The Conservative Revolution

Larry Kudlow has a great piece out in National Review Online.

Our last best hope in Iraq — General David Petraeus — reminded Pentagon reporters this week of a critically important fact long forgotten by most observers: Our real enemy in Iraq, the true source of all the murders, mayhem, and instability, is not sectarian strife. And it’s not the Sunnis or the Shiites either. The real enemy we face in Iraq is al Qaeda.

According to the top American commander in Iraq, al Qaeda’s number one priority is defeating the United States in Iraq. The general called this organization “public enemy number one,” adding that “Iraq is, in fact, the central front of al Qaeda’s global campaign.”
Without question, it is a near certainty that Iran and Syria are helping al Qaeda with money, arms, and explosives. And yes, if we leave now, al Qaeda will have an open field in which to expand their operations and prepare for the ultimate attack on the United States. In fact, the Defense Department and the CIA just nabbed a high-ranking al Qaeda operative known as al-Iraqi. He was a key link between the Taliban in Afghanistan, al Qaeda in Iraq, and al Qaeda members in Iran. And while it’s great news we got him, he’s one more reminder that this network is strong and playing for keeps.

Drudge is reporting that Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has concluded that the Iraq war is lost, and that the surge isn’t working. Call me crazy, but based on his previous comments, I think Sen. Reid is hoping that the war is lost so the Democrats can benefit politically. Their pursuit at power will stop at nothing, not even if it breaks the morale of our troops in the field. Pathetic.

Al Jazeera is reporting this story on their website. I called Reid’s office and notified them of this. The staffer said he couldn’t visit al Jazeera. Funny, shouldn’t Reid allow his staff to read news sources that quote him? I told the person who answered that Sen. Reid might want to choose his words more carefully next time. The phone number for those of you who want to call Reid is 202-224-3542.

Everyone agrees that the Virginia Tech shooting was a tragedy. The debate about what could have been done to prevent the crime, or future crimes has already begun.

John Lott has the best write-up of opinions that I tend to agree with. Here is his blog.

This shooting was in a “gun-free zone.” Stricter gun laws would not likely have prevented this or any other major gun crime. If one of the professors or students had been armed, they might have had a fighting chance to prevent some of the bloodshed. We will never know.

My good friend Rick Reiss is leading the charge in California. Below is an excerpt from the letter he has sent to the Reagan Library officials. You can voice your displeasure at Kennedy’s invitation to speak by sending a letter to info@reaganfoundation.org and Reagan.library@nara.gov. Read more about Kennedy’s visit: http://www.reaganfoundation.org/visitorguide/calendar.asp

As an occasional visitor, a donor to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and as a great admirer of President Ronald Reagan, I must voice my extreme displeasure over the planned Reagan Forum on Saturday, April 28, 2007. In this planned forum, Senator Edward Kennedy (D - MA) is scheduled to lecture on the grounds of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

To put it simply, Senator Kennedy is an unsuitable and inappropriate figure to be given the privilege of lecturing at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. I do believe that allowing Senator Kennedy to lecture does a great disservice to the memory and the legacy of President Reagan.

First, Senator Kennedy has proven himself to be an amoral man who uses personal family and political connections to evade the law. On June 18, 1969, Senator Kennedy attended a party at Chappaquiddick in Martha’s Vineyard. After the party, Kennedy drove home accompanied by Mary Jo Kopecne. During the drive Kennedy drove off of the Dike Bridge and into the water. The car plunged into tide-swept Poucha Pond and came to rest upside down underwater. Kennedy was able to swim free of the vehicle, but Kopechne was not.

While there has been much speculation as to whether Kennedy was driving drunk, there is little doubt that Kennedy failed to save Kopechne, failed to summon help immediately, and in fact contacted not the police but rather his lawyer first. This is the behavior of a reprobate.

Senator Kennedy is also unsuited for the honor to lecture at the Reagan Presidential Library because he is so diametrically opposed to the conservative values, principles, philosophy and American traditions that President Reagan espoused and lived by.

Senator Kennedy has always chosen to side with a statist government philosophy that only stifles free markets and cripples economic freedom and individual initiative. Kennedy has continued (even to this day) to advocate for bigger government programs, more government spending, higher confiscatory tax rates, socialized medicine and a weakening of America’s national security infrastructure.

Granting Senator Kennedy the high esteem of lecturing in a library and museum devoted to concepts like Americanism, free enterprise, individual rights, and rule of law makes a mockery of everything that President Reagan valued. This lecture would be seen as an abomination. Please reconsider this April 28 lecture and cancel it immediately.

The New York Times has the story. “Goodbye, cruel world.” R.I.P.

The whole British/Iranian hostage affair was embarrassing for our allies, the Brits. What Iran did was an act of war, and the world let them get away with it. I would hope that if U.S. Marines were kidnapped, they would at least have defended themselves, and not been so quick to praise the “nice” and “kind” Iranians.
The British soldiers groveling to the Iranian thugs was a pathetic spectacle. The West had better get its act together and stand up to these people, or we will only embolden them.

Furthermore, what is with Western women having to wear a head covering when they visit Iran? We are “intolerant” when we require Muslim women here to uncover their faces for their driver licenses. Why do we show so much respect for their culture when our women go abroad, but they show so little for ours when they come here?

Here is a good sampling of opinion on the matter:

National Review

Roger Kimball

Austin Bay