War on Terror:

Let Freedom Rock, August 15, 2005
Some folks are upset that the Pentagon is planning a support-the-troops rally for the fourth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks - and are criticizing the Washington Post for co-sponsoring it. Which seems a bit over the top as the WaPo exists because of the First Amendment and the First Amendment still exists because the American military has been willing to risk all for freedom for more than two centuries. The headliner for the...

Kickin' Back in Iraq, August 10, 2005
Picture of 1LT Lance Frizzell, 278th Regimental Combat Team, TN National Guard, Diyala Province, Iraq. Picture taken at FOB Cobra which has National Guardsmen from Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. You can't see 'em, but the base is surrounded by insurgents who are on the verge of victory. Yeah, right. Photo found at RushLimbaugh.com's "Club Gitmo" photo collection. I want a Club Gitmo t-shirt....

Wired War, July 29, 2005
The August issue of Wired has an excellent story by John Hockenberry on military bloggers. Mudville Gazette, Thunder 6 and other great mil-blogs are mentioned and profiled. It isn't online yet, but will be on August 4, according to the website. You don't have to wait for the digital version of course, as Wired is also distributed on thin slabs of dead trees....

The Theology of Jihad, July 18, 2005
Donald Sensing writes about the theology of suicide bombing, and why it shows Islam is weakening, in his latest-must read essay on the war, The Forever Jihad, Part 3: Are suicide bombers the new High Priests of Islam?. The piece is subtitled "The theology of suicide martyrdom, its theological relationship to Judaism and Christianity and why jihadism is a religion of despair."What I basically argue is that Islam’s basic theology of eschatological, salvation by works...

"They hate Americans because Americans resist them.", July 18, 2005
George Miller of London Calling examines how the bombings of London's transit system by Islamic terrorists last week may impact the British national identity - and what that could mean for Islamic radicals.The British have one of the least self-conscious national identities of any modern people. They are as racially mixed and immigrant a people as any country in the world. This sense of identity has been so taken for granted, that the ideology of...

London Bombings May Have Iran Connection, July 11, 2005
Regime Change Iran, the blogosphere's essential daily briefing on Iran news, has the details....

Too Close, July 08, 2005
My cousin George Miller, who writes the London Calling blog, has posted his thoughts and recollections yesterday's London terror bombings, a day he was "closer than I ever want to be to such suffering and such evil." Here's an excerpt, though I really do think you ought to go and read the whole thing......

Dropping the Democracy Bomb, July 08, 2005
In the aftermath of the London bombings, it's worth asking again, what is the root cause of terrorism? Getting the answer right is important because if all our political, military and cultural efforts to combat Islamic terror are based on the wrong answer, they likely will fail. Harvard University researcher and professor Alberto Abadie has looked at the data and found that terrorism is bred by a lack of freedom. There is no data to...

What is al Qaeda's London Exit Strategy?, July 08, 2005
Donald Sensing wonders what is al Qaeda's timetable and "exit strategy" is for withdrawing its freedom fighters terrorists from Europe. ... It better be soon because al Qaeda is having recruiting problems in Iraq, where terrorist ledaer Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is appealing to Iraqi women to "incite" their husbands to jihad. Sensing doesn't think that particular recruiting tactic will work," saying, "Maybe the women aren’t very much behind the idea of sending their husbands to...

A London Email, July 08, 2005
My cousin George in London sent an email telling of his experience yesterday amid the terrorist attack.I just got home this morning - I was in Kings X yesterday morning, arriving just after the explosion in the tube line that is underneath the overground station. I'm happy to say I was never in any danger, and really, given the congestion of the London rush hour, and the number of explosions, I think we're all a...

Iran's New President Was a Hostage-Taker, July 08, 2005
Regime Change Iran says Iran's president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad indeed was one of the hostage-takers at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 - and the evidence comes from from Ahmadinejad's own website.The Northeast Intelligence Network called upon its Farsi-language resources to help determine the answer to this question. Sure enough, the answer is readily found on the official website of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, written entirely in Farsi, and complete with images. The website includes various documents...

No Crime in Plame Affair?, July 08, 2005
Via Blake Wylie, I'm reminded of this op-ed from a few months ago in which two experts in the law reveal that no crime was committed in the "outing" of CIA "operative" Valerie Plame....

Terror on the Tube: Al Qaeda Hits London Transit, July 07, 2005
Glenn Reynolds has a post with extensive links to news and blog coverage of the terrorist attack in London this morning, which looks to be the work of Islamic extremists affiliated with al Qaeda. I am anxious to hear from my cousin, George Miller, who lives in Hertfordshire, near London, via email or a new post on his London Calling blog. I'll be a bit worried about him and his wife and children until I...

Iran's Murderer-in-Chief, July 06, 2005
Captain's Quarters looks at the evidence of ties between the Iranian government and the September 11 terror attack - and also, in a separate post, the evidence that Iran's new president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a mass-murderer even if he wasn't part of the crew of terrorists that took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran back in 1979. This is must-read stuff....

The Next Iranian Hostage Crisis, June 29, 2005
Some previous American president signed an executive order forbidding the assassination of foreign leaders. I wish we could make an exception for Iran's President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who deserves it. Ahmadinejad was one of the perpetrators of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, an act of war against the United States that has never been avenged. My views on foreign policy were forged during the 444 days of that hostage crisis, when...

Blackburn Statement on War, June 28, 2005
U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has released a statement in advance of President Bush's nationally televised address updating the progress in the War on Terror......

Turban Durbin Half-Apologizes Again, June 22, 2005
The No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. Senate has apologized again, for comparing American troops at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis. Sort of. UPDATE: GeoBandy fisks Durbin's not-really-an-apology: "Dick’s not the least bit sorry for, or apologetic about, what he said. He’s just sorry so many people didn't like it."...

Gitmo and Sen. Durbin, June 19, 2005
Lance Frizzell on Dick Durbin: "Trent Lott got kicked to the curb for a lot less than this. If he stays, it will say a lot about today's Democrat Party." True. Also, Dustin Hawkins has some hilariously worded thoughts about Illinois Democrat Durbin calling Guantanamo Bay a "death camp."...

Cheney Slams Durbin's "Nazi" Slander, June 17, 2005
Vice President Dick Cheney was on Steve Gill's Nashville talk radio show this morning on WTN 99.7, and among the topics discussed: Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin likening the American troops who are guarding terrorists and Taliban fighters imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay to "Nazis." Here's the audio of those portions of the interview. Click Play Button to See Audio/Picture Montage. To download the audio only file, click here. UPDATE: Durbin issued a conditional "regret" for his...

Nazis, June 16, 2005
Lance Frizzell comments on Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin's claim that American troops guarding the terrorists locked up at Guantanamo Bay are as bad as the Nazis:Torture is choosing between burning to death or jumping a 100 stories. It is not being kept in an icy cold room.Remember that 3,000 Americans were savagely murdered on 9/11, and remember that the people locked up at Gitmo are the allies of the perpetrators of 9/11, and would, if...

Another Day, Another Elite Media Lie, June 07, 2005
Add Washington Post reporter Ceci Connolly to the growing list of Big Media people slandering the U.S. military with lies. Trey Jackson has the video and the proof that she's lying. Eason Jordan Disease is spreading within the ranks of the elite media....

Iran Daily Briefing, June 07, 2005
Here's today's daily briefing on news from and about Iran, from RegimeChangeIran, which as far as I can tell is the single most valuable resource in the blogosphere on all issues involving Iran. Stopping the Iranian regime's dangerous nuclear weapons ambitions - preferably by helping Iranian reformers secure a peaceful transition to a real democracy, would be the biggest battle ever won in the War on Terror. If you have a blog you should consider...

Help Free Iran, June 01, 2005
If you have a blog you should consider joining RegimeChangeIran's "Blogosphere Supports Real Democracy in Iran" campaign. The "how-to-help" details are here. RegimeChangeIran has a daily briefing of Iran-related news. Yesterday's briefing is here. I'm going to start carrying RegimeChangeIran's daily news briefing here as well....

Blogging is Freedom, May 08, 2005
This story out of Kabul sort of puts the just-concluded BlogNashville conference in perspective....

Reports from Iraq, May 01, 2005
Thunder 6 writes from Iraq about an IED attack that injured some of his comrades. Read the whole thing....

Mourning Coffee, April 19, 2005
Lance Frizzell: "I bet Zarqawi spit out his coffee" upon reading this headline....

Memphislamists?, April 15, 2005
From the Memphis Flyer comes an interesting bit of news:On April 4th, nine FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Raleigh home of a convicted felon named Rafat Jamal Mawlawi, a Syrian with dual citizenship in the United States. Mawlawi is suspected of organizing a scam to illegally bring Moroccan men into the United States by arranging sham marriages and engagements to women from Memphis. What the FBI found was much more troubling: a...

Pulitizer for a Ghoul?, April 09, 2005
Thunder 6 reflects on a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph from Iraq.In my humble opinion the unnamed photographer who took the snapshot isn’t an keen eyed photojournalist. He isn’t a Pulitzer Prize winner. He isn’t a AP stringer. He isn’t even a man. He’s a ghoul. A wretched fool who makes his money chronicling the misery his insurgent contacts inflict on their countrymen. I wonder what the going price on a soul is these days? Maybe I...

Pictures of the Truth, April 02, 2005
8,989 different people saw 1Lt. Lance Frizzell's photos from Iraq that I posted here yesterday. That's 8,989 people who got a little different view of Iraq than that which the mainstream media doles out on a daily basis, thanks to Frizzell, who hails from Rutherford County, Tennessee, and is deployed with the Tennessee National Guard's 278th Armored Cavalry. Think about it - when is the last time you saw pictures of happy Iraqi children in...

The Story Behind The Pictures, April 01, 2005
After seeing some great photos of Iraqi kids, including inside an Iraqi school, at Lance Frizzell's blog yesterday, I emailed him for the story behind the pictures, and he sent an email that I've taken the liberty of editing here into a news report, accompanied by the pictures......

Sandy Burglar 'Fesses Up, March 31, 2005
Sandy Berger will plead guilty to stealing classified documents from the National Archives. I seem to recall when news of the Sandy Burglaries first surfaced, the Left treated it as if it was a silly mistake rather than a crime. Mark it down: A former National Security Adviser knowlingly and with intent stole classified documents regarding the Clinton Administration's handling of the al Qaeda threat - and intentionally destroyed them - while serving as a...

Hearts and Minds, March 31, 2005
Lance Frizzell has some great photographs from Iraq, including some great close-ups of young Iraqis demonstrating wildly at the presence of American troops....

Why the Press is Paying Less Attention to Iraq, March 29, 2005
Lance Frizzell wonders if declining press coverage of Iraq means the American media is beginning to realize just how well things are going there.My impression is that current war correspondents are disappointed by not getting their own Vietnam to cover so they express resentment by simply not reporting our success. Contrast that with WWII journalists who actually - get this - rooted for an American victory during the war.Frizzell, deployed to northern Iraq, also provides...

General Knowledge, March 24, 2005
Donald Sensing notes some very cool four-star blogging....

Winning the War on Terror One Wheelchair At A Time, March 23, 2005
Lance Frizzell offers a 3,000-word response to the comments made by anti-war protestors at a recent Nashville anti-war rally. But it's a quick read because instead of words, Lance provides three pictures that ought to embarass the anti-war crowd into the silence for their ignorance....

Mud-Level Diplomacy, March 22, 2005
Thunder 6 tells a moving story of "mud-level diplomacy" in Iraq:If you took a cursory glance at our reconstruction efforts in Iraq you would probably be blinded by the vast sums being invested in the hobbled infrastructure. It is a necessary step, the global version of the "you break it, you buy it" philosophy. But the future of Iraq doesn’t rest on these repairs alone. In fact if you were to focus on the "big...

Thoughts on Palm Sunday in Iraq, March 21, 2005
Thunder 6 writes about faith and free will from the perspective of a Palm Sunday service in Iraq.I walked over to our chapel, a drab concrete building whose defining characteristic is an odd architectural feature that resembles a missile ready to puncture the sky, and entered its single room. As I took my seat I looked around and noticed that in addition to my Army brethren there were Marines, Bangladeshi contractors, Eastern European truck drivers,...

"Ah, the modern liberal mind on display.", March 21, 2005
Lance Frizzell has some more thoughts about the misplaced priorities of the misguided folks at the Nashville Peace & Justice Center's sparsely-attended weekend anti-war rally ....

1.1 Million Nashvillians Skip Anti-War Protest, March 20, 2005
An Iraqi blogger wrote the following on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq: the following words:To may outsiders, like those who protested last year, who will protest today. This was a fools errand, it brought nothing but death and destruction. I am sheltered in Iraq, but I know how the world feels, how people have come to either love or hate Bush, as though he is the emobdiement of this war. As though this...

A Handy Reference, March 19, 2005
Lance Frizzell: This picture is a handy reference for those that say Saddam did not have WMDs...

Thunder 6, March 17, 2005
When the history books recount the Iraq war, they'll get it wrong if they rely on only the Big Media's coverage and ignore the great on-scene coverage coming from military members, civilians and Iraqis who are blogging the war. The photo above comes from a new mil-blog from Iraq, 365 And A Wake Up, written by "Thunder 6," a member of the California Army National Guard currently deployed to Iraq and stationed in Baghdad....

The Arab Street Erupts, March 11, 2005
Lance Frizzell in Iraq is pointing to a grim assessment of the state of the battle against the Iraqi insurgency. Lance also has posted a photo of Iraqis demonstrating after a U.S. military operation: The Arab street erupts. Lance had to get right in the faces of the demonstrators to take the photo, which takes a lot of courage when you're a member of the U.S. military. The kind of courage military guys have but...

Photoblogging the Battle in Iraq, March 11, 2005
Lance Frizzell photoblogs the distribution of school supplies to children in northern Iraq by the U.S. military, and says, "pity there were no journalists around." Ah, but there was a journalist there, Lance. You. With your digital camera. That's the beauty of the blogosphere - it allows anyone to be a journalist. And in the case of the War on Terror, it is allowing the truth in all its complexity and variety and detail about...

Photos From The Front Line, March 09, 2005
Lance Frizzell has several good photos of a humanitarian mission under way in northern Iraq, here and here. UPDATE: More photos here....

Hindsight is Not Always 20/20, March 07, 2005
South Knox Bubba thinks he's found proof that President Bush and his evil henchmen began planning for the Iraq war back in 1996, right after Bush got elected governor of Texas. Here's the link: http://www.southknoxbubba.net/skblog/archive_2005_03.php#4025. You'll probably have to cut and paste it into your browser address bar because SKB continues to divert visitors coming from HobbsOnline to the FreeRepublic site because he's not done acting like a two-year-old. In the piece, Bubba contents that...

The Truth about The Terrorists, March 06, 2005
Here's a report on our friends, the Saudis, and the role they're playing in the War on Terror in Iraq. Lance Frizzell, who is actually in Iraq, comments:Mainstream media's greatest failure in Iraq is the refusal to acknowledge that the foreign terrorists we are fighting are foreign terrorists - without the "scare quotes." It's common knowledge and now there is empirical evidence to prove it. I do not expect the reporting to change because that...

The Transformational Power of Liberty, March 04, 2005
George Miller in London reflects on the growing anti-tyranny movement in the Middle East:We should not be insufferable about this, but neither should we be apologetic in pointing out that the geo-political earthquake we are witnessing in Arabia is the result of the fortitude of a crazy American administration led by a stupid president....

From Iwo Jima to Iraq, February 19, 2005
Donald Sensing reports on the 60th anniversary of the landing of U.S. forces on Iwo Jima, and also has an inspiring report from Iraq's recent election day. The War On Terror is just the latest version of the age-old battle between freedom and oppression....

The Blogosphere Bags Another Lying Slanderous Big Media Journalist, February 12, 2005
Eason Jordan, the head of CNN, has resigned amid the growing furor over his slandering the U.S. military with the unsupportable and outrageous claim that the military has a policy of assassinating journalists in Iraq. Details and links here. His resignation comes too late to undo the damage CNN did under his leadership by covering up stories of Saddam Hussein's atrocities in the 1990s. How many more Iraqis died because CNN's soft-pedaling of Hussein's tyranny...

Easongate Update, February 08, 2005
Hugh Hewitt has a must-read Easongate update today looking at CNN, "The most busted name in news." Also keeping on top of the scandal is Instapundit and the group blog Easongate Howard Kurtz, the Washington Post media columnist who also works for Eason Jordan and CNN, helped Jordan continue to whitewash and cover-up the slanderous accusations he leveled at the U.S. military while in Davos, Switzerland, last week. Kurtz is self-parodying portrait of the term...

Our Friends, The Saudis, January 31, 2005
From Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom comes a chilling report that Saudi Arabia's government has been distributing hate literature in American mosques....

Sticking Fingers in The Eye of Terror and Tyranny, January 31, 2005
Mohammed at Iraq the Model reflects on the Iraqi election:The over exaggerated estimations for the strength of terrorists have also contributed to intimidating the people but even with that, the silent majority moved forward led by the natural human desire for freedom and by the belief that elections can make their lives better....

Election Reflection, January 31, 2005
I listened to President Bush's second inaugural speech today as I drove in to work, thinking all the way of the millions of brave Iraqis who risked death to cast a vote in yesterday's election, and Bush's words were all the more stirring. Not since Reagan have we had a president who believed so strongly in the power of freedom to transform lives and nations. If you haven't already downloaded a copy of the inaugural...

"This voting card is a bullet in the heart of the terrorists.", January 31, 2005
Today's Tennessean has a nice wrap-up of the Iraq election voting . In the national media, I was amazed to hear the following broadcast on CNN last night during the Lou Dobbs Tonight programDOBBS: There was a huge turnout in many parts of the countries as voters defied terrorists and insurgents who launched a series of deadly suicide bomb attacks. Anderson Cooper reports now from Baghdad - Anderson. ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Lou, good evening....

Wet Blankets, January 30, 2005
Democrats react to the stunningly positive Iraqi election. But no matter how much cold water they try to throw on it, the Iraqi election - the mere fact that it happened and the fact that millions of Iraqis risked terror attacks to vote - is a credit to President George W. Bush. UPDATE: On the ground in Iraq, Lance Frizzell says the election's big winner is the Iraqi people. And here's a headline from today's...

Shooting Themselves In The Foot, January 29, 2005
I'm sorry, but these people are not ready to govern a country....

Read The Whole Thing, January 29, 2005
I don't have to blog about Iraq anymore because Mike Silverman has completely summed it up. From now on, all idiocy of the Left regarding Iraq can be answered by saying Read This. Read the Whole Thing....

The Front Line, January 28, 2005
A Front Line in the War On Terror Iraqi immigrants are voting today. The security perimeter around the Nashville voting site for the Iraqi elections is rather large - essentially, half of the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, with the actual voting taking place in large tents in the center of a large parking lot. I have requested media-access permission (from but have no clue if it will be granted. I may swing back by at...

Is it "Anti-Muslim" To Tell the Truth?, January 21, 2005
The city government of Nashville now considers it "anti-Muslim" to tell the truth about the largely Muslim roots of anti-American terror attacks over the past few decades. Today's Tennessean reports......

A Religious War?, January 21, 2005
Donald Sensing says President Bush's inaugural speech yesterday "draws the battle lines even more sharply" between us and our "medieval" enemy, radical Islam......

The Faces of American Imperialism, January 19, 2005
Lance Frizzell has posted a disturbing photo essay regarding America's imperialist occupation of Iraq. Well, disturbing to leftwingnuts who think America is evil....

First day of Iraqi voter sign-ups goes smoothly, January 18, 2005
In Nashville.Mustafa Binavy, 37, had a satisfied smile on his face as he left the Fraternal Order of Police building on Welshwood Drive yesterday afternoon. "I am a registered voter," said Binavy, beaming. "We've been waiting for this day for a long time. I never believed we would be able to vote. This is a great achievement." Binavy, a resident of Nashville for 12 years who served as a translator in the recent Iraq war,...

Human Rights Activists, January 15, 2005
Lance Frizzell says, "Just in case anyone from the UN is reading, here's what helping people looks like." Frizzell also comments on a recent report from Human Rights Watch critical of the United States: "This piece about liberals who pretend to care about human rights cracked me up. These two guys will do more for human rights in the next two weeks than the UN and HRW have done in the last decade." Amen to...

Something Else You Might Not Know About Abu Ghraib, January 08, 2005
WIth Abu Ghraib back in the headlines, I recalled the other night this story about that town, which I blogged about back on April 29, 2003, but which most people likely have forgotten: Abu Ghraib, also spelled Abu Ghurayb, was the site of the first free election in Iraq's post-Saddam history....

The Tortured Truths About Abu Ghraib , January 07, 2005
You probably know less about Abu Ghraib than you think, thanks to CBS and others misrepresenting the facts. Learn more here, including why Seymour Hersh is despicable....

Details, Details, January 07, 2005
, one of five U.S. cities where Iraqi expatriates will be able to vote in the upcoming Iraqi election, details are still up in the air just 10 days out, reports The Tennessean today....

A Bad - And Dangerous - Political Move, January 03, 2005
Lance Frizzell writes from the combat zone of northern Iraq that the plan of Senate Democrats to "make Abu Ghraib photos the centerpiece of confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales" is "bad strategy for the Dems and dangerous for everyone here."...

New Year, Same War, January 03, 2005
Happy New Year, from Cox & Forkum In some Lefty circles, there's a new anti-war slogan circulating that goes like this: "Home Alive in 2005." While I appreciate the desire to have all of our troops come home from foreign combat zones alive as soon as possible, it is a misguided slogan that would, if pursued as the top priority goal, lead to the deaths of more Americans, not fewer. Bring the troops home...

This Sounds Like a Bad Idea, December 29, 2004
"This is Sharia law introduced as a tax loop-hole." - George Miller explains... and Michelle Malkin has much more on the same topic....

The PC War, December 28, 2004
, a local Islamic community leader is offering free classes on Islam to dispel the notion that Islam is a religion of murdering terrorists.When Awadh Binhazim holds diversity training in the Nashville area, he asks his students what comes to mind when they hear the word Muslim. Many say "murderer," "terrorist" or "bad religion." To counter these beliefs, Binhazim and other leaders of the Islamic Center of Nashville will hold free weekly classes on Islam...

Christmas Contentment, December 27, 2004
How did you spend Christmas? Opening gifts and eating a feast in the comfort of a warm home with family or friends around? Ted Leichner, father of six and formerly a successful physician in the Nashville area, spent it in Iraq, by choice, and calls his deployment to Iraq "a gift from God." Hear the incredible story in this MP3 audio file - it starts at 32:35. [Windows Media video file here, Windows Media Audio...

WSMV, December 21, 2004
WSMV Channel 4 News did an excellent story last night on Lance Frizzell's blog from northern Iraq, a blog hosted here at billhobbs.com. The AP version of the Knoxville News Sentinel's story from yesterday is on WSMV's website, where you'll also find a link to the video of the story that aired on the news. You should also log on to Lance's blog and read through the comments, where you'll find many messages from people...

HobbsOnline Announces: New Blog From Iraq, December 12, 2004
Lance Frizzell, a longtime friend of this blog, has recently deployed to Iraq and will soon be blogging at a separate blog hosted here at BillHobbs.com. Frizzell, until he was called up, was press secretary for the House Republican Caucus in the Tennessee state legislature. Now he is with the 3rd Squadron, 278th Regimental Combat Team, Tennessee National Guard. The 278th was most recently in the news for the flap over the shortage of armor...

The Softer Side, December 10, 2004
Can liberals really be tough on Islamist terror? Read the whole thing....

"I salute your indefatigullibility", December 09, 2004
George Miller at London Calling comments on British Parliament member George Galloway winning his libel lawsuit against the Daily Telegraph over that newspaper's story claiming Galloway had received money from Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq:The Telegraph has failed to prove that George was in the pocket of Saddam Hussein. George has won a great victory. He has proved that he supports Saddam, even though he was not directly in his pay. How sad is that...

Letter to a Deserter, December 09, 2004
LT Smash's letter to a deserter is a must-read today. It's a fact of life: some people are just self-absorbed cowards who don't intend to keep the promises they make....

Fallujah Update, December 03, 2004
Here are two good articles on the battle for Fallujah and its impact on the war on terror in Iraq....

Whew. That's A Relief., December 02, 2004
Donald Sensing has found some moderate Muslims....

Were Saudis the Real Target in Iraq?, November 27, 2004
Stephen Bainbridge comments on a column by Australian newspaper columnist Frank Devine exploring whether military toppling Saddam was less about Saddam than about containing the Saudis. That's a central them of a very good book, America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemies, by George Friedman, president of Stratfor, a private-sector intelligence firm. I'm currently reading Friedman's book. It's excellent. Makes a great Christmas gift, too....

A Challenge, November 22, 2004
The Spirit of America Blogger Challenge is under way, an effort to raise donations to support the organization's efforts to help the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Being a southern-based blogger, I up and joined the united efforts of the Northern Alliance, which is a group of Minnesota-based blogs. I didn't see any rules to prevent it. You can donate here....

Regrets in Tehran, November 16, 2004
Blackhawk Down author Mark Bowden, whose new book, Road Work: Among Tyrants, Beasts, Heroes, and Rogues is a collection of articles previously published by The Atlantic, has a must-read piece in the December issue of The Atlantic in which he interviews several of the Iranians who, 25 years ago, stormed the American embassy in Tehran and triggered the 15-month hostage crisis. Twenty-five years ago in Tehran a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy...

Faluujah Update, November 15, 2004
Here's news from Fallujah:Ryan Chapman, a 22-year-old Marine, was hit above the left eye by a sniper's bullet, but escaped with a fractured skull. "People keep on telling me that I'm lucky," he said. "I don't mind being lucky." Despite his brush with death, Chapman was keen to return to fight in Iraq. "I want to go back. It kills me when I see the news, when I think of all my buddies back there."Also,...

Progress in the War on Terror, November 12, 2004
From today's New York Times:The secretary general of NATO said Thursday that there was a critical "perception gap" between Europe and the United States on the subject of global terror and that Europeans must move closer to the American view of the seriousness of the threat. The United States "focused very much on the fight against terror while in Europe we focused to a lesser extent on the consequences for the world," the secretary general,...