:: Netmarcos' Notes ::

:: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 ::

Oh, now this is disgusting, but hardly shocking.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced today (Sunday) that UNWRA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) ambulances were used to steal and transport body parts of Israeli soldiers killed in last Wednesday’s bomb attack on the Philadelphi route in southern Gaza. The senior minister called upon UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan to address the disturbing phenomenon.

At today’s cabinet meeting, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said that the UN ambulance, which had also been used to transport terrorists, had been captured by security forces near the Philadelphi area. He said that only after intense diplomatic pressure did UNRWA announce that it would conduct an internal investigation into the matter. He issued a call to UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan as well, urging him to conduct an external audit examining the extent of the involvement of the UN aid program with terrorism.

:: Mark 8:42 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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You can view the video over HERE.
Nick Berg Video, Nick Berg's decapitation, beheading

:: Mark 10:33 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Boston.com / News / World / Spanish troops find return bittersweet: "Last week, Spanish soldiers hastily withdrawn from service in Iraq by the newly elected government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero returned to the sprawling military base here and a welcome-home ceremony. A sign at the base entrance read, 'Todo por la patria,' or 'All for the Country.'
But many of the soldiers said they were having a hard time mustering much pride about their homecoming, and they were anything but triumphant in their return to a country where the vast majority opposed the Iraq war. They certainly don't see themselves as conquerors, and they aren't returning with riches.
'It didn't really feel like that much of a homecoming for us. It felt more like a political celebration for Zapatero and those who never wanted us there in the first place,' said Manuel Garcia, 31, a sergeant in a brigade that was among the entire Spanish contingent of 1,300 troops ordered home.
'We felt like a used car being passed from one owner to the next,' said Felipe Collado, 30, also a sergeant in the Plus Ultra II brigade, which arrived home Wednesday to a ceremony attended by Zapatero, his defense minister, and top brass."

:: Mark 9:05 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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You need to read this pot from Belmont Club entitled "The Search For Greenmantle."

"There are Americans in Washington, but praise be to God, there are some nearer to the ground than that."

:: Mark 9:02 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Oh, yeah.

:: Mark 8:54 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Barbara Stock issues An Apology to the Pigs of the World.
Man, is she ever pissed. I find nothing in her column with which I would disagree. If the moderate muslims of the world (WHERE ARE THEY? Are they simply a construct of politicians and media conglomerates, or do they, in fact, exist?) do not make their voices heard in opposition to the policies and actions of Al Qaeda and its allies, we will be left to assume that they wish to be counted among them. We will fight for our survival and our liberty. We will fight for yours as well, if need be, but let us make this point perfectly clear: There is NO neutral ground in this conflict. With us, or with them. Make your choice and accept the consequences together with the responsibilities that this requires.

What much of the civilized world cannot understand, nor accept, is that we are in a war for our very survival. What this recent video clearly shows is not just an attack on an american, but an attack on the Unites States of America and all that we hold dear. For those outside the U.S., you are not exempt. The Spanish have learned this, and others will follow. If we are not successful in the current conflict, the world will pay a heavy price. The faction represented by those responsible for this act have been at war with the western world for decades. We are just now waking up to that reality and entering that conflict in our own defense. We may not like the whole idea of war. We may pray for peace and hope that all of this will just blow over if we close our eyes real tight and wish really hard, but it will not. I know that this sound harsh (and I have 6 sons and a daughter, so I know what is at stake), but we have to admit that there is a war going on here and that neutrality will not assure safety. This is a day that demands action. To become free requires effort and sacrifice...often at the cost of lives and loves. To maintain what has been won by such supernal sacrifice will require that we be willing to defend it again and again...as often as needed... or it will be lost. And the cost of regaining liberty, once lost, is beyond imagination.

We have lost the connection that we once had with the true price of freedom. We have, in great measure, become complacent and self-absorbed. We must all take stock of ourselves in light of what is happening in the world today and decide what - if anything - we should do. Decide whether what you hold dear is worth defending and how far you are willing to go to do so.

:: Mark 2:36 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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More accurate anlysis of our situation.

As Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong put it eloquently in his speech last week to the Council on Foreign Relations, "The key issue is no longer WMD or even the role of the U.N. The central issue is America's credibility and will to prevail." This was much the same point, made more brutally, by the tape put up on an al Qaeda-linked Web site yesterday showing the beheading of Nick Berg, an American from Philadelphia recently captured in Iraq.

In the face of these challenges and atrocities, Americans don't want to hear about "staying the course." They want to hear our commander-in-chief tell us how we are going to win.

:: Mark 2:09 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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More important stuff to read.Reductio ad Absurdum

:: Mark 2:06 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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A letter from the front, "I Ask That the American People Be Brave"
Just go read it.

:: Mark 2:01 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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From the BLACKFIVE: Someone You Should Know ArchivesSubject: A Real Hero SOMETHING THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE NEWS
You should read this and share it with your friends.

:: Mark 2:18 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Another point of view on the Abu Gharib prison. Very interesting.

:: Mark 2:09 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Victor Davis Hanson gives a well thought out analysis

of fads and fallacies that brought us to our present state.But if we know how we failed to respond in the last three decades, do we yet grasp why we were so afraid to act decisively at these earlier junctures, which might have stopped the chain of events that would lead to the al Qaeda terrorist acts of Sept/ 11? Our failure was never due to a lack of the necessary wealth or military resources, but rather to a deeply ingrained assumption that we should not retaliate--a hesitancy al Qaeda perceives and plays upon.

I hope that enough of us are listening that have the will to change.

:: Mark 4:05 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I went to see POTUS at the Cincinnati Gardens last night with my son and some 10,000+ of our closest friends. Pretty good perfromance and a very supportive crowd.

The Moonbats had about 50 representative across the street and most of the expected varieties were present. One particularly animated young woman was yelling "Morons for Bush!" at the crowd leaving the stadium, but she took pause when I agreed with her and added that, as long as all the morons vote for Bush, he will be re-elected in a landslide.

Gotta love it.

:: Mark 7:55 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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'Unfit to be Commander-in-Chief,' Ouch! This bit has got to sting.

Hundreds of former commanders and military colleagues of presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry are set to declare in a signed letter that he is "unfit to be commander-in-chief." They will do so at a press conference in Washington on Tuesday.

"What is going to happen on Tuesday is an event that is really historical in dimension," John O'Neill, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy as a PCF (Patrol Craft Fast) boat commander, told CNSNews.com. The event, which is expected to draw about 25 of the letter-signers, is being organized by a newly formed group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

"We have 19 of 23 officers who served with [Kerry]. We have every commanding officer he ever had in Vietnam. They all signed a letter that says he is unfit to be commander-in-chief," O'Neill said.

:: Mark 7:55 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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