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kind, as long as the words are big and the
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The Fight against the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam, according to Newt Gingrich's testimony to the House Select Committee on Intelligence is better called The Long War, than the GWOT. The opening of his statement, alone, is a wake-up call:

I appreciate the opportunity to testify today about the nation’s intelligence system and the absolute imperative for effective ongoing reform.

It is now four years and one month since the 9/11 attack on America.

The comparable date for World War II would have been January 19, 1946. By that point the United States was largely demobilizing its forces after a victorious global war.

During the comparable length of time that we have been responding to the 9/11 attacks on America, the World War II generation of Americans had rebounded from the attack on Pearl Harbor and defeated Germany, Japan and Italy, built a worldwide military and intelligence capability, built the atomic bomb, massed and organized industrial power, and laid the foundation for the worldwide network of alliances that has stabilized the world for the last sixty years.

This difference in energy, intensity, and resolve should worry all of us.

It certainly worries me. This difference is due largley to a failure of leadership. Our leaders' have failed to mobilize the support necessary for fighting the "Long War." They've mis-named it, they refuse to name the enemy and they have bowed to political expediency, and ignored moral certainty. But it's not too late.

Wretchard has more thoughts on Gingrich's testimony, and what it means. The testimony is long but worth it but don't miss the comments at The Belmont Club.

The news from Iran continues to frighten me. My fears are compounded, first by the involvement of the weak and appeasement minded governments in Europe, but more importantly by the Bush Administration's inept handling of our war against Islamic extremists.

Bush's handling of the war has been amateurish, at best. His public statements are too few and far between, and the policy statements coming from the Executive branch are, too often, confusing and inconsistent. It doesn't matter how well our Military's uniformed professionals are running things in Afghanistan and Iraq, the President's inability to inspire the American public is undermining all the good being done. And without American leadership, the world will continue to slip into disastrous conflict.

Europe's "tough stance" in response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments about wiping Israel off the map, is nothing but disingenuous posturing. As an editorial in the Arab News puts it:

Is this the same France that four years ago ignored the comments of its then ambassador in London, Daniel Bernard, who called Israel “that shitty little country”? Is this the same UK that likewise turned a deaf ear? Nor is it the first time an Iranian leader has used such language. Four years ago, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, regarded by the West as a moderate, called for the nuclear annihilation of Israel. The West did not blink an eye. Ever since the 1979 revolution, Iran has been consistently and vehemently anti-Israel. The rest of the world has known it and lived with it. It lived with the knowledge because it also knew that Iran was not in a position to wipe Israel off the map and that the words were mere rhetoric from those who wanted to give their people something other than their failures to think about. The rest of the world too has been happy to live with the knowledge that most Muslims and Arabs would prefer that Israel did not exist. But it does exist. It is a question of accepting reality.

It most certainly is a question of accepting reality. But it's not just the reality of Israel's existence that is at question.

We, in America and the West, need to accept the reality of the Islamist war against us. What Bush has been inept at explaining, is that we are at war whether we admit to that reality of it or not. Islamic extremists have been at war with the United States since, at least, since 1979. We ignored it until September 11, 2001. For a short time we realized the fight we are in. Sadly, too many have forgotten, too many ignore the danger. Far too many think the real threat is from our government. Meanwhile, President Bush, seemingly paralysed, has been unable to get the American public to understand the enemy we face... he's been unable to even identify the enemy.

All this while our enemy is on the verge of obtaining a nuclear arsenal. I can't imagine a much more frightening scenario than Nuclear weapons under the control of people who applaud suicide bombers. At our peril, we continue to ignore it...

Update: 2:30 10/28 It seems Victor Davis Hanson agrees, although I'm not addressing the SCOTUS nomination. Hat Tip: Gail

While researching the post below, I saw a blog post with this linkless quote: Iran’s Ahmadinejad says Israel should be ‘wiped off the map’... So I googled it ... the result?... No Matches.

Meanwhile, a Yahoo search for the same string, gave me 23 matches in the News Search alone, with 612 in the Web Search. What's going on?

The cynical skeptic might think that Google is hiding something... I'm just curious. I'd like to know, "Why the difference?"

"The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world,"

... so says Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran.

"The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land," he said.

"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran's revolutionary leader Ayat Allah Khomeini.
[...]
The Islamic umma (community) will not allow its historic enemy to live in its heartland," he said in the fiery speech that centred on a "historic war between the oppressor and the world of Islam".

We ignore this rhetoric at our own peril.

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I hope it's still there this afternoon. If Steve's report is right, things are scary. Still I understand the mindset and the fun that some are having... I hope they can still have fun tomorrow.

CHRIS TITTEL/The Citizen: Flower Conroy, center, hangs out at 801 Bourbon bar with friends, from left, Vicky Marino, Cissy Bourzikos and 'Dee Dee' Sharp as Hurricane Wilma approaches Key West on Sunday.

The actions of this group headed by former senior British intelligence official Alastair Crooke, are criminal... at least theyshould be. At best they are appeasing terrorists, and once again, proving that terrorism works.

The former Western officials have held two meetings in Lebanon in recent months with senior representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as with the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan. The talks were held under the aegis of London-based private organization Conflicts Forum. The organization is headed by former senior British intelligence official Alastair Crooke, who spent several years negotiating cease-fires with Hamas.

"We need to engage those groups who have legitimacy, and listen to them," said Crooke, who retired as special European Union envoy to the Middle East in 2003, in an interview with the Forward. "Not listening and not talking to them prevents us from having the right analysis and the right tools."

Any dealings with Hizbollah are tantamount to aiding terrorism and giving comfort to those who have declared us the enemy.

Participating in the efforts to legitimize Hamas and Hizbollah:

Milton Bearden, a storied former CIA operative who coordinated American support for Afghan Mujahedins against the Soviets in the 1980s...[snip]...In addition to Bearden, the American participants at the first meeting in March were Graham Fuller, former CIA official; Geoffrey Aronson of the Foundation for Middle East Peace; Robert Muller, president and board chairman of Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation; Marc Perry, longtime adviser to Palestinians with the lobbying firm Jefferson Waterman International, and Fred Hoff, a Washington lawyer involved in the drafting of the Mitchell report. On the British side were Beverley Milton-Edwards, assistant director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnic Conflict at Queen's University, Belfast, and Ismail Patel, head of friends at the British nongovernmental organization, Friends of Al Aqsa. Also in attendance was Jamal Khashoggi, adviser to then-Saudi ambassador to Britain Turki al Faisal. (Turki has since been appointed Saudi ambassador to Washington, and Khashoggi moved with him a few weeks ago.)

"Thank you all, thanks. It's my honor to welcome the democratically elected leader of the Palestinian Authority to the White House for the second time this year."

... and it went downhill from there.... The bull shit continues:

President Abbas is a man devoted to peace...

the Palestinian Authority contributed to the success of the withdrawal [of Gaza] in significant ways...

those armed gangs must confront the threat that armed gangs pose to lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. [WTF does that mean?]

your commitment to what you have called one authority, one law, and one gun...

It's important that we make quick progress on the issues that Jim has identified as most critical for the Palestinian economy [terror], including opening the Rafah crossing, connecting the West Bank in Gaza, improving the ability of Palestinians to travel in the West Bank, and beginning work on the Gaza seaport.

Then from Abbas:

the establishment of a permanent link between Gaza and the West Bank.

we must immediately start implementing what the road map and the Sharm el-Sheikh agreements regarding the cessation of settlement activities and construction of the wall in the West Bank, particularly in Jerusalem.

withdrawal of the Israeli forces to positions prior to September 28, 2000

the removal of the roadblocks, which, unfortunately, turned the lives of Palestinians into hardship, suffering, humiliation.

also a very important sensitive issue, which is the release of prisoners of freedom from Israeli jails.

the establishment of an independent, democratic Palestinian state, on all the territories occupied in 1967.

Peace requires a departure from the policies of occupation and the adoption of the principle of freedom. Peace requires departure from the policies of settlements construction, the collective punishment, unilateral acts that undermine your vision toward two states and replace that with progress towards negotiations. Peace and security cannot be guaranteed by the construction of walls, by the erection of checkpoints, and the confiscation of land, but rather by the recognition of rights.

I don't find many positives to take from this.

Simply put, the lesson Bush is reinforcing is: Terrorism works.

This is a pretty offensive headline to me: Bush Praises Abbas in White House Visit.

But Bush said he was a "heck of a lot more confident" of peace prospects than when he first took office five years ago.

Why, then, do I have so much less confidence in the President's ability and willingness to speak the truth to the PLO?

The roadblocks, imposed by Israel in response to deadly terror attacks, "unfortunately turned the lives of Palestinians into hardship, suffering, humiliation," Abbas said, calling them "a very sensitive issue."

How about stopping the MURDER, as the PLO is OBLIGED to do under the Road Map… not to mention the morally correct action to take.

It's about time we hold the PLO to the same standards of behavior as Israel. Allowing the PLO and the Arabs to get away with murder... LITERALLY... while at the same time forcing Israel into damaging concessions is simply WRONG.

The PLO deserves NOTHING from the US, not from Israel nor from anyone else in the world either. Whenever they’ve been given any sort of gift they’ve responded by kicking the giver right in the nuts. Let them stop the incitement in their schools… and especially STOP the MURDER... then, maybe we can start talking about their needs. But as long as they continue to self-destruct, we have no interest in keeping them from doing it, and no responsibility for helping them.

Abbas is heading back to Washington to meet with the President. Our national papers are strangely silent about the visit.

The President is not likely to give Abbas the message he and the PLO deserve. He's not at all likely to pressure him to clamp down on the violence. Abbas is hoping to get the President's help in reinvigorating the Road Map, and the President ought to tell the PLO to live up to its initial obligations under the road map. The President ought to make it perfectly clear that the obligations of the palestinians MUST be met BEFORE any other steps are taken. The Road Map outlines SEQUENTIAL steps not concurrent steps.

The President ought to explain in simple words why Israel doesn't trust the PLO, why he doesn't trust them and why it is ESSENTIAL that they take some confidence building steps. But he won't.

He's likely to appease Abbas by offering to pressure Israel into further concessions. Sadly his "leadership" is likely to cause the killing of more Israelis as he continues to demonstrate that terror works... despite the tough rhetoric. His message of a couple of weeks ago will likely prove to be just more empty words, nothing more than insincere platitudes. Meanwhile the Arabs will continue to deny their obligations and will continue to make more outlandish demands, all the while continuing their war against Israel.

How many more will die?

Dealing with Life... Back Soon
yjdk

If you're fasting, may it be an easy one... Back on Friday.

"In da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth."

So begins the translation of the Bible into Text Messagese done by the Bible Society in Australia. Why?

Yasser Arafat, Jimmy Carter, and now Mohamed ElBaradei

Arafat? For refusing peace with Israel and fighting and killing Jews until his death.
Carter? For enabling North Korea to develop nuclear weapons.
Elbaredei? For supporting Saddam and the Ayatollahs and Abdul Qadeer Khan encouraging proliferation of nuclear weapons... Quite the recent track record.

The Nobel Peace Prize, at least the committe responsible for awarding it, has no sense of morality and an extremely warped set of peaceful ideals. It's disgusting, offensive and insulting.

Meryl has more.

I didn't see the speech, but I've read it. It reads well. The case is well made. Yet I have no confidence that he'll follow through. Unlike his speech in September of 2001, I am un-inspired, tainted with scepticism born of the unfulfilled promise of his earlier words.

We'll see... at least it's heartening to read.

...Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant Jihadism; still others, Islamo-fascism. Whatever it's called, this ideology is very different from the religion of Islam. This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision: the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom. These extremists distort the idea of jihad into a call for terrorist murder against Christians and Jews and Hindus -- and also against Muslims from other traditions, who they regard as heretics.
[...]
We know the vision of the radicals because they've openly stated it -- in videos, and audiotapes, and letters, and declarations, and websites. First, these extremists want to end American and Western influence in the broader Middle East, because we stand for democracy and peace, and stand in the way of their ambitions. Al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, has called on Muslims to dedicate, quote, their "resources, sons and money to driving the infidels out of their lands." Their tactic to meet this goal has been consistent for a quarter-century: They hit us, and expect us to run. They want us to repeat the sad history of Beirut in 1983, and Mogadishu in 1993 -- only this time on a larger scale, with greater consequences.
[...]
Over the years these extremists have used a litany of excuses for violence -- the Israeli presence on the West Bank, or the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, or the defeat of the Taliban, or the Crusades of a thousand years ago. In fact, we're not facing a set of grievances that can be soothed and addressed. We're facing a radical ideology with inalterable objectives: to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world. No act of ours invited the rage of the killers -- and no concession, bribe, or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder.

On the contrary: They target nations whose behavior they believe they can change through violence. Against such an enemy, there is only one effective response: We will never back down, never give in, and never accept anything less than complete victory.

I pray he means what he says and has the strength and courage to live up to his words.

I've said, over and over, that peace in the Middle East will not have any chance until the Arab States decide to recognize Israel's existence. It looks like we're beginning to see some cracks in the Arab stance.

This time it's Kuwait who is publicly re-evaluating it's position on Israel.

A day later, the prominent Kuwaiti daily Al Seyassa, published by the same company as The Arab Times, published an op-ed column calling for lifting the country's longstanding trade embargo on Israel. "The Israeli withdrawal and a positive Arab response at this particular time would provide a peaceful political process with major momentum that could lead to a historic reconciliation in the Middle East," wrote Yusuf Nasir al-Suwaydan, a Saudi, referring to Israel's recent withdrawal from Gaza. "Normalizing ties with Israel is an important event, and its positive effect will permeate every aspect of the Arab political, economic, cultural and social life."

Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Pakistan have recently softened their stance... Maybe there is hope.

... now for something completely different: Tekiah!