Senators, You Are No Jack Kennedy

Barely 72 hours before voting began in a historic first multi-party, democratic election anywhere in the Muslim World, Senator Ted Kennedy made an all-out attempt to discourage the success of this effort, in a speech that caused a major international stir - and was given characteristic 'spin room' treatment in the UK newspaper The Scotsman:

"It will not be easy to extricate ourselves from Iraq, but we must begin," Mr Kennedy said.

In Britain, politicians said his call was a sign that the mood was changing but cautioned against too quick a pull-out.

Greg Pope, a Labour member of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said: "This is a sign that mood in America is changing. When, after the elections, we have a democratically-elected parliament accountable to the Iraqi people, the President and Prime Minister must start to set out an exit strategy.’’

Cambridge MP Anne Campbell, who quit as a ministerial aide over the conflict said: "I hope this is a sign that the mood is changing. We can’t withdraw until the Iraqi security forces can deal with the problems themselves or the violence has stopped but the coalition needs to start giving some idea of a withdrawal timetable.

"One idea being mooted is pulling some of the British troops out of the South where it is relatively peaceful to send out the right signals that we aren’t going to be there for good. ’’

Reports from Washington suggest Mr Blair wants President Bush to say coalition forces will be withdrawn over the next 18 months. The pull-out would depend on the ability of Iraq’s armed forces to take over responsibility for security.

This is a classic example of MSM putting a left-wing "polish" on hard news. Too bad for them that new media blogs can swat this kind of propaganda (like a bug). It doesn't "play in Peoria" any more.

The Iraqi people have overwhelmingly slammed Ted Kennedy's pronouncement of failure by voting today - in percentages that will, in all likelilhood, be greater than the recent U.S. presidential election. In turnout figures predicted at 50 to 60% by CBS News, and as high as 72% by South African news sources - which eclipse the highly-lauded first South African elections. And today's events, in effect a "Velvet Revolution" of historic turnover of power from the entrenched Sunni minority to the traditionally (throughout the Muslim world) subjugated Shiite majority - is as 'cosmic' a power change as the move to majority rule in South Africa. Just as it was not without controversy that Bill Clinton sent American forces on a long commitment in the Balkans, it is not without controversy that the cause of democracy continues its march on this planet. It is up to us, as George W. Bush steadfastly reminds, to decide which side of history we will be on.

In Arabic, the concepts of democracy are so foreign that the word "vote" has no direct corollary - it is, in effect, a word without meaning to Arabic speakers. إقترع,إنتخب, أعلن, إقترح
The word chosen to reflect the heretofore unknown act of democratic suffrage means "voice" in Arabic.
لفظ صوتا, عبر, دوزن آلة موسيقية
The Iraqi people have been hankering to be heard. And terrorism will have no place in nations that likewise give their people voice through democratic elections.

In other words, against the threat of gun and bomb - Iraqi people voted to a degree that was far greater than the percentage of Americans voting for John Kerry - who today dourly questioned the legitimacy of the Iraqi election - claiming it has been "overhyped." So much for logic from Senator Soundbite. Time and again, politicians of the left make these pronouncements. One might truly begin to see that they value their own hold on power more highly than the lives and freedom of millions. This is extremism become mainstream. This is statues of Lenin come to America. For Senators Kerry and Kennedy, freedom is just so much 'hype' if they aren't in charge. Even left-wing columnists are telling them to tone it down, that they are too obvious.

Today is a great day in history. And in that spirit I welcome a new web link Terrorism Central and blog Digital Brown Pajamas to my daily read - I commend them to your edification! Keep your chin up, head in the game, and...

Illegitimi Non Carborundum
Don't let the bastards get you down! While we work up an Arabic translation of that, ponder the Kerry-Kennedy alternative...



It is dangerous in Iraq today, to be sure. And there will be tough challenges ahead on the road to democracy. But the Iraqi people are on that road. And as perilous as that journey might be, it is a journey in freedom. With sometimes faltering steps, to be sure - but free of the shackles of meglo-maniacal despotism. No longer a terror state. This is a new beginning:

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others...

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction...

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings...

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man...
- President John F. Kennedy