Shiite Hezbollah gunmen seized nearly all of the Lebanese capital's Muslim sector from Sunni foes loyal to the U.S.-backed government on Friday in the country's worst sectarian clashes since the 15-year civil war.

With Newsweek running a cover story on “The Post American World” and Democrats complaining that President Bush destroyed our influence abroad, it’s instructive to consider a recent string of election successes for foreign candidates who support our values and our policies.  

In Canada , Mexico , Germany , Denmark , Greece , Ukraine and France the parties identified as “pro-American” swept to important victories. Most recently, the conservative candidate in Italy , Silvio Burlesconi, won a smashing triumph to return to power and Rome elected its first right-wing mayor in 50 years. Then in local elections throughout Britain , the Conservatives thumped the ruling Labor Party, 44% to 24%, and turned out the anti-American mayor of London , “Red Ken” Livingstone. The global trend favors politicians who back free markets and welcome U.S. leadership—hardly a sign of a “Post American World.” 

HH: On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Hezbollah has amassed a new arsenal of 27,000 rockets, including many that can reach Tel Aviv. How would Hezbollah view the U.S. differently with you in the Oval Office, Senator, versus Senator Obama? 

JM: Well, I think they would fully understand that I will not allow Israel to be destroyed. And I will do everything possible to protect the state of Israel from being, “wiped off the map,” as you know the president of Iran has repeatedly stated as his nation’s fundamental belief and policy. And I will not sit down and talk to this Iranian president, who restates that commitment, whose country is exporting into Iraq most lethal devices, apparently, according to General Petraeus, training, even, terrorists in Iran to go back into Iraq, jihadists. And so this is a nation that must be restrained. And they have to understand…I’m not talking about obliteration, I am talking about, Hugh, that the consequences of unprovoked attack on a free and democratic nation are very severe, and that the price they would pay would be far greater than any success that they might enjoy. And I will not specify exactly how we would react, because then, I think we’d be telegraphing our punches. But have no doubt of our dedication to the independence and freedom of the state of Israel. I’m sure you know that down in the southern part of Israel, on the border with Gaza, they are launching rockets quite frequently into Israel, into a town in southern Israel, where the children have a fifteen second warning time. 

 
(Reuters)

A national defense story with the potential to arouse the same level of angst we saw during the Dubai Port’s scandal has gone largely unnoticed. 

The Defense Department’s has awarded a $35 billion contract to build America’s newest fleet of air tankers to the French owned European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS). 

While Boeing (who stands to lose billions), obviously objects to the deal, several conservative leaders and organizations are also expressing concern about the national security issues at play.   

While the Defense Department changed its own rules to accommodate this deal, the more salient issue is one of national security:  specifically, whether or not we should be outsourcing our national defense.  Many of the European countries controlling and subsidizing EADS were knee deep in the Oil for Food Scandal and working with the Iraqi regime.  Then there are also concerns about the strategic partnerships some of these nations like France have with Iran as well.  

Just as was the case with the Dubai story, conservative opinion is split.  Some conservatives argue outsourcing is a good thing that will save taxpayer dollars, and get the equipment in the hands of our soldiers more quickly.  A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed even portrayed the desire to build America’s airplanes in the U.S. as a liberal or “protectionist” argument. 

But several other leading conservatives, including Frank Gaffney, Phyllis Schlafley, and Paul Weyrich – just to name a few – have organized a lobbying campaign aimed at encouraging Members of Congress to provide oversight through the Congressional budget office to stop this deal from proceeding.   

This is a story I’ll be keeping an eye on …

Today, ten Democrats had the courage to stand up to Nancy Pelosi and vote in favor of maintaining Fast Track Authority rules that would force Congress to hold an up-or-down vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement within 90 days of the President’s submission.  
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In his opening statement on Capitol Hill today General Petraeus says:

"A failed state in Iraq would pose serious consequences for the greater fight against al- Qaeda, for regional stability, for the already existing humanitarian crisis in Iraq, and the efforts to counter Iranian influence. I recommended to my chain of command that we continue the drawdown in the surge. We undertake a 45-day period of consolidation and evaluation and the end of that period, we will commence a process of assessment to examine conditions on the ground and overtime recommend further reductions. This process will be continuous, with recommendations for further reductions as permitted. This approach does not allow the establishment of a said withdrawal timetable, however it does provide the flexibility those of us on the ground need to preserve the still fragile security gains our troopers have fought so hard and sacrificed so much to achieve."

 -Possible bipartisan agreement that Iraqis need to be spend more of their oil revenues on reconstruction and that U.S. money to Iraq should be made in the form of loans, not grants so that some of it will eventually be repaid.

-If Democrats concede security efforts have been successful, but believe Iraq has not made enough political progress to make continued efforts there worthwhile.

-How Republicans argue recent, unexpected violence is due to terrorists who want to put a damper on good news coming from Iraq.

-Whether House Democrats will hold a war supplemental bill “hostage” for extra domestic pork barrel spending next week.

-If Democrats abandon plans to cut funding for the war and instead propose legislation limit deployments.

Overall, Iraqi deaths rose from a low of 568 in December and 541 in January to roughly 721 in February to more than 1,082 in March, according to statistics compiled by Iraq's ministries of health, interior, and defense and confirmed by Smith. The vast majority were civilians.

"There was somewhere on the order of a 25 or 30 percent increase in the number of civilian casualties when you consider March compared to February," Smith said, although "the numbers are still nowhere near what they had been last summer."

US troop deaths have also crept up, from 23 in December - the lowest number since 2004 - to 40 in January, 29 in February, and 38 in March, according to icasualties.org, a website that tracks the deaths of US service members in Iraq through Pentagon press releases. Deaths are still lower than their monthly peak last year of 126 deaths in May.

The paper provides a chart which also fails to prove the central thesis of the piece:





Upticks in various measures of violence do not justify the paper's rush to enable the partisans eager for failure in Iraq:

The rise in violence - blamed on both Shi'ite militants and Sunni extremists allied with Al Qaeda - has prompted war critics to argue that President Bush's surge of 30,000 more troops last year, designed to stabilize the nation, merely postponed the inevitable deadly chaos that will follow an eventual US withdrawal.

Other analysts question whether the US strategy planted the seeds for greater bloodshed by funding, and arming, various Sunni and Shi'ite factions who may eventually battle one another or fight among themselves.

Iraq has been out of the headlines for months as the surge brought stability to large parts of the country.  Now the left and their MSM allies are back, eager to have a "Tet" in the country that will help the Democrats in November.  Be assured that no matter what the situation is in Iraq, you won't be getting an accurate picture from the media every bit as invested in defeat as the Democrats. 

The government has also cracked down on foreign journalists, who have been covering the election without accreditation. On Thursday, the police arrested Barry Bearak, a correspondent in the Johannesburg bureau of The New York Times, on charges related to covering the election without official permission from the government. He was still being held in a Harare jail on Saturday.

Though unilateralism isn't in favor at the paper of record for the left, President Bush ought to take a page from TR's book and let Mugabe know he has  avery limited period of time in which to release the American unharmed.

UPDATE: Jim Geraghty informs me that Mr. Bearak is a British citizen, which means that Prime Minister Brown should join President Bush in delivering the ultimatum to Mugabe.

Everyone,

I've received a lot of emails regarding the  situation in Iraq and have
decided to pass as much information regarding the  current situation
precluding any sensitive information.  The Iraqi  Army (IA) has gone on
the offensive, at the request of the Government of Iraq  (GoI), against
criminal and corruptive elements that in the past they more or  less had
to find equilibrium with and coexist in an uneasy  harmony.  Anytime you
disturb an equilibrium there is chaos, like  sweeping a dirty floor, the
air gets a little  dusty.  Unfortunately, the International Zone has been
included  among other targets of opportunity in the response to the
offensive meant to  intimidate and in the hopes that the GoI will
capitulate, sadly the attacks  on the IZ kill far more innocent Iraqi's
than any other bloc, further serving  to discredit the elements being
confronted.

There are several points  that need to be clarified that I think are not
being made well  known.
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