Watch this

From Roll Call

After days of castigating Republicans for allegedly stalling a veterans benefits package, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) himself decided to postpone the start of the debate — and, indeed the start of Wednesday’s session — until 5 p.m. in order to accommodate the schedules of his party’s presidential hopefuls, Democratic sources said.

Oh yes she did!

Useful idiot?
Which is worse, his words or the comments to them?

This is the conflict Senator. We are at war with radical Islamic forces. Your party has proven itself to be rooting for defeat. There will be no next conflict if we walk away from this!

Some highlights of the monstrous radical ISLAMIC THREATS around the world in January 2008. That is just one month!

List of Thwarted Terror Attacks Since Sept. 11

The following is a list of known terror plots thwarted by the U.S. government since Sept. 11, 2001.

• December 2001, Richard Reid: British citizen attempted to ignite shoe bomb on flight from Paris to Miami.

• May 2002, Jose Padilla: American citizen accused of seeking “dirty bomb,” convicted of conspiracy.

• September 2002, Lackawanna Six: American citizens of Yemeni origin convicted of supporting Al Qaeda. Five of six were from Lackawanna, N.Y.

• May 2003, Iyman Faris: American citizen charged with trying to topple the Brooklyn Bridge.

Here is a link to his opening statement. After hearing the testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, Levin proceeded to use the past ploys of the Democrats. In his Statement, the General said that “we undertake a 45-day period of consolidation and evaluation”, to which Levin tried, but failed to make it sound as if we are never leaving and we aren’t pressuring the Iraqis.

Crocker statements to note:

Ted Kennedy tries to blame Cheney:

The WSJ has this must read article, I will give you just a taste:

As General David Petraeus briefs Congress this week on Iraq, it’s clear his surge has achieved remarkable results. The most crucial is that the U.S. can no longer be defeated militarily in Iraq, which could not be said a year ago. The question now is whether Washington will squander these gains by withdrawing so quickly that we could still lose politically.

A political loss has always been a strong possibility given the fact that the majority of the Democrats in Congress have done everything in their power to lose this war militarily.

As we await General Petraeus’ testimony, take a look at this: Sadr calls off the Million Man March

I used that quote as an intro because David Stafford of the WaPo does a comparative analysis of Iraq and post-war Germany. The question asked:

So what did the United States do right 60 years ago that it has — so far — failed to accomplish in Iraq since the iconic toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad and Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” declaration aboard a U.S. carrier on May 1, 2003?

One thing to keep in mind is that we did not end the full military occupation in Germany until 10 years after we declared victory.

Read Robert’s post to update yourself on what this idiot is talking about:

“I hope we don’t hear any glorification of what happened in Basra,” said Pelosi, referring to a recent military offensive against Shiite militants in the city led by the Iraqi government and supported by U.S. forces.

Although powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed to a ceasefire after six days of fighting, Pelosi wondered why the U.S. was caught off guard by the offensive and questioned how the ceasefire was achieved, saying the terms were “probably dictated from Iran.”

“We have to know the real ground truths of what is happening there, not put a shine on events because of a resolution that looks less violent when in fact it has been dictated by al-Sadr, who can grant or withhold that call for violence,” Pelosi said.

Probably because they know that what they are selling isn’t totally truthful?

If you were king or queen for a day, what would the punishment be to this?

DC Recruiting Center Under Attack: Rocks and Paint Bombs: Cops Under Orders to do Nothing

Via the Editors Of NRO

Here’s the edict from House Democrats: Terrorists plotting to kill Americans get protection from surveillance, while businesses helping to protect Americans from terrorists get ruined by litigation.

For the second time in a month, House Democrats have closed up shop to go on vacation (this time for two weeks) without permitting a vote on a bill that would restore critical surveillance authority to U.S. intelligence agencies. Obviously embarrassed by the bad publicity they generated last time around, they’ve attempted to camouflage dereliction with chicanery, offering an alternative proposal Democrats know to be so deeply flawed that it would be dead on arrival in the Senate — let alone at the White House, where it would be vetoed instantly.

We marked the 5th year of the war in Iraq, not to mention the fact that he clinched the Republican nomination, therefore, I am not seeing how this trip comes as any surprise to the media:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain arrived in Iraq on Sunday to assess improved security attributed to a build-up of 30,000 extra troops of which he has been a strong supporter.
McCain arrived in Baghdad and was due to meet Iraqi government leaders and U.S. officials in the heavily fortified “Green Zone” diplomatic and government compound, U.S. embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said. …
Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since last June, when extra troops were fully deployed. There has been a fall in violence since January but U.S. commanders in Iraq say this does not represent a trend.

Contrary to reports put out by ABC News, in their rush to put something up that wasn’t true or maybe ABC is just that stupid, the documents given to them by the Penagon shows that Saddam Hussein had plenty of ties to all sorts of terrorist groups, including radical Islamist jihadis. Ed explains what you will find in the report.

Guest post by Robert:

I’ve mentioned this on the blog a couple of times, but I don’t think anyone realizes the seriousness of the situation. This agreement allows the administration to deploy foreign troops on US soil without congressional approval:

U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, and Canadian Air Force Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, commander of Canada Command, have signed a Civil Assistance Plan that allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.

I ask because Ed posted Bush to veto intel bill with interrogation restrictions. The POTUS will veto the recently passed intelligence authorization bill over restrictions on CIA interrogation techniques.

Should We Be Publishing The Limits Of Interrogatory Technique For The CIA? Yes or no with your reasons would be appreciated.

This is coming from The Crypt Blog:

Eight House Democrats were mailed a letter and photo of a Times Square recruiting station in Manhattan before it was bombed this morning, according to House insiders.

UPDATE 2: A senior House aide suggested many more members than the eight Democrats originally beliveved to have received them could have gotten copies and suggested law enforcement officials do not know the full scope of how many missives were actually sent at this time.

The letter did not contain any specific threats against the lawmakers or the site, but the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI are now investigating the matter.

It was unclear which lawmakers received the letters or their party affiliation. The letter was postmarked Feb. 28, a week before the explosion in New York.

The New York Times is reporting that the “improvised explosive device” used in the attack “was ‘roughly similar’ to the devices used in two earlier bombings at foreign consulates in Manhattan in 2005 and 2007.”

Although unknown at this time, but not for long, bomber(s) decided to blow up a military recruitment center at about 3:45 a.m. No one was in the center, but the reverberation could be felt above and beyond:

An explosive device damaged a military recruiting station in Times Square early Thursday, and police blocked off the area to investigate.
The explosive device caused minor damage, and no one was injured, police said. The explosion shattered a glass entryway. …
Witnesses staying at a hotel in the area said they heard a “big bang” and could feel the building shake. A large plume of smoke was also visible after the explosion, they said.

more:

An explosive device caused minor damage to an empty military recruiting station in Times Square early Thursday, shaking guests in hotel rooms high above.

Police blocked off the area to investigate the explosion, which occurred at about 3:45 a.m., shattering the station’s glass entryway. No one was injured.

Jurors convicted Hassan Abu-Jihaad, 32, of Phoenix of providing material support to terrorists and disclosing classified national defense information on the second day of deliberations.

The American-born Muslim convert formerly known as Paul R. Hall faces up to 25 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in May. His attorney, Dan LaBelle, said an appeal was likely.

I think 25 or his life would have been more appropriate:

The leak came amid increased wariness on the part of Navy commanders whose ships headed to the Persian Gulf in the months after a terrorist ambush in 2000 killed 17 sailors aboard the USS Cole.

“Fortunately there wasn’t an attack based on the information Abu-Jihaad passed,” said FBI agent Kimberly K. Mertz.

Abu-Jihaad, who was a signalman aboard the USS Benfold, was accused of passing along details that included the makeup of his Navy battle group, its planned movements and a drawing of the group’s formation when it was to pass through the dangerous Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf on April 29, 2001.

Obama tried to throw a verbal assault weapon at Hillary. Barack chose to condemn Hillary for her Iraq War vote by comparing her to Jay Rockefeller. It appears that there was blowback which caused damage to his reputation as a brilliant mind:

Obama criticized Clinton expressly for failing to read the classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq’s weapons capabilities, a report available at the time of her October 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq war. “She didn’t give diplomacy a chance. And to this day, she won’t even admit that her vote was a mistake - or even that it was a vote for war,” Obama said.