This from the Weekly Standard.
Friday, February 16, 2007
A Tale of Two . . . Economies
From Fausta's Blog. No, no, not John Edwards's imaginary two economies in America. These are the U.S. economy -- which is rising by every yardstick -- and the French economy, where the socialist policies proposed by Ségolène Royal are raising concern.
Roundup of Good News and Bad News from Iraq
Jules Crittenden has a review of all the current news from Iraq.
Hattip: Instapundit
Good News from Iraq
Stratagypage reports that al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Shia militias are both in disarray as the Battle for Baghdad begins.
Democrats, the Constitution and Iraq
A Washington Post article today outlines the strategy of the anti-war left to force an ignominius retreat from Iraq while at the same time not defunding the military. To this end, Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha intend to try and hamstring the President’s ability to send troops to Iraq and to restrict his ability to extend tours of duty in Iraq. Further, Speaker Pelosi has claimed that the President cannot use any force against Iran without first seeking the authorization of Congress. While this last issue is a close one, involving not only the Constitution, the War Powers Act of 1973, and how these provisions have been treated historically (i.e., Presidents have authorized numerous acts of force without first seeking Congressional authorization and an a declaration of war), the other actions would seem to likely run afoul of the constitution.
While Congress certainly has the power to fund the military and to say whether land forces may be committed to war against another nation, it is the President who has the executive power of command over the day to day activities of the forces. Specifically, The United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8 provides that the "Congress shall have power to . . declare war . . .; to raise and support Armies . . .;to make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land . . forces. . . . Article II, Section 2 provides that "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States . . . ."
Since the Congress has already authorized the use of force in Iraq, it would seem that, at the least the current plans of Pelosi and Murtha to hamstring the President would infringe on the power of the President to command the military. As an aside, it should be noted that the sham non-binding resolutions of Congress condemning the surge in Iraq are a criticism of command decisions of the President. Thus, were the Congress to pass a law stating that the President could not authorize the surge, it would be an unconsitutional restriction on Presidential authority. In any event, it would appear that we are heading towards a constitutional crisis in the very near future brought on by overreaching liberals.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Wiccan's Beware
In what countries on earth can you still be jailed for practicing witchcraft or sorcery? The list is a short one -- and at the top is Saudi Arabia. Arab News reports today that, "in a unique sting operation involving police from both Makkah and Madinah, a Nigerian black magician was arrested [in Saudi Arabia] yesterday." Read the whole article.
Sharia Law
Frontpage Magazine has this article about a girl initially condemned to death by Iran's Mullah's for killing one of a gang of males attempting to rape her and her niece. Since the trial, international pressure has resulted in a suspension of the death penalty and the girl has been released on bond. Nonetheless, she still must pay "blood money" for the life of the male she killed.
Senator Dodd to give terrorists Habeaus Corpus Rights
The ACLU reports that Senator Dodd has introduced Senate Bill 576, named ""Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007," reportedly to provide full rights of due process to enemy combatants and terrorists held at Guantanamo.
The Surge and Congress
The WSJ has an excellent editorial on the up-coming vote condemning the Patreaus strategy in Iraq and their plan to end the war without taking responsibility for the consequences of their actions.
A newly confirmed commander is about to lead 20,000 American soldiers on a
dangerous and difficult mission to secure Baghdad, risking their lives for their
country. And the message their elected Representatives will send them off to
battle with is a vote declaring their inevitable defeat.
Read the whole article.
There is a punch line here somewhere
Doctors in the UK administered Viagra in a desperate -- and ultimately successful -- attempt to save a premature baby's life.
Iran vs the Arab States
Amir Taheri discusses the Iranian strategy to export its revolution in light of perceived U.S. weakness and how other Arab states are taking effective action counter Iran.
The Guardian, the Surge, Democrats and Iran
The Guardian is the leading far left newspaper in Iraq and is no way friend of conservatives in general nor Bush in particular. Regardless, their factual reporting is very often first rate. This is an excellent article on the surge in Iraq and the strategy of Iran and its proxy, Sadr.
Senior commanders of the Mahdi army, the militia loyal to the radical Shia
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, have been spirited away to Iran to avoid being targeted
in the new security push in Baghdad, a high-level Iraqi official told the
Guardian yesterday.
On the day the Iraqi government formally launched its crackdown
on insurgents and amid disputed claims about the whereabouts of Mr Sadr, the
official said the Mahdi army leadership had withdrawn across the border into
Iran to regroup and retrain.
"Over the last three weeks, they [Iran] have taken away from Baghdad the
first and second-tier military leaders of the Mahdi army," he said. The aim of
the Iranians was to "prevent the dismantling of the infrastructure of the Shia
militias" in the Iraqi capital - one of the chief aims of the US-backed security
drive.
"The strategy is to lie low until the storm passes, and then let them
return and fill the vacuum," said the official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. The Tehran authorities were "playing a waiting game" until the
commanders could return to Baghdad and resume their activities. "All indications
are that Moqtada is in Iran, but that is not really the point," he added.
.
. . .
"They [the Iranians] are calculating that the security operation will
continue for a certain period of time, and that it will do serious damage to the
Sunni jihadists and the insurgents," the official said. "While in Iran they will
be able to get more training and then once the Sunnis have been pacified, they
plan to return."
Juxtapose against this the Democrats claims that the surge will not work -- a claim made with no reference to the facts on the ground apparently. If the Democrats are successul in hamstringing the U.S. in Iraq, then the Iranian stragegy will work perfectly.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Clarity on the Democratic Agenda
From the Victory Caucus, finally some honesty in politics -- outrageous, but honest.
Congressman Murtha has a February 15 meeting scheduled with MoveCongress.org, a political action committee. As set forth on the MoveCongress.org website:
"Join us tomorrow at 11:00 AM EST when Congressman Jack Murtha will outline new details of a strategy to use his Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense to oppose the Bush war in Iraq. . . . . The Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense has begun consideration of the president’s $93 billion supplemental appropriations request for Iraq. Action on the request will be the first opportunity for the new Congress to exercise its “power-of-the-purse” over the Iraq war.
Chairman Murtha will describe his strategy for not only limiting the deployment of troops to Iraq but undermining other aspects of the president’s foreign and national security policy." (emphasis added).
Hattip: Instapundit
Iran's Achille's Heel
MEMRI reports that Iran's economy, largely based on oil revenues and grossly distorted by massive pseudo-government ownership by cleric-run bonyads, is extremely precarious. As Ahmedniajad has sought to further export the revolution through violence and chaos, he has been buyoed by high oil prices. But Iran's penchant for violence has finally drawn a response from Saudi Arabia who are now looking to attack Iran's economy by forcing the price of oil downwards. This, more then anything the west will do short of a military action by the U.S. and Israel, is probably the single most effective thing that can be done to manage the existential threat that is Iran today.
War on Toyota
Will Toyota replace Walmart at the top the pantheon of wicked, non-union capitalists that must punished?
Hat Tip: Instapundit
Valentine's Day
Fausta's blog has an interesting comment on the state of V day. Hmmmm, in light of this new development, should we substitute gifts of chocolate with something more appropos . . . Modesty prevents me from speculating further on a public forum.
Update: Apparently, the holiday of romance is not as popular in Kashmir. Likewise in Egypt, at least when the romance involves a muslim woman and a christian man.
Austrian Sniper Rifles Supplied to Iran Being Used Against US
David Kaspar at Medienkritik reports: "Just another reason for the Americans to thank the European "friends" in the Austrian government. High-powered 50 caliber rifles sold to Iran "to fight drug smugglers" by the Austrian firm Steyr-Mannlicher are now killing US troops in Iraq, and the Austrian government expressly approved the sale in 2005 despite U.S. protests, describing the deal as "unimpeachable."
Update: The WSJ has picked up on this.
So here is the state of our public discourse: American military officials
present prima facie evidence of Iranian weapons implicated in killing 170 U.S.
soldiers and wounding 600 more, and Washington's main concern is not for the GIs
but in refighting the last intelligence war.
Read the whole story.
Why isn't this in the U.S. papers?
AlJazeera has published an article on a recent speech from al Qaeda's no. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In the tape, Zawahiri asks the Democrats to speed the removal of troops from Iraq and councils the current governments of Iraq and Afghanistan that they "must face their inevitable fate, and face up to the inescapable facts. America ... is about to depart and abandon them, just as it abandoned their like in Vietnam."
Update: Powerline has the actual video tape of the speech and provides an insightful analysis.
CIA's Former Executive Director Indicted
Good. This is the type of corruption that needs to be weeded out of government, whatever the political persuasion.
Sunni-Shia Divide
NPR has a good article on the modern underpinnings of the violent struggle for power between Sunni and Shia muslims. I would suggest that Congressman Silvestre Reyes read this one.
To the Rear, March . . .
Congressman Jack Murtha appeared on NPR today and outlined the next step of the Democrats in Congress to end U.S. military involvment in Iraq. His plan is to place into the supplemental appropriations bill -- upcoming in March -- a law tha would strip commanders of their authority to extend the tour of duty for units in Iraq, evidently irregardless of the ground situation, and to establish a criteria limiting when a unit can be deployed into Iraq based on training and equipment readiness. Additionally, he wants to close down Guantanamo Bay.
Update: Politico has an article on the strategy of House Democrats to assure defeat in Iraq
Hattip: Powerline
First Step Towards Retreat from Iraq
The Hill has a balanced article on the machinations of Senator Harry Reid, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and company to pass the non-binding resolution criticizing the "surge" in Iraq. They are proclaiming this as a "first step" to the euphamistic "new direction in Iraq."
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