Update: The US Army has issued a written response to the inaccuracies in the Guardian article. Bob Owens has it here.

2007-11-16T19:55:00.000-05:00

Countering Ideological Support to Terrorism (CIST)

He's called the "young Bernard Lewis" for good reason.

"The war we are fighting today," says Dr. Michael Doran, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy, "is an information war - a global conflict of perception."

Here's an excerpt from Dr. Doran's testimony given yesterday at the House Armed Services hearing on strategic communications and countering ideological support for terrorism.

The recent successes of General David Patraeus and his Iraqi allies have dramatically demonstrated to us the primacy of politics in CIST. Gen. Petraeus has taught us that we must coordinate our statements and our actions in an effort to influence an internal Iraqi debate about legitimate political authority in that country. Iraqi perceptions of American intent and capabilities are of paramount importance for the success of our efforts.

The key to the CIST mission is influencing a primarily intra-Muslim conversation, with the goal of undermining the intellectual and perceptual underpinnings of terrorism. Much of the appeal of terrorist groups rests on a collective sense of victimization, a sense of an impending existential threat. Terrorist leaders actively foster the perception that the global Islamic community is under threat of extinction. To counter the terrorists, we must inject critical doubt among key populations about the terrorists' singular vision of hate and fear. It is important for us to realize that this sense of threat often derives from internal Muslim political processes as much as it does from perceptions of American intent.

We associate this vision of hate and fear primarily with al-Qaida. An examination of Arabic-language media, however, shows that key elements of that vision are echoed and reinforced by the media of Iran, Syria, and other opponents of US policies. The fatalist destructive narrative that we commonly associate with al-Qaida is but one tool that our opponents use to thwart the development of democratic political systems, individual rights and, not least of all, the ordinary hopes and dreams that spell danger for dictatorships. For their vision to have any credibility, terrorist groups seek to foster a sense of doom--that “midnight” is fast approaching. In nurturing this sense of threat, al-Qaida, Iran, and others, argue that the United States and our allies are somehow placing the global Islamic community in peril.

To counter this narrative, we must chip away at the bleak picture of helplessness and vulnerability that support it. Our enemies foster a culture of blame to foment anger, hatred and a sense of victimization. Then, they offer themselves and their violence as the only solution to the challenges of today. The DoD attempts to counteract these responses by promoting a sense of individual responsibility, common human values across religious divides, empowerment, and a desire to fix current problems in a cooperative spirit rather than through a resort to violence.

For CIST to be successful, it must focus on the self-perceptions of key audiences rather than perceptions of America. Its message must outline an alternative future that is more attractive than the bleak future offered by terrorists. The positive narrative that explains these differences must contain more than just anti-terrorist rhetoric. It must include elements that will impact the future everyday lives of Muslims everywhere – fairness, justice, opportunity, liberty, health, education, and hope. To promote these objectives, therefore, we cannot simply focus on "getting our message out," or on writing better talking points. To be sure, public diplomacy and public affairs are vital tools for CIST, but it primarily requires taking actions that make the alternative narrative real, and building partnership capacity among our Muslim allies. Thus, other key components of an effective CIST program include civil affairs, security, education reform, establishing the solid rule of law, and opening economic opportunity for all. In Iraq’s al-Anbar province we are beginning to see the process of CIST done right.

More from Noah Shachtman and Matt Armstrong who aren't nearly as impressed with Duncan MacInnes (Principal Deputy Coordinator of the Bureau of International Information Programs) as they are with Dr. Doran.

Dr. Doran is the author of "Somebody Else's Civil War", one of the most important pieces on radical Islam published in the months following the 9/11 attacks.

2007-11-16T18:51:00.000-05:00

Michael Yon: Baghdad's Sunni Muslims Tell Christians to 'Come Home'

Al Qaeda's two-and-a-half year reign of terror in the southern Baghdad's Dora district is over.

And yesterday, at St. John the Baptist Chaldean Catholic Church, a mass was celebrated in Dora for the first time since April, 2007, when elements of Al-Qaeda, having redeployed there after being run out of Anbar province, tore down crosses from neighbohood churches then ordered Christians to convert to Islam, pay the jizya (a tax imposed on non-Muslims), leave with no personal possessions or die.

Michael Yon, who snapped the iconic image of the cross being placed back atop St. John's dome last week, was back at the church again yesterday where a small number of Chaldean Catholics were joined by dozens of Sunni Muslims carrying a message for their Christian brothers and sisters who fled Al-Qaeda's terror: Come Home.

Today, Muslims mostly filled the front pews of St John’s. Muslims who want their Christian friends and neighbors to come home. The Christians who might see these photos likely will recognize their friends here. The Muslims in this neighborhood worry that other people will take the homes of their Christian neighbors, and that the Christians will never come back. And so they came to St John’s today in force, and they showed their faces, and they said, “Come back to Iraq. Come home.” They wanted the cameras to catch it. They wanted to spread the word: Come home. Muslims keep telling me to get it on the news. “Tell the Christians to come home to their country Iraq.”

Michael Yon is truly an American treasure.

His reporting on Al-Qaeda's defeat in Iraq by the US military and Sunni tribal forces made the mainstream media sit up and take notice.

The war is not won yet, folks. But a corner has been turned.

And as reconstruction kicks into high gear and reconciliation gains momentum, we're gonna need to keep Michael in Iraq and his reporting in the mainstream media's face.

So go and contribute what you can.

You're not only contributing to Mike's work, you're contributing to America and Iraq.

2007-11-16T00:24:00.000-05:00

The Al-Dura Affair Becomes Al-DuraGate - Nidra Poller, Pajamas Media

2007-11-15T17:13:00.000-05:00

Abu Hamza al-Masri Headed to US?

(Via Jawa Report)

It looks like hook-handed preacher of hate, Abu Hamza al-Masri, has lost his long-running extradition battle and is headed to the US to face trial on eleven terror-related counts.

BBC:

The Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri can be extradited to the US to face terrorism charges, a court has ruled.

The Egyptian-born preacher is currently serving a seven-year jail term in the UK for inciting murder and race hate.

The 49-year-old from west London is wanted by the American authorities on 11 charges.

City of Westminster Magistrates Court approved the extradition, but the decision has to be ratified by the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith.

Senior District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Abu Hamza, who preached at Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, had lost his legal arguments.

The judge said he would send the matter to the Secretary of State for a decision on whether the former civil engineering student should be extradited.

The US government wants to put Abu Hamza on trial on 11 charges, alleging he funded terrorism, organised a "terrorist training camp" in Oregon between 1998 and 2000, and conspired to take 12 Westerners hostage in Yemen in 1998.

But hold on, it's not a done deal yet.

Judge Workman may have just thrown Hamza's lawyers, who are fighting the extradition request on human rights grounds, a lifeline.

However, in a rare British rebuke of the U.S. penal system, Judge Workman criticised the solitary confinement regime at top U.S. security prisons and said its use could be enough to block an extradition on human rights grounds.

"In my view if such a regime were to be applied for a lengthy, indefinite period it could properly amount to inhuman and degrading treatment which would violate article 3 (of the European Convention on Human Rights)," Workman said.

Heh. At least in the US there's no possibility of terrorist inmates starting blogs or blowing up prisons.

***

No post on Abu Hamza would be complete without a nod to Glen Jenvey, the man responsible for taking Hamza down in an online sting operation.

2007-11-15T03:54:00.000-05:00

Video: Islamists' "Hero" Imran Khan Turned Over to Pak Police by...Islamists

Imran Khan, the former Pakistani cricket star turned politician who sparked the "Newsweek Riots" came out of hiding yesterday to lead a student rally at Lahore's Punjab University where he was snatched away from his followers, manhandled, detained and handed over to Pakistani police by students affiliated with the radical Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

Why would Islamists betray the man who was responsible for making the Muslim world believe the American military was flushing copies of Korans down toilets at Gitmo?

I had better toss that one to the Pakistani bloggers.

The rumor in the Pakistani blogosphere is that the mullahs who lead the Islamist parties are in cahoots with Musharraf.

More here and here.

Update: Arif Rafiq at the Pakistan Policy Blog says the student wing of JI could have acted in concert with Pak intelligence with or without the knowledge of JI.

Update: You can see Khan getting roughed up in this Reuters report.

2007-11-14T23:11:00.000-05:00

What in God's Name Would We Do...

without Nibras Kazimi?

2007-11-14T21:14:00.000-05:00

Association of Muslim Scholars HQ Raided, Seized by Iraqi Security Forces

Shaykh Harith al-Dhari, you dog, you are finished in Iraq.

From the Associated Press by way of Acute Politics and Iraqi Mojo:

Iraqi authorities seized the headquarters of the country's most influential Sunni clerical group Wednesday, sealing off its west Baghdad compound and accusing the organization of supporting al-Qaida in Iraq.

The group, the Association of Muslim Scholars, has long opposed the U.S. military presence in Iraq and has often taken public positions in support of Sunni insurgent goals. The association spearheaded the Sunni boycott of the January 2005 elections and has frequently been at odds with the Shiite-dominated government.

The timing of the move suggests that the government is more confident it can take action against the hardline Sunni clerics without risking a backlash within the Sunni community and reprisal attacks by al-Qaida and other insurgent groups.

The raid on the clerical group began about 9 a.m. Iraqi security forces dispatched by the Sunni Endowment, a government agency that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines, surrounded the association's headquarters at the Um al-Qura mosque and demanded the staff leave by noon, the association said in a statement posted on its Web site.

Troops shut down the association's radio station, which operated from the mosque, and told employees to remove all personal belongings and furniture, the statement said.

"The association has always justified killing and assassinations carried out by al-Qaida," the head of the Sunni Endowments, Ahmed Abdul-Ghafoor al-Samarraie, told reporters at the mosque, built by Saddam Hussein to commemorate the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Al-Samarraie said the association had opposed the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida, which began last year in Anbar province and is spreading throughout the Sunni heartland. He said the association opposed any group formed "to purge their neighborhoods of al-Qaida elements."

The association said it held al-Samarraie, himself a Sunni cleric, personally responsible for the safety of its employees. It condemned the "blatant assault," saying it was carried out "for the benefit of many parties which see the association as an obstacle to their projects."

A spokesman for the association, Mohammed Bahsar al-Faydhi, told The Associated Press that he believed the troops raiding the mosque were not government forces but al-Samarraie's personal guards.

"We don't understand why the Sunni Endowment acted this way," al-Faydhi said by telephone from Jordan.

(Boy, it's moments like these that I sorely miss having access to NDI Open Source Center reports. Oh, well.)

A significant development regardless of whether al-Samarraie or PM Maliki moved on the AMS.

If it was al-Samarraie (a former AMS member who, while serving as a junior imam at the Umm al-Qura mosque, supported insurgent operations against Coalition Forces) it means pro-US Sunni clerics have moved to evict from its headquarters the most prominent Sunni clerical authority in Iraq because of its anti-US stance.

Which means the insurgency against US forces in Iraq is essentially over because Sunni insurgent groups, having fought a bloody months-long battle against Al-Qaeda, will not oppose the move, and likely support it, because of AMS secretary general Shaykh Harith al-Dhari's continued support for their archenemy.

If it was PM al-Maliki who ordered it, it would be extremely significant. Taken together with last week's reinstatement of some 70 former Baath party members from Anbar to their jobs in the government, military and academia, we could be seeing a, for lack of a better phrase, Sunni self-cleansing of anti-Shiite and anti-US elements.

Call me overly optimistic, but this move against the AMS could be a sign that Sunni and Shiite leaders are serious about reconciling. If this is indeed the case, then the General Petreaus, having accomplished the military aspect of the "surge", is now actively engaged in the so-called top-down reconciliation.

And for one last parting shot at Shaykh al-Dhari I'll turn it over to late Shaykh Abudul Sattar abu Risha: We, on behalf of the Anbar tribes council, say to Harith al-Dhari: If there is a thug, it is you; if there is a killer and a kidnapper, it is you.

Update:

Qatar: Al-Jazirah Satellite Channel Television in Arabic 1505 GMT 19 Mar 04

[Announcer-read report over video] Dr Harith al-Dari, secretary general of the Iraqi Muslim Ulema Council, has called for the continuation of all forms of resistance against the occupation until the liberation of Iraq. This came in a speech following a mass prayer in Al-Fallujah city.

[Begin Al-Dari recording] We hope that resistance, with all forms and directions, will escalate in the next year, the year of liberation, with the help and grace of God. Your brothers in all of Iraq now know that the occupation has not come for the sake of anybody or in order to help any side against the other side. Rather, it came to achieve its own ambitions and schemes. The occupation intends to stay in our country and even set up military bases, as propagated by the occupation and its agents, who know that their existence is contingent on that of the occupation. I hope that your resistance will escalate through words, actions, prayers, demonstrations, protests, and other forms. I also hope that all our brothers in the homeland will wake up and rise up to join their brothers in resisting the occupying to expedite its departure, God willing. [end recording] [Video shows Al-Dari addressing worshippers]

The Blackwater massacre that triggered the first blitz on Fallujah occurred just eleven days after Shaykh Dhari's speech.

2007-11-14T16:44:00.000-05:00

Country or Party?

Let's be clear about this. Excepting a handful who are overly optimistic, none of us on the right are by any means declaring victory in Iraq, however...

...The fact of the matter is that the surge is demonstrating a reasonable degree of success – but that seems hardly relevant to Democrats so wed to leftist netroots’ dollars that they reject both the message and its messenger: decorated four star General David Petraeus – who literally wrote the book on counterinsurgency for the US Army, not to mention his stellar education at West Point, Princeton, and the battlefields of Iraq. So perhaps there is a better question: How are we doing in America?

It doesn't take a military strategist to figure out the next step in Iraq.

The military phase of the "surge", the counterinsurgency phase, is succeeding and has resulted in an ongoing reconciliation at the grassroots level.

Smashing Al-Qaeda has halted its terror campaign against Shiites which, in turn, has negated the role of Shiite militias as protectors.

But, the momentum created by so called "bottom-up" gains will come to a screeching halt, and may well unravel, unless sectarian rifts within the Iraqi central government are bridged.

On this point the ultimate success of the mission rests.

And to see it through to the end means putting the hands of Iraq's political elite to the fire. But that will not happen as long as Washington is divided.

Talk of withdrawal is fine if its aimed at forcing political reconciliation in Baghdad.

But if the Democrats continue their futile back-door attempts to legislate withdrawal due to their insisting the war cannot be won, well they have only proven themselves right.

The shooting war is being won. But a lasting peace, as the Dems themselves have repeatedly told us, cannot be secured at the point of a gun.

How are we doing in America?

The answer to that question lies in how willing the Dems are to put aside their agenda of political payback to seize upon the gains of phase one in Iraq.

It comes down to a choice of Country or Party.

2007-11-14T12:03:00.000-05:00

Hizb ut-Tahrir Supporters Visit alphabet city

Welcome Nablus, Ramallah, London, Birmingham, Lahore, Islamabad, Dubai, Riyadh, Stockholm and Sydney.

Seems this post has caught your attention: Video: Hizb-ut-Tahrir Pakistan Calls for Overthrow of Musharraf, Reestablishment of Islamic Caliphate.

Hope you succeed in taking Pakistan (and the rest of the world) back to the 7th century. Not.

And, Fazza, you're welcome.

Nice video, bro.

Believe me, we get the "message".

And don't forget to acknowledge at least ONE good thing about the 'Western infidels'. They give you the freedom to live among them and ultimately (if you get to know the way) to enjoy an opportunity to topple their system in a democratic manner. Yes the same democracy you won't believe in once you are in power!

Would you give them the same freedom once you are in power? The freedom to disagree with your own interpretation of reality. The freedom to be different in culture, religion, preaching and not be treated or taxed as second class citizens of your 'border-less' Islamic state?

2007-11-13T22:33:00.000-05:00

Video: Anti-War Freaks Vandalize Anti-War Display Honoring Fallen Soldiers

On Veteran's Day.

Via Amy Proctor.

Either the vandals didn't realize Don and Ann Bender, who put up the display across from their home in Kansas City, oppose the war, or they stomped on American flags representing every American killed in Iraq because they felt the display wasn't explicit in its anti-war message.

I suspect the former.

Doesn't really matter though. What we have in either instance is the work of hardleft freakazoids inspired by hate.

2007-11-13T20:58:00.000-05:00

Dr. Zawahiri's Prescription for UBL Admitting 'Mistakes' Made in Iraq: HOUSE arREST

Rumor of a rift in the AQ high command.

2007-11-13T18:59:00.000-05:00

Heh

Update: I thought these guys were geniuses: www.mensa.org?