Morning Report: May 24, 2005

Operatioin Squeeze Play brings results. Debka reports: 'Joint Iraqi-US military swoop on guerilla and terrorist hideouts in Baghdad nets another 143 armed men bringing Operation Squeeze Play total to 428. Operation mounted to catch Abu Ghraib detention facility assailants continues.'

Daily Demarche: No fence is good enough. Diplo-blog The Daily Demarche compares five policy experts' ideas about the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, and concludes: 'I want our troops home, and I am more than certain that they want to come home. But they are there today because the job was not finished the first time. We failed to uphold our promise to the people of Iraq under the President’s father, and the situation degenerated. Is there anyone out there today who thinks that leaving Iraq tomorrow will result in a better future for the Iraqis, the Middle East or America? I would love for them to tell me how that can come to be. Until that time we owe it to the people of Iraq and the ME to see the job through. ...' Read the full article at the link. (Daily Demarche)

Iran Report

Op Thunder hits Brussels. On May 18, Operation Thunder 1 struck the European Parliament, as Iranian expatriates in Europe staged an audacious act of civil disobedience:

Thursday, May 19, 2005
Update on Operation Thunder One - in Brussels

I reported earlier today, Anjomane Padeshahi, lead by Foroud Fouladvand launched Operation Thunder One. The campaign appears designed to shame the European Union into ending its support of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

One of our readers, Arash Kamangir, left the following report:

Dear DoctorZin,

Europe just blocked all media coverage. There were so many cameras and reporters on the scene, but nothing was reported. Its the most ignored event of the whole year.

Operation Thunder 1 started in the morning of May 18, 2005. There were around 151 vehicles parked in front of the EU Parliment Building, in Brussel, Belgium. The cars were chained together, and the people were out side and inside of the cars depending on the situations.

The operation started with couple of hours delay, since EUROPEANS some how expected this, they checked every cars. However, Anjomane Padeshahi's soldiers manage to get there.

Once again, EU police, broke their own law and committed crimes and they used force against non-violent soldiers (IRANIANS). ...

Link here: Free Iran - Protesters Block EU Parliament

Rice: World "must not tolerate" nuclear IRI. From VOA, via Regime Change Iran:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Monday said the world must not tolerate any Iranian attempt to develop a nuclear weapon. She spoke as European foreign ministers prepared for new talks with Iranian officials on the nuclear issue.

"The United States has focused the world's attention on Iran's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction," she said. "And along with our allies we are working to gain full disclosure of Iran's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. The world must not tolerate any Iranian attempt to develop a nuclear weapon, nor can it tolerate Iran's effort to subvert democratic governments through terrorism."

The revolution will not be televised. Free Republic (ht: RCI) posts photos of the student protests that are taking place in Tehran RIGHT NOW.

Another One Leaves the Left

This time, it's the San Francisco Chronicle carrying the words of an apostate from the Leftist religion:

Nightfall, Jan. 30. Eight-million Iraqi voters have finished risking their lives to endorse freedom and defy fascism. Three things happen in rapid succession. The right cheers. The left demurs. I walk away from a long-term intimate relationship. I'm separating not from a person but a cause: the political philosophy that for more than three decades has shaped my character and consciousness, my sense of self and community, even my sense of cosmos.

I'm leaving the left -- more precisely, the American cultural left and what it has become during our time together.

I choose this day for my departure because I can no longer abide the simpering voices of self-styled progressives -- people who once championed solidarity with oppressed populations everywhere -- reciting all the ways Iraq's democratic experiment might yet implode.

My estrangement hasn't happened overnight. ...

Read the whole thing here:
David Thompson: Leaving the Left

David Thompson's website:
Thompson at Large

Comments at Roger Simon and Michael Totten.

Morning Report: May 23, 2005

Wolf Brigades score victories; Iraqis suffer losses. Iraq's elite Wolf Brigades struck a blow to terrorism, according to Iraq the Model: 'According to Al-Iraqia TV, the Wolf brigade's intelligence elements successfully infiltrated the terrorist groups in the Abu Ghraib region and the information gathered this way paved the way for the latest operation which was done in two waves; the 1st raid was accomplished yesterday while the 2nd one started at 5 in the morning today and has just ended as Al-Iraqia reporter at the scene in Abu Ghraib said. The successful raids which represent the largest operation performed by Iraqi forces so far had resulted in arresting 450 suspected terrorists. The brigade depended mainly on its intelligence personnel who recognized the suspects' faces and pointed them out one by one. The Wolf brigade did almost all the job with the multinational forces providing backup when needed. Among the detainees was an "Amir" i.e. someone who beheaded at least 10 Iraqis. Also it's believed that the terrorist who lead the latest large attack on the prison in Abu Ghraib was also among those detained. Abu Ghraib area has a special significance in the plans of terrorist groups and it's the joint between Baghdad and Anbar province (which includes Ramadi, Fallujah and Qa'im). This area hasn't tasted peace since the terrorists began their operations against Iraqis and coalition troops two years ago. The area also hosts one of the biggest camps of the former Iraqi army; a factor that made it easy for terrorists to possess weapons and ammunition. The raids ran smoothly and were clearly very well planned and implemented as no casualties happened among the soldiers of the Wolf brigade.' On Monday, four people were killed in a bomb attack apparently targeting security forces, Fox News reports. (ITM, Fox)

Belmont Club on Galloway: Style vs. substance. Most who observed British MP George Galloway's performance before the US Senate found Galloway's presentation impressive. Wretchard at The Belmont Club is more interested in what was asked and answered during Galloway's 47 minutes of fame: 'The really striking thing about the Galloway's testimony as transcribed by the Information Clearing House is how the Senators and the Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow were pursuing a non-collision course. Galloway had come to score press and public relations points at which, by all accounts, he was successful at doing. But Senator Coleman and Levin seemed totally uninterested in responding to Galloway's sharp political jibes. It was almost as if the Senators were deaf to his political posturing. Instead, they focused exclusively and repeatedly on two things: Galloway's relationship with Fawaz Zureikat and Tariq Aziz. Zureikat was a board member of Galloway's Mariam foundation who is also implicated in the Oil For Food deals. Tariq Aziz was Saddam's vice president. ...' In light of the Senators' utter indifference to Galloway's provocations, and the curious disappearance of his testimony from the Senate Committee's website, Wretchard concludes: 'The Senators were building a causal bridge to something, but to what? I am in no position to say, but will guess that Galloway's testimony and its disappearance from the Senate website can only be understood in the context of what Coleman and Levin were trying to achieve. My own sense is that the investigations are cautiously nearing far bigger game than George Galloway; but that his evidence or his refusal to give it is somehow crucial to achieving this larger goal. ...' Read the full article at the link. (Belmont Club)

Kuwaiti women get the vote. Morning Report belatedly notes this important May 16 news item: 'Kuwaiti lawmakers approved political rights for women Monday, clearing the way for females to participate in parliamentary elections for the first time in the Gulf nation’s history.' Nadz offers this analysis: 'And it's about time, too. The activism and hard work of Kuwaiti women has finally paid off - although as always, there's a catch: "fundamentalist Muslims included a requirement that any female politician or voter abide by Islamic law" So what does that mean, exactly? "Abide by Islamic law" could mean many things, from separate polling stations to women being told who to vote for by their husbands. You can be guaranteed that the conservatives will use this to restrict female voters as much as possible. It will take more action by Kuwaiti feminists to stop them. But there's no doubt that this is a clear step forward, and should serve as a reminder that there is much more to be done.' Nadz also writes about some important Arab/Muslim women: Nawal al Saadawi, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Amina Wadud, Hind al-Hinnawy, Irshad Manji, and Mukhtiar Mai. Read her post, and follow the links there for more information. And don't miss the current posts at Nadz Online. (MSNBC, Nadz Online)

Dreams Into Lightning Marks 20,000 Visits

... and counting. Congratulations to the visitor in Germany, Windows XP user, who read my post on hair at 7:53 AM (Pacific) on May 21, and became this site's 20,000th visitor.

And thanks to all the 20,078 people who've visited so far. From my stats I know I've got readers in Iraq, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Europe, Britain, and every time zone in North America. (Special thanks to that regular reader in the Nome Time Zone!) Also a personal thank you to the regulars I know by name (either onscreen or in person): Blanche in SF, Diane in Ottawa, Gila in Portland, Stefania in Italy, Judith in New York, Tom the Redhunter, the Fadhil brothers in Baghdad, and Jane Novak in New Jersey, who started me down this road to perdition.

LCR's Patrick Guerriero Addresses Basic Rights Oregon

Patrick Guerriero of Log Cabin Republicans addressed a group in Lake Oswego, Oregon this afternoon. The event, hosted by Basic Rights Oregon, drew about 30 people in weather that was sunny and rainy by turns.

Guerriero was introduced by host Karl Rohde (pronounced "roadie"), who opened his elegant, Frank Lloyd Wright - inspired home (designed and built by Rohde's father, he told us) to the event. Karl served on Lake Oswego's City Council as both the only Republican and the only openly gay member, and led passage of the city's civil rights legislation. Also introducing the speaker was Roey Thorpe of BRO; Guerriero praised Ms. Thorpe's activism, which he said had earned her respect at the national level.

The Massachusetts-born Guerriero joked that there were "more Republicans here [in the room] than in all of Massachusetts", although perhaps most of the guests were BRO-affiliated Democrats. He began his talk by noting the need for "a segment of the LGBT community to speak out with a centrist voice for equality - in every state." For that, he said, the help of the Republican Party will be needed "in every area" because all major advances in civil rights in the modern era have come through working within institutions.

"I debate the far Right all the time," he said; "someone has to do it." (In response to Pat Buchanan's "amazing" accusation that he is advocating for the "radical homosexual agenda", Guerriero counters that he is advocating for basic respect and dignity - in short, for "the right to have boring families.") "We want the most stable and conservative thing," he said.

Outlining the special role of gay conservatives and the Log Cabin organization in the national debate, Guerriero enumerated three areas of particular interest: (1) family recognition and responsibility; (2) the war on terror, and our responsibilities toward the thousands of lesbians and gays serving silently in the American armed forces; (3) persons of faith. Lesbians and gays in the American military, he said, unlike their British and Australian comrades, cannot be honest with their commanding officers about their most important relationships, and must face painful discrimination in the area of family notification.

Guerriero concluded by noting that "conversations are going on in the kitchens of conservative America" which will provide the framework for a broader understanding of gay people and their relationships. In an interview with Gay Patriot, he said of LCR, "our goal is to go out of business." Looking forward to the day when LCR will no longer be needed as an activist organization, he told BRO: "Some of us are going to be here when we get into the endzone."

Lesbian and gay activists have won many victories for equality, but face some tough challenges from the opposition, which has been highly effective in gaining grassroots support. The task ahead is to win the grassroots back. In the Gay Patriot interview, Guerriero outlined the three phases of gay activism:

The first phase, which was necessary, was this very angry, in-your-face…I’m thinking of the folks at Stonewall who had the guts to rise up against the police. ... The second phase from the mid-Eighties to, I think, probably the Year 2000 – I’ll use that since it was an election year….was this effort to show that there was a different face to the community. So that was when folks started their black tie dinners; Log Cabin Republicans comes to Washington and professionalizes itself. And you have organizations that took this kind of rabid, more left-leaning, aggressive, in-your-face type of tactics [phase] to a “now we have to make ourselves feel good” [phase]. ... And then from 2000, and I’ll use that year loosely, the challenge which I don’t think any organization has quite figured out yet, is how you move to the third phase of this [gay rights movement]. How do you speak to the conservative grandmother in Toledo, Ohio, and the conservative Southerner who has only been yelled at about these issues – and probably cast a bad vote at some point in his or her life. Or even said something that they would probably take back now.

We are now at the beginning of the third phase. This is not the hardest part - that part was done by those who stood up to police and criminal harrassment and legal prosecution in earlier years. But it is a part that requires dedication and maturity. Or as Guerriero says, "our biggest focus is to prepare Log Cabin Republicans enough to grow up."

What this means in practical terms, he explained in response to a question, is meeting the challenge of going from "safe" environments like the liberal coastal cities to places like rural Washington and interacting with persons of faith. It means asking ourselves whether we've maybe spent a few too many activist dollars in the big cities instead of places where the funds were needed more, or perhaps called a few too many people "bigots" who weren't really bigots but just uninformed. Guerriero recalled that he's met many Republicans who have said, "you're the first person who just asked to talk about [gay issues]" - all too often, gay activists were picketing and protesting but not dialoging.

The battle for equality will be won. If we are complacent and timid, the speaker said, it will take fifty years; if we take action, it can be done in fifteen years. The choice is ours.


Log Cabin Republicans
Basic Rights Oregon

Many thanks to Patrick Guerriero for visiting Oregon. Also thanks to Karl and Roey for making this possible, and to Eric Carver, the Finnish-American freelance journalist who covered the event for audiences in Finland.

Also, a personal thank you to the gentleman who gave me a ride back home to downtown Portland - thanks for the ride, and for the stimulating debate about Iraq!

(Don't worry - I promise not to rub it in when you finally realize you were wrong.)

Politically Correct Homophobia, Misogyny

Cathy Young nails it at ReasonOnline: Multiculturalism:

On April 30, American journalist Chris Crain became the victim of a hate crime in Amsterdam. While walking in the street holding hands with his partner, he was savagely beaten by seven men shouting antigay slurs. A few days later, Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Program at the Human Rights Watch, expressed some sympathy for the gay-bashers. Crain's attackers were reportedly Moroccan immigrants.

"There's still an extraordinary degree of racism in Dutch society," Long opined to the gay news service PlanetOut. "Gays often become the victims of this when immigrants retaliate for the inequities that they have to suffer."

Welcome to Politically Correct World, where acts that would merit unequivocal condemnation if committed by white males are viewed in a very different light when the offenders belong to an "oppressed group."

Read it all. Hat tip: Gay Patriot.

Morning Report: May 22, 2005

Oregon's Smith to Arab leaders: Freedom first. Debka reports: 'US senator Gordon Smith [R - Oregon] advised Arab leaders to first take care on injustices in their own countries before fixing Palestinian issue. Addressing World Econonic Forum panel in Amman, he said: “Obviously greatest US commitment is to Israel’s security”, he stressed, and justice for Palestinians “if possible.”' (Debka)

North Korean ship docks near Seoul. Incredibly, the North Korean government is experiencing a shortage of fertilizer. South Korea has agreed to provide the humanitarian aid during inter-Korean negotiations, CNN reports: 'For the first time in over two decades, a North Korean ship docked in a South Korean port Sunday, the start of a series of voyages to pick up fertilizer donated to North Korea by the South Korean government. ... South Korea pledged to send 200,000 tons of fertilizer to North Korea during meetings last week between the two nations. ... North and South Korea ended rare bilateral talks on Thursday without agreement on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.' (CNN)

Stefania Hits Print in JPost

Congratulations to Stefania LaPenna of the blog Free Thoughts! Stefania has published an article on Iran in the Jerusalem Post. Read it here:

Deceive and Rule

Another Successful Meet-Up

PDX LiberalHawks had another meet-up in Portland Wednesday night. Five of us got together - Michael Totten, Michael W., Martin, Richard, and myself - over drinks and dinner. We talked about politics, liberalism, conservatism, and the "radical center". All agreed that liberals have better food.

One thing I mentioned is this: Now that we know one another in person, none of us can say "I don't know anybody else who voted for Bush." There's strength in numbers. The internet is a great way to share information, but meeting other people face-to-face gives you a kind of solidarity that the internet can't. Whoever you are, whatever your politics, there are probably other people out there who'd like to meet you. (Hannah Arendt argued that human activity can be divided into three realms: labor, work, and action. Labor is the stuff you do to survive; work is your creative activity; and action is your interaction with other people in person - the political sphere in its purest form. But I digress.) Anyway, it's always good to know you're not alone.

Thanks to all who attended - and to those who couldn't make it, we missed you. Hopefully we'll hook up soon.

We're set for next week's meeting, too - this one will be in my neighborhood.

MSH, Ian Curtis +25 Years

Today marks twenty-five years since the death by suicide of Ian Curtis, lead singer of the Manchester, England -based rock band Joy Division (previously known as Warsaw and Stiff Kittens, and subsequently re-formed as New Order); it's also the 25th anniversary of the eruption of the Mount Saint Helens volcano in southern Washington State, which killed 57 people.

Chrenkoff: Good Guys Wear Black

This is repulsive.

"Star Wars" director George Lucas says that although he wrote the original film during the Vietnam War, his six-part saga could apply to the war in Iraq.

''In terms of evil, one of the original concepts was how does a democracy turn itself into a dictatorship,'' Lucas told a news conference at Cannes, where his final episode had its world premiere.

''The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable.

''On the personal level it was how does a good person turn into a bad person, and part of the observation of that is that most bad people think they are good people, they are doing it for the right reasons,'' he added.

Arthur Chrenkoff has a few choice words for Mr. Lucas; go read his "Open Letter" at the link.