I’m a big fan of Operation Soldier, which takes care of the families of wounded soldiers and equips Iraqi police with state-of-the-art gear so they can take over from our forces sooner.

They’ve been busy; I just got this news release:

Iraq’s police officers will be better protected on their day-to-day duties, thanks to a new nationwide initiative called Operation Soldier’s Brotherhood of the Badge project. Created to provide much-needed police equipment and vests to Iraqi police officers currently in training, Operation Soldier wants to help Iraq establish a stable, modern police force, to help American troops finish the job in Iraq and come home.

Mike Harris, co-founder of Operation Soldier, recognizes a problem when he sees one, and he saw a tremendous one: A need to equip the Iraqi police that are being trained by our military, with safety equipment.

“When these Iraqi police complete their training the only safety equipment they get is a Glock handgun — with no holster or any other police gear,” says Harris. “To me, that was appalling. I care about the safety of these new officers because there is a common bond among us that all officers share: we want to survive our daily patrol. Without gear, chances of survival are significantly diminished.”

He adds, “The quicker we can get the local police in Iraq to do their job — and do their job well — the quicker our troops will come home.”

With this in mind, Harris went into action. He contacted Operation Soldier Board Member, and fellow police officer, Brian Burry. [Honest disclosure: Brian's my brother in law.] Together, they formed a plan, and started soliciting for safety equipment. Protective vests, flashlights, holsters and almost anything else a police department was about to discard was received. The Brotherhood of the Badge Project was born.

Since 2004, Operation Soldier’s Brotherhood of the Badge project has been instrumental in providing equipment and training support, as a show of patriotism and police fraternity between officers in the U.S. and Iraq. To date, the Brotherhood of the Badge Project has shipped over 10,000 vests to Iraq.

“This project has been a very rewarding experience,” says Brian Burry, co-founder of Operation Soldier. “These Iraqi police are proud to be police, want freedom and really need our support. This new safety equipment instills incredible confidence in these officers and has proven to save several lives already. Our project is making a difference.”

Operation Solder’s Brotherhood of the Badge team recently partnered with CHIEF, a leading supplier of high-quality products created to meet the changing needs of the Public Safety and Surveying industries, to provide a special procurement of 2,000 brand-new ballistic vests to Iraqi police officers currently in training.

As a partner of the program, CHIEF is donating in excess of $200,000 worth of public-safety equipment for the Iraqi police. This includes day-to-day gear such as flashlights, duty gear, apparel and boots. CHIEF sees this project as a unique opportunity to show its support for national and international police and military operations to achieve a stable, democratic and independent government in Iraq.

It’s a volunteer group that’s dependent on the cooperation of police departments and private contributions. They’d appreciate any support you could provide.

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Kofi Annan has flown off the handle again. This time, he’s pre-judged Israel, accusing it of “apparently deliberate targeting” of a UN position in South Lebanon, killing at least two UN peacekeepers.

I shook my head as I typed “peacekeepers.” If any further proof is needed of the inappropriateness of that word, it is the situation in Lebanon.

He went on:

“I call on the Government of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on UN positions and personnel must stop.”

As if Israel wouldn’t investigate. As if it would deliberately repeat what is certainly a mistake again. In JPost, Israel’s UN ambassador called Kofi’s charges “premature and erroneous,” adding:

“I am shocked and deeply distressed by the hasty statement of the secretary-general, insinuating that Israel has deliberately targeted the UN post.”

Annan has dealt with some regularity during his time as secretary-general with peacekeepers being killed and in preceding cases, he has spoken diplomatically — even in cases where the killings were deliberate. What gives with this decidedly undiplomatic attack on Israel?

Could the sec-gen be suffering from a wee bout of anti-Semitism? A fit of pro-Islamofascism?

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So you’re the despotic, expansionist ruler of an oil-rich South American nation. Who are your friends? How do you fill your time? The WSJ opens a window:

Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez exchanged declarations of solidarity Monday with the authoritarian leader of isolated Belarus, who shares his anti-U.S. views.

Mr. Chavez, a frequent and harsh critic of the U.S., made Belarus the first stop on a major international tour that will also take him to Russia, Iran and Vietnam.

With Chavez having friends like that, we have enemies.

Related Tags: Hugo Chavez, Venezuela, Belarus, Russia, Iran, Vietnam

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A Lefty posted a comment to one of my posts a couple days back challenging the assertion that Iranian soldiers are in Lebanon:

The U.S. has been saying the same thing about Iranian fighters in Iraq for at least three years now. Other than such blanket assertions the U.S. has never produced one, not one Iranian to prove the point.

So far, neither has Israel. Just because they say it’s so, doesn’t make it so. Remember, there was WMD in Iraq too.

Well, Sir, how about this:

JERUSALEM – The bodies of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers who were killed by the Israeli army in Lebanon have been transported to Syria and flown to Tehran, senior Lebanese political sources told WorldNetDaily.

The information was confirmed by Israeli and Egyptian security officials. It follows scores of reports the past few days Iranian soldiers have been aiding Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon in their attacks against Israel, including help with the firing of rockets into Israeli population centers.

The Lebanese sources said between six and nine deceased Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were brought in trucks last week into Syria for flight back to Iran. They said the bodies were transported along with the tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians fleeing the country into Syria. …

The officials said the Iranian soldiers’ duties include keeping custody of long-range missiles within Hezbollah’s arsenal, including Zalzal rockets which are said to have a range of 125 miles, placing Tel Aviv within firing range.

Jordanian officials told WND they are “100 percent sure” Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit soldiers have fired rockets into Israel. They also said the Syrian army has provided Hezbollah with intelligence information on the locations of strategic Israeli targets to aid in Hezbollah rocket fire.

A Ba’ath party official operating out of the Golan Heights told WND he has information Iranian soldiers have been firing rockets into Israel.

The source for this is World Net Daily, which might trouble our Lefty friend. But look at the sources within: Lebanese, Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli confirmation.

You’d have to believe Elvis is still alive and Bush is Hitler to not believe Iran is present in Lebanon.

hat-tip: memeorandum
Related Tags: Iran, Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Lebanon, Hezbollah

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Jan Englund, the UN’s humanitarian chief, has gotten it wrong often enough before, like post-tsunami jibes at America for being greedy in the face of others’ needs. But this time he got it right:

[Englund] accused Hezbollah late Monday of “cowardly blending” among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds during two weeks of cross-border violence with Israel.

“Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending … among women and children,” he said. “I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don’t think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men.” (Haaretz)

Of course, he also had to call the Israeli response disproportionate, but would it be so condemned if Hezbollah fought like soldiers instead of schoolyard bullies?

I saw a cartoon the other day of an Israeli soldier prone in front of a baby carriage, firing at a Hezbollah soldier prone behind one. At the most essential level, the difference between the two depictions is the difference between the Judeo-Christian worldview and the Islamic worldview, between a compassionate, salvation oriented message, and a jihad oriented message.

Photo: AP
Related Tags: Lebanon, Israel, UN, Englund, Hezbollah

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Al Gore told a crowd at the Chautauqua Institution today that he and Tipper have adopted a “carbon neutral lifestyle” because:

“We’re embedded in a culture that makes it so easy to just go with the flow and support a pattern that’s horribly destructive. And so we need to address this personally.”

So now that he’s carbon neutral, how did he and the Tipster get to upstate New York? Surely not in a car. Surely not in a plane. Surely he didn’t stay at a hotel with air conditioning. Surely his suit was not made of synthetics, but of wool that came from sheep that were walked, not driven, to where they were sheared, and the wool was then processed by women at spinning wheels and loomed by hand by someone named “Butterfly.”

Either that, or he’s lying. Again.

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Arab Times is to Saudi Arabia what Pravda was to the USSR — an authorized mouthpiece of the government. So when Arab Times opines against Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas and for Israel (albeit limitedly), it is worth noting.

Here’s the wrap-up of the editorial, authored by editor in chief Ahmed Al-Jarallah :

Without mentioning Hezbollah by name Saudi Arabia blamed certain “elements” inside Lebanon for the violence with Israel and said “it is necessary to make a distinction between legitimate resistance and uncalculated adventures adopted by certain elements within Lebanon without the knowledge of legal Lebanese authorities.” While reiterating its support for Palestinian and Lebanese resistance against Israeli occupation, Saudi Arabia has clearly said it is against irresponsible adventures undertaken by certain elements in the region without consulting the legal authorities putting all Arab nations at risk. The Kingdom has also said “these elements must take responsibility for their irresponsible actions and they alone should end the crisis created by them.”

This angry response from Saudi Arabia has politically isolated Hezbollah and Hamas besides holding them responsible for their actions.

This attitude of Saudi Arabia, which has been doing all it can to protect the Arab world from Israeli aggression, is enough to unmask the adventurers, who have violated the rights of their own countries and tried put their people under the guardianship of foreign countries like Iran and Syria. A battle between supporters and opponents of these adventurers has begun, starting from Palestine to Tehran passing through Syria and Lebanon. This war was inevitable as the Lebanese government couldn’t bring Hezbollah within its authority and make it work for the interests of Lebanon. Similarly leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas has been unable to rein in the Hamas Movement.

Unfortunately we must admit that in such a war the only way to get rid of “these irregular phenomena” is what Israel is doing. The operations of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon are in the interest of people of Arab countries and the international community.

So now the Arabs are letting Israel do their dirty work.

The real revelation will come when they do their own dirty work, purge jihad and jihadists from their religion, stop sectarian violence and embrace a reformed Islam.

Given that this editorial comes from the heart of Wahhabist Islam, I’m not holding my breath.

hat-tip: Jim
Related Tags: Saudi Arabia, Israel, Lebanon, Islam

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Jon Fleischman, who’s FlashReport is a great daily compilation of California political news, is leaving the employ of OC Sheriff Mike Carona so he can spend more time on his mini- new media empire, and start his own public affairs firm.

If I remember it correctly, Fleischman told a public relations lunch a while back that he makes $80K a year from FlashReport — not bad, but in OC not exactly luxo.

Still, making $80K while in bed in the early a.m. — as shown in this proof- of- pajamas photo which ran in the OCReg but is credited to Fleischman — is not at all bad, especially if it lays the groundwork, as it did, for Fleischman’s public affairs firm.

Let’s hear it for the new media! Were it not for the Internet, Fleischman would be schlepping messages for the sheriff and we’d be out a great source for California political news. The challenge for Fleischman now will be to keep FlashReport honest as he manages campaigns and other public affairs work.

Hold it to a higher standard than Kos, OK, Jon?

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I’ve been disappointed by much of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s governorship and the only good thing I can say for Antonio Villaraigosa is that he’s doing a fine job of showing the benefits of the GOP alternative. But I can find no fault in either of these quotes, delivered at a pro-Israel rally that attracted thousands in LA yesterday:

“We’re all here to do one thing, and that is to support the state of Israel,” Schwarzenegger said, noting that he first traveled to Israel as a bodybuilder and has been back many times since. “Any nation has the right to defend itself against terrorism.”

“We’re here to affirm the basic truth that there can be no peace without security,” Villaraigosa said.

Nearby, 100 protested against Israel, and presumably for Hamas and Hezbollah. The official word from LA’s Islamic leadership was a bit different, however:

“We don’t have any sympathy for any of these groups, Hamas or Hezbollah,” said Maher Hathout, chairman of the Islamic Center of Southern California. “But supposing those guys really are the bad guys, by no stretch of the imagination does that justify what is going on now.”

So what is that, an anti-bombing-Lebanon statement or an anti-Syria-and-Iran statement? I assume the former.

Quotes and photo: LATimes
Related Tags: Lebanon, Israel, Schwarzenegger, Villaigarosa

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After final summations for all defendants, the court is expected to adjourn and consider a verdict, which is likely in mid-August. Saddam is due to stand trial Aug. 21 in the crackdown against the Kurds in the 1980s, in which an estimated 100,000 of them died.

The first Saddam trial, with all its theatrics in the court and violence against participants outside, is nearing a close. Next up, the biggie: the Kurdistan deaths. That trial will put evilness on a grand scale on trial, for apologists, anti-Americans and various other nuts to ignore and the rest of the world to see.

Then, hopefully, blessedly, a well-deserved execution.

Related Tags: Saddam, Hussein, Trial, Kurdistan

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