A call to arms

Twelve people were brutally murdered in Paris today; most of them members of my own profession. What happened was a cold, calculated act of war. It was not terrorism.

In a show of solidarity, many people are posting or tweeting ""Je suis Charlie Hebdo".  Others are joining park vigils where they hold up pencils or pens in defiance.  I am doing neither because the time for gestures and hashtags is long, long past.  Instead, I ask people to call on the governments of the West to openly recognise that we are at war with not only the Jihadists, but also their sponsors and those who support their ends, if not their means, within and without our borders.

We must defeat these monsters and their ideology or we well end up dead or enslaved.

The Facebook Caliphate

Mark Steyn looks at what happens when the West expects Facebook to civilise the barbarians instead of admitting that there is such as thing as civilisation and barbarism and that it's up to the civilised to do the civilising and failing that, keeping the barbarians at bay.

Treason in Parliament

Lord Nazir Ahmed, Britain's first Muslim Life Peer, is suspended from the House of Lords after he posts a £10 million bounty on Presidents Bush and Obama. Since this is in support of a Jihadist organisation, this man is not just committing an act of war against the head of state of a friendly power, he is also giving aid and comfort to an enemy of Britain in time of war and is therefore a traitor.

Why this man was made a lord is a scandal.  Why he isn't in the Tower is a disgrace.

Nothing to see here, move along

This is almost getting monotonous–or would if it weren't so deadly.  North Africans serving in the French armed forces are gunned down at a cash machine in Toulouse, then a few days later, a Rabbi and three Jewish children are killed by the same man outside of a Jewish school in Toulouse.  Despite the obvious possibility that this could be a Jihadist going after "traitors" who joined the enemy's army and then indulged in a spot of Jew killing, the press in France and out never even considered it.  Instead, it was days of banging on about how it had to be some right-wing racist acting out the xenophobic blood lust that lurks in the heart of every white man.  Then they act all surprised when the monster is cornered and he turns out to be a Muslim Jihadist, but they say he's a lone wolf.  Okay, a lone wolf who's part of Al Qaeda and busted out of a prison in Kandahar, but that's all.  Oh, and his motive is a complete mystery.

Actually, they weren't surprised.  They were too busy wringing their hands over the anti-Muslim backlash that will inevitably follow, yet never appears.

These are the sort of "journalists" who would have reported in 1940 that bombs just "happen" to be falling on London.

Ingsoc airways

A vintage scene from behind the Iron Curtain:

An elderly couple hears that there will be a delivery of meat at a local store. The husband hurries off to the store. After he has waited on line in the freezing cold for several hours, an official car pulls up and some KGB men get out. They tell the people on line that the meat delivery has been canceled, and that everyone should go home. 

This is too much for the old boy. "Is this why we fought and suffered in the Great Patriotic War?" he calls out in exasperation. "Is this all we have to show for sixty years of socialism?"

One of the KGB men comes over to him. "Pipe down, Grandad," he says. "That's subversive talk. You're old enough to know what would have happened if you'd spoken like that in Stalin's time." The KGB man makes his hand into a gun shape and points it at his head. "Go on home now and stop making trouble."

The old boy goes home. Seeing him empty-handed, his wife says: "Oh no! Don't tell me they've run out of meat again!"

"It's worse than that," says the old boy. "Now they've run out of bullets!"

Why this old Cold War joke? Because the KGB man's attitude is still alive and well as this BBC item demonstrates:

Former fireman Mr Jones, 67, was on his way to Faro in the Algarve, where he now lives.

He was asked to place his belongings, including his scarf, into a tray to pass through the scanner.

However, as he did so, he spotted the woman pass through the area without showing her face.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, he recalled how he said to officials: "I wonder what would happen if I covered my face with my scarf.

"It was a quip. And I expected the guy to say: 'Yeah, I know what you mean mate' but when I got to the end and was putting all my stuff back on, I was bagged by a security guard."

Mr Jones said he was told: "You've made a remark which someone finds offensive. Come with me."

And here's the kicker (emphasis added):

He denied making an offensive remark, saying it was "an observation, nothing more", but he was told he should apologise to a Muslim security guard who was nearby when the comment was made.

Imagine such a scene occurring in 1943 with a German who somehow getting a job running a security post in England.  I would have thought that a Muslim security guard working at an airport where he is employed thanks to the heightened security measures due to terrorist attacks by Muslim Jihadists that we are at war with would be a bit more circumspect about what he takes offence at. 

This is not what one expects to find in a free society.  This sort of petty tyranny is what one expects from the Gestapo or the Stasi, not in Britain.  Never mind the farcical, totalitarian idea that a man can be detained because he said something that someone finds offensive, no matter how unreasonably.  The appalling notion that a security guard can demand an apology from a member of the public for what offended him is ghastly and everyone involved in this incident and their immediate superiors should be sacked and publicly shamed.

These airport guards, like the police, are public servants and they should conduct themselves accordingly.  I've never called a policeman "sir" in my life and the idea that I should is laughable.  And I certainly wouldn't do so to a rent-a-cop who is only slightly higher on the evolutionary scale than a traffic warden.  It's one thing to haul a man in for insulting a constable to his face in a manner liable to cause a breach of the peace.  It's another thing to think that a freeborn Englishman has to tiptoe around some jumped up little Himmler in an ill-fitting uniform and latex gloves whose job it is to molest the travelling public as part of farcical and ineffective screening process.  It is monstrous and should not be allowed to stand.

There are only two positive things I took away from this incident.  The first is that Mr Jones is consulting with his solicitor about taking legal action and the second is that I thank Heaven that it didn't happen to me.  The moment the apology was demanded, I'd have ended up in chokey after letting rip such a bellowing verbal outrage that it would have set off every car alarm between Brighton and Croydon.

“Go to Europe and America and get a good education.”

Bin Laden's final banner

Osama Bin Laden seems to have so given up on his dreams of conquest that he was advising his grandchildren to head for the land of the Great Satan to better themselves. Not that this has damped the ardour of Jihadists waging war from the US to Syria.

If the civilised world has any brains, they'll be playing the propaganda value of  this revelation for all it's worth.  If we're going to win this war, it will only be if the enemy on all fronts is humiliated and demoralised.

Rules of engagement

I've been re-watching the 1973 documentary series The World at War (the finest documentary of the war ever made, in my opinion) and it gives one a wonderful sense of perspective.  Watching the events of 1939-1940 unfold and then seeing this story about the current war against the Jihadists, I cannot help but think that the illegal junta that occupies Britain is composed entirely of maniacs.

A few more insane prosecutions like this and we won't have an army because no honourable man will serve in it.

The wilfully blind

The Washington Post is supremely puzzled by the following:

Yonathan Melaku was sneaking through Fort Myer and Arlington National Cemetery, his backpack filled with plastic bags of ammonium nitrate, a notebook containing jihadist messages, and a can of black spray paint. The 23-year-old former Marine was heading to the graves of the nation’s most recent heroes, aiming to desecrate the stones with Arabic statements and leave handfuls of explosive material nearby as a message.

Before police foiled the plan in June, the vandalism was to be Melaku’s sixth attack, months after he went on a mysterious shooting spree that targeted the Pentagon, the National Museum of the Marine Corps and two other military buildings in Northern Virginia. A video found after Melaku’s arrest showed him wearing a black mask and shooting a 9mm handgun out of his Acura’s passenger window as he drove along Interstate 95, shouting “Allahu Akbar!”

The headline for this story?

Motive of shooter who targeted military sites is unclear

That's right up there with "Germans invade Poland; motives unclear".

How things have changed

On Sunday, I mentioned that in some ways we are losing the Jihadist War.  A perfect illustration of this is this photo from the Jihadist protest in London that took place on September 11th.

Imagine that it's 1943 and a hundred belligerent Germans show up outside the American embassy with placards declaring that "Nazism will dominate the world".  Wouldn't you suspect that something had gone seriously wrong somewhere?

Never forget. Never surrender.

I was going to do a piece assessing how things have changed for better or worse since 11 September 2001, but in going over my notes I decided that this is too important an occasion for bloviating.  Instead, I'm reposting this video I originally made in 2008.

As you watch it, remember one thing that many people would like you to forget:  This was not a "tragedy".  This was an act of war.  It was a deliberate, cold-blooded attack by a load of Islamic fanatics who lusted and still lust after nothing less than the death, forced conversion or enslavement of every man, woman and child on the face of the Earth.  We are in a war now between civilisation and barbarism that is, despite an impressive string of victories, far from won.  In fact, in many ways we are losing it–not least on the home front because we keep forgetting that the enemy isn't "terrorism" but Radical Islam.  And that there are those among us who embrace the Jihadist's goals, if not their tactics.  It is a war that we will not see out and our children may not either, but it is one that must be fought for the sake of everyone who values liberty whether they are Christian, Jew, Atheist, Sikh, Hindu, Agnostic or Muslim.

11 September 2001 isn't just a day of sadness, It is a call to arms.

A slap in the face

And there won't be any of those nasty prayers either.

Going to the 9/11 memorial service in New York?  If you're a clergyman or a first responder like the ones who died that day, don't bother.  You're not welcome.

I always said, show me a man who cares more about salt than bed bugs and I'll show you a bounder.

Germany has a touch of the vapours

Modern Germany

I've spoken a couple of times last week about the importance of not just defeating the Jihadists, but of handing them a humiliating defeat. Will this work?  I offer this example of what's possible.

Paperweight

How insensitive.

Mark Steyn on how Jihadists were treated in a more civilised age and the result:

When it comes to instructive analogies, I prefer Khartoum to cartoons. If it took America a decade to avenge the dead of 9/11, it took Britain 13 years to avenge their defeat in Sudan in 1884. But, after Kitchener slaughtered the jihadists of the day at the Battle of Omdurman in 1897, he made a point of digging up their leader the Mahdi, chopping off his head and keeping it as a souvenir. The Sudanese got the message. The British had nary a peep out of the joint until they gave it independence six decades later — and, indeed, the locals fought for King and (distant imperial) country as brave British troops during World War II. Even more amazingly, generations of English schoolchildren were taught about the Mahdi's skull winding up as Lord Kitchener's novelty paperweight as an inspiring tale of national greatness.

Not a lot of that today. It's hard to imagine Osama's noggin as an attractive centerpiece at next year's White House Community Organizer of the Year banquet, and entirely impossible to imagine America's "educators" teaching the tale approvingly. So instead, even as we explain that our difficulties with this bin Laden fellow are nothing to do with Islam, no sir, perish the thought, we simultaneously rush to assure the Muslim world that, not to worry, we accorded him a 45-minute Islamic funeral as befits an observant Muslim. That's why Pakistani big shots harbored America's mortal enemy and knew they could do so with impunity.

 Short version, showing strength wins respect; showing weakness wins contempt.

Update:  Michael Walsh adds this point, which I've been arguing since my university teaching days–though I would stress "humiliating" rather than "decisive" defeat:

From Charles Martel at Tours in 732 to Sobieski at Vienna in 1683 to Kitchener at Omdurman, nothing has had a greater calming effect on the Muslim world than decisive defeat. Yes, bin Laden was still exercised about the 15th-century Spanish reconquest of el-Andalus, but his animus died with him. Now the Muslim world must decide whether the war shall continue.

A raid like Sunday’s (a tip of the hat, by the way, to the peerless helicopter pilots of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, formed in the wake of the Carter-era Iran-hostage-rescue disaster) will go a long way to pacifying non-jihadis, who understand that they are no match for American power and will only suffer should the radicals succeed in making this a conflict of Islam vs. the West.

That is, it doesn’t have to come down to a Kitchenerian slaughter. All that “the Islamic world” needs to accept and understand is that its Mahdi is not coming.

Hmm... Uh...What?

Mr Barack Hussein Obama is back on form... Unfortunately.

The death of Bin Laden: The classical take

Not so much Hannibal as Nero–maybe not even that.

President Hindmost?

Obama: Intent or just angry at being there?

Was Mr Barack Hussein Obama suddenly revealed on Sunday as the decisive Commander in Chief who made the call to take out Bin Laden? Possibly not, according to this report.  In fact, Mr Obama may not even have known that the operation was underway until he was literally hauled off the golf course:

What happened from there is what was described by me as a “masterful manipulation” by Leon Panetta.  Panetta indicated to Obama that leaks regarding knowledge of Osama Bin Laden’s location were certain to get out sooner rather than later, and action must be taken by the administration or the public backlash to the president’s inaction would be “…significant to the point of political debilitation.”  It was at that time that Obama stated an on-ground campaign would be far more acceptable to him than a bombing raid.  This was intended as a stalling tactic, and it had originated from Jarrett.  Such a campaign would take both time, and present a far greater risk of failure.  The president had been instructed by Jarrett to inform Mr., Panetta that he would have sole discretion to act against the Osama Bin Laden compound.  Jarrett believed this would further delay Panetta from acting, as the responsibility for failure would then fall almost entirely on him.  What Valerie Jarrett, and the president, did not know is that Leon Panetta had already initiated a program that reported to him –and only him, involving a covert on the ground attack against the compound.  Basically, the whole damn operation was already ready to go – including the specific team support Intel necessary to engage the enemy within hours of being given notice.  Panetta then made plans to proceed with an on-ground assault. This information reached either Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates first (likely via military contacts directly associated with the impending mission) who then informed the other.  Those two then met with Panetta, who informed each of them he had been given the authority by the president to proceed with a mission if the opportunity presented itself.  Both Gates and Clinton warned Panetta of the implications of that authority – namely he was possibly being made into a scapegoat.  Panetta admitted that possibility, but felt the opportunity to get Bin Laden outweighed that risk.  During that meeting, Hillary Clinton was first to pledge her full support for Panetta, indicating she would defend him if necessary.  Similar support was then followed by Gates.  The following day, and with Panetta’s permission, Clinton met in private with Bill Daley and urged him to get the president’s full and open approval of the Panetta plan.  Daley agreed such approval would be of great benefit to the action, and instructed Clinton to delay proceeding until he had secured that approval.  Daley contacted Clinton within hours of their meeting indicating Jarrett refused to allow the president to give that approval.  Daley then informed Clinton that he too would fully support Panetta in his actions, even if it meant disclosing the president’s indecision to the American public should that action fail to produce a successful conclusion.  Clinton took that message back to Panetta and the CIA director initiated the 48 hour engagement order.  At this point, the President of the United States was not informed of the engagement order – it did not originate from him, and for several hours after the order had been given and the special ops forces were preparing for action into Pakistan from their position in Afghanistan, Daley successfully kept Obama and Jarrett insulated from that order.

...

President Obama was literally pulled from a golf outing and escorted back to the White House to be informed of the mission. Upon his arrival there was a briefing held which included Bill Daley, John Brennan, and a high ranking member of the military. When Obama emerged from the briefing, he was described as looking “very confused and uncertain.” The president was then placed in the situation room where several of the players in this event had already been watching the operation unfold. Another interesting tidbit regarding this is that the Vice President was already “up to speed” on the operation. A source indicated they believe Hillary Clinton had personally made certain the Vice President was made aware of that day’s events before the president was. The now famous photo released shows the particulars of that of that room and its occupants. What that photo does not communicate directly is that the military personnel present in that room during the operation unfolding, deferred to either Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates. The president’s role was minimal, including their acknowledging of his presence in the room.

Read the whole thing.  If true, it's not surprising.  I never did think that Mr Obama was Prince Hal waiting to prove himself.

Update:  Instapundit has the best take on this: Take it with grain of salt for now.

Update: The Wikileaks angle.

Update: Sixteen hours to make a decision.

Update: The gang that could shoot straight... but not much else.

General Patton comments on Bin Laden

Osama Bin Laden killed by US forces

Sleep well, monster.

According to the Voice of America, the White House announced that Osama Bin Laden is dead; killed by US forces operating in Pakistan.

We've been down this road before, so I'm waiting for the DNA tests.  If true, it's great news that one of the most evil men of this century has received justice and now discovers that instead of a reward of 72 virgins he stands before his Maker for final judgement.  But to keep things in perspective, he was only one head of the Jihadist hydra and hasn't been much of a player since he fled Tora Bora on a donkey.

If true, this a great victory, but it's one battle in one campaign, not the war.

Update:  Identity confirmed by DNA.  A hearty well done to the men and women of the US military.  You've earned your pay and them some today.

Update: Alleged Photo evidence.

Update: Victor Davis Hanson's take.  I agree that it's a good thing we didn't take him alive.  And about the question of whether he was hiding in plain sight.

Update: Are they mad?  Screw Islamic tradition.  This swine deserves the same respect as a cockroach.  Hold on to the body as long as we need it then wrap it in bacon, cremate it at an undisclosed location, and then secretly use the ashes as mortar to build a synagogue.

Update: An apt and uncompromising take.

Update: How ABC News described Osama Bin Room Temperature in a photo caption:

Exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden is shown in Afghanistan, in this April 1998 file photo.

Dissident?  That's like calling Ebola a mild rash. And when did hiding from justice become "exile"?

Update: The analysis begins:  High risks, human intelligence, and the Peace Prize President embraces assassination.

Update: The Guantanamo connection.  I guess they weren't all innocent goat herders scooped up out of pure sadism after all.

Update: Best headline yet:

Shot in the Head Heard Round the World

Update:  The "me" factor.

Update: Worst quote of the day:

We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh

Update: The"me" factor and bad timing.

Update: And this:

Any joy one might feel in the intelligence of our analysts and the bravery of our door kickers was significantly diminished by Obama’s malignant narcissism. The first part of the announcement, evoking 9/11, was vulgarly overwritten as per Obama’s view of himself as some kind of gifted orator. The adjective bloated compote was unworthy of the subject, banal and self-indulgent.

Update: Some people aren't happy.

Update: Protected by Pakistan?

Update:  Osama Bin And Gone died hiding behind a woman.  Not surprised.

Update: Trap or haven: Which side is Pakistan on?

Update: Something very Roman, though I'm not sure the MSM double standard is.

Update:  It's not "Who is the enemy", but "Who is our enemy's enemy"?

Update:  Apparently, the use of special forces was Mr Barack Hussein Obama's idea:

If so, my opinion of the man just rose a notch.

Update: Death of the Caliphate fantasy?  I doubt it, but one can hope.

Update: Speculation.

Update: Time for a shave.

A minor detail

The BBC does a report on the Casio F-91W wristwatch, which the Guardian claims is regarded by the Americans as a red flag for identifying Jihadists.  The Beeb chunters on about how popular the F-91W is for 18 paragraphs and it's only in the caption of a photo at the bottom of the page that one tiny fact is revealed that indicates that the American's aren't a load of barking mad paranoids:

The F-91W is used in bomb-making.

Oh, it's not only popular as a time piece, it's also a crowd pleaser as a timer for setting off IEDs.  Here's a thought: Maybe detaining a suspected Jihadist walking around with a bomb component is what we like to call rational.

Grade A stupidity

The MOD shows its usual competence by releasing documents on the Web without realising that putting a black background over the redacted copy doesn't hide it at all.  But what the heck, it was only Royal Navy nuclear submarine secrets.

Meanwhile, the Americans show that they're no slouches either by handing over their counter-jihad efforts to the Jihadists.