Monthly Archives: July 2006

July 21, 2006 — Scott Johnson

A word from Richard Halferty

Reader Richard Halferty writes from Houston: You really need to look at Impact Player as an organization to tout and to help CPL Benson. Helping people like CPL Benson is what they do. I am acquainted with a couple of the board members, it is a class organization. My involvement with the Marines is Major Mark Halferty USMC (just returned from 1st tour) and son-in-law’s nephew whom I have known »
July 21, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Why didn’t we think of that?

When Daniel Patrick Moynihan served his brief but inspirational term as America’s ambassador to the United Nations, his efforts proved most popular in the United States among midwesterners and Jews. See generally Moynihan’s excellent memoir (with Suzanne Weaver Garment) A Dangerous Place. Minnesota reader Todd Koehnen writes with a message that makes me think Ambassador Bolton’s efforts may be winning a similar following: I have been so impressed with Ambassador »
July 21, 2006 — John Hinderaker

The Privileges of Citizenship

Americans are now being evacuated from Lebanon; Marine Corps Times has a nice article about the effort, and an excellent photo gallery. (HT: Michelle Malkin.) The photo below shows Marines helping Americans on to a vessel on the beach in Beirut: Meanwhile, the Washington Times reports on the arrival in Baltimore of the first Americans to arrive home from Lebanon. I was struck by this family’s story: “We lived through »
July 21, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Hezbollah and Main Street

A reader directs our attention to Diana West’s disturbing Washington Times column: “Hezbollah and Main Street.” On a related note, see Andrew Cochran’s “Hezbollah activity in North America” over at Counterterrorism Blog. (Courtesy of Lucianne.) »
July 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

“Damage, diminish, weaken and erode”

A reader has pointed out to us this highly informative Haaretz article on current IDF operations: “Thousands of IDF troops operating in S. Lebanon.” »
July 20, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Bill Clinton to campaign for Joe Lieberman

The only Democrat to win the presidency since 1976; the only Dem to win the presidency in other than a cliffhanger since 1964; and the only Dem to win the presidency twice since 1944 apparently believes that his party’s tent will be too small if it lacks room for Senator Lieberman. Via Instapundit. »
July 20, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Voinovich will back Bolton

Sen. George Voinovich explains in a Washington Post op-ed why he will vote to confirm U.N. ambassador John Bolton if (really, when) President Bush nominates Bolton when his recess appointment expires. Voinovich’s opposition was the main reason why Bolton could not be confirmed last time around. Kudos to the Senator for keeping an open mind (in the spirit of good-will, we won’t examine his explanation for now supporting Bolton). And »
July 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Help wanted

YNet News carries a Reuters report that Iranian nutter Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter seeking the help of German Prime Minister Angela Merkel in making progress toward his desired “solution” to the existence of Israel: “Iran leader asks Germany for help on Zionism.” Ahmadinejad’s desired “solution” of course has a lot in common with the “final solution” that Ahmadinejad regards as mythical. A German official describes the letter from »
July 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Whatever can go wrong

Several readers kindly wrote today to advise us that Power Line had ceased transmission for several hours. Our Web host explained the outage as follows: This was resolving to the wrong IP address. This will take some time to resolve to the proper IP. We are grateful to be back resolving to the proper IP at this time. »
July 20, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Neither a crusade nor a sham

Dick Meyer has a characterically thought-provoking piece on what he considers the myths pertaining to Arab democracy. Each of the alleged myths deserves discussion, but I want to focus on this one — “the Bush administration is a consistent, committed advocate for democracy in the Middle East.” Meyer is correct that there is much myth surrounding the extent to which the Bush administration’s actions in the Middle East policy have »
July 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

A message to our Minnesota readers

Marine Corporal Johnathan Benson of North Branch, Minnesota was serving his second tour in Iraq when he was seriously wounded. Editor Mary Helen Swanson of the East Central Minnesota Post Review covers Corporal Benson’s story in “Hometown hero needs your support.” Ms. Swanson asks only that we write Corporal Benson and express our support while he undergoes rehabilitation, providing his address at the conclusion of her story: Corp. Johnathan Benson »
July 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Piercing the fog on Turtle Bay

At his press conference today, United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton turned in another great performance. In the world of diplomacy, this strikes me as an unusual moment of clarity: Reporter: The news for the last 48 hours from the Middle East, it is more and more apparent now that many in the Middle East, Lebanese and others, are accusing the U.S. and the Security Council of »
July 20, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Running Out of Options

Victor Davis Hanson has written a lot of important columns, but none more so than this one. He begins by reciting the conventional wisdom that the West in general, and the U.S. in particular, can’t possibly want more armed conflict in the Middle East. True as far as it goes. But Hanson next raises the possibility that the West may run out of both patience and options: Finally, the world »
July 20, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Lamont catches Lieberman

A Qunnipiac Univeristy poll shows that anti-war Democrat Ned Lamont leads Senator Lieberman by a margin of 51-47 among likely Democratic primary voters in Connecticut. A June 8 Quinnipiac poll had Lieberman up by a margin of 55-40. The poll shows that Lieberman is more popular among non-Democrats than among Dems. The Connecticut electorate as a whole believes by a margin of 56-41 that Lieberman deserves to be re-elected. But »
July 20, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Jim Haynes’ real record

Four former top Justice Department officials, including former deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, have written a letter in support of Jim Haynes’ nomination to the Fourth Circuit. Thompson’s co-authors are James Comey, Patrick Philbin, and Jack Goldsmith. The letter demonstrates the unfairness of criticism over Haynes’ role in the treatment of terrorist detainees. Here are the key paragraphs: . . .[W]e would like to emphasize two matters that have long »
July 20, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Katrina All Over Again

Are the Dems still claiming that the administration has been “incompetent” in connection with removing Americans from Lebanon, just like Hurricane Katrina? I’m not sure; I’ve been traveling on business all week and may have missed the latest Dem talking points. The claim, in any event, is absurd. Austin Bay has some sensible comments on the difficulties involved and the time it takes to get ships from one ocean to »
July 19, 2006 — John Hinderaker

The 180s

This morning, Hugh Hewitt did a lengthy post on the “180s”–conservatives, some real and some faux, and others, who once supported President Bush on the war and now have turned against him. Hugh makes many good points along the way. His skewering of Andrew Sullivan is priceless: The same path has been traveled by Andrew Sullivan, who soured on the war as soon as it sunk in that same-sex married »