Ray Robison: Pointing out the obvious to the oblivious

My latest at 411mania

Cole's Grim Math

In an effort to suppress reporting of a successful surge in Iraq, Juan Cole in Salon contrives number contrasts in order to show no improvement there. But are his numbers telling the entire tale?

Shocker...Asian media reflects on Bush as uniter, US media doesn't

Caught a little Rush show today and the gist was that rove was being portrayed as a divisive influence in politics (hah!)

From Pakistani based media:

This bickering between the two persuaded US President George W Bush to move quickly to calm passions on both sides. Last September, he hosted an Iftar dinner breaking the fast of Ramadan at the White House for Karzai and Musharraf. By then both had grown so far apart that they had stopped speaking to each other, except for trading barbs of criticism. At the dinner, Bush pleaded with both to end their acrimony and join forces in the common cause of fighting terrorism.

For a time, his persuasion seemed to work. A hopeful signal came from Karzai, who proposed that Afghanistan and Pakistan convene a joint jirga of the tribal leaders who live on both sides of the Durand Line that divides his country from Pakistan, to enlist their support against terrorism. The proposal froze Musharraf in his tracks. Yet Bush warmed to the idea, which eventually pushed Musharraf also to tag along.

New Docs show Pakistan intelligence fostered Taliban

Well of course, but nice to have confirmation:

The Pakistani government gave substantial military support to the Taliban in the years leading up to the September 11 attacks, sending arms and soldiers to fight alongside the militant Afghan movement, according to newly released US official documents.

Islamabad has acknowledged diplomatic and economic links with the Taliban but has denied direct military support. The US intelligence and state department documents, released under the country's freedom of information act, show that Washington believed otherwise.

My latest is at Front Page

Response to Julia Gorin on Kosovo.

Robert Fisk bashes US anti-terror reforms

Just as the Dems are taking credit for enacting all the 9/11 committee recommendations (heh) one of liberal journalism's (or as I like to call it Jibernoulism - heh) true heroes Robert Fisk pronounces:

The tape emerged only hours after the US said it had placed Fatah al-Islam on its now 43-strong list of "terrorist" organisations which would have their funds frozen in the US and would not be permitted to enter America. Fighting to the death amid the ruins of the camp, it is highly doubtful that the gunmen there have bank accounts on Wall Street or that any have applied for visas to the US. But that's the way the "war on terror" works. Each side ratchets up the odds and kills more human beings.

Wow, what cynicism is this that we are not even allowed to stem the flow of money to and keep out our enemies? Fisk has made an idiotic statement here that is much more appropriate to the Huffington Post than the Independent. Is he really so absurdly clueless that he doesn't understand that all Islamic terrorist have financiers and much of that money is raised by sympathizers even here in the US. So what the hell is wrong with trying to stop that? What is wrong with keeping them out of here? Maybe that gunman doesn't have a bank account here in the US but being designated as a terrorist organization will help the US to stop the people who put the gun in his hand. And banning him from our shores will keep him from coming here to get those contributions that can't be sent by wire now (or rather may still be sent but making it a crime now). I can't believe this man gets so much praise for this brand of high school level sniping in his reporting.

And furthermore, I am sooo sick of these caring, compassionate people acting like they are the only ones who understand that killing people is a bad thing. Yeah, guess what Fisk, we all get it. We just are grown up to realize that if a person is gonna come kill you it is quite right to kill them first. And since these guys are al Qaeda supported they are clearly interested in destroying us. That makes them targets. Save your little crybaby pouting about the poor dead terrorists. Go back to Afghanistan and let some more of your poor Taliban friends beat the crap out of you again.

Man run up tree by crocs waits over a week for rescue

Wow, just wow:

A stockman in northern Queensland has revealed how he was forced to spend seven nights up a tree with enormous crocodiles circling below.

David George, 53, climbed up the tree and built himself a platform of branches after he was thrown from his horse and found himself in the middle of a swamp infested by nesting crocodiles.

“Every night I was stalked by two crocs who would sit at the bottom of the tree staring up at me,” Mr George said. “All I could see was two sets of red eyes below me and all night I had to listen to a big bull croc bellowing a bit further out. I’d yell out at them, ‘I'm not falling out of this tree for you b******s’.”

Pajamasmedia on US funding of Iranian propaganda

Now this is disturbing:

Last month, Iran launched Press TV, an English-language television station to broadcast propaganda to the West, utilizing a network of loyal and well-paid correspondents across the world. But their task could have been made easier if they had simply translated broadcasts from the Voice of America Persian Service and Radio Farda, which are both funded by US taxpayers.

Millions of Congress-approved dollars are poured into the VOA-Persian Service and Radio Farda ostensibly to promote democracy and break the Iranian regime’s overbearing censorship. However, they are facing increased scrutiny following damning reports by Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, the General Accountability Office (GAO), and the government’s inter-agency Iran Steering Group. These reports condemned both VOA-Persian and Radio Farda for sympathy with sections of the Iranian regime and for often recycling the regime’s own propaganda. The situation is so bad that some Iranians in the US have begun to question whether the journalists employed by VOA-Persian and Radio Farda are agents for the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.

Politico: Thompson to blame for Nuke project killed by....liberals

Here's how it works:

1. Thompson worked to get the nuke plant

2. Liberals anti-nuke groups killed it

3. Thus the millions spent on it were wasted and it's Thompson's fault

Wow...just....wow

Politico

It’s a part of his past that runs counter to the fiscally conservative outsider image he’s seeking to cast as he positions himself for an all-but-certain bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

.....

As an aide to conservative New Hampshire Republican Sen. Gordon Humphrey in the early 1980s, Sokolski helped defeat the reactor by teaming with a coalition of anti-nuclear liberals and anti-pork barrel conservatives.

China covertly joining GWOT

According to Strategy Page:

All this Chinese counter-terror work is done very quietly, and covertly. That may keep it out of the Western press, but the Chinese are increasingly tagged as major bad guys by the Islamic media, especially the outlets that are pro-radical.

More on turn around in Iraq

From Der Spiegal H/T Ace/ David's Medienkritic

The Iraqis in Ramadi, almost all Sunnis, had been worn down by chronic violence. Many had been victims of kidnappings or blackmail at the hands of mafia-like terrorist groups. They had finally come to the realization that, in the long run, the Americans were less of a threat and offered more hope than the fanatical holy warriors from Iraq and abroad.