A new strategy is becoming apparent with Al Qaida in Iraq, the Taliban and Al Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  This new strategy is working hand-in-glove with the left in America.

The Counterterrorism Blog has a very interesting commentary on the most recently released statement of Zawahiri.  As an editorial note, I have stopped dismissing these media releases as the rantings of an unhinged, deranged old coot, and I have started paying close attention to the contents.  I probably should have done this far sooner than I did.

Zawahiri tells us — whether by accident or intent — his strategy for the future.

Al Qaida number two, Dr Ayman Zawahiri issued a new tape calling on the Afghans to “rise against the Infidels (Kuffars) and their agents (the Karzai Government).” Following are few points of analysis and evaluation:

1) Attacking the US for its “killing of innocent Afghans and torture of Muslims.”

وندد الظواهري

A new strategy is becoming apparent with Al Qaida in Iraq, the Taliban and Al Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  This new strategy is working hand-in-glove with the left in America.

The Counterterrorism Blog has a very interesting commentary on the most recently released statement of Zawahiri.  As an editorial note, I have stopped dismissing these media releases as the rantings of an unhinged, deranged old coot, and I have started paying close attention to the contents.  I probably should have done this far sooner than I did.

Zawahiri tells us — whether by accident or intent — his strategy for the future.

Al Qaida number two, Dr Ayman Zawahiri issued a new tape calling on the Afghans to “rise against the Infidels (Kuffars) and their agents (the Karzai Government).” Following are few points of analysis and evaluation:

1) Attacking the US for its “killing of innocent Afghans and torture of Muslims.”

وندد الظواهري

Announced during the last hour, Norman Mineta is leaving his post as Transportation Secretary.  Mineta is the only Democrat in the Cabinet, and is a Clinton appointment that Bush inexplicably left in office upon taking the reins at the White House.

Tony Snow will have nice things to say about him, but the fact is that 9/11 occurred on his watch.  And another fact is that while the hourly workers were ready to begin targeted searches (i.e., looking for those of Arab descent), Mineta continued the completely hapless policy of searching little old white ladies who use canes to walk.  Mineta is an inept stooge, and the U.S. is better off without him.

What is that I heard?  A tick upwards on the U.S. securometer?

To: letters@nytimes.com

Attention: Benedict Arnold

You have recently made public information about a highly successful and until now secure government program to track finances in order to track terrorists.  This is what I would like you to plan on doing now.

Remember 9/11?  Well, when Al Qaida succeeds in destroying several subway cars, or manages to contaminate the drinking water supplies for New York City (and beyond), or takes out several more buildings, or guns down hundreds at the corner of Broadway and Fifth, or any other of the many deadly things that they could perpetrate on your beloved city …

I want you to go down to the scene of the disaster, help the victims, and keep saying this to yourself: “Public interest … public interest … this was all necessary because of public interest.”  I want you to attend the funerals of each and every victim, and sit and give the compelling argument to the families of each and every victim that this was necessary due to “public interest.”  Then when you stand before God to answer for all of your actions, I want you to discuss the “public interest” with Him.

Oh.  Let me know how it all goes.  I’ll be waiting to hear from you.

Herschel Smith

Like little ADHD children … unable to discriminate between a teacher talking and a fly on the wall … unable to distinguish one thing from another … unable to make distinctions in category … the raving moonbat liberals cannot keep from being exactly who they are at the very core.  “Mommy, MOMMY, !!!!MOMMY!!!! Go spank daddy.  He said I should share my toys!  I want some CANDY!!”

Welcome to Mike Lukovich’s twisted world at the Atlanta Constitution-Journal.  In the profoundly humorless, deadpan, and mockable cartoon below, the stooge and buffoon Lukovich has someone with an American flag reading a book of torture etiquette to someone in Al Qaida.  Uh huh.

Joseph Casas, lawyer for Jodka (one of the Camp Pendleton 8) reports that he believes that the prosecution has a faulty understanding of the facts.  He questioned the interrogation tactics, stating that Jodka was interrogated for 7.5 hours non-stop, no water, no food, no restroom breaks.  Recently out of boot camp, when a Marine sees someone in charge (Casas said “suit”), his trained instinct is to obey orders (he was referring to the alleged “confession”).  Casas stated that the government would like you to think that there is a confession, and they have spun it that way, but that there is really no confession.  Finally, he said that they would move to suppress certain documents that were being called a confession.

Will continue to post updates (or new posts) on this as we proceed forward.

Joseph Casas, lawyer for Jodka (one of the Camp Pendleton 8) reports that he believes that the prosecution has a faulty understanding of the facts.  He questioned the interrogation tactics, stating that Jodka was interrogated for 7.5 hours non-stop, no water, no food, no restroom breaks.  Recently out of boot camp, when a Marine sees someone in charge (Casas said “suit”), his trained instinct is to obey orders (he was referring to the alleged “confession”).  Casas stated that the government would like you to think that there is a confession, and they have spun it that way, but that there is really no confession.  Finally, he said that they would move to suppress certain documents that were being called a confession.

Will continue to post updates (or new posts) on this as we proceed forward.

Mark Levin has this to say about the torture of the two GIs:

Meanwhile, two kidnapped U.S. soldiers were apparently brutally tortured and murdered today. And the question I pose to those who rightly honor the Greatest Generation is this: What would our country have done 60 years ago in response to this war crime? How would our political and military leadership have acted? By all accounts, they would have demanded severe retaliation and retribution. And by that I don’t mean “bringing the perpetrators to justice,

I made a phone call to Camp Pendleton I discussed here, asking why the Camp Pendleton 8 were in shackles without charges having been filed.  Now, I see that they have been charged.  Folks, I will weigh in later on this issue, but for now a brief note on the charging of the Camp Pendleton 8.  A comment was left on another post by Sanda and Dennis Leslie as follows:

We were outside Camp Pendleton on Saturday, June 17, with more than 300 people in support of the eight Marines. The media have ignored this. What will it take to bring this travesty to the attention of the disinterested public?

Thank you for this thoughtful comment.  June 17 was prior to the eight being charged, but this comment was left after the eight were charged.  Now, I do not profess to know the truthfulness of the accusations (nor do I know that the accusations are false).  The information we currently know seems to me to be highly problematic.  See this post at Riehl World View for more details.  Michelle Malkin has been tracking this story too.  What I do know is that most Americans have been a part of the legal process before, whether involving jury duty, answering for a speeding ticket, or something more serious.

We have all seen the turning of the wheels of justice.  Needless to say, the process is not without its hickups, its bumps and grinds, and its hitch in its git-along.  Many of us know a juror who said, “I wish I had known that before I voted on his guilt (or innocence).”  Many Americans have seen evidence excluded, or evidence fabricated.  Many Americans have also seen biased jurors.  And this is with American witnesses and in civilian affairs.  Now, add the problematic nature of the witnesses and the hatred for Americans that some Sunnis in Iraq have, and the process becomes even more clouded, in my opinion.

I did not, nor do I now, believe that it was justified to hold these men in the brig.  I think it is absurd to believe that they were actually a flight risk.  In my opinion, they get the benefit of the doubt until and unless there is overwhelming and highly compelling evidence of their guilt.

Do I trust the system?  Maybe — maybe not.  The system is not perfect any more than the people who are part of it are perfect.  As to the comment by Sandra and Dennis, I would not look for the main stream U.S. press to come to the aid of these men in uniform.  Since when has that ever happened?

I have just spoken on the telephone with Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt.  It was a pleasant conversation, and the Lt. seems to me to be a sensible, amicable and educated man — certainly not a maverick .  He is facing court martial because he prayed in Christ’s name while in uniform at Lafayette Park.  There are many issues we are going to cover in the coming weeks on this story.  I will not let it die, no matter how small my blog is.  I will keep writing on this.  The facts will be laid out in detail in the coming days here at the Captain’s Journal; I recommend that you go to Klingenschmitt’s web site for further information.  But right now it seems appropriate to me to begin this coverage with a statement by one of my heros, Justice Antonin Scalia, from “Scalia Dissents,” Kevin A. Ring, Ed.:

“Church and State would not be such a difficult subject if religion were, as the Court apparently thinks it to be, some purely personal avocation that can be indulged entirely in secret, like pornography, in the privacy of one’s room.  For most believers, it is not that, and has never been.  Religious men and women of almost all denominations have felt it necessary to acknowledge and beseech the blessing of God as a people, and not just as individuals, because they believe in the “protection of divine providence,” as the Declaration of Independence puts it, not just for individuals but for societies; because they believe God to be, as Washington’s first Thanksgiving Proclamation put it, the “Great Lord and Ruler of Nations.”  One can believe in the effectiveness of such public worship, or one can deprecate and deride it.  But the longstanding American tradition of prayer at official ceremonies displays with unmistakable clarity that the Establishment Clause does not forbid government to accommodate it.”

I should also mention that I had sent a letter to the Marine Corps Times editor, who in turn sent the letter to the Navy Times editorial staff.  I received a request via e-mail from Deputy News Editor of the Navy Times, Mr. Philip Creed (pcreed@atpco.com, or 703.750.8747) to use my letter in an upcoming issue of the Navy Times.  I responded in the affirmative, and added that I was a Milblogger.  I later sent another note to Mr. Creed asking if the letter had been used, and he responded back that it had not (without explanation).  But earlier this letter was picked up by The North Carolina Conservative which published it on June 21, 2006.  This version of the letter included another web site that links to a strong response to the same thing attempted in the Air Force.

We will cover this document, Lt. Klingenschmitt’s court martial, and the details of the case in the coming weeks.  You will get to see the Constitution under attack from the very people who are sworn to defend it.  I will also cite the Oath of Enlistment that every Soldier, Marine, Sailor and Airman takes.  My son took it prior to Boot Camp at Parris Island.  I go into his room to read it often.  In the coming weeks, you will have the opportunity to compare this oath with the actions of the senior leadership within our military.  You can judge for yourself how they stack up.