HT Curt at Flopping Aces

SCROLL FOR UPDATES

RBT thinks the Pope is setting a trap to ensnare the Islamofascists in their own hate and Evil.

RBT

*****

The Truth In The Pope’s Words

So the Pope speaks about rejecting violence in pursuing religion, ALL religions, and the Muslims go batty once more. They went batty over the cartoons, they go batty about pretty much everything these days. But to go batty over the Pope speaking words like:

Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. “God,” he says, “is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats.”

Is completely batty.

If you read the whole speech you come away impressed. But somehow the Muslims become enraged (when do they not it seems) because the Pope spoke out against forced conversion into religion….ahem Centanni ahem.

The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God’s nature. The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: For the emperor, as a Byzantine shaped by Greek philosophy, this statement is self-evident. But for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality.

At this point, as far as understanding of God and thus the concrete practice of religion is concerned, we are faced with an unavoidable dilemma. Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God’s nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true?

I am at a loss to understand the mindset of someone who gets upset at this speech. The Pope is saying reason is necessary for a religion. A person needs to feel that they can disagree, debate, and argue without fear of getting their heads chopped off. This is completely opposite of Wahhabism and other forms of Radical Islam. There is no argument in these forms of religion, there is only complete obedience. How is this becoming one with God?

[...]

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Update:

HT Ace of Spades

Ace of Spades is also worth a read.

RBT

*****

Arab Leaders: Pope's Remarks may lead to War [AnalogKid]
– Ace

Also: Flying planes into buildings with innocents was a "peaceful dialogue." And kidnapping soldiers was simply "an invitation to party."

Why do these jack asses think that they're the only ones who can declare war? And that they're the only ones who can be filled with indignation, shock (shock!), and outrage (outrage!)?

[...]

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and Roger L. Simon has these thoughts:

Ratzinger's zinger

In a BBC News article concerning the current crisis over the Pope's words about Islam, we find the following:

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says Pope Benedict, a theologian who has led a sheltered life in the Vatican for more than two decades, may not have understood the potential implications of his remarks.

Oh, really? The sheltered life here may be Wiley's, as it seems to be often with his Beeb cronies. [Is everything "projection" to you?-ed. Well, not everything, but close.] I think Ratzinger knew perfectly well what he was saying and what he was saying is true. Violence is structured into Islam, because Islam dictates scripturally that the world must be Islamic via jihad (as opposed to Christianity, which says "Render unto Caesar... etc.") and has never reformed on any level that is remotely permanent.

[...]

. . . What we are dealing with here is a malignant belief system - and I say this not just because I am an agnostic. I recognize value in a whole host of religions, even in parts of Islam. But it is clear that this religious belief has oppressed its people (women particularly), kept masses of them in poverty and backwardness while enriching their rulers, and fomented deranged violence across the world from New York to Bali. What is an honest Pope supposed to say? Good on you?

In this post-cartoon universe, I guess he is. In Europe especially panic about Islam has set in. I for one applaud the Pope's non-apology apology. I hope he sticks to it.


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and this piece from the Gates of Vienna:

That Was Not a “Blunder.” It’s Just An Excuse to Kill Infidels

by Dymphna

Other than look at the headlines and check Memeorandum to see what themes are developing, I’ve avoided reading any details about the latest Papal smackdown. The headlines are familiar, the pictures of howling mobs of Muslims are by now simply stock photos, and in the end, I notice that no one is actually reading Benedict’s speech from Regensburg — or rather, they’re excerpting the “juicy” parts and leaving the rest. A waste, really.

What is striking (so to speak) about the various reactions to the Pope’s address is the level of naïveté on all sides of this debate. Among both his adversaries — who delight in this purported “blunder” in Benedict’s talk, and his defenders — who lament his indiscretion, there seems to be an assumption that this intelligent, scholarly, and historically informed speech was a mistake, an unintentional gaffe.

Riight…sure it was.

[...]

So, according to Benedict, the Emperor was startlingly brusque when he expounds on “on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence.”

1391. Over six hundred years ago. That is Benedict’s point. Except for Islam, the world’s religions have changed and evolved. Islam, still a tribal, ahistorical and literal belief system based on what one does, has not changed. And it has foresworn reason as one of its attributes. Belief is not discussed, it is practiced in minute detail. You have only to look in on the questions the average Muslim has about the minutiae of daily life to understand the tragic and unanswered demand for security. At the whim of a capricious Allah, and an even more capricious desert environment, what recourse does a Muslim have but to attend to the details? And what room is there for a maturing of moral reasoning in this system?

Unfortunately for Islam, it simply conquered, subdued, and killed or converted those in its path. It never absorbed from the surrounding culture. Such absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely, no?

But then who could tell a caliph that and live to say anything else?

And how can the world continue in the face of a murderously angry, envious and resentful culture like Islam, frozen as it is in 7th century thinking?

The Holy Jihad will make Christians pay dearly for Benedict’s presentation. Bringing that 600 year old conversation to the light will cause the deaths of many.

Does that mean we should keep silence? No! Jihadists are killing Christians and Jews and Buddhists and Hindus and animists. Then the Sunnis will start killing the Shi’ites and vice versa. Keeping quiet will protect no one.

No, Benedict didn’t “blunder.” He said what he meant and he meant what he said.

Let the fatwas begin.

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Update II:

HT LGH

LGH sums this all up:

Misogynist Medieval Murderers Want Pope to Apologize

The most contemptible terrorist organizations of the world all agree—the Pope must kneel before them: Taliban demands Pope Benedict to apologise.

Afghanistan’s Taliban on Saturday demanded Pope Benedict XVI to apologise for remarks linking Islam with violence, adding the comment showed the Christian West was waging war against Muslims.

“We strongly condemn it,” Mohammad Hanif, who regularly speaks to the media on behalf of the extremist insurgent group, said. “We also want the Pope to apologise before the Muslim Umma (nation),” he said.

The remarks were “obviously part of a crusader war that the West, chiefly America and (President) Bush, is waging against Islam and Muslims,” he said.

Read More and Here

Update III:

HT Dadmanly

The Pope Knows

Lee Smith, writing in the Weekly Standard, astutely describes the controversy the Pope has created as a “prick in the conscience of Catholics the world over.”

Smith makes the argument that Pope Benedict knew full well how his remarks would be received. The Pope and his church know the bitter and violent history of Islam. Contrary to the view expressed by the Editors of the New York Times, the Vatican doesn’t need to “understand Islam.” The Roman Catholic Church has had 1400 years of first hand experience with Islam, as “the church has been contemplating its historical rival for about 1,300 years longer than the paper of record.”

Smith sees the Pope’s act as a clarion call to the faithful, and perhaps a warning shot that might cause “jihadi intelligentsia” to rethink their war against the West:

[...]

As John Paul in the fight against Communism and the Soviet Union, it may well be that Pope Benedict will prove an important ally in the West’s war on terror. If so, he would be a natural ally, and an ally on the basis of shared beliefs, values, history and culture.

This, Quite in contrast to the image of the religious fanatic and ideologue, a caricature which hate-mongers, apologists and appeasers seem determined to apply to the Pope. As is often the case in this bizzaro world of public discourse, should it strike us odd that such characterizations more aptly fits the leading figures of our enemies?

The violence of aroused Muslims the world over gave more ample proof of what the original source of Pope Benedict’s quotation alleged: that the Religion of PeaceTM repeatedly refutes its appellation.

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HT Michelle via her vent at Hot Air

A must see and site to visit!

RBT

*****

'WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION --
THE MURDEROUS REIGN OF SADDAM HUSSEIN'

This film exposes the atrocities committed by the former Iraq dictator through first hand accounts and demonstrates the necessity of removing him from power.

Are You Ready for the Truth?

WMD begins with an ambush interview of Michael Moore by Evan Coyne Maloney in which Michael Moore admits that Farenheit 9/11 is not a documentary. Michael Moore says Farenheit 9/11 " is like an Op Ed for the newspaper." (www.brainterminal.com)

The source footage in WMD will be used as evidence of war crimes committed by Saddam's regime in the trial of Ali Hasan al-Majid, AKA "Chemical Ali', and Saddam Hussein for the massacre of the Iraqi people.. Some of the witnesses shown in WMD have already been murdered for their testimony. Our prayers are with these brave people.

Weapon of Mass Destruction is the story the Main Stream Media does not want you to hear. The daily news paints pre-war Iraq as a peaceful prospering country with a benign dictator in the Middle East. They portray Saddam as a brutal misunderstood man who was forced by the West to take action to protect his country. They continually compare pre-war oil production, electric production and infrastructure to current conditions, leaving the impression that things were much better under Saddam than they are now. They describe President Bush as a simple-minded former oilman living on his daddy's reputation and concerned only with revenge against Saddam and enriching his business associates.

[...]

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HT Pajamas Media

PJM is linking to a new article at the Weekly Standard re the recent Senate Intel Co's finding that there were no connections between the Saddam Regime and AQ.

Stephen F. Hayes wrote this excellent piece:

How Bad Is the Senate
Intelligence Report?
Very bad.

RBT has said many times Saddam was up to his eyeballs supporting and collaborating with AQ, Shiia and Sunni Islamofascists, and other terrorist organizations. Even though Saddam was a Sunday go to Mosque Muslim, he would engage with these groups whenever it was in his own best interests. Especially when the US was involved.

The Blogos is rich with information contrary to the Intels Committee's finding. Ray Robison, a FoxNews Contributor on the Saddam Regime docs, Mark Echenalaub of Regime of Terror, and Scott Malensek, author and frequent contibutor to The New Media Journal have all written extensively on these links that somehow the MSM is overlooking and failing to report to the American people.

RBT

*****

How Bad Is the Senate
Intelligence Report?
Very bad.
by Stephen F. Hayes
09/25/2006, Volume 012, Issue 02


According to a report released September 8 by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Saddam Hussein "was resistant to cooperating with al Qaeda or any other Islamist groups." It's an odd claim. Saddam Hussein's regime has a long and well-documented history of cooperating with Islamists, including al Qaeda and its affiliates.

As early as 1982, the Iraqi regime was openly supporting, training, and funding the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization opposed to the secular regime of Hafez Assad. For years, Saddam Hussein cultivated warm relations with Hassan al-Turabi, the Islamist who was the de facto leader of the Sudanese terrorist state, and a man Bill Clinton described as "a buddy of [Osama] bin Laden's."

Throughout the 1990s, the Iraqi regime hosted Popular Islamic Conferences in Baghdad, gatherings modeled after conferences Turabi hosted in Khartoum. Mark Fineman, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, attended one of the conferences and filed a story about his experience on January 26, 1993. "There are delegates from the most committed Islamic organizations on Earth," he wrote. "Afghan mujahedeen (holy warriors), Palestinian militants, Sudanese fundamentalists, the Islamic Brotherhood and Pakistan's Party of Islam." Newsweek's Christopher Dickey attended the same conference and wrote about it in 2002. "Islamic radicals from all over the Middle East, Africa, and Asia converged on Baghdad," he wrote, "to show their solidarity with Iraq in the face of American aggression. . . . Every time I hear diplomats and politicians, whether in Washington or the capitals of Europe, declare that Saddam Hussein is a 'secular Baathist ideologue' who has nothing to do with Islamists or terrorist calls to jihad, I think of that afternoon and I wonder what they're talking about. If that was not a fledgling Qaeda itself at the Rashid convention, it sure was Saddam's version of it."

Iraqi leaders frequently touted their Islamist credentials. "We are blessed in this country for having the Islamic holy warrior Saddam Hussein as a leader, who is guiding the country in a religious holy war against the infidels and nonbelievers," said Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, one of Saddam's top deputies, in an address to the terrorist confab. On August 27, 1998, 20 days after al Qaeda attacked the U.S. embassies in Africa, Babel, the government newspaper run by Saddam's son Uday Hussein, published an editorial proclaiming Osama bin Laden "an Arab and Islamic hero."

None of this is a secret, as the press coverage attests. But the authors of the Senate report seem determined to write it out of the history. On what basis do the authors claim that Saddam Hussein was "resistant" to cooperation with Islamists? The finding is sourced to "postwar detainee debriefs--including debriefs of Saddam Hussein and Tariq Aziz." Well then, that settles it.

[...]

In fact, it's not clear that the results of the detainee debriefs do, in fact, largely comport with the documentary evidence. What is clear is that where there was a conflict, the committee almost always chose to disregard the documentary evidence in favor of the debriefings, sometimes to comical effect. According to the report, Saddam Hussein was asked whether he might cooperate with al Qaeda because "the enemy of the enemy is my friend." The report dutifully--and uncritically--offers his response. "Saddam answered that the United States was not Iraq's enemy. He claimed that Iraq only opposed U.S. policies."

[...]

These are just four examples out of dozens. Despite his claims to the contrary, Saddam Hussein regarded the United States as an enemy. And for years he demonstrated his willingness to work with Islamists by, among other things, working with Islamists. The Senate report fails to provide any of this contextual balance to the denials of detained Iraqi officials. It is a revealing omission that raises serious doubts about the quality of the reporting throughout the 52 pages examining Iraq's links to al Qaeda.

[...]

There is no mention of documents recovered in postwar Iraq confirming that the Iraqi regime provided Yasin with housing and funding after his return to Iraq until the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003. Vice President Dick Cheney has discussed these documents in television and radio interviews.

There is no mention of documents unearthed by reporters with the Toronto Star and the London Telegraph. The documents, expense reports from the Iraqi Intelligence Service, contain an exchange of memos between IIS officers about who will pay for a March 1998 trip to Baghdad by a "trusted confidante" of Osama bin Laden. The documents were provided to the U.S. intelligence community. "I have no doubt that what we found is the real thing," wrote Mitch Potter, a reporter for the Toronto Star, and one of the journalists who found the documents in the bombed-out headquarters of the Iraqi Intelligence Service days after the fall of Baghdad. Intelligence and military sources tell THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the documents are corroborated by telephone intercepts from March 1998.

[...]

It is the uneven treatment of Iraqi documents that provides perhaps the best window into the mindset of the writers of the Iraq-al Qaeda section of the Senate report. The first sentence of that section reads: "The purpose of this section is to assess the accuracy of the Intelligence Community's prewar analysis on links between the regime of Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda using information collected since Operation Iraqi Freedom."

The Senate report concedes that the document exploitation process in Iraq is incomplete, but it cavalierly assures readers that nothing significant will be found. "While document exploitation continues, additional reviews of documents recovered in Iraq are unlikely to provide information that would contradict the Committee's findings or conclusions."

Such an assessment is at best premature according to intelligence officials familiar with the document exploitation project. "Given my past participation in this realm and my current status it would be imprudent to get into detail," writes Michael Tanji, a former senior Defense Intelligence Agency official who helped lead the document exploitation effort for 18 months. "Suffice it to say that when you are counting sheets of paper by hundreds-of-millions (not to mention other forms of media that have been obtained that threaten to dwarf paper holdings) and your methodology is somewhere between inadequate and woeful, saying that you have a strong grasp on what was and wasn't going on in Iraq based on an 'initial review' is akin to saying that you don't need to read the bible because you've memorized the ten commandments . . . in pig Latin."

[...]

In its conclusions, the Senate report once again sets aside this documentary evidence of a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda and defers to the claims of Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi detainees. "Postwar findings indicate that Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al Qaeda and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, refusing all requests from al Qaeda to provide material or operational support." Perhaps the documents don't count as "findings."

[...]

The mainstream press has treated the Senate report as the definitive word on Iraqi links to al Qaeda. It is not. It is worth remembering that while critics of the Bush administration have long since decided that there was no relationship at all between the Iraqi regime and al Qaeda, there are many observers who continue to hold a different view. If these individuals disagree on the extent of the relationship and its meaning, they agree that there was one.

"There was no question in our minds that there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda," said 9/11 Commission co-chairman Thomas Kean.

"Saddam Hussein's regime welcomed them with open arms and young al Qaeda members entered Iraq in large numbers, setting up an organization to confront the occupation," said Hudayfa Azzam, the son of bin Laden's longtime mentor Abdullah Azzam.

"I believe very strongly that Saddam had relations with al Qaeda," said former Iraqi prime minister and longtime CIA asset Ayad Allawi. "And these relations started in Sudan. We know Saddam had relationships with a lot of terrorists and international terrorism."

[...]

And late last week, following the release of the Senate report, Barham Salih, deputy prime minister of Iraq, had this to say: "The alliance between the Baathists and jihadists which sustains al Qaeda in Iraq is not new, contrary to what you may have been told." Salih continued: "I know this at first hand. Some of my friends were murdered by jihadists, by al Qaeda-affiliated operatives who had been sheltered and assisted by Saddam's regime."

Some day there will be an authoritative and richly detailed history of the nature of the relationship between the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and other Islamist terror groups. This latest product of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is unlikely to merit even a footnote in this history.

Read it All

HT Callimachus at Winds of Change

The MSM's daily Boom Boom Reports

A MUST READ!

This is what the American people need to hear. I'm getting very tired of the daily boom boom reports by the MSM from their hotels.

In fact if it wasn't for all the media on the ground in Baghdad, I think the suicide bombing would deminish. With the concentration of cameras in Baghdad where else are you going to get more bang for your buck.

RBT

*****

"You'll Never Know What We Did"
by 'Callimachus' at September 13, 2006 05:15 AM

My friend, Kat, worked in and around Iraq for roughly two years, for a U.S.-based contractor doing reconstruction work there.

I've picked up bits and pieces of her story as she's written to me from abroad, but recently she's been back in a place with regular Internet access and some time on her hands, and I finally got to ask her some questions and she got to write some full answers. We've talked a lot about her experience over there, and the more I read the more I wanted to tell it. She gave me permission to distill down some of her letters and our chats into a post.

Reconstruction is the eternally under-reported third leg of the Iraq story (the other two are overthrow of Saddam and removal of his threat, and establishing a stable Iraqi popular control of the country). It was part of what we went in there to do, and its success or failure is part of the full measure of success or failure of our entire operation.

Yet on this important story, our media blew it. Who can name a single contractor who did work in Iraq, besides the one that begins with "H" and maybe Blackwater USA? How many people can describe accurately the relationship between Halliburton and KBR? How many faces of Iraq contractors did you ever see in the news, except the ones who got kidnapped and beheaded? How many were the subject of news stories, or were quoted in any of them?

How does this whole process even work? When you say "contractor," probably the image that comes to mind is the guy you hire to replace your back porch or lay a new sidewalk. Is it like that — he writes you a bid, you sign it, he works, you pay him?

I'm not trying to make anyone feel stupid: I had only the vaguest notion of these answers until I had a chance to catch up with Kat. And I'm an editor in the media and I've been watching the stream of reportage flow across the transom for three years now.

[...]

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HT Michael Savage

SCROLL FOR UPDATE

Hmmmm? Something to worry about along the our southern border.

RBT

*****

TERRORISM: 'AL-QAEDA'S MR. NUCLEAR TO HEAD FRESH ATTACK ON U.S.'

Dubai, 12 Sept. (AKI) - Osama bin Laden is planning to carry out new, more destructive attacks inside the United States, and there is someone working on this terror plot currently in the US, according to Hamid Mir, the famed Pakistani journalist who obtained the only post-9/11 interviews with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. In an interview quoted on the website of the al-Arabiya television network, Mir spoke about his last trip to Afghanistan and his meeting with al-Qaeda members and Taliban leaders.

In his interview with Al.Arabiya.net, Mir said that the al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters referred to attacks targeting the US-led coalition forces during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which begins on 24 September, and that the al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden was in "good" health during a meeting he had recently with the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Mir also said that bin Laden has assigned a man named Adnan Al-Shukri Juma to carry out a new attack within the US which is intended to be larger than the 11 September, 2001 attacks. According to Mir, Adnan Jumaa has smuggled explosives and nuclear materials into the US through the Mexican border over the last two years and is hiding somewhere in America where the FBI has not been able to locate him.

[...]

Adnan Al-Shukri's name has been mentioned in many Western media reports claiming that Al-Qaeda has acquired nuclear technology. The American writer, Paul Williams, in his book " The Al-Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, and the Coming Apocalypse", says he was among a number of Al-Qaeda members trained for the nuclear technology.

[...]

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Update:

HT Riehl World View

al-Qaeda And The Nuclear Threat

Riehl World View has much more background info on this developing story.

and

Paul J. Williams, a former FBI consultant and author of The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse, was the source of this segment on Savage's radio show that link to the above news piece.

Williams was previously mentioned last year in Joseph
Farah's World Net Daily article:

Al-Qaida nukes already in U.S.
Terrorists, bombs smuggled across Mexico border by MS-13 gangsters

regarding the long rummored Soviet suitcase nukes that may have made their way into AQ hands. There has been considerable discussion within the Blogos about the viability of these bombs after all these years. On the otherhand perhaps they would be good source material for dirty bombs.

HT Bill Roggio at The Fourth Rail

RBT believes there is a lot of winking and nodding going on in the border region of Waziristan in Pakistan. OBL's days may be numbered if Bill Raggio is right.

RBT

*****


The Black Guards

al-Qaeda's praetorian guards and al-Qaeda high command the target of the March 2006 strike at Danda Saidgai

Task Force 145, the special operations group responsible for the hunt for al-Qaeda in Iraq leadership and the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been active in Pakistan's tribal belts. The recent capture of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is very likely a TF-145 operation. Two incidents earlier in the year, the strike against high level al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders at a dinner in Damadola, and the assault on al-Qaeda's train camp in Danda Saidgai also have the signature of the hidden hand of Task Force 145. This information was recently leaked in the Washington Posts, which the Daily Times provides an excellent summary on the hunt for Osama and the strike on Danda Saidgai., a camp in North Waziristan.

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9:01 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Five years ago, this date -- September the 11th -- was seared into America's memory. Nineteen men attacked us with a barbarity unequaled in our history. They murdered people of all colors, creeds, and nationalities -- and made war upon the entire free world. Since that day, America and her allies have taken the offensive in a war unlike any we have fought before. Today, we are safer, but we are not yet safe. On this solemn night, I've asked for some of your time to discuss the nature of the threat still before us, what we are doing to protect our nation, and the building of a more hopeful Middle East that holds the key to peace for America and the world.

President George W. Bush addresses the nation from the Oval Office Monday evening, Sept. 11, 2006, marking the fifth anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. President Bush said, "The war against this enemy is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century and the calling of our generation." White House photo by Eric Draper On 9/11, our nation saw the face of evil. Yet on that awful day, we also witnessed something distinctly American: ordinary citizens rising to the occasion, and responding with extraordinary acts of courage. We saw courage in office workers who were trapped on the high floors of burning skyscrapers -- and called home so that their last words to their families would be of comfort and love. We saw courage in passengers aboard Flight 93, who recited the 23rd Psalm -- and then charged the cockpit. And we saw courage in the Pentagon staff who made it out of the flames and smoke -- and ran back in to answer cries for help. On this day, we remember the innocent who lost their lives -- and we pay tribute to those who gave their lives so that others might live.

For many of our citizens, the wounds of that morning are still fresh. I've met firefighters and police officers who choke up at the memory of fallen comrades. I've stood with families gathered on a grassy field in Pennsylvania, who take bittersweet pride in loved ones who refused to be victims -- and gave America our first victory in the war on terror. I've sat beside young mothers with children who are now five years old -- and still long for the daddies who will never cradle them in their arms. Out of this suffering, we resolve to honor every man and woman lost. And we seek their lasting memorial in a safer and more hopeful world.

Since the horror of 9/11, we've learned a great deal about the enemy. We have learned that they are evil and kill without mercy -- but not without purpose. We have learned that they form a global network of extremists who are driven by a perverted vision of Islam -- a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance, and despises all dissent. And we have learned that their goal is to build a radical Islamic empire where women are prisoners in their homes, men are beaten for missing prayer meetings, and terrorists have a safe haven to plan and launch attacks on America and other civilized nations. The war against this enemy is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century, and the calling of our generation.

Our nation is being tested in a way that we have not been since the start of the Cold War. We saw what a handful of our enemies can do with box-cutters and plane tickets. We hear their threats to launch even more terrible attacks on our people. And we know that if they were able to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction, they would use them against us. We face an enemy determined to bring death and suffering into our homes. America did not ask for this war, and every American wishes it were over. So do I. But the war is not over -- and it will not be over until either we or the extremists emerge victorious. If we do not defeat these enemies now, we will leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons. We are in a war that will set the course for this new century -- and determine the destiny of millions across the world.

For America, 9/11 was more than a tragedy -- it changed the way we look at the world. On September the 11th, we resolved that we would go on the offense against our enemies, and we would not distinguish between the terrorists and those who harbor or support them. So we helped drive the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. We put al Qaeda on the run, and killed or captured most of those who planned the 9/11 attacks, including the man believed to be the mastermind, Khalid Sheik Mohammed. He and other suspected terrorists have been questioned by the Central Intelligence Agency, and they provided valuable information that has helped stop attacks in America and across the world. Now these men have been transferred to Guantanamo Bay, so they can be held to account for their actions. Osama bin Laden and other terrorists are still in hiding. Our message to them is clear: No matter how long it takes, America will find you, and we will bring you to justice.

On September the 11th, we learned that America must confront threats before they reach our shores, whether those threats come from terrorist networks or terrorist states. I'm often asked why we're in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat. My administration, the Congress, and the United Nations saw the threat -- and after 9/11, Saddam's regime posed a risk that the world could not afford to take. The world is safer because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. And now the challenge is to help the Iraqi people build a democracy that fulfills the dreams of the nearly 12 million Iraqis who came out to vote in free elections last December.

Al Qaeda and other extremists from across the world have come to Iraq to stop the rise of a free society in the heart of the Middle East. They have joined the remnants of Saddam's regime and other armed groups to foment sectarian violence and drive us out. Our enemies in Iraq are tough and they are committed -- but so are Iraqi and coalition forces. We're adapting to stay ahead of the enemy, and we are carrying out a clear plan to ensure that a democratic Iraq succeeds.

We're training Iraqi troops so they can defend their nation. We're helping Iraq's unity government grow in strength and serve its people. We will not leave until this work is done. Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone. They will not leave us alone. They will follow us. The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad. Osama bin Laden calls this fight "the Third World War" -- and he says that victory for the terrorists in Iraq will mean America's "defeat and disgrace forever." If we yield Iraq to men like bin Laden, our enemies will be emboldened; they will gain a new safe haven; they will use Iraq's resources to fuel their extremist movement. We will not allow this to happen. America will stay in the fight. Iraq will be a free nation, and a strong ally in the war on terror.

We can be confident that our coalition will succeed because the Iraqi people have been steadfast in the face of unspeakable violence. And we can be confident in victory because of the skill and resolve of America's Armed Forces. Every one of our troops is a volunteer, and since the attacks of September the 11th, more than 1.6 million Americans have stepped forward to put on our nation's uniform. In Iraq, Afghanistan, and other fronts in the war on terror, the men and women of our military are making great sacrifices to keep us safe. Some have suffered terrible injuries -- and nearly 3,000 have given their lives. America cherishes their memory. We pray for their families. And we will never back down from the work they have begun.

We also honor those who toil day and night to keep our homeland safe, and we are giving them the tools they need to protect our people. We've created the Department of Homeland Security. We have torn down the wall that kept law enforcement and intelligence from sharing information. We've tightened security at our airports and seaports and borders, and we've created new programs to monitor enemy bank records and phone calls. Thanks to the hard work of our law enforcement and intelligence professionals, we have broken up terrorist cells in our midst and saved American lives.

Five years after 9/11, our enemies have not succeeded in launching another attack on our soil, but they've not been idle. Al Qaeda and those inspired by its hateful ideology have carried out terrorist attacks in more than two dozen nations. And just last month, they were foiled in a plot to blow up passenger planes headed for the United States. They remain determined to attack America and kill our citizens -- and we are determined to stop them. We'll continue to give the men and women who protect us every resource and legal authority they need to do their jobs.

In the first days after the 9/11 attacks I promised to use every element of national power to fight the terrorists, wherever we find them. One of the strongest weapons in our arsenal is the power of freedom. The terrorists fear freedom as much as they do our firepower. They are thrown into panic at the sight of an old man pulling the election lever, girls enrolling in schools, or families worshiping God in their own traditions. They know that given a choice, people will choose freedom over their extremist ideology. So their answer is to deny people this choice by raging against the forces of freedom and moderation. This struggle has been called a clash of civilizations. In truth, it is a struggle for civilization. We are fighting to maintain the way of life enjoyed by free nations. And we're fighting for the possibility that good and decent people across the Middle East can raise up societies based on freedom and tolerance and personal dignity.

We are now in the early hours of this struggle between tyranny and freedom. Amid the violence, some question whether the people of the Middle East want their freedom, and whether the forces of moderation can prevail. For 60 years, these doubts guided our policies in the Middle East. And then, on a bright September morning, it became clear that the calm we saw in the Middle East was only a mirage. Years of pursuing stability to promote peace had left us with neither. So we changed our policies, and committed America's influence in the world to advancing freedom and democracy as the great alternatives to repression and radicalism.

With our help, the people of the Middle East are now stepping forward to claim their freedom. From Kabul to Baghdad to Beirut, there are brave men and women risking their lives each day for the same freedoms that we enjoy. And they have one question for us: Do we have the confidence to do in the Middle East what our fathers and grandfathers accomplished in Europe and Asia? By standing with democratic leaders and reformers, by giving voice to the hopes of decent men and women, we're offering a path away from radicalism. And we are enlisting the most powerful force for peace and moderation in the Middle East: the desire of millions to be free.

Across the broader Middle East, the extremists are fighting to prevent such a future. Yet America has confronted evil before, and we have defeated it -- sometimes at the cost of thousands of good men in a single battle. When Franklin Roosevelt vowed to defeat two enemies across two oceans, he could not have foreseen D-Day and Iwo Jima -- but he would not have been surprised at the outcome. When Harry Truman promised American support for free peoples resisting Soviet aggression, he could not have foreseen the rise of the Berlin Wall -- but he would not have been surprised to see it brought down. Throughout our history, America has seen liberty challenged, and every time, we have seen liberty triumph with sacrifice and determination.

At the start of this young century, America looks to the day when the people of the Middle East leave the desert of despotism for the fertile gardens of liberty, and resume their rightful place in a world of peace and prosperity. We look to the day when the nations of that region recognize their greatest resource is not the oil in the ground, but the talent and creativity of their people. We look to the day when moms and dads throughout the Middle East see a future of hope and opportunity for their children. And when that good day comes, the clouds of war will part, the appeal of radicalism will decline, and we will leave our children with a better and safer world.

On this solemn anniversary, we rededicate ourselves to this cause. Our nation has endured trials, and we face a difficult road ahead. Winning this war will require the determined efforts of a unified country, and we must put aside our differences and work together to meet the test that history has given us. We will defeat our enemies. We will protect our people. And we will lead the 21st century into a shining age of human liberty.

Earlier this year, I traveled to the United States Military Academy. I was there to deliver the commencement address to the first class to arrive at West Point after the attacks of September the 11th. That day I met a proud mom named RoseEllen Dowdell. She was there to watch her son, Patrick, accept his commission in the finest Army the world has ever known. A few weeks earlier, RoseEllen had watched her other son, James, graduate from the Fire Academy in New York City. On both these days, her thoughts turned to someone who was not there to share the moment: her husband, Kevin Dowdell. Kevin was one of the 343 firefighters who rushed to the burning towers of the World Trade Center on September the 11th -- and never came home. His sons lost their father that day, but not the passion for service he instilled in them. Here is what RoseEllen says about her boys: "As a mother, I cross my fingers and pray all the time for their safety -- but as worried as I am, I'm also proud, and I know their dad would be, too."

Our nation is blessed to have young Americans like these -- and we will need them. Dangerous enemies have declared their intention to destroy our way of life. They're not the first to try, and their fate will be the same as those who tried before. Nine-Eleven showed us why. The attacks were meant to bring us to our knees, and they did, but not in the way the terrorists intended. Americans united in prayer, came to the aid of neighbors in need, and resolved that our enemies would not have the last word. The spirit of our people is the source of America's strength. And we go forward with trust in that spirit, confidence in our purpose, and faith in a loving God who made us to be free.

Thank you, and may God bless you.

The Whitehouse

Videocast also at this link

I'm bumping this previous post on this day we remember 9/11.

RBT

A July 4th Message from RBT

Tomorrow Americans will celebrate the Fourth of July. While we are BBQ'ing and visiting with friends and relatives, let's take a moment to reflect on we are celebrating and be thankful for our brave men and women who are in harm's way perserving our freedom and way of life.

[...]

A True Hero from another War
Riverside Press-Enterprise - March 31, 2006

Korean vet repaid debt to America with his heroism - America's newest Medal of Honor recipient Tibor Rubin
[Palm Springs, CA]

Tibor Rubin, 76, was liberated from a Nazi death camp by the U.S. Army. He was so greatful to his liberators that after he immigrated to America he enlisted as a "G.I. Joe" to serve in the Korean War. He was sent to the front lines where he fought heroically and was later captured, serving three years as a prisoner of war.

[...]

RBT has yet to read similar stories by the MSM from the Iraq War. If it wasn't for the firsthand accounts of citizen jounalists like, Michael Yon, and the Milblogs no one would ever know of the gallantry of the American men and women serving in this war.

[...]

The MSM from its biased reporting and naivete is aiding and abetting the enemy. The MSM is perversely rooting for the enemy like some underdog against an imperial invading army. This is no Sunday afternoon football game. There can be no appeasing this enemy. There is no moral equivalence to the enemy's religous cultlike ideology.

This is an enemy that seeks to subjugate us, to destroy our very way of life, and to take away our most cherished value - FREEDOM!

[...]

It is crucial to win the GWOT, that the American people hear these stories of valor. As President Bush so rightfully said, this war is of Good vs. Evil. We are in a clash of civilizations and cultures. A modern one that recognizes the free will of men and women, against a Medieval ideology of fascism that seeks our total destruction.

RBT would challenge the MSM to investigate why Iraqis continually lineup in large numbers at military and police recruiting sites when the enemy bombs them repeatedly? Partial answers can be found in Iraq Gen. Sada's new book, Saddam's Secrets and in Tibor Rubin's personal story.

Read More

RBT has written previously that it is time for our generation to suck it up, put down our caffe lattes, quit the whinning, and win this war decisively like our fathers and mothers did before us:

[This essay was prompted by Judge Young's sentencing remarks in the Shoebomber case in recognition of the sacrifices of The Greatest Generation to perserve our freedom]

FREEDOM - Thx to The Greatest Generation for Preserving It

To Sherry and all my family,

After reading Sherry’s post on Judge Young's sentencing statement to the "shoe bomber," it gave me a moment to reflect on the freedoms we do have as Americans. It also reminded me to say thanks to all of you, “The Greatest Generation.” You endured the horrors of evil of the 20th Century. It was your self-sacrifices, sense of purpose, and perseverance that preserved the freedoms we enjoy today. We of the generations that followed often take these freedoms for granted and fail to give you the thanks you deserve. We have not been personally challenged as you were by the threat of global evil. The Cold War while threatening was abstract and distant.

The whiners and snivelers of our generations must appear as ungracious wimps and whooshes. Yes, we are a spoiled and complacent lot and forget the precious gift you gave us. We have not experienced the pain and hardships you lived through. WWII was already past history to be read in our schoolbooks. WWII has no collective visceral memory for us. We have no first hand experience. You did not dwell on it and shielded us from its impact. You didn’t consider yourselves as heroes. You picked up and got on with life. While the Vietnam War is still fresh in our memories some thirty years later, WWII ended less than a decade before we were born and has less of an impact. Our collective memory only is of grainy film clips and those few first-hand stories you told us on rare occasion.

We demand instant gratification, super-human perfection, are quick to find fault and lay blame instead of solutions, and will equivocate on all things to achieve these ends. We too, of course, want it done by yesterday. And yes, if you please, it must be done in an antiseptic and politically correct manner, lest we offend anyone or give us queasy stomachs. Yes, we often stand for nothing and everything at once. We are unlike your generation who understood the difference between, RIGHT and WRONG, and GOOD and EVIL. You lived by these principles day by day. You are not swayed by situational ethics. You stood firm and resolute in what you held dear and believed in.

As President Bush said, we are again facing a new struggle of GOOD verses EVIL. Our very way of life and culture is threatened by the spread of radical Islamic extremism. The world’s equivocation on this new cancer has only emboldened our enemy in their religious zeal to kill or convert every one of us. Radical Islamic extremism is no enlightened religion, as we know it. Radical Islamic extremism as some call Islamofascism, is an ideology that favors, dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism all rolled up into a theocracy. The priest, clerics, and seers of this movement have found in their own interpretations of the Koran, justification for their actions and the slaughter of innocents. Their quest is to “open up” other unbelieving lands to the enlightenment of Islam and to right the right wrongs they suffered of centuries past. In other words to conquer and impose Islamic theocracies. This extremism is a religious-like cult, a failed culture, and a false religion that is still locked in time in the 12th and 13th Centuries.

[...]

The media has failed us, in its duty to inform and educate the American people, with its shallow infotainment coverage of the War On Terror. The people need creditable reporting, so we can make intelligent decisions in the upcoming presidential election. Some in the media believe the American people are too stupid to understand the complexities of the day’s stories. There is little drive or reward for excellence in reporting that is driven by a sense of duty and responsibility. The media has drifted into pandering for audiences and avoids hard stories. Hard news stories require a lot of time, effort, and resources. Hard news coverage requires a commitment to educate the people, report the facts without editorializing and sensationalizing, provide details as to the credibility of its sources, and then let the people from the story, form and draw their own opinions and conclusions. I would strongly caution information providers and their media conglomerates never to underestimate the intelligence and creativity of the American people.

[...]

Islamofascisim is a great danger facing the world. It is time our generations, suck it up and realize what is at stake here. It’s time to put aside our café lattés and cafe mochas, and realize America is at war. This is not another Vietnam. We must win this war. Loosing is not an option. Our Country was deliberately attacked without provocation by Islamofascisim terrorists. The great oceans no longer provide us safe haven from the “crazies” of the world. The “over there,” is now “here” in our homeland. Many innocent lives were lost, for who we are, for what we believe, and for what we stand, whether under God or not – FREEDOM! We must be resolute and decisive. As President Bush so correctly said, we are a tolerant people but once aroused, we are a fierce adversary.

We can no longer bury our heads in the sands, as this cancer will continue to grow if we don’t swiftly excise it. We must shake ourselves from our comfortable complacency, become actively involved, and quit Monday morning quarterbacking and support our valiant troops who are defending our freedom. The media needs to report objectively. The true foreign correspondents of this war are those brave soles that report (blog) from their neighborhoods from within these repressive regimes. The media need to quit rooting for the enemy as if they were the underdogs in some Sunday football game. This only emboldens our enemy and puts our military at further risk. Call the murdering SOBs for what they really are and not the rebels, insurgents, freedom fighters and other creative non-pejorative words. The media needs to bring the intense light of the free world on these repressive regimes that will implode under its scrutiny.

[...]

This war will not be won on the battlefield alone. We must unite both left and right to crush this new enemy that seeks to destroy us. The support of a united America and the free world is critical. There can be no appeasement for fanatical tyrants, who rule by fear, torture, genocide, deceit, and perversion of culture and religion to remain in power. Islamofascism must be crushed as a failed ideology lest its charismatic leaders continue to draw new recruits with the BIG LIES. The free world will no longer tolerate, “Final Solutions.” This is a war of ideology and culture, the free will of men, and GOOD vs. EVIL.


Read More

HT Michelle Malkin

Michelle unloads with both barrels on this 5th Anniversary of 9/11.

This is what the American people need to hear. Unfortunately the LL and the MSM either don't get it or choose not too. Again the MSM has failed in its journalistic duty to inform and educate the Am people of the real dangers we face. Out of BSD* they are rooting for the enemy like some underdog in a Sunday football game.

We need the support and will of the American people now more than ever, to decisively win this war against the Islamofascist enemy and to wipe its ideology of hate and Evil from the face of the earth! **

Perhaps using the Army of Davids effect, we can deliver this message directly to the American people. In this vain I earlier linked to this excellent piece at The New Media Journal by Scott Malensek:

9/11 Happened on Bush’s Watch

Scott's now partnering with Ray Robison (A FoxNews contributor on the Saddam docs)
and Mark Echenlaub who writes at Regime of Terror

They are all trying to counter the disinformation regarding what the Saddam Regime was actually up to or not. The latest being the crap that just came out of the Senate Intel Co. The MSM is running with the partisan summary findings that there was no connection between Saddam and terrorists.

Those of us in the know, know this is a crock. Saddam while not directly involved in 9/11, was up to his eyeballs supporting and collaberating with AQ, Shiia and Sunni Islamofascists, and others whenever it was in his own special interest to do so. Especially when the common enemies, The Great Satan and the Little Satan were involved. Yes, he was a secularist but he was looking out to protect his own ass.

The CIA is still CYA'g over missing this point over many years. This is probably the most significant contributing factor that led 9/11. With the Plame/Wilson affair the CIA ontinued to engage in open organizational warefare with the Office of the President.

RBT

*Bush Derangement Syndrome
** Will bump a previous post on this

A MUST READ! Scott Malensek just sent me his new piece up at The New Media Journal.

RBT

*****

9/11 Happened on Bush’s Watch
USA Scott Malensek
September 11, 2006

As we memorialize the fifth anniversary of the 911 attacks, it’s time to face some facts. 911 DID happen on President Bush’s watch. He was in charge. The fault for letting the attacks happen rests with the top of the pyramid.

The man deserved to be held accountable. Some would have preferred impeachment since it would have offered a partisan chance to avenge the impeachment of President Clinton 8years ago (still perceived by many as having been unwarranted). Lacking impeachment, there should have at least been a national referendum on the Presidency of George W Bush. Oh wait…I’m sorry, there was one. It was the 2004 election.

Rather than voting to remove the man who was in charge on Sept 11, 2001, the American people voted to keep him in office. They saw that the attack was well underway when he took office, and it was too far in motion to stop at the last minute. Regardless of the outcome, his trial by national vote has forced President Bush to account for his actions and his inactions in his first term. The American people chose to re-elect him.

With the blame for HOW the attacks succeeded resolved, people have to ask an even more important question about the 9/11 attacks. It’s the question that the 9/11 Commission mentioned, hid in plain sight, and then buried with supplemental data. WHY? We know why the attacks succeeded (or at least 75% of them did), but why were they launched? The answer is as simple as asking, “Why was Al Queda even revived after the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan?” Finding the answers requires going back in history, examining the actions of previous Presidents, examining their impact on history, and facing their consequences. The 911 Commission tells us vaguely why Osama Bin laden revived Al Queda after the Soviets left Afghanistan. They tell us why he started attacking the United States in December 1992.

[...]

Read More

HT Conservaguy via Atlas Shrugs

Something to remember on the 5th Anniversary of 9/11.

RBT

*****