Redstate.org: REHNQUIST TO RETIRE TODAY

At 4:50 (i assume 3:50 our time), when the President lands, Chief Justice Rehnquist will, supposedly, hand in his walking papers.

The interesting thing is that this is getting some conservatives wound up, because they think it will make it harder to "pack the courts." I don't know, seems to me President Bush hasn't exactly been the great compromiser. I expect great things from these nominees in the way on constructionists. Whether or not they are willing to overturn Roe, well, that isn't high on my list right now of "litmus tests."

A source close to the White House tells me that the White House is operating under the assumption, based on presumed knowledge of Novak's source, that this will, in fact, happen. Yes, keep in mind that I am not being told that the White House is confirming this, but that the White House has a good idea it should trust Novak's source.

Interestingly, it seems the same sources are saying Justice Stevens will also retire at the end of this year. If Rehnquist indeed hangs up the robes this afternoon, this source may be on to something.

Third party sources are now telling me that the John Paul Stevens rumor is true and that the White House is now planning for a third vacancy, but not until the end of the year. Third party sources, who I treat as credible, say that Stevens has begun taking actions in his personal life to make arrangements for personal affairs. It is presumed that Stevens is taking steps to retire.

World Series of Poker Started Today

More specifically, the "main event," the $10,000 no-limit hold 'em tourney started today. It's gonna go something like a week, with 5661 entrants/

If anyone cares, this guy is liveblogging it. Gotta be bustin his hump.

And it seems this guy is taking the ballcap and shades thing a touch far.

"Unfortunately, the Europeans' devastating urge to do good can no longer be countered with reason."

A rising star in the world of economics (at least in my eyes after this interview) James Shikwati explains why aid to Africa is, literally, killing Africa. Read the interview, it is both incredibly insightful (where else are you going to hear the truth, that handouts are what is killing these people, not apathy) and funny. The interviewer has no freaking idea what to say when Mr. Shikwati shoots down every notion this guy holds true.

SPIEGEL: Even in a country like Kenya, people are starving to death each year. Someone has got to help them.

Shikwati: But it has to be the Kenyans themselves who help these people. When there's a drought in a region of Kenya, our corrupt politicians reflexively cry out for more help. This call then reaches the United Nations World Food Program -- which is a massive agency of apparatchiks who are in the absurd situation of, on the one hand, being dedicated to the fight against hunger while, on the other hand, being faced with unemployment were hunger actually eliminated. It's only natural that they willingly accept the plea for more help. And it's not uncommon that they demand a little more money than the respective African government originally requested. They then forward that request to their headquarters, and before long, several thousands tons of corn are shipped to Africa ...

SPIEGEL: ... corn that predominantly comes from highly-subsidized European and American farmers ...

Shikwati: ... and at some point, this corn ends up in the harbor of Mombasa. A portion of the corn often goes directly into the hands of unsrupulous politicians who then pass it on to their own tribe to boost their next election campaign. Another portion of the shipment ends up on the black market where the corn is dumped at extremely low prices. Local farmers may as well put down their hoes right away; no one can compete with the UN's World Food Program. And because the farmers go under in the face of this pressure, Kenya would have no reserves to draw on if there actually were a famine next year. It's a simple but fatal cycle.

SPIEGEL: If the World Food Program didn't do anything, the people would starve.

Shikwati: I don't think so. In such a case, the Kenyans, for a change, would be forced to initiate trade relations with Uganda or Tanzania, and buy their food there. This type of trade is vital for Africa. It would force us to improve our own infrastructure, while making national borders -- drawn by the Europeans by the way -- more permeable. It would also force us to establish laws favoring market economy.

What comes next is the most ridiculously condescending question I have read in a loooong time. Well, since the previous, "if we didn't help the people would starve" question.

SPIEGEL: Would Africa actually be able to solve these problems on its own?

Wow. So this knucklehead thinks that Africans can't figure out how to trade. Moron.

The discussion then turns to AIDS, and Mr. Shikwati is actually able to have an intelligent discussion with a total idiot. Of course the discussion is one sided.

Shikwati: If one were to believe all the horrorifying reports, then all Kenyans should actually be dead by now. But now, tests are being carried out everywhere, and it turns out that the figures were vastly exaggerated. It's not three million Kenyans that are infected. All of the sudden, it's only about one million. Malaria is just as much of a problem, but people rarely talk about that.

SPIEGEL: And why's that?

Shikwati: AIDS is big business, maybe Africa's biggest business. There's nothing else that can generate as much aid money as shocking figures on AIDS. AIDS is a political disease here, and we should be very skeptical.

SPIEGEL: The Americans and Europeans have frozen funds previously pledged to Kenya. The country is too corrupt, they say.

Shikwati: I am afraid, though, that the money will still be transfered before long. After all, it has to go somewhere. Unfortunately, the Europeans' devastating urge to do good can no longer be countered with reason.

And that, as they say, is the money shot.

Unfortunately, the Europeans' devastating urge to do good can no longer be countered with reason.

via Will over at Vodkapundit

DU Post of the Day (for amusement purposes only)

Titled: The ultimate revelation is still 9/11

Gangsters in government. Media covers for them. That is the problem.

The only solution is 50 million of you out in the streets shutting it all down until they topple. People Power. Like Moscow '91, like Venezuela '02.

Oh yes, let Junior's little segment of the Bush mob be brought down by Plame or some such, but remember: on Watergate followed Reagan, just six years later, and it all continues through Bush, Clinton and Bush.

Nothing will have been won unless the whole ball of wax is exposed -

9/11 as the inside job it so obviously was, an arranged Reichstag fire event to seize the Zeitgeist and brainwash all of you into submission.

Vote fraud 2000 and 2004.

Drug-dealing, money laundering and plunder by the thousand tentacles of the Bush Family Evil Eempire.

Inexcusable war of aggression on the people of Iraq, nuclear threats to the whole world, a history of genocide in Central America...

Only if these become common knowledge and the perpetrators are actually pursued for criminal prosecution. Only then might we see an end to the real problem:

- the centralization of power in the hands of a few thousand owner-emperors, the protection of their "interests" through "national security" institutions that operate above the law and in secrecy;

The self-appointed powers who remain "in government" no matter who plays president, who pick the president and lay the ground for the next war, the next crime.

For a start, if the whole Bush crime family has not been acknowledged as the morally cross of the Corleones with the Hitlers on a global scale... if this just ends up being the scapegoating of a few figures for their personal mistakes and petty crimes (Rove? Who the fuck cares about Rove?!) we will never get out of this nightmare.

The next Bush (under whatever name) will be brought in just a few years hence.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we are dealing with. These people live amongst us, we probably buy coffee from them in the morning, get cab rides from them, and tip them for delivering our pizza. They are normal folks...on the surface. I have yet to meet an open DUer here in Milwaukee, but I have no doubt they exist. Of course, it could just be Michael Moore and Howard Dean having elaborate third, fourth, and fifth person conversations with each other...

Joseph Duncan's chilling, disgusting weblog

Chilling...the aformentioned beast who kidnapped the two Idaho children and brutally murdered their family has a web log. Truely disturbing stuff.

My intent is to harm society as much as I can, then die...was in prison for over 18 years, since the age of 17. As an adult all I knew was the oppression of incarceration. All those years I dreamed of getting out...And getting even. Instead, I got out and I got even, but did not get caught. So, I got even again, and again did not get caught.

What a disgusting shame. Anyone have a spare island where we can send these disgusting, unforgivable pederasts to rot and die? Not in my back yard is damn right.

Props to Jawa Report

Barbara Bush...Volunteering in Africa?

I often hear and read complaints about those "spolied" Bush daughters. A fun rallying cry for leftists nutters is "why aren't the Bush twins in Iraq?" (funny, they never mention Chelsea, after all Hillary did/does support the war). Well, it seems that Barbara Bush is doing her part, and a lot more than most of us.

It is here, say some doctors and nurses, that Barbara Bush, one of President Bush's twin daughters, has been working in near anonymity as a volunteer.

While no one disputes that she has been in Cape Town for the last six weeks, nearly everything about her stay is shrouded in mystery. Hospital officials yesterday refused to confirm her presence, and many hospital workers ducked questions about Barbara Bush's role at one of the premier health facilities in Africa for children with AIDS and other ailments.

A White House official, Peter Watkins, confirmed yesterday that her mother, Laura Bush, will visit Barbara in South Africa later this week, after the Group of Eight summit in Scotland where President Bush and other leaders of the industrialized world will consider how they can help ease poverty in Africa. The official said Laura Bush and her other daughter, Jenna, will spend five days with Barbara and then will travel to other African countries to speak about AIDS relief and education initiatives.

Bravo.

Convictions can carry the death penalty (Idaho Kidnapping)

Honestly, that was the only reason I wanted to read the story. I wanted to know that this sick prick would be killed. Not spending a life in jail where he can get his kicks with other sicko sex offenders, but put to death.

The intent of the crimes, the documents say, was to rape, seriously injure or commit a lewd and lascivious act on a child under 16 years old. Convictions can carry the death penalty or life in prison.

Duncan, who was raised in Tacoma, Wash., had spent more than a decade in prison for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint and was a fugitive at the time of his arrest for allegedly molesting a 6-year-old boy in Minnesota. Wayman on Tuesday ordered him held on $2 million bail on the fugitive charge.

Preemptive strike against SCOTUS nominee

Yeah, I am guessing that this will be a nice quiet confirmation process, well, until a name gets named. PFAW is already circulating a fundraiser to block any Bush nominee, and they don't have the slightest clue who it will be.

We hope President Bush will select a consensus nominee after consulting Senators from both political parties, but given his track record, the odds are good that he will nominate someone who threatens our rights and liberties — in which case you and PFAW will have to mount a tireless campaign this summer to keep that nominee from being confirmed by the US Senate.

So, PFAW opposes anyone Bush nominates. How does anyone donate to this group? Isn't this a "preemptive strike" against a potential nominee? I thought leftists hated preemptive strikes?

It Starts! O'Connor to Retire

And you thought last nights Summerfest fireworks were good. Wait til next week!!

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court and a key swing vote on issues such as abortion and the death penalty, said Friday she is retiring.

O'Connor, 75, said she expects to leave before the start of the court's next term in October, or whenever the Senate confirms her successor. There was no immediate word from the White House on who might be nominated to replace O'Connor.

It's been 11 years since the last opening on the court, one of the longest uninterrupted stretches in history. O'Connor's decision gives Bush his first opportunity to appoint a justice.

"This is to inform you of my decision to retire from my position as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, effective upon the nomination and confirmation of my successor. It has been a great privilege indeed to have served as a member of the court for 24 terms. I will leave it with enormous respect for the integrity of the court and its role under our constitutional structure."

The White House has refused to comment on any possible nominees, or whether Bush would name a woman to succeed O'Connor. Her departure leaves Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the only other woman among the current justices.

Possible replacements include Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and federal courts of appeals judges J. Michael Luttig, John Roberts, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Michael McConnell, Emilio Garza and James Harvie Wilkinson III. Others mentioned are former Solicitor General Theodore Olson, lawyer Miguel Estrada and former deputy attorney general Larry Thompson, but Bush's pick could be a surprise choice not well known in legal circles.

Another prospective candidate is Edith Hollan Jones, a judge on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who was also considered for a Supreme Court vacancy by President Bush's father.

The interesting thing here is that it changes the makeup of the court if a decent person is appointed, instead of one of those Godless liberals.

Also this means that President Bush will more than likely get two nominations.

Funding Religion

Anne Coulter's column over at Townhall.com got me thinking. Why isn't the ACLU suing the Army? After all, the taxpayers are definitely promoting a specific religion down at Gitmo. Shouldn't we be distributing books about science and self-help books by Dr. Phil instead of the Quran? After all, the Guran mentions God! The horror! Sounds like promoting religion to me. I plan on writing ACLU-WI to file a suit on my behalf. I'll let you know if I get a response.

State Office
ACLU of Wisconsin
207 E. Buffalo Street, Suite 325
Milwaukee, WI 53202-5774
Phone: 414.272.4032
Fax: 414.272.0182
Email: liberty@aclu-wi.org

Legal Department
ACLU of Wisconsin
207 E. Buffalo Street, Suite 325
Milwaukee, WI 53202-5774
Phone: 414.272.4032 ext.16
Fax: 414.272.0182
Email: inquiries@aclu-wi.org

Madison Office
ACLU of Wisconsin
122 State Street, Suite 507
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608.469.5540
Fax: 608.255.2688
Email: DRiley@aclu-wi.org

It's Called A Bunt!!

For two years I have been harping about Yost and his seeming inability to call for a sac bunt. Finally, he has started calling for it. Sadly, the Brewers players are totally unable to come through.

I finally get why he was so hesitant to move runners over, no one on the team can bunt!

Square around, face the pitcher, direct your bat to the left or the right and deaden the ball 20 or 30 feet away from the plate. That's what we call a bunt...For some reason, that basic skill has eluded the Milwaukee Brewers too often this season, and it played a role in another close defeat Wednesday to the Chicago Cubs. Todd Hollandsworth decided the issue with a one-out, run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Cubs a 3-2 victory at Wrigley Field.

"You have to get bunts down and you have to get big hits," manager Ned Yost said after his club its third consecutive game. "We didn't do it."

Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets failed to get down a sacrifice bunt in the third inning against Kerry Wood, rendering Clark's two-out single meaningless. The one that really hurt came in the ninth, when Geoff Jenkins led off with a walk, only to have rookie J.J. Hardy foul off three consecutive bunt attempts against reliever Roberto Novoa.

The Gambler Goes Wild

Obviously, Kenny just didn't know when to walk away. Check out the story and video here. I love sports!

The 40-year-old left-hander first shoved Fox Sports Net Southwest photographer David Mammeli, telling him: "I told you to get those cameras out of my face."

Rogers then approached a second cameraman. He wrestled the camera from Larry Rodriguez of Dallas-Fort Worth television station KDFW, threw it to the ground and kicked it.

Rodriguez filed a formal police report against Rogers on Wednesday night, claiming assault. Police went to interview Rodriguez at about 9 p.m. ET at the Medical Center of Arlington where the cameraman was being examined for possible injuries.

We Need A Marquette Deep Throat!

Or maybe some Wells Street Memo's. Either way, I want this conspiracy uncovered. I want the paper ballots. I want an independent source to count the number of Warriors votes.

They really expect me to believe this?

n the first round of voting, 12,180 people voted for Golden Eagles, and 9,298 voted for Hilltoppers. In addition, the school disclosed that 5,587 people made a write-in vote selection. Of those people, 3,264 chose to write-in Warriors, even though the school had said in advance that any vote for the old nickname would not be counted as valid.

Bullshit! Four times as many people voted for Golden Eagles?!? Nope, didn't happen. These are totally arbitrary numbers.

This was all a nice plan after they realzied how stupid they looked after "Gold." Hey, we can save face and make Golden Eagles look beloved...I know, a fake online vote!!


Nice work Fr. Wild, you look like an idiot, the university looks like a bunch of idiots.

I hope I get a chance to talk to you in person about this at the Milwaukee BRAVES game! For this reason alone, I will go to as many MU Basketball games as I can and start the FSU Chop and wear full indian regalia. I might even see if I can't sneak a teepee in and recreate the sccene from Major League.

For shame...

Byron York asks a solid question

Where do our Federal Representatives get all this free time?

There was a scene in Fahrenheit 9/11 when Michael Moore asked Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), "Um, how could Congress pass this Patriot Act without even reading it?" Conyers leaned across his desk and answered, "Sit down, my son. We don't read most of the bills..."

What Conyers meant, I think, was that lawmakers have more to do than they have time to do it. Members of Congress, at least in the public mind, are very, very busy men and women who -- burdened with things like drafting bills and attending endless committee meetings -- delegate a lot of communications and PR tasks to staff.

Does that include writing for The Huffington Post? It started with Conyers himself, but the Huffington Caucus has now come to include Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill), Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.), Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), and perhaps others I have missed. Some of their entries seem to be personal statements, while others read a bit like press releases. So my question to each of the busy lawmaker-bloggers on this site is: Is that really you? Are you actually writing the posts that appear under your name?

I eagerly await the answer!

More on the Economy

From David Malpass (via Econopundit)

So This Is a Weak Economy?

The U.S. expansion has been strong and steady despite the warnings of fragility, the repeated claims of a slowdown, and the fear of China (as intense as the Japan fears of the 1980s). U.S. growth has averaged a fast 3.9% pace since the initial 7.4% tax-cut-related growth celebration in the third quarter of 2003. Thanks in large part to smaller businesses, U.S. unemployment has fallen to 5.1%, with wage and salary income growing at a 10% annual rate in the revised fourth-quarter data. Beyond housing, household liquid assets have increased more than both total debt and foreign debt, helping build solid resources for the future. Add to that the nation's biggest unrecorded asset -- a robust system of innovation, market-based capital allocation, and decentralized decision-making.

Yet the litany against the U.S. economy is so ingrained and familiar that few disputed this spring's "slowdown." When strong data on income, employment, consumption and profits showed 3.5% first-quarter GDP growth and a continuation into the second quarter, the headlines shifted to other attacks -- adjustable-rate mortgages, a housing "bubble," the distribution of income -- rather than revising the slowdown story.

The recent decline in bond yields is being presented as a likely economic slowdown and a justification for the Fed to stop hiking rates. But similar yield declines gave way to solid growth and higher yields in both 2003 and 2004. Rather than a "conundrum," bond yields in the U.S. and abroad are probably being held down by the extraordinary U.S. monetary accommodation since the 9/11 attacks and an underestimate of its inflationary consequences.
...

One of the most needed steps in finding good policies is to marshal more understanding and confidence in our own economic system's strengths and weaknesses. The first issue facing policy makers (and investors) is whether current growth is a fragile interim between the deflation crisis of 2001 and a new crisis; or, more likely, a durable expansion in which each quarter's strong growth argues that we're on the right path, with an urgent need for more structural improvements.

Mr. Malpass is chief economist at Bear Stearns.
Copyright 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

read the entire article if you get a chance, it was in today's WSJ but Steve at Econopundit got it straight from the horses mouth, as such I think (hope?) it is okay t link to.

China rails against evils of market intervention

A freaking communist country is lecturing the US on market interference?? (via Drudge) Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that China National Offshore Oil Corporation's $18.5 billion offer for Unocal was "normal commercial activity between enterprises."

Liu said "economic cooperation between China and the U.S. serves the interests of both sides and commercial activities should not be interfered in or disturbed by political elements."

Stunning.

Scientology, A Study

What Is Scientology (seems like a good place to start, at their home page).

The aims of Scientology are a world without insanity, without criminals, without war, where the able can prosper and where Man is free to rise to greater heights.

And if you were to ask any Scientologist they would tell you it is a practical religion, with practical answers — tools that can be applied to achieve greater awareness and purpose in the here and now.

Or, as we say it, when you have the answers to life's questions — there is virtually no part of existence it cannot be applied to for the betterment of life itself.

Seems like a utopian ideal, okay, normal enough.

As it turns out there is a branch (Church of Scientology Mission in Milwaukee) at 6806 W Wedgewood Dr. Check it out...if you dare!

Okay, scientology.org is boring. I'm gonna check out Wikipedia.

Wikipedia's scientology section here.

Central Beliefs:

The central beliefs of Scientology are that:

* a person is an immortal spiritual being (termed a thetan) who possesses a mind and a body, accompanied by a lesser "genetic entity";
* that the thetan has lived through many past lives, stored memories of which can cause problems in the present day;
* and that a person is basically good, but is "aberrated" by the memories of past traumas.

The Church states that the goal of Scientology is a world without war, criminals, and insanity, where good decent people have the freedom to reach their goals.

Another basic tenet of Scientology is that there are three basic interrelated (and intrinsically spiritual) components that are the very makeup of successful "livingness": affinity, reality (or agreement), and communication, which equate to understanding. Hubbard called this the "ARC triangle". Scientologists utilize ARC as a central organizing principle in their lives, primarily based upon the belief that raising one aspect of the triangle increases the other two.

Scientology claims to offer an exact methodology to help a person achieve spiritual and ethical education, awareness, and improvement, so that he or she may achieve a level of spiritual purity as well as greater effectiveness in the physical world. The ultimate goal of Scientology is to "rehabilitate" the thetan, restoring its superhuman abilities to control "matter, energy, space and time" (MEST).

Past lives...hmm, okay, not quite overly strange but nearing weird.

Xenu, where things get incredibly odd..

Most famously, those who reach OT level III will learn about Xenu, the galactic tyrant who stacked hundreds of billions of his frozen victims around Earth's volcanoes 75 million years ago before blowing them up with hydrogen bombs and brainwashing them with a "three-D, super colossal motion picture" for 36 days. The traumatised thetans subsequently clustered around human bodies, in effect acting as invisible spiritual head lice that can only be removed using advanced Scientology techniques. Reportedly, the cost of reaching OT III approaches $360,000.

Controversies

* Scientology's harassing and litigious actions against its critics and "enemies."
* Differing accounts of L. Ron Hubbard's life, (critics charge Scientology with being a cult of personality, with much emphasis placed on the alleged accomplishments of its founder). Scientologists claim that government files, such as the FBI, are loaded with forgeries and other false documents detrimental to Scientology.
* Deaths of Scientologists due to mistreatment by other members.
* Scientology's disconnection policy, in which members are encouraged to cut off all contact with friends or family members critical of the Church.
* Criminal activities by some members of the Church of Scientology.
* Claims of "brainwashing" and mind control.
* Accounts of L. Ron Hubbard discussing his intent to start a religion to make money.

A religion to make money...noooo.

Here is a list of famous scientologists including Jason Lee (for shame), Courtney Love, Charles Manson (shocking), Patrick Swayze and Greta Van Susteren (I did not know that)

Moving on (The Secrets of Scientology)

Crazy brainwashing

The crazy Xenu space alien story (from L Ron Hubbard himself).

The head of the Galactic
Confederation (76 planets around
larger stars visible from here)
(founded 95,000,000 yrs ago, very space opera)
solved overpopulation (250 billion
or so per planet -- 178 billion on
average) by mass implanting.
He caused people to be brought to
Teegeeack (Earth) and put an H Bomb
on the principal volcanoes (Incident 2)
and then the Pacific area ones
were taken in boxes to Hawaii
and the Atlantic Area ones to
Las Palmas and there "packaged."
His name was Xenu. He used
renegades. Various misleading
data by means of circuits etc.
was placed in the implants.
When through with his crime Loyal Officers
(to the people) captured him
after 6 years of battle
and put him in an electronic
mountain trap where he still
is. "They" are gone. The place (Confed.)
has since been a desert.

That's all I can handle, these people are nuts. NUTS.

ECONOMIC GROWTH BETTER THAN EXPECTED

Since nobody else in the media is talking about it, i figured I wouldp oint ou to the dozens that come here daily, the economy is doing well, despite the oil prices. In a strange, recent phenomena, oil prices and the markets are not relating inversely. Oil has been up and up and until Thursday and Friday of last week, the markets had been climbing steadily.

Today offered more good news, as the "economy logged a solid 3.8 percent growth rate in the first quarter of 2005."

The new reading on gross domestic product, released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, marked an improvement from the 3.5 percent annual rate estimated for the quarter just a month ago and matched the showing registered in the final quarter of 2004.

GDP, the broadest gauge of the economy's health, measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States.

Stronger spending on housing projects, more investment by business in equipment and software, and a trade deficit that was less of a drag on economic growth all played a role in the higher first quarter GDP estimate.

I feel a Eugene Kane column coming on...

Hmmm. The Bucks fire their black coach and pick up three white players, while vowing to resign Tony Kukoc...







C'mon Eugene, lets hear what a racist bastard Larry Harris is.

The Speech

Here is the text.

Here is the video.

As far as I am concerned, this is the gist:

The terrorists know that the outcome will leave them emboldened, or defeated. So, they are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And there is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to take.

We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who exploded car bombs along a busy shopping street in Baghdad — including one outside a mosque. We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who sent a suicide bomber to a teaching hospital in Mosul. And we see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who behead civilian hostages and broadcast their atrocities for the world to see.

These are savage acts of violence — but they have not brought the terrorists any closer to achieving their strategic objectives. The terrorists — both foreign and Iraqi — failed to stop the transfer of sovereignty. They failed to break our Coalition and force a mass withdrawal by our allies. They failed to incite an Iraqi civil war. They failed to prevent free elections. They failed to stop the formation of a democratic Iraqi government that represents all of Iraq’s diverse population. And they failed to stop Iraqis from signing up in large numbers with the police forces and the army to defend their new democracy.

The lesson of this experience is clear: The terrorists can kill the innocent — but they cannot stop the advance of freedom. The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September 11 … if we abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi … and if we yield the future of the Middle East to men like Bin Laden. For the sake of our Nation’s security, this will not happen on my watch.