David Corn

Murtha admits positives in Iraq, will others?

The Grand Island Independent ^ | December 8, 2007 | Brian Bresnahan

I had to look up the word "conniption." I wasn't sure how to spell it, but I'm sure that the likes of Code Pink, MoveOn, and other far left anti-war groups had a collective conniption fit last week. One of their poster boys, John Murtha, quit toeing their line.

Surely what followed were the same fits of rage I've seen them have before.

In September at a Washington D.C. rally as Senator Joe Lieberman began to address a group of pro-mission vets and Gold Star Families, several members of the anti-war groups charged toward the stage with seemingly unrestricted fury, screaming with hatred, red faces, and flying spittle. Even as the police hauled them away, their venom did not subside.

Last week gave them another reason to become completely unhinged when Congressman Murtha visited Iraq and came back with a new view.

After a long run as one of the war's most vocal critic he now says the surge strategy is working. He joined a growing list of previously critical lawmakers who see the undeniable positive developments in Iraq.

That can't sit well with Code Pink or MoveOn who have counted on John Murtha to carry their Kool-Aid in Congress.

This summer and even into the fall when all metrics indicated growing and huge successes with the surge, Congressman Murtha remained absolutely adamant that it was not working.

At times he would fly off into tirades against those who saw and declared success in any aspect of the war. At one point he even let his emotions about the war override his senses when he publicly accused fellow Marines of cold-blooded murder at Haditha before an investigation was completed or charges leveled.

Now he says the surge is working.

We should welcome him back to reality with open arms.

Because the reality is that we are winning in Iraq and hope for the future has never been brighter with regards to the defeat of Al Qaeda there.

Congressman Murtha finally sees the truth of what's happening. The surge is working, there is tremendous success in Iraq, but the national leaders still need to get their act together.

He should take heart with regard to the national leaders. As reconciliation continues at the lower levels, as has now been well documented by multiple parties, it will increasingly pressure Iraq's national leaders to do the same and get their act together.

Needed pressure for reconciliation increased on the national level last week when, according to the Kuwait News Agency, a fatwa was issued by the leading Shiite cleric in Iraq, Ali Sistani, who "banned the killing of Iraqis, particularly the Sunnis, and urged the Shiites to protect their brother Sunnis." During the meeting in which the fatwa was issued, Ali Sistani was quoted as saying, "I am a servant of all Iraqis, there is no difference between a Sunni, a Shiite or a Kurd or a Christian."

If national religious leaders can take that strong of a stand for all Iraqis, surely the political leaders are capable of doing so as well.

The counter-insurgency strategy of General Petraeus, the professionalism of our troops, their hard work, and the difficult risky stand taken by many Iraqis against the various terrorist and insurgent groups have all meshed to create the environment for success.

And John Murtha finally sees it.

The flip-flop bashers now need to leave him alone. He's changed his mind based on the facts of the situation. Isn't that how and why we want our lawmakers to change their positions? Too many times politicians change views for purely political reasons. Leave well enough alone on those occasions when politics takes a back seat to the truth.

Now, two very visible questions remain on the political front here at home.

First, will Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi (whom reports say was furious with Murtha) quit playing politics with the war, finally concede that the surge is working, and reinforce success, or will they continue to play games, seeking our defeat for their own political victories?

Second, will the other Vietnam veteran to whom the left has often turned for quotes, sound bites, and solace, Senator Chuck Hagel, also concede that things are going well and finally support victory in Iraq, or will he continue to be the favored endorsee of Cindy Sheehan? If he were to finally admit success in Iraq and start voting for victory, he too would be welcomed back.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian Bresnahan is a former major in the Marine Corps and served in Iraq in 2004. He now lives near Benedict and can be reached at brian.bresnahan @yahoo.com

Huckabee: women's role in marriage is to "graciously submit"

by 4fx
Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 10:15:38 AM PST

Huckabee's opinion on gay marriage is out there, but we should also be publicizing Huckabee's opinions on heterosexual marriage. Specifically, what he believes about a women's role in a marriage.

In August of 1998, Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full page USA Today Ad which declared: "I affirm the statement on the family issued by the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention." What was in the family statement from the SBC? "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."

The ad wasn't just a blanket, "we support the SBC statement," but rather highlighted details. The ad Huckabee signed specifically said of the SBC family statement: "You are right because you called wives to graciously submit to their husband's sacrificial leadership."

Add "graciously submit" to his "Take back the nation for Christ" statement, and if the media does its job, he's well on his way to being toast.

Iran, UN Nuclear Watchdog Begin Talks on Weapons-Grade Uranium (Weapons Grade Uranium Found)

foxnews ^ | 12/10/2007 | foxnews

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian and U.N. nuclear officials began a new round of talks here on Monday, this time to probe the source of weapons-grade uranium that was found at Tehran's university, the official IRNA news agency reported.

It was not clear from the report how or when the weapons-grade uranium was discovered at the Technology faculty of the state university.

The meeting between the International Atomic Energy Agency delegation and its Iranian hosts comes in the wake of a surprising U.S. intelligence report last week that concluded Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in late 2003 and had not resumed it since.

The talks also follow an IAEA report last month which stated Iran had been generally truthful about its past uranium enrichment activities. Much of the 10-page report focused on Iran's black-market procurements and past development of uranium enrichment technology.

But the talks Monday were related to a separate issue -- the university find. It's believed this was the first time the incident was discussed.

The IAEA's mandate obliges it to investigate a country's nuclear activities and probe all suspicious findings, such as the traces at Tehran university.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hmm, no weapons progam huh?

"A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."

Hillary's version:

"A husband is to submit himself graciously to the servant leadership of his wife even as the church willingly submits to the leadership of Hillary"

British Doubt Iran Report

Monday, December 10, 2007 10:47 AM

British espionage experts have serious doubts about a U.S. intelligence report asserting that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program four years ago.

Security services in London fear that Iran may have hoodwinked the U.S. by feeding misinformation to the CIA.

A senior British official told The Daily Telegraph that British analysts believe Iranian nuclear staffers, knowing that their phones were tapped, deliberately gave misinformation. And American spy chiefs were so determined to avoid giving President Bush a justification for attacking Iran that they were eager to accept the bogus intelligence.

“We are skeptical,” the official said. “They say things on the phone because they know we are up on the phones. They say black is white. They will say anything to throw us off.”

Some espionage agents in the U.S. share Britain’s concern that Iran is still committed to producing nuclear weapons, according to The Telegraph.

Officials in the British government are said to be angry over the timing of the U.S. intelligence report, which comes as Britain’s Foreign Office is studying a third United Nations Security Council resolution that would impose tough sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

In the wake of the U.S. intelligence report, the Telegraph reports, “diplomats say the chances of winning Chinese and Russian support for the move are in freefall.”

Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002
In Meetings, Spy Panels' Chiefs Did Not Protest, Officials Say

By Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 9, 2007; Page A01

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.

CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said in an interview two months ago that he had informed congressional overseers of "all aspects of the detention and interrogation program." (By Charles Dharapak -- Associated Press)

"The briefer was specifically asked if the methods were tough enough," said a U.S. official who witnessed the exchange.

Congressional leaders from both parties would later seize on waterboarding as a symbol of the worst excesses of the Bush administration's counterterrorism effort. The CIA last week admitted that videotape of an interrogation of one of the waterboarded detainees was destroyed in 2005 against the advice of Justice Department and White House officials, provoking allegations that its actions were illegal and the destruction was a coverup.

Yet long before "waterboarding" entered the public discourse, the CIA gave key legislative overseers about 30 private briefings, some of which included descriptions of that technique and other harsh interrogation methods, according to interviews with multiple U.S. officials with firsthand knowledge.

With one known exception, no formal objections were raised by the lawmakers briefed about the harsh methods during the two years in which waterboarding was employed, from 2002 to 2003, said Democrats and Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter. The lawmakers who held oversight roles during the period included Pelosi and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), as well as Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looks like the Dems were for torture until it wasn't popular, just like the war.

What scumbags!

What say you Capt?

Should we tar and feather Pelosi, Harman, Graham And Rockefellar for treason?

Sounds like a impeachable offense.

Some more portions of the Washington Post article
********************
U.S. law requires the CIA to inform Congress of covert activities and allows the briefings to be limited in certain highly sensitive cases to a "Gang of Eight," including the four top congressional leaders of both parties as well as the four senior intelligence committee members. In this case, most briefings about detainee programs were limited to the "Gang of Four," the top Republican and Democrat on the two committees. A few staff members were permitted to attend some of the briefings.
--------------------
Waterboarding as an interrogation technique has its roots in some of history's worst totalitarian nations, from Nazi Germany and the Spanish Inquisition to North Korea and Iraq. In the United States, the technique was first used five decades ago as a training tool to give U.S. troops a realistic sense of what they could expect if captured by the Soviet Union or the armies of Southeast Asia. The U.S. military has officially regarded the tactic as torture since the Spanish-American War.
--------------------
Harman, who replaced Pelosi as the committee's top Democrat in January 2003, disclosed Friday that she filed a classified letter to the CIA in February of that year as an official protest about the interrogation program. Harman said she had been prevented from publicly discussing the letter or the CIA's program because of strict rules of secrecy.

"When you serve on intelligence committee you sign a second oath -- one of secrecy," she said. "I was briefed, but the information was closely held to just the Gang of Four. I was not free to disclose anything."
--------------------
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former Vietnam War prisoner who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, took an early interest in the program even though he was not a member of the intelligence committee, and spoke out against waterboarding in private conversations with White House officials in late 2005 before denouncing it publicly.
********************
I also tried to post the source links to LBH's source articles, but apparantally there is a spam filter of sorts that rejected it for too many links (I'm guessing). Murtha article - explicitly posted as an opinion piece, Iran uranium article - goes on to state how Iran has been cooperating with investigations, British doubt Iran report - is a Newsmax piece.

Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002

In Meetings, Spy Panels' Chiefs Did Not Protest, Officials Say

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.

"The briefer was specifically asked if the methods were tough enough," said a U.S. official who witnessed the exchange.

*****

Time to impeach the whole group of so-called leaders from both parties.

Posted by: capt | December 9, 2007 8:01 AM

****

Must have missed this one from yesterday morning.

*****

Eyes, I have luck with only one URL per post - I think it is to stop the viagra/concert ticket posts.

source links to LBH's source articles
Bleh, my proofreading skills are failing me again...

unrelated - Has anyone else had problems staying signed in who posts from more than one computer?

Yes, typekey can be a bear. It is a cookie thing so if you can save the cookie on each computer it should be easier.

Some "clean up" programs will wipeout the cookie unless you specifically identify the cookie to be saved.

I should have said: I think it is a cookie thing.

FWIW

That's what I thought was happening with the multiple link thing. I'd post them individually but I guess anyone who wants to confirm can do a little Google work.

I sign into TypeKey and check the remember me for two weeks box but I think it keeps signing me out when I switch from home to work and back. Oh well.

It does that to me on this computer each time I power on/off.

I have not solved the issue yet - If I learn more I will update.

Iraqi FM: security pact will set time limit on US troop presence

BAGHDAD: Iraq's foreign minister said Monday that the government has formally requested a final U.N. extension of a mandate for U.S.-led forces, and he insisted a new security pact with the Americans will set a time limit on the U.S. troop presence in Iraq.

****

We are not “at war” in Iraq - as evidenced by their foreign minister we are an occupying force with a date certain to be set for our exit.

So what are we doing there?

A Plea of Temporary Sanity, or so it seems for the moment.

So, we are left with this. Except for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, more and more congresscritters and senators are willing to step up and stop this administration. The DOD and the intel organizations saw the light and for a year, refused to accept Vice Presidential pressure to gum up the intel on Iran. Pols on both sides of the aisle are irate that critical data was deliberately destroyed. And now, the Supreme Court actually did the right thing for a change. Amazing.

****

Pigs are flying in Hades with snowballs on their backs.

Huckabee thinks his fire-and-brimstone speeches are not ready for a national audience. Beside advocating the quaranteeing aids of patients, what social values and polcies did he advocate from the pulpit?

Per-A to-JEE-sus. Praise the lord.

eyes_open, capt, don't waste your time tracking down URLs for the articles LBH posts in the comment section here. If he doesn't care to provide the link, you shuoldn;t care to read the article. Plus, Corn will deal it if he has an issue. Everyone knows LBH finds the least reliable sources, then cuts and pastes and then doesn't bother to provide a substantive comment.

Maybe Corn will rename "POST A COMMENT" to "PASTE A NEWSMAX" article in honor of the squatter wing-nut LBH.

Iraqi policewomen are told to surrender their weapons

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government has ordered all policewomen to hand in their guns for redistribution to men or face having their pay withheld, thwarting a U.S. initiative to bring women into the nation's police force.

The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, issued the order late last month, according to ministry documents, U.S. officials and several of the women. It affects all officers who have earned the title "policewoman" by graduating from the police academy. It does not apply to men in the same type of jobs.

*****

As women become a source of violence (female suicide bombers) policewomen will be disarmed.

Thank goodness we brought freedom and democracy to Iraq - equality will surely follow, eh?