Washington Post - Leaning Just a Tad Left Today?

Jeez, can't the Washington Post find one editorial writer who disagrees with the paper's anti-Bush, anti-Republican, anti-war stance? Based on today's columns, apparently not:

Stay the Course? What Course? - Eugene Robinson
Fresh from his triumphal visit to Baghdad -- a place so dangerous he had to sneak in without even telling the Iraqi prime minister -- George W. Bush is full of new resolve to stay the course in his open-ended "global war on terror." That leaves the rest of us to wonder, in sadness and frustration, just what that course might be and where on earth it can possibly lead.

Robinson is sick; living in a dark, hateful liberal Disneyland where we "assasinated" al-Zarqawi, Gitmo inmates are heroes and young Americans defending his right to write his bilge are enemies. He is by far the most vile of the bunch.

Michael Kinsey is the most pretentous pouser of the lot, with The Name Is Kafka . . . Franz Kafka:

In a twist fully worthy of Kafka, or at least Joseph Heller ("Catch-22"), the very suspicion that bad things are going on is a reason you can't find out. As a CIA legal document explains: "CIA confirmation of the existence of [evidence] would confirm a CIA interest in or use of specific intelligence methods and activities."

Oooh, Kinsey, you read books! Too bad it didn't make you any smarter; the CIA makes a perfect arguement here, essentially saying that they can neither confirm nor deny certain types of speculation as they may give evidence of the agency's information gathering techniques. It makes perfect sense - but alas, Kinsey, you are not even smart enough to confuse the people you are trying to scam with your bogus arguments. How utterly pathetic.

In A Shift Among the Evangelicals, E.J Dionne continues his poetry of wishful thinking that has become his singular style:

When the Southern Baptist Convention elected the Rev. Frank Page as the group's president at its meeting this week in Greensboro, N.C., the news appeared on the back pages of most secular newspapers -- or it didn't appear at all.
...he also signaled that the spirit he hopes to embody is quite different from that of the angry, right-wing, politicized preacher who has been a stock figure in American life for more than two decades.

The mellowing of evangelical Christianity may well be the big American religious story of this decade...

Hey E.J., if you don't like the stereotypical "angry white preacher", than stop creating and exploiting this stereotype/straw man (note to self: white men are still the only acceptable ethnic group to bash!). And your "big religious story"? Just like the rise of Cindy Sheehan and the fall of the Republicans, your fiction is likely to fail you again. Sorry E.J., but if you were judged on producing accurate results like the rest of us working slobs, the only place you'd get a job is Pravda.

And who's this idiot Dan Froomkin? The War Over the War - here's a sampling of the bile this moonbat spews on the pages of what masquerades as a reputable newspaper:

...Bush yesterday made it clear: Not only is he set in his path -- he's embracing the divisive nature of the war and declaring it the No. 1 campaign issue of the 2006 mid-term elections.

It's somehow appropriate that this was also the week that Bush political guru Karl Rove slipped the clutches of the CIA leak investigation. For it is Rove who is the mastermind of the war over the war...

Got your tinfoil hat on, Dan? 'cause all the people on the WaPost editorial board seem to be wearing on these days; it's all the rage...what a mess, what a disgrace, to be bunking with al-Qaeda ...

Capitol Justice!

Georgia Representative and Democrat Cynthia McKinney gets off scott-free for an assault on a peace officer which probably would have brought a felony conviction against an average citizen:

A grand jury declined Friday to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney in connection with a confrontation in which she admitted hitting a police officer who tried to stop her from entering a House office building.

The encounter began when McKinney tried to enter a House office building without walking through a metal detector or wearing the lapel pin that identifies members of Congress.
McKenna did not recognize her as a member of Congress and asked her three times to stop. When she ignored him, he tried to stop her. McKinney then hit him.
McKinney described the encounter as "racial profiling," insisting she had been assaulted and had done nothing wrong.



McKinney is black. McKenna is white.

She received little public support for that stance, even within the Congressional Black Caucus.

If the CBC, now becoming infamous for protecting lawmaking lawbreakers within their own ethnic group, did not support McKinney, you know her arguement must have been weak. Yet, with so many witnesses to the assault, methinks U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein didn't try to hard to make his case here.

Doubt we'd see similar circumstances if you or I had thrown those punches...

Cut and Runners

The Senate rejected a call for the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq by year's end on Thursday as Congress erupted in impassioned, election-year debate over a conflict that now has claimed the lives of 2,500 American troops.
The vote was 93-6 to shelve the proposal, which would have allowed "only forces that are critical to completing the mission of standing up Iraqi security forces" to remain in 2007.

And who were "the six", the six United States Senators who honestly believe that the correct course of action, for the country and for the world, is for American forces to leave Iraq immediately?

John Kerry of Massachusettes
Russ Feingold of Wisconsin
Barbara Boxer of California
Robert Byrd of West Virginia
Tom Harkin of Iowa
Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts

May they be held accountable for their vote.

(Hat Tip: Stop the ACLU)

Update: Via ScrappleFace, of course -

Kennedy: Vote Shows 93 Senators Out Of Mainstream

“The six of us represent the heart’s cry of every red-blooded American,” said Sen. Kennedy. “We hear the voice of the people, and the people say they want immediate, unconditional withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.”

Misleading Headline of the Day !

U.S.-trained expert says shell was Israeli

A U.S.-trained military expert disputed on Wednesday an Israeli claim that it had nothing to do with an explosion that killed eight Palestinian beachgoers

But Marc Garlasco, a military expert from New York-based Human Rights Watch, inspected the damage, the shrapnel and the wounds and came to a different conclusion....

Garlasco was the first independent expert to examine the scene, though Israel has doubts about his conclusions and about Human Rights Watch. He was in Gaza doing research for the human rights group when the explosion killed eight people on Friday afternoon, seven of them relatives.

....Israeli officials consider the human rights group biased in favor of the Palestinians.....

Israeli army spokesman Capt. Jacob Dallal said Wednesday that the beach area is used by militants, so "this is also a battleground. This area is used for terror groups to launch (rockets) on Israel," noting that a rocket was fired from the area on Wednesday.

Israeli analyst Gerald Steinberg, who heads a watchdog group called NGO Monitor, charged that Garlasco is not a credible expert, and Human Rights Watch officials have "a long and carefully documented history of exploiting human rights claims to promote a clear anti-Israel political and ideological bias."

As we discussed yesterday, seems like besides their "expert's" opinion, Human Rights Watch has no - what's that word again? - evidence to support their position. Israel seems to have done its due dilligence; not that it matters to a media and a world population that cannot wait to evicerate them.

The headline is galling; it tries to refute Israel's protestation of innocence by claiming a U.S. expert declared the ordinance ot be of Israeli origin, when it is simply the claim of the hired hand of a George-Soros funded leftist organization...so let's learn a bit about this AP-declared expert, shall we? From Mother Jones, of all places:

Marc Garlasco is the senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch (HRW), and is HRW’s resident expert on battle damage assessment, military operations, and interrogations. Marc also leads HRW’s work on Abu Ghurayb, civilian military contractors, and non-lethal weapons.
Marc is the co-author of two HRW reports: “Razing Rafah: Mass Home demolitions in the Gaza Strip,” and “Off Target: The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq.” He led a team of researchers in July 2004 on a one-month mission to Gaza, Israel, and Egypt to investigate home demolitions in Rafah. Before that he led a five-week mission in 2003 throughout Iraq to assess the conduct of the war in Iraq.

Seem like a real non-biased guy, right? But the sad part is, it just doesn't matter - the Palestinians could run off anti-Israel libel on an old mimeograph machine on a daily basis a la Josef Goebbels, and the world would trip over themselves in a rush to believe it, and to see whom could damn the Jews to hell the loudest....

No thanks to this miserable headline from the AP...

Irrefutable Evidence?

"There is irrefutable evidence of European complicity in the unlawful practice of renditions," Amnesty said in the letter.

Amnesty's report draws largely the same conclusions as those issued by EU lawmakers on Monday, and last week by the Council of Europe, a European human rights watchdog. None produced hard evidence

"The whole evidence question is overrated, it's a bit cynical," said Dick Oosting, director of Amnesty's EU office

Amazing. It is now OK to draw conclusions while having no facts to support them, because "Evidence is overrrated"? I wonder how Oosting would feel were he charged with some henious crime, sans hard evidence, because to provide it would be "overrated", or "cynical"?

Can I put that quote over Amnesty's doorway, please?

"Evidence is overrated"!

Now the quote I want to put over Kofi Annan's doorway, well, that's not printable in a family blog. Israel, usually the first nation to find fault with itself, declares they did not shell a Gaza beach. The AP, though, begs to differ:

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Tuesday that Israel was not responsible for a blast that killed eight Gaza beachgoers, rebuffing Palestinian accusations that blamed an Israeli artillery round

An Israeli inquiry concluded the blast was caused by an explosive buried in the sand, not from Israeli shelling on the afternoon of the Palestinian family's beach picnic.

It was not clear how the explosive got there, or whether it might have been an unexploded Israeli shell from an earlier military barrage.

And what evidence do you have to support that bit of speculation? Wishful thinking, or is it simply that again "evidence is overrated"? Wait, here is some "evidence":

Human Rights Watch battle damage assessment expert Marc Garlasco said he examined the shrapnel on the beach, saw the civilians' injuries and concluded the blast was caused by an Israeli shell.
"Our information certainly supports, I believe, an Israeli shell did come in," Garlasco said, ruling out a land mine...

Showing aerial photographs and film, the head of the Israeli inquiry, Maj. Gen. Meir Klifi, declared: "There is no chance that a shell hit this area. Absolutely no chance."

So who do you believe? The congential liars in the Palestinian camps (Jenin! Jenin!), a left-wing "battle assessmen expert," or an Israeli Major-General? Certainly Kofi Annan knows who he believes - via Little Green Footballs:

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan described as “odd” the suggestion by the Israeli investigation.
“To find a mine on the beach is rather odd,” he told reporters at the UN headquarters

Odd? Hey, genius - ever hear of Omaha Beach? It's been done for, oh, sixty-odd years now, and Kofi knows that. He also cannot have the Palestinians lose their victim status, so he simply disposes of an inconvienent truth, just like Amnesty disposes of the need for evidence when they need to maintain a storyline.

The left is living in denial, and the Islamists are gleefully exploiting it. The left will lie, directly to a willing world's face, in order to maintain the shattered illusions of their world view; and the jihadis are more than pleased to provide them with material.
And what does that say about a world anxious to accept these types of hateful claims and lies at face value?

It does not bode well....

Israel Under Seige

And how much of it is Israeli Prime Minister Olmert's fault? Apparently enthralled with his newfound prestige, he globe-trots trying to be a good little Jew for EU functionaries, while Israel is shelled without mercy from the animals ruling Gaza. Actually, DEBKA has the best headline:

As Israeli prime minister takes his realignment plan from one European non-buyer to the next, Sderot and its Negev neighbors battered by Hamas missiles are in danger of depopulation
Will Olmert Give up Sderot too?

As it turned out, the first leg of the prime minister’s tour was mostly a waste of time; British prime minister Tony Blair declined to hear of his realignment plan for the West Bank, even though Olmert pledged 90% of the West Bank for a Palestinian state and a major effort to achieve a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians. He also omitted to endorse Olmert’s ringing declaration that Israel will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran.
The Israeli leader’s entire trip is dogged by TV footage of a Palestinian child, 7 of whose relatives were killed in an explosion on Gaza beach last Friday. It is taken for granted that Israeli artillery was responsible, even though a military probe points strongly in the direction of a Hamas bomb trap laid on the beach for Israeli commandos.

With its prime minister far away, the small town of Sderot is being battered non-stop by Qassam missiles night and day from the Gaza Strip one kilometer away. One citizen was seriously injured, dozens suffered minor injures, the schools are shut for lack of shelters, and a steady exodus of refugees is depleting the struggling Negev town of 20,000 inhabitants.

The Hamas threat to turn Sderot into a ghost town is coming true...

The more Hamas is allowed to win significant victories like these, the more power it will gain internally; the more similar groups will pop up all over the Middle East. Olmert remains paralized by the video making its rounds in Europe of a 7 year old girl crying for her father, killed by an alleged "Israeli shell" on the Gaza beachfront. Of course, it now appears as if that little girl lost her dad to a mine planted on said beach by Hamas to repel an Israeli "invasion":

The IDF probe investigating the deaths of seven Palestinian civilians, caused by an explosion on a beach in Gaza on Friday evening, concluded that chances were slim that the accident was caused by IDF shelling.
According to Channel 2, the findings, expected to be formally released on Tuesday, showed an inconsistency between the shrapnel found in the body of one of the wounded babies and the metal used in IDF artillery. Moreover, the investigation noted the absence of a large enough crater at the site of the explosion, as would be expected if an IDF shell had landed there.

The leading theory currently entertained, suggested that an explosive charge, buried by Palestinians on the Gaza beach to prevent Israeli infiltration, was behind the explosion.
Throughout the whole investigation, army officials complained about the lack of Palestinian cooperation. Unconfirmed reports further suggested attempts by Palestinians to remove shrapnel from the bodies of the wounded, treated in Israeli hospitals, thus impeding the investigation.

Of course, the European press wants none of this truth-stuff, and sticks to the Palestinian propoganda line even as the story crumbles. Apparently, not only is Olmert unable to defend Israel militarily, he cannot even defend them from the Arabists and hate-media outlets overseas.

All this, while Ariel Sharon, Israel's last great lion, slumbers in a netherworld between life and death. One almost prays for a Hollywood-style plot twist here - Sharon to rise, one more time, to defend Israel and its peoples from the beast that slathers at its door, before falling back to sleep for the last time...

If it has come to this, at hope's end, where the JerseyNut loses all hope in common sense and the truth of one's own eyes, and resorts to praying for a miracle, than perhaps we are looking at the end of the bright light that shines to us from the Holy Land...

"Voters"? Why Not "Citizens"?

Robert Kaiser, the associate editor of the Washington Post, tells us why is was so important to expose the American government's alleged tactic of "overseas renditions":

...Downie [Leonard, executive editor of the WaPost] rejected the suggestion that he kill the story altogether. "It raised important issues for American voters about how their country was treating prisoners, and it raised significant civil liberties issues," he said. Journalists are inclined to publish what we learn -- that's our job.

But did it really raise any important issues, boys? Note the lack of hue and cry by the American "voters" {also note the choice of words - "voters", not "citizens"? That's because the editors of the Post want to influence voters, not inform citizens...} over the renditions; they understood the logic of this type of manuevering during this type of warfare. The only ones who raised any "issues" were the usual suspects - diehard Bush critics in Congress, liberal media outlets, and bureucrats in the EU nations named in the rendition reports.
But it certainly did curtail the alleged practice of rendition, and maybe that's a result of the WaPost reporting based on what apparently it believed (and few others outside their immediate mindset) was a "significant civil liberties issue".

Well, the truth always comes out, and now matter how bipartisan Kaiser tries to lead us to believe his thought process is, he finally loses it at the end:

Intimidation by classification already seems to be a hallmark of this administration, which has created classified secrets at an unprecedented pace -- 14 million in fiscal 2005, compared with 8 million in 2001, according to the National Archives. The Bush administration has encouraged the use of more than 60 new categories ("sensitive but unclassified," for example) to control the distribution of millions more facts and documents.

Steven Aftergood, who works on classification issues for the Federation of American Scientists, calls the administration's approach to secrets "a cultivation of fear as a policy driver." He adds: "We are being told that nothing is more important than the external threat that confronts us, and nothing is more valuable than security in the face of that threat." Aftergood calls this "craven, and an insult to the millions of Americans who have given their lives to defend this country."

Personal bile, supported by the rantings of some unknown Beltway "scientist", is what drives the Washington Post to reveal every government secret it feels may harm the presidency, and the governing party's policies. The rest of this piece is simply a cover.

'ol Kaiser just had to lift up his skirt...!

Jenin, Jenin, everywhere!

Jihadis worldwide know that the Western liberal media just loves scandals in which they can eat their own. So they are providing them, and like lemmings, the press rushes to report every tainted account they can dredge up, the more horrifically anti-Western the better. They never learned the lesson of the mythical "Massacre of Jenin", most likely because they so dearly wanted it to be true (see Dan Rather/falsified Bush documents!).

So we have Haditha, where U.S. Marines are dragged into Leavenworth based upon charges by some of the most vile anti-Americans left alive in Iraq, with very little proof and virtually no physical evidence (no one in Haditha will allow a body to be exhumed to check if they really were executed at gunpoint, oddly enough - those Muslim customs, you know...). The media salivates at the chance to bash American servicemen/women and throw accusations that the "coverup" went, you know, "all they way up the ladder".

And now we have the "incident on the beach" in Gaza, where the media is running gleefully with the claims that the Israelis knowingly shelled a beach full of civilians. Now, Hamas has declared the "truce" is off, and it is all Israel's fault, don't you know! Except, of course, like Jenin, this story is beginning to fall apart as well. From Atlas:

...Israel is investigating. But Mark Regev, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman who said that Israel believes such shelling of civilians to be unacceptable also told the BBC that naval or air shelling have been ruled out. Other possibilities are explored. In the meantime Hamas vows to end the unilateral cease fire with Israel.

The BBC also features an eyewitness by a jounalist named Sami Yousef who just happened to be on the beach during the shelling. He ends his account thus:
I've heard people in the last few hours calling for revenge. If an attack happens inside Israel it will make them a little bit happy. It might also make them reject the referendum planned by [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas. Do I smell a Hamas member exploiting an opportunity (with BBC acquiescence) or is it something more sinister?

Sounds like something more sinister; like Jenin, all of a sudden the Palestinians refuse to co-operate with the investigation:

IDF sources say Palestinians have not disclosed information regarding exact location, time of explosion that killed seven civilians on north Gaza beach; ‘this makes it very difficult to form clear picture of what happened,’
IDF sources said Saturday that the Palestinians are not cooperating in the investigation of the Gaza beach incident....

And what do we have here? Perhaps this was nothing more than one of those infamous Palestinian "work accidents":

As the IDF continued its investigation into the cause of the explosion that killed seven Palestinians on a Gaza beach on Friday, with the initial assumption being that an errant artillery shell was to blame, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Saturday night that it was possible the blast was an "internal Palestinian incident." IDF officers said that an "internal Palestinian incident" referred to the possibility that terrorists had fired a Kassam rocket which went off target and hit the crowded Gaza beach between Sudaniya and Beit Lahiya

Amazing - we may compare the finger pointing to Jenin, but this event (with Hamas' subsequent declaration of war) seems little different from Poland's "attack" on a German military outpost that "started" WWII. Yet this time, the West offers nary a peep in response. Will the media correct its rush-to judgement reporting, or will they just let it sit there, in order not to upset their pre-determined storyline?
Alas, you know the truth as well as I - but how many Marines may suffer, how many Jews may be slaughtered, how much more blood must be shed, to appease the media's rapacious hunger to devour their peoples?

Jenin, Jenin, everywhere....

Newark Star-Ledger Hates America, Loves the UN

Sometimes the brave stand alone...other times it is the incredibly stupid who find themselves shouting into an empty room. May I introduce you to the editorial board of the Newark Star-Ledger, who find U.N deputy secretary-general Mark Malloch Brown's anti-American speech praiseworthy, while finding John Bolton's defense of America to be "undiplomatic":

It was, as the U.N.'s deputy secretary-general, Mark Malloch Brown, acknowledged, "a rather un-U.N. speech" in which he offered a "constructive critique" of American attitudes toward the U.N. Undoubtedly he knew it would cause a flap. But U.S. Ambassador John Bolton's rageful response seems both disproportionate to the offense and counterproductive.

Not a very U.N. speech, true, but one tailored for Americans, who prefer their opinions unvarnished. Malloch Brown bluntly chided the U.S. for working closely with the U.N. on many issues while subverting it publicly and withholding funding. That the speech notably failed to concede some spectacular U.N. failures or weaknesses, administrative and ethical, doesn't detract from the merits of some of its criticism.

Note how the Star-Ledger does not mention exactly what Brown said:

-he criticized the United States for "failing to stand up for" the UN "against its domestic critics."
-by saying 'The U.N.'s role is in effect a secret in Middle America even as it is highlighted in the Middle East and other parts of the world,'' Brown quite clearly buys into the liberal Eastern elites/European Union's certainty that the bulk of the United States is made up of rednecked idiots.

And if the Star-Ledger had any courage, instead of alluding to "spectacular UN failures", they might have listed some of them clearly, so that their obviously dim-witted Middle American readership could understand them better - for instance:
-taking bribes from Saddam Hussien in order to ignore his flagrant violations of UN Sanctions
-deploying peacekeepers whose best skill seems to be raping underage girls
-engaging in hateful anti-semitism at a level that would make Herr Goebbels proud
-allowing the most egregious human rights offenders to chair the Council on Human Rights

The list goes on and on, but why bother when you can just turn around and bash Bolton (and by extension, the very Americans he is defending)?

Bolton could have responded with an invitation to lunch to sort out these charges. Instead he unleashed rhetorical shock and awe....
Too bad Bolton chose such a U.N.-like response. It's at least partly the failure of U.N. members to move beyond the airless formality of diplomatic kabuki that has made the organization static, timid and, often, hypocritical. Malloch Brown's speech was an effort to open a window, which Bolton promptly closed again.

So you see, the Star-Ledger believes that is is OK to bash America with an admittedly "un-UN speech"; however, it is wrong to reply in an "UN-like " style. When someone questions your integrity and intelligence (and the UN has shown little of either), don't defend yourself - buy them lunch and meet them halfway! Maybe the editorialists at this Jersey rag would like to shake hands with Brown and agree that "Americans are not stupid; they're just really, really, slow!"

This wasn't an "open window" - it was an attack by a high-level UN official, one with strong ties to the Democratic party and lefties like George Soros - from the New York Sun:

[Brown] has had well publicized run-ins with several press critics, and his Washington contacts have proved to be mostly Democrats. Republicans were irked at his close ties with his landlord, the financier George Soros, who last year reportedly financed a campaign to oppose the nomination of Mr. Bolton as U.N. ambassador.

Obviously, this Brown is a man only the Star-Ledger can love. Personally, I'd rather be standing with John Bolton than with the man who throws rhetorical bombshells at my country. But hey, I'm not an editorial writer at the Ledger....

John Murtha, House Majority Leader?

Well, that's exactly what we might get, should the Democrats recapture the House in November. I wouldn't put it past that staunch defender of America, that true patriot, John Murtha, who in the past has said such things as the following...

“Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency. ... We have become a catalyst for violence. It's time to bring them home.”
{Of course, Zaqawri would be running Iraq now, but...}

"We're the targets ... we're uniting the enemy against us,”
{No shpit, genius - we are fighting the insurgents}

“We're overextended worldwide, ... We have too small an Army for the job that we're doing, yet we can't increase the size of the Army because it's volunteer and we can't enlist anybody"
{a lie - enlistment is up}

"The troops don't know what to do."
{that's really supporting the troops, Johnny boy!}

"All of Iraq must know that Iraq is free. Free from United States occupation. I believe this will send a signal to the Sunnis to join the political process for the good of a "free" Iraq. "
{Osama bin Ladin calls for Iraq to be free from US occupation! No, wait, that was House majority leader John Murtha!)

...the Army is "broken, worn out" and "living hand to mouth,"
(more lies..}

'Marines over-reacted... and killed innocent civilians in cold blood,' Congressman John Murtha, a former marine, told the Washington Post.
{Whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty? Or does that only apply to terror suspects at Gitmo?}

....to be given the opportunity by the Democratic party to run the House of Representatives! The Washington Post reports:

Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), one of the Democrats' leading antiwar voices, startled his political colleagues yesterday by announcing he would seek a senior leadership position if the Democrats win control of the House in November.
In a letter that he circulated on the floor during a series of votes, Murtha said he is eyeing the No. 2 position. "If we prevail as I hope and know we will and return to the majority this next Congress, I have decided to run for the open seat of the Majority Leader," Murtha wrote.

Just remember, when you pull the lever next to the (D) in November, you are voting for John Murtha as well, and all of the miserable, hateful things (and outright lies) he has said about our troops and our country.

Please think twice!

The Nick and Cindy Show!

Seems like Mr. Michael Berg, father of Nicholas Berg, whose throat was cut open in front of the cameras by al-Zarqawi, is trying to outdo Cindy Sheehan...from Daimination:

The father of Nicholas Berg, a U.S. contractor believed to have been beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, said Thursday that al-Zarqawi's killing will only perpetuate the cycle of violence in the Middle East.
"I think al-Zarqawi's death is a double tragedy," Michael Berg told The Associated Press after learning a U.S. airstrike had killed the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. "His death will incite a new wave of revenge. George Bush and al-Zarqawi are two men who believe in revenge."
[...]
Berg said the blame for most deaths in Iraq should be placed on President Bush, who he said is "more of a terrorist than Zarqawi."
"Zarqawi felt my son's breath on his hand as held the knife against his throat. Zarqawi had to look in his eyes when he did it," Berg added, pausing to collect himself. "George Bush sits there glassy-eyed in his office with pieces of paper and condemns people to death. That to me is a real terrorist."

That's what he told the Associated Press. Here's what he told Reuters:

"I don't think that Zarqawi is himself responsible for the killings of hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq," Berg said in a combative television interview with the U.S. Fox News network. " I think George Bush is.
"George Bush is the one that invaded this country, George Bush is the one that destabilized it so that Zarqawi could get in, so that Zarqawi had a need to get in, to defend his region of the country from American invaders." [Zarqawi was from Jordan - DJP]

When an Islamist Web site showed the video of a man severing Berg's head, the CIA said Zarqawi was probably the one wielding the knife. The father said he was not convinced.
"I have been lied to by my own government," he told Reuters on Thursday.

These are some really off the wall, hateful remarks. But I am starting to wonder about folk like Michael Berg and Cindy Sheehan...how badly psychologically damaged have they been by the deaths of their children?
There is no doubt that the loss of a child has to be one of the most gut-wrenching emotional events that can occur in one's lifetime; it is simply unnatural:

A rich man asked a Zen master to write something down that could encourage the prosperity of his family for years to come. It would be something that the family could cherish for generations.

On a large piece of paper, the master wrote, "Father dies, son dies, grandson dies."
The rich man became angry when he saw the master's work. "I asked you to write something down that could bring happiness and prosperity to my family. Why do you give me something depressing like this?"

"If your son should die before you," the master answered, "this would bring unbearable grief to your family. If your grandson should die before your son, this also would bring great sorrow. If your family, generation after generation, disappears in the order I have described, it will be the natural course of life. This is true happiness and prosperity."

So it would not surprise me if Mr. Berg and Ms. Sheehan have lost some touch with reality; it is probably not uncommon in this case. But that would make them mentally unbalanced, a little sick, a little disturbed. If that is the case, what does one say about the left-wing groups like MoveOn and CodePink, as well as the idiots on Kos, who exploit these people and their tragic pain/illness in order to further their own political agenda?
And what does that say about the media, who constantly follow these folks around, annointing them with "absolute moral authority", and giving them attention way out of perspective with the limited following they have, all in order to push their own anti-war agenda?

It is a sad day, a sad time, when political movements, aided by mainstream media outlets, exploit and abuse emotionally damaged individuals in this way. There is no doubt that in short order, these two will be disposed of by all except the hardcore lefties, and Nick and Cindy will find themselves alone, utterly alone, except for a deep-set psychological void that will become a chasm; one that they will most likely fall into and lose themselves in for the rest of their lives.
If the people who are using the Bergs/Sheehans of the world had an ounce of shame, they would be feeling it right about now.

For me, well, I have bashed Cindy and Michael Berg in the past, but I will try to avoid doing so in the future. I will continue to hate the message, but I will feel only sadness and pity for the messenger.

As for those whom use and exploit sick people for their own selfish ends...they are beneath my contempt.

al-Zarqawi Eliminated; Satan prepares a spot...

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's leader in Iraq who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and kidnappings, has been killed in an air strike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday, adding that his identity was confirmed by fingerprints and a look at his face. It was a major victory in the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the broader war on terror.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said al-Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, al-Maliki said.

The announcement came six days after the Jordanian-born terror leader issued an audiotape on the Internet, railing against Shiites in Iraq and saying militias were raping women and killing Sunnis and the community must fight back.
Al-Maliki said the air strike was the result of intelligence reports provided to Iraqi security forces by residents in the area, and U.S. forces acted on the information.

A Jordanian official said that Jordan also provided the U.S. military with information that helped in tracking al-Zarqawi down. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was addressing intelligence issues, would not elaborate, but Jordan is known to have intelligence agents operating in Iraq to hunt down Islamic militants.
Some of the information came from Jordan's sources inside Iraq and led the U.S. military to the area of Baqouba, the official said.

Baqouba has in recent weeks seen a spike in sectarian violence, including the discovery of 17 severed heads in fruit boxes. It was also near the site of a sectarian atrocity last week in which masked gunmen killed 21 Shiites, including a dozen students, after separating out four Sunni Arabs.

Points to ponder:

-Good thing we didn't cut and run John Murtha-style a few months back, otherwise this spitbag would be running Iraq instead of being laid to rest in a pressboard coffin.
-since apparently some of the intelligence came from inside the province he was holed up in, there is much less support for the insurgents (and their horrific practice of murder and mayhem) than the media would have you believe.
-we are getting help from Jordan, an Arab state - I guess they don't hate us after all. But we are still unilateralists until France gets on board, right?
-how soon will the media tell us that the offing of al-Zarqawi has "created even more terrorists in his stead"? Or how quickly do they push it aside to tell us the "real issue" is the show trial of the Marines in Haditha?

It doesn't matter. Today is a good day.

Oh, Canada!

Bud Talkinghorn speaks of the Canadian media's response to the raids which netted a home-grown Islamist terror cell, and points out the (lack of) response of Canada's Muslim community as well:

...the usual spokesmen for the Islamic diaspora maintained that this was an isolated incident, thus had nothing to do with "true" peaceful Islam. CBC's role in pumping out this message, while secretly trying to cast doubt on the entire raid was rather obvious. One method was to yoke reportage on the Canadian terrorist cell to a possibly botched anti-terrorism raid in England. Then there was the notorious Monday interview with Ali Hindy, the radical imam from the Salaheddin Islamic Center. The CBC interviewer mostly just let Hindy rant away about the Canadian security forces, which he claimed were targeting young Muslim men for no reason. His best denunciations were "[The raids were] just so departments can justify their budgets...This is to keep George W Bush happy, that's all." The only surprise was, not that the interviewer didn't vociferously attack his illogical, paranoid interpretations--that was expected--but that Hindy didn't claim that all the arrested were actually undercover Mossad agents....

Where are the urgent cries from our Muslims to disband the virulent terror blog sites, or to investigate the anti-western rhetoric flowing out of their mosques and education (indoctrination) centers? Or even for a call to Muslims to end their self-imposed exile from mainstream Canadian attitudes? What we are getting instead is this self-serving pap about Canadian racism and Islamophobia. Meanwhile Fahim Bukari, the Director of the Missasauga Islamic Center admitted that Qayyam Jamal, a volunteer there, was a close friend of five of the arrested youths. He had been warned by numerous people, including a Liberal MP, that the man was dangerous radical. Bukari admitted he wasn't surprised by the raid and Mr. Jamal's role in it. Yet no attempt was made to ban him from the center. Rather suspicious behaviour for a director who claims to be a moderate.

Come to think of it, I've rarely heard any overt criticism of the worldwide atrocites committed in Allah's name...

No, no, NO, Bud - you obviously don't get it...you see, it's a "Religion of Peace"....whatever the problem is, it cannot, must not, originate from the Muslims...so it has to be you, you - you - racist SOB!

Yeah, that's the ticket...

UPDATE: Rachael Mardsen, where have you been? A conservative Canuck concurs:

As the authorities have said, "It's important to note this operation in no way reflects negatively on any specific community or ethnocultural group" - right before revealing a list of suspect names that read like a cast list for Osama bin Laden's "E! True Hollywood Story."

Some suspects are "Canadian citizens," authorities say. Right - nothing but toque-wearing, maple-syrup-loving, Wayne "Mohammed" Gretzkys.

They know how to play us, anyway. A lawyer for one suspect is already threatening civil lawsuits. Another complained about tactical police officers with guns just outside the courthouse during the suspects' first appearance....

Up until the recent election of a Conservative government, Canada has been the doofus who keeps getting shoved into lockers, but still figures that if he gives up more lunches and bus money, the haranguing will end.

Yet the new Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already denounced Iran and Hamas, deported illegal immigrants and told anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan to shove it during a recent visit.

There's a new sheriff in town. But will the townspeople will back him up?

Today's Best!

Oh, those wacky "enviornmentalists" ...Tim Blair reports:

Puzzling thing about environmentalists; for folks dedicated to Gaia, they’re oddly given to analysing the planet according to narrow human-centric measures. For example:

The world’s deserts are being threatened “as never before”, particularly by climate change, but can still be used as a key resource if action is taken to protect them, according to a report released on Monday.

Those deserts were formerly lakes or forests or something else other than deserts. But it is their current status—as deserts, during the relatively brief time in which environmentalists are alive to stare at them—which must be preserved. Weird, no? Same deal with the once-tropical North Pole, now forbidden to return to its previous Gaia-ordained condition. Change is the planet’s normal state; why do environmentalists wish to arrest it? Why are they anti-nature?

And Damian Penny gets an answer to " What would Jesus drive?":

A letter from Jack Wolock of Columbus, Ohio - wonder if Ranald knows him? - in the July Car and Driver:

Would Jesus drive an SUV? Of course. Here's why: The total gas consumption of three VW Beetles - or six Mazda Miatas - to haul Jesus and his apostles would be far greater than if he drove the largest SUV. (Only Judas would have had to walk.)

Not quite. The Chevy Suburban has seating for eight, and the much-maligned Ford Excursion only carries nine passengers. (In any event, the Excursion ceased production last year.) On the other hand, if our Lord had an extended-body Ford E-350 van, he could chauffeur around not only his disciples - including Judas, who presumably would be relegated to the back row - but even his wife and kid.

American Marines are brutal baby killers! Wait, they're not!

"A reader captures what has been in my mind and gut for the last few days: 'The BBC just released a video alleging yet another covered-up massacre of civilians by American personel [sic] in Iraq. 5 women, 4 children, and 2 men in Ishaqi in March. Just when I think I'm totally numb, I find out a fellow American may have executed a 6 month-old baby in the name of protecting me, and I can't hold back tears. What country are we in?' The same country that now practices torture. Cheney country."--Time magazine's Andrew Sullivan, June 2, 2:55 p.m.

"The conclusions about Ishaqi also seem to me to be provisional. More evidence may yet emerge. We should be cautious about drawing any firm conclusions yet."--Time magazine's Andrew Sullivan, June 2, 7:54 p.m., responding to the news that an investigation has cleared U.S. troops of wrongdoing at Ishaqi

Finally...is Iran's spiritual leader reading the Washington Post?

Ayatollah Khamenei called on America's ruling administration to compare it with the Iranian government and its president with the Iranian President so that it realizes its status in the world.
"At present, the American administration is one of the most abhorred administrations in the American history, while the Iranian serving administration is one of the most popular administrations since the Mashrooteh constitutional revolution a century ago ," the IR Leader said.

Nothing like starting your week off with a little treason!

Thank You, Bill Clinton !

MOGADISHU, Somalia - An Islamic militia said Monday it has seized Somalia's capital after weeks of bloody fighting and 15 years of anarchy in this Horn of Africa nation, raising fears that the nation could fall under the sway of al-Qaida....

The militia appeared in control of Mogadishu. Most of the leaders of a secular alliance that opposed them — and was rumored to be backed by the United States — appeared to have fled the city by Monday afternoon...
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said recently that three al-Qaida leaders indicted in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania are being sheltered by Islamic leaders in Mogadishu.
The same al-Qaida cell is believed responsible for the 2002 suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya that killed 15 people and a simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner...

Mogadishu residents expressed relief at Monday's relative peace, but had mixed responses to the Islamic militia's advance.
"The Somali people are afraid of Islamists' new wave of hatred and renewed fighting. The Islamic clerics want to be like Taliban regime in Afghanistan" said Abdulqaadir Bashir, a computer engineer.
But Somali economist Abdinasir Ahmed disagreed, saying: "The victory of Islamic courts is a major step toward a lasting peaceful settlement in Mogadishu. We are tired of the deception and rhetoric of the warlords."

Ralph Peters warned us of this eventuality just a few days ago; take a look back at that post dated 5/31:

THIRTEEN years ago, our troops won a lopsided battlefield victory in Mogadishu. President Clinton declared defeat and pulled out. We've been paying the price in terror ever since - and it might be about to soar.

We were close to finishing it. And a cowardly president quit.

Now there's fighting in Mogadishu again. With several hundred dead in a week... A movement fronted by Somali-Muslim judges and clerics is gobbling up Mogadishu. It's the Taliban, Somali-style.
Check the déjà vu block: The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan after the Americans walked away...Meanwhile, the remains of al Qaeda dream of building a new Afghanistan in Somalia. A terrorist organization our military smashed is being allowed to rebuild itself.

There's a vital lesson here: In the War on Terror, you've got to finish what you start...

Anyone listening yet?

Islamists Conquer England!

While fighting Islamic fundamentalism abroad, the British have allowed it to win at home. A nation that had been protect by the fortitude of its spirit and the ocean around it has been destroyed by the cancer of liberal multiculturalism, which allowed the sickness of Islamofascism to take hold.

Hyperbole, you say? Well, the state run news organ, the venerable BBC, seems to be completely under the control of the Islamists...how else does one explain this piece "In Pictures: remembering Khomeini", a slideshow glorifying the father of Islamist terrorism, without one word of his hate, his evil, his antisemitism, his inner sickness?

All we get is is beatific visage, gracing us with his good:

And via LGF, we get this:

England afraid to fly its own flag

Following warnings by extremist Islamic group al-Muhajiroun, in which the group said that the red cross in the England flag symbolizes the 'blood thirsty crusaders' and the occupation of Muslims, some of the largest companies in England have ordered their workers not to wave the flags.

...the Islamic protest forced some corporations, such as cable companies NTL, Heathrow airport in London, and even the Drivers and Vehicles Licensing Agency to ban the flag in every form due to fears from reactions of Muslims.
The Sun tabloid newspaper has in recent days launched a campaign to bring back the flag, and has published a blacklist of companies preventing their workers from expressing their patriotism at work.

So the BBC is spewing terrorist propoganda, the nation has essentially pulled down its flag, and the jihadis work unabated to strengthen their position through fear:

British anti-terrorist officers searched a house and two workplaces on Saturday for traces of a possible chemical bomb they fear could be used in an attack in Britain.
The search followed a police raid on the house in the east of the capital a day earlier in which a 23-year-old suspect was shot and wounded.
Behind a wall of plastic sheeting, police scoured the house in an ethnically mixed area of east London for signs of toxins or explosives following a dawn raid at the property on Friday.

"What we are looking for is some form of viable chemical device," a police source told Reuters of the search at the house.
"A device that would have a fatal effect on someone standing nearby both from the explosion and from the chemical it contained," the source said, adding that the device being sought was a type of conventional bomb surrounded by toxic material.

Just about game over, folks - we've moved beyond Dunkirk, there is no one who dares fight anymore. Melanie Phillips (finally getting some recognition here in the States) writes of Londonistan in today's New York Post:
London was dubbed "Londonistan" because, during the 1990s, Britain allowed its capital to be turned into the principal hub of Islamist radicalism and terrorism outside of Saudi Arabia. But Londonistan is more than the physical presence of Islamist extremists: It is also a state of mind. A systematic, decades-long assault on Britain's values from within has created a cultural vacuum that Islamist extremism has exploited from without.

Islamist radicals have poured into Britain since the 1980s precisely because of Britain's tradition of free speech, reluctance to impose immigration controls and generous welfare state.
At the same time, British culture was steadily disintegrating.

Unlike America, which still believes that its values are a beacon to the rest of the world, Britain has been consumed by a loss of cultural nerve that has all but destroyed its belief in itself as a nation with values of which it can be proud.

Instead, its governing class believes the nation is the source of all ills from prejudice to war, and that legitimacy resides instead in supranational institutions such as the United Nations and European Union and in "universal" values like the European Convention on Human Rights, which must trump Britain's own.
In the past, the strategy was to integrate immigrants into the majority culture. No longer. The doctrine of multiculturalism holds that all groups have equal status. Except they are not in fact equal, because the majority is said to be inherently racist and illegitimate - so there can be no majority culture into which immigrants are encouraged to integrate.

MULTICULTURALISM plus radical Islam is an explosive cocktail...

Indeed it is, Ms. Phillips....methinks the fallout from Britain's misguided policies has not yet even begun...

Radical Islam's War against The West - Sunday Roundup

Well, we can start with radical Islam's war against slightly less radical branches of Islam:

Gunmen dragged passengers off a buses northeast of Baghdad and killed 21 people, including a dozen high school students. The attackers spared four Sunni Arabs... The 12 slain students were apparently headed for Baqouba to take exams.
Of the dead, 19 were Shiite Turkomen and two were Kurds....

In Baghdad, gunmen in a car opened the fire on a minibus carrying telecommunications employees to work in the Shiite slum of Sadr City, killing four and wounding two, Col. Hassan Challoub said.
On Saturday, a suicide car bomber blew himself up in a crowded market late in Basra, killing 28 people and wounding 62.

Hey, where is the word "massacre", by the way? Why do I hear it applied against the Marines who are alleged to have shot civilians after a firefight, but not against terrorists who execute high school students and slaughter shoppers in a market?

And in Canada, our sweet, peaceful, and somewhat gullible neighbors to the North found that certain kinds of cancer flourish best in those conditions:

Seventeen Canadian residents were arrested and charged with plotting to attack targets in southern Ontario with crude but powerful fertilizer bombs, the Canadian authorities said Saturday.

At a news conference in Toronto, police and intelligence officials said they had been monitoring the group for some time and moved in to make the arrests on Friday after the group arranged to take delivery of three tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be made into an explosive when combined with fuel oil.
"It was their intent to use it for a terrorist attack," said Mike McDonell, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant commissioner. He said that by comparison the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people, was carried out "with only one ton of ammonium nitrate."

The 17 men were mainly of South Asian descent and most were in their teens or early 20's.

Now, I specifically used the New York Times as the source here because, besides the oblique reference to "South Asian descent", there is no mention at all in the article that this group was made up of Muslim extremists. It isn't until the end of the story, when the Times lists the names of the arrested, that one infers that this is a Muslim terror cell. Again, the Times protects the enemy - had this group been comprised of Jews, or Republicans, it would have been part of the headline, of course....

Quick Question - how had the group been "monitored"? The article mentions that internet exchanges had been under scrutiny for some time; where telephone calls monitored as well? 'Cause if so, then these poor terroris - I mean poor victims - have had their civil rights violated and should be freed immediately!

Sexion has some excellent commentary - here:

This is happening in Canada, the flag of which Americans supposedly affix to their backpacks when traveling abroad. For anyone who understands what this terrorist threat is all about, this is no surprise. Those who don’t, what will they attribute this to? Will they claim it is Canadian imperialism, military oppression, unilateralism, or involvement in Afghanistan? Of course they won’t. So what then?

And points out the liberal's silence on the surveillance issue here-

The Toronto Star also reports that the arrests resulted by use of internet surveillance by Canada’s intelligence service, CSIS, which was also one of the targets of those arrested. This comes a day after prominent liberal blogs were beside themselves that the US government wants to enact similar legislation as exists in the EU, forcing Internet Service Providers to keep records about their members’ usage for up to two years

And while the jihadis in North America and abroad work to commit mass murder, the Washington Post helps them out by putting sweeping conclusions about Haditha on its front page:

Who lied about the killings, who knew the truth and what, if anything, they did about it are at the core of one of the potentially most embarrassing and damaging events of the Iraq war, one that some say may surpass the detainee abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison.

Hmmm..."damaging events"? How about dragging kids off of school buses to be shot in the head, or killing 40 people shopping for food in a market? How "damaging" is that? That's one day's worth of work to your precious insurgents, and yet apparently it pales to a few smacked-around Iraqi prisoners and the "event" in Haditha, where very, very few of the facts have even come to light...

And where is John Murtha today ? I would like to hear him explain how leaving Iraq in the hands of the butchers of Baghdad and Basra is in any way a good thing....

Finally, Kathy Shaidle at Relapsed Catholic has some sound advice for her fellow Canadians:

Regardless of whether or not immigration built this country, it may now destroy it. If you persist in believing all your "Heritage Moment" pieties you are a delusional coward. Female fetuses are being selectively aborted, buildings are targeted for destruction, elected officials are harrassed by "refugee rights" activists, innocent bystanders are being shot by gangs because we refuse to acknowledge that all cultures are not created equal and not everyone can be allowed into our country.

(And if you are one of my many American readers: please stop basing your immigration policy on a bad poem engraved on an ugly French statue...)

Liberal guilt and decades of brainwashing has blinded even the best of us. And it will cost you the very culture you so cherish. Dear "socially liberal" conservatives: There will be no "gay marriage" under sharia. All those "cute" exotic cafes will be riddled with bullets. Your daughters will wear burquas. Secular humanism will not save you -- it is in fact the very cause of our problem. You think being nice will save you. Remember what Perry Smith told the cops: "I thought Mr. Clutter was a very nice gentleman. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat."

For once in your life, get mad about something...

Alas, for the folks at the Times, or the WaPost, or in the Democratic party, the only folks permissible under PC doctrine to get mad at are those lousy Americans...

Haditha - Who Broke the Rules?

John Bambenek at BlogCritics points out the devious double-standard - when there is even an accusation that U.S. Marines may have broken some of the rules of engagement, the whole world gathers 'round while the foreign press ties knots in the rope. The terrorists, however, whose whole modus operendi revolves around the horror that results from the breaking of said rules, seem to enjoy limitless sympathy from the same media outlets and politcal commentators. Not to mention how hard it is to obey the rules when one side flouts their disregard for them:

...At each step, the terrorists (and they are terrorists) have not only violated the laws of war, but used those laws of war against us to further attacks on our soldiers...

The terrorists simply don't care about the civilian population. If the military mistakenly engages civilians or they hit civilian buildings after taking fire from them, the terrorists mark up another public relations victory because of the willingness of their allies on the American left to use these incidents for political gain. In this way, the terrorists are extremely intelligent… and incredibly evil.

So those who wish to sit in judgment over the Marines at Haditha (before the investigation is even completed, mind you) manage to put on the blinders and refuse to consider how the actions of the terrorists almost guarantee these events will happen. If these Marines did snap and break the laws of war, they will be tried and punished. It is a shame, however, that no one seems to stand up for the soldiers who have to put up with an enemy who consistently breaks those laws.

You would hope that the media would help us to understand these distinctions, but alas, that is not to be - Michelle Malkin tells us how the UK Times used this picture next to a headline entitled "Massacre Marines blinded by hate:"

The only problem is that the identical photo ran in Newsweek in May of 2005, months before the alleged massacre, with a caption reading:

Insurgents in Haditha executed 19 Shiite fishermen and National Guardsmen in a sports stadium.

So our friends in the foreign press, with no hard facts to back up these juicy allegations of Marine miscounduct, are forced to use photos of slaughters perpetuated by the insurgents in order to properly horrify their readers.

Malkin calls it slander - I call it enemy propoganda; and I believe the rules of law that the media is trumpeting so loudly here should apply to the UK Times as well.

What is the penalty for Treason these days in Great Britain?

Iran, and the Media's Disconnect from Reality

The Washington Post today has a story by Karl Vick extolling the charismatic leadership of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and how his people just love him so! Hmmm...I might add something here about how charismatic one Mr. Adolf Hitler was, and how beloved he was by the German Volk at one point, but I digress....anyway, from the article:

The ordinary Iranians who poured into the local soccer stadium to hear President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad one day last month arrived carrying high hopes and handwritten letters. They left with just the hopes. The letters were collected in oversize cardboard boxes, then hoisted into the postal van Ahmadinejad has taken to parking prominently when he barnstorms the provinces, in an audacious campaign to make every Iranian's wish come true.
"I asked for a proper house," Vaziolla Rezaei, 57, said of the appeal he addressed to His Excellency the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. "And I also told him about my financial situation."
I mainly wrote about my husband's lack of work," said Kobra Hedyatti, 30. "And also about our poor house and how far the children have to walk to school."
"I actually wrote him two letters," said Reza Karimi, 41. "One was about the problems we have in this neighborhood. The other was about my problems.

If his image in the West is that of a banty radical dangerously out of touch with reality -- "a psychopath of the worst kind," in the words of Israel's prime minister -- the prevailing impression in Iran is precisely the opposite.
Here, ordinary people marvel at how their president comes across as someone in touch, as populist candidate turned caring incumbent

Ordinary people marvel at their president, huh? OK, now let's see what Gateway Pundit is reporting form Iran at this moment:

Despite repression and undeclared martial law over 10,000 Iranians took to the streets to protest the regime on Wednesday in Tabriz, Iran:
People took to the streets of central Tabriz chanting anti-regime slogans, NCRI informs. Special guards intervened to disperse the crowd but they faced stiff resistance which led to clashes in many parts. According to eye witness accounts the sound of fire arms did not stop throughout the demonstration which lasted for hours. People attacked banks and other government buildings and broke their windows. To neutralize the effect of tear gas, the young people set fire to tires on streets and clashed with the suppressive forces. Similar protests were reported in Orumieh, Naghadeh and Ardabil, major cities in Azeri speaking provinces in northwestern Iran. Security forces have been going door to door in Naghadeh in search for young people. Those found have been transferred to unknown locations. The regime is refusing to hand back corpses of those killed in Naghdadeh during riots over the past week and the lives of many wounded are threatened as they do not receive medical attention.

The Iranian regime sent in 3,000 suppressive forces to contain the continuing protests against the regime in the Tabriz region:
Up to 3,000 reinforcements had to be brought in from other parts of the country, NCRI reports. Reports from Tabriz indicate that dozens of banks and government buildings have been attacked and their windows shattered by young people in total defiance of the repressive measures enforced in the city. In one incident a woman protesting against the regime was attacked and badly beaten up by the suppressive forces before the eyes of her husband and passers-by. The government forces are taking away mobile phones with cameras in a bid to stop reports and photos leak out. Even so some pictures have been sent out with great risks.

Hey, Karl Vick! These are "ordinary Iranians" too!

Notice the woman on the right with the cellphone camera? No wonder the "charismatic followers" of the Iranian President were confiscating them!
Ah, the beating of female protesters...the sign of a loving regime! But hey, they are allowed to attend soccer games now! What could they be complaining about?

I wonder if Mr Vick has a true grasp of what is going on in Iran, or if he is only speaking with people that his government-approved handlers permit him to.

Or is it all part of an agenda, trying to create a perception within Americans that Ahmadinejad is not really dangerous, but a good liberal (like Hugo Chavez!) with the full support of his people? A man whom it would be morally wrong to ever use military force against, no matter how insane and belligerent his speech may be, and no matter how many nuclear weapons he intends to build?

The final kicker, the coda, the last laugh line, especially when considering the pictures above and the reporting from Gateway Pundit, is the title of Vick's story in the WaPost:

"A Man of the People's Needs and Wants"

Haditha !

Well, the JerseyNut prefers to withhold judgement until all the facts are out - unlike John al-Murtha:

"Who covered it up, why did they cover it up, why did they wait so long?" Murtha said on "This Week" on ABC. "We don't know how far it goes. It goes right up the chain of command."

John says we don't know how far it goes, than claims it goes right up the chain of command...how long until Murtha accuses Bush of pulling the trigger? Anyway, while the good people of NCIS are trying to sort out the facts, Sweetness and Light has a few facts of her own, about some of the people making the accusations against the Marines:

Given the breathless coverage (actually only repetition of the same paltry facts) from our one party media about the civilian deaths in Haditha, I am surprised that we have heard nothing about the curious background of one of the first journalists to report the story, Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mashhadani, from the "restive town" of Ramadi.
It turns out Mr. al-Mashhadani might not have felt the kindliest intentions towards the US, having been imprisoned for five months mere weeks before his Haditha scoop.

Indeed, al-Mashhadani has since been detained by the US again, for two weeks. In fact he was only released today.
From his employer, Reuters:

Though again no specific allegation or charge was leveled against him, U.S. officials said last week he was held as a security threat. Marines interrogated him intensively about his work as a journalist in the restive Sunni province of Anbar.

Mashhadani, who reports and provides video and pictures, is one of a small number of journalists providing news from Anbar province, where U.S. Marines and Sunni Arab insurgents, including al Qaeda militants, are locked in a fierce conflict...

Among Mashhadani’s recent stories was reporting from the town of Haditha in March. Following Time magazine’s revelation of accusations that U.S. Marines shot dead 24 civilians there in November, he filmed fresh interviews with local officials and residents that were widely used by international media

So we have an al-Reuters employee with obvious terrorist ties and a deep grudge against the United States as the world's primary provider of information about the alleged massacre of civilians in Haditha. Again, I will use the word alleged, until more facts are out and charges are brought to bear. But it reminds me of the "massacre" of Palestinian citizens in Jenin; a big lie put out by terrorist news services and eagerly lapped up by a foreign media eager to believe any allegation of atrocities by the Israelis, no matter how thinly sourced.

And how about the doctor, one Dr. Walid Al-Obeidi, who filled out the death certificates claiming the civilians of Haditha were executed at point-blank range? Why, he has some interesting allegations of his own:

Dr.Walid said "they [the Americans] arrested me in my house in front of my family, covered my eyes, and tied my hands to the back on Oct 5 2005 morning, during the last attack on Haditha (360 kilometers west of Baghdad). They occupied the hospital for 8 days and made it their office. The first day they beat me on my eyes, nose, back, hands, legs… My face was covered with blood . When they removed the tie I could not see. They investigated me until the afternoon. I realized later that I was arrested in the hospital store. Then they tied my hands to the front, and left me for two days...

Sounds like another impartial observer! Sweet Jeebus, the guy runs a hospital in a town wholly owned and operated by Sunni insurgents and outside terrorist groups - what do you expect him to do, sing "America the Beautiful"?
While his hostility towards the U.S. is most likely genuine, his story is most likely false, but that won't stop the media from making him their number one quote machine, behind the terrorist-sympathizer Mashhadani and his videotape full of "testimonials"...

Herr Goebbels must be smiling at his proteges....

UPDATE 6/2: The Mudville Gazette tears the reporting on Haditha apart - it is Jenin, all over again...