Al Qaeda In Mesopotamia But Not In Baghdad

Al Qaeda In Mesopotamia has been booted from Baghdad, which is such big news the Times puts it on page A19.

McQ has more, including an interesting perspective from an Iraqi blogger.

Comments

[hit and run]

It was just this past spring that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was proclaiming:

"We're going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) told reporters yesterday. "Senator Schumer has shown me numbers that are compelling and astounding."

The Democrats clearly understood that the worse the situation in Iraq became, the better their electoral prospects.

It was just this past summer that House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn worried that a positive report by General David Petraeus would be “a big problem for us”.

The Democrats clearly understood that the better the situation in Iraq became, the worse their electoral prospects.

It was just past Monday that House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey was speculating that violence was down in Iraq because the terrorists "are running out of people to kill,” and because “[t]here are fewer targets of opportunity.”

The Democrats clearly understand that the better the American people understand that the situation in Iraq is improving, the worse their electoral prospects.

However, like most other pronouncements of doom regarding Iraq over the last few months, Obey's speculation is met with contrary evidence:

BAGHDAD - The number of Iraqis returning to their country after fleeing abroad is growing, with more than 46,000 people coming home last month, an Iraqi government spokesman said Wednesday.

Violence is down. Iraqis are returning. The American people are beginning to see this progress, despite the efforts of Democrats and many in the media to hide it from them.

For now, 46,000 people returning may seem small compared to an estimated 2 million that have fled. But the number of Iraqis returning to their country and to their homes is growing. And those returning are not returning to become targets of opportunity for terrorists, but as participants in the opportunity for freedom. To the extent that Iraq will play a significant role in the 2008 elections, the numbers should be compelling and astounding to Democrats, in a direction they never could have imagined just a few months ago.

[Clarice]

Oh, well, they have a winner in the immigration issue, no? HEH

[hit and run]

Well, culture of corruption certainly favors democrats, right?

[Jane]

We need a national day of celebration - well for the 33% of us who got it right. Don Surber is willing to call it Victory and I am too. And George Bush is a hero. Take that moonbats!

[hit and run]

Oh no! It's EVEN WORSE than I thought in Pakistan.

Lawyers: Pakistan political conscience

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Thousands of black-suited lawyers facing police batons and tear gas to protest the declaration of emergency rule have become Pakistan's political conscience.

Yikes. All this time I was worried the Islamists might gain power.

::grin::

[Clarice]

Yes..although there's little coverage of it now, the election is NEXT year.

And, hit, there's SCHIP--the experience in Oregon proves what a winner that is.

[Bill in AZ]

Oregon has no use for the chilruns anyway... when I lived there they would put up bonds and taxes, etc for us to vote on. When the voters failed to approve them, the governor would vindictively blame parents and lop off another month of the school year. I don't know if kids even go to school in Oregon anymore.

[Clarice]

Everyone wants free medical care for everyone. Then they are reminded that it like costs money. For a while, they could stick us smokers with the tab, but as our ranks diminish voters aren't so dumb that they miss noticing that all of their wallets are next. Then free care for everyone is less appealing.

[GMax]

afternoon reminder ( no make that a beg or plead!)

Please please please

http://soccer.seniorclassaward.com/public/women/vote.aspx>Vote JMAX!! Voting close draws near.

[bgates]

If Mr Conflationist doesn't mind me borrowing his schtick for a moment, the mention of SCHIP on this thread gives me an idea -

Surely there's a 12-year old Iraqi who's deathly afraid of American withdrawl and willing to say so on the radio?

Or is it horribly crass and exploitative to use a child for political purposes, this week?

[Other Tom]

Great idea from BGates. And can't you just imagine the howling from the Left, which would in and of itself be worth the price of admission.

What is happening in Iraq is quite remarkable, although I fully understand that the apparent unity and stability is a fragile thing. Nevertheless, if things continue on this trajectory over the course of the next year, just think of what the popular perception of the Democratic party will be. Rudy et al. can just harp endlessly on the fact that, whatever we have gained, those folks were eager to give up in defeat six months ago. And videoclips of the Democratic Senate Majority Leader declaring as "lost" a war that we went on to win should play big in the heartland.

[PeterUK]

Of course this is a victory,there hasn't been a democratic ruler in Mesopotamia since the time of Gilgamesh of Uruk.

[Clarice]

Who said that? The Neuw Amsterdam Times?

[Ann]

“…there is something profoundly wrong—something that should trouble all of us—when we have elected Democratic officials who seem more worried about how the Bush administration might respond to Iran’s murder of our troops, than about the fact that Iran is murdering our troops.
- Senator Lieberman

Senator Lieberman Delivers Major Address on "The Politics of National Security"

[narciso]

When it turned out that the "Emir of the Islamic State of Iraq"; Omar Al Baghdadi was just a sock puppet of the Al Queda classic leader; Ayub al Masri; aka Abu Mujaher aL Masri; who himself is either
dead or captured the gig was up.Sadly one
who really didn't realize this was Col. David Hunt, who really believed that Al Baghdadi's rump state was real and hence
a sign of the Civil War. His umpteenth
"we missed Bin Laden again, piece is indicative of this propensity to disparage
all our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, By
extolling the legitimacy of the Iraqi Army's most ruthless cadres; calling for an
impossibly massive troop presence, etc. Al Masri is just one of the farang (foreigners)who camebto ground in Iraq; due to the rejection by the Sunni tribal elders of Anbar/Dulaimi, Salahuddin, & other provinces ; the new war lords in NewsWeek's parlance; and the support of US Army and Marines. None of the new Sura Council of
Al Queda's top echelon (senior management)
are Iraqi born. Not surprisingly, most of
the AQ leadership which arose out of the
Afghan Civil war of 1992-1996; were Afghan either; mostly Saudi like Bin Laden,
Kuwaiti's and Saudis of Palestinian extraction like KSM and Zubeydah; Egyptians like Zawahiri, Seif Al Adel, the late Mohammed Atef,Abu Hamza Rabia, (dead as a doornail)& Ayub al Masri; as mentioned before. The former fugures were rallied by
collapsing thugocracies like Aidid's Somalia and the Byzantine puzzleboxes of the former Yugoslavia; and the lost Tatar provinces of Chechnya & Dagestan.Moussaoui, Al Midhar & Al Hamzi and Zawahiri himself
cited the Russian tussle in the Caucasus as causes for Jihad; a signal of the renewed
"Clash of Civilizations between Slavic
Orthodoxy and Islamist Supremacy; long before they got to the Palestinians and the cursed US bases that go back to 1947

[Rick Ballard]

From Ann's link to Lieberman's speech:

But there is something profoundly wrong—something that should trouble all of us—when we have elected Democratic officials who seem more worried about how the Bush administration might respond to Iran’s murder of our troops, than about the fact that Iran is murdering our troops.

There is likewise something profoundly wrong when we see candidates who are willing to pander to this politically paranoid, hyper-partisan sentiment in the Democratic base—even if it sends a message of weakness and division to the Iranian regime.

Senator Lamont could not be reached for comment.

[Clarice]

Well,Rick, Senator Lamont was out celebrating the unsealing after 24 long business hoursmonths the Rove indictment with the Hamsherites.

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

At the moment it looks like every string on the Dems banjo is busted. They're reduced to praying for a recession - which is better than praying for increased US deaths in Iraq, I suppose.

Aside from that - what have they got?

[Ann]

Littlegreenfootballs.com has a link to Brian DePalma’s upcoming anti-war film
“Redacted,” a leftist anti-military fantasy come to life

Redacted

Makes you wonder if Murtha and Kerry get credits at the end and it also makes you happy there is a writer strike in Hollywood.

How much hate do you have in your soul to make such a movie!

[Ann]

I posted this last night, but I feel a need to post it, again. Has anyone seen this in the MSM? Michael Yon will provide the pictures free to any media outlet.

Thanks and Praise

[Clarice]

Yes, Ann, I saw that. Yon is fantastic.
Rick, I honestly do not know what's left in the Dems' quiver.

I've been watching the Clintons for years. I feel certain that Bill will torpedo Hil. I just can't figure out how long it will take. Florence King penned an essay about him which makes it clear he cannot bear not to be in the spotlight.

[Ann]

What is left in the Dems' quiver?

Turn on CSPAN2. At at time when we are at war, the Senate is still debating the AG nomination tonight. Harry Reid is up.

[bgates]

Redacted is about a rape and murder committed by American troops in Iraq. The Judge Advocate General reported that the Army has had nearly 300 trials in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kuwait since 2001; that's about one trial per 3000 soldiers.

By way of comparison, the fraction of Academy-Award winning directors to be convicted of rape is 1 in 89. So if DePalma wanted to, he could have convincingly made a movie where the villain was the Hollywood director instead of the American soldier.

Come to think of it, I guess he did.

[bgates]

I feel certain that Bill will torpedo Hil. I just can't figure out how long it will take.
At his age, he can't have the stamina he used to, and after the heart surgery...
wait, what did you mean by 'torpedo'?

[Clarice]

I think the essay I'm thinking of is Pander Bear. I can' t find it online. I have all of her books here but don't know which it's in or where they are. But no one has ever understood him better IMO. When it turned out he'd given Monica Leaves of Grass and that this was a gift he usually gave his gals she said:
"It all goes back to Bill Clinton’s arrested development. . . . Any adult deeply moved by Leaves of Grass has an assy-gassy mind ruled by an achy-breaky heart. Walt Whitman belongs to the interlude Clinton admirers call ‘youthful idealism’ and do their best to stretch into an eon. . . . Leaves of Grass is a State of the Union message in verse: unstanched puerile prattle with every scheme but a rhyme scheme.”

And here is an essay she wrote when Bill and Hil left the WH along with half of its furnishings:http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:rr83TtTcqQwJ:www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-70433651.html+Florence+King+essay+on+Bill+Clinton&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=100&gl=us>Clampetts leave town

In the essay I'm thinking of she notes he married an unattractive woman instead of a southern belle because he couldn't stand NOT to be the center of attention. I'll keep looking for it.

[Topsecretk9]

Lefty bloggers Head explode.

A Failure to Lead The Democratic Congress is more interested in acting out than in taking positive action.

This week is the one-year anniversary of Democrats winning Congress. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid probably aren't in a celebrating mood. The goodwill they enjoyed after their victory is gone. Their bright campaign promises are unfulfilled. Democratic leadership is in disarray. And Congress's approval rating has fallen to its lowest point in history...

so opines...the Magnificent Bastard!

[kim]

Easy solution, C, in the minds of both of them. She'll run America from Washington, and he'll run the world from New York. Isn't it obvious?
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