Open Thread Weekend.

I'm going out of town again to get my oldest son moved into his new apartment at college. Discuss whatever you wish and have a great weekend!

The Coming Wars

The Jerusalem Post has this:

"So while all eyes are glued on Lebanon, the Palestinians may well start the next war. And we know exactly how that war will look. They will use missiles, mortars and rockets that they will smuggle in from Egypt to kill Israelis in their homes in the South. They will infiltrate Israeli cities by digging tunnels under the security fence around Gaza, and from Egypt and from towns and cities in Judea and Samaria and murder us in ever growing numbers. They will receive money, weapons and combat instruction from Hizbullah and Iranian operatives in Gaza and abroad and they will attack us while protesting their everlasting dedication to jihad and their anger over Israel's "aggression."

Then there is Syria. Syrian President Bashar Assad's address Tuesday was a watershed event. After 14 years of beating around the bush, Syria finally came clean. Peace, Assad said, is dead. We hate Israel and we want to destroy it. If not us, then our children will destroy it. All the Arabs that want peace with Israel are traitors. Long live Hizbullah and we're going to war to conquer the Golan Heights as a first step towards destroying Israel.

She goes on:

"If Iran is allowed to attain nuclear weapons, there is no reason to doubt that it will use them. If Iran attacks Israel with nuclear weapons, then of course we are looking at a future war scenario involving not thousands of dead, but millions."

And then this regarding the leaders of Israel, that I am afraid is all too true:

"There is no missile that is capable of penetrating their walls of self-deception and delusion. They are blind and deaf to all evidence that their way of appeasement has failed."

There are dark clouds on the horizen in the Middle East I'm afraid. A storm of which we have not seen in our lifetime. It will certainly wake up those of us unaware of this hate. A storm that will make Iraq look like a skirmish. Make no mistake about it, this is our problem as much as it is Israel's. If they can "wipe Israel off the face of the earth," they will look with their black heart to the West. Of that, I have no doubt.

via Powerline

Interesting and Disturbing

Vital Perspective has this:

"Police in Tehran have begun dismantling satellite dishes from the city's rooftops - part of a campaign to prevent Iranians from watching Western television. The move follows a recent police order that all satellite dishes - officially banned but tolerated until now - be removed. The campaign against satellite television was launched by the Minister for Culture and Islamic Orientation, Hassan Saffar Harandi, who said "we have to halt the West's cultural offensive," on Iran.

Some observers believe that the clampdown is aimed at keeping the government's control over news regarding Iran's dispute with the international community regarding its nuclear program."

I keep getting this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think of the President of Iran. I keep telling myself that nothing bad will happen. But I can't shake this feeling.

via Powerline

“NSA eavesdropping program ruled unconstitutional”

Since my lefties here seem to be chomping at the bit to comment on this, here is your post. First let's get the "activist judge" thing out of the way. Because her background does speak volumes:

Judge Diggs Taylor's biography says she was married to Michigan Democratic Representative (1955-1980) Charles C Diggs, Jr. (divorced 1971) and S Martin Taylor (active in both the Coleman Young and Jimmy Carter campaigns) and was named to a Michigan federal court in 1979. She was the first black woman appointed to a federal judgeship in Michigan and the first black black woman to be named chief federal judge in the Eastern District of Michigan, where it says she used her positions to advance civil rights throughout the United States.

Had to add this from Powerline:(emphasis mine)

"One of the serious weaknesses of our federal judicial system is that in many cases, plaintiffs can forum-shop for a favorable district or judge. Here, the ACLU, the plaintiff in the case, could have brought the case anywhere in the United States. The ACLU naturally avoided the circuits that had already upheld warrantless surveillance as an executive power; the Sixth Circuit, which encompasses Michigan, has not ruled on the issue, to my knowledge. The ACLU was able to get its case before Judge Taylor, a 1979 Jimmy Carter appointee who was described by the Detroit Free Press as "a liberal with Democratic roots."

Powerline also says this:

"Consistent with unanimous precedent in the Federal Courts of Appeal, I would expect the 6th Circuit to reverse Judge Taylor's ruling and uphold the NSA program. That's a year or more off, however, and in the meantime the ACLU and the Democrats got the headlines they wanted from one of their own."


See the focus of her opinion here.

Jeff at PW (from whom I gathered the above info) says this (with update):

"If this program, from what is known publicly about it, can be said to violate the Fourth Amendment, there are certainly a number of other security procedures that should be held unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. [update: see Volokh here on this point]

Which is one of the reasons why I think this ruling will be overturned on appeal.

Even still, it's amazing that we've reached the nuance point where only by revealing secrets can we show the the secrets in question should not be revealed, lest they damage programs meant to protect us from attacks, which only work while details of how they work remain secret.

Perhaps we can just tie stones to the NSA program, put it in a lake, and see if it floats. If it does, it is clearly unconstitutional and should be hanged. If it drowns from the weight of its own revealed legality, everyone will know for certain that it wasn't, in fact, unconstitutional. Which, helluva lot of good that does us, sure.

But it's the thought that counts. " **** update 2: Eugene Volokh:

[...] I think (as Orin’s post suggested), the real foundation of this decision is FISA. If Congress prohibited this sort of eavesdropping via FISA, and didn’t carve out an exception under the AUMF, then the program is indeed illegal (since I don’t think the President’s inherent power argument much works here, even as to violations of a statute). If FISA doesn’t apply, though, then the program is permissible, because there’s no First or Fourth Amendment violation here.

See also, “NSA Eavesdropping Opinion and the Fourth Amendment,” and “NSA Eavesropping Opinion and the First Amendment”


I'm not lawyer (which is abundantly clear here) I'll let those who know more than I do, defend or not defend this program, but this part bothers me a bit:

From CNN: "A federal judge ruled Thursday that the governmentÂ’s warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it."

So.... if there is an immediate halt to it and let's say... down the road a bit, we are attacked and it is revealed that it was because we couldn't follow up on information because of this, won't all hell break loose? And who would pay for all that hell breaking loose? That would be the Democrats, who are dancing the snoopy dance right now, and where would they pay? At the voting booth.

Like I always say, be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.

Leiberman Leads.

The Quinnipiac University poll has Lieberman leading Lamont among registered voters 49 percent to 38 percent.

Wow, it really shows how off base the left was in choosing Lamont. I guess Lieberman knew what he was doing when he went the independent route. I don't think Lieberman will soon forget who scorned him. Not only the hard left, but those in Congress also.

Bloggers, the thorn in the side of the MSM.

Patterico has this on a LA Times article on Murtha:

I heard back from General Hagee’s office yesterday regarding my inquiry about when Gen. Hagee briefed John Murtha about Haditha. The bottom line: Gen. Hagee’s office has directly contradicted an assertion by the L.A. Times that Gen. Hagee briefed John Murtha on Haditha before Murtha accused Marines of killing civilians in cold blood. Gen. Hagee’s office confirmed to me that the General’s first briefing to Murtha took place a week after Murtha had already made his public accusations.

The background is here. Briefly, Murtha made public statements on May 17 in which he accused Marines of killing civilians at Haditha “in cold blood.” On May 26, the L.A. Times reported that Gen. Hagee had briefed Murtha before his May 17 statements:

Hagee last week briefed key congressional leaders on the upcoming report. One of those, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a retired Marine colonel, said later that Marines “killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”

I have bolded the word “later” to emphasize what The Times claimed: first, Hagee briefed Murtha, and then “later,” Murtha made the “in cold blood” accusation.

Based on news reports, I suspected this was wrong. Murtha’s “in cold blood” statement was made on May 17, and I believed that Gen. Hagee had briefed Murtha well after that. Later news reports — in particular this one from Reuters — appeared to confirm my suspicions.

But when I wrote the L.A. Times Readers’ Representative, she insisted that The Times’s report had been accurate, despite my having provided her with evidence to the contrary, including the Reuters story. Some suggested that Reuters might have gotten the story wrong, or overlooked an angle. So I contacted Gen. Hagee’s office directly.

Read the rest.

Perhaps papers should just start going with a generic retraction: "We regret the error. We were caught by the bloggers again."

I know that Rueters and the AP are thinking of Little Green Footballs every time they decide on a photo to use now. Scrutiny is a whole new way of thinking to them now.

If bloggers accomplish nothing else, we will bring back some integrity to the msm, even if it is just by keeping an eye on them.

via Ace

Must. Have. Funny.

CRACKED magazine is back and has a deathbed (we wish) confession of Fidel Castro:

Here now, directly from my notepad, are Fidel Castro’s deathbed confessions.

When he came to power, he accidentally based Cuba’s government on the philosophies of Groucho Marx, rather than Karl Marx.

- Months later, while trying to correct the error, he mistakenly based his government’s policies on the philosophies of John Lennon, rather than Vladimir Lenin.

- During a tequila bender in the late 1960’s, drunkenly placed an embargo on Cuban cigars, sending the economy into a recession.

- For a while there, thought the camouflage made him invisible.

- Three days after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Castro drunk

-dialed Kennedy, asking for relationship advice. When Kennedy provided none based on the fact that Fidel nearly sparked a nuclear war, Castro began crying and shouted, “Maybe I did that because I love you so much!”

- Thinks Katie Couric is in over her head at CBS.- Experimented with ‘mutton chops’ and a ‘handlebar moustache’ before finally settling on a long beard.

- Joseph Stalin – brutal and cold hearted dictator, yet a passionate kisser.

- Once gave a 6 hour speech, furiously denouncing Pepsi for ceasing to make Crystal Pepsi.

- Shortly after being returned to Cuba in 2000, Elian Gonzales nearly floated back to the United States, when a game of Marco Polo got out of control.

- In the event of death, requests that all of Cuba be buried with him.

- Once ate 100 tacos in 100 minutes.

- Survived 638 assassination attempts in good stride, but nearly killed the man who switched his “Head & Shoulders” with the leading brand of medicated dandruff shampoo.

- Original plan to defend The Bay Of Pigs: put a Canadian Flag on the shore, making invaders think they had reached the wrong country.

- Loved 50 Cent’s first album, but was lukewarm about the second.

- Once contacted Kellogg’s, trying to get a cereal named after him called “Castr-O’s.”

- Doesn’t really get how communism works.

Ah, the wonderful world of .....

abortion.

I was thinking that if Iraqi children or children in Lebanon were aborted instead of being killed by suicide bombers or bombs (with that somehow being our fault), the Democrats would have no problem with it. Just part of the upside down world of Democratic outrage.

h/t David

Charities finding it difficult to raise money for the displace of Lebanon.

TimesOline has this:

"The poor public response is in sharp contrast to other recent British Red Cross appeals. One for the Darfur region of Sudan raised twice as much in its first four weeks, the Pakistani earthquake appeal brought in ten times as much, and the Asian tsunami a hundred times as much. After the Beslan massacre in Russia, the charity raised as much in one day as the Lebanon appeal has in a month."

The last line is interesting:

"The only charity to raise substantial funds is Christian Aid."

Computer expert faces jail over 'made-up' child porn images

A COMPUTER expert who altered indecent images of naked women to make them look like children has been warned that he faces a prison sentence.

Stafford Sven Tudor-Miles scanned photographs of adult porn stars into his computer and used sophisticated digital equipment to reduce the size of their breasts.

The images, which Tudor-Miles also manipulated with graphics software so that the women were partially dressed in school uniforms, appeared to be of girls aged under 18.

The 38-year-old fine art student was charged with possessing indecent pseudo-images of children. His barrister argued that the pictures were of adults and, therefore, no offence had been committed.

Xeni over at boing boing seems to think this is silly:

"His crime? He scanned photographs of adult porn stars into his computer, and photomanipulated them to reduce the size of their breasts and add schoolgirl costumes. Again...pictures *of adults* photoshopped. No actual children involved, and no one is asserting otherwise."

Sorry. No sympathy from me. Why would a grown man photoshop an image to make the body of a porn star look like a child? BECAUSE HE IS A PEDOPHILE. This is what pedophiles do, they get off on sexual images of children ( and then move on to the real thing), and I don't care if they or real images or not, IT'S SICK AND WRONG. I'm glad to see this guys face jail time and I hope he keeps that jail time in mind if he ever decides to act out on any of his perverted desires.

I have no idea what the law is here in the United States. I would be shocked if it were illegal with the ACLU hanging around to protect every perverted person's right to perversion, but I hope I am wrong.

I was wrong.

In a earlier post I said that if mothers ran wars there would be no wars.
I was wrong because there are mother's like this:

"Scotland Yard police are questioning a husband and wife who allegedly planned to hide a liquid bomb in their baby's bottle to bring down an airliner.

They are among the 23 suspects arrested over the plot to blow up airliners headed for the United States in mid-flight.

Mr Keelty today expressed dismay at the alleged plan to use a child in a suicide mission.
"The phenomena of suicide bombings as a new way of taking part in terror attacks is in itself concerning, but to think or imagine that anybody would use an innocent child to join them is even more disconcerting," he said"

I wrote this in an earlier post called This Life:

"When I held my first son I thought "you can't even speak to me, you are helpless and messy and I have only seen you for a few hours, but my love for you is greater than any love I have ever known. How is this? I don't really even know you, yet I would throw myself in front of train this minute if it was to save you."

Where does this love come from? We love our parents, but they have taken care of us and loved us. We love our friends who stand by us. We love our spouses because we fell in love with them. But a baby has given us nothing to earn this love. Yet it is the largest love. It is a love that fills every nook and cranny of the heart. How do we explain it?"

I know there are a few exceptions, but most mothers feel the same way about their children. It is instinctive. Yet, this ideology of murder and terror that we are fighting overcomes that instinct. I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that this woman was willing to kill her baby in order to kill innocent people that don't fit into her worldview. It goes against every good and decent thing about humanity.

Are we getting this? Are. We. Getting. This. No amount of diplomacy, conversation, campfires, or U.N. resolutions are going to change these radical Islamic monster's mind. They want to kill us. Period. We have only two paths to take. Both equally important. First, we kill those trying to kill us. Second, we bring the idea of freedom, equality, and liberty to a people who have been brainwashed for far too long.

This will not be easy. This will not be without great sacrifice and pain. This we already know. Do we have the will to continue? Because leaving will only allow this cancer to grow. And I am not talking about staying in Iraq. We need to stay in the region, not only militarily, but in a hundred other ways. We need to continue to build schools and hospitals. We need people of all faiths to go into the region and share our different views of faith. We need to educate people on the greatness of liberty. We need to open minds stuck in the middle ages.

They need to know us. And we need to know them.



crossposted at RWS

Should a biased AP reporter report?

Media blog dicusses AP's reporter, Bassem Mroue. He points out that Mroue has a personal blog full of anti-Israeli sentiments. It seems My PetJawa reported on this back in July and Mroue then deleted many of his more biased posts. But if you surf through his blog, it's quite clear who he is rooting for.

Media blog finds more reason to be skeptical of everything you read:

"Sami Moubayed offers his "expert opinion" as an "independent journalist" on the Washington Post's PostGlobal site."

Just an independent journalist giving his expert opinion, that's all. Well, no, that's not all:

"Taking a gander over to his personal site, however, reveals another side to Moubayed — this article, "Terrorists in Tel Aviv...and Washington?":

An open letter to George W. Bush

Sami Moubayed

Mr Bush, you have ruined the Middle East. I am writing to you from Damascus, watching the images of 37 dead children in the ill-fated village of Qana in Lebanon.

No words can describe my anger at what the United States is tolerating in the Middle East.

Even more damning from this article, "There is only one Hasan Nasrallah":

History however, is written by the victors. So long as America and Israel continue to write history then Nasrallah will be remembered in the West as a "terrorist" like Osama Bin Laden.

If the Arabs write their history - or the Americans write it freed of Israeli influence, then Nasrallah would get his due place in history as a selfless uncorrupted nationalist."

I'm sure he will show no bias in his "expert" opinions, right? My God. Did we EVER hear the truth before the internet???

Good news for all.

We are so close to handing over complete policing power to the Iraqis.

I get discouraged.

Sometimes when I am arguing over this war on terror here on on my TexasSparkle blog, I feel so discouraged that so many people don't get it. They don't see the danger we face. Dan Barnett over at Hugh Hewitt at first made me feel better by reminding me that very few people "got it" just before WWII:

"In 1938, those who accurately perceived Hitler were a tiny minority. Those who understood the aims of Imperial Japan were an even smaller minority. The countries that would win World War II had no idea what was coming.

AT LEAST TODAY, we have a debate. Every time someone mentions 1938 or 1939, it warms the cockles of my heart because it means someone else gets it. And happily, those of us who get it aren't a fringe minority - we may even constitute a thin minority."

He goes on with appreciation that the news finally does seem focused on highlighting the dangers of terrorism around the world. But then he ends it with this:

"The bad news is that the right side may not win it. In America, Europe or Israel."

Which discourages me again, because I know it's true and it doesn't have to be.

I'm thinking Rush Limbaugh is having a good laugh tonight.

Karma payback is hell.

Not good.

No one has come forward in the kidnapping of Fox News reporter Steve Centanni and his cameraman. Fox is being very quiet about it as it pursues avenues of information. The other news outlets seem to be following suit by request of Fox News I am guessing.

Keep them in your prayers.

Head of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought in London thinks terror plot may be a hoax.

Media Blog at NRO has this:


"Meet A Guy Who Thinks The British Terror Plots Are a Hoax

This post on Hot Air reminded me of a clip I recorded yesterday but never got around to posting. In the clip, Tucker Carlson interviews this guy who thinks the London terror plots are a hoax. Posted here without comment, just check it out:

Video here."

via LGF

Al Gore's Penquin Army.

h/t Cormac

So very weird and sick.

So I'm looking around this site Women's voices. Women's vote. (associated with Rock the Vote) geared toward getting young unmarried women to vote and I click on "activist tools" This is where it brings me:

Useful Links

So you want to get involved? Get out on the ground and get people voting! Here are some good pleaces to start:

Visit One Vote - A Short Film About Women and Voting to see a wonderful movie about women and why it is so important that they vote.

Check out SheVotes.org for great info on women and the electoral process.

I decide to check out this short film about women and voting and where does it bring me? A porn site. A very bad porn site. That's right. A site that illustrates EVERYTHING that women should be against, exploitation of women, underaged girls being used, and women being looked upon as nothing but sexual objects. Someone has a very sick sense of humor. Maybe it does tell us how important it is for women to vote so we can get someone in office that gives a flying monkeys butt about this sick porn stuff.

Has the site been hacked? I called and left a message for them.

Geeze.

Ok, this explains so much.

You know, I don't throw around the word "commie" like many do. Every leftist is not a communist, but if the shoe fits, then Ned Lamont should wear it.


"His great-grandfather, Thomas W. Lamont, was chairman of J.P. Morgan. A wealthy progressive pacifist, he was the sugar daddy for the American Communist Party and other extreme left-wing organizations. His wife, Florence, belonged to such subversive groups as the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship and American Committee for Friendship with the Soviet Union.

Their son, Corliss Lamont, was an unapologetic Stalinist and atheist. Congress once declared him "probably the most persistent propagandist for the Soviet Union to be found anywhere in the United States." As national chairman of The Friends of Soviet Russia, he refused to condemn Josef Stalin's show trials in the 1930s. For 22 years, he was director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been financed by communists and dedicated to advancing Marxism since its inception and to this day seeks to impose socialism and atheism on America. He also chaired the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee for 30 years, during which time he fought efforts to root out Soviet spies and sympathizers in the U.S. government and military. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate from New York in 1952 with the American Labor Party and in 1958 with the Independent Socialist Party; both parties fronted communist causes. Near the end of his life, he befriended Cuba's Stalinist tyrant, Fidel Castro.

According to one recent commentary, Corliss' nephew, Edward M. "Ted" Lamont Sr., embraced liberal-socialism "and passed his religious devotion to atheistic materialism along to his son." Ned Lamont, in turn, has surrounded himself with people who may be characterized fairly as dedicated socialists and borderline communists."

via Ace.

Politicians can be so dumb.

What was he thinking????

George Allen calls a 20-year-old volunteer for his opponent, who is of Indian descent, a "macaca," which means monkey. I've never heard the term before, but I ain't buying that he didn't know what it meant. Shame on him.

It's ironic though that we demand such polite purity from our politicians when the political landscape is awash with derogatory name calling. Maybe we in the blogosphere shouldn't be so hypocritical and try to adhere to the standard we require of the ones who lead us.

Update: RCP has the video of Allen.

Anti-War Rally.

RWN has more of Zombie's pictures from the latest rally in San Francisco. Check out the Jewish slur in the last shot. It's like it's ok to do that now and I guess all the tolerant lefties there just don't mind. If you click on Zombies site you will see ever more nuttiness.

I think Republicans seem to have prettier mugshots.

CQ Politics rates Ohio's 3rd congressional district as Safe Republican and, according to the AP, it just got safer for Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH). Challenger Stephanie Studebaker (D) was arrested along with her husband on domestic violence charges over the weekend.

Studebaker's mugshot isn't going to make campaigning any easier if she chooses to continue.

Compare and contrast.

Heh.

via Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

Update: I know this seemed kind of harsh considering it dealt with domestic violence. I have worked with women who are victims of domestic violence, so I don't take that lightly, but as the story points out she was the one doing the hitting. Here is the audio of the 9-11 call that sheds more light on her problems.

Here is her 9-11 call. Trust me, that isn't how a victim of domestic abuse calls 9-11.

The Dems try the security angle.

This is the latest from the DSCC. I saw it at Americablog.

It is to laugh.

Look! My name in zombies!

My "Nothing to Do With Politics" post.

Because, frankly, I am sick of it.

Are you a fat guy? Does you butt crack show when you bend over like a plumber? Well, I have the shirt for you.

Awww...look at this cute wittle itty bitty gun.

Well, thank God the airlines are allowing lipstick. Because if we can't carry our lipstick the terrorists will have won.

If you ever need to fake a serious wound, I have the website for you!

via boing boing

More!

This may give the term "frozen embryo" a whole new meaning.

I must be sexy.

Men, guess what? Size only matters to you.

via Fark

Fox News reporter and camerman kidnapped in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian gunmen ambushed a car carrying a Fox News crew in Gaza City on Monday and kidnapped two of the journalists inside, according to witnesses and Fox.

"We can confirm that two of our people were taken against their will in Gaza," Fox News said in a statement.

ON DEADLINE: Journalists grabbed in Gaza

A Fox employee in Gaza, who declined to give his name because he was not authorized to release information about the incident, said the two kidnapped people were reporter Steve Centanni, a U.S. citizen, and a cameraman from New Zealand.

via Cotillion e-mail

Check out the Democratic Underground's reaction. Ugh. How about the one the says "Who do I root for?" Sick, sick people.

via Hot Air

Some Monday links.

The most excellent writer of all things Cuban, Val Prieto from Babalu blog has been guesting at Michelle Malkins place and today he writes on "Harlem Residents In Support of Slavery." That's right. Go read. It's good.

The ongoing loss of integrity of the New York Times.

A McCain ticket I am most certainly NOT for.

The Captain reminds us Catholics that today is feast day for Saint Maximilian Kolbe (my favorite saint!) and gives us information on how he became a Saint. I wrote a bit about him and other things in this post at TexasSparkle. Steve Janke provides some interesting background on Father Kolbe and why he should also be the Patron saint of bloggers!

Fighting the war on terror. What the left seems to have forgotten (or ignored).

I just saw Ned Lamont on the news saying "The war in Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terror." Keep in mind this is the left's golden boy. And this is what I hear a lot from my lefty commenters.

Who flew those planes into our WTC? al-Qaeda

Where did we kill the head of al-Qaeda, al-Zarqawi? Iraq.

Where was one of Iraq's most-wanted al-Qaeda terrorists, Kassim aka Qasim Al-Aani, who was a senior aide to the Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, Al-Zarqawi captured? Iraq.

Where was Salah Hussain Abdul Razak a/k/a Salah Hussein Abdelrazzaq, also a senior aide to al-Zarqawi capatured? Iraq.

During that time another senior al Qaeda in Iraq member was captured by Jordanian Intelligence. Iraqi citizen Ziad Khalaf Raja al-Karbouly a/k/a Ziad al-Karbouli and Abu Houthiyfah was arrested after being lured into Jordan.

So can the left just drop this ridiculous talking point? It's just a lie obviously. How can they deny the truth that you have just read?

Update: To just reinforce the truth of this I decided to link to articles that prove the point even more. All these things occurred in Iraq.

Several Terrorists Killed, Captured in Iraq; Weapons Caches Found

4 terrorists killed while planting roadside bombs

Suspected Terrorist Killed, Iraqi Police Nab 152 Others

Terrorist Killed, 16 Detained During Iraq Raids

IRAQ: Terrorist Killed, 16 Detained During Iraq Raids

Post-al-Zarqawi Raids Kill 104 Insurgents

Iraqi Hostage Recovered; Terrorist Cell Leader Captured

Coalition Forces Kill, Detain Terrorists in Iraq

A senior Saudi militant on Riyadh's most wanted list has been killed in battles against American forces in Iraq

Dozens of Terrorists Captured in Iraq

Ten Terrorists Captured in Iraq

I could go on and on, but I think I made my point. Iraq not being a part of the war on terror is more than a farce, it's lie and a dangerous one at that.

Update: Ok, I have to go and on. Many say and will argue that the terrorists weren't there before we invaded. Let's just drop that too. You all know about my reference to "Operation Viking Hammer" where we defeated a international terrorist training camp the first week of the invasion, but I just had to add some more proof. Because it is just so frustratiing to continue to see this false talking point being repeated over and over because it isn't just moonbats or lefty columnists. It's people like the man who would be President now if the Democrats had gotten their way.

In an interview with Time magazine during the last election, Kerry claimed that the 9/11 Commission found that Iraq had "nothing to do with al Qaeda." But according to numerous press reports, the deputy director of Iraqi Intelligence, Faruq Hijazi, met face-to-face with Osama bin Laden in 1994. Bin Laden asked for anti-ship mines and al Qaeda training camps in Iraq. (although there is no evidence that Iraqi responded to the request) That same year, according to internal Iraqi Intelligence documents authenticated by the U.S. intelligence community and reported in the June 25, 2004, New York Times, a Sudanese government official met with Uday Hussein and the director of Iraqi Intelligence to facilitate the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda.

check out this article from Telegraph.co.uk has this from April, 2003:

"Papers found yesterday in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq's intelligence service, reveal that an al-Qa'eda envoy was invited clandestinely to Baghdad in March 1998.
The documents show that the purpose of the meeting was to establish a relationship between Baghdad and al-Qa'eda based on their mutual hatred of America and Saudi Arabia. The meeting apparently went so well that it was extended by a week and ended with arrangements being discussed for bin Laden to visit Baghdad."

Then there is the published report from March 2001 in a Parisian Arabic newspaper, "Al-Watan Al-Arabi, about the arrest of two suspected Iraqi spies -- based on a tip from the CIA (boldface mine):Iraqi Spies Reportedly Arrested in Germany 16 March 2001Al-Watan al-Arabi (Paris) reports that two Iraqis were arrested in Germany, charged with spying for Baghdad. The arrests came in the wake of reports that Iraq was reorganizing the external branches of its intelligence service and that it had drawn up a plan to strike at US interests around the world through a network of alliances with extremist fundamentalist parties.The most serious report contained information that Iraq and Osama bin Ladin were working together."

The Weekly Standard had this in June:

THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq. The existence and character of these documents has been confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD by eleven U.S. government officials.

Ok, I will stop now.