D-Day

D-Day today. It is the 64th year since Allied troops landed in Normandy, France. For me, this is one of the most important days of the year. I’ve never really cared that much about VE Day or VJ Day, they have always seemed not as important.

I just watched a movie called Windtalkers which actually has nothing to do about D-Day but, everything to do about the Navajo Code that the Americans used in World War 2. It just got me thinking about these guys that go off and leave their girlfriends/wives behind and fight in a war from which they may not return. I really have no idea what must be going through their minds, it must be terrible to realise that you may never see your friends and family again.

I have exams coming up in the next few weeks, so once again there will be a lack of posts, however after that I have a huge break, yay! So expect some political insight (hopefully good) on McCain vs. Obama. McCain for the win!

Daily Kos Hits Earth’s Core, Digs

Sorry guys for the large break. I’ve had a lot of work to get through, but know the worst is over, yay! Israel has made it to her 60th birthday which is something to celebrate, even if there those who can’t appreciate it, here and here, hat tip to LGF.

My favourite of these links is the Daily Kos one, just read this and laugh.

It thus emerged as a major power and a formidable challenger of existing Arabic powers that will decide the fate of the world, coordinated assassination of President Kennedy which unnaturally led to the hasty re-evaluation of American foreign policy for adjustion that align with the interests of Israeli state for total compatibility in irreversibly entangled alliance.

Advice for the Lovelorn

A very funny (or is it just the usual standard?) post from Iowahawk here. Enjoy!

Hat tip to LGF.

An Anatomy of Surrender

Firstly, I had a really great Pesach Seder, lots of people. I got a present from my aunt, a book called Tobruk by Peter Fitzsimons which I will start reading as soon as I get the chance. In the meantime, here’s a nice piece from Bruce Bawer detailing how the West has surrended culturally to Islamism. The paper talks about how the West’s media, acedemia and artists have betrayed their ideals (namely freedom of speech) to kowtow to Islamism. The byline of this article is Motivated by fear and multiculturalism, too many Westerners are acquiescing to creeping sharia. Hat tip to LGF for this one. Here’s the link to the article.

Enough. We need to recognize that the cultural jihadists hate our freedoms because those freedoms defy sharia, which they’re determined to impose on us. So far, they have been far less successful at rolling back freedom of speech and other liberties in the U.S. than in Europe, thanks in no small part to the First Amendment. Yet America is proving increasingly susceptible to their pressures.

The key question for Westerners is: Do we love our freedoms as much as they hate them? Many free people, alas, have become so accustomed to freedom, and to the comfortable position of not having to stand up for it, that they’re incapable of defending it when it’s imperiled—or even, in many cases, of recognizing that it is imperiled. As for Muslims living in the West, surveys suggest that many of them, though not actively involved in jihad, are prepared to look on passively—and some, approvingly—while their coreligionists drag the Western world into the House of Submission.

But we certainly can’t expect them to take a stand for liberty if we don’t stand up for it ourselves.

Actually after reading this, I sometimes wonder if in Australia we should have a Bill of Rights as well in order to further cement our ideals and values to stop Islamists or some other group trying to censor what we say. If anyone here has an opinion on this feel welcome to share it in the comments section.

Islamic Jihad Slams Carter For Statement “a big crime”

I found this post on LGF and honestly I just started laughing my head off. Read the whole thing here.

GAZA, April 15 (Xinhua) — The Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement in Gaza has slammed on Tuesday the statements of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, after he termed the rockets attacks on Israel as “a big crime.”

I’m sorry but can you not even recognise your own allies? He’s trying to help you (for some stupid reason), you’re bashing him? I mean the man even layed a wreath at Arafat’s tomb!

Dawood Shihab, spokesman for the Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza, said in response that “Carter’s statement of describing resistance as a crime against humanity is in itself an overthrow on the morals of humanity.”

Now that’s just laughable. Carter made an understatement with his comment and now you’re trying to tell us its an “…overthrow on the morals of humanity”? Don’t make me laugh even more then I am now.

New UN Investigator Is A ‘Troofer’

That fool Professor Falk who I was talking about in the previous post, has decided that the ‘neocons’ may have played a role 9/11. Yep, he’s that kind of guy; did I mention he was a fan of Ward Churchill? Hat tip to LGF, full article below can be found here.

A new U.N. Human Rights Council official assigned to monitor Israel is calling for an official commission to study the role neoconservatives may have played in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

…

Mr. Falk said, “It is possibly true that especially the neoconservatives thought there was a situation in the country and in the world where something had to happen to wake up the American people. Whether they are innocent about the contention that they made that something happen or not, I don’t think we can answer definitively at this point. All we can say is there is a lot of grounds for suspicion, there should be an official investigation of the sort the 9/11 commission did not engage in and that the failure to do these things is cheating the American people and in some sense the people of the world of a greater confidence in what really happened than they presently possess.”

I am not going to go into all these conspiracy theories and try and debunk them, you can check out Screw Loose Change for that. But seriously speaking, why in its inifinite wisdom did the UN send an official so obviously biased against Israel, who believes in nut-case conspiracy theories to try and make decision regarding human-rights abuse? Further in the above article former American Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton explains America’s position on this.

When asked for a comment about the appointment of Mr. Falk, a former American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton said, “This is exactly why we voted against the new human rights council.” A spokesman for the American embassy at the United Nations offered no comment yesterday when asked.

If there was any more doubt about Falk’s unsuitability to this position it can be summarised below.

In a February 16, 1979, op-ed for the New York Times, Mr. Falk praised Ayatollah Khomeini and bemoaned his ill treatment in the American press. He wrote, “The depiction of him as fanatical, reactionary and the bearer of crude prejudices seems certainly and happily false.” Nearly nine months later, student followers of Khomeini invaded the American embassy in Tehran and held 52 diplomats hostage for the following 444 days.

Obviously Israel is not too happy with this and has decided to deny him entry.

Richard Falk is scheduled to take up his post with the UN Human Rights Council in May, but the Foreign Ministry said it will deny Falk a visa to enter Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, at least until a September meeting of the council. At that meeting, Israel intends to ask the council to expand the envoy’s mission to include investigating Palestinian human rights abuses against Israelis.

An obvious and fair question, one any reasonable country would be expected to ask.

According to a Tuesday posting on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Web site, Falk defended statements he made last summer equating Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with Nazi treatment of Jews during the Holocaust. He told BBC News that Israel has been unfairly shielded from international criticism.

Yeah… because Israel has never been bashed in the UN. Should I even be bothered to mention the countless of times the former Human Rights Council has gone after Israel? Or should I just mention Durban 1 and be done with it.

Awesome New McCain Ad

This is seriously one of the best ad I’ve seen for a U.S. candidate in a long time. Its got everything that I like in it, Churchill, great rhetoric, space images and of course, McCain himself. Go watch it.

Rest In Peace William Buckley Jr./Israel Prepares For Incursion Into Gaza

Sorry about the lack of posts. I have been attending O-Week for my university (which I start this Monday). Anyway, first things first, RIP William F. Buckley, Jr. If you don’t know who that is, then check out the FrontPage article here.

In other doings:

9 Katyusha style Grad missiles rocked the center of Ashkelon on Thursday afternoon, one home suffered a direct hit, other missiles fell near the city’s central bus station and elsewhere in the city. Magen David Adom reported that two people were lightly wounded in the attack and 24 others were treated for shock. All in all MADA have treated a total of 55 people in Ashkelon and Sderot since the morning. On Thursday evening Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the authorities to activate the Red Color alert early warning system in Ashkelon which will be operational on Friday. Close to 80 Kassam rockets and missiles have been fired at southern Israel in the past 24 hours and nearly 1000 since the beginning of the year.

In any other part of the world, that would be considered an act of war. Instead with Israel, a lot of the world including the EU still sympathise with the Palestinians.

On Thursday, the air force launched 21 air strikes targeting terorr operatives, headquarters and Kassam rocket launchers in the Gaza Strip, and since Wednesday evening, 27 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip. Government ministers demanded to convene a security cabinet meeting to discuss the situation. Earlier in the day several ministers demanded to retaliate harshly, flattening neighborhoods in Gaza in response to the escalation.

Interior Minister MK Sheetrit has stated on Infolive.tv that “A large scale ground operation in Gaza would not be enough to stop Hamas from firing rockets.” Instead “Israel should kill any member of Hamas it can, anyone involved in launching rockets is responsible and should be taken out.”

Strangely enough I remember arguing from this perspective a few months ago to someone at a party. I was told that I was an advocate of genocide. I said thank you, yes I am in favour of a deliberate and systematic destruction of an entire people who belong to a certain political/religious group that yearns for my destruction. Somehow I don’t think that was what he was getting at… Furthermore, an IDF Army General has stated that “…any action in Gaza is long overdue and that Israel should have taken care of this situation months ago.” (Statement from Infolive.tv - link above)

Of course its no surprise to anyone that Israel has been planning such an offensive into the Gaza Strip; it makes sense both politically and morally. The Jerusalem Post has more:

Barak, during a series of meetings at the Defense Ministry, said, “We should be prepared for an upswing in hostilities in Gaza. The big ground operation is a reality and it is tangible. We are not eager to embark upon such an operation, but we are not put off by it either.”

According to defense sources, the goals of such an operation - reportedly in the planning stages for weeks if not months - would not “merely” be to reduce the threat of rocket fire and rocket manufacturing in the Gaza Strip, but would also likely entail paralyzing the Hamas government’s ability to operate, and even include “regime change.”

The important part of that paragraph is at the end. Let me make this point clear, for me, the only thing that can definitely stop these rocket attacks from Gaza would be a regime change. A change to a government far more liberal then anything like Fatah. A government which is not guided by terror but instead by a will for peace. Fine words you might be saying, tell us how. To me, the only way to do it, would be for educators, either Israeli or neutral to go there and educate Palestinian children and adults on ‘acceptable’ (I leave it to your imagination what that means because I am not sure) behavior and attitudes. For example things like it is wrong to call Jews the sons of pigs and apes and other such rhetoric. Modifications to behavior for examples things like, it is not ok to go and blow yourself up inside a mall or a disco filled with people. You may not agree with what I say, but I firmly believe that is the only way we might see peace between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Of course, such an action would probably take generations.

…

Barak also offered hints as to his plans, telling local community leaders gathered at Sapir Academic College outside Sderot that “the solution to Kassams will be a lot quicker than many people think.” And the Foreign Ministry, in talking points sent to its representatives abroad, instructed them to say that when Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2005 it did so without the intention of ever returning, but that the continuation of terrorist attacks was likely to place the country in a position where it may have no other choice.

The ministry also instructed its representatives to reveal that the Grad missiles that were fired at Ashkelon on Thursday were smuggled through Sinai from Iran.

According to one diplomatic source, stressing the Iranian origin of the missiles showed the importance of aggressive action to stop the smuggling and isolate Hamas from Syria and Iran, which “directs the organization’s terrorist actions.”

“We have warned for a while about the arming of Hamas, and what is happening now is proof of this,” the official said.

KKK Endorses Obama

I haven’t written much about the U.S. primaries and such, mostly because I thought it was a bunch of crap. I will probably write more when the nominees are announced. If you were wondering who I would vote for, it would be Mccain however if he were to lose, I would prefer Clinton to Obama hands down. However, I can’t go past this article.

White Christian Supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan has endorsed Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States of America. Speaking from his Kentucky office in Dawson Springs, the Imperial Wizard exclaimed that anything or anyone is better than having that “crazy ass bitch” as President. This is the first time in Klan history that any member of the KKK has ever publicly supported an African American candidate for the presidency.

I think this is definitely one of the weirdest yet funniest thing that has ever happened on such a campaign, ever.

KKK members in Tennessee rally against Hillary Clinton and support Barack Obama

“The boy’s gonna do it. My Klan group has donated up to $250,000 to the Obama fund. Anything is better than Hillary Clinton. Hell I’ll even adopt a black kid from Africa before I vote for Hillary.”

“A few years back we were lynching negroes. Now we’re gonna vote for one to be president of the US of motherfu**ing A, damn it! Anyone or anything is better than Hillary Clinton - anything!!”

You gotta love American politics!

If you still think this is a serious post, then you are an idiot.

Analysis Of Imad Mugniyeh’s Death

Now for the big post of today, what are the consequences of Mugneyeh’s death? Who will be affected and what is the supposed link between him, Iran and 9/11? FrontPage Magazine has decided to get Kenneth R. Timmerman, the New York Times bestselling author of Countdown to Crisis, The French Betrayal of America, Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America, and Death Lobby: How the West Armed Iraq to answer these questions.

Kenneth R. Timmerman

You can view the whole article here, as I will only be adding my comments to part of it.

FP: So who do you think is responsible for Mugniyeh’s killing? What is their motive?

KT: The list of Mugniyeh’s enemies is long. Hizbullah, of course, has accused the Israelis [edit: naturally]. It won’t be long before they accuse us, too. One of my sources who grew up with Mugniyeh and remains close to his family in Lebanon, told me yesterday morning that Hizbullah surveillance teams picked up the arrival at Beirut airport of an 8-man U.S. paramilitary team just two days before Mugniyeh was killed.

Now that is interesting, lately, the U.S. hasn’t really given a damn about a Hizbullah, pretty much leaving them for the Israelis to deal with. More involvement with Lebanon perhaps? Or it could be a desire for the U.S. to get more involved in Syria (or Iran), considering that Hizbullah is an important tool of both Syria and Iran. Keep in mind that it would be wise to take this with a grain of salt, the reliablilty on that statement above would not be good in my opinion.

I saw a report just yesterday suggesting that the Rev. Guards lured Mugniyeh into a trap into Damascus, to make sure that he never revealed the extent of his involvement with al Qaeda in the 9//11 plot. This was a secret the Iranians would have liked to ensure that Mugniyeh carried to his grave.

I’ve got news for them, though: the word is out. Just take a look at pages 240-241 of the 9/11 commission report, which describes in elusive terms the travel of eight to ten of the “muscle” hijackers in and out of Iran in the company of a “senior Hizbullah operative.” That operative was none other than Imad Mugniyeh.

So this is an alternate explanation. This seems more plausible as it would make sense from an Iranian point of view, however there is some possible doubt over it simply because I am sure the Iranians would have read the 9/11 commission report. If their guy was already blamed then why bother to hide their connection if the U.S. government already knew of it. I mean sure they would have liked Mugniyeh to carry his secrets to the grave, but to me it seems like killing the patient to cure the disease. Mugnieyh would still be very useful despite the risks in keeping him alive and away from U.S. hands, the Iranians would still be able to do this, that’s why this interests me.

FP: In other words, you are saying that Mugniyeh was involved with the 9/11 terror attack and so was Iran - and the Iranians might have very well killed him so that the full extent of their own involvement would not become known.

KT: There is absolutely no doubt that Mugniyeh and his masters in Iran were directly and materially involved in the 9/11 plot.

First, there is the evidence discovered very late in the day by the 9/11 Commission, which I describe in detail in Countdown to Crisis. What is astonishing is that this information has not been widely publicized. I spoke again just yesterday with one of the top investigators involved in reviewing the highly-classified U.S. intelligence reports on Mugniyeh’s involvement in convoying 9/11 hijackers in and out of Iran prior to 9/11. He was astonished when I told him that few people were yet aware of this. “That’s like saying you didn’t know that Jesse James was a crook,” he said.

That’s why it doesn’t make sense to me for the Iranians to kill off a very good and respected operative (terrorist), because like it says above, everyone in  the U.S. intelligence community already knows about the link. It would make sense to kill  him off straight after 9/11, but not now  7 years later when  America is bogged down in Iraq and there is no chance of a military invasion.

The Iranians were TERRIFIED on the day of 9/11 and for the next month that the United States would “connect the dots” and discover their involvement to the 9/11 plot, as I reported in Countdown to Crisis. Senior Iranian government officials were making desperate phone calls to relatives in the United States, asking them to rent apartments for family members so they could get out of Tehran before what they assumed would be a massive retaliatory U.S. military strike.

As I said earlier, it would make sense then but not now. I don’t think that the Iranians actually had a hand in this (as crazy as that may sound), I personally think that either it was Israel, regardless of whether they are denying it or not (that goes for the U.S. as well) or one of the anti-Syrian groups in Lebanon. Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility of an unknown player, but I think that is less likely.

Of course, as we know now, that U.S. retaliatory strike never occurred – because the CIA and other U.S. government agencies succeeded in burying the information they had collected (or the case of our technical agencies, that they had siphoned up).

I believe when Americans realize the full extent of the Iranian government involvement in the 9/11 plot, they will demand action from their president – no matter what party affiliation that president may have.

And I really hope they do.

FP: What ramifications does this assassination have for Hezbollah? For Lebanon? For the terror war in general? There will be retaliation won’t there?

KT: Hezbollah is no longer a small gang of bang-men and two-bit thugs, but a world class terror operation with extraordinarily good intelligence, state-of-the-art communications, and networks spanning the globe. Hizbullah always retaliates when one of their men gets whacked. And with the exception of their top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, no one was more important than Mugniyeh to their organization.

One of my sources, who is close to the top Hizbullah leadership, told me recently that Mugniyeh won the personal loyalty of Hizbullah fighters and the leadership in the early 1990s when he almost single-handedly financed Hizbullah’s operations through drug-smuggling in the tri-state border zone in South America. When Hizbullah would send their fighters to train in Revolutionary Guards camps in Iran, it was Mugniyeh who personally shook their hands and congratulated them on graduation day.

This is just another reason why I don’t believe that Iran or Syria would knock off a top operative like that. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Today, February 14, is the third anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri, and his supporters are planning a huge demonstration in Beirut. Hizbullah is also planning a huge demonstration, to bury Mugniyeh. The possibility that the two groups could clash is very great. Just the morning of Mugniyeh’s death, a leader of the anti-Syrian coalition, Walid Jumblatt, warned Hizbullah that the coalition would disarm Hizbullah. “If you want war, then we’ll have war,” he said. Things are not going well in Lebanon, and this has just turned up the heat on a pressure-cooker already about to explode.

That is the main reason why I believe it was an anti-Syrian group that may have done this. They have much more to gain by knocking him off then anyone else in the region. Why should America and Israel get their hands dirty when they already have these groups in Lebanon and Syria already set up and good to go? America has enough problems in Afghanistan and Iraq, while Israel has its hands full dealing with the PA and Hamas.

FP: This is a great day of celebration and joy for Americans, Israelis and all those on the side of freedom, right?

KT: Without any doubt. State Department spokesman Sean Mccormack said it nicely on Wednesday. “The world is a better place without this man in it. One way or the other he was brought to justice.” Other U.S. government officials have made similar comments. This is a man who prided himself on never carrying out two terrorist operations that were identical to each other.