Set aside the pre-war statements by prominent Democrats about the need for regime change in Iraq. Set aside, the post invasion castigation of our “reasons for the war”. Set aside the attacks by prominent Democrats on our military. They attack using every angle of their geopolitical virtual reality as possible.

The simple truth is the leftists in America will not be disabused of their silly positions on Iraq by the facts.

But Democrats said President George W. Bush, who began the war five years ago and who will leave office in January with more than 100,000 troops still there, was failing to focus on the bigger threat of al Qaeda from the Afghan-Pakistan border.

“Protecting this nation from direct attack is job number one, yet our allocation of forces does not match this imperative,” said Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee.

The implication is the Iraq is detracting the US from the threat of terror attacks in the US. Really?

• Jose Padilla was interdicted at O’Hare airport - we was returning from Pakistan and had been recently messing about with nuclear materials.
• The Lakawanna  Six were apprehended for plotting an attack after having trained in Pakistan with AQ.
• Eleven men - four of whom plead guilty - were apprehended in Virginia for working with AQ and the Taliban.
• Dhiren Barot was apprehended for plotting to blow up major financial institutions, including the NYSE, after training in Pakistan.
•  James Elshafay and Shahawar Matin Siraj were arrested for plotting to bomb a subway station in New York City.
•  Umer Hayat and Hamid Hayat were arrestedafter the Hamid’s attendance at an Islamic terrorist training camp in Pakistan.
• Assem Hammoud, an al-Qaeda loyalist living in Lebanon, and others, was arrested for plotting to bomb the New York City train tunnels.
• A plot to blow fuel pipelines that runs through residential neighborhoods at the Kennedy International Airport in New York City was foiled.

Combine your knowledge of these instances with the simple fact that NO terrorist attacks have occurred on US soil since the invasion of Iraq. Add, as a seasoning if you will, the fact that AQ had a substantial subsidiary operation in Iraq. That AQ found it more desirable to attack US forces in the Middle East than to attack the US itself.

If the Democrats were serious about securing America from the potential of terrorist attacks, they would be more active in securing the borders. They are simply posing yet another childish “Nya!” to something they philosophically have no ability to understand.

A man carrying several passports ran from airport security screeners in Miami. Faid Beydoun was attempting to get through the security checkpoint into the sterile area when his travel documents alerted security personnel. When he was asked to move out of line for a secondary screening, he ran and attempted to leave the airport.

Developing.

Lt. Gen. Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, the Pakistani Army’s surgeon general was killed today when a suicide bomber attacked his vehicle. Seven others are reported to have been killed in the attack, including the general’s driver.

The blast was the latest in a series of attacks in Rawalpindi, a city just south of the capital where the military has its headquarters, and it is likely to revive concern about Islamic militancy in Pakistan just days after moderates won parliamentary elections.

Meanwhile, Musharraf’s spokesman dismissed suggestions from three U.S. senators that the embattled Pakistani leader make a “graceful” retreat from power after his opponents’ election victory.

Baig had survived 3 other attempts on his life.

Four kilo’s of low-grade uranium was seized in India, near the Nepal border and 6 persons have been arrested. Among those arrested is a school teacher and an Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB - Indian paramilitary group) Jawan (infantryman).

The US District Court in New Haven, Connecticut is the scene of an interesting trial this week. Hassan Abu-Jihaad goes on trial for terrorism related charges.

Hassan Abu-Jihaad is the post-conversion name of Navy sailor Paul R. Hall, who allegedly passed classified documents and information regarding United States Navy ship positions and the contents of classified briefings to terrorists. He is also charged with assisting with raising funds and garnering military equipment for terrorists.

Colon, who met Abu-Jihaad at a mosque in Phoenix, said Abu-Jihaad admired the rebels in Chechnya but he rarely saw his friend angry and had a hard time believing the man whose children played with his children secretly supported terrorists. Colon said Abu-Jihaad was dedicated to his prayers, reading Islamic literature and following rules against drinking.

Abu-Jihaad is charged in the same case as Babar Ahmad, a British computer specialist arrested in 2004 and accused of running Web sites to raise money, appeal for fighters and provide equipment such as gas masks and night vision goggles for terrorists. Ahmad is to be extradited to the U.S.

Hassan Abu-Jihaad was working in Phoenix, Arizona when he was arrested.

UPDATE: Hassan Abu-Jihaad has been convicted of assisting terrorists and putting his shipmates in jeopardy.

(via email) 

As a result of the irresponsible and reckless insistence by Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and David Obey that telephone companies who are working with the President to protect our nation should be subjected to unlimited frivolous lawsuits, our intelligence capabilities have been blinded and deafened. Of course, our local Democrats, Gabby Giffords and Raul Grijalva were right there close, very close, behind them in supporting this reckless and dangerous action.

Because the House did not pass new FISA legislation approved by the Senate, the intelligence community can’t collect information on new terrorists or plots or old targets using new methods of communication without obtaining a warrant from the FISA court.

It takes just a few seconds to change your email address, or use a different website or to get a different cell phone number. It takes days now for the intelligence community to get a warrant because of this inaction by the Democrats in the House. By the time the court grants the warrant the target has moved on. Telephone companies and internet providers don’t want to help any more because they can’t survive the lawsuits without government immunity.

The terrorists want to destroy us and our way of life. The House Democrats are aiding and abetting the terrorists by prohibiting the intelligence community from conducting surveillance of the terrorists’ communications. Remember this in November.

What They’re Saying;

“The Democratic Leadership Allowed Our Intelligence Gathering To Be Compromised”

House Leadership’s Failure To Vote On Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Bill “Simply Unconscionable,” “Every Day We Don’t Fix This Problem, The Problem … Metastasizes”

“The House Adjourned … Rather Than Act On Legislation To Strengthen The Ability Of U.S. Intelligence Agencies To Monitor Foreign Terrorist Telephone Calls And E-Mails“

The Wall Street Journal: “What we have here is a remarkable display of the anti-antiterror minority at work.”  ”[Silvestre] Reyes claims that existing wiretap orders can stay in place for a year. But that doesn’t account for new targets, which may require new kinds of telecom cooperation and thus a new court order. Mr. Reyes can make all the assertions he wants about immunity, but they are no defense against a lawsuit. For that matter, without a statute in place, even a renewed order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is likely to be challenged as illegitimate. A telecom CEO who cooperates without a court order is all but guaranteed to get not merely a wiretap lawsuit, but also a shareholder suit for putting the company at legal risk.”  (Editorial, “Pelosi’s Wiretap Offensive,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/19/08)

·         “We asked one phone company executive what he’d do, after Friday’s expiration, in response to a government request for cooperation. His answer was blunt: ‘I’m not doing it.’”  ”‘If I don’t have compulsion, I can’t get out of court [and those lawsuits]. . . . I’m not going to do something voluntarily.’ Having talked to telecom executives, we can tell you this view is well-nigh universal.”

The Washington Times: “Thanks to [Democratic Leaders], the House adjourned Thursday until Feb. 25 rather than act on legislation to strengthen the ability of U.S. intelligence agencies to monitor foreign terrorist telephone calls and e-mails under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.”  “Given the fact that 21 relatively moderate Blue Dog Democrats led by Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas have signed a letter to Mrs. Pelosi urging her to yield on FISA, the speaker realized that she was in danger of suffering yet another humiliating political defeat on the issue. So she pulled the bill from the floor and sent the House on vacation. … Thus far, Mrs. Pelosi and her friends have responded contemptuously to the security concerns expressed by National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell. The most critical question now is whether Mr. Ross and his fellow Blue Dogs can somehow persuade Mrs. Pelosi that pandering to the kook fringe on national security will damage her politically.”  (Editorial, “Pelosi’s Shameful Pandering,” The Washington Times, 2/18/08)

“Delay In Congressional Action Deters Cooperation In Detecting Terrorism”

The Weekly Standard‘s William Kristol: “[F]or the House Democrats, sticking it to the phone companies – and to the Bush administration – seemed to outweigh erring on the side of safety in defending the country.”  “[T]he Democratic House leadership balked – particularly at the notion of protecting from lawsuits companies that had cooperated with the government in surveillance efforts after Sept. 11. Director McConnell repeatedly explained that such private-sector cooperation is critical to antiterror efforts, in surveillance and other areas, and that it requires the assurance of immunity. ‘Your country is at risk if we can’t get the private sector to help us, and that is atrophying all the time,’ he said.”  (William Kristol, Op-Ed, “Democrats Should Read Kipling,” The New York Times, 2/18/08)

·         “When they say this is important for our national security, the Congress – to block this legislation I find pretty amazing.”  “I think it’s kind of unbelievable, frankly. It’s a judgment call. We don’t know. Not to give the administration the benefit of the doubt when they have career people, military people, intelligence people like Mike McConnell and Mike Hayden, and the attorney general, Mike Mukasey – I mean, these are not political hacks. These are not ideological people.”  (Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday,” 2/17/08)

The National Review Online‘s Rich Lowry: “House leaders shrug and say that the essential authorities remain in place for another six months. This is a dodge.”  “House Democrats tell themselves they are striking a blow against the politics of fear. But only if we suffer another mass-casualty terror attack will a politics of untrammeled fear be unleashed on the land. Best to do all we can to avoid it, especially when it involves nonviolations of the nonrights of non-Americans.”  (Rich Lowry, Op-Ed, “Whose Politics Of Fear,” The National Review Online, 2/19/08)

Columnist Robert Novak: ”The recess by House Democrats amounts to a judgment that losing the generous support of trial lawyers, the Democratic Party’s most important financial base, would be more dangerous than losing the anti-terrorist issue to Republicans.”  “Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the phone companies for giving individuals’ personal information to intelligence agencies without a warrant. Mike McConnell, the nonpartisan director of national intelligence, says delay in congressional action deters cooperation in detecting terrorism.”  (Robert D. Novak, Op-Ed, “Why Torts Trumped Terrorism,” The Washington Post, 2/18/08)

The National Review Online’s Andrew McCarthy: “Democrats who claim that people like McConnell are engaged in partisan fear-mongering are talking nonsense.”  “And as McConnell noted this morning, every day we don’t fix this problem, the problem – the investigative leads you don’t get, the connections you don’t make, the things you don’t learn but which you should know – metastasizes.  Intelligence is dynamic:  you can’t stop collecting for a day, a week, a month or more and then figure you are picking up right where you left off.  What you have lost tends to stay lost.”  (Andrew McCarthy, Op-Ed, “Dems Accuse Bush Administration Of Politicized Fear-Mongering On FISA,” The National Review Online, 2/17/08)

The Washington Times’ Frank Gaffney: “While the House of Representatives is vacationing this week, terrorists are probably communicating about plots to kill Americans without fear that their plans will be intercepted by U.S. intelligence.”  ”If one or more of those mortal plots are, as a result, succeed, we won’t need an independent commission to assign blame. The buck will stop squarely at the desk of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who refused to allow a vote on permanent renewal of the Protect America Act (PAA).”  (Frank J. Gaffney, Op-Ed, “Wrong Call On Telecoms,” The Washington Times, 2/19/08)

“This Partisan Gamesmanship Endangers Our National Security”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “This is the Democratic allegiance to the plaintiff’s bar. They’re more interested in seeing companies in court than they are seeing terrorists in jail. This is all about the liability issue.”  “Director of National Intelligence McConnell is telling us, starting this morning, on another network, the facts, which are that we have a degrading capability to intercept terrorist communications.”  (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 2/17/08)

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO): “This is no exaggeration. The Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General of the United States, in a letter to the Senate Majority Leader earlier this year, wrote that if the Congress failed to act our ability to obtain intelligence information would be weakened.”  “The Democratic leadership allowed our intelligence gathering to be compromised, because they failed to pass a bill by a deadline that they themselves set. … The House’s failure to act is a gross dereliction of our constitutional duty to stand for the nation’s defense.”  (Rep. Roy Blunt, “Blunt On Expiration Of Key Intelligence Law,” Press Release, 2/16/08)

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Pete Hoekstra (R-MI): “The ability of our country to detect and prevent terrorist attacks on the United States and our allies will begin to deteriorate immediately upon the expiration of the Protect America Act.”   “It is unconscionable for the Democratic leadership – which represents a minority of the House on the issue – to abuse its power to block consideration of this critical national security bill and to prevent a fair vote on the House floor. … [T]his partisan gamesmanship endangers our national security as well as the national security of our allies overseas who are assisted by the U.S. Intelligence Community.  … It is irresponsible to suggest that the existing certifications will cover all potentially needed surveillance.  It is unclear whether a court would find any directives under the PAA enforceable once the Act expires.”  (Pete Hoekstra, Letter To Chairman Silvestre Reyes Of Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence, 2/15/08)

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX): “So the decision by the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives to leave Washington yesterday without passing this very important bill is simply unconscionable.”  ”They are playing chicken with America’s security and American’s lives. … What’s worse, at the same time the hands of our intelligence community are being tied, terrorist activity and terrorist plots will continue.”  (Sen. John Cornyn, “Cornyn: America’s Security Put At Greater Risk With Expiration Of Protect America Act,” Press Release, 2/16/08)

BREAKING STORY

Police in the UK are investigating the source of a Sing-Along DVD aimed at Muslim children.

The DVD, which has been on sale in West Yorkshire, is believed to be aimed at young Muslim children and contains three songs in Arabic accompanied by video stories.

One of the songs, which has English subtitles, is performed by a young girl and tells how a mother-of-two blows herself up in a suicide bomb attack.

The video for the song shows the woman making a bomb at her home and her young daughter finding a stick of dynamite in a wardrobe.

Here is a clip from the DVD

Terrorists, operating out of the Gaza Strip, fired rockets into an Israeli kibbutz, wounding a 3-year-old girl.

A report released by the Israeli army on Sunday revealed that with recent improvements in Palestinian rocket technology, some 190,000 Israeli civilians now live under direct threat of artillery attacks from Gaza.

Here is a little background on the Qassam rockets.

Qassam rockets are named after the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed branch of Hamas, itself named after an Islamic Mojahed and fighter Izz ad-Din al-Qassam who led a Palestinian fighters group during the 1930s. According to Hamas, the Qassam rocket was first developed by Nidal Fat’hi Rabah Farahat and Mohamed Khaled and produced under the direction of Adnan al-Ghoul, the “Father of the Qassam”, who was assassinated by the Israeli army on October 22, 2004.

Qassams were first fired at Israeli civilian targets in October 2001.The first Qassam to land in Israeli territory was launched on February 10, 2002. The first time an Israeli city was hit was on March 5, 2002, when two rockets struck Sderot. Some rockets have hit as far as the edge of Ashkelon. The total number of Qassam rockets launched exceeded 1000 by June 9, 2006. During the year 2006 alone, 1000+ rockets were launched.

Absolutely nothing? I think not.

Torture is an absolute necessity. It is very easy to sit back in your comfortable home, and play ‘couch quaterback’ when talking about how we treat our prisoners and how we get our information. But remember this, if we had been more vigilant in our attempts to shut down this Muslim Agenda, we would not have lost 3000 plus people in 2001.

The gains far outweigh the means in this one. So your next question is this, “Where does it stop?” My answer, “It doesn’t”

If a woman terrorist has information that can save the life of ONE American, then she should be water-boarded until she talks. If the terrorist is young, then treat them the same way, until they give us what we need to secure our borders, our culture and our Country.

If a human being starts to act like an animal, then treat them as such. Every society needs a trash man to clean up a mess. In this instance, the trash man has to manipulate the trash a little before he disposes of it. And yes, we need to dispose of terrorists. In one area, the former Soviet Union had it right. Take your enemies, convict them and dispose of them immediately. The cost must be high for any person or group of persons, to attack us or our interests.

With power comes responsibility. With ultimate power comes ultimate responsibility.