Ahmadinejads Threats, The Foibles of Obama

With the Drudge Report headline today quoting Iran's Ahmadinejad as saying, "Iran will deliver harsh blow to global arrogance on Feb. 11," comes this report from the U.K. Guardian: Tension between the US and Iran heightened dramatically today with the disclosure that Barack Obama is deploying a missile shield to protect American allies in the Gulf from attack by Tehran.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/31/iran-nuclear-us-missiles-gulf The US is dispatching Patriot defensive missiles to four countries – Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait – and keeping two ships in the Gulf capable of shooting down Iranian missiles. Washington is also helping Saudi Arabia develop a force to protect its oil installations.

American officials said the move is aimed at deterring an attack by Iran and reassuring Gulf states fearful that Tehran might react to sanctions by striking at US allies in the region. Washington is also seeking to discourage Israel from a strike against Iran by demonstrating that the US is prepared to contain any threat.

The deployment comes after Obama's attempts to emphasize diplomacy over confrontation in dealing with Iran – a contrast to the Bush administration's approach – have failed to persuade Tehran to open its nuclear installations to international controls. [Now who among us could have guessed that?]

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247338/Terrorists-plan-attack-Britain-bombs-INSIDE-bodies-foil-new-airport-scanners.html Britain is facing a new Al Qaeda terror threat from suicide ‘body bombers’ with explosives surgically inserted inside them. Until now, terrorists have attacked airlines, Underground trains and buses by secreting bombs in bags, shoes or underwear to avoid detection. But an operation by MI5 has uncovered evidence that Al Qaeda is planning a new stage in its terror campaign by inserting ‘surgical bombs’ inside people for the first time.

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More than 500 quake victims have been treated in Florida hospitals, with hospitals in other states also having taken in injured Haitians, according to the Times. The evacuations have stopped, as several states have said they will need help actually paying for the medical care.

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Rich Lowry opines: Yesterday came word that [this administration] is considering keeping KSM in Gitmo for a military commission after all, in what would be a crushing admission that its rush to shutter Gitmo was disastrously misconceived.

The Bush administration set up a military commission system, endorsed by Congress and blessed by the Supreme Court, tailored precisely for these cases. It gave unprecedented due-process protections to detainees while protecting national security information from disclosure. The trials would be safely held at Gitmo, a state-of-the-art facility designed for the purpose and a place where millions of innocent bystanders don't work and live.

KSM told a military judge he was ready to confess and move on to the execution phase. Most people would consider that a neat conclusion to the matter, but not Eric Holder. He intervened to short-circuit that process and bring KSM and four other terrorists here for trials that would cost as much as $1 billion to secure and paint an even brighter target on the city. Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/sheik_up_call_for_justice_joker_KmeEa652zJpZU735oZCQcP#ixzz0e6B6aHuB

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The most embarrassing thing Janet Napolitano did on Wednesday turns out not to be napping during her boss’ State of the Union speech. Instead, as CNS News reports, [and a video confirms] the Secretary of Homeland Security apparently ditched a meeting with Congress over the handling of the EunuchBomber. Even Democrats want an answer to the question, “Where the is Secretary Napolitano?” The surprise was that it was Democrats doing most of the attacking. “She was invited to testify at this very important hearing, and she should have been here,” said Jane Harman, Democrat from California.

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Bob Diamond, president of Barclays , supported the idea of a global levy, which could see banks contribute tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars over a period of years. “I think every G20 country would like to have an insurance scheme that would help cover the cost of any future bank failure,” he told the FT at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “A co-ordinated global system is preferable to an unlevel playing field.” [More global government is coming our way, as this demonstrates. Doesn't this sound like Obama's declaration to Joe the Plumber about the need to "spread the wealth around? Is there a possibility that this fund will give banks even more reason to take risks, since risk of failure will be insured by the fund? This won't cost us even more money to borrow, will it?]

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Quin Hillyer of American Spectator has this to say about Obama's meeting with the Republicans on Friday: " I am watching him act like a haughty, angry, self-righteous, self-reverential [man] in his meeting with House Republicans right now, and he is lecturing them like they are teenagers. What an arrogant so-and-so. He repeatedly accuses House Republicans of lowering the tone of debate, and denies that his side has done ANY politicizing or any insults, etc. This is just outrageous. His tone was utterly inappropriate, his body language even worse. That was not a polite give-and-take (although Republicans were certainly polite); it was a stern, rhetoric-filled, in-your-face lecture. He acts as if nobody ever has the right to question him seriously -- not only are they not to question his motives, but his assumptions, his purity, his conclusions, and his own sense of his own exaltedness. This is a man with the soul of an authoritarian. And that is dangerous. [Well - that went well...]

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President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will project hundreds of billions of dollars in new federal revenue from a proposed comprehensive cap-and-trade climate law, according to Democratic aides -- despite dimming prospects for enacting such legislation this year. [Would this be considered to be trickery? His chances for Cap and Trade have diminished along with his chances for government-run health care.]

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Fox News reports: The U.S. has canceled a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan awarded to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids. The cancellation comes after Fox News first reported on the details of the contract last week, prompting lawmakers to make inquiries into the deal. State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley told Fox News that USAID terminated the award and is now working on an appropriate resolution. [You see - the "new media" and our screams are being heard!]

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Paul Krugman of the NYT: Ezra Klein finds Rahm Emanuel’s apparent willingness to let health reform slide into the indefinite future very depressing. So do I. And it’s not just health reform that will die under this approach — it’s the road to a caretaker presidency. [We must not let our guard down. Some democrats are in the back room dealing to pass this health care bill as we speak.]

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