Reporter-God Sy Hersh's Dixie Chick Moment

Seymour Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist-icon has had a bit of a DCM -- a Dixie Chicks Moment -- in an interview with a German publication. In doing so, he inadvertently reveals that he is amazingly, deeply confused and disturbed, bedazzlingly transcending normal human capacity for illogical thinking.

Before we get to his DCM, let's start a bit more gently, with two excerpts from Hersh just a couple paragraphs apart in his interview with Spiegel:

You have to ask yourself what interest we had 40 years ago for going to war in Vietnam. You'd think that in this country with so many smart people, that we can't possibly do the same dumb thing again. I have this theory in life that there is no learning. There is no learning curve. Everything is tabula rasa. Everybody has to discover things for themselves.

[...]

There are two very clear options [for the U.S. in Iraq]: Option A) Get everybody out by midnight tonight. Option B) Get everybody out by midnight tomorrow. The fuel that keeps the war going is us.

Everything to the left is tabula rasa. Everybody on the left, including Sy Hersh, has no learning curve. He saw the expansion of totalitarianism through South Asia, destroying Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma, after we abandoned Vietnam. It didn't register. He knows millions died because of this totalitarian tsunami, but he has forgotten the lesson that is there to be learned.

In other words, he didn't see the looming threat of Communist Totalitarianism in Southeast Asia then, just as he doesn't see the looming threat of Islamist Totalitarianism globally now. No, he tells us, the fuel that keeps the war going is not the very real threat of global jihad; it's merely George W. Bush's evangelical jingoism.

We'll make one more stop before we get to the really outrageous statement. (You may be surprised I'll be able to trump this one.)

... the Surge was a con game of putting additional troops in there. We've basically Balkanized the place, building walls and walling off Sunnis from Shiites. And in Anbar Province, where there has been success, all of the Shiites are gone. They've simply split.

Three sentences, three abysmally flawed and distorted statements.

I've heard the surge called a lot of things, but a con game? Con games by definition don't work, yet the surge is working. And who exactly is Hersh calling a con man? Bush, of course. But also Petraeus and his staff. This is MoveOn.org stuff.

Yes, we have built a wall or two in Iraq, but Hersh is caught in the classic leftist trap of ignoring of the obvious: Iraq was far more Balkanized under Saddam Hussein's reign, where Sunnis ruled all and all others suffered genocide or near-genocide.

And all the Shi'ites have fled Anbar? At this point, the reporters (Charles Hawley and David Gordon Smith) simply should have turned off the microphone and excused themselves. After all, why give an idiot the time of day?

The population of Anbar is, and has been for some time, 95 percent Sunni. I'd say the ethnic cleansing that went on there during the Saddam's reign of Sunni terror had already pretty efficiently purged that stretch of desert of Shi'a. Now, with cooperative efforts against Sunni terrorists in Anbar, things are more safe for Shi'a there, not less safe.

But Hersh has just been winding up for his pitch until this point. Here comes the DCM:

The Surge means basically that, in some way, the president has accepted ethnic cleansing, whether he's talking about it or not. When he first announced the Surge in January, he described it as a way to bring the parties together. He's not saying that any more. I think he now understands that ethnic cleansing is what is going to happen. You're going to have a Kurdistan. You're going to have a Sunni area that we're going to have to support forever. And you're going to have the Shiites in the South.

While ethnic cleansing can include mere expulsion, the common understanding of the word is that it involves wholesale killing and vicious intimidation of an ethnic minority in order to achieve ethnic homogeneity. The term came into existence in the Bosnian/Croatian war, where genocidal massacres occurred in the name of ethnic cleansing.

The Left can call Bush stupid all they want and it's fine with me because all it does is make them look prejudiced and foolish; but for Hersh to say that our president is no different than a Slobodan Milošević is a slam of a different and far more troubling nature.

All you have to do is look at the language of ethnic cleansing to see how rabidly over the line Hersh is. Here's how the UN resolution defining the practice puts it:

Deploring the grave situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the serious
deterioration of the living conditions of the people there, especially the Muslim and Croat populations, arising from the aggression against the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which constitutes a threat to international peace and security,

Alarmed by the prospect of further escalation of the fighting in the region,

Expressing grave alarm at continuing reports of widespread violations of international humanitarian law occurring within the territory of the former Yugoslavia and especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including reports of mass forcibile expulsion and deportation of civilians, imprisonment and abuse of civilians in detention centres and deliberate attacks on non-combatants, hospitals and ambulances, impeding the delivery of food and medical supplies to the civilian population, as well as wanton devastation and destruction of property,

Ask yourself: Is this what has been happening in Iraq since the surge? The "widespread violations of international humanitarian law" have downturned sharply because the perpetrators -- Islamofascists, not Bush -- are being killed off.

"Mass forcible expulsions?" There have been none.

"Imprisonment and abuse of civilians?" Under Hussein, a lot. Perpetrated by al Qaeda, for sure, and awful. While the U.S. surge forces and their Iraqi allies imprison many who deserve to be imprisoned, they are not into the abuse and abusive imprisonment of civilians.

"Deliberate attacks on non-combatants?" This is too easy. Here's the answer, courtesy of A Second Hand Conjecture (h/t Gateway Pundit):

Hersh, as he did in reporting Mai Lai 40 years ago and Abu Ghraib earlier in this war, continues the liberal MSM tradition of not letting mere facts get in the way of Grand Prejudices. And because he does, media outlets like Spiegel treat him like a god, not a dangerous buffoon, when they interview him.

Sweet Irony, Jihadist Style

In a sweeping mulit-culti gesture, Virginia gov. Tom Kaine appointed a diverse mix of citizensto a state commission on the benefits and costs of immigration and the effects on federal immigration policies on the state. Included was Muslim American Society president Dr. Esam S. Omesh.

Well, it appears that one of the costs of immigration is that you get an anti-Semitic, holocaust-supporting, jihad-loving Islamofascist on state commissions:

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine examined online videos Thursday that show a man he appointed to the state Commission on Immigration condemning Israel and advocating "the jihad way," his spokesman said.

In a video that appears on YouTube, Muslim American Society president Dr. Esam S. Omesh is shown at an August 2006 rally in Washington denouncing an invasion of Lebanon by the "Israeli war machine."

Omesh ... also accused Israel of genocide and massacres against Palestinians and said the "Israeli agenda" controls Congress.

In a separate, undated video, Omesh tells a crowd of Washington-area Muslims: "...you have learned the way, that you have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land."

That video was credited to Investigative Project, a Washington-based organization that investigates radical Islamic organizations. (Breitbart/AP)

You can find YouTube's Omesh videos here. The man has beliefs as vile of those of the KKK, and those beliefs should preclude him of holding a position of influence in an American state.

Leftyblogs: A Bunch Of Ft. Dix-Heads

Yesterday, rather than cover the Ft. Dix arrests, the Leftyblogs stampeded into the I'm OK You're OK Coral to flee from the true threat Islamofascism poses to America, and the resulting need for good intelligence, as provided by the Patriot Act.

I summarized the responses of some key Leftyblogs: Four of the largest ignored the event entirely, one protested the use of "Islamic militants," and one of the foremost thinkers among the group, Joshua Micah Marshall, said in Talking Points Memo:

You've probably seen the reports out this morning of six New Jersey men ("Islamic radicals")arrested for plotting to attack Fort Dix. We'll have to see how this one pans out. But it's worth remembering that we're coming up on the one year anniversary of the raid on the headquarters of the 'Seeds of David' terror cult in Liberty City Florida.

It's always hard for me to see how these aren't as serious as they appear. But there is a record.

Maybe this afternoon's report from AP will make it a bit easier for JMM to see fanatic Islamism for what it is. Maybe it'll turn his thinking around so he gives some talking points worth talking about. Maybe not.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Federal authorities said Wednesday that six Muslim men suspected of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were on the verge of carrying out the attack when they were arrested this week.

"I think they were in the last stage of planning," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said. "They had training, they had maps, and I think they were very close to moving on this.

"Our view was they had pretty much gotten to concluding the planning phase of this and were looking to obtain heavy weaponry -- and if not from us, they were going to try to obtain it elsewhere."

Of course he didn't change his viewpoint one iota. There's no mention whatsoever of Ft. Dix in his posts so far today. Rather than deal with the chance of terror on our shores, here's what JMM thinks is important today, as told by the subjects of his 16 posts thus fartoday:

Fired U.S. attorneys, Green Zone security, attacking the White House on Iraq (as opposed to attacking terrorists), fired U.S. attorneys, Guantanamo (it must go!!!), Mark Penn, fired U.S. attorneys, GOP lies on CNN, fired U.S. attorneys, fired U.S. attorneys, fired U.S. attorneys, Gore campaign, fired U.S. attorneys, Abramoff, Romney, huffy Republicans.

Wow. Talk about a platform for victory in '08! Talk about really speaking to the cares and concern of Everyman.

Somebody, anybody, answer me this: If this is the best the Left has to offer, then why are all the Dem candidates running hard to the Left?

And after the primaries, how hard do you suppose the winner will run back to the center?

Ft. Dix Update: Where's The Left?

It was really quite a story -- Islamists from several countries working together, training with automatic weapons, mapping out the base, and planning their infiltration strategies, only to be busted by local and federal authorities tipped off by a video store clerk.

You might think that the major leftyblogs would address this matter because they are, you know, for America and all. Well, let's take a look.

The misnamed AmericaBlog failed to mention the arrest of six would-be jihadists intent on killing American troops at Ft. Dix. Instead we read whiny complaints that Al Sharpton had been "attacked" by Baptists. Oh, I get it. We have Baptists to fear.

Kos ignored the event too, finding it much more important to write about an exploding star 240 million light years away than a potentially exploding Albanian in New Jersey.

Crooks and Liars didn't want to write about Islamists today, but were more than happy to write about Christianists.

Atrios at Eschaton also chose to ignore the incident, but I can't for the life of me find anything he posted today that's the least bit intersting, so I won't trouble you with any links.

Talk Left mentioned it in a brief post in which Jeralyn chose not to focus on the the emerging homegrown threat Islamism is posing in the western world. Instead she quoted Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who's represented loads of Guantanamutts, who complained that our government called them "Islamic militants."

Joshua Micah Marshall at Talking Points makes the same point then steps even further into the dank, dark deep of denial:

You've probably seen the reports out this morning of six New Jersey men ("Islamic radicals")arrested for plotting to attack Fort Dix. We'll have to see how this one pans out. But it's worth remembering that we're coming up on the one year anniversary of the raid on the headquarters of the 'Seeds of David' terror cult in Liberty City Florida.

It's always hard for me to see how these aren't as serious as they appear. But there is a record.

At least he stopped before he went even further into Happy Pretend Land, where Lefties actually believe that a country with porous borders and court challenges to meaningful intelligence efforts is somehow magically immune from attack. As if 9/11 had never occurred.

Attention, Lefties! Place your hands over ears and shout, "I can't hear you! I can't hear you!" Because as long as you don't hear what's really going on, you can keep criticizing those who are trying to save you, and keep siding with those who want to kill you.

Another U.S. Islamist Attack Foiled

The initial press reports call the six foiled terrorists "nationals of the former Yugoslavia," which, given the battles Islam has waged for centuries to wrest Adriatic lands from Christianity, is a pretty keen alternative to coming right out and saying "Islamofascist terrorists."

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - Six nationals of the former Yugoslavia were arrested early Tuesday on charges they plotted to attack the Fort Dix Army base and "kill as many soldiers as possible," federal authorities said.

The six were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Camden later Tuesday to face charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. servicemen, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey. Five of them lived in Cherry Hill, he said.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because documents in the case remain sealed, said the men were arrested as part of a joint federal and local investigation.

The officials said the attack was stopped in the planning stages.

Let's hear it again for the Patriot Act! Once again it appears to have functioned as it was supposed to -- allowing authorities to capture bad guys before they could kill good guys. Only a bad guy, a pathetically clouded-thinking liberal or a too-extreme privacy hawk can't understand that.

Virgins Await You, Khalid! Strap On The Bomb Vest!

If you're having trouble reading the caption, it says, "Much to their surprise, the Virgins awaiting the Muslims in Heaven were not quite what they expected."

hat/tip: Jim

Things You Don't See In The U.S. And Israel

Insurgents detonated a bomb in a car with two children in it after using the children as decoys to get through a military checkpoint in Baghdad, an American general said Tuesday.

Speaking at a news briefing at the Pentagon, Maj. Gen. Michael Barbaro, deputy director for regional operations at the Joint Staff, said American soldiers had stopped the car at the checkpoint but had allowed it to pass after seeing the two children in the back seat.

“Children in the back seat lower suspicion,” he said, according to a transcript. “We let it move through. They parked the vehicle. The adults run out and detonate it with the children in back.” (NYT)

Go ahead. Ask a Lib if we are fighting an evil enemy. They'll just tell you Bush and Israel are evil.

Is KSM Bragging?

The Left, the conspiracy theorists, the MSM and the front men for Islam all are greeting Kahlid Sheik Mohammed's confession in Guantanamo as either over-coerced by the CIA or over-stated by a braggadocio terrorist.

As the WSJ says today, let's hope they're right.

The chain of carried out and planned events reveal horrific schemes that, if successful, would have killed over 10,000 people; perhaps as many as 25,000 by my rough estimating. Nearly all would not have been combatants in the war against Islamfascism; they would have been moms and dads, kids, grandparents ... innocents.

Those who are trying to ignore the ferocious, appalling goals of Islamofascism -- whether it's by criticizing the KSM confession or by sitting in their seats in Congress and undercutting the war -- are trying to turn back the clock to Sept. 10, 2001, when they still thought they could get away with ignoring the jihadist threat.

Here's how the WSJ editorial described those who would pretend we're not at war:

But we think KSM's world of war makes clear that, if anything, President Bush understated the danger posed by the 14 "high-value" enemy combatants he transferred to Guantanamo last autumn. And it reveals just how terribly mistaken was the view of those who told us, pre-9/11, that terrorism was merely a law enforcement threat like any other.

That view permeated the CIA, where Paul Pillar helped run the Counterterrorist Center and wrote that "There is no. . . BinLadentern" akin to the old Communist Comintern. He denounced "overheated rhetoric that has spun out ever more frightening and unusual ways in which terrorism might inflict large numbers of casualties." And he deprecated President Clinton for ordering government agencies to examine the plausibility of a biological attack on New York City after he'd read "The Cobra Event," Richard Preston's 1998 novel on the subject.

When the 9/11 Commission concluded that the failure to avert that awful day was above all "a failure of imagination," the Pillar world view is Exhibit A. And we mention it here because now, after five years without a terror attack on U.S. soil, that view is making a comeback in the growing opposition to holding enemy combatants in Guantanamo or to warrantless wiretaps of al Qaeda.

As KSM makes clear, bin Laden and his acolytes declared "war" on the U.S. in his fatwa of 1998, a fact the U.S. only figured out on September 11. He professes to regret the death of women and children, but calls such indiscriminate killing "the language of any war" and justified by his religious motivation.

"For sure, I'm American enemies," said KSM in his broken English. For sure, too, he is a reminder of the evil that still confronts us in this conflict with radical Islam, and one that we underestimate at our existential peril.

As the Surge begins working, as Iran looks better than ever, we have KSM making the terrorists look worse than ever. And as his confession circulates, as the car bombs aren't going off in Iraq, Congress continues to say there's no war here, there's nothing for us to win, let's just go home, comfy in the knowledge that this whole Islamofascism thing was a bad dream.

Wake up!

Tough Break For 9/11 Conspiracy Nuts

Breaking news from AP:

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, confessed to that attack and a string of others during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a transcript released Wednesday by the Pentagon.

"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Mohammed said in a statement that was read during the session, which was held last Saturday.

Thus confirming that he is a bastard of unfathomable scale who will fry for eternity in the hottest corner of Hell. Read more here.

Of course, the 9/11 conspiracies, like all conspiracies, will never die; it will just require that more and more people never divulge the truth. Now the entire staff at Guantanamo will have to never tell that Mohammed didn't really say this, it was all made up ....

Sheesh.

Safronov Set To Reveal Secret Russian Arms Deals

Dead -- murdered? -- Russian journalist Ivan Safronov told friends just before his mysterious death that he planned to expose secret Russian arms deals with Syria and Iran. Moscow News:

Safronov told his colleagues that he was going to check the information about new deals to supply Russian weapons to the Middle East — the sale of the Su-30 jets to Syria and S-300V surface-to-air missiles to Iran.

The reporter said that in both cases the weapons were to be supplied via Belarus to protect Russia from Western accusations of supporting rogue states.

He added that he was not going to write about these facts immediately because he had received warnings from the Russian security service, the FSB, that the international scandal would lead to his arrest and trial over disclosure of state secrets.

No wonder Vladamir Putin works so hard to keep Aleksandr Lukashenko in power in Belarus! As the launderer for Moscow's deals to arm the Islamofascist terrorists who are fighting us and killing our troops, Lukashenko holds the key to the foreign capital Putin so desperately needs.

Safronov was poised to blow the cover on Putin's proxy war against America and now he's dead. And guess what? The NY Times isn't covering the story.