Atrocities. The one factor too many forgot to add to the equation for determining the trajectory of events in the War on Terror while it raged in the heart of Mesopotamia. Atrocities were supposed to have been at the hands of America’s robot-like, killing-machine, military. That was the mindset of the left from day one. And when it did not occur the left created fictional characters from within the military’s ranks to create the image they thought would rise out of the war in Iraq. They created PVT “Scott Thomas Allen” Beauchamp. Reality was working the way they wanted, so they made up myths and sold it in the ‘news media’ as fact. And never once apologized to America for feeding out lies as fact. A power mad liberal Congressman even slandered his former corpse by declaring their guilt in a situation which has now been proven to be not their fault – Haditha and Mad Jack Murtha are another example of the Liberal dream not coming true.

But while the atrocities never showed up on the American side of the ledger as a ubiquitous and unavoidable characteristic of America and American forces, they proliferating with searing force on al-Qaeda’s side. Actually, as this State Department report notes this is not a new feature of Islamists, it is an old one that the news media failed to convey to the public:

“Among the accounts of mutilations, beatings and arbitrary executions there was evidence of a new abomination: the torture of children. An unknown number of infants were savagely beaten during the Islamic militia’s 14-month occupation of Taloqan, the former headquarters of the Alliance, usually for the supposed crimes of their parents.” (Source: The Times [U.K.], 11/13/01)

Atrocity

“The barbarity of the Taliban plumbed new depths when troops shot dead eight boys for daring to laugh, sickened refugees revealed yesterday. The teenage lads had been chuckling at the soldiers who suddenly raised their Kalashnikov rifles and gunned them down. It was one of a string of atrocities in the besieged Afghanistan city of Kunduz, which was last night poised to fall to the Northern Alliance. At least 300 frightened Taliban were killed by men from their own side because they wanted to surrender.” (Source: The Sun [U.K.], 11/19/01)

These animals enjoy killing babies and children. It excites them and makes them feel powerful. These are the people who fit the fantasy images of the left usually ascribed to Americans. It is not easy to find the stories of al-Qaeda atrocities, the media has been obsessed in trying to create the image of American atrocities. I was going to list some of the few stories on the beheading of children, etc. But I realized there is no need to prove these atrocities occurred when al-Qaeda itself worried about these acts and their impact on the Muslim Street. Not to mention there were open criticisms of al-Qaeda by Muslims for their atrocities last year when they starting their campaign of murder, torture and rape (aka forced marriages).

“This was followed by acts of persecution against Sunni Muslims, harming their livelihood. They planted explosives in front of homes, schools and hospitals, [or] under electric transformers, without taking any account of the consequences for society, without whose support and help we will become easy prey for the Crusader occupation and its helpers, the vicious Shiites.

…

“They stretched the [principle of] using human shields to the utmost, and they did not consult their upright ‘ulama, as you yourself [bin Laden] advised them to do in one of your sermons. Their campaign to cut off all contacts among Muslims is a heinous act, because it [has sometimes led to] sick children dying in their mothers’ arms, and to homes burning down with people inside them. I do not believe that Allah gave them the right to defend themselves against [foreign] agents at the expense of the sick and the needy…

…

“In Ramadi, armed men attacked leaders of the [Al-Qaeda] Organization [in Iraq] after prayer in the mosque, denounced them, and killed them in front of the people. Incidents of this sort have recurred in a number of places: in Al-Jurma, Khalidiyya, Al-Fallujah, and elsewhere…. After these incidents, they slid even further into error, and fearing for their own lives, they began to frighten and terrorize people in order to deter them from entering the schools and universities.

This was a request from al-Qaeda’s one time allies to stop the atrocities on Muslims. It fell on death ears. Again, we see the true purveyors of human suffering that in the minds of the left had to be Americans. It was al-Qaeda’s Islamo Fascists. The repercussions of these acts, and the fact al-Qaeda central sanctioned them, is still building. The latest was the denunciation of Bin Laden and al-Qaeda by a prominent Islamist cleric in Saudi Arabia:

In an open letter, one of his prominent Saudi mentors, preacher and scholar Salman al-Oadah, publicly reproaches bin Laden for causing widespread mayhem and killing.

…

The significance of that can be appreciated only in the context of the position al Oadah holds in Islamic orthodoxy. He’s a heavyweight Salafi preacher with a large following in Saudi Arabia and abroad. In the 1990s the Saudi regime imprisoned al-Oadah, along with four leading clerics, for criticizing the kingdom’s close relationship with the US, particularly the stationing of American troops there after the 1991 Gulf war. That decision – posting forces in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam – was the catalyst that drove bin Laden to attack the US. Throughout the 1990s bin Laden cited al-Oadah as a dissident voice and critic of the Saudi royal family and fellow Salafi traveler who shared his strict religious principles and worldview.

It is not just his allies in Iraq who are turning on Bin Laden. It is a lot of people who fell for the BS from al-Qaeda about raising Islam up, when all they did was tear it down in sea of Muslim blood and pain. Bin Laden is the Adolph Hitler of the Middle East, except this time his atrocities are now mostly against the very same Muslims he wants to lead. And Islam is tiring of the Bloody Bin Laden:

He [al-Oadah] holds bin Laden personally accountable for the occupation of Muslim lands in Afghanistan and Iraq, displacement of millions of Iraqis, killings of thousands of Afghans, internment and torture of promising and deluded young Muslims, and a tarnished image of Islam all over the world.

…

Islam, he reminds his former disciple, prohibits the killing of any bird or animal, let alone “innocent people, regardless of what justification is given.”

…

The targeted attack on bin Laden and his militant group by a respected religious authority is lethal, coming at a critical juncture for Al Qaeda and like-minded factions worldwide.

…

Sunni resistance to Al Qaeda in Iraq gathers steam, limiting the group’s movement and options. Another militant group – Fatah al-Islam, which subscribes to Al Qaeda’s ideology and was active in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el Bared in North Lebanon – was dealt a mortal blow by authorities and universal rejection by Muslim Palestinian and Lebanese opinion. Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Saudi Arabia has suffered major setbacks and is on the run.

Rejection is sweeping the Muslim world. Rejection of al-Qeada. Somewhat because they keep losing to The Great Satan, but mostly because of all the death and destruction they have wrought in the Muslim community. It was not the US who used Chlorine filled tanker-trucks as bombs on open markets in Iraqi villages. It was al-Qaeda. And as they are defeated and rejected their anger grows, what little self-control they had disappears, and their rampaging increases. Creating even more rejection and blowback. It is a death spiral. It is al-Qaeda’s death spiral. And it all started in Anbar Province Iraq thanks to the determination of our brave Military and the resolve of our Commander-in-Chief.

With the news that the tragedy in Hadithat that ended up with many dead Iraqis was not the fault of US Marines who fell under attack but, as we now know from years of bloody al-Qaeda carnage, the act of terrorists, one thing still needs to be done. Rep Jack Murtha needs to do the honorable thing, given the Marine uniform he once wore, and apologize for his
premature, uninformed and smearing comments from last year:

A Pentagon probe into the death of Iraqi civilians last November in the Iraqi city of Haditha will show that U.S. Marines “killed innocent civilians in cold blood,” a U.S. lawmaker said Wednesday.

From the beginning, Iraqis in the town of Haditha said U.S. Marines deliberately killed 15 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including seven women and three children.

One young Iraqi girl said the Marines killed six members of her family, including her parents. “The Americans came into the room where my father was praying,” she said, “and shot him.”

On Wednesday, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said the accounts are true.

The best you can say about this abhorent claim by Mad Murtha is he was a duped pawn of the terrorists. But I think he is much worse than that. I think he would smear Marines so that Dems could win more House seats and he could be Speaker (he did run for the job). And oiling the skids back home with his buddies through pork projects to get rich off of is not a bad second place job. His current leadership position gives him that much easily. Would Murtha lie and smear someone to get ahead? He wouldn’t be the first in DC and won’t be the last if he did.

But Mad Murtha could have proved me wrong. He could have started his sincere and public apologies by now, since this decision is no surprise weeks after we learned what was really going on in Haditha when the case against these Marines was proposed to be dropped. But did Murtha begin to recant? Hell no, he is only recounting – his pork dollars.

Murtha did one of the most dishonorable things you can do – as a Marine or an American. He lied openly (because he had no evidence for the statements of last year) about an incident where Americans on the front lines protecting this country were attacked and civilians killed. And he did it for political gain. The “Winter Soldier” syndrome Michelle Malkin wrote about regarding Pvt “Lying” Beauchamp is a much broader phenomena in the wacked out left in this country. While I am not including Democrats who remain proud of the military and this country in this statement, sadly the party is rife with these jerks.

Lamont is still shaking from the drubbing he took in the initial days of his campaign where he promised not to reach out at all to moderates and independents (just has his netroots followers would demand). The NY Times is preparing to run a story tonight or tomorrow morning saying Lamont is shaking up his campaign staff – the one that just took him to victory. Here is a taste from the leftwing site Raw Story:

“Meanwhile, Ned Lamont, the Democratic nominee, is preparing to shake up his staff as he tries to refocus his race as an appeal to moderates, the core of Lieberman’s support,” the Times reports.

Sort of draconian for such a recent win. More once the entire article is posted at the NY Times.

Update: Seems both Raw Story and Drudge had incorrect early releases from the NY Times (guess some phone calls were made). The supposed story of Lamont staff shake up was toned down to be some changes to shift to a general election pose with new, outsider help from the Democrat Message Machine. After many paragraphs on Lieberman’s approach we get to the nut of the issue:

As the newly proclaimed Democratic nominee, Mr. Lamont is moving to adopt a general election strategy that attracts more moderate voters, who are crucial to victory in Connecticut elections. He is also seeking at least two experienced fund-raising aides to tap more donors in Connecticut and nationwide, particularly those who are excited by the antiwar message.

Yet Mr. Lamont’s staffing needs are also one of several signs that his rookie bid for statewide election is still evolving: He lacks such basic political tools as an opposition research effort to ferret out the sources of Mr. Lieberman’s campaign contributions and other tidbits that might embarrass the senator. Mr. Lamont’s communications and advance operations also need to be expanded, said Tom Swan, the campaign manager.

“There is a need for us to adjust a lot, to adjust significant pieces of the campaign and tap our thousands of volunteers,” Mr. Swan said. “Having said that, I believe we have a lot to build off of to make that easier.”

But not everything is smooth and easy. As the post I linked to before (and now below) the anti-war fringe is not happy with the establishment democrats one bit. And the Nedroots campaign is not happy with the changes comin – which are probably a condition of party support:

Some Lamont allies have privately expressed disdain for the idea of bringing on any outside consultants, noting that most big-name Democratic consultants had shown little willingness to help Mr. Lamont when he was an obscure businessman running a long-shot campaign.

“I don’t want to hire any of those big-fee consultant types from Washington who just want to come in and make money off of Ned,” Mr. Swan said. “We won the primary on Ned’s message; we can win the general in a similar way.”

Suffice it to say I get the feeling Lamont is in for a rough ride with divisive pressures from the old school party bosses and his ardent, anti-war supporters.

Update II: Ned is definitely feeling the heat. He has an Op Ed in the WSJ with an interesting (insert foot in mouth) statement:

My confidence that Connecticut was ready for a real debate and a real choice this year was founded not only on current events but also past experience. It was my career in business that shaped my outlook, and helped prepare me to run the race I did.

Well Ned, if your so damn confident in Connecticut face ALL OF Connecticut against Joe and stop pressuring him to drop out. The entire state should be in on the discussion, not a measely 8%. – End Update

But I am not surprised when your support comes from the truly bizzarre world of the fringe (and marginal) anti-war, anti-US crowd:

Many people see Ned Lamont’s victory in the Connecticut Democratic Senate primary as a statement of massive disgust at Bush, and at the Democrats for kissing his ass. It is. But Lamont’s victory over Joe Lieberman in the primary is not something that will impact the current intolerable direction things are heading. Instead, there is a whole other way to go that has the potential to really put a halt to the crimes of the Bush regime.

…

As a backdrop to all this, the Bush regime—with the unanimous, and one might say rabid, support of the leaders of the Democratic Party—was continuing to green-light Israel’s demolition of Lebanon; to press ahead in their bloody occupation of Iraq that is spiraling into civil war; and to jockey and position for an even wider war against Iran and possibly Syria.

…

Those troops were ordered to invade Iraq in the service of empire. Abu Ghraib…Haditha…the emerging exposures of rapes and massacres that may well be revealed to have been ordered or at least encouraged by commanding officers… This war is not something to be proud of. This war on the world, and the occupation of Iraq (and Afghanistan) are not wrong because they are “not working.” They are wrong because they are illegitimate, unjust, and immoral.

Read the entire delusional post. It is truly scary how brain washed this person is after years of leftwing propaganda. And the Democrats helped create most of these myths to ‘mobilize the base’. Well, the base is mobilized and not happy with the lack of progress in taking care of BusHitler. Lamont has to try and integrate these people with mainstream America? Good luck.

A huge day in Iraq as the people of that country come together and vote in their new, democratic government. All the whining and naysaying by the liberals for the last 3 years will be seen for what is: defeatism.

This morning, the numbers voting seem quite large outside the Sunni areas, and the process fairly peaceful.

American troops in Humvees rattled down Baghdad streets, U.S. helicopters hovered in the skies, and Iraqi soldiers and police ringed polling stations at schools and other public buildings. Driving was banned to stop suicide car bombings by Sunni-led insurgents determined to wreck the vote.

Militants attacked three of the capital’s 1,200 polling stations, wounding two policemen and a civilian, but Iraq was mostly peaceful. Nearly 450 people had been killed by Sunni-led insurgents in the 19 days before Saturday’s vote, often by suicide car bombs, roadside bombs and drive-by shootings.

In the south, the heartland of Iraq’s Shiite majority, lines formed at polling stations in Basra, Hillah and other major cities as people poured in to vote on a constitution Shiite leaders have strongly supported. The community’s top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has told followers they must vote “yes.”

“Today, I came to vote because I am tired of terrorists, and I want the country to be safe again,” said Zeinab Sahib, a 30-year-old mother of three, one of the first voters in the mainly Shiite Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada. “This constitution means unity and hope.”

But turnout appeared low in the early hours in Sunni Arab towns in the center and west.

Ramadi, the capital of overwhelmingly Sunni Arab Anbar province, looked like a ghost town. At the hour polls opened, insurgents clashed with U.S. troops in the downtown streets.

Only about 20 people had voted in the Sunni town of Haditha, northwest of Baghdad, after three hours. Said Ahmad Fliha walked up the hill to the fortified polling station with the help of a relative.

“I’m 75 years old. Everything is finished for me. But I’m going to vote because I want a good future for my children,” Fliha said.

History is in the making, and it is a good history.