Theodore's World

Death Squad Leaders Flee Baghdad Ahead of Troop Surge, Former Iraqi Official Says
Fox News
According to Fox News, Death squad leaders have fled Baghdad to evade capture or killing by U.S. and Iraqi forces before the start of the troop “surge” and security crackdown in the capital.
A former senior Iraqi minister said most of the leaders loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical anti-American cleric, had gone into hiding in Iran.
Among those said to have fled is Abu Deraa, theShiite militia leader whose appetite for sectarian savagery has been compared to that of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed last year.

The Former minister who did not want to be named, said that Prime Minster Nouri Al-Maliki had encouraged them to leave Baghdad. He further stated that weapons belonging to the Mahdi Army have been hidden inside the Iraqi Interior Ministry to avoid confiscation.

Maliki said last week: “I know that senior criminals have left Baghdad, others have left the country. This is good — this shows that our message is being taken seriously.”

The flight from Baghdad could impede American plans to target the leaders of death squads.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Is Prime Minster Nouri Al-Maliki helping these death squad leaders leave or what????

Hillary Clinton Sings National Anthem

You will have to turn the volume up to hear Hillary sing. Not that we have to have someone that can sing to be President. I just hope her success in her run for the White House will be as non-existent as her ability to stay on key.

* Something….and Half of Something
* Billy O’ Blog

(AP)
Senator from Massachusetts, USA, John Kerry, right and on the large screen, wipes his eye while speaking during a session ‘The Future of the Middle East’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday Jan. 27, 2007.

Kerry criticized the Bush administration’s foreign policy during the session, saying it has caused the United States to become ‘a sort of international pariah.’

From left to right Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Egypt’s Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Iraq’s Vice-President Adil abd al-Mahdi, Moderator David Ignatius, and Former President of Iran Mohammad Khatami. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Kerry and friends

Wild Thing’s comment…….
The top photo of Kerry looks like he is trying to get Harry Reid to tell him he loves him again. Quite a little cast of Arabs and Kerry. I wish this guy would just go for a ride in Ted Kennedy’s car.
There once was a wimp from Nantucket
Who cried all his tears in a bucket.
The Muslims said “wow”
While the wimp wiped his brow,
“U.S. foreign policy? *@&# it!”

Dutch Iraqi suspect flown to US
Sunday, 28 January 2007
BBC
Dutch authorities say an Iraqi-born Dutch citizen, suspected of plotting attacks on American forces in Iraq, has been extradited to the United States. Wesam al-Delaema was put on a plane and flown to an undisclosed location in the US after losing his final appeal against extradition in December.
He is set to become the first suspect tried in a US court for allegedly plotting attacks on US forces in Iraq.

Mr Delaema denies charges of “possessing a destructive device”.

Authorities say the evidence against him includes a videotape he made of Iraqi insurgents preparing a roadside bomb.
In Dutch court hearings, he argued that he was kidnapped and forced to make the video on pain of death.
Unknown destination
Mr Delaema was arrested in May 2005 in the Dutch city of Amersfoort in following a tip from US authorities.
His lawyers have argued that the US has no right to try him. They say they fear he could be tortured and will not get a fair trial.

But a Dutch judge said there was “no reason to believe that the US authorities will not abide by the commitments they have given or… deprive the suspect of his fundamental rights”.

The US has given assurances that he will be tried in a federal court, not by a military commission, and can serve any sentence in the Netherlands.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
A Dutch justice ministry spokesman said on Saturday that Mr Delaema was on his way to somewhere in the US.

“Even if I knew where he is headed, I couldn’t say,” he said. “It’s a matter for the US justice department now.”

Wild Thing’s comment………
I am for Wesam al-Delaema serving his sentence while he is dead.

This speech by President Ronald Reagan is awesome!!
Thank you Billy of Billy O’Blog for the video.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Leads Congressional Fact-Finding Mission to Baghdad
abc news
While President Bush met with military leaders in the Oval Office Friday, she and anti-war Rep. Jack Murtha turned up in Baghdad.
The timing of the trip, from the Bush administration’s point of view, couldn’t have been worse. It came just days after the president asked Congress in his State of the Union address to give his revised Iraq strategy a chance to work.
On her surprise arrival to the Iraqi capital, the newly-appointed Pelosi met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and discussed with him the latest political developments in Iraq together with the preparations underway for the implementation of the new security plan in Iraq.
The Pelosi delegation visited the heavily fortified Green Zone, site of the American Embassy, and met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

“We come out of the meeting with a greater understanding of the others’ point of view,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said, in brief remarks after the meeting.

“We stressed our belief that it is well past time for the Iraqis to take primary responsibility for the security of their nation,” Pelosi said in a statement after she and the other six members of her delegation met with the Iraqi prime minister and top U.S. officials in Baghdad.

The Congressional delegation includes: — Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
— Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee
— Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., an outspoken critic of the war and the Bush administration

Wild Thing’s comment……
Our troops are fighting a war the last thing they need is to have to play nice with the homegrown enemy as well.
So now the “bad mouthers” want to travel there, get a photo op with soldiers whose mission they bad mouth, who will have to drop everything they do so they can tap dance for Pelosi and her entourage of stooges in Baghdad. Then the soldier loving liberals (who always have an up to date count of dead Americans in their pocket for a quick argument of why Bush is bad) will come back and distort what they saw, talk only of those things that fit their agenda.
This sort of thing is just grandstanding at the expense of a unified U.S. stance on wartime matters. I think it is ridiculous to see these politicians flitting back and forth between here and Iraq or here and Afghanistan as though they can’t find anything out except by being there, or as though the U.S. can’t function without their say-so.
Democrats cannot allow a victory now, after their staunch opposition for so long.

Kerry decides against 2008 presidential run
CNN

“As someone who made the mistake of voting for the resolution that gave the president the authority to go to war, I feel the weight of personal responsibility to act to devote time and energy to the national dialogue and an effort to limit this war and bring our participation to a conclusion,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor.

Kerry voted for the congressional resolution authorizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but later turned against the war and was mocked as a “flip-flopper” during his 2004 challenge to President Bush

“I intend to devote all my efforts and energies over the coming two years not to another race for the presidency for myself, but to doing whatever I can to ensure that the next president can take the oath with a reasonable prospect of success for him or her — for the United States,” he said

Wild Thing’s comment……
Hillary has his “real” Navy discharge papers in her files.
I think traitor Hanoi Kerry knows that he has no chance to even win the nomination.
As a friend of mine wrote me in an email today:

“I guess the lying, traitorous POS realized those of us who REMEMBER Vietnam and the lies he told about us — haven’t all died yet..
Plus — he realizes that souls whose names are on that black wall on the Mall he has accused of war crimes, haven’t forgotten either..
Plus — he STILL hasn’t and won’t sign his SF-180, releasing his military and medical records which would PROVE he’s a phony lying sonuvabitch..
Semper Fi”

SHANGHAI — Next month, China will ring in the Year of the Pig
Wallstreet Journal
Nestlé SA planned to celebrate with TV ads featuring a smiling cartoon pig. “Happy new pig year,” the ads said.
This week, China Central Television, the national state-run TV network, banned Nestlé’s ad — and all images and spoken references to the animal in commercials, including those tied to the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday.
The intent: to avoid offending Muslims, who consider pigs unclean. “China is a multiethnic country,” the network’s ad department said in a notice sent to ad agencies late Tuesday.
But it’s not just any year of the pig — it’s a GOLDEN pig year.
There are 12 animals in the Asian horoscope, and each sign comes around once every 12 years. Put together in a combination with elements such as water, fire and earth, each year is characterized to certain special meaning. Twelve different signs with five elements means you have 60 possible combinations.
The golden pig year — calculated through yin-and-yang theory. It happens only every 600 years. It is said that children born in the year of the golden pig will have great fortune. And it’s a huge marketing event.

Wild Thing’s comment…..
China turns PC and placates the Islamists? WTF That’s how powerful, the Islamists are. China still kills Christians and tortures them, that is OK but God forbid they offend the Muslims.

I am taking the Pledge!

From Hugh Hewitt:

If the United States Senate passes a resolution, non-binding or otherwise, that criticizes the commitment of additional troops to Iraq that General Petraeus has asked for and that the president has pledged, and if the Senate does so after the testimony of General Petraeus on January 23 that such a resolution will be an encouragement to the enemy, I will not contribute to any Republican senator who voted for the resolution. Further, if any Republican senator who votes for such a resolution is a candidate for re-election in 2008, I will not contribute to the National Republican Senatorial Committee unless the Chairman of that Committee, Senator Ensign, commits in writing that none of the funds of the NRSC will go to support the re-election of any senator supporting the non-binding resolution.

Send It Here:
NRSC
Ronald Reagan Republican Center
425 2nd Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
webmaster@gopsenators.com
Then e-mail Senator McConnell and Senator Ensign, and tell them too. Senator McConnell’s phone number is (202) 224-2541. Senator Ensign’s phone number is (202) 224-6244.
GOP activists and donors built the GOP senate delegation, as well as the majority that was punted away. They can disassemble it as well, and GOP support for a neoappeasement resolution is exactly the way to start that process.
The Congressional GOP has to realize it cannot have it both ways –you can’t be for victory after you were against it.
And GOP senators –alone or as a group– definitely cannot count on the support of the base if any of them vote for appeasement.
Take action by taking this pledge; fire off a few emails and perhaps make a couple phone calls. It will take about 15 minutes of your time.
NZ BEAR’S PETITION. SIGN IT!!
Here is is the Website for the Pledge
Others who have taken the pledge:
* Something…..and Half of Something ( LindaSoG
* MVRWC (Beth)
* And Rightly So (Raven)
* Alabama Proper (Carol)
* 762 Justice ( Sniper One)
* Conservative Insurgent (Jack)