Heritage Quote

"Strive to be the greatest man in your country, and you may be disappointed. Strive to be the best and you may succeed: he may well win the race that runs by himself."

-- Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard's Almanack, 1747)

Good news from Iraq, Part 34

This is probably Chrenkoff's final Good news from Iraq post. It starts out with an observation about the mainstream media's news reporting in regards to Iraq:

Maj. Joe Leahy, is a civil engineer with the 20th Engineer Brigade of the Army National Guard. He has been stationed at Camp Victory, outside of Baghdad, since November 2004 - enough time to get frustrated:

"We all know it's a dangerous place. But the thing that I want people to understand is that they only see those one or two instances in the country that are negative. You don't really hear about the 100 things that have gone good,"
says Maj Leahy. "One thing we've got to understand is that it's not going to happen tomorrow, but we are doing something that's getting better everyday."

Maj Leahy's good-bad ratio might be debatable, but enough servicemen and women, as well as their families and friends back home, not to mention general public, were getting frustrated lately with the media coverage of Iraq to cause some limited, though still welcome, soul-searching among major media outlets. Whether the coverage will improve as a result remains to be seen, so in the meantime, here are the last two weeks' worth of stories, at least some of them you might have missed.

Then it goes on into a long series of reports about what is going on that is good in that country. There is definitely a lot to read (it's 40 pages long, if you were to print it).

It's worth reading though -- if only to see how much information about Iraq does not receive wide (if any) dissemination by the press. [/cynicism]

Really, though, it is very heartening to see all of the things going on there -- from health screenings of children to building schools, from expert advice on constitutional forms of government to water infrastructure, from security advances to political participation by the Sunnis.

Recommended.

Democracy in Iraq - it's working . . .

. . . just maybe not the exact way we Americans would like it to. Chrenkoff has a post up from his Iraqi friend about some Iraqi poll results regarding their country's draft Constitution.

Heritage Quote

"The powers of congress must be defined, but their means must be adequate to the purposes of their constitution. It is possible there may be abuses and misapplications; still, it is better to hazard something than to hazard at all."

-- Oliver Ellsworth (letter to Governor Trumbull, 7/10/1783)

Hit count

Jack Kelly over at Irish Pennants describes an informal survey he conducted looking into information dissemination in the media.

I did a Google search a few minutes ago. The "storied" LtCol. Kurilla has been mentioned 5,420 times. The most decorated Marine in this conflict, Capt. Brian Chontosh, drew 10,700 hits. There were 14,500 for Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, the first woman to win the Silver Star since World War II. Sgt. Paul Smith, the only Medal of Honor winner in the conflict has drawn 1,010,000 hits. But all their mentions together pale into insignificance compared to the 4,970,000 hits for Cindy Sheehan. I think this tells us all we need to know about the priorities of the "mainstream" media.

Sad, isn't it?

Lost Vehicles

If anybody spots a lost vehicle with California plates, please contact the California Dept. of Lost Motor Vehicles. They seem to be missing a few.

;)

Heritage Quote

"Nothing has yet been offered to invalidate the doctrine that the meaning of the Constitution may as well be ascertained by the Legislative as by the Judicial authority."

-- James Madison (speech in the Congress of the United States, 18 June 1789)

Iraq DOES = Vietnam

At least it does in the way most of the mainstream media portrays it.

The result of a media obsession with body counts can be defeatism. The Vietnam War's 1968 Tet Offensive provides a sobering example.
In Tet, our soldiers inflicted a stinging strategic defeat on the North Vietnamese. American and South Vietnamese losses were a mere fraction of those suffered by Communist forces, which had massive casualties. Nevertheless, the American media -- preoccupied with American body bags -- portrayed Tet as a disastrous defeat for the United States.

Tet was a propaganda victory for the Communists and a turning point in the war. The media's depiction undermined American confidence and contributed to our eventual decision to turn tail and leave. The people of Southeast Asia, including more than 1 million desperate boat people, paid a horrific price.

You should read the whole piece.

US Army recruitment -- the real story

Check out this Stars & Stripes story. It's about recruitment.

Ancient Historian Quote

"Let him who desires peace prepare for war."

-- Vegetius

Hollywood hate

Here's a description of what Hollywood's real feelings about our country are. It is given by an insider (though maybe not one any longer). And it just confirms what many people have been saying for a while now.

If true, this is sad . . .

Ancient Historian Quote

"The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise."

-- Tacitus

LTC Kurilla down -- but not out!

Michael Yon has a gripping post about the mission that LTC Kurilla was wounded in.

This is real stuff, folks. Written from the heart. Here's a snippet:

There were shops, alleys, doorways, windows . . .

The soldiers with LTC Kurilla were searching fast, weapons at the ready, and they quickly flex-cuffed two men. But these were not the right guys. Meanwhile, SSG Konkol's men were clearing towards us, leaving the three bad-guys boxed, but free.

Shots were fired behind us but around a corner to the left.

Both the young 2nd lieutenant and the young specialist were inside a shop when a close-quarters firefight broke out, and they ran outside. Not knowing how many men they were fighting, they wanted backup. LTC Kurilla began running in the direction of the shooting. He passed by me and I chased, Kurilla leading the way.

There was a quick and heavy volume of fire. And then LTC Kurilla was shot.

(There are some pictures with the post, so it may load a little slow, but it's worth the wait!)

Michael Yon tells it like it is. You have got to read it.

Iraq's Constitution

OpinionJournal has an excellent article about Iraq's Constitution -- at least about how it looked on Thursday.

I've reprinted the whole article in the extended entry.

Iraq's Federalist Papers

The constitution empowers legislators, not clerics.


Thursday, August 25, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

Iraq's first freely elected government continues to vindicate the belief that the Mideast can be transformed, starting with Saddam Hussein's former tyranny. Its draft constitution, which appears headed for parliamentary approval tonight, reflects a remarkable spirit of compromise--and even enlightenment--among the country's political, ethnic and religious factions.

The word "compromise" is key here. If we were drafting the document, there are many things we might have done differently. But the point of democracy is that countries have to find their own way on difficult issues. Americans also shouldn't be too quick to conclude that anything that sounds odd or unfamiliar to liberal ears is evidence of failure. While this constitution does indeed contain general appeals to religion, it is fundamentally a document that empowers legislators, not clerics.

Take the role of Islam, which is designated as "a" (not "the") "basic source of legislation." Some critics see this as evidence of incipient theocracy. But in what Western democracy are laws not generally in accord with the Judeo-Christian moral heritage? In any case, interpretation of that clause will be up to elected representatives.

The same holds true for family law. There has been much American huffing and puffing about a provision that might allow matters such as divorce to be handled by religious courts if individuals so choose. But the same clause begins with a strong affirmation of individual rights, and does not itself rewrite Iraq's current family laws but merely paves the way for a future parliament to do so. No doubt some Iraqis will want to establish the primacy of Shariah law, but they will have to prevail in a diverse parliament and in a society in which women have asserted themselves since the fall of Saddam.

It's worth noting, more broadly, that alarums about Iranian-style Shiite theocracy in Iraq have been raised repeatedly over the past few years, often by American or Arab proponents of the Sunni dictatorships that are the Mideast status quo. But one of the most underappreciated stories in post-Saddam Iraq has been the extent to which the Shiite community has remained committed to a constitutional, democratic process--despite the best attempts of the terrorist Zarqawi or cleric Moqtada Sadr to provoke them to violence. Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who adheres to a "quietist" school of Islam that shuns excessive mixing of religion and politics, has continued to play a particularly constructive role.

---

As for the unambiguously good news, there is both federalism and the oil-sharing formula. The draft constitution describes Iraq as "a democratic, federal, republican system"--an organizational structure that should be familiar to Americans. Some Sunni representatives have objected strongly, saying a federal structure risks the dissolution of the Iraqi state. But the reality is that federalism in one form or another was inevitable long before the constitutional talks began.

The Kurds, for starters, are not about to give up the autonomy they have enjoyed since the mid-'90s under cover of no fly zones (and would themselves dissolve the Iraqi state by secession were concessions on this matter not granted). Many Shiites also find federalism attractive after so many decades of suffering under Sunni-dominated governments in Baghdad. A federal structure will be particularly important for preserving freedom in Iraq, where not just Saddam Hussein but others before him exploited a strong central government fed by oil revenues to oppress others.

At the same time, Sunnis needn't fear that Iraq's mineral wealth will be hoarded in Kurdish and Shiite dominated provinces, where much of it lies. The revenue sharing proposal of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi--which we reported on last week, and which would distribute wealth equally among the provinces according to population--has been largely accepted.

Finally, the draft constitution enumerates extensive rights to free speech and political participation. Of course so do the constitutions, honored largely in the breach, of many dictatorships (Cuba, China). But that only highlights the fact that there is only so much a constitution can do, and that the fate of nations depends as much or more on the goodwill and willingness to compromise of their political class. The question isn't really whether this constitution will guarantee a free Iraq. No document can. Rather, it is whether it will help enable one. And that answer seems unequivocally, yes.

"The constitution will be to serve everybody and not only one community of the Iraqi society," said Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, whose rise is one of the many reasons we see hope for Iraq. Unlike his Kurdish rival Massoud Barzani, he has risen above sectarian politics and become a genuinely popular figure throughout the country.

---

As for reported Sunni opposition to the charter, it's important to ask how widespread or intense it really is. The Sunnis on the constitutional committee have been operating under threat of death for participating in a process that will formalize the loss of some of the privileges they used to enjoy under Saddam. Many Sunnis may nonetheless vote for the constitution in the October referendum precisely because its oil revenue and federalist guarantees will protect them from domination by the Shiite south.

As President Bush suggested this week, it's now time that the Sunnis be asked whether "they want to live in a society that is free or do they want to live in violence." We suspect that won't be a hard choice for most Iraqis, regardless of their circumstances, to make.

[Used with permission from OpinionJournal.com, a web site from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.]

Heritage Quote

"A judiciary independent of a king or executive alone, is a good thing; but independence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in a republican government."

-- Thomas Jefferson (letter to Thomas Ritchie, 25 December 1820)

Claim to fame?

Munuvians everywhere have had their 15 minutes of fame, it seems. Michelle Malkin actually referred to us in her blog when our server's disk crashed.

Maybe "infamous" is a better word . . .

NYT vs. NYT

James Taranto points outs a conflicted New York Times.

I've reprinted it in the extended entry.

Gail Collins Is Unsettled

Yesterday the New York Times published an editorial bemoaning, as the headline put it, "Iraq's Unsettling Constitution":

The draft constitution given to Iraq's national assembly last night does little to advance the prospects for a unified and peaceful Iraq. Nor does it reflect well on the Bush administration, which let its politically motivated obsession with an arbitrary deadline trump its responsibility to promote inclusiveness, women's rights and the rule of law.

The Times complains of "divisive provisions, like the enshrinement of Islamic law and the threats to women's family and property rights." Blogger "Alenda Lux" offers some perspective. Here's a quote from the constitution:

The religion of the state . . . is the sacred religion of Islam. Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law. . . . No law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.

Unsettling? Not according to the New York Times. For this quote is from the Afghan constitution, not the Iraqi one--and when Afghanistan approved its constitution, the Times was exultant, seeing it as a triumph of, as a Jan. 6, 2004, editorial's headline put it, "Islamic Democracy":

Afghanistan's new Constitution offers hope that the beleaguered nation can finally evolve into a modern, democratic state. . . . And it balances the goal of an Islamic state with the promise to abide by the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. America's ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, was right to call it "one of the most enlightened constitutions in the Islamic world."

The Times observes that the Afghan constitution "specifically grants equal rights to women, even promising two Parliament seats in each province to women." The Iraqi constitution (excerpts here and here) has similar provisions:

Iraqis are equal before the law without discrimination because of gender, ethnicity, nationality, origin, color, religion, sect, belief, opinion or social or economic status. . . . No less than 25% of Council of Deputies seats go to women.

But these provisions go totally unmentioned in the Times' hand-wringing editorial.

What's going on here? Well, it should be obvious, but in case it isn't, the Times makes it clear with the conclusion of its unsettled Iraq editorial:

Americans continue dying in Iraq, but their mission creeps steadily downward. The nonexistent weapons of mass destruction dropped out of the picture long ago. Now the United States seems ready to walk away from its fine words about helping the Iraqis create a beacon of freedom, harmony and democracy for the Middle East. All that remains to be seen is whether the White House has become so desperate for an excuse to declare victory that it will settle for an Iranian-style Shiite theocracy.

Gail Collins & Co. are heavily invested in the idea that America shouldn't have liberated Iraq in the first place. Failure in Iraq--unlike in Afghanistan--would vindicate them, and that is why they are so eager to find signs of it. What really unsettles America's defeatists is the prospect of success.

[Used with permission from OpinionJournal.com, a web site from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.]

Heritage Quote

"That diabolical Hell conceived principle of persecution rages amoung some and to their eternal Infamy the Clergy can furnish their Quota of Imps for such business . . ."

-- James Madison (letter to William Bradford, 24 January 1774)

Army recruitment is up (but not reported)

Betsy Newmark is guest blogging at Michelle Malkin's site and has this interesting post about Army recruitment.

Think gas prices are high here?

Check out the gas prices around the world!

I travelled abroad quite a bit a few years ago, and noted then that they were paying four to five dollars a gallon in most European countries.

We really have it good in this country when it comes to the price of gasoline. Even at today's prices . . .

U.N. blues

Mark Steyn has a less than kind op-ed at the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph. Here's how he starts:

How many Annans does it take to change a light bulb? Well, if the replacement light bulb's being shipped to Uday Hussein's Iraqi Olympic Committee recreational basement as part of the UN Oil-for-Food programme, there's no telling how many Annans you'll need.

The rest is worth reading, too . . .

MuNuquake

MuNuvians everywhere suffered through a munuquake, also known as a "hard disk crash", that was 6.7 on the Richter scale. Though no fatalities have been reported, many residents have suffered varying symptoms of blogdrawal. Aftershocks can be expected.

The Prime Minister of MuNu, Pixy Misa, is still working feverishly to restore services to his extremely grateful subjects.

Stay tuned.

Heritage Quote

"Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils."

-- Benjamin Franklin (An Address to the Public, November 1789)

Woeful reporting

Jack Kelly has a post about a news report gone bad.

I find it hard to believe that a reporter can take the facts given in this story and turn them into such a twisted farce of reality.

Heritage Quote

"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."

-- Alexander Hamilton (The Farmer Refuted, 23 February 1775)

Proximity delays

Michael Yon writes about proximity delays.

Then comes the question: "Why didn't you write about that?"

The answer is simple. Often I am asked to withhold information due to the immediate sensitivty. And so, I never release the slightest hint. But then somebody in Baghdad--three steps removed from the action here in Mosul-- releases it to CNN and the rest of the world. What is seen on television and in the papers is practically always inaccurate, or is at least poorly framed. But I rarely waste a breath trying to correct the information. It's too late. Life is busy here.

The greatest paradox I have seen in this war results from "proximity delay." The proximity delay for me is caused by being embedded so closely with Duece Four soldiers that I often see things unfolding before they happen, and then I am in the thick of events as they occur. But then I am asked not to write about events.

Much of the censorship is self-imposed because I will not write anything that jeopardizes US, Iraqi or Coalition forces or civilians. This is not a game of who gets the scoop; I am not per se a journalist. On some missions I've been the first to spot the enemy. On others, I've been so close to the action, my face gets smacked by flying shell casings. I come away with information and details no other writer could possibly have.

There's more . . .

Progress in Iraq

This article is more than a week old, but it is heartening to see this going on now in Iraq, so I thought I'd post it.

Rising up against insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, Iraqi Sunni Muslims in Ramadi fought with grenade launchers and automatic weapons Saturday to defend their Shiite neighbors against a bid to drive them from the western city, Sunni leaders and Shiite residents said. The fighting came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of six American soldiers.

Dozens of Sunni members of the Dulaimi tribe established cordons around Shiite homes, and Sunni men battled followers of Zarqawi, a Jordanian, for an hour Saturday morning. The clashes killed five of Zarqawi's guerrillas and two tribal fighters, residents and hospital workers said. Zarqawi loyalists pulled out of two contested neighborhoods in pickup trucks stripped of license plates, witnesses said.

Heritage Quote

"It seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind."

-- Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 1, 27 October 1787)

Gaza -- new haven for terrorists

This does not bode well for our Israeli allies. I hope it is inaccurate, but am afraid that it is all too true. Here's an excerpt:

All indications point to Gaza becoming a haven for gathering Palestinian terrorist groups, as well as global terrorists affiliated with them. Many have openly stated they will be moving their bases of operations there.

The Saudi daily Al-Watan reported in the last week of June that Palestinian Authority leaders have invited all Palestinian rejectionist groups to Gaza. They include multiple groups and individuals on the U.S. list of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations including Syrian based Hamas officials such as Khaled Mashaal and Musa Abu Marzouk, as well as leaders from the Democratic Front of the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Struggle Front.

It was also announced that the Tunis based head of the PLO, Faruq Qaddumi is moving his base of operations to Gaza. He is a possible successor and key rival to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. According to him, the PLO charter which calls for the destruction of Israel has not really been amended. Qaddumi will be bringing with him a 'volunteer popular army' of at least 1,500 who will be under his control according to Saudi media reports from August 3.

This follows other reports from Lebanon that additional Palestinian fighters devoted to Israel's destruction are also coming to Gaza. One report, in the Lebanese Daily Star from August 1st quoted a senior Fatah official who "did not deny rumors" and was quoted explaining "we were informed we will be with them [other Palestinian fighters in Gaza] soon."

Does anyone still believe that Israel is not fighting for its life?

Terror continues

This article, at American Spectator is very disturbing. It is about a family, living in Iraq, that has been marked for kidnapping and ransom by terrorists -- to fund more murderous endeavors.

The article describes how a man was kidnapped by the terrorists.

Obviously the "Iraqi soldiers" were not Iraqi soldiers. It was subsequently learned that they were actually some elite gunmen from Al Zarqawi's very well run organization of kidnappers. They run an extremely lucrative kidnap business and, from the ransoms they collect, are able to fund much of the terrorist activity in Iraq.

There is a lot more to the article, though. I highly recommend it.

The politics of hatred

This article about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is very, very disturbing to me.

What is also still going on is the incitement of hatred. In print and on broadcast media controlled by the Palestinian Authority--and subsidized by Europe and the United States--Israelis and Jews continue to be demonized, their murders blatantly encouraged. Palestinian kids are still taught that the greatest glory is dying for Allah in battle as jihadists. They save terrorist cards the way American kids save baseball cards.

And there's much more.

If you want to get a different view of this conflict than our media projects, and a more accurate one in my opinion, you need to go read it.

The balance has shifted

A subscriber to The American Spectator, who lives and works in Iraq, has some encouraging things to say about the struggle there.

* Proof of the resentment against these foreign jihaddis is seen whenever Coalition forces take back territory once under the control of the jihaddi terrorists. Ordinary indigenous Iraqis show coalition forces where the bomb-making factories are. This is a consistent fact on the ground. Iraqis frequently identify terrorists and bomb-making locations. Tips and intelligence are flowing toward the Coalition. The balance has shifted.

There's more. And it's well worth reading.

Coming of Age

Ben Stein, at American Spectator writes a letter to his son wishing him a happy 18th birthday. Here's an excerpt:

Third, try to think some day of the number of men and women who died and lost limbs and sanity so you could be a free man. From Saratoga to Iwo Jima to Cho-Sin and now in Mosul and Ar-Ramadi, think of all those who gave up their lives so you could be a free man, because now you are free, and you are a man. They died for you and me, and we have to think every single day what we did to be worth dying for. Did we comfort the lonely? Did we visit the sick? Did we lift up the downtrodden or did we just live for our own selfish luxury? There are so many things to do and I hope that some day soon you will start coming with me to the VA hospital to visit the patients.

It's worth reading the whole thing . . .

Heritage Quote

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."

--John Adams

The next generation

Teach for America is an organization of recent college grads who volunteer to teach for two years in public schools (usually troubled ones). This article describes how it originated sixteen years ago and how well our college students are volunteering to do this work:

This spring on many college campuses, something absolutely remarkable happened: Talented young people lined up by the scores to teach lower-income kids in urban and rural public schools. In years past, investment banks like Goldman Sachs were the recruiting powerhouses at top campuses; this year, they were joined by Teach for America, a program that expresses the fresh idealism and social values of this new generation.

At Yale, no fewer than 12 percent of the graduating seniors--nearly 1 out of every 8--applied. At Dartmouth and Amherst, some 11 percent did; at Harvard and Princeton, 8 percent. Hundreds more signed up at Northwestern, Boston College, the University of Texas, and the University of California-Los Angeles. Altogether, over 17,000 seniors applied for 2,100 openings.

It goes on to cite some very positive results. Is the NEA paying attention?

On good and evil

Ben Stein, at The American Spectator, in a few short paragraphs does an excellent job of encapsulating my thoughts on the subject of George W. Bush's presidency and who his successor might be. I just wish I was as good at articulating those thoughts.

By a great providence, we were sent George Bush. In his mind, there is such a thing as evil. Terrorism is evil. Racism is evil. The murder of unborn babies is evil. Torturing a totally innocent Terri Schiavo to death is evil. He sees it, acts on it, actively works not just to get along day by day, but to keep evil at bay and to overcome it where it can be overcome. As time goes by, I come to realize that George Bush, with all of his faults, is the spiritual heir to Abraham Lincoln, to Martin Luther King, Jr., to Winston Churchill, to the late Pope John Paul II. How unbelievably lucky we are to have him, and how grateful we should be.

Because there really is good and evil in this world -- whether we like it or not.

Recommended reading.

Happy Birthday, My Love

My wife is having a birthday today!

I have been blessed through her for over 30 years, now, and yet it seems as if it has only been a few. I am so grateful for her love and her companionship.

She is one of the most generous people I have ever known -- generous with her time, her love, her compassion, and her gifts. She loves her work as a public school teacher because she loves children and feels strongly that her mission field is to teach them how to read. She is very good at it, but strives constantly to become even more proficient in imparting the skill of reading to young boys and girls.

She is a selfless mother who loves her two daughters actively and joyfully.

She is a wonderful wife who always brings a smile to my lips. I can't begin to describe the depth of my feelings for her.

She is intelligent, witty, and fun. She is still beautiful in so many different ways -- physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that I still absolutely adore her!

Happy birthday, my love! You are my heart light. I love you.

Heritage Quote

"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them."

-- Thomas Jefferson (letter to George Washington, 19 June 1796)

"She Does Not Speak for Me"

Ronald Griffin, father of one of our own soldiers who died in Iraq, disagrees with Cindy Sheehan about the war. Here is an excerpt:

Thirty-five years ago, a president faced a similar dilemma in Vietnam. He gave in and we got "peace with honor." To this day, I am still searching for that honor. Today, those who defend our freedom every day do so as volunteers with a clear and certain purpose. Today, they have in their commander in chief someone who will not allow us to sink into self-pity. I will not allow him to. The amazing part about talking to the people left behind is that I did not want them to stop. After speaking to so many I have come away with the certainty of their conviction that in a large measure it's because of the deeds and sacrifices of their fallen heroes that this is a better and safer world we now live in.

I've reprinted it all in the extended entry.

She Does Not Speak for Me

My son died in Iraq--and it was not in vain.


BY RONALD R. GRIFFIN

Thursday, August 18, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

I lost a son in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan does not speak for me.

I grieve with Mrs. Sheehan, for all too well I know the full measure of the agony she is forever going to endure. I honor her son for his service and sacrifice. However, I abhor all that she represents and those who would cast her as the symbol for parents of our fallen soldiers.

The fallen heroes, until now, have enjoyed virtually no individuality. They have been treated as a monolith, a mere number. Now Mrs. Sheehan, with adept public relations tactics, has succeeded in elevating herself above the rest of us. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida declared that Mrs. Sheehan is now the symbol for all parents who have lost children in Iraq. Sorry, senator. Not for me.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times portrays Mrs. Sheehan as a distraught mom standing heroically outside the guarded gates of the most powerful and inhumane man on earth, President Bush. Ms. Dowd is so moved by Mrs. Sheehan's plight that she bestowed upon her and all grieving parents the title of "absolute moral authority." That characterization epitomizes the arrogance and condescension of anyone who would presume to understand and speak for all of us. How can we all possess "absolute moral authority" when we hold so many different perspectives?

I don't want that title. I haven't earned that title.

---

Although we all walk the same sad road of sorrow and agony, we walk it as individuals with all the refreshing uniqueness of our own thoughts shaped in large measure by the life and death of our own fallen hero. Over the past few days I have reached out to other parents and loved ones of fallen heroes in an attempt to find out their reactions to all the attention Mrs. Sheehan has attracted. What emerges from those conversations is an empathy for Mrs. Sheehan's suffering but a fundamental disagreement with her politics.

Ann and Dale Hampton lost their only child, Capt. Kimberly Hampton, on Jan. 2, 2004, while she was flying her Kiowa helicopter. She was a member of the 82nd Airborne and the company commander. She had already served in Afghanistan before being deployed to Iraq. Ann Hampton wrote, "My grief sometimes seems unbearable, but I cannot add the additional baggage of anger. Mrs. Sheehan has every right to protest . . . but I cannot do that. I would be protesting the very thing that Kimberly believed in and died for."

Marine Capt. Benjamin Sammis was Stacey Sammis's husband. Ben died on April 4, 2003, while flying his Super Cobra helicopter. Listen to Stacey and she will tell you that she is just beginning to understand the enormousness of the character of soldiers who knowingly put their lives at risk to defend our country. She will tell you that one of her deepest regrets is that the world did not have the honor of experiencing for a much longer time this outstanding Marine she so deeply loved.

Speak to Joan Curtin, whose son, Cpl. Michael Curtin, was an infantryman with the 2-7th 3rd ID, and her words are passionately ambivalent. She says she has no room for bitterness. She has a life to lead and a family to nurture. She spoke of that part of her that never heals, for that is where Michael resides. She can go on, always knowing there will be that pain.

Karen Long is the mother of Spc. Zachariah Long, who died with my son Kyle on May 30, 2003. Zack and Kyle were inseparable friends as only soldiers can be, and Karen and I have become inseparable friends since their deaths. Karen's view is that what Mrs. Sheehan is doing she has every right to do, but she is dishonoring all soldiers, including Karen's son, Zack. Karen cannot comprehend why Mrs. Sheehan cannot seem to come to grips with the idea that her own son, Casey, was a soldier like Zack who had a mission to complete. Karen will tell you over and over again that Zack is not here and no one, but no one will dishonor her son.

My wife, Robin, has a different take on Mrs. Sheehan. She told me, "I don't care what she says or does. She is no more important than any other mother."

---

By all accounts Spc. Casey Sheehan, Mrs. Sheehan's son, was a soldier by choice and by the strength of his character. I did not have the honor of knowing him, but I have read that he attended community college for three years and then chose to join the Army. In August 2003, five months into Operation Iraqi Freedom and after three years of service, Casey Sheehan re-enlisted in the Army with the full knowledge there was a war going on, and with the high probability he would be assigned to a combat area. Mrs. Sheehan frequently speaks of her son in religious terms, even saying that she thought that some day Casey would be a priest. Like so many of the individuals who have given their lives in service to our country, Casey was a very special young man. How do you decry that which someone has chosen to do with his life? How does a mother dishonor the sacrifice of her own son?

Mrs. Sheehan has become the poster child for all the negativity surrounding the war in Iraq. In a way it heartens me to have all this attention paid to her, because that means others in her position now have the chance to be heard. Give equal time to other loved ones of fallen heroes. Feel the intensity of their love, their pride and the sorrow.

To many loved ones, there are few if any "what ifs." They, like their fallen heroes before them, live in the world as it is and not what it was or could have been. Think of the sacrifices that have brought us to this day. We as a country made a collective decision. We must now live up to our decision and not deviate until the mission is complete.

Thirty-five years ago, a president faced a similar dilemma in Vietnam. He gave in and we got "peace with honor." To this day, I am still searching for that honor. Today, those who defend our freedom every day do so as volunteers with a clear and certain purpose. Today, they have in their commander in chief someone who will not allow us to sink into self-pity. I will not allow him to. The amazing part about talking to the people left behind is that I did not want them to stop. After speaking to so many I have come away with the certainty of their conviction that in a large measure it's because of the deeds and sacrifices of their fallen heroes that this is a better and safer world we now live in.

Those who lost their lives believed in the mission. To honor their memory, and because it's right, we must believe in the mission, too.

We refuse to allow Cindy Sheehan to speak for all of us. Instead, we ask you to learn the individual stories. They are glorious. Honor their memories.

Honor their service. Never dishonor them by giving in. They never did.

Mr. Griffin is the father of Spc. Kyle Andrew Griffin, a recipient of the Army Commendation Medal, Army Meritorious Service Medal and the Bronze Star, who was killed in a truck accident on a road between Mosul and Tikrit on May 30, 2003.

[Used with permission from OpinionJournal.com, a web site from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.]

Why we fight

Firepower 5, a soldier deployed in Afghanistan, has a post up about why he is over there.

I usually have a fairly decent ability to put my feelings into words yet somehow I struggled with how to portray my feelings about this, about the compelling reason I feel to be here and be a contributor to this campaign. Some may perceive this to be a lack of substance or conviction, that isn't the case. It's more that the issue is so vast that it can't be capsulated into a few quick epithets or euphemisms. In my mind, to say simply that this is a "Religious War" or "Blood for Oil" is a not only hubris, it is condescending, arrogant, and indicative of overt laziness. Even a precursory overview of the history and issues surrounding this region will make it very evident that you could no more encapsulate this conflict in a single sentence than replicate the Mona Lisa with a single brushstroke.

You should read the rest.

Heritage Quote

"Our properties within our own territories [should not] be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own."

-- Thomas Jefferson (Rights of British America, 1774)

Have you seen this email?

"Did you know that 47 countries have re-established their embassies in Iraq?" the anonymous polemic asks, in part. "Did you know that 3,100 schools have been renovated?"

"Of course we didn't know!" the message concludes. "Our media doesn't tell us!"

I haven't actually seen this one, though I've received some variants in the past. This email has actually motivated members of the Associated Press to evaluate the nature of their reporting about events in Iraq.

And guess what? They sorta kinda think that there may be a teensie weensie perception of bias.

Heh. They really don't get it. But at least they're trying. And they may succeed. There is hope.

In the meantime, there are people like Arthur Chrenkoff who are trying their darndest to get the other side of the news out to people.

Terrorists' WMD

The Washington Post has a report of a stash of chemicals discovered in a lab in Iraq that could have been intended for WMD. The military spokesman cited in the report stops short of saying that the stash was, in fact, intended for chemical warfare, but he did say that 11 different precursor agents ( intermediate chemical compounds used to produce chemical warfare agents) have been identified so far. And there were 1500 gallons of chemicals found in this lab that was evidently set up sometime after the U.S. invasion in 2003.

This should be a pretty good indication of the indiscriminate nature of the terrorists' murderous campaign. You can't be very specific about who, or what for that matter, you kill when you undertake chemical warfare. They just want to kill.

Data mining

Hiawatha Bray at The Boston Globe makes a pretty darn good case for the use of data mining in the war on terrorists.

Data mining has too much promise for us to NOT use it against terrorism. After all, it is already being used by various retailers for marketing purposes. Why are we not using it against terrorists?

A technology that may have helped spot Atta and other terrorists is being suppressed by Congress, for no particularly good reason.

That technology is ''data mining," the use of sophisticated software and powerful computers to spot patterns of activity hidden in vast amounts of apparently random data. It's used routinely by businesses seeking new ways to empty our wallets.

When you swipe one of those discount cards at the supermarket, you're letting the retailer make a record of everything you buy. Thus the store develops a profile of its customers' tastes and buying habits. Mining this data can reveal patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed.

For instance, purchases of bottled water may increase whenever there's a sale on sirloin steak. Data mining uncovers thousands of these nearly invisible correlations, and marketing wizards use the results to maximize the store's profits.

But data mining can also be used to spot interesting patterns in other kinds of data. Just by crunching credit card numbers, you could find out that there's some guy in Chicago who's been buying an awful lot of fertilizer -- the kind that can be turned into truck bombs. Or someone in New York who does a lot of travel to exotic foreign locales, and who also signs up for courses on how to fly jumbo jets.

And, yes, it could be abused. And our privacy could be greatly diminished. But well-crafted laws could restrict it's use against law-abiding citizens while making the techniques available to better ensure our security.

Isn't that a worthwhile reason?

[Hat tip to Jack Kelly.]

Heritage Quote

"The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty, by allowing them a direct representation in the Senate, and leaves in their possession certain exclusive and very important portions of sovereign power. This fully corresponds, in every rational import of the terms, with the idea of a federal government."

-- Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 9, 1787)

Good news (Iraq)

Deroy Murdock, at National Review Online reports on more good news from Iraq. Here's a taste:

As Saddam Hussein relaxed in his palaces, his subjects in Kamaliya lived without sewers and relied instead on trenches that often overflowed onto the streets. Now, with Coalition assistance, 8,870 of Kamaliya’s homes will receive sewage treatment. Some 600 local workers will be paid to complete this $27 million project. U.S. government-funded projects employed 110,005 Iraqis in early August.

Some 18,000 pupils will study in rehabilitated classrooms when they go back to school in mid-September. According to U.S. and Iraqi officials, 43 more schools were slated for renovation on August 6. So far, 3,211 schools have been refurbished, and another 773 are being repaired.

Iraq’s monthly petroleum exports have grown from $200 million in June 2003 to $2.5 billion last month. This is due both to higher oil prices and to fuel supplies having swelled from 23 percent to 97 percent of official production goals in that period. These key improvements also help explain why Iraq’s GDP increased from a World Bank estimate of $12.1 billion in 2003 to a projected $21.1 billion in 2004.

Go read the rest. It is good stuff . . .

Good economic news

Business Week reports on a report from the Congressional Budget Office that supports the position that our economy is improving. Despite what many folks would have us believe . . . Here's an excerpt (emphasis added):

AUG. 15 5:41 P.M. ET

The federal budget-deficit picture turned brighter Monday as congressional scorekeepers released new estimates showing the level of red ink for the current fiscal year would drop to $331 billion.

The new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which does budget analysis for lawmakers in Washington, gave the latest proof that surging revenues and a steadily growing economy are combining to bring the deficit down from a record $412 billion posted last year. CBO predicts a $314 billion deficit for the budget year starting Oct. 1.

Good news from Iraq, part 33

Another installment of Chrenkoff's Good news from Iraq.

The Sunnis want to be a part of the democratic process for this next election in Iraq:

Sunni preachers have called on Iraq's Sunni Arabs to take part in upcoming elections, signalling a possible new trend towards joining a Shi'ite dominated political process that Sunni insurgents have rejected...

"It is a duty for all those here to take part in the upcoming elections so that we are not politically marginalised," imam Abdul-Sattar al-Jumaili told a crowd of some 600 people in Falluja, a former insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad.

"I call upon you to register your names in Falluja and other cities. You should not feel awkward about voting since you will be helping to remove the occupiers and embarrass those who benefited from the last election," he told a packed mosque.

Many prominent Sunnis have said the January boycott was a mistake since it limited their ability to influence the future shape of the country, now run by a Shi'ite-led government...

A message similar to that in Falluja was delivered at the "mother of all battles" mosque in Baghdad.

"We have to be engaged with our brothers in this country by a calm dialogue," imam Mahmoud al-Sumaida'i told a congregation at Friday prayers in the large shrine.

"Therefore let us all participate in this dialogue in order to rebuild Iraq."

I am so going to miss his bi-weekly reports on what is going right in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Heritage Quote

"We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times."

-- George Washington (letter to Philip Schuyler, 7/15/1777)

Mohammed responds

Mohammed, a native Iraqi who blogs at Iraq the Model, has posted a respectful response to Cindy Sheehan's public grief.

Ma'am, we asked for your nation's help and we asked you to stand with us in our war and your nation's act was (and still is) an act of ultimate courage and unmatched sense of humanity.

Our request is justified, death was our daily bread and a million Iraqi mothers were expecting death to knock on their doors at any second to claim someone from their families.

Your face doesn't look strange to me at all; I see it everyday on endless numbers of Iraqi women who were struck by losses like yours.

Our fellow country men and women were buried alive, cut to pieces and thrown in acid pools and some were fed to the wild dogs while those who were lucky enough ran away to live like strangers and the Iraqi mother was left to grieve one son buried in an unfound grave and another one living far away who she might not get to see again.

He goes on to say:

We live in pain and grief everyday, every hour, every minute; all the horrors of the powers of darkness have been directed at us and I don't know exactly when am I going to feel safe again, maybe in a year, maybe two or even ten; I frankly don't know but I don't want to lose hope and faith.

We are in need for every hand that can offer some help. Please pray for us, I know that God listens to mothers' prayers and I call all the women on earth to pray with you for peace in this world.

Your son sacrificed his life for a very noble cause…No, he sacrificed himself for the most precious value in this existence; that is freedom.

And he should know -- he's lived in Iraq his whole life. His post, in its entirety, is well worth reading.

Cindy Sheehan can rest assured that her son died in a noble endeavor to free an oppressed people. May God give her peace.

FSO in Afghanistan

One of our civil servants currently working in Afghanistan, has an interesting guest post up at Chrenkoff's blog. Here's a taste:

We doubt that we will have any lessening of our rules until at least after the September 18 election. As we approach the final weeks before Afghanistan's parliamentary election, Islamic terrorists are doing all they can to disrupt it and to kill as many innocents as they can. Today, for instance, they blew up a bomb in a women's market. Brave folks these terrorists.

These are the same type of terror bombings taking place in Iraq, most of which are aimed at police stations, schools or election organizations. A question for each of you; Do you remember before the 2003 war a number of western peace activists took up positions in front of Iraqi industrial and military locations in order to prevent the US from bombing them. How many "peace" activists have you seen take up posts in front of election locations, schools or mosques in Iraq or Afghanistan the last two years, locations that symbolize democracy and freedom? Locations that are targeted by Islamic terrorists, crueler and more deadly that the KKK.

So the question must be asked, if "peace activists" are really concerned with peace and freedom why won't they stand in front of these very real facilities of freedom? Perhaps you can ask if you bump into one of them at a "peace" rally back in the States.

I know we could use some folks in addition to the soldiers and Marines who now lay their life on the line each day to protect democratic institutions here and in Iraq.

It is worth reading the whole thing.

'Over There' is not

Michael Fumento was imbedded with our troops in Iraq. He has posted his review of Bochco's television series "Over There".

Heritage Quote

"Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives."

-- John Adams (letter to Benjamin Rush, 18 April 1808)

What are terrorists really saying?

Victor Davis Hanson has some pointed things to say about our lack of focus in dealing with radical Islamists. Or maybe we just don't take it seriously enough (though the first time an innocent was murdered in the name of Islam should have rivetted our attention).

Here's a taste:

Throughout this war we have an understandable, if ethnocentric, habit of ignoring what our enemies actually say. Instead we chatter on, don't listen, and in self-absorbed fashion impart our own motives for their hatred. We live on the principles of the Enlightenment and so worship our god Reason, thus assuming that even our adversaries accept such rational protocols as their own.

So they talk on and on of beheading, suicide bombing, another holocaust, and blowing thousands of us up, while we snooze, now and again waking in the midst of a war to regurgitate Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, flushed Korans, the abusive Patriot Act, and the latest quip of Donald Rumsfeld.

Recommended reading.

The people

Jonah Goldberg at National Review Online has a pretty interesting take on polls and the people.

It’s very rare to hear a politician with public opinion on his side say, “I don’t believe in polls.” It’s only when the public disagrees with him that a pol will say polls “don’t mean anything.” This is especially true during elections. A candidate down in the polls will either dismiss polls as “meaningless” or cite some minor finding — a huge surge among diabetics named Todd — as proof of underlying momentum. But once the polls — or even a show of hands at the local Jiffy Lube — favor him, suddenly the polls are divine.

He does a good job of mingling humor with some astute observations. Recommended.

Surrender to terrorism

I certainly hope that this op-ed about our future struggles against terrorism is wrong. Unfortunately, there is enough in this piece to give me pause.

Profiling

Dorothy Rabinowitz makes a good case for using profiling to help make us safer from murderous terrorists. She also puts the ACLU squarely in the terrorists' camp.

Read about it in the extended entry.

The ACLU thinks cops are a bigger threat than terrorists.


BY DOROTHY RABINOWITZ

Thursday, August 11, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

"Blood must flow. There must be widows, there must be orphans."--jihadist Fayiz Azzam addressing a gathering in Atlanta, 1990

"We conquer the land of the infidels, and we spread Islam by calling the infidels to Allah."--from a speech by Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, outlining the plan for Islamic world rule, at an event sponsored by the Islamic Charity Project International, Detroit, 1991

"He is now extremely anxious when he sees police officers in the subway system."--from a description, by the New York Civil Liberties Union, of one of the complainants who joined its lawsuit against the New York City Police Department, August 2005

---

A solemn handful of plaintiffs surrounded New York Civil Liberties Union head Donna Lieberman last week as she announced the agency's latest lawsuit--this one targeted at new procedures allowing for the random inspection of bags carried onto the subways. This will not come as a surprise--the agency has had an exceptionally busy few years, since 9/11, campaigning against expanding police powers, increased surveillance and other antiterror measures, all of which, the NYCLU and likeminded watchdogs regularly inform us, pose a greater danger than any that might come from the terrorists themselves. How Americans of normal intelligence respond to this reasoning should make entertaining reading someday.

Most of those entering the subways these days are, it seems, unperturbed by the prospect of a bag check, and not a few have made clear their approval of such precautions. Indeed, in its latest war on the security search, the NYCLU has entered on decidedly iffy terrain: one close to home, psychologically, for masses of Americans (and not just those who take city trains and buses), all in a good position to weigh the sort of argument which holds that government security methods are a greater threat to them than terrorism.

It was a war undertaken even as the pictures of the London bombings remain fresh in memory--along, of course, with those of the devoted jihadists, shown (via surveillance cameras) sprinting through that city's transportation system after their attempt at a second strike. Who can forget the faces of this crew, as it rushed furtively about through empty corridors and train cars--a sight that lent a special touch of nightmare immediacy to the picture unfolding in Britain these last weeks. The pictures revealed, as none had before, the scope of the Islamic terrorist apparatus and support groups operating from within--a threat not limited to Britain.

Which is one reason why, in the matter of the subway searches and the lawsuit against New York City and its police commissioner, all the sides to the conflict and what they stand for are perfectly clear to most people. Matters must have seemed even clearer to those who followed the news of the NYCLU's press conference a few days ago, at which the agency announced the legal action and introduced five plaintiffs who had signed on. Among them was a lawyer, quoted above, a traveler so apprehensive about being searched that he took alternative routes: even so he remained, according to the claim, extremely anxious at the sight of police in the subways. A sad case, doubtless. One also wildly at odds with the reactions of most subway travelers, who tend to feel good at the sight of police officers in the subways--the more of them the better, preferably in close proximity.

Good feelings come, to be sure, in all forms. Another of the NYCLU plaintiffs told how, when a member of the police force asked if he could look in his bag, he declared, "Absolutely not"--and walked away. With the other plaintiffs, he declared himself affronted by the police request, the invasion of his privacy, by the threat to personal freedom, not to forget the Constitution. Not everyone gets to go on trips like this with a MetroCard.

---

Taking affront at government security measures in wartime is, of course, a choice available only to a free people, as is the right to cavil ceaselessly about the alleged erosion of our liberties, the dark night of oppression settling on us daily, as the NYCLU has so conspicuously done these last years--though not without echoing choruses from its parent organization, the ACLU, and various crank outposts of the libertarian movement.

Lurking at the center of the current struggle, ostensibly about snooping in bags, violation of constitutional rights and such, is the question of racial profiling--an incendiary issue that has set off a rhetorical war to match. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has declared an ironclad ban on anything smacking of profiling with an eye to any particular ethnicity or race. If we have learned anything, the mayor recently declared, "it's that you can't predict what a terrorist looks like."

To which Howard Safir, former police commissioner in the Giuliani administration, retorted on a "Hardball" interview, "We know what the 19 hijackers looked like on 9/11"--and also, he went on to note, what the London train bombers looked like, what those who bombed the Cole looked like, and more. The current mayor's posture on profiling was, he declared, an exercise in public relations that could never work.

Who, listening to this, would not know at once which of these responses better represented common sense and honesty?

The head of the NYCLU, in turn, charged not only that the random bag searches didn't work but that they were also likely to lead to racial profiling. She explained how this would happen in a statement that would require, of those who read it, the deciphering talents of the Enigma codebreakers: "Although the NYPD claims that they are conducting searches that are purely random, the large number of people entering the transit system and the lack of control over that traffic result in people being selected for search in a discretionary and arbitrary manner, which creates the potential for impermissible racial profiling."

---

Among other lessons of 9/11, we have learned the cost of squeamishness that prevented closer scrutiny of young Arab men entering the country even when their behavior raised suspicions. In an exceptionally powerful series airing on the National Geographic Channel on Aug. 21 and 22, titled "Inside 9/11," an airline ticket-taker recalls being stunned by the strange look on the face of customer Mohamed Atta--particularly the unsettling fury the man exuded. Still, he could not bring himself to raise any alarm: indeed, when he heard later that the plane Atta was on had been one of those that crashed in the terror attacks, the agent felt terrible. Terrible because he had been suspicious of the passenger and thought he could be a terrorist and now the poor man was dead. It was a while before the ticket agent grasped that the man he suspected was, in fact, hijacker-in-chief and pilot of the plane.

As the admirable Tony Blair is now discovering after announcing his determination that "multiculturalist concerns" will not be allowed to impede the struggle to rid his nation of terrorists, a thorny road lies ahead. Islamic civil rights organizations and others immediately warned that the only result of his efforts would be to "alienate" young Muslims. Translation: cause them to become terrorists. In short, the prime minister must accede to blackmail in his dealing with Muslim communities.

Ethnic/racial profiling may not, in fact, work very well as a security strategy--but the frenzy of the attacks it has excited tells more than we may want to know about our post-9/11 condition. Large numbers of citizens of every religion and ethnicity lost their lives in the terrorist attacks. Today, a strategy designed to help ensure that such a calamity will not again occur has been converted to a bizarre race-discrimination issue, subordinated to the concerns and ambitions of politicians. This won't, in the end, do much for the office-seekers and -holders now competing for the honor of delivering the most hysterical denunciations of ethnic and racial profiling. What, after all, can citizens (black and brown among them) think of leaders still prepared to argue that young Arab males receive no more scrutiny than the famous 80-year-old little grandmother--and that the people's security lies in measures clearly the least suited to assuring their safety?

Ms. Rabinowitz is a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board.

[Used with permission from OpinionJournal.com, a web site from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.]

Varifrank and Cindy Sheehan

Varifrank has an excellent and thought-provoking post about the actions of Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, Texas.

He really does a good job of addressing her issues.

I recommend it.

CPL James Wright

.This is a story about a young Marine who lost both of his hands in combat, and yet he wants to make a career out of service in the Marines.

It’s been two months since Wright’s hands were blown off in a fierce firefight in Iraq, and depending on others for help with tasks as basic as brushing his teeth or getting a drink of water has become routine for this elite reconnaissance Marine.

Wright’s arms are still in bandages and he awaits prosthetic replacements. But despite his wounds, Wright sees a bright future ahead.

Thank you, Corporal Wright, for your tremendous sacrifice on my behalf. Godspeed in your recovery and rehabilitation. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

More indications

Notice the date on this report (also reprinted below). We know through other reports that the center of Mohammed Atta's recruiting for the 9/11 attacks was in Germany. It looks like there might be a connection between Saddam's Iraq and the murderous attacks on the WTC and Pentagon after all.

Iraqi Spies Reportedly Arrested in Germany
16 March 2001

Al-Watan al-Arabi (Paris) reports that two Iraqis were arrested in Germany, charged with spying for Baghdad. The arrests came in the wake of reports that Iraq was reorganizing the external branches of its intelligence service and that it had drawn up a plan to strike at US interests around the world through a network of alliances with extremist fundamentalist parties.

The most serious report contained information that Iraq and Osama bin Ladin were working together. German authorities were surprised by the arrest of the two Iraqi agents and the discovery of Iraqi intelligence activities in several German cities. German authorities, acting on CIA recommendations, had been focused on monitoring the activities of Islamic groups linked to bin Ladin. They discovered the two Iraqi agents by chance and uncovered what they considered to be serious indications of cooperation between Iraq and bin Ladin. The matter was considered so important that a special team of CIA and FBI agents was sent to Germany to interrogate the two Iraqi spies.

Is anybody surprised?

Worthy Cause

Please click the link and check out Project Valour IT. It is a new program being organized by Soldier's Angels that will be providing laptops and voice-activated software for wounded soldiers who cannot use their hands/fingers due to their injuries. Go check it out!

Bureaucratic bungling in Iraq

This report by a contractor in Baghdad says a lot about his experiences with the reconstruction effort going on in Iraq. And they're not very good right now.

Since my arrival here in mid-March, we have responded to more than 50 RFP's. Prior to my R&R trip we had not had a single response to any of them. No awards, but no rejections either. Some of these things date all the way back to March and April. This is incomprehensible in view of the parlous state of the Iraqi electric system and the country's water facilities. The lead stories on a number of recent evening news broadcasts have been the calamitous state of water and power facilities in Iraq.

He goes on in much detail about what is going on (or, actually what is NOT going on but should be) with the responsible agencies involved in letting contracts. And then he starts talking about the negative consequences that are likely to result if we don't get busy with the rest of the reconstruction.

I THINK THE U.S. IS STARTING to run out of time to make things happen here. And, I am getting a very distinct feeling that the President is going "wobbly" on what was his most persuasive (even if unpalatable) issue. To wit: the war on terror is going to be a very long and very bitter fight.

This is not good news, obviously. Our bureaucrats need to move out on getting this taken care of and getting Iraq's infrastructure back on its feet.

The other half of 9/11

Edward Morrissey, also known as Captain Ed (who blogs at Captain's Quarters), has an informative article about a terrorist named Mohammed Afroze who was the leader of an Al-Qaeda cell that planned to launch simultaneous attacks on 9/11/2001 against Britain, Australia, and India.

Captain Ed adds some commentary to his article in his blog post of 11 August 2005. He concentrates on the danger that our news media is exposing us to by not telling us the whole story about the depth and breadth of the terrorist threat to this nation and its people.

This continues to make life dangerous for Americans and free people around the world. If the media cannot truly depict the issues surrounding global Islamofascist terror, the ignorance they promote about its goals will result in a collapse of will to keep those goals from becoming reality.

I highly recommend you read both the article and the blog post . Then think about it.

It frightens me to see this happening. We Americans can be so gullible sometimes. And now we're being informed by a bunch of gullible, ignorant, possibly deceptive journalists.

Not a formula for success.

A more virtuous America

David Brooks at the New York Times has an op-ed about how our society is becoming more virtuous. He attributes that, in part, to the efforts of the many social workers, family crisis centers, police and prosecutors who have been more focused on family violence since the early nineties.

But all of these efforts are part of a larger story. The decline in family violence is part of a whole web of positive, mutually reinforcing social trends. To put it in old-fashioned terms, America is becoming more virtuous. Americans today hurt each other less than they did 13 years ago. They are more likely to resist selfish and shortsighted impulses. They are leading more responsible, more organized lives. A result is an improvement in social order across a range of behaviors.

He then goes on to cite statistics showing that things like the consumption of hard liquor, DWI arrests, teenage pregnancy, and abortions are all down. And there are indications that the divorce rate may be dropping, as well. And there's quite a bit more.

You have to register (free) on the site in order to read the article. I found it to be an encouraging column. Recommended.

[Hat tip to Betsy Newmark.]

A case for DDT use

Henry Miller makes a good case for using DDT to control mosquitos.

He's not some lightweight, either. He was head of the FDA's Office of Biotechnology for four years.

I recommend it.

[Hat tip to Betsy Newmark.]

It is up to the Iraqis

Minh-Duc, over at State Of Flux has a good post about the need for Iraqis to take responsibility for their own success.

I have just recently started visiting this blog, and find it interesting reading.

Michael Yon in Mosul

Another informative (and heartstopping) post by Michael Yon. Here's an excerpt:

I walked back through the dark and did the radio interview by cell phone. During such interviews, I get the impression that people at home are losing faith in the effort, though we are winning. But at home they cannot see it, and when I said goodbye that time, I sat in the dark.

Highly recommended.

Good news from Afghanistan, part 15

Arthur Chrenkoff will be hanging up his blogging hat this month in order to take on a new job. He will be sorely missed by many. Here is his latest installment of Afghanistan news. A small excerpt:

Sadly, there simply aren't enough gifted math students in Afghanistan to send abroad to unmake the negative image of their country being perpetrated by the Western media. Focusing almost exclusively on drugs and violence might make for exciting news, but it does great disservice both to the people of Afghanistan, who already have to work under great disadvantages to turn around one of the most impoverished nations on earth, but also to the international public, on whose strong support the Afghans are relying to rebuild their country.

Recommended.

Hiroshima revisited

Thomas Sowell points out that using nuclear bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not the ultimate evil (as some revisionists would have us believe). Here's an excerpt:

What was new about these bombs was the technology, not the morality. More people were killed with ordinary bombs in German cities or in Tokyo. Vastly more people were killed with ordinary bullets and cannon on the Russian front. Morality is about what you do to people, not the technology you use.

I did a lot of research in college about the use of nuclear weapons against Japan. It boiled down to the unshakeable belief by our military and political leaders that the Japanese would fight to the last man, woman, and child. And, after three years of war with the seemingly fanatic Japanese military, our leaders had every reason to believe that. Those two nukes, though horrifyingly destructive, saved hundreds of thousands of lives -- if not millions. And most of those saved lives were Japanese.

I recommend you read the rest.

Evolution and Intelligent Design

I don't know why there is so much criticism of President Bush's statement about teaching intelligent design in schools along with evolution. I have long held the belief that God set up this universe to pretty much operate on its own. And evolution is a part of that. He designed evolution into how this universe operates.

The major difference between the theories of evolution and intelligent design is that evolution leaves the beginning of life and its development to absolutely random chance, and intelligent design attributes the evolution of life to a Creator. Neither of these points can be scientifically proven or disproven at this time, so they both remain theories. I, personally, look forward to finding out first-hand how it was really done from our Creator, Himself.

Anthropologist Peter Wood has written a column on evolution & intelligent design at the National Review Online. Here's a taste:

Under the circumstances, I think the sensible middle ground lies just about where President Bush pointed. If students study biology in school, they need know a good bit about evolution with a small e. Beyond that, it wouldn't hurt them to know about Evolution, Creation (or "Intelligent Design") as well. I don't carry a brief for Michael Behe, the intelligent-design proponent at Lehigh University, or the movement that he has started. But I also don't think science is well served by elevating to the status of unquestionable truth the image of a material universe governed solely by random and otherwise inexplicable events. That's a worldview, not a scientific conclusion, and it has no better claim to our intellectual assent than views that postulate an underlying purpose, meaning, or destination for humanity.

You should go read the rest -- no matter which theory you subscribe to.

Political Negotiation

It looks like our political parties are finally arguing about something important: beer money.

We ARE winning in Iraq

Jack Kelly at Irish Pennants has a good post up that brings some perspective to the debate over Iraq. We really are winning (emphasis added):

Since Wednesday, we've had extensive and lugubrious coverage of the destruction of a single amtrac by a roadside bomb. The death of the 14 Marine reservists from Ohio is indeed a tragedy, but the loss of a single vehicle to mine is no indice, one way or the other, of how the campaign is going. The fact that so much attention is being devoted to the loss of a single vehicle should remind us that overall casualties are low.

He makes several good points. I recommend you read the rest.

Iraqi Democracy

May not be what we expect. At least that is the position taken by Mr. Reuel Marc Gerecht in this guardedly optimistic article at OpinionJournal. Here's how it starts:

Although it appears the Iraqis are going to meet the Aug. 15 deadline for writing a new constitution, we shouldn't worry if they just can't do it "on time." It will certainly be dispiriting to many Iraqis and Americans--particularly in the Pentagon, where the counterinsurgency troop requirements for Iraq and Afghanistan haven't dovetailed well with Donald Rumsfeld's plans for a smaller "transformed" military. All of Washington wants the Iraqis to be more expeditious than our own Founding Fathers, who took years of trial and error to hammer out the mother of all modern constitutions.

Read the whole thing in the extended entry.

God, Man and the Common Weal

A great democratic experiment is taking place in Iraq.


BY REUEL MARC GERECHT

Monday, August 8, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

Although it appears the Iraqis are going to meet the Aug. 15 deadline for writing a new constitution, we shouldn't worry if they just can't do it "on time." It will certainly be dispiriting to many Iraqis and Americans--particularly in the Pentagon, where the counterinsurgency troop requirements for Iraq and Afghanistan haven't dovetailed well with Donald Rumsfeld's plans for a smaller "transformed" military. All of Washington wants the Iraqis to be more expeditious than our own Founding Fathers, who took years of trial and error to hammer out the mother of all modern constitutions.

Yet the Iraqis are where we want them to be: divided on critical matters of politics and faith, but still determined to resolve their differences through a binding written compromise. Their discussions are hot and sometimes intractable because all the parties know these debates matter. Federalism and the political role of Islam--perhaps the two most troublesome subjects--are critical issues throughout the Middle East. No one in Washington should want these debates toned down or curtailed.

---

Many in America may not like the outcome--liberals are already overwhelmingly defining Iraqi democracy's success by whether women's social rights are protected and advanced--but the deliberations foretell what is likely to happen elsewhere in the region as it democratizes. Contrary to so much commentary in the U.S., it is the compromises--the liberal "imperfections"--in Iraq's experiment that may have the most positive repercussions in the Middle East.

Assuming American anxiety, the Sunni insurgency, and jihadist terrorist attacks don't derail the political process--and the violence could only do so by penetrating constantly into Najaf and Karbala, the shrine cities, and the southern Shiite and northern Kurdish heartlands--the new constitution's drafters are likely to produce a document that has a decent chance of gaining the assent of the country's three major communities: the Sunni and Shiite Arabs and the Kurds.

The elders of the Sunni Arab community may still choose to guide their flock over the cliff. The historic Sunni Arab prerogative to rule over deviants (the Shiites) and non-Arabs (the Kurds) should never be underestimated. But the Sunni holy-warrior terrorism and the bloody revanchism of the hardcore Baathists have probably helped to produce a real willingness among a growing number of Arab Sunnis--especially among traditional clerics who fear the spread of the Saudi-born Wahhabi creed in Iraq--to accept democratic government.

Since the spring of 2003, Sunni elders appear to have lost significant ground to younger men, especially to fundamentalists. Islamic militancy, which has been gaining ground in Iraq since at least the early 1990s, inevitably tears at traditional mores and hierarchies. What Saddam Hussein did not destroy, the Sunni insurgency and holy war could well bury--unless Sunni elders continue their reluctant embrace of Iraq's elected Shiite-led government and the drafting of a new constitution.

Many Sunni Arabs want to believe they are the most numerous community in Iraq; most probably fear that they may well be the smallest of the three major communities. Fortunately, the Jan. 30 national elections showed clearly the pivotal power the Sunnis could have yielded in a national government if they'd voted en masse.

The odds are still very good that most of Iraq's Sunni Arabs don't want civil war. Historically ferocious advocates of a highly centralized state, Sunni Arabs, as they come to terms with their reduced prestige and power, are likely to embrace federalism, a non-negotiable principle for the Kurds, especially if the Shiites and Kurds design a system that divides the country's oil wealth equitably. (Most of Iraq's energy resources lie in the Kurdish-dominated North and the Shiite South). Led by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the traditional Shiite clergy has been remarkably forbearing in demanding the return of Shiite mosques given to Sunnis by Saddam. As mosques have gone, so likely will go oil.

The fate of Baghdad--mythically a Sunni town that is in fact majority Shiite--may complicate federalist sentiments. In doing so, however, it also healthily binds together the two communities, especially their more secularized elites. Continued and growing participation of the Sunni Arabs, however, may not grant Washington any surcease to suicide bombers. The Sunni elite is increasingly participating in part precisely because it has limited and diminishing influence over the young Iraqi men who fight alongside, and aid and abet, foreign holy warriors. But this cooperation should be enough to keep the Kurds and the Shiites from taking large-scale revenge on the once-dominant community. As long as revenge killings remain small-scale, the constitutional process will likely roll forward and over the Sunni Arabs who want to make compromise and cooperation tantamount to communal suicide.

It isn't clear yet how much federalism the Shiites, in particular the traditional Shiite clergy led by Ayatollah Sistani, are willing to swallow to avoid the possibility of an irreparable break with the Kurds, who will not cede much of the independence they've gained in the last 10 years. Ayatollah Sistani and other senior clerics strongly disliked the Transitional Administrative Law's article 61(c), which gave veto authority to any three Iraqi provinces where two-thirds of the people vote against the approval of a constitution. This article was the handiwork of the Kurds, although it also guarantees Arab Sunnis, assuming they vote as a bloc, the ability to reject any basic law.

As a community, the Shiites are well aware of how much the Kurds endured under Saddam (though they usually mention Kurdish suffering after they mention their own). Arabism, the intellectual engine behind Baghdad's recurring savagery towards the Kurds, is quiescent, if not dead, among Iraq's Shiites, since Sunni pan-Arabism was also used as a vehicle to deny Shiites their separate identity. However, Iraq's Shiite Arabs, especially their divines, have usually been pretty staunch nationalists. And the healthy marriage of federalism to democracy is often hard for the Shiites to appreciate, since it can easily be seen as a means to cheat them, once again, of the pre-eminence they should have had since the foundation of the Iraqi state in 1921.

However, the Shiite community isn't monolithic: The Shiite South has always maintained a certain distance from the traditional clergy in Najaf and the merchant elite of Baghdad. Sitting atop so much oil, and impoverished by Sunni Baathist Baghdad for decades, federalism has greater appeal in the South. Substantial checks and balances exist within the Shiite community on virtually every sensitive subject--nationalism, federalism, oil-wealth distribution, anti-Americanism, relations with Iran, political Islam, and theocracy. These differences will only grow as the Iraqi Shiite community matures politically and economically. Irrespective of the compromises demanded by the Kurds and Sunni Arabs, these internal Shiite differences are now likely sufficient to ensure that the political center will hold among the Shiites, the sine qua non for progress in Iraq.

This center may, however, be comfortable with a marriage of Islam and politics that many Americans fear and loathe. Indeed, a powerful bond between the Sunni and Shiite Arabs may likely be an increased stress on their common cultural and religious traditions. Many Kurds, too, may not find this as upsetting as many Western commentators believe.

Sharia or Islamic family law, probably the most resilient aspect of the Holy Law since it culturally underpins the highly stable Muslim home, may make some comeback in Iraqi law and in the new constitution. In all probability, this process will not be a Trojan horse, allowing for the subversion of democracy itself. As long as women have the right to vote and the Iraqi Parliament remains the supreme chamber for political debate--and neither is seriously in question--then the inclusion of some aspects of Islamic family law into Iraq's civil code may well reinforce democracy's chances. Iraq's nascent representative system, blessed by both Shiite and Sunni legal scholars, will gradually and inevitably open for public debate all aspects of the Holy Law and its proper place in a democratic society. The key is to begin the evolution by pulling mainstream clerics into the discussion. Americans of a feminist disposition should realize that equal rights between the sexes is not a precondition for the growth of democracy. If this were so, Western democracy never would have developed.

The secularization of religious discussions in Iraq is already very far advanced--just compare the Iraqi clerical discussion of constitutional government at the time of Iran's 1905-1911 Constitutional Revolution with the debate today and you will quickly see how successfully Western ideas, first and foremost democracy, have redefined or submerged older Islamic ideals hostile to representative government. The democratic government Iraqis are trying to build will have much more real-world appeal and traction in today's Middle East than the very liberal democracy that many Americans in the occupation's Coalition Provisional Authority and in Washington wanted to build in 2003.

---

We should not want to curtail or stage-manage these great debates. Only by having them will the Iraqis muster the support to pass a constitution by the required referendum. If Mr. Rumsfeld thinks the current constitutional debates are too protracted and unhelpful, he should wait for the Sunni, Shiite, or Kurdish communities to veto a draft constitution. The success or failure of the Iraqi democratic experiment will be evident in the coming months. The intersection of God, man, and the common weal are not easy things to figure out, and the Iraqis are doing far better than anyone really had the right to hope.

Mr. Gerecht is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

[Used with permission from OpinionJournal.com, a web site from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.]

Presidential vacations

Michael Barone, senior writer for U.S. News & World Report, has a post up about why it is okay for our presidents to take vacations.

A Fitting Tribute

Callimachus, at Done With Mirrors posted a fitting tribute to Steven Vincent, a freelance journalist who was kidnapped and murdered in Basra last week.

The post also points out some scary things that are going on in parts of Iraq that do not bode well for a free democracy.

Broken promise

Brent Bozell calls it like he sees it about the manistream media's "neutral" reporting. Here's a taste.

You already know the media's response to the criticism: It's not their job to lead the cheers but to "tell the truth." That "truth," in their eyes, is the war was an unjustified, costly and ill-planned quagmire. Our news media can proclaim it is not their job to help President Bush win the war on terrorists in Iraq. But their job ought to be to cover all of Iraq, and not just show the American people a stilted nightly horror movie, a dinner plate of Terrorist Helper.

I can't say that I disagree . . .

Insurgents = Chickens

We hear the question all the time: How can those insurgents kill their own people — women and children, innocent lives — in the name of some cause?

The answer is surprisingly simple: Insurgents are chickens.

Here's the link.

Beyond Kyoto

James Glassman has an opinion piece up at Teck Central Station about the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate pact that was made late last month. He outlines how this one is much better than the Kyoto agreement:

First, it breaks the climate-change deadlock. This is the agreement that responsible scientists and public officials have been seeking since the failure of the Kyoto Protocol became evident at the global warming conclave in Delhi two years ago. Call it "Beyond Kyoto" - Way Beyond Kyoto.

Second, the new deal was negotiated and settled without the involvement of the United Nations or the European Union - a clear message from the United States that multilateralism does not have a single definition. In fact, according to The Guardian newspaper, the agreement - called the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate -- was kept secret by President Bush from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an uncompromising champion of Kyoto, during last month's G8 meeting" in Scotland.

Third, the agreement comprises countries that account for 45% of the world's population and about half the world's economic output and greenhouse gas emissions, mainly carbon dioxide, implicated in raising surface temperatures. More Asian countries may soon join the pact.

Fourth and most important, it takes a pro-growth approach to combating the possibility of global warming in the century ahead. The new Beyond Kyoto agreement focuses on innovative technology as the antidote, not only to carbon-dioxide emissions but also to dirty air and economic deprivation. The very first statement in the pact is: "Development and poverty eradication are urgent and overriding goals internationally."

That's a stark contrast with Kyoto's preference for hard CO2 targets, met through government directives, to reduce energy use. Development is an afterthought.

And he says quite a bit more. It is well worth reading!

Bombers' rights

Jonah Goldberg has a good opinion article up at townhall.com about bombers' (terrorists') rights. He starts with this:

When Ramzi Mohammed, one of the failed bombers in the second wave of attacks on London, was surrounded by representatives of the decadent, infidel West, he didn't shriek, "Allahu Akbar!" and throw himself at his captors in a suicidal lunge for martyrdom. No, instead he whined, "I have rights! I have rights!"

I was willing to bet we'd be arguing about this odd plea for weeks. One side would complain, "Can you believe the chutzpah?" The other side would applaud how even alienated Islamic youth have learned to respect the majesty of our criminal justice system.

And he ends up drawing a parallel between modern day terrorism and Third World Marxism. It's worth the read.

Fiscal responsibility . . .

. . . is something we don't seem to have in Washington, D.C.

Jeff Jacoby has an op-ed at Boston.com entitled The Republican Pork Barrel, but after looking at some of the specifics -- like who (and how many) voted for the bill, and whose states benefitted from the imbedded pork -- it seems to be more of a bi-partisan pork barrel.

AT $286.4 BILLION, the highway bill just passed by Congress is the most expensive public works legislation in US history. In addition to funding the interstate highway system and other federal transportation programs, it sets a new record for pork-barrel spending, earmarking $24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land. The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long -- wasn't made public until just before it was brought to a vote, and so, as The New York Times noted, ''it is safe to bet that none of the lawmakers, not even the main authors, had read the entire package."

That didn't stop them from voting for it. It passed 412 to 8 in the House, 91 to 4 in the Senate.

It's worth the read -- if only to see how truly wasteful our congressional representatives are.

Monday in Mosul

Michael Yon has another post about operations in Mosul:

Near the edge of the base, a mushroom cloud was drifting away, and more black smoke began rising; a fire was born. The explosion had not been a nearby rocket, but a car bomb. The blast killed at least four Iraqi Policemen, and at least five civilians, including a 12 year-old kid, practically on our doorstep. The terrorists had attacked an Iraqi humanitarian convoy hauling assistance from Baghdad to Tal Afar, near the Syrian border. Such is daily life here, where progress is measured while the flesh and blood of the newly dead dries on the pavement.

It's well-worth reading. Yon gives well-balanced reports about what is going on over there.

27 years ago . . .

. . . today, I married the most wonderful woman in the world. We were pretty young then, so I did not fully realize how tremendously/miraculously/amazingly/awesomely God would bless me through my Lovely Lady. After all of these years, she is more beautiful than ever -- inside and out. She is a generous lady, good daughter, dedicated teacher, devoted mom, loving wife, and incredible friend.

And she still loves me (*amazement*)! As I do her.

In fact, I just adore her.

How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes are doves.
Song of Songs 1:15 (NIV)

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!

Cowards

Mathias Doepfner, a German, wrote this condemnation of European leadership for The Australian. He starts like this:

THE writer Henryk Broder recently issued a withering indictment: Europe, your family name is appeasement. That phrase resonates because it is so terribly true.

It makes for an interesting read.

Snubbery

Wes Pruden has a subtly scathing op-ed about the "back door" appointment of our new U.N. Ambassador, John Bolton. Here's how it starts:

John Bolton flew off to New York yesterday to take up his new job as the tough-guy ambassador nearly everybody agrees we need at the United Nations, and the geezers rocking on the front porch of the Senate Rest Home, waiting for the embalmer and stewing in the bitter juices of their own frustration, couldn't think of a single new thing to say.

And the rest is priceless. Definitely a keeper . . .

Not smart

When are these fools going to figure out that you should never pay terrorists a ransom?

Radical Islamists 101

The Christian Science Monitor has an article about how radical Islamists see the world. It makes for some interesting reading.

Postcard from Iraq

Chrenkoff got a note from his Iraqi friend.

I've reprinted it in the extended entry.

A postcard from the southern Iraq courtesy of our regular correspondent Haider Ajina's father, who has just returned from his second trip to Nejaf, Karbala and Kufah were he spent a week:

He told me that he has been honored by being appointed as chief consultant and administrator of the provincial reconstruction of Nejaf province. He said he would be starting this position within a week or two. He also said that he would be moving to Nejaf from Baghdad.

I asked him how were things in Nejaf? He said there has been a remarkable change in the southern provinces. In Nejaf, Karbala & Kufah people are walking the streets at night and early morning (since temperatures exceed 125 Fahrenheit during the hot hours of the day). People are picnicking along the river in Kufah in the late afternoon. He has not seen any military patrols in the streets for the week he was there, only police patrol. It seems the military (Iraqi & Coalition forces) have pulled out of the towns. There was no gunfire at night or any other time and very low crime. Power was on, water was on etc, there is a lot of work for every one, no one is complaining about the money they are making. There is open political discussion in the cafes etc. He says people have a sense of ownership in their cities their livelihood and business is booming because of strong security, strong and fast reconstruction. He said it was better than Baghdad, were because of terrorist attacks power & water gets cut off and reconstruction is not as fast as in the southern provinces.

I wanted to share this personal good news with you, and for you to read a side of what is happening in Iraq that very few hear or read about. This is happening because of our efforts and commitments to Iraq and the Iraqis, our sacrifices, our training of Iraqis and our know how in rebuilding and developing infra structure. The Iraqis themselves have also stepped up to the plate and taken charge of the freedom we presented them, for which they are grateful. Once again to all the men and women who have served and serving in Iraq, to all the families of those who have paid the ultimate price to all those who have suffered during their service in Iraq, my family's and my deepest thanks, gratitude and pride both from the U.S. and Iraq for all the sacrifices, endurance and service for our great country and Iraq and the Iraqis.

Bad apples

Not-so-good news from Iraq. It seems that there are some lowlife persons in a California National Guard unit deployed to Iraq.

A company of the California Army National Guard has been put on restricted duty and its battalion plunged into disarray amid allegations that battalion members mistreated detainees in Iraq and extorted money from shopkeepers, according to military officials and members of the unit.

You need to register with the LA Times to read the rest. If these allegations are true, these guys need to be punished. Big time.

A day at a time

Another glimpse of what's going on in Iraq, through the blog of Smith, an American at Heart.

[Hat tip to Callimachus.]

Sowellisms too

Another installment of -- Thomas Sowell: Random Thoughts

Article VI, Clause 3

Somebody needs to get a copy of the U.S. Constitution to Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne. Here is his conclusion in this ill-conceived op-ed.

But if religion is to play a serious role in politics, believers have to accept the obligation to explain themselves publicly. That's why it would be helpful if Roberts gave an account of how (and whether) his religious convictions would affect his decisions as a justice. President Bush has spoken about the political implications of his faith. His nominee should not be afraid to do the same.

And here is what our Constitution says:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

[Hat tip to Ed Morrissey at the Captain's Quarters.]

Now you're talkin'

Here's some, perhaps surprising, news about a few celebrities who are doing advertisements urging the elimination of farm subsidies.

Late last year, in hotel rooms and photo studios in Los Angeles, New York and London, a group of celebrities agreed to get doused with buckets of coffee, milk, cocoa and sugar. It was messy, sticky and sometimes smelly, but it was all in the name of easing world poverty.

The photo shoots were organized by the nonprofit advocacy group Oxfam America as part of an ad campaign to raise awareness of what they say is the unfair nature of agricultural subsidies. The campaign urges wealthy nations like the United States and European countries to stop dumping agricultural products onto the world market, which Oxfam argues makes it impossible for farmers in poor countries to compete.

The celebrities who agreed to be dumped on - the actors Minnie Driver, Colin Firth and Antonio Banderas; U2's lead singer, Bono; Coldplay's lead singer, Chris Martin; R.E.M.'s lead singer, Michael Stipe; Alanis Morrissette; and Radiohead's lead singer, Thom Yorke - say they donated their time for the campaign because they believe it is important to level the playing field for developing nations.

"People think more aid will help, but it won't," said Ms. Driver, an actress who is working on her second music CD. "Trade is the surest way of decreasing the savage amount of poverty in our world. These countries have got to be able to trade fairly."

At least some celebs are starting to think things through. Bush figured it out a while ago.

Now, if only more people (here and abroad) will pay attention and act, we will be on our way toward helping to eliminate a great deal of the suffering going on in Africa.

Willie Jude -- retiring principal

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal's online edition, JSOnline, has a good article about a retiring principal named Willie Jude. He has some interesting insights, like:

You show me a youngster who is being successful in school, I’ll show you a household where someone is spending time with that youngster.

I recommend you go and read the rest.

Steps in the right direction

Judith A. Klinghoffer, guestblogging at AndrewSullivan.com, has listed signs of progress amongst moderate Muslims.

It is something that is desperately needed.

[Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.]

Profiling

David Galernter, on the L.A. Times website: You object to profiling? Fuhgedaboutit

Charles Krauthammer, on the washingtonpost.com website: Give Grandma a Pass

Chrenkoff's Good News from Iraq, Part 32

Chrenkoff's latest good news from Iraq. Here's an excerpt:

Sunni leaders, meanwhile, are calling for their people not to repeat the mistake of boycotting the election:

Some 300 leaders of Iraq's alienated Sunni Arab former elite called Thursday [14 July] for participation in the next elections, due in December, after a boycott of January polls left the community largely unrepresented in parliament.

"I'm calling on my brothers ... to participate in the political process," Adnan al-Dulaimi, spokesman for the General Conference of Sunnis, told participants at a Baghdad meeting.

His comments were echoed by Sheikh Ibrahim al-Nima, a leading Sunni cleric from the main northern city of Mosul.

"We can blame ourselves from staying away at the last elections. It was a big mistake," he said.

"Participating (in the next elections) means we shall exist. If we don't participate there will be no existence for us."

A leader of the hardline Salafist movement, Sheikh Zakaria Mohi Issa al-Timimi, also endorsed taking part.

"We will be very active in our participation in the elections in order to mitigate the damage inflicted on Sunnis today," he said.

You should read the rest.

Karen Hughes' new job

Anne Applebaum discusses Karen Hughes' new job. It isn't going to be easy . . .

Moderate Muslims Unite

Sarah, over at trying to grok, has posted about the need for moderate Muslims to stand up against terrorism. Here's a snippet:

Where are the moderate Muslim groups? I keep hearing how Muslims are afraid of being branded as extremists, how not all Muslims are terrorists, how Muslims fear for their lives because of the actions of a few...but where are the moderate Muslim voices to stand up and say enough is enough?

I couldn't agree with her more.

On Marriage -- sort of

Ed Morrissey, who blogs at The Captain's Quarters has an op-ed up at The Daily Standard website entitled Exit Strategies. It's about commitment. Here's a taste:

It's no coincidence that marriage continues to struggle as a social structure in an age that devalues commitment and looks for exit strategies regardless of the endeavor.

It's not just about commitment in marrige, though, so you should go and read the rest.

Veteran soldiers - new citizens

Michael Yon has a nice post about 12 soldiers from the Deuce-Four who were just made U.S. citizens.

Talk about earning the right of citizenship! I recommend you go read it.