The Right State

For years Democrats have been critical of President Bush’s North Korean policy. As early as 2003 Dems like Carl Levin and John Edwards have called on the President to meet face to face with his North Korean counterpart. The goal: to push negotiations in an attempt to end the Stalinist country’s nuclear program.

The issue of President Bush not meeting with Kim Jong Il in face to face meetings became one of the signature issues in the 2004 Presidential election against John Kerry.

The issue gained more momentum as a group including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Perry chimed in by claiming Asia was heading towards a nuclear arms race if the Bush administration did not immediately meet with leaders in Pyongyang. Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader at the time, claimed the situation with North Korea had reached a crisis while President Bush did nothing.

In 2006 before the Congressional midterm elections Democrats took another opportunity to criticize George Bush’s North Korea policy after that country’s successful nuclear weapons test. John Kerry still smarting from his resounding defeat in the 2004 Presidential Election took another opportunity to attack the President.

“While we’ve been bogged down in Iraq where there were no weapons of mass destruction, a madman has apparently tested the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.”

Kerry is absolutely delusional. US forces have performed a masterful job in Iraq with no help from the Democrats. Lets not forget the Dems have yet to apologize to President Bush or the troops for their inappropriate statements. Bush was right; we should have gone into Iraq where we are almost done. And who can forget how the Dems demonized the troops by calling them terrorists, murderers, dumb, lazy, etc.

Just as the Democrats have suddenly forgot about the successes in Iraq, they will forget about their statements against George Bush’s stance on North Korea. In the last few days North Korea has submitted declarations as to their nuclear weapons development and have blown up a cooling tower on its Yongbyon reactor. Both actions are to show the world North Korea’s commitment to nuclear disarmament,

So where are the Democrats? Where are their apologies? Obviously President Bush’s policy towards North Korea and the Six-party talks worked. They definitely worked better than Bill Clinton’s carrots with no verification debacle. His program was an abysmal failure as millions of dollars of energy assistance went to North Korea while they continued their nuclear program. The policy George Bush advocated and is still advocating will have verification procedures in place. As the Stalinist regime moves further and further from its nuclear program, they will receive more and more assistance from the United States.

Again, where are the Democrats? They are in denial. George Bush won again! This just shows the Democrats can not be trusted with this nation’s security.

Tags: Democrats, Nuclear Weapons, President Bush by Chuck
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While the nations of the world have condemned the ‘nuclear’ test by the North Koreans, Kim Jong Il acts as if the United States is the only country to have a problem with it.  And now he is threatening war against the United States if the Bush administration continues to provoke his country.

“If the U.S. keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures,” the North’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The North didn’t specify what the measures would be.

“We were compelled to prove that we have nuclear weapons to prevent the increasing threat of war by the U.S. and protect our sovereignty and survival,” the North said, criticizing an alleged nuclear threat from Washington and sanctions. “We are ready for both dialogue and confrontation.”

What Kim Jong Il seems to be trying to do is to make the failure of diplomacy the fault of the United States.  He is trying to capitalize on some of the anti-American sentiment in the world with the hope that some other countries support him in his struggle.

At the same time the North Korean dictator is fanning the flames of discontent against President Bush in the US.  The liberals led by moonbats in Congress are using the nuclear test to re-write history and to bash the President for Clinton’s failures.  The Democrats fail to mention how Bill Clinton’s appeasement of Kim Jong Il did nothing but to encourage further recalcitrance on the part of North Korea.

One of those who are trying to rewrite history is former President Jimmy Carter who in an op-ed for the New York Times places the fault of the nuke test not on this crazed dictator, but squarely upon the shoulders of George W. Bush.  He starts out his piece by patting himself on the back while discussing his role in appeasing North Korea in 1994.  Carter goes straight from there to the paragraphs below without any mention that Kim Jong Il violated the agreement.  There is no mention that the agreement left the North Korean government holding all the cards with no verification measures.  It makes no mention that military action was discussed by the Clinton White House.  I just wish Carter was just half as good of a negotiator as he thinks he is.

But beginning in 2002, the United States branded North Korea as part of an axis of evil, threatened military action, ended the shipments of fuel oil and the construction of nuclear power plants and refused to consider further bilateral talks. In their discussions with me at this time, North Korean spokesmen seemed convinced that the American positions posed a serious danger to their country and to its political regime.

Responding in its ill-advised but predictable way, Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, expelled atomic energy agency inspectors, resumed processing fuel rods and began developing nuclear explosive devices.

The next thing we will hear from Jimmy Carter is that he was personally responsible for the release of the Iranian hostages after their 444 days of captivity.  And then we will hear of the resurgent economy during the latter half of the 1970s.  And then we will hear how popular his administration was.  He had a failed presidency and most of his negotiations have been failures as well.  Carter can rewrite history only so far.  Bill Clinton’s North Korean policy was a failure of gargantuan proportions.

Which brings us back to Kim Jong Il’s threats against the US.  It was Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter who have emboldened the North Korean dictator.  And why not, they gave him what he wanted without any consequences for breaking the agreement.  And now that President Bush is playing hardball, Kim starts to act like a spoiled brat and threatens to attack.  I say, Let him attack.  It will be one more Stalinist style dictator gone for good.

Some are suggesting that this may be the start of another Cold War which it is not.  The Cold War was between two super powers who did not want to test each others’ strength directly.  North Korea is like the ‘mouse that roared.’  It is a third world country led by a two-bit tyrant.  By threatening the US, Kim Jong Il is continuing his old mantra of threaten, withdrawn, come back to the negotiating table, gain concessions, and then start the process once again.  At the same time the tyrant is also hoping to gain some support from those who want the US brought down a few notches.  But I think this time he has gone too far.  By conducting nuclear tests and threatening his neighbors and the world, Kim Jong Il is further isolating North Korea.  Soon he will not have any friends.  I would expect the collapse of his communist regime soon afterwards.  And it will be about time.  For that we wil be able to thank George W. Bush, not the Clinton administration or Jimmy Carter.

Tags: Nuclear Weapons, President Bush by Chuck
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There are some posts that after reading them, all I can say is—‘Amen!’  We can not trust the Democrats to deal with the security of the United States.

IN SHORT, WITH A WIDE-EYED, the best and the brightest the Democratic Party had to offer went down the road of appeasement with North Korea. Like Charlie Brown always believing Lucy will hold the football, Clinton and Carter raced to the kick-off of peace with a murderous dictator — only to find out that they had (surprise!) been lied to.

The Clinton legacy, already shredding because of his inability to deal with al Qaeda and terrorism, has just been dealt yet another — perhaps mortal — blow by Clinton and Carter’s foolish trust in the North Korean father and son dictators. But more importantly, the problem now is that Democrats are running for House and Senate seats all over the nation supporting some version of this very same appeasement policy towards Iraq, the War on Terror, and critically, Iran.

Jeffery Lord wraps up his post with this comment:

Should America’s national security be turned over to a Congress full of Charlie Browns?

Uhhh…nope!

Tags: Democrats, Nuclear Weapons, Politics by Chuck
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I think it is obvious that North Korea’s madman, Kim Jong Il, has lost his marbles.  He announced the successful test of a nuke and I guess he thought the world would applaud his actions.  (Silly dictator, stupid tricks don’t garner applause)  China warned his government not to conduct the nuclear test and now he may have to face the UN without the help of one of their main benefactors.

China, which holds the key to whether tough U.N. sanctions will be imposed, warned North Korea Tuesday that its nuclear test would harm relations and called on the United Nations to take “appropriate measures” to get North Korea to relinquish its nuclear weapons.

Today comes word that North Korea intends on launching a nuclear tipped rocket in a not too veiled threat against the United States if the Bush administration does not concede to their demands.

The North, meanwhile, stepped up its threats aimed at Washington, saying it could fire a nuclear-tipped missile unless the United States acts to resolve its standoff with Pyongyang, the Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday from Beijing.

How long do we put up with threats from these two-bit dictators who threaten the US with nukes?  There is a reason President Bush listed North Korea among the ‘axis of evil’ along with Iraq and Iran.  He is using threats and intimidation to get what he wants.  The Clinton administration caved in to his demands and now Kim Jong Il is acting like a spoiled brat because President Bush is not giving in as well.  In his temper tantrums he is threatening to launch what many believe he does not have—nuclear bombs small enough to fit on a missile.

Even if Pyongyang is confirmed to have nuclear weapons, experts say it’s unlikely the North has a bomb design small and light enough to be mounted atop a missile. Their long-range missile capability also remains in question, after a test rocket in July apparently fizzled out shortly after takeoff.

There have been other problems as well.  The announced successful test of a nuke may not have been as successful as many think.

The explosion set off by North Korea yesterday appears to have been extremely small for a nuclear blast, complicating U.S. intelligence efforts to determine whether the country’s first such test was successful or signaled that Pyongyang’s capabilities are less advanced than expected, several senior U.S. and foreign government officials and analysts said.

A variety of seismic readings around the world yesterday appear to have resulted from no more than a half-kiloton explosion, three officials said — equivalent to 500 tons of TNT and far smaller than the 21- to 23-kiloton plutonium bomb the U.S. military dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945.

It may take some days before the US will be able to determine whether it was a real atomic weapon.  The small size of the explosion could have been just 500 tons of TNT thrown into a hole.  It could have been a fizzle instead of a big bang.  Or the test could have been a partial success when a fraction of the plutonium core exploded.

In any case Kim Jong Il is threatening the United States.  Normally we could treat these threats lightly, but in the post 9/11 world, the US must take all threats seriously.  If these threatening maneuvers continue, the US may need to reconsider their response to this rogue regime.

Hat tip: Captain’s Quarters

Tags: Nuclear Weapons by Chuck
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The Democrats are weighing in on the North Korea nuclear weapon test and the results are in: the Democrats are ignoring history and are trying to blame President Bush.  Take these news articles.

The Boston Globe:

Congressional candidate Carol Shea-Porter says the Bush administration was so focused on Iraq that it failed to keep an eye on North Korea, which announced Monday it had performed its first nuclear test.

“We took our eyes off that,” said Shea-Porter, a Rochester Democrat who is challenging Republican Rep. Jeb Bradley in the 1st District.

“We certainly should have been paying attention to North Korea,” she said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Democratic Sen. John Kerry, the president’s rival in 2004 and a potential 2008 candidate, assailed Bush’s policy as a “shocking failure,” and said, “While we’ve been bogged down in Iraq where there were no weapons of mass destruction, a madman has apparently tested the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.”

Now the MSM is getting involved questioning what gives the US the right to dictate to other countries who is allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.  Diane Sawyer on ABC This Morning asks this moronic question.

Sawyer: “I want to ask you a question I’ve heard being asked this morning, which is, really, how can the U.S. tell other countries whether they can have nuclear weapons or not, when the U.S. has them and seven other countries as well? Does this mean that the genie is officially out of the bottle and that the U.S. is no longer in a position to dictate who gets nuclear weapons?”

Come on Sawyer, you have got to wake up.  Most of the nations of the world signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).  It was designed to make the world safer by limiting the spread and use of nuclear weapons.  The NPT divided the world into two groups: those with nuclear weapons before Jan. 1, 1967 (United States, England, Russia, France, and China) and all the other countries.  The signatories of the treaty promised to obey their parts of the treaty.  For the nuclear countries, they were to keep their technology of nuclear weapons to themselves.  They are not allowed to transfer nuclear material, technology, or knowledge to the non-nuclear countries.  The non-nuclear countries promised not to try to acquire nuclear weapons and to submit to searches to make sure they were not trying to acquire these weapons.  That is why the US is so intent on trying to keep nuclear weapons from non nuclear countries.

During the Cold War, the threat of mutually assured destruction (MAD) kept the peace between the two superpowers.  The knowledge that the USSR and the US could destroy each other kept each side’s nuclear arsenals locked up.  The will to live on both sides was greater than their will to die and that is what kept the peace.

With the threat of Islamic terrorists, the status quo no longer applies.  The Islamists want to die in order to kill their enemies.  Therefore the threat of MAD does not scare them.  The Islamo-facsists would gladly give their lives in order to destroy the United States.  At the same time, the Islamists could care less about the women and children and other innocents who would die in the resultant firestorm and nuclear holocaust.  The old method of maintaining the peace does not work on those who want to die.

The US as the world’s only remaining superpower has the right to protect itself.  They are the only ones capable of dictating anything to anyone.  Our survival is at stake.

What the Democrats and the MSM are ignoring is history, more specifically, Bill Clinton’s history.  The basic time line can be found at the Arms Control Association website.  It is fairly accurate, but incomplete.

In 1991 President George H.W. Bush announces the withdrawal of all nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula.  USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev follows suit.  South Korea promises not to produce, store, develop or use nuclear weapons.  Later that year, both Koreas declare the peninsula a nuclear free zone.  North Korea signs the NPT.

In 1993 the IAEA demands to inspect two facilities believing North Korea is cheating on the NPT.  North Korea refuses and withdraws from the NPT.

For the next two years, North Korea plays a game of cat and mouse with the UN Security Council and the IAEA.  Finally Bill Clinton sends former President Jimmy Carter to North Korea to begin negotiations.    What the two sides come up with gives North Korea everything they could possibly want.  The North Koreans promise to freeze and suspend their nuclear ambitions in return for two light water reactors and normalization of relations with the US.

Again North Korea plays a game of cat and mouse with the IAEA and the US as they secretly work on their nuclear program.

In 1998, Bill Clinton is obviously tired of working on Kim Jong Il alone, so he sends envoys to enlist the help of South Korea and Japan in a concerted effort to reign in North Korea.  This is the first multi-party talks to stop North Korea’s enrichment program.

In 1999 Bill Clinton with the full knowledge that North Korea was reneging on their deal to end their nuclear weapons program, signed a contract allowing Korea Electric Power Corporation to begin building two light water reactors.

Clinton knows North Korea was violating its agreements in 1998.

“U.S. intelligence analysts believe about 15,000 North Koreans are at work on a vast, secret underground nuclear facility, a development administration officials say may represent a decision by North Korea to abandon a four-year-old agreement to freeze its nuclear weapons program,” the [Washington] Post reported on Aug. 18, 1998.

All through the last half of the 1990s, North Korea is negotiating with the US for compensation for ending its missile program.  They were asking $1 billion a year.  Of course this amounted to black mail and the Clinton administration rightfully refused to pay.  But since Kim Jong Il seems to be cooperating with both the US and South Korea, Clinton eases sanctions on the still rogue regime.  He even indicated a willingness to remove North Korea from the State Department’s terrorism list.

While Bill Clinton was trying to warm up to the Kim regime, North Korea was secretly developing its nuclear enrichment program.  It was not until President George W. Bush came to office that the US began to take a hard stance towards North Korea and their development of nuclear weapons.

The left would have us believe that North Korea did not try to develop nuclear weapons until President Bush included them in the ‘axis of evil’ speech.  This obviously is not true.  They have been trying to obtain nukes even before the Clinton administration.

The left would have us believe that the 1994 agreement did not exist, but it did.  The agreement gave Kim Jong Il everything he wanted with only a few safeguards.  Only the new administration of George W. Bush ended the Kim’s love affair with Bill Clinton.  And why not, Bill could not believe North Korea would be so bold as to continue their development of nukes while at the negotiating table.  But they did.

The left would have us believe that the six party talks between the US, China, South Korea, Japan, Russia, and North Korea is a new idea that is not working.  Then why did the Clinton administration attempt the same approach to North Korea when direct bi-lateral talks were not working?  Enlisting the help of other countries at risk from a nuclear North Korea is smart.  It was smart when Bill Clinton attempted it.  It was still smart when George Bush tried it.

The left would have us believe that North Korea has developed nuclear weapons on George Bush’s watch because his attention was distracted by Iraq.  I have one response, what has changed?  North Korea has wanted nuclear weapons while George H.W. Bush was in office.  They want them still.  North Korea has lied, hidden, and obfuscated their way into just about everything they have wanted.  They have continually used the tactic of threaten, then back down, go back to the bargaining table, obtain concessions, and then threaten once again.  They used this tactic during the Clinton administration and they are trying it during the Bush administration.  It difference is Bill Clinton’s tactic did not work and yet he was still trying to reward Kim Jong Il for his malfeasance.

Do the Democrats think they can show how tough they are on North Korea by criticizing the Bush administration?  Blaming George W. Bush for North Korea’s move into the selective group of nuclear nations is telling only half of the story.  The rest of the story is the failure of Bill Clinton to act decisively when he had the chance.

I believe Senator Mitch McConnell has it about right.(Seattle P-I)

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, accused Democrats of playing partisan politics with a nuclear weapons threat. “Listening to some Democrats, you’d think the enemy was George Bush, not Kim Jong Il,” he said.

North Korea has tested a nuclear bomb.  This should not be a Republican or a Democratic issue.  It should be a US security issue in which both sides set aside their differences in order to protect the United States of America.  If the Democrats want to point fingers, I am willing to help them out.  All they have to do is to look into a mirror to see the problem.

Interesting reading is Japundit.  alexpappas writes a post on how Japan should treat the ‘nuke kid‘ on the block.

Tags: Democrats, Nuclear Weapons by Chuck
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North Korea is claiming they have tested a nuclear weapon making the communist country one of the eight nuclear powers along with the United States, Great Britain, France, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and Israel.

South Korea’s geological institute estimated that the test’s power was equivalent to 550 tons of TNT, far smaller than the two nuclear bombs the U.S. dropped on Japan in World War II.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it recorded a magnitude-4.2 seismic event in northeastern North Korea. Asian neighbors also said they registered a seismic event, but only Russia said its monitoring services had detected a nuclear explosion.

The United States has not officially confirmed the success of the test, but they are acting like it was a success.  The 550 ton test is quite small considering the nuke the US droped on Hiroshima was about 15 kilotons.  It makes me wonder if it was a real bang or if it was a dud.

A nuclear North Korea has regional and world implications, particularly in the Pacific Rim.  Both Japan and South Korea will feel the need to build up their arms at the very least, possibly even going nuclear themselves.  This was the one reason China did not want Kim Jong Il to join the nuclear club.

The United States, Japan, China and Britain led a chorus of criticism and urged action by the United Nations Security Council in response to the reported test, which fell one day after the anniversary of reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s accession to power nine years ago.

The Security Council had warned North Korea just two days earlier not to go through with any test, and the Pyongyang government’s defiance was likely to lead to calls for stronger sanctions against the impoverished and already isolated country.

Many of the Asian countries have not forgotten Japan’s arms buildup before WWII and the atrocities committed during the war.  The threat of a nuclear Japan has even greater implications for China than North Korea.  Therefore China can not let the situation with North Korea get out of hand.  Expect them to join the US and Great Britain in placing strong sanctions on the Kim regime.

The sanctions against North Korea are likely to hurt the people more than it hurts Kim Jong Il’s regime.  Much like Saddam’s Iraq, the communist leader will have his palaces and live his life in luxury while his people starve.

The reasons for North Korea’s nuclear test now are varied, but most think it may have to do with ascension of South Korea’s foreign minister to the position of UN Secretary General.  One thing is certain—the world has just become a more dangerous place.

Tags: Nuclear Weapons by Chuck
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George W. Bush gave a speech before the American Legion in Salt Lake City, Utah. He started the speech with some of the things he has done for veterans and then continued on why we need to stay involved in the Global War on Terror and how Iraq is a central part of that war. Here are some of the points of his speech as I watched it on Fox News.

President Bush has raised VA benefits by 75% since 2001.

Terrorists are enemies of freedom. They see freedom as a threat to their twisted view of Islam.

Veterans have seen this kind of war before when battling Nazism. This war will be long but will end in the defeat of the terrorists.

We are in a war we did not ask for but a war we can, will, and must win.

Iraq is a central front is the GWOT.

During the cold war we supported Middle Eastern dictatorships who did not like communism. These dictators repressed their people and terrorism was born. Terrorists have killed Americans at the World Trade center (twice), the Marine barracks in Lebanon, Khobar Towers, and the USS Cole. (He listed others) The lack of freedom in the ME made the area an incubator for terrorism. We do not treat terrorism as a law enforcement matter. We will face terrorism there so we do not to face them here in our own country.

Those who harbor terrorists will be on our list.

We will support democracy in the ME (Middle East). All people have the right to determine their own destiny. Freedom is a gift from the God Almighty. Freedom is the antitheses of terror.

We will support freedom and modernization. By doing this we will ensure our children are safe.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban supported and protected the terrorists who attacked us. Within a few weeks we defeated them and helped the people to have democracy. Our enemies saw progress, and fought against it. They attack the free institutions, they will fail. The future of Afghanistan belongs to the Afghan people.

In Lebanon, the UN forced Syria to leave. Hezbollah maintained a government within a government in the south. There they attacked Israel. The world community supported new democracy in Lebanon. Terrorists have no place in a free and democratic Lebanon.

Iran funds, arms and advises terrorists. They have had a hand in Iraq by arming and training the insurgents. They defy the UN. Nations are working together to stop Iran’s nuke program. It is time for Iran to make a choice, but there must be consequences and they must not be allowed to have nukes.

Iraq had an evil regime in Saddam Hussein. He defied UN, hid his WMD program, and shot at US and British planes enforcing no fly zones. Saddam is nowon trial. With the tyrant gone, the world is better off without him. Iraqi people have cast ballots, drafted a constitution, elected a government, in spite of the terrorists. Terrorists want to drive the US out of the ME to impose their dark vision on the ME. They use IEDs and assassinate leaders. Terrorists have failed to stop Iraqi democracy and they will fail to halt America or hinder their resolve.

The US commanders in Iraq say the country in not in a civil war which is only supported by a few people. 12 million voted in the last election. People have come a long way. Prime Minister Maliki says, “Iraqis have tasted freedom and they will defend it.” America is a patient nation as long as Iraq makes the necessary moves towards democracy. PM Maliki can count on the US.

I am giving the commanders a lot of latitude to fight this war. We are training Iraqi soldiers, police, and helping them become more capable. We will defeat the enemies of a free Iraq.

We can not expect immediate success. The American government is determined to help them succeed.

There is a lot of politics in Washington over the war in Iraq. Terrorists from all over the ME have come to Iraq to battle democracy. So much for a diversion. Iraq is central to GWOT. Pulling out now would be disastrous. Doing so would turn them over to Iran, and the terrorists would have new sanctuaries funded by oil. If the terrorists are not defeated there, then we will fight terrorists here in our streets. General Abizade says if we leave, they will follow us back here.

We will not leave until victory is achieved. It will require more sacrifice. And it will be a crushing defeat to our enemies. The world is watching, the forces of freedom will prevail. We have a choice. We can let the ME continue on its course and a generation from now the ME will have even more terrorists and WMDs as well. Or we can turn region into a democracy, a model for the rest of the ME to see, where neighbors do not attack their neighbors, where people have a voice in their government.

I see a day….when democracy will prevail. Freedom is always worth the sacrifice. Victory still depends on the resolve of the American people and patriots who are willing to fight for freedom. Will give our soldiers all the resources they need to accomplish their mission.

The President briefly spoke about Cpl. Adam Galvez which largest and longest applause. This guy is a true American hero. (as a side note, Adam’s brother father said it best, “You either support the war, or you don’t support the troops,” Tony Galvez said.)

This was a great speech the President gave. It was long on substance and short on hype. In brief, he said that Iraq is central to the GWOT, this will be a long war, a war we must win. I hope this new set of speeches President Bush gives this week will wake the American people up to what is at stake: the very security of the United States.

Tags: Nuclear Weapons, Terrorism, Iran, President Bush, Politics, Iraq, War by Chuck
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Just when we thought it was safe to fly again, here comes news of another terrorist plot using airlines as flying bombs.

A MAJOR plot to commit “mass murder on an unimaginable scale” by blowing up several flights from the UK in mid-air has been foiled, Scotland Yard has said.

Senior sources said terrorists were believed to be planning to blow up as many as nine aircraft in a simultaneous attack. Police believe that the plot involved liquid chemical devices. The targets were flights leaving UK airports to the US.

According to reports, most of the arrested suspects were British citizens, but were also of Pakistani origin.  Big surprise there.  Officials also point out that this plot seems to have been hatched by al-Qaeda, the same terrorist group who attacked the US on 9/11.

This plot is eerily reminiscent of the foiled Bojinka terrorist plot which was to blow up eleven airliners in January of 1995.  These terrorist organizations are always on the lookout for ideas which have a large showing like the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

There is another twist to this plot.  It seems the plot was well into its advanced stage, but not imminent.  Administration officials say they did not think this group would wait until the anniversary of September 11 to set the plan into motion.  So that makes me wonder about the comments made by the Iranian President who hold the reins of many terrorist groups.

In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic struggle at the end of time—Gog and Magog, anti-Christ, Armageddon, and for Shiite Muslims, the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil, however these may be defined. Mr. Ahmadinejad and his followers clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. It may even have a date, indicated by several references by the Iranian president to giving his final answer to the U.S. about nuclear development by Aug. 22. This was at first reported as “by the end of August,” but Mr. Ahmadinejad’s statement was more precise.

What is the significance of Aug. 22? This year, Aug. 22 corresponds, in the Islamic calendar, to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to “the farthest mosque,” usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back (c.f., Koran XVII.1). This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind.

The west has been thinking Ahmadinejad was talking about his country displaying evidence of their nuclear arsenal on August 22, but what if what he was really hinting at was another major terror attack like the one thwarted by MI-5.  In this case the Iranian leader is really showing his hand for the world to see.  It would show Ahmadinejad wants us to know he was involved.  Either the Iranian President was talking about something else entirely, or he is incredibly stupid.  He saw what the US did to Afghanistan shortly after the September 11 attacks.  Doesn’t he know President Bush would not hesitate to respond to him the same way?  Unless he thinks we are stretched too thin with troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq.  Surely he knows we would respond and forcefully.

Both Ahmadinejad and the Iranian mullahs seem to want to force an Armageddon, bringing forth the new mullah who would conquer the world.  In an earlier post I quoted an NRO piece by Barbara Lerner in which she describes some of the thought processes of these mullahs and the significance of August 22.

Today, Iran’s emboldened mullahs are on a triumphant roll, waging a bloody, three-front proxy war against us, using the Mahdi army to assassinate dreams of peace and democracy in Iraq, using Hezbollah to blow up those same dreams in Lebanon, again, and using Hamas to make a grotesque mockery of them in the Holy Land. Now they threaten to activate Hezbollah terror cells, here in America and throughout the world, to kill and maim us at home and inflict more carnage on our allies. This week, they mocked our efforts to prevent them from becoming a nuclear power, announcing that nothing we do — in the U.N. or elsewhere — will stop them from going nuclear, and sharing their WMDs with other rogue states and Islamofascist terror groups at will. More ominous yet, they threaten to unleash an apocalyptic surprise on us on August 22, the night they believe Mohammed lit up the skies by ascending to heaven from the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

While this may not have been what Ahmadinejad was referencing, it does make me wonder, what if it was.  And if it was, what should be our response to Iran?  Iran is a dangerous country who has been engaged in a pseudo war with us for years.  How long do we put up with their terror, their wars, and their nuclear ambitions?  It time the US responded.

Tags: Terrorism, Nuclear Weapons, Iran, President Bush, War by Chuck
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The whole world seems to have turned on its ear.  Nothing is like it was, the Cold War may be over, but a new threat to world peace has reared its ugly head, terrorism.  Like the rise of communism in decades past, terror also has its sponsors, mainly Iran and Syria.  But the problems do not stop there, Iran is desperate for nuclear weapons, Iran has called for the destruction of Israel and continues to supply Hezbollah with munitions as the two battle each other.  The question has to be asked, is Israel ready?

Are we ready for a Cold War? This question continues to reverberate in Ynet’s special project on the issue of the Iranian nuclear threat. The subject carries many questions – political, economic, and human.

Will the world stop Iran or Israel can only trust itself? World leaders keep repeating the common need to stop Iran’s nuclear projects as long as the country cannot prove its peaceful intention. How to stop Iran? There is no one clear answer.

There is both a long answer and a short answer to whether Israel is ready for a new Cold War.  Neither answer is truly acceptable.

As long as Iran continues to supply Hezbollah, a confrontation between Israel and Iran is a real possibility.  Europe refuses to get serious with Ahmadinejad to end his country’s nuclear ambitions or his desire to destroy the state of Israel.  Under the threat of constant attack, Israel finally has the chance to send a message to the rest of the Middle East, attack at your own risk.  At the same time, Israel, as the IDF did with Iraq, can not allow Iran to develop nukes.  By the same token, neither can the US.

Israel faces many questions on how to proceed.  How far do they attack into Lebanon before allowing the UN or NATO to take over?   The US is locked in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Any president wanting to help Israel may face a Congress unenthusiastic about sending additional troops to another far away war.  I hope this country remembers that Israel is a friend and ally of the United States.  With the above mentioned problems with Europe, Israel may only be able to depend on themselves.

So far the US has been more than happy to allow Israel to fight Hezbollah while giving backup support.  With the present alignment, the US has yet another ally in the GWOT.  This is an ally we should not forget.

I know the long answer was not really acceptable, but neither is the short answer.  Is Israel ready for a new Cold War ….I don’t know, but I sure hope so, because it sure looks like it is coming.

Tags: Terrorism, Nuclear Weapons, Iran, Iraq, War by Chuck
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North Korea reminds me of the proverbial man who saws off the very tree limb on which he is sitting.  Only Kim Jong Ill regime instead of learning from its mistakes, looks up from the ground and says, ‘I have a right to saw off that limb.’

North Korea launched six missiles, one of which included the long range Taepodong thought to be capable of hitting the US.

North Korea test-fired another missile Wednesday, intensifying the furor ignited when the reclusive regime launched at least six missiles, including a long-range Taepodong, earlier in the day.

The missiles apparently fell harmlessly into the Sea of Japan, and U.S. officials said the long-range Taepodong-2 failed shortly after take-off, calling into question the technological capability of North Korea’s feared ballistic missile program. Pyongyang last fired a long-range missile in 1998.

But the audacious military exercise drew immediate attention and condemnation.

“The missile launch is an issue that is entirely within our sovereignty. No one has the right to dispute it,” Ri Pyong Dok, a researcher on Japanese affairs at the North’s Foreign Ministry, said on footage aired by TBS. “On the missile launch, we are not bound by any agreement.”

You would think the rogue regime would learn from their lesson of failed launches.  Instead they make all kinds of noises before they launch generating as much attention as possible, launch their missiles anyway ending in an abysmal failure, and then when the international community is up in arms, say we have a right to launch missiles.  Today, there was another failed missile launch making a total of seven.  These people never learn.

I think there should be an IQ test for future leaders of North Korea with a score of 85 being the cut-off point.  That way morons like Kim would not become national leaders.

Michael at Liberty and Justice points out that Kim Jong Ill is acting more like a spoiled brat than anything else.

These missile launches are - as far as I can tell - the results of a regime craving for international attention. They are like that kid, who always longed for attention, but never got it, until he started behaving badly. After all: negative attention still is attention.

As I said, North Korea needs to administer IQ tests to its future leaders.

Tags: Nuclear Weapons by Chuck
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