Courage personified.

There is hope...

Malala Yousafzai has she will not be silenced by terrorist threats, in an address to the United Nations on her 16th birthday that was her first public speech since being shot by the Taliban.

“Let us pick up our books and pens,” said the Pakistani teenager, who was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman as she left school last October. “They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution.” (More here...)

Yes, Chuck Hagel said that...

Secretary of Gaffes?

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel asked a questioner at the University of Nebraska Wednesday whether he was a member of the Taliban...before finding out the Indian gentleman was a college professor. (Hagel had previously answered a question on Afghanistan and negotiating with the Taliban.)

Ooops!

Hagel's spin doctors at the Pentagon provided a statement it was hoped might calm things a bit: “Absolutely no slight toward any individual in the audience was intended. That’s the last thing the Secretary would do under any circumstance, in this or any other setting. He didn’t know who would be called next to pose a question.” (Which is total B.S., considering Hagel called on the professor.)

[h/t: BuzzFeed and Washington Free Beacon]

Note to Taliban: Do not mess with Santa...

You do not want to be on Santa's "bad" list - ever...

(h/t: Los Angeles Times)

Why we fight (cont.)

Afghan Girls Focus On Education

Afghanistan, October 13: Farista, 8, watches her mother teach while student Zahara, 13, listens at Markaz high school. In the peaceful province of Bamiyan girls can attend school without any fears, unlike many in the Taliban-infested areas. Image via Getty.]

From Jezebel.com:

"We can absorb a terrorist attack"

Veteran journo Bob Woodward's latest book, "Obama's Wars," won't be released until Monday, but it's already raising eyebrows.

Among the revelations in the book (according to the Washington Post):

-- [President Barack] Obama told Woodward in the July interview that he didn't think about the Afghan war in the "classic" terms of the United States winning or losing. "I think about it more in terms of: Do you successfully prosecute a strategy that results in the country being stronger rather than weaker at the end?" he said.

-- The CIA created, controls and pays for a clandestine 3,000-man paramilitary army of local Afghans, known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams. Woodward describes these teams as elite, well-trained units that conduct highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan as part of a stepped-up campaign against al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens there.

-- Obama has kept in place or expanded 14 intelligence orders, known as findings, issued by his predecessor, George W. Bush. The orders provide the legal basis for the CIA's worldwide covert operations.

-- A new capability developed by the National Security Agency has dramatically increased the speed at which intercepted communications can be turned around into useful information for intelligence analysts and covert operators. "They talk, we listen. They move, we observe. Given the opportunity, we react operationally," then-Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell explained to Obama at a briefing two days after he was elected president.

-- A classified exercise in May showed that the government was woefully unprepared to deal with a nuclear terrorist attack in the United States. The scenario involved the detonation of a small, crude nuclear weapon in Indianapolis and the simultaneous threat of a second blast in Los Angeles. Obama, in the interview with Woodward, called a nuclear attack here "a potential game changer." He said: "When I go down the list of things I have to worry about all the time, that is at the top, because that's one where you can't afford any mistakes."

-- Afghan President Hamid Karzai was diagnosed as manic depressive, according to U.S. intelligence reports. "He's on his meds, he's off his meds," Woodward quotes U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry as saying.

--By the end of the 2009 strategy review, Woodward reports, Obama concluded that no mission in Afghanistan could be successful without attacking the al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens operating with impunity in Pakistan's remote tribal regions. "We need to make clear to people that the cancer is in Pakistan," Obama is quoted as saying at an Oval Office meeting on Nov. 25, 2009. Creating a more secure Afghanistan is imperative, the president said, "so the cancer doesn't spread" there.

Bob Woodward...

The part that bringing the most attention/criticism has been this: "Woodward's book portrays Obama and the White House as barraged by warnings about the threat of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and confronted with the difficulty in preventing them. During an interview with Woodward in July, the president said, 'We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger.'"

So, is this about "acceptable losses" or is it justifiable pride in the nation's strength and resiliency? The biggest criticism against this line of thinking is that "the best defense is a good offense." Chiefly, there are those at the Pentagon, Langley, Foggy Bottom - heck, even in the administration - who think there is no such thing as "acceptable losses."

The quote does ring a familiar bell...

General "Buck" Turgidson: Mr. President, we are rapidly approaching a moment of truth both for ourselves as human beings and for the life of our nation. Now, truth is not always a pleasant thing. But it is necessary now to make a choice, to choose between two admittedly regrettable, but nevertheless *distinguishable*, postwar environments: one where you got twenty million people killed, and the other where you got a hundred and fifty million people killed.
President Merkin Muffley: You're talking about mass murder, General, not war!
General "Buck" Turgidson: Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks.

(via IMDB)

In case you missed it...

Some of the more remarkable news items from this week...


Your "Recovery Summer" update: We're now up to 18 consecutive months of record-setting food stamp participation!



The administration's "stamps of approval"...


How's this for "insider trading?" U.S. Senators beat the market by 12% annually, twice as much as corporate insiders...


Taliban die in suicide attack on Kandahar airfield; their mission wasn't a total failure- $70 worth of fence destroyed...



The Taliban tank brigade...


An early indicator of voter turnout for upcoming elections? In Tenn., early primary vote breaks records in a big way...


Yoda Pelosi (D-Degobah): "Drain the swamp we did, because this was a terrible place." Darth Rangel not pleased...


It's looking more and more like "that war" back in the '60s-'70s...support sinking for Afghanistan War...


Meg vs. Jerry: his spending -$633,205 (with $23.2 million on hand); hers - $110 million (incl. $91 million of her own)...


Throwing good money after bad - "More Fed Money for Profligate States?"


"Al Gore gets a happy ending"... (h/t: Ann Althouse)


Multi-million dollar yachts, dodging taxes, a lavish wedding, pricey trips: is this the party of the "little guy?"



Sen. John F. Kerry's (D-Mass.) tax-evading, multi-million dollar yacht...


Where's "America's Worst Job Market?" Right here in the Golden State (El Centro) - " 27.6% Unemployment"...


Swamp drainage, Pt. 2: Will Maxine Waters get off with a slap on the wrist like Charlie Rangel?



The photo of Charlie Rangel (D-NY) showing him sacked-out at his tax haven in the Caribbean (which helped get him sacked as the House Ways & Means Committee chair...)


Apparently, "draining the swamp" really means "plugging the hole before the scum runs out"...

Surprised/not surprised...

Just a few quick notes regarding recent developments here at home and around the world…all worth paying attention to…

A report in the Wall Street Journal details the further deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan. In a story that seems more farcical than real, officials have revealed that “U.S. Support for Power Plant in Afghanistan Benefits the Taliban.” It goes on to say that, “Since U.S.-funded repairs of a turbine at an Afghanistan power plant doubled its capacity in October, nearly half of the total electrical output has flowed to districts where the Taliban administer the grid, Afghan officials say.” Apparently, the Taliban doesn’t have to win this fight – we just have to keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

And you thought your utility company was tough...

From close behind to edging ahead: According to Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire, “A new SurveyUSA poll in California finds Carly Fiorina (R) edging Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 45%, a lead which is within the poll's four point margin of error. Key finding: The poll found twice as many Democrats cross-over to vote Republican as Republicans who cross-over to vote Democrat in the race.” Likewise, Goddard adds, “A new SurveyUSA poll in California finds Meg Whitman (R) leading Jerry Brown (D) by seven points among likely voters in the race for governor, 46% to 39%. Key finding: Whitman gets 77% of Republican voters, while Brown gets the support of 64% of Democrats. Independents break by a 5-4 margin for Whitman.” Suddenly, a whole bunch of folks are sitting up and paying attention…

Leading ladies...

Out of touch? Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had an, um, “interesting” reply when asked about illegal immigrants working in his home state by a reporter from the Las Vegas CBS affiliate. "When you go to the unemployment office there's many U.S. citizens who are unemployed construction workers and they don't have jobs because right now, some of those construction companies find it easier to hire undocumented workers," said Reporter Nathan Baca. "I think that any information you have in that regard is absolutely without foundation," responded Reid. "That may be someplace, but it is not here in Nevada." You can see the report here.

Losing touch...

RIP: George Steinbrenner, the bête noire of every Red Sox fan (and decent human being) passed away today. He was 80. We won’t bother with an obit – that’s what print guys get paid to do. Instead, here’s the one great thing he did:

More fun in Pakistan

According to reports, "Pakistani soldiers entered the Taliban headquarters in South Waziristan on Friday, as the army went on the offensive in South Waziristan, a lawless ethnic Pashtun region on the Afghan border." Sources said the army was "aiming to root out Pakistani Taliban militants behind a wave of violence in urban areas."

Pakistani military officials said security forces had entered a stronghold and "a large part of the town has been cleared," referring it as the "base headquarters of terrorists."


The Taliban...

Analysts said "many militants appeared to have melted away, perhaps into neighbouring North Wazirstan where allied militant factions are based, from where they could strike back."

A source of mine said the scene throughout much of the region is chaos: "all shooter, all the time right now," he told me.

I asked him where he saw the only nuclear weapon-armed Islamic nation going in the next few years (considering things have only been getting progressively worse there). His take was that the current leader, Asif Ali Zardari, will fall and be replaced by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani - current chief of army staff of the Pakistan army - as the nation's next dictator. "[There will be] military rule and stability - al Qaeda and Taliban [will be] status quo."


Pakistan's next...leader?

As previously noted, there's a very good reason why we have to keep attuned to what happens in Pakistan and neighboring countries. While there's every reason to support whatever slivers of democracy might exist there, the most important aspect of our interest in Pakistan boils down to two words: nuclear weapons. A stable Pakistan is a Pakistan less likely to have its nukes end up in the hands of terrorists or controlled by an extremist regime.

Watch developments in Pakistan like your life depends on it. For many people, it very well could...


Why Pakistan warrants so much attention...