Time's Tony Karon Draws Predictable Lessons from Russian Atrocity

"Hostage Bloodbath Highlights Putin's Chechen Failure" - This is the exact wording of the headline for an editorial that Time.com has drolly included in its "news" section.

The carnage that ended the hostage crisis at a school in southern Russia is a grim reminder of the abject failure of President Vladimir Putin's own "war on terror."

This, all by itself, tells you exactly where the article is going. The editorialist Tony Karon, aided by Yuri Zarakhovich, seeks to draw a close parallel between Putin's "war on terror" - which, in the writers' estimation, he is obviously losing - and President Bush's, while rigorously avoiding any actual connection between the two.

At least 150 people are reported to have been killed Friday after Russian troops stormed a school where some 300 had been held captive by a group of masked Chechen gunmen demanding that the authorities free their jailed comrades.

This gives the impression that Russian troops rashly stormed the school, precipitating enormous loss of innocent life. But as Debka reports, Russian security chief stated no military storming of besieged school was planned, only continued negotiations. Troops opened fire to save hostages’ lives when terrorists ignited explosives in the gym and fired on fleeing hostages. Trigger that prompted military acction still unclear. So while it's too early to say for sure that Time's account is wrong, we are justified in treating it skeptically.

At least 150 people are reported to have been killed Friday after Russian troops stormed a school where some 300 had been held captive by a group of masked Chechen gunmen demanding that the authorities free their jailed comrades.

But at least half of those "Chechen gunmen" weren't Chechen: Twenty hostage-takers killed, 10 of them Arabs – al Qaeda terrorists, some Saudis, according to Debka, and in keeping with MSM reports as well.

And the latest bloodshed has come scarcely a week after twin suicide-bombings [also by al-Qaeda] brought down two Russian airliners and a third wrought havoc outside a Moscow subway station, leaving more than 100 dead.

Now just in case you're still wondering where all of this is leading, skip down to near the end:

The more important lesson from President Putin's war, of course, is that military means alone cannot snuff out a politically motivated insurgency. Instead, in Chechnya — as, perhaps, in the Palestinian territories — a military response that has left open no political track to more moderate nationalist elements has tended to work in the favor of the Islamists ...

Now as you'll recall, the root cause of the problems in Israel/Palestine is the Israelis' unwillingness to negotiate or to pusue a peaceful solution; and it is the Israelis' heavy-handed tactics that have been solely responsible for the radicalization of islamist elements among the Palestinians. Well, it's the same principle here. What Putin needs to do, of course, is give the Chechen freedom fighters (even if they are Arab al-Qaeda operatives) whatever they ask for. Then, just as surely as night follows day, the Chechens will lay down their weapons and live in peace with their neighbors.

Yeah, right.

Is the tide turning?

As a matter of choice, I don't have TV in my home, and this week was one of the few times I've really regretted it. By nearly all accounts, the 2004 GOP convention was one for the history books. I've downloaded the transcripts of the major speeches, and I plan to spend the weekend reading them. Republicans all over America - both born-and-bred, and newcomers to the party like myself - have reason to be proud of their party's performance.

And Zell Miller! Wow. Can't tell you how pleased I was to learn that Chris "hardball" Matthews had finally gotten a taste of his own medicine. Heh. So, what's it like to pick on someone your own size, Chris? How's it feel?

(Bleg: Does anyone know where I can get a videotape of the Republican convention? Extra credit for Zell Miller's performance on Chris Matthews.)

Let's also reflect on how the average, undecided American must have viewed the contrast between the words spoken at the convention - some of them frivolous, many impassioned, but all sharing a bright and worthy vision for America and the world - and the antics of the buffoons cavorting on the streets outside.

So it's not surprising that the poll numbers are starting to show the effect of the Republican Convention. Now, for the first time, President Bush has a significant lead over John Kerry. And I don't think things can go anywhere but up from here for Bush. As many commentators have remarked, Kerry does not represent any ideologically cohesive voting bloc; he can attract as many supporters as he does only by virtue of the fact that he can truthfully tell supporters of position A that he's supported A, while also telling the anti-A faction that he has opposed A and supported B.

But as the date of the election draws inexorably closer, the Kerryites will begin to have the uneasy realization that they cannot say for sure whether he's for A, B, both, or neither. Many left-leaning liberals will turn to Nader or Cobb. Moderates, as they better understand the choices America faces in the Mideast and throughout the world, will support Bush.

It may be that the islamofascists are already realizing the likelihood of a second Bush term. They may be making plans now to either cut their losses, or go out in a blaze of bloodshed.

We must make sure that their losses are total, and all the blood shed is their own.

What Bush must do - NOW, not next year - is confront the IRI regime in Tehran, which is working feverishly to build enough atomic bombs to incinerate Israel and intimidate a newly free Iraq. We cannot let this happen. If you haven't done so yet, please put your name on the Iran Regime Change Petition.

The tide may be turning, but the hardest part is surely still to come.

Russian School Siege Marks New Low

Purportedly the work of Chechen separatists, the obscenity in the Russian school building in North Ossetia involved a number of Arabs:

Twenty others died in exchanges of fire with troops, at least nine of them Arabs, officials said.

It is likely that the al-Q/IRI alliance will turn its attention more to central and western Asia in the coming weeks; they may also focus more on targeting Americans. Meanwhile, we can expect Putin to deal robustly with the threat to Russia.

Canadian FM Pettigrew Condemns Iranian "Farce"

Disgusted by the Iranian regime's lack of cooperation in investigating the death in Iranian custody of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi, Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew raised the possibility of "joint pressure" by Canada and its allies against Tehran.

The Canadian government has accused Iran's hardline courts of covering up the true circumstances of Iranian-born photographer Zahra Kazemi's death last year in order to protect senior judiciary officials implicated in her murder.

"We've tried dialogue with the Iranian government but it has turned into a farce, this situation around Madame Kazemi," Pettigrew told reporters after meeting Belgian Foreign Minister Karl de Gucht.

"Certainly we are sharing our outrage at the way the Iranian government and the judiciary system has treated this citizen. We lose no opportunity to raise it."

"What we want is to know what has happened in that jail, we've asked for the body to be returned to Canada so that we could autopsy it. They say it's an accident, that she fell. Well, we'll know. When you have the body you know those things," he added.

Read the article at Free Iran.

Najaf: A War for Shi'a Leadership

Big Pharaoh has some very illuminating observations in his analysis of the Najaf confrontation.

'Last April, Sadr ignited his first uprising. His gang stormed the holy shrine in Najaf and literally occupied it. They controlled the keys and the treasures. When the fighting intensified, Sistani ordered all armed groups to leave Najaf including American forces. Sadr didn’t comply, his occupation of the shrine continued, and US forces had to withdraw outside Najaf to fulfill their part of the shaky truce. Poor Sistani, he lost all control over the shrine and that didn’t feel good. What would the pope feel if a wayward monk occupied the Vatican and its treasures?!

Today Sistani sleeps with the keys under his pillows! How did the keys jump from Sadr’s pocket to Sistani’s bed? Did Sistani form a militia? Sistani stayed for over 3 months with no keys, how did the old man manage to return them back? ... '

Read the rest at the link.

Morning Report: August 31, 2004

Republican Convention captures nation's attention. Blogging live from the Republican Convention in New York, Roger L. Simon is impressed by McCain. Serenity, blogging live from in front of the TV set, calls day one a "hell of an opening". Charles notes here that one of the speakers was Zainab al-Suwaij, the Iraqi woman whose account of the 1991 uprising appeared in The New Republic in February 2003. And Sully, back from his August break, appears to have been won over.

Flight 587: News Roundup

When Al-Qaeda on a website in May 2004 claimed the plane’s fall as an attack, however, I paid it little attention, for just about anyone can claim just about anything on a website.
But now comes a wisp of evidence to suggest that AA 587’s demise was in fact not an accident but an operation carried out by Al-Qaeda. This information has a complex pedigree:

 *It is recounted in a top secret Canadian Security Intelligence Service report written in May 2002 and made public on Aug. 27, 2004 by Stewart Bell in Canada’s National Post.
*Its source is Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a 22-year-old from St. Catharines, Ontario, said to be of “unknown reliability.”
*Jabarah in turn is reporting on what he heard from Abu Abdelrahman (a Saudi Al-Qaeda member who worked for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the organization’s highest ranking operatives). KSM’s information has usually turned out to be reliable.
So, the information that follows is not exactly rock-hard, but it is a real lead.
And this is it: Abu Abdelrahman told Jabarah who told CSIS ...
Daniel Pipes, FrontPage


"The operative told Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents during five days of questioning that ``Farouk,'' a Canadian citizen whose real name is Abderraouf Jdey, downed the plane in a suicide mission on Nov. 12, 2001, with explosives similar to those carried by convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid. ... "
Boston Herald


"The Airbus A-300 flight headed to the Dominican Republic crashed in the Rockaways shortly after takeoff from Kennedy Airport on Nov. 12, 2001, killing 265 people.

The source told agents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that the man had trained in Afghanistan along with the 9/11 hijackers, according to a report in Canada's National Post.

During five days of questioning, he revealed that a Montreal man named Abderraouf Jdey used a shoe bomb like the one Richard Reid wore, to bring down the plane.
NY Post


Consider. The war rages in Iraq, our military are being injured and killed; Muslim extremists continue their evil, including downing two Russian passenger jets killing some 90 people; an al-Qaida operative tells Canadian investigators that an Afghanistan-trained Canadian terrorist brought down American Airlines flight 587 in New York three years ago; terrorist warnings continue in our country – the latest for Veterans Administration hospitals. All this and more!
...

So what does John Kerry, the presidential challenger, focus on to present himself to the American voters and ask for their vote? Vietnam!
Barbara Simpson, WorldNet Daily

Canadian Intel: AA 587 Downed by Shoe Bomb - Debka

"According to a top secret Canadian government report, the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York, had a sequel two months later. On November 13, 2001, American Airlines flight 587 crashed over Queens, New York, shortly after takeoff from JFK killing all 265 people aboard. A captured al-Qaeda operative, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, told Canadian intelligence investigators that a Montreal man who trained in Afghanistan alongside the 9/11 hijackers was responsible, using a small shoe bomb similar to the one used by convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid for his “suicide mission.” He named Abderraouf Jdey, a Canadian citizen ... "

The Debka article adds that, despite vigorous denials by Washington, this scenario seems plausible, in part because a number of suspected operatives were behaving strangely in the hours before the crash. The article also states that the US received numerous warnings from foreign intelligence agencies before the crash.

Breaking News from Debka: November 13, 2001 Crash No Accident

The post- 9/11 crash of American Airlines flight 587 over Queens, New York, was the work of al-Qaeda, according to a recent Debka article citing Canadian intelligence.

Stay tuned.

The Left Imploding; the Dems' Expanding Universe

Not wishing to waste the opportunity to make fools of themselves, the far-left factions are converging on New York with a level of ferocity and viciousness the city hasn't seen since ... well, never mind. But it's getting clearer and clearer that the tide of public opinion is turning: President Bush is now edging ahead in the Rasmussen polls, and while it's too early to get excited, I do think things are going to start looking up.

With lots of help from the moonbats in New York. If Whoopi Goldberg's vulgar joke about "bush" alienated some Kerry supporters, I think these protests will alienate even more. They are showing, more clearly than Karl Rove ever could, the intellectual vacuity and moral bankruptcy of the anti-Bush camp.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has completely lost its moorings and is moving ever farther away from its nonexistent center. Theoretically, the DP may have an ideological "center of gravity"; but through the action of a sort of "cosmological constant", it continues to expand ever further into the abyss.

Democrats who wonder about the direction their party is taking should look well at the faces of the protesters in New York City this week: That is the face of your future.

Another Blog Bites the Dust

Protesting the amnesty given to Muqtada al-Sadr, Jeffrey is shutting down his blog Iraqi Bloggers Central. IBC, which operated under several titles, was originally meant as a successor to the defunct Cry Me a Riverbend, providing a place for readers to openly discuss "certain Iraqi blogs that don't allow comments". While the original CMAR had to shut down due to death threats, IBC evolved into a popular discussion forum for the various Iraqi blogs (both annotated and comment-free).

For those new to the world of Blogdad, several important debates and meta-debates have been flourishing since the inception of Iraqi blogging last October/November. Among the important questions:
- How do we know whether an Iraqi blog is authentic?
- To what extent does a particular Iraqi blogger represent the Iraqi population as a whole? And what is the role of personal, individual opinions?
- How can non-Iraqis best understand the various, sometimes conflicting views expressed on the Iraqi blogs? And where does a fledgling democracy draw the line between responsible dissent and hostile subversion?
- Given that some Iraqi blogs allow reader comments while others do not, are we permitted to draw inferences about the bloggers' possible biases? That is, does the absence of a comment corner indicate a blogger's unwillingness to face the challenges of open debate?

The passing of Iraqi Bloggers Central will be a big loss to the blogosphere; it's up to the rest of us to pick up the slack and carry on IBC's mission as best we can.

Good News for Bush

President Bush's poll numbers continue to climb, according to Rasmussen Reports. Could it be that the tide is turning?