Good news, really. It means the Brits have finally fixed that time machine they inherited from a H.G. Wells estate sale.

VIL Muslim terrorists were to kidnap a British soldier on UK streets and force him to plead with Tony Blair for his life in return for a pull-out of troops from Iraq, The Sun can reveal.

The soldier would have been filmed begging the PM to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan in a sick propaganda stunt.

Army sources said the target was a British Muslim soldier in his 20s.

He would eventually be beheaded on film in a sick mirror of the torture and savage killing of British hostage Ken Bigley if Mr Blair refused.

Senior security sources say the plot would have put the most unbearable blackmail pressure on the Premier to actÂ…

The fact that the arrests were made in Birmingham could suggest that soldiers recovering from wounds in military hospitals there might have been targeted.

Lots more, of course, from Allah, but you already knew that.

Greg Tinti notes that Andrew Sullivan -- famous for claiming the entire SkyBomb plot was a political stunt cooked up by Bush and Blair to protect Rick Santorum's Senate seat -- is now willing to admit, now that the Terrorist Santorum has been smoked out of his cave, that the bombing plot was real:

Recall that the alleged plot to bring down several airplanes over the Atlantic was also exposed because the suspects had been under intense surveillance for months. The awful news is that these fanatics exist; the less-awful news is that their neighbors and friends obviously have an eye on them, and the police are on the case.

That's a link to Tinti quoting Sullivan, not Sullivan, so you can click without any heart-ache.

Tinti wants to know when Sullivan will apologize to Karol of Alarming News for calling her "deranged" for her absurd belief that the SkyBomb plot was real.

Bonus: Maybe Sullivan's wildly-veering, nearly psychadelic take on the world can be explained by his self-proclaimed enthusiasm for magic mushrooms and the "mystical experiences" they provide.

Posted by: Ace at 11:33 AM | Comments (21)
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I'm just updating a story I broke. There is, I insist, no mercenary agenda at work here.

The very smart military blog, Ace of Spades HQ, speculated yesterday that Tony Snow might have been launching a trial balloon for an Iraq exit strategy rhetoric when he quoted President Bush's statement that, taking the long view, we won the war in Vietnam because, 30 years on, it is trending capitalist and has become a pro-American Pacific Tiger.

As a former press secretary, I am inclined not to read deep secret messages into Tony Snow's comments. The president made an arresting statement, and his press secretary commented favorably on it. That is what press secretaries tend to do for a living.

But I (along with Ace of Spades, Mickey Kaus's blog and I assume many others) could not help but hear Tony Snow's elaborations in the context of Mr. Bush's less than ferocious State of the Union phrases that "it is still within our powers to shape the outcome of this battle," and we should at least "turn events toward victory."

I don't know about "military blog." Or about "very smart." I concede this blog is named Ace of Spades, though.

Half a year ago the JPost reported I was a "moron." So, this is progress, I guess.

Incidentally, though Andrew Sullivan thinks my blinkers have come off (more progress, but consider the source), my post was, despite his selective editing, about what I perceived as a preview of of emergency spin, should it become necessary. I was criticizing the spin, mainly, though I was also wondering if this is the best Bush now sees as possible -- "victory" after 30 years. I don't really think it's the best outcome he imagines possible; I think it's more his attempt to convince himself he will be vindicated in the long term even if thoroughly repudiated in the short term.

For what it's worth, I have a bit more hope about Iraq than I've had in some time. And part of that due to a light at the end of the tunnel, of one color or another: I, like most of the remaining supporters of the war, see the surge, and the more aggressive RoE and policy towards Iranian agents, as the last, best hope for Iraq, and if it fails, we can say that America did the most that it could be reasonably expected to do.

If it succeeds -- even better.

But one way or another, the hot phase of the Iraq war will be winding down soon, at least as far as America's troops are concerned. It's just not realistic to imagine Bush can fight the war in the face of increasingly negative public opinion if there is not some tangible progress in the country over the next four to six months. And if the Iraqis can't get their act together over that timeframe, even with the American-withdrawal warning lights blinking like crazy on the country's dashboard, then I'm not sure they're capable of being helped much more at this point.

Thanks to Village Idiot.

Posted by: Ace at 02:18 AM | Comments (181)
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Seriously, don't.

I'm warning you.

Don't even go down under the jump.

Stop.

Please stop.

You're... taking me apart.

Dr. Chandra taught me a song, would you like to hear it?

Don't click.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 07:57 PM | Comments (88)
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...because O'Reilly's newest, and most shameless, promotion is that for every copy of Culture Warrior you buy, he'll send one copy to "the troops" in Iraq in Afghanistan.

Yeah. Not money. Just books he pretty much has lying around anyway.

I saw him mention this sometime last week, and I caught a case of the shivering douchechills that lasted me the whole weekend.

Next: For every copy of Culture Warrior you buy, Bill O'Reilly will send one "No Spin Zone" coffee mug to a pediatric burn victim. So, you know, start ordering --- or do you hate burned children?

Crash and burn. Not an "if" but a "when" at this point.

Quite frankly, the whole FoxNews management seems intent into turning the network into the moronic parody that liberals already believe it is. It's almost like Roger Ailes has turned Manchurian Candidate, and is determined to discredit the idea of a less-liberal news alternative for all eternity.

Posted by: Ace at 07:48 PM | Comments (91)
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Jack M. just can't get fired up about any of the folks currently running for the Presidency. (heh, I, I mean "Jack M.", always wondered how that Bob Dole thing would sound if I, ummm, Jack M., did it.)

So you know what? I say, to Hell with all of them on both sides of the aisle. I'm running for President instead.

Why not? If certain losers like Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul can do it, I can just as easily be a certain loser too.

And since you deserve to know my platform, I'll lay it out for you in terms even morons can understand:

Amnesty/Illegal Immigration: Against it.
Building a border wall: For it.
Abortion: Against it.
Gun Control: Against It.
Gay Marriage: Against It.
"Torture": For it.
War on Terror: For It.
Strict Constructionists: For them.
Missile Defense: For It.
Tax Cuts: For Them.
Spending Cuts: For them.
McCain/Feingold: Against It.
Kyoto: Against it.
Chinese Communism: Against It.
Cuban Communism: Against It.
Venezuelan Chavezism: Against It.
Iranian Nukes: Against them.
North Korean Nukes: Against Them.
Islamic Jihadism: Against It.
The Bush Doctrine: For it.
Old Europe: Ignore them.
New Europe: For them.
Nuclear Power: For it.
Putting Reagan on Mount Rushmore: For it.

OK..I just threw that last one in there to really wig some liberals out.

But you never know..if my victory is big enough, I just might consider that a mandate for the Reagan/Rushmore thing.

And no jokes on the word "mandate". I'm against that.

Posted by: Jack M. at 06:03 PM | Comments (148)
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WMD... but the actual chemical weapon payload was a dud. The attack killed 16, however.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE UNIT COMPOUND IN RAMADI ATTACKED BY SVBIED

AR RAMADI, Iraq – Emergency Response Unit personnel, Iraqi Police, and civilians northwest of Ramadi were attacked by a suicide vehicle-born improvised explosive device (SVBIED) early Sunday. Coalition forces responded to the attack to provide immediate medical assistance and evacuate the wounded to medical facilities.

Along with the suicide bomber, 16 people were killed by the attack.

The SVBIED was a dump truck filled with explosives and included a chlorine tank. The truck crashed into the Emergency Response Unit compound and detonated. There are no indications of any casualties caused by the release of chlorine gas.

Thanks to Chuck.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Breaking news from Observer5 -- if you can believe this, chlorine is a "common chemical" (I had no idea), and therefore this is not a WMD attack.

Just some civilians having fun with pool supplies.

Posted by: Ace at 05:36 PM | Comments (98)
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And I'd hoped these two kids had a future together.

As is true for many people who are driven by their passions, Sullivan himself is certainly prone to excessive, blinding emotion arising from his own self-righteous certainties. That is a flaw that has led him astray in the past into hysteria-based crusades and rather ignoble accusations against others who expressed certain political views, including anti-war and anti-Bush views which Sullivan himself has now come to embrace.

His admissions of error in that regard, while commendable, are less complete and repentant than one would like. He refers to his "analytical errors in the past few years" -- meaning, principally, his support for the war in Iraq specifically and the Bush presidency generally -- but then attributes those errors to a noble cause: "outrage at the atrocity of September 11."

-- Glenn Greenwald, co-chair with Andrew Sullivan of the Super-Duper Courageous And Really Terribly Brilliant Truth Tellers With Amazing Integrity And Fearlessness of America Club

Sullivan, pimping his stupid ass book yet again, actually uses the subretard Glenn Greenwald's pan as an advertising vehicle.

Must be selling like fuckin' hotcakes, huh?

Think I get get a big link off him if I write that he's a hystrionic narcissist with borderline personality disorder?

You know, the Shrill Shill has been basically implying that anyone who's called him "excitable" or "emotional" is a gay-hater, and of course he's shrieked especially loud when people have noted that his ranting about the "evils of moral certainty" certainly does have the ring of moral certainty about it.

But now SubRetard Greenwald says the same thing, and Sullivan's response is--

I'm grateful for the seriousness and care with which Greenwald has tackled the book's argument, however.

Guess he just had to hear it from a fellow traveller.

Posted by: Ace at 05:27 PM | Comments (17)
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Giuliani's drag appearance for the NYC Mayor's Inner Circle Press Roast (whatever that is):

Hah, I never saw this before. I thought the drag references were to appearances on SNL. I know he played an Italian grandma once, who just kept waddling around muttering about the pasta fazoul (which was pretty funny), and I think he was in drag on SNL in an opening (can't be sure-- maybe I'm confusing that with this bit).

I dunno. This is going to tank the guy's chance at the presidency?

Next thing you know and they'll be saying Graham Chapman was a homo just because of all that drag-work he did on Monty Python.

Everyone's Got Black Marks...

Perhaps we're so early in the season people are still thinking about their Dream Candidate. As we trudge through this fresh hell, everyone will begin to remember there is no such thing as a Dream Candidate, and get on with selecting from a number of non-ideal candidates each with a range of strengths, weaknesses, and personal failings.

Posted by: Ace at 04:39 PM | Comments (39)
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I've held off linking this because it's so long it's hard to excerpt. But the City Journal makes a persuasive case for Guiliani, the small-government, personal-accountability free-marketeer:

But in a GOP presidential field in which cultural and religious conservatives may find something to object to in every candidate who could really get nominated (and, more important, elected), Giuliani may be the most conservative candidate on a wide range of issues. Far from being a liberal, he ran New York with a conservative’s priorities: government exists above all to keep people safe in their homes and in the streets, he said, not to redistribute income, run a welfare state, or perform social engineering. The private economy, not government, creates opportunity, he argued; government should just deliver basic services well and then get out of the private sector’s way. He denied that cities and their citizens were victims of vast forces outside their control, and he urged New Yorkers to take personal responsibility for their lives. “Over the last century, millions of people from all over the world have come to New York City,” Giuliani once observed. “They didn’t come here to be taken care of and to be dependent on city government. They came here for the freedom to take care of themselves.” It was that spirit of opportunity and can-do-ism that Giuliani tried to re-instill in New York and that he himself exemplified not only in the hours and weeks after 9/11 but in his heroic and successful effort to bring a dying city back to life.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:31 PM | Comments (96)
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Not dispositive, but fairly suggestive, no?

The head of a center that trains security personnel and held a competition for Russian special forces confirmed Tuesday that it has used shooting targets showing the photo of a former agent who was fatally poisoned in London last year. However, Sergei Lysyuk, head of the Vityaz Center, said he had been unaware that the photo target showed the poisoned ex-agent, Alexander Litvinenko.

"The fact that it was Litvinenko, we only found out later from the press," Lysyuk told The Associated Press. "We did not shoot at Litvinenko, we shot at a target."

Thanks to shawn.

Posted by: Ace at 01:58 PM | Comments (13)
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