It's Passover...Chag Sameach!

Tonight, at the Passover seder, Jews recite the Haggadah and celebrate the story of our freedom, our relationship with G-d and the real start of the Jewish nation.

Every year, the story takes on new meaning, and this year is no exception, as a new Pharoah and his accomplices try to take steps to deny the Jews their freedom and their nationhood...even down to trying to deny them homes in David's City, Jerusalem.

Only someone would no respect or knowledge of the Jew's history and religion would seek to do so.

Every year, the last words of the seder are 'לשנה הבאה בירושלים'...'next year in Jerusalem!'

The idea behind that heartfelt wish is not merely a longing for a place. It is a prayer for a time of peace, freedom and dignity. Those words were spoken both by the Jews remaining in Israel and by the Jews suffering through years of exile with the same idea - that one day, Almighty G-d would again perform a miracle on behalf of his Covenant with the Jewish people.

That miracle happened after centuries of blood, toil and pain and with G-d's help and Israel's strength and sacrifice, it will prevail. Of that I have no doubt whatsoever.

On the lighter side, my friend Yaakov over at The Dry Bones Blog explains absolutely everything you ever wanted to know about matzoh....

And of course, there's always the maniacs over at JibJab.com with `Matzoh Rap'!

Personalize funny videos and birthday

My best wishes for a happy, kosher and wonderful Passover, and may you too celebrate as free men and women - Chag Pesach Sameach!

I'll be back Wednesday night.

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Palin: "We're Not Going To Sit down And Shut Up"

That's what Governor Palin had to say in front of 10,000 tea party activists gathered in Harry Reid's home town of Searchlight, Nevada.

I swear, sometimes I feel like Sarah Palin has more guts and common sense than half the Republican Party put together:

Sarah Palin told thousands of tea party activists assembled in the dusty Nevada desert Saturday that Sen. Harry Reid will have to explain his votes when he comes back to his hometown to campaign.

The wind whipped U.S. flags behind the former Alaska governor as she stood on a makeshift stage, holding a microphone and her notes and speaking to a cheering crowd. She told them Reid, fighting for re-election, is "gambling away our future."

"Someone needs to tell him, this is not a crapshoot," Palin said.

At least 9,000 people streamed into tiny Searchlight, a former mining town 60 miles south of Las Vegas, bringing American flags, "Don't Tread on Me" signs and outspoken anger toward Reid, President Barack Obama and the health care overhaul.{...}

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, appeared after spending Friday and Saturday morning campaigning for Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who led the 2008 ticket.

Now a Fox News analyst and potential 2012 presidential candidate, Palin faced criticism after posting a map on her Facebook page that had circles and cross hairs over 20 Democratic districts. She also sent a tweet saying, "Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!"

She said Saturday she wasn't inciting violence, just trying to inspire people to get involved.

"We're not going to sit down and shut up. Thank you for standing up," Palin said.

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Death On The Moscow Subway

In the latest manifestation by adherents of the Religion of Peace, Two female homicide bombers blew themselves up on Moscow's subway system as it was jam-packed with rush-hour passengers today, killing at least 38 people and wounding 102.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) head Alexander Bortnikov identified the two perpetrators as being Chechens. In February, Chechen leader Doku Umarov, head of the al-Qaeda linked Caucasus Emirate threatened future attacks, saying in a web posting that "the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia ... the war is coming to their cities."

Umarov has also claimed 'credit' for the November bombing of the Nevsky Express passenger train that killed 26 people traveling between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Other Chechen 'operations' have included the attack and hostage taking on the Nord-Ost Moscow theater back in 2003 which took 129 lives (some of whom died as a result of Russian security pumping poison gas into the theater), a dual homicide bomber attack at a rock concert at Tushino Airfield in Moscow that killed 16, the blowing up of of two Russian airliners in 2004 that killed over 90, and of course, the horrendous attack on a school in Beslan that murdered 334, most of them children.

The first explosion took place just before 8 a.m. local time at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow. By an odd coincidence, the station is located just underneath the building that houses the main offices of the FSB.

The second blast,generated by a woman with an explosive vest took place about 40 minutes later, at the Park Kultury station near the Kremlin, killing 13 people.

The FSB thinks the attacks were carried out by the 'Black Widows,' members of the Caucasus Emirate's female suicide bomber cadre.

Russian PM Putin was in Siberia today, but said the "terrorists responsible" for the attacks Monday "will be destroyed."

"We are providing Moscow metro with additional CCTV cameras. Today's events show we should not only continue this work but to make it more effective. Changes in legislation may be necessary."

The Russians are unlikely to respond in force, first because they already have their own political leadership in place in Chechnya and second because they're not ready for the expense and turmoil of a second war in Chechnya.

As ot that, as a fair person, I have to acknowledge that unlike the vast majority of their Muslim brethren, the Chechens have a real and actual grievance against the Russians. Russian terrorism against the Chechens, such as the shelling of the civilian population of the Chechen capital of Grozny and the widespread abuse of Chechen women by Russian troops were horrible crimes, and the Russians bear a great deal of responsibility for paving the way for the Chechen's alliance with al Qaeda and other Islamists.

That in NO WAY excuses any of these crimes, nor does it excuse most of the Muslim world's continuing silence about these atrocities. I hope the Russians buried the remains of the bombers in a nice pigskin.

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Watcher's Council Nominations, Pre-Passover/Easter Edition

The Watcher's Council is a group of some of the most incisive blogs in the`sphere. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one of their own and one from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.

Then, we vote on the ones in each category..with the results appearing on Friday.

There's some great reading here for your holiday pleasure. So, let's see what we have this week....

Council Submissions

• The Colossus of Rhodey – The inanity of the rest of the West
• Bookworm Room – Has there ever been a more ungracious man in the White House?
• Mere Rhetoric – Liberal Anti-Tea Party Outrage Overflowing With Nuance, Amnesia
• American Digest – Click to Fade
• Right Truth – This is a day that the Lord has made…
• The Razor - Why Tom Hanks Is Wrong About the Pacific War
• Joshuapundit - Obama Administration Strikes Disgraceful Plea Bargain With Mumbai Jihadi
• Wolf Howling - Race Cards Flying While The DNC Plays Theatre
• The Provocateur – Catching Up With Chad Harris of No Insurance Club
• Rhymes With Right - ØbamaCare — Unfunded Federal Mandates Will Break State Budgets, Too

Non Council Submissions

• Michelle Malkin – How the Left fakes the hate: A primer Submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• The Rubin Report – Has the Obama administration, against U.S. interests, declared diplomatic war on Israel? Submitted by Bookworm Room
• Max Boot / Contentions – A Lie: David Petraeus, Anti-Israel Submitted by Mere Rhetoric
• The Doctor Is In – In the Doldrums Submitted by American Digest
• Before It’s News – Why Israel Would Decisively Beat Iran Submitted by Right Truth
• Stewart Baker/ The Volokh Conspiracy – Swift Justice Submitted by The Razor
• Paul A. Rahe/Big Government – America And Israel: Tick , Tock Submitted by JoshuaPundit
• The BlogProf – Despite evidence to the contrary, Leonard Pitts Jr repeats lie that tea party movement is racist Submitted by Wolf Howling
• The Corner - Great Moments Journalism Submitted by The Provocateur
• GayPatriot – Liberal Organization Calls Gay Activists Neo Nazis? Submitted by Rhymes with Right

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Allawi Bloc Upsets Maliki In Iraqi Elections

It appears that the results from the Iraqi election are finally in,and that Ayad Allawi's Secular Shiite/Sunni alliance has narrowly won a victory over Nouri al-Maliki's coalition:

The upset threatens to end the lock on power that Iraq's majority Shiites have enjoyed since the 2003 after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein and could severely test the country's fragile institutions. Before the announcement, Shiite politicians warned of violence should their parties lose the election.

The preliminary results announced Friday night show Mr. Allawi's Iraqiya bloc winning 91 seats in the 325-member parliament to 89 seats for Mr. Maliki's State of Law.

Maliki has called for a recount, and was quite adamant about not accepting the results due to 'fraud' but Iraq's election commission ruled out holding a manual recount of all the votes cast, and a slew of UN observers pronounced the election fair.

Here's what the final total looks like:

Allawi: 91
Maliki: 89
Hakim and Moqtada al-Sadr's Iraqi National Alliance:70
PUK+KDP (The Kurds):=43
Change (Kurdish Goran Party): 8
Tawafok (Accord): 6
Iraq Unity (Bolani): 4
Islamic Union (Kurdish): 4
Islamic Group (Kurdish): 2
Minorities: 8

Total: 325

In order to govern, Allawi will need 163 seats. He'll have 30 days to try and form the next Iraqi government. If he fails, President Jalal Talabani( a Kurd) will have to ask the leader of another political bloc to try and form a government.

So, the all important question..where is this likely going and what does this mean from a regional and a US standpoint?

The first possibility is that Allawi and Maliki will attempt to form an Iraqi unity government and divvy up the spoils. This would involve an ego adjustment for Maliki,but I put the odds at about 50-50. In that case,the Sunnis involved with Allawi's coalition would doubtless require certain assurances, and al-Sadr's people would continue to foment as a Lebanon-style pro-Iran faction. The US withdrawal will continue on schedule and the big losers will be the Kurds, who will be almost totally marginalized.

The other possibility would be for either Allawi or Maliki to cut a deal with Al-Sadr's bloc and add one of the small parties,and that a sword that cuts two ways. The Sunnis in Allawi's coalition would be extremely wary of being part of a government with al-Sadr's pro-Iran Shiite faction, but on the other hand, al-Sadr's group already pulled out of Maliki's government and there are what you might call personal issues at play, although these might be able to be worked out. Also, Maliki knows that the US is on it's way out and thus might be more amenable to cutting a deal with al-Sadr.

If al-Sadr's bloc is part of the government, expect calls for a faster US pullout as Iran flexes its muscles in an attempt to Lebanonize Iraq.

Stay tuned...

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CBO Report: Obama's 2011 Budget Will Cost 90% Of US GDP!

Oooohwee! Spread the wealth around:

President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation's economic output by 2020, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday.

In its 2011 budget, which the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released Feb. 1, the administration projected a 10-year deficit total of $8.53 trillion. After looking it over, CBO said in its final analysis, released Thursday, that the president's budget would generate a combined $9.75 trillion in deficits over the next decade.

When Zero's through with you, you better hope you have any change left.

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Rush Limbaugh's Advice For Israel In Dealing With Obama

Heh! He's probably right!

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Obama To Cut US Long Range Nuclear Weapons By One Third

Barack Obama took another step towards a long cherished goal of his by announcing a new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia that will cut US long range nuclear weapons by one third.

“I’m pleased to announce that after a year of intense negotiations, the United States and Russia have agreed to the most comprehensive arms control agreement in nearly two decades,” the president said from the press podium.

“It cuts – by about a third – the nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia will deploy,” Obama said describing the agreement. “It significantly reduces missiles and launchers. It puts in place a strong and effective verification regime. And it maintains the flexibility that we need to protect and advance our national security, and to guarantee our unwavering commitment to the security of our Allies.”

“With this agreement, the United States and Russia – the two largest nuclear powers in the world – also send a clear signal that we intend to lead. By upholding our own commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons, and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities.”

The president asked for there to be “strong, bipartisan” support to ratify the new START treaty in Congress, and said that will be one more step forward in “leaving behind the legacy of the 20th century.”

The Russians, of course are ecstatic, although Russia warned in its statement that it reserved the right to withdraw from the new treaty if it felt that American missile defense plans were developing in a way that threatened their security.

Why wouldn't they be happy with this? They already know that Obama is not going to put up missile defense shields in Europe, and this gives them a free hand there.And we demanded nothing in terms of a quid pro quo...say, on Iran.

The ostensible reason for doing this, to quote Obama is "...to stop the spread of these weapons, and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities."

As I write this, the Russians are actively working to get Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant and a number of other facilities up to speed and blocking any major efforts by the West to stop the Mullahs from getting their hands on deliverable nuclear weapons.

It would seem that cutting back on America's nuclear deterrent in an effort to stop proliferation is an pretty futile way ineffective way of accomplishing that.

Especially since a great deal of Russia's nuclear arsenal is antiquated. We're getting rid of state of the art weaponry and missile defense in exchange for a possible reduction in obsolete armaments and a flawed verification process.

This is eerily reminiscent of the Kellog-Briand treaty in 1929, which featured arms limitations with the idea of 'outlawing' future wars. It helped accomplish just the opposite.

Words, just words...

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The Council Has Spoken!

The Council has spoken!

This week's council winner was Bookworm Room with Tom Hanks shows stunning ignorance when he claims Americans were engaged in racial genocide against the Japanese during WWII. It's a superb piece taking apart Hank's genuinely clueless remarks in an interview he gave before the premiere of HBO's 'The Pacific War'. By all accounts it actually contributed to the low ratings the show got and proves something I've always said about actors. They make their living saying what other people tell them to say exactly how other people tell them to say it and by moving how someone else tells them to move, and if they're good at it and get lucky, it's a decent gig.

Better to be satisfied with that and keep one's mouth shut if you have nothing intelligent to say.

This week's Non-council winner was Abe Greenwald’s Outsmarting History, which makes the cogent point that one never does outsmart history - it's always there as an open book when it comes to judging someone's actions.

Here's a complete rundown of the voting tallies on our weekly competition..there's some great weekend reading here:

Winning Council Submissions

• First place with 2 1/3 points! – Bookworm Room – Tom Hanks shows stunning ignorance when he claims Americans were engaged in racial genocide against the Japanese during WWII
• Second place with 2 points - The Razor – Scorched Earth
• Third place with 1 1/3 points - Wolf Howling – Obama Leads The Progressive Left Across The Rubicon
• Fourth place *t* with 1 point – American Digest - Goodbye to the Way We Were
• Fourth place *t* with 1 point – The Glittering Eye – The Bell
• Fifth place with 2/3 point – JoshuaPundit – Obama’s War On Israel
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 point – Mere Rhetoric – Mearsheimer: Let’s Mainstream Anti-Israel Lies So “Support For The Jewish State” Will “Evaporate
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 point - The Colossus of Rhodey – Does anyone recall the nets and papers headlining the worst of anti-war protests?

Winning Non-Council Submissions

• First Place with 1 2/3 Points – Abe Greenwald / Contentions – Outsmarting history
• Second place with 1 1/3 – Megan McArdle/The Atlantic Online – 8 Predictions for Health Care
• Third place *t* with 1 point – Michael Yon Online – Warthog
• Third place *t* with 1 point – Big Government – Dana Loesch – The Socialists Won a Battle; Now It Is Our Turn
• Third place *t* with 1 point – Jaded Heaven - Cut My Throat If It Feeds Your Need
• Third place *t* with 1 point – Houston’s Clear Thinkers – Thoughts on health care finance reform
• Fourth Place *t* with 2/3 point – The Strata-sphere - Health Care Bill Small Business Killer
• Fourth Place *t* with 2/3 point – Elder of Ziyon – Obama the actor
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 point – Rick Richman / Contentions - Flunking Foreign Policy 101
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 point – Gates of Vienna - Fighting the Taliban With Pencil and Paper

Council Note: We currently have a seat open for a qualified blogger on the Council up for grabs. If you're interested, you may apply here...or e-mail me for details.

As always, congratulations not only to the winners but to the participants.

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US Partially Lifts Arms Embargo On Israel

I've reported recently on the Obama Administration's instituting what amounts to a de facto arms embargo on Israel.

Well, there's a small bit of good news. The US is selling Israel three Hercules military cargo planes, in a deal worth about $210 million, which is chicken feed by the standards of arms deals.

It's also worth noting that these are unarmed cargo planes not weapons, and represent the first 'arms' sale at this level to Israel since Obama took over. As I've informed you before, one of the first things the Obama Administration did once they got in was to effectively cut Israel's aid by radically changing the Pentagon's rules as to how the IDF can use the money and what it can spend it on, so a lot of that money has simply been sitting. This is a way of using up Israel's military aid that has to be spent in America anyway without selling Israel actual weaponry.

But it's still a small glimmer of good news.

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Ultimatums And Humiliation - Bibi's White House Meeting With Obama

A number of details have leaked out about the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Barack Hussein Obama at the White House Tuesday.

While it was obvious that there was little if any agreement between the two, it's also become obvious that Obama went out of his way to humiliate and show disrespect for his Israeli counterpart:

For a head of state to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of.

Yet that is how Binyamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip seen in Jerusalem tonight as a disastrous humiliation.

After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on Jewish settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisors and “let me know if there is anything new”, a US congressman who spoke to the Prime Minister said today.

“It was awful,” the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”, poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House phone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received “the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea”.

Actually. I think the President of Equatorial Guinea would have received better treatment. Certainly Mahmoud Abbas, Hugo Chavez, or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would have.

Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, cast doubt on minor details in Israeli accounts of the meeting but did not deny claims that it amounted to a dressing down for the Prime Minister, whose refusal to freeze settlements is seen in Washington as the main barrier to resuming peace talks.

And along with bullying and deliberate humiliation came the ultimatums:

In their meeting Mr Obama set out a number of expectations that Israel was to satisfy if it wanted to end the crisis, Israeli sources said. These included an extension of the freeze on Jewish settlement growth beyond the 10-month deadline next September, an end to Israeli building projects in east Jerusalem, and even a withdrawal of Israeli forces to positions that they held before the Second Intifada in September 2000, after which they re-occupied most of the West Bank.

What the Times is talking about when they say 're-occupied' is Operation Defensive Shield. Just for historical context, the 're-occupation' took place in the midst of the war Arafat unleashed against Israel's civilians, after the 'Palestinians' murdered 31 Israelis and injured hundreds with a homicide bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya, Israel. This attack was particularly deadly because it targeted families sitting down to a Passover Seder.

It also goes a long way towards explaining why none of Obama's cynical demands would be agreed to by any Israeli government, let alone just Netanyahu's center right coalition. And Obama was fully aware of that fact.But in the meantime, Obama is demanding that Israel knuckle under to his demands by this Saturday.

Rest assured that if the Israelis are foolish enough to agree to any of this, it will simply lead to greater and more outrageous demands, just at Netanyahu's concession of a temporary 10 month building freeze did.

That's because Obama's idea is not to come to any kind of agreement with Israel. It never has been.

Instead, his main foreign policy goal is to ingratiate America with the Muslim world, no matter what that entails. And part of that involves attempting to force Israel to accept an Arab dictated settlement or at the very least destroying America's relationship with Israel.

Netanyahu appears not to have realized how deep this went beforehand, but he certainly must be aware of it now.

So far, the Obama Administration has already trashed previous agreements with Israel, told them they have no right to their religious shrines , threatened an aid cutoff, and instituted what amounts to a de facto arms embargo.

At the same time, Obama is obviously not planning to do anything about the one issue Netanyahu really could use American cooperation on, dealing with a nuclear Iran. Obama has obviously decided that he can live just fine with the Mullahs having nukes, even if Israel can't.

That's a mistake that will undoubtedly cost America dearly in the future, but the Israelis are going to have to deal with it in a matter of months.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and the upside of Obama's treatment of Israel is that there's very little leverage he has left on the Jewish State, having used almost all of it up. The Israelis are thus free to deal independently with the Iranian problem,having very little to lose..and don't be at all surprised if they simply put negotiations with 'Palestinians' on hold until after the American midterm elections, or perhaps even until there is very different leadership in Washington.

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General Petraeus Sets The Record Straight On Israel

(make sure you turn the sound all the way up to hear this video)

As you know, the anti-Israel Left has been extremely energized by a bogus bit of pro-Arab disinformation planted in Foreign Policy by Mark Perry, an ex-adviser to Yasir Arafat who claimed that General Petraeus, commander of CENTCOM had made the implausible link between Israel building homes for Jews and endangering US troops.

As I pointed out before, this was a total fabrication by Perry, And when I pointed out that General Petraeus never said anything of the kind, I was right. All you have to do is read his actual testimony before the Senate’s Armed Services Committee

Here, General Petraeus again sets the record straight, in response to the American Spectator's Phillip Klein at an appearance at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, where he explained to reporters that his testimony had been spun by Perry and his fellow Left wing bloggers, like Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall, who wrote, “Now we have (Petraeus) saying it in his own words.”

Petraeus essentially said that Perry, Marshall and their friends were full of it, explaining in detail why “all three items...were wrong, frankly.”

“There’s a 56-page document that we submitted that has a statement in it that describes various factors that influence the strategic context in which we operate and among those we listed the Mideast peace process,” he said. “We noted in there that there was a perception at times that America sides with Israel and so forth. And I mean, that is a perception. It is there. I don’t think that’s disputable. But I think people inferred from what that said and then repeated it a couple of times and bloggers picked it up and spun it. And I think that has been unhelpful, frankly.”

To start with, Petraeus said he never requested to have the West Bank and Gaza added to his responsibilities as leader of the military’s Central Command. He said that “every year or so” commanders submit a plan that takes a geographic look at their areas of responsibility, and then there’s discussion about whether it would make sense to redraw the boundaries. For instance, he said, last time Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti were shifted to the Africa Command.

"Typically, there’s a question of should we ask to have Israel and Palestinian territories included, because what goes on there is obviously of enormous interest to the rest of the Central Command area, which is the bulk of the Arab world,” Petraeus said. However, he emphasized that it was “flat wrong” to claim he actually requested responsibility for the areas.

He also noted that there were plenty of other important factors that were mentioned in the report, including “a whole bunch of extremist organizations, some of which by the way deny Israel’s right to exist. There’s a country that has a nuclear program who denies that the Holocaust took place.”

Petraeus continued, “So we have all the factors in there, but this is just one, and it was pulled out of this 56-page document, which was not what I read to the Senate at all.”

When asked about the claim that the perception that the U.S. is too reflexively pro-Israel puts American soldiers at risk, Petraeus said, “There is no mention of lives anywhere in there. I actually reread the statement. It doesn’t say that at all.”

Petraeus also mentioned that he had been on the phone with IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, (whom Petraeus referred to as 'Gabi') to assure him that the reports in the Left wing press of what he had said were bogus. And Petraeus revealed that he had sent Ashkenazi a piece written by Max Boot of Commentary, which Petraeus referred to as “astutely” debunking this garbage.

Given how joined at the hip ( or perhaps other body parts) Josh Marshall and others of his ilk are with the Obama Administration, I have a distinct feeling that this misinformation was deliberate.

Aside from providing fuel for Israel bashers to come out of the woodwork, remember that Petraeus is enormously popular with conservatives and has been touted as a possible Republican candidate in the 2012 elections.

I'd bet my dollar to your dime that General Petraeus' remarks were intentionally blown out of context by the Obama administration to damage him with pro-Israel conservatives.

These are, after all, the same sort of self-serving scum who put out the 'Petraeus - Betray Us' ads....the ads a certain senator from Illinois who now resides in the Oval Office refused to vote to condemn in a resolution brought before the Senate floor on the matter. And that same former Senator, justlike his current Secretary of State did everything but call General Petraeus a liar to his face when General Petraeus testified before Congress.

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Threats, Lies And Democrat Strategy

The latest meme in the dinosaur media since Obamacare passed is that the racist, violent tea baggers are screaming the n-word and other epithets at Democrat Congressmen, threatening violence and 'poisoning the discourse'. This is coupled with demands from the Democrats that the GOP, whom they accuse of orchestrating this activity issue condemnations and promptly cease and desist.

This is not only horse manure on a grand scale but Democrat strategy that was planned about even before Obamacare passed.

The Democrats were fully aware that ObamaCare was rabidly unpopular with the American people, and decided that the best way to take the spotlight off that (aside from bogus skewed polls) was to rely on a tried and true tactic - the race card and identity politics, publicized by their allies in the media.

The first step was for Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats to take a provocative walk right through the protesters in DC, hoping that out the huge crowd one or two people might lose it and give them some 'hate speech' to work with:



To that end, a number of Democrats were videotaping the entire proceedings, including Democrat Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.

Of course, actual hate speech wasn't really necessary..it just would have been a nice bonus if it happened.

Shortly afterwards, stories surfaced that those pinnacles of veracity, members of the Congressional Black Caucus John Lewis (D-GA.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.) were subjected to the n-word by angry tea partyers. Funny thing though...the only people whose word we have for the racial slurs are Lewis and Carson. Nobody else even heard it, in that big crowd with all the media present...and the Democrats have absolutely no video evidence that it happened, or you know they would have had it all over the net by now.

But hey, CNN and MSNBC picked it up so it must be true, right?

Now the Democrats are upping the ante, claiming that GOP inspired violence has resulted in death threats, including a coffin allegedly left 'near one Congressman's home' and a number of supposedly threatening calls.

My, my. Have the Democrats forgotten how loudly they cheered when Barack Hussein Obama told them to 'get in people's faces' to advocate for him and his policies?

I've got news for you - it is the Left that wrote the book on political violence and terrorism. Whether it's petty vandalism like keying people's cars, slashing tires or trashing campaign offices or bigger stuff like blowing up the Pentagon, harassing military recruiters and their offices, taunting wounded veterans, supporting anti-Semitic terrorist groups, unleashing union thugs to beat and intimidate political opponents or initiating violent riots whenever the mood strikes them in the name of 'dissent', political violence and terrorism are the Left's stock in trade. Just watch what happens the next time the WTO tries to meet somewhere.

Ever see the Democrats 'condemning' any of this stuff? They have a nerve pointing a finger at anyone else, even if what they're alleging was true.

And speaking of anti-Semitism, GOP Congressman Eric Cantor revealed to today that a bullet was fired through his office window, along with a lot of threatening e-mails....something he revealed today as a way of accusing the Donkeys of deliberately ramping up things and poisoning the political water by inflating a bunch of supposed incidents.



I wonder...could the DNC's history of Jew baiting where Cantor is concerned have something to do with the attacks and threats on his office? Just maybe?

The Left needs to man up. They made a decision to put their poisonous agenda ahead what was good for the country or what the American people wanted. Now they own it, and they can deal with the fallout.

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Debbie Schlussel Watch - Still Nothin' There

Last Friday, I devoted some space to Debbie Schlussel's attack on Sean Hannity and the Freedom Alliance charity.

In a post that got a great deal of attention, she accused Hannity of running a scam to feather his own nest and charging luxury accommodations and travel utilizing the Freedom Alliance Charity, which benefits our wounded warriors and their children.

Lefty sites like Media Matters were ecstatic over this, but as I and others actually examined her charges, they mostly consisted of a lot of third hand whispers and what appeared to be deliberate misstatements rather than actual facts.

Not only did Schlussel attack Sean Hannity, whom she's hated for years by her own admission. She also accused RedState's Erick Erickson of 'anti-semitism' for having the temerity to actually post a rebuttal to what now appears increasingly to be sheer spite and attention getting.

On March 19th, La Schlussel issued a response to those who countered her accusations that would have done Dan Rather proud, stating that the responses were 'lies' and 'weak' with rebutting anything and telling us all that she would have 'more to come on this fraud'...like say, actual hard evidence.

Well, here it is, five days later Debbie...and nothing in the way of proof on your earlier charges but another lame attack on Hannity because you figure - based on nothing but speculation about the size of his advance from unnammed 'industry sources' that his offer to donate all proceeds from his new book 'Conservative Victory' to Freedom Alliance is just a marketing scam.

That's it? That's 'the new evidence' you were screaming about?

The way Schlussel sees it, since her mysterious 'sources' say that Hannity already received a huge advance, there won't be any 'proceeds'. But riddle me this - if he's already made his money from the advance as she says, why would he be pushing book sales anyway? Why would he care about ginning up sales unless he's trying to make money for Freedom Alliance...hmmm?

Along with debunking her other nonsense, Freedom Alliance has stated that Hannity has personally donated $100,000 to the Wounded Warriors Foundation and over $200,000 to the Freedom Alliance as well as picking up the tab on tens of thousands of dollars for all of his own transportation, hotels, and all related expenses for himself, his family and his staff.

Are they lying, Schlussel? You got anything beyond third hand rumors, speculation and bile?

Like maybe, an apology?

Again, I'm not a particular fan of Sean Hannity, although I find his on air persona pleasant, from all accounts he's a genuinely nice person and I admire his ability to get interesting guests and promote his career in a tough business. But nothing I've heard about him and certainly nothing Debbie Schlussel has written leads me to believe that there's corruption involved.

Again, if I had concrete information ( as opposed to what Debbie Schlussel has revealed so far) that someone like Sean Hannity was misusing a charity, my first action would be to contact him and get his side of it before I went public. Aside from it being the fair and decent thing to do, it has the positive aspect of denying the Angry Left ammo and a target.

Instead, Schlussel has forgotten that that we're in a war, and she's simply firing on what she claims is her own side just to massage her ego, attract attention to herself and give way to her own bile and envy.

She may claim to be a 'conservative' but her methods smell a lot more like Media Matters, Daily Kos and PuffHo.

Pity.

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Obama Administration Strikes Disgraceful Plea Bargain With Mumbai Jihadi

The thought that an American government would do this makes me physically ill.

News that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had reached a plea bargain with David Coleman Headley, who played a key role in the planning of the terrorist strike in Mumbai in November 2008 in which 166 people were killed, has caused an uproar in India.

The deal enables the US government to hold back from formally producing any evidence against Headley in a court of law that might have included details of his links with US intelligence or oblige any cross-examination of Headley by the prosecution.

Nor can the families of the 166 victims be represented by a lawyer to question Headley during his trial commencing in Chicago. Headley's links with the US intelligence will now remain classified information and the Pakistani nationals involved in the Mumbai attacks will get away scot-free. Furthermore, the FBI will not allow Headley's extradition to India and will restrict access so that Indian agencies cannot interrogate him regarding his links with US and Pakistani intelligence.

You remember Mumbai, of course. It was one of the more successful and horrific attacks carried out by adherents of the Religion of Peace armed and trained in Pakistan against a civilian city, where jihadis slaughtered civilians with no discrimination as to age or sex or anything else.

Headly, a Pakistani-born US national AKA Daood Gilani, was the point man for the operation, the one who scouted out the vulnerable targets for his Pakistani jihadi masters in Lashkar-e-Taiba:

David Coleman Headley personally visited every target site of the 26/11 terror strikes last year, carrying out a recce on behalf of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a police source said today.

Posing as a Jew, he even visited Nariman House, the Jewish Chabad centre, in July 2008.

The Mumbai police today carried out raids in Bandra, its adjoining suburb Khar and BPO hub Goregaon in search of Headley’s local acquaintances and contacts.

“He (Headley) mapped the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, Taj and Trident hotels and Nariman House. We are interrogating (filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s son) Rahul to find out when he went to Leopold Café. That he did is certain — when he did that is what we need to know,” a top officer said.

Of course, they won't find out now...the Obama Administration has officially placed Headley under its protection.

Thanks to Headley, the Mumbai killers knew exactly where to go and even had their targets plotted out on GPS systems.That included the Chabad house, where Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his pregnant wife Rivkah, 28, were tied up and brutally tortured before they were murdered, along with 38-year-old Leibish Teitelbaum, 50-year-old Norma Shvarzblat Rabinovich, Yocheved Orpaz, 60, who had been traveling in India with a daughter and grandchildren, and Bentzion Chroman, 28(HY"D).



The Obama administration's plea bargain with Headley was deliberately put together to shield him and his Pakistani handlers and raises some interesting questions:

The LeT began planning the attack on Mumbai sometime around September 2006. According to the plea bargain, Headley paid five visits to India on reconnaissance missions between 2006 and the November 2008 strike, each time returning to the US via Pakistan where he met "with various co-conspirators, including but not limited to members of LeT".

The plea bargain simply refers to the Pakistani handlers of Headley as A, B, C and D. But who are they? We will never know.

The LeT's close links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are legion and it is inconceivable that such a massive operation - with huge international ramifications and the potential to trigger war with India - could have been undertaken without the knowledge of the ISI, headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani, the present army chief, from October 2004 until October 2007.

The plea bargain says chillingly that after Headley's fifth visit to India, "Lashkar [LeT] Member A advised defendant [Headley] of a number of details concerning the planned attacks, including that a team of attackers was being trained in a variety of combat skills, the team would be traveling to Mumbai by sea and using the landing site recommended by the defendant, the team would be fighting to the death and would not attempt to escape following the attacks."

Yet, the operative part of the plea bargain not only rules out Headley's extradition to India but does not show that Headley gave any kind of formal commitment to the FBI to subject himself to interrogation by the Indians. He has merely agreed to give testimony in any foreign judicial proceeding that is held in US territory.

In essence, the Americans are saying that they will tell the Indians what Headley is saying and there is no need to interrogate him face-to-face.

A major part of the ten commandments of the Obama Administration - Thou must appease and protect Islam at all times,no matter what.

And just as with Israel, if that calls for alienating and disrespecting a loyal, long term ally, so be it.

Absolutely despicable.

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Amazing Vid: Dog Sings Lullaby To Calm Crying Baby

And it works!

'Singing' is maybe a stretch for what this dog does, but this is absolutely adorable and calms baby right down. Sorta reminds me of a pitbull I once had who used to sing the blues to my harp accompaniment...

Hat tip, Ace

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Whoopsie! Obama Doesn't Sign Anti-Abortion Executive Order!

Memo to Bart Stupak and the other 'pro life Democrats'..you got played, suckahs! Just like the lowlifes you are:

President Obama signed the Senate health care bill into law Tuesday. He did not sign the executive order on abortion negotiated with Michigan Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak in an 11th-hour arrangement that may well have saved the entire health care reform effort.

A White House official told Fox, Obama will not sign the Executive Order Tuesday and has set no specific date to do so. Stupak predicted Obama would sign the order later this week. The White House said only that Obama would sign the order "soon."

In two celebratory speeches Tuesday - one at the bill's signing, the other at the Interior Department with health care advocates - Obama said nothing about the abortion issue or the executive order.

Of course, that executive order was always BS. You can't use one to deny someone funding to which Federal law says they're otherwise entitled.So not only is the Eo essentially worthless, but Obama isn't even pretending to care about the agreement he made.

Were Stupak and his pals that stupid? Did they really think that a president who essentially endorsed infanticide was going to keep his word about not funding abortions?

It's one thing to whore yourself out, but it's another thing entirely to do it and not even get paid for it.

Oh, and for an excellent and brutal evisceration of so-called pro-life Democrats, Wiliam McGurn's WSJ piece is a must read.

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Tattered Liberty - Mark Steyn At His Best

The subject of Steyn's latest? Choosing decline - and its consequences:

Sometimes you do live to see it. In my book America Alone, I point out that, to a five-year-old boy waving his flag as Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee procession marched down the Mall in 1897, it would have been inconceivable that by the time of his 80th birthday the greatest empire the world had ever known would have shriveled to an economically moribund strike-bound socialist slough of despond, one in which (stop me if this sounds familiar) the government ran the hospitals, the automobile industry, and much of the housing stock, and, partly as a consequence thereof, had permanent high unemployment and confiscatory tax rates that drove its best talents to seek refuge abroad.{...}

Permanence is an illusion — and you would be surprised at how fast mighty nations can be entirely transformed. But, more important, national decline is psychological — and therefore what matters is accepting the psychology of decline. Within two generations, for example, the German people became just as obnoxiously pacifist as they once were obnoxiously militarist, and as avowedly “European” as they once were menacingly nationalist. Well, who can blame ’em? You’d hardly be receptive to pitches for national greatness after half a century of Kaiser Bill, Weimar, the Third Reich, and the Holocaust.{...}

Is America set for decline? It’s been a grand run. The country’s been the leading economic power since it overtook Britain in the 1880s. That’s impressive. Nevertheless, over the course of that century and a quarter, Detroit went from the world’s industrial powerhouse to an urban wasteland, and the once-golden state of California atrophied into a land of government run by the government for the government. What happens when the policies that brought ruin to Detroit and sclerosis to California become the basis for the nation at large? Strictly on the numbers, the United States is in the express lane to Declinistan: unsustainable entitlements, the remorseless governmentalization of the economy and individual liberty, and a centralization of power that will cripple a nation of this size. Decline is the way to bet. But what will ensure it is if the American people accept decline as a price worth paying for European social democracy.

Absolutely spot on...read it all.

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Netanyahu : 'Jerusalem Is Not A Settlement"

Bibi ain't backing down, at least on Jerusalem.

Bibi delivered what amounted to a defiant reply to the White House in a speech to the pro-Israel group AIPAC last night,insisting on Israel's right to construct housing in Jerusalem. He reminded his listeners that the new housing did not actually violate any commitment he'd made, as the temporary settlement freeze always excluded Jerusalem.

"The connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel cannot be denied.The connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem cannot be denied," Netanyahu says. "The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today.Jerusalem is not a settlement.It is our capital."

"Everyone knows that these neighborhoods will be part of Israel in any peace settlement.Therefore, building them in no way precludes the possibility of a two-state solution," Netanyahu said.

"Peace requires reciprocity .It cannot be a one-way street in which only Israel makes concessions. Israel stands ready to make the compromises necessary for peace. But we expect the Palestinian leaders to compromise as well," he said.

The rhetoric went over extraordinarily well with the AIPAC crowd, and Bibi's visit to Congress today also went well. But tonight Bibi has a one on one with Barack Obama, and that's not likely to go as smoothly.

Netanyahu will be getting the same sort of treatment meted out to only one other world leader - the Dalai Lama.He'll come in through the back way and meet with Obama is a small side room off of the Oval Office, no press, photo ops or even photographers allowed.

So, what will they talk about? Bibi will want to talk about Iran, but Obama's sole focus is likely to get answers to the previous demands he made of Israel.

According to my sources, the Obama Administration had previously presented what amounted to an ultimatum to Netanyahu, the one secretary of State Clinton insisted that they were 'awaiting a reply' on.

The demands contained in that ultimatum were pretty much as follows. Obama wanted a firm commitment from Netanyahu to curtail the Ramat Schlomo development in Jerusalem. He insisted that the Netanyahu government extend the ten month temporary freeze on construction Netanyahu agreed on to include East Jerusalem,and for that freeze to be made permanent in both areas after the ten month moratorium period runs out in September for as long as peace negotiations with the Palestinians go on.

And finally, Obama demanded further 'good will' concessions to Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, most notably the freeing of a large number of murderous terrorists convicted in Israeli civilian courts.

The Israelis were reportedly threatened that unless they knuckled under, there would be a de facto boycott of its ministers being received by any high level Obama Administration officials, which would adversely affect diplomatic and security cooperation between Israel and the US.

Abbas was obviously put in the loop on this by some friends of his in DC, because he immediately demanded not only a total freeze in Judea, Samaria and ALL of Jerusalem but the freeing of over 2,000 terrorists by the Israelis as a price just for returning to talks.

Abbas' list includes a number of the worst prisoners sentenced to long terms for multiple murders of Israeli civilians, the group most distinguished with what the Israelis describe as having 'blood on their hands.' The Israelis have consistently refused to free these people - the outcry from the victim's families would be a political disaster if nothing else - and Abbas is perfectly aware of this.

It says a lot about the Palestinian Authority's level of civilization that they would even want some of these people walking around free.

As for Netanyahu, there's no way he could publicly agree to any of the Obama Administration's demands without his government falling. SO he will likely at least attempt to mollify Obama by proposing other 'good will' concessions that fall short of Obama's demands, but he will likely not agree to much else and simply try to wait Obama out, which will likely mean at least until the midterms and probably until there's another president in office.

Part of Obama's problem is that he simply doesn't have that much leverage on Netanyahu left at this point. He's already almost about as far along the road to a break with Israel as he can go given the generally pro-Israel slant of Congress. Obama has already trashed previous agreements with Israel, threatened an aid cutoff and instituted what amounts to a de facto arms embargo.

Also, at this point, Netanyahu understands that not only is Obama unlikely to keep any commitments he makes to Israel, but that Obama is not going to do a damned thing about the one issue Netanyahu is most concerned about - stopping Iran from going nuclear.

That's the most important message Obama is sending out, and one that resonates with both our friends and our enemies.

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Senate Parliamentarian Rules Against GOP In First ObamaCare Challenge

No big surprise here. Frumin was appointed by the Dems when they took back the Senate and is paid out of Harry Reid's budget:

Senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin ruled against Senate Republicans Monday night, setting aside the first of many expected procedural objections from the GOP.

The parliamentarian ruled that changes to a proposed excise tax on high-cost plans would not violate the 1974 Budget Act by changing contributions to the Social Security trust fund.

Republican procedural experts had argued the impact on Social Security was enough to violate the Byrd Rule and derail the whole bill.{...}

Republicans plan to raise another challenge on grounds the bill would improperly establish a healthcare reform implementation fund with a $1 billion appropriation.

GOP aides argue this would violate the Budget Act's Byrd Rule because the expenditure falls within the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee, which did not receive a reconciliation instruction from the Budget panel.

Remember what Dem Committee Chair Alcee Hastings said.. "There ain't no rules here. We make 'em up as we go along"



Spoken by someone who knows,as a former federal judge impeached for bribery who is still a member of Congress in good standing.

Obamacare will be derailed when the votes are there to do it. Remember that in November.

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UK To Expel Israeli Diplomat Over Dubai Assassination

The UK admits to having no real proof the Mossad was behind the killing of Hamas kingpin Mahmoud Mabhouh, but they're going to expel an Israeli diplomat as a 'demonstration of anger':

Ron Proser, the Israeli Ambassador to London, was summoned to the Foreign Office on Monday to be told the results of an inquiry into the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, whose body was discovered in a luxury Dubai hotel room in January.

Several members of the team suspected of killing him were found to be travelling on passports cloned from documents belonging to British citizens living in Israel. Other passports had been stolen from Irish, German, Australian and French citizens.

A ministerial statement to be made to Parliament will formally name the Israeli security services as responsible for the cloning of up to 15 British passports, which were copied after being taken away by airport officials.

The statement will say that it proved impossible to confirm definitively whether Mossad, the feared Israeli secret intelligence service, was responsible for the operation, with suspicion also resting on the Military Intelligence Directorate.

But the probe had determined for certain that the passports were cloned when British citizens passed through airports on their way into Israel, with officials taking them away for “checks” which lasted around 20 minutes.

Foreign Office sources expressed frustration that there was little more that could be done to “punish” Israel over the affair.

Hey, passports were cloned..so it had to be those sneaky, underhanded Jews, right?

The reality? Anyone could have cloned the passports, even Fatah's security services.For that matter, the British Consulate in Jerusalem is entirely staffed by 'Palestinians', and the consular staff's getting hold of passports held by Britons or dual citizens in Israel for their own nefarious purposes would be simplicity itself.

Of course, no one is saying anything about al-Mabouh's forged passport, or the fact that he was involved in facilitating arms shipments from Iran that the UK gives lip service to 'condemning.'

The chief push for expelling the Israeli diplomat and essentially tagging Israel with the blame for the Dubai hit is coming from Foreign secretary David Miliband, who has always been in step with the Labour government in demonstrating hostility to Israel at every opportunity.

It's also worth remembering that Gordon Brown and Miliband have repeatedly promised to amend the British law that allows any UK activist or Palestinian groupie to file an arrest warrant in a British court against any foreign visitor to be tried for 'war crimes'. This statute has only been used against Israelis, and was responsible for Israel's opposition leader Tzipi Livni canceling a visit to London late last year, as well as a delegation of Israeli officers who bowed out of a scheduled meeting with UK counterparts after they were warned that there were arrest warrants waiting for them at Heathrow airport.

In spite of repeated promises by Brown and Miliband, they've done absolutely nothing to change this situation. As a matter of fact, Labour minister of justice Jack Straw(whose seat in Parliament is dependent on catering to Muslims in Blackburn) took action in January to put amending this legislation on hold indefinitely, and neither Gordon Brown nor David Miliband ever voiced any objections.

Just another episode in the UK's ongoing attempts to appease their restive Muslim population by demonizing Israel....something they may one day regret.

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Another Gitmo Jihadi Walks Free

Mohamedou Ould Slahi was mentioned in the 9/11 Commission report for his role in helping recruit Mohammed Atta and other members of the Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, that pulled off 9/11.

According to intel expert Brig. Gen. John Furlow, Slahi was "the highest value detainee" at Club Gitmo and "the key orchestrator of the Al Qaeda cell in Europe."

But hey, this is the Age of Obama, and this creep is walking:

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ( ed. note..a Clinton appointee, of course) granted Slahi's petition for habeas corpus, effectively finding the government lacked legal grounds to hold him. The order was classified, although the court said it planned to release a redacted public version in the coming weeks.

Robertson held four days of closed hearings in the Slahi case last year.

"They were considering giving him the death penalty. Now they don't even have enough evidence to pass the test for habeas," said Nancy Hollander, an Albuquerque, N.M., attorney representing Slahi.

She said she could not comment further because the proceedings were classified. Slahi remains in detention at the U.S. facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The government may appeal, and on Monday Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the Justice Department was "reviewing the ruling."

Soooo..guess why they're kicking him loose?

Plans to try him by military commission were derailed after prosecutors learned that Slahi had been subjected to a "special interrogation plan" involving weeks of physical and mental torment, including a death threat and a threat to bring Slahi's mother to Guantanamo Bay where she could be gang-raped, officials said.

Although the treatment apparently induced Slahi's compliance, the military prosecutor, Marine Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch, determined that it constituted torture and evidence it produced could not lawfully be used against Mr. Slahi.

Awwwww...here we had a high level jihadi in the days after 9/11 with high level connections and knowledge of al Qaeda and future planned operations. But they threatened him to get the intel they needed, the brutes.

"I wanted to stay at Gitmo at least for the tennis tournament, but my lawyer said that once the ruling came in, I would have to leave", said Slahi. "Probably better that way. Anyway, jihad is a full time job sadiq..and it isn't going to happen by itself you know!"

I may have made that last bit up.

One day, we'll get serious about this war we're in. But I have a feeling it will cost us a lot of innocent blood until that happens.

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