Independent Women's Forum - Research Areas > National Security

Bloggingheads

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:58:00 EST

Be sure to catch Inkwell's own Charlotte Hays on a new episode at Bloggingheads.tv. Charlotte debates L.A. Times columnist Rosa Brooks on subjects ranging from the surge to President Bush's maturity level.

View the surge segment here or watch the whole episode here.

New at IWF

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:26:00 EDT

In her latest Charlotte's Web column, Charlotte Hays talks Iraq:

"We obviously didn't go into Iraq with the goal of creating an Al Qaeda stronghold there. But Al Qaeda came. And now we have it almost within our grasp to deal a devastating blow to America's number one enemy. It may actually be easier to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq than along the Pakistani border because in Iraq we don't have to worry about inadvertently toppling General Pervez Musharraf's shaky regime.

"That the U.S. has turned a corner in the fight with Al Qaeda in Iraq was one of the conclusions one might take away from what General David Petraeus said in two days of measured testimony on Capitol Hill. And are our representatives rolling in glee over the prospect of a potential victory against Al Qaeda?"

For the answer, check out her article here.

If It Were Your Plane, Wouldn't You Have Kicked Them Off?

info@iwf.org (Charlotte Allen) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 13:29:00 EST

Department of No Comment:

Item #1:

From the Washington Times (thanks, Mark Shea):

"Witnesses said three of the imams were praying loudly in the concourse and repeatedly shouted 'Allah' when passengers were called for boarding US Airways Flight 300 to Phoenix.

"'I was suspicious by the way they were praying very loud,' the gate agent told the Minneapolis Police Department.

"Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks -- two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.

"'That would alarm me,' said a federal air marshal who asked to remain anonymous. 'They now control all of the entry and exit routes to the plane.'

"A pilot from another airline said: 'That behavior has been identified as a terrorist probe in the airline industry.'

"But the imams who were escorted off the flight in handcuffs say they were merely praying before the 6:30 p.m. flight on Nov. 20, and yesterday led a protest by prayer with other religious leaders at the airline's ticket counter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport."

Item #2

From Stop the ACLU (thanks, RealClearPolitics)

"A federal judge has ruled that a portion of a post-Sept. 11 executive order allowing President Bush to create a list of specially designated global terrorist groups is unconstitutionally vague.

"U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins, in a Nov. 21 ruling released Tuesday, struck down the provision and enjoined the government from blocking the assets of two foreign groups which were placed on the list.

"The ruling was praised by David Cole, a lawyer for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

"'This law gave the president unfettered authority to create blacklists,' he said. 'It was reminiscent of the McCarthy era.'

Item #3:

From Reuters (thanks, Drudge)

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a letter to the American people on Wednesday, accused their government of "coercion, force and injustice" and urged the United States to pull out of Iraq.

"Ahmadinejad's five-page letter also called on Washington to recognize a Palestinian state and cautioned the Democratic Party that, after gaining control of the U.S. Congress, they would be "held to account by the people and by history."...

"The Iranian leader, who wrote an 18-page letter to President George W. Bush in May that Bush never responded to, said he was now writing to the American people in friendship because Iran and the United States shared a responsibility "to promote and protect freedom and human dignity and integrity."

"'Governments are there to serve their own people. No people wants to side with or support any oppressors. But regrettably, the U.S. administration disregards even its own public opinion and remains in the forefront of supporting the trampling of the rights of the Palestinian people,' he said."

And Now for the Good News

info@iwf.org (Charlotte Allen) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 11:20:00 EST

Um, let's see. The one Democrat I was rooting for won. Ahnuld swept California. And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, the GOP will prevail in either Virginia or Montana, which will save the Senate.

As for the rest of yesterday's debacle, Captain Ed Morrissey says it best:

"I don't think anyone can honestly look at the results tonight and say that we saw anything less than a trip to the woodshed for the Republicans. We may hold the Senate by the barest of margins, but the House is gone in a substantial manner. Some will make comparisons between this six-year election and those past (1986, 1974, 1958) and claim a moral victory in containing the losses, but that simply won't fly.

"This is a big loss, and it will hurt the GOP and the Bush administration. Even if we do hold the Senate, we will have to find compromise candidates for the federal bench, and also look forward to more taxes and regulation. Free trade is a goner. The prosecution of the war on terror will get limited by a probable repeal of the Patriot Act, or at least an attempt to do so, and I'm very sure the Democrats will move to defund the operations in Iraq by a date certain in order to force a 'phased redeployment.'

"And that's not even counting the myriad investigations that Democrats will launch against the Bush administration. Republicans will keep it from getting out of hand, but the Democrats will want to build enough damaging allegations to win again in 2008.

"However, in terms of policy at least, the American people have spoken. The majority endorsed these views, and now we have to see them play out. We can certainly criticize it -- and we will -- but we have to respect the voice of the American electorate. They wanted a different direction, and now they have to experience its consequences."

Read what Carrie says below about the kind of basics that the Republicans need to get back to.