USA Today...

It's not often that I even read a USA Today. Their coverage lacks the depth that I like in a newspaper, and their slant is obvious.

However, in today's edition, Ralph Peters writes this opinion piece which makes the case that we are not in a "Battle of Ideas", but rather in a war "over religion and ethnicity" (something which I've long thought).

Further, Peters notes that a "hearts and minds" approach will not work. The insurgency we face can be put down, but it will take bloodletting. As I've worried about earlier, I'm afraid that we won't be willing to spill serious blood until we've been bloodied first. It may take the loss of much of a major American city before we're willing to take down enough of the Islamic faith that they call off their jihad.

A good day...

Got some small chores done around the house today.
We had wonderful weather here today...mid-60's with clear skies. I got away to an IDPA match.
Got a haircut (which I needed badly).
Got out to a 50th birthday celebration for a friend.

I certainly could have done more, but all-in-all it was a nice day.

Make no mistake...

Iran is our enemy.

America's Bush's Defeat...

I've made this point (h/t Glenn) to the lefties on that other Forum a couple of times, but their BDS has them impervious to logic.

We're in a war here folks. The Islamofacists, represented by the 19 9/11 hijackers, killed the rich and the poor; white, black, brown and yellow; Christian, Jew and Muslim; Democrat and Republican alike. Whatever our differences, our enemies saw us as enough alike that they did not discriminate. The killed because they are fighting our freedom.

Sadly, the Democrats cannot see that the war is not just about defeating Bush. It is about defeating those who define themselves as our enemies.

"God's Gonna Cut You Down"

Lifted from Bill at INDCJournal.

Escalation...

I've written at least three posts recently (starting here) making the point that we've escalated things in Iraq. We're not letting Iran get away with any of their mischief. Mookie is thought to have been run out of town. I've speculated a couple of places here that we may be looking to provoke, or, at least will not turn away from a new Gulf of Tonkin.

After the start of the new offensive (or perhaps in reaction to the recent, and disturbing loss of helicopters), here is evidence that we've upped the ante.

Obama vs. Howard...

The Democrats have, for many years and without apology, advocated policies that can be summed up by the following...

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

Case in point. (h/t Cowboy Blob)

[They do this, coincidentally, without letting us know who said this.]

A dustup was begun between Barak Obama and John Howard after Howard's statement that...

"If I were running al-Qaida in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats."

Obama's reply?

...If the Australian prime minister was "ginned up to fight the good fight in Iraq," he needs to send another 20,000 Australians to the war.

"Otherwise, it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric," Obama said.

But what about that "each according to his ability" line? Do we mean it or not?

"...We won’t make that mistake again. ...."

Somewhere the other day I saw a brief clip of an interview with Robert Gates after his meetings in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The money quote...

“After the Soviets left [Afghanistan], the US made a mistake,” said Mr Gates. “We neglected Afghanistan and extremism took control of that country, and the US paid a price for that on September 11, 2001. We won’t make that mistake again."

Substitute "Iraq" for "Afghanistan" in the above, and make the appropriate changes to the tenses of the verbs, and you get why we're not leaving Iraq.

Ever.

If you're not now convinced of the wisdom or necessity of staying in Iraq, you had better find a way to get used to it. Most Democrat politicians are pandering their way into positions that support, in one way or another, a retreat (or "redeployment" if you buy into it) from Iraq. But just because the D's now can do nothing except run against everything that Bush has done, doesn't mean that they will leave Iraq. Whichever D gets elected (God forbid), they'll find a way to stay in Iraq. Retreat ain't gonna happen. It is the same mistake Gates spoke of.

A Semi-Sabbatical...

For the short- to middle-term, I think I'm going to cut back on posting here. In the short-term, I've got a large painting project that I'm behind on, the taxes to do for ourselves as well as for the three kids, recurrent approaching, and the normal stuff that just piles up.

On top of that, Dad has cancer, and for the middle-term, I'll be travelling to see him as often as I can. I get the feeling that he doesn't have a long-term.

What...

...he said. ("He" meaning John, of course.)

There's trouble brewing...

...with Iran (as if that weren't obvious).

A while back, I wondered if the end of our kid-glove approach with Iranian meddling in Iraq wasn't an omen that a new Gulf of Tonkin incident might be in the offing. Since this post, there has been the very sophisticated kidnapping and execution of 5 soldiers (h/t Protein Wisdom, and others). The speculation is now running that the Bush administration is soft-playing this story for some reason.

But now the MSM is putting two and two together and wondering if these forces moving behind the scenes aren't about to break out into a more public war.

I certainly don't wish for a wider war, but I cannot ignore the fact that Iran must be confronted. They're the ones pushing their apololyptic vision of the future, and we're kidding ourselves if we think this will just go away.

Hey, Hillary....

Look! The circus is back in town!

h/t Glenn.

A Good Move...

"Troops allowed to kill Iranians in Iraq". This is an overdue move, and bringing heat to those who are fomenting trouble in Iraq is a good thing.

It amazes me that this might in any way be viewed as controversial.

The Democrat's problem...

..."exemplified".

Kerry isn't so dumb (or, more correctly, those who might contribute to a Democrat Presidential candidate aren't so dumb) that he can't see that he can't be elected. He screwed up his '04 run, never answered his Swiftboat critics, never provided full and open review of his military records (as he promised), never lost his reputation as a flip-flopper, and spent the remaining 2+ years further tarnishing his own standing. A Kerry '08 candidacy was doomed, and not entering the race is just about the only rational thing he's done.

But, as John at Powerline notes (and I noted yesterday), Kerry's problem with how he crafts his message on Iraq is exemplary of the broader problems of the Democrat Party on Iraq. Nobody--not one--Democrat has a public vision of how to win in Iraq. Ignoring this question, in the hopes that it will all be blamed on Bush, is not the way to win an election.

State of the Union...

[I confess that I slept through most of the SOTU speech last night. I didn't sleep particularly well the night before, got a good workout at the gym in the morning, then spent the afternoon making concrete. Therefore an evening nap was unavoidable.]

But, I did see much of the post-speech discussion (on FNC, of course). And, I cannot help but agree with the strength that Jules Crittenden sees here.

We are at war. For all that the Democrats try, they cannot ignore this point. They've been trying to snatch defeat out of the hands of victory as they pursue their own political agenda, but when it comes to Iraq, they offer nothing, and are proud of their "nothingness" as long as Bush gets the blame for Iraq. Eventually, either today or when their candidate wins in '08 (God forbid), they're going to have to deal with the problems in Iraq, the Mid-East, and the Muslim world.

The Gym...

Update: I get very few readers to my humble blog, but more than a few of you come in looking for a photo of Havasu Falls. It appears that the photo I hoarked from some .edu site is now unavailable. I invite you to look around a bit, but if you're interested in Havasu photos, you can see plenty in my report on our hike. You can access it here.
[/update]

OK. So, as we're now well into our middle ages, we have to admit that we've managed to put on more than a few pounds. Further, since we have committed to a family hike down to the Havasupai Falls...



...loosing weight has become part of that committment. Therefore a membership at the local gym has been added into our lives.

With that prelude, I was impressed by the sight of a 75-or-so year-old white-haired grandmother on the treadmill next to me this morning. She didn't go fast, or very long (20 minutes or so), but she was there. She left the treadmill for the "hand-bike", and I lost track of her. I hope that we're still in the gym at her age.

"...if [the Americans] get out of Fallujah,..."

"... Washington itself will be a target."

As usual, read the whole thing.

Also, Michelle Malkin, after her embed in Iraq, has gained new optimism that this thing can be won. Also, don't fail to read the report of her colleague, Bryan Preston, that winning is not impossible. Both believe that the Iraq War has had far more mistakes than we naively believed we would encounter, but that the media is misleading America on the progress there, and that, with patience and perseverance, this thing can be won.

These two reports jibe with that of Michal Yon, posted a couple of days ago.

Sandy Berger...

...has more questions to answer, if he were an honorable man.

h/t Scott at Powerline.

"Saddam was...

...lynched."

At least according to Charlie Rangel in a discussion of MLK day on this morning's Fox News broadcast. Link here.

Geez. Is....

...this cover photo creepy, or what? Gore looks like a James Bond movie villan.
Plus, take a look at Gore here, doing his "Dr.-Lara-Croft's-Legitimate-Brother" look-alike pose.

Oh. And global warming? Bunk.