Everything I Know Is Wrong

Will Obama Push Back?

Al-Qaida gives President Elect Obama an experimental push.

Charlotte Observer
The self-styled leader of an Iraqi al-Qaida front group is calling on President-elect Obama and other Western leaders to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The purported leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, makes the call in a speech posted on the Internet.

It was reported Friday by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist Web sites.

Al-Baghdadi makes the call "on behalf of my brothers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Chechnya" and says it's better "for you and us" to "withdraw your forces" and "return to your homes."

These little tests will continue until Obama takes office. Then, as VP Elect Biden so famously predicted, there will be a real test. Will he push back, or try to nuance his way through "negotiating" with al-Qaida? As if that were even possible.

A great deal is riding on what he does.

Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki Claims He Helped Obama Win

The testing of the unknown quantity begins:

Telegraph
A senior Western diplomat in Baghdad said that Mr Maliki told close aides he would hold the new president to an obligation to oversee a rapid withdrawal of US troops, a key Iraqi government demand in recent talks.

"Maliki has said he took the Iraq issue 'off the table' for Obama by endorsing his timetable during his visit to Baghdad in July," the diplomat told The Daily Telegraph.

"Maliki firmly hoped for an Obama victory and has used expectations of such to drive a very hard bargain with the US over its presence in Iraq.

"The prime minister has extracted an unbelievable number of concessions from the Bush administration and thinks Obama will be even more generous in implementing the deal."

Violence in Iraq has been ramping up over the last few weeks. The Russians are being more... well, Russian. President Elect Obama's stated willingness to "talk" will be perceived as weakness by strongmen all over the world. Let's hope he lets go of his naive let's-all-just-get-along foreign policy ideas before reality mug's him. And us. Jimmy Carter, who's failed foreign policy was very similar to Obama's, never did let go of his rose colored glasses.

China's Take on Barack Obama

Concerned about his lack of experience and naivety, but cautiously open to liking him. Whatever that means.

Good News to the North

How did we miss this?

Wall Street Journal
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party coasted to an easy victory in national elections on Tuesday, winning 38% of the vote and 143 seats in parliament. Mr. Harper's closest competitor, Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion, managed only 26% of the popular vote for 76 seats.

France, Germany, and now Canada have all begun see that hope for a good future lies in conservative government. Why is the USA, particularly the left—which usually follows Europe around like a love-sick puppy—threatening to lurch left?

Saddam Had WMD

Investors Business Daily has posted their analysis of the first tapes released of conversations Saddam had in his presidential offices.

IBD
In a tape dating to April 1995, Saddam and several aides discuss the fact that U.N. inspectors had found traces of Iraq's biological weapons program. On the tape, Hussein Kamel, Saddam's son-in-law, is heard gloating about fooling the inspectors.

"We did not reveal all that we have," he says. "Not the type of weapons, not the volume of the materials we imported, not the volume of the production we told them about, not the volume of use. None of this was correct."

There's more. Indeed, as late as 2000, Saddam can be heard in his office talking with Iraqi scientists about his ongoing plans to build a nuclear device. At one point, he discusses Iraq's plasma uranium program — something that was missed entirely by U.N. weapons inspectors combing Iraq for WMD.

This is particularly troubling, since it indicates an active, ongoing attempt by Saddam to build an Iraqi nuclear bomb.

"What was most disturbing," said John Tierney, the ex- FBI agent who translated the tapes, "was the fact that the individuals briefing Saddam were totally unknown to the U.N. Special Commission (or UNSCOM, the group set up to look into Iraq's WMD programs)."

Perhaps most chillingly, the tapes record Iraq Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz talking about how easy it would be to set off a WMD in Washington. The comments come shortly after Saddam muses about using "proxies" in a terror attack.

9-11, anyone?

The tapes show up the "Bush lied," and "there were no WMD" memes for what they have always been: empty. As for where the WMD went?

"The short answer to the question of where the WMD Saddam bought from the Russians went was that they went to Syria and Lebanon," said John Shaw, former deputy undersecretary of defense, in comments made at an intelligence summit Feb. 17-20 in Arlington, Va.

"They were moved by Russian Spetsnaz (special ops) units out of uniform that were specifically sent to Iraq to move the weaponry and eradicate any evidence of its existence," he said.

Neither revelation—not the fact that there were WMD, nor that they went to Syria—is a surprise to anyone who has followed the story with anything approaching objectivity. Here are a few post's of my own on the subject:

-This should pop the balloon belonging to the "Bush lied about WMD's" camp.
-Panetta Said Bush Did Not Lie About Intel.
-Missing the point.
-MSM finds WMD in Iraq--again.
-Democrats on WMD's.
-Saddam's WMD have been found.
-The Other Shoe.
-Syria and North Korea Sittin' in a Tree...
-Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties
-Charles Duelfer Reports... What Exactly?

Read IBD's whole piece.

Bolton put the UN on notice.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton has indicated just how interested the U.S. is in reform at the UN.

Reuters
The United States threatened on Tuesday to delay the two-year United Nations budget unless reforms are approved by the end of the year, a move that could cause havoc for U.N. operations.

What I really want to say is WAHOO! But that would be undignified.

"Business as usual has gotten us to the state where we need a revolution in reform and business as usual isn't going to accomplish that revolution," Bolton said.

Bolton then hinted that the UN may have out-lived its usefulness.

"Americans are a very practical people and they don't view the U.N. through theological lenses," he said. "They look at it as a competitor in the marketplace for global problem-solving and if it's successful at solving problems they'll be inclined to use it."

You gotta love the guy.

Does this mean he's going to resign?

Annan Seeks to Restore Confidence in U.N.

Well, it would be a good start...

Hmmm. Could it be?

Did Annan Restrict Access to U.N. Papers?
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was allowed to supply whatever documents he thought were appropriate to Oil-for-Food investigators rather than having his offices searched, according to a source close to the investigation.

The revelation comes less than a week after two investigators with the independent panel probing Oil-for-Food, Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan, resigned. The panel is headed by Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

A source, who spoke to FOX News on condition of anonymity, said the problem with information was that the people who were making the decisions of what documents to turn over to the Volcker committee were the same people who were under investigation.

My faith in Kofi Annan and the UN is beginning to show some cracks.

Really... cracks.

     

Kuwaiti women allowed to vote

Very encouraging news from Kuwait.

Khaleej Times
Kuwait’s parliament approved a law yesterday allowing women to vote and run for the first time in municipal elections in the country, fuelling hopes for wider female suffrage.

Kuwaiti women are not out of the woods yet, but things are looking up.

Kuwaiti women are not allowed to vote or run in parliamentary polls but the government has introduced a bill to grant full female suffrage that has yet to be approved by the 50-man house.

There is opposition to full suffrage from those who do not want women to be able to participate in the national elections, but the bill has been introduced and debate is inevitable.

It looks like the democratization of the Middle East is being taken over--by the Middle East

Wolfowitz Nomination Shocks, Worries Europeans

As Mark Steyn said on the Hugh Hewitt show Wednesday (I paraphrase), big fearsome beast for the first part; scary Jewish sounding last part: Wolfowitz. He's not going to be a popular choice in Europe.

The Washington Post reports:

President Bush's nomination of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz as the next president of the World Bank was met with much surprise, little enthusiasm and some outright opposition in Europe.

Bingo. He must be the right choice.

European elites must be reading WaPo and the New York Times.

"We were led to believe that the neoconservatives were losing ground," said Michael Cox, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. "But clearly the revolution is alive and well."

Zare are two inturpritationz...

"There are two interpretations" of the selection of Wolfowitz, said Guillaume Parmentier, who heads the French Center on the United States, a research organization in Paris. "One is the optimistic one -- that this is going to take him away from U.S. policy. . . . The pessimistic interpretation is that this administration has to give sop to the far right. There was Bolton and now Wolfowitz -- where does it stop?"

Oh, zee andringing [ahem] the hand-ringing. The recent goodwill generated by the Bush/Rice visits to Europe might be damaged. How will they bear up under this latest onslaught from the right? Who knows what undeserving country will be forced by Wolfowitz to accept freedom and self government next? Where does it stop?

Update: The Wall Street Journal has an un-signed opinion piece which gives good reasons that Wolfowitz should head the ineffectual World Bank.

In Indonesia, and before that in the Philippines, he saw earlier than most, and spoke publicly about, the need for dictators to plan democratic transitions. Too bad they didn't take his advice. His predecessor at the Bank has devoted a lot of time to berating democratic donor states for being too "stingy" with their largesse, as if another $100 billion is all that stands in the way between the poor and their redemption.

Read the rest.