Target Centermass

Month: December 2005

  • Bush: Surveillance Program Legal and Essential

    President George Bush is at the heart of a media and political storm since the revelation that he authorized warrantless monitoring of communications between people in the U.S. and people overseas suspected to have ties to Islamist terror. Today, Bush defended the program.

    President Bush offered a vigorous and detailed defense of his previously secret electronic-surveillance program today, calling it a legal and essential tool in the battle against terrorism and saying that whoever disclosed it had committed a “shameful act.”

    Mr. Bush said the surveillance would continue, that it was being conducted under appropriate safeguards and that Congress had been kept informed about it. He rejected any suggestion that the surveillance program was symptomatic of unchecked power in the presidency.

    […]

    Surveillance dominated Mr. Bush’s hourlong news conference at the White House, and Mr. Bush said he fully understood the concerns of some lawmakers that civil liberties might be infringed upon. But those concerns are simply not justified, the president said.

    “Leaders in the United States Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this program,” Mr. Bush said. “And it has been effective in disrupting the enemy while safeguarding our personal liberties. This program has targeted those with known links to Al Qaeda.”

    The program, which Mr. Bush authorized the National Security Agency to carry out, is consistent both with Article II of the Constitution, which outlines presidential authority and responsibility, and the laws of the United States, he said, and is reviewed every 45 days or so to prevent abuses.

    Mr. Bush said he had determined early on that he was on sound footing. “Do I have the legal authority to do this?” he asked rhetorically. “And the answer is, absolutely.”

    So, according to Bush, congressional leaders knew of the program. That, of course, is no reason for the Democrats not to on the attack.

    Democrats quickly rejected the president’s rationale. “Where does he find in the Constitution the authority to tap the wires and the phones of American citizens without any court oversight?” Senator Carl Levin of Michigan said at a Capitol news conference.

    Sen. Levin is quite right; I’ve searched my own personal copy of the Constitution and I find no such authority. In fact, I find not mention at all of wires or telephones.

    Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom points his readers to a couple of interesting postings from other bloggers on the matter before he puts in his two cents.

    As I’ve maintained all along, the President went through legal channels and was counseled as to the legality of his authorization of the NSA domestic surveillance, which means his good faith shouldn’t be questioned. And so at best, one can argue that the legality of the program is in dispute—but that the President was forthcoming about it and that he followed the proper procedures for legal review. How that is an “impeachable offense,” as Barbar [sic] Boxer and John Dean maintain, is a question best left to the progressive Democrats to explain.

    But what interests me most is Phares argument (via Yoo, et al) that the authority is dependent upon whether or not we believe the President to be acting under war time conditions. Clearly, Usama bin Laden and al Qaeda declared war on the US. And so the question then becomes, are we actively at war?

    As I noted previously, that the Dems don’t feel like we’re actually at war doesn’t mean we aren’t.

    As this will continue to play out, and it will play out for quite a while as we’ve already seen time and time again the sickening but tenacious behaviour of the media and Democrats when they think they smell Bush administration blood in the water, one can only anticipate the twisting arguments to come on constitutionality, legality, authority and need. I feel that, in the end, two things are certain: first, should they be doing their job (HA!), the media should demand an investigation into the identities of those involved in the leaking of the program (don’t hold your breath); and second, the effectiveness of the program has been greatly impaired or ended. Should the program be stopped, the terrorists can only feel more secure in their communications from within the U.S. Should the program continue, the terrorists have been tipped off that a portion of their communication capabilities is no longer safe.

    Net result no matter the course of the story: the ability of our government to defend the safety of Americans has been damaged, by choice and by our own citizenry.

  • Iran, Iran, Iran

    A real quick link dump about a brewing topic that should cause everyone much concern.

    Fear of Iranian nuclear arms high on Gulf states’ agenda

    Fearful of a nuclear-armed state on their borders, leaders of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states meeting in Abu Dhabi contemplated Sunday declaring the Persian Gulf a nuclear weapons-free zone in the hope that their neighbor Iran would join.

    “None of the GCC states support any country having nuclear power,” said Mona Mohammed al-Hashemi of the Emirates Center For Strategic Studies and Research in a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post. “As you know, Iran is a very strong country, but the GCC can say something about this issue. They can discuss and see how they should stand on this issue and see what they can do that won’t harm them,” he added

    If only in terms of being caught up in a nuclear maelstrom not of their own making, the Gulf states should have a very real concern about a nuke-armed and radical Iran. Beyond that, they bear a geopolitical concern, as such an Iran would force a huge shift in recognized power in the Moslem world at the expense of the Gulf states.

    According to GCC secretary-general Abdul Rahman Hamad al-Attiyah, quoted on the United Arab Emirates’ official Emirates News Agency, the summit will not issue any statements condemning Iran’s controversial nuclear program. That reflected Gulf nations’ reluctance to provoke Iran and to be seen as siding with the West in the confrontation over Teheran’s nuclear plans.

    […]

    But what worries the GCC most is Iran’s nuclear potential. Many in the West and in Arab countries believe Iran will use its nuclear energy program to develop nuclear weapons. The Arab countries fear such weapons would make Iran a superpower in the region. Iran denies the charge, saying its program is intended only to produce electricity.

    “We have confidence in Iran, but we don’t want to see an Iranian nuclear reactor that is closer to our territorial waters than it is to Teheran. This causes danger and harm to us,” the Emirates News Agency quoted Attiyah as saying.

    The issue has become even more important to the GCC as tensions have risen in the region following the recent anti-Israel statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

    Not even a statement? Despite their stake in the matter, the Gulf states are currently ranking slightly behind the Europeans in the role of an almost being a speed bump for Iranian endeavors.

    Iran tells West to be tolerant of Holocaust views

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust is a matter for academic discussion and the West should be more tolerant of his views, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday.

    Ahmadinejad last week called the Holocaust a myth and suggested Israel be moved to Germany or Alaska, remarks that sparked international uproar and threaten diplomatic talks with Europe over Iran’s nuclear programme.

    Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi defended the president’s remarks, which also drew a rebuke from the U.N. Security Council.

    “What the president said is an academic issue. The West’s reaction shows their continued support for Zionists,” Asefi told a weekly news conference.

    “Westerners are used to leading a monologue but they should learn to listen to different views,” he added.

    Some 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their allies between 1933 and 1945.

    Ahmadinejad, a former Revolutionary Guardsman who was elected president, also said in October Israel was a “tumour” that must be “wiped off the map”.

    A statement drafted by European Union leaders described last week’s Holocaust comment as “wholly unacceptable”. The White House termed the remarks “outrageous”.

    Asefi denounced international condemnation as emotional and illogical.

    “The EU statement is not based on international diplomatic norms. They should avoid illogical methods,” he said.

    You see, when the radical president of a bloody Iranian government seeking nukes says that Israel should be destroyed and the history of the Holocaust is a hoax, he’s merely embracing a diverse view and others should be more tolerant. Geez, with those buzzwords, how could the left fail to embrace this man?

    Meanwhile, Ace at Ace of Spades begins to embrace what he perceives as a need for a new version of an old policy, mutually-assured destruction (MAD).

    Nuking Iran

    Iran is such a depressing topic for me I haven’t blogged about it much. Iran is mere months away from developing a bomb, their hardline lunatic leadership is quite forthright about their desire to wipe Israel off the map, and they would have few qualms about delivering a bomb to Al Qaeda.

    I’d like to do the military-bluster thing and start advocating airstrikes on all their nuclear facilities, command and control sites, even their oil wells. But I don’t think that will actually solve things. Their uranium enrichment program is hidden, probably underground, and almost certainly well-dispersed. We could not end their atomic ambitions through mere airstrikes.

    For those of you counting on Israel to end this problem for us– forget it. The comparison to Iraq’s reactor is inapposite. That was a big identifiable target. The Iranian sites are largely unknown, even by the vaunted Israeli intelligence organizations.

    We’re not going to invade. We don’t have the troops and the nation doesn’t have the stomach.

    Which means that Iran will have a bomb soon.

    […]

    It is time for Bush to spell out clearly what our nuclear policy is in regard to nuclear-armed rogue states. And this is not the time for diplomatic nicety. Bush must announce, clearly and solemnly, that any nuclear-armed nation invites a nuclear attack, and that a nuclear attack by such a nation will be met with the complete destruction of that nation by nuclear fire.

    The fundamentalist religious crazies thuggishly ruling Iran may have little fear of that. They will consider giving up their own lives to strike a mighty nuclear blow for Allah a small sacrifice for greater Islamist glory.

    We have to put the fear of God Himself into those who value life more than seventy-two viriginal whores in the afterlife. The Iranian citizens, the generals, the scientists building the doomsday devices.

    We have to be clear on our response to such an attack, and we have to be resolved about carrying it out with clinical, murderous deadliness.

    And we need to inform the world, and Iran of course, of all of this in advance. We need to be quite clear on our policy, so that the world will know that Iran was forewarned.

    Ace goes on to explain his unfortunately lucid reasoning behind a devastating policy, one that could be termed as MADOIB, mutually-assured destruction on Israel’s behalf. A nuke-capable Iran could not dream to destroy the U.S. in any short- or mid-term scenario, but they could play a role in a long-term nightmare. They could, however, destroy Israel, and Ace looks at how different responses to an Iranian attack on Israel could proceed. As Ace points out, MAD is a policy that only carries weight among the rational, thus the need for the clear publication of such a policy so that external and internal pressures may be brought to bear on the history-denying, blood-craving Iranian government.

    WunderKraut also gives his thoughts on the eventuality of an Iranian nuke. That’s twice I’ve linked WunderKraut in recent weeks. I really need to update my blogroll.

  • Drunk Santas in Christmas Rampage

    Should the song The Twelve Days of Christmas ever be greatly expanded, this bizarre tale of holiday mayhem just might come in handy.

    Forty drunken Santas rampaged through Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, at the weekend, stealing from stores and assaulting security guards in a protest against the commercialisation of Christmas.

    Police said some of the Santas threw beer bottles, one tried to climb the mooring rope of a cruise ship and a security guard was punched. “They came in, said: ‘Merry Christmas’ and helped themselves,” said one shop worker.

    According to the story, the police went on to state the obvious that identification problems remain, as it was difficult to ascertain which culprit had done what as all of the Santas were dressed like, well, Santa.

    Okay, let’s expand the song. Here’s a portion of the fortieth verse:

    On the fortieth day of Christmas,
    my true love sent to me
    Forty Santas rampaging,

    […]

    Twelve drummers drumming,
    Eleven pipers piping,
    Ten lords a-leaping,
    Nine ladies dancing,
    Eight maids a-milking,
    Seven swans a-swimming,
    Six geese a-laying,
    Five golden rings,
    Four calling birds,
    Three French hens,
    Two turtle doves,
    And a partridge in a pear tree!

    Please feel free to fill in the gap.

  • Quote of the Week, 18 DEC 05

    My regret is we didn’t win the war. For we had the force, skill and intelligence, but our civilian betters wouldn’t turn us loose.

    —General William Momyer, on Viet Nam

  • Iran: Crashing the Iraqi Election High

    I’ll leave it to Charles Krauthammer to provide the big come-down, as he looks at the brewing danger in Iraq’s next-door neighboor, Iran.

    Lest you get carried away with today’s good news from Iraq, consider what’s happening next door in Iran. The wild pronouncements of the new Iranian president [previously discussed here, here and here], Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have gotten sporadic press ever since he called for Israel to be wiped off the map. He subsequently amended himself to say that Israel should simply be extirpated from the Middle East map and moved to some German or Austrian province. Perhaps near the site of an old extermination camp?

    Except that there were no such camps, indeed no Holocaust at all, says Ahmadinejad. Nothing but “myth,” a “legend” that was “fabricated … under the name ‘Massacre of the Jews.’”

    […]

    To be sure, Holocaust denial and calls for Israel’s destruction are commonplace in the Middle East. They can be seen every day on Hezbollah TV, in Syrian media, in Egyptian editorials appearing in semiofficial newspapers. But none of these aspiring mass murderers are on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons that could do in one afternoon what it took Hitler six years to do — destroy an entire Jewish civilization and extinguish 6 million souls.

    Everyone knows where Iran’s nuclear weapons will be aimed. Everyone knows they will be put on Shahab rockets that have been modified so they can now reach Israel. And everyone knows that if the button is ever pushed, it will be the end of Israel.

    But it gets worse.

    Go read.

    Realize that, while the greatest dream of Iran’s rulers is the destruction of Israel and the United States, their greatest fear is neither the destruction of their nuclear capabilities by those same nations, nor is it the rather laughable speedbump that has been the European opposition to Iranian nuclear ambitions to date; rather, that fear is the success of a free and democratic society, a society not dominated by Iranian dominion or a Saddam-like tyrant but a truly free society dictating its own future, sitting next door in Iraq. That is why the Iranian puzzle must be approached from two directions: stopping a madly-led society from weapons it seems quite willing to use, and providing those in Iran already thirsting for democracy an alternative to their current radical state.

  • More Iraqi Election Links

    Publius Pundit: Robert Mayer has a very interesting, well-researched analysis of what the election means about the insurgency.

    In the Bullpen: Chad Evans has the pics.

    The Indepundit: Smash rounds up the headlines.

    The Gunn Nutt: The Nutt has a nice collection of pics and stories.

  • Iraqi Voting Leave Country in Purple Haze

    Millions upon millions of Iraqis, a turnout far better than could have been reasonably hoped for, turned out to vote today for a freely elected parliament and another step toward a free democracy.

    Millions of Iraqis, from tribal sheiks to entire families with children in tow, turned out Thursday to choose a parliament in a mostly peaceful election – among the freest ever in the Arab world.

    So many Sunni Arabs voted that ballots ran out in some places. The strong participation by Sunnis, the backbone of the insurgency, bolstered U.S. hopes that the election could produce a broad-based government capable of ending the daily suicide attacks and other violence that have ravaged the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

    Difficult times lie ahead, however. The coalition of religious Shiite parties that dominates the current government is expected to win the biggest portion of the 275 seats, but will almost certainly need to compromise with rival factions, with widely differing views, to form a government.

    Up to 11 million of the nation’s 15 million registered voters took part, election officials estimated, though they had no official turnout figure.

    Many Sunnis said they voted to register their opposition to the Shiite-led government and to speed the end of the U.S. military presence.

    First, to understand today’s voting and the Iraqi parliamentary election process, PoliBlog‘s Dr. Steven Taylor has gathered together two posts, here and here, that together comprise what could best be described as an Iraqi Elections for Dummies guide.

    The right side of the political blogosphere is awash with images of purple-stained fingers, with Gateway Pundit and Michelle Malkin providing thorough and oft-updated collections of bloggings and news coverage.

    Meanwhile, Protein Wisdom‘s Jeff Goldstein and John Noonan at the Officers’ Club examine the paucity of coverage from the left side of the blogosphere. I can only take that as a sure sign of another successful election.

  • Sheehan: A Reason to Not Believe in Ghosts

    Any remaining specter of brave Casey Sheehan would have put a stop to Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s crap long before it came to this.

    Confederate Yankee is right about normal mothers and Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s need for help.

    Disgusting, but not all too surprising. After all, just weeks ago I blogged the following:

    The woman is addicted to attention, as demonstrated by her jealousy of hurricane coverage, and will not wait until Easter. I only fear how low Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan will stoop to be in front of cameras in the meantime.

  • Ecoterror Suspect may be Charged in 2001 UW Arson

    I only highlight this story because, as the far-far-far left becomes more militant, I expect such tales to become more common and groups like ELF and ALF to become more dangerous and eventually murderous.

    A woman being held in Oregon and accused of toppling an electricity transmission tower and torching a meatpacking plant there is a prime suspect in the 2001 firebombing of the University of Washington’s Urban Horticulture Center in Seattle.

    Chelsea Gerlach, who is also known as “Country Girl,” is one of six people the FBI arrested last week in a series of Northwest ecoterrorism attacks. She is likely to be indicted in the UW arson, according to federal criminal justice sources.

    At a hearing in Eugene on Tuesday to determine whether Gerlach will be held or released on bond, assistant U.S. attorney Kirk Engdahl said that she is a prime suspect in the May 21, 2001, UW fire. He also called her a suspect in four other high-profile ecoterrorism cases: the Oct. 11, 1998, attempted arson at Bureau of Land Management wild-horse corrals in Rock Springs, Wyo.; the Oct. 19, 1998, firebombing of a ski resort at Vail, Colo., which caused $12 million in damage; the Dec. 25, 1999, arson of a Boise Cascade office in Monmouth, Ore.; and the May 21, 2001, firebombing of the Jefferson Poplar Farm in Clatskanie, Ore. Two others have been arrested in the last case.

    Judge Thomas Coffin ordered Gerlach held without bail, pending the outcome of today’s grand jury session in Oregon.

    Gerlach, 28, of Portland, and two others are accused of loosening bolts and support components on a Bonneville Power Administration electric tower 25 miles east of Bend on the night of Dec. 30, 1999. The tower toppled.

    She is also being charged with the May 9, 1999, firebombing of the Childers Meat Co. in Eugene. Engdahl said he would present evidence to a grand jury today seeking indictments against Gerlach in the meatpacking fire and the 2001 firebombing at the tree farm in Clatskanie.

    She was one of six people arrested in five states last week on indictments alleging they took part in a string of arson attacks and other crimes from 1998 to 2001 in Oregon and Washington, for which the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front took responsibility.

    How environmentally sound was the UW arson? Well, good if you hate the manipulation of plant DNA. Bad if you hate plant preservation.

    The apparent target at the UW center was research into the fast-growing hybrid poplar tree — a tiny portion of which were the transgenic product of DNA manipulation and had been imported from an Oregon State University lab.

    But the ELF attackers — who style themselves as defenders of the environment against unchecked encroachment by people — also destroyed numerous rare and endangered Northwest plants growing at the center that were intended to be replanted in the wild.

    I will not judge Gerlach at this time, but I will predict a bloody future for ELF and ALF. You know, as if radical Islamist bastards trying to establish global dominion weren’t enough to deal with, there’s always our own domestic idiots.

    I really need a new category for this kind of garbage. Any suggestions, y’all?

  • Carnival of Liberty XXIV

    This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Searchlight Crusade. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.