Anwar al-Awlaki Killed

We've been hunting Anwar al-Awlaki for quite some time and it appears that we finally got him. Details are unclear, but several news sources are reporting that he was killed in a drone strike. Naturally terrorist rights supporters are unhappy. I wrote about al-Awlaki and the ridiculous arguments of those claiming that he deserved "due process," a year ago in my post "Kill Anwar al-Awlaki."

Justice Served

There has been a lot of recent whining about the death penalty, based on a couple cases. But today we saw the death penalty serve its primary purpose: justice. The state of Texas executed Lawrence Russell Brewer for the incredibly vicious torture and murder of James Byrd back in 1998. In case you've forgotten, here's an account of the crime.

On June 7, 1998, Byrd, age 49, accepted a ride from Shawn Berry (age 24), Lawrence Brewer (age 31), and John King (age 23). Berry, who was driving, was acquainted with Byrd from around town. Instead of taking Byrd home, the three men took Byrd to a remote county road out of town, beat him with anything they could find, urinated on his unconscious body, chained him by his ankles to their pickup truck dragging him for three miles. Brewer later claimed that Byrd's throat had been slashed by Berry before he was dragged. However, forensic evidence suggests that Byrd had been attempting to keep his head up while being dragged, and an autopsy suggested that Byrd was alive during much of the dragging. Byrd died after his right arm and head were severed after his body hit a culvert. His body had caught the culvert on the side of the road, resulting in Byrd's decapitation.

Berry, Brewer, and King dumped their victim's mutilated remains in front of an African-American cemetery on Huff Creek Road; the three men then went to a barbecue.

Death penalty opponents often call execution "barbaric." In my opinion it is barbaric to allow those who would commit such a crime to go on living. It took a ridiculously long 13 years to execute just one of the murderers, but better late than never.

Effective Missile Defense

The Christian Science Monitor has a report on Israel's "Iron Dome" rocket defense system that credits it with contributing to a cease-fire with Hamas.

A key factor supporting the cease-fire was a new weapons system that allows Israel to protect its citizens and thereby lessen public pressure for swift retaliatory strikes on Gaza.

Though not fool-proof, the "Iron Dome" missile-defense system shot down about 20 militant rockets in recent days before they landed in Israel cities. That provided a window for mediators from Egypt and the United Nations to step in and calm the situation.

Iron Dome achieved a 93% success rate even though it has only deployed two of the fifteen batteries planned for defense against the Gaza terrorist attacks. For once the U.S. is getting its money's worth from some foreign aid, since Israel is essentially field-testing missile defense technology applicable to U.S. systems under actual hostile conditions.

Experts say the technology of Israel’s anti-missile interceptors – which also includes the Arrow II missile for Iranian ballistic rockets – is based on the same concepts as the US-conceived Star Wars missile defense program.

The other benefit, as the article emphasizes, is that effective defense against rockets lessens the need for immediate Israeli retaliation. This is important, since alone among states, Israel is expected to absorb rocket attacks against its cities without taking any serious retaliatory measures. When it takes even minimal measures against Gaza, its actions are called "excessive force" by Israel-haters and their useful idiots worldwide, and it comes under tremendous pressure to refrain from doing things necessary to protect its citizens. Even though it should have the right to use whatever force necessary to eliminate the terrorist threat from Gaza, Israel's unique position makes this rocket defense system even more significant than otherwise -- at least until Gaza terrorists find a new preferred method for targeting Israeli civilians.

The Libyan Situation

CNN has live updates of the changing situation. The key questions right now are, where is Gaddafi, and will he accept defeat? According to reports his son, a leading spokesman for the regime, was captured Sunday and most resistance in the capital has collapsed. It looks like the rebels have won. But does Gaddafi retain enough military strength and support to continue fighting? Ideally he'll be captured, killed or flee the country and go in to exile.

If we assume that Gaddafi is finished and the rebels will be able to establish a new government, that raises more questions for the U.S. First, when will our involvement end? Will we, as usual, decide that we need to give Libya huge amounts of aid to help rebuild the country? And second, what type of government will emerge? In my opinion our intervention was unnecessary and not in the U.S. interest. However, if a decent friendly or even neutral government takes over, one that removes Libya from the column of nations we need to worry about, the operation will have achieved positive results. Although it isn't hard to do better than Gaddafi, it is unfortunately also possible that the new government will be dominated by Islamists, or be in other ways as bad or worse as the dictator it replaces. Other than just supporting the rebels, I'm not sure what exactly we are doing to try and produce a positive outcome. Right now we are in wait and see mode.

Bin Laden Finally Eliminated

I was watching the Phillies - Mets game, still in progress as I write this, when the announcement came. Bin Laden, aside from being a murderous enemy, was a tough survivor. The Soviet Union couldn't manage to kill him, and we've been after him for at least ten years. As many suspected he was hiding out in Pakistan. It's great to see the U.S. pull off an effective covert operation, kill our most wanted terrorist enemy, and sustain no casualties in the process.

Covert teams assigned to kill enemy leaders should be one of our main weapons in this asymmetric war against radical Islamic non-state terrorists. It's unclear exactly who comprised this particular team, but based on first reports it appears to have been a CIA/military collaboration.
The death of Bin Laden should send a message to other enemies that if we can find and kill him, we can kill them too.

Tunisians Speak Out in Favor of Secularism

There was a positive sign yesterday in Tunisia as thousands turned out in a march "for secularism and religious tolerance."

"Our planning for the march for the defence of secularism is aimed at calling for co-existence among Tunisians of different religions and ideological and intellectual convictions," Tarek Sliti told Magharebia.

Sliti added, "We want to say to all people that Tunisia today can accommodate everyone, including secularists, Muslims, atheists, Jews and Christians."

This is not the kind of statement you hear too frequently in Muslim majority nations. They even included atheists. Naturally not everyone was on board.

a woman wearing the niqab stood at the opposite street carrying a banner denouncing secularism because "it calls for atheism". She was joined by other anti-secular protestors, who debated the issue with secular marchers.

But even with the counter-protesters and the calls to maintain Islam as the official religion, it's encouraging that a reported 15,000 people would take part in such a march in favor of secularism.

Knife-Wielding Criminals Meet Gun Owner

Right on the heels of my recent post about self-defense shootings in Kansas I happened upon another incident report, this time in Georgia. Two men attempted to rob a man at knifepoint in a parking lot. Unfortunately for them -- particularly for one of them -- their intended victim had a handgun.

a shopper was getting out of his car when he was attacked and held at knifepoint by two male suspects. ... Investigators say he struggled with the two men and was able to fire a weapon, killing Williams. According to the report, the robbery victim told a deputy "This guy tried to rob me and I shot him."

The man was injured during the struggle, but apparently not seriously. He's alive and un-robbed, thanks to the fact that he had a gun handy. Guns get quite a bit of bad publicity any time some nut goes on a shooting spree. But the fact is that guns are also routinely used in self-defense throughout the country. Many of the incidents garner little attention except for a mention in local news sources. And any day some violent criminal picks the wrong victim and ends up in the morgue is a good day in my book.

And here's a note for any pro-criminal apologists who have foolish sympathy for the poor attacker who supposedly didn't deserve to die for just a mere theft attempt... People like the shooter in this incident, and the apartment residents in the other, don't have the luxury of examining their options and trying to assess the motives of criminals. If someone breaks into your house, or grabs you and tries to put a knife to your throat you have to make an immediate decision under tremendous pressure. You don't know whether the criminal is simply going to take your money and go, or whether he's the type that doesn't want to leave any witnesses to his crime. If he's in your house it's even worse, because if you have a family, they are also at risk. In these situations a gun is a tremendous benefit to self-defense. It gives the weaker, the elderly and the outnumbered at least a fighting chance against a potentially lethal criminal, who may himself be armed with a firearm or other weapon. As I mentioned in the previous post, the fact that criminals in America have to fear being shot by their potential victims is a good thing.

Majority of Americans Favor Prosecution of Wikileaks

A new poll indicates that 70% of Americans recognize that Wikileaks is harming the U.S.

Americans overwhelmingly think that WikiLeaks is doing more harm than good by releasing classified U.S. diplomatic cables, and they want to see the people behind it prosecuted, according to a new McClatchy-Marist Poll.

A large majority of Republicans, 81%, see Wikileaks as harmful, and even 58% of liberals agree that it is doing more harm than good. 59% of Americans overall support prosecution of Wikileaks members. Only a delusional 22% see the leaks as positive. It would be interesting to find out how many support violent covert action against Wikileaks, as I and others on the right have advocated.

Pope Faces Reality on Condoms

The Vatican finally decided to recognize the reality that condoms are effective in fighting the spread of AIDS. After fighting a rear-guard action against condom use, receiving massive criticism, and coming up with all sorts of reasons why condoms are actually bad, the Pope has changed his mind.

it is acceptable to use a prophylactic when the sole intention is to "reduce the risk of infection" from Aids.

While he will restate the Catholic Church's staunch objections to contraception because it believes it interferes with the creation of life, he will argue that using a condom to preserve life and avoid death can be a responsible act – even outside marriage.

This is a major change from the church's previous absolutist position opposing all condom use. As the article points out,

The move by Pope Benedict is particularly surprising because he caused controversy last year by suggesting condom use could actually worsen the problem of Aids in Africa.

I've had little but criticism for this pope, but he should be commended for having the courage to realize that his previous position needed to be changed.

No Prosecutions for Keeping Secrets Secret

The Justice Department announced today that there will be no criminal prosecutions of CIA officers who destroyed interrogation tapes.

After a closely watched investigation of nearly three years, the decision by a special federal prosecutor is the latest example of Justice Department officials’ declining to seek criminal penalties for some of the controversial episodes in the C.I.A.’s now defunct detention and interrogation program.

Those tapes should have never been made in the first place, and those who destroyed them rightly recognized that they'd be a bonanza for anti-American propaganda should they become public.

Mr. Rodriguez [the key CIA officer involved] had argued that “the heat” agency officials would take over destroying the tapes “is nothing compared to what it would be if the tapes ever got into the public domain.”

Mr. Rodriguez told another top C.I.A. official that if the images were disclosed “out of context, they would make us look terrible; it would be ‘devastating’ to us,” an e-mail said. The tapes showed hours of interrogation of the two detainees, including the infliction of a technique called waterboarding that simulates drowning.

Details of CIA interrogation tactics should have remained secret. It's bad enough that so many details were released to the public as it is. But actual video would be even worse. Rodriguez and his associates should be commended for their actions, not investigated for prosecution. As his attorney says,

Rodriguez is “a hero and a patriot, who simply wanted to protect his people and his country,”

As I've pointed out many times before, intelligence agencies do all sorts of ugly things for national security purposes, many of which would be illegal if done in any other context. That's why we have restrictions on what the CIA can do inside the U.S. The very idea that we would prosecute a CIA officer for making sure that information damaging to America remains secret is crazy, and is typical of a blind legalistic attitude found among those who think nothing of crippling U.S. intelligence gathering capabilities. Fortunately even the Obama Justice Department has enough sense not subscribe to such an idea.

Thank You President Obama

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank President Obama and the Congressional Democratic leadership for making this great GOP electoral success possible. We couldn't have done it without you. Remember back in 2008 when people were trying to write off the GOP? Things looked pretty bleak for Republicans after George Bush and Congressional Republicans had so damaged the GOP brand over eight years. But President Obama and his allies managed to reverse the tide in only two short years, giving us a "historic" Republican victory -- not only a solid majority in the house, but more control over state legislatures than at any time since World War 2 (according to NPR). These short-term gains will be amplified by the upcoming redistricting, with the GOP massively dominating the rewriting of districts, locking in advantages for years to come. I wonder if "historic," Obama's favorite word, will still automatically equal "good" in his eyes.

You'll no doubt hear people trying to pretend that this is all about the economy, and the natural cycle of an off-year election. Feel free to greet that argument with the raucous laughter it deserves. Such a sweeping turnaround in only two years is a devastating rejection of Democratic policies & leadership. The voters have loudly rejected the notion that more government, more spending and a digging a bigger debt hole should be our policy directions. No one is buying Obama's claim that he saved us from a depression, or his imaginary numbers about supposed jobs saved and created. This election was first and foremost about the lousy performance of our Democratic leadership. But given that this president takes no responsibility and looks first to blame others for everything, I don't expect him to get the message.

Chris Christie Continues to Make Me Glad I Voted for Him

As I've mentioned before, when I voted for Chris Christie it was just a typical lesser of two evils vote. I had no idea he'd actually keep campaign promises and be a governor I'd be glad to have voted for. Today he killed the bloated, wildly over-budget Hudson River tunnel project.

“I have made a pledge to the people of New Jersey that on my watch I will not allow taxpayers to fund projects that run over budget with no clear way of how these costs will be paid for,” said the governor. “Considering the unprecedented fiscal and economic climate our State is facing, it is completely unthinkable to borrow more money and leave taxpayers responsible for billions in cost overruns.

That's not the kind of statement you hear from too many major politicians -- unless they are just making campaign promises.

Court Recognizes that Rendition Requires Keeping Secrets

Amazingly enough, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals actually ruled in favor of state secrets and against a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of individuals who claim they were kidnapped and tortured. The ruling is a major blow to terrorist rights supporters and their efforts to cripple U.S. intelligence operations. They've vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court, where it will hopefully be dismissed for good.

It's About Time

Texas executed Peter Anthony Cantu tonight for two murders committed back in 1993. He, along with fellow gang members, raped, tortured and murdered 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena and 14-year old Jennifer Ertman. Here's a brief description,

In what police later would describe as a sadistic frenzy, the girls were gang-raped for more than an hour. They were forced to perform oral sex. They were kicked, teeth knocked out and hair pulled out and ribs broken. A red nylon belt, with an attacker tugging at each end, was pulled so tightly around Ertman's neck the belt snapped. Shoelaces were used to strangle Pena. Evidence showed Cantu kicked one of the girls in the face with his steel-toed boot.

He should have been executed years ago. But better late than never. Good riddance.

Another Reason to Stay in Afghanistan?

The recent discovery of vast potential mineral resources in Afghanistan provided an incentive for continued U.S. involvement in the country. I wrote about it here.  Now Reuters is reporting that a large new oil field has been discovered in the north.

The discovery of the basin between northern Balkh and Shiberghan provinces was made after a survey conducted by Afghan and international geologists, said Jawad Omar, a spokesman for the ministry of mines.

"I do not know its price in the market. But the initial survey says there are 1.8 billion barrels of oil and I think there will be more than what it is estimated," he told Reuters.

As with the other resources, the U.S. should begin moving immediately in an attempt to exploit this find. We've pumped billions into Afghanistan with no end in sight, with much of that money disappearing without a trace -- not to mention the expenditure in American lives. The U.S. should do everything possible to extract favorable development concessions that will benefit U.S. firms and American workers. I doubt we will, but we should.

It's About Time

Murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed last night by firing squad. The execution was punishment for crimes committed in 1985. That's right, it only took a mere 25 years to carry out his sentence. The execution attracted attention because it's the first time the firing squad method has been used in fourteen years.

The executioners were all police officers who volunteered for the task and remain anonymous. They stood about 25 feet from Gardner, behind a wall cut with a gunport, and were armed with a matching set of .30-caliber Winchester rifles. One was loaded with a blank so no one knows who fired the fatal shot. Sandbags stacked behind Gardner's chair kept the bullets from ricocheting around the cinderblock room.

That's one murderer who won't be able to kill anyone else. It took way too long to get him executed, but better late than never. On a side note, Gardner's last meal was "steak, lobster tail, apple pie, vanilla ice cream and 7UP."

Continued Strong Support for Offshore Drilling

Good news on the energy front. Despite the big BP accident, and some polls showing a drop in approval for offshore oil drilling, the latest Research 2000/Daily Kos poll shows that support is still strong.

Do you favor or oppose increasing offshore drilling for oil and gas in U.S. coastal areas?
Favor 60
Oppose 32
Not Sure 8

QUESTION: Does the recent Deep Horizon oil spill make you more or less likely to favor increasing offshore drilling for oil and gas in U.S. coastal areas, or does it have no real effect on your point of view?
More likely 32
Less likely 13
No Effect 55

It appears most people understand that just because you have a big accident, you don't scrap vital efforts to obtain more domestic oil. Expect support for drilling to climb further if/when gas prices continue to rise into the summer.

Terrorizing the Terrorists

That's a policy I've advocated for some time. And while I've had my doubts about the drone assassination program, according to the New York Times, it is working to spread terror amongst our enemies -- and that's a good thing.

Militants now sneak into villages two at a time to sleep, he said. Some homeowners were refusing to rent space to Arabs, who are associated with Al Qaeda, for fear of their families’ being killed by the drones, he said.

You know you have an effective terror campaign when neutrals, some of whom might even be sympathetic to Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, turn against them out of fear for their own safety. 

The strikes have become so ferocious, “It seems they really want to kill everyone, not just the leaders,” said the militant, who is a mid-ranking fighter associated with the insurgent network headed by Jalaluddin and Sirajuddin Haqqani. By “everyone” he meant rank-and-file fighters, though civilians are being killed, too. ... Tactics used just a year ago to avoid the drones could not be relied on, he said. It is, for instance, no longer feasible to sleep under the trees as a way of avoiding the drones. “We can’t lead a jungle existence for 24 hours every day,” he said.

If this report, and the statements of this militant are representative, then the drone campaign has indeed succeeded in terrorizing our enemies. They live in constant fear of the drones, and the civilian population is turning against them.

I've been skeptical of the drone assassination campaign because of the ratio of enemy to civilian deaths, the danger of backlash and destabilization within Pakistan, and the limitations of a strategy based largely on air power. But if stories like this one are correct, it seems to be working. 

Good Riddance

Murderer and rapist Paul Warner Powell was executed today in Virginia, in a well-deserved use of the electric chair. He was convicted way back in 2000 for murdering a sixteen year old girl, and for raping and attempting to murder her fourteen year old sister. There was no question of his guilt. After his first conviction was overturned,

Powell wrote a taunting letter to prosecutors detailing the crime. He was convicted again in 2003.

He should have been executed years ago, but bettter late than never. 

Lobbyists Doing Good Work

According to the LA Times, "beverage lobbyists" have "smothered a plan to tax sugared beverages." Lobbyists get quite a bit of bad press, but here's an opportunity to congratulate them on a job well done. The whining tone of the Times piece is pretty amusing, mostly bemoaning the downfall of the scheme and portraying industry in a bad light -- as if another tax based on nanny-state do-gooderism was something we should have embraced.

Naturally the idea was pushed by a Democrat,  Rep. Linda T. Sanchez. Is there any area of life that Democrats don't think warrants government involvement and taxation?

Sanchez, who was recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes, was one of the committee members who pushed for consideration of the idea. She told a closed-door meeting of committee Democrats that it would be a political winner: "We are on the moral high ground here," she said. "We can improve health outcomes and get more revenue."

That pretty much encapsulates left-wing Democratic thinking in a nutshell. They know what's best for you, and they will force you to do it. And if you don't, they'll take more of your money to penalize you until you cooperate. Is it any wonder that the left exploded in outrage when the Supreme Court struck down limitations on free speech for corporate entities? Since they have -- in their own minds -- the "moral high ground," opponents shouldn't even be allowed to argue against their schemes.