Today the Butcher of Baghdad himself, Saddam Hussein, was brought to justice, courtesy of a hangman’s noose.
Iraq executed former President Saddam Hussein on Saturday, about two months after he was sentenced in Baghdad to hang for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims in Dujail in 1982, according to Iraqi state-run television Iraqiya.
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Christmas In Iraq And Other Thoughts
Christmas has come to Iraq today. Though I am not able to be home for the usual festivities this year, I am thankful to be defending my country on this fine, special day. Though the temperature has taken a plunge recently, the Lord God has shown his mighty hand this morning by allowing me to gaze at His beautifully pink Christmas sunrise. The peace I felt this morning on my way to breakfast while singing carols to myself is something I can’t describe. Somehow I felt connected to all those who have served on Christmas Day in some foreign country, fighting for the freedoms that Americans cherish today. I felt as if I belonged alongside those who have served and will continue to serve their country in a faraway land during the holidays.
Words cannot describe how I feel to be serving my country at Christmas. I know my family wishes that I could be home around the dinner table with them or unwrapping Christmas presents so lovingly placed under the tree. But I say to my friends and family - I am honored to be in Iraq, doing my part for the glorious cause of liberty. Though I cannot be with you today, know that I too am celebrating Christmas in my own special way. So please don’t worry about me feeling left out of Christmas; nothing could ruin the gratitude that I may be able to serve you this day.
So often with you think of Christmas, you think of brightly colored trees, presents, friends and family, and Christmas dinner. Serving overseas has allowed me to realize that some Christmas Days haven’t been all about traditional festivities or the grand shopping season. Even in 1776, American troops realized Christmas was not just a day to celebrate the birth of Christ, but was a day to fight for liberty:
During the night of December 25, Washington led his troops across the ice-swollen Delaware about 9 miles north of Trenton. The weather was horrendous and the river treacherous. Raging winds combined with snow, sleet and rain to produce almost impossible conditions. To add to the difficulties, a significant number of Washington’s force marched through the snow without shoes.
The next morning they attacked to the south, taking the Hessian garrison by surprise and over-running the town. After fierce fighting, and the loss of their commander, the Hessians surrendered.
The news of the American victory spread rapidly through the colonies reinvigorating the failing spirit of the Revolution. The battle’s outcome also gave Washington and his officers the confidence to mount another campaign. On December 30 they again crossed the Delaware, attacked and won another victory at Trenton on January 2, and then pushed on to Princeton defeating the British there on January 3.
Although not apparent at the time, these battles were a decisive turning point in the Revolution. The victories pulled the languishing Revolution out of the depths of despair, galvanized colonial support, shocked the British and convinced potential allies such as France, Holland and Spain, that the Continental Army was a force to be reckoned with.
Christmas has always been in the hearts and minds of American troops, even during wartime. An article from Time Magazine printed December 25, 1944, provides a proper and familiar prospective on how American troops stationed overseas during WWII celebrated Christmas. Like today’s Operation Iraqi Freedom, American troops had been fighting tyranny and oppression for four Christmases.
Excerpt:
This would be the fourth U.S. wartime Christmas. The first already seemed as if it had been in another decade. On Christmas Eve, 1941, antiaircraft guns were set up in the backyards of West Coast cities. San Antonio’s telephone system was jammed by a rumor—the Jap Fleet was cruising into the Gulf of Mexico. Electric toasters, alarm clocks, nylon stockings were still for sale. There were debutante balls at which orchestras played Blues in the Night. Everywhere, East, West and South, the people waited for air raids. Christmas, they thought, would be just the time the enemy would choose.
But now the air-raid sirens were silent, and the new factories, not yet built in 1941, were begrimed. The early battles at Wake and Manila seemed almost as distant as the Argonne.
Mud, Cold and Death. Christmas, 1944, would find millions of Americans overseas. To front-line troops, Christmas would be another day of mud, cold, death and wounds. There seemed no prospect of the spontaneous Christmas Day truces of World War I. But everywhere, on U.S. war fronts, there would be time for religious services—on the field, in tiny tents and in foreign churches. Sometimes the churches would also be crowded with white-swathed wounded.
In this spirit of the season and on behalf of those who have served and those who continue to serve, thank you all so much for your support. May God bless you and Merry Christmas!
Mitt Romney: The Tough Questions
Though not an “official ” presidential contender, Massachusetts Governor Mitt_Romney has all eyes on him, as he has vowed to make a decision about running for President of the United States after the new year. While many political commentators view Mitt Romney as a potentially strong candidate, other socially conservative critics view Romney as nothing but another Washington flip-flopper, especially in terms of abortion and same-sex marriage.
National Review Online’s Kathryn Jean Lopez got the lowdown from the Gov. Romney himself in a recent interview. An excerpt:
Lopez: As you know, in recent days the Boston Globe and the New York Times, as well as the Boston newspaper, Bay Windows, have run pieces about your 1994 race against Ted Kennedy and your run for governor that appear to be in conflict with your current position against gay marriage. Are they?
Gov. Romney: These old interviews and stories have frequently been circulated by my opponents ever since I took a stand against the Massachusetts supreme-court ruling on same-sex marriage. This being the political season, it is not surprising this old news has appeared again. But I have made clear since 2003, when the supreme court of Massachusetts redefined marriage by fiat, that my unwavering advocacy for traditional marriage stands side by side with a tolerance and respect for all Americans.
Like the vast majority of Americans, I’ve opposed same-sex marriage, but I’ve also opposed unjust discrimination against anyone, for racial or religious reasons, or for sexual preference. Americans are a tolerant, generous, and kind people. We all oppose bigotry and disparagement. But the debate over same-sex marriage is not a debate over tolerance. It is a debate about the purpose of the institution of marriage and it is a debate about activist judges who make up the law rather than interpret the law.
Lopez: In a 1994 debate with Senator Kennedy, you said “I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I have since the time that my Mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a U.S. Senate candidate. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it.” Further confusing matters, the Boston Globe reported in 1994 that “as a Mormon lay leader [you] counseled Mormon women not to have abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or where the mother’s life was at risk.” Governor: What is your position on abortion today? On Roe? How do you account for what is obviously a change — certainly publicly — on the issue?
Gov. Romney: My position has changed and I have acknowledged that. How that came about is that several years ago, in the course of the stem-cell-research debate I met with a pair of experts from Harvard. At one point the experts pointed out that embryonic-stem-cell research should not be a moral issue because the embryos were destroyed at 14 days. After the meeting I looked over at Beth Myers, my chief of staff, and we both had exactly the same reaction — it just hit us hard just how much the sanctity of life had been cheapened by virtue of the Roe v. Wade mentality. And from that point forward, I said to the people of Massachusetts, “I will continue to honor what I pledged to you, but I prefer to call myself pro-life.” The state of Massachusetts is a pro-choice state and when I campaigned for governor I said that I would not change the law on abortion. But I do believe that the one-size-fits-all, abortion-on-demand-for-all-nine-months decision in Roe v. Wade does not serve the country well and is another example of judges making the law instead of interpreting the Constitution.
Lopez: Does that mean you were “faking it” — as one former adviser has suggested — as a pro-choicer in your previous political campaigns? Why should anyone believe you’re really pro-life now?
Gov. Romney: I believe people will see that as governor, when I had to examine and grapple with this difficult issue, I came down on the side of life. I know in the four years I have served as governor I have learned and grown from the exposure to the thousands of good-hearted people who are working to change the culture in our country. I’m committed to promoting the culture of life. Like Ronald Reagan, and Henry Hyde, and others who became pro-life, I had this issue wrong in the past.
Read the rest at National Review.
Duncan Hunter: The GOP’s Chance at Redemption?
With the conclusion of the 2006 midterm election, almost immediately has the press and blogosphere turned to the next developments in the 2008 race for President of the United States. While much of the press is focused on Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, Rudy Giuliani, or John McCain, John Hawkins at RightWingNews.com has posted a great phone interview with California Congressman Duncan Hunter, who’s already declared his candidacy.
I’ve excerpted some parts of the interview that I thought were of major importance. Take a look:
John Hawkins: Talk to us about the war in Iraq. Give us a broad overview of what you think we should be doing right now.
Duncan Hunter: Well, the US is following in the same basic pattern that we’ve followed for 60 years in expanding freedom around the world. (The first step is) that we stand up a free government and we’ve done that in Iraq.
The second step is we stand up a military capable of protecting that government and the third step is the US leaves. We followed that pattern in Japan and the Philippines and Salvadore and our own hemisphere and it’s been the traditional and the effective method of this country spreading freedom around the world.
…I think the American people have been surprised by the enthusiasm with which the Iraqis have taken to elections and politics and right now we’re on the second phase, which is a very difficult phase and that’s standing up their military.
We are training the Iraqi military right now. We’ve got 470 embedded teams right now. Those are training teams within the Iraqi military itself and my recommendation to the President and to the Iraqis is that one thing they could do right now that would accelerate the maturation process for the Iraqi military is to pick the 27 battalions that are in the quiet provinces in Iraq - 9 of the 18 provinces have virtually no action taking place - take those 27 battalions and move them into the fighting in Baghdad and Anbar province in the Sunni Triangle.
Nothing matures a military force quicker than actual military operations. That develops cohesion that re-enforces the chain of command, develops combat effectiveness, and I think most importantly it validates the link between the military and the civilian government - that is, when the Ministry of Defense picks up the phone and calls a battalion commander and tells him to saddle up and move to Baghdad, if he doesn’t move, they need to reach into a battalion which is doing well, pull out a field officer and replace the officer who won’t move with one that will. So that is my recommendation to the President and one thing I told him is I’m sure that he’s not short on recommendations right now.
John Hawkins: Now, tell us a little bit about what we could expect from President Duncan Hunter on the illegal immigration issue beyond the fence. What else would we see? What would you want to do?
Duncan Hunter: Well, I think that we’ve got to do us a two-step program and the first step is to secure the border and the second step then is to…do internal enforcement. You’ve got 250,000 hard-core criminals - in federal, state, and local penitentiaries and jails. That means you have a large criminal element that’s operating within the US committing serious crimes against Americans and their property and once we secure the border, I would make an emphasized effort to ensure that we are to round up criminal aliens and…force their deportation.
John Hawkins: You’re a member of the fiscally conservative Republican Study Group, but the Club for Growth blog, among some others, has dinged you a little bit for voting for some bills that a lot of fiscal conservatives might (oppose). So, let me ask you: if you become President, what would you do to erase the deficit and what could fiscal conservatives expect from you?
Duncan Hunter: Well, first, …I’m a supporter of supply side economics and I think the general proposition that if you leave a few bucks in the pockets of American businesses rather than take it for taxes, …(then) the tax base is actually increased and revenue is enhanced. I believe that’s a valid proposition and I support that and that’s been reflected in my voting record for tax cuts. So I think that’s the way you supply - you increase the revenues into the federal government and you do that by encouraging growth.
John Hawkins: Would you like to see Roe v. Wade overturned?
Duncan Hunter: Yes. You know, I’m the author of the personhood-at-conception bill which right now has over 100 co-sponsors …that would define personhood as moment of conception, so, it would allow us to have a reversal of the effects of Roe v. Wade without a constitutional amendment.
John Hawkins: As President, it is entirely possible that you’d have an opportunity to select one or perhaps even multiple Supreme Court Justices. Can you tell us what you’d look for in a Supreme Court nominee and if there’s anyone on the court now who sort of embodies what you’re looking for in a judge?
Duncan Hunter: I’d just say that I think that I would like to see strict constructionists and people of great wisdom and I’d also like to see people who have a heart for the least of those among us and certainly that would be reflected in the unborn.
Read the rest at RightWingNews.com.
Patrick Henry and the War on Terror
In these crucial and trying days, it is necessary to review from time to time why we’re fighting the War on Terrorism. Like our union’s founding fathers or WWII’s greatest generation, it is our time to answer the call for freedom from tyrannous madmen who would destroy our way of life.
Patrick Henry, a renown American patriot and a father of the resistance in the American War for Independence realized that we must never back down on our commitments to freedom. As he put it so bluntly on March 23, 1775:
…if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained–we must fight!
Unlike “cut and run” politicians of today, patriots like Patrick Henry knew the value of freedom; he knew the value of not compromising until our “glorious object” of freedom was obtained. Mr. Henry knew that to abandon the struggle those early patriots fought for would end in disaster for the union and would render any chance of liberty infinitely futile.
Patrick Henry’s speech to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775 would live on as a speech of conviction and inspiration to modern day American patriots. We must never forget the values our founders taught us in those early years, nor the sacrifice they endured while leading our early union to absolute victory.
Excerpt of Patrick Henry’s speech:
There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free–if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending–if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained–we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength but irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable–and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! Peace!” — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
An awesome reminder of the resolve of the American people after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941:
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Unlike the majority of Americans today, the greatest generation had the necessary strength to defeat the evil of its time. The words of then President Franklin Roosevelt remind us of his generation’s great determination in ridding the world of Nazism and fascism:
As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense, that always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.
Unlike today’s impatient, value-lacking government hacks, the greatest generation thought freedom was worth fighting for. The difference couldn’t be any clearer- just look at what the defeatists in Washington are producing these days, 79 recommendations for a “cut and run” from Iraq.