Theodore's World

Freed illegal immigrants endanger public
Shelbyville Times Gazette

“I don’t want somebody in this county to get run over and killed by someone that I’ve had in my jail numerous times … and he’s still here.”

Those were the words from Sheriff Randall Boyce last month as he talked about implementing the federal database sharing program called 287(g) that would be used to identify and then deport illegal immigrants.
Boyce was talking about the problem of certain folks who are in and out of the county jail on a such a regular basis that it is a second home to some.
But the sheriff is also touching on a deadly dilemma that is being seen in communities all across the county — illegal immigrants who are let out of jail instead of being deported that end up committing more crimes and killing innocent people.
The latest, most sensational case comes out of Newark, NJ, where illegal immigrant Jose Carranza has been charged with the execution-style murders of three college students. What has people enraged is that fact he was freed on bail twice this year after being charged with assault and rape involving a girl of kindergarten age.
The man, regardless of his race or immigration status, should not have been walking around free with such hideous charges pending. What were they thinking?
On Wednesday, reports came in from Baltimore that a Guatemalan man who is in the country illegally was arrested on hit-and-run charges after a traffic accident killed two highway construction workers and injured three others.
Remember the case of the six illegal immigrants arrested that were allegedly plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix? It turns out that three of them had been in the country illegally for 23 years, and had been charged by the New Jersey police more than 75 times during that time period.
Last month in nearby Columbia, cops were on the hunt for an illegal immigrant they say raped a 15-year-old girl only hours after being released from jail. Juan Villa had been in jail 11 times since 2001 on charges that include assault and public intoxication. Authorities say Villa committed the rape just hours after his latest stay in the county lockup. While investigating the first crime, a 13-year-old girl also told deputies that Villa raped her as well.
And in Nashville, there has been several cases of illegal immigrants who have repeatedly been in jail, only to be released where they would get drunk and then drive off and slam into another innocent family, killing them.
One big problem rests with towns and cities that have set themselves up as “sanctuary zones.” The status bans cooperation between federal immigration officials and local cops, the exact opposite of the 287[g] program. There are currently more than 60 sanctuary zones, and Newark was one of them.
The first sanctuary city established was Los Angeles and guess what: 95 percent of all outstanding murder warrants in that city are for illegal immigrants.
According to statistics released last year by Rep. Steve King of Iowa, 12 Americans are murdered every day by illegal immigrants, and 13 more are killed by drunk illegal immigrant drivers. That’s a whole lot more than we lose in Iraq every week.

A report released in 2005 by the Government Accountability Office [GAO] looked at 55,322 illegals locked up in federal, state, and local facilities during 2003. The study found that the 55,322 represented a total of 459,614 arrests — around eight arrests per illegal alien.
Those arrests represented a total of about 700,000 criminal offenses — averaging 13 offenses per illegal immigrant and 36 percent had been arrested at least five times before.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Can’t cut and run here, as there is nowhere to run which makes this our fight. You will NOT find the liberal US media totalling these up, and then having a big news event—with buzzers and whistles and fireworks— when we cross over the 10,000 dead mark, and crap like that
2006 (First Quarter) INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants
CRIME
* 95 % of Warrants in LOS ANGELES are for ILLEGAL ALIENS
* 83 % of Warrants for MURDER in Phoenix Arizona are FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS
* 86 % of Warrants for MURDER in Albuquerque New Mexico are for ILLEGAL ALIENS
* 75 % of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Albuquerque are ILLEGAL ALIENS
* 24.9 % OF ALL INMATES in California detention centers are Mexican Nationals here ILLEGALLY
* 40.1 % of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican Nationals here ILLEGALLY
* 29 % (630,000) Convicted ILLEGAL ALIENS felons fill our state and federal prisons at the cost of $1.5 Billion Annually
* 53 % Plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by ILLEGAL ALIENS
* 50 % Plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are ILLEGAL ALIENS
* 71 % Plus of all apprehended Cars stolen in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California were stolen by ILLEGAL ALIENS or “Transport Coyotes ”
* 47 % of cited / stopped Drivers in California have NO License, NO Insurance, and NO Registration for the vehicle of that 47 %, over 92 % were ILLEGAL ALIENS
* 63 % of cited / stopped Drivers in Arizona have NO License, NO Insurance, and NO Registration for the vehicle of that 63 %, over 97 % are ILLEGAL ALIENS
* 66 % of cited / stopped Drivers in New Mexico have NO License, NO Insurance, and NO Registration for the vehicle Of that 66 %, over 98 % were ILLEGAL ALIENS

Olivia, a military working dog, sleeps beside her trainer inside a Stryker vehicle after a mission in Mosul, Iraq. This photo appeared on www.army.mil.

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BAGHDAD
American Forces Press Service
Iraqi and Coalition forces are pursuing extremist leaders in Iraq’s remote areas in coordinated “quick strikes” launched this week, the commander of Multi-National Corps-Iraq told Pentagon reporters Saturday.
Operation Phantom Strike is a series of joint operations that extend from Operation Phantom Thunder, a corps-level offensive that began in June targeting al-Qaeda, Sunni insurgents and Shiia extremists in, near and around Baghdad, said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno.

“With the elimination of safe havens and support zones due to Phantom Thunder, al-Qaeda and Shiite extremists have been forced into ever-shrinking areas. It is my intent to pursue and disrupt their operations,” Odierno said.

Over the coming weeks, the general said, combined forces will conduct quick-strike raids against extremist sanctuaries and staging areas. Using precision-targeting operations, troops will target terrorist leaders and members of lethal improvised-explosive-device and car-bomb networks, he said.

“We will continue to hunt down the leadership, deny them safe haven, disrupt their supply lines and significantly reduce their capability to operate in Iraq,” Odierno added.

In the first 24 hours of one “quick-strike” raid, Multi-National Division-North Soldiers captured and killed several enemies and seized weapons caches in the Diyala River Valley. Called Operation Lightning Hammer, this operation targeted extremists as they tried to re-establish sanctuaries, the general said.
Odierno highlighted some successes of Operation Phantom Thunder, which launched June 15. In 142 battalion-level joint operations, Iraqi and Coalition forces detained 6,702 suspects, killed 1,196 enemies and wounded 419 others. Combined forces also killed or captured 382 high-value targets, he said.

Troops also cleared 1,113 weapons caches and scores of IEDs and car bombs. “The number of found and cleared IEDs, (car bombs) and caches are approximately 50 percent higher than the same period last year due, in large part, to effective tips provided by concerned Iraqi citizens,” the general added.

Odierno warned that high-profile attacks may rise as two important dates approach. In the early weeks of September, Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month, begins. U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq, is slated to present an anticipated report to Congress around the same time.

“Our enemy is ruthless and will no doubt attempt to exploit the upcoming Ramadan season, as well as influence political opinions in the coming weeks by increasing attacks with particular emphasis on high-profile terror attacks,” he said.

But extremists’ efforts are increasingly hampered by civilians who cooperate with coalition forces as troops ramp-up raids around the country, Odierno said.

“Al-Qaeda and other extremist elements will have to contend with an Iraqi population that no longer welcomes them,” he said, “as well as quick-hitting offensive operations by Coalition and Iraqi forces.”

MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq – Iraqi and Coalition troops found a suspected torture and execution house near Mahmudiyah, Iraq, and detained six local men Aug. 12.
Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) out of Fort Drum, N.Y., checked the house, which local sources said was used as a torture facility.
They found wire whips and a short-handled maul in the house, as well as two casings from AK-47 rounds.
Six local men were in the house across the street. When the troops went to speak with them, the house was found to contain Jaysh al-Mahdi, or Mahdi militia, DVDs, what appeared to be mounts for heavy machine guns and rocket adjustment equipment, as well as a 9mm pistol with two magazines and a collapsible police-style baton.
The Soldiers questioned the men, who denied any involvement with Jaysh al-Mahdi and said the house across the street was a local meeting place.
One of the men had a cell phone with text messages concerning the placement of heavy machine guns.
The men all tested positive for explosive residue on their hands. They were detained and taken to the Iraqi Army Compound in Mahmudiyah for further questioning.

Sen. Leahy Lands Role in Batman Movie
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP)

Sen. Patrick Leahy has a part in the next Batman movie.
“I don’t wear tights,” the Vermont Democrat said.
Leahy’s scene was filmed this summer for “The Dark Knight” and involves Batman, played by Christian Bale, The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, and Alfred Pennyworth, played by Michael Caine.
The longtime Batman fan would reveal little about his role other than he is called the “distinguished gentleman.”
“It’s a pretty tense scene,” said Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It’s going to be a very interesting one.”
He’s done voice-overs on Batman cartoons, written the preface for a Batman book and had small roles in the last two Batman features.
He said he will donate his earnings from the film to the Kellogg-Hubbard children’s library in Montpelier, where the senator got his first library card.
“The Dark Knight” is scheduled to be released next summer.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Hmmmmm ( just thinking here) I wonder if he will leak the ending?? And then it will be only a matter of hours before the NY Times publishes Bat Man’s secret identity.
I hope Rush talks about this today, he would have a lot of fun with it. Hahahaha

Sadr pledges to work with UN
Herald Sun
Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has pledged to commit his forces and followers to help the United Nations if it replaces American and British troops in Iraq, according to an interview published today.
Speaking to The Independent newspaper from his movement’s headquarters in Kufa, south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Sadr said that he would “support the UN if it comes and replaces the American and British occupiers”.

“If the UN comes here to truly help the Iraqi people, they will receive our help in their work. I would ask my followers to support the UN as long as it is here to help us rebuild our country.

“They must not just be another face of the American occupation.”

Sadr, who enjoys popular grassroot support among Iraqi Shiites, is a powerful political player in Iraq’s embattled government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
His anti-American views have frequently seen his Mahdi Army militia clashing with US soldiers since the US-led March 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
Sadr told the newspaper that the British army’s downscaling in Iraq was a sign that it had given up and was defeated, saying:

“They are retreating because of the resistance they have faced. Without that, they would have stayed for much longer, there is no doubt.”

He also warned that Britain’s involvement in Iraq had endangered its citizens at home: “The British put their soldiers in a dangerous position by sending them here, but they also put the people in their own country in danger.

“They have made enemies among all Muslims and they now face attacks at home because of their war. That was their mistake.”

On domestic Iraqi politics, Sadr said that Mr Maliki’s days as Iraqi leader were coming to a close.

“Al-Maliki’s government will not survive because he has proven that he will not work with important elements of the Iraqi people … The prime minister is a tool for the Americans and people see that clearly,” he said.

“It will probably be the Americans who decide to change him when they realise he has failed. We don’t have a democracy here, we have a foreign occupation.”

Sadr also denied American claims that he was being armed by Iran.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Someone really needs to whack this bastard.
“Al-Maliki’s government will not survive because he has proven that he will not work with important elements of the Iraqi people … The prime minister is a tool for the Americans and people see that clearly,” Sadr said.
“It will probably be the Americans who decide to change him when they realise he has failed. We don’t have a democracy here, we have a foreign occupation.”
I sure hope he will not be the one to replace Al-Maliki if he steps down, is killed or they remove him.

Hundreds Pose Nude on Swiss Glacier
BETTMERALP, Switzerland (AP)
Hundreds of naked people formed a “living sculpture” on Switzerland’s Aletsch glacier Saturday, hoping to raise awareness about climate change.
The photo shoot by Spencer Tunick, the New York artist famous for his pictures of nude gatherings in public settings worldwide, was designed to draw attention to the effects of global warming on Switzerland’s shrinking glaciers.

“The melting of the glaciers is an indisputable sign of global climate change,” said the environmental group Greenpeace, which co-organized the event.

It said most Swiss glaciers will disappear by 2080 if global warming continues at its current pace.
The event, which followed Tunick’s previous shoots in London, Mexico City and Amsterdam, was designed to minimize any impact on the environment, Greenpeace said.
Temperatures during the shoot hovered around 50 degrees.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
See we have not seen everything yet! LMAO ok I just thought we all could have nice Sunday mornnig laugh. This is some global warming awareness party. Oh my gosh, the LAST place I would dream of being naked is atop a glacier.
This is not like the oh what do they call it, the Polar Bear Club or something, where people take a dip in freezing cold water during the winter months. Nope this group is about Global Warming. hahahahaha

Iran’s Guards: We’ll ‘Punch’ US
Tehran ( AP)
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they would not bow to pressure and threatened to “punch” the U.S., in their first response to Washington’s plan to list them as a terrorist organization, newspapers reported Saturday.
Local press in the Iranian capital of Tehran quoted Revolutionary Guards leader Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi saying that he could understand Washington’s ire toward the group because of their “leverage” against the U.S.

“America will receive a heavier punch from the guards in the future,” he was quoted as saying in the conservative daily Kayhan. “We will never remain silent in the face of U.S. pressure and we will use our leverage against them.”

There was no elaboration on what Safavi meant by the punch or the organization’s “leverage.”
Washington has accused the Guards of supporting militias and insurgent groups attacking U.S. forces in Iraq—charges Iran denies.
The fact that the remarks, made on Thursday in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, appeared in local newspapers rather than the official state news outlets suggest the comments are for domestic consumption.
Meanwhile, other Iranian officials continued to speak out against Washington’s move to register the group as a terrorist organization, with a government spokesman calling the claims “baseless,” on the Web site of the state broadcasting company.

“The claims of the U.S. are baseless and have no takers around the world,” he said Saturday, noting that “the U.S. has endangered the world many times under the excuse of fighting against terrorism.”

On Tuesday, Bush administration said the U.S. planned to list the Guards as terrorist group in order to squeeze Iran.
The move was seen as an effort to pressure businesses the corps is thought to control, from construction to oil sectors. It would be the first time the U.S. would put a foreign government’s military agency on the list, which includes the al-Qaida network and the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iranian armed forces spokesman Gen. Ali Reza Afshar hit out precisely against this attempt to declare a state body terrorist in an editorial Saturday in the country’s largest circulation newspaper, calling it illegal.

“America’s long time hostility against the Guard is clear and understandable, but this move against organization that is part of Iran’s armed forces is illegal,” he wrote in the daily Hamshahri.

The estimated 200,000-strong Revolutionary Guards is an elite force separate from Iran’s regular military and has its own ground, naval and air units.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
My response is this video:

Monty Python Military Ferry – Heh heh

Bureaucrat ‘Insiders’ Working for Islamofascists?
by FSM Contributing Editor Mike Cutler
There is an article appearing in the August 15 edition of the Washington Times that should alarm every citizen of the United States. According to Washington Times reporter, Sara Carter:

“A criminal investigations report says several U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees are accused of aiding Islamic extremists with identification fraud and of exploiting the visa system for personal gain.

“The confidential 2006 USCIS report said that despite the severity of the potential security breaches, most are not investigated ‘due to lack of resources’ in the agency’s internal affairs department.”

Carter went on to quote an internal document obtained by the Times that two District Adjudications Officers are allegedly involved with “known Islam terrorist members,” whose identities were redacted for security reasons.
As a former INS senior special agent and as someone who was also detailed to the division of the former INS that adjudicated applications for residency based on marriage to United States citizens and resident aliens, it gives me no pleasure to write this commentary. I hate to see instances where those in positions of national trust violate the trust that their positions automatically imply. The sad thing is that this story has to infuriate the many honest employees who must feel, as I do, a particularly keen sense of betrayal.
I have often heard various people talk about the need for border security and I have countered by saying that simply securing the border will achieve little if the other components of the immigration system lack meaningful integrity. In order to hammer this point home, I have stated that even if our government could borrow the “deflector shields” from the Starship Enterprise and install them along our nation’s borders, little will have been accomplished if USCIS then provides criminal and terrorist aliens with resident alien status, and especially United States citizenship, because these gifts represent the “Keys to the Kingdom.”
It would be the equivalent of hiring locksmiths and contractors to install gates on the windows and door of a home, put in the most secure locks and erect tall gates around the perimeter of the house and then hang the key to the locks on the outside doorknob!
I want you to consider a statement made by the Director of USCIS, Emilio T. Gonzalez that appears in the Times article:
USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez in March told Congress that he could not establish how many terror suspects or persons of special interest have been granted immigration benefits.

“While USCIS has in place strong background check and adjudication suspension policies to avoid granting status to known terror risks, it is possible for USCIS to grant status to an individual before a risk is known, or when the security risk is not identified through standard background checks,” said a statement provided to lawmakers.

“USCIS is not in a position to quantify all cases in which this may have happened. Recognizing that there may be presently known terror risks in the ranks of those who have obtained status previously.”

This is an area of frustration for me that I have addressed at a number of Congressional hearings concerning the failings and limitations of USCIS to know who would receive official identity documents if a Guest Worker Amnesty program such as the one recently defeated in the United States Senate was to have been implemented. There is a world of difference between a background check and a background investigation.
The background check Mr. Gonzalez refers to would simply require that an applicant’s name and fingerprints be run through computer databases to determine if the prints or the name relate to a known terrorist or criminal.
Terrorists understand that in order to be effective they need to do everything in their power never to be fingerprinted in the United States before making any application for an immigration benefit. Then they provide a false name to immigration with clean fingerprints. Since the name and the fingerprints result in “No hit,” that is to say no matches are found, the terrorist alien in question will receive an official identity document in the false name he (she) provided to USCIS.
Clearly Mr. Gonzalez has no idea as the scope and magnitude of the corruption and incompetence at an agency that hands out the “Keys to the Kingdom.” I also want to make it clear that this inept and corrupt agency would administer any Guest Worker Amnesty Program that our government would implement if such “leaders” as Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the President of the United States had their way.
A true background investigation such as that which I was required to undergo every 5 years because I had a “Top Secret” clearance required that investigators actually went out into the street with my photo and knocked on doors and interviewed neighbors, relatives and others to determine if I was known by any other names or if I was conducting myself in a suspicious manner. They also checked into my finances and other relevant avenues of inquiry.
The bottom line is, as the article noted, a terrorist needs to obtain official immigration status as a means of embedding himself in our country to be able to hide in plain sight.
For years the emphasis at USCIS is to make the rapid adjudications of applications the priority and not to uncover fraud. The GAO has issued a number of reports about this issue.
Last Year USCIS claims to have “lost” more than 110,000 immigration alien files relating to aliens seeking a wide variety of immigration benefits including 30,000 alien applicants who applied to naturalize. Incredibly, according to the GAO, those aliens were naturalized even though the adjudications officers had no access to the relating immigration files!
I have no way of proving this, but I could not imagine losing 110,000 jellybeans or paper clips. I suspect that USCIS management simply decided that it would take too long to have the adjudicators review those files and so they simply claimed to not be able to find them. (The bureaucratic version of “Don’t ask; don’t tell.”) To my knowledge not a single employee was fired or even disciplined for “losing” 110,000 files!
There are three ways that a job is not done properly. There is nonfeasance, which simply means that the job is not done. There is misfeasance which means that the job is not done properly and then there is malfeasance which means that the job is not done properly because of corruption. It seems that all three issues are involved in the disastrous situation at USCIS today.
I wrote several months ago concerning the leadership at USCIS since its creation roughly 4 years ago as a result of an article that appeared in the Washington Post on May 28 of this year entitled, “Immigration Agency Mired in Inefficiency.”
The thesis of my commentary concerning that article illuminates the climate at USCIS today, which in turn probably contributed to the wide-scale corruption found at that component of DHS which I have come to refer to as the Department of Homeland Surrender:
There is a Yiddish expression that says that when a fish goes bad, it smells from the head. Let us consider the two men who have served as the director of USCIS. The first director of USCIS, Eduardo Aguirre is currently the United States’ Ambassador to Spain.
Let me say that two things immediately stand out in his bio. First of all, as he himself testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims and is now noted in his official bio, as the director of USCIS he listed his priorities as being “first, to eliminating backlogs, second to improving customer service and finally third, enhancing national security.”
You simply cannot make this stuff up! Next it is worth noting that Aguirre had previously been the President of Bank of America’s International Private Bank. Yes that bank! – the one that issues credit cards to illegal aliens!
According to his official biography, Gonzalez worked for the Miami based international law firm of Tew Cardenas. It is important for you to know this because Tew Cardenas offers many services to its clients. The service of interest to me is that it offers services as a lobbying firm. It is, in fact, registered as representing the foreign governments of the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama as a lobbyist for those countries.
While both the previous director of USCIS and the current director have had distinguished careers, I find it interesting that these two leaders did not come from a background of law enforcement, notwithstanding Mr. Gonzalez’s background as a military officer.
Frankly I am concerned that a former banker and a former attorney with a lobbying firm would wind up in charge of an agency that has such a strong national security component to the work that is conducted by its employees. Certainly the scathing reports that have been issued by the GAO and OIG have done nothing to dispel my apprehensions. This is an issue that warrants revisiting and ongoing attention.
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!

Wild Thing’s comment…….
I have read this man’s articles several times and they are always excellent. The more complex this whole thing is I have to wonder if it can ever be resloved. I loved the way Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico . Shipping every last one of them no matter how many right out of the country.But we don’t seem to have that kind of strong leadership now that would do such a thing, instead they want to be PC about every thing they do.

Orlando police Sgt. Mark Canty holds a .20-gauge shotgun and a pellet rifle on Friday during a sneakers-for-gun exchange outside the Florida Citrus Bowl

Orlando police ask for guns, get missile launcher
Orlando Sentinel ….for complete article
Orlando emptied its bureau drawers and closets on Friday of more than 250 unwanted guns — and one surface-to-air missile launcher.
The shoulder-fired weapon showed about 6 p.m. when an Ocoee man drove to the Citrus Bowl to trade the 4-foot-long launcher for size-3 Reebok sneakers for his daughter.

“I didn’t know what to do with it, so I brought it here,” explained the man, who said he found the missile in a shed he tore down last week. “I took it to three dumps to try to get rid of it and they told me to get lost.”

After hefting the weapon designed to blow jets out of the sky, police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones commented: “I tell you, you never know what you’re going to get.”

Many could not be traced because they were made before 1968, when serial numbers became mandatory for new firearms sold in the U.S.
An unblemished 1903 .32-caliber Colt pistol caught the eye of a knowledgeable deputy who checked the Internet and found it was worth about $1,400.
Friday’s exchange had discoveries similar to a PBS Antiques Roadshow episode in which a participant comes in with an unexpected treasure.
That moment for gun aficionados was the pre-noon appearance at the Citrus Bowl of an unidentified man carrying three firearms. He dropped them off and left, saying he didn’t want anything.

“I wish he’d been my father,” said Officer Kevin Williams, an assistant rangemaster and gun instructor at the Orlando Police Department. “I’d love to have them.”

Worth more than $3,000, those three military-style target rifles will be destroyed just like the rusted guns worth less than $50 that were turned in, organizers said. Before going under cutting torches, guns that work will be test fired so the bullets and cartridges can be compared to evidence in unsolved murder cases, they said.

“Somebody took really good care of this,” said Williams, holding a .308-caliber M1-A Springfield rifle worth about $1,500. “I’d bet a body part this was never used in a crime.”

Wild Thing’s comment……..
What???? They find a missile launcher in a shed near one of the busiest international airports in the world and all they can say is “You never can tell what you’re going to get?”

Dems Discredit Iraq Report Before It Appears
newsmax
Democrats are questioning the truthfulness of an upcoming report from Gen. David Petraeus on the progress of President Bush’s troop-surge strategy in Iraq.

“For a long time the Administration has hidden behind the name of General David Petraeus, saying the September report will be his. We all knew this would be the President’s report,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a news release on Thursday.

Pelosi was reacting to press reports that the Bush administration plans to write the Petraeus report itself — and may restrict Petraeus’s testimony before Congress to a closed session.
A column in Thursday’s Washington Post called the Petraeus report, due out Sept. 15, “a White House con job in the making.”

And the Los Angeles Times noted on Wednesday, “Despite Bush’s repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.”

Democrats, always skeptical of the administration’s war claims, urged the White House to butt out.

“We must remember that the purpose of the surge was to create a secure environment in which political change could occur. Whether or not some limited military success has occurred, it is clear that the Iraqi leaders have failed to make political progress,” Pelosi said.

“The question for September is: ‘Why should our troops risk their lives in a civil war when the Iraqi government refuses to take the political steps necessary to end the sectarian violence?’ We must have a candid assessment of the ongoing situation in Iraq and it is increasingly unclear whether the September report will provide that.”

There’s a lot riding on the Petraeus report for both sides.
Anti-war Democrats who have been pressing for a U.S. troop withdrawal for months are not expected to change their minds, although a positive assessment from Gen. Petraeus might undermine their position for a quick troop withdrawal.
On the other hand, a negative assessment from Gen. Petraeus might undercut the Bush administration’s arguments that a continuing U.S. troop presence is critical to achieving a stable, democratic Iraq.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Let me get this straight: the Democrats are questioning the truthfulness of a report that has not yet been made because they are afraid it will be good news and they need it to be bad news. Therefore, they are trashing the credibility of this non-existent report so that they can insulate themselves from the consequences of having invested themselves in failure, while at the same time they can deny that we are succeeding. Do I have that right? And these people wonder why Americans don’t trust them with our national security.
The Democrats have backed themselves into a corner: if the war goes well, Bush (and the Republicans) get the credit and they look like craven losers; if the war goes poorly, they are guilty of undercutting the American forces by propagandizing for the enemy. Either way, they are eventually going to pay – and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch.
I would put nothing paste Pelosi, who knows she may even be gettig money from the al-quada somehow. I know that sounds a little far out but I keep thinking of ……….
Clinton’s accepted contributions from China and terrorists that they pardoned to help fund Hillary’s run for the Senate. And Teddy Kennedy sold out Reagan to the KGB.
http://www.tldm.org/News9/KennedyCooperatedWithKGB.htm
Even if every Iraqi joined the boy (or girl) scouts and became model citizens the Dems would still be saying it’s a disaster.

Stamp honors James Stewart (decorated World War II bomber pilot and actor)
(AP)
Lots of actors play war heroes on the screen. James Stewart was one in real life.
A decorated World War II bomber pilot who returned from battle to star in “It’s A Wonderful Life,” Stewart will be commemorated on a new 41-cent postage stamp being released Friday.
Stewart flew 20 bombing missions over Germany, including one over Berlin, after wrangling combat duty when commanders would have preferred to use a movie star for morale building work at home.
As a squadron commander, Stewart flew many dangerous missions when he could have sent others instead, recalled Robbie Robinson, a sergeant who was an engineer-gunner in Stewart’s B-24 squadron.
But while Stewart rose to colonel during the war and later retired as a brigadier general in the reserves, he didn’t stand on ceremony.
Robinson, of Collierville, Tenn., recalled one time when a creative tail gunner managed to “liberate” a keg of beer from the officer’s club.

That evening, Stewart wandered into a hut where some men were resting, picked up a cup, walked over to the “hidden” keg, poured himself a beer and sat back and drank it slowly, relaxing in a chair.
“We were shaking in our boots,” Robinson said.
But Stewart merely got up, wiped out the cup, asked the men to keep an eye out for a missing keg of beer, and left.

Another time, Robinson recalled in a telephone interview, his plane landed behind another that was stuck on the end of the runway, nearly clipping it’s tail.

After watching this Stewart rubbed his chin and commented: “Ye Gods, sergeant, somebody’s going to get hurt in one of these things.”
“Once in your lifetime someone crosses your path you can never forget, and that was Jimmy Stewart,” Robinson concluded.

This is the 13th stamp in the “Legends of Hollywood” series and will be dedicated in ceremonies at Universal Studios, Hollywood, Calif.

“It’s our privilege to pay tribute to James Stewart, a fantastic actor, a great gentleman, a brave soldier, and an inspirational human being who truly led a wonderful life,” Alan C. Kessler, vice chairman of the postal governing board, said in a statement.

Other highlights from Stewart’s career include the movies “Rear Window,” “Vertigo” and “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” all directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Stewart played a country lawyer in “Anatomy of a Murder” and played a lawyer again in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” a Western released in 1962.
He won an Oscar for best actor in “Philadelphia Story” in 1940.
Stewart died on July 2, 1997.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
One of my favorite actors and a great patriot and one of my favorite Pennsylvanians. He also flew at least one sortie over Vietnam in a B-52.
I was fortunate to be able to meet Jimmy Stewart. He was truly a gracious gentleman.