The Conservative Revolution

Former president and peace prize winner Jimmy Carter had a second meeting with Hamas yesterday. Hamas leaders have pointed out that Carter’s visit legitimized the terrorist organization. Great job, Jimmy!

With Obama wanting to meet with dictators and Carter negotiating with stateless extremists, the Democrats  have an almost coherent foreign policy of giving in to terrorism. While Senator John McCain was not my first choice for president, his strength on national security and his toughness when dealing with foreign bullies separates him as the adult in the presidential race between he and Obama. I doubt the American people will vote for a president who can’t stand up to Hillary Clinton, much less Hamas or Ahmadinejad.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece today citing the findings of a recent Pentagon report, which examined the links between Saddam Hussein and Islamist terrorists. Hundreds of thousands of documents found in Iraq have been combed through recently as part of this report. The editors write,

Five years on, few Iraq myths are as persistent as the notion that the Bush Administration invented a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Yet a new Pentagon report suggests that Iraq’s links to world-wide terror networks, including al Qaeda, were far more extensive than previously understood.

I have been making this case to friends of mine and readers of this blog for years. Stephen Hayes, a writer for The Weekly Standard, even wrote an entire book on the contacts between al Qaeda and Saddam. And the 911 Commission found that there were at least contacts, if not an operational relationship, between Iraq and al Qaeda. The editors of the Journal continue,

Throughout the 1990s, the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) cooperated with Hamas; the Palestine Liberation Front, which maintained a Baghdad office; Force 17, Yasser Arafat’s private army; and others. The IIS gave commando training for members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the organization that assassinated Anwar Sadat and whose “emir” was Ayman al-Zawahiri, who became Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command when the group merged with al Qaeda in 1998.

The editors conclude by pointing out that the Bush administration is not doing a good job communicating the findings of the report to the American people. I guess that is what blogs are for.

I just watched David Bossie’s new film, “Hillary The Movie.” It was a good reminder of the corrupt and power-hungry Clinton political machine. I highly recommend it to conservative opinion leaders who want to spread the word about the threat her presidency would pose to our national security, individual freedom and economic prosperity.

The film also has a cameo by my boss, FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey, which is cool. So get the dvd, watch it and pass it along to someone else.

Congrats to Citizens United and David Bossie for a key tool in the arsenal of truth against the Clinton propaganda machine.

As the race for the GOP nomination heats up, I thought I would add my two cents to the debate. I originally supported Senator Sam Brownback for his staunch pro-life record coupled with his sound economic record. Once he left the race, I decided that Senator Fred Thompson and Congressman Ron Paul best represented my views on economic liberty and social issues. Their foreign policy positions are in stark contrast, and I agree much more with Thompson than Paul on foreign policy. [Paul has a strict non-interventionist view that is less realistic in today's world.]

Who will I vote for in the Virginia primary on Feb. 12th? I guess it depends upon whether or not the race is still up for grabs after super-duper Tuesday. I don’t think it will be, which means I will probably cast my vote for Ron Paul, my ideal candidate. If Thompson is in serious contention for the nomination on election day, I will likely vote for him instead.

What I love about Ron Paul is that when he is asked about ending government programs, he answers by saying he’d rather abolish entire departments, starting with the IRS and the Department of Education. His platform is not just to slow the growth of government, but to cut it down dramatically. No other candidate is bold enough to take such a stand. Ron Paul is without a doubt the most libertarian/conservative candidate in the race.

As for the others…

Rudy is a proven leader, and would probably make a strong commander-in-chief. But his liberal views on abortion and his anti-liberty position on guns are disheartening. I would only vote for Rudy if he got the GOP nomination and was taking on Hillary or Obama.

Mitt is a flip-flopping used car salesman of a politician. I like some of what he says, his private sector experience and his strong family values (practiced as much as preached.) I just don’t know if I can believe what he says, since he seems to be driven by the polls more than anything. I would more than likely support Mitt against the Democrat nominee.

McCain is a statesman and a patriot, but is hostile to free speech (McCain-Feingold), supports global warming nonsense like a “cap and trade” system and voted against the Bush tax cuts. While his leadership, judgment and character are his strongest attributes, he is not my favorite in the race. I would have no problem supporting McCain against the Democratic nominee in November.

Huckabee is a populist with sharp anti-business rhetoric. He sounds more like John Edwards than Ronald Reagan. His tax and spending record in Arkansas is awful, and the Cato Institute and Club for Growth have given him failing grades on fiscal policy. I would have an extremely hard time voting for Huckabee, even against the Democrats.

Today’s Washington Post has a piece by Jackson Diehl about human rights activists from Egypt who recently came to Washington to meet with American organizations about community organizing and new media strategies. I had the opportunity to meet these activists and offer my own advice and experience in a training session hosted by Freedom House, a human rights organization in Washington. There is a young generation of Egyptians that wants to move beyond the authoritarian ways of Hosni Mubarak and the Egyptian government. These activists deserve our support and friendship. Hopefully I helped them out a little in their efforts to bring human rights and democratic reforms to Egypt. Here is a quote from the Post article about one of the most energetic young activists from the group, Ahmed Samih.

“The majority of Egyptians are like us, under the age of 35,” said Ahmed Samih, the 28-year-old director of the Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies in Cairo.

Samih, a fearless man who says he has been a political activist since age 17, founded a Facebook group called “What happens when Hosni Mubarak dies?” Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt under “emergency law” since 1981, is 79. But he is noticeably fading. And Samih’s group has attracted 2,741 members, almost all of them Egyptian.

Ahmed and his fellow activists are a brave group of people. They are also very creative in applying new technologies to spreading the word about their cause. I wish Ahmed and his fellow freedom fighters luck in their noble pursuit of liberty for all Egyptians.

Although the media isn’t paying too much attention to this right now, Venezuela is set to hold an election on Sunday to vote on Hugo Chavez’s referendum. If the Venezuelans vote “si” Hugo Chavez will be able to become presidente for life.

Unfortunately, Chavez has been able to become quite popular with many poor people in his country, and expectations are that they will vote to grant him the power he covets. This reminds me of a line from the Star Wars series, when Natalie Portman’s character Queen Amidala says, “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause.” The evil character Palpatine had just declared martial law and granted himself the title of “emperor” to a cheering Senate.

Sadly, the Chavez story is a real one. But the lesson from Star Wars is as old as human civilization. Lord Acton said it best, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

My question is whether Cindy Sheehan, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte and Sean Penn will ever come to regret their sycophantic photos with the power-hungry and brutal dictator of Venezuela. Then again, the left has never really come to grips with its support for Castro or Stalin, so my expectations are low.

I read two interesting articles this weekend, both pointing out that we are, indeed, winning in Iraq. Here is Jack Kelly of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

Al-Qaida has been driven from every neighborhood in Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, the U.S. commander there, said Nov. 7. This follows the expulsion of al-Qaida from two previous “capitals” of its Islamic Republic of Iraq, Ramadi and Baquba.

Al-Qaida is evacuating populated areas and is trying to establish hideouts in the Hamrin mountains in northern Iraq, with U.S. and Iraqi security forces, and former insurgent allies who have turned on them, in hot pursuit. Forty-five al-Qaida leaders were killed or captured in October alone.

Al-Qaida’s support in the Muslim world has plummeted, partly because of the terror group’s lack of success in Iraq, more because al-Qaida’s attacks have mostly killed Muslim civilians.

And this from the Australian,

The dramatic improvement is directly attributed to the surge of 30,000 US troops, their effective counter-insurgency strategy and to the fact that locals are fed up with al-Qa’ida and other extremists. The good news is not just limited to Baghdad. Anbar, once an al-Qa’ida stronghold, is relatively peaceful thanks to the joint efforts of Sunni sheiks and marines. In the south, those willing Iraq to defeat were gloomily predicting that the withdrawal of British troops from Basra would lead to a brutal domination of the city by Iranian-backed terrorists. That hasn’t happened.

Despite the fact that the Democrats are invested in our defeat, the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy has made significant progress in Iraq. The only question remaining is whether this improved security situation will lead to a stable and prosperous Iraq. While the signs are getting better that this will come to pass, only time will tell. In the mean time, I am still waiting for The New York Times to write a front page story about the improving situation in Iraq.

UPDATE: My friends at The New York Times have a front page story about the progress in Iraq. (They must have read my blog. )
Seriously, though, it is good to see that the Times has finally written something positive about the situation in Iraq. What is this, one positive story for every thousand negative stories?

Hat tip to Foreign Policy Magazine’s Passport for this choice Che Guevara quote.

Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become..

Thanks to Mike Boyer for pointing out that Che was nothing more than a killer. Here is the best paragraph of his post.

Today, we seem intent on remembering Che as a liberator in the Bolivarian vein, a freedom fighter. He was not. As Paul Berman has elegantly documented, Che inspired many middle-class Latin Americans to take up arms in insurgent campaigns that did nothing more than set the cause of Latin American democracy back decades.

So why does the left love this guy? It really begs the question…

This is one of the more disgusting comments that I’ve heard from a left-wing wacko.

WATCH THE VIDEO.

“But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President’s amusement.”

Reports from Burma indicate that there has been a huge, and extremely bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters in Burma.

The ineffective United Nations, and regional organizations have talked and issued press releases condemning the assault on the Burmese people, but have done nothing substantial to try and stop the violence. Our own government hasn’t done much of anything, either, other than issue statements.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I don’t necessarily think military force is wise in this case, although it could be, but the world should unite to enforce harsh sanctions on the criminal Myanmar regime and put pressure on China to intervene.

In the mean time, thousands of Burmese monks are reported beaten, missing or dead.