85,000 Civilians Were Killed During Iraq War By Acts of Terror... Not One Million
October 14, 2009 by Gateway Pundit

85,000 Iraqis died in the war from 2004 to 2008.
Not one million as Ron Paul claimed.
Not 600,000 as the discredited Lancet Study revealed.

war, iraq, news, news media, politics, foreign affairs,

Another Former "Rehabilitated" Gitmo Detainee Killed in Shootout
October 01, 2009 by Gateway Pundit

Another former rehabilitated and released Gitmo "refugee" was killed in a shootout with Yemeni authorities.

Former rehabilitated terrorist Fahd Saleh Suleiman al Jutayli was reportedly killed in a shootout in northern Yemen.

war, terrorism, news,

A sudden outbreak of domestic terror threats
August 25, 2009 by Brett Michael Dykes

Still think Afghanistan is the only place the war against terrorists should be fought?

An extended period of relatively little news about domestic terrorist threats was shattered this week. A spate of arrests and reports of fearsome plots have Americans back on edge and struggling to make sense of the suspects and continuous headlines.

war, terrorism, news,

Colo. terror plot suspect due in federal court
September 21, 2009 by P. SOLOMON BANDA and STEVEN K. PAULSON

More terrorists not members of Al Qaeda.

DENVER – Three people, including an Afghanistan-born Colorado man who allegedly hand wrote bomb-making instructions, face court appearances Monday on charges of lying to authorities in an ongoing terror investigation.

Najibullah Zazi, 24, a Colorado airport shuttle driver who has admitted receiving weapons training from al-Qaida, played a direct role in the alleged terror plot, according to court documents released Sunday. Authorities have said they don't know the timing or location of any planned attack.

Investigators said they found notes on bomb-making that appear to match Zazi's handwriting and discovered his fingerprints on materials — batteries and a scale — that could be used to make explosives.

terrorism, war, news,

Bin Laden’s Reading List for Americans
September 14, 2009 by Sharon Otterman AND Robert Mackey

While Oprah’s seal of approval on a book cover is sought after in America, Osama Bin Laden’s is, to put it mildly, not. On Monday, the authors of three books apparently recommended to American readers by the leader of Al Qaeda in his latest communique might be wondering how one goes about returning an unsolicited endorsement to a shadowy militant who has been in hiding for eight years.

2. “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” in which former President Jimmy Carter gives his views about how best to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, and criticizes Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the territories. While the voice on the tape does not mention this book by name, it calls on Americans to “read what your former president, Carter, wrote regarding Israeli racism against our people in Palestine,” in a characterization of the book that goes beyond Mr. Carter’s own language.

war, terrorism, news, politics,

Airline bomb plot ringleader gets 40 years in UK
September 14, 2009 by AP

So Al Qaeda isn't the only terrorist threat? Does that mean Afghanistan isn't the only place we need to be ready to invade?

LONDON – A British judge on Monday sentenced the ringleader of a plot to bring down trans-Atlantic planes with liquid explosives to at least 40 years in jail and three fellow British Muslims to long prison sentences.

The sentences for the planned suicide bombings were among the longest ever handed out by a British court in a terrorism case.

Ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, was given a minimum sentence of 40 years for plotting the biggest terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001.

war, terrorism, news, foreign affairs,

Taliban Surprising U.S. Forces With Improved Tactics
September 2, 2009 by Karen DeYoung (hat tip to Lux Libertas)

The Taliban has become a much more potent adversary in Afghanistan by improving its own tactics and finding gaps in the U.S. military playbook, according to senior American military officials who acknowledged that the enemy's resurgence this year has taken them by surprise.

war, terrorism, news, foreign affairs,

Remnants of Iraq Air Force Are Found
August 30, 2009 by ROD NORDLAND

Are any other countries stashing anything else that belongs to Iraq?

BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials have discovered that they may have a real air force, after all.

The Defense Ministry revealed Sunday that it had recently learned that Iraq owns 19 MIG-21 and MIG-23 jet fighters, which are in storage in Serbia. Ministry officials are negotiating with the Serbs to restore and return the aircraft.

war, terrorism, news, foreign affairs, military,

ABC and NBC Resist Vindicating Cheney, But Hayes Finds Proof EIT's 'Effective'
August 25, 2009 by Brent Baker

ABC's Brian Ross and NBC's Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday night each listed some al Qaeda plots uncovered via CIA interrogations, but both balked when it came to vindicating former Vice President Dick Cheney on whether “enhanced interrogation techniques” (EITs) led to information which prevented attacks.

“Nowhere in the reports...does the CIA ever draw a direct connection between the valuable information and the specific use of harsh tactics,” Ross declared on World News in citing reports Cheney requested be released. NBC's Andrea Mitchell cited only Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and related how “administration officials say there is no way to know whether the same information could have be obtained from him without waterboarding or whether he would have given it up sooner had he been handled differently.”

On FNC, however, The Weekly Standard's Steve Hayes, quoting from the just-released 2004 report by CIA Inspector General John Helgerson, pointed out how even it noted regarding Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, the terrorist behind the USS Cole attack, “following the use of EIT's, he provided information about his most current operational planning as opposed to the historical information he provided before the use of the EIT's.” Hayes asserted: “I mean, it doesn't get clearer than that. So we can debate the morality, we can debate whether this was torture. We can't debate any longer about whether this was effective.”

news media, bias, liberalism, left wing, pandering, propaganda, war, terrorism, torture, scandal,

FNC: Bush Volunteered for Vietnam, CBS's Mapes Knowingly Omitted from Story
August 25, 2009 by Brad Wilmouth

On Tuesday, FNC's The O'Reilly Factor hosted FNC analyst Bernard Goldberg as the former CBS News correspondent highlighted a story recently posted on his Web site, BernardGoldberg.com, in which he complains of how little mainstream media attention was given to the fact that former President George W. Bush had volunteered to go to Vietnam as part of his service in the Texas Air National Guard, but that he was turned down because other pilots were more experienced, and that CBS News producer Mary Mapes, even though she knew this part of the story before the report aired, did not include this important angle in the infamous piece by Dan Rather that used forged documents to paint Bush as trying to avoid Vietnam War service.

news media, bias, liberalism, left wing, propaganda, fraud, scandal, Republicans,

Morning Bell: The Left’s War On The CIA
August 25th, 2009 by The Heritage Foundation

Special Prosecutor to Probe CIA Interrogations
August 24, 2009 by Fox News

Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a special prosecutor to examine allegations that terror suspects were abused at the hands of their CIA interrogators.

Eric Holder CIA Investigation Announcement Unleashes Kossack Political Bloodlust
August 25, 2009 by P.J. Gladnick

Liberals in the mainstream media may publicly pretend that the appointment of a prosecutor to investigate so-called torture in the CIA is non-political but to the members of the Daily Kos it is all about politics.

The politics of revenge.

On the heels of the Eric Holder Justice Department dropping a voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party for threatening voters with billy clubs in Philadelphia, it was announced yesterday that Holder will appoint a prosecutor to investigate the CIA over the loud protests of that agency's director, Leon Panetta.

Despite the public pretenses of many liberals that the investigation has nothing to do with politics, the crazed bloodlust comments at the Daily Kos shows it has everything to do with politics...and revenge:

war, terrorism, government, abuse, oppression, liberalism, left wing, Democrats, pandering, hypocrisy, corruption,

Health Care Debate Based on Lack of Logic
August 26, 2009 by Jeanna Bryner

With all due respect to Professor Hoffman, wouldn't a totally rational person look at government's track record of domestic policy (i.e., Social Security, education, etc.) and question whether the federal government should be involved in health care at all? And on the justifications for the Iraq war, did Hoffman's study include any real evidence or did it focus only on the left wing media narrative (which includes numerous false assertions about what the Bush administration actually said - what happened to all the 1990s evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with numerous terrorists)?

Heated partisan debate over President Obama's health care plan, erupting at town hall meetings and in the blogosphere, has more to do with our illogical thought processes than reality, sociologists are finding.

The problem: People on both sides of the political aisle often work backward from a firm conclusion to find supporting facts, rather than letting evidence inform their views.

A totally rational person would lay out — and evaluate objectively — the pros and cons of a health care overhaul before choosing to support or oppose a plan. But we humans are not so rational, according to Steve Hoffman, a visiting professor of sociology at the University of Buffalo.

government, health care, news media, bias, war,

ABC's Charles Gibson to Cindy Sheehan: Thanks for your sacrifice. Now get lost.
August 20, 2009 by Byron York

In an appearance August 18 on WLS radio in Chicago, ABC News anchor Charles Gibson was asked about anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan's plans to travel to Martha's Vineyard next week, where she will protest the Iraq and Afghanistan wars while President Obama is vacationing there. Gibson, whose newscast and network featured Sheehan when she led anti-war protests outside President Bush's Texas ranch in 2005, answered, "Enough already."

Flashback: When Gibson was Enthralled by Cindy Sheehan
August 20, 2009 by Brent Baker

politics, news media, bias, liberalism, left wing, protests, hypocrisy, anti-war

Wave of Baghdad blasts kills at least 75
August 19, 2009 by SINAN SALAHEDDIN

BAGHDAD – A truck bomb tore through Iraq's Foreign Ministry Wednesday, knocking out concrete slabs and windows and leaving a mass of charred cars outside as a wave of explosions around Baghdad killed at least 75 people.

It was the deadliest day in the capital since U.S. troops largely withdrew from cities on June 30 and a major challenge to Iraqi control of Baghdad. A steady escalation of attacks this month has sparked fears of a resurgence of violence ahead of next year's national elections.

The deadliest of the attacks hit near the Foreign Ministry, killing at least 59 people and wounding 250. Officials said the toll may climb as rescue workers dig through rubble and debris. The ministry is just outside the Green Zone, the most heavily protected part of the capital. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

war, terrorism, foreign affairs, tragedy, news

Suicide truck bomb kills at least 20 in Russia
August 17, 2009 by SHAMSUDIN BOKOV

NAZRAN, Russia – A suicide bomber attacked a police station in Russia's North Caucasus with an explosives-laden truck Monday, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 100 others, officials said.

The bombing was the deadliest in years in the restive southern region, denting Kremlin claims that the area was stabilizing after two wars in Chechnya and mounting violence in surrounding provinces since 1994. While most fighting in Chechnya has ended, Islamic militants continue to mount regular hit-and-run attacks and skirmishes in neighboring provinces.

war, terrorism, news, foreign affairs

Crutsinger's Crud, Part 2: AP Reporter Again Erroneously Cites Cost of Wars As 'Major' Deficit Factor
August 12, 2009 by Tom Blumer

Does the Associated Press's Martin Crutsinger moonlight as a Code Pink operative?

There has to be something that explains what I'll call his Iraqnaphobia.

Last month (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), the AP reporter erroneously cited the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a "major factor" explaining why "the deficit has widened." In a quick review of the related June 2009 Monthly Treasury Statement, I cited three examples of higher spending in other areas of government that were larger than last year, both in dollar and percentage terms, than the $33 billion, 7% increase in total defense spending. NB commenter Arminius further pointed out that "Our military spending amounts to 5 percent of GDP. Iraq and Afghanistan amount to 15 percent of that 5 percent. Obviously, as Tom notes, larger culprits are responsible for the massive deficit."

news media, bias, war, politics, government, spending, liberalism, left wing, anti-war, propaganda, pandering

Police: 37 die in Iraq as bombs target Shiites
August 7, 2009 by HAMID AHMED

BAGHDAD – A suicide car bomb devastated a Shiite mosque in northern Iraq, one of a series of attacks Friday that killed at least 37 Shiite pilgrims and worshippers, police and medical officials said.

The incidents are the latest in a series that have targeted Shiites, raising concerns that insurgents are stepping up attacks, hoping to re-ignite sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart in 2006 and 2007.

war, terrorism, news, foreign affairs

Officials: 15 die in violence across Afghan south
August 6, 2009 by NOOR KHAN and AMIR SHAH

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Roadside explosions and a U.S. airstrike killed at least 15 people across southern Afghanistan, including members of a family who hit a mine on their way to a wedding party, local officials said Thursday.

The family was traveling in a tractor with a trailer through the Garmser district Wednesday morning when they hit a mine laid in the road, Helmand province police Chief Assadullah Sherzad said.

Sherzad initially reported that 21 people were killed but told The Associated Press that his officers in the district later said five people were killed and five wounded.

war, terrorism, news, foreign affairs

Russian Subs Patrolling Off East Coast of U.S.
August 4, 2009 by MARK MAZZETTI and THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON — A pair of nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines has been patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States in recent days, a rare mission that has raised concerns inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies about a more assertive stance by the Russian military.

The episode has echoes of the cold war era, when the United States and the Soviet Union regularly parked submarines off each other’s coasts to steal military secrets, track the movements of their underwater fleets — and be poised for war.

foreign affairs, news

NBC, CBS Skip Study on Massive New Obama Spending
August 3, 2009 by Scott Whitlock

Of the three network morning shows, only ABC highlighted a new study by the Heritage Foundation that reported how the federal government's massive spending will average almost $34,000 per household in 2009, up $8000 from last year. On Monday, Good Morning America news anchor Chris Cuomo also appeared amazed at wasteful, bureaucratic errors: "Seventy two billion dollars spent by our government to the wrong people in either double payments or mispayments."

He marveled, "Can you believe that? It’s true." NBC’s Today and CBS’s Early Show have, thus far, not reported on the Heritage study. The report explained, "The 2009 version of ‘Federal Spending by the Numbers’ shows spending and deficits surging at a pace not seen since World War II."

politics, government, spending, funding, news media, bias