This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Confessions of a Jesus Phreak in the Islamist War category. Entries are listed from oldest to newest.
Kathleen Parker speculates on what would happen if President Bush had responded to "warnings" the way the Dems and media want him to:
Congressional leaders are scrambling to begin impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush following several unprecedented federal security measures that critics say constitute an unconscionable assault on American civil liberties. Wall Street, meanwhile, is reeling from a seismic downturn while the airline industry is predicted to topple. The Bush administration's sudden imposition of several new - some say "terrifying" - policies came on the heels of an alleged FBI warning that radical Muslim terrorists were planning to hijack U.S. commercial airliners. In the past 36 hours, Bush has taken several steps that have sent American citizens and institutions into shock.
Andrew Sullivan, in "Is Bush Surrendering?" thinks that the President has decided not to fight Iraq.
I have respected and admired George W. Bush since he became my Governor in Texas. After the 2000 election, I discovered that my cousin attended the same church in Midland as the Bushes and are acquainted with them. I was pleased to hear that his depth of character was, according to them, all that it seemed.
I watched as he seemed to wander through the first few months in office. I was concerned, but not unduly so. Many newly minted presidents have been the same, or worse.
On ChristDot, a discussion is currently on about whether invading Iraq squares with Just War theory. Here is my entry, in response to someone who thinks we shouldn't be "attacking someone based on their potential to do harm ":
This is the clearest summary I've seen as to why we must invade Iraq. (Link via Rachel Lucas)
UPDATE: If that's not enough, then try this. If you want still more, or if you'd like an in-depth look at Iraq, our relations with them, with a fully-annotated, well-reasoned explanation of why we must invade, then read The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq. Excellent, and non-partisan.
At the top of my blogroll, you may notice a new graphic, which will remain there at least until the liberation of Iraq. This is a campaign being promoted by Dean Esmay.
If you want to show your support for the Iraqi people, instead of all the idiots marching this weekend in solidarity with Saddam Hussein (in fact if not in intention), grab a copy of the graphic and display it on your site. It links to a site promoting freedom and democracy, specifically in Iraq, but also for all of the subjugated people of the world.
President Bush will be addressing the nation tonight at 7 P.M. Central Time. Early word is that he will give Hussein less than a week to leave Iraq, and will address the nation again later this week, to announce the commencement of hostilities.
LORD, we ask you to protect our troops by your mighty hand. Give their leaders the wisdom and discernment to make a quick and decisive victory, and especially the wisdom to help the Iraqi people rebuild their country after we have taken out Hussein. We pray for peace in the world, and especially for the peace of Jerusalem. We ask these things in your holy Name; Amen.
When I left active duty in the Air Force, I joined the Air National Guard, specifically the 136th Combat Communications Flight. Our Cold War mission had been to deploy forward to northern West Germany, and set up a communications post. The "combat" part was that it was smack in the middle of where the Soviet tanks would roll through.
So it was that twelve years ago, I was spending every spare minute in front of CNN, phone by my side. Being in a Combat Comm. unit, I fully expected to be called up. We did get put on standby, but were never actually sent.
And here I am tonight, my military duty long behind me. Like most everyone else I know, my family and I are sitting and waiting for the balloon to go up. This time around, though I'm in no danger of going, I feel a much stronger sense of foreboding. Not about victory - our military is the finest in the world, bar none. Instead, it's a foreboding of what Hussein will do. He is trapped like a rat in a corner with the cats closing in for the kill, and he knows that he has nothing to lose. My primary concern is the use of chemical and biological weapons. I doubt if he has nukes yet, but God help our troops if he does.
We are standing astride a sea-change in the world geopolitical picture. Old alliances are dying and new ones are being formed. Who'd have thought twelve years ago that France would be within an inch of being an outright enemy to the U.S. - or that the former Warsaw Pact would comprise a large portion of an alliance formed to remove Hussein? If you had told me that one of my most admired people would be a British socialist, I wouldn't have believed you. And yet, here we are.
Watching.
Waiting.
Praying.
May God protect our troops, and may He bless the United States of America.
As you probably already know, Pat Tillman was killed in action yesterday in Afghanistan.
I've never been much of a sports fan, so I hadn't heard of him before he quit the Cardinals to join the Army. I remember telling my wife, "Now there is a prime example of America's finest." He gave up a life of luxury to serve his country.
Now he has given up his very life for his country.
ChristDot is a SlashDot-type Christian website that I frequent. It is remarkable for its diversity of viewpoint and relatively calm demeanor.
This morning I read an article in which one of the founders, whose dislike for Pres. Bush is well-known, does an I-told-you-so entry regarding the Abu Ghraib mess. Par for the course, but I've learned that he won't be budged from his position. But it was an entry in the comments section to which I had to respond. I can't link directly to the comment, so I will reproduce it here.
This has been making the email rounds for a while now, but it's still worth sharing here:
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Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it?
Did you know his trial is over?
Did you know he was sentenced?
Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV/Radio?
Didn't think so.
Everyone should hear what the judge had to say: Ruling by Judge William Young in US District Court.
Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant If he had anything to say. His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his "allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah," defiantly stated "I think I ought not apologize for my actions," and told the court "I am at war with your country." Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below, a stinging condemnation of Reid in particular and terrorists in general:
Curmudeonly & Skeptical recently posted a letter from a LtCdr. Steven Unger, a chaplain on the ground in Iraq. Hie thee to the link and read it all. Res Ipsa Loquitur (The thing speaks for itself.)
If a country is rebuilt, and the media doesn't report it, does it make a sound?
This post should get your blood boiling. Read it, then come back and finish this.
Ready? Good.
As to why the media acts as it does, there are many possible explanations. That, however, is for another time. My purpose here is to discuss the effects of their behavior, and whether it constitutes treason. I don't say that it is necessarily intentional, but in this case, intentions are irrelevant in light of the potential results. IANAL (Iam not alawyer). Having said that, let us proceed:
This, according to the 'Lectric Law Library, is the legal definition of treason:
TREASON - This word imports a betraying, treachery, or breach of allegiance.
The Constitution of the United States, Art. III, defines treason against the United States to consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort. This offence is punished with death.
This is the only crime (that I know of) in which the Constitution itself prescribes the death penalty. With a crime and punishment this severe, it is critical that we define our terms clearly. What is aid and comfort?
Every day, I am more convinced that we have another Greatest Generation on our hands. And here's one of the reasons why:
{Marine Corps. Commandant, General} Hagee's last story was about another 22-year-old squad leader, Cpl. Timothy C. Tardif, who was suffering from grenade fragment wounds and had been evacuated to Germany, but found a way back to the battlefields of Iraq.
"He was in a platoon that was in a very fierce firefight, and he was able to lead his squad across an open road into a village to secure the right flank of the village," Hagee said. "The good news is they made it across. The bad news is they were in a hand grenade-throwing contest.
The battle continued for a couple of hours. Tardif was seriously wounded by shrapnel, but he refused to be evacuated, the general said. "They were successful and secured the village," Hagee noted. "But as they were pulling out of the village, Corporal Tardif passed out because of loss of blood."
We are winning the military war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The terrorists are on the run. And slowly, even ineptly, we are achieving our political goals of democratic reform in once-awful places... Whether this influential, snarling minority - so prominent in the media, on campuses, in government, and in the arts - succeeds in turning victory into defeat is open to question. Right now the matter rests on the nerve of a half-dozen in Washington who are daily slandered (Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice, Wolfowitz), and with brilliant and courageous soldiers in the field. They are fighting desperately against the always-ticking clock of American impatience, and are forced to confront an Orwellian world in which their battle sacrifice is ignored or deprecated while killing a vicious enemy is tantamount to murder.
In a surprise move, the transfer of power from the CPA to the Iraqi interim government took place this morning, two days early. Paul Bremer is already on an airplane back to the States. There will be more violence, but the people of Iraq have been given a gift. It is now up to them how to use it.
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled today that the enemy prisoners-of-war at Gitmo can sue the U.S. government.
*sigh*
Can you imagine what it would have been like if all the EPW's we held during World War II had clogged up the courts like this will? What the hell was SCOTUS thinking?
Are the folks at Guantanamo not POWs? If not, can someone explain the difference to me?
There are more fronts in this war than we may realize
I was discussing current world events with a Christian friend the other day, when it hit me like a bolt of lightning: I have been so concerned with the politics of the whole thing that I had forgotten where the real conflict will be won or lost.
. . .For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12
No, I am not saying that the Republican Party is the Force of Righteousness, nor that the Democrats are Evil Incarnate.
If this is confirmed, then the "no WMD" mantra is toast:
Baghdad, Iraq, Jul. 21 (UPI) -- Iraqi security reportedly discovered three missiles carrying nuclear heads concealed in a concrete trench northwest of Baghdad, official sources said Wednesday.
Too good to be true. I'm taking this with a large grain of salt.
UPDATE: Reuter's quotes the Iraqi Interior Ministry as saying that the above report "is stupid." Of course I take anything from Reuter's with a grain of salt as well.
The perfidy of the Left becomes more self-evident every day. Ace of Spades says:
Weapons Inspector Charles Duelfer: Now 35 Sarin and Mustard-Gas Shells Found in Iraq. and Counting
He made this announcement on Special Report With Brit Hume tonight. He says that they're constantly finding new caches of weapons, and they expect (or at least fear) that there are many more such weapons to be found in Iraq.
Question of the Day: What number constitutes a "stockpile"? One would think that any time you're above 20 or 30, you're in at least small-stockpile territory.
I want the liberals to give us a number, now. Because, a month from now, when we've discovered 60-100, I don't want to hear that a "stockpile" has now been redefined to be whatever number we have not yet reached.
I think the Left just needs to mount wheels on those goalposts and be done with it.
BTW, Ace has an interesting comment about Fox News. I'd love to see something to back it up.
Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11, is making the rounds here at U.S. bases in Kuwait. Some soldiers have received it already and are passing is around. The impact is devastating. Here we are, soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, just days from finally returning home after over a year serving in Iraq, and Moore's film is shocking and crushing soldiers, making them feel ashamed. Moore has abused the First Amendment and is hurting us worse than the enemy has.
I am so bleeping angry about this that I can't focus on writing at the moment. Just read it, link it and spread it. People need to know the effect this Hollywood fifth-column pondscum** is having.
----- *No, the above photo is not an incitement to shoot Mr. Moore. It's just wishful thinking. **No offense intended to pondscum.
The Syrian singer of a band that was detained by the FBI's Terrorism Task Force for suspicious activity during a recent flight to Los Angeles has written about the "glorification" of suicide bombers to liberate Palestine. Singer Nour Mehana's latest album includes the song "Um El Shaheed," or "Mother of a Martyr," said Aluma Dankowitz of the Middle East Media Research Institute. The song tells the story of a woman who mourned her son's death until she realized that "he died for a good cause and he should be glorified for what he did," said Miss Dankowitz, who translated the song for The Washington Times. Mr. Mehana's 14 Syrian band members were detained by officials June 29 upon deplaning Northwest Flight 327 from Detroit to Los Angeles, for acting in a suspicious manner that concerned the flight crew and air marshals on board.
Of course, they're members of the Religion of PeaceT, so we shouldn't think anything of it. Nothing to see here, just move along.
During his first presidential campaign, he was vilified and ridiculed, not for his ideas, but for his unpolished appearance and his folksy accent and his lack of education. They called him stupid, an ape, a country bumpkin, and made fun of the way he pronounced his words.
His enemies declared that his election would be the end of everything good in the world. They threatened to leave the United States if he won -- this despite the fact that he was certainly the most moderate Republican who could have won his party's nomination.
He won on a fluke. If his main opponent's vote had not been diluted by third-party candidates, he most likely would have lost. As it was, he received far less than the majority of the vote.
He did not ask for the war that came on his watch, but he was grimly determined to see it through to victory. The trouble was, nobody thought he was doing it right.
Sounds familiar? Read on to get "the rest of the story." While you're there, poke around his site for a while. There is much of interest to be read.
. . . today . . . we are up against a truly malignant force in radical Islamism and in the states breeding, sheltering, or financing its terrorist armory. This new enemy has already attacked us on our own soil-a feat neither Nazi Germany nor Soviet Russia ever managed to pull off-and openly announces his intention to hit us again, only this time with weapons of infinitely greater and deadlier power than those used on 9/11. His objective is not merely to murder as many of us as possible and to conquer our land. Like the Nazis and Communists before him, he is dedicated to the destruction of everything good for which America stands. It is this, then, that (to paraphrase George W. Bush and a long string of his predecessors, Republican and Democratic alike) we in our turn, no less than the "greatest generation" of the 1940's and its spiritual progeny of the 1950's and after, have a responsibility to uphold and are privileged to defend.
Read the whole thing. Then make copies of it and send them to anyone you know who thinks that it's just not that big a deal. Along with a copy of If it's Not Close, They Can't Cheat, by Hugh Hewitt.
So the Pope says something about how radical Islamists tend to respond with violence, and might want to rethink their strategy. How do said idiots respond? By rioting in the streets and threatening to kill the Pope for having the gall to suggest that they are violent!
Over at The Daily Brief, Sgt. Mom sez it best for me (reproduced here in full, for my future reference):
