More from FrontPage on Saddam's connection with AQ and other terrorist organizations.

RBT

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Bush Did Not Lie
By Janet Levy
FrontPageMagazine.com | June 16, 2006

In the days leading up to the war in Iraq, the two most critical reasons cited for toppling Saddam’s regime were the existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s) and then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s connection to the international terrorist organization, Al Qaeda. The Bush Administration confidently cited these as factual and clear justifications for the attack against the terrorist-sponsoring, Baathist government. At the time, a Gallup poll indicated that 67% of the American public supported the war against Saddam because of his non-compliance with weapons inspectors and his ties to Islamic terrorists.

In June 2004, the 9-11 Commission’s report cast doubt on the existence of WMD’s and denied a "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Almost immediately, the Administration proceeded to dismiss its initial claims of WMD’s and an Al Qaeda connection, blaming faulty intelligence. By April 2006, according to a CBS poll, only 44% of the public agreed with the decision to invade Iraq.

Since the invasion of Iraq, a great deal of evidence has accumulated about Saddam’s possession of WMD’s and his close ties to Al Qaeda. Many such reports have not been covered by the mainstream media and have been available primarily from talk radio, conservative publications and online sources. The evidence is substantive and warrants careful study and wide exposure.

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HT Dr. Sanity

[Scroll down for updates]

RBT has said for a number of years that the MSM is cheerleading and rooting for the enemy in the GWOT.

Apparently this has not gone unnoticed by AQ. In fact the use of the MSM in the war of information has become a key element in AQ's strategic planning.

There are a number of sites in the Blogos now reporting on documents discovered in the not so safe house that Zarqawi met his maker.

Darn! Bummer too bad if he also learned that the 72 dark eyed virgin thing is a fraud.

RBT

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AL QAEDA STRATEGIC PLANNING

Speaking of a "treasure trove"of documents, here we have some significant concerns identified by Al Qaeda corporate strategic planners in Iraq; and it outlines the strategy they planned to use in order to counter their worsening position there (hat tip: The Corner)

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Update:

HT Instapundit

Instapundit is linking to several pieces on this issue including a response by Bill Roggio to a piece by USA Today's Baghdad correspondent Cesar Soriano on Chairborne Rangers:

HOWARD KURTZ featured this comment from USA Today Baghdad correspondent Cesar Soriano:

To all the Chairborne Rangers advancing the vast 'negative media' conspiracy from the safety and comfort of their parents' basements: If you think you can do better, I've got a spare bed in the Baghdad bureau.

Blackfive offers a tart response. And here's an email from Bill Roggio:

Hello Cesar,

I'd take you up on the offer of "the spare bed in the Baghdad bureau" but this Chairborne Ranger is currently embedded in Kandahar, Afghanistan. I'll head back to Iraq for the second time this year after I make my next stop in the Horn of Africa. No doubt Michael Totten and Michael Yon, two other notable Chairborne Rangers, have similar plans.

You should also ask another group of Chairborne Rangers, such as Smash, Greyhawk, OpFor, and the other military bloggers who did their blogging from the combat zones to see if they need a rack. Oh, and I'll be bypassing Baghdad to go outside the comfort of the hotel, so you can keep the spare bed.

Best wishes, be safe and enjoy the pool!

Read them All

Update II:

HT Hot Air

Michael Ledeen thinks the docs are bogus. Allah Pundit offers his opinion and there are many comments as to their validity based on style and frame of reference of Zarqawi.

RBT tends to think they are real when viewed from Zarqawi's frame of reference, the nature of AQ and the GWOT, the Sunni vs. Shiia schism, and the Mad Mullahs of Iran nutcases.

Read more at Hot Air

HT Counterterrorism Blog

More excellent reporting from the ground by Bill Roggio embedded with the troops in Afghanistan.

RBT

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Three Days of Operation Mountain Thrust in Kandahar
By Bill Roggio

The other side of FOB Martello. Click image to view.

An audio recording of a press conference with Colonel Chris Vernon on Operation Mountain Thrust is also available.


Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan: On Saturday night, Charlie Company from the 1st Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry moved from Forward Operating Base Martello to the "430 compound", a small, austere ANP base infested with large ants and adorned with a well in the center. The Canadian soldiers took advantage of the rare running water to wash up from the dust bowl at FOB Martello. The Afghan National Police guarded the soldiers from Charlie Company as they slept, packed into the mud-walled compound.

Charlie Company rolled from the 430 compound in the late morning, and headed west to the Helmand desert regions of Registan, which translates to "sandy place". The company, which is augmented by Afghan National Army and their Embedded Training Team from the US Army, broke for lunch in the scorching desert sun in the barren, sand and rock strewn moonscape of the Registan.

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HT Counterterrorism Blog

More from the war on information from Andrew Cochran at the Counterrorism Blog. Who is the real enemy here?

RBT

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CNN Editor Equates "Terrorism" With "Freedom Fight," Insulting All Coalition Forces
By Andrew Cochran

You would think that a worldwide news operation would recognize and apply standards and definitions for the reporting of a "terrorist" and "terrorist act." We appreciate and work with many outstanding reporters and commentators worldwide who certainly have no problem. CNN apparently has a problem, as indicated in an interview of "Senior Editor for Arab Affairs," Octavia Nasr, by a student news reporter for CNN Student News.

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Atlas - covering a press conference in the Rose Garden. A signficant sea change. Calling a, "Spade a Spade." RBT has long said to win this war we first must know who the enemy is and the ideology that drives it.

RBT

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He said it. He called it. Not terror. Not radical extremism. Not a war on suicide murderers. He said a war on an international jihadist movement. Finally beginning to call the enemy what it is.

Just said it. Press conference in the Rose Graden. Right now. And he's on. Very very good btw.

Same group of negative David Gregory thumbsucking questions ........ screaming their soft porn comments "pullout." "pullout," "early withdrawal." But Bush was myopic. ON message.

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HT Atlas Shrugs

President Bush left the White House press corps standing at the big confab at Camp David and went out the backdoor to meet with the new Iraqi Prime Minister in Badhdad. Foxnews.com is confirming this story with a photo.

HT Ray Robison Blog

A must read!

Ray has been digging through the Saddam docs and has these latest findings which are now running on foxnews.com.

A must read to counter the MSM's meme, "Bush Lied. People Died!"

As we in the Blogos know Saddam was up to his eyeballs in collaborating with terrorists groups when it served his own personal interests.

RBT

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Sunday, June 11, 2006

Terror Links to Saddam's Inner Circle
June 12, 2006
•
Documenting Saddam's Link to Terror
June 11, 2006

Was Saddam Hussein a security threat to the United States? Did the Iraqi dictator have connections to Al Qaeda or other terrorist ties? What happened to the weapons of mass destruction everyone believed were in his possession? Did Saddam move them? Did they ever exist?

All of those questions have been dogging President George W. Bush and his administration since the start of the Iraq war. Politicians and respected U.S. military and intelligence officials have weighed in publicly on both sides of the debate, but until recently the general public has had little of the information necessary to make a fully informed decision on its own.

But that is changing.

The U.S. government seized thousands of classified Iraqi government papers when Saddam's regime was toppled, and Washington recently released a trove of these documents on the Pentagon's Foreign Military Studies Office Web site.

The documents, many in Arabic and with no accompanying translation, provide multiple insights into events inside pre-war Iraq. The dossier, however, is huge and disorganized. Digging out its secrets is a laborious task — one that the U.S. government decided to leave to others.

One of those who has taken up the challenge is Ray Robison, currently a military operations research analyst specializing in aviation and missile research in Huntsville, Ala. Robison served on active duty as a fire support officer for the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Wash. and as a Battalion Signal Officer with the 101st Airborne. His 10 years of active service include duty in the Gulf War and on peacekeeping assignment in Kosovo.

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Update:

HT Michelle Malkin

Michelle is now linking to Ray's info and a FoxNews exclusive.

RBT

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SADDAM AND THE TALIBAN
By Michelle Malkin · June 16, 2006 12:31 PM

A FoxNews.com exclusive--bookmark for weekend reading:

Ray Robison, a former member of the CIA-directed Iraq Survey Group (ISG), examined efforts by Saddam Hussein to build and hide weapons of mass destruction, and supervised a group of linguists to analyze, archive and exploit documents and materials of Saddam's regime.

In this second of a three-part examination of a newly-released document captured in Iraq, Robison offers further evidence that in 1999 the Taliban welcomed "Islamic relations with Iraq" to mediate among the Taliban, the Northern Alliance and Russia, and that the Taliban reciprocated with an invitation to Iraqi officials to visit Afghanistan.

The document appears to be a notebook kept by an Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) agent, and apparently captured in 2003. The translation is provided by Robison's associate, known here as “Sammi.” The notebook deals extensively with the meetings between a prominent Taliban supporter and former Saddam regime officials...

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Update II:

HT Ray Robinson's Blog

Here's the second installment of Ray's research.

Documents Support Saddam-Taliban Connection

Friday , June 16, 2006

By Ray Robison

Prologue:

Did Saddam Hussein's inner circle and the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan actively court each other in hopes of forging an anti-American alliance in the region?

Ray Robison, a former member of the CIA-directed Iraq Survey Group (ISG), examined efforts by Saddam Hussein to build and hide weapons of mass destruction, and supervised a group of linguists to analyze, archive and exploit documents and materials of Saddam's regime.

[...]

In this second of a three-part examination of a newly-released document captured in Iraq, Robison offers further evidence that in 1999 the Taliban welcomed "Islamic relations with Iraq" to mediate among the Taliban, the Northern Alliance and Russia, and that the Taliban reciprocated with an invitation to Iraqi officials to visit Afghanistan.

The document appears to be a notebook kept by an Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) agent, and apparently captured in 2003. The translation is provided by Robison's associate, known here as “Sammi.” The notebook deals extensively with the meetings between a prominent Taliban supporter and former Saddam regime officials.

It is highly probable that the man in this meeting is Fazlur Rahman, a Pakistani cleric described in an article from the BBC Profile: Maulana Fazlur Rahman as “A pro-Taliban cleric in Pakistan... one of the two main contenders for the post of the country's prime minister.” The BBC also said “Maulana Fazlur Rahman… is known for his close ties to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime.”

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Ran across this the other day.

Thought this was a unique way of sending a message to those inside the Beltway who don't get out much.

RBT

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UPDATE: Wednesday, May 31 - Read today's NYTimes story on SAB Linked from the Drudge Report!

Phase 2 has begun! Does that mean we are done sending bricks? NO! Keep sending them and the message that we want our borders secured. We need to act now more than ever! Check back in the next few days to hear about the exciting things we have planned for Phase 2 which include:

- Hand delivering bricks to Congressmen's home offices
- Demonstrations and rallies
- Expanding our brick efforts to President Bush and MUCH MORE!!!

OTHER UPDATES:
- The bricks held up at the Capitol have been delivered! We are now shipping via USPS.
- The Brick Pics page has been updated with many new pics
- See SAB's Kirsten's NEW FOXNews interview HERE.
- New pics of our shipping process! Click Here
- Have you heard about us? Tell us where.

Send-A-Brick link

HT Austin Bay

A must read from Iraq the Model re the death of Zarqawi. Here's a perspective from an rea Iraqi that probably won't be reflected in the MSM.

RBT

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Some are sad just because we're happy.

Hamas's reaction to the death of Zarqawi caused the contempt of so many Iraqis. The printed and watched Iraqi media lashed out vigorously on Hamas, politicians and ordinary people on the streets are just equally angered by some Arabic official and media reactions which spoke of the criminal as if he were a hero.

It is totally unimaginable why someone would describe the head chopping, children murdering terrorist as a hero. It's disgusting and infuriating beyond words.

This wrongful description of evil is a major reason for misery in this region and it only contributes to justifying more unjustifiable death and violence. This makes one sometimes whishes that Iraq is somehow lifted away from these perverted sociopaths who surround us.

To say I was angry is the least I can say to describe how I felt reading the comments from Arabs on a BBC forum. There was no surprise that all Iraqi commentators were pleased that we got rid of that vicious terrorists but on the other hand there was probably 90% of non-Iraqi Arab commentators who mourned him as a martyr.

Here I'm choosing only one comment that drew my attention because it shows how when hate prejudice reaches certain levels it blinds the minds and hearts of people.
This one comment maybe the most accurate to describe how thousands if not millions think in this region; this Arab commentator is telling frankly why he's sad without lying and without using decorated speech.

I think it reflects the truth in the way of thinking of unfortunately many Arabs; a truth that was released by an individual mouth carrying more courage of expression than those who appease and keep their inside hidden…

Zarqawi's death means nothing at all because it's the byproduct of the despotic policy that exists in his home country, Jordan.
There are thousands of Zarqawis in our nation who are getting persecuted and terrorized so they found their way to Iraq where they can vent, thanks to America who brought destruction to the region with the help of her agents (the rulers). And for your information, our information about Zarqawi is vague…is he a national hero, or a criminal terrorist? We don't know for sure but we see that our enemies are so happy that he's killed and that is what makes me feel sad for his death.

I'll end this with a comment from Iraq…

I used to be against killing people because of their perverted opinions or their anti-freedom doings but after I have seen and lived through their terrorism and anti-humanity extremism I say now that the only solution is to end the life of those who are not even humans. They poison the minds and thoughts of sane people.

People, let the world live in freedom and happiness…
I say it to all the sane and rational people; congratulations on the death of Zarqawi. [emphasis added]

I couldn't agree more, so if you are sane, come celebrate the moment with us, but if not, get prepared to mourn more demons.

Link to Iraq the Model

HT The American Thinker

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Brace yourself for the next Mohammed Cartoon Jihad

According to the gutsy Brussels Journal, the Dutch are bracing to be the next target of Jihad mob demonstrations. The reason? Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s soon to be released new movie, Submission 2. The first Submission film was made by Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh with the help of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. It showed Muslim women victims of domestic abuse, with verses of the Koran painted on their bare backs. Theo van Gogh was later murdered for that in broad daylight, in the middle of the street. The Dutch took fright—they are only heroic in promoting euthanasia, three-day divorce, and free drugs. But when it comes to defending real human freedoms they are trying to keep their heads down.

The Netherlands expelled Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who become an international symbol for women’s rights against Islamic fascism, when threats against her life began to concern her neighbors, using misstatements on her application for snactuary which had been known for years. Fortunately, the American Enterprise Institute gave her a job, and the US State Department, to its credit, welcomed her to the United States.

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