01/29 Morning Report

The Iranians are planning to expand their role in Iraq. Well, I guess it was inevitable. They have long been supplying weapons to the insurgents and Shiites. No one should be surprised they want some economic and military ties within Iraq. The frightening comment was when the ambassador said:

“We have experience of reconstruction after war,” Mr. Qumi said, referring to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. “We are ready to transfer this experience in terms of reconstruction to the Iraqis.”

(…does any one else hear the undertones of someone trying to put spin on this?...)

Meanwhile, an Iraqi cult leader is dead along with many followers—including women and children. For the record, I’m not happy about that. But, I am also realistic enough to know that if you stand around someone proposing violence, you can get hurt pretty bad if not killed.
(…watch how the media turns the blame on the Iraqi government and US forces, instead of those who were advocating the violence…even now, you can read it between the lines of this article…)

With a death toll of nearly 30 people, even the local Palestinians are calling it civil war. And, it all got wound up because of the call for new elections.
So, what kind of solution did the Palestinians come up with? Sending more suicide bombers against Israel. The first suicide bombing in 9 months killed three Israelis. The one thing the terrorist groups in Lebanon and Gaza have been consistent about is killing Israelis. We can’t trust them to govern their affairs. But, we can trust them to kill others.
(…and the Israelis are to blame, of course…)

Democrats from Congress, lead by Pelosi, are touring Afghanistan. (…should they be there?...that’s up for real debate…members of Congress have gone on “fact finding missions” for years...will it become political mud?...well…why are we bothering to even ask the question?...) To be honest, the visit itself does not bother me. However, the fact that Democrats and Republicans are spending so much time worrying about who crosses the Pakistani and Iranian borders while refusing to defend our own really upsets me.

Here at home, the immigration political fight is heating up again. Hearings are about to start over National Guardsmen withdrawing while Mexican gunmen approached.

The encounter has broader border security implications because armed people will know the National Guard will retreat, said state Rep. Warde Nichols, the committee's chairman.

Democrats rightly expect the anti-ILLEGAL immigration crowd to make a big deal out of this. They also seem to expect the effort to fail. Well, Democrats should have to answer to why American citizens—even the military—have to allow these kinds of incursions and activities.
(…they probably won’t…the media probably won’t say a word about it, either…other than to blame the right for being so intolerant…)