THURSDAY,  OCTOBER 29,  2009

AN ODD SARAH STORY - AT 10:42 P.M. ET:  There is a strange political story out of Iowa, and it involves Sarah Palin, who may be a candidate for president in 2012.  The Politico reports that Palin is asking a $100,000 speaking fee to give a speech in Iowa, and eyebrows are raised above heads:

A conservative Iowa group’s effort to lure Sarah Palin to its banquet next month has had an unintended effect: Rather than exciting conservatives about the prospect of a visit from the former Alaska governor, the group’s plan to raise a six-figure sum to bring her to the state has GOP activists recoiling at the thought of paying to land a politician's speaking appearance.

The Iowa Family Policy Center’s effort to cobble together $100,000 for Palin would represent a striking departure from customary practice in the first-in-the-nation state, these Republicans say, noting that a generation of White House hopefuls has paid their own way to boost their party and presidential ambitions.

That's correct.  And Sarah certainly can't be clueless about normal and accepted procedures.  It may well be that she won't be running in 2012, and simply sees this as another paid-for speaking engagement.  But if she even has a vague thought about higher office, she can't make running a business. 

Were Palin to appear in Iowa on November 21st, it would mark her first trip back to the state since she spoke to a handful of rallies there last fall as the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee. She would offer powerful counter-programming to another major political event that night: The Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner with Vice-President Joe Biden as the headliner.

Biden powerful?  Interesting?  Significant?  Fascinating?  None of the above.

But representatives from other Iowa-based political advocacy groups said they would never consider shelling out money for what many politicians see as a privilege: the opportunity to speak to a room full of sure-fire caucus-goers who often serve as precinct captains and can be instrumental to a presidential candidate’s success.

COMMENT:  They are correct.  Let's see what Palin does in the end.  She should lower her fee to expenses plus a token honorarium.  She's had some gaffes along the way.  Let's hope this isn't another one of them.

October 29, 2009   Permalink

BULLETIN - OFFICIAL - BARACK OBAMA SENT FROM GOD - AT 10:05 P.M. ET:  Now we know, so let's stop the useless debate, shall we?  The ultimate authority has given us the ultimate theological judgment: 

NEW YORK (AP) - Sting isn't a religious man, but he says President Barack Obama might be a divine answer to the world's problems.

"In many ways, he's sent from God," he joked in an interview, "because the world's a mess."

Joked?  Doesn't sound much like a joke.

But Sting is serious in his belief that Obama is the best leader to navigate the world's problems. In an interview on Wednesday, the former Police frontman said that he spent some time with Obama and "found him to be very genuine, very present, clearly super-smart, and exactly what we need in the world."

It would be nice if President Obama spent more time with General McChrystal.

"I can't think of any be better qualified because of his background, his education, particularly in regard to Islam," he said.

That last line should scare the hell of you.  Whoops.  Can't say "hell" in the presence of the deity.

Oh dear, look what it's come to.

October 29, 2009   Permalink

TO YOUR MARGINAL HEALTH - AT 7:55 P.M. ET:  Weighing in at 1,990 pages, the House health-care plan was presented to the American people today by Speaker Pelosi.  The weight of the document was offset by the fact that the plan provides full hernia and back-strain coverage.

An example of the literary artistry.  John Steinbeck, eat your heart out:

“(a) Outpatient Hospitals – (1) In General – Section 1833(t)(3)(C)(iv) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395(t)(3)(C)(iv)) is amended – (A) in the first sentence – (i) by inserting “(which is subject to the productivity adjustment described in subclause (II) of such section)” after “1886(b)(3)(B)(iii); and (ii) by inserting “(but not below 0)” after “reduced”; and (B) in the second sentence, by inserting “and which is subject, beginning with 2010 to the productivity adjustment described in section 1886(b)(3)(B)(iii)(II)”.

The section deals with “incorporating productivity improvements into market basket updates that do not already incorporate such improvements,” if that helps.

COMMENT:  We'll be discussing this at Urgent Agenda, but this introduction is only a first step.  There'll be a Senate version, and, assuming each version passes its house of Congress, there will be a House-Senate conference to resolve differences.  At 1,990 pages, there are likely to be plenty of differences. 

And the whole thing may collapse, which, given the recklessness with which it has been pursued, may be a good thing.

October 29, 2009   Permalink

NOT THE OBAMA STYLE - AT 7:42 P.M. ET:  It's 7:42 p.m.  Does President Obama know where his secretary of state is?

Apparently not.  In statements that mark a distinct contrast to the Obama style of love-thy-culture, Hillary Clinton directed some blunt charges at the Pakistani government, ostensibly an ally in the war on terror, er, man-made disasters:

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed doubt Thursday over Pakistan's failure to locate top al-Qaeda leaders in the eight years since they escaped over the border from Afghanistan, telling a group of Pakistani journalists that she found "it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to."

"So far as we know," Clinton said, "they're in Pakistan."

Clinton's comments, the most direct public statement of a U.S. argument long made in private, came as she tried to balance assurances of strong economic and military support for Pakistan with reminders that the relationship is a "two-way street."

"If we are going to have a mature partnership where we work together," Clinton said, "then there are issues that not just the United States, but others have with your government and your military establishment."

COMMENT:  Well, there goes the commencement address invitation from the University of Karachi.  They'll probably get Jon Stewart instead.

Hillary, despite all her shortcomings (volumes one and two) is probably the best man in the Obama cabinet, and her blunt talk in Pakistan probably proves it.  The Pakistanis must get their act together, and become full partners with us.  It's in their own interest, unless they want to wake up one morning and find the Taliban in charge of their country.  And that would certainly end the girls' night out.

October 29, 2009   Permalink

IRAN UPDATE - AT 7:23 P.M. ET:  Late reporting from the excellent David E. Sanger of The New York Times confirms earlier fears that Iran is essentially rejecting the critical terms of the offer made by the "international community" in regard to its nuclear program:

WASHINGTON — Iran told the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Thursday that it would not accept, in its current form, a plan its negotiators agreed to last week to send the country’s stockpile of uranium out of the country, according to diplomats in Europe and American officials briefed on Iran’s response, potentially unwinding President Obama’s effort to buy time to resolve the nuclear standoff...

...European and American officials said that Iran refused to go along with the one feature of the draft agreement that could undermine Tehran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon. That provision would have required the country to give up custody, temporarily, of about three-quarters of its current known stockpile of low-enriched uranium, leaving it without enough to manufacture a weapon. American officials said they thought that would give them a year or so to seek a broader nuclear agreement with Iran, one that could address Iran’s continued enrichment of nuclear fuel.

A senior European official characterized the Iranian response as “basically a refusal.”

COMMENT:  It's at this point that severe sanctions should be dragged before the mullahs, but it won't happen.  Obama has chosen a policy of weakness and "engagement."  He'll probably opt for further "negotiations," giving Iran still more time to work on its weapon.

There are now widespread reports that the United States is already planning policies to deal with a nuclear-armed Iran.  Certainly makes us optimistic, doesn't it?  What a great message to send to Iran:  Hey, we're talking, but go ahead and build the thing.

October 29,  2009   Permalink

OBAMA STILL SLUGGISH IN RASMUSSEN POLL - AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  Rasmussen's presidential approval index, measuring the gap between those who strongly approve of the president and those who strongly disapprove, shows that Obama has been in minus double digits for 13 out of the last 14 days.

Today's numbers have 29% strongly approving and 40% strongly disapproving. 

Overall approval shows 47% approving, 52% disapproving.

With the health-care bill heading for a major fight over the public option, the president doesn't seem to have much good news on the horizon.  Unless he can pick up the crumbs offered by Iran and turn crumbs into loaves.  Look, when you're Divine, anything is possible.

October 29, 2009   Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY - AT 9:45 A.M. ET:  Hard to believe, yet delightful, but this analysis was just published in the reliably leftist British newspaper, the Independent.  It's hooked to next week's gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia:

If Republicans seize the governors' mansions in both states, the embarrassment will be acute. That is just what happened in both New Jersey and Virginia back in 1993 before the Republicans seized control of the US Congress the following year, dealing a crippling blow to the newly minted Democratic president of the time, Bill Clinton.

But even losing one of them next week will scratch the sheen of President Obama, who seems, one year on from his election, to be hovering in the view of most Americans between competent and fumbling, notwithstanding the high esteem in which he is still held abroad and, of course, in the minds of the Nobel committee.

What is certain is that the almost-mad expectations placed on Obama that unusually warm night in Chicago's Grant Park when he delivered his victory speech last November, have given way now to a general unease about his performance in office.

COMMENT:  I love the observation that the president is still held in "high esteem" abroad.  Well, maybe in the fashion-loving press offices, faculty rooms and cafes.  But I'll bet the foreign ministries are starting to sweat.  They whine about us, then crave our leadership.  Leadership is not what they're getting.

October 29, 2009   Permalink

THE DEVIL IS ALWAYS...YOU KNOW WHERE - AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  The economy apparently grew last quarter, but you have to look at the figures with three eyes and a microscope to get at the basic economic truth.  From The New York Times:

For the first time in a year, the United States economy grew, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. But even if a recovery is technically in the offing, job-seekers likely will not begin to feel the benefits for months to come.

Gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the three months ending in September, a significant spike from a relatively shrunken base. The economy had contracted at annual rates of 0.7 percent and 6.4 percent in the first and second quarters of this year, respectively.

And now the details:

Robust government spending, exports, consumer durables — buoyed by auto purchases Congress’s now-expired “Cash for Clunkers” program — and housing helped finally push the measure into positive territory.

Yeah, let's look closely at that government spending, including cash-for-perfectly-good-vehicles.

Sure, it's good that the economy expanded.  But it's like adding a wing to a crumbling house:

...the poor job market is discouraging Americans from increasing their spending by too much. Consumer spending on nondurable goods like food and clothing, for example, increased just 2 percent in the third quarter of this year.

And likewise, stagnant consumer demand and withering consumer confidence have left companies wary of hiring more employees — or, for that matter, taking any expensive risks. The jobless rate reached 9.8 percent in September, its highest rate in 26 years. According to Thursday’s report, business investment in structures fell at an annual rate of 9 percent in the third quarter.

We are far from out of the woods, but the Obamans, while bankrupting the country, will advertise the latest growth figures, just in time for next Tuesday's elections.  Might make a difference in New Jersey.

October 29, 2009   Permalink

IS OBAMA BEING ROLLED?  AND THE ANSWER IS... - AT 8:40 A.M. ET:  In a clear-minded and well-timed piece in today's Washington Post, Robert Kagan asks the musical question.  The evidence is pretty clear, and we're in pretty deep:

Watching the Obama administration launch its "new era of engagement" over the past 10 months, most seasoned observers have pondered two questions: First, if engagement fails, will the Obama team ever acknowledge that it has failed? And what then?

And...

The first question is about to be answered. The main object of the "new era of engagement," Iran, has settled back into its old game-playing...

...Iran's intentions, it seems, are not good. Tehran apparently will not accept the deal but will propose an alternate plan, agreeing to ship smaller amounts of low-enriched uranium to Russia gradually over a year. Even if Iran carried out this plan as promised -- every month would be an adventure to see how much, if anything, Iran shipped -- the slow movement of small amounts of low-enriched uranium does not accomplish the original purpose, since Iran can quickly replace these amounts with new low-enriched uranium produced by its centrifuges.

The logical conclusion:

Tehran is obviously probing to see whether President Obama can play hardball or whether he can be played. If Obama has any hope of getting anywhere with the mullahs, he needs to show them he means business, now, and immediately begin imposing new sanctions.

What about Russia?  We groveled to Moscow by canceling East German missile defense:

So now comes the test. Russia joined France, the United States and ElBaradei in agreeing to the proposal on Iran's low-enriched uranium. Iran is now rejecting that proposal. If the administration's engagement strategy is working, then Moscow should come through by joining in sanctions. If, on the other hand, Moscow declares that Iran's counterproposal is satisfactory, or calls for further weeks or months of negotiations, then we will know that Russia, too, is playing Obama.

The suggestions about Obama in this column are stark, and, I'm afraid, entirely accurate.

Many of us worry that, for Obama, engagement is an end in itself, not a means to an end. We worry that every time Iran rejects one proposal, the president will simply resume negotiations on another proposal and that this will continue right up until the day Iran finally tests its first nuclear weapon, at which point the president will simply begin negotiations again to try to persuade Iran to put its nuclear genie back in the bottle.

And anyone who challenges the Obama strategy will be called 1) a warmonger, 2) a neo-con, 3) a pawn of the Israel lobby, and 4) a friend of Dick Cheney.

Finally:

The worst of it is that the Tehran regime is now desperately trying to buy time so it can regain full control of the country in the face of widespread anger after the fraudulent presidential elections in June and a still-vibrant Iranian opposition. For the clerics, an endless negotiating process is not merely a means of putting off any real concessions on its nuclear program. It is also, and more important, a way of putting off any Western sanctions that could produce new and potentially explosive unrest in their already unstable country. That is the best card in Obama's hand right now. It's time for him to play it -- or admit that poker is not his game.

COMMENT:  That says it, doesn't it?  Probably the most focused column I've read on this subject recently.  It's time for obama to stop campaigning for his office, and fill his office.

October 29, 2009   Permalink

IRAN RESPONDS - AT 8:12 A.M. ET:  Early reports are sketchy, but the government of Iran - the fighting mullahs - has handed over its much-anticipated answer to the West's demands on its nuclear program.  Despite some media attempts to spin the response as the beginning of peace on Earth and good will toward men, it appears that Iran is making demands that will make a deal all but meaningless:

Iran has presented its response on a United Nations-drafted nuclear fuel deal to the head of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, Iran's state al Alam television reported on Thursday.

Iran will seek major revisions to the proposed deal, including shipping abroad its low-enriched uranium (LEU) in stages rather than all at once, according to another pro-government newspaper.

That pretty much kills it.  Shipping the stuff abroad in stages is just what weapons experts in the West fear.  It means that Iran, as we pointed out yesterday, can stretch things out, replace immediately any uranium that's shipped abroad, and keep its program running pretty much on schedule.

But the appeasement crowd may hail this as a "breakthrough, a first step."  It is actually, if reported correctly, a farce.

COMMENT:  After today, the ball will be in Obama's court.  In foreign affairs, he seems to be losing everywhere, with the left wing of his party opposed to anything that smacks of successful national defense.  The left will pressure him to accept anything Iran offers as a means of delaying any possible confrontation with the mullah regime.  Obama, given his instincts, may be tempted to take the deal as he contemplates a possible troop increase in Afghanistan and an upsurge of violence in Iraq.

And thus we have a brilliant new foreign policy.  Don't you feel safer?

October 29,  2009   Permalink

WEDNESDAY,  OCTOBER 28,  2009

JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN - AT 7:17 P.M. ET:  It appears that the wicked witch of the West will have an announcement:

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democrats reached agreement Wednesday on key elements of a health care bill that would vastly alter America's medical landscape, requiring virtually universal sign-ups and establishing a new government-run insurance option for millions.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi planned a formal announcement Thursday morning, but details were still being finalized, lawmakers and aides said. Officials said the legislation could be up for a vote on the House floor next week.

The rollout would cap months of arduous negotiations to bridge differences between liberal and moderate Democrats and blend health care overhaul bills passed by three separate committees over the summer. The developments in the House came as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried to round up support among moderate Democrats for his bill, which includes a modified government insurance option that states could opt out of.

COMMENT:  Imagine.  This bill, affecting every family, changing a sixth of the nation's economy, could come up for a vote next week.  Not much time to read, to consider, to get public reaction.

But who needs the opinions of those uneducated fools out there, the American people?  Do they eat correctly?  Get 700s on their College Boards?  Have graduate degrees from Ivy League schools?  What kind of people are these?  These peasants who cling to their guns and their religion!

And that's the way things are.  This is the age of Obama.  And we have little say in the matter.

October 28, 2009   Permalink

LATEST ON THE TERROR BEAT - AT 7:07 P.M. ET:  This happened today, and is getting very little publicity:

Detroit -- The leader of a Detroit mosque was shot and killed Wednesday during a series of FBI raids that resulted in charges against 11 and the death of an FBI dog.

At least six of those charged were in federal custody late Wednesday afternoon.

The case involves the Joint Terrorism Task Force and prosecutors from the national security unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

A complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit names Luqman Ameen Abullah, imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit, as "a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group." He was killed in the raid, according to a joint statement by federal officials.

More than three people were arrested on charges including conspiracy to commit federal crimes, receipt of stolen goods, providing firearms to felons and changing vehicle identification numbers, said Special Agent Sandra Berchtold, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Detroit. Berchtold also confirmed that an FBI dog was shot and killed in one of the raids.

The operation involved locations in Detroit and Dearborn.

COMMENT:  This is the latest in a remarkable series of raids and arrests recently in the United States.  Yet, there seems disturbingly little interest by the mainstream media in the implications.  You can be sure that if some prisoner complained of abuse, or if an FBI form wasn't filled out correctly, an element of the press would be in an uproar, and Rachel Maddow would faint dead away.

October 28, 2009    Permalink

ELECTION RUNUP - AT 9:57 A.M. ET:  Michael Barone, who probably knows more about American politics than any journalist, gives us a preview of next Tuesday's elections, and their possible significance:

Six days from now the voters of New Jersey and Virginia will elect governors. Voters in the 23rd district of New York and the 10th district of California will elect new members of the House of Representatives to replace incumbents, a Republican and a Democrat, who were appointed to positions in the Obama Defense and State departments.

All four of these constituencies voted for Barack Obama 51 weeks ago...

...Yet all of this territory was once Republican.

In other words, the 2009 contests are a reasonably fair test of the strength and durability of the Democratic majority that Obama and his ticketmates assembled in 2008, a majority that was only made possible by gains in hitherto Republican territory. It is also a test of the capacity of Republicans to regain turf they have lost.

And something of an indicator for 2010, although, of course, conditions can change.

The result in Virginia is not much in doubt. Republican Bob McDonnell has campaigned on transportation, education and taxes and holds a wide lead in polls...

...In New Jersey things are murkier. Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's approval numbers are stuck around 40 percent, but he has used his wealth to pummel Republican Chris Christie with negative ads and hopes that Independent Chris Daggett will steal anti-Corzine votes from the Republican. If Corzine wins because he is perceived to be the lesser of three evils, it will hardly be an endorsement of Democratic policies.

I suspect that Corzine will in fact win, although I hope otherwise.  New Jersey is one of those states that tempts Republicans with favorable polls until the last days of a campaign, then usually returns to familiar Democratic patterns. 

The situation in New York 23 is simply bizarre. Local Republican leaders nominated an assemblywoman who has been endorsed by the ACORN-allied Working Families party and who backs the unions' card check bill. One of the Republicans passed over was nominated by the Conservative party and has picked up endorsements from Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty. He has raised money on the Internet and from the anti-tax Club for Growth. He's now leading in two polls commissioned by his supporters.

All of which highlights, in exaggerated form, the distrust of tea party protesters for Republican insiders and could result in a plurality for the Democrat. 

And the most predictable...

The California 10 results will come in last, and just about everyone will be astonished if the Democrat, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, doesn't win in this San Francisco Bay area district.

If he doesn't, Nancy Pelosi will wind up on Elba, but in an energy-efficient house.

Both parties will try to spin the results seven days from now. But one thing seems clear. None of the Democrats seems likely to equal Barack Obama's 2008 percentages in these states or districts. None may even come close. But Republicans may find it difficult to convert the increasing unease with Democratic policies into Republican (or Conservative) victories across the board.

COMMENT:  Good analysis.  The GOP remains unpopular, and only the GOP can change that.  There was a time when the party simply accepted being a minority in Congress, almost seemed to enjoy it.  Those days must never return. 

We have a year to the 2010 midterms, the most critical midterm elections of our lifetime.  If the Obama machine is not stopped, this country can be changed forever, and not for the better.

October 28, 2009   Permalink 

MORE CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN - AT 9:27 A.M. ET:  For a president who made special appeals to idealistic young people and asked for their trust, Barack Obama certainly repays that trust in strange ways.  From the Washington Times:

During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings.

High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times.

And...

One top donor described in an interview with The Times being given a birthday visit to the Oval Office. Another was allowed use of a White House-complex bowling alley for his family. Bundlers closest to the president were invited to watch a movie in the red-walled theater in the basement of the presidential mansion.

And...

...the donor access raises questions about the fervor of Mr. Obama's stated commitment to clean up what he once called the "muddy waters" of Washington, where political cash is exchanged for access, ethics experts said.

"Once you start trading money for access, you set up a situation where donors eventually say, 'Well, actually I have another favor to ask,'" said Scott Thomas, a former Democratic appointee to the Federal Election Commission.

"It starts setting up that relationship. If you help with the money, we'll do something nice for you. And that is a slippery slope."

COMMENT:  It's been widely reported that the young, including many who went to the wall for Obama during the 2008 campaign, are showing little interest in the programs of his administration.  Stories like this won't bring them back to the arena.

Barack Obama is a small-time Chicago politician with a silver voice.  There is nothing terribly enlightened about his administration, and this latest revelation simply reinforces the image of, well, the image.  And that's all there may be. 

We hope, of course, that the president "grows" in office - a political catch-word that means we hope he moves in our direction.  At what point will he learn that the fashion plates of the left who did so much to put him in power, in between their trips to Aspen, are doing him no good as he struggles to survive?

October 28, 2009   Permalink

MAYBE OBAMA COULD FLY DOWN FOR A BOOSTER SPEECH - AT 8:40 A.M. ET:  It seems that one of the left's favorite thugs is having some political trouble.  If he fizzles out, who will the Hollywood stars embrace?  This is a crisis.  From AP:

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez's popularity has slipped and a majority of Venezuelans view the situation in their country negatively, according to a poll published Tuesday.

The survey by the Caracas-based polling firm Datanalisis found that 46 percent responded positively when asked how they view Chavez's presidency, down from 53 percent a month earlier.

The survey, published by the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal, also found that 59 percent said they saw the situation in the country as negative.

The results are based on the responses of 1,300 randomly selected Venezuelans questioned between Sept. 23 and Oct. 8. The poll had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Pro-Chavez congressman Alberto Castelar said he believes Datanalisis underestimated Chavez's popularity. But the polling firm's past findings have been close to election results.

COMMENT:  Let's not pop the corks yet.  The pollster noted that Chavez remains the most popular politician in the country, boosting his standing, in part, by pressure on the press for favorable news reports. 

And control of the government means control of the election machinery. 

I suspect the buffoon will be around for a time, but his decline in popularity should allow us at least one cheer.

October 28, 2009   Permalink

THOSE DANES, WHAT A THREAT - AT 8:27 A.M. ET:  There have been two more terror arrests in the United States.  In fact, there have been a raft of terror arrests here in recent weeks, reminding us once again of the ongoing threat and the statistically high chance that some plot will make it to detonation.

Ironically, Denmark, a great threat to Islam, was the target on this one, as The New York Times reports:

WASHINGTON — Two Chicago men have been charged in what officials said was a plot to attack employees of a Danish newspaper that in 2005 published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that offended many Muslims, according to criminal complaints unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Chicago.

The most serious charges, conspiracy to murder and maim in a foreign country, were filed against David Coleman Headley, who was born in the United States, lived in Pakistan and now resides in Chicago.

The federal authorities said Mr. Headley told agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he had initially targeted a building occupied by the Danish newspaper, Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten in Copenhagen, but later proposed killing the paper’s cartoonist and cultural editor instead.

The arrests were the latest in what federal officials acknowledged was a surprising surge of unrelated terrorism arrests in recent weeks, highlighted by last month’s indictment of Najibullah Zazi, a Denver airport shuttle bus driver who has been accused of conspiring to detonate improvised explosives in an attack against an undetermined target, possibly in New York.

COMMENT:  Once again the arrest in Chicago targeted an American who went overseas for terrorist training.  We don't know how many of this profile are among us, but the ability of these people to melt back into our population is chilling.  Expect more like this.

October 28, 2009   Permalink

WELCOME, MADAME SECRETARY - AT 8:03 A.M. ET:  Secretary of State Clinton landed in Pakistan this morning.  The welcoming committee was active.  From AP:

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A car bomb tore through a market popular with women in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 86 people hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the country to show American support for its campaign against Islamist militants.

More than 200 people were wounded in the blast in the main northwestern city of Peshawar, the deadliest in a surge of attacks this month. The government blamed militants seeking to avenge an army offensive launched this month against al-Qaida and Taliban in their stronghold close to the Afghan border.

And...

Three bombs have exploded in Peshawar this month, including another one that killed more than 50 people, part of a barrage of at least 10 major attacks across the country that have killed some 250 people. Most have targeted security forces, but some bombs have gone off in public places, apparently to sow fear and expose the weakness of the government.

The Taliban have warned Pakistan that they would stage more attacks if the army does not end a new ground offensive in the South Waziristan tribal region, where the military has dispatched some 30,000 troops to flush out insurgents. South Waziristan is a major base for the Pakistani Taliban and other foreign militants.

COMMENT:  As we saw last weekend, there is renewed terror activity in Iraq, where Baghdad was subjected to two suicide bombings. 

Pakistan is unstable, it has nuclear weapons, and the forces that threaten its government are aligned with terror groups.  We have a long struggle ahead in south Asia, a struggle that directly affects our own security and the lives of Americans.  The threat will escalate geometrically if the Taliban or Al Qaeda get their hands on the Pakistani nukes, or even a few of them.

It would help of the president showed some sense of urgency.  It's fine to dispatch the secretary of state, but decisions on troop strength in the region must be made, and they are overdue.

October 28,  2009   Permalink