Category: Networks

Check the transcript of a debate between Hitchens and several commies on the liberation of Iraq:

Andrew Marr – And you’re still cast-iron certain, that despite the large numbers of deaths in the post war Iraq, and despite all the problems of putting together that democracy, that we will end up with a much more tolerable, decent and peaceable country?

Christopher Hitchens – Well, it doesn’t take much of a cast-iron certainty, Andrew, to do that because we know that it could not possibly have been worse and that proposition was given a very solid test. I would say that the possibility of defeat of this enterprise exists in Iraq, partly because we left it so long and the country became so beggared and ruined. But it’s not the kind of defeat that it would have been if we’d left it to be deeded to the Uday-Qusay succession and that was the alternative offer that was being made by the peaceniks.

More than that I think Iraq will be remarkable. We’re going to live to see great things. We already have in Lebanon. We’re about to I think in Egypt, with the reopening of the Egyptian democracy. The Ba’ath party in Syria in my judgement will not be there in two years time And there will be extraordinary, are already extraordinary developments in Iran which I have just come back from. And so the essential point of the Blair-Bush policy, which is to change the balance of power in the Middle East, that has already been conclusively vindicated.

Indeed it has been conclusively vindicated, which is more than many of my friends on the Left can bear.

Damage control notwithstanding, the Pepsi chick’s speech did sound vaguely insulting:

What is most crucial to my analogy of the five fingers as the five major continents, is that each of us in the U.S. – the long middle finger – must be careful that when we extend our arm in either a business or political sense, we take pains to assure we are giving a hand … not the finger. Sometimes this is very difficult. Because the U.S. – the middle finger – sticks out so much, we can send the wrong message unintentionally.

Unfortunately, I think this is how the rest of the world looks at the U.S. right now. Not as part of the hand – giving strength and purpose to the rest of the fingers – but, instead, scratching our nose and sending a far different signal.

If America’s such a rotten place, why move here all the way from Madras? That being said, the reaction from Power Line, Hewitt, Malkin, and the rest of the Creationist Right is a bit extreme. High-born South Indian women are taught to be arrogant (Arundhati Roy) and don’t generally realize how others see them. Perhaps that’s the point, that America is like a high-born South Indian woman. I can see that.

George Galloway’s performance art didn’t impress his local paper. The Scotsman has seen it all before:

GEORGE Galloway yesterday failed in his attempt to convince a sceptical US Senate investigative committee that he had not profited from oil dealings with Iraq under the UN’s controversial oil-for-food programme.

Despite a typically barnstorming performance full of bluster and rhetorical flourishes, the former Glasgow Kelvin MP was pinned down by persistent questioning over his business relationship with Fawaz Zureikat, the chairman of the Mariam Appeal – set up to assist a four-year-old Iraqi girl suffering from leukaemia.

And it was a Democrat senator, Carl Levin, rather than the Republican committee chairman, Norm Coleman, who gave him the hardest time as Mr Galloway sought to turn the tables on his inquisitors, leaving him no closer to clearing his name than when he took his seat in front of the sub-committee of the Senate’s homeland security and government affairs committee in Washington.

Time and again, Mr Levin questioned him, requesting wearily that he deliver a straight answer to a straight question. But Mr Galloway could, or would not.

The criminal from Glasgow took to screaming and throwing fits about the liberation of Iraq under questioning about the profits he made from Oil-For-Food. This is old tricks for Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party for urging British soldiers in Iraq to mutiny.

It’s amazing that this fool (recently elected to parliament on a racist campaign) isn’t in prison.

Here’s an excellent gift for voodoo practitioners.

Portland’s Liberal Hawks are going to convene for a little drinking Monday evening at a local watering hole. Contact me if you’d like to come. Guest of honor is just back from Lebanon, and he’s alleged to be armed with stories about the Cedar Revolution.

Which reminds me of something pertinent to Iraq. Remember how the peaceniks used to say “yeah, that Saddam is a Bad Guy, but there’s lots of Bad Guys and we can’t invade ALL their countries, can we?”

It turns out the answer to that question has become apparent from recent happenings in Lebanon as well as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Libya: we don’t have to invade ALL their countries, just enough so that they get the message. But thanks for asking.

Little Green Footballs has discovered the Portland/JTTF story but he’s wrong about the local paper’s position on it. Portland’s full of crazies, Charles, but the Oregonian was right on this issue.

Just to be clear, Portland didn’t withdraw from the JTTF because of any sensitivity to civil liberties or fear of the PATRIOT Act, Tom DeLay, or Jesus. The mayor, Tom Potter, is a former police chief and over-the-top micromanager. The two cops assigned to the JTTF have Top Secret clearance, and Potter doesn’t, so there are certain things they know that he doesn’t. This drives him batty because it makes it impossible for him to micro-manage them. Potter insisted on Top Secret clearance for himself and the FBI said “no”.

So it was simply a matter of petty personal politics, nothing more.

Portland city commissioner Dan Saltzman hasn’t lost his mind. He’s going to vote against Mayor Tom Potter’s welcome mat for terrorists at tonight’s city council meeting:

One can be concerned about the far reach of the USA Patriot Act and still support the Joint Terrorism Task Force. I authored last year’s City Council resolution expressing concern about the Patriot Act and calling on Congress to fix its most disturbing provisions. We must continue to work to ensure that the Patriot Act and the rest of our homeland security laws adequately safeguard the civil liberties that are at the core of our American values. But that effort should not sidetrack critical cooperation among our law enforcement agencies.

A recent trip I took to New York City included paying respect to the innocent victims of 9/11. It was an awkward silence at the 16-acre hole that was the World Trade Center. Among New Yorkers there is a silent, palpable sense of apprehension, a post-traumatic stress for many who were there. It’s difficult to imagine looking a New Yorker in the eye and explaining our rationale for withdrawing from the terror task force. It would feel disrespectful to even attempt to do so. They, more than anyone, understand that barriers to cooperation among law enforcement agencies anywhere place all of us at risk.

President Kennedy spoke in West Berlin during the Cold War and proudly boasted, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” Meaning all free people, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. Wherever we may live, in our resolve to prevent terrorism, all Americans are citizens of New York. As such, we owe ourselves nothing less than to confront terrorism seriously and in collaboration with our partners.

That is what the Joint Terrorism Task Force is all about.

Unfortunately, Saltzman will be the only “no” vote on the mayor’s ill-considered move.

Potter’s opposition to the JTTF has little to do with the Patriot Act, and lots to do with his need to micro-manage every aspect of the police department. The man needs medical attention.

Outside Portland, Oregonians are worried about what Potter’s terrorist magnet will do to them:

But what a symbol this will be: If the vote goes as expected, Portland would become the first U.S. city to pull out of one of the FBI’s 100 or so task forces. The discussions have already drawn national attention, including a story in The New York Times and a recent editorial — opposing the city’s decision — in the Wall Street Journal.

“It sends a terrible message to federal officials, but also to the rest of the state,” said U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, a Republican who represents Eastern Oregon. “And what message does it send to groups who might want to do us harm? Does it put out a welcome mat?”

“Welcome mat” Potter has a nice ring to it.

What kind of a mayor would include the ACLU in discussions of terrorism but exclude his chief of police? Why Portland mayor Tom Potter, of course:

When Portland Mayor Tom Potter, federal law enforcement leaders and representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union sat down earlier this month to try to find a way to keep Portland in the Joint Terrorism Task Force, one person was noticeably absent: Police Chief Derrick Foxworth.

He wasn’t invited.

Even for a haven of silliness like Portland this is too much. Some folks need to give this fool a piece of their minds at the council meeting Thursday night.