August 17, 2011

It's the Obama way!

Update on: White House, in Escalation of Jerusalem Controversy, Scrubs Its Web Site of References to the City Being in Israel

They have now gone one step further, scrubbing GW's reference to Jerusalem in Israel.

Now this is just getting silly. The Obama White House is gearing up for a Supreme Court case in which it will defend its refusal to list �Jerusalem, Israel� on the passports of Americans born in the Israeli capital. As part of its preparations the administration recently scrubbed all the captions on a White House photo gallery of Vice President Biden in the city, changing �Jerusalem, Israel� to �Jerusalem.�....

Those who make it their business to rationalize White House hostility toward Israel were relieved, then, when the Washington Jewish Week�s Adam Kredo published an article claiming that the Bush administration had enforced an identical policy. Kredo cited a �search of the Bush White House�s archives� and photos of Laura Bush touring the Western Wall to conclude that the Bush White House webpage �never explicitly labeled [Jerusalem] as part of Israel[...]

It gets worse for Obama�s defenders, though, than merely being demonstrably wrong. It turns out that while they were insisting that the Bush administration consistently refused to reference �Jerusalem, Israel,� the Obama State Department was busy scrubbing documents in which Bush administration referenced �Jerusalem, Israel.� Straight down the memory hole. That�s kind of amazing when you pause and think about it, no?[ More, it gets worse..]

In other Israel/Obama news: White House to Israel: Apologize to Turkey over flotilla raid or we'll abandon you at UN

Netanyahu to Clinton: Nutz to you, we won't apologize, or something like that.

MEMRI has an excellent article on how al Qaeda and other jihadis use the San Francisco based Archive.org to store and distribute propaganda videos.

As a follow up to that article, let me just note that the Taliban are now using archive.org as one of their official repositories. Again, this is from the official Taliban sponsored website, not just some fan page or unofficial tribute to the listed foreign terrorist organization.

Here's a screenshot.

And a close up showing the url of the link.

That link takes you here.

And I'm sure none of you will be shocked to learn what other American companies the Taliban are using to distribute their propaganda. YouTube, natch.

I hear a lot of complaints about us giving Islamic extremists in Afghanistan Stinger missiles in the 80s. I get that. But at least that was a case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Outside a very small group, though, I don't hear a lot of complaints about giving even worse extremists the technology they need to recruit, raise funds, and even plan terror attacks.

And we're at war with these extremists!

I wonder what FDR would have done if he found out American companies were helping the Germans or Japanese, even unwittingly, during the war? I'm not sure, but I'll bet that this assistance would not have gone on for a decade.

File this under antisemitic assmaggots.

Hilarity ensues

A California college student is conducting a social experiment where he�s trying to get his peers to sign a petition in favor of distributing grade point averages to show how the federal government distributes wealth.

Oliver Darcy, a recent college graduate, proposes that students with good grades contribute their GPA to their academically sluggish friends. He argues that this is how the federal government takes wealth from the country�s high wage earners and distributes it to the low income earners.

�They all earn their GPA,� said Darcy in an interview with "Fox and Friends." �So we asked them if they�d be interested in redistributing the GPA points that they earned to students who may be having trouble getting a high GPA.�

Cowards! I hope Trey and Matt do an episode about whoever it was who made the decision to censor the South Park Season 14 DVD sets which do not include either of the episodes featuring the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

If you bought your box set in the US, the episodes are there. Anywhere else? You're out of luck:

Episodes 200 and 201 are missing from the Australian edition...

The episodes are also missing from all editions other than the US box set released in April. The reason? They were deemed unsafe to broadcast.

And why aren't we hearing more about this? I'm pretty sure the Simpsons answered that one ....

""We ask Allah to paralyze his tongue and grant the sincere monotheists his neck. O Allah, amen."

Because he made a joke about al Qaeda's Ilyas Kashmiri trip to hell

......threat comes from Umar al-Basrawi, a frequent contributor to a major Islamic jihadist forum, whose most recent online post asks American Muslims to �cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a private company that monitors online jihadist traffic.

Apparently, Basrawi didn't appreciate a joke that Letterman, who is not Jewish[jihadis think everyone is a Jew..ed], made about late al-Qaida bigwig Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior al-Qaida leader reportedly killed in an airstrike, and his former boss, Osama bin Laden.

Fatwa?

� Hide "Member of Jihadi Forum Posts Death Threat Against David Letterman"

He "likes" LeBron James, NBA & Barack Obama:

Begin original post........:

Student hoped to "out do" Columbine shooting.

Via MyFoxTampa

TAMPA - Police in Tampa say they have arrested a teenager who planned to mark the first day of classes with a Columbine-style violent attack.

Investigators say they found bomb-making materials in the home of a 17-year-old former Freedom High School student after receiving a tip yesterday.

He had "intentions of exploding some devices at Freedom High School on the first day of school next week," police chief Jane Castor said.

The department's bomb experts studied materials allegedly found in the teen's room and said the devices could have caused "serious injury," the chief added.

UPDATE: Above link updated:

YnetNews via BigPeace:

"According to the public prosecutor's office's investigation, 'Mossad agent Ofir Harrari' instructed Jordanian Ibrahim abu-Zaid to set up a company in Egypt which would exclusively import an Israeli hair product, for both men and women, which causes infertility. This in order to completely destroy Egyptian reproduction abilities," Al-Ahram states.

Whew, that was a close one for the Muslim Brotherhood our Egyptian friends! Those devious joos will stoop to any level to destroy peaceful, freedom-loving societies!

President Teleprompter prepares for a big job creation speech next month:

Seeking to jolt the economy, President Barack Obama will unveil new ideas to create jobs and help the struggling poor and middle class in a major speech after Labor Day. And then he will try to seize political advantage by spending the fall pressuring Congress to act on his plan.

I'm so excited! I can't wait for the big speech! I know the last eight 'boost-the-economy' speeches were just a warm-up for this one!

Taking bets now. Who/What will Obama blame this time for the failing economy?

A. Bush

B. The Tea Party (aka "terrorists")

C. Republican Congress

D. Arab Spring

E. Bad mojo/luck/karma

F. All of the above

G. None of the above (new excuse)

Winner(s) will receive gloating rights in comments.

This video showing the mujahideen in Chechnya first shooting a truck driver and then enjoying some down time has been viewed more than 100k times on YouTube. Interestingly, all of the jihadis shown are speaking Russian.

Please flag as: Violent or Repulsive Content: Supports Terrorism

... but we're better. Much, much better:

In addition, both the Bush administration and the Obama administration focused their attention on the Internet, where al-Qaida does its recruiting, fundraising, operational planning and propaganda.

"What the American military intelligence can do is forge the watermarks or certification of official al-Qaida postings," says Shanker. "American cyber technology is so advanced that they can have a near perfect re-creation of an al-Qaida message � and what they're doing from time to time is going on jihadi websites and posting conflicting and contradictory orders, statements that raise doubt about who the jihadis should follow and who is really in charge ... and the goal is to really disrupt the entire network by sowing dissent and confusion. We've been told they've had some great success at that."

*Ok, sometimes they learn.

PS-- Any one read Shanker's book yet?

I'm only seeing one English language report about the arrest of Abdellatif Aoulad Chiba who is said to be an administrator of a jihadi forum, and that story isn't very detailed. Chiba is 37 and originally from Morocco but was living in Jordan at one time until that country deported him for extremism.

Google translations of Spanish language newspapers don't seem to be yielding too many other details about which forum he was associated with. They say the forum was used to distribute al Qaeda propaganda, but that's pretty much par for the course for all of them. Chiba had used the forum to gather information on how to make chemical weapons and had asked for permission from AQIM to carry out attacks on their behalf.

Given his location, my gut instinct is to guess that he was involved with the Ansar al-Mujahideen forum -- but that's just a guess. If any one hears anything else about this case, especially which forum Chiba helped administer, please let me know in an email.

Is it terrorism when the ideology that drives you to commit an act of violence is pro-unionism? I don't know, but I'm not sure why some ideologies and organizations are exempt from scrutiny:

When he looked out his front window, he saw a figure near his SUV and went outside.

As soon as he got outside his front door, King yelled at the individual who was crouched down by King�s vehicle. As soon as King yelled, the suspect stood and, without hesitation, fired a shot at Mr. King.

August 16, 2011

The Zionist bandwidth beotch was unable to post jihadi forum images of dead Dagestan terrorist commander Emir Daud (aka Abdullah Magomedaliev). I especially liked the blood and guts one, impressive Russia!

The forum appears to be having a connection problem. No, it's not us, honest!

I settled for the above screencap from Kavkaz, click to enlarge.

Earlier, Vinnie posted Hafeed Salahuddin, keyboard jihadi turned meat world, sploded by US Predator. Another keyboard jihadi turned meat world, German Abu Adam (AKA Mounir Chouka), possible wounded in another Predator strike.

Such good news, next?

UPDATE: When I mentioned bloody images of Emir Daud, below is video of Chechen Islamotards mending their wounds after fight with Russian soldiers. You can just image what the dead Islamotard looked like...

Don't flag this video, user doesn't appear to be a JihadTuber.

One eHadi killed, one possibly wounded.

An Internet jihadist who traveled to Pakistan's tribal areas to fight with al Qaeda-linked terror groups was killed in a US Predator airstrike. Also, a prominent member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is reported to have wounded in another Predator strike in Pakistan's tribal areas.

I'm not one to dance on the grave of a fellow human being, but, then again, I don't consider these scum human beings. So I'll dance away!

You reading this, Samir Khan? We at the Jawa Report are so happy you left your keyboard in North Carolina and decided to put some skin in the game. Of course, when the Predator finds you, your skin will be pretty much scattered over a large swath of Yemen.

Obama media, card carrying members of the race card:

h/t BreitbartTV

UPDATE: Here comes Joan Walsh to defend.

UPDATE: Schultz apologized, not for calling Perry a racist but for not showing the full video.

Let me get this straight,among other things, the gunrunner program caused the death of Agent Brian Terry and untold number of other victims.

Drug gangs/war lords were given unending supply of weapons, which weren't tracked as well as cash to purchase said weapons. The cash wasn't tracked either. Mexico was kept in the dark

� There was little to no information sharing from the Phoenix Field Division, ATF Headquarters and the Justice Department to their colleagues in Mexico City. Every time Mexico City officials asked about the mysterious investigation, their U.S. based ATF counterparts in Phoenix and Washington, D.C. continued to say they were "working on it" and "everything was under control."

The ATF has promoted three key supervisors of a controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border into Mexico[...]

All three have been heavily criticized for pushing the program forward even as it became apparent that it was out of control. At least 2,000 guns were lost and many turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and two at the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.

The three supervisors have been given new management positions at the agency�s headquarters in Washington. They are William G. McMahon, who was the ATF�s deputy director of operations in the West, where the illegal trafficking program was focused, and William D. Newell and David Voth, both field supervisors who oversaw the program out of the agency�s Phoenix office.

As Ed notes regarding the three "we made mistakes comment":

Perhaps listening to those agents who warned that this would result in disaster? Maybe not punishing those whistleblowers who brought your �mistakes� to light?

Previous:

Reading this report from Afghanistan by my old friend Bill Ardalino from the now defunct INDC blog, I couldn't help but be drawn to this paragraph:

It is not uncommon for children in the [Sabari, Khost] district to throw grenades. There is some debate about whether the minors are engaging in violent local sport, or if they are put up to it by insurgents who know that Coalition forces are less likely to shoot into a throng of scurrying kids. Insurgents are known to use young people as tools: the Haqqani Network runs a series of madrassas in Pakistan expressly devoted to brainwashing teens into violent jihad, and there have been a handful of incidents throughout Afghanistan in which kids have been strapped with bombs and sent forth as suicide bombers. But minors tossing frags around here could merely be a hobby of rambunctious, Sabari-brand hellions. The area is awash in grenades, and many young males develop an early inclination for xenophobic jihad.

PS-Stay safe Bill. Stay safe.

If you have an hour to kill here's a good speech by David Gartenstein Ross at USC on al Qaeda's post 9/11 strategy of smaller and more frequent attacks. Stick around for the Q&A; on related homeland security issues and especially about putting the stealth jihad into a context (about 56 minutes in).

Oops, I meant aid to elite IDF units:

Senator Patrick Leahy claims Shayetet 13 unit, undercover Duvdevan unit, and the Israel Air Force Shaldag unit are involved in human rights violations in occupied territories.

Leahy says legislation doesn't aim at Israel, but could hit it.

Senator Leahy does not discuss private conversations he has had for decades with Israeli leaders.

However, the Haaretz article contains significant inaccuracies. He has not proposed legislation to withhold U.S. aid to units of the Israel Defense Forces.

By way of general background about the Leahy Amendment, the law applies to U.S. aid to foreign security forces around the globe and is intended to be applied consistently across the spectrum of U.S. military aid abroad.

Remember recently the Homeland Insecurity erroneously, so they say, put Israel on a list of 36 nations which

�have shown a tendency to promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations or their members.�

Who's next to make a mistake?

Related: White House cleanses Israel from website

h/t @DougPologe

UPDATE: Daniel Pipes must read: White House mischief

The FBI has published a list of "Major Terrorism Preventions, Disruptions, and Investigations" within the United States since 9/11. Many of the cases listed were attempts at terrorism that never took place because they were disrupted by law enforcement.

The next time someone criticizes Rep. King for looking into Islamist terror within the homeland, kindly point them to this.

I've posted the list below the fold.

Busy planning his next home purchase.

It's about time! Sangeen Zadran is behind the 2009 kidnapping of US soldier Bowe Berdahl, who remains in captivity to this day:

Designation of Haqqani Network Commander Sangeen Zadran

Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
August 16, 2011

The Secretary of State has designated Haqqani Network (HQN) Commander Sangeen Zadran under Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. As a result of the designation, all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction in which Sangeen has any interest is blocked and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with him. Sangeen was also listed by the United Nations (UN) 1988 Sanctions Committee. These actions will help stem the flow of financial and other assistance to this dangerous individual.

Sangeen Zadran is the Shadow Governor for Paktika Province, Afghanistan and a commander of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban-affiliated group of militants that operates from North Waziristan Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. The Haqqani Network has been at the forefront of insurgent activity in Afghanistan, responsible for many high-profile attacks.

As for JI:

Treasury Sanctions Three Senior Members of the Jemaah Islamiya Terrorist Network

8/16/2011
WASHINGTON � The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the designation of Umar Patek, Abdul Rahim Ba�asyir and Muhammad Jibril Abdul Rahman, three senior members of Jemaah Islamiya (JI), the Southeast Asia-based designated terrorist network with links to al-Qa�ida.

�These three men have demonstrated their commitment to violence,� said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen. �Today�s actions are intended to disrupt their ability to access the international financial system to support their deadly agendas.�

Today�s designations were taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which targets for sanctions terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. As a result of today�s action, U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions with these individuals, and assets they may hold under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.

Abdul Rahim Ba�asyir, who may be in his early 30s, was allegedly part of al-Qaeda�s media outfit in Afghanistan and may have helped record the last wills and testaments of the 9/11 hijackers

As of early 2004, Abdul Rahim was reportedly al-Qaeda�s only contact in Southeast Asia, the department said.[More...]

Practice makes perfect[Emphasis mine]:

.....I mean, we know that there are Predator drones being flown for practice every day because we're seeing them, we're preparing these young people to fly missions in these war zones that we have. But some of those, they have all the equipment, they're obviously unarmed, they've got the downward-looking radar, they've got the ability to do night work and through clouds. Why not be flying those missions and using (that) real-time information to help our law-enforcement? Becuase [sp] if we will commit to that, I will suggest to you that we will be able to drive the drug cartels away from our border."

Headlines such as During practice, Predator drone such and such nabs high profile drug lord would be a heck of a lot better than " Border Agent Brian Terry killed by gun from botched Operation Fast and Furious gunrunner program".

Both President Obama and Vice President Biden have denied ever referring to the Tea Party as "terrorists" or behaving like "terrorists" as widely reported.

Biden swears he never used the "t" word:

Biden himself denied it in an interview with CBS News, telling anchor Scott Pelley, "I did not use the terrorism word."

And President Obama supported Biden's denial:

In an interview later with Fox News, Rhodes claimed that the President insisted that Biden had not made the original comment.

Remember, it's not a lie if you believe it.

Below the fold - a video in which Obama refuses to answer a Town Hall question about the issue.

Against Syria? For indiscriminate rocket fire? On non-military targets?

An assault by Syrian security forces on a Palestinian refugee camp in the coastal city of Latakia amounts to a crime against humanity, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organisation said.

"The shelling is taking place using gunships and tanks on houses built from tin, on people who have no place to run to or even a shelter to hide in," Yasser Abed Rabbo, the PLO secretary general, told Reuters. "This is a crime against humanity."

You don't say. Short memory, Ramallah Bob.

Just heart breaking. BMWs but no food. It's those fecking Joos! First they give the poor Palestinians a taste of luxury and then they torture them by removing the food trays and cup holders.

Oh, the humanity!

Smugglers said they earned a generous profit on cars purchased in Libya. One said he might buy a Libyan car for the equivalent of $22,000 and sell it in Gaza for about $30,000. Another said he bought a black BMW x6 sports car for $80,000 and planned to sell it for $100,000, after a few desert joy rides for himself.

"Hope" artist Shepard Fairey received a not-so-welcome critique (and beating) for a Danish mural depicting peace. The hipster dufus got lucky in 2008 by designing the iconic presidential "Hope" campaign poster.

But apparently, and unfortunately for Fairey, Danes are not as brain-dead as America's Obamanites. The real irony is that his hand was bitten by the very leftists he fed in America:

Last weekend, Fairey � creator of the famous "Hope" poster that came to encapsulate Obama's 2008 presidential campaign � was beaten up after the opening of his exhibition at a Copenhagen gallery.

Earlier this month he was involved with a controversial mural that has enraged leftwing anarchists throughout the city.

"I have a black eye and a bruised rib," Fairey told the Guardian.

According to reports, 41-year-old Fairey and his colleague Romeo Trinidad were punched and kicked by at least two men outside the Kodboderne 18 nightclub in the early hours of last Saturday morning. Fairey claims the men called him "Obama illuminati" and ordered him to "go back to America" [...]

Fairey's installation, painted on a building adjacent to the vacant site, depicted a dove in flight above the word "peace" and the figure "69". But the mural appeared to reopen old wounds, with critics accusing Fairey of peddling government-funded propaganda.

[Updated with 13times' link on Shepard Fairey]

When HAMAS-linked CAIR asked West to surrender his fight against stealth jihad by cutting ties with some purveyors of uncomfortable and politically incorrect truth, Congressman LTC Allen West replied:

"Nuts!"

God, I love this man. Why couldn't HE have been our first black President?

Hat Tip: Jihad watch. Image of letter below the fold.

� Hide ""Nuts!""

10 years after the fact, we're just now investigating whether New Mexico born Anwar al-Awlaki's role in 9/11 was something more than incidental contact with several of the hijackers?

�This congressional investigation will seek to determine:

"1. To what extent Anwar al-Awlaki wittingly or unwittingly facilitated the plot of the 9/11 hijackers; and

"2. to what extent al-Awlaki was an al Qaeda operative, offering support to acts of terrorism prior to 9/11.� ...

�Given the greater collection of intelligence and integration of pertinent data since the attacks of 9/11, I believe that al-Awlaki may have played greater roles in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, as well as other terrorist plots, than those of which we have been previously aware," King writes. "Accordingly, I request the full assistance of the Department of Justice in carrying out this inquiry.�

But don't worry, Glenn Greenwald assures us that prior to 9/11 Awlaki was a moderate with a heart of gold. It was America's Islamophobic wars that drove Awlaki into al Qaeda's camp.

For morons like Greenwald, all bad things in the world can be traced to America.

According to El Cid, this video shows a group of Muslims in Malaysia publicly burning The Star newspaper which published a pork recipe during Ramadan.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia publicly condemned the desecration saying it "was not helpful" in the fight against extremism, would put Malaysian troops in jeopardy, and might lead to acts of terrorism by the editorial board of the New York Times .

Google's own translation software translates the name of this video: Hair said Sheikh Abu Musab al-Mujahid in his colleague by the mercy of God.

Except for the hair part, it's pretty clear that this video supports terrorism.

The video has had over 100,000 hits. The majority from Saudi Arabia and North Africa.

Please flag as: Violent or Repulsive Content: Supports Terrorism

Google's real motto should be: Do Evil.

Today is National Airborne Day. Oddly, the last President to issue a proclamation on this day was George W. Bush.

But what am I complaining for? I'm sure Obama is creating bajillions of jobs on this bus tour.

Recovering:

A Des Moines man who allegedly tried to lure a young girl into an alley, wound up with stitches and a black eye after the girl's mother took matters into her own hands, according to authorities.

August 15, 2011

There is no honour in killing

Maine Medicaid official advises Ted Ceanneidigh (Pronounced Ted Kennedy), "If you don't have proof of income, then you have no income" despite the fact Ted says he works with "cash and precious metals." and says the Metal is "less traceable." The Medicaid official also encourages the man posing as Ted Ceanneidigh, "Don't say anything [about your corvette]."

Good job Project Veritas!

No, this isn't Hamas TV. This is from a Egyptian kiddie program.

Via Elder of Ziyon:

h/t Bubbe

Wow, I didn't see this one coming. Apparently someone watches way too much TV:

The FBI has made an arrest in connection with the case involving a teen who was trapped inside her Sydney, Australia home with a fake collar bomb on Aug. 3, CBS News has learned.

The arrest happened earlier Monday in the Louisville, Kentucky area. Australian officials are filing extradition papers.

UPDATE by SH: 50-year-old Paul "Doug" Peters is the name of the suspect.

He died in a nursing home Sunday, in southern Illinois' Nashville.

"Doc" Brown was nearly 40 in 1942 when he endured the Bataan Death March, a harrowing 65-mile trek in which 78,000 prisoners of war were forced to walk from Bataan province near Manila to a Japanese POW camp. As many as 11,000 died along the way. Many were denied food, water and medical care, and those who stumbled or fell during the scorching journey through Philippine jungles were stabbed, shot or beheaded.

Ah yes, the brave mujahideen. Lions of Islam, one and all.

I'd act indignant, but let's face it: after hundreds of similar videos -- including one Taliban kid beheading an apostate -- I really don't have it in me any more.

More at Long War Journal. Thanks to Psycophant.

They are charged in planning to attack the Marine base in Quantico, Va., and targets overseas.

RALEIGH, N.C. � Five Raleigh men accused in a 2009 terrorism plot have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Dylan(aka Mohammed) Boyd, Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, Ziyad Yaghi, Hysen Sherifi and Anes Subasic face multiple felony charges related to allegations they conspired to attack the Marine base in Quantico, Va., and targets overseas. They pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court in Raleigh.

In February of this year the ringleader, Daniel Patrick Boyd (aka Saifullah), plead guilty:

for providing material support to terrorists and conspiring to support terrorism by training and traveling overseas to participate in "violent jihad".

Two sons, Zacharia and Dylan (aka Mohammed), certainly took after dear ol' jihadi dad, Daniel Boyd (aka Saifullah).

Rusty originally posted about this case here.

Is this headline intended to get hits, generate comments from Paulbots for the Jawas to play with, or pass along truth while providing traffic to a good site? All of the above, Bitches. All of the above.

Messaging vs reality:

A string of coordinated bomb blasts across Iraq blamed on al-Qaeda killed at least 66 people on Monday in the country's bloodiest day of the year so far.

More than 230 were wounded in bloodshed which underlined the fragility of security less than five months before American troops are scheduled to complete their withdrawal.

Man, al Qaeda has got to work on it's messaging. Yawn:

CAIRO � �Al Qaeda's new leader called on his followers to continue to fight the United States despite the killing of Usama bin Laden, calling America a "criminal country" that has corrupted the world.

~iPhone

Well what do you know. Give people reprieve from oppression and they can contribute to solutions instead of problems.

South Sudan has offered to send African Union troops to Somalia to back the weak interim government.

South Sudan, which became independent on 9 July, made the offer on the day it joined the African Union (AU).

The AU has 9,000 troops in Somalia, but it says it needs up to 20,000 soldiers to repel the Islamist group, al-Shabab.

While discussing Iraq's financial outlays that the Iraqis agreed to, we get this little tidbit.

Iraq today is a shattered society still picking up the pieces after decades of war and crippling sanctions. Prior to its conflict with the United States, the Iraqi healthcare and education systems were the envy of the Middle East, and despite the brutalities and crimes of the Ba�ath regime there still managed to exist a thriving middle class of ordinary Iraqis, something conspicuously absent from today�s "free Iraq." In light of the continued suffering of Iraqi civilians, the agreement by the al-Maliki government to pay enormous sums of money to the people who destroyed the country is unconscionable and further discredits the absurd claim that the invasion was fought to "liberate" the Iraqi people.

See, Saddam wasn't so bad. You could buy apples and get prostate exams. Really good prostate exams. Stupid America!