Monthly Archives: March 2003

Signs of Progress

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Where’s Saddam?

U.S. officials are starting to suggest strongly that Saddam Hussein was killed in the March 19 attack on a Baghdad bunker that inaugurated the war effort. Gen. Peter Pace, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, raised questions about Saddam’s whereabouts earlier tonight: “That doesn’t mean he’s dead, but he’s not visible publicly and he’s not been seen or reported to have been seen by anybody.” American officials have »

Arnett Back In Business

Anti-American “war correspondent” Peter Arnett lost no time after being fired by MSNBC. He is now working for London’s Daily Mirror, a viciously anti-American and anti-war tabloid. Arnett “apologized” for his support of the Baath party line earlier today, but his apology was transparently insincere. Now he says “I report the truth of what is happening here in Baghdad and will not apologise for it.” Arnett is a sick person; »

Ansar al-Islam Compound Searched

The Associated Press reports that American and Kurdish forces have searched the compound formerly occupied by Ansar al-Islam Islamofascists in northern Iraq, and have found “what may be the strongest evidence yet linking the group to al-Qaida.” The search also yielded documents and computer data identifying Ansar members or sympathizers around the world. General Richard Myers says that the Ansar compound is believed to be the source of the ricin »

See you in a few days

I’m getting ready to hit the road again, so I may not be posting for a few days. This is a bad time to be away from one’s family, but a good time to be away from Washington, D.C. As I type these words, some guy with a megaphone is shrilly addressing peace demonstrators assemble at Dupont Circle. I can’t make out exactly what he’s saying, but I hear the »

Good sense from an unexpected source

Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post takes on the “orthodox” view that President Bush alienated the world even before beginning his diplomacy on Iraq by thumbing his nose at the International Criminal Court, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. He notes tha Clinton also thumbed his nose at this “big three” because he too was unwilling to shackle America’s economy or cede judicial control over U.S. troops abroad. »

More on hearts and minds

Jonah Goldberg adds his thoughts on why the Arab world doesn’t get the war against Saddam. He wonders whether even the Iraqis get it. »

Poll Data Show Continued Support for War

The latest Gallup Poll, released this morning, shows undiminished support for the Iraq war, still running at around 70%. The only finding that represents a significant change, compared to one week ago, is that the percentage who think the war is going “very well” has declined from 53% to 33%, while those thinking the war is going “moderately well” have increased from 37% to 52%–hardly a surprising finding, given the »

Richard Perle Defends Himself…

…against the charges of “conflict of interest” that caused him to resign as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board in today’s Wall Street Journal. »

Breakthrough in Iraq?

Debka File reports that the 101st Airborne Division, one of the world’s most formidable fighting forces, has broken through Iraqi lines in what may be a decisive development in the war. Iraqis have now opened the Euphrates-Tigris floodgates in an effort to stop the advancing Americans. Debka also has an interesting evaluation of the war as of Day 12, under the title “Saddam Eyes Endgame”: “The Iraq war is resolving »

Behind enemy lines

Ralph Peters pays tribute this morning to the special forces operating in Iraq: “Behind enemy lines.” And David Horowitz surveys those in our midst who support the enemy: “Moment of truth for the (anti-American) left.” »

In the Middle East, no good deed goes unpunished

Last night, in a series of blogs, I tried to explain the folly of basing, even in part, our policy decisions in the war on terrorism on their effects on the “hearts and minds” of Arabs. I argued that the populations in question view the world through a prism so distorted by hatred and irrationality that efforts to win them over are, in the short term, futile. Some might object »

No Comment Necessary

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Leftist Professor Advocates Mass Murder

Last Wednesday Nicholas de Genova, an anthropology professor at Columbia, while addressing an antiwar “teach-in” (are these guys lost in a time warp, or what?), told the crowd that “the only true heroes are those who find ways that help defeat the U.S. military,” while Americans who call themselves “patriots” are actually white supremacists. So far so good. But de Genova strayed beyond the pale when he added, “I personally »

More on unlawful combatants

I have researched several of the legal issues related to the war on terrorism in connection with public speaking appearances in which I have been the desperate last resort of forums looking for an advocate of the Bush administration’s war-related positions. For various speeches over the past couple of months I have researched issues related to the congressional authorization for the use of force to respond to 9/11, the congressional »

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else…”

I didn’t get around to reading Daniel Hennninger’s weekly Wall Street Journal Wonder Land column until yesterday, but as always it’s a good one: “Taking sides.” It has one paragraph that I have not been able to get out of my mind: “A few nights ago, during that high sandstorm [referred to earlier in the column], an embedded TV reporter stood over a soldier who was lying on his stomach, »

Dafydd ab Hugh predicts

Dafydd ab Hugh is one of our most eagle eyed readers and frequent correspondents. He has written to share two predictions about the upcoming battle of Baghdad that we submit for your consideration: “1) There will NOT be a general uprising against Saddam when we begin fighting the Nebudchadnezer, Hammurabbi, and Medina divisions; the civilians will pretty much sit tight and see what develops, or else flee. But, 2) The »