BigT’s Roundup - Thursday Ed. (10-25-07)

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BigT’s Roundup - Thursday Ed. (10-25-07)

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This is the before and after pictures of the Syrian nuke site that Israel did not bomb.
The only thing I have to say about this is that I’m glad that the
resulting crater that came out of this site was only this big and not
much bigger and much more radioactive.

We’ve decided to get tough on Iran. “How tough?” you ask. We’re going to sanction the pants off the nuclear mullahs.

The Bush administration announced sweeping new sanctions
against Iran Thursday - the harshest since the takeover of the U.S.
Embassy in 1979 - charging anew that Tehran supports terrorism in the
Middle East, exports missiles and is engaging in a nuclear build up.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, joined at a State Department
news conference by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, said the steps the
Bush administration is taking against the Revolutionary Guard Corps and
a number of banks are designed, among other things, to punish Tehran
for its support of terrorist organizations in Iraq and the Middle East.

Rice said the moves were in response to “a comprehensive policy to
confront the threatening behavior of the Iranians” although she also
said that Washington remains open to “a diplomatic solution.”

The only way that sanctions ever work is if they are in conjunction with something else. I think it would be prudent to go on the offensive with these nuts
before things get really out of hand. We also need to be supporting the
Iranian workers with strike funds, increasing trade with and protection
for groups within that country that support an end to the current
regime, and we need to be sabotaging the Quds Force and other leading
groups within the regime that are actively destabilizing Iraq and
victimizing their own people. Go on the offensive now while the
casualty level will be low because if we wait for them to get a nuke
the number of deaths could very well be in the millions.

Read this about al Qeada’s rift with al Jazeera:

Al-Qaida sympathizers have unleashed a torrent of anger
against Al-Jazeera television, accusing it of misrepresenting Osama bin
Laden’s latest audiotape by airing excerpts in which he criticizes
mistakes by insurgents in Iraq.

Users of a leading Islamic militant Web forum posted thousands of
insults against the pan-Arab station for focusing on excerpts in which
bin Laden criticizes insurgents, including his followers.

Analysts said the reaction highlighted militants’ surprise at bin
Laden’s words, and their dismay at the deep divisions among al-Qaida
and other Iraqi militants that he appeared to be trying to heal.

“It’s not about Al-Jazeera, it’s about their shock from bin Laden,”
said Diaa Rashwan, an Egyptian expert on Islamic militant groups. “For
the first time, bin Laden, who used to be the spiritual leader who
gives guidance, became a critic of al-Qaida and is confessing mistakes.
This is unusual.”

“God fight Al-Jazeera,” railed one militant Web poster, calling the
station a “collaborator with the Crusaders” for suggesting the tape
showed weakness in al-Qaida and featuring discussions of how the tape
reflected weaknesses and divisions among insurgents in Iraq.

After reading this I was obviously very happy; the two als aren’t
getting along (with all fairness I don’t think our Al would ever get
along with them either, he’s still an American albeit one with a green
crust and a chewy red center). But don’t get too happy about any of
this. Just because there is trouble in virgin paradise between al Qaeda
and al Jazeera and Iraq doesn’t mean everything is going to turn out
great for us. I think it will but we need to strike while the iron is
hot here. Make sure that the surges successes aren’t given back trying
to meet unrealistic domestic demands, increase and help the cooperation
between Sunni and Shiite, exploit the problems with the two als. We are
winning now and we will win as long as we don’t let up.

And who’s to say that we can’t continue supporting victory at home if we want to get elected? If movies are any indicator of public sentiment about the war then we are in the right here.
Rendition flopped, some indie anti-war movie is running to DVD, and if
I had to bet the farm on a failure I would put my chips all-in on that
new one with Tom Cruise and Robert Redford. What all this is telling me
is that the American public still loves America and supports its
actions. Use this support while it is still here because the American
public is fickle.

But most of us aren’t crazy, which is something I can’t say for
anyone on the left. During the last week lefties have heckled both Bill
Maher and Bill Clinton. Was it about promoting socialist policies? Hell
no, it was about them not accepting the “fact” that 9-11 was an inside
job. Both guys let the hecklers have it.

The only thing that I find odd about this whole thing is that the
hecklers had the same message and decided to attack people with whom
they mostly agree. Is the left cracking up more then normal or is there
something else to all of this? If they were smart they would realize
that most people in America intimately and correctly connect the
leftists that oftentimes populate the kookosphere with the democrat
party and this is not a good thing for continued electoral success for
the party. Maybe these kooks heckled the two Bills in order to separate
the left of the party with the far left and improve the image of the
party in the process. Of course this would be assuming that the
leftists are intelligent and that assumption would make me as crazy as
many a leftist. So it is just nuts being nuts.

And political pundits will always be political pundits. Always
trying to be the guy who picks the dark horse candidate that goes on
that Robert Redford in The Candidate-like runs and captures victory
when no one thought he would they have picked Huckabee as this years
guy no one thought could do it but does. Huckabee, I think, is not a
contender. Who even knows two things about him? But that doesn’t stop the pundits from pundificating. Huckabe is their dark horse but he is a horse with a gimpy leg who won’t even get out of the blocks.

BigT’s Linkapalooza:

SAVE RED EYE W/ GREG GUTFELD!

Russia still doesn’t want us to have nukes, surprise surprise.

Michael Yon on Beauchamp.

Europe coming around?

The tax man cometh!

His name is Rangel.

Republicans mobilize.

BigT