konane's Blog

If you're looking for something to be offended about don't go to this site.  However if you're looking for good political cartoons with commentary (click the picture) then by all means have a good laugh because he has quite a library.

 

"Funny about Money"
http://www.sacredcowburgers.com/fresh/showpics.cgi?funny_about_money

 

Tierney: Thanks for the opportunity.

 

FP: With the Democrats now so viciously and hypocritically attacking Bush about WMDs, I’d like to discuss your own knowledge and expertise on this issue in connection to Iraq. You have always held that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Why? Can you discuss some actual finds? 

Tierney:  It was probably on my second inspection that I realized the Iraqis had no intention of ever cooperating.  They had very successfully turned The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections during the eighties into tea parties, and had expected UNSCOM to turn out the same way.  However, there was one fundamental difference between IAEA and UNSCOM that the Iraqis did not account for.  There was a disincentive in IAEA inspections to be aggressive and intrusive, since the same standards could then be applied to the members states of the inspectors.  IAEA had to consider the continued cooperation of all the member states.  UNSCOM, however, was focused on enforcing and verifying one specific Security Council Resolution, 687, and the level of intrusiveness would depend on the cooperation from Iraq.

 

I came into the inspection program as an interrogator and Arabic linguist, so I crossed over various fields and spotted various deception techniques that may not have been noticed in only one field, such as chemical or biological.  For instance, the Iraqis would ask in very reasonable tones that questionable documents be set aside until the end of the day, when a discussion would determine what was truly of interest to UNSCOM.  The chief inspector, not wanting to appear like a knuckle-dragging ogre, would agree.  Instead of setting the documents on a table in a stack, the Iraqis would set them side to side, filling the entire table top, and would place the most explosive documents on the edge of the table.  At some point they would flood the room with people, and in the confusion abscond with the revealing documents. 

 

This occurred at Tuwaitha Atomic Research Facility in 1996.  A car tried to blow through an UNSCOM vehicle checkpoint at the gate.  The car had a stack of documents about two feet high in the back seat.  In the middle of the stack, I found a document with a Revolutionary Command Council letterhead that discussed Atomic projects with four number designations that were previously unknown.  The Iraqis were extremely concerned. I turned the document over to the chief inspector, who then fell for the Iraqis’ “reasonable request” to lay it out on a table for later discussion.  The Iraqis later flooded the room, and the document disappeared.  Score one for the Iraqis.

 

On finds, the key word here is “find.”  UNSCOM could pursue a lead and approach an inspection target from various angles to cut off an escape route, but at some point, the Iraqis would hold up their guns and keep us out. 

 

A good example of this was the inspection of the 2^nd Armored Battalion of the Special Republican Guards in June 1997.  We came in from three directions, because we knew the Iraqis had an operational center that tracked our movement and issued warnings.   The vehicle I was in arrived at the gate first.  There were two guards when we arrived, and over twenty within a minute, all extremely nervous. 

 

The Iraqis had stopped the third group of our inspection team before it could close off the back of the installation.  A few minutes later, a soldier came from inside the installation, and all the other guards gathered around him.  He said something, there was a big laugh, and all the guards relaxed.  A few moments later there was a radio call from the team that had been stopped short.  They could here truck engines through the tall (10”) grass in that area.  When we were finally allowed in, our team went to the back gate.  The Iraqis claimed the gate hadn’t been opened in months, but there was freshly ground rust at the gate hinges.  There was a photo from overhead showing tractor trailers with missiles in the trailers leaving the facility. 

 

When pressed, Tariq Aziz criticized the inspectors for not knowing the difference between a missile and a concrete guard tower.  He never produced the guard towers for verification.  It was during this period that Tariq Aziz pulled out his “no smoking gun” line.  Tariq very cleverly changed the meaning of this phrase.  The smoking gun refers to an indicator of what you are really looking for - the bullet.  Tariq changed the meaning so smoking gun referred to the bullet, in this case the WMD, knowing that as long as there were armed guards between us and the weapons, we would never be able to “find,” as in “put our hands on,” the weapons of mass destruction.  The western press mindlessly took this up and became the Iraqis’ tool.  I will let the reader decide whether this inspection constitutes a smoking gun.

 

FP: So can you tell us about some other “smoking guns”?

 

Tierney: Sure. Another smoking gun was the inspection of the 2^nd Infantry Battalion of the Special Republican Guards.  After verifying source information related to biological weapons formerly stored at the National War College, we learned at another site that the unit responsible for guarding the biological weapons was stationed near the airport.  We immediately dashed over there before the Iraqis could react, and forced them to lock us out.  One of our vehicles took an elevated position where they could look inside the installation and see the Iraqis loading specialized containers on to trucks that matched the source description for the biological weapons containers.  The Iraqis claimed that we had inspected the facilities a year earlier, so we didn’t need to inspect it again.

 

Another smoking gun was the inspection of Jabal Makhul Presidential Site.  In June/July 1997 we inspected the 4^th Special Republican Guards Battalion in Bayji, north of Tikrit.  This unit had been photographed taking equipment for the Electro-magnetic Isotope Separation (EMIS) method of uranium enrichment away from inspectors.  The Iraqis were extremely nervous as this site, and hid any information on personnel who may have been involved with moving the equipment.  This was also the site where the Iraqi official on the UNSCOM helicopter tried to grab the control and almost made the aircraft crash. 

 

When I returned to the States, I learned that the Iraqis were extremely nervous that we were going to inspect an unspecified nearby site, and that they checked that certain code named items were in their proper place.  I knew from this information the Iraqis could only be referring to Jabal Makhul Presidential Site, a sprawling mountain retreat on the other side of the ridge from the 4^th Battalion, assigned to guard the installation.  This explained why the Iraqis caused the problems with the helicopter, to keep it from flying to the other side of the mountain.

 

We inspected Jabal Makhul in September of 1997.  The Iraqis locked us out without a word of discussion.  This was the start of the Presidential Site imbroglio.  The Iraqis made great hay out of inspectors wanting to look under the president’s furniture, but this site, with its hundreds of acres, was the real target.

 

During the Presidential Site inspections in Spring of 1998, inspectors found an under-mountain storage area at Jabal Makhul.  When the inspectors arrived, it was filled with drums of water.  The Iraqis claimed that they used the storage area to store rainwater.  Jabal Makhul had the Tigris River flowing by at the bottom of the mountain, and a massive pump to send water to the top of the mountain, where it would cascade down in fountains and waterfalls in Saddam’s own little Shangri-la, but the Iraqi had to go to the effort of digging out an underground bunker akin to our Cheyenne Mountain headquarters, just so they could store rainwater.

 

A London Sunday Times article in 2001 by Gwynne Roberts quoted an Iraqi defector as stating Iraq had nuclear weapons in a heavily guarded installation in the Hamrin mountains.  Jabal Makhul is the most heavily guarded location in the Hamrin mountains.  With its under-mountain bunker, isolation, and central location, it is the perfect place to store a high-value asset like a nuclear weapon.

 

On nukes, some analysts wait until there is unambiguous proof before stating a country has nuclear weapons.  This may work in a courtroom, but intelligence is a different subject altogether.  I believe it is more prudent to determine what is axiomatic given a nation’s capabilities and intentions.  There was no question that Iraq had triggering mechanisms for a nuke, the question was whether they had enriched enough uranium.  Given Iraq’s intensive efforts to build a nuke prior to the Gulf War, their efforts to hide uranium enrichment material from inspectors, the fact that Israel had a nuke but no Arab state could claim the same, my first-hand knowledge of the limits of UNSCOM and IAEA capabilities, and Iraqi efforts to buy yellowcake uranium abroad (Joe Wilson tea parties notwithstanding), I believe the TWELVE years between 1991 and 2003 was more than enough time to produce sufficient weapons grade uranium to produce a nuclear weapon.  Maybe I have more respect for the Iraqis’ capabilities than some.

 

FP: Tell us something you came up with while conducting counter-infiltration ops in Iraq.

 

Tierney: While I was engaged in these operations in Baghdad in 2004, one of the local translators freely stated in his security interview that he worked for the purchasing department of the nuclear weapons program prior to and during the First Gulf War.  He said that Saddam purchased such large quantities of precision machining equipment that he could give up some to inspections, or lose some to bombing, and still have enough for his weapons program.  This translator also stated that when Saddam took human shields and placed some at Tarmiya Nuclear Research Facility, he was sent there to act as a translator.  One of the security officers at Tarmiya told him that he had just recovered from a sickness he incurred while guarding technicians working in an underground facility nearby.  The security officer stated that the technicians left for a break every half hour, but he stayed in the underground chamber all day and got sick.  The security officer didn’t mention what they were doing, but I would say uranium enrichment is the most logical pick.

 

What, not enough smoke?  There was the missile inspection on Ma’moun Establishment.  I was teamed with two computer forensic specialists.  A local technician stood by while we opened a computer and found a flight simulation for a missile taking off from the Iraqi desert in the same area used during the First Gulf War and flying west towards Israel.  The warhead was only for 50 kilograms.  By the time we understood was this was, the poor technician was coming apart.  I will never forget meeting his eyes, and both of us realizing he was a dead man walking.  The Iraqis tried to say that the computer had just been transferred from another facility, and that the flight simulation had not been erased from before the war. The document’s placement in the file manager, and the technician’s reaction belied this story. UNSCOM’s original assessment was that this was for a biological warhead, but I have since seen reporting that make me think it was for a nuclear weapon.

 

These are only some of the observations of one inspector.  I know of other inspections where there were clear indicators the Iraqis were hiding weapons from the inspectors.

 

FP: Ok, so where did the WMDs go?  

 

Tierney: While working counter-infiltration in Baghdad, I noticed a pattern among infiltrators that their cover stories would start around Summer or Fall of 2002.  From this and other observations, I believe Saddam planned for a U.S. invasion after President Bush’s speech at West Point in 2002.   One of the steps taken was to prepare the younger generation of the security services with English so they could infiltrate our ranks, another was either to destroy or move WMDs to other countries, principally Syria.  Starting in the Summer of 2002, the Iraqis had months to purge their files and create cover stories, such as the letter from Hossam Amin, head of the Iraqi outfit that monitored the weapons inspectors, stating after Hussein Kamal’s defection that the weapons were all destroyed in 1991.  

 

I was on the inspections that follow-up on Hussein Kamal’s defection, and Hossam said at the time that Hussein Kamal had a secret cabal that kept the weapons without the knowledge of the Iraqi government.  It was pure pleasure disemboweling this cover story.  Yet the consensus at DIA is that Iraq got rid of its weapons in 1991.  This is truly scary.  If true, when and where did Saddam have a change of heart? This is the same man who crowed after 9/11, then went silent after news broke that Mohammed Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence operative in Prague. Did Saddam spend a month with Mother Theresa, or go to a mountain top in the Himalaya’s? Those that say there were no weapons have to prove that Saddam had a change of heart.  I await their evidence with interest.

 

FP: So do you think the WMD is the central issue regarding Iraq?

 

Tierney:  No, and it never should have been an issue.  The First Gulf War -- and I use this term as a convention, since this is actually all the same war -- was a prime example of managing war instead of waging it.  Instead of telling Saddam to get out of Kuwait or we will push him out, we should have said to get out of Kuwait or we will remove him from power.  As it was, we were projecting our respect for human life on Saddam, when actually, from his point of view, we were doing him a favor by killing mostly Shi’ite military members who were a threat to his regime.  I realize that Saudi Arabia, our host, did not want a change in government in Iraq, and they had helped us bring down the Soviet Union with oil price manipulation, but we should have bent them to our will instead of vice versa.  Saddam would not have risked losing power to keep Kuwait, and we could have avoided this whole ordeal.  

 

We topped one mistake with another, expecting Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party, a criminal syndicate masquerading as a political party, to abide by any arms control agreement.  Gun control and Arms control both arise from the “mankind is good” worldview.  If you control the environment, i.e. get rid of the guns, then man’s natural goodness will rise to the surface.  I hope it is evidence after more than a decade of Iraqi intransigence how foolish this position is.  The sobering fact is that if a nation feels it is in their best interest to have certain weapons, they are going to have them.  Chemical weapons were critical to warding off hoards of Iranian fighters, and the Iraqis knew they would always be in a position of weakness against Israel without nuclear weapons.  The United States kept nuclear weapons to deter the Soviet Union, but we would deny the same logic for Iraq?

 

There is also the practicality of weapons inspections/weapons hunts.   After seventeen resolutions pleading with the Iraqis to be nice, the light bulb still didn’t go off that the entire concept is fundamentally flawed.  Would you like to live in a city where the police chief sent out resolutions to criminals to play nice, instead of taking them off the streets?

 

As I said earlier, I knew the Iraqis would never cooperate, so the inspections became a matter of illustrating this non-cooperation for the Security Council and the rest of the world.  No manipulation or fabrication was necessary.  There was a sufficient percentage of defectors with accurate information to ensure that we would catch the Iraqis in the act. UNSCOM was very successfully at verifying the Iraqis’ non-cooperation; the failure was in the cowardice at the Security Council.  Maybe cowardice is too strong a word.  Maybe the problem was giving a mission that entailed the possible use of force to an organization with the goal of eliminating the use of force. 

 

On the post-war weapons hunt, the arrogance and hubris of the intelligence community is such that they can’t entertain the possibility that they just failed to find the weapons because the Iraqis did a good job cleaning up prior to their arrival.  This reminds me of the police chief who announced on television plans to raid a secret drug factor on the outskirts of town.  At the time appointed, the police, all twelve of them, lined up behind each other at the front door, knocked and waiting for the druggies to answer, as protocol required.  After ten minute of toilet flushing and back-door slamming, somebody came to the front door in a bathrobe and explained he had been in the shower.  The police took his story at face value, even though his was dry as a bone, then police proceeded to inspect the premises ensuring that the legal, moral , ethnic, human, and animal rights, and also the national dignity, of the druggies was preserved.   After a search, the police chief announced THERE WERE NO STOCKPILES of drugs at the inspected site.  Anyone care to move to this city? 

 

FP: Let’s talk a little bit more about how the WMDs disappeared.

 

Tierney: In Iraq’s case, the lakes and rivers were the toilet, and Syria was the back door.  Even though there was imagery showing an inordinate amount of traffic into Syria prior to the inspections, and there were other indicators of government control of commercial trucking that could be used to ship the weapons to Syria, from the ICs point of view, if there is no positive evidence that the movement occurred, it never happened.  This conclusion is the consequence of confusing litigation with intelligence.  Litigation depends on evidence, intelligence depends on indicators.  Picture yourself as a German intelligence officer in Northern France in April 1944.  When asked where will the Allies land, you reply “I would be happy to tell you when I have solid, legal proof, sir.  We will have to wait until they actually land.”  You won’t last very long.  That officer would have to take in all the indicators, factor in deception, and make an assessment (this is a fancy intelligence word for an educated guess).  

 

The Democrats understand the difference between the two concepts, but have no qualms about blurring the distinction for political gain.  This is despicable.  This has brought great harm to our nation’s credibility with our allies.  A perfect example is Senator Levin waving deception by one single source, al-Libi, to try and convince us that this is evidence there was no connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda, as though the entire argument rested on this one source.  Senator Levin, and his media servants, think the public can’t read through his duplicity.  He is plunging a dagger into the heart of his own country.

 

Could the assessments of Iraq’s weapons program been off?  I am sure there were some marginal details that were incorrect, but on the matter of whether Iraq had a program, the error was not with the pre-war assessment, the error was with the weapons hunt.

 

I could speak at length about the problems with the weapons hunt.  Mr. Hanson has an excellent article in “The American Thinker,” and Judith Miller, one of the few bright lights at the New York Times, did an article on the problems with the weapons hunt that I can corroborate from other sources.  But if the Iraqi Survey Group had been manned by a thousand James Bonds, and every prop was where it should have been, I doubt the result would have been much different.  The whole concept of international arms inspections puts too much advantage with the inspected country.  Factor in the brutality used by the Baath Party, and it amounts to a winning combination for our opponents.

 

I was shocked to learn recently that members of the Iraqi Survey Group believed their Iraqi sources when they said they don’t fear a return of the Baath Party.  During my eight months of counterinfiltration duty, we had 50 local Iraqis working on our post who were murdered for collaborating.   Of the more than 150 local employees our team identified as security threats, the most sophisticated infiltrators came from the Baath Party. This was just one post, yet the DIA believes no one was afraid to talk, even though scientists who were cooperating with ISG were murdered.  You can add this to the Able Danger affair as another example of the deep rot inside the intelligence community.

 

I believe that once the pertinent sources have a sense of security, a whole lot of people are going to have egg on their face.  I believe the Iraqis had a WMD program, and I am not changing my story, no matter how many times Chris Matthews hyperventilates.

 

FP: Before we go, can you briefly touch on some of the prevailing attitudes in the U.S. military that may hurt us?

 

Tierney:  There is a prevailing attitude that the U.S. is too big and ponderous to lose, so individual officers don’t have to take the potentially career-threatening risks necessary to win.  I have heard it said that for every one true warrior in the military, there are two to three self-serving, career-worshipping bureaucrats.  We shouldn’t be surprised.  After all, the Army advertised “Be all you can be!”  Or in other words, get a career at taxpayer expense.  

 

President Clinton changed the definition of the military from peace makers to peace keepers, and no senior officers resigned or objected.  President Clinton took a one star general who ran a humanitarian effort in Northern Iraq, Shalikashvilli, and made him Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  The signal was out, warriors need not apply.  Shalikashvilli later spoke at a U.N. meeting and listed the roles for the military in the “Revolution in Military Affairs.”   He included warm and fuzzy things like “confidence building,” but failed to mention waging war.  In my five years at CENTCOM headquarters, I very rarely heard the words, “war,” “enemy,” or “winning.” This was all absorbed into the wonderful term “strike operations.”

 

Operation Desert Fox was a perfect example of the uselessness of strike operations. Iraqis have told me that the WMD destruction and movement started just after Operation Desert Fox, since after all, who would be so stupid as to start a bombing campaign and just stop.

 

It was only after Saddam realized that President Clinton lacked the nerve for anything more than a temper-tantrum demonstration that he knew the doors were wide open for him to continue his weapons program.   We didn’t break his will, we didn’t destroy his weapons making capability (The Iraqis simply moved most of the precision machinery out prior to the strikes, then rebuilt the buildings), but we did kill some Iraqi bystanders, just so President Clinton could say “something must be done, so I did something.” 

 

General Zinni, Commander of CENTCOM, and no other senior officer had any problem with this fecklessness.  They apparently bought into the notion that wars are meant to be managed and not waged.  The warriors coming into the military post 9/11 deserve true warriors at the top.  I believe the house cleaning among the senior military  leadership started by the Secretary of Defense should continue full force.  If not across the board, then definitely in the military intelligence field.

 

FP: Mr. Tierney it was a pleasure to speak with you today. Thank you for visiting Frontpage.

 

Tierney: Thank you Jamie for the opportunity to say there were weapons, and that we were right to invade Iraq."

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20154

"The rioters are generally 12 to 25 years old, and roughly half of those arrested are under 18...Traditional parental control has disappeared and many Muslim families are headed by a single parent. Elders, imams and social workers have lost control. Paradoxically, the youths themselves are often the providers of local social rules, based on aggressive manhood, control of the streets, defense of a territory.

 

 

...Americans, for their part, should take little pleasure in France's agony -- the struggle to integrate an angry underclass is one shared across the Western world."
-- Olivier Roy

 

 

One way to describe libertarianism is that we believe in the separation of family and state as strongly as the American Civil Liberties Union believes in the separation of church and state. In contrast, both the Left and the Right view government as a substitute parent. As pointed out by George Lakoff in Moral Politics, the Left wants government to be a nurturant parent and the Right wants government to be a strict parent.

 

 

Libertarianism does not want the government to act as a parent. What I want is for government to ensure that property disputes are resolved peacefully, according to rules. The rules themselves do not have to be perfect. They should reflect prevailing custom, which in turn may evolve gradually over time.

 

 

Teenage Rebellion

 

 

With some trepidation, I chose to connect this essay to the news du jour, namely the riots in France. Everyone wants to interpret those riots according to their preconceptions. Some pundits see the riots as an anti-Western intifada. Others see them as a cry for social justice.

 

 

My reaction to the riots is to view them as teenage rebellion against the state as parent. The French government, like a deer caught in the headlights, cannot decide which direction to turn. Should it adopt the strict parent model, and crack down? Or should it adopt the nurturant parent model, and try to provide better education, jobs, and social acceptance for ethnic minorities?

 

 

In this particular case, I believe that libertarian thinking tends to correspond to conservative thinking. With property being destroyed and people being assaulted, government needs to enforce the rules, by force if necessary -- and force is clearly necessary.

 

 

Libertarianism also offers clear philosophical resistance to the solutions dear to the hearts of those who want government to act as a nurturant parent. I think it is fair to say that France ought to have rules that forbid discrimination against ethnic minorities. Beyond that, however, the libertarian message to people of color in France would be, "Your prosperity and dignity come from your own efforts. They do not come from the state." Of course, our message to the white French would be exactly the same.

 

 

To the traditional Left and Right, one question raised by the riots is how the French welfare state affects Muslims and other minorities. The Right worries that it provides too much support for "alien" immigrant "parasites." The Left worries that it does not provide enough education and employment opportunities.

 

 

To libertarians, the welfare state is something that is economically ineffective and morally wrong for everyone, not just for ethnic minorities. Families and non-coercive institutions, such as charities and churches, ought to provide for basic needs. Education and health care ought to be primarily the responsibility of families, not of the state.

 

 

The Coase Theorem and Imperfect Rules

 

 

I believe that a key element of practical libertarianism has to be a willingness to live with imperfect rules. I view the famous theorem of Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase as an illustration of this.

 

 

Suppose that there are two users and a common resource. An example would be a ball field that could be used by soccer players and baseball players. Another example would be a stream that could be used either to water livestock or irrigate crops.

 

 

Roughly speaking, the Coase theorem says that it does not matter who owns the common resource, as long as someone owns it. If the farmer owns the stream, then the herder can buy water from the farmer. If the herder owns the stream, then the farmer can buy some water. Either way, water will be allocated efficiently. Furthermore, the owner will have an incentive to maintain the stream in such a way as to maximize the value for both uses. On the other hand, if no one owns the water, then each user will attempt to consume too much. Perhaps the stream will go dry.

 

 

A willingness to live with imperfect rules is a little-noticed requirement for libertarianism. If instead you say, "I believe in a government that only enforces rules, but the rules must satisfy the larger needs of justice," you have created a hole in libertarianism through which one can drive a proverbial truck of big government. As Thomas Sowell has pointed out, the Quest for Cosmic Justice is never-ending and self-defeating.

 

 

Family, Church, and State

 

 

The United States and France have been fairly aggressive about separating church and state. For example, in public schools the U.S. bans school prayer and France bans Muslim head scarves.

 

 

Libertarians would like to see equally aggressive policing of the boundary between family and state. We would eliminate the controversy concerning religious expression in public schools by eliminating public schools.

 

 

Under the welfare state, government usurps the role of the family in education, health care, and saving for retirement. As economic historian Robert Fogel has pointed out, these are the fastest-growing segments of our economy. Government's role in the economy, as measured by the ratio of taxes and government spending to GDP, is certain to increase sharply as long as we fail to enforce a boundary between family and state.

 

 

Policies that treat the state as parent often are defended as helping families that are economically disadvantaged. However, in Bleeding-heart Libertarianism, I showed how we could have a redistributionist tax regime without having government take over family functions. (See also, What's Wrong With Paternalism?)

 

 

Does family-state separation have the same Constitutional status as church-state separation? In practice, it clearly does not, and perhaps one could argue that nothing in the Constitution favors family-state separation. However, it strikes me that church-state separatists choose a particularly strict reading of the "establishment clause" of the first amendment, while paternalists choose a particularly loose reading of the parts of the Constitution that limit government's powers in other realms. I would prefer a strict reading on all counts.

 

 

What I would like to see is a philosophical movement for the separation of family and state. Such a movement could act as a bulwark against "big-government conservatism." Government should leave children behind and let seniors face the cost of prescription drugs. Those needs should be addressed by families, with support from non-coercive charitable institutions."

http://www.techcentralstation.com/111005A.html

Looks like the powerlineblog.com guys have begun challenging a supposed non-partisan CIA. 

Liberals love to hatch conspiracy theories which don't exist, but looks like conservatives have a real one crafted by the left being unraveled before their very eyes. 

Kudos to Powerline plus the other conservative journalists and bloggers!!  If it weren't for them Wilson would remain "sainted" by the MSM and the CIA's part in it would go unnoticed.

___________________________

 

Last week before the dam began to break on the subject of the CIA war on the Bush administration, I contacted the CIA public information officer who fields media questions regarding Joe Wilson. I asked him why the Agency hadn't required Wilson to sign a confidentiality agreement regarding his trip to Niger. He hesitated for a few seconds, then responded: "I don't know." At his suggestion, I followed up with my questions by e-mail:

(1) Why wasn't Wilson's February 2002 trip to Niger made subject to a confidentiality agreement?

(2) Did the Agency contemplate that Wilson would publicly discuss the trip at will upon his return?

(3) Did the agency anticipate that if he did so, it would attract attention to the employment of his wife by the agency?

(4) Why did the Agency select Wilson for the mission to Niger to check out such an important and sensitive matter given his lack of experience in intelligence or investigation?

(5) Was the Agency aware when it selected him for the mission of his hostility to the Bush administration?

The CIA officer responded:

Given the ongoing legal process, I don't have anything for you in response to your questions about Ambassador Wilson.

Joe Wilson was not the only CIA-related political opponent of the Bush administration who emerged during the run-up to the 2004 election. In July 2004, the same month that the Times published Wilson's notorious op-ed column, CIA analyst Michael Scheuer published his strange book Imperial Hubris.

In the epilogue to the paperback edition, Scheuer stated that he "was never told why the CIA permitted publication." Following publication of the book, the CIA permitted Scheuer "anonymously" to criticize the Bush administration's conduct of the war on terror in media interviews until his criticisms extended beyond the administration to the intelligence community. (Scheuer left the Agency last November -- the week after the election.) I also asked the CIA the following questions regarding Scheuer:

(1) Has the Agency ever before in its history authorized the publication of a book by a current Agency employee attacking the incumbent administration?

(2) Was Scheuer's employment status classified at any time between 1999 and the time he resigned from the Agency? If so, over what period?

(3) Can you cite any previous instances in the history of the Agency of currently employed Agency analysts attacking the incumbent administration?

The Agency's response to these questions was a bit more forthcoming:

[A]ll CIA employees have prepublication obligations. Beyond the obvious prohibition on releasing classified information, the outside writings and speeches of serving officers must not affect either their ability to do their jobs or the agency's ability to accomplish its mission. Because CIA is not a policy organization, its regulations discourage current employees from speaking or writing publicly on policy issues.

In light of that common-sense guidance, the chances are extremely remote -- to put it mildly -- that a presently serving officer would be allowed to write a book today injecting him or herself into a national policy debate. That is how things stand now.

Which leaves the open question: How did things stand last year? The Daily Standard has posted my column on the subject of the CIA's apparent efforts to undermine the Bush administration: "Three Years of the Condor."

Jed Babbin provides a take similar to my own in a column for the Spectator: "The CIA disinformation campaign." Babbin's column points to additional anomalies in Wilson's 2002 trip to Niger, but Babbin erroneously asserts that the 2002 trip was Wilson's first such trip. Babbin overlooks the Senate Intelligence Committee Report's brief reference to Wilson's having performed a previous mission to Niger on behalf of the CIA in 1999. At the American Thinker, Clarice Feldman picks up the thread: "Joe Wilson's earlier mission to Niger." The American Thinker also posts an intriguing column by James Lewis speculating on the possible French role in the affair as well: "The French connection."

The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on prewar intelligence is the key document on Wilson's trip. If only the Senate Intelligence Committee had classified the Report and leaked it to the Times, it might have had an impact on the mainstream media story line on the Wilson affair. As it is, the fact that the Report demonstrated Wilson's thoroughgoing mendacity essentially remains confidential insofar as mainstream media reporting is concerned.

One of these days some big-time journalist is bound to take a look at the story underlying Joe Wilson's phony baloney assertions of wrongdoing against the Bush administration and dig out the evidence of the CIA's scandalous efforts to undermine it. Right?

A cartoon format satire about current events which I find to be outstanding. 

Be sure to click the picture for his explanation. 

Not for the PC crowd or those looking to be easily offended!!

_______________________________

"Déjà Vu" by Jay D. Dyson    (11/07/2005) (Sacredcowburgers)

http://www.sacredcowburgers.com/fresh/showpics.cgi?deja_vu 

Add this one too:

"French 'Negotiations'"

http://www.sacredcowburgers.com/fresh/showpics.cgi?french_negotiations

 

There are an amazing number of French fingerprints all over the Plame-Wilson affair. While it is not easy to penetrate the dark fog of lies, there is a highly consistent pattern pointing to French government involvement with a Watergate-style assault on the American Presidency, fronted by Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.

In 2002 French intelligence forged the notorious document claiming that Saddam tried to obtain Niger uranium. The Italian middle man, Rocco Martino, later confessed to French involvement in open court. Rocco Martino might sound like a small-time mafia hood from the Sopranos. Actually, he works at times for Italian military intelligence. The truth about the French connection came out when Martino confessed in court that the French had given him the forged document to peddle to various intelligence agencies. The Italians and French have had a furious war of words ever since then about who was responsible for the forgery.

The FBI just leaked a claim that Rocco did it just for the money. That is very doubtful. The French naturally deny any responsibility, but the forged document was dropped on the public at exactly the time that Dominique de Villepin, then Foreign Minister, was in New York trying to make Colin Powell believe that France was prepared to help overthrow Saddam. The French forgery was a stink bomb, designed to be exposed in public as soon as Colin Powell publicly accepted it.

At the very same time the Niger forgery showed up, France’s Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, was sand bagging Secretary Powell at the UN by pretending to support American efforts against Saddam – even as he got ready to pull out the rug in a surprise press conference. Reporter Kenneth Timmerman told Brit Hume for FoxNews that:

“Our administration thought that the French were with us, that French had dispatched their top general to Centcom, Chirac had promised the president (to support the United States against Saddam). Villepin the foreign minister had promised Powell. They said they were with us, and they weren’t. ...”

“So then de Villepin goes outside at noontime. ... Powell is actually watching Fox News… as de Villepin goes on TV … And that’s when he announces to the world that France will never ever support the use of force against Saddam Hussein. ... Powell’s jaw dropped to the floor….”

It was a carefully planned ambush. Timmerman summed it up by saying that

“Chirac lied to the president of the United States, and then he ordered his Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin to do the same thing with Colin Powell.”

And then, they pulled the plug.

De Villepin’s ambush triggered a giant anti-American firestorm in Europe and around the world. Germans, French, Brits and Swedes were foaming at the mouth for months and months. France was therefore extremely successful in discrediting American policy against Saddam.

But that was not enough, because Saddam was quickly knocked over by the US-led coalition forces. Somehow the media fires had to be kept alive.  The “Bush lied us into war” slogan had to be kept going in the minds of the public. 

Enter our hero, Joseph C. Wilson, from stage left. The French forgery about Niger led straight to Wilson’s bogus trip to Africa. Wilson supposedly went there to find out the truth for the CIA. But every government involved already  knew the truth about the bogus document, because it showed incorrect names of Niger officials. A single telephone call to Niger would have established that fact.

The reason why Wilson had to travel to Niger in person to “investigate,” while drinking mint tea with his uranium mining friends, was to establish his bona fides – to make him an instant “expert witness” on Saddam’s dealings with Niger. Did French intelligence urge Wilson to make his trip and enlist his wife Valerie to propose him? Without that trip, Joseph C. Wilson had no special claim to any expertise about Saddam’s weapons. It was Valerie Plame who was the CIA WMD expert, but it was Wilson who became the front man.

Notice that the modus operandi for the Wilson trip was much the same as for the Niger forgery: a classic con game. Find a sucker, tell him what he wants to hear, and use that credulous embrance by the mark to destroy your enemy. In the first case the sucker was Colin Powell. In the second case it was the New York Times Op-Ed page.  In both cases the enemy to be shafted was George W. Bush and the administration. This is how disinformation is supposed to work.

Joseph Wilson had intimate French connections for many years before his mint tea-sipping journey to Niger. In fact, he met his first wife at the French Embassy in Washington. His second wife, Jacqueline, to whom he was still married when he took up with Valerie Plame, was a former French diplomat.  There is even a report that she was a “cultural attaché” in Francophone Africa, a post often used as cover for intelligence operatives, though this remains quite a murky point, as tradecraft suggests it should. 

Today Wilson claims to be a business agent for “African mining companies.”  But Niger’s mines are owned by a French consortium, which operates cheek-by-jowl with the Quai d’Orsay. Niger itself is a semi-colony of France. No uranium sales go on there without the full knowledge and consent of the French government. Valerie Plame was quoted in a CIA memo as saying that “my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts)...” Lots of French contacts, indeed.

Wilson exploded into public view, and spent two years barnstorming around the country, giving outraged speeches to publicize the idea that he had found the smoking gun to prove Bush had lied. Moveon.org and their friends were happy to believe him.

Wilson was interviewed on PBS and NPR, and wrote a book, now thoroughly discredited, to push his anti-Bush agenda. In the process he told so many lies that he lost track of them himself.  But that made no difference. The media and the Left leaped on the story like manna from heaven; or, possibly, like fine champagne from France.

Well, hypothetically just suppose for a moment that Wilson’s strings are being pulled by the French. What motivates the French government? They have been very clear about that.

Jacques Chirac and his close ally Dominique de Villepin have long proclaimed France to be the strategic enemy of American power. Paris openly yearns to lead the European Union to superpower status, in order to undermine American “hegemony,” and above all for the eternal grandeur of la belle France. De Villepin has written books vilifying the United States; he is an open French imperialist, who conceives of himself as a world-historic figure in the mold of his personal heroes Napoleon and Niccolo Machiavelli.

France’s short-term aim for the Niger forgery was to block US actions against Saddam Hussein, or at least to discredit America in the run-up to the Iraq war. The long-term strategic purpose was to drive a wedge between the US and Europe, so that the European Union – guided by France – could be persuaded to revolt against fifty years of US leadership of the West. 

This strategy succeeded, but not completely. The American action in Iraq provoked massive public fury in Europe, whipped up by the government-owned media and the Left. It caused a rift in public opinion that continues today. Had Tony Blair not gone along with President Bush against Saddam, the EU might now be going on its separate way, aiming for world domination, just as de Villepin has fervently advocated. If the EU Constitution had been approved, as the media confidently predicted it would be, Jacques Chirac might now be running to be the first president of Europe.

For decades France has conducted major industrial espionage in the United States. Having Wilson as a source on Clinton’s National Security Council would be an obvious boon for that purpose. Had John Kerry won the 2004 election, Wilson might now be back in the White House, perhaps helping his good friends abroad. He was therefore a very good prospect for French intelligence to cultivate, especially given the lax security standards of the Clinton years.  And if Wilson and Plame do succeed in bringing down George W. Bush, Chirac and de Villepin would be overjoyed.

French hatred of American power is the reason why France pressured Turkey (anxious to enter the EU) to block the US IV Infantry  Division from crossing Iraq’s northern border to help knock over Saddam Hussein.  Had the IV ID hit Saddam from the North while Tommy Franks attacked from the South, the current Iraqi insurrection might have been crushed even before it got started, the Baathist hardcore unable to flee north to the Sunni Triangle and entrench itself among the small percentage of Iraqis who benefited from Saddam’s rule. The original plan envisioned just such a pincer movement. We therefore owe many of our 2,000 soldiers’ deaths to deliberate and malicious French sabotage, with thanks to Dominique de Villepin and Jacques Chirac.

There is every reason to believe that France desperately wants this White House to be weakened or overthrown. They would be happy with Hillary Clinton or any other Democrat as president, because the Euro-socialist, non-interventionist base of that party is compatible with French policies and strategies. European emphasis on the United Nations as the forum for handling international conflicts plays to France’s strongest asset in world affairs, its veto-wielding Security Council seat, and its large number of Francophone former colonies, each with a vote in the General Assembly. A strong America wielding its mighty military force is de Villepin’s worst nightmare.

What about France and Wilson? While we do not know all the facts, there is no question that Joseph Wilson has acted precisely as we might expect from an agent provocateur. He worked fervently to undermine the Bush White House with plainly false accusations, putting the Niger forgery to very good use. Joe Wilson calls himself a business agent for unnamed “African mining companies.” We can reasonably guess that he made those contacts during his several postings in Francophone West Africa, possibly when he was Ambassador to Gabon, another former French colony, at the culmination of his State Department career. 

Wilson claims credit for persuading Bill Clinton to make a heavily hyped trip to French Africa, tossing millions of US aid dollars to the local dictatorships, including, possibly, some of Wilson’s friends. So Wilson apparently works as a consultant for French-owned mining companies in Africa, which would allow him to be openly paid by those companies.  None of this makes for a smoking gun, but it is certainly, at minimum, an interesting coincidence that a man with such extensive and intimate French connections should be conducting a ferocious nationwide crusade against the President of the United States, who also happens to be hated by the French government.

Was Wilson acting on his own in planting the Times Op-Ed? Were Valerie Plame and her friends at CIA pulling strings?  Or was it other Democrats? There is plenty of evidence for CIA backing of Wilson and Plame, as many have previously noted. There may be nothing more to it than a failed CIA WMD intelligence group covering itself with a manufactured diversionary scandal.

But for someone with Wilson’s ego, simple flattery by the “sophisticated” French might be a powerful tool of manipulation. He has all the appearance of a wounded narcissist, someone who needs the attention of the world to make up for his inner deficiencies. When the Soviet KGB ran agents all over the Western world they rarely bothered to pay them. They were “idealists” whose vanity could be easily manipulated.

Is all that tangled enough for you? Keep in mind that the whole affair may be a classic disinformation campaign, run by the pros who make their living doing just that. Just as Watergate showed how Mark Felt learned how to make damaging leaks from J. Edgar Hoover, the modus operandi of the Plame-Wilson affair reflects professional intelligence methods.

For now, there are only questions, not answers. Maybe someone with the power to subpoena and compel testimony under oath ought to be investigating. Whoever is guiding Joseph C. Wilson IV seems to specialize in dangerous intrigue. We have not seen the end of them yet.

James Lewis is a frequent contributor. "

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=4970

"If the world would have paid attention to the struggle of the Christians against the Islamic revolution 30 years ago in Lebanon, the world would not be suffering now from a plague of terrorism from New York to London, from Bali to Madrid, from Beslin to Turkey."

Carter years coming back to haunt us again. Bush will be remembered by history as the president who was instrumental in planting seeds of freedom and democracy in an area where no one believed it would ever be possible. No wonder both Clinton and Carter are so vocal about someone who is eclipsing them.

________________________

Symposium: Lebanon: The Spark of Liberty in the Middle East

By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 3, 2005

A new UN resolution being hammered out this week will attempt to force Syria to turn over suspects to the world body's inquiry into the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister who had opposed the 30 year-long presence of Syrian troops in his country. The al-Hariri murder last February set off a spate of killings against anti-Syrian figures. On June 2, anti-Syrian newspaper columnist Samir Kassir was killed in a car bombing. That same month, George Hawi, another critic of Syria, was murdered in another car explosion. In late September 2005, May Chidiac, a prominent anti-Syrian Christian news anchor, was seriously wounded when her car exploded in Lebanon. Her left leg was blown off beneath the knee, and her left hand suffered extensive damage.

Syria has denied any role in these murders, but the Damascus hand is transparently evident. The UN inquiry into al-Hariri’s assassination has already led to the arrest of four pro-Syrian generals on charges of murder.

All of these developments reveal that Lebanon is paying a heavy price for the freedom and independence it is now gaining. Lebanese citizens are clearly no longer afraid of the Syrians and are moving quickly toward regaining their independence and becoming a truly democratic society. This phenomenon obviously poses a huge threat not only to Syria, but also to Islamists throughout the Middle East terrified of liberty in their midst.

Today, FrontPage Magazine would like to discuss this first true pro-democratic revolution in the Arab world. We would like to focus on one key central question: is this incredible development connected to the same reason why Lebanon was destroyed as a country in the Middle East? Does Lebanon have promise for modernity and freedom because it is a Christian nation? Is that why, in the last quarter of the 20^{th century, the Islamic-Arab world suffocated Lebanon -- because it couldn't, at that time, digest freedom?}

^{Thanks to two successful elections in Iraq, the tide of for freedom in the Middle East has clearly turned, and it appears that the forces of authoritarianism and terror can no longer prevent the crumbling of the Arab Berlin Wall. At the same time, it must asked: does the large Christian contingent of the Lebanese Arab population mean that this country's democratic revolution may not be readily repeatable elsewhere in the Middle East?}

^{To discuss these and other questions with us today, FrontPage has assembled a distinguished panel. Our guests today are:}

^{Joe Baini, Speaker of the World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU) Senate and the immediate past World President of the WLCU. Has been active in the struggle to liberate Lebanon from foreign occupation and restore its sovereignty for over 28 years;}

^{Ret. Colonel Charbel Barakat, a Former Officer of the Lebanese Army, Vice President of the World Lebanese Organization and a former International Security Advisor to the President of the Lebanese Diaspora. He is a terrorism analyst for the Canadian Lebanese Council and testified on Terrorism and Hezbollah to the US Senate in 1997 & 2000;}

^{Tom Harb, the Chairman for Media and Director for Foreign Affairs at the World Lebanese Cultural Union, the legitimate representative of the Lebanese Diaspora. The Vice President of the American Lebanese Coalition for Political Affairs, he has served as a President of the American Maronite Union. Mr. Harb is also the coordinator of United Nations activities on behalf of the Lebanese Diaspora. He has been a leading contributor in the introduction of the UNSCR 1559, which called on Syria to withdraw from Lebanon;}

^{B rigitte Gabriel, a survivor of Islam's Jihad against Lebanese Christians. She's the former news anchor of World News for Middle East television and is now an expert on the Middle East conflict who lectures nationally and internationally on the subject. She is the founder of AmericanCongressforTruth.com;}

^and

^{Joe Farah, an Arab-American Christian journalist whose grandparents came from Lebanon and Syria. The founder of WorldNetDaily.com, he served as a correspondent covering the Middle East in the 1980s and has reported about and analyzed the region ever since.}

^{FP: Tom Harb,} Brigitte Gabriel, Joseph Farah, Col. Barakat and Joe Baini, welcome to Frontpage Symposium. Mr. Baini, let us begin with you. Let’s start on a general theme. Tell us why you think Lebanon was at one time the Paris of the Middle East and why other Arab nations weren’t.

Tom HarbBrigitte Gabriel, Joseph Farah, Col. Barakat and Joe Baini, welcome to Frontpage Symposium. Mr. Baini, let us begin with you. Let’s start on a general theme. Tell us why you think Lebanon was at one time the Paris of the Middle East and why other Arab nations weren’t.

Baini: Perhaps it is easy to oversimplify the reasons in light of events of the last 30 years, however the real reasons firstly stem back in the history of Lebanon, to the era of our ancestors the Phoenicians. Renowned throughout history for their endless talents of Skills, Architecture, Craftsmanship, astuteness in business, merchandising and the ability to draft legal agreements as in establishing the first school of law in the world.

Secondly, we saw the advent of the Maronites, a Christian Church who are the followers of Saint Maroun; a Catholic Church with Eastern Rites who brought with them a sense of stability and balance through their strong faith, intellect and inner strength of character. Who also had an ability to plan and develop communities and build for the future. They ultimately became the most dominant yet progressive and highly productive force in the land that we now know as Lebanon. They withstood many challenges to their supremacy but always managed to remain the main power base. Their strong desire for education gave rise to incentives and stimulated the people of Lebanon onto greater endeavours and achievements in social reforms, politics and the process currently known as democracy.

These basic historical facts plus many more since, have given the people of Lebanon a fundamentally strong foundation for the development of a balanced outlook on life. Notwithstanding their experience of the last 30 years, the Lebanese will never lose their passion for freedom, democracy and independence; a characteristic not seen or experienced anywhere else in the Middle East. There is no doubt that it stems from the influence of Christianity which teaches us that every one is born free and is equal in the eyes of God and the law and has the right for self determination.

FP: So in many respects, militant Islam had to destroy this light of freedom within its midst? Lebanon could not be allowed to live?

So in many respects, militant Islam had to destroy this light of freedom within its midst? Lebanon could not be allowed to live?

Barakat: I am afraid so, yes, but it is important to stress that Lebanon had different names and slogans every time. In 1920 it was the Arab Kingdom of Damascus under Faysal, the son of Sharif Hussein of Hijjaz. All the Christian villages South of the Litani river were attacked in the same terrorist way, the orders and the main bands came from Damascus. But Lebanon survived and the freedom light was kept alive.

I am afraid so, yes, but it is important to stress that Lebanon had different names and slogans every time. In 1920 it was the Arab Kingdom of Damascus under Faysal, the son of Sharif Hussein of Hijjaz. All the Christian villages South of the Litani river were attacked in the same terrorist way, the orders and the main bands came from Damascus. But Lebanon survived and the freedom light was kept alive.

The second time was with Nasser of Egypt who wanted to "export" his revolution everywhere in the Middle East and united Syria with Egypt. For sure Lebanon had to suffer the "Brotherhood" approach of the new situation and a flow of weapons to destabilize it. Nasser, who did "monopolise" the power and "nationalize" the economy in Egypt, couldn't accept having on his "new borders" a free country with an open market and a democratic regime. But as progressive as he use to call himself, he did exploit Islam to popularize his image and have some Lebanese followers.

The third time the source of the problem was Syria again. Assad wanted to wage a war against Israel from Lebanon using the Palestinians as tools. He trained and armed them, he took advantage of the free opinion and the free press in Lebanon, he used all means to create instability in the country. This led to a real war and a "brotherly" occupation that we have suffered for 30 years now. Even though he did terminate all existence of the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria, he did create and support the Terrorists of Hezbollah in Lebanon which are the main problem for the return of stability and progress to the country now.

With all the pressures and the problems Syria caused, Lebanon managed to survive and keep freedom its main target. The weakness and strength of Lebanon is always its multicultural society. This society cannot be ruled but with democracy, which will give the country its strength, but when the dictatorial regimes of the neighbouring countries are strong or the fanatic movements are rising, Lebanon will always be put to the test and the results will be more sufferings.

Gabriel: In so many respects, Lebanon’s Christian influence and culture clashed with militant Islam’s intolerance of anything western.

At the heart of the Middle East and the crossroads of three continents, Lebanon is where the East meets the West. DH Lawrence described Beirut as "a chromatic Levantine screen through which foreign influences entered". It is that western influence adopted by the Christian Lebanese, the largest concentration of Christians in the region that turned Lebanon into the Jewel of the Middle East. It is that western culture and Judeo Christian values which dominated Lebanon that went against the grain of Islam, its traditions and teachings.

Lebanon, also known as the land of the alphabet, is the Middle East’s most liberal country, an oasis of tolerance and easy-going enjoyment in a turbulent region. On Hamra Street, Beirut’s equivalent of Oxford Street, micro-skirted young Lebanese women brush shoulders with Muslim women covered head to foot in black hijab.

It had been in Lebanon that celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Charles Aznavour and Johnny Halliday entertained high-rolling Arab sheikhs and European jet-setters, among them film stars such as Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren. It was also in Lebanon where Europeans and Arab tourists alike came to see the likes of Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Joan Baez and Herbert von Karajan’s Berlin Philharmonic perform beneath the floodlit splendour of Balback’s exquisite Roman temples.

The backbone of Lebanese culture like Mr. Baini mentioned is education . The Lebanese, have the highest literacy rates in the Arab world. Most Lebanese speak three languages Arabic, French and English and hold the most college degrees than any other Arabic country in the region.

Democracy can only thrive in a society that values education, human rights and treats its citizens men and woman as equals in the eyes of the law. All concepts central to Christian Lebanese. With the civil war decrease of the Christian population and subjugation of those remaining to somewhat of a dhimitude status and the rise of international Islamic fundamentalism, hope for Democracy hinges on U.S. and world support for those remaining Christians and the creation of an atmosphere of stability and security encouraging expatriate Christians to return.

Farah: Brigitte is so right. I don't see a real return to self-government, in the truest sense of the word, without incentives for the vast Lebanese diaspora to return. The "revolution" in Lebanon this year was very encouraging, very inspiring. But it will not fully blossom into an expansion of freedom and security unless the demographic balance, so key to the "Lebanon difference" in the Middle East, is re-established. I know many, many Lebanese Americans, Lebanese-Canadians, Lebanese-Australians and others around the world who would like to return to their homeland. But it's not likely to happen unless they see more progress -- unless they see that this is real, that this is permanent. I don't think we're there yet.

Brigitte is so right. I don't see a real return to self-government, in the truest sense of the word, without incentives for the vast Lebanese diaspora to return. The "revolution" in Lebanon this year was very encouraging, very inspiring. But it will not fully blossom into an expansion of freedom and security unless the demographic balance, so key to the "Lebanon difference" in the Middle East, is re-established. I know many, many Lebanese Americans, Lebanese-Canadians, Lebanese-Australians and others around the world who would like to return to their homeland. But it's not likely to happen unless they see more progress -- unless they see that this is real, that this is permanent. I don't think we're there yet.

We may not be there yet until Syria is held accountable for its crimes.

Right now, Assad is biding his time. He's watching Cindy Sheehan and these other idiots in America characterizing the terrorists in Iraq as "freedom fighters." He is being advised that, while the war in Iraq may have gone very well for the Americans, the lesson of Vietnam is that the war ultimately will be waged at home in the U.S.

Do the American people have the intestinal fortitude to stay the course?

That, I believe, is the real question for Lebanon.

After all, it was Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader who was a staunch opponent of American involvement in Iraq who ultimately conceded that it was the free election in that country that inspired the Lebanon Revolution. If that revolution is to continue, there needs to be continued progress in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Harb: Lebanon's historical problems started with the rejection by Syria and the PanArabists of the very existence of the country. In 1920, after the liberation of Lebanon from the Ottoman occupation by France and Britain, the League of Nations decided that a Lebanese independent state would be created and guaranteed. Even though Syria was under the French mandate as was Lebanon, the Arab nationalist forces and the Islamic Fundamentalists refused to recognized the independence of Lebanon and waged multiple campaigns to stop Lebanese sovereignty. As soon as the French withdrew from the region in 1945, and after the country of Lebanon became independent, the new Syrian state, even before the Baath, put enormous pressures on the Lebanese Republic.

L ebanon's historical problems started with the rejection by Syria and the PanArabists of the very existence of the country. In 1920, after the liberation of Lebanon from the Ottoman occupation by France and Britain, the League of Nations decided that a Lebanese independent state would be created and guaranteed. Even though Syria was under the French mandate as was Lebanon, the Arab nationalist forces and the Islamic Fundamentalists refused to recognized the independence of Lebanon and waged multiple campaigns to stop Lebanese sovereignty. As soon as the French withdrew from the region in 1945, and after the country of Lebanon became independent, the new Syrian state, even before the Baath, put enormous pressures on the Lebanese Republic.

In 1948, thousands of Palestinian refugees were admitted into Lebanon. Syria started to arm them as of the 1950s to attack the Lebanese Government. In the early 1960s, Damascus helped Syrian nationalists in Lebanon to organize a coup d'etat, which failed. In 1969, Damascus supported the PLO to take the control of enclaves inside Lebanon. They wanted to drag Lebanon further in the Arab Israeli conflict. And in 1970, after King Hussein of Jordan defeated them, the followers of Yassir Arafat moved to Lebanon and launched attacks against the Lebanese army. Followed by wider operations in 1973. Finally, in 1975, a generalized war took place between the Lebanese army and its supporting popular militias on the one hand, and the PLO, leftwing and Islamic militias on the other hand. In June 1976, Hafez Assad ordered an invasion of Lebanon. By 1977-1978 his troops were battling the Lebanese resistance. A Syrian-PLO-Jihadist alliance was trying to defeat the Lebanese resistance Forces and regular Army till 1982 without success.

In 1982, Israel invaded from the south to fight the PLO and push back the Syrian army. But in 1985, Hizbollah, the pro-Syrian militias and the Syrian forces took back most of the country except the East Beirut enclave. In 1990, and as Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Assad invaded the last free and independent enclave of Lebanon. Since then, the Syrian occupation, backed by the Iranian-supported Hizbollah controlled the country. Lebanon's civil society tried hard to free itself without success for a whole decade. The 1990s were very difficult, as neither Washington nor Paris were interested in liberating their old friends the Lebanese.

But after September 11, the US Congress and Administration realized the importance of Lebanon in the War on terror. The Lebanese Diaspora became active and called for an initiative to free their mother country. In the US, we were working along with other Mideast free communities from Iraq, Syria, Egypt etc. The Congress voted the Syrian Accountability Act in 2003 and in September of 2004, thanks to the "Lebanese lobby," a United Nations resolution was voted asking Syria to withdraw. After the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri, demonstrations exploded in Beirut, and the Cedars Revolution was on. President Bush and his European allies pressed Damascus for withdrawal. Most Syrian forces left the country and legislative elections took place. However, we know that Syrian intelligence is still inside the country, Hizbollah has thousands of fighters and democracy is still threatened. The Cedars Revolution is not over yet.

Barakat: The main problem for Lebanon now as Mr. Harb mentioned still the full implementation of the UNSCR 1559 which calls on the disarmament of the Lebanese and non Lebanese militia (or armed groups). We have to remember that all the Palestinian camps still armed and form a safe heaven for many of the outlaws like the killers of the four judges in Saida or the famous Abu Mohjen and the killers of the American nurse, not to name the Terrorists like Fatah, Hamas and all the pro-Syrian organizations. Along the Syro-Lebanese borders also we still have many military positions fully armed and occupied by the pro-Syrian Palestinian organizations and which were left behind after the Syrian withdrawal. The United Nations observers and Mr. Larson may be consider those as part of the armed groups to be disarmed according to UNSCR 1559. Also the Sunni terrorist groups in North Lebanon connected in some way to Al Qaeda remain armed and spread hatred in their so called Islamic schools. Mr. Hariri and his party were not able to content them -- yet?

The main problem to the return of stability and security to Lebanon which are two of the pillars of the democracy, is Hezbollah. Why?

As Shiite as this party is and while the Shiite community is one of the major Lebanese communities, it was forced by Iran, Syria and its own terrorist ways to become the main player, the most armed and the well organized faction in the Lebanon of the Syrian Era. It was Mr. Terry Rod Larson, the special envoy of the UN secretary General, who helped making of him The Liberator in the year 2000.

Now and after all what happened (the killing of Hariri, the Cedar revolution, the elections, the new government and the number of terrorist attacks), no body can assure the return of the stability into Lebanon before reaching an end to Hezbollah's arsenal.

No one can accept to have in the same country and in a multi-cultural society different classes of citizens where a minority of militant is forming a state within the state and having its own security system and its own army.

While the Christian militias and security system were dismantled and the new government can not, until now, change the state security system (made by Syria to just hold any opposition to their occupation), we are assisting to a security vacuum in the Christian areas which lead to a series of attacks and killing of opposition figures.

The government is claiming that it is fighting a "Ghosts" because it does not have until now a clear decision about the future, it did not yet choose a position, it did not, for example, accept the UNSCR 1559 fully or reject it. Hezbollah is part of the government and is an ally to Syria in the same time. Syria is behind the instability, behind all the explosions and the killing and the government do not dare to name it.

Lebanon needs in this period a full involvement of the international society. The borders with Syria should be sealed against infiltrations of terrorists and weapons. All the communities and specially the Shiite suppose to agree on the full implementation of UNSCR 1559 and the disarmament of Hezbollah. Syria shouldn't be allowed to return to the old ways of disturbing its neighbor's security. Then we can have the time to think and review our democratic system which could need some changes or upgrades.

Gabriel: There have already been some changes taking place concerning democracy and I am not referring to the system. Hezbollah itself has been changing. Not that its terrorist side has changed but its new face of being a political party is emerging. With its recent political gains in Lebanon, it is learning how to use the democratic process as a cover of respectability while still being one of the most lethal terrorist organizations in the world operating freely and suppressing and terrorizing the Christians. This threat does not stop with the Christian Lebanese. It is in the international community’s best interest, while concerned about the threat of radical Islam and terrorism, to stop Hezbollah in its tracks.

Hezbollah and its radical Shiite militia is financed and armed by Iran, supported and protected by Syria. It was a one year old organization when they bombed the marines in Lebanon in 1983. Today Hezbollah is leading the training of the insurgents in Iraq, including Al-Qaeda members in their training centers in the Bekaa valley in Lebanon under the protection of Syria. It is Hezbollah’s technology and weapons, supplied by Iran, tested in Lebanon, that are used against the allied forces in Iraq to drive the hope of democracy from taking place. And we think that a handful of Lebanese who demonstrated in the Cedar revolution who don’t possess any weapons are going to triumph over this goliath of a terrorist organization, armed to the hilt and backed by most Muslim countries in the Middle East? Let’s get real.

If the world would have paid attention to the struggle of the Christians against the Islamic revolution 30 years ago in Lebanon, the world would not be suffering now from a plague of terrorism from New York to London, from Bali to Madrid, from Beslin to Turkey. The world justified the unrest in the Middle East as an Israeli/Arab problem. But after the Muslims started massacring the Christians in Lebanon the world had no excuse to turn their head away and justify Islamic aggression against Christians as anything other than what it really is: A war by the non compatible Islamic culture with the democratic, educated Judeo Christian culture be it in Christian Lebanon or Jewish Israel. After all it was the Christian influence in Lebanon that propelled it into the Paris of the Middle East and the Jewish influence in Israel that made an oasis out of the desert.

Lebanon, without a doubt, has no chance of achieving peace and returning to its days of being a beacon of education and free democracy for all without the whole hearted support of UN members standing up behind UNSCR 1559 with the military force to disarm Hezbollah. After all, how many times is the United States going to warn Syria to stop supporting such terrorism and doing nothing about it before becoming fools in the eyes of the Arabic world for not taking action to back their words? Meanwhile, this cancer of terrorism is spreading around the world, becoming harder to deal with and to kill before it kills us.

Farah: It strikes me that one of the things we need to do is recognize Christians in the Middle East as a minority group that needs to be protected. I don't know that the new constitution in Iraq goes far enough in that direction. Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East with a still large group of Christians. Their interests, their freedoms, their rights need to be protected. This is essential. Lebanon is unlike any other country in the Middle East because of the diversity of its population -- large numbers of Shiites, Sunnis, Christians of different denominations and persuasions, Druze, etc. This makes Lebanon different than any other nation in the region -- which has been and can continue to be a strength.

It strikes me that one of the things we need to do is recognize Christians in the Middle East as a minority group that needs to be protected. I don't know that the new constitution in Iraq goes far enough in that direction. Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East with a still large group of Christians. Their interests, their freedoms, their rights need to be protected. This is essential. Lebanon is unlike any other country in the Middle East because of the diversity of its population -- large numbers of Shiites, Sunnis, Christians of different denominations and persuasions, Druze, etc. This makes Lebanon different than any other nation in the region -- which has been and can continue to be a strength.

Because it's a tiny country, it cannot be divided up -- any more than we should seriously consider the proposals to strip Israel of any more land. Instead, Lebanon's borders must be protected from further intrusion by foreigners trying to disrupt the country. Immigration laws need to be strictly enforced.

This is no time to be looking backward -- except, as Brigitte has said, to learn the lessons of the past. Lebanon needs to get on its feet and become a truly functioning free republic -- not a democracy. It needs to be a constitutional republic with full protections for minority rights. It needs to get its economy on track again. I believe many Lebanese, perhaps millions in the diaspora, will return if that happens. That will be a great step forward for the country, the region and the world.

Harb: Let’s recap: Lebanon has been occupied by Syria’s Baathist regime for many decades. The occupation wasn’t limited to tanks and troops. The most lethal dimension of that occupation was the deep security and intelligence penetration of the country: Government, bureaucracy, diplomatic affairs, émigré affairs, education, economy and social fabric. In addition, and to solidify their hegemony, the Syrian Baathists established an array of control over political parties from all religious backgrounds: From the Lebanese branch of the Baath Party, to the Social-Nationalist Syrian Party, to Nasserite organizations, Sunni, Shiite, Druze and Christian politicians, Assad created a shadow power in Lebanon in addition to his control of the Lebanese regime. He even created pro-Syrian versions of traditional anti-Syrian Christian parties such as Karim Pakradouni’s Phalanges and Fuad Malek’s Lebanese Forces.

L et’s recap: Lebanon has been occupied by Syria’s Baathist regime for many decades. The occupation wasn’t limited to tanks and troops. The most lethal dimension of that occupation was the deep security and intelligence penetration of the country: Government, bureaucracy, diplomatic affairs, émigré affairs, education, economy and social fabric. In addition, and to solidify their hegemony, the Syrian Baathists established an array of control over political parties from all religious backgrounds: From the Lebanese branch of the Baath Party, to the Social-Nationalist Syrian Party, to Nasserite organizations, Sunni, Shiite, Druze and Christian politicians, Assad created a shadow power in Lebanon in addition to his control of the Lebanese regime. He even created pro-Syrian versions of traditional anti-Syrian Christian parties such as Karim Pakradouni’s Phalanges and Fuad Malek’s Lebanese Forces.

But obviously, the most significant allies of Damascus are Hizbollah (and Amal) and the Palestinian terror groups. Hence, even though UNSCR 1559 was voted last year and Syrian regular units withdrew last April, the bulk of Syrian power is still infesting the country. The Syrian Mukhabarat, their allies within the Lebanese security, Hizbollah and the Palestinian Terrorists are roaming Lebanon and involved in the many political assassinations that took place even after the killing of Hariri. We have to face it, the international community needs to put teeth to the UNSCR 1559. President Bush and European leaders have certainly pressured Assad to pull his soldiers out of Lebanon. But we all know that he left tremendous Terror power behind. Our concern is that this Terrorist army is not only deployed to obstruct Lebanese independence and resume the assassinations and intimidations, but also to be used in the global war between the US led coalition against terrorism and the Syrian-Iranian-Jihadi axis.

President Bush in his last speech made it clear that Syria should be made accountable for these terror activities. France, the UK, and even some Arab countries, whose missions we visited few weeks ago at the UN Security Council concur: Those who killed Hariri and are brutalizing the Lebanese people have to be brought to international justice. Nothing less than an international multinational force in alliance with the free Lebanese army, can protect the liberty and sovereignty of Lebanon.

FP: Tom Harb, Brigitte Gabriel, Joseph Farah, Col. Barakat and Joe Baini, thank you for joining Frontpage Symposium. We’ll see you again soon.

Tom HarbBrigitte Gabriel, Joseph Farah, Col. Barakat and Joe Baini, thank you for joining Frontpage Symposium. We’ll see you again soon.

 

Our friends at the Tony Snow Show write:

On Today's Tony Snow Show on Fox News Radio, Senate Majority Leader Frist acknowledges that he "will use the constitutional option" if needed and that "Yes, Yes" he believes he has the votes to pass it! He also says that anyone who attempts to use the filibuster will "pay a price."

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Tony, this fellow, Judge Alito -- and I've been with him all morning. I've been with his family, and he just left here a few minutes ago. He's got a proven record. He's a proven nominee that absolutely meets the highest standards of excellence in the United States of America.

I think the political posturing from the other side is absurd. I think it is disrespectful of the nominee, who wants America -- and my colleagues, more importantly the latter. But once America sees who he is, they're going to stand back and say, "He is smart, he's intelligent, a man of integrity. A powerhouse, a powerhouse in the legal profession." So I look up on all these comments from my colleagues as premature and political posturing. And, you know, if they continue it along the way, I think they're going to pay a price?

SNOW: How so?

FRIST: Well, first of all -- and I said this to the judge, and I said it to my colleagues. We have got to work together as a Senate to give this qualified nominee a dignified hearing and a fair up-or-down vote. If they want to throw the word "filibuster" around before, they have had hearings before, they have had the opportunity to go back and look at his records.

And if they are going to prejudge the outcome, it's going to be a fight. And we are all ready for it. Listen, I hope there's no filibuster. I stood on principle all along on the other hand, in spite of the Gang of 14, in spite of deals being cut, on that principle that these nominees deserve an up-or-down vote. And I haven't cut deals in the past.

Obstructing judicial nominees should be a thing of the past. If the Democrats want to obstruct a nominee and not give us our constitutional right of advice and consent, an up-or-down vote, we'll take it to the mat. If a filibuster comes back, I'm not going to hesitate to employ the constitutional option to get an up-or-down vote.

SNOW: In other words, you will say to Democrats, "OK, we've been playing Mr. Nice Guy, but we're going to go ahead and vote on something that says, for the purposes of voting in the United States Senate, the Constitution requires only a majority vote. And therefore, filibusters will henceforth not be in order when it comes to judicial nominees for the federal bench by the president.

FRIST: That is correct, because the tyranny of the minority should not offend and take advantage of a system that clearly, clearly lays out in the Constitution advice and consent, meaning an up-or-down, fair, dignified up-or-down vote on the floor of the Senate.

SNOW: Do you believe you have the votes to pass the constitutional option?

FRIST: Yes, yes. You know, and why do I say that so quickly? It's because this is a proven nominee. He meets the highest standards of excellence in this country. And I have enough respect in this body, the United States Senate, the upper legislative body of the greatest country in the world, to act accordingly. And that is vote them up, vote them down. You can decide how you want to, but give this proven nominee with those highest standards of excellence a vote.

http://www.techcentralstation.com/102705E.html

 

Today's New York Sun (live link) editorial advocates a presidential pardon for Lewis Libby. This editorial does not get everything right, but on some points it swats the ball out of the park. Here are a few of them in the space of one paragraph:

If Ms. Plame didn't want her identity out, she shouldn't have gotten her husband a secret mission and then allowed him to wage a public campaign against the president's foreign policy. The leading prevaricator in this case is Mr. Wilson himself. He has accused Mr. Bush of falsely leading America to war. Mr. Bush had claimed "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Mr. Wilson drank tea in Niger for a week and said that Mr. Bush's claim was not true. But even after Mr. Wilson's objection, the July 2004 report by the British government's Butler Commission found that Mr. Bush's comment was "well-founded." In a July 2004 report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senators Roberts, Hatch, and Bond said of Mr. Wilson, "The former Ambassador, either by design or through ignorance, gave the American people and, for that matter, the world a version of events that was inaccurate, unsubstantiated, and misleading."

Some very compelling arguments.

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