Tag: national security

Standing strong

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London:

This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.

That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith – it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other. I said yesterday to the International Olympic Committee, that the city of London is the greatest in the world, because everybody lives side by side in harmony. Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack. They will stand together in solidarity alongside those who have been injured and those who have been bereaved and that is why I’m proud to be the mayor of that city.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed and wounded in London.

Staying the course

Perhaps before she shows precisely how much she’s gone off the deep end, Helen Thomas should actually talk with the families and loved ones of servicemen killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Crystal Owen:

“I know people are pushing you, but please don’t pull the guys out of Iraq too soon. Don’t let my husband — and 1,700-plus other deaths — be in vain. They were over there, fighting for a democratic nation, and I hope you’ll keep our service members over there until the mission can be accomplished.”
Mrs. Owen’s husband, Staff Sgt. Mike Owen, was killed in Iraq last year. She was part of the military family meeting with President Bush prior to his speech at Fort Bragg last Tuesday. She spoke the above words to the President, and gave him a blue bracelet with the name of her husband and another soldier on it. The President was wearing this bracelet during his speech.
I suppose we should be thankful that at least Ms. Thomas is now honestly editorializing in the open, given how she did so as an official White House “correspondent” for so many years.

Grab a drop cloth and try not to get spattered

Like Jeff, I would like to see the Democratic Party come back to the roots it showed during the days of Truman and Kennedy, with regard to national security. If we can agree, for the most part, on this one area of policy, then all the domestic stuff we quibble over, such as Social Security, Medicare, et al, might get more attention.

Because I love our two-party system and I respect the members and leaders of the Democratic Party, I offer them this piece of advice at absolutely no charge: When you guys stand so close together, it’s easy to paint you all with the same brush. If you don’t like being accused of being weak on terrorism or of not being serious about the war — and based on your reactions to Karl Rove’s speech last week, it’s clear that you don’t — then take a cue from Senator Hagel of Nebraska. When somebody from the furthest extents of the far left says something ridiculous, don’t just sit there and let it happen. Stand up behind a podium tell America that that’s not what you stand for, that that’s not what you believe in, that those are not your ideas.

You’ll be better off as a party, and we’ll be better off as a country, if you stop letting groups like Move On speak for you.

Foreign trespassers

Ron Olliff:

‘[I]llegal immigration’ is an oxymoron. If it’s immigration, it is not illegal, and if they are here illegally they are not immigrants, are they?

Maybe it’s time that a more accurate term be coined to describe these people. I’ll start the process — how about ‘foreign trespassers?’
This is now the official term in use at Retrophisch™ Central.

Why we fight

Guy Cannon:

This pretty much says it all.

We have met the enemy, and he is us

So the Toad directed my attention to a rant by Kim du Toit on how the ATF views law-abiding gun owners, in light of quotes from Gerald Nunziato, the former head of ATF’s National Tracing Center. I think it’s pretty clear how this government bureaucracy views gun owners, simply from the name of the agency. After all, we’re just a bunch of beer-swilling, tobacco-chewing or cigarette-smoking rednecks who like to go blow holes in highway signs, aren’t we?

The two doors of the mosque

Muslim activist groups like CAIR wonder why a lot of Americans don’t trust Muslims. Maybe it’s because if everyone knew what was really going on behind the doors of the mosque, no one would trust them.

The same imam who demanded that the men continue in the path of jihad did a complete 180-degree turn in this session, stressing instead the suras that promoted the “brotherhood” between Muslims, Christians and Jews. “After all, we worship the same God, and follow the teachings in the books he gave each of us. We are all the same, we are all People of the Book,” he stressed.

The differences between the sessions were striking. Clearly the second session was a recruiting session.

Were the women aware of what was being taught in the first session? Certainly those women who spoke Arabic should have been.

The reason for concern is obvious: Two different doctrines are being promoted. One peaceful, friendly, warm and fuzzy doctrine is being used to draw people in, with a focus on the well-being of their children.

But the Arabic-speaking sessions clearly have an anti-American tone.

PATRIOT ACT Pop Quiz

Link to a legitimate news story showcasing a civil acts violation in the United States as a result of the PATRIOT ACT. Good luck.

To date, not one court or congressional committee has found evidence of any abuse of the powers under the Patriot Act.

Not one civil action has been filed against the government under Section 223, which allows citizens to seek damages for any willful violations of the Act.

Sergeant Paul Ray Smith, United States Army

Today President Bush posthumous awarded the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Paul Ray Smith of the U.S. Army. Sergeant Smith, in April of 2003, led a counter attack against members of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard who had ambushed Army troops at the Baghdad Airport. His actions saved more than 100 men. Only three Medals of Honor have been awarded since the Vietnam War.
We are grateful for people like Sergeant Smith, and our hearts and prayers go out to his family, especially his children. Were that more of our countrymen of Sergeant Smith’s mind.

Do we have allies or not?

The AP editoralizes:

Italy said Tuesday it will start drawing down its 3,000-strong contingent in Iraq in September, putting a fresh crack in President Bush’s crumbling coalition.
Yet these same left-of-center “reporters” have also spent a considerable amount of “news” space editoralizing that the United States was acting “unilaterally” in Iraq, and echoing the words of Senator Kerry, who said our allies were just “window dressing.”
So which is it? Do we have allies or not? Are they simply “window dressing,” or are they actually participating in combat, supply, and support missions? Make up your minds, “reporters.” You do not get to have it both ways.