NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH PROGRAM SHOWS SUCCESS IN MUQDADIYA DISTRICT

Sunday, 08 April 2007
By Multi-National Division – North PAO

MUQDADIYA — A neighborhood watch program has begun to show sings of success since its formation March 5.

The program, which includes 15 villages throughout the Muqdadiya district, hires local villagers to protect their village and encourages the population to contact their security forces on criminal or terrorist activity.

“The idea is - to protect the village and to clear it from the armed people and insurgents,” said Dr. Abdulla al Jubouri, the former governor of Diyala and founder of the program.

Since the program began, Jubouri said there have been several signs of success to include roads free from improvised explosive devices, fighting stopped between what used to be rival villages, schools are re-opened, electric and water services have been repaired.

“The neighborhood watch program has put positive energy into the security of Muqdadiya,” said Lt. Col. Keith Gogas, 6-9 Armored Reconnaissance Squadron Commander, responsible for Coalition forces in the Muqdadiya area.

“People from all around Muqdadiya have been emboldened by the hard work and sacrifice of Dr. Abdulla, Mayor Najim and many local leaders working to secure this area of Diyala,” Gogas said. “This area is beautiful – full of hard-working, patriotic people who deserve the freedom this security plan gives them.”

Aside from providing security, the neighborhood watch program is important because it provides jobs for local citizens who are often poor and persuaded to turn to the terrorists to support their families, said Mayor Najim, Muqdadiya mayor.

“The cycle of violence that has existed in the province of Diyala is being defeated by the people who are disgusted and disillusioned by the hatred provided by the terrorists,” said Col. David W. Sutherland, commander of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and senior U.S. Army officer in Diyala. “The people recognize the fact that their place in a free and democratic society is their future and ultimately lies in their hands, and cannot be achieved unless there is stable security and government, which enable progress.”

The neighborhood watch program has also encouraged many citizens to join the

Iraqi Police and approximately 1,000 citizens want to join the Iraqi Army, Jubouri said.

“It’s a good idea and I hope it will be done in more than one area,” Najim said. “I hope once the security is improved and jobs start to open, that people will participate in the political process and other people will follow.”

The goal is to support the security plan by encouraging the districts to follow in the footsteps of Muqdadiya, Jubouri said.

And while attacks on Jubouri himself have shown that the terrorists dislike the neighborhood watch program, he and the people refuse to accept defeat.

“[Terrorist attacks] are not going to stop us,” he said. “[We will keep going] until we make sure Diyala is secured.”

But You Won't see this on your local or network news.

IMMIGRATION DEBATE WILL HEAT UP COME SUMMER

by Amanda B. Carpenter

After blocking off plenty of time to pay off special interests for helping them deliver midterm elections, the Democrats are kicking the illegal immigration can down the legislative road until mid-summer when the weather is warm enough to ensure that hordes of protesters will turn out to support the bill.

Immediately after being swept into power, the Democrats allocated time to debate obscure lobby reform restrictions. Thanks to them, a cottage industry of catering services that serves meals on toothpicks is now available since giving paper-plated food to Hill staffers is one of their “no-no” new rules. Several non-binding resolutions against the war were then debated before reluctant Blue-Dog Democrats were bought off to support a timetable for withdrawal. Now, it’s time for Big Labor to get their payback with the upcoming card-check bill that will make it easier to organize workplaces through legal, public coercion tactics instead of secret ballots.

Meanwhile, the immigration crisis continues to swell. Temperatures are beginning to rise again and we’ll be treated to another summer season of news footage showing illegal aliens streaming across our borders to attend liberal pro-amnesty rallies.

Congress is planning accordingly for maximum political advantage. The Senate has blocked off the last two weeks of May for debate on a soon-to-be unveiled immigration bill. The House is planning to take up legislation introduced by Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D.-Calif.) sometime in July.

The Gutierrez-Flake bill was supposed to move through the House in tandem with a revamped version of the Senate’s amnesty bill written by Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.) last year, but the four-way negotiations broke down because of difficulties appeasing Big Labor. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the AFL-CIO are fearful that cheap immigrant labor will threaten their members’ jobs and demanded unachievable wage protections for United States workers in the immigration bill.

This breakdown allowed McCain to pander to immigration hawks at a March 20 event in Iowa while campaigning for the Republican nomination for President. McCain’s sponsorship of an immigration bill with Kennedy, quickly coined “McKennedy,” caused him to lose a significant amount of support from the conservative base. In Iowa he told supporters, “Immigration is probably a more powerful issue here than almost anyplace that I’ve been.” As a result, the New York Times wrote that McCain was “reconsidering his views on how immigration law might be changed.”

Aside from Kennedy himself, there is little support in the Senate to resuscitate McCain-Kennedy and the White House has intervened to broker a new deal.

In a March 30 address to the Republican National Lawyers Association Sen. Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) explained, “We’re not going to use Sen. Kennedy’s bill and we’ve been having meetings where the administration is heavily committed. The President personally has delegated the Secretary of Commerce [Carlos Gutierrez] and the Secretary of Homeland Security [Michael Chertoff] to sit with about 10 Republican senators for two hours -- 4:00 to 6:00 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the past several weeks -- and we have come up with a bill, and the cornerstone of the bill is a verification of the status of undocumented immigrants.”

The talks were led by Sen. Mel Martinez (R.-Fla.) and have included Republicans Senators John Cornyn (Tex.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), John McCain (Ariz.) and Democrats Senators Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Ken Salazar (Colo.) and Bob Menendez (N.J.)

Martinez said a final version of their plan will be introduced after Easter recess, but portions of it have already been leaked to the press. The legislation is expected to allow undocumented workers to apply for three-year “Z visas.” The Z visa would cost $3,500 and could be endlessly renewed as long as the holder would pay $3,500 for each renewal. Z visa holders would then be entitled to access emergency social services and attend primary and secondary schools.

In order to gain full citizenship, illegal immigrants would be required to return home and pay $2,000 to apply for a green card at a U.S. embassy or consulate. Once approved, it would cost an additional $8,000 to get the green card.

On the other side of Congress, a 600-page bill introduced by Flake and Gutierrez would allow illegal immigrants living in the U.S. before June 2006 to apply for a six-year work visa.
Titled the “Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy” (STRIVE) Act, the plan offers several ways for illegal aliens to gain legal status without returning to their home countries.

Spouses and children under 21 of undocumented workers would also be permitted to apply for a six-year visa. Non-citizen students who have lived in the United States for at least five years before turning 16 years old would immediately qualify for permanent residence. The Flake-Gutierrez bill also contains Kennedy’s longtime plan to give those who entered the United States illegally in-state tuition rates at all public colleges and universities called the DREAM Act.

Those applying for legal status would be required to pay $500 for a security and criminal background check. The Flake-Gutierrez bill also contains provisions to give temporary legal status to illegal aliens who have agricultural-related jobs.

Both the White House plan and STRIVE would require immigrants to take English and civics classes, but will still probably be labeled an “amnesty” as previous measures have been.

Freshman Democrat Rep. Nick Lampson, who took over former House Majority Leader Tom Delay’s (R.) seat in Texas, campaigned hard against amnesty for illegal aliens in his midterm election. Lampson’s spokesman Bobby Zafarnia reiterated to the Associated Press on March 24 that Lampson “would not support a bill that has a road to legal residency for illegal and undocumented workers who are already here.”

When the House and Senate debate their bills in late May and July there are sure to be hundreds, if not thousands, of illegal aliens and their special interest group allies camping out on the National Mall to pressure members for votes, just like last year. Unfortunately, for the Democrats and President Bush most of them participating are not voting constituents.

Despite all the attention paid to last summer’s round of immigrant protests these events were largely unsuccessful in swinging real votes for their cause. And now, even an old politician like McCain has learned not to pander to those who aren’t registered to vote.

AL-SADR CAUSING TROUBLE AGAIN

Books take over the office! Click to see more.

Our good buddy and radical Islamic cleric in Iraq Muqtada Al-Sadr is now going around saying that Iraqis should not fight each other or the insurgents, instead they ought to fight the Americans. Why is this SOB still alive? For years we've been told that this is the guy in charge in Iraq, that this is the guy we need to go to. Work with Al-Sadr and we can bring his people along...make peace and stop the insurgency. And up until now this policy of appeasement has gotten us precisely nowhere.

So now Sadr is telling his followers that they should fight the Americans: "You, the Iraqi army and police forces, do not walk alongside the occupiers because they are your enemy. I am here to advise you the honest resister hopes for two thing from God: either victory or martyrdom. But at the same time, the honest resister should not kill a fellow Iraqi." Well it's nice to know Al-Sadr doesn't think the Iraqis should kill each other. I suppose that's progress.

And so this is what we get after 4 years of "working with" Sadr. The fact is this guy's been a problem since day one and it's time for him to go. It's time for Muqtada to experience the Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi memorial bombing...and be sent to visit his 72 virgins in paradise a bit early.

Bullets, not words.