Sunnis Give Up & Go American

The Sunni Muslim leaders of Anbar province, a hotbed of insurgency, are throwing in the towel and going with America. Says Sunni religious leader Sheik Abed al-Latif Hemaiym in an interview with The Times: "We now believe we must get on good terms with the Americans. As Arab Sunnis, we believe that within this hot area of Iraq, facing challenges from neighboring nations who want to swallow us, especially the Iranians, we feel we have no alternative."

The most difficult question remaining now is how is the media going to spin this into more proof of the inevitable American defeat?

The Troops & The Press

Staff Sgt. Cory Blackwell, 27, returning to Iraq for his second tour with the 4th Infantry Division, on journalists: "We tried to stay away from them. You had the feeling that whatever you might be doing, they wanted to catch you at something on tape. That would make their career."

When television camera crews showed up, they'd direct them away to the unit next door: "We’d just say, ‘Hey, go down the street there with second squad ... it’s gonna be awesome.’"

Most reporters are considered hostile,
but every once in a great while, the troops find a fair one and adopt him as "their reporter."

Reality Check

Here is your reality check from historian Victor Davis Hanson on the current state of affairs, a useful antidote to the poison that drips from the liberal media:

"So at year’s end, what then is happening at home and abroad?

For the last three years we have seen a carbuncle swell as the old Vietnam War opposition rematerialized, with Michael Moore, the Hollywood elite, and Cindy Sheehan scaring the daylights out of the Democratic establishment that either pandered to or triangulated around their crazy rhetoric. The size of the Islamicist/Baathist insurrection caught the United States for a time off guard, as was true also of the sudden vehement slurs from our erstwhile allies in Europe, Canada, and Asia. Few anticipated that the turmoil Iraq would force the Syrians out of Lebanon, the Libyans to give up their WMDs, and the Egyptians to hold elections — and that all the killing, acrimony, and furor over these developments would begin to engulf the Middle East and threaten the old order.

In the face of that growing ulcer of discontent, we quietly kept on killing terrorists, promoting elections in Iraq, pressuring Arab autocracies to democratize, and growing the economy. All that is finally lancing the boil, here and abroad — and what was in there all along is now slowly oozing out, making the cure seem almost as gross as the malady."

Thanks to Michelle Malkin

Porn & Beer Fuel Iraq Insurgency

A soldier fighting in Iraq writes Wonkette about the telltale sign of a nest of insurgents:

"Here's irony for you-you wanna know how we can tell we have found an insurgent safehouse? Porn. Yep-good ol' decadently-Western porn. Sometimes porn and beer. Naked chicks, Tuborg Gold, Lebanese rap music, and some IED-making materials makes for a rockin' Friday night in Mosul."

Our Ally In The War Against Terror

Nina Shea tells us what our "allies in the war against terror," the Saudis, are up to:

"Booklets published in Arabic for the "Immigrant Muslim" by the Saudi embassy in Washington, for example, instruct Muslims to “hate” Americans. They counsel that, because America is ruled by infidel civil law, “it is forbidden” for a Muslim to become an American citizen, or join the U.S. military, or support Americans in any way."

The Saudis are publishing this hate propaganda in Arabic after the Sep 11 attacks, motivated by the Wahhabi state religion of Saudi Arabia, while simultaneously funding slick advertising campaigns in English to assure us that they are on our side. The Saudi embassy distributing these instructions to hate Americans is very nearly within sight of the Pentagon, the target of Wahhabi hate on Sep 11.

For an insight on the Saudi tolerance of other religions:

"...the Saudi Al-Madina newspaper reported that one brave Muslim teacher in Saudi Arabia by the name of Mohammad al-Harbi was sentenced to 750 lashes and a three-and-a-half-year prison term for making positive statements about Jews and the Bible. Such religious tolerance is forbidden, according to the Saudi publications we found, because it “breaks the wall of resentment between the Muslims and the unbelievers.”"

Saudi Arabia delenda est.

Iran Forges Iraqi Ballots

Iraqi border guards stopped a tanker truck crossing the border from Iran chuck full of bogus ballots forged in Iraq. Some of the choices on the ballots were filled in, presumably for Iran's choices. This is in addition to the improved shaped charges Iran is smuggling into Iraq for use in IEDs killing our troops.

What's Going On In Iraq

James Dunnigan from StrategyPage tells you everything you need to know about the Big Picture in Iraq in his article: "There's More Going On in Iraq Than a Media Event." In summary, we're winning, the insurgency is losing, and you can't trust what the press prints.

Lefties Gone Wild

John Hawkins of Right Wing News presents "The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes for 2005." Here is a selection of this year's wisdom from the lefty supergeniuses of our time:

38) "I know people who are embarrassed to be American. They don't like showing their passports. It's becoming a scary place. It takes someone very brave not to be quiet, someone who doesn't mind death threats, their life being turned upside down, news cameras outside their door. There is no freedom of speech in America anymore. They are not living up to the constitution. There's so much fear in America and control." -- Gillian Anderson

37) "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for..." -- Howard Dean

36) "George W. Bush is evil. He is a terrorist. He is evil. He is arrogant. And he is out of control." -- Julianne Malveaux

31) "But in my darker moments, I wonder whether the war wasn't a cover to persuade good, open-minded folk like Glenn (Reynolds) to enable the theocratic impulses of the Republican base." -- Andrew Sullivan

20) "Until your daddy learns that it's not 'fun' to kill, keep your doggies and kitties away from him. He's so hooked on killing defenseless animals that they could be next!" -- From a PETA booklet called "Your Daddy Kills Animals," which was designed to be handed out to children

17) "I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach. It may have been blown up to destroy the black part of town and keep the white part dry." -- Louis Farrakhan speculates that New Orleans was deliberately flooded

10) "This President is never gonna do the right thing. I think somewhere deep down inside him he takes a lot of joy about losing people, if he thinks they vote Democrat or if he thinks they're poor, or if he thinks they're in a blue state, whatever his reasons are not to rescue those people." -- Air America's Randi Rhodes speculates that Bush wanted Democrats to die in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina

9) "What outrages me as a representative of journalists is that there’s not more outrage about the number, and the brutality, and the cavalier nature of the U.S. military toward the killing of journalists in Iraq....They target and kill journalists ... uh, from other countries, particularly Arab countries like Al -, like Arab news services like Al-Jazeera, for example. They actually target them and blow up their studios with impunity...." -- Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley

7) "George Bush doesn't care about black people...They're giving the Army permission to go down and shoot us." -- Kayne West on the rescue efforts in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina

6) "For those of you who do, as a matter of principle, oppose war in any form, the idea of supporting a conscientious objector who's already been inducted [and] in his combat service in Iraq might have a certain appeal. But let me ask you this: Would you render the same support to someone who hadn't conscientiously objected, but rather instead rolled a grenade under their line officer in order to neutralize the combat capacity of their unit?" -- University Professor Ward Churchill on supporting soldiers who frag their officers

3) "Do our government's poorly paid contract killers deserve our "support" for blindly following orders?" -- Ted Rall

1) "Real freedom will come when [U.S.] soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors." -- Warren County Community College adjunct English professor, John Daly

Thanks to Michelle Malkin