Dear U.K. -- Give it back. It's ours and we want it. Don't make us come to get it.
Newsmax:
Declaration of Independence Copy Found in UK
Thursday, July 2, 2009 9:25 AM
LONDON -- A rare copy of the American Declaration of Independence has been found hidden in a file at the British National Archives.
The Archives say that the print, known as the Dunlap print after the printer who commissioned it, is the 26th copy of the document to be found. The last Dunlap print found was sold at an auction for $8.14 million in 2000.
Archives spokeswoman Katrina McClintock said Thursday that the file was found by a researcher looking through late 18th Century files for something unrelated. McClintock said it was discovered months ago but not revealed to the public until it could be extracted and
catalogued.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
This Week On The Gathering Storm: Our Own Midnight Rider!
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
This week, as we approach the celebration of our nation's birthday, this edition of The Gathering Storm will be a patriots' show. We will have with us three guests to discuss the meaning of patriotism: The Beak, Colonel Gordon Cucullo, and Midnight Rider. Each of these guests has chosen a different path to show their love of America. Listeners are invited to phone in to share their own views of patriotism.
Listen to the July 3, 2009 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.
UPCOMING SHOWS:
July 10: IQ al Rassooli and The Merry Widow
July 17: Yid With Lid
July 24: Robert Spencer
July 31: IQ al Rassooli and Pamela Geller
U.S.: American Soldier Captured in Afghanistan
Washington Post:
U.S.: American Soldier Captured in Afghanistan
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 2, 2009 9:33 AM
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan, July 2 -- A U.S. soldier missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan since Tuesday is believed to have been captured by Taliban militants, the military said Thursday.
In a statement issued from U.S. military headquarters in Kabul, officials said "we are exhausting all available resources to ascertain his whereabouts and provide for his safe return."
The soldier was not part of the large-scale assault launched on Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan early Thursday. That operation, which involves about 4,000 troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, was encountering only light resistance, officials said. But the military expects the Taliban to respond more harshly once troops move into towns and began patrols.
Military officials in Afghanistan, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation, said the missing soldier appears to have walked off his base into an unsecured area.
A U.S. official in Afghanistan said the soldier's absence was discovered when he did not show up for morning formation. It is highly unusual for a U.S. soldier to leave a military base unaccompanied by other American troops.
Agence-France Press reported that a commander of the Taliban's hard-line Haqqani faction claimed Thursday that his militia had captured the soldier in the Yousuf Khail district of Paktika province. The area is along the porous border with Pakistan. That report could not be independently confirmed.
"Our leaders have not decided on the fate of this soldier." the AFP quoted the Haqqani commander, identified only as Bahram, as saying. "They will decide on his fate and soon we will present video tapes of the coalition soldier and our demand to media."
While the AFP report quoted the Haqqani commander as saying that the soldier was captured with three Afghan "guards," the U.S. official said the Afghanis who reportedly were seized do not appear to have been soldiers.
The Haqqani network, believed to control large swaths of eastern Afghanistan, has emerged in recent years as a powerful antagonist to U.S. efforts to stabilize that country and root out insurgent havens in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan. The network is controlled by insurgent leader Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and is suspected of launching a number of spectacular attacks in recent years, including a deadly suicide bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul that killed more than 50 people in July 2008.
New York Times reporter David Rohde was traveling to meet a commander with the group when he was kidnapped last November. Rohde escaped his captors two weeks ago. While he was being held, The Washington Post and other media organizations refrained from reporting about his capture at the request of the Times and Rohde's relatives, who feared that publication of the news could endanger his life.
U.S. officials declined Thursday to provide additional information about the missing soldier, saying that doing do could place him in further jeopardy.
U.S.: American Soldier Captured in Afghanistan
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 2, 2009 9:33 AM
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan, July 2 -- A U.S. soldier missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan since Tuesday is believed to have been captured by Taliban militants, the military said Thursday.
In a statement issued from U.S. military headquarters in Kabul, officials said "we are exhausting all available resources to ascertain his whereabouts and provide for his safe return."
The soldier was not part of the large-scale assault launched on Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan early Thursday. That operation, which involves about 4,000 troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, was encountering only light resistance, officials said. But the military expects the Taliban to respond more harshly once troops move into towns and began patrols.
Military officials in Afghanistan, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation, said the missing soldier appears to have walked off his base into an unsecured area.
A U.S. official in Afghanistan said the soldier's absence was discovered when he did not show up for morning formation. It is highly unusual for a U.S. soldier to leave a military base unaccompanied by other American troops.
Agence-France Press reported that a commander of the Taliban's hard-line Haqqani faction claimed Thursday that his militia had captured the soldier in the Yousuf Khail district of Paktika province. The area is along the porous border with Pakistan. That report could not be independently confirmed.
"Our leaders have not decided on the fate of this soldier." the AFP quoted the Haqqani commander, identified only as Bahram, as saying. "They will decide on his fate and soon we will present video tapes of the coalition soldier and our demand to media."
While the AFP report quoted the Haqqani commander as saying that the soldier was captured with three Afghan "guards," the U.S. official said the Afghanis who reportedly were seized do not appear to have been soldiers.
The Haqqani network, believed to control large swaths of eastern Afghanistan, has emerged in recent years as a powerful antagonist to U.S. efforts to stabilize that country and root out insurgent havens in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan. The network is controlled by insurgent leader Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and is suspected of launching a number of spectacular attacks in recent years, including a deadly suicide bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul that killed more than 50 people in July 2008.
New York Times reporter David Rohde was traveling to meet a commander with the group when he was kidnapped last November. Rohde escaped his captors two weeks ago. While he was being held, The Washington Post and other media organizations refrained from reporting about his capture at the request of the Times and Rohde's relatives, who feared that publication of the news could endanger his life.
U.S. officials declined Thursday to provide additional information about the missing soldier, saying that doing do could place him in further jeopardy.
Mob in Pakistan Burns Down Houses and Throws Acid on Christian Women and Children
h/t Dr. Bulldog:
Muslim Mob Burns Down 100 Christian Homes in Pakistan
Riot Incited via Mosque Loudspeakers; Mob Throws Acid on Women and Children
07/01/09 Pakistan (International Christian Concern) – This morning 100 Christian houses and churches were set on fire by local Muslims in the city of Kasur South, east of Lahore, Pakistan. The riots were incited by broadcasts from local mosques.
This incident is similar to a February 1997 attack when thousands of Christian houses and churches were burned and hundreds of Christians were injured.
ICC partners received the news this morning and went immediately to the scene to help injured Christians transferred to Lahore, renting two mini vans for this purpose.
So far 9 burned women and 4 children have been transferred to Lahore for further medical treatment. All of them have been injured by throwing acid on them.
Local police have arrived on the scene but the situation is out of control as thousands of Muslims have gathered for this purpose.
More details to follow.
Please call the Pakistani embassy in your country to ask them to protect the Christians in Kasur South.
Pakistan Embassies:
USA: (202) 243-6500
Canada: (613) 238-7881
UK: 0870-005-6967
Muslim Mob Burns Down 100 Christian Homes in Pakistan
Riot Incited via Mosque Loudspeakers; Mob Throws Acid on Women and Children
07/01/09 Pakistan (International Christian Concern) – This morning 100 Christian houses and churches were set on fire by local Muslims in the city of Kasur South, east of Lahore, Pakistan. The riots were incited by broadcasts from local mosques.
This incident is similar to a February 1997 attack when thousands of Christian houses and churches were burned and hundreds of Christians were injured.
ICC partners received the news this morning and went immediately to the scene to help injured Christians transferred to Lahore, renting two mini vans for this purpose.
So far 9 burned women and 4 children have been transferred to Lahore for further medical treatment. All of them have been injured by throwing acid on them.
Local police have arrived on the scene but the situation is out of control as thousands of Muslims have gathered for this purpose.
More details to follow.
Please call the Pakistani embassy in your country to ask them to protect the Christians in Kasur South.
Pakistan Embassies:
USA: (202) 243-6500
Canada: (613) 238-7881
UK: 0870-005-6967
Khatami Jumps Ship, to Mousavi's Side?
at Yahoo:
Iran's reformists call Islamic regime illegitimate
Iran's former president has joined ranks with the country's embattled reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, and accused the Iranian government of failing its people in the recent election and condemning the subsequent crackdown on protesters.
In a bold, lengthy statement Wednesday on his Web site, Mousavi said he considered Iran's cleric-led government illegitimate and demanded political prisoners be released, while saying Iran's government needs to institute electoral reforms and ensure press freedoms.
Former President Mohammad Khatami, meanwhile, lashed out at what he termed "a poisonous security situation" in the wake of violent street protests.
Khatami accused Iran's leadership of a "velvet coup against the people and democracy," and Mousavi said the government's crackdown on demonstrators was "tantamount to a coup."
Mousavi contends the June 12 election was marred by widespread fraud and insists he was robbed of victory. Khatami scorned the government for declaring incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner in a landslide.
Mousavi also condemned alleged attacks by security forces on college dormitories where "blood was spilled and the youth were beaten," and he called for a return to a more "honest" political environment in the Islamic Republic.
"A majority of the people — including me — do not accept its political legitimacy," he said of the regime, adding: "There's a danger ahead. A ruling system which relied on people's trust for 30 years cannot replace this trust with security forces overnight."
Iran's ruling clerics have called the elections "pure" and "healthy" following Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's declaration that the results would stand.
Meanwhile, the official tally of deaths among Iranian protesters during the street demonstrations following the vote was upped from 17 to 20 on Thursday, according to Iran's state-owned daily, quoting Iran's police chief Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam.
Police detained 1,032 people, and most have been released, said Ahmadi Moghaddam, adding that 500 police forces were injured in the clashes. The report did not specify whether the numbers included those detained by Basij, known Khamenei's street enforcers. Eight Basijis have also been reported killed in the street clashes.
The Basij formally requested that Mousavi be investigated for the post-election protests Wednesday, saying he "supervised or assisted in punishable acts."
Iran's government also faces pressure from the West, with the European Union set to debate a British request to pull all 27 EU ambassadors in retaliation for recent detentions of several British Embassy local employees. Iranian state television reported all but one of those detained has been released.
In response — and a sign of further deteriorating ties — Iran's chief of staff Gen. Hasan Firouzabadi told semiofficial Fars news agency that the EU "has totally lost the competence and qualifications needed for holding any kind of talks with Iran."
Both Britain and the EU had condemned the detentions of British embassy staffers as "harassment and intimidation" and it was not clear how Tehran's release would affect discussions over withdrawing envoys.
Also Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for next week's Group of Eight summit to send a "strong message of unity" in support of Iranians' human rights, adding that efforts to address concerns over Tehran's nuclear ambitions must remain on track.
Merkel has called for Iran to recount the votes in its disputed presidential election, and repeatedly has spoken out for Iranians' right to demonstrate. G-8 leaders meet in Italy next week, after their foreign ministers last week deplored Iran's postelection violence.
Iran's reformists call Islamic regime illegitimate
Iran's former president has joined ranks with the country's embattled reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, and accused the Iranian government of failing its people in the recent election and condemning the subsequent crackdown on protesters.
In a bold, lengthy statement Wednesday on his Web site, Mousavi said he considered Iran's cleric-led government illegitimate and demanded political prisoners be released, while saying Iran's government needs to institute electoral reforms and ensure press freedoms.
Former President Mohammad Khatami, meanwhile, lashed out at what he termed "a poisonous security situation" in the wake of violent street protests.
Khatami accused Iran's leadership of a "velvet coup against the people and democracy," and Mousavi said the government's crackdown on demonstrators was "tantamount to a coup."
Mousavi contends the June 12 election was marred by widespread fraud and insists he was robbed of victory. Khatami scorned the government for declaring incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner in a landslide.
Mousavi also condemned alleged attacks by security forces on college dormitories where "blood was spilled and the youth were beaten," and he called for a return to a more "honest" political environment in the Islamic Republic.
"A majority of the people — including me — do not accept its political legitimacy," he said of the regime, adding: "There's a danger ahead. A ruling system which relied on people's trust for 30 years cannot replace this trust with security forces overnight."
Iran's ruling clerics have called the elections "pure" and "healthy" following Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's declaration that the results would stand.
Meanwhile, the official tally of deaths among Iranian protesters during the street demonstrations following the vote was upped from 17 to 20 on Thursday, according to Iran's state-owned daily, quoting Iran's police chief Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam.
Police detained 1,032 people, and most have been released, said Ahmadi Moghaddam, adding that 500 police forces were injured in the clashes. The report did not specify whether the numbers included those detained by Basij, known Khamenei's street enforcers. Eight Basijis have also been reported killed in the street clashes.
The Basij formally requested that Mousavi be investigated for the post-election protests Wednesday, saying he "supervised or assisted in punishable acts."
Iran's government also faces pressure from the West, with the European Union set to debate a British request to pull all 27 EU ambassadors in retaliation for recent detentions of several British Embassy local employees. Iranian state television reported all but one of those detained has been released.
In response — and a sign of further deteriorating ties — Iran's chief of staff Gen. Hasan Firouzabadi told semiofficial Fars news agency that the EU "has totally lost the competence and qualifications needed for holding any kind of talks with Iran."
Both Britain and the EU had condemned the detentions of British embassy staffers as "harassment and intimidation" and it was not clear how Tehran's release would affect discussions over withdrawing envoys.
Also Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for next week's Group of Eight summit to send a "strong message of unity" in support of Iranians' human rights, adding that efforts to address concerns over Tehran's nuclear ambitions must remain on track.
Merkel has called for Iran to recount the votes in its disputed presidential election, and repeatedly has spoken out for Iranians' right to demonstrate. G-8 leaders meet in Italy next week, after their foreign ministers last week deplored Iran's postelection violence.
Bolton
Washington Post
Time for an Israeli Strike?
by John R. BoltonThursday, July 2, 2009
With Iran's hard-line mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unmistakably back in control, Israel's decision of whether to use military force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever.
Iran's nuclear threat was never in doubt during its presidential campaign, but the post-election resistance raised the possibility of some sort of regime change. That prospect seems lost for the near future or for at least as long as it will take Iran to finalize a deliverable nuclear weapons capability.
Accordingly, with no other timely option, the already compelling logic for an Israeli strike is nearly inexorable. Israel is undoubtedly ratcheting forward its decision-making process. President Obama is almost certainly not.
He still wants "engagement" (a particularly evocative term now) with Iran's current regime. Last Thursday, the State Department confirmed that Secretary Hillary Clinton spoke to her Russian and Chinese counterparts about "getting Iran back to negotiating on some of these concerns that the international community has." This is precisely the view of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, reflected in the Group of Eight communique the next day. Sen. John Kerry thinks the recent election unpleasantness in Tehran will delay negotiations for only a few weeks.
Obama administration sources have opined (anonymously) that Iran will be more eager to negotiate than it was before its election in order to find "acceptance" by the "international community." Some leaks indicated that negotiations had to produce results by the U.N. General Assembly's opening in late September, while others projected that they had until the end of 2009 to show progress. These gauzy scenarios assume that the Tehran regime cares about "acceptance" or is somehow embarrassed by eliminating its enemies. Both propositions are dubious.
Obama will nonetheless attempt to jump-start bilateral negotiations with Iran, though time is running out even under the timetables leaked to the media. There are two problems with this approach. First, Tehran isn't going to negotiate in good faith. It hasn't for the past six years with the European Union as our surrogates, and it won't start now. As Clinton said on Tuesday, Iran has "a huge credibility gap" because of its electoral fraud. Second, given Iran's nuclear progress, even if the stronger sanctions Obama has threatened could be agreed upon, they would not prevent Iran from fabricating weapons and delivery systems when it chooses, as it has been striving to do for the past 20 years. Time is too short, and sanctions failed long ago.
Only those most theologically committed to negotiation still believe Iran will fully renounce its nuclear program. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has a "Plan B," which would allow Iran to have a "peaceful" civil nuclear power program while publicly "renouncing" the objective of nuclear weapons. Obama would define such an outcome as "success," even though in reality it would hardly be different from what Iran is doing and saying now. A "peaceful" uranium enrichment program, "peaceful" reactors such as Bushehr and "peaceful" heavy-water projects like that under construction at Arak leave Iran with an enormous breakout capability to produce nuclear weapons in very short order. And anyone who believes the Revolutionary Guard Corps will abandon its weaponization and ballistic missile programs probably believes that there was no fraud in Iran's June 12 election. See "huge credibility gap," supra.
In short, the stolen election and its tumultuous aftermath have dramatically highlighted the strategic and tactical flaws in Obama's game plan. With regime change off the table for the coming critical period in Iran's nuclear program, Israel's decision on using force is both easier and more urgent. Since there is no likelihood that diplomacy will start or finish in time, or even progress far enough to make any real difference, there is no point waiting for negotiations to play out. In fact, given the near certainty of Obama changing his definition of "success," negotiations represent an even more dangerous trap for Israel.
Those who oppose Iran acquiring nuclear weapons are left in the near term with only the option of targeted military force against its weapons facilities. Significantly, the uprising in Iran also makes it more likely that an effective public diplomacy campaign could be waged in the country to explain to Iranians that such an attack is directed against the regime, not against the Iranian people. This was always true, but it has become even more important to make this case emphatically, when the gulf between the Islamic revolution of 1979 and the citizens of Iran has never been clearer or wider. Military action against Iran's nuclear program and the ultimate goal of regime change can be worked together consistently.
Otherwise, be prepared for an Iran with nuclear weapons, which some, including Obama advisers, believe could be contained and deterred. That is not a hypothesis we should seek to test in the real world. The cost of error could be fatal.
Time for an Israeli Strike?
by John R. BoltonThursday, July 2, 2009
With Iran's hard-line mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unmistakably back in control, Israel's decision of whether to use military force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever.
Iran's nuclear threat was never in doubt during its presidential campaign, but the post-election resistance raised the possibility of some sort of regime change. That prospect seems lost for the near future or for at least as long as it will take Iran to finalize a deliverable nuclear weapons capability.
Accordingly, with no other timely option, the already compelling logic for an Israeli strike is nearly inexorable. Israel is undoubtedly ratcheting forward its decision-making process. President Obama is almost certainly not.
He still wants "engagement" (a particularly evocative term now) with Iran's current regime. Last Thursday, the State Department confirmed that Secretary Hillary Clinton spoke to her Russian and Chinese counterparts about "getting Iran back to negotiating on some of these concerns that the international community has." This is precisely the view of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, reflected in the Group of Eight communique the next day. Sen. John Kerry thinks the recent election unpleasantness in Tehran will delay negotiations for only a few weeks.
Obama administration sources have opined (anonymously) that Iran will be more eager to negotiate than it was before its election in order to find "acceptance" by the "international community." Some leaks indicated that negotiations had to produce results by the U.N. General Assembly's opening in late September, while others projected that they had until the end of 2009 to show progress. These gauzy scenarios assume that the Tehran regime cares about "acceptance" or is somehow embarrassed by eliminating its enemies. Both propositions are dubious.
Obama will nonetheless attempt to jump-start bilateral negotiations with Iran, though time is running out even under the timetables leaked to the media. There are two problems with this approach. First, Tehran isn't going to negotiate in good faith. It hasn't for the past six years with the European Union as our surrogates, and it won't start now. As Clinton said on Tuesday, Iran has "a huge credibility gap" because of its electoral fraud. Second, given Iran's nuclear progress, even if the stronger sanctions Obama has threatened could be agreed upon, they would not prevent Iran from fabricating weapons and delivery systems when it chooses, as it has been striving to do for the past 20 years. Time is too short, and sanctions failed long ago.
Only those most theologically committed to negotiation still believe Iran will fully renounce its nuclear program. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has a "Plan B," which would allow Iran to have a "peaceful" civil nuclear power program while publicly "renouncing" the objective of nuclear weapons. Obama would define such an outcome as "success," even though in reality it would hardly be different from what Iran is doing and saying now. A "peaceful" uranium enrichment program, "peaceful" reactors such as Bushehr and "peaceful" heavy-water projects like that under construction at Arak leave Iran with an enormous breakout capability to produce nuclear weapons in very short order. And anyone who believes the Revolutionary Guard Corps will abandon its weaponization and ballistic missile programs probably believes that there was no fraud in Iran's June 12 election. See "huge credibility gap," supra.
In short, the stolen election and its tumultuous aftermath have dramatically highlighted the strategic and tactical flaws in Obama's game plan. With regime change off the table for the coming critical period in Iran's nuclear program, Israel's decision on using force is both easier and more urgent. Since there is no likelihood that diplomacy will start or finish in time, or even progress far enough to make any real difference, there is no point waiting for negotiations to play out. In fact, given the near certainty of Obama changing his definition of "success," negotiations represent an even more dangerous trap for Israel.
Those who oppose Iran acquiring nuclear weapons are left in the near term with only the option of targeted military force against its weapons facilities. Significantly, the uprising in Iran also makes it more likely that an effective public diplomacy campaign could be waged in the country to explain to Iranians that such an attack is directed against the regime, not against the Iranian people. This was always true, but it has become even more important to make this case emphatically, when the gulf between the Islamic revolution of 1979 and the citizens of Iran has never been clearer or wider. Military action against Iran's nuclear program and the ultimate goal of regime change can be worked together consistently.
Otherwise, be prepared for an Iran with nuclear weapons, which some, including Obama advisers, believe could be contained and deterred. That is not a hypothesis we should seek to test in the real world. The cost of error could be fatal.
EXCLUSIVE: Taliban buying children for suicide bombers
Washington Times:
Taliban buying children for suicide bombers
Sara A. Carter (Contact)
Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is buying children as young as 7 to serve as suicide bombers in the growing spate of attacks against Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. targets, U.S. Defense Department and Pakistani officials say.
A Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition that he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the topic, said the going price for child bombers was $7,000 to $14,000 - huge sums in Pakistan, where per-capita income is about $2,600 a year.
"[Mehsud] has turned suicide bombing into a production output, not unlike [the way] Toyota outputs cars," a U.S. Defense Department official told reporters recently. He spoke on the condition that he not be named because of ongoing intelligence efforts to catch Mehsud, a prime target for a U.S. and Pakistani anti-Taliban campaign.
An apparent U.S. effort to kill Mehsud last week failed. On Sunday, the Pakistani government offered a reward of about $615,300 for information leading to the capture of Mehsud, dead or alive. The U.S. State Department has offered a bounty of $5 million for Mehsud, who is thought to be hiding in the tribal areas near the Afghan border.
Suicide bombings have become frequent in Pakistan in the past year, including high-profile attacks on hotels frequented by Westerners, as well as on Pakistani police and military installations. There has also been a spate of such attacks directed at U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.
The U.S. official said the price depends on how quickly the bomber is needed and how close the child is expected to get to the target.
"[Mehsud] produces these suicide bombers, which are sold or bartered, which can be used by [Afghan Taliban leader Mullah] Omar's Taliban or ... other groups," the U.S. official said.
In some cases, he said, the children are kidnapped and then sold to Mehsud.
Using child suicide bombers "is the grim reality of the Taliban Frankenstein that now threatens to overwhelm the Pakistani state," said Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution scholar who chaired a review of Pakistan-Afghanistan strategy for President Obama.
Efforts to reach a spokesman for Mehsud were not successful.
The use of children in war is not unusual in Afghanistan or the tribal regions of Pakistan. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, many pre-adolescent boys became mujahedeen or freedom fighters.
There is a different cultural perspective here about the age at which a boy becomes a man, said Sher, a former Afghan freedom fighter who asked to be identified only by his first name to protect himself against Taliban retribution.
"Fighting is not the issue," Sher, who took up arms against the Russians at age 13, told The Washington Times by phone.
"What is unusual is making these young fighters into suicide bombers," he said. "That was not common in Afghanistan, not even in the past. These children are brainwashed to believe things that are not even true. It is a crime against God."
In other conflicts, such as that between Israel and the Palestinians, suicide bombers are generally older, at least in their late teens or early 20s.
Suicide attacks mounted by Mehsud have killed prominent officials and politicians, including former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and hundreds of civilians. The attacks have begun to shift sentiment among Pakistanis against the Taliban. The government has mounted an offensive to clear militants from areas close to the capital, Islamabad, although Pakistani authorities have failed to catch local Taliban leaders.
Pakistani officials have said their next target is the rugged region along the Afghan border where al Qaeda and the Taliban fled after U.S.-led forces toppled the Afghan Taliban government in Kabul in 2001.
Last week, Mehsud narrowly escaped a U.S. drone attack that killed approximately 80 people who were attending a funeral in South Waziristan in Pakistan's tribal region. U.S. officials were watching the funeral by video feed from the drone, which flew high above the scene, concealed by clouds. The drone strike was the closest the U.S. had come to killing Mehsud in the past year, U.S. officials said.
Pakistani officials told The Times that Taliban commander Qari Hussain, who was a close aide to Mehsud, was killed in the attack.
Hussein was one of the main trainers and recruiters of suicide bombers, a Pakistani government official said.
"He was a very important figure to Mehsud," said the official, who asked to remain anonymous because of the nature of his work. "However, Mehsud escaped the attack. Believe me, there will be no tears for Mehsud in Pakistan when he is killed."
The Taliban is a formidable enemy to the Pakistani people and government, Mr. Riedel said.
He said the Pakistani government's current military strategy against Mehsud is promising, but only time will tell whether it will succeed.
A second U.S. Defense Department official with expertise regarding the Taliban told reporters that al Qaeda and other Pakistani militant groups created by the Pakistani government to fight rival India have helped Mehsud stage suicide attacks.
The official, who also asked not to be named because of the nature of his work, said there had been a "convergence" of militants based in the tribal areas "supplemented, financed, probably trained, inculcated, by al Qaeda elements" and also "Punjab-based Pakistani terrorist groups."
"It's the relationship between the three elements that is producing effective suicide bombers and sustaining a suicide-bomb campaign inside Pakistan," the official said.
Taliban buying children for suicide bombers
Sara A. Carter (Contact)
Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is buying children as young as 7 to serve as suicide bombers in the growing spate of attacks against Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. targets, U.S. Defense Department and Pakistani officials say.
A Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition that he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the topic, said the going price for child bombers was $7,000 to $14,000 - huge sums in Pakistan, where per-capita income is about $2,600 a year.
"[Mehsud] has turned suicide bombing into a production output, not unlike [the way] Toyota outputs cars," a U.S. Defense Department official told reporters recently. He spoke on the condition that he not be named because of ongoing intelligence efforts to catch Mehsud, a prime target for a U.S. and Pakistani anti-Taliban campaign.
An apparent U.S. effort to kill Mehsud last week failed. On Sunday, the Pakistani government offered a reward of about $615,300 for information leading to the capture of Mehsud, dead or alive. The U.S. State Department has offered a bounty of $5 million for Mehsud, who is thought to be hiding in the tribal areas near the Afghan border.
Suicide bombings have become frequent in Pakistan in the past year, including high-profile attacks on hotels frequented by Westerners, as well as on Pakistani police and military installations. There has also been a spate of such attacks directed at U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.
The U.S. official said the price depends on how quickly the bomber is needed and how close the child is expected to get to the target.
"[Mehsud] produces these suicide bombers, which are sold or bartered, which can be used by [Afghan Taliban leader Mullah] Omar's Taliban or ... other groups," the U.S. official said.
In some cases, he said, the children are kidnapped and then sold to Mehsud.
Using child suicide bombers "is the grim reality of the Taliban Frankenstein that now threatens to overwhelm the Pakistani state," said Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution scholar who chaired a review of Pakistan-Afghanistan strategy for President Obama.
Efforts to reach a spokesman for Mehsud were not successful.
The use of children in war is not unusual in Afghanistan or the tribal regions of Pakistan. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, many pre-adolescent boys became mujahedeen or freedom fighters.
There is a different cultural perspective here about the age at which a boy becomes a man, said Sher, a former Afghan freedom fighter who asked to be identified only by his first name to protect himself against Taliban retribution.
"Fighting is not the issue," Sher, who took up arms against the Russians at age 13, told The Washington Times by phone.
"What is unusual is making these young fighters into suicide bombers," he said. "That was not common in Afghanistan, not even in the past. These children are brainwashed to believe things that are not even true. It is a crime against God."
In other conflicts, such as that between Israel and the Palestinians, suicide bombers are generally older, at least in their late teens or early 20s.
Suicide attacks mounted by Mehsud have killed prominent officials and politicians, including former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and hundreds of civilians. The attacks have begun to shift sentiment among Pakistanis against the Taliban. The government has mounted an offensive to clear militants from areas close to the capital, Islamabad, although Pakistani authorities have failed to catch local Taliban leaders.
Pakistani officials have said their next target is the rugged region along the Afghan border where al Qaeda and the Taliban fled after U.S.-led forces toppled the Afghan Taliban government in Kabul in 2001.
Last week, Mehsud narrowly escaped a U.S. drone attack that killed approximately 80 people who were attending a funeral in South Waziristan in Pakistan's tribal region. U.S. officials were watching the funeral by video feed from the drone, which flew high above the scene, concealed by clouds. The drone strike was the closest the U.S. had come to killing Mehsud in the past year, U.S. officials said.
Pakistani officials told The Times that Taliban commander Qari Hussain, who was a close aide to Mehsud, was killed in the attack.
Hussein was one of the main trainers and recruiters of suicide bombers, a Pakistani government official said.
"He was a very important figure to Mehsud," said the official, who asked to remain anonymous because of the nature of his work. "However, Mehsud escaped the attack. Believe me, there will be no tears for Mehsud in Pakistan when he is killed."
The Taliban is a formidable enemy to the Pakistani people and government, Mr. Riedel said.
He said the Pakistani government's current military strategy against Mehsud is promising, but only time will tell whether it will succeed.
A second U.S. Defense Department official with expertise regarding the Taliban told reporters that al Qaeda and other Pakistani militant groups created by the Pakistani government to fight rival India have helped Mehsud stage suicide attacks.
The official, who also asked not to be named because of the nature of his work, said there had been a "convergence" of militants based in the tribal areas "supplemented, financed, probably trained, inculcated, by al Qaeda elements" and also "Punjab-based Pakistani terrorist groups."
"It's the relationship between the three elements that is producing effective suicide bombers and sustaining a suicide-bomb campaign inside Pakistan," the official said.
No Laughing Matter
Front Page Mag:
No Laughing Matter
By: Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson
FrontPageMagazine.com Thursday, July 02, 2009
Who won the Cold War? That’s a no-brainer. The United States prevailed while the Soviet Union collapsed, and the People’s Republic of China dumped Marxism; capitalism (free markets and private property) triumphed over socialism (centrally planned markets and state-owned property); an ethos of individual rights proved to be more resilient and healthy than collectivist ideology; relatively small, democratic government clearly was demonstrated to help a society prosper far more effectively than elitist Big Government.
How ironic, then, that voices in Russia and China are mocking our current Big Government policies. Those whose countries took the tragic, impoverishing detour through Big Government hell now react with scorn and derision as we Americans charge headlong down that same path. What an amazing spectacle it must be for them to see the victor of the Cold War borrow many pages from the losers’ playbook.
To read a startling indictment of the American predicament, Google the words “American capitalism gone with a whimper,” the title of an article by Stanislav Mishin. The author writes, “the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath-taking speed.”
This decline has happened because, according to Mishin, “the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education” that produced millions of Americans who “know more about their favorite TV dramas than the drama in D.C. that directly affects their lives.” Mishin also faults the widespread abandonment of Christ’s religion in America, our loss of faith. This is the cultural backdrop for a political system that has culminated in Barack Obama’s unprecedented “spending and money printing.” Mishin believes that, under Obamanomics, “America at best will resemble the Weimar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.”
Earlier this year, reports Mishin, “Prime Minister Putin … warned Obama and UK’s Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster.” Mishin has concluded that we are ignoring Putin’s warning—based on 70 years of suffering during the nightmarish Soviet experiment in central planning—and he concludes, “The proud American will go down into his slavery without a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world how free he really is. The world will only snicker.”
When I first read this astounding diatribe, I thought perhaps it had been written as a satire, almost as a spoof of what some libertarian writers in the United States have written. After consulting with a Russian friend, I have concluded that Mishin wrote in complete earnestness. Either way—satire or grim analysis—what Mishin wrote is no laughing matter. Mishin’s is one of many voices, foreign and domestic, warning us of the dangers of faith that government can be omnicompetent and can meet all our economic needs.
Adding to the irony of a Russian warning the United States about the dangers of Marxism is the fact that this article appeared in the online publication Pravda.ru—the contemporary version of the Soviet-era newspaper Pravda that served as the official Communist Party channel for pro-communist, anti-American propaganda.
Another harsh indictment of our ill-advised embrace of Big Government occurred on June 1, during Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s official visit to China. Speaking at the University of Beijing, Geithner assured a large audience of students that China’s large holdings of U.S. Treasury securities were “very safe.” The students laughed out loud. This reaction might have been unusually rude, but it was brutally honest. They didn’t believe Geithner for one second.
When the ability of the United States government to repay its debts (or at least, without doing so in significantly depreciated dollars) is perceived as a joke, it is anything but a laughing matter for our country. The Chinese gave us a wakeup call, although we appear not to have heeded it.
The Chinese students see what is plain for anyone with eyes to see. For years, fiscal discipline has been eroding in Washington, but President Obama has increased government spending with reckless abandon as the leviathan government absorbs more and more of the private sector. As I wrote in “Into the Fiscal Abyss,” with Uncle Sam’s total financial obligations totaling approximately five times our GDP, there is no way those debts and promises can be honored. The most likely outcome will be Uncle Sam—the largest debtor in human history—paying off those debts in greatly depreciated dollars. Indeed, our one-trick Federal Reserve (Motto: When there’s a bump in the economic road, inflate) already has begun to create vast sums of new dollars through the mechanism of “quantitative easing”—the direct purchase of the bonds that the government issues to finance its massive spending agenda.
The Chinese students laughing at Geithner told us implicitly what Stanislav Mishin told us explicitly: It is runaway government spending, stemming from the socialistic error that the government can be all things to all people, which threatens us all with financial cataclysm, national bankruptcy, and the loss of our prosperity and our freedoms. From the perspective of the Russians and the Chinese, the joke is on us. But for all of us, America’s plunge into the Big Government trap is no laughing matter.
Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson is a faculty member, economist, and contributing scholar with the Center for Vision and Values at Grove City College.
No Laughing Matter
By: Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson
FrontPageMagazine.com Thursday, July 02, 2009
Who won the Cold War? That’s a no-brainer. The United States prevailed while the Soviet Union collapsed, and the People’s Republic of China dumped Marxism; capitalism (free markets and private property) triumphed over socialism (centrally planned markets and state-owned property); an ethos of individual rights proved to be more resilient and healthy than collectivist ideology; relatively small, democratic government clearly was demonstrated to help a society prosper far more effectively than elitist Big Government.
How ironic, then, that voices in Russia and China are mocking our current Big Government policies. Those whose countries took the tragic, impoverishing detour through Big Government hell now react with scorn and derision as we Americans charge headlong down that same path. What an amazing spectacle it must be for them to see the victor of the Cold War borrow many pages from the losers’ playbook.
To read a startling indictment of the American predicament, Google the words “American capitalism gone with a whimper,” the title of an article by Stanislav Mishin. The author writes, “the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath-taking speed.”
This decline has happened because, according to Mishin, “the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education” that produced millions of Americans who “know more about their favorite TV dramas than the drama in D.C. that directly affects their lives.” Mishin also faults the widespread abandonment of Christ’s religion in America, our loss of faith. This is the cultural backdrop for a political system that has culminated in Barack Obama’s unprecedented “spending and money printing.” Mishin believes that, under Obamanomics, “America at best will resemble the Weimar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.”
Earlier this year, reports Mishin, “Prime Minister Putin … warned Obama and UK’s Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster.” Mishin has concluded that we are ignoring Putin’s warning—based on 70 years of suffering during the nightmarish Soviet experiment in central planning—and he concludes, “The proud American will go down into his slavery without a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world how free he really is. The world will only snicker.”
When I first read this astounding diatribe, I thought perhaps it had been written as a satire, almost as a spoof of what some libertarian writers in the United States have written. After consulting with a Russian friend, I have concluded that Mishin wrote in complete earnestness. Either way—satire or grim analysis—what Mishin wrote is no laughing matter. Mishin’s is one of many voices, foreign and domestic, warning us of the dangers of faith that government can be omnicompetent and can meet all our economic needs.
Adding to the irony of a Russian warning the United States about the dangers of Marxism is the fact that this article appeared in the online publication Pravda.ru—the contemporary version of the Soviet-era newspaper Pravda that served as the official Communist Party channel for pro-communist, anti-American propaganda.
Another harsh indictment of our ill-advised embrace of Big Government occurred on June 1, during Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s official visit to China. Speaking at the University of Beijing, Geithner assured a large audience of students that China’s large holdings of U.S. Treasury securities were “very safe.” The students laughed out loud. This reaction might have been unusually rude, but it was brutally honest. They didn’t believe Geithner for one second.
When the ability of the United States government to repay its debts (or at least, without doing so in significantly depreciated dollars) is perceived as a joke, it is anything but a laughing matter for our country. The Chinese gave us a wakeup call, although we appear not to have heeded it.
The Chinese students see what is plain for anyone with eyes to see. For years, fiscal discipline has been eroding in Washington, but President Obama has increased government spending with reckless abandon as the leviathan government absorbs more and more of the private sector. As I wrote in “Into the Fiscal Abyss,” with Uncle Sam’s total financial obligations totaling approximately five times our GDP, there is no way those debts and promises can be honored. The most likely outcome will be Uncle Sam—the largest debtor in human history—paying off those debts in greatly depreciated dollars. Indeed, our one-trick Federal Reserve (Motto: When there’s a bump in the economic road, inflate) already has begun to create vast sums of new dollars through the mechanism of “quantitative easing”—the direct purchase of the bonds that the government issues to finance its massive spending agenda.
The Chinese students laughing at Geithner told us implicitly what Stanislav Mishin told us explicitly: It is runaway government spending, stemming from the socialistic error that the government can be all things to all people, which threatens us all with financial cataclysm, national bankruptcy, and the loss of our prosperity and our freedoms. From the perspective of the Russians and the Chinese, the joke is on us. But for all of us, America’s plunge into the Big Government trap is no laughing matter.
Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson is a faculty member, economist, and contributing scholar with the Center for Vision and Values at Grove City College.
Shepherd Smith - The Hottest Babe In News
I love it when he wears his boa, and he sports the long cigarette holder. He's so elegant and, and, just so sassy.
Today, he's really in top form, coming out in favor of the Communist ex-Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who attempted to stage a coup d 'etat and destroy the Constitution of the country he had been elected to represent.
That's all well and good with Shep, though, because he likes his men strong and fierce and dangerous.
And, I love Shep because he's such a cutie.
Anti-Dhimmitude
h/t Total
Rome Gives Gilad Shalit Honorary Citizenship
ROME – Rome has given honorary citizenship to an Israeli soldier kidnapped by militants linked to Gaza's militant Islamic Hamas group three years ago.
Sgt. Gilad Schalit's father, Noam Schalit received the honor at a city hall ceremony Wednesday.
A giant photo of the soldier hung in the piazza, with the words "Rome wants its citizen Gilad Schalit free" — words Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno repeated at the evening ceremony.
The city council voted to give Schalit honorary citizenship to coincide with Thursday's third anniversary of his capture by militants in a cross-border raid from Gaza into Israel.
Rome Gives Gilad Shalit Honorary Citizenship
ROME – Rome has given honorary citizenship to an Israeli soldier kidnapped by militants linked to Gaza's militant Islamic Hamas group three years ago.
Sgt. Gilad Schalit's father, Noam Schalit received the honor at a city hall ceremony Wednesday.
A giant photo of the soldier hung in the piazza, with the words "Rome wants its citizen Gilad Schalit free" — words Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno repeated at the evening ceremony.
The city council voted to give Schalit honorary citizenship to coincide with Thursday's third anniversary of his capture by militants in a cross-border raid from Gaza into Israel.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Norway's Nazi Problem
No surprise, to the enlightened, the Nazi problem originates from the Socialists and their intellectual impotence in the guise of moral relativism, if all morals are equal, you simply have no morals at all, and the left endorses evil in all its shapes, the stupidity of groupthink and collectivism, the embrace of Nazis and Antisemitism are simply the symptoms of leftwing Socialst ideologies.
By: Manfred Gerstenfeld
FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, June 26, 2009
Can one be an international leader in educating people about the evils of the Holocaust and simultaneously spend tens of millions of dollars to honor a dead Nazi? The Norwegian government thinks that such moral relativism is normal.
The honored Nazi in question is the novelist Knut Hamsun, who welcomed the brutal German occupation of Norway during World War II. He also offered his Nobel Prize in Literature as a gift to the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. Hamsun later visited Hitler, whom he admired, in Bavaria. [1]
The New York Times wrote that in February 2009, Norway’s Queen Sonja opened the “year-long, publicly financed commemoration of Hamsun’s 150th birthday called Hamsun 2009…the queen spent a highly specific half-hour with Hamsun family members at the National Library. Together they viewed the author’s handwritten manuscripts. [2] There is more than one layer of significance to this. First, a Labor party-dominated government rehabilitates an admirer of Hitler and the National Socialists. Second, the Queen participates in this event, as if the royal family did not flee abroad when the Germans conquered their homeland in 1940.
In March, Norway became head of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research. The ITF consists of representatives of government, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations. Its purpose is to place political and social leaders’ support behind the promotion of Holocaust education, remembrance and research. It was initiated by Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson in 1998, This Task Force currently has twenty-six member countries. It met on 24 June for a major conference in Oslo.
Holocaust remembrance requires moral choices. The whitewashing of a Nazi supporter however expresses moral turpitude. A Norwegian government spokesman said that Hamsun was one of Norway’s most important authors and added that during the Hamsun festivities his Nazi past will be mentioned. How important can such mention be in what in essence are festivities in his honor?
Has Norway built a twenty million dollar museum for any Norwegian who resisted the Nazis? A more than life size bronze statue of Hamsun is also planned. One can probably search in vain all over Western Europe for a statue of such an extreme admirer of Hitler.
The German Jewish author Max Tau, who fled to Norway before the war, tells in his biography how Hamsun—a former friend of his—was despised by many Norwegians when he showed his sympathy for Hitler-ruled Germany. The medical head of a hospital, said to Tau: “I have burned all Hamsun’s books.” Others told him they would never read one more sentence written by Hamsun. [3]
The outrageous state-sponsored honoring of Hamsun is only the tip of the iceberg of why Norway should never have been chosen as ITF Chair. A country where moral relativism is widespread among part of its elites can not lead an effort to teach the Holocaust internationally. A few examples of what is possible in Norway: Last year TV2, Norway’s second largest TV station, was condemned by the press ethics commission PFU for an extreme anti-Semitic program by the comedian Otto Jespersen. It was so hateful that for the first time ever the PFU came out against satire. In May 2009 TV2 brought Holocaust denier David Irving to Oslo for a lengthy interview by an ignorant journalist.
In his opening speech a few days ago at the Oslo ITF conference Norway’s foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre came out strongly against Holocaust denial. He did not mention that his country was probably the only one among the member states, where a Holocaust denier had been given the occasion to appear recently on a major TV station.
Last month Queen Sonja went to a mosque where she met the imam who supports suicide bombings. A few weeks later, at very short notice, King Harald V visited the Oslo synagogue. This was the first time a royal had done so since Jews were admitted to Norway 150 years ago. The juxtaposition of the two visits again exposes Norwegian moral relativism at the highest level.
In September 2008 a Jewish museum was opened in Oslo by Crown Prince Haakon. [4] In an interfaith debate in March the Islamist Mohammed Ali Chisthi spoke and made anti-Semitic remarks. His speech had been submitted to the organizers earlier. A picture in the daily Aftenposten captured the Crown Prince on the front row attentively listening to the inciter. [5] Comparing the two events one sees yet another manifestation of moral relativism.
In March 2007 Finn Graf was made a knight in the prestigious Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav by the king for his contribution as an artist. [6] In one caricature Graf had depicted then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as a sadistic Nazi camp commander. In March 2008, when Julius Paltiel, one of the few Norwegian Auschwitz survivors, died King Harald V attended the funeral. The juxtaposition of the two events is symbolic: honoring a dead Jew as well as a living inciter to Jew-hatred.
One cannot expect the small Norwegian Jewish community to lead a fight against Norway’s chairmanship of the ITF. The community is heavily dependent on the government for its protection. Therefore the other member states and NGOs should bring pressure to bear to depose Norway of this position. Perhaps that would make the country’s leaders understand that there are no free anti-Semitic lunches.
[1] Walter Gibbs, “Norwegian Nobel Laureate, Once Shunned, Is Now Celebrated,” New York Times, 27 February 2009.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Max Tau, Ein Fluchtling findet sein Land (Hamburg: Hoffmann & Campe, 1964), 88, 89. [German]
[4] Nina Berglund, “New Jewish Museum opens,” Aftenposten, 9 September 2008.
[5] “Også Chisthi er norsk,” Aftenposten, 4 April 2009. [Norwegian]
[6] www.kongehuset.no/c26951/nyhet/vis.html?strukt_tid=26951&tid=34236 (the official royal website).
Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld is Chairman of the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is an international business strategist who has been a consultant to governments, international agencies, and boards of some of the world's largest corporations. Among the fourteen books he has published are Europe's Crumbling Myths: The Post-Holocaust Origins of Today's Anti-Semitism (JCPA, Yad Vashem, WJC, 2003), Academics against Israel and the Jews (JCPA, 2007), as well as the just published Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews (JCPA and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, 2008).
By: Manfred Gerstenfeld
FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, June 26, 2009
Can one be an international leader in educating people about the evils of the Holocaust and simultaneously spend tens of millions of dollars to honor a dead Nazi? The Norwegian government thinks that such moral relativism is normal.
The honored Nazi in question is the novelist Knut Hamsun, who welcomed the brutal German occupation of Norway during World War II. He also offered his Nobel Prize in Literature as a gift to the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. Hamsun later visited Hitler, whom he admired, in Bavaria. [1]
The New York Times wrote that in February 2009, Norway’s Queen Sonja opened the “year-long, publicly financed commemoration of Hamsun’s 150th birthday called Hamsun 2009…the queen spent a highly specific half-hour with Hamsun family members at the National Library. Together they viewed the author’s handwritten manuscripts. [2] There is more than one layer of significance to this. First, a Labor party-dominated government rehabilitates an admirer of Hitler and the National Socialists. Second, the Queen participates in this event, as if the royal family did not flee abroad when the Germans conquered their homeland in 1940.
In March, Norway became head of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research. The ITF consists of representatives of government, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations. Its purpose is to place political and social leaders’ support behind the promotion of Holocaust education, remembrance and research. It was initiated by Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson in 1998, This Task Force currently has twenty-six member countries. It met on 24 June for a major conference in Oslo.
Holocaust remembrance requires moral choices. The whitewashing of a Nazi supporter however expresses moral turpitude. A Norwegian government spokesman said that Hamsun was one of Norway’s most important authors and added that during the Hamsun festivities his Nazi past will be mentioned. How important can such mention be in what in essence are festivities in his honor?
Has Norway built a twenty million dollar museum for any Norwegian who resisted the Nazis? A more than life size bronze statue of Hamsun is also planned. One can probably search in vain all over Western Europe for a statue of such an extreme admirer of Hitler.
The German Jewish author Max Tau, who fled to Norway before the war, tells in his biography how Hamsun—a former friend of his—was despised by many Norwegians when he showed his sympathy for Hitler-ruled Germany. The medical head of a hospital, said to Tau: “I have burned all Hamsun’s books.” Others told him they would never read one more sentence written by Hamsun. [3]
The outrageous state-sponsored honoring of Hamsun is only the tip of the iceberg of why Norway should never have been chosen as ITF Chair. A country where moral relativism is widespread among part of its elites can not lead an effort to teach the Holocaust internationally. A few examples of what is possible in Norway: Last year TV2, Norway’s second largest TV station, was condemned by the press ethics commission PFU for an extreme anti-Semitic program by the comedian Otto Jespersen. It was so hateful that for the first time ever the PFU came out against satire. In May 2009 TV2 brought Holocaust denier David Irving to Oslo for a lengthy interview by an ignorant journalist.
In his opening speech a few days ago at the Oslo ITF conference Norway’s foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre came out strongly against Holocaust denial. He did not mention that his country was probably the only one among the member states, where a Holocaust denier had been given the occasion to appear recently on a major TV station.
Last month Queen Sonja went to a mosque where she met the imam who supports suicide bombings. A few weeks later, at very short notice, King Harald V visited the Oslo synagogue. This was the first time a royal had done so since Jews were admitted to Norway 150 years ago. The juxtaposition of the two visits again exposes Norwegian moral relativism at the highest level.
In September 2008 a Jewish museum was opened in Oslo by Crown Prince Haakon. [4] In an interfaith debate in March the Islamist Mohammed Ali Chisthi spoke and made anti-Semitic remarks. His speech had been submitted to the organizers earlier. A picture in the daily Aftenposten captured the Crown Prince on the front row attentively listening to the inciter. [5] Comparing the two events one sees yet another manifestation of moral relativism.
In March 2007 Finn Graf was made a knight in the prestigious Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav by the king for his contribution as an artist. [6] In one caricature Graf had depicted then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as a sadistic Nazi camp commander. In March 2008, when Julius Paltiel, one of the few Norwegian Auschwitz survivors, died King Harald V attended the funeral. The juxtaposition of the two events is symbolic: honoring a dead Jew as well as a living inciter to Jew-hatred.
One cannot expect the small Norwegian Jewish community to lead a fight against Norway’s chairmanship of the ITF. The community is heavily dependent on the government for its protection. Therefore the other member states and NGOs should bring pressure to bear to depose Norway of this position. Perhaps that would make the country’s leaders understand that there are no free anti-Semitic lunches.
[1] Walter Gibbs, “Norwegian Nobel Laureate, Once Shunned, Is Now Celebrated,” New York Times, 27 February 2009.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Max Tau, Ein Fluchtling findet sein Land (Hamburg: Hoffmann & Campe, 1964), 88, 89. [German]
[4] Nina Berglund, “New Jewish Museum opens,” Aftenposten, 9 September 2008.
[5] “Også Chisthi er norsk,” Aftenposten, 4 April 2009. [Norwegian]
[6] www.kongehuset.no/c26951/nyhet/vis.html?strukt_tid=26951&tid=34236 (the official royal website).
Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld is Chairman of the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is an international business strategist who has been a consultant to governments, international agencies, and boards of some of the world's largest corporations. Among the fourteen books he has published are Europe's Crumbling Myths: The Post-Holocaust Origins of Today's Anti-Semitism (JCPA, Yad Vashem, WJC, 2003), Academics against Israel and the Jews (JCPA, 2007), as well as the just published Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews (JCPA and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, 2008).
OAS Gives Honduras Ultimatum
Via Associated Press (or better yet Agitprop Propaganda):
President Micheletti warns, once again, that Zelaya will be arrested if he tries to return to Honduras:WASHINGTON – Honduran coup leaders have three days to restore deposed President Manuel Zelaya to power, the Organization of American States said Wednesday, before Honduras risks being suspended from the group.
OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza delivered what he called "an ultimatum" as OAS talks regarding the crisis dragged into the early-morning hours. The talks began Tuesday afternoon.
In a sharply worded resolution, the OAS said it vehemently condemned the coup and "the arbitrary detention and expulsion" of Zelaya.
The coup, the resolution said, has produced an "unconstitutional alteration of the democratic order." The envoys demanded Zelaya's immediate and safe return to power.
Calling Zelaya's overthrow an "old-fashioned coup," Insulza said: "We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted. We thought we were in an era when military coups were no longer possible in this hemisphere."
Zelaya, who was ousted in a coup Sunday, planned to return to Honduras on Thursday, accompanied by Insulza, the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador and the head of the U.N. General Assembly, and seek restoration of his authority. Wednesday morning, however, he said that trip would be delayed until the weekend.
Roberto Micheletti, named by Honduras' Congress as the new president, said Tuesday that Zelaya could be met with an arrest warrant if he returned. (Read entire article)
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' interim leader warned that the only way his predecessor will return to office is through a foreign invasion — though a potential showdown with the ousted president was delayed due to action Wednesday by the Organization of American States.Selwyn Duke notes that Honduras new president is beyond legitimate:
A defiant Roberto Micheletti said in an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday that "no one can make me resign," defying the United Nations, the OAS, the Obama administration and other leaders that have condemned the military coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.
The U.N. General Assembly voted by acclamation Tuesday to demand Zelaya's immediate restoration, and the Organization of American States said Wednesday that coup leaders have three days to restore Zelaya to power before Honduras risks being suspended from the group.
That period for negotiation prompted Zelaya to announce he was putting off his plans to return home on Thursday until the weekend.
Micheletti vowed Zelaya would be arrested if he returns, even though the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador have signed on to accompany him along with the heads of the Organization of American States and the U.N. General Assembly.
Zelaya "has already committed crimes against the constitution and the law," said Micheletti, a member of Zelaya's Liberal Party who was named interim leader by Congress following the coup. "He can no longer return to the presidency of the republic unless a president from another Latin American country comes and imposes him using guns."
Micheletti said he would not resign no matter how intense the international pressure becomes. He insisted Honduras would be ready to defend itself against any invasion.
He did not name any specific countries, but Chavez has vowed to "overthrow" Micheletti and said earlier Tuesday that any aggression against Zelaya by Micheletti's government should prompt military intervention by the United Nations.
"No one can make me resign if I do not violate the laws of the country," Micheletti said. "If there is any invasion against our country, 7.5 million Hondurans will be ready to defend our territory and our laws and our homeland and our government." (Read entire article)
It has been interesting watching the response to the Honduran military's recent ousting its nation's president, Manuel Zelaya. Barack Obama called the action "not legal" and Hillary Clinton said that the arrest of Zelaya should be condemned. Most interesting, perhaps, is that taking this position places them shoulder to shoulder with Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega and Venezuelan's roaring mouse, Hugo Chavez, who is threatening military action against Honduras. Now, some would say this is an eclectic group - others would say, not so much - regardless, what has gotten them so upset?
Let's start with what they say. They are calling the ouster a "coup" and claim that Zelaya is still Honduras' rightful president. Some of them say we must support democracy. But they have said little, if anything, about the rule of law. And most of what they have said is wrong.
First, it doesn't appear that Sunday's ouster was a military coup but a law enforcement action. It is not a military strongman who sought extra-legal control, but Zelaya himself. Here is the story.
Zelaya is a leftist, a less precocious version of Chavez, sort of like the Venezuelan's Mini-me. And, like Chavez, it's seems that Zelaya was bent on perpetuating his rule and increasing his power in defiance of the rule of law. That is to say, the Honduran Constitution limits presidents to one four-year term, and this wasn't quite enough to satisfy Zelaya's ambitions.
Also note that the military confined itself to its prescribed police action and is not running the country. The new president is 63-year-old Roberto Micheletti, a member of Zelaya's own Liberal Party. Moreover, elections are still planned for this November.
Micheletti also enjoys wide support, from the rank-and-file to the those breathing rarified air in elite institutions. As for Zelaya, while you may not be able to please all of the people all of the time, he certainly seems to have been able to displease them. He not only alienated the Congress, Supreme Court, the people and the attorney general -- who also declared the referendum illegal and vowed to prosecute anyone facilitating it -- he is also opposed by the Catholic Church and many evangelicals. Really, no one seems to like him.
No one, that is, but Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega.
Oh, and let's not forget Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are, anyone? (Read entire article)
Micheletti is not scared of Chavez and his thugs:
Related Links:Roberto Micheletti, designado presidente del país por el Parlamento tras el golpe, dijo este lunes que el Ejército fue "benévolo" con el depuesto Manuel Zelaya, al permitirle salir del país. Zelaya por su parte, afirmó que el jueves vuelve a Honduras a terminar su mandato. En su primer día como presidente, Micheletti pidió a los hondureños que no se preocupen por las amenazas de Chávez, Correa y Ortega. En Tegucigalpa se sucedieron enfrentamientos entre partidarios de Zelaya y la policía, mientras continua el toque de queda. Los miembros del ALBA (Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua y Bolivia) retiraron ayer los embajadores de Honduras en protesta por el golpe.
"Aquí hubo un momento que parecía que no había presidente sino un rey o un dictador, quien ordenaba qué cosas se debían hacer, sin respetar a nadie", matizó Micheletti, quien agregó que Zelaya llevó al país a tener enfrentamientos con los diferentes poderes, pues quiso reformar la Constitución para hacerse reelegir.
"El Ejército más bien creo, fue benevolente al permitir que el ex presidente (Manuel Zelaya), saliera del país, cuando en realidad tenía que haber entrado a las cárceles nacionales por los delitos cometidos en diferentes circunstancias", apostilló Micheletti.
Así lo aseguró en una entrevista con Radio Caracol de Colombia, en la que además indicó que "solo Dios sabe que puede hacer un ciudadano con la conducta del señor (Hugo) Chávez", quien amenazó con derrocarlo para restituir en el poder a su aliado Zelaya.
Sobre el presidente venezolano, agregó que se resistía a creer que el mundo aceptara injerencias en "situaciones que son internas de Honduras" y reclamó la "autodeterminación de los pueblos", la que, enfatizó, "hay que respetar". Insistió en que quería comunicarle "al mundo que aquí, en este país, no ha habido un golpe de Estado", sino "una sucesión constitucional" provocada por las debilidades del depuesto Zelaya.
Al ser interrogado sobre el rechazo de presidentes de diferentes tendencias y de organismos internacionales que no lo reconocen como nuevo mandatario, indicó que no ha hecho nada ilegal. "Reitero, no hemos hecho nada ilegal y en la medida en que los pueblos del mundo se vayan dando cuenta que en este país no ha habido un golpe de Estado, sino una sucesión constitucional, se darán cuenta de lo que realmente ha pasado en el país", puntualizó Micheletti.
De otro lado, indicó que seguirá en el poder porque fue la decisión expresada por el pueblo a través del Congreso Nacional, del cual era presidente y que lo nombró tras la salida de Zelaya. Explicó, por ejemplo, que los ministros del anterior Gobierno están en el país e "incluso algunos están ejerciendo sus labores, contentos". Puntualizó que la única funcionaria que salió del país, "por voluntad propia", fue la canciller Patricia Rodas, quien está en México.
En Tegucigalpa se sucedieron enfrentamientos entre partidarios de Zelaya y la policía. El toque de queda continúa hasta segunda orden.
President Micheletti will be traveling to the US with Foreign Minister Ortez Colindres
Ex-President Zelaya has postponed his Thursday comeback trip to Honduras
Zelaya will be in Panama today at the inaugaration of President Ricardo Martinelli
Honduran Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez re-affirms that the military upheld constitutional order
Gross OAS double standard under the tutelage of the Salvador Allende loving Jose Miguel Insulza
Obama's administration's horrible foreign policy
Socialist Honduran neighbors cease commerce & trade for 48 hrs
US Military expert lauds historic nature of Honduran armed forces
Video Tribute to the people of Honduras, 85% of which back Zelaya's ouster
Erick Erickson at Red State urges calls to your fellow congressional representatives, in order to support the Micheletti government
Great links from Babalu Blog
Video H/T: Gateway Pundit
Hat Tip: Christopher Yochum
Hat Tip: Henry de la Noval
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