Back In Afghanistan

An Afghan policeman guns down two American soldiers there as trainers:

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two American soldiers were shot to death by an Afghan policeman on Monday in northern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said.

The two Americans were involved in training the Afghan Border Police at a checkpoint in the city of Maimana, the capital of Faryab Province, according to Abdul Sattar Bariz, the deputy governor of the province. He said the two were shot and killed by one of the Afghan Border Police officers at the location.

...The attack took place while Col. Najmuddin, the deputy commander of the Afghan Border Police there, was in a meeting with two American trainers, the colonel said. A border policeman outside shot and killed two of the American soldiers providing security for the meeting, and then fled, leaving his weapon behind, Colonel Najmuddin said. Like many Afghans, he uses only one name.

We do not seem to be winning hearts and minds quickly enough.

Comments

[anduril]

M K Bhadrakumar has more on that story: Pastor Jones and a dreaded ghost. Bhadrakumar goes into some of the history of Mazar.

Philip Jenkins offers looooong term reasons for hope--fewer Muslims: The Muslim World's Coming European Revolution.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

We need to get out.

[Rob Crawford]

We do not seem to be winning hearts and minds quickly enough.

Hard to win what does not exist.

(Or, alternatively, there must be thousands of "hearts and minds" laying beside the roads in Afghanistan, as so many of its people have abandoned theirs.)

[anduril]

Steve Sailer takes a closer look at The Cash Value of American Citizenship. By consulting "a Chinese birth tourism website—the extremely pink Chinese Baby Care"--he discovers the 8 Reasons (Chinese luv numbered lists) why Chinese women like to give birth in the US--and, no, US pre-natal care is not one of the reasons. Plus, there are many other interesting nuggets of information, such as this one:

[a] analysis of Indian arranged marriage market ads showed that holding an H-1b visa could be expected to add $70,000 to an Indian’s dowry.

Wow! Use that to stump everyone at the next party.

Just let's not let Afghans get into this birth tourism thing.

[narciso]

I can't imagine how anyone with a functioning brain, would ever want to release Khairwa, then again, that I might be assuming too much.

[not_bubarooni]

Butler wins tonight.

Notre Dame wins tomorrow night.

The Men's and Women's champions will both be from Indiana.

Cosmic Karma will be returned to balance and the world can begin to heal itself.

[anduril]

Drudge has a link to this article: Why Hillary Clinton must run in 2012. It's amusingly written, such as this passage:

Then-Sen. Clinton's "3 AM Phone Call" ad drove that point home. The 30-second TV spot raised the possibility of a future world crisis and asked voters who they would want in the White House making the big decisions if all hell broke loose.

Hillary voters ate it up with a spoon –- deciding that an awakened and enraged Clinton with cold cream on her face and curlers in her hair is far scarier to third-world despots than an ex-Illinois state senator.

It also rehearses signs of Obama's extreme weaknes in recent polls.

[Janet]

Perhaps the Afghan policeman was provoked into shooting our soldiers by something someone did in Idaho?...maybe some infidel in Nebraska touched a Koran or something?

Meanwhile...the Mormon bashing play is still wonderful!...and hopefully that cross out in the desert is still covered with plywood & the historic cross in the Wren Chapel is still off in some side room so we don't have to see it.

[clarice]

Ramping up there is just another bit of O Genius, isn't it?

[MarkO]

Well, we know what to do first, if we really want their hearts and minds to follow. Unfortunately, the One leading the country seems not to have those very things we need to grab.

[Threadkiller]

Tom McClintock starts at 01:00. He lays down the gauntlet regarding Libya and the legality of this war.

[PD]

Here in WI we're getting lots of Supreme Court ads on TV (from both sides). I've gotten two robocalls this morning already.

I'm glad the Prosser side is calling out Kloppenberg's lies about the abuse victim - they have an ad out in which he appears and says he asked her to pull the ad and she wouldn't.

The Kloppenberg yard signs I see around here say "Elections Matter!" Yes, they do. When she loses, I will be interested to see how much respect her side accords the election.

[Danube of Thought]

KSM to be tried before a military commission in Gitmo. Only took them two years to make a decision.

[Ranger]

So, on the same day that Obama announces his re-election campaign... his administration announces that after 2 1/2 years of delay, they will proceed with a military commission against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Of course, such a military tribunal.

The Soviets used to say that Socialism was the long road from Capitalism to Communism. Back during Soviet withdrawl from Eastern Europe, there was a local joke that Socialism was, in fact, the long road from Capitalism to Capitalism.

[Ranger]

Carp... should read: Of course, such a military tribunal had already been schedualed before Obama took office, but was cancelled because of the "fearce moral urgancy of change", wich resulted in the 2 year delay.

[Danube of Thought]

Wonder if he'll renew his guilty plea now. One way or another, I hope this administration has the balls to execute this murdering bastard.

[MarkO]

Balls, we don't need no stinkin' balls.

[Danube of Thought]

I hope the last man out will put a bullet in Karzai's brain before turning out the lights.

[PD]

Balls, we don't need no stinkin' balls.

Good thing, 'cause there aren't any in this administration.

[MarkO]

Didn't Obama run an election campaign on the notion that this was the "good" war? Great judgment.

[Sue]

Balls, we don't need no stinkin' balls. Good thing, 'cause there aren't any in this administration.

Ummm...did you forget HILLARY?

[PD]

Rush said he talked to Paul Ryan this morning who tomorrow will announce a 10-year budget blueprint.

[PD]

Ummm...did you forget HILLARY?

She might have had some at one time, but she seems to have been effectively neutered.

[sbw]

Jane: We need to get out.

Not so fast, Jane. First let's get a president who understands what civilization is worth and what it is made of.

Then let that president speak out about what is worth standing up for.

Then we go to the UN and start speaking truth and power. No more support for bullshit.

Then we set down the next president’s doctrine, which should stat that no one, anywhere, can be sure we won't intervene wherever people are oppressed and wherever thuggery is protected.

Then we go to the press and ask -- not tell -- why you report the individual casualties, which are regrettable, without reporting what in that theater makes being there worthwhile.

--

Sorry. I get tired of political/media dimness.

[Ignatz]

--Not so fast, Jane. First let's get a president who understands what civilization is worth and what it is made of.

Then let that president speak out about what is worth standing up for.

Then we go to the UN and start speaking truth and power. No more support for bullshit.

Then we set down the next president’s doctrine, which should stat that no one, anywhere, can be sure we won't intervene wherever people are oppressed and wherever thuggery is protected.

Then we go to the press and ask -- not tell -- why you report the individual casualties, which are regrettable, without reporting what in that theater makes being there worthwhile.--

Meanwhile hundreds if not thousands of our men die and billions more are wasted on an ungovernable hellhole.

[Mike Giles]

If Afghanistan doesn't have something we want or need, let's get the he!! out of there. We can send over a UAV every now and then, to check and see whether the country has made it into the 9th century yet.

[sbw]

Ignatz: Meanwhile hundreds if not thousands of our men die and billions more are wasted on an ungovernable hellhole.

I see. All thugs have to do is make a country seem "ungovernable" and they will have increased their sphere of influence. And when a goodly portion of civilization has eroded, when will what has happened become significant to us. What price should thugs pay, how, and when?

[(Another) Barbara]

Then we set down the next president’s doctrine, which should stat that no one, anywhere, can be sure we won't intervene wherever people are oppressed and wherever thuggery is protected.

That's a mighty undertaking since oppression and thuggery cover all of Africa, tip to tip and side to side, most of the Middle East, much of Asia, a good part of South and Central America and other delightful spots too numerous to mention such as Haiti, Cuba and so on.

Or was that meant as irony and I'm too thick-headed to get it?

[sbw]

(A)B, I am extremely serious.

Any individual can deduce the minimum requirements for interacting with others civilly, but the nudging to do so does not happen in schools. Why not?

The corollary is that anyone can deduce what kind of behavior is NOT civil, and make it clear to others that such behavior will be discouraged, not encouraged.

So the next time someone kills a neighbor because a Koran gets burned, we should not give in to it. The next time a Qaddafi quashes verbal protest, we should not give in to it. The next time the UN "Human Rights Council" breaks wind and calls it a report, we should give it the respect it deserves.

Civility demands knowing what is civil and what is not. And if you cannot make the process of decision-making accessible to others, then we have to learn better how to do that.

[MayBee]

I don't know. I'm trying to figure out how this president thinks.

This weekend, I saw a report about the DOJ filing on behalf of a teacher who wanted 3 weeks off to go the Hajj during the school year (we've discussed this).
The CNN pundit (maybe Gloria Borger?) said the president is very concerned about what it sees as a growing backlash against Muslims in this country.
Now frankly, I don't see it and I don't think the numbers support it. I think Obama makes sure we hear about every big case. The way they've handled the Terry Jones situation is odd.

Why is this so concerning to the president? Do you think he is just using it (Muslim backlash) as a backdoor way to gain more control over speech?

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

I went to our new Ocean State job lots over lunch and I was accosted by a woman who asked if I was a tea partier. She attended the rally and recognized me I guess.

SHe went on and on how she was so fed up with the republicans and SCott Brown and how the democrats were liars. I mean on and on and on and on.

I kept thinking: Is this what I sound like?

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

SBW,

I'm not sure we can win. Let's bring our troops home and then nuke the place.

[sbw]

Maybee, if my religion requires me not to work during the school week, then I probably should get a job where I can teach at other times.

Once I have taken a job where I have to teach during the week, I can't later claim that my employer should meet the new condition.

Religion is for composing one’s own mind, not for bludgeoning others into submission.

At least in the real world. Too be sure, Lindsey Graham and Harry Reid may think different.

[Neo]

Obama is running again ?

Will anybody notice ? I mean, when hasn't he been campaigning ?

[Ignatz]

--I see. All thugs have to do is make a country seem "ungovernable"--

One size does not fit all countries. Some countries may only seem ungovernable but Afghanistan has proven through thousands of years and hundreds of shipwrecked invaders that it is ungovernable. It can and was fairly easily defeated, but there is no nation to be built there.

--And when a goodly portion of civilization has eroded..--

There's no civilization to speak of in Afghanistan, or Libya, or even Egypt. There's a great deal of history and loads of culture but vanishingly little of any of it is civilized.
Our military, like all militaries, is not made to impose civilization and they have made it clear they are either uninterested or incapable of adopting ours on their own.

[Janet]

I kept thinking: Is this what I sound like?

Hahahaha! I KNOW I do on certain days.

[MayBee]

Maybee, if my religion requires me not to work during the school week, then I probably should get a job where I can teach at other times.

Oh, I agree. What I can't get my head around is why Obama thinks there is a growing backlash against Muslims and why he thinks this is something he, as president, must get under control.
I think Obama wants to use the imagined backlash to bludgeon us into submission (as you so ably put it).
Ditto "bullying".

I don't know if I'm a tinfoil hatter or if there is some end result he's going for.

[Porchlight]

MayBee,

I think it's essentially an equivalence argument. It's the same phenomenon that we saw after 9/11, when the supposed violent backlash against Muslims (that never materialized) was made to seem as if it approaches or equals the hatred the Muslim world has for us. And you know, abortion clinic bombers are like exactly the same as the 9/11 hijackers, etc.

Of course this particular President with his special Muslim-like (but not Muslim!) qualities is able to impart a certain new zing to the concept, but it's the same impulse.

[Jack is Back!]

If we really want to win the hearts, minds and trigger fingers (attribution to Mark Steyn) then why don't we either send Charlie Sheen (winning with tiger blood) or Organizing for America (Winning the Future) over there? I am sure they can probably come up with all the apologia needed when Terry Jones again cracks the Andy Warhol code to 15 minutes of fame and lets our crackerjack press corps make him more infamous than famous.

But to put the Marines and Army in harm's way in order to demonstrate what a "good" war looks like reminds me of Wisconsin and what "democracy" looks like - the carnival's hall of mirrors.

[MayBee]

Our military, like all militaries, is not made to impose civilization and they have made it clear they are either uninterested or incapable of adopting ours on their own.

What concerns me is the push to have us adopt their societal rules in order to protect our troops (or others in the country).
I don't think we can be perfect enough if that responsibility is going to be put on our citizens. And societies that ask each citizen to be perfect in the eyes of the government "for our own good" are not free.

[sbw]

Jane: Let's bring our troops home and then nuke the place.

Tee, hee! April Fool's Day was Friday.

The questions I just asked are legitimate and timely. I doubt the community could show me where such important concerns are addressed in schools where we prep people to make the decisions in real life.

Reminder: "Any individual can deduce the minimum requirements for interacting with others civilly, but the nudging to do so does not happen in schools. Why not?"

[sbw]

JiB: "But to put the Marines and Army in harm's way in order to demonstrate what a "good" war looks like"

The strategy and rules of engagement in Afghanistan are in the hands of someone incapable of intelligently setting them. I agree. But I am proud of this country's ability to absorb 4 years of Chauncey Gardner without collapsing. Our job is to do the best we can until we get a real president, like I said above.

What we did in Iraq was give 28 million people, at reasonable cost in lives and treasure, an opportunity to determine their future out from under the thumb of a tyrant.

I am not saying we should do that in Afghanistan or Libya, but to turn tail because of two suicide bombers, three mullahs, and the NY Times is foolish.

Better we should ask good questions and lay out good answers. That's where courage comes from.

[Ranger]

Will anybody notice ? I mean, when hasn't he been campaigning ?

Posted by: Neo | April 04, 2011 at 01:44 PM

Well, considering the number of times he tries to shoehorn "Hope" and "Change" into every speech he gives, regardless of the topic, I doubt it.

[Rob Crawford]

I'm trying to figure out how this president thinks.

You realize there's a presumption embedded in that effort, and that it's possibly false, right?

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

I don't want to turn tail because of suicide bombers or anything else. Given the rules of engagement I don't think we can win. And I'm sure we can't win with this CIC. And I'm not sure what "winning" means, but I'm certain that my idea of winning is different from Obama's.

I think there was a reason Bush kept Afghanistan on hold.

[sbw]

Jane, we are pretty close in our analysis of the situation. I approach it from this direction: Why is it that so many good citizens cannot deduce for themselves how to act when one person (or culture) meets another?

That is an epic fail because it means Obama has no public common sense to constrain his decision-making.

So, as much a failure as Obama might be, it is the public that enables him.

Where do we start?

[Danube of Thought]

Hitchens on the post-Koran-burning rampage:

How dispiriting to see, once again, the footage of theocratic rage in Kandahar and Mazar-i-Sharif. The same old dreary formula: self-righteous frenzy married to a neurotic need to take offense; the easy resort to indiscriminate violence and cruelty; the promulgation of makeshift fatwas by mullahs on the make; those writhing mustaches framing crude slogans of piety and hatred, and yelling for death as if on first-name terms with the Almighty. The spilling of blood and the spoliation of property—all for nothing, and ostensibly "provoked" by the corny, brainless antics of a devout American nonentity, notice of whose mere existence is beneath the dignity of any thinking person.

The man is simply eloquent. Here's the whole thing.

[Cecil Turner]

KSM to be tried before a military commission in Gitmo. Only took them two years to make a decision.

Looks like an announcement timed to upstage this hearing:

Hearing on: "Justice for America: Using Military Commissions to Try the 9/11 Conspirators"

Tuesday 4/5/2011 - 10:00 a.m.

2141 Rayburn House Office Building

Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security

Which on the one hand is hopeful: they don't want to fight a ridiculous battle. On the other, I expect we'll see them drag their feet as much as possible to avoid doing the obvious.

[lyle]

"Perhaps the Afghan policeman was provoked into shooting our soldiers by something someone did in Idaho?"

Ahem, that was me this past weekend. I inadvertently tossed a used tissue and it landed on my volume set of The World's Religions on my bookcase. A tiny corner alit on the book on Islam. My, how fast words travel these days...

[Thomas Collins]

So, is anyone familiar with the learned First Amendment jurisprudence of one L. Graham? Is it his view, for example, that if Christians started headchopping upon becoming aware of a "work of art" (a term I use advisedly in this context) consisting of a crucifix submerged in urine, Senator Graham would support legislation banning such a deed?

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

I don't know if any of you heard Holder's statement at 2:00. His entire petulant performance was through gritted teeth. He directed his bile directly at Congress for having the temerity to question his judgment in seeking to prosecute KSM in federal court in the SDNY.

I can't remember such a visibly angry performance by a cabinet member.

He is not a happy camper.

[lyle]

I can't remember such a visibly angry performance by a cabinet member.

Dude's in over his head deeper than his boss. Petulant prick.

[bgates]

to turn tail because of two suicide bombers, three mullahs, and the NY Times is foolish

Just as well we're all aware that our problems in Afghanistan are quite a bit more extensive than that, then.

[sbw]

bgates: Just as well we're all aware that our problems in Afghanistan are quite a bit more extensive than that, then.

bgates, the only salve on the wound is your humor that describes it.

[Neo]

I can't remember such a visibly angry performance by a cabinet member.

You make it sound like he got a call from Obama this morning. This has been brewing for 2 years and this unprofessional asshole the temerity to act unhappy. What a douchebag.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Megyn had two guests immediately following Holder's performance, one the father of a victim and the other a fireman who had helped in the rescue effort. Both were particularly articulate and made it pretty clear that they hold Holder and the Administration in contempt for their decision to try KSM in US Court.

[fdcol63]

Tribal Muslim cultures are not ready for the 21st Century or democracy as we know it.

But IMHO, if we don't have the will or the patience to invest some of our human and material capital in trying to change their culture, then we really only have 2 other options:

1) Withdraw into an isolationalist posture within Fortress America. This approach means we can pretty much only respond AFTER we've been attacked, and won't allow for any critical human intelligence gathering capabilities.

But isn't that what led to 9/11?

2) By withdrawing into Fortress America, we basically cede the battlefield in this conflict to the radicals, and make a nuclear exchange more likely.

The jihadists will ultimately prevail over the moderates in their home countries, and the unassimilated Muslims in Europe will become more radicalized and will eventually become the majority in Europe, dominating European politics.

Will Europe be a "traditional ally" then? Who else will control the British and French nukes then?

Cloistered in our false security within Fortress America, we will have few options left when we suffer the next large scale al Qaeda, jihadist, or Iranian-sponsored terrorist attack.

After having tried and failed at changing Islamic culture, we'll pretty much be left with no other options than using our own nukes or accepting dhimmitude.

Besides, how safe will Fortress America really be if we continue to ignore the growing issue of radical Muslims from within?

[Captain Hate]

Steadman Shabazz's incompetence isn't restrained to just one administration.

[clarice]

I selfishly pray that Hitchens survives his cancer just so I can keep reading his magnificent prose --whether or not I agree with it.

"I can't remember such a visibly angry performance by a cabinet member.

He is not a happy camper"

Neither am I at the performance of the DoJ under his command.Maybe when he leves, he can go into practice with Ramsey Clark.

Lindsey Graham has now proven that he is a first class dunce. when will his people replace him with someone with a brain?

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN (via Instapundit) for Mark Steyn's views on Esteemed Master of First Amendment Jurisprudence Lindsay Graham.

I just had an unsettling vision. A Huckabee-Graham GOP ticket in 2012. I don't think it will happen, but just the thought is bad enough.

[fdcol63]

Obama is like a spoiled kid who always claims he'll do things different from his parents when he gets older, only to discover when he matures that adults and parents do what they do for very good reasons.

[fdcol63]

Lindsey Graham makes my skin crawl almost as much as Obama does.

[lyle]

"Maybe when he leves, he can go into practice with Ramsey Clark"

Good gawd, I can't believe I almost forgot about Ramsey Clark, the seditious bastard.

[Janet]

Ann Coulter - Sep 13, 2001 "... We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

[Rob Crawford]

Lindsey Graham has now proven that he is a first class dunce. when will his people replace him with someone with a brain?

But this term he'll FINALLY make it to the Emerald City! The Wizard will TOTALLY give him a brain THIS TIME!

[Ignatz]

--But IMHO, if we don't have the will or the patience to invest some of our human and material capital in trying to change their culture, then we really only have 2 other options--

fdcol63,
Please don't hate me for saying this but that looks like one of Barry's false choices.
Just because we aren't spending mountains of cash and and piling up bodies in a futile effort trying to make Ali Baba learn to like Brittany Spears and Sugar Frosted Flakes or not mow down everyone else at the polling booth if they look at him wrong doesn't mean our only option is isolationism.
There is a veritable rainbow of options that can contain Islam or severely dampen its enthusiasm for mucking about with its neighbors and/or the rest of the world.

[fdcol63]

Ignatz, I hope you're right ... and I hope we follow up on them.

[narciso]

True Captain, he was the pardon fixer for certain financiers, and long in the tooth, Puerto Rican terrorists, and rendition expert
of certain State property to tropical climes, in the last administration, not too mention, his firms involvement in the Gitmo advocates
bar. Raise your hands, who thought this could
go well. Of course, personnel is policy, and one of the faults of the previous tribunals
is apparently the purging of anybody with any acquaintance of the facts at hand,

[Danube of Thought]

Petulance is a highly unattractive characteristic. Extremely unbecoming in an AG.

[MarkO]

The AG is upset with his boyfriend, The One. Don't be mislead. This has nothing at all to do with Congress. The AG was tossed under the bus with Obama's girlfriend.

[Shall I face SouthEast to Thank?]

Oh, lyle, what a relief to know it was you. I had a passing dark thought about the Religion of Peace and thought I'd provoked it.
====================

[Danube of Thought]

Just heard (delayed) the comments of Todd Beamer's father on this chicken-hearted AG and president. Very powerful stuff.

[DebinNC]

video of a prickly Holder today

His Pissiness abruptly left following a question about the real possibility of it taking another 10 yrs. for trials to commence, and his ridiculous response that what he's doing today "will hasten the day".

[hit and run]

Feeding your car:

RAEFORD, N.C. -- North Carolina's first ethanol plant has filed for bankruptcy protection, hoping to reorganize under a new operating plan later this year.
...
The Raeford-based company had announced last month that it was halting production because the price of ethanol had not kept up with the surging price of corn. The USDA forecasts that farmers will plant 92 million acres of corn this year, about 4 million more acres than last year.

This obviously calls for more central planning.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Thanks for the link, Deb. Now everyone can see what a prick he is.

[Cecil Turner]

I remember when Holder first announced the New York venue, and the response:

Attorney General Eric Holder, who dropped this legal bomb on New York yesterday, called his decision to move their trial on war crimes from a military courtroom at Guantanamo Bay to American soil "the toughest" he has had to make. Other words come to mind. For starters, intellectually and morally confused, dangerous and political to a fault.

Of course, when the President decides a decision on whether to treat something as a crime or a defense issue is to be taken by the nation's top lawyer, that's a decision in itself. Krauthammer nailed it at the time, calling Holder "utterly clueless" . . . best take today is by EmptyWheel at firedoglake . . . except over there they're clueless enough to think Holder's in the right.

[Cecil Turner]

Lindsey Graham has now proven that he is a first class dunce.

He was certainly out to lunch on the Koran burning. The Krauthammer link above highlights his (correct) point that trying an enemy combatant in civilian court is unprecedented. Here's the video (from Nov '09), and it truly makes Holder look like the idiot he is. (Which may in the case of Graham just show that even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally.)

[MarkO]

Your brilliant AG: "Sadly, this case has been marked by needless controversy since the beginning."

Which beginning? When Bush sent him to Gitmo? When Obama first complained about the US's lack of moral leadership? When you announced you'd like to try him at the WTC? Today?

Any controvery or opposition or dissent to anything Obama will always be "needless."

[MayBee]

Cecil- what about Marcy's post makes you call it the "best take"? Do you think Holder really lost a battle he believed deeply in, really believed strongly in the principle?

I suspect Holder wanted to do what Obama told him to do, and that was to do what Bush didn't do.
If it was something he believed in strongly on principle, I think he would have started by going to talk to his boosters in Congress.

I think he's pissed now because he got left holding the bag, while his boss meets behind closed doors and releases campaign ads about his good character.

[clarice]

This
(a) Has to have been ordered by Obama himself;
(b)Been a personal humiliation to the AG who, among other things, comes from a firm which handles much of the fights for a civilian trial and for closing Gitmo;
and has hired as his chief aides people who have represented terrorists and hold these same views.

with so much of his conduct on the edge of constitutionality and the law, Obama should be chary of continuing on with an AG h has just treated this way.

Just saying..

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Obama may want him "inside the tent", Clarice.

[DebinNC]

I wonder if Holder was following WH orders in the New Black Panther case?

[MarkO]

Like I said, not in the tent, under the bus.

Of course, he follows WH orders. Who is he? Bobby Kennedy in the LBJ administration?

[Jane]

I really want to see that petulance, but that link doesn't work for me. Hmmmm

[Neo]

Now this is interesting.
It seems the Obamas bought their Chicago house at 5046 S Greenwood Ave for $1,650,000, but the current Zestimate on zillow.com is $740,500.

Woof. A blind man could invest better.

[pagar]

"said the president is very concerned about what it sees as a growing backlash against Muslims in this country."

That's the info he got from Sen Durbin, D-Ill,
"The number two Senate Democrat, Richard Durbin’s bungled choice for lead witness is another in a series of Democratic flubs that have paired top Democrats with anti-democratic, terror-excusing Islamists in the United States."

LUN

Wonder why the Democrats have such a strong commitment to the "anti-democratic, terror-excusing Islamist in the US"? Could it be the same reason Sen Kerry was so determined to insure the North Vietnamese won the Vietnam War?

[MayBee]

Porch-
Of course this particular President with his special Muslim-like (but not Muslim!) qualities is able to impart a certain new zing to the concept, but it's the same impulse.

I really get the feeling that he wants us to see the anti-Muslim backlash as worse than any other kind of bigotry.

[MayBee]

I wonder though, clarice.

It is much more noble to fight against the evils of Gitmo than it is to actually fight for KSM's innocence in a trial.
This just continues the good fight, doesn't it?

[MarkO]

Sorry this is long, but incomprehensibility takes time:

NRO: But don’t you understand the concerns about a U.S. senator determining the limits of free speech?

GRAHAM: Not really. Nobody said anything to me when I said that you can’t burn the flag. People say that is free speech, but I don’t agree. What I was saying is, if I could hold people accountable, I would. But I know that we can’t. I just don’t like the idea of free speech being used as a reason to put our troops at risk. They’ve got enough problems already. I really believe that responsibility ought to be part of free speech. You can’t yell “fire” in a theater. There are a lot of things that you can’t do under the guise of free speech. I just hate it when somebody here, some crazy person, acts in a way that puts our troops in jeopardy. I really feel the need to condemn that. To me, that is not a responsible use of free speech.

NRO: Couldn’t any kind of speech be interpreted as something that could put the troops at risk? Something the president says? Something a U.S. senator says? You could point to any speech and blame it for something.

GRAHAM: Well, that’s what I’m saying. I agree with that. We live in a free-speech society. But when Harry Reid said that the war was lost in Iraq, I didn’t like it. But he has the right to say it. I just want us to be responsible and realize that we are at war. I guess that is my point.

[MarkO]

And the reply:

By Mark Steyn
This is just embarrassing.

The guy “putting the troops at risk” here is Senator Graham, and General Petraeus and the other advocates of the one-way multiculti danse macabre. They’re telling our enemies the more you tread on our toes the more we’ll pretend not to notice and try to waltz you gaily round the floor one more time.

Pre-emptive capitulation only invites more and more provocations. Like the Arabs say, a falling camel attracts many knives.

[DebinNC]

Jane, it's not working for me now either.
.........................................
I guess his Indonesia years, his Pakiston visits, and his close Pakistani college friends at Occidental and Columbia impressed Islam and its adherents on his heart/mind in an indelible way. He has a definite Muslim affinity, or maybe it's just any non-Western place with non-Western people who don't question his awesomeness.

[clarice]

I don't think so.MayBee. So far every major decision on Holder's watch in which the WH was clearly involved--Black Panthers, this case, Gitmo, the black farmers settlement, etc has been a political disaster ; some really shrewd lawyers HLS and Columbia are cranking out . Matched only by U Va Law School's star, Barbara Lee.

Can't wait till Obamacare's AA elephant on the scales for for the medical professions goes into effect.

[Jane]

Deb,

I think it was J Christian Adams who tracked the fact that on every day some decision was made in the black panther's case, Holder visited the white house.

[MarkO]

Is the President's new slogan something he heard Michelle say?

[DebinNC]

Thanks, Jane, I didn't know that. I bet Holder took the AG gig again because Obama promised him an eventual SCOTUS spot. Ironic, that Holder's faithfully following WH orders has probably made his choice "untenable".. as BO likes to say.

[Rick Ballard]

I'll go with Holder under the bus. The President has decided to run as Alan Alda starring in Mandingo and he believes that having two tall, dark and very stupid men on the national stage at once would be confusing and distracting.

Clarice,

Those aren't scars. The vacuum seal is failing (note the sunken eyes).

[Porchlight]

I really get the feeling that he wants us to see the anti-Muslim backlash as worse than any other kind of bigotry.

I think so too. It's not working, is it? Even the Muddle knows this is bunk, just as they knew it after 9/11.

[Extraneus]

His father was a Muslim, after all.

I think it might behoove us as a society to arrange some sort of leaderless flash-mob thing where people across the country go out, buy a Koran, and, all at the same time, desecrate it as they see fit.

No more Terry Jones or cartoon bullshit after that, and Obama can whine about backlashes till the cows come home.

[Elliott]

Is that "Are you in?" headline I saw at Drudge an actual campaign slogan, or is it what Sarkozy was asking him two weeks ago?

[Cecil Turner]

Cecil- what about Marcy's post makes you call it the "best take"?

Good description of what happened, and full text transcript, complete with a good analysis of what Holder was probably thinking. I also agree with pretty much everything she says, except when you're supposed to wring hands on how horrible it all is, I give it an eyeroll and say "finally!"

Similar to the coverage on the Libby trial, I disagree with practically every value judgment, but still find it a very good place to glean facts.

Do you think Holder really lost a battle he believed deeply in, really believed strongly in the principle?

Actually, yes. And like most liberals, he's so averse to military matters that he can't even be bothered with learning the basics about military commissions (I also believe he didn't know the history of such commissions when grilled by Graham). It also explains his visible peevishness quite well. I see no reason to assume he's well informed on the subject, just because he ought to be, especially in the absence of any evidence.