Monday, April 21, 2008

Al-Qaeda speaks

The Iraq Status Report has a translation of al-Qaeda's Zawahiri's call to do or die in Iraq. The full text follows after the Read More. The most comedic moment comes when he tries to revile Moqtada al-Sadr as a poseur and a loser; saying in effect that the Boy Wonder is all hat and no cattle. What old whiskers fails to realize is that he might very well be talking about himself.

"Iraq today is now the most important arena in which our Muslim nation is waging the battle against the forces of the Crusader-Zionist campaign. Therefore, backing the mujahidin in Iraq, led by the Islamic State of Iraq, is the most important task of the Islamic nation today.” -- Ayman al-Zawahiri, audio message, April 18, 2008

[OSC Summary] On April 18th , a forum participant posted several links to a new 15-minute 52- second audio message by Al-Qa’ida's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri entitled: "Five years after the Invasion of Iraq and Decades of Injustice by the Tyrants." The message is produced by Al-Sahab Media Production Organization, the media wing of Al-Qa'ida organization. The following is the full translation of Al-Zawahiri’s audio message: Five years after the Invasion of Iraq and Decades of Injustice by the Tyrants By: Ayman al-Zawahiri, audio message, April 18, 2008

"Iraq today is now the most important arena in which our Muslim nation is waging the battle against the forces of the Crusader-Zionist campaign. Therefore, backing the mujahidin in Iraq, led by the Islamic State of Iraq, is the most important task of the Islamic nation today.” -- Ayman al-Zawahiri, audio message, April 18, 2008

[OSC Summary]

On April 18th , a forum participant posted several links to a new 15-minute 52- second audio message by Al-Qa’ida's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri entitled: "Five years after the Invasion of Iraq and Decades of Injustice by the Tyrants." The message is produced by Al-Sahab Media Production Organization, the media wing of Al-Qa'ida organization. The following is the full translation of Al-Zawahiri’s audio message: Five years after the Invasion of Iraq and Decades of Injustice by the Tyrants By: Ayman al-Zawahiri, audio message, April 18, 2008

"In the name of God and praise be to God. May the peace and blessings of God be upon the messenger of God, the members of his family, and his companions and followers. "Brother Muslims everywhere. May the peace and blessings of God be upon you. I will talk to you today on two important issues. The first is the passage of five years since the US invasion of Iraq. The second is the economic plundering that our nation in Egypt and in other Muslim lands is being subjected to. "As for the status of the US invasion of Iraq today and after five years, it is, with God's grace, failure and defeat. [General David] Petraeus went to Congress to request the postponement of the date of the US additional forces' withdrawal by six weeks after the set date of next July, and Bush announced that he will grant Petraeus all the time he needs. A ridiculous farce to cover up the failure in Iraq and to help Bush dodge the decision to withdraw forces, which is considered a declaration of the Crusader invasion of Iraq defeat by transferring the problem to the new president. So where are the Awakening Councils, which Petraeus announced six months ago that they will achieve victory in Iraq? Were not these Awakening Councils supposed to expedite the date of the US forces' withdrawal? Or are they in need of someone to defend and protect them? Bush's administration is deceiving its people so as not to acknowledge failure in Iraq and Afghanistan? Let the soldiers of this Administration go to hell. Petraeus and Bush are trying to convince the Americans that their salvation will begin six weeks from next July. In fact even if Bush keeps all his forces in Iraq until doomsday and until they go to hell, they will face only defeat and incur loss, God willing. 

"The impasse in Iraq and Afghanistan is simply that if the US forces withdraw they will lose everything, and if they stay on they will be bleeding to death. This is what Bush has chosen for his army and his people, who elected him twice. Today he is evading this impasse and procrastinating on making a decision to escape from this deadlock. 

"As for the Democrats, they are trying to deceive their people by claiming that they will withdraw their forces from Iraq by reaching an understanding with Iran in order to concentrate on Al-Qa'ida and Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Iran's aims are clear; namely, annexing southern Iraq and the eastern part of Al-Jazirah [area between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers] and expanding to establish contacts with its followers in southern Lebanon. If an understating is reached with Iran based on meeting all or some of its aims in exchange for overlooking the US hegemony over the region, this understanding will add fuel to the already flaming fire, will bring the situation to a head in this already explosive region, and will cause an ever increasing Islamic awakening. This awakening will be engendered by the US-Iranian collusion, and it will direct further blows to US interests. 

"Both the Republicans and the Democrats, and indeed all the Americans and the Crusader West in general, are afflicted with the blindness of arrogance and highhandedness, which makes them reject the word 'Why.' They have failed to answer the question: Why did they attack us? Then they failed to answer the question: With what are they going to defeat us? This blindness prevents them fro m seeing the facts as they are on the ground. One of these facts is that the age of hegemony, plundering, and oppression of the Islamic nation has gone, never to return. The age of jihad, defense, and steadfastness has begun. The age of the Monroe Doctrine, the Opium War, the Sykes-Picot Agreement, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has gone, and the age of rejecting peace, capitulation, and normalization; the age of confronting the invaders in 
Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine, has begun. 

"The perseverance in and insistence on ignoring the facts prompt the United States and the Crusader West to continue with the same old methods, making them sustain further and continuous losses. As for the situation in Iraq, it is, God be praised, in the interest of Islam and jihad. The Americans are being routed. They are fighting in Washington over the date of their withdrawal. The Awakening Councils are being pursued. There, the Mujahidin follow the tradition of Abu-Bakr Al-Siddiq [the first caliph after Muhammad], may God be pleased with him: Either a victorious war or an ignominious peace. The Iranians are in confusion. Their henchmen are fighting each other. In their fighting, they are bombing the domes of Husayn and Al-Abbas, may God be pleased with them. 

"Muqtada al-Sadr has become the laughing stock of the world because of his use of Al-Taqiyah [expediencies, Shiite principle]. Sometimes he hands over his weapons and joins the political process. Sometimes he leaves this process, and sometimes he freezes Al-Mahdi Army, and then says he will postpone this freeze. Sometimes he says he will stage a demonstration against the occupation and then he says he will not. Sometimes he says he will sound the religious authorities on dissolving Al-Mahdi Army. Thus, the Iranian intelligence has used this naive boy as a puppet. He claims that he is waging resistance against the occupation, sometimes by handing his weapons over to them and sometimes by demonstrating against them.

"The people of Islam and jihad in Iraq have only to be persistent and remain firm. The signs of victory are now clear and the breakthrough is looming on the horizon. Shortly Iraq will become the fortress of Islam which will become a springboard from which expeditions and troops will leave to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque [of Jerusalem], God willing. 
"Iraq today is now the most important arena in which our Muslim nation is waging the battle against the forces of the Crusader-Zionist campaign. Therefore, backing the mujahidin in Iraq, led by the Islamic State of Iraq, is the most important task of the Islamic nation today.

"The second thing that I would like to talk about is the economic plundering to which our nation, in Egypt and other Islamic countries, are being exposed. Corruption and thefts have reached the extent of starving people and denying them their basic food. Those who are stealing the food of the people of Egypt are the same ones who are preventing food from reaching the people of Gaza under the pretext of suspect international commitments, which they reached with the Jews and the Americans under the cover of darkness, to enable Israel to monopolize supplies to Gaza in order to force its people to capitulate to its conditions. Those who are stealing the means of livelihood of the people of Egypt are the same ones who are spreading and promoting the culture of capitulation to the United States and normalization of relations with Israel, and then surrendering and seeking refuge in the documents of rationalization.

"Starving the people in Egypt and denying them bread and water in the Nile Delta is part of the US-Zionist conspiracy, which is designed to subjugate our nation and divide it further. Denying people bread, stealing the resources of the nation, starving the people, poisoning the air and water, and spreading renal failures are only symptoms of the cancer that is spreading in the organs of the nation.

"Those who stole the means of people's life and did not even leave a loaf of bread to them have reached such limits because the nation did not confront them as it should have in order to deter them. If the nation continues to leave them doing this, they will sell its children. They have handed Egypt over to Israel but the nation did not deter them. They brought in the Crusader US forces to Egypt but the nation did not confront them. They helped kill Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan but the nation did not stop them. They plotted against the siege of the mujahidin in Gaza, but nobody stood against them. They violated honors in jails, detention centers, and police stations but nobody punished them. The longer our silence the more they will bite our flesh and drink from our blood.

"Abu-Bakr Al-Siddiq, may God be please with him, said: 0 people. Read this Koranic verse: "O ye who believe! Guard your own souls: If ye follow (right) guidance, no hurt can come to you from those who stray." [Koranic verse; Al-Ma'idah; 5:105] He said: I heard the messenger of God, may the blessings and peace of God be upon him say: If people recognize the oppressor and fail to punish him, God will punish all of them. 

"Those who stole the bread and the means of life of the people are the ones who blocked all means of peaceful change. What happened at the Shura Council elections and then the local elections in Egypt, and before that the Jordanian elections, the Moroccan elections, and the threat to dissolve the Justice Party in Turkey represent the new US policy, now that the method of change through elections has exhausted itself and after the Americans exploited this current by diverting the nation from jihad and serious resistance against the nation's internal and external enemies. When this policy failed to confront the wave of the expanding jihadist awakening, they moved to the current policy; namely, the policy of creating Awakening Councils in Iraq, introducing the constitutional amendments, exercising complete control over the elections, and the document of rationing in Egypt. This is the policy of imposing the ignominious, humiliating, and corrupt reality on the nation by oppression, forgery, repression, and lies. 

"Insisting on prevarication, the White House, the sponsor of freedoms in the world, issued a statement, after the local elections in Egypt, in which it expressed concern about the harassment of the opposition's activists and candidates at the hands of the government, which is backed and supported by the Americans and which they supply with funds, aid, and means of torture. These US lies are no longer convincing to anyone, and this corrupt and traitor [Egyptian] regime, which has closed all doors to peaceful change, should be toppled if we want to live as human beings. We will be rescued only by an Islamic government, which is independent from the arch international criminals and which will protect the nation's interests, defend its sanctities, and preserves its rights. Any other solution will be in vain and will lead only to further losses, submission, and humiliation.

"This deterioration has not been confined to Egypt. The Islamic nation is suffering shortage of foodstuffs in many countries, such as Yemen. Even in the Arabian Peninsula, whose government is one of the richest in the world, many residents of the popular neighborhoods of Jedda do not find water. They carry their pots to mosques to have water but the government prevents the muezzins from giving them water. Sewage is spilled in the streets and electricity is cut off in the stifling heat of Jedda. The poor in Mecca and Riyadh live in shanty towns.Where has the nation's wealth in the Arabian Peninsula gone? The Americans unleashed against this wealth a family of 7,000 princes, who are plundering the peninsula's resources and who are giving the lion's share of our wealth to the Americans. They are also giving them the land, the bases, the airports, and the seaports from which they move to kill Muslims. Abdallah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz is preoccupied with visiting the Pope, who insulted Islam and the prophet of Islam, God's peace and blessings be upon him. He is engaged in calls for interfaith dialogue to polish his image in front of the Crusaders and the Americans.

"O you, who is eager to appease the Crusaders, instead of holding dialogues with non-Muslims, listen first to your Muslim people who are suffering from unemployment, drugs, and crimes, and who do not find drinking water, electricity, or proper housing. Restore to them their rights which you robbed, stop capitulating to the Americans, and stop plundering the nation's wealth. "Thus, the nation's conscious vanguards should move before it is too late. The conscious Islamic vanguards should move before we see Petraeus in Cairo and in Riyadh tomorrow, leading the awakening gangs, to shed blood and violate sanctities.

"Then what Muslims must do today? The Muslim is asked to adhere to his faith because Islam is the road to salvation. In all historical battles only Muslims defended the nation. Those who are defending it today -- in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Palestine -- are Muslims. The Muslim should work in accordance with the tradition of the prophet, God's peace and blessings be upon him. The prophet said: Whoever encounters a wrongdoing he should change it with his hand. If he is unable to, he should change it by his utterances, and if he cannot then he can wish this change in his heart, and this will be the weakest form of faith.

"All are asked to move with all their strength, by fighting, statements, demonstrations, sit-ins, protests, and strikes. We should explore all means to change this corrupt reality. We will not be able to clinch our rights except by our hands and not by begging, appeals, or forged elections.

"The wolves of the regimes, the agents of Crusaders and Jews, will try to suppress popular movements with all the power at their disposal, as was the case in Al-Mahallah al-Kubra. But as steadfastness and sacrifices continue, these agents will be defeated, God willing. Patience and perseverance is necessary because rights are wrested by force; they are not granted.

"Workers, employees, and students must transfer their anger to the streets. They must transform mosques, factories, universities, colleges, and high schools into centers for supporting jihad and resistance. "All must move because the battle is not that of a certain group or organization but that of the entire nation. The Islamic nation must unite, through its mujahidin, men, women, and children; its ulema and shaykhs, its thinkers, leaderships, and masses, to drive out the Crusader and Jewish invaders from the land of Islam and establish the Islamic state that rules by the Islamic sharia, which defends the rights of Muslims, and which punishes the robbers and the plunderers of the wealth of the nation. 

"Is it reasonable that the people of bounteous Egypt cannot find bread or water? Where have all its resources gone? The establishment of this state requires a movement by the sacrificing Muslim vanguards who make sacrifices for their religion and who are relying on their God. These vanguards must come together, plan, and lead the change toward freedom, independence, dignity, self-esteem, and the Islamic state.

"In conclusion, I salute the esteemed workers of Al-Mahallah al-Kubra who fought plundering and corruption. I salute the brave people there who carried out the general strike. I salute each free and noble one who is trying to resist the agents of the Crusader-Jewish campaign in Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Algeria, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and elsewhere. I remind them of what the prophet, God's peace and blessings be upon him, said: If you trade in trivia l things, hold fast to the tails of your cattle, be satisfied with tilling your land, and abandon jihad, God will impose on you submission which he will not lift until you return to your religion.

"We conclude by the prayer: God be praised, the lord of the universe; and may God's peace and blessings be upon our master, Muhammad, the members of his family, and his companions and followers. May God's peace and blessings be upon you."




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49 Comments:

Blogger RKV said...

The ARVN and their US allies WON the Tet Offensive decisively. Walter Cronkite almost single-handedly lost it. Tens of thousands died or were imprisoned as a direct result with dire consequences in surrounding countries like Cambodia. Our enemies will counter our efforts and certainly attempt to do so on as large a scale as they can manage. Let's not repeat our mistake of letting the agenda driven M$M lose the war for us.

4/21/2008 05:12:00 PM  
Blogger Salt Lick said...

all hat and no cattle

I'm thinking all turban and no camel.

4/21/2008 05:17:00 PM  
Blogger dla said...

Pretty good speech for a guy hiding in a hole.

I wonder how receptive the people of Iraq are to this influence?

4/21/2008 05:35:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

rkv: The ARVN and their US allies WON the Tet Offensive decisively.

Well in our case it was the Tet Defensive. Yeah, we "won" it. McNamara resigned. LBJ curtailed the bombing of North Vietnam right in the middle of it, signaling that he was going to abandon South Vietnam, and then said he would not seek a second term, leaving it up to Tricky Dicky to cut and run. So it was a tactical victory for the US and a strategic victory for North Vietnam.

4/21/2008 05:43:00 PM  
Blogger Habu said...

Personally I am surprised and disappointed.

Surprised because AQ is exposing,as have previously captured documents have, that Iraq is such a nexus for them in the ME.

Disappointed in that there wasn't one reference to the Jews being apes and dogs, or monkeys and toads , or whatever the radicals call the Jews. I think the ole boy is slipping a bit.

The only way we'll lose Iraq now is if a Democrat is elected to the WH.

And I still maintain that Bush is simply waiting for the time he wants to huddle the team up and call the play everyone loves..."Everybody go long" B-1's, B-2's and three or four carrier groups..all going long. Love it.

Then Iran will cease functioning for a time, their atomic program in shambles and perhaps a snatch of some of their leadership in the process. If not a snatch then a decapitation. There is always wonderful opportunities in chaos if you exploit the chaos correctly.

Egypt, home of the Muslim Brotherhood has all the potential to turn on a dime and become another Islamic dookie pile.

4/21/2008 06:00:00 PM  
Blogger NahnCee said...

I wonder how receptive the people of Iraq are to this influence?

The people of Egypt are starving to death.

The people of Saudi Arabia have sewage in their streets and are running out of water

The people of the United Arab Emirates are also starting to gather in the streets over the high costs of food and housing.

Zawahiri is right about corruption throughout the Middle East taking its toll on the lives of the people living there.

But it's odd how he can manage to simultaneously point at the Americans and Israeli's as being at fault ... for corrupt Arab/Muslim bureaucrats stealing their countries blind.

Guy must have really weird dreams.

Anyway, comparatively speaking, the people of Iraq have it made in the shade compared to the people in many of the other countries in the Middle East.

4/21/2008 06:38:00 PM  
Blogger jmomls said...

Blah, blah, blah.
Who does this dope think he is, Howard Zinn?

4/21/2008 06:54:00 PM  
Blogger exhelodrvr1 said...

Nahncee,
"Guy must have really weird dreams."

With goats playing very prominent roles.

4/21/2008 06:58:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

nahncee: The people of the United Arab Emirates are also starting to gather in the streets over the high costs of food and housing.

It's not just in the Middle East. Haiti and Malaysia have similar unrest. The high cost of oil translates into high costs for fertilizer. In the Philippines, half of the irrigated land has been transformed into urban development, including golf courses, because people thought if they really needed rice they could just get it from Australia or Vietnam. Well, there was crop disease in Vietnam this year and a drought in Australia, so now what?

4/21/2008 07:09:00 PM  
Blogger Marcus Aurelius said...

Teresita,

I am with on this one. The rise in the price of food is not just related to food crops being diverted to energy. Many people do not seem to realize petroleum is not just energy, but chemicals too.

The nations in the Middle East have high ex-pat populations. Many of the ex-pats come from India, Bangladesh, The Philippines etc and the majority of them do not get paid very well. Those are the people who are going to revolt in those nations, not the Al Futtaims or the Sauds.

4/21/2008 08:04:00 PM  
Blogger section9 said...

This sad experiment in biofuels, combined with the historic and overwhelming greed of the oil cartel states, has created a perfect combination of price increases and food shortages for the billions of poor on the planet. The swine shall have their comeuppance.

4/21/2008 08:21:00 PM  
Blogger wretchardthecat said...

High oil prices have virtually guaranteed entry into the market for substitute fuels. It's economics 101.

However, I think the mistaken notion that biofuels had no "environmental impact" helped it come online when other sources based on enhanced oil recovery, shale, etc. could not. Everyone forgot that people can be classed as animals too. And bidding up the price of grain to fill gas tanks creates an "endangered species" problem.

As I've written often and bitterly, there is a significant environmental downside to a lot of Green proposals. In particular, I've warned that imposing these Kyoto limits to growth will shock the urban poor out of the cities and into subsistence farming. Slash and burn, baby. Slash and burn. This type of desperation agriculture ruins the forest at a rate of knots. But I guess it will have to happen first before the Greenies have their "uh-oh" moment.

4/21/2008 08:37:00 PM  
Blogger eggplant said...

NahnCee said:

"Zawahiri is right about corruption throughout the Middle East taking its toll on the lives of the people living there."

Educated rational Americans were not the target audience of this propaganda. The primary targets were the impoverished disenfranchised people of the Middle East, particularly pissed-off Egyptians. It may seem funny to us but Zawahiri's long rant was probably effective as propaganda.

4/21/2008 08:44:00 PM  
Blogger vnjagvet said...

I wonder how Mubarek feels about this guy. Maybe he is even now secretly deploying an Egyptian Special Forces Unit to the Paki-Afghanistan Mountains.

4/21/2008 10:03:00 PM  
Blogger Valentine Smith said...

If the ex-pats revolt, they will be slaughtered. Mercilessly.

4/21/2008 10:19:00 PM  
Blogger Bob said...

We can beat this energy problem, and the way we do so, is nuclear.

When the Greenies hear their tummys rumble, they will shut up, and ask politely to be fed.

4/21/2008 11:21:00 PM  
Blogger wretchardthecat said...

Maybe the sleeper problem isn't Iraq but Egypt. America is far more popular in Iraq than it is in Egypt, which is an indictment of the traditional diplomatic way of doing things.

Zawahiri can use American "engagement" with Middle Eastern dictators as his real agitational line. So when people advocate putting the "adults back in charge", you have to wonder whether the adults aren't simply confirmed in their folly rather than wise.

4/21/2008 11:30:00 PM  
Blogger Bob said...

Hillary Has Big Orgasm, Vows To 'Obliterate' Iran

4/22/2008 12:08:00 AM  
Blogger Bob said...

This is a Monster Woman both Habu and Bob could vote for.

4/22/2008 12:15:00 AM  
Blogger RattlerGator said...

Wretchard: This type of desperation agriculture ruins the forest at a rate of knots.

Exhibit A: The Republic of Haiti.

4/22/2008 04:39:00 AM  
Blogger Habu said...

Washington Post pencil neck geek E.J. Dionne asks;

Is Obama JFK or Adlai Stevenson?

We should be so lucky, they're both dead.


And a big good morning to Buckets O'Shiite, bard of the 'net.


And Tony Snow going to CNN...wow

4/22/2008 05:31:00 AM  
Blogger Habu said...

Bobal,

I read Hillary's statement on obliterating Iran if they nuked Israel. Why is it I somehow don't believe her..hmmm

4/22/2008 05:34:00 AM  
Blogger mercutio said...

Zawahiri said:

"The conscious Islamic vanguards should move before we see Petraeus in Cairo and in Riyadh tomorrow, leading the awakening gangs, to shed blood and violate sanctities."

Fun with words: Who, by the way, is leading the awakening gangs? Is the antecedent 'Petraeus' or 'the conscious Islamic vanguards' (as opposed to the unconscious ones, I guess, destroyed by General P.?) Quite an image: General P. leading the awakening gangs into Riyadh. Mr. Z. needs an editor.

Do you think that General P. makes Mr. Z. and friends nervous? General P. introduced a new game plan, with President B.'s approval, and Mr. Z. has no real response to the game plan, except for more killing and street gang destruction.

May we see many more unconscious Islamic vanguards, blessings and peace be upon them!

4/22/2008 06:05:00 AM  
Blogger Habu said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

4/22/2008 06:12:00 AM  
Blogger Habu said...

O/T (reformed)

PAUL B. FARRELL at MarketWatch has a great article on what economic hell we are poised to received. Entitled; Economic sound bites sound alarm on coming financial Armageddon
it is recommended.
Economic Armageddon


Here's my take.

Actually, it took three different generations working together to get us where we are.
The "Greatest Generation" trained the "Silent Generation" and the "Baby Boomers" when we were in college and the big business schools such as Wharton etc. They taught us the basics, but being new generations deprived of practically nothing and infected with an entitlement mentality that spilled over from the government the "Silencers" and then the "Boomers" took full advantage of every possible semi-legal and illegal method upon which to prey upon the economy. The illegal methods of bookkeeping etc. were weighed against the cost of litigation or even getting caught, since big business could always buy a GS-15 from the government to show them the ropes.

The taxpayer of course was the flock, primed to be sheared because they had a mind set of "trusting" their government and faith that big business would always provide great lifetime jobs for security. Neither turned out quite that way.

4/22/2008 06:18:00 AM  
Blogger Hangtown Bob said...

Z accuses West of "spreading renal failure". Is he telling us that OBL died of kidney disease, as has been long thought possible?

4/22/2008 06:30:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wretchard: America is far more popular in Iraq than it is in Egypt, which is an indictment of the traditional diplomatic way of doing things.

Perhaps we should amend our agreement to send aid to Egypt (and South Korea for that matter) by multiplying the base amount by the percentage of that population which feels gratitude, as determined by a third party pollster. This way the people can express their pleasure or displeasure with America in a way that has real impact.

4/22/2008 06:35:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Habu: I read Hillary's statement on obliterating Iran if they nuked Israel. Why is it I somehow don't believe her..hmmm

Foolish. Never reveal your array of retaliatory responses to the enemy. The mind of the wise general is unknowable. If the enemy is unable to discern your dispositions, then he must prepare everywhere, which in turn makes him weak everywhere.

4/22/2008 07:03:00 AM  
Blogger Yashmak said...

"And I still maintain that Bush is simply waiting for the time he wants to huddle the team up and call the play everyone loves..."Everybody go long" B-1's, B-2's and three or four carrier groups..all going long. Love it." - Habu

Well, we can revisit that after the election. I still maintain that there's virtually no chance this will happen. If anyone is going to do it, it'll be Israel. All an attack would do in Iran (besides possibly hitting the nuclear facilities) is solidify support behind Ahmadinejad, which is not in our interest.

4/22/2008 07:26:00 AM  
Blogger Habu said...

Teresita (apologies again for perhaps ruining you name with a compliment)

A wise saying no doubt from the syntax, Sun Tsu..It sure isn't Jomini or Clausewitz although they said much the same.

Today we just say all options are on the table, but it sure doesn't have the poetry that the others used with such elegance.

(you realize that if I hand out two more compliments to you you'll be forced into a painful series of anti-Habu shots or be burned at the stake by the villagers)

4/22/2008 07:46:00 AM  
Blogger Marcus Aurelius said...

Foolish. Never reveal your array of retaliatory responses to the enemy. The mind of the wise general is unknowable. If the enemy is unable to discern your dispositions, then he must prepare everywhere, which in turn makes him weak everywhere.

Teresita,

I do not think this foolish. It just tells them (if they choose to believe it) that Hillary is saying she is prepared to use every weapon at her disposal (with all the required provisos on her getting elected and all of that). If Hillary pledged she would in no circumstances use nuclear weapons then your argument holds.

Her husband did something similar in the Balkans. IIRC he pledged he would not send in ground troops to do any actual fighting, just drop bombs and launch missiles. I thought the statement foolish for the reason you state. Didn't have to say that, keep 'em guessing.

4/22/2008 07:51:00 AM  
Blogger Habu said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

4/22/2008 07:53:00 AM  
Blogger Habu said...

Yashmak,

Of course, we all simply speculate and await. If none of us ever threw out a speculative theory the blogshere would lose a great deal of it's Weltanklang (world appeal)

4/22/2008 07:55:00 AM  
Blogger Habu said...

General P on Z has Z scared and on the run.

General P has a very good chance of becoming POTUS in the 2012 election.
I look forward to see if it does materialize.

In fact it would be great if he retired now , ran with McCain in a set up for '12. Be too sweet.

4/22/2008 08:02:00 AM  
Blogger Habu said...

Can anyone explain to me why the Vice President, who is President of the Senate doesn't preside over the Senate for at least days at a time or when things get tight and the administration needs pull?

4/22/2008 08:05:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Habu: (you realize that if I hand out two more compliments to you you'll be forced into a painful series of anti-Habu shots or be burned at the stake by the villagers)

This must be Test Day. My good friend Bob al-Harb turns into Gollum and my mortal enemy Habu turns into Aragorn son of Arathorn.

4/22/2008 08:26:00 AM  
Blogger Jrod said...

Clearly Zawahiri missed his opportunity to be brief.

4/22/2008 08:29:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Respectfully... I do not have the time to read this crap. What I look for from you Wretchard, is commentary.

In any case, keep up the good work, this is the best site on the net.

4/22/2008 09:18:00 AM  
Blogger Habu said...

Furio,
We'll just whip up a big batch of crap a la mode for ya.

Keep this in mind as you castigate the contributors. Without them Wrethard would be out of business and you'd get no commentary at all.

I don't believe W is in a financial position to provide only commentary for gratis. So ease up and just enjoy life, and appreciate what you have.

BTW have you ever contributed any money to W for this site? You should send him a check for a thousand bucks ...you know ..put your money where you mouth is.

4/22/2008 10:20:00 AM  
Blogger joe buz said...

As I understand it, Dr. Z is also quite upset with the pint sized Persian Prince Ahmydinnerjacket for his truther/inside job beliefs about 9-11. You can'nt make this stuff up..I, like Wretch alluded to the other day feel like we are living in the times of "The Onion"....

4/22/2008 11:01:00 AM  
Blogger joe buz said...

My sign of the times --->

4/22/2008 11:26:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Marcus: Her husband did something similar in the Balkans. IIRC he pledged he would not send in ground troops to do any actual fighting, just drop bombs and launch missiles. I thought the statement foolish for the reason you state.

It was indeed foolish, because Milosumbitch knew all he had to do was stand pat and take the bombardament, because you need boots on the ground to seize land. Only when Clintoon changed his mind and said he was fixin' to go in with troops did Milosumbitch cry uncle.

4/22/2008 11:39:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Obama says Hillary should win big. This is so when she just wins medium, he can call it a win.

Yesterday Drudge posted internal polling from the Clinton camp that says she will win by 11 points. Whether that is true or not, it automatically becomes the bar she must clear. The RealClearPolitics average has Clinton by 6.1 in Pennsylvania.

4/22/2008 12:00:00 PM  
Blogger Habu said...

joe buz,

Those two avatars are at this very moment sending AQ a signal not to mess with the US.

Nice work. I may have my moments with her but she's nobodies fool.

I'm just happy to be as diplomatic as I am. It helps me greatly with my inner 'qi and my energy!


Habu was asked,
"When a man comes to you with nothing,
what would you say to him ?"
Habu replied, "Throw it away!"

Inner peace, and don't tase me bro

4/22/2008 12:22:00 PM  
Blogger NahnCee said...

Habu, I think furio's reference to "crap" was the longish spiel of Zawahiri, not the comments. If you just want to read Wretchard's thoughts, you can skip the comments. It's harder to skip "crap" when it's an integral part of Wretchard's thinking.

Although it's an on-going mystery to me why people think if they say "respectfully" it somehow absolves them of arrogant rudeness.

4/22/2008 12:55:00 PM  
Blogger eggplant said...

NahnCee said:

"I think furio's reference to "crap" was the longish spiel of Zawahiri, not the comments."

That was my reading as well. Zawahiri's rants are crap.

4/22/2008 01:53:00 PM  
Blogger Habu said...

Nahncee & Eggplant

Well I guess I missed that one by a country mile.

Still it's good to have my diplomacy to fall back on in those cases.

4/22/2008 02:33:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Ayers-Dohrn audio

Mike Allen, Ayers-Dohrn audio With Hugh Hewitt
04220801 Hewitt: Hour 1 - Hugh gets a preview of the Pennsylvania primary from Politico.com reporter Mike Allen, and then plays an amazing series of audio cuts of Barack Obama's friends, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

The Ayers-Dohrn 2007 Audio

Mark Steyn and James Lileks have reacted on tonight's show to the 2007 audio of Ayers and Dohrn dug up by Guy Benson. Much should be written about it and what it tells us about Senator Obama, but whether the MSM even notices remains to be seen.

A caller from North Carolina, Steve, noted the obvious: We know what Dohrn and Ayers were thinking about the U.S. in 2007. We know that they know Obama well, and have "vetted" him. And we know they supported him from 1995 forward.

4/22/2008 07:08:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

its not the first time I'm misunderstood either. By "crap" I most definitely meant the Zawahiri rant. And by "respectfully" I just meant to convey that I did not want Wretchard to be offended, but I merely wanted to convey that I was looking for a different format. Usually he is very good at picking out the key points and building off of that. My bad, I should have kept my mouth shut (not the first time for that either).

Habu, how do you know I have not contributed $1000 already? Have you?

Wretchard, again, best blog on the net.

4/23/2008 10:24:00 AM  

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