171 DAYS UNTIL THE NEXT CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION
Help With California Parent's Right To Know Initiative!
 The Parent's Right to Know ballot initiative needs 900,000 signatures to qualify for the November, 2006 ballot. Without the type of legislation this initiative represents, groups like Planned Parenthood will continue to conspire behind our backs against the welfare of our children.
The Parents' Right to Know and Child Protection ballot initiative will require that a physician notify in writing a parent or guardian at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor
Please volunteer to collect signatures at your church, petitions, instructions, and flyers will be provided.
For more information call toll-free (866) 828-8355 or email - Parent's Right To Know
Networks Spin Tony Snow Appointment
 April 27, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - America's largest organization detailing liberal bias in the media, the Media Research Center reveals that ABC and NBC on Wednesday night delighted in showcasing how incoming
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow last year wrote that President Bush
had become "an embarrassment."
But in portraying the quote as a
declarative accusation, neither ABC's Elizabeth Vargas or NBC's David
Gregory put the remark into the context of how Snow was observing that
Virginia Republicans not wishing to appear with Bush during the 2005
campaign suggested "Bush has become something of an embarrassment."
Neither bothered to let their viewers in on how they were just funneling
quotes from a short list collected by the left-wing Center for American
Progress. Vargas teased at the top of World News Tonight, "President Bush
chooses a new spokesman: A conservative commentator who once called the
President 'an embarrassment.'" NBC's David Gregory at least hinted at some
context, though he still implied it was an accusation, as he related how
Snow "has criticized his new boss, writing last year that, quote, 'George
Bush has become something of an embarrassment.'"
All three broadcast morning shows this morning noted President Bush's
choice of Tony Snow as new White House Press Secretary, but only ABC's
Good Morning America saw the need to parrot from the thin list of anti-
Bush quotes from Snow's columns being passed around by the liberal Center
for American Progress (although reporter Jessica Yellin presented the
quotes as if they were the result of her own research, hiding the fact
they came from Democratic partisans).
Contra Costa Times And San Jose Mercury Reportedly Sold To Denver Based, MediaNews Group
BREAKING...April 26, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - San Francisco AM News station KCBS is reporting that MediaNews Group Inc., a Denver based company owned by Dean Singleton, has purchased the Contra Costa Times and the San Jose Mercury for an undisclosed amount of money.
The Times and Mercury were two of the newspapers that were formerly owned by Knight Ridder and recently purchased by the McClatchy Company which then announced its intention to sell off the two poorly performing products.
Both McClatchy and MediaNews Group have so far refused to comment on the possible acquisition but KCBS' reporter Mike Colgan has stated that the formal announcement will be made sometime later today.
If the deal does transpire it will be a blow to the local newspaper union, the San Jose Newspaper Guild which has been working with Yucaipa - an LA venture capital firm with ties to Democrat fat cats including heavy hitter Bill Clinton - to acquire the newspapers.
Note to CC Times' Editors Chris Lopez and Dan "Jack Daniels" Hatfield...gentlemen pack your bags...
For more on the Guild-Yucaipa aspect of this story take the following link to the previously published piece...
Knight Ridder-McClatchy Newspaper Deal Reveals Ties To Clinton-Gore Financier Yucaipa
March 13, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLinenews.org - The long anticipated sale of troubled newspaper publisher Knight Ridder was announced Sunday, with California based McClatchy Co agreeing to a deal valued at $6.5 billion.
McClatchy immediately announced it will sell off 12 of KR's low-growth potential products which include the San Jose Mercury and the [much maligned here] Contra Costa Times.
The surprise McClatchy offer breaks down to $67.25 a share, of which the San Jose Mercury reports, "$40 of that in cash and the rest in McClatchy shares. The Sacramento-based company is also assuming $2 billion in Knight Ridder debt."
It is rumored that some of the McClatchy spin-offs [which may or may not include the CC Times] - the San Jose Mercury, Philadelphia Inquirer, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Akron Beacon Journal; Grand Forks Herald; Monterey Herald; and Duluth News Tribune are being negotiated for by the Newspaper Guild which is seeking to purchase them on an ESOP [employee financed ownership plan].
Possibly The Dumbest Comment Nancy Pelosi Has Ever Made
Hint - If you are looking for political innanity, never stray far from a Dem press relesase...
"If you want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and therefore improve our national security situation, you can't do it if you're a republican because you are too wedded to the oil companies."
Sure Nancy, why rely on the people who actually deliver your gasoline to take measures to increase its supply? This brilliance, from the party whose core position is one of support for "conservation" through increased gasoline prices.
Rumsfeld - Victory In Iraq Would Represent, "An Enormous Success For This Region"
By John D. Banusiewicz, American Forces Press Service
 April 26, 2006 - Baghdad, Iraq - PipeLineNews.org - While success in Iraq's march to freedom would mean good things for most of its neighbors, Iran could only view that as a failure, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today.
Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are here to meet with U.S. and Iraqi officials.
"A successful Iraq that is at peace with its neighbors and that has a government that's representative of the various elements within the country would represent an enormous success for this region," Rumsfeld said. "It would add to prosperity for the region. It would be something that all of the neighbors would benefit from, except Iran.
"Iran's view of the world is quite different," he continued, "and (a successful democracy in Iraq) would represent a failure from the standpoint of Iran."
Coalition Forces Kill Band Of Terror Financiers In Afghanistan
 April 26, 2006 - Bagram, Afghanistan - PipeLineNews.org via Blackanthem Military News - Coalition forces interdicted a small band of terrorists in the Helmand Province on Monday evening. Coalition aircraft fired two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and dropped one bomb on the terrorists while they were meeting at a suspected Taliban camp in the Lashkar Gah District.
Three enemy fighters were killed and one fled during the air strike.
There was no damage to civilians or property observed during the operation.
The people killed were responsible for launching numerous attacks against Government of Afghanistan and Coalition forces including financing terrorist activities.
"Afghan and Coalition forces will continue to pursue those who stand in the way of the government of Afghanistan's objectives," said Army Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force - 76 spokesman. "Afghans are tired of the death and violence Taliban fighters and other enemies of Afghanistan have inflicted upon them," he said.
Coalition Forces Kill 12 Terrorists In Iraq Safe House
April 26, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org via American Foreces Press - Coalition forces killed 12 terrorists during a raid on a safe house in Yusifiyah, Iraq, yesterday, U.S. officials said.
The safe house was associated with foreign terrorists. Multiple intelligence sources led the troops to the specific structure, about 8 kilometers from the location where a U.S. Apache helicopter crashed April 1.
Upon arrival, the troops took direct fire and immediately engaged with small-arms fire as well as machine-gun fire from helicopters. The first terrorist who ran out of the safe house upon the troops' arrival was attempting to launch the shoulder-fired rocket and was immediately engaged and killed. The troops initially killed five terrorists outside the safe house and then called for an air strike to neutralize the persistent direct fire coming from the safe house.
After the precision air strike, ground troops conducted a tactical search of the destroyed safe house and located the bodies of seven more terrorists and a woman. Every male who was found in the rubble was wearing an AK-47 vest with two loaded magazines and two grenades. The troops also discovered suicide notes on one terrorist, body bombs, weapons to include a shoulder-fired rocket, and ammunition.
Bush Hails New Iraqi Government, "A free Iraq will be a part of laying the peace for generations"
By Steven Donald Smith, American Forces Press Service
April 26, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - "After months of patient negotiations, Iraqi leaders reached an agreement on a unity government," President Bush said in a speech on energy policy. "This new leadership reflects the diversity of Iraq, and it reflects the will of the Iraqi people who defied the terrorists and killers and went to the polls last December."
The Iraqi parliament April 22 elected seven high-ranking officials, including President Jalal Talabani, who then named Jawad al Maliki as prime minister-designate. The new government has 30 days to appoint an Iraqi cabinet that represents all of the country's citizens.
Despite disagreements, officials agree that the formation of the unity government is a crucial moment in the history of a new Iraq, Bush said.
He said he spoke to the Iraqi president, parliament speaker and the prime minister-designate April 23. "I congratulated them on their courage and encouraged them to stand strong for the Iraqi people," he said. "I reminded them the people had voted -- the people had expressed their desire for democracy and unity -- and now there's a chance for these leaders to stand up and lead."
Completing The Circle - Hogan & Hartson, The Unifying Link In The Clinton's War Against Bush?
April 25, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In short order after having been fired from the CIA for leaking national security secrets to Washington Post reporter Dana Priest, Mary McCarthy has retained DC hotshot attorney Ty Cobb.
Cobb is a partner in the powerhouse law firm of Hogan & Hartson, Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger's longtime employer.
Hogan & Hartson provides the link between such disparate but key Clintonista "persons of interest" as Sandy Berger, Mary McCarthy, John Huang, Cheryl D. Mills [Deputy Counsel to Clinton, instrumental role in defense of the president during his impeachment], David Watkins - defended in the Travelgate scandal by Ty Cobb [Watkins was a longtime "friend of Bill" and the party who fired the White House Travel Office staff on Hillary Clinton?s orders, thus launching "Travelgate"] and others.
Cobb wasted little time, immediately going on the offensive in defense of his client McCarthy claiming as the Washington Post reported, that she "did not have access to the information she is accused of leaking," and that "She categorically denies leaking classified information," as Cobb stated to the New York Times.
Echoing Cobb, Rand Beers [former NSC deputy, Clinton Assistant Secty of State and brought back to the NSC by president Bush in 2002. He abruptly resigned from Bush administration in 2003, 5 days before the commencement of Operation Iraqi freedom, claiming he wanted to retire from government then two months later accepting a position with the John Kerry campaign as foreign policy advisor] after admitting having talked to McCarthy, claimed, "She was not the source for that story."
Beers currently lectures along with Richard Clark on national security issues at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
Columnist Spanks State Department Embarassment Karen Hughes
April 25, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - Finding common cause with the the Washpost is something we seldom experience but columnist Suzanne Fields' piece, linked to above - A Nanny's Guide To Nice - appropriately ridicules Karen Hughes the State Department's brain dead massager of wounded Muslim sensitivities, who is reportedly working on a "World Citizen's Guide" with the hope of improving America's public image overseas...
"Nobody has any manners any more, and the government wants to do something about it. Soon we can take our cues from the Bard or a bureaucrat. Polonius was the fatherly old bore in "Hamlet," given to speechifying to his son about morals and manners. Karen Hughes, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, thinks American tourists should be similarly instructed on how to behave abroad.
[snip]
The undersecretary was in Texas television news before she joined George W. Bush in Washington, a refugee from the happy talk of the anchor desk. In the language of the nanny instructing naughty children, this guide to good manners instructs us to learn to smile genuinely because the smile, which is only a frown turned upside down, is a universal equalizer. You can let a smile be your umbrella."
Nancy Pelosi And Democrats Have Consistently Opposed Funding U.S. Intelligence
April 25, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - As the House leadership points out, on the House floor this week is the FY 2007 Intelligence Authorization Act (H.R. 5020), part of House Republicans' ongoing effort to secure America's communities by strengthening our intelligence capabilities. The measure directs resources to improve our human intelligence, intelligence analysis, and infrastructure, and provides more resources aimed at bolstering counterintelligence capabilities.
These actions are necessary after years of neglect by the Clitnon administration in the 1990s.
Following the end of the Cold War, a series of drastic, across-the-board cuts by the Clinton Administration in human intelligence funding slashed the number of American intelligence operatives by nearly one-third. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with President Clinton in 1993 was current Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who voted to cut intelligence authorization by $500 million.
Pelosi's record is consistent in opposition to an increased U.S. intelligence capacity:
1996
1997
1998
1999
In fact, Pelosi has a clear record of voting against the intelligence community stretching back to 1989 when she was one of only 31 representatives to vote against authorizing appropriations for intelligence and intelligence-related activities. In recent years she couldn't even bring herself to vote for a resolution expressing support for those who work for our intelligence agencies.
Rising Gas Prices? - Five Questions For Nancy Pelosi
April 25, 2006 - Berkeley, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The House leadership has posed 5 questions to minority leader Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] regarding her party's role in today's high gasoline prices:
Nancy Pelosi and her Capitol Hill Democrats have fashioned an abysmal record on energy issues that are important to the American public, yet now have the temerity to complain about the strain of rising gas prices they are directly responsible for.
It's time for Nancy Pelosi and her band of Capitol Hill Democrats to answer questions about their blatant obstruction and chronic negligence on energy issues:
1. In the face of rising gas prices for working families, why have you and your Capitol Hill Democrats consistently opposed measures designed to increase supply of American energy?
2. With world energy prices rising because of increased demand, why did 124 of your House Democrats vote against the energy bill in 2005 to encourage the expansion of clean nuclear energy supplies?
3. In the face of rising gas prices for Americans, why did 196 of your House Democrats vote against a 2005 energy bill that would have streamlined the process of refinery expansion and construction that is so critical to the future of America's energy infrastructure?
Bin Laden Orders Mujahadeen To Sudan, MoveOn.org Organizes A March
April 24, 2006 - Berkeley, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Calling the juxtaposing of these two events as serendipitous probably constitutes a record of sorts in the art of understatement, but immediately on the heels of Binny's most recent harangue demanding that his mujahadeen warriors descend upon Sudan to end what he characterizes as a genocide against Muslims - "I urge the mujahidin...in Sudan and the surrounding areas, including the Arabian Peninsula...to prepare all that which is necessary to fight a long-term war against the Crusader thieves [Britain and America] in western Sudan..." - we have George Soros' MoveOn.org organizing a "virtual march" against Sudanese genocide, but focusing their outrage on conditions in Darfur and avoiding the larger question of regional genocide.
The signup page for the MoveOn effort links to the Save Darfur website which presents the nature of the genocide in Sudan as being - "The war, which risks inflicting irreparable damage on a delicate ethnic balance of seven million people who are uniformly Muslim."
Now if facts be known if we look outside the fisheye of Darfur of course what is really happening in Sudan is a case of Muslim Arabs in the North of Sudan carrying out a near 20 campaign genocide against Christians in the South, but we also imagine that it would be impossible to identify the real perpetrators of this hideous business as being Muslim and still keep on the good side of protest endorsers CAIR [the terrorist friendly Council on Islamic American Relations] ICNA [Islamic Circle of North America, Karen Hughes favorite Islamist group] along with the usual gaggle of lefties and anti-Zionist Jewish groups [Hebrews with a death wish].
What Bin Laden Claims In His Latest Tape
 April 24, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The nature of Bin-Laden's assertions are all-encompassing. He claims that this conflict is religious and cultural in nature, that the entire non-Muslim world has engaged in a conspiracy against Islam, that all who war against Islam are either Crusaders or Zionists and that the ultimate goal of this war is to enslave Muslim countries.
We have broken this down into six broad categories.
1. This conflict is a religious war. Western governments and their people are responsible for the ?war against Islam? because while the government wages it, the people approved of it, re-electing their leaders and sending their sons into the military:
"While the war continues, the people renew the rule of their rulers and of the politicians. They send their sons to the army fighting us and continue the monetary and material support."
2. The United States and Britain have conspired with Israel against Hamas. Hamas is equated with Islam therefore this is an attack on Islam:
"An example of the blatant attacks on our beliefs is what your ally, Israel, did in terms of storming and demolishing the Jericho Prison with the collusion of America and Britain...Their opposition to the Hamas victory proves that this is a crusade against Islam."
3. Britain and the United States have conspired against Sudan. Since Sudan is a Muslim land it must be defended even though the current government in Khartoum is not fundamentalist enough for bin-Laden's liking:
"Britain, separated Sudan from Egypt...It formed an army there...America took over this army...I urge the mujahidin...in Sudan and the surrounding areas, including the Arabian Peninsula...to prepare all that which is necessary to fight a long-term war against the Crusader thieves in western Sudan."
CIA Leaker - Mary McCarthy - Busted For Disclosing National Security Secrets To Attack Journalist
April 22, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - In a move called "unusual" by the mainstream press only because they have grown accustomed to this administration rolling over like a dead whale when confronted by leakers, the CIA has fired Mary McCarthy - of the spy bureau's Inspector General's Office - for the disclosure of classified information.
The announcement was personally authored by CIA Director Porter Goss, AP reports.
Not only has McCarthy been fired, she is reportedly the target of a Justice Department investigation that may result in the filing of criminal charges associated with the revelation of top-secret national security information.
McCarthy is now believed to be at least one of the sources for the Washpost's series of articles on American operated clandestine detentions centers in Europe authored by Dana Priest, a this week recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for leftist attack journalism.
Of similar interest to the DOJ and the CIA are the source of leaks to James Risen and Eric Lichtblau whose New York Times articles revealed that the Bush administration had the temerity to surveil al-Qaeda electronic transmissions.
Mr. Risen and Lichtblau were also were rewarded this week - for valiant service to the cause - by the Pulitzer Committee.
Previous to her employment at the CIA's IG office Mary McCarthy was the NSC's Senior Director for Intelligence from 1998-2001. She served on the staff of vitriolic Bush critic Richard Clarke the NSC's National Counterterrorism Coordinator from 1997-2001.
Mrs. Lincoln Chafee Using Position In Rhode Island Free Clinic For Husband's Political Gain?
...BREAKING...April 21, 2006 - Providence, RI - PipeLineNews.org - As detailed in our earlier filing Chafee Campaign Caught Trying To Stuff Ballot Box, the conclusion of Mrs. Lincoln Chafee's email which solicits Democrats to change their party registration and then vote for Senator Chafee in the Republican primary, contains the following contact information:
RIFC
655 Broad Street
Providence, RI 02907
401.490.8088
www.rifreeclinic.org
The organization is the Rhode Island Free Clinic, a provider of medical services [including abortion counseling] to those without medical insurance.
A call to the listed telephone number routes you into Stephanie Chafee's voice mail with this message:
"Hi you have reached the office of Stephanie Chafee and I will be away until April [unintelligible], happy Easter"
As an act of supposed philanthropy, Mrs. Chafee had a hand in creating the Rhode Island Free Clinic
"Rhode Island Free Clinic began eight years ago as an idea of co-founders Stephanie Danforth Chafee, RN,
MBA and Bruce Becker, MD. Since its doors opened in 1999, the Free Clinic has been helping to make a
difference for uninsured adults in Rhode Island. In 2004, Free Clinic volunteers provided over 1,800 free
visits to its uninsured patients. In the past year alone, patient visits increased by 42 percent, serving as a
concrete reminder of the great (and growing) need for accessible healthcare." - RHODE ISLAND FREE CLINIC NAMED RI's 2005 OUTSTANDING PHILANTHROPIC ORGANIZATION
However it appears that she and the Chafee campaign are taking advantage of the time, effort and contributions made to the clinic, using it as a seemingly official contact point for the Senator's reelection bid.
We are awaiting word from Chafee campaign spokesperson Ian Lang for further clarification.
Chafee Campaign Caught Trying To Stuff Ballot Box
...BREAKING...April 21, 2006 - Providence, RI - PipeLineNews.org - What follows is the verbatim text of an email sent by Stephanie Chafee [Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee's wife] to registered Democrats urging them to change their party affiliation from Democrat to either Independent or Republican so that they can then vote for Senator Chafee in the Republican primary on September 12th, thus skewing the results.
Included with the email were attachments that the Chafee campaign added, instructing voters on the intricacies of how to change their party identification.
We find this tactic reprehensible and nothing short of attempting to steal an election by stuffing the ballot box.
Chafee is trying to hijack the GOP primary because he realizes that his views are so out of step with the Republican base that he can't win without resorting to underhanded tactics and the liberal vote.
For a brief synopsis on Chafee's brief but troubling Senate record, please visit this link Lincoln Chafee, The Wrong Man For Rhode Island
[Editor's Note: When contacted by PipeLineNews.org, Senator Chafee's campaign spokesman Ian Lang had these comments:
PLN - "Some of the Rhode Island GOP leaders that we have talked to are pretty outraged by this move to bring non-Republicans into the Republican primary; do you have any comments about that?"
Mr. Lang - "This is an email she [Stephanie Chafee] sent to her friends and colleagues...the Senator has been committed to growing the Republican party throughout his career..."
PLN - "Is this an admission that Senator Chafee can't win within his own party?"
"The Senator has a long history of doing that [growing the Republican party]...we are reaching out to those who are supportive of Linc Chafee..."
When queried about the mentioning of the Rhode Island Free Clinic - a provider of abortion counseling - in the email, Mr. Lang stated that he was not aware of that. We forwarded the text of Mrs. Chafee's email to him for additional comments.]
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephanie Chafee [mailto:schafee@cox.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 3:30 PM
To: Stephanie Chafee
Subject: Voter Choice
April 5, 2006
Dear Friend,
This is an important election for Rhode Island's future. My husband, Linc Chafee, is engaged in the fight of his political life. His commitment to honest, independent leadership has put him under attack from extremist on both sides of the ideological divide.
I believe that you agree with me that Linc's centrist views are good for Rhode Island. They allow him to work with colleagues in a bipartisan manner to ensure that our state receives its fair share of federal funding, to expand access to healthcare and education, and to safeguard our beautiful forests and coastlines for this and future generations.
Linc has stood up for Rhode Island time and again. In a contentious atmosphere, he has stood firm by refusing to engage in partisan politics. Now it's time for all of us who want more independent minded thinkers in Washington to show our support for Linc. If you are a registered Democrat, I am strongly encouraging you to disaffiliate and to become an unaffiliated voter.
If you support my husband, it is absolutely imperative that you vote for him in both the September 12th primary and in the general election on November 7th. But to be eligible to vote for him in the Republican primary you must be registered as either an unaffiliated or a Republican voter. I want to urge you to please check your affiliation and consider voting in the September primary. If you are a registered Democrat you must disaffiliate by June 14th in order to vote in Linc's September primary.
Changing your affiliation is easy. I have enclosed a copy of a voter registration card, which will allow you to disaffiliate. This form can also be found on the board of elections website at www.elections.ri.gov and is available at your local board of canvassers located at your Town or City Hall. Enclosed, please find a listing of five easy steps to guide you through the disaffiliation process. For more information on voter registration call the campaign at (401) 921-1920 and ask for Brent Lang or email him at blang@chafeeforsenate.com.
Thank you and I hope you will join me in supporting Linc in this upcoming election.
Stephanie Chafee
P.S. If you need further information, please let us know. If you are planning to be out of state during the primary, please remember to get an absentee ballot. Above all, exercise what our forefathers fought for - the right to vote
Mrs. Stephanie D. Chafee
Wee Hoose Farm
Exeter, RI
RIFC
655 Broad Street
Providence, RI 02907
401.490.8088
www.rifreeclinic.org
Iraqis Continue 'Dominant Contribution' to Operations, General Says
By Sgt. Sara Wood
April 21, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org via American Forces Press - Iraqi security forces continue to play an increasingly larger role in the fight against terrorism, with many units taking responsibility for their own areas and making connections with citizens, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said today.
In a marked improvement over last year's three battalions, the Iraqi army now has two divisions, 16 brigades and 58 battalions that have the lead in counterinsurgency operations in their areas, Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said at a news conference. Also, at least 25 percent of daily company-level and above operations are independent Iraqi security force operations, Lynch said.
"The Iraqi security force continues to make a dominant contribution for operations across Iraq," he said.
Independent operations by Iraqi security forces are successful not only because Iraqis are effective and familiar with the surroundings, but also because Iraqi citizens are willing to work with them and provide intelligence, Lynch said. Iraqi civilians have repeatedly given intelligence to Iraqi security forces that results in effective operations, he said.
"[Iraqi citizens] have indeed reached a point where they are tired of the insurgency, and they realize that they are indeed the target of attacks by the insurgency," he said.
Time To Replace Turkey as a Strategic Partner?
By Jonathan Eric Lewis, Middle East Quarterly
April 20, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - The U.S.-Turkish partnership remained strong throughout the Cold War. Turkey was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member and a frontline state against the Soviet Union. Washington valued Ankara as a strategic partner. But, with the end of the Cold War, the pivotal status of Turkey receded. Successive U.S. presidents paid heed to the importance of the U.S.-Turkish relationship, but few cultivated it. Until the Turkish parliament shocked Washington by failing to authorize the use of Turkish facilities for Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 1, 2003, many in Washington took the Turkish partnership for granted. The loss of Ankara as a reliable ally has forced U.S. policymakers to readjust their regional strategy. Turkey may no longer be a pivotal state, but the Black Sea and Caspian littoral remains a pivotal region as a bulwark against radical Islam and for energy security. While Washington seeks to repair its once strong partnership with Ankara, increasingly, the security and stability of the region requires a more active and engaged U.S. approach not only to Turkey, but also to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Romania.
Shaken Confidence
The Turkish National Assembly stunned U.S. policymakers by voting against participation in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The no vote exposed severe fault lines in the U.S.-Turkish relationship, exacerbated by the subsequent outreach of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan to Iran and Syria and the tendency of members of his Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalknma Partisi, AKP) to engage in anti-American rhetoric.[1] Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has indicated a desire to develop further ties with Turkey.[2]
Washington's ambiguous attitude toward the Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan, PKK) and Erdo?an's autocratic tendencies further eroded bilateral confidence.[3] A July 2005 Turkish poll underlined the deterioration in U.S.-Turkish relations. Some 50 percent of respondents held an "absolute negative view" of the United States.[4] Among U.S. policymakers - at least those outside the diplomatic service - the view toward the Turkish government was mutual.
Turkey's growing flirtation with Islamism has also undercut U.S. confidence in its long-time ally. Prior to becoming prime minister, Erdoan was arrested for reciting an Islamist poem that challenged the Kemalist basis of the state.[5] The AKP has worked to promote an Islamist agenda, seeking to empower graduates of religious schools, and facilitating the influx outside of regulatory oversight of billions of dollars from Persian Gulf and other Islamist sources.[6] More recently, the imprisonment without charges of a Van University professor?who later committed suicide - and the unprecedented arrest of the university's secularist rector has caused mainstream Turkish society to question Erdoan's intentions.[7]
Sami Al Arian, CAIR's - Council On American Islamic Relations - Favorite Terrorist
April 20, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On Monday, United States District Judge James Moody unsealed a plea agreement between U.S. government prosecutors and Islamist cause célèbre terrorist Sami al-Arian.
In that agreement al-Arian - a former University of South Florida professor - pled guilty to count four of the government's indictment admitting that he was part of a conspiracy to "make or receive contributions of funds, goods or services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad."
PIJ was designated a terrorist organization in 1995.
Al-Arian's brother - Mazen Al-Najjar, was arrested twice, once in 1997 and again in 2001 on terror related charges. Mazen was deported on a visa violation.
Al-Arian will be officially sentenced May 1 and is expected to also be deported. The maximum sentence for the offense to which he pled guilty is 5 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
American Wahhabist pressure groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR] maintain that the prosecution of a now admitted terrorist was a tragedy.
In a statement, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
"We welcome the decision not to retry Professor Al-Arian. We are concerned however that the price paid for his freedom is deportation to another country, an additional burden on a family that has suffered tremendously over the past few years. The negative impact this tragic episode has had on the image of our legal system worldwide warrants a complete re-examination of government policies and procedures in such cases."
Joe Wilson And Valerie Plame To Appear At White House Correspondents Dinner, Courtesy Of ABC News?
 April 20, 2005 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - According to lefty Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher, Valerie Plame and Joe The Liar Wilson might be in attendance at the White House Correspondents dinner as guests of ABC News.
Plame, a former CIA desk jockey and Wilson an ex-Clinton serial liar became embroiled in controversy after he made false allegations on the question of Saddam Hussein' s attempts to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger, alleging that the Iraqi dictator was never involved in the process and following up that highly publicized claim with a nation-wide public relations effort conducted at the behest of the usual Democrat/media suspects:
"I spent the next eight days drinking sweet mint tea and meeting with dozens of people: current government officials, former government officials, people associated with the country's uranium business. It did not take long to conclude that it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken place." - New York Times, "What I Didn't Find in Africa," Joseph C. Wilson 4th, July 6, 2003
All of this once again resolves around the now fabled "16 words" mentioned by President Bush in the 2003 State of the Union address:
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
This is roundly referred to by the left as the "lie" whereby Bush justified our invasion of Iraq.
Bloomberg And Menino Mayoral Gun Grab Planned
April 20, 2006 - Bellvue, WA - PipeLineNews.org - A highly-publicized "gun summit" planned by anti-gun Mayors Michael Bloombe rg of New York and Thomas Menino of Boston next week is really a planning session to devise more schemes to restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens, which will only lead to more crime because people will be unable to protect themselves, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.
"Rather than devising and suggesting more restrictions on the rights of law-abiding gun owners, these mayors need to recognize that urban violence is a symptom of deeper problems that their bankrupt social policies perpetuate," said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron.
"Ten years ago," Waldron said, ":the 'solution' to gun trafficking into New York City from southern states with so-called 'lax' gun laws was to impose one-gun-a-month laws in those states. That scheme proved a colossal failure because Virginia, where such a law is on the books, is still the number one source of illegal guns in New York. Yet honest citizens face ridiculous roadblocks to gun ownership, and legal concealed carry is impossible.
Yahoo Accused Of Complicity With Chinese Communist Government In Jiang Lijun Case
April 19, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLinenews.org - Reporters Without Borders has obtained a copy of the verdict in the case of Jiang Lijun, sentenced to four years in prison in November 2003 for his online pro-democracy articles, showing that Yahoo ! helped Chinese police to identify him.
It is the third such case, following those of Shi Tao and Li Zhi, proving the implication of the American Internet company.
The verdict, made available and translated into English by the human rights group, the Dui Hua Foundation, can be downloaded below.
"Little by little we are piecing together the evidence for what we have long suspected, that Yahoo ! is implicated in the arrest of most of the people that we have been defending,? the press freedom organisation said.
U.S. Government Clears Way For 10,000 South Korean Nurses To Immigrate
April 19, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In an agreement to be finalized on April 19, 10,000 South Korean nurses will immigrate to the United States and join the American workforce over the next five years.
Announced by the South Korean Resources Development Service the process will be administered by HRS Global - a San Francisco employment agency - and New York's St. John's Riverside Hospital.
There is a reported shortage of about 300,000 nurses in the U.S.
According to the South Korean Resources Development Service, after completing a short training program, they will be assigned to 36 New York hospitals as intern nurses and will be paid $25 an hour.
Hamas Terror Government Blames Israel For Passover Bombing
 April 18, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - The terrorist Hamas PA government defended yesterday's suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv restaurant, blaming Israel for the attack which was in their view the, "natural result of the continued Israeli crimes against our people," adding, "The Israeli occupation bears responsibility for the continuation of its aggression. Our people are in a state of self-defense and they have every right to use all means to defend themselves."
The official death toll for the bombing is nine, eight of whose identities have so far been released by Israeli forensic experts.
Binyamin Hafuta, 47
Victor Erez, 60
David Shaulov, 29
Phillip Balahsan, 45
Lily Yonas, 43
Ariel Darhi, 31
Boda Firushka, 50
Roselia Basanya, 48
Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade jointly took credit for the explosion, telling Reuters that the motivation was for, "Israeli massacres committed against our people in Gaza".
Iraqis Increasingly Relying On Iraqi Police For Security
By Capt. Lyn Graves
April 18, 2006 - Kirkuk, Iraq - PipeLineNews.org via Blackanthem Military News - When an Iraqi factory worker found a bag containing what he believed to be IED making materials, he knew who to call - the Iraqi Police station in Taza.
Such a call would seem to be a matter of course for Americans, but in Iraq this kind of action demonstrates a positive step forward for the Iraqi people?s confidence in their police.
"What I like is citizens seeing something out of place and calling the local Iraqi Police. It has taken awhile for local people to trust the coalition forces and the Iraqi Security Forces, but we are starting to see the benefits of the investments in time we have made," said 2nd Lt. Jeremy Fox of 1st Platoon, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
In visits to two towns in the Kirkuk region of north central Iraq, Fox and his platoon saw first-hand the progress made by the Iraqi Police and Army, and the corresponding trust given by the Iraqi people.
Pulitzer Journalism Awards Go To Lefty Bush Bashers
April 18, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - America's largest organization detailing liberal bias in the media, the Media Research Center reveals that the annual Pulitzer Prize awards announced Monday night rewarded
Washington Post and New York Times reporters who exposed -- and thus
undermined -- secret anti-terrorism efforts, as well as a Washington Post
critic who mocked Vice President Cheney's outdoor apparel and ridiculed
the supposed 1950s-era clothing worn by then-Supreme Court nominee John
Roberts' kids. The Pulitzer board gave the "Beat Reporting" award to Dana
Priest of the Washington Post "for her persistent, painstaking reports on
secret 'black site' prisons and other controversial features of the
government's counterterrorism campaign."
The "National Reporting" award
was won by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times "for their
carefully sourced stories on secret domestic eavesdropping that stirred a
national debate on the boundary line between fighting terrorism and
protecting civil liberty." Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan
grabbed the "Criticism" award "for her witty, closely observed essays that
transform fashion criticism into cultural criticism." In a January 2005
piece, Givhan complained that at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of
Auschwitz, Dick Cheney "was dressed in the kind of attire one typically
wears to operate a snow blower."
Richard Holbrook, Bill Clinton And The Revolt Of The Leftist Generals
By Tony Blankley
April 18, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org via Washington Times - Consider two hypothetical situations. In the first, an Army general officer in a theater of war decides by himself that he strongly disagrees with the orders of the secretary of defense. He resigns his commission, returns to private life and speaks out vigorously against both the policy and the secretary of defense.
In example two, the top 100 generals in the Army military chain of command secretly agree among themselves to retire and speak out each one day after the other.
In example one, above, unambiguously, the general has behaved lawfully. In example two, an arguable case could be made that something in the nature of a mutinous sedition has occurred in violation of Article 94 of the Uniform Code of Military procedure. When does an expanded version of the simple honesty and legality of the first example cross over into grounds for a court martial? More specifically, can a series of lawful resignations turn into a mutiny? And if they are agreed upon in advance, have the agreeing generals formed a felonious conspiracy to make a mutiny?
This may sound far fetched, but in The Washington Post on Sunday the very smart, very well connected former Clinton Ambassador to the U.N. Richard Holbrook published an article titled "Behind the Military Revolt." In this article, he predicts that there will be increasing numbers of retired generals speaking out against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Then, shockingly, he writes the following words: "If more angry generals emerge -- and they will -- if some of them are on active duty, as seems probable ... then this storm will continue until finally it consumes not only Donald Rumsfeld."
Passover Terror Bombing Kills Six In Tel Aviv
April 17, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade have both taken credit for a huge explosion which rocked a Tel Aviv sandwich shop this afternoon telling Reuters that the motivation was for, "Israeli massacres committed against our people in Gaza".
So far the toll is six killed with possibly more than 30 seriously injured.
The Israeli government has issued a statement holding the Palestinian Authority's Hamas government responsible for the attack.
"This Palestinian Authority, which has clearly defined itself as a terrorist entity, has tried to instigate terrorist support more than the previous one did, and we will act accordingly."
The bombing took place midway through Passover, one of Judaism's holiest festivals.
Iran Nuke Impasse, Rafsanjani - "The Islamic Republic of Iran does not intend to stop"
April 17, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a Monday press conference held in Kuwait, former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani unequivocally stated his support for the rogue nation's nuclear program
"The Islamic Republic wants to continue along its path."
Rafsanjani also put the United States on notice that military action would have consequences.
"We are sure that America will not enter into such a predicament...But if (Iran) is subjected to aggression, then the war will have its consequences...Harm would not only engulf the Islamic Republic of Iran, but the region and everybody."
In a speech to Iranian students on April 12 current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that his country was now using a sophisticated P-2 centrifuge design to enrich uranium.
This is viewed by Western intelligence analysts as a further indication that Iran's nuclear program is designed to fashion nuclear weapons and not civilian nuclear power as they have stated.
Rafsanjani's comments are particularly troubling in that they indicate high level Iranian consensus on the program, support for which has been cast in some quarters as primarily coming from a possibly less than stable president Ahmadinejad .
McCain Fans Flames Of Lefty Attack On Secretary Of Defense Rumsfeld
April 15, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLinenews.org - In a Friday press conference at his Phoenix office, and straying ever farther from the Bush reservation, Arizona's senior Senator John McCain did not hesitate from taking confrontational stands.
Adding to the heat generated by recent attacks against the Secretary of Defense by a number of disgruntled former general officers calling for his dismissal , McCain re-ignited his long standing dispute with Mr. Rumsfeld.
Long a critic of Rumsfeld's running of the Iraq conflict McCain stated, "I was asked a long time ago, I think a year and a half or two years ago, if I had confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld. I was asked that directly. I said, 'No.'"
Supporting Rumsfeld are the military's two most senior retired officers, General Richard Myers - most recently head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - and General Tommy Franks, who oversaw the successful 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Adding his voice, President Bush on Friday also expressed his full support of Mr. Rumsfeld.
To Bomb, or Not to Bomb - That is the Iran question
By Reuel Marc Gerecht, the Weekly Standard
April 15, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - When I was recently in Paris, a French diplomat explained to me why he--and many others in the French foreign ministry--thought the United States would, in the end, bomb Iran's nuclear-weapons facilities. Owing to Chinese and Russian obstreperousness, the United Nations would probably fail to agree on any sanctions, let alone a sanctions regime with sufficient bite to intimidate the mullahs. The Europeans--at least the French, Germans, and British if not the Italians--would do a bit better, primarily because the French, despite their laissez-passer cynicism and their Gaullist pride vis-à-vis the United States, have developed a strong distaste for the clerics. The mullahs did, after all, once bomb Paris and kill a slew of prominent Iranian expatriates on French soil; and the French don't particularly care for religious Third Worlders' joining the nuclear club. France might even lead the sanctions charge against Tehran--an astonishing historical moment for the Fifth Republic, which has usually aligned itself with Muslim Middle Eastern regimes or cultivated a profitable neutrality, especially when the United States was involved on the opposite side.
But this nouvelle différence française, alas, would not in all probability dissuade the Islamic Republic's nuke-loving theocrats. The Iranians would proceed, my French friend thought, with little of the dialogue-of-civilizations finesse and moderation they exhibited during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami--probably the period when the clerical regime made its greatest advances in its nuclear-weapons program. Iran's most politically savvy cleric, Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, is trying hard to align most of the clerical establishment behind him, even the reformist and dissident mullahs who hate his guts, to ensure the fire-breathing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, doesn't scare foreigners too much with his Khomeinist language and thought. Rafsanjani, the true father of the Islamic Republic's nuclear "energy" program, loathes the diehard ex-Revolutionary Guard Ahmadinejad, who threatens to ruin, among other things, Rafsanjani's hitherto successful strategy of dividing the Europeans from the Americans.
New Orleans' Police Returning Illegally Seized Firearms
April 15, 2006 - Bellvue, WA - PipeLineNews.org - More than seven months have passed since New Orleans residents were forcibly and illegally disarmed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and starting Monday, April 17, the City of New Orleans will be returning seized firearms to their rightful owners, thanks to legal action by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and National Rifle Association (NRA).
"We?ve learned from the police that starting Monday at 8 a.m., New Orleans gun owners can get their firearms back," noted SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. "The city had been denying for more than five months that these guns were in possession. Only when SAF and the NRA filed a motion to have Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley held in contempt of court did city officials miraculously discover that more than a thousand seized firearms were being stored."
The Little Ice Age And French Intransigence In The Face Of Globalism
By Dennis T. Avery, Sr. Fellow Hudson Institute
April 14, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - The French don't learn quickly...recently, TV news channels have featured vivid pictures from France. First, The French Muslim youth rioted and burned cars because their unemployment runs close to 50 percent. Then, French students counter-rioted, against liberalizing French labor laws designed to guarantee the old General Motors-style "jobs for life" for a lucky few.
The truth of the story is that the welfare mentality in France helped prevent the creation of a single additional French private-sector job in the past 30 years.
How long will it take the French to adapt to globalization, with its increasing opportunities for the skilled and flexible?
A clue: During the Little Ice Age, it took them literally 500 years to recognize that the Earth?s climate had shifted.
France suffered more than 100 famines in the 500 years after the Medieval Warming ended in 1300 AD. Ultimately, the famines set the stage for the French Revolution in 1789.
Nuclear Hostage Crisis
By Michael Rubin, Middle East Forum
April 14, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - On April 11, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced, "Iran has joined the club of nuclear countries." State television broadcast the audience chanting "God is great." The presence of senior military commanders underlined the nature of the program, which the regime vowed to continue. Mohammad Saeedi, deputy chairman of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told state-run television that the Islamic Republic would begin uranium enrichment on an industrial scale but Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi suggested a new status quo. "The West can do nothing and is obliged to extend to us the hand of friendship," he said.
Some diplomats are inclined to take the bait. Kofi Annan urged "everyone to work more actively in search of a diplomatic solution." Earlier this month, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged the U.S. to engage Iran directly. On April 11, Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass said that if he were still the State Department's policy planning director, a position he held between 2001 and 2003, he "would put together a diplomatic package." International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Mohamed ElBaradei continues to push the idea. The idea of a Grand Bargain -- diplomatic recognition, security guarantees, and economic incentives in exchange for Iranian forfeiture of its nuclear autonomy -- has had long resonance in the foreign policy debate, even though a similar strategy failed to halt North Korea's program.
Proposals for direct negotiations may be attractive, but they ignore Iranian history. Implicit in any deal is recognition of a system of government which, according to recent surveys, enjoys at most 20% popular support. The Islamic Republic's greatest fear is demography; 70% of Iranians came of age after the Islamic Revolution. They are proud and nationalistic, yet outward looking. They represent Iran's future and have no love for their leadership. The White House should not squander their goodwill. In 1953 and 1979, Washington supported an unpopular regime against the will of the Iranian people; any deal which would preserve the regime would be to make the same mistake again.
Feds Breaking Bread With The Radical Islamists At IIIT
By Joel Mowbray
April 14, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org via Washington Times - What a difference a few months can make. That's all it took for the federal government to go full-circle, from prosecuting an alleged terrorist to headlining an event co-sponsored by one of his biggest supporters -- a group that also happens to be still under investigation itself.
Through December of last year, the U.S. government was using its full force to convict the alleged North American leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Sami al-Arian, of terrorism charges. By this March, the State Department dispatched its head of counterterrorism, Ambassador Hank Crumpton, to be the keynote speaker at a conference co-sponsored by one of Mr. al-Arian's former principal funder, the International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT). And for good measure, the Defense Department largely paid for the event.
Aside from the group's history with Mr. al-Arian, IIIT's co-founder and former longtime president -- and an unindicted co-conspirator in the al-Arian trial -- allegedly wrote a fatwa, or religious edict, years ago endorsing jihad against Israelis. Though he wasn't at the conference, Taha Jaber al-Alwani still sits on IIIT's board.
ABC News Liars Continue To Stoke - Absent Factual Basis - Iraq Bio-Lab "Controversy"
April 14, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - America's largest organization detailing liberal bias in the media, the Media Research Center reveals that picking up on a front page
Washington Post story about how back in May of 2003 President Bush had
cited trailers found in Iraq as proof of WMD, when a secret field report
filed two days earlier had concluded the trailers had nothing to do with
bio-weapons, on Wednesday morning ABC's Charles Gibson trumpeted how Bush
made a statement he "knew at the time that was not true" and so it's
"another embarrassment for the White House." Reporter Martha Raddatz
agreed "it certainly is."
But, as reported by FNC's Carl Cameron,
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan pointed out at the Wednesday
briefing that the day before Bush's 2003 comments a joint CIA/DIA report
had concluded the trailers were bio-weapons labs, ABC's World News Tonight
plowed ahead Wednesday night, ignoring the more substantial report which
had much-wider distribution -- and CNN's Jack Cafferty ("ABC News has even
reported that President Bush knew what he was saying about those trailers
was false"), as well as MSNBC's Keith Olbermann ("The President knew they
weren't mobile weapons labs from the very start. How Nixonian is this? We
will ask John Dean"), piled on.
Islamist Pressure Groups Including Muslim American Society Complete Shakedown Of Bank Of America
April 13, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Wahhabist Muslim pressure groups have successfully forced Bank of America acquisition Fleet Bank to fund the production of a Da'wa program intended to portray Muslims in a more favorable light as a result of false charges of discrimination.
The spurious complaint against the bank was lodged by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Massachusetts and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. (MORE), two notoriously pro-Islamist groups.
The ADC, parent of the Massachusetts state committee urges that American aid be given to the Palestinian Authority's terrorist Hamas government.
"At the same time, led by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, local Palestinians and other Arab-Americans organized phone and letter-writing campaigns to local members of Congress and the Bush Administration to urge them not to end the assistance." - ADC Website
The Muslim American Society supports the imposition of sharia, or Islamic law in place of the U.S. constitution and has joined with groups like International ANSWER in Marxist denunciations of the United States.
MAS is described by the Chicago Tribune as being an arm of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood.
Top al-Qaeda Terrorist Mohsin Musa Matawalli Atwah Believed Killed In Pakistan
April 13, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Cobra gunships swooped down on the North Waziristan tribal region village of Anghar Kalai on Wednesday evening killing al-Qaeda kingpin Mohsin Matawalli Atwah.
Atwah - Mohsin Musa Matawalli Atwah - is a native Egyptian and believed the mastermind behind the 1998 bombing of the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.
There is currently a U.S. government placed a $5 million on Atwah.
Also believed killed in the attack was al-Qaeda explosives expert Abdul Rahman al-Masri.
Bin-Laden Associate & Terror Liason Abu Umar al Kurdi Killed By Coalition Forces In Iraq
April 13, 2006 - Baghdad, Iraq - PipeLineNews.org via Blackanthem Military News - Coalition and Iraqi forces killed a wanted terrorist, Rafid Ibrahim Fattah aka Abu Umar al Kurdi, during an early morning raid March 27 in the vicinity of Abu Ghraib. Officials report and confirm that Abu Umar al Kurdi had ties to Jaysh al Islami, Ansar al Sunnah, Taliban members in Afghanistan, Pakistani-based extremists, and al Qaeda senior leaders to include Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri.
Over the past six months, the targeted terrorist worked as a Jaysh al Islami cell leader in Baquba and allegedly was involved in the kidnapping of an Iraqi woman. Abu Umar al Kurdi traveled extensively throughout Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq over the past 15 years and met and formed a relationship with al Qaeda senior leaders in 1999 while in Afghanistan.
In the 1980s he formed ties with the Muslim Brotherhood while in Iran and Pakistan, and then he joined the jihad in Afghanistan in 1989. Within months he was given the title of an al Qaeda ambassador and attended military training camps near Jalabad where Osama bin Laden often visited.
Worldwide Joint Intelligence Operations Centers To Be Set Up By Department of Defense
By Gerry J. Gilmore American Forces Press Service
April 13, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - The Defense Department is moving to establish a worldwide group of joint intelligence organizations designed to rapidly gather, interpret and act on information to better meet 21st-century military needs, senior military officials said here today.
On April 3, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld issued a directive to establish a Joint Intelligence Operations Center at DoD's Defense Intelligence Agency, at each unified combatant command and at U.S. Forces Korea, Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and warfighting support, told reporters at a news briefing.
"What we're trying to do is move towards 'operationalizing' intelligence," Boykin explained. This entails transforming military intelligence from being a staff function into "both a staff function, when appropriate, and an operational concept," he said.
Findings of Capitol Hill and DoD commissions and studies, including the latest Quadrennial Defense Review, conducted since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States recommended the department integrate and improve the processes it uses to more rapidly gather, analyze and act on intelligence information, Boykin said.
Lou Dobbs Charges Major Media Mislead Public On Pro Illegal Immigration Marches
April 12, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLinenews.org - As the Media Research Center observes, "On Tuesday's Lou Dobbs Tonight on CNN, Dobbs scolded "this country's
major daily newspapers" for how they "misled" readers in their coverage of
immigration rallies since "their headlines failed to tell the truth about
what the rallies are all about: Rallies in favor of illegal immigration,
and amnesty for illegal aliens." Dobbs showed the front pages of four
newspapers, starting with the New York Times' headline of "Immigrants
Rally in Scores of Cities for Legal Status," followed by the Washington
Post's description of "Immigration Rights Rallies," USA Today's "Historic
rallies voice a 'dream'" and the Wall Street Journal's "Immigration-Policy
Protests Draw Huge Crowds of Workers."
Dobbs, however, offered praise for
one newspaper's "astute" take, quoting approvingly from a Tuesday Las
Vegas Review-Journal editorial which contended: "Organizers wanted the
marches to be more about people and less about policy. Most television
stations swallowed the bait and delivered news reports soft enough to
follow Sesame Street on PBS."
Minuteman Education Tour Detailing Threat Of Illegal Immigration Challenges Washington To - Secure America's Borders Now!
April 12, 2006 - Phoenix, AZ - PipeLineNews.org - The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps announced today a cross country "Secure America's Borders Now!" petition drive led by Minuteman volunteer Tony Dolz, a naturalized American citizen from Cuba. The tour will feature stops at state offices of United States Senators to deliver the petition copy now in circulation which communicates the Minuteman message for a secure America on behalf of her concerned citizens.
With polls consistently confirming that overwhelming majorities of American voters consider illegal immigration to be "a very serious problem," Dolz invites all those who would like to make their voices heard in Washington to meet him at his stops at Senate offices throughout the country, sign the petition, take copies to gather signatures of friends and family, and to write letters to the editor and call into talk radio shows all over America.
Dolz, himself a LEGAL immigrant to this country, will make his journey from California to Washington, D.C., meeting fellow Minutemen and supporters, and gathering additional petition signatures to deliver to the White House and Congress. The two-week swing is part of nationwide Minuteman efforts urging President Bush and Congress to protect our nation by immediately placing reserve military units on the border. The petition also calls on the Senate to follow the lead of the House of Representatives by passing legislation to secure our borders through fencing, technology and a massive increase in Border Patrol agents - without guest worker amnesty programs which would reward illegal entry and jeopardize American sovereignty by encouraging continued disdain for immigration law.
Republicans Engaging In Half-Truths In Defense Of HR 4437 Illegal Immigration Legislative Changes
April 12, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - House Republicans are engaged in a desperate attempt to quell the growing anger in conservative circles that Senate Majority Leader Frist and House Speaker Hastert's joint statement - supporting the removal of language in HR 4437 which makes "unlawful presence" in the United States a felony - has caused.
The strategy they seem to have seized upon involves claiming that the House leadership was always opposed to this section of HR 4437, but could not remove it because of Democrat opposition. The GOP leadership is taking position that an amendment was offered which would have removed the felony designation of the legislation's proposed offense "illegal entry and unlawful presence."
We find this defense is largely without merit, let's deal with both of these allegations separately.
Hastert And Frist Contemplate Sellout To Illegal Immigration Lobby
April 12, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - GOP leaders are preparing to sell-out the conservative constituency that put them in place to a group of non-citizen thugs who are here illegally.
Ignoring the rule of law, their grassroots supporters and a new Time Magazine poll [Illegal Immigration "Rights" Rejected By Huge Majority Of Americans] which conclusively shows that American citizens do not favor continued illegal immigration, Majority Leader Frist and Speaker of the House Hastert issued this joint statement Tuesday evening, "It remains our intent to produce a strong border security bill that will not make unlawful presence in the United States a felony."
If the Republican leadership succeeds along those lines it will effectively gut James Sensenbrenners' HR 4437, the "Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005" which passed the House by a vote of 239-182.
Since March 25 the illegal alien lobby, aided by Stalinist organizers - International ANSWER - corrupt leftist labor unions - SEIU - and Hispanic supremacist groups such as MEChA, LULAC and La Raza have conducted a series of street demonstrations throughout the nation, attempting to influence DC legislators.
Neither Hastert nor Frist would clarify whether their proposed "compromise" bill would also include amnesty and a guest worker program.
Today's pro-illegal rallies were carefully staged, event organizers passed out American flags to blunt the criticism from the March 25 protests when Mexican flags were in the majority and upside down American flags were derisively flown.
Note to the protesters with the placards emblazoned "I am not a criminal" - YES you are.
You are here illegally, you are taking jobs that do not belong to you, you are depressing American wages, in many cases not paying taxes and you are consuming social services that you do not deserve. Being an American means following the rule of law, your first act upon entering the United States was to break our most important precept, that the United States is a nation of laws.
...developing...
Newt Gingrich Completes Journey To Total Irrelevancy - Turns Tail On Iraq
April 11, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Newt Gingrich, the former GOP Speaker of the House, told students and faculty members at the University of South Dakota yesterday that, "It was an enormous mistake for us to try to occupy that country after June of 2003...We have to pull back, and we have to recognize it."
Gingrich's efforts to move to what he perceives as the squishy middle, alongside his health-care buddy Hillary Clinton on Iraq is indicative of the weakness and moral vacillation that has dogged him throughout his political career. The complications of those character defects are what led to his decision to resign not only from the Speakership but from Congress on November 6, 1998 - after a disastrous mid term election that found the GOP losing 5 seats - at a time when his personal life was again thrown into tumult over charges of sexual impropriety.
Nothing demonstrates Gingrich's poll-driven about face on national security more than the following partial transcript of a June 30, 2005 appearance by him on the Fox News talking head show Hannity & Colmes in which he characterized President Bush's stance on Iraq as "Lincolnesque."
"NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Well, I think, first of all, interestingly there's a lot of parallel between Abraham Lincoln persevering and President Bush's emphasis tonight about perseverance.
The key question, it seemed to me, was that this is a very rational, factually based speech. He talked about $34 billion committed to help Iraq by three multinational institutions and dozens of countries. He talked about NATO taking over a major training role. He talked about 17 countries helping train the Iraqi troops and the Iraqi police force.
He gave the American people, I think, a sense of purpose, a sense of order. He mentioned that over 140,000 Iraqis are now serving in various security forces, including the police and the army. And I think people can sense from this speech a calm, steady, purposefulness that's very, very important.
And I think that it's -- the key question for critics is simple. What would you do? You have terrorists there who want to kill us. You have representatives of the old dictatorship who want to kill us. Do you really think America would be better off if we cut-and-run, if we showed to the world that we were afraid and we had no courage?"
Madrid Terror Bombing Investigation Nets 29 Suspects
April 11, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - 29 people were charged by a Spanish judge today in the March 11, 2004 Islamist terror attacks on Madrid trains, the worst such incident in Spanish history.
The bombings killed 191 and injured over 1,700 and directly led - in general elections three days later - to the ouster of the centrist Aznar government and substituted in its place one led by socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who immediately appeased the Islamists by ordering the withdrawal of Spain's small military contingent in Iraq.
The majority of the bombing suspects are either Moroccan or Syrian Muslim immigrants, though Spanish miner José Emilio Suarez Trashorras is being charged with providing the conspirators with plastic explosives and technical assistance.
Seven ringleaders of the plot - including mastermind Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet - committed mass suicide, blowing themselves up in a suburban Madrid apartment on April 3, three weeks after the attack in the midst of a police raid.
The 1,500 page indictment indicates that the trial will be complex and lengthy, leading to speculation that the proceeding may not commence until next year.
The investigative judge, Juan del Olmo determined that the plotters were domestic and though they took inspiration from al-Qaeda websites they were most likely not internationally directed.
Illegal Immigration "Rights" Rejected By Huge Majority Of Americans - Time Magazine Poll
April 11, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Results from a poll conducted by the leftist Time magazine had to be a source of consternation for the multiculturalists who run that enterprise.
According to those survey results:
1. By a two to one margin - 56%-40% - Americans support the construction of a fence along the entire Southern U.S. border with Mexico.
2. By a 62%-35% margin Americans support the use of U.S. troops along the border to stem the flow of illegal aliens.
3. Nearly half of all American's support the deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin.
4. 51% stated that we would be "better off" if the illegals were deported.
5. 75% of those surveyed believe in denying all government services and assistance to illegal aliens.
6. 69% wanted to deny driver's licenses to illegals.
Polling data was obtained from a survey of 1004 adults by Time Magazine, during the period of March 29 through 30; with a statistical margin of error of + or - 3 percent.
Bush Economic Boom - Democrats Chafe At Good News
April 11, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - "The US economy isn't just producing jobs these days," says an article in the Christian Science Monitor. "[I]t's also producing good jobs." According to the article:
"Management and professional occupations are employing 1.2 million more people this month than a year ago - or about 1 in 3 new jobs in America. This is the highest-paying of five broad categories tracked by the Labor Department. Not all of them are CEOs or engineers, but the median paycheck for full-time workers in this category is $937 a week, far above the US median of $651.
The construction industry continues to hammer out more than its share of new jobs. It accounts for about 6.4 percent of US jobs, but has provided 14.4 percent of the past year's job growth. The quality of construction jobs is mixed - often offering higher hourly pay than the US median but with lower benefits.
Even the manufacturing sector, which has long offered blue-collar workers a measure of middle-class prosperity, appears to be stabilizing after a period of heavy job losses. Despite downsizing in the automotive industry, 175,000 more people are employed in production occupations today than a year ago."
Military Exceeds Active Duty Rectruitment Goal For 10th Straight Month - Rumsfeld Applauds
April 11, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - via Armed Forces Press - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today he's encouraged that the military services are exceeding their recruiting targets and called it an indication of the caliber of men and women joining and serving in the armed services.
" It is encouraging that so many outstanding young people are continuing to raise their hands and volunteer to serve our country," he told Pentagon reporters.
The secretary referred to recruiting and retention rates released yesterday that show all four services met or exceeded their active-duty recruiting goals in March for the 10th consecutive month. Retention rates also remained high among active-duty troops, and all six reserve components reported solid recruiting and retention efforts.
"The men and women of the United States military protecting our country are serving superbly in many areas of the world, including Iraq," Rumsfeld said today. He noted specific examples in Africa, including the Horn of Africa area, and Afghanistan, all critical to the global war on terror.
Democrat Congressman Alan Mollohan Violated Ethics Laws Hundreds Of Times Complaint Charges
April 10, 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org - The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) today disclosed that it filed a 500-page Complaint on February 28 with the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia detailing hundreds of ethics law violations by Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV).
Rep. Mollohan is the ranking member of the House ethics committee and a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee. The Wall Street Journal this morning carried a front-page story about the case.
The lengthy complaint followed a nine-month investigation by NLPC, the ethics group that also broke the Boeing procurement scandal in 2003. NLPC alleged financial conflicts of interest by former Air Force official Darleen Druyun in negotiating the lease of refueling tanker aircraft. Ms. Druyun and Boeing CFO Michael Sears eventually served prison terms, and Boeing CEO Phil Condit resigned.
NLPC's investigation began when its review of the Financial Disclosure Reports of House Appropriations Committee members showed a sharp increase in Rep. Mollohan's assets from 2000 to 2004. A closer examination revealed that Mollohan and his wife had more than $2,000,000 in real estate investments with a former staffer, Laura Kuhns, and her husband. Kuhns ran a nonprofit, Vandalia Heritage Foundation, which had received more than $28 million in appropriations earmarks with Mollohan's help from 2000 through 2005. She was also on the board of other nonprofit groups which had received over $100 million in earmarks of federal funds during the same period with Mollohan's help.
Illegal Immigration Demonstrations In Large Part Organized By Corrupt Labor Unions
April 10, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Carl Horowitz, director of the Organized Labor Accountability Project of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) today criticized the immigration rallies taking place in many American cities.
Horowitz said, "We support every citizen's right to exercise their First Amendment rights. But that is just the point. Many of today's demonstrators are not citizens. They are illegal aliens.
There are an estimated 11.5 million to 12 million people who live in this country illegally. That number represents a tripling from 20 years ago when Congress passed legislation granting amnesty to most illegals, three-fourths of whom happened to be from Mexico.
In some 65 or more cities around the U.S. today, advocates of mass immigration believe their moment in history has arrived. By sheer force of numbers and aggressive rhetoric, they can intimidate Congress out of enacting even moderate immigration reforms. Intimidation, however, should not be a democratic right.
There is any number of players behind today's massive events. First, there is the Mexican government. They are knee-deep in it. Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez heads something called the Institute of Mexicans Abroad, an office of the Mexican government. Here's what he thinks of U.S. sovereignty:
"The basic concept is that the Mexican nation goes beyond the borders that contain Mexico. You can feel part of our nation without being on our territory. For the first time we are exporting our politics. Many Mexicans now live "transnational" lives, with one foot in the other. This contributes to everyone's well-being."
Iraq Intel Data Dump Summarized By Investor's Business Daily
April 10, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - With only a tiny fraction of the documents which were cleared for release having been made available to the public, so far it's clear that despite effforts by the leftist anti-war crowd to suggest the contrary, Saddam was clearly and intimately involved in funding and promoting terrorism of a uniquely Iraqi nature as well as funding existing al-Qaeda operations and insurgencies.
The below excerpts from Investors Business Daily also demonstrate that as late as 2000 was discussing plans to build a nuclear weapon, much to the chagrin of the "no WMDs found" crowd.
"July 2004 visit to Kazakhstan the Russian president said that between 9-11 and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, "Russian special services and Russian intelligence several times received . . . information that official organs of Saddam's regime were preparing terrorist acts on the territory of the U.S. and beyond its borders, at U.S. military and civilian locations."
Saddam's older son Uday ordered 50 members of the fanatical "Fedayeen Saddam" group to stage bombings and assassinations in Iraq and Europe - including London, where 10 people were assigned. Of this document an upcoming issue of Foreign Affairs Magazine notes, "regime-directed wave of 'martyrdom' operations against targets in the West (was) well under way at the time of the coalition invasion."
Saddam is heard on a 1997 tape predicting terrorism would soon be coming to the U.S., while his son-in-law - who was in charge of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction - gloats about lying to U.N. weapons inspectors to hide the extent of Iraq's WMD program.
Saddam, in a tape made in 2000, talks with Iraqi scientists about his plans to build a nuclear device. He discusses Iraq's plasma separation program - an advanced uranium-enrichment technique completely missed by U.N. inspectors.
An Iraqi intelligence document, released just two weeks ago, describes a February 1995 meeting between Saddam's spies and Osama bin Laden. During that meeting, bin Laden offered to conduct "joint operations" with Iraq. Saddam subsequently ordered his aides to "develop the relationship" with the al-Qaida leader.
A fax, sent on June 6, 2001, shows conclusively that Saddam's government provided financial aid to Abu Sayyaf guerrillas in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf is an al-Qaida offshoot co-founded by bin Laden's brother-in-law.
Book Review - "Escape From Gangsta Island - A School's Progressive Decline"
Author - Bernard Paul Chapin
2006, iUniverse, New York - $25.95 US
As reviewed by William A. Mayer, Editor & Publisher - PipeLineNews.org
 April 10, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - This is not an unbiased book review as I have known Bernard Chapin for a number of years now.
One thing that is really wonderful about working via the Internet is that you can have relationships with people on a purely intellectual basis and I have enjoyed my many exchanges with Bernard, always finding his shorter pieces to be carefully crafted and to the point.
"Escape From Gangsta Island," Mr. Chapin's second novel, is an oddly affecting work.
When not writing - his third book is set for a Summer release - Bernard is employed as a school psychologist and college instructor.
On the surface, Escape is an unsettling, diary like unfolding of the demise of a special education high school - the Eastland Center, located in Chicago. However the novel works on many levels - the school being a metaphor for liberal social engineering and Chapin's critique of the dominant themes in educational theory - as championed by Eastland's genuinely mad administrator, Mrs. Chin - also skewer their Great Society ancestry.
Prior to the arrival of Mrs. Chin, Eastland functioned about as well as such institutions can be expected, handling the castoffs from five area mainline but "inner-city" type high schools. The students were resilient, achieving sometimes greatly in excess of what their innate potential and societal baggage might predicate.
A-M-N-E-S-T-Y
By Mark Krikorian, Director Center For Immigration Studies
April 10, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - There was a series of TV commercials years ago for a brand of jelly that claimed to be so pristine that one should ask for it as "fruit." In each ad, a boorish guest at breakfast would set the biddies swooning by asking for the "jelly."
What sets the biddies swooning in Washington these days is the word "amnesty." Arlen Specter, for instance, last week had a conniption, saying "This word 'amnesty' is a code word, it is a code word to try to smear good-faith legislation." George Will rapped the knuckles of "faux conservatives" who were so impertinent as to use the forbidden word. And the Gray Lady herself, the New York Times, editorialized that "It Isn't Amnesty," wagging her finger at those who would employ "the most mealy mouthed word in the immigration glossary."
Even the elite media have taken sides, mimicking their approach to "the procedure which opponents call " 'partial birth' abortion"; the Washington Post reported Tuesday on a Senate compromise proposal that "could satisfy some conservatives opposed to any program that offers illegal immigrants a way to stay in the country and work toward citizenship, which they term 'amnesty.' "
The parallel to the abortion debate is telling; both "amnesty" and "abortion" (not to mention "acid"!) are things people dislike, so their promoters have to invent new terminology. The National Abortion Rights Action League, for instance, is no more - now it's "NARAL Pro-Choice America," fighting for "reproductive rights" and "women's health."
Coalition Funding Used To Open School For Girls In Afghanistan
 April 9, 2006 - Patan Province, Afghanistan - PipeLineNews.org via Blackanthem Military News - Classes have begun at the recently constructed Patan Girls Primary School in the village of Patan. More than 300 girls are learning science, math, religion, history, language and drawing from female instructors at the school, which was built with $10,000 from the Coalition?s Commander?s Emergency Response Program fund.
[Editor's note: The Department of Defense image to the left, shows students assemble for opening ceremonies at the new Patan Girls Primary School in Paktia Province on April 5. Before the school was built - with $10,000 in Coalition funds - the girls were forced to attend classes outdoors.]
Before the school was built, the girls studied under a tree.
Chamkani District has 15 schools, 11 of which have female students. In addition, the Afghan Women?s Educational Center runs 35 satellite schools in the district?s villages, educating 931 girls.
Classes also started recently at the Samina Akbari Chamkani Girls School in Chamkani District, Paktia Province. That school was built with funds from a nongovernmental organization.
Must Read - Has Ahmadinejad Miscalculated?
By Victor Davis Hanson, National Review
April 9 2006 - Washington, DC - PipeLineNews.org -We are now acquainted with the familiar scenario: Iran is supposedly poised to become another disaster like Iraq. The United States, bruised in Iraq, needs redemption, and so will either press onto Teheran in its vainglorious imperial ambitions, or seek to direct attention away from Iraq by conjuring up another dragon to slay.
The Left further alleges that, once more, we favor preemption, wish to attack an Islamic country, will act unilaterally, and will sex up the intelligence to construct a casus belli about mythical "weapons of mass destruction." The result is that the mere idea of preemption in Iran is just too messy even to contemplate, so we may end up timidly "outsourcing" the problem to others. That is the general critique of our Iranian policy.
Meanwhile, amid that conundrum, the Iranians are engaged in a three-part strategy to obtain nuclear weapons. First, they conduct military exercises, showing off novel weapons systems with purportedly exotic capabilities, while threatening to unleash terror against global commerce and the United States. It may be a pathetic and circus-like exercise born of desperation, but the point of such military antics is to show the West there will be some real costs to taking out Iranian nuclear installations.
Second, Iranians simultaneously send out their Westernized diplomats to the U.N. and the international media to sound sober, judicious, and aggrieved - pleading that a victimized Iran only wants peaceful nuclear energy and has been unfairly demonized by an imperialistic United States. The well-spoken professionals usually lay out all sorts of protocols and talking-points, all of which they will eventually subvert - except the vacuous ones which lead nowhere, but nevertheless appeal to useful Western idiots of the stripe that say "Israel has a bomb, so let's be fair."
Afghan And Coalition Forces Kill Senior Taliban Commander
April 9, 2006 - Kabul, Afghanistan - PipeLineNews.org via American Forces Press - Afghan and coalition forces killed a senior Taliban commander April 6 and destroyed a Taliban district headquarters this morning in a series of ongoing offensive operations in southern Afghanistan, military officials there said.
A joint coalition force killed the senior Taliban commander in the Musa Qaleh District in northern Helmand Province. The commander was tied directly to dozens of improvised explosive device attacks that killed and crippled multiple Afghans since 2001. He also was responsible for the deaths of Afghan and Coalition soldiers, officials said.
We "effectively disrupted the command and control of Taliban fighters in the northern Helmand and Uruzgan Provinces," said Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, commander of the Coalition's Combined Joint Task Force-76. "This is another step in creating stability and supporting local governors."
Iraq Freedom Day Statement By Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George Casey
April 9, 2006 - Baghdad, Iraq - PipeLineNews.org via American Forces Press - Today, on the third anniversary of Iraqi Freedom Day, the Iraqi people celebrate the freedoms that they were denied for more than three decades, and pause to remember the brave people who lead the way out of the darkness of tyranny into the light of freedom.
On this day in 2003, Iraqis, assisted by U.S. Marines, toppled the huge statue of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad's Firdos Square.
This act was not just symbolic. It signaled the beginning of a fledgling democracy that continues to mature. During the past year alone, Iraqis have elected a constitutional government, drafted and ratified a constitution and held successful elections for their new national assembly. Through 2005, more and more Iraqis decided to engage in building the new Iraq, culminating in almost 75 percent of registered voters casting ballots in December's election.
Additionally, there have been great gains in the development of Iraqi security forces, forces critical to returning stability to Iraq and hastening the return of Iraq to the Iraqi people.
Liar Joe Wilson Update - Administration Clarifies Position On Libby National Intelligence Assessment Leak Charge
April 8, 2 | 
