I admit I was pretty incensed about Ahmadinejad and his request to visit the 9/11 ground zero site. To me that was only slightly less tacky then letting in Ladin do the same thing. 

Ahmadinejad raises some disturbing questions.  He supports the terrorists in Iraq with weapons and such, and he is clearly and directly responsible for the death of American Soldiers.  He is suspected of being involved in the hostage crisis in the 70’s, but even if that is just a pipe dream, he is still clearly an apparently evil force. And this is the guy who denies the holocaust and wants to bomb Israel into the next world.  And he is even trying to build the bomb to do it.

And as the leader of his country, he is here to address the UN, which like it or not we have to allow.

So along the way he gets an invite to Columbia University to speak.  And everyone went berk over it.

I can understand why, the decision to invite him was surely not a happy one, even at a liberal haven like Columbia.  Students and Alumni alike are livid.  And honestly I was expecting Columbia to make this into a softball game.  Ahmadinejad tends to align with some progressives and liberals in some of his anti Bush, anti War and anti American ravings.

But, while he did strike a few happy chords in his speech, he also raised more then a little ire. 

It started off harshly as the University President introduced him with a 20 minute slam lecture.  He attacked him for the more unpalatable elements of his policies, the treatment of women, the oppression of gays, the denial of the holocaust and a few others, even going as far as to call him a petty and cruel dictator.

Ironically, that last bit was really a misstep, as anyone who knows the power structure in Iran knows that Ahmadinejad is not the true power, he is the second man, and the mouthpiece of the Khamenei.

I sat down to blog and was greeted with this headline at Daily Kos: Why I Have A Little Crush on . Realistically, this is hardly a surprise, but the poster was female, lesbian and Jewish, giving her the triple crown in things that they hate in Iran.

Of course the reason she gets giddy about her guy Mahmoud?  I mean apart from looking like Kermit?

He opposes Bush.  Via LGF, here are the actual words she wrote.

I  know I’m a Jewish lesbian and he’d probably have me killed. But still, the guy speaks some blunt truths about the Bush Administration that make me swoon…

I want to be very clear. There are certainly many things about Ahmadinejad that I abhor — locking up dissidents, executing of gay folks, denying the fact of the Holocaust, potentially adding another dangerous nuclear power to the world and, in general, stifling democracy. Even still, I can’t help but be turned on by his frank rhetoric calling out the horrors of the Bush Administration and, for that matter, generations of US foreign policy preceding.

  So all the evil this man represents, and its all washed away if he speaks against Bush?  Seriously?

Sadly, this is typical at Kos and a romp through her post’s comments confirms that the majority them agree. 

If you wanted a poster child for Bush Derangement Syndrome, here it is.

More at Blue Crab Boulevard, Dan Riehl, Hot Air and Don Surber  

Iran.

I think this is exactly the way they wanted it played.  Blame us, let the notroots toss out Tonkin conspiracy rumours and then act magnanimous and pardon the sailors to end the crisis and give Iran the high road.

Britain takes a tie, not a win but not a loss.  They will get their people back, they should be happy.

The Loser?

The UN who again was shown to be a pathetic body of useless bureaucrats who cared more for self interest then for world peace.

How did the US fare?  Heck we never even got involved.  Newsmax claims our having the carriers in the Gulf made the difference, and Pelosi claims she was integral in Syria, but honestly they are both wrong.   This played out exactly as Iran wanted it. 

This sums up the UN.

Crooks and Liars, a fairly overtly leftist site, takes Bill O’Reilly to task for his conversation with Col Ann Wright (US Army Ret) when he had her on his show the other night.

According to the CnL story, Bill brought Ann on, harassed her as Un-American and then cut her mic to prevent her response.

Bill O’Reilly abuses and cuts the mic of retired Colonel Ann Wright, 29-year veteran of the US Army, after she refuses to fall victim to his leading, dishonest questions and smear tactics. Apparently in Bill’s demented world, criticizing the actions of President Bush in explicitly violating international law — something Col. Wright spent years teaching — constitutes “blaming” America.

They provided a partial transcript:

WRIGHT: “I want to make sure the United States treats people properly..”

O’REILLY: “Sure you do. Sure you do.”

WRIGHT: “I surely do. That’s what I spent 29 years of my life trying to do.”

O’REILLY: “Sorry. No you didn’t. You know what happened to you…somewhere along the line you started to dislike your own country….“ 

WRIGHT: “I served 29 years. How many did you serve? Where did you teach the Geneva Conventions?”

O’REILLY: “Cut her mic.” 

Damning indeed, except that they left out a few things.  O’Reilly brought her on as a teacher of Geneva Convention law from her Army days.  He asked her what appeared to me to be a simple question.  Quoting the UN as saying the Iranian hostage situations was “an unprovoked act of aggression” and a “violation of the Geneva convention”, he asked her if she agreed. 

She ducked the question, and instead urged caution about the circumstances of the Boats location.  She rightly noted that the Brits and Iranians need to not allow this to get escalated.  But she did duck the question.  She then danced around it a second time, and even point out we have no moral high ground because we did worse in Abu Ghraib.

Iran, the newest loose cannon trying to join the mushroom cloud club has it fingers deep in the quagmire of Iraq, documents show.

U.S. Finds Iran’s ‘Smoking Gun’ in Iraq

American forces have found a "smoking gun” that proves Iran is supporting the insurgency in Iraq — captured Iranian documents showing the country is abetting both Sunni and Shiite terrorists.

News that U.S. forces had captured Iranians in Iraq was reported in December. But now it’s come to light that the Iranians were carrying documents revealing their country’s activities in Iraq. An American intelligence official confirmed that Shiite Iran "is working closely with both the Shiite militias and Sunni Jihadist groups,” The New York Sun reported in an article headlined "Iran’s Secret Plan for Mayhem.”

The documents disclosed how the Quds Force — Iran’s elite revolutionary guard unit that supports Shiite Hezbollah and Shiite death squads — also supports individuals associated with al-Qaida in Iraq and the Sunni terror group Ansar al-Sunna.

So one could ask how clear are these documents?   How deep does this go?

Deep:

Another U.S. official, who termed the captured documents a "smoking gun,” said: "We found plans for attacks, phone numbers affiliated with Sunni bad guys — a lot of things that filled in the blanks on what these guys are up to.”

According to the Sun, one document concludes that "Iraq’s Sunni neighbors will step up their efforts to aid insurgent groups and that it is imperative for Iran to redouble efforts to retain influence with them, as well as with Shiite militias.”

Why redouble their efforts?  Easy.  Because they see the US is at a pivotal point, on the cusp of cutting and running because the violence refuses to quell.

In other words their actions are working.  They want us to leave so they can move in.  The historic hatred between the two countries is so deep that there is no chance there is altruism here, particularly when they care only about violence, not about supporting one side or the other.

Well the wierdness never ceases.  President Ahmadinejad of Iran has been a notorious Jew hater and anti Semite for a while, and loves to deny the holocaut.  Well apprently his staff has found a new way to top him in the ridiculous department.

Hitler was really a Jew and was in cahoots with the USSR and Britain.

Ynetnews: Iran: Hitler was a Jew  —  Advisor to President Ahmadinejad claims Nazi leader was Jew who conspired with USSR and Britain to establish Jewish state.

Just when you thought the Iranian leadership could stoop no further: A top advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed in an interview with Iranian website Baztab that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s parents were both Jewish and that Hitler himself was one of the founders of the State of Israel.

In the interview, translated by MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) Mohammad-Ali Ramin, a chief aide to Ahmadinejad, told Baztab that Hitler’s paternal grandmother was a Jewish prostitute and his father even kept his Jewish name until finally changing it to Hitler when he was 40.

Ramin also claimed that the reason Hitler developed such an aversion to Judaism was because his Jewish mother was a promiscuous woman. Hitler therefore, says Ramin, tried to escape his religion.

But…

Ramin cites a 1974 book by Hennecke Kardel titled ‘Adolf Hitler: Founder of Israel’, which alleges that Hitler strived to create a Jewish state as a result of being influenced by his Jewish relatives and his cooperation with Britain – which also wanted to drive the Jews out of Europe.

Ramin claims in the interview that Hitler both identified with his Judaism and was disgusted by it. It is these ambivalent feelings, said Ramin, that formed the basis for his treatment of Jews.

According to Ramin on the one hand Hitler’s relatives and the friends who brought him to power, as well as his mistresses and personal physician, were all Jewish.

On the other hand he welcomed the expulsion of ambitious and influential Jews from Europe to the British Mandate of Palestine.

Yes, I am surprised.  Gratified perhaps, but still amazed.  Hollywood has actually taken a position against terrorism.

Hollywood has long since been a town of liberals who typically take positions I find nonsensical.  But today in a full page ad in the LA Time, 84 Hollywood heavy weights took a different stand.

Nic and stars against terror 
(note:  Interesting that the ad is in a US paper, but we read about it from a source in Australia…)

NICOLE Kidman has made a public stand against terrorism - and accepted a high-level offer to visit Israel.

The actress was joined by 84 other Hollywood stars, directors and studio bosses yesterday in a powerfully-worded full-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

It specifically targeted "terrorist organisations" such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine.

"We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas," the ad read. "If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die.

"We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs."

The ad was also signed by celebrities including Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Don Johnson, William Hurt and Ridley Scott plus News Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch and Paramount Pictures chairman Sumner Redstone.

News Corporation is the parent company of News Limited, publisher of The Daily Telegraph.

It also emerged yesterday that Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres had persuaded Kidman to visit Israel.

The pair met at a conference held by Mr Murdoch in California last month.

"We will be happy to have you," Mr Peres told Kidman. "Maybe you can be tourism ambassador to the Galilee."

Kidman asked Mr Peres about the country’s prospects for the future.

"We will come out stronger from this conflict (with Hezbollah)," he said.

With so many people condemning Israel for their retaliation this is gratifying.

Yes we all know that Mel Gibson got a DUI and shot his drunken mouth off, apparently using some fairly clear racial anti semitic epitaths.  In the drama that followed, he made a minor apology, then stunned everyone by actually making a clear apology that made no attempt to diminish his actions.

In Hollywood and in Washington DC, that is anathama.  Here is the basic details of the apology:

Mel Gibson asks the Jewish community for help

Mel Gibson has finally confirmed that the "despicable" comments he made, while he was being arrested for alleged drunk driving, were in fact anti-Semitic. And now he’s asking for help. Here’s his latest statement, issued today, via the Associated Press:

There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God’s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.

I’m not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

I have not dealt with the situation in Israel and all the bombing and such in my blog.  Honestly, I have not had near enough time to gather the links and resources necessary to do the story justice.

Others like Sister Toldjah and Michelle Malkin have more then made up for my distraction.

But this story at Opinion Journal was noteworthy to me, not just in how it deals with the participants, but with the UN, and the International Community as a whole in their reactions as well as their involvement.

The powder keg over there is very worrisome, and has been for decades, but in the latest events, Iran And Syria are not helping, nor is the UN. 

Ask yourself a question:  Here you have Iran and Syria clearly meddling in the events, Iran is actively seeking a nuclear program, and Iran has openly hated Israel for years.

Is this not a scary situation?

In the only positive news I could find in this, at least the people suffering from BDS will now have a new reason to blame Bush.

States of Terror:  Syria, Iran and their proxies wage war on Israel.

Israel’s military invasion and naval blockade of Lebanon is being denounced in European capitals and at the United Nations as a "disproportionate" response to the kidnapping this week of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah. Israel’s decision late last month to invade Gaza in retaliation for the kidnapping of another soldier by Hamas was also condemned as lacking in proportion. So here’s a question for our global solons: Since hostage-taking is universally regarded as an act of war, what "proportionate" action do they propose for Israel?

In the case of Hamas, perhaps Israel could rain indiscriminate artillery fire on Gaza City, surely a proportionate response to the 800 rockets Hamas has fired at Israeli towns in the last year alone. In the case of Hezbollah, it might mean carpet bombing a section of south Beirut, another equally proportionate response to Hezbollah’s attacks on civilian Jewish and Israeli targets in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s.

If that headline does not scare the hell out of you, I don’t know what will.  I know the international intelligence community has a lack of credibility, particularly where WMDs are concerned.

In this case I am deeply afraid they might be right, but I hope to God they are wrong.

God help us if it is true.

Brit MI6 confirms Bin Laden nukes

Pakistani scientists reportedly advising al-Qaida on weaponization of uranium it has obtained

Editor’s note: The following story is adapted from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND. Annual subscriptions are available now for the discounted price of $99 a year, which includes a free copy of Farah’s latest book, "Taking America Back." Monthly subscriptions are also available to credit card users for just $9.95.

By Gordon Thomas

MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service, has identified six Pakistani scientists working in Iran’s nuclear bomb program who have been "advising al-Qaida on how to weaponize fissionable materials it has now obtained."

MI6 and the International Atomic Energy Agency believe the scientists have played a major role in enabling Iran to be "well advanced in providing uranium enriched materials for nuclear bombs," said Alexander Cirilovic, a nuclear terrorism expert in Paris.

Both high-level MI6 and CIA sources have confirmed the scientists would only have been allowed to assist al-Qaida with the authority of Iran’s unpredictable President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The revelation comes at a time when Washington has increased pressure on Tehran to give up its nuclear weapons program.

The scientists worked for Dr. A.Q. Khan, the "father of the Islamic bomb," who is now under house arrest in Pakistan after confessing he had provided both Iran and North Korea with details of how to make their own nuclear bombs.

The MI6 report to other intelligence services followed bin Laden’s recent threats to unleash a new wave of terror – with Britain and the United States his prime targets.