An Iraqi sheikh who doesn’t want to make the same mistake the Vietnamese did:
“One thing Sheikh Sattar keeps saying is he wants al-Anbar to be like Germany and Japan and South Korea were after their respective wars, with a long-term American presence helping … put them back together,” MacFarland said. “The negative example he cites is Vietnam. He says, yeah, so, Vietnam beat the Americans, and what did it get them? You know, 30 years later, they
He thinks Mark Steyn’s new book
1. An end to one-way multiculturalism and to the cultural masochism that goes with it. The Koran does not mandate the wearing of veils or genital mutilation, and until recently only those who apostasized from Islam faced the threat of punishment by death. Now, though, all manner of antisocial practices find themselves validated in the name of religion, and mullahs have begun to issue threats even against non-Muslims for criticism of Islam. This creeping Islamism must cease at once, and those responsible must feel the full weight of the law. Meanwhile, we should insist on reciprocity at all times. We should not allow a single Saudi dollar to pay for propaganda within the U.S., for example, until Saudi Arabia also permits Jewish and Christian and secular practices. No Wahhabi-printed Korans anywhere in our prison system. No Salafist imams in our armed forces.
2. A strong, open alliance with India on all fronts, from the military to the political and economic, backed by an extensive cultural exchange program, to demonstrate solidarity with the other great multiethnic democracy under attack from Muslim fascism. A hugely enlarged quota for qualified Indian immigrants and a reduction in quotas from Pakistan and other nations where fundamentalism dominates.
Read the whole thing.
Dean Barnett takes an idiot “white flag” Republican to task.
A Mauritanian pilot and his passengers foiled a hijacking.
Has there been a successful hijacking since 911? I don’t think so. I don’t think anyone will be able to pull it off again.
…from the war. Jules Crittendon has a round up.
Isn
The blogosphere is abuzz with this bit of vile nonsense from William Arkin at the WaPo.
Lileks isn’t impressed. Neither are the guys at BlackFive.
Neither am I. Disregarding the notion that those fighting for our country should have at least as much freedom of speech as anyone else (those ingrates!), the notion that they are mercenaries isn’t just wrong–it’s slanderous. As Lileks notes:
But it is the United States and instead this NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary – oops sorry, volunteer – force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.
Oops, indeed. That just slipped out. He temporarily forgot the patriotism that motivates many, and provides a definitional difference between mercs and volunteer soldiers, but thank God he caught himself in time. As for that dirty work, it is best understood in terms of soiled linen, which wives are ALWAYS complaining about. We don
NBC, in a novel approach, actually interviews troops in Iraq, to see what they think about war criticism at home. They’re not very impressed.
Are we about to get an operational missile defense?
O’Reilly said there would be no formal announcement that the system was operational. He predicted the capability to defend against enemy missiles and to continue testing and development work would be achieved within a year.
“It’s just a matter of maturation,” he told reporters after a speech hosted by the George C. Marshall Institute, a public policy group.
Have you?