Watcher's Council Nominations, 12/27/06

Every week, the Watcher's Council nominate two posts each, one from the Council members and one from outside for consideration by the whole Council. The complete list of this week's Council nominations can be found at the site of our fearless leader, Watcher of Weasels




Watcher's Council News: We've had another change in the Council. My dear friends Dymphna and Baron Bodissey from Gates of Vienna have gotten increasingly involved in other projects and have resigned from the Watcher's Council...which means another seat is UP FOR GRABS. In spite of what's been going on recently, these opportunities don't normally come along this often. If you are interested in the vacant seat, go here to apply.


Here's this week's lineup:

1. J O S H U A P U N D I T: IRANIAN military seized in raid on Iraqi insurgents - (and the NYT Times depolores it) In my piece this week, I examine both the capture of Iranian military in Iraq as well as what's revealed by the current Iraqi government's attitude as well as the NYT's.

I also - for the umpteenth time - suggest a solution for Iraq that would allow us to keep our strategic position, actually promote Muslim democracy as a model, double our effective combat strength without sending a single extra US soldier over there and give our troops a secure base to strike at our enemies with a loyal, appreciative ally.

Of course, the Saudis are agin' it..which means that nobody in Washington, especially in the White House, will even discuss it.

2. Done With Mirrors: Follow Your Surges Callimachus makes a compelling case for a very different solution to Iraq - he likes the idea of a surge of troops with the idea of winning a victory there. I see his point...I just don't think it's possible given the Iraqi government we've allowed to take power there, unless we plan to depose them, like my friend Omar at Iraq the Model has suggested.

3. Soccer Dad: Two red herrings out of three ain't bad Soccer Dad writes a fine essay about a Washington Post editorial on Middle East peace. As he points out, the writer correctly identifies two non-causes (otherwise known as lies)in the continued Arab-Israeli conflict, the Bush administration's passivity or Israel's `bstructionism.'

Unfortunately, as he points out, people still think of Mahmoud Abbas, who was along for the entire Arafat ride and has never found a single terrorist murderer worthy of jail time as a `moderate'.


4. Right Wing Nut House: THE DARK SIDE OF “TRADITIONAL VALUES” here Rick writes about Congressman Virgil Goode, Jr's letter to his constituents about newly elected Congressman Keith Ellison, which essentially stated that unless we control immigration, we are going to get a lot more Muslims inthe country and thus a lot more Congressmen lie this ex-Nation of Islam member and CAIR lackey.

I normally love Rick's stuff, even when I disagree. This isn't one of those occasions. Aside from his gratuitous and uncalled for bashing and name calling of blogger Debbie Schlussel, who's a friend (and linked on this site)I also disagree with his central premise.

Congressman Goode was simply stating a fact, and anyone who looks at the situation in say, Europe ought to get a clue about that. As I stated in a comment on Rick's site, to many Muslims their first loyalty is to the Muslim umma and sharia, and for a congressman who describes himself as a devout Muslim to swear to defend the Constitution is a contradiction in terms.

I also mentioned the fact that the Qu’ran not only allows Muslims to lie to kuffars (non-believers), but encourages it when Islam is being advanced.The Islamic term is taqiya. And that where Congressman Goode gets it wrong is on stupidly focusing on Ellison’s choosing to swear on the Qur’ran (since it doesn’t matter), rather than the fact that this ex-Nation of Islam member and CAIR poodle is a congressman at all.

He won the election and he's entitled, but I see nothing wrong with voicing an opinion that we need to take steps to make sure there's not more of the same.

5. The Sundries Shack: Islamists on the Run! Here, Jimmie Bise writes about a story I've been covering at Joshuapundit, the Ethiopian victory against the jihad declared on them by the Somali Islamic Courts. he draws some great parallels on how we can extend that to our own war on
jihad.

6.Rhymes With Right: NY Times To Terrorists: Bomb The Tunnels! Bomb The Tunnels!Here, Greg writes about the New York Times highlighting a vulnerable terrorist target with exact and dangerous intel. Ah, the New York Times...I can see an ad with Osama in it, holding up the paper and saying `Hey, it's all the news I need!'

7. The Glittering Eye: Negotiating with Iran Here. Dave talks about negotiating with Iran in a well written piece - which I unfortunately disagree with.

In order for negotiations to proceed, two important things have to be present. One, each side must have the perception that they have something to gain from negotiations. And two, both sides must be convinced of the other sides' integrity and willingness to abide by agreements.

Neither is present in this case. And I would also say that the US has tried a number of times to negotiate with Iran - most noticeably with the `incentives' offer this last year, and received nothing but lies and insults and outright acts of war in return.


8. AMERICAN FUTURE - The Coming of Neo-Multilateralism Marc has an extremely well written and interesting article here about the fall out from the mismanagement of the Iraq war...and makes a number of predictions as to where this will lead future US foreign policy.

9. Andrew Olmsted: Why Facts Don't Matter This week, Major Andrew Olmsted writes about what he calls `a disturbing trend in modern political discourse... the substitution of beliefs for facts.' His example here is on blogger hilzoy's partisan argument that Democrats are fiscally responsible while Republicans are not.


10.The COLOSSUS OF RHODEY: Robot Rights Ah, how appropriate right before Isaac Asimov's birthday! Here, Hube writes about an issue that will undoubtedly surface in the future...especially if lawyers find a way to get taxpayers to pay the legal bills!

11.The Education Wonks: Is A Teacher's "Classroom Coming-Out" Protected Speech? Here, EdWonk writes about a lesbian teacher who successfully sued a school district for firing her for acting out in class during gay `Day of Silence' protest. The judge was a Carter appointee, of course.



That's this week's lineup..enjoy