WILL THE AYATOLLAH WIN--AGAIN?

by Terence P. Jeffrey

In the Shiite theocracy of Iran, the people elect the parliament and president, but the nation is not a democracy.

That is because a 12-man Council of Guardians -- half of whose members are clerics appointed by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei -- vetoes candidates and nullifies legislation.

In post-invasion Iraq, a simpler theocratic system has evolved. One man holds the veto. He is Ayatollah Ali Sistani, an Iranian by birth, who is Iraq's pre-eminent Shiite clergyman.

Although Sistani has no formal governmental authority, in practical terms his word has been law in Iraq ever since U.S. forces overthrew Saddam Hussein.

Tragically, he is now trying to stop a draft law aimed at reforming Iraq's de-Baathification policies. The measure was proposed by Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki, a Shiite, and President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd. It would allow most former members of the Baath Party who served in Saddam's government to collect their pensions or return to public service, as long as they had not been indicted or convicted of a crime and were willing to pledge not to speak out against the new government.

This reform is indispensable to reconciling Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites. That is because Iraq's indigenous Sunni insurgency -- as opposed to al Qaeda in Iraq -- is believed to be significantly manned by former Baathists. They resent being thrown out of the military and government service by Ambassador Paul Bremer, who ran Iraq for the United States before Iraqi sovereignty was restored.

Without reconciliation between former Baathists and Iraq's Shiite-dominated government, a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq is likely to lead to an escalating civil war, which could in turn lead to a broadening of the conflict to neighboring oil-rich Persian Gulf Arab states, where, as in Saddam's Iraq, Shiites live beneath autocratic Sunni governments.

As Iraqi reconciliation is delayed, U.S. troops are killed and wounded.

On March 26, Maliki and Talabani announced their de-Baathification reform. Last Sunday, Ahmed Chalabi -- who managed the original de-Baathification process directed by Bremer (and who previously was the favorite of some administration officials to become the post-Saddam leader of Iraq) -- met with the reclusive Sistani. After the meeting, a Chalabi aide told The Associated Press that the ayatollah "rejects passing this law because it allows Baathists to return to top state posts."

The next day, a Sistani aide confirmed to The New York Times that the ayatollah did indeed reject the de-Baathification proposal.

This is only Sistani's latest power play. In 2003, the ayatollah rejected a U.S. proposal that an appointed committee draft Iraq's constitution, insisting on elections for an interim government to write it, instead. When those elections were held, the ayatollah put together and endorsed the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition dominated by Shiite Islamist parties. When that coalition won the election and dominated the constitution-writing process, the ayatollah insisted that the constitution include language preventing any legislation that contradicted Islam. The final draft: "No law can be passed that contradicts the principles of Islam."

When the ayatollah endorsed the draft constitution, more than 90% of voters in predominantly Shiite regions cast ballots to ratify it, while more than 90% of voters in predominantly Sunni regions voted against it.

The ayatollah's favored Shiite-Islamist coalition now runs Iraq under a constitution overwhelming rejected by the country's Sunni minority.

Meanwhile, Sistani has published decrees on his multilingual Website elaborating theological views that were suppressed during Saddam's rule. These include his view that a husband can forbid his wife from going out, that a man can contract to marry a "temporary" wife for a period as short as one hour, and that singing and the game of chess are forbidden.

Most important to the U.S. troops who liberated Iraq, and the U.S. diplomats trying to politically stabilize the country, is Sistani's nagging suspicion that Christians and Jews might be "najis" (impure), as opposed to "pak" (clean).

"As regards the people of the Book (i.e., the Jews and Christians)," the ayatollah decreed, "... they are commonly considered najis, but it is not improbable that they are pak. However, it is better to avoid them."

Still, Sistani has had defenders in the United States who have argued that all this ayatollah really wants is a democratic country where people of all religions can live in peace and equality. Then-CIA Director George Tenet exemplified this thinking when he told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 9, 2003, that Sistani's "praise for free elections and his theology reflect, in our reading, a clear-cut opposition to Iranian-style theocracy."

The Presidential Medal of Freedom winner was right in one sense: In an Iranian-style theocracy, it takes a whole committee of ayatollahs to tell the elected government what to do.

DELAY IN WAR FUNDS WILL HURT MILITARY READINESS, MORALE SAYS BUSH

By Gerry J. Gilmore

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2007 – Further congressional delay in forwarding an appropriate emergency war spending bill to the White House will damage military readiness and morale as well as endanger the nation, President Bush told reporters today at a White House news conference. “Congress’s failure to fund our troops on the front lines will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines, and others could see their loved ones headed back to the war sooner than they need to,” Bush said. That scenario is “unacceptable,” Bush said, noting he believes the American people would agree with him. “Members of Congress say they support the troops. Now they need to show that support in deed, as well as in word,” Bush said. Congressional debate over the conduct of the war against terrorism “shouldn’t come at the expense of funding our troops,” the president said. The Senate and the House of Representatives have both passed emergency war supplemental funding bills providing funding for U.S. troops, but the money is contingent on troops being withdrawn from Iraq according to a set timetable. Each chamber’s bill also contains unrelated domestic spending. The president sent his recommended military spending bill to Congress almost 60 days ago. Bush has rejected the recent Senate and House legislation out of hand, saying he’d veto any military funding bill with set timetables for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Bush said he’d just received an update on the U.S. troop reinforcement, or surge, to Iraq from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Two of the five additional Army brigades involved in the surge are now operating in Baghdad, Bush noted, with another now making its way into Iraq from Kuwait. “And the remaining two brigades will deploy in April and in May,” the president said. It’ll be early June, he said, before all five brigades and other U.S. reinforcements are in place in Iraq. The U.S. Army brigades already in Baghdad are having a positive effect on reducing violence there, Bush said. “And as more of those reinforcements arrive in the months ahead, their impact will continue to grow,” the president said. The current House and Senate war spending bills “undercut the troops by substituting the judgment of politicians in Washington for the judgment of our commanders in the ground, setting an arbitrary withdrawal from Iraq, and spending billions of dollars on ‘pork barrel’ projects completely unrelated to the war,” Bush said. If Congress fails to forward the White House a favorable war spending bill for presidential signature by mid-April, then, “the Army will be forced to consider cutting back on equipment, equipment repair, and quality of life initiatives for our Guard and Reserve forces,” Bush said. Bush said those cuts would become necessary, “because the money would have to be shifted to support the troops on the front lines.” The Army also would have to consider cutting training for stateside-assigned Guard and Reserve units, he said. That scenario would negatively affect unit readiness and might delay the affected units’ availability for missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bush said. Additionally, if Congress doesn’t pass and forward a favorable war spending bill by mid-May, then potential problems would become more acute, the president said. The Army would be forced to consider slowing or freezing funding for its equipment-repair depots, Bush said, or delay training of some active-duty forces for overseas deployment. “If this happens, some of the forces now deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq may need to be extended because other units are not ready to take their places,” Bush explained. “The Army may also have to delay the formation of new brigade combat teams.” Bush then read from a letter to Congress written by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, who informed legislators of the impending funding crisis for his service: “‘Without approval of the supplemental funds in April, we will be forced to take increasingly draconian measures which will impact Army readiness and impose hardships on our soldiers and their families.’” A shortage of funds, Bush explained, would cause some stateside-based Army units to be unavailable for mobilization to Iraq and Afghanistan to replace units set for rotation back to their home bases. The president acknowledged that some Americans are concerned about U.S. policy on Iraq, but he emphasized that failure to defeat terrorism there would doom the fledgling Iraqi democracy and endanger U.S. citizens. American military forces serving in Iraq are providing its young government “breathing room” so that it can eventually defend and sustain itself against its enemies, Bush said. If U.S. troops leave Iraq too early, it could become a “caldron of chaos, which would embolden” the Sunni, Shiite and other extremists who are now trying to tear the country apart, Bush said. Terrorists could then use Iraq as a safe haven, he pointed out, from which to launch new attacks against America. Bush said his primary presidential task is to protect the American people. “And, I firmly believe that if we were to leave (Iraq) before the job is done, the enemy would follow us here,” the president said. Photo: President George W. Bush discusses the emergency supplemental bill with the press Tuesday, April 3, 2007, in the Rose Garden. White House photo by Eric Draper

ENSURING DEFEAT

It's not bad enough that the peace-at-any-price Democrats want to deliver a date certain for our surrender to the the insurgents in Iraq. And it's evidently not smarmy enough just to set a surrender date, but the Democrats bought votes for their surrender bill by adding pork spending to their legislation to attract recalcitrant votes. What an insult it is to our armed forces to add a bail out to spinach farmers to a bill funding their operations in Iraq.

Well ... it looks like Bush may actually deliver on his promise to veto the Democrat's surrender legislation, so Harry Reid wants to up the ante, along, of course, with the eager help of John Kerry and Russ Feingold. The next step is to pass a bill just simply cutting off funding for our troops. Just force the commander in chief to bring them home because he no longer has the funds to continue operations.

There are so many things wrong with the actions of the Democrat Party on so many levels. Showing weakness to our Islamic fascist enemies is one thing. There will be a price to be paid for this ... possibly a horrible price. Never fear, though. When the Islamic fascist terrorist move to take advantage of our weakness the Democrats, with the eager help of the media, will sidestep any responsibility by simply blaming Bush.

We're not the only ones being target by the Islamic terrorists. Although Shiites comprise a minority of Muslims, they're a strong majority in Iraq. If the United States leaves before the Iraqi government is stabilized and the Shiites and Sunnis have come to an accommodation to life together in peace, there will in all probability be a Sunni bloodbath --- followed by Iraq becoming the center of Islamic terrorism.

The constant leftist Democrat drumbeat of criticism against Bush and the Iraqi front on the war against Islamic fascism has worked. Americans no longer recognize the threat we face. It's been over five years since 9/11 .. and most Americans now view terrorism as a law enforcement problem.

We are going to pay a price .. and it will be a horrible one. The question is whether or not we will be able to respond ... even, and it's no certainty, if the American people even want to. When Islamic terrorists strike American again we might just have to sit back and take it without any military response. After all ... if we go after the Islamic terrorists we may kill women, children and innocent civilians. We can't have that, can we? America must surrender to the Islamic jihad if to fight means that innocent civilians might die!

SO NOW THEY'RE "DETAINEES"

Iran is announcing that all 15 British hostages have "confessed" to intruding into their waters. Yeah ... we're buying that.

Notice how the media is referring to the hostages as "detainees." The world merely serves to give Iran a pass on their actions. So what if Iran is violating the Geneva Convention by parading the hostages on TV.[video] No wonder Iran kidnapped the soldiers...they knew the Euro-weasels would be weak and would continue to appease the Islamofascists. And that's exactly what is happening.

Make no mistake, the only reason Iran took these soldiers hostage is because they knew nothing bad would happen and they would be able to use them to garner publicity, divert attention from the United Nations and their nuclear program, and make the West look weak. They knew Britain would give up without a fight and that there would be no consequences and that is exactly what has happened. The policy of appeasement and coddling Islamofascism in Europe is now playing out in Iran. Will the United States join the rest of the world in making that mistake?

IS THE WEST JUST TRYING TO LOOK WEAK?

It seems that for every little shove the Islamic fascists and radical Muslims deliver to the western world, we respond by looking earnestly for yet another way we can show weakness and a willingness to capitulate. While the Iranians are parading 15 British sailors and Marines in front of the Arab media, we learn that the European Union has a nifty little rule in place designed to prevent angering Muslims.

The London Daily Telegraph has now revealed the existence of a classified handbook for EU diplomat types that encourages governments and the European media to avoid using phrases that might (gasp!) offend Muslims when referring to terrorism. The EU handbook suggests banning words like "jihad", "Islamic" or "fundamentalist."

Yup .. that's right. It is now officially improper in Europe to refer to an Islamic terrorist as an Islamic terrorist. Never mind the fact that virtually every terrorist operating in the world today is a Muslim ... and never mind that the wonderful, peaceful, serene, nonviolent, passive, tranquil, placid, laid-back, loving religion of Islam virtually relies on terrorism as it's chief foreign policy tool. We certainly don't want to offend these people now, do we? So the EU handbook on how to talk about terrorism without offending the people responsible for the terrorism tells us that we might want to give consideration to the phrase "terrorists who abusively invoke Islam."

Screw that.

Islam is a religion of hate and violence ... and so it shall remain until we see Muslims everywhere in the world openly and loudly standing up to these violent Islamic fascists and their apologists like the Council on American Islamic Relations. CAIR has never issued a blanket repudiation of the use of violence and terrorist tactics on the part of Islamic groups. I fully realize that there are Muslims everywhere who hate the violence and hatred brought to us by the jihadists as much as we do .... but until they are as loud in their condemnation of terrorism as the jihadists are in their threats to the West ... Islam will be known by the actions of the radicals, not of the peaceful.

In the meantime, look around for an example of the Western world standing up to the Islamic goons. The City of Minneapolis suggests a light signal system on its taxis to warn customers of which Muslim cab drivers will transport passengers carrying alcohol, and which will not. Target stores jumps through its own rear end to find a way to accommodate Muslim cashiers at its stores who refuse to ring up items containing pork. A British school changes the name of the "Three Little Pigs" to the "Three Little Puppies." Today's Daily Mail from London reports on a study by the Department for Education and Skills. British teachers, it seems, are not teaching the Holocaust in British schools. Some teachers are afraid that Muslim pupils might react badly in class.

Everywhere you look you see capitulation. From supermarket check-out counters to the halls of the U.S. Congress. This capitulation is seen by Islamic fascists as nothing less than signs of weakness. It emboldens them, and weakens us. You do the math. Where does this lead?

JOINT POLICE FORCE WORKS TOWARD A MORE SECURE IRAQ

Joint Police Force Works Toward a More Secure Iraq

By Sgt. Marcus Butler
4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne),
25th Infantry Division

ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq, March 31, 2007 — The future security of Iraq starts at the ground level with the Iraqi security forces. In order to prepare the Iraqis for this responsibility, soldiers in transition teams have been working around the clock all over Iraq.

Soldiers of the 127th Military Police Company are ready for this challenge.

Based out of Forward Operating Base Kalsu, the headquarters for the 127th has platoons throughout the battle space for the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division.

One platoon in particular, 3rd Platoon "Wolf Pack" is operating in Iskandaryiah, Iraq, home to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division. The Wolf Pack arrived at Forward Operating Base Iskan approximately four months ago fully knowing their mission.

"Our mission as a police transition team is to make sure the (Iraqi police) are fully trained and qualified to take on the mission of securing their country and keeping the citizens safe," said Staff Sgt. Johnny Colon, squad leader and native of Guayama, Puerto Rico.

This mission is of the highest priority not only to the Iraqi police who are training but also for the civilians they are training to protect.

"In our area of operation, the important thing is that more of the local population is beginning to trust the IPs," said 1st Lt. Nathan Diaz, platoon leader for the Wolf Pack. "The people are happy to see the IPs going through their villages and towns patrolling the area as well as a large increase of information being given to the IPs to help combat the insurgents in the local areas."

"In the short time that we have been here, the human intelligence has grown dramatically," said Diaz. "We are getting more and more tips on events that could harm Iraqi security forces and coalition forces in the local neighborhoods."

The relationship between the police and the civilians is the not the only one that matters. Soldiers of Wolf Pack worked daily with the IPs of the local area helping them to become more proficient in their job and building bonds in the process.

These bonds will lead to lasting impressions for both the IPs and soldiers.

"Moving from unit to unit, you have to start from scratch building trust with the people that you are working with. We have different personnel that work with the leadership of the IPs to help in specific areas," said Sgt. 1st Class Michael King, platoon sergeant for the Wolf Pack.

"Whether that area involves investigations, accountability of weapons, or training; we have built a strong relationship with all of the stations that fall within our AO."

Progression of the IPs is sometimes compared to the police forces in United States, but that is inequitable, noted King.

"One of the things when looking at progress of the IPs is you can not look at them as law enforcement in the United States for the simple fact the threat in Iraq is much greater," said King. "That causes unique challenges for the IPs. I have noticed an increase in professionalism as well as proactive efforts."
These soldiers will not only grow from the experience of working with IPs but also working with the Paratroopers of 1st Battalion, 501st PIR.

"It has been a very unique experience for me working with paratroopers for the first time. I have made life-long bonds with many of them and I know that I can count on them no matter what," said Colon.

"The paratroopers of 1-501st PIR welcomed us in with open arms. Whenever we needed something to happen there was never any issue with getting it done," said King.

The soldiers of Wolf Pack and the IPs will be better for this experience, noted Diaz.

"Our soldiers will take with them a lasting positive impression on what they have learned during their time here and I know our IP counterparts will feel the same," he added.

Photo: Sgt. Christopher Benjamin, 3rd Platoon, 127th Military Police Company, watches as Iraqi policemen handle the flow of traffic at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, March 22. Benjamin, a native of Tampa, Fla. is visiting the checkpoint as part of his platoon's mission as a police transition team. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Marcus Butler