Theodore's World

.

SGT. Ricky Jones
Many of you have read about the “brave dissenters” who expressed their “support for our Troops” by vandalizing the home of Army SGT Rickey Jones.
The story about it is here……..Dead soldier’s home vandalized
He was killed in action Feb. 22 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee during patrol operations in Hawijah, Iraq. These “patriots” have actually called SGT Jones’ family to tell them ‘I’m glad your son is dead.” If that wasn’t enough for SGT Jones’ family to deal with, Fred Phelps and his hatemongers will probably picket the funeral.

Army Sgt Rickey Jones, 21, Kokomo, Indiana
Died February 22, 2006 with three other soldiers when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad. Assigned to the 101st Airborne Division based in Fort Campbell, KY.
Ronnie Jones, the soldier’s grandfather, said his grandson was a loving person and the pride of his family. He said the family received few details of the soldier’s death.
The four soldiers assigned to the division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team were killed on patrol Wednesday near Hawijah, 150 miles north of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
Jones, a 2002 graduate of Kokomo High School, was serving his second tour in Iraq and recently had been promoted to sergeant. He is survived by his mother, Tenia Rogers, and grandparents Ronnie and Margaret Jones, all of Kokomo.

A Soldier’s Perspective, is trying to help organize a letter writing campaign to the family of SGT Rickey Jones.

If you are as disgusted as I am and would like to write a letter to have delivered to this family, please email Lauren (MyWay716@aol.com) for more information. The good people over at Operation Military Pride are helping facilitate the delivery of these letters.

Thank you

Jimma bin Kahta

.

Condi Rice: Hello…hello…..Jimmy who?…..I’m sorry,we have a very bad connection.

.

The New York Sun

Carter personally called Secretary of State Rice to try to convince her to reverse her U.N. ambassador’s position on changes to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, the former president recalled yesterday in a talk in which he also criticized President Bush’s Christian bona fides and misstated past American policies on Israel.
Mr. Carter said he made a personal promise to ambassadors from Egypt, Pakistan, and Cuba on the U.N. change issue that was undermined by America’s ambassador, John Bolton. “My hope is that when the vote is taken,” he told the Council on Foreign Relations, “the other members will outvote the United States.”
While other former presidents have tried to refrain from attacking the sitting chief executive, Mr. Carter’s attacks on President Bush have increased. The episode he recounted yesterday showed how he tried to undermine officials at lower levels in an effort to influence policy.
The story, as Mr. Carter recalled, began with a recent dinner for 17 he attended in New York, where the guests included the president of the U.N. General Assembly, Jan Eliasson; an unidentified American representative, and other U.N. ambassadors from “powerful” countries at Turtle Bay, of which he mentioned only three: Cuba, Egypt, and Pakistan. The topic was the ongoing negotiations on an attempt to replace the widely discredited Geneva-based Human Rights Commission with a more accountable Human Rights Council.
“One of the things I assured them of was that the United States was not going to dominate all the other nations of the world in the Human Rights Council,” Mr. Carter said. However, on the next day, Carter said, Mr. Bolton publicly “demanded” that the five permanent members of the Security Council will have permanent seats on the new council as well, “which subverted exactly what I have promised them,” Carter said.

Wild Thing’s comment……….
The day that twisted traitorous bastard drops dead I swear I will dance in the street.

.

During Vietnam, gunships destroyed more than 10,000 trucks and were credited with many life-saving close air support missions. AC-130s suppressed enemy air defense systems and attacked ground forces during Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada. This enabled the successful assault of Point Salines airfield via airdrop and airland of friendly forces.
Spooky is, well, spooky. You call it in when you don’t give a fuck who’s offended by your presence anymore.

.

Here is the article…………………….
AP: Armed airplanes used in Vietnam War secretly moved to Iraqi base

In a secretive operation, heavily armed gunship versions of C-130 transport planes like these at an airbase in southern Iraq, on Wednesday, are being shipped to Iraq.

AN AIR BASE IN IRAQ –

The U.S. Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 airplanes — the lethal “flying gunships” of the Vietnam War — to a base in Iraq as commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance, The Associated Press has learned.
An AP reporter saw the first of the turboprop-driven aircraft after it landed at the airfield this week. Four are expected.
The Iraq-based special forces command controlling the AC-130s, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, said it would have no comment on the deployment. But the plan’s general outline was confirmed by other Air Force officers, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Military officials warned that disclosing the location of the aircraft’s new base would violate security provisions of rules governing media access to U.S. installations.
The four-engine gunships, whose home base is Hurlburt Field in Florida, have operated over Iraq before, flying from airfields elsewhere in the region. In November 2004, air-to-ground fire from AC-130s supported the U.S. attack that took the western city of Fallujah from insurgents.
Basing the planes inside Iraq will cut hours off their transit time to reach suspected targets.
Planes heavily armed
The left-side ports of the AC-130s, 98-foot-long planes that can slowly circle over a target for long periods, bristle with a potent arsenal — 40 mm cannon that can fire 120 rounds per minute, and big 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon. The plane’s latest version, the AC-130U, known as “Spooky,” also carries Gatling gun-type 20 mm cannon.
“It’s got tons of guns, and it’s got all kinds of stuff on it that can be applied to the problems you have,” Brig. Gen. Frank Gorenc, who refused to discuss the current AC-130 deployment, said in an AP interview.
That “stuff” includes “the ability to take these high-tech pods and to use them to find guys planting (bombs) and to find other nefarious activity,” he said.

So what IS an AC-130U
AC-130U Spooky

.

Army writing new Counterinsurgency Field Manual
Army News
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (March 3, 2006)
By Robby Kennedy

The Combined Arms Center hosted experts from the CIA, State Department and academia last week during a two-day workshop aimed at providing input to authors rewriting the Counterinsurgency, or COIN, Field Manual, FM 3-24.
The intelligence analysts and experts gathered Feb. 23 and 24 at the 35th Infantry Division headquarters on Fort Leavenworth to work at solving what many of them consider an urgent and acute problem facing the U.S. military today: how to respond to an insurgency.
The new COIN FM will contain chapters dealing with operations and operations design, intelligence, indigenous forces, leadership and ethics, logistics and more, said Lt. Col. Jan Horvath, one of the authors of FM 3-24.
Outside experts review draft
“We established that we wanted to do a workshop to bring in some of the best and brightest minds to get input,” said Horvath.
“We tried to write something and get a very accomplished group of people to look at that and tell us what they think of it early on so we can make significant adjustments where they are needed, or adjust and put in nuances,” Horvath said.
An interim COIN manual was penned and distributed to the invitees before their arrival at Fort Leavenworth to give them a chance to consider the suggested doctrine and add their own expertise to the dialogue. Horvath said the participants were invited from widely divergent backgrounds to bring contrasting perspectives, and consequently, impassioned debate.
“We pick up a lot of diverse and differing opinions … sometimes you have two opposing viewpoints,” Horvath said. “There is passion because there is disagreement – that’s why we brought them here, to get a different viewpoint to find out what we’ve missed or what we didn¹t consider. It may not change what we write, but it may.”
FM author: Debate fosters solutions
During the workshop, participants and authors debated or augmented existing ideas, brainstormed new solutions and otherwise expanded the COIN dialogue with the goal of improving the final product to the benefit of Soldiers and commanders in the field, Horvath said.
“What should we cull from what we have? Can we make it better, or should we move one out and put another one in?” Horvath said. “That’s what all the authors are doing with their discussants, as well as other people throughout the seminar.”
With the U.S. military heavily engaged in counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the need for effective guidance is both vital and pressing, Horvath said.
“We’ve committed so much treasure in blood and people to Iraq and Afghanistan, but overall within the Global War on Terrorism – this is a key manual within our efforts while we are at war,” Horvath said.
120 insurgencies worldwide
Horvath and the other FM 3-24 authors are trying to keep the scope of their manual broad so it will continue to have utility beyond current situations.
“There are more than 120 extended insurgencies around the world; that’s a lot of instability,” he said. “Iraq is one insurgency – it’s just one area. We’re going to be involved in insurgencies in other places, so this manual, we don¹t want it to be too Iraq-centric.”
While the COIN FM workshop concluded Feb. 24, the authors will continue to receive guidance and written input from discussants through the mail, Horvath said. The final product is expected to be finished by early summer and should provide immediate guidance for commanders in the field.
“It should provide them (commanders) a framework for thinking … explaining what is an insurgency, what will it look like, what should you expect, in what type of environments will it thrive, how does it develop, how can we contribute to it inadvertently, what is our methodology and what is our way of thinking and assessing, what stage is it, how violent, how widespread in the public, how much support does it have? All those factors impact what method or actions we take,” Horvath said.

Manual will look back at Vietnam
In addition, the manual will incorporate lessons learned from Vietnam and other past insurgencies.
“I think of Vietnam as the gold standard of insurgencies,” Horvath said. “It was very well developed and we never collected any of those lessons. We wanted to capture those and look at other insurgencies … and I think we’re doing that right now.”

As for the success of the workshop, Horvath was enthusiastic.
“I think we had the right people here. We’ve had some tremendous discussion … we wanted to know what we¹re doing well but also what we’ve missed on, what we need to reshape or refocus, and I think we’ve gotten a lot of that,” he said. “It’s been a grand slam.”

.

My Tribute To Vietnam Veterans

I was just watching Hardball and fired Fema man Michael Brown told Chris Matthews that he called the President BEFORE Katrina hit and told President Bush to call Mayor Nagin and the Gov. Blanco. To tell them to evacuate the people immediately. President Bush did according to Michael Brown and they did not listen or do anything.
The Mayor and Gov. killed one thousand people and everyone blames the President!
Your damn right I’m pissed!

Growing up, my family always had St. Bernard’s. I guess my parents being from Switzerland had something to do with it but gosh I love those dogs. I also had St. Bernard’s right up until a few years ago. Now we have a little dog. But there is something about this UAE that reminded me of one of the dogs I had.
One day when I still had a St. Bernard an actor had stopped by to visit my husband and to thank him for the stunt work he did for him in a movie. Our St. Bernard, Theodore, was not happy about it. He only barked when he did not like the person so I guess he did not like this particular actor. To allow the actor to sit on our patio for a short time we put our dog in the dog run. The actor could not believe the dog was reacting like this and kept walking over to Theodore. Theodore’s response was to bark at him, but at the same exact time he was also wagging his tail.
When I first heard about the UAE ports deal my gut had an immediate reaction. As I posted on another day here at Theodore’s World, I thought it stunk. Since then I have read, listened, and watched the arguments for and against.
I also realize that President Bush does some things that their effect is meant to be from now till years to come. Long-range planning is one of his favorite things. That is fine and we all should do that economically in our private lives. But doing this with the UAE in hopes that years from now because of the ports deal happening they will be our buddies?? A true ally, let’s look and see at these things first.
1.Wagging the tail………. The main argument for ……” that the UAE is an “ally in the War on Terror.” Therefore, conclude the proponents, this particular status would obligate the US to grant the management of seaports to companies based in Gulf emirates. The status of “ally” in the War on Terror would grant a particular country the privilege to be supported militarily, financially and have its forces trained by the US. It would even grant the UAE and other allies the options of military industrialization within their own borders, including assembling parts of American weapon system. So in term of “trust” Washington can and should travel the extra mile with its allies, European or other, to translate the alliance into tangible steps. But that doesn’t support the argument that these countries, any country with radical networks conditions, would be granted capabilities that could jeopardize US national security, even though indirectly. And it is not the UAE only, there is Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, and in general all allies, could present such complexity.”
Barking dog…………Let’s look at proof, not just idle words but actions taken.
The JAWA Report had information on the UAE and the UN votes.
So, who turns out to be the strongest allies to the US if we go by the UN votes?

Palau at 100% in 2004. Next to the tiny grouping of islands, who is our greatest ally in the U.N.? Israel, which was 100% in 20004, 93% in 2002-03, and 100% in 2001.
How does the UAE compare? The UAE, our allies according to President Bush, voted with the U.S. 12.5% of the time in 2004. In 2001 and in 2003 the UAE voted 0% of the time with the U.S. In 2002 they voted with us 17.6% of the time. That’s an average of 7.5% of agreement in the U.N. with the U.S. after 9/11 (if we include 2001).

Voting records found HERE
Barking dog shows us the UAE is not one of our allies.
2. Wagging the tail……Another argument for the deal that I have seen is that “not concluding an agreement with an Arab country will offend Arabs in general. Obviously this is a far-fetched “lobbyist” argument. Political fluff and nothing more.
Barking dog……..Democrats hate Republicans with a passion most of us cannot imagine. They are more into: NOT profiling people, NOT protecting us, and NOT going after the terrorists. We are the most powerful country in the world. When those in government forget that fact, and feel it is our duty to kiss up to half assed allies with links to those wanting to kill us, our days our numbered. Why the heck do I care if I offend someone that is my enemy. Hahaha That would be like changing my posts at my Blog because I get hate emails and I should make nice.
3. Wagging the tail……..An argument was made about not discriminating between the UAE and the UK in terms of who is a better ally in the War on Terror so that they can benefit from US offer in international business.
BUT Great Britain is listed as a target by al Quada, not the UAE. Toni Blair was sitting in the US Congress when President Bush declared War on the Taliban in October 2001, not the head honchos of the UAE. Prime Minister of the Isles declared the ideology of al Quada as terrorist and criminal, not Dubai’s rulers. Britain has been an ally in the War with the Jihadists over the UAE’s somewhat cooperation against al Quada.
Barking dog………Who would I want watching my six? Certainly not the UAE.
4. Wagging the tail……..We have been told to those of us with concerns that there was no threat coming from the UAE because “the company is to manage the administrative space of the ports operations exclusively, not the security areas.”
That isn’t the logic of the would-be terrorists. The terrorism business is fluid. The Jihadists won’t be that obvious in their use of a potential infiltration. The danger of penetration will be more complex. This first line of defense could be breached by hiring elements to form a network inside the company, or subcontracted “hostile” entities in the future. Second, while moving inside the layers of the “management” the “net” could then hire elements coming from the American side. If we find out that Jihadists are operating inside the US, a UAE company “managing” six main US ports would be a first rate opportunity for them to “connect.”
General intelligence and spying in the US is only one possibility. Storing material in these sensitive areas is two. Learning about the security systems in these ports from the administrative end is three. Disrupting national security operations is four. The deeper the layers, the wider possibilities would open to the Jihadists. But the initial “hole” is what allows the chain to develop.
Barking dog…………We may think someone is OK but our security may be at great risk. Like the actor I mentioned above at the beginning of my post. My husband and I did not have a bad feeling about him. But our dog felt it, knew it and was warning us. As the actor left I went to shake his hand goodbye and he quickly moved his head to kiss me hard on the lips, then said…. when you have enough of Nick let me know. He had waited till Nick ( Angry Old Salt) was already walking back into our home and he did not say this in jest, he was dead on serious. He was not a friend and had no intention of being a friend. Our dog knew that, just as security for our country has shown up over the years that the UAE attempts to be supportive after the fact and only slightly.
5. Wagging the tail…….Reward the UAE for being an ally.
Barking dog…….Why do we have to reward the UAE for their half way support with the ports deal to show them we are warm and fuzzy toward them? There are other ways that can be rewarded along the way depending on how much of an ally they show up to be, in their verbiage and their actions. If rewarding is a must then why do it with a way that effects our National Security. Would we ask Saudi Arabia to manage our America’s public school system? No, because radical clerics would transform it into madrassas.
Add in the fact that Dubai ports firm enforces boycott of Israel. This one really outraged me. They boycott a friend and an ally that is a much better friend, a much better ally then Dubai could ever be. Dubai, like all Muslim countries, should be held to different standards because they are controlled by the cult that is our enemy.

Those are all my takes on the various aspects I have seen on this. So, I prefer to be with the dog that barks, the opposition of the UAE and cut down as much risk as possible to our Nation. Yes the threat to the US port system has been and remains regardless of the Dubai deal. But the specific potential threat emanating from the current crisis is different in nature. It is about an additional layer of terror risk that could be produced by a Jihadist breach via a commercial transaction.
The Democrats are loving this, and using it NOT because they really are against it but they are using it to bash Bush. Their actions and words about fighting terrorism has proven to the world they do not want to take a stand against it, remember Harry Reid stopping the Patriot Act and making big thing about it? And now all of a sudden we are supposed to believe he is upset about the security risk? Laughable!
It is not about ports at all with the Democrats that are against it, it is political, a venomous hate for Republicans and for Bush. For loosing two elections and the freaks in their party will do whatever it takes to take a stand against Bush even if it means talking about being careful about the security of our country. I think this kind of a deal is like putting the fox in charge of guarding the chicken house.
Our Military is out there defending us, fighting for us. Families missing their sons and daughters that are serving now, so that we can be safe, secure and is this the thanks we give them? To say, ya’ll come on down now UAE we don’t want to offend you. We are going to call you a good ally even if you are NOT!
The barking dog knows what he is barking about……. I just hope our Nation listens.
(Sorry this was so long, but I have been working on this for awhile now and wanted to cover as much as possible.)

With all the discussions about the UAE, Dubai and the ports deal I thought before I post a second post on this I wanted to show you all something.

Bin Laden’s operatives still using freewheeling Dubai
09/2004
Complete article here

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Osama bin Laden’s operatives still use this freewheeling city as a logistical hub three years after more than half the Sept. 11 hijackers flew directly from Dubai to the United States in the final preparatory stages for the attack.
The recent arrest of an alleged top al-Qaeda combat coach is the latest sign that suspected members of the terrorist organization are among those who take advantage of travel rules that allow easy entry. Citizens of neighboring Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia can come to Dubai without visas, which other nationalities can get at the country’s ports of entry.
Once here, it’s easy to blend in to what has become a cosmopolitan crowd.
In August, Pakistani Qari Saifullah Akhtar, suspected of training thousands of al-Qaeda fighters for combat, was arrested in the Emirates and turned over to officials in his homeland, authorities in Pakistan announced.
Emirates authorities have refused to comment on Akhtar’s arrest. They were similarly tightlipped in 2002, when the United States announced the arrest of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the suspected mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors.
With open borders, multiethnic society and freewheeling business rules, the Emirates remains vital to al-Qaeda operations, said Evan F. Kohlmann, a Washington-based terrorism researcher.
Dubai still “plays a key role for al-Qaeda as a through-point and a money transfer location,” Kohlmann said, although he also noted the country could be working to combat such activity with “an aggressive but low-profile intelligence strategy.”
al-Qaeda isn’t the only organization that has found Dubai useful. The father of Pakistan’s nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has acknowledged heading a clandestine group that, with the help of a Dubai company, supplied Pakistani nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Emirates officials refused to discuss the country’s latest steps to combat terror.
Dia’a Rashwan, an Egyptian expert on militant groups, said trumpeting developments such as the arrest of al-Qaeda suspects could be misread as serving the United States when the Emirates, led by its President Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, cultivates an image as a champion of Arab causes. The Emirates nonetheless has a close relationship with Washington.
According to the U.S. government, 13 of the 19 hijackers entered the United States between April 23 and June 29, 2001. And 11 of those late-arrivers — who were Saudi citizens and primarily the “muscle” for the hijackings — went through Dubai, according to the report.
The hijackers traveled in groups of two or three, taking off from Dubai and arriving at airports in Miami, Orlando, or New York City, the report said.
As for the money trail, Bin Laden’s alleged financial manager, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hisawi, received at a Dubai bank a transfer of $15,000 two days before the Sept. 11 attacks and then left the Emirates for Pakistan, where he was arrested last year.
Marwan Al-Shehhi, an Emirates citizen and one of the hijackers, received $100,000 via the United Arab Emirates. Another hijacker, Fayez Banihammad, also was from the Emirates.
About half of the $250,000 spent on the attacks was wired to al-Qaeda terrorists in the United States from Dubai banks, authorities said. al-Qaeda money in Dubai banks also has been linked to the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

.

And then there is this……………
Bill Clinton helped Dubai on ports deal
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published: March 1 2006 23:50 | Last updated: March 1 2006 23:50
Bill Clinton, former US president, advised top officials from Dubai two weeks ago on how to address growing US concerns over the acquisition of five US container terminals by DP World.
Mr Clinton, who this week called the United Arab Emirates a “good ally to America” , advised Dubai’s leaders to propose a 45-day delay to allow for an intensive investigation of the acquisition, according to his spokesman.

.

And this as well…………

Dubai Reaffirms Policy of Refusing Entry to Israelis
19:05 Mar 01, ’06 / 1 Adar 5766
By Michael Freund, INN International Affairs Correspondent
Despite heavy criticism in Washington over its continued enforcement of the anti-Israel Arab boycott, the Government of Dubai has reiterated its refusal to allow Israeli citizens to enter Dubai.
“We don’t give a permit for Israeli passport holders to enter the country,” Mohammed Ali al-Mohari of the Entry Permits Section of Dubai’s Interior Ministry said in a telephone interview. “It’s a rule.”
Asked to explain the reason behind the policy, Al-Mohari laughed and said that he thinks this is the case for most Arab countries. “This is how it is in most of the Arabic lands, I am sure,” he said.
He added, though, that the holder of a foreign passport bearing stamps which indicated that he or she had once visited the Jewish state would not encounter any problems entering the country.
Dubai’s refusal to allow Israelis to set foot on its soil also features prominently on a government-run website belonging to the Gulf Arab nation.
On the website of the Dubai Government’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing, under the section titled “Visa Regulations” it states that, “Nationals of ‘Israel’ may not enter the U.A.E.”, a reference to the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a constituent state.

“We should fear Holland’s silence”
February 26, 2006
Times Online
Islamists are stifling debate in what was Europe’s freest country, says Douglas Murray

“Would you write the name you’d like to use here, and your real name there?” asked the girl at reception. I had just been driven to a hotel in the Hague. An hour earlier I’d been greeted at Amsterdam airport by a man holding a sign with a pre-agreed cipher. I hadn’t known where I would be staying, or where I would be speaking. The secrecy was necessary: I had come to Holland to talk about Islam.
Last weekend, four years after his murder, Pim Fortuyn’s political party, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, held a conference in his memory on Islam and Europe. The organisers had assembled nearly all the writers most critical of Islam’s current manifestation in the West. The American scholars Daniel Pipes and Robert Spencer were present, as were the Egyptian-Jewish exile and scholar of dhimmitude, Bat Ye’or, and the great Muslim apostate Ibn Warraq.
Both Ye’or and Warraq write and speak under pseudonyms. Standing at the hotel desk I confessed to the girl that I didn’t have any other name, couldn’t think of a good one fast. I was given my key and made aware that the other person in the lobby, a tall figure in a dark suit, was my security detail. I was taken up to my room where I changed, unpacked and headed back out — the security guard now positioned outside my bedroom door.
I had been invited to deliver the closing speech to the memorial conference on what would have been Fortuyn’s 58th birthday. I said I would talk on the effects of Europe’s increasingly Islamicised population and advocate a tougher European counterterror strategy. There was no overriding political agenda to the occasion, simply a desire for frank discussion.
The event was scholarly, incisive and wide-ranging. There were no ranters or rabble-rousers, just an invited audience of academics, writers, politicians and sombre party members. As yet another example of Islam’s violent confrontation with the West (this time caused by cartoons) swept across the globe, we tried to discuss Islam as openly as we could. The Dutch security service in the Hague was among those who considered the threat to us for doing this as particularly high. The security status of the event was put at just one level below “national emergency”.
This may seem fantastic to people in Britain. But the story of Holland — which I have been charting for some years — should be noted by her allies. Where Holland has gone, Britain and the rest of Europe are following. The silencing happens bit by bit. A student paper in Britain that ran the Danish cartoons got pulped. A London magazine withdrew the cartoons from its website after the British police informed the editor they could not protect him, his staff, or his offices from attack. This happened only days before the police provided 500 officers to protect a “peaceful” Muslim protest in Trafalgar Square.
It seems the British police — who regularly provide protection for mosques (as they did after the 7/7 bombs) — were unable to send even one policeman to protect an organ of free speech. At the notorious London protests, Islamists were allowed to incite murder and bloodshed on the streets, but a passer-by objecting to these displays was threatened with detention for making trouble.
Holland — with its disproportionately high Muslim population — is the canary in the mine. Its once open society is closing, and Europe is closing slowly behind it. It looks, from Holland, like the twilight of liberalism — not the “liberalism” that is actually libertarianism, but the liberalism that is freedom. Not least freedom of expression.
All across Europe, debate on Islam is being stopped. Italy’s greatest living writer, Oriana Fallaci, soon comes up for trial in her home country, and in Britain the government seems intent on pushing through laws that would make truths about Islam and the conduct of its followers impossible to voice.
Those of us who write and talk on Islam thus get caught between those on our own side who are increasingly keen to prosecute and increasing numbers of militants threatening murder. In this situation, not only is free speech being shut down, but our nation’s security is being compromised.
Since the assassinations of Fortuyn and, in 2004, the film maker Theo van Gogh, numerous public figures in Holland have received death threats and routine intimidation. The heroic Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her equally outspoken colleague Geert Wilders live under constant police protection, often forced to sleep on army bases. Even university professors are under protection.

(more…)

.

This is a new Category at Theodore’s World. 
It will be about the things shared in emails from 
our troops and other Americans that are 
located in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Theodore’s World is very aware of how 
loose lips endanger our troops and other Americans 
working in the hot zones, so at all times great care will be 
taken in how much information is posted. 

Some notes will be directly from the troops 
and other notes from those such
as employees with Halliburton and others..

.

This note arrived last night and it is regarding the recent news of Presidnet Bush and his surprise visit to Afghanistan

.

” Something kind of cool happened today.
The largest mobile phone service in the country is called Iraqna.
Today, the company sent a text message to every single user. (I have an Iraqna cell phone.) It was in Arabic. I had it translated and it said “God is great, God is good. Please come together and pray for peace in Iraq.”
Every one of us got one and every user around the country did.
I thought that was encouraging.”
from one of the contractors with Haliburton on the banks of the Tigris, Baghdad, Iraq

.

Wild Thing’s comment……
This made me smile and I wanted to share it with all of you.

.

Denver News

The Overland High educator is on administrative leave. Cherry Creek’s superintendent said a balanced viewpoint will be given to students.
An Overland High School teacher who criticized President Bush, capitalism and U.S. foreign policy during his geography class was placed on administrative leave Wednesday afternoon after a student who recorded the session went public with the tape.
In the 20-minute recording, made on an MP3 player, teacher Jay Bennish described capitalism as a system “at odds with human rights.” He also said there were “eerie similarities” between what Bush said during his Jan. 28 State of the Union address and “things that Adolf Hitler used to say.”
The United States was “probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth,” Bennish also said on the tape.
Bennish, who has been part of Overland’s social studies faculty since 2000, did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday. Cherry Creek School District officials are investigating the incident, but no disciplinary action has been taken, district spokeswoman Tustin Amole said.
Bennish was placed on leave “to take some of the pressure off of him” during the investigation, which could wrap up in a week, Amole said.
Superintendent Monte Moses, who received a copy of the recording on Monday from 850 KOA-AM radio show host Mike Rosen, said it appears “a breach of district policy” occurred.
“Our policy calls for both sides to be present … in the interest of intellectual discourse,” Moses said. Bennish’s presentation appeared to be unbalanced, he said.
The district is looking into whether the incident was an isolated one and will ensure that a balanced viewpoint of the president’s State of the Union address is provided to students, Moses said.
Moses also said the district will be fair to Bennish. “People in life make mistakes occasionally,” he said. “We address them. We learn from them.”
The 20-minute recording of only a portion of the class was made by 16-year-old sophomore Sean Allen the day after the president’s speech. The recording has raised questions about what level of academic freedom is acceptable for high school teachers. It also has generated discussions about Bennish on dozens of websites.
Sean, who appeared on Rosen’s show Wednesday morning, said in an interview he had been disturbed by the “political rants” he heard in Bennish’s class. He added that he wanted to tape the session for his father, who later shared it with the media.
Sean, who described himself as a political independent, said the comments seemed inappropriate for a geography class.
“If he wants to give an opinion in class, I’m perfectly OK with that,” he said. “But he has to give both sides of the story.”
James McGrath Morris, an author who has written about academic freedom issues, said Bennish’s comments are acceptable for an adult audience, but they are hard to defend in a high school classroom.
In a number of legal cases, courts have ruled that “up until the age of majority, children are easily influenced … in a way that they don’t have the faculties to sort out rights from wrongs,” Morris said

.
Overland highschool teachers rant

.

Wild Thing’s comment……
I listened to the tape. Not only did the teacher rant and rave, most of the rants were not factual. There is enough evidence on the tape to terminate the teacher immediately.
Our public school system is a liberals dream, and a national disgrace. It’s not a conversation when a teacher stands at the front of a classroom and goes off on a diatribe about the evils of Bush. It’s a lesson in hate speech.
A liberal teacher who tosses out blatant lies and hyperbole designed to shape negative, hateful attitudes toward this country and its president is no different than a Wahabist who teaches exactly the same thing to young Muslim children in madrassahs.
Twenty years ago, the parents in this school would have demanded this guy be terminated INSTANTLY. Forty years ago, he would have been lynched.