I have to open with my favorite story of the day.
Hanoi Jane takes on Iraq war with US bus tour
Hollywood star and activist Jane Fonda is planning to take a bus tour across America to call for an end to US military operations in Iraq in a move that has already drawn sharp reactions from both the pro- and anti-war camps.
Ms Fonda, who earned the nickname Hanoi Jane after she was photographed sitting on a north Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun at the height of the Vietnam war, said she would be joined by families of Iraq war veterans and her daughter on the tour.
“I’ve decided I’m coming out,” she told a cheering audience during an appearance in New Mexico to promote her autobiography, explaining that Iraq veterans had encouraged her to break her silence.
“I have not taken a stand on any war since Vietnam,” she added. “I carry a lot of baggage from that.”
Ms Fonda said her anti-war tour in March would use a bus that runs on vegetable oil.
“I can’t go into any detail except to say that it’s going to be pretty exciting,” she said.
By exciting, I assume she’s talking about more than the vegetable oil. Look, there is enough to dislike about this woman without erroneous hyperbole, so check the facts of her history.
It is my opinion that this woman cost lives, both American and our allies. It is apparently her intent to do so again by providing support to the hopes of our enemies. In my view, she has previously committed treason. She seems less intent to do so as blatantly today; I extend to her an invitation to fly over for a photo-op with the beheading terrorists. Perhaps she could feature them in a new exercise DVD. Otherwise, I wish her no success in this latest endeavor but would have no regret for any deserved emotional anguish she may have coming. I truly hope that she suffers no physical harm at the hands of private individuals, but I also don’t want her to enjoy a single welcome reception.
Truce as French sign up for joint action
Britain and France called a truce in their disputes over Europe’s future and its financing yesterday to announce fresh co-operation in the fight against terrorism, including sharing the names of “jihadists†living in their countries.
After talks in Downing Street, Dominique de Villepin, the French Prime Minister, and Tony Blair played down recent disagreements and set out a four-point programme of joint action as a result of the London bombings.
They agreed that France and Britain would exchange the names of persons in each country who had been trying to incite extremism. They would also retain communications data from telephone calls and e-mails for longer, exchange information about how to protect vulnerable targets and work together to combat the “radicalisation†of the Muslim community.
Their meeting came as Mr Blair told Muslims in Britain that they had a duty to come forward with information about those involved in terrorist attacks. “My message to anybody who may know of any information about those responsible for last Thursday’s attack is to give that information to the police.
“There will be people who know information about those that have participated in the attack. The photographs [of the suspects] are pretty strong, good quality has been given. There will be people who know something. It is part of our duty, in order to protect our country, that people come forward and give the police the information they can.â€
I don’t doubt the genuine concern of the French about Islamist terror, as they currently have a sufficient threat of it within their own borders. My continued disdain for the French is greatly stirred by their willingness to impair American efforts, meant for the betterment of survival for the U.S. and all of western culture, to squelch the Islamist movement, just for the sake of France’s own short-term geopolitical gain. President Jacques Chirac’s willingness to enable a continued global threat by opposing U.S. international policy, merely for the purpose of setting up a Franco-led European Union as an alternative global power, has been simply disgusting.
Egyptians surround villages said to be harboring Sharm bombers
Egyptian sources say that security forces surrounded two Bedouin villages next to Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday suspected of harboring terrorists responsible for the bombings that killed 88 people last Friday.
The two suspects reportedly hiding in the villages of Al-Royasat and Hurum are said to be Pakistani nationals.
According to earlier reports published in the Arab press, the Egyptian police are looking for nine Pakistani citizens that apparently disappeared after the attacks took place, leaving their passports and possessions in the hotel rooms they were staying in.
The current leadership in Egypt has as much to fear from Islamist terror as does the West and other authoritarian Arab states. The difference is that the West is working to subvert a radical culture; the Arab states are looking to prolong despotic reigns. That is where Iraq provides the hub — a possibly democratic, econically and culturally free, alternative to the typical Arab state is a severe danger to the Islamist movement, but it is also a threat to the existing governments in the region. Is it any wonder that Arab support has been lukewarm at best, behind-the-scenes hostile at worst?