Monthly Archives: June 2004

June 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Fantasies Die Hard

It was reported today that some Democrats were still yearning for a Kerry-McCain ticket after John McCain campaigned with President Bush today at Ft. Lewis in Washington, and at a rally in Nevada. In Nevada, McCain said: Should the enemy acquire for their arsenal the chemical, biological and nuclear weapons they seek, this war will become an even bigger thing: It will become a fight for survival. I believe just »
June 18, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

Bill Clinton, the next best thing to Communism

John Fund gives a fascinating account of the new pro-Clinton movie, “The Hunting of President,” and of Clinton’s talk at the movie’s premiere. The thesis of the movie is that Clinton was the target of a 10-year campaign to destroy him. The campaign was spearheaded by the “right-wing,” but the Washngton establishment — political and media — eagerly joined the enterprise because it saw Clinton as a threat to its »
June 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Kill Them All

We have nothing useful to say about the murder of Paul Johnson. One small point, maybe: it pisses me off when reporters say that someone like Johnson was “executed.” Criminals are executed according to judicial process following a trial. Random people who are killed by evil monsters are not executed, they are murdered. Good news: Saudi police have killed four al Qaeda terrorists, including the reputed leader of leader of »
June 18, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

A third question

In view of the 9/11 commission’s criticisms of the U.S. government for not being prepared to deal with hijackers using commercial airliners to attack buildings, reader Robert Stakel (via his wife) has a third question: Assume that the military and the FAA were fully prepared to deal with this eventuality and, at the time the first hijacking was confirmed, the Air Force put F-15s in the air with instructions to »
June 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Call Me Irresponsible, Call Me Crazy

Political commentator Madonna tells the BBC that “President George Bush and ex-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein are alike because ‘they are both behaving in an irresponsible manner’.” Yes, yes, I can see that. “Irresponsible” is just how I would have described Saddam Hussein. He keeps forgetting to do his homework, I guess. Actually, come to think of it, “irresponsible” is a word that has often been applied to a certain aging »
June 18, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

Two questions

First, assume the following: al Qaeda had contacts with Saddam’s regime during the late 1990s. We have no credible evidence that they ever collaborated in a terrorist venture, but we don’t have a thorough record of what happened when the two entities were in contact. We know that one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists was in Iraq and received medical treatment there. This terrorist ran his own operation, but »
June 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

“Psycho Democrats”

Junkyard Blog has put together a campaign video that I wish the Bush-Cheney campaign would use. They won’t, of course, but perhaps the theme will get through to the voters anyway. Courtesy of InstaPundit. »
June 18, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Hat tip: Vladimir Putin

Edward Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters has alerted us to this Reuters report: “Putin says Russia warned U.S. on Saddam.” According to the story: Russia warned the United States on several occasions that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein planned “terrorist attacks” on its soil, President Vladimir Putin said Friday. “After the events of September 11, 2001, and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, Russian special services several times received such »
June 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Israel: Victorious At Last?

Over the past several years, many have doubted whether Israel can survive–have doubted, in effect, whether a tactic so foul and brutal as a sustained and determined campaign of terrorism can be defeated. This morning, Charles Krauthammer writes that while terrorism in Israel is not over, the Intifada is, and Israel has won: While no one was looking, something historic happened in the Middle East. The Palestinian intifada is over, »
June 17, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Amazingly Enough, Americans Support War

The latest Pew Research Survey contains good news for President Bush. The President now enjoys a 50%-41% favorability ratio, apparently buoyed by President Reagan’s funeral and the week-long tribute to him. What is really remarkable, though, is that, despite the mainstream media’s unremitting efforts to portray the Iraq war as a disaster, most Americans aren’t buying it. By a 57% to 39% margin, respondents say the Iraq war is going »
June 17, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

McFilthy and McNasty

um, I mean Walter Pincus and Dana Milbank continue to distort the story surrounding the 9/11 commission’s report regarding the relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam’s regime. According to the two Washington Post men, the commission found that “the contacts that took place between Iraq and al Qaeda officials never led to actual cooperation.” The two then say that the commission’s report thus “challenges one of the Bush administration’s main »
June 17, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

Mountaineer sense

Slate’s Will Saletan thinks that President Bush will again carry West Virginia. True, the Democrats have a 2-1 advantage in registration. And, according to Saletan, West Virginians are unhappy about both the economy and our difficulties in Iraq. But Saletan thinks Bush has the edge because West Virginia voters are culturally conservative and, decisively, because they have a pro-incumbent mentally. As one West Virginian told Saletan, the safest course is »
June 17, 2004 — John Hinderaker

What the Administration Said Then, and What the Commission Says Now

President Bush talked to reporters this morning, and addressed the 9/11 commission staff report on Iraq. Here is how Fox News reports the President’s exchange with the press: President Bush repeated his assertions Thursday that Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda had a relationship before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The president added that he did not infer that the two had a “collaborative relationship” on the attacks, a conclusion »
June 17, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Ignoring the connection: Why?

Andrew McCarthy is the former chief assistant United States Attorney who successfully prosecuted the blind sheik and eleven other defendants for the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. Before we turn the page on the Iraq-al Qaeda connection, in addition to Stephen Hayes’s The Connection, please consider McCarthy’s “Iraq & al Qaeda” on NRO this morning. McCarthy quotes the 9/11 Commission report paragraph (“Statement No. 15”) that has created »
June 17, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

Don’t go wobbly on us, George

Tony Blair, at least, is not taking the 9/11 Commission’s report lying down. According to this report, Downing Street is insisting that Saddam created “a permissive environment” for terrorists and al Qaeda operatives were in the country during his time in office. Since it was the announced policy of the Bush administration to strike against countries remaining that permissive towards al Qaeda after 9/11, such an environment would have constituted »
June 17, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Buy This Book

Reading the 9/11 staff report made me wonder how Stephen Hayes’ book, The Connection: How al Qaeda’s Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America, is selling. The answer: Not bad. Hayes’ book is currently No. 43 on Amazon’s best seller list, just ahead of Richard Clarke’s tissue of lies and misrepresentations. The 9/11 staff report is merely a few pages of conclusions that doesn’t bother to address the evidence on »
June 17, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Don’t Take Our Word For It

The top al-Qaeda operative in Iraq, Abu Mussib al-Zarqawi, says things aren’t going well for the terrorists there: One of Iraq’s leading insurgents has posted a plea for help from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden on an Islamic Web site, WorldTribune.com said Thursday. Credited to Abu Mussib al-Zarqawi, the 9-page message said his insurgents were racing against time to destabilize the post-Saddam Hussein government and its security apparatus. “The room »