Jul 28, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Senator John Kerry arrived in Boston today and said:"I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to my opportunity, a little more than 24 hours from now, to share with you and all of America a vision for how we're going to make this country stronger at home and respected in the world..."
And that's the Democrats' theme for their convention: "Stronger at Home, Respected in the World" -- which is just a euphemistic way of saying, "More Socialism At Home, Less Military Self-Defense Abroad." Though Senators Kerry and Edwards are not going to dress up like Super Heroes at the convention (we can dream), the GOP is nonetheless keeping an eye out for an "extreme makeover."
Robert Tracinski at TIA Daily has some relevant historical context for one of the convention speakers: 34 Months vs. 444 Days: There Jimmy Carter Goes Again, Blaming America for His Failures.Those looking for "a virtually unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations" might be tempted to remember, not the past 32 months, but the 444 days of the Iran hostage crisis, when Carter stood passive and paralyzed, his only attempt at action ending in a pathetically under-supported, doomed rescue mission. If one were to look for a moment at which America lost credibility and respect in the world, this would be it.
It was also the moment that created the terrorist threat we face today. It allowed an Islamic theocracy to establish itself in Iran, becoming the leading sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East for the last 25 years. And it showed a generation of Muslim fanatics that terror attacks and hostage taking -- the very strategies now employed by our enemies in Iraq -- could defeat America.
We've highlighted Clinton's legacy recently; let's not forget Carter's.Jul 27, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From David Holcberg of the Ayn Rand Institute:
What is the White House doing about Iran's production of nuclear weapons? Insisting on a diplomatic solution through negotiations!
But it is precisely this wrongheaded approach that failed to prevent the current crisis--and which will allow Iran to become a nuclear power soon.Negotiations are moral--and practical--only between individuals who are open to reason, who respect each other's rights, and whose purpose is to exchange values for mutual benefit, without coercion.
But the Iranian leadership is wildly irrational, has no respect for individual rights, and seeks--by threatening nuclear attacks against the United States (the "big Satan")--to further advance the spread of Islamic totalitarianism over the globe.
The proper approach to eliminate this threat against the United States is not to negotiate with Iran's mullahs--but to eliminate them.
Jul 27, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
AP reported last Friday: Attacks in Sudan's Darfur region are genocide: US CongressBy a vote of 422 to zero, the House of Representatives and "the Senate concurring" passed the resolution introduced a month ago by New Jersey Democrat Donald Payne stressing that in Darfur 30,000 people have been "brutally murdered", 130,000 have fled to neighboring Chad and more than one million have been internally displaced by the violence.
On Sunday... Pressure grows on Sudan over Darfur crisisSudanese President Omar al-Beshir has accused the international community of targeting Islam in Sudan, the pro-government Al-Anbaa reported Saturday. The paper quoted Beshir as telling supporters in the central region of Gezira following Friday prayers that the real aim of the campaign against his country was not the situation in Darfur but to derail the growth of Islam in the country. "The international concern about the Darfur issue is targeting the status of Islam in Sudan," claimed Beshir, who seized power in a bloodless Islamist coup in 1989.
Some Western countries, such as Britain and Australia, have threatened to intervene militarily. CNN reports today: Sudan 'will fight foreign troops'.Sudan will retaliate against international troops if they are sent to intervene in the troubled Darfur region, Khartoum's foreign minister has said. [...] Meanwhile a group calling itself Mohammed's army called on Muslims to prepare to fight Western forces sent on any mission to western Sudan.
AFP reports today that civilians in Darfur are being burned alive. (Via Little Green Footballs)
AU [African Union] monitors declared on Wednesday that government-backed Arab militiamen chained and burned alive civilians in a raid on a market in Darfur.
Jul 26, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
CNN reports: Clinton calls on voters to choose Kerry."They [Republicans] need a divided America, but we don't," Clinton said. "We Democrats want to build a world and an America of shared responsibilities and shared opportunities ... On the other hand, Republicans in Washington believe that America should be run by the right people, their people."
He said the Bush administration gave tax cuts to the wealthy while raising out-of-pocket health care costs for veterans and underfunding education.
Jul 23, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
FoxNews reports: Berger: 'I Deeply Regret' an 'Honest Mistake'.Berger and his lawyer, Lanny Breuer, said the former Clinton adviser knowingly removed the handwritten notes by placing them in his jacket and pants and inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio. He returned most of the documents, but some still are missing. [...]
The documents involved have been a key point of contention between the Clinton and Bush administrations on the question of who responded more forcefully to the threat of Al Qaeda terrorism. Written by former National Security Council aide Richard Clarke, they discuss the 1999 plot to attack U.S. millennium celebrations and offer more than two dozen recommendations for improving the response to Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.
Also from FoxNews: Berger Steps Down From Kerry Campaign."I don't know what happened to these documents after they were put in Mr. Berger's pants, but it's been reported in the press that these documents related to homeland security and our airports and seaports and it's very interesting to note that those are two areas where Sen. Kerry has been critical of the Homeland Security Department," [Sen. Saxby] Chambliss [R-Ga.] said.
InstaPundit has numerous links and interesting comments on Sandy Berger's "honest mistake": here, here, here and here.
CNN reports: House panel opens own Berger probe.Jul 22, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
David Holcberg of the Ayn Rand Institute:
As the 9/11 commission's final report made clear, both the Clinton and Bush administrations were at fault for not striking at Al Qaeda before September 11. While leftists hypocritically have blamed Bush, conservatives retroactively blamed Clinton. Yet both camps are repeating the mistakes of the past and still trying the diplomatic approach in dealing with terrorist states.
Today there is no doubt about the threat to America posed by Iran, Syria and North Korea, among others. But almost no one is calling for an attack on any of these regimes. Hopefully, America will not wait for a more horrific version of 9/11 before striking at its avowed enemies. Hopefully, but--at this rate--not likely.
Required Reading:
End States That Sponsor Terrorism by Leonard Peikoff, Ph.D.
Fifty years of increasing American appeasement in the Mideast have led to fifty years of increasing contempt in the Muslim world for the U.S. The climax was September 11, 2001.
