Video Killed The Radio Star

"Butcher of Washington, you are not only defeated and a liar, but also a failure. You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies...the whole world has discovered the extent of America's lies and failures and the extent of its savagery in fighting Islam and Muslims...I tell you that Bush and his gang are shedding your blood and wasting your money in frustrated adventures..."

Soros? Chomsky? Pinter? Sheehan? Dean? Daily Kos? MoveOn.org? Code Pink? Nope, these excerpts are from a videotape released by a man named Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's second in command; I will leave you to divine any similarities between the excerpt above and the statements routinely uttered by the people and organizations I listed.

Some quick observations on this latest videotape. First, notice his self-righteous indignation over the fact that what he describes as "innocents" were killed in the Pakistan strike; this coming from the man who helps lead a death cult that glories in the killing of civilians.

Notice his direct address of the American and British people and his encouragement of them to blame Bush and Blair for the deaths of soldiers in Iraq. Zawahiri understands thoroughly how important the American and British people's resolve is in this fight, and he is trying to undermine it.

Finally, he takes comfort in the fact that the U.S. appears to be moving out of Iraq and Afghanistan and points to that as a clear sign that al-Qaeda is winning the war (I wonder if Congressman Murtha has watched the newest videotape?)

There are some other interesting things about this videotape, and I encourage you to read the entire article and draw your own conclusions of its importance.

--Josh

Google Supports Gulags

Google is now officially helping a communist regime maintain control and actively persecute its dissidents. The regime is, of course, China's, and apparently Google has no problem in prostituting itself to totalitarianism in order to gain access to billions of Chinese consumers. One facet of Google's complicity is their agreement to censor search results (note the Google hack's characterization of the decision as "excruciating"...right). Compare the fruits of their labor:

Google image search-Tiananmen
Google image search in China-Tiananmen
(From Little Green Footballs)

Let's hope there's a severe backlash against Google for this disgusting behavior, although I doubt it.

--Josh

Just Like Solzhenitsyn

Yahoo! News AP photo (via Little Green Footballs) that describes Osama bin Laden as an "exiled Saudi dissent." I guess the good people at Yahoo! don't know how to spell "pathological mass murderer." Pathetic.

--Josh

Totalitarianism On The March

A brief recap of how radical muslims have been engaging the world recently: Palestinian children handing out candy in celebration at the news of Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's crippling stroke, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly hoping for Sharon's death, a mother of three suicide bombers explaining how proud she is of them (she is also running for a political position under the Hamas party), the beheading of a high school teacher in Afghanistan, and at least 136 (mostly civilian) deaths in Iraq due to suicide bombings and roadside bombs.

This, of course, doesn't even begin to capture the daily horrors muslim hard-liners perpetrate against women, "infidels" and other minorities as a matter of routine in fundamentalist communities and countries. All of this is the work of our enemies with whom we are at war; this is the type of hate-filled ideology that these people want to impose upon the entire world, not just their corner of it. It would behoove those in power to remember that, and resolve themselves to persecute the war on terror fervently and without half-measures.

--Josh

WE ARE WINNING

Iraqi police headed to the polls, courtesy of Power Line blog.


Courtesy of the Drudge Report

--Josh

Aren't They Watching The News?

Iraqis, apparently unaware that they are supposed to be frightened and hopeless, have responded to a poll that attempted to gauge their sentiments on the direction of their country in an overwhelmingly optimistic manner. A sample:

There are positive political signs as well. Three-quarters of Iraqis express confidence in the national elections being held this week, 70 percent approve of the new constitution, and 70 percent — including most people in Sunni and Shiite areas alike — want Iraq to remain a unified country.

Interest in politics has soared.

Preference for a democratic political structure has advanced, to 57 percent of Iraqis, while support for an Islamic state has lost ground, to 14 percent (the rest, 26 percent, chiefly in Sunni Arab areas, favor a "single strong leader.")

Whatever the current problems, 69 percent of Iraqis expect things for the country overall to improve in the next year — a remarkable level of optimism in light of the continuing violence there.

Everyone in the United States should read this article and understand the reason why those who are familiar with the situation on the ground in Iraq are largely hopeful about the progress being made. Were America to surrender now in the face of a murderous ideology every bit as heinous as communism and nazism, she could well go down in history as the first country to quit the field as victory drew inevitably closer.

--Josh

I'll Second That

Finally, some sensible people in the Democratic party are trying to reign in the mouth that is Howard Dean. As much as it delights me when Dean makes outrageous remarks like the one recently when he claimed the U.S. could not win the Iraq War, seeing as it makes most people realize how silly the fringe anti-war crowd is, it is still outrageous that Dean would see fit to damage the war effort in such a blatant way. I know Dean apologists will instantly muster the defense that dissent can often be a form of patriotism (a sentiment I agree with), but to declare a war hopeless while we're in the very midst of it is not an act of loyal opposition. It is rather an act of bald-faced panic and betrays the anti-war crowd's ignorance of the stakes involved, and their unsuitability for leadership on this issue.

Since everyone is looking for ways to compare Iraq and Vietnam, I will oblige. It is difficult to read a single book by a Vietnam veteran about that war that doesn't at least in passing mention the sense of alienation and loneliness the soldiers felt when they realized America was not united behind them. I can't imagine how utterly demoralizing such a revelation must be; now the soldiers currently fighting have to listen to the chairman of a major political party declare defeat. I can only hope they have the good sense to ignore Howard Dean and his stupid remarks, as most sensible people do.

--Josh