Heck, if he's going to comment on my site, might as well steal his stuff for a post:

The problem here is to make sure that we don't sow the seeds of the next war in how we settle this one. That's the lesson of the Treaty of Versailles, probably the most misbegotten "peace" treaty in history. It virtually guaranteed another war by its terms.

Creation of an independent Kurdistan would certainly be popular with the Kurds, and we must be cognizant of the fact that they were the only Iraqis who actively joined us to fight against Saddam when we invaded. (For reasons of self-interest, of course, but the fact remains.)

However, if an independent Kurdistan comes into existence, it's only a matter of time before it ends up fighting a border war with Turkey and/or with Iran. I think even the Kurds know that, which is why they aren't really working as hard to demand tripartition as they might be. Their best case is for a strongly federal Constitution which permits the Kurdish region a great deal of independence while at the same time retaining Kurdish membership in a united Iraq, which would guarantee Kurdish security against Turkey and Iran.

By the same token, if the nation were split into three, with the Sunnis in their own oil-poor segment, it would only be a matter of time before it ended up in open warfare with the Shiite fragment.

Prudence suggests it's better to look for an arrangement now that will prevent both of those situations, and the people in Iraq know it.

Wise... but I can't help noticing we're in a war right now. And there are reasons beyond cowardice to want this war ended as quickly as possible.

For example: Iran pretty much knows we can't take on-the-ground military action against them for at least a year after the war in Iraq ends. That gives them more latitude than they otherwise might have.

I don't know if there's such a thing as a permanent solution to a fundamental problem.

I would also note that a Turkish-Kurdistan border skirmish isn't necessarily our problem;

military action against Iran by a third party isn't necessarily something that's against our interests;

and the decimation of the Sunnis by the much-larger (and oil-possessing) Shi'ite populace isn't the sort of thing that makes me wake up screaming at night.

More From Den Beste:
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Posted by: Ace at 08:24 PM | Comments (27)
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This time to simply "Diddy."

No, I'm not joking. Click on the link yourself.

Yeah, it's dumb. But I did try this myself with the whole Smitty misadventure.

It will end in tears, "Diddy." Trust me.

Posted by: Ace at 08:11 PM | Comments (14)
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Madonna has broken several bones by falling off a horse while celebrating her birthday.

Madonna, mounting a horse, celebrating birthday.

Just make the joke yourself.

For those who want something more explicitly spelled out.

Posted by: Tanker at 01:36 PM | Comments (26)
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Similar to the claims the left made that that very liberal judicial nominee in the late 80's or early 90's (whose name escapes me) was being "demonized" by having her own Law Review articles accurately cited as evidence against her claims of being a moderate.

Same deal with Cindy Sheehan. She's a barking moonbat but the left and the MSM (redundant, I know) don't want you to know that. And they get very upset when you accurately quote her most lunatic charges.

Among the questions she wishes to "raise:" "Mr. President, why did you kill my son?"

She also is a firm believer that Bush invaded Iraq to get control of its oil. In order to help make money for his "Republican buddies."

It's a curious thing on the left-- this belief that Republicans will do so much, including invading another country -- to "help their fatcat Republican buddies."

The old saying goes: "A friend will help you move. A best friend will help you move a dead body."

Time to add a bit to the saying: "And a Republican friend will not only help you move the dead body, they'll help you kill the sonofabitch in the first place, then lie to create a pretext for an illegal war, invade a country, threaten or kill all who oppose them, claim that the murder actually happened on the battlefield of the illegal war they created, and top it off by giving you big fat juicy no-bid contracts just because they like you so damn much."

Uh-huh. I wish my Republican buddies were like that. You think I'd be blogging if I had such friends?

Hell no. I'd be wrapping bodies in Persian rugs and making millions in oil futures.

It should also be noted that the AP engaged in more "Reverse Dowdification," the removal of key words from a quote in order to make the quote less offensive, as regards Cindy Sheehan. They quoted her as saying she was against her son Casey going to war, and would help him flee to Canada to avoid it; they helpfully omitted the part where she said she'd run him over with a car just to create a medical condition to help him evade service.

Just reporting the facts accurately, huh? Right. Conservatives are misquoted to make them look bad; left-lunatic-liberals are helpfully misquoted so as not to scare off the Middle American rubes, who might find fraud and faked car accidents a shabby and illegal method of getting a son out of his military responsibilities.

Sorry, no cite, but it's real. I had the cite and then I lost it.

Posted by: Ace at 11:04 AM | Comments (40)
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Look for Channel One at 4PM ET.

Guests: Heather MacDonald, who wrote about data-mining back when data-mining wasn't cool.

Well, I guess it still isn't technically "cool," but it's certainly a hot topic now.

She's the author of The Burden of Bad Ideas: How Modern Intellectuals Mishape Our Society, and the irrational case against using public records to find terrorists would seem to be one such bad idea.

Then we'll talk to Robert Spencer, director of JihadWatch.org, and the author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades).

A book, I should note, that the MSM seems to be studiously ignoring. Go figure.

Oh, and... Call in toll-free at

1-866-884-TALK (8255)

We won't be taking calls for Ms. MacDonald -- sadly, we only have her for ten or twelve minutes -- but we'll take a couple for Mr. Spencer.

Posted by: Ace at 10:50 AM | Comments (28)
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Daniel Pipes thinks that treason is as defunct as blue laws, due to these politically-correct, "I am a citizen of whatever transnational movement I declare allegiance to" times we live in.

Posted by: Ace at 10:28 AM | Comments (7)
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It may not be fair to call this a "threat." Perhaps it's merely a "prediction." But when the very people who seem to be doing their best to protect terrorists make "predictions" like this the line between "prediction" and "threat" gets sort of blurry:

The closure of mosques accused of "fomenting extremism" would amount to a collective punishment of the community, the statement warned.

It may "create fear" which could lead to "the very radical sub-culture which we all seek to prevent".

Finally, the Muslim leaders said plans to deport foreign nationals to countries known for human rights abuses was "abhorrent".

Via The Daou Report, over on Salon.

Posted by: Ace at 10:18 AM | Comments (4)
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Football Fans For Truth nominates five.

I'll meniton a couple more that I've already mentioned:

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Posted by: Ace at 09:25 AM | Comments (18)
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Even military lawyers.
They should have used the knife to cut off his nuts.

Posted by: Tanker at 08:54 AM | Comments (34)
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Instapundit has links.

This isn't disaster, but there's always been a problem. Turkey demands we keep Iraq as a single entity, while the two groups in Iraq who actually support us (the Kurds and Shi'ites) seem to want to break the country up into three.

The only actual Iraqis fully behind keeping the country as one are our opponents in the war and in the terrorist insurgency, the Sunnis.

Probably because the oil is chiefly in areas dominated by the Kurds and Shi'ites.

I had thought we could finesse this problem, but I don't know anymore. We may have to anger Turkey and allow the Kurds and Shi'ites to form their own countries. Of course they'll stiff the Sunnis on oil that is (arguably) partly theirs, from a historical perspective.

Not sure how much we owe the Iraqi Sunnis at this point, though. Give 'em the desert and let them blow up themselves if they won't join with other Iraqis and accept their place in a democractic Iraq.

At least it would be a useful threat.

The Turkish Complication continues to strangely put us on the side of our sworn enemies and against our allies. How hard to we struggle to satisfy a sometime ally that refused to let us use their land as a base and thus made the war and its aftermath more difficult for us?

Posted by: Ace at 07:44 AM | Comments (7)
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