The Conservative Revolution

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.

The situation in Burma is yet another example of where an oppressive minority are imposing their will through violence on the majority of citizens. While I think the most important thing Americans can do for these people is speak out about their plight and offer them moral support, look at this excerpt from a story in the London Times online.

There are so many heartbreaking things about what is going in Burma, but for a foreigner one of the hardest to bear is the optimism. There are few foreign journalists here, but people treat them as saviours, encouraging them to get the story and the pictures out, with a touching faith that it will make a difference.

“Tell them to send foreign troops, UN troops,” said a young monk at the Mwe Kya Kan pagoda. “Please, fly them to our country to save our lives.”

An American in Rangoon told me yesterday about an opinion poll carried out on Burmese attitudes to US foreign policy.

“Like most people, they thought that it sucks,” he told me. “But not for the usual reason. Burmese wanted to know why George Bush hasn’t invaded their country yet.”

I don’t think we should necessarily send troops at this point, but it is an incredible statement nonetheless. This situation reminds us once again how lucky we are to live in a free country.

I am at the rallies today in D.C. The communist front group International A.N.S.W.E.R. and their left-wing fellow traveler’s are gathered near the White House. The pro-troops and pro-mission Gathering of Eagles, Move America Forward and Free Republic have moved to 7th and Pennsylvania and are lining both sides of the commie march route. Should make for some interesting banter.

I have taken lots of pics and will try to upload them next week.

General Petraeus is on Capitol Hill today testifying before the House of Representatives. I just left the Hill, and it is abuzz with talk about this testimony. Here is a key point he made today:

Additionally, in what may be the most significant development of the past 8 months, the tribal rejection of Al Qaeda that started in Anbar Province and helped produce such significant change there has now spread to a number of other locations as well.

Based on all this and on the further progress we believe we can achieve over the next few months, I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level of brigade combat teams by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains that we have fought so hard to achieve.

Beyond that, while noting that the situation in Iraq remains complex, difficult, and sometimes downright frustrating, I also believe that it is possible to achieve our objectives in Iraq over time, though doing so will be neither quick nor easy.

I was watching C-Span when the communist front-group Code Pink started yelling at General Petraeus. The committee chairman asked the police to escort these angry leftists from the hearing room. Don’t they have a meeting with Hugo Chavez later today?

Here is General Petraeus’ entire report.

ABC News has a transcript of the tape. Here are some of the best excerpts.

He goes on to call Noam Chomsky “among one of the most capable of those from your own side,” and mentions global warming and “the Kyoto accord.”

Wow, bin Laden sounds like a Democrat, citing Chomsky and going on about global warming and Kyoto. Perhaps he could run as Hillary Clinton’s VP.

Bin Laden says President Bush’s words echo “neoconservatives like Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Richard Perle.”

Again, the terrorist refers to the princes of darkness on the right. Bin Laden would make a good DailyKos blogger, wouldn’t he?

The Weekly Standard’s William Kristol has a piece in the upcoming issue of the magazine about the Iraq War. He just returned from the country this week and said on Fox News Sunday that things are remarkably better in Anbar province. He writes that the anti-war left had a disappointing July.

Excerpt from his piece:

For the Iraq war’s opponents, July began as a month of hope. It ended in retreat. It began with Democratic unity in proclaiming the inevitability of American defeat. It ended with respected military analysts–Democrats, no less!–reporting that the situation on the ground had improved, and that the war might be winnable. It began with a plan for a series of votes in Congress that were supposed to stampede nervous Republicans against the continued prosecution of the war. It ended with the GOP spine stiffened, no antiwar legislation passed, and the Democratic Congress adjourning in disarray, with approval ratings lower than President Bush’s. It began with Democratic presidential candidates competing in their antiwar pandering. It ended with them having second thoughts–with Barack Obama, losing ground to Hillary Clinton because he seemed naive about real world threats, frantically suggesting that he would invade Pakistan.

July also began with the liberal media disparaging the troops. It ended with the liberal media in retreat. The New Republic had to acknowledge that its pseudonymous soldier’s account of an incident purportedly showing the dehumanizing effects of the Iraq conflict was a lie: It had taken place in Kuwait (if it happened at all), before this imaginative private ever saw the horrors of war. The New York Times was so shocked to discover in late July that public opinion hadn’t continued to move against the war that it redid a poll. The answer didn’t change.

Kenneth Pollack and Michael O’Hanlon argue in the New York Times that things in Iraq are getting better:

Viewed from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

Author and Colonel Robert “Buzz” Patterson says that they did.

Read this story about his new book, which claims the “peace” groups Code Pink and United for Peace and Justice gave $600,000 to terrorists in Iraq who were killing Marines.

If this is true, these organizations have gone beyond dissent and have committed treason.

The Guardian newspaper reports that Iran is working with al Qaeda to force the U.S. to retreat from Iraq.

Once again, notice how our enemies are relying on the Democrats in Congress to break our will to win the war.

Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal, US officials say.