STATING THE OBVIOUS

According to news reports, bin Laden is reaching out to his biggest fan in Iraq.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden recently asked his chief ally in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to consider the territory of the United States as a target for terrorist attacks, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Monday.

"There has been communication between bin Laden and Zarqawi, with bin Laden suggesting to Zarqawi the U.S. homeland as a target," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official called the bin Laden communication "a fairly recent development" but declined to provide details for fear of compromising U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.

Let's put on our analyst hats and figure out what this means. As near as I can tell, this development has two implications:

1. Bin Laden is at a point where he has no operational capability. The Godfather of Islamic terrorism would not go to a relative newcomer and ask said newcomer to conduct operations on his behalf unless he had to. Bin Laden has either run out of assets, or his network has been disabled leaving him unable to communicate with his assets. Either way, he is dead in the water. At least for the time being.

Bin Laden's anemic pre-election terrorist attack--a video taped message that essentially endorsed John Kerry--lends credence to this theory.

2. The "insurgency" in Iraq is failing. If it were accomplishing its intended purpose, there would be no need to divert increasingly scarce resources to another front. The tactics being used by the terrorists in Iraq tend to confirm this theory in my mind.

Suicide attacks against civilians (like the one noted in the previous post) are not the act of a military force that is on the verge of victory. On the contrary, such actions are an act of desperation. It is worth noting that the Japanese started fielding large Kamikaze forces toward the end of WW II. They knew that the end was near and were counting on a "divine wind" to save them from imminent defeat. It didn't.

DO YOU GET IT YET, MIKEY?

In the words of the infamous Michael Moore:

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.

Minutemen? I don't recall the Minutemen doing anything like this:

At least 105 persons were killed and 133 wounded in a car bombing today outside a medical centre in Hilla, south of Baghdad, the deadliest attack in Iraq in a year, medical officials said. “Our definitive toll after taking away the last victims is 105 dead and 122 wounded,” said Dr Mohammed Dia, head of Hilla’s General Hospital. The car bomb blew up in a crowd of civil servants gathered outside the medical centre in a packed commercial district.

What kind of revolutionaries kill the people that they are trying to free? Killing innocent civilians and Iraqi civil servants is noble? When Timmy McVeigh did it here in the U.S., he was (correctly) labeled a hatemonger and a murderer. When is our news media going to acknowledge that these "Minutemen" are no such thing? They are nothing but vicious thugs who kill indiscriminately. They don't give a damn about the Iraqi people. They just want to stick it to the U.S., and to any Iraqis who are trying to rebuild their country.

DAMMIT! (MORE MULTIMEDIA STUFF)

Damn that Cowboy Blob! He's gone and done it again. Check out this post. It's funnier'n Michael Moore falling down a flight of stairs.

MULTIMEDIA STUFF

Cowboy Blob has a new flash animation creation up and running. If you like our new SecState, you'll like this.

THIS JUST IN! (LIKE YOU REALLY CARED ANYWAY)

According to Sky News, Queen Elizabeth II will not be attending her son's impending nuptials.

QUEEN WON'T GO TO WEDDING

The Queen will not attend the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, it has been announced.

But Buckingham Palace has denied that the Queen is snubbing her son's wedding.

I will not be attending the wedding either, and I want it understood that I am snubbing Prince Charles. I've been feeling out of sorts lately, and I thought that snubbing a royal wedding would be just the pick-me-up I've needed. Maybe her Majesty and I can get together for a marathon game of Trivial Pursuit that day. Then again, maybe not.

MUSICAL INTERLUDE

I found this MP3 on the net this morning using the Alta Vista Audio search. This song was used in the soundtrack to the movie Snatch. Geat tune. Its called Golden Brown, by The Stranglers. If you want to check it out, you can find it here.

Oh, and if you haven't seen Snatch, check it out. It's well worth the two hours it takes to watch it.

OUR OWN WORST ENEMY

Froggy's post yesterday about former POW's suing Iraq over injuries that they suffered during Desert Storm got me thinking about one of the greatest threats to our country. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this threat is larger and more multifaceted than I had previously imagined.

I have often said--only half jokingly--that American citizens with law degrees have done more damage to this country than all of our foreign enemies put together. I don't mean to suggest that all lawyers are bad, but there are more than a few that seem unaware of, or unconcerned with the damage they are doing.

Much of the damage has been obvious for years. Ambulance chasers have filed frivolous lawsuits that have bogged down the courts and driven up the cost of everything from insurance to healthcare. Some criminal attorneys (is that redundant?) seem to think that there is a constitutional right to get away with a crime. Now we have class action suits where the lawyers get millions, while the victims get a few dollars woth of coupons.

The war on terrorism has given us a whole new threat from our lawyers. Many are now arguing that terrorists that have been captured overseas deserve to be treated like US citizens who have been arrested. How can we fight and win a war if the people we capture on the battlefield have to be treated like drunk drivers, drug dealers, and shoplifters? Imagine this potential scenario:

ALLIED FORCES IN TROUBLE
August 6, 1944
NORMANDY, France--Just two months after landing here, Allied troops find themselves back on the Normandy coast, caught between the English Channel and a fierce German counteroffensive. The counteroffensive is spearheaded by four reconstituted German Panzer divisions. The divisions were reconstituted when POW's were released by Allied Forces. The release was ordered last month by the US 9th Circuit Court. In its decision, the court cited the failure on the part of Allied troops to provide the POW's with access to legal representation.

"War or no war, there is no excuse for not following proper legal procedures" said Morris Q. Broadbottom, attorney for the POW's.

At a press conference in London yesterday, General Eisenhower predicted that Allied Forces would prevail. "Our troops are holding their own, and I have no doubt that we'll be pushing the Germans all the way back to Berlin in no time, once we get those paratroopers back in the game" Eisenhower told reporters.

The paratroopers the General was referring to are the members of several airborne divisions that were withdrawn from Europe last month due to a court order. The troops are currently scheduled to testify before a grand jury about rumors that some German POW's were shot in the first few days after the Allied invasion of Normandy. There is no word on when the grand jury procedings will conclude.

"While I'm sure we all take the Nazi threat seriously, it should not be used as an excuse to short-circuit the legal system" said attorney Broadbottom.

Thankfully, the United States didn't face this threat from within during World War II. Unfortunately, it looks like we're facing it today. Let's hope we win.

CHECKIN' MY BLOGROLL

Got a chance to look around the blogosphere recently. As usual, I found some interesting stuff.

DarthVOB has returned to the blogosphere after a two month hiatus. I was worried that he had been deployed to outer Mongolia. Luckily, he has not.

Baldilocks has also returned to regular blogging after a brief hiatus. Apparently, work got in the way of her blogging (I hate it when that happens). She hasn't lost her edge, though. Today, she handed a cyber ass-kicking to Eason "they're shooting at us, they're shooting at us!" Jordan.

Phoenix points out a really funny cartoon about bloggers. She also comes clean about her name and her bedtime attire.

I mean, I'm not even a pajama kind of girl. I'm more the silk nightie and satin teddy type. Does that put me in the same bracket as that dirty DC blogger who I won't even link to? Ick. Creepy.

Froggy, who has not disclosed his jammie preference (since he's a SEAL, I'd guess he has two sets; one neoprene, the other rip-stop cotton), has an interesting post about yet another way in which lawyers have insinuated themselves into our war effort. Haven't those blood-sucking SOBs done enough damage already? (apologies to the honorable lawyers out there)

The Laffin' Woof has an interesting idea about how we should treat the death-grip with which the powers-that-be are holding on to the Davos tapes that would prove once and for all what Eason Jordan said (or didn't say). He also has a link to a really cool wolf picture.

Tammi ponders relationships.

Teresa's son is being deployed.

Blackfive tells us that Scott Ritter has found a new job.

Smash has a post about a Popular Mechanics article that debunks all the loopy 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Damn, there's a lotta good stuff out there. The Pajamahedeen have been busy.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

America's favorite child molester has some exciting and romantic news:

SEATTLE -- An online bridal registry says Mary Kay Letourneau and her former sixth-grade pupil, Vili Fualaau, have set the date for their wedding.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports in Monday's paper that 43-year-old Letourneau and 22-year-old Fualaau plan to wed April 16. Letourneau served 7.5 years on a 1997 conviction for raping Fualaau.

Letourneau was a married mother of four when she began a sexual relationship with the then-12-year-old Fualaau after meeting at Burien's Shorewood Elementary School in 1996, when she was 34. She was pregnant with Fualaau's first child when she was arrested in 1997 and ordered to serve a six-month sentence for second-degree child rape.

One month after she was released, Letourneau was caught having sex with Fualaau in her car. She pleaded guilty in 1997 to two charges of child rape, and gave birth to the couple's second daughter while serving her sentence. Fualaau's mother is raising their two daughters, aged 6 and 7.

Shortly after Letourneau was released from prison last August, the pair successfully petitioned a King County judge to lift a no-contact order that had barred them from seeing each other.

A family friend says they became engaged when Fualaau proposed last fall, but they have been trying to keep wedding details a secret. Noel Soriano says the wedding will likely be held in a Seattle-area church.

I caight the tail end of John Gibson's show on FOX News tonight. He had an interesting take on this story during his My Word segment:

This kid was a father twice while he still needed a father to show him how to get merit badges in Boy Scouts and how to tie a bowtie for the high school prom.

She served her time, seven and a half years. He's now 22 and she's now 43 and they're getting married.

We needed to hear something uplifting in the love department for Valentine's Day, didn't we?

The wedding is going to be in a church — what church marries rapists and rape victims? — and their two daughters are going to be flower girls. I'm sorry this is just too weird for me and I was born in California!

And how is young Vili going to be supporting his wife and children? He's getting his GED now and talking to gallery owners about exhibiting his artwork.

My, his teacher sure did a great job getting him started in life. No high school diploma, no hopes for college, dreams of an art career, two babies and a wife who will be on Social Security when he turns forty.

Give that teacher a medal!

That's My Word.

No shortage of sarcasm there. It's warranted, though. Every bit of it. And then some.

Note that the "happy couple" has an online bridal registry. I don't see some of the really important items listed. Like an education and a future for Vili. And some serious psychotherapy--and maybe some ECT-- for the pathetic Mary Kay.

All we can hope is that young Vili doesn't waste too much more of his youth on that sorry excuse for a woman. If he does stick around, I have an idea for a present that the young husband can get his wife on their seventh anniversary.

NANNY STATE LIBERALS GONE WILD!

I got this link from a co-worker today. This is funny and more than a little scary. Check it out here.